Over The Top Mommy

Celebrations

DIY Festive Masks for Mardi Gras

We decided to celebrate “Fat Tuesday”, this last day of Carnival (Mardi Gras), by decorating some festive masks to wear! Emi and I love anything and everything with a little bling, so when we made a stop at Hobby Lobby, we threw a big container of multi-colored rhinestones and some brightly colored feathers into our shopping cart, along with a couple of plain white masks.

 As soon as we got home, our “Battle of the Glue Guns” began!
(note: Emi is almost 9 and now uses the glue gun on her own, but only when I’m supervising her)

I think we each had a different idea in our head of how we wanted to decorate our masks. I tend to gravitate towards the pinks. Emi, on the other hand, was determined to make more of a rainbow arrangement of gems on her mask and started by gluing the larger-sized stones down to the smaller ones. She also included eyelash details on her mask.

Little did I know that when Emi finished her mask, she wouldn’t just stop there, she needed to grab one of her Barbies and get HER ready for Mardi Gras! After Barbie was done receiving a festive makeover, Emi looked at me and said, “Look Mommy, she’s ready for Barbie Gras now!

Doing something like this is so easy and quite therapeutic. It was nice for me to put aside my cell phone and my long to-do list and for Emi to procrastinate doing her homework (hehe!) so that we could just sit and talk while, we sorted and glued gems and decorated our masks. I think this kind of activity also ties in with what I blogged about in my last post, getting back to what’s really important..these moments. It makes me realize that I should UNPLUG at times like this and enjoy that moment WITH Emi! It isn’t just about letting her be a kid or having time for imaginary play or having time for being creative, but it’s also about me getting down there with her and interacting with her.  I think so often as parents, we just get our kids situated with something, like a toy, a show, or an activity, and then go do what we need to do, whether it be to wash dishes, make dinner, fold laundry or get online. We’re all so busy all of the time, that we’re missing the moments. Of course we also have to be realistic because all of things also DO need to get done, but there has to be a way to find balance and/or let some of it go, so we can focus on our kids more. End of rant.

Our Own Oscar Party at Home

I literally spent the weekend cleaning the house. I actually felt like I’d accomplished something in the way of achieving “clean house status” yesterday, and the way I know I’ve reached that point is because I finally vacuum everything and make vacuum lines to finish off a room. Let me just tell you that cleaning my house always includes a sorting of Legos, Calico Critters, Strawberry Shortcake toys, American Girl accessories and a grip of art supplies. Although I do enlist Emi’s help with this, I also need things to be put back in an orderly fashion, so obviously I’m heavily involved in the organizing.
After I mentioned something to Emi yesterday afternoon about watching “The Red Carpet”, a lightbulb must’ve turned on in her head! It seemed that she immediately started planning her own version of an at-home Oscar celebration. She started pulling out every towel in our linen closet that had red in it, and was taping them down, on the floor together along our kitchen floor, with regular scotch tape. Then I watched her make a minimum of 4 trips up and down the stairs to get bring every trophy she’s ever earned, down from her room, which she let me know were going to be our “Oscars”.  At first I was hesitant and found myself saying “not right now” about what she was trying to do, because I didn’t want the living room to get messed up after I’d JUST cleaned it all up. That’s when I stopped to think about whether that was really so important? She’s 8 and has the most incredible imagination ever and why would I want to put a stop to that? So I could have my clean living room? THAT’S what I had to ask myself and it was at that point I decided to just sit back and let her do whatever it was she intended to do. Emi envisioned our Red Carpet to look a certain way and was planning our entire Oscars event, and that’s just what I allowed her to do.

After she was done laying down our beach towel version of the red carpet, she proceeded to make each of us a “VIP Ticket”, which we had to wear around our necks. Every time we entered or exited the kitchen, she had to check it to make sure it was us.

She also had a clipboard with the names of those who were allowed to enter the our Oscar ceremony.  If your name wasn’t on that list, you weren’t getting into OUR Oscars ceremony last night!

Did I mention that the area was roped off, with curling ribbon, and we had to wait until she cut the ribbon to get in?

In the seating area for our Oscars, aka the living room, she had chairs set up with drinks at a little table and a sign on the table that said “Reservation”. (I think she meant “Reserved”)

She tried her hardest to get me to change into a fancy dress, but I was already a lost cause in my pjs, as was her daddy. As we sat on the couch, watching the real Oscars on TV, Emi kept presenting us with “Oscars” for different things, as she stood underneath the TV. I think I won for “Best Female Chef” and another one for something else that’s hilarious but I won’t mention here on my blog! (hehe!) Daddy won the Oscar for “Best Male Chef” and something else too. We were both lucky because each time we won, Emi was the one who stood up and made a speech for us!

