Mike Wozokswi Popcorn: A Monster's University Snack

Super easy! Super yummy! Super fun!

Pop a bag of popcorn and let cool in a large bowl. Mean while, melt some white chocolate in the microwave on 50% power. I start with intervals of 45 seconds and stir in between. When completely melted and smooth, add some green food coloring. I used lime green gel, but any will work.  I added a little cinnamon at this point too. Just a few dashes. Stir to make your chocolate green! Then drizzle over popcorn and stir to coat. Dump out on wax paper and let cool and dry for about 5 minutes. Throw in an apple Juicy Juice Mike Wozowski style and you have got a perfectly fun snack! 

Patriotic Pasta

Want a super easy, super fun 4th of July lunch? Try this Patriotic Pasta!

Put on two pots of water and bring to a boil. Add red food coloring to the water in one pot and blue to the water in the other.  I used a very generous amount in each pot. Add the noodles and cook as usual. Check noodles several times and add more color if needed. You can use regular food color or gel colors, both work great, but gel always gives a more vibrant look! Drain, butter and serve! So simple! 

Firecracker Popcorn

Firecracker Popcorn for Independence Day! 

1 Bag of popcorn, popped

1/2 stick of butter or margarine

1/4 cup white sugar

1/3 cup of light corn syrup

red and blue food color ( I used gel)

( You can add a little vanilla, cinnamon or salt if you want)

Melt butter over medium heat, add sugar and corn syrup. Stir to combine, turn up heat a little to bring to a boil. Let boil for 1-2 minutes, rapidly. Put a little red food coloring in one bowl and a little red in a different one. Mix half of the syrupy mixture into the red color and half into the blue. Stir to combine. Place popcorn in a large bowl and spoon red mixture overtop. Stir to coat. Then repeat with the blue.  Enjoy! :) 

Gender Reveal Party!

We found out what the gender of our baby was around 18 weeks. We planned a gender reveal party to reveal it to our family. We found out on Friday and kept it a secret until Sunday. UGH! That was hard!

We bought pink and blue everything! Cups, napkins, plates, plastic ware and tons of candy for a candy bar.

We decorated with pink and blue balloon creation, pink and blue confetti for on the tables and pink and blue streamers. 

I also had two tables filled with pink and blue dress up items. Guests were instructed to grab a few things off the table to dress up in to express their guess. So if they thought it was a boy, they would choose some blue. If they thought it was a girl, they would dress in some pink things. 

We took a group picture and then chowed down on lots of yummy food! 

Then after the meal we headed outside for the reveal. We filled a pinata with candy the color associated with the baby's gender. 

 Everybody has a bag, blue or pink depending on their guess of the gender. 

 Can you see the color of the candy on the ground??

 Here, I will help you out. Here is our Facebook reveal photos. :) :) :) 

Our little girl will arrive sometime in August. 

We could not be more excited! Out of 13 grandchildren on my side of the family, 10 are boys. So it is time for a girl! :) :) :) We can't wait! 

Our Story

I have struggled with the decision to share this or not. But I want to give God the glory for all the good He does in our lives.

Last year on my birthday, I sat in a waiting room waiting for a second ultrasound to confirm what we already knew; we had lost our second baby.  We had lost our first 7 months earlier. We were devastated. Heartbroken. Angry. We were a lot of things. But hopeless was not one of them. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God would give me a child. I read Sarah and Abraham’s story. I read Hannah’s story. And I prayed. I told God I was angry with Him. He could have changed this, saved my baby. He didn’t. 

I told God we were on Time Out. I loved Him, but I needed space. Space so I would not become bitter with Him. I needed time to be angry. I believe my Heavenly Father graciously stepped back and gave me the space I needed. I believe He wanted to hold me and share in my pain. I believe he wanted to comfort me. But I believe He knew what I needed. He created me after all. He made me the woman I am. He made me independent. He knows how I operate. He knows I do not like to be coddled.  And I believe He was ok with it. He stepped back, but never out of my life. He gave me the space I needed to deal with the circumstances that were thrust upon me. I believe He knew that allowing me the distance I needed, it would draw me closer to Him. 

I never stopped loving Him or believing Him. I did not stop praying. I just stopped pleading. I stopped telling Him what I wanted and why I was angry and how hurt I was. I just existed. I went through my life acknowledging God, His power, His presence, but I kept my distance. I felt like the errant teenager ever at odds with her parents, who spent her days, hours, and minutes caged in her room. Protecting herself, tolerating circumstances that were beyond her control. Loving her parents, but not understanding them. My relationship with God grew stronger. I grew closer to Him through the distance I imposed. It was inevitable, or I fear I would have become bitter towards Him.  

During this time a 3rd miscarriage occurred. But I did not delve into a deep depression, a sea of hopelessness. Instead, I demanded answers from doctors. I made an appointment at a fertility clinic and prayed that God would put me in the care of the right doctors. He did. He so came through. Within 6 weeks of my appointment, I had 2 diagnoses. Both easily managed. My Dr. was proactive, he wasted no time. This is my kind of doctor. This was God’s hand. His provision. For that I am so thankful. 

