The Doc Is In! A Doc McStuffin's Birthday Party.

Luckily, as a Children's book author, my creative imagination is always in full-swing. When my littlest one announced she would like a Doc McStuffins birthday party, I quickly discovered this was going to be a do-it-yourself project.

To start the party preparation I used Microsoft Word, Paint and my printer as my handy-dandy birthday tool belt to bring an idea to life. First step. The invitations. All of the graphics are owned by Disney. I found them using Google. I used Word to make the clouds to insert the party information. I printed them out on photo paper giving them a store-bought quality.

Decorations

I was going with the simple, soft, and elegant look. My goal was simple and not to overflow the house with streamers, balloons, and wall decorations. Instead of balloons, we incorporated colorful flowers into our decor.  I purchased the flowers at Wal-Mart for a little over four dollars a bouquet. I only had to purchase two bouquets for the look I was going for. I was able to divide the flowers into two vases. The price I paid for the flowers, came to the same price I would have paid for a boutique of balloons.

    To go with the art theme, "Clear Puppyitis" I placed the flowers into a glass. I then placed the glass into the vases and inserted the girl's crayons into the empty space between the glass and the vase.

I once again found an image of Doc and her friends using Google. After inserting the image into Word, I used word-art to frame the image with "Happy Birthday Hope".  Afterwards, I cut out the photo paper using scallop scissors and gave the paper a construction paper backing. Four long curly ribbons added a bit of charm. I placed the decorations in four places; two on either side of the fire place, one in the room with the art project, and another by the living room. Simple, themed and tidy, gave it the appearance of decorations without the overflow look.

In the middle of the fireplace, in-between the the two decorations, I added one more element. I used a construction paper backing, and added a sticky flower that I found in the gift-wrap section, which gave a tad bit of texture and softness to the design.

Games

Our first event was an art-project. The little "Doctors" had to cure the puppy from " Clear Puppyitis"

The puppy lost his color, so the children had to paint the color back onto the puppy.  The 16 puppies, three packages of paint, plates, hand-wipes, and hooks cost only $25.00. This was also part of their goody bag treat to take home. It was a huge hit!

 Once the puppies were cured, it was off to heal Stuffy! My publisher hires an illustrator for all my books for a reason.  My drawings consist of stick figures; however, I must say some how by the grace of God, I was able to pull off a hand drawing of this little guy! Stuffy dropped the Big Book of Boo- Boos on his thumb. The children had to try to place the band-aid on the boo boo.

Once Stuffy was all better, it was time for our last game. Doc McStuffins medical bag was missing all of her medical instruments! The children had to go on a hunt for the missing items. There was one set of instruments per child.  Each child was handed an instruction sheet and a paper bag before they were released to go on the big hunt. The children really enjoyed this game and the parents had a few good laughs.

 

The instruments and bandage are available at the Disney Family Go Site.

Doctor Bag

Bandage

Goody Bags

At the Dollar Store we found pink and blue miniature cloth bags priced at three for a dollar. I filled each bag with a candy necklace, lolly-pop, candies, the hook for the puppy, play-dough, and this little treat.

The Food 

During the snack, the children watched an episode of Doc McStuffins on T.V.

The biggest splurge were on the mouth watering gourmet petite cupcakes by, Incr-Edible Cupcakes.  They were on the TV Show, 'Cup Cake Wars'. The out of focus photo is not doing the cupcakes justice at all. They were the perfect size, not even a crumb was left or dropped.  Every bite was like a taste of sweet heaven. All the children loved them. Most adults will pass-up on the sweet treats, and at first they did, until the one adult took a nibble and their excitement of pleasure caused a chain reaction. The adults raved over the delicious explosion of perfect flavor they were experiencing on their pallet. 

 

For a twist of fun we made colorful ice-cubes using Kool-Aid packets and clear soda (Sprite, 7-Up, etc.). I adjusted the recipe I found on Pinterest.  I thought the soda had enough sugar and did not add any additional to the Kool-Aid mix.  To make the ice cubes bright, I used two cups of water for one packet of Kool-Aid.  For some, we even left out the soda and used water. The results were the same and everyone enjoyed watching their drink change colors and flavor.

For the remainder of the snacks there were quarter cut sandwiches, gold fish crackers, Micky Mouse shaped cheese, miniature pickles, and plastic cups with a tablespoon of ranch dressing on the bottom filled with carrots and celery sticks. 

By the end, everyone had a joyous time. As for the Birthday Girl, she passed out on Grandma's lap; the prognosis by the doctor, too much party fun.

 

   

Creating an Organized Children's Utility Center

Over the last Summer our two little girls were in swimming lessons.  There seemed to be an ongoing trend of searching for their goggles, towels and shoes right before we were just about to walk out the door.  Besides the hunt for the missing items being stressful with two impatient kiddo's; I would have to prep for heading out fifteen minutes in advance to give us the allowed time to find them without being late to swim class.

Towards the end of the Summer, enough was enough!  I had to come-up with a better plan to centralize the location of the girls "where is it" items, by utilizing space that was out of site, yet conducive to our needs .  Our laundry room had plenty of  unused wall space and was right next to the garage, perfect!

