New Glasses, Our First Girl Scout Patches and Saving the World One Napkin at a Time!

I know what your thinking... what in the world kind of title is that Jess?! Well, its a jumble of stuff that has been going on lately and since I don't have much time before I head off into the sunset with my hubby on our first cruise together, I figured I write it all in one shot. Don't worry I will have plenty to write about when I get back, all about my cruise that is! We leave on Saturday and fly into Miami International to set sail on Sunday morning! Oh man... 5 nights, 4 days and not a care in the world! I can hardly wait! So anyway... on to what's been going on.


A few weeks ago the munchkin had her eyes tested at school and she came home with a note from the nurse saying she failed the eye exam and they suggested that we make an appointment with the ophthalmologist to get her eyes check out. So I did just that and it turns out she does in fact need glasses, the poor child has been struggling since August to see in class and hasn't said a word to us about not being able to see the board in class, it also didn't help that she sits at the back of the classroom and is pretty much blind as a cute little bat. No really... she is! Her prescription is even worse than mine and I'm 30 years old! Right now she's sitting at a -4.00 in her left eye and a -3.75 in her right eye. The doctor says it should correct her vision a little and hopefully in a year or two she wont need such a high strength. So she now has glasses and looks quite cute in them if I do say so myself! She really loves them as well, and I figured as much since they totally help her to see and she got to pick out the frames herself. :)

Sorry this one is sideways... Blogger is being difficult... But isn't she cute!

 

 

 

So if you can remember a few posts back, I had said we took the girl scouts to the corn maze and the pumpkin patch up in Kiln Mississippi. Well... I ordered their cool patches over the weekend from Snappy Logos (which I LOVE! Because they are cute and oh so much cheaper than ordering from Girl Scouts, and right now seeing how we have no troop money... this momma is taking the cheap way out! LOL!) So I put them together for the girls in little zip lock bags and had the kiddo help me draw some happy jack-o-lantern style faces on the pumpkins we cut out. Just a little something to make them seem cool. :)

Last Sunday we also went grocery shopping, which means I end up going to SAM's Club and dreading every moment of it... usually... This time however I was glad I went because I stumbled upon this!

The mother of all S'mores maker! Look at this thing! Doesn't it ROCK! I can't wait to use it at girl scouts... even if we don't get the chance to take the girls camping this year (again, not us... money is the issue) at least with this baby we can still rock an awesome "S'mores Night"!

Ok now... onto the napkin part... so I was scouring the web (like usual) to find some cool crafts and what not for the daisy girls that tie into our petals we've been doing, when I stumbled upon a cool idea for myself! I found a blog (that now, I can't find again... sorry, should have bookmarked it) that had a tutorial on how to make your own napkins and paper towels by sewing material to make them reusable! Think about it!... how much do you think we spend on paper towels and napkins a year? I know I spend at least a couple hundred dollars if not more... I dunno if were just messy or what!? But what if I could save that and help the environment?! I know.. I know... "Jess, when did you turn into such a hippy!" LOL! Call me crazy but I actually believe in recycling, reusing and re-purposing... I guess it's something that stuck with me from growing up and living in Europe (where recycling is not an option) and being a girl scout, I also have a grandmother who grew up during the great depression and who is very frugal, savvy and proud that I am making something from left overs, in fact she's the one I owe credit to for showing me how to sew. I was really glad to find the tut on it as well since I have a ton of left over scrap fabric to sew into little napkins, now I have pretty napkins of all sizes and color. Some are lap napkins, some are hand napkins and some are cocktail napkins. I haven't yet started the paper towel roll but it doesn't look hard, they are just bigger versions of the napkins and they are snapped together with those non metallic baby snaps that you see on the bottoms of onsies.  As soon as I get some more fabric I will attempt them and show you what I mean. :)

In the mean time... enjoy my pics from my napkin making adventure... :)

Oh man I love this Thanks Giving fabric! I am not super excited to have people over for Thanks Giving!

Pretty right?!

I also bought some Halloween fabric, because Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I just couldn't resist! I will probably end up making napkins for just about every holiday! LOL! You wait and see!

A little more of a close up on the Halloween fabric, yes, because I love it that much!

From my left over scrap collection of fabrics, I painted the Efiel tower part and the "Merci" part just to have a bit of a french theme to it..

These remind me of something Gram would have at her house... I love these fabrics! Vintage!

Awe, my starter basket already! This might just have to make more to give for Christmas gifts, I know my mom, mom-in-law and Gram would love it! 

 

 

So what do you think?

Little Miss Kick Butt!