Emi never ceases to amaze us with her imagination and creativity and I couldn’t stop giggling when she came over and presented us with our “swag bags”! Each one said “Swag” on it, and contained a snack-sized bag of either Christmas or Valentine’s M&M’s, a JIF peanut butter to-go, and a hot pink paper straw! Seriously, does she know how to hook us up or what?

Did I mention that Emi got our cat to walk our red carpet to accept her Oscar for “Best Kitty”?

It was so much fun watching the Oscars while we had our own celebration at home with Emi. Don’t get me wrong, by the end of the night, my living room looked like someone threw a high school party in it, but I have to ask myself if worrying about having a clean house is worth her NOT getting to have that time to engage in imaginary play? I know many parents would probably not allow this. I’ve even heard people making comments about how when they were little, they could ONLY play like that in their own room, but I think the tradeoff is worth it. My house isn’t on the market and up for sale. I didn’t have guests coming over later. My mother-in-law wasn”t coming over anytime soon to do the white glove test. If there’s no real reason to say no, then why do so? I’m fine with knowing that sometimes I’ve gotta go with the flow and live in the moment! How many more moments like this are going to come along? This is what life is all about for me…living in these moments with Emi!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

I have always loved to read.  I even used to carry a book around with me everywhere I went, when I was a kid. I’m fortunate enough to teach 1st grade and have the opportunity to read so many fun books as read alouds, on a daily basis. One of my favorite authors to read is Dr. Seuss! His books are filled with so many fun adventures. His eclectic illustrations also allow your imagination take over. when you’re reading his stories. My 1st grade students love when I read one of his books, like “The Cat in the Hat” or “Green Eggs and Ham” because of the repetition and the rhyming
We are big readers in our home and absolutely LOVE Dr. Seuss books! We also love having an occasion to tie in food with! So, in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday, we decided to make a special snack to munch on while reading some favorite books by Dr. Seuss! Emi isn’t a big fan of scrambled eggs or even of ham, so we put a twist on “Green Eggs and Ham” and made “Green Eggs and Popcorn!” It’s so easy to make and hard to resist grabbing handful after handful! We use this basic recipe and adapt it for any occasion and/or holiday. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
*1 bag of Wilton white candy melts
*2 bags of microwave popcorn
*green sprinkles
*green M&Ms
*vegetable oil
Directions to make “green eggs”
1)Place a piece of parchment paper on the counter
2)Get a small bowl of green M&Ms ready
3)Pour half a bag of white candy melts into a bowl, microwave 30 seconds, remove, stir and place back in for 25 seconds. Remove the bowl from the microwave again, stirring and add a little bit of vegetable oil and stir again. Allow them to sit and cool for about a minute.
4)Using a teaspoon, make piles of the candy melts on the parchment paper and place one green M&M in the center of each one. Allow to dry.
Directions for popcorn
1)Microwave popcorn according to directions on the bag. After bag is popped and cooled, pour popcorn into a big bowl, separating unpopped kernels and throwing them into the trash.
2)Prepare other half of the bag of white candy melts.
3)Pour melted candy melts into bowl of popcorn and mix together with spoons or your hands.
4)Shake in some green sprinkles.
5)Place “green eggs” in bowl with the popcorn and eat!

Happy New Year 2014 Printables by Lauren McKinsey

I cannot believe Christmas is already over and now we’re quickly moving onto celebrating the arrival of the new year! I can’t resist the adorable printable collections by Lauren McKinsey! Look at her newest one….Happy New Year 2014! It has hanging gift tags, circle tags (in 3 different sizes), drink wraps, straw flags, tent cards, signs, cards to write, plastic bag foldover labels, miniature candy bar wrappers, Hershey’s kiss stickers, push pop wraps and kids coloring sheets! I love the colors and the designs of this entire collection! I also love how she used Sixlets from Sweetworks.  Below are just some of the pics. Click here to find the entire collection.

You can get a free printable from her collection by clicking here!
I can already tell that 2014 is going to be a great year! Cheers!

Holiday Monkey Bread

Monkey Bread is a holiday necessity in our home! It’s so easy to make and is something that we all enjoy eating for breakfast on a festive day like 4th of July or Christmas. There are always leftovers to munch on throughout the entirety of the day too!
Lately, I’ve been trying to handwrite recipes that I make and put them into a recipe book for my daughter to have when she’s an adult.

Hand writing recipes takes WAY MORE time than just typing them out on a computer, but I think it’ll be more meaningful for her to have things I wrote.
Ingredients:
  • 4 cans of Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits (not the flaky ones)
  • 1 2/3 c. sugar
  •  2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 sticks butter
Directions:
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Generously butter a bundt cake pan.
  • Mix sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl.
  • Melt butter in a measuring cup in the microwave.
  • Cut up biscuits, 1 can at a time, roll pieces in cinnamon sugar mixture and layer them in pan.
  • After cutting up each can of biscuits, top the layer with some melted butter. Continue until all cans are cut up and layered.
  • Pour remaining butter over the top of the pan and sprinkle some extra cinnamon sugar on top.
  • Bake for 30-40 minutes, maybe a little longer if necessary. It should be golden brown on top.
  • Remove pan from oven and let it cool slightly prior to serving.
Just seeing this pic is making me want more!