I stared at the white walls and came-up with this; the items had to be at the girls reach for them to learn the responsibility of preparing themselves for an outing. I wanted to create labels for each item using pictures and words to ensure the items were put back into the correct spot and to use this as a tool for reading. Then I thought of what else would I place in here to work to my advantage and make life simpler? We were forever finding their tiny socks everywhere. Ta da! A sock bucket right next to the shoe baskets! Trust me, it works! I rarely find socks anywhere but in the sock bucket! To hang the items into place, I used the 3M Command hooks. I will let the pictures tell the remainder of the story.

Here I used the "Towel" label for winter coats. 

I implemented an idea from Pinterest to organize the girls art supplies. This simple and inexpensive idea has been a life saver! Now the girls can see what they have and explore their creative side.  Plus, I have found that our four year old has learned to put back her checked-out items once she is done. That in itself is a blessing! I did place the items that need adult supervision out of reach; for example, glue, markers, paints and scissors.





 
As you can see, I used the wall space to my advantage. I would paint the walls to make the space look fresh and crisp, but mind you this is the laundry room. There are two very heavy machines that are not pictured. I hope you find my element of design helpful, and enjoy creating your own
"Where is it" space.

Easy Way to Degrease the Stove Hood Vents!

I have to admit; like so many others out there in the wide world of the web; I have become addicted to Pinterest!  I find myself searching for new recipes, ways of decking out the Holidays, crafts, birthday themes, VBS ideas, ways to organize and the "miracle" to deep cleaning!  I can honestly say our family and house has benefited from my "repins".

My recent pin was to degrease the stove hood vents by simply using baking soda and boiling water.  My research to deep cleaning lead me to a blog titled, 'How To Clean That Greasy Stove Hood Filter' by, Jillee. I quickly went to the pantry and grabbed my Baking Soda in disgust!

Step 1: Remove the vents from the hood. I found two underneath our microwave and another inside the unit.

 

 

Step 2: Fill a your largest stew pot with water. Bring the water to a boil and  slowly add 1/2 a cup of Baking Soda to the water. If you add too much at once, the water will start to fizzle out of control  like a bad since experiment.  

 

Step 3: After all the Baking Soda is in the water, place the vents into the boiling water. I placed the two metal vents into one pot and the foam vent into a fresh mixture. Let the vents sit for about 4-5 minutes. Then with tongs, pull the vents from the mixture. Rinse the vents under hot water. I even gave them a little scrub with dish soap.

  

The water inside the pot will look something like the picture below.  A simple washing with dish soap removed the grease from the pot. 

  

We were amazed with the results! My husband and I felt at ease after the task was complete. Seeing the amount of grease that was removed; we realized the grease could have easily sparked a fire if anything on the stove top went out of control. We vowed to clean the vents more often.

 

This task was easy as pie with very little effort!

Happy Cleaning!

Counting Down Till Christmas With Praise!

Last Year, I started a new tradition with our girls. Instead of counting down the days till Christmas with chocolate, we count down the days by giving praise to our Lord! They girls embraced the idea with joy, and never once did I hear a peep about the missing chocolate!

Here are the Steps:

I simply cut Christmas themed ribbon and rolled the top. With hot glue, I carefully tack the inside of the roll. I made sure the ribbon was about 8 feet in height and cut the bottom. I added a decorative element on the top portion of the roll to add some holiday charm to the strand. To hang the strand, I used a thumb tack in the inside of the roll.

 

 On the first card I write their name, year and the title, "This Christmas I pray and give praise for..."

Then each day I ask the girls, with out assistance from Mom, "today what you would like to give praise for". My younger daughters are five and three, so I write down exactly what they tell me. Emma, the five year old, will write down her praises next year. Afterwards they pick-out one sticker to place on their card and we say a little prayer to Jesus giving Him praise! Afterwards, we uses double-sided sticky tape to tape the card onto the strand.

When the girls tell me what they would like to give praise for, I am astonished of their compassion and understand of the world around them . Their praises are heart-warming and some times bring a tear to my eye. They even give praise for the little things in life for example; a rock they found, having alone time from the other sister, but it is their praise.  

When it is time to put away the Christmas decorations, we place the cards in a zip-lock bag. The next year we revisit the cards to see what Jesus has done in our lives from the previous  year. 

Needed Items:

Ribbion

Hot glue gun and sticks

Tumb-tack

Decorative item

25 Stickers

25 3x5 cards

Pen

Double-sided sticky tape / tape

Enjoy and Happy Memories! 

Author Reading: Temecula Berry Co.

Croaker will make his first debut July 3rd, 2012 at the Temecula Berry Co!  Stop by for Nana's Story times: 9:00am and 10:30am.  Local author, Melissa Alani, will perform an author reading of her story, 'God's Biggest Treasures'.

 During the story, the readers will discover on their journey with the character, Katie,  that something small can become God’s biggest treasures!  The story covers how a caterpillar manifest into a colorful butterfly, an acorn will grow into a giant oak-tree, and a tadpole will transform into a frog. 
 