The kiddo decided she wanted to start doing something different for her "fall sport", and until soccer starts up in January/February. A few weeks ago she had come home from school with a paper that said they were holding registration for cheerleading, she showed me the paper and asked a few questions and then quickly decided that just wasn't for her... no offense to any of the little cheerleaders out there, but she IS a tom boy... and anything that has her jumping and throwing a pom-pom just isn't gonna cut for her lol! So she then asked, if there were any other sports going on that she could play until soccer season starts. I then told her I would look and find out if I could find something she would be interested in and was old enough for, and then I had an epiphany! I suddenly remembered my "gold" card of awesomeness tucked away in the back corners of my wallet, the card that allows us to do a crap ton of activities on base for free! Yes, I got one of those handy dandy "Play Passes" while hubby was deployed and since I spent most of the deployment in Florida (away from any base) I didn't get a chance much to use it... until now! So I went straight over to the youth center last Friday and signed her up straight away, and wahla! She started class on Monday! She LOOOOOOOVED every minute of it! And shes surprisingly awesome at it... what kid wouldn't want to jump, run, kick, punch and then yell on top of that LOL! Of course her dad and are are elated that she's doing another sport that we both played as well. So she is now taking Tae Kwon Do at Tiger Rock Academy by Master Calhoun on base!!! Here's just a few pics I took from her first class on Monday! She is just too awesome!!! Love my little kick-butt-towski!

Learning how to do a knee strike!

Practicing her palm heel strike! Hi-Ja!

Off To First Grade!

So I figured it's about time I start catching you all up on what's been going on... sorry it's taken me a while, it's been a little busy and I've been a little "preoccupied" since the hubby has come home from deployment. ;) Yup, school started on Monday, hubby came home a few days later and we've been going and going non stop ever since LOL! It's awesome though, I can express how good it is to have him home! This deployment has definitely taught me that I can't ever live without that man, I mean... physically I can... but I really HATE it. I love him so much, there's not a day that goes by that I don't want to be without him.


Last Monday the kiddo started school again... woohoo!!! First grade!!! I am a little sad that summer is officially over for us, but I am glad to see her go off to first grade and start really getting into learning new things at school. She has grown so much over the summer, both physically (2 1/2 inches and about 5 lbs.) and mentally by learning dual languages, reading tons of books and taking an interest in math (thank god she's like her father in that case). Have I mentioned she wants to be Yoda this year for Halloween! Oh yeah... proud geek mom to a little geek girl! It's pretty awesome! Anyway here's a few pics of her first day, yup because I'm THAT kind of proud mom :)

Crayon Roll

So I've been at it again, ok.. ok.. I'll admit it... I've been at it all week, so much that my hubby is considering shipping me off to work in a sweat shop in Asia LOL! I keep telling him I would pale in comparison to how they mass produce their items LOL! So as projected, I have been sewing up a storm with my new lover sewing machine. Yesterday I made something for the munchkin and my sanity... Ever been in a hurry to an appointment or dinner and thrown a box of crayons in your purse only to have them break, get color all over your other items in your purse or fall out of the box to be everywhere in your purse? Well I have made a crayon roll! I'm sure its not the first of its kind, and in fact Im quite sure there are probably dozens of them out there. But now I own one! YAY! It was so easy to make also... just like the tea wallet I made I used about a 3rd of a big fat quarter and some felt interfacing, the hardest part was sewing all the lines that hold the crayons. And it wasn't really hard at all just tedious. Wanna see the pics? Yes? Well ok! :DWhile its all rolled up... isn't it cute?

Best part... it doesn't take up hardly any space in my new purse.

The kiddo is particularly loving the rolling it up and tying it feature.
Shes also learning how to tie her shoes.

When its all unrolled. Isn't the fabric cutesy! :D

So what do you guys think? Are you sick of my sewing yet...? Hope not, because I've got lots more coming soon! Speaking of that... would you all like tutorials? I have thought about this before but I haven't done it yet because I don't want to seem like a "Little Miss Know it All" ;)

Happy 5th Birthday

Happy Birthday to my Munchkin. I can't believe you are 5 years old already... seems like just yesterday when I saw you take your first steps and say your first words...you are amazing and continue to amaze me every day. I thank my lucky stars that I am fortunate enough to be your mommy. You are my life and mean everything to me. I love you with all my heart ♥

The 25 Days of Christmas Challenge: Day 3

Gifts: What your giving:

I cant tell you everything that I'm getting everyone because certain people have it out to find out. Yes, some of the people in our family are as bad as those kids who peel back the tape on already wrapped gifts and then try to surgically put it back together... what!? who do you think I learned it from? LOL!

So I'll let you in on a few of the things I have bought for the munchkin. She wasn't real particular about anything this year other than the Bat Cave, she has been wanting that since the moment she laid eyes on it at Target!

Which looks like this:

I know... isnt this awesome? I would have wanted this when I was a kid! So I cant blame her for going a little nuts over it. Ive also got her some accessories to go with it... like Green Lantern's Jet, The Joker Cycle and Two Face's vault. Shes also getting the Scooby Doo Mystery Mansion complete with trap door and sliding bookcase!