Is your mouth watering yet?

Fun with our Elf on the Shelf

Last year was the first year that we participated in the whole “Elf on the Shelf” thing. Emi came home from school one day talking about one of her classmate’s elf and asked if we could get one.  I had seen others doing it online and there were some really cute ideas. I figured that it would be something fun to participate in. So, we hopped onboard the Elf on the Shelf party! . I thought I’d post some the pics from last year and how our elf “Sugar” ended up posing! The following images are from our Elf on the Shelf adventures last year! Enjoy!

Stay tuned for details about THIS YEAR’S elf shenanigans!

How many more minutes til’ Halloween?

Today I almost fell over from excitement when I saw a TON of Halloween decorations at Pier 1 Imports that I *NEEDED! Seriously, there was even a Halloween tree with ornaments! I told myself that FIRST I need to get past “Back to School” before I’ll allow myself to think about anything Halloween. (I have little pep talks like that with myself all the time) Then I started looking back on some of last year’s Halloween party pics and I really just can’t wait!
Last year, I ordered these adorable shirts from https://www.facebook.com/sweetmadys for the kids. The girl’s version had a cute little witch on it and the boy’s version a Frankenstein. The shirts are personalized with their names. I was tempted to order myself one! Go check out her page!

Did I mention that photo booth is pretty much a requirement at my house?
Yep, I’ve got my daughter pretty well-trained…and my niece and my nephew and my friends!
And sometimes I’ll even hop in there…but not often!
So how many more minutes til’ Halloween, anyway?

Getting Ready for Back to School

I feel like summer has just flown by and little by little I’ve been getting ready to go back to school.
For me, there are 2 kinds of “going back to school”. First, I have to go back to my own first grade classroom. A couple of weeks after that, I have to get ready for Emi’s first day of school!

The first day of school for Emi is kind of a big deal around here. (I’m sure no one is surprised, right?)
I start “hoarding” things for her 1st day of school breakfast, as early as June! I stick them in cupboards, closets, and in the back of my car! I don’t think I even sleep the night before her first day because I’m so busy setting everything up just perfectly, like I’m throwing some big party or something! I’m pretty sure Emi is just excited to see donuts sitting at the table each year.

Earlier today, I was looking back through my pictures from what I did last year and I just can’t believe it’s been almost a year since Emi started 2nd grade!

Whenever there’s a special occasion or a holiday, I love to decorate with printables by Lauren McKinsey! She always has the most adorable collections, some of which you can even personalize before you print! Last year, I was able to use this particular collection for both this table AND in my own classroom!
Check out her collections here: http://www.LaurenMcKinsey.com
This was some of the back to school swag from last year.
I was in LOVE with this lunchbox by Timree, which actually has a chalkboard inside to write a note in.
The personalized folder is also part of Timree’s school supply collection.
You can check out more of her stuff at: http://www.timree.com
These were little pretzel bags filled with Hershey’s Nuggets that were each wrapped with a printable, also from that collection. The best part about assembling these the night before, was that there was no one else around to count how many I’d eaten!
 
Always remember to send something for your child’s teacher on the first day.
Emi likes to bring something for her new teacher and something for all of the former ones.
(Teachers appreciate that kind of gesture, even if it’s just something small.)
I feel like I’m going to have a hard time outdoing myself this year
after looking over what I did last year!
 Guess we’ll find out in a couple of weeks!

Monkey Bread: a 4th of July Tradition

It’s a tradition in our house, to have “Monkey Bread” on 4th of July morning. Personally, I find it to be  one of the yummiest things in the whole world! This year, I decided to add some BACON to half of it.
Monkey Bread basics:
*sugar
*cinnamon
*2 sticks of melted butter
*6 rolls of biscuits (I used store brand this time)
*chopped up, crispy bacon (about 1/2 lb)
 It’s VERY easy to make. First you need to preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Next, start to cut up each roll of biscuits, roll each piece in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, then toss into a bundt pan. After each roll of biscuits, I pour some butter over the top of what’s in the pan. The more moist the layers are with butter, the better it will taste. This year I also added crumbled bacon to half of the pan, so I layered the bacon in between the rolls of biscuits.  Continue layering everything and at the end, pour the rest of the melted butter over the top of what’s in the pan. (At this point, just try not to think about calories and fat)
It should look something like this. Bake it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until it’s a little brown and crispy on the top.  After it’s done, cut into it and serve a big hunk to everyone. We end up picking at it over the entirety of the day! It even tastes good cold!So what’s something YOU like to eat on the 4th of July?

 It was kid tested and kid approved by this girl! 🙂
Happy 4th of July!