Once the story has been told, I will recover with animated objects the life cycle of the butterfly and tadpole. With the magic of a magnified-glass; the readers will be able to discover how something that is small can look much bigger.  Each reader will receive a little gift from Mrs. Alani to take home.

The Message behind the story

• The Bible verse John 3:16
• God’s glory
• Something small can turn into something BIG
• God’s love
• Sharing God’s love with others

After the the reading, stop by the barn to learn more about blueberry picking. Enjoy fresh blueberries to make a delicious blueberry pie for the 4th of July!

Temecula Berry Co. 

39700 Cantrell Rd.

Temecula, CA 92591

Book Review: The Fish Who Swam Too Far

 The Fish Who Swam Too Far

By, Danielle Kirrane

 'The Fish Who Swam Too Far', is an enlightening story of a little fish named Harry, whom is teased by his siblings for for his insecurities of being a scared. Loveable Harry, longs to overcome his fears and to build-up courage to be appreciated by those around him.

After a day of taunting by his sisters and brothers, Harry's emotions quickly switched from sadness to anger.  Harry had enough! For the first time he stood-up for himself towards his siblings and then decided to swim away. 

After realizing he had swum too far, Harry hears the calls of help from another clown-fish. There are challenges that Harry has to overcome in order assist the other fish. Harry conquers his fears by repeatedly telling himself, "I am brave." He builds up his courage to help the clown-fish in distress.  Harry has overcome his insecurities!  

The delightful illustrations are in bold color and catches the attention of the little reader. The girls and I were rooting for Harry the entire time. The story brought-up important discussions of respecting others for who there are; that teasing others is not acceptable; how we are all different in our own way; and how we have the power inside us to overcome our insecurities.

A little about the author

Danielle Kirrane resides in NJ, along with her husband and their two daughters, their dog Jayda, their cat Jimmy little, and their fish. She is a stay at home mom, and loves every minute of it! Her new children’s book, The fish who swam too far, was inspired by her oldest daughter. The clown-fish Harry’s character was actually based on their goldfish named Harry. The fish who swam too far was created one day as Danielle sat with her daughter on the couch. She made up this story as an adventure for their fish Harry and to teach her daughter a valuable lesson as well. Her daughter was actually the one to push her to publish it, luckily she did!
For more information on Danielle Kirrane or her book, The fish who swam too far, you can check out her website at:
The Fish Who Swam Too Far

Story age range: Read-aloud - Elementary (Although, I did look-up to see my 17 year old's eyes off of her i-phone and fixed on the story, now that speaks volumes)

To order a copy of, "The Fish Who Swam Too Far" :  Tate Publishing  or Amazon

My recommendations: This was a delightful story that captured the attention of all three of my daughters. The story line instills the theory that one should not let their challenges in life own them; they can own their challenges and overcome obstacles that come their way! 

Book Review: be paitent Petunia

 

 be patient Petunia 

By, Erin Butler

    As a Christian mother and Sunday School teacher, one of the important foundations we can in-still in our children is the Fruits of the Spirit. The story introduction starts with Galatians 5:22-23, and carries the theme of the scripture through-out each page; teaching the reader one of life's challenging fruits, patients!

  The charming character, Petunia, who has wonderful traits, finds it a little difficult to have to wait. Petunia, who is too impatient to wait for the cake to bake, discovers it might have been best to wait after taking a taste of the half baked cake. With each challenge, adorable Petunia encounters with her puppy in tow, are often told that good things come to those who patiently wait. The reader will giggle and start to know with each turn of the page to say, "Be patient Petunia!"

  My daughters smiled from ear to ear and hung on to every word. A book that makes a child giggle, is a book that makes a treasured moment between the reader and the child. When the girls become a little impatient, all I have to tell them now is, "Be patient Petunia!" 

  The book reads as a rhyming story with heart-warming illustrations that captures the emotions of the character. The whimsical critters were a darling added touch.

  A little about the author Erin

Erin Butler is a stay-at-home wife and mother from Springfield, Missouri, whose greatest passions are her faith and her family. Her inspiration for Petunia came from her daughter, in one of those moments that all mothers of toddlers can relate to when they are responding to impatient little pleas saying, “Hold on, wait, be patient!” So Petunia was created as a gift to her daughter, as a way of teaching her what patience looks like in a fun and enjoyable way. That was coupled with a love for reading, and the belief that a book is one of the best gifts you can give to a child to foster learning and imagination. Now available to all, she hopes her little story will bless others as well!

Erin’s other passions include: cooking wholesome real food for her family, learning how to be self-sustaining, enjoying the great outdoors, and drinking coffee. She is also an avid home workout-video fan and occasionally teaches Turbo Kick fitness classes on the side.

Erin's Books & More

Story age range: Read- aloud - Elementary

 

To order a copy of, "be patient Petunia": Tate Publishing  or Amazon !

My recommendation: If you have a little one, purchase a copy to teach the children the wonderful gift of patients! The added gem, is the scripture placed in the story. It is a wonderful tool to teach children to memorize Scripture!