And then I got her a few things to try and "girlie-fy" her! (I cant help but try right?) And those things are the pretty, pretty princess game , its a board game where the object to winning is colecting all the princess dress up pieces. A Tinkerbell playset with lantern, Princess pretend makeup set (which goes with her vanity from last year) a few tag reader books, 2 dvd's: How to train your dragon and Toy Story 3. The big gift this year is her new leapster explorer with additional 2 games: Tangled and Tinkerbell. This system looks pretty awesome, it does everything the older system does but also lets the kids play games on line, listen to music, watch videos and read e-books! I'm pretty excited to check this one out personally. ;)

Silly bandz are... well...SILLY!!

Ok so my daughter has been DRIVING ME NUTS & BUGGING me about these



stupid “Silly Bandz” they are these little rubber bands that the kids these days are wearing as a fashion statement. Yes, that’s right RUBBER BANDS for gods sake!



I am honestly feeling my age today… I remember we collected stickers and later in high school it was pog’s the girls traded slap bracelets and the guys had baseball & football cards… but seriously rubber bands? Has it come to that? I think its ridiculus to spend $4.00 on a pack of “speical rubber bands”… but of course like any other parent usually ends up doing just to keep from being nagged to death…

I caved… lol.

And here is the result…

So I'd like to be a pro

Soccer this year is a giant C-L-U-S-T-E-R—F-U-C-K! I mean the kiddo has fun and plays well with the other kids and even has made a friend or 2 on the team but as far as the organization of the whole program goes, well frankly… it SUCKS! No one knows what time anyone is doing anything, no one looks at the weather forcast so we dont get rained on in the middle of a game or practice. No one knows what time professional photos are scheduled. No one know what were are to be doing at any given time at any given practice or game. The whole thing is a giant shit storm. Her first game was a total disaster… it was scheduled for 10am (an email from her coach told me so the Thurs. prior to the game) we were supposed to have professional pics done before the game started that puts us there at 9am. We show up at 8:45am in the gym because it looks like rain. We sit around until 10:15am trying to figure out where were supposed to be and what were supposed to be doing and finally getting someone to tell us that her photo shoot has been rescheduled to 11am and her game is now at 12pm. At this point Im like WTF!!!! I didnt get a phone call, a email a text or anything letting me know this was going on. I am pissed, no livid, no...pretty much ready to rip someones head off. So Im like well, fuck it… that is too late in the day, we were already here and on time, and Im not waiting around for this bullshit, we’ve got other stuff to do today. And so we up and left. I then decided that Ill take my own professional pics a few days later… and heres the result.

Pretty kick ass if I say so myself.

The Greatest Show on Earth!

The circus was Fan-freakin-tastic! So well worth the money! I haven't been to see the circus in YEARS! And its still as good as when I saw it at 5 years old. I think the hubbs and I were more excited than the munchkin. We got to meet Suzy the baby Elephant and take some pics of her before the show started. I was sweating bullets a little when the trapeze people came out because of what happened the last time I saw the circus…. one of the guys attempted a triple summer salt type thingy without a net and well he didn't catch the bar, so yeah SPLAT and died.
It was horrible and terrifying to watch happen right in front like hundreds of people.
YAY! for everything going ok and without death this time! LOL

Slow week, Not so easy...

Its Friday and I can say this… officially. Its been a SLOW week! And Ive been busy! How annoying is that? Funny though, I can’t remember what Ive done. I know I feel exhausted and this weekend is not gonna let up at all. Im just glad I got all the laundry done, which really says nothing at all because Im sure Im gonna have a shit ton to do before leaving on Wednesday. :P

Today was good, yet annoying. I had a play-date kid thingy to go to, it was set up by one of the spouses in squadron. She has a side business of bounce houses and bouncy slides and stuff and she set that up for the kids, which was awesome and ordered us all pizza’s at only 2 bucks a pop. It was all good until the munchkin got a bit overwhelmed. She doesn’t do too good in big crowds, especially big crowds of other kids. So yeah not the most fun when you have a whiney, bratty, clingy kid stuck to you crying and pestering you every 5 seconds. That was the annoying part.

Other than that not too much going on today. Her school progress is going well, we do workbook stuff, flashcards, color, read in English and at least one of these languages; Spanish, French, Japanese, German, or Portuguese everyday. And Tuesday I have started to adopt sign language as another tool in her education. Im definitely flexing my geek muscles. The workbooks usually go over her thinking skills, matching, colors, letters, writing her name, shapes, time, and math. Yes, even math… Ive started her on simple addition and subtraction. And I feel good about it, shes growing and the progress improves with each day. Reading is become effortless shes recognizes simple words like Go, To, At, The…etc. I feel very accomplished when it comes to the amount of time and effort I’m putting in considering the results.

Anyway… up next for tomorrow is a cook out and pool time with friends. Saturday its the squadron “Easter Egg Hunt” and brunch. And Sunday I’ll be cooking for that thing they call Easter lol! Funny how we don’t really celebrate it for its intended purpose but I will still take it as an excuse to cook for the people I like. LOL.

Oh and just one more thing, I wish people would stop randomly asking me to allow them to follow me on twitter, its totally annoying! We have nothing in common! Why would I want to accept you, so you can just lurk about my tweets?!?