I could go into specifics with you. But I won’t. I am very transparent about my feelings, but I do not like sympathy. So please do not feel sorry for my husband and I. We are so blessed. Blessed that the few family and friends who knew what we were going through prayed for us. Believed God for us. We are blessed that we have three angel babies in Heaven waiting to meet us someday. We are blessed that our situation has given us vast knowledge about infertility and are able to help others in their own struggles with infertility. We are blessed that our problems were easily fixed. We are blessed. 

This year on my birthday, I sat in a waiting room, waiting to hear my baby’s heartbeat. She is strong, healthy and measuring perfectly. Though sorrow may last for the night joy comes in the morning, friends. We are blessed that we are 22 weeks along with a healthy baby girl. See, God was always there. He never left us. I imagine Him standing with His head against my bedroom door that I locked myself in, whispering, “I know you don’t understand, but I promise this will all be okay. I love you and am taking care of you.”  He did. He took care of us. Though the journey has been painful, there is a sweetness in the sorrow. Seeing God glorified. For the destination is beyond any beauty that I can imagine. Just because something hurts, it does not mean God has forsaken us. It means that He is with us; that we do not have to bear it alone. Our pain is His. I cannot say that I am like James, or heeding his advice in “counting it all joy”. Losing our babies was devastating and painful. But I can see where James is coming from. I have joy in knowing that my Heavenly Father took care of me, even when I distanced myself from Him. There is joy in knowing that I have proactive doctors. There is joy in knowing that He is in control.  I am glad I did not have to do this alone. God gave me the perfect husband, who also knows how I operate. He dealt wonderfully with my out of character erratic emotions. And God was there the whole time, waiting for me. Waiting for me to be ready to be close to Him again. It is painful. It hurts. It’s not fair. But, it will be okay, for He is always near to us. 

All the Children of the World

Last year I published one of my most popular/pinned posts about our Children of the World unit in preschool. Go here to see it.

This year I added some new things and I wanted to share one of them with you today. It is important to affirm a child's identity, promote diversity and understand what skin color means. We can do this by making sure we have our classrooms stocked with toys and books that promote diversity. Multi-cultural dolls, costumes in dramatic play, food in our kitchen centers are ways to do this. Don't forget the book corner too! I will share some new books that I was able to get this year for my classroom that will affirm identity and promote diversity.

 This year I taught my kiddos that our skin color tells our story. It tells us where our families our from, what our heritage is.  We mapped our heritage again this year:

We read books and stocked our Book Corner with these:

You can find it Here.

Go here

Go here

Go here

Go here

We also made a craft of our faces to hold while we sang "Jesus Loves the Little Children"

I originally told kiddos to pick  a head that is their skin color. Then make it look like them.

One class did a great job matching their skin color. My other class insisted they wanted to be different colors, brown mostly! 

I let them choose. 

Provide them with multi colored faces, yarn, scissors, googley eyes, eye stickers, markers and sequins for earrings. We taped sticks to the back. 

Investing in Your Child's Life: Please Put Down the Electronics Part 2

Today I wanted to share a few items that you can invest in or make at home that will provide tons of fun while allowing kiddos the opportunity to use their imaginations and build creative and problem solving skills. Invest a few dollars and some of your  time. I know what those Nintendos and iPads cost. This will be much more inexpensive!

#1. Children's Scissors
       I often hear, "Oh Mrs. B, you're brave!" when a parent walks into my classroom a sees scissors at each child's spot for our Table Time activity. What they mean is... "My child has never came into contact with scissors, except when I wasn't paying attention and they cut their hair into a mullet."

Children learn in many different ways. But some things are learned best by doing, by trying. If I simply explain how to hold the scissors, but never give them an opportunity to use them, to try them, can I expect that suddenly in Kindergarten they will pick up  pair and cut like a pro?  Absolutely not. We often use scissors in preschool, and still we are correcting grip and teaching them how to hold and turn the paper. Practice makes perfect.

They love to chop things to smithereens! Give them a magazine or the junk mail. Give them post cards that come in the mail to invite you to somebody's home party. Give them scissors and let them go. It is not necessary to make them practice cutting lines or shapes. Just cutting something into tiny unrecognizable pieces will result in fruitful building of fine motor skills and comfort using scissors. Don't be scared, give them the scissors! :)

I like Wescott brand, but Fiskars is great too. You can usually find these at the beginning of the school year for about $2. Or you can grab them here.

#2 Dot Painters

   I am up for any type of paint, but if you want to make a minimal mess these are the painters for you. You can usually find them at Michael's for about $15.00 a set. Use a 40% off coupon and that makes them about $9. Totally worth it. You can choose from a few different sets of colors, each set containing six painters. You can also buy them here.

Here are just 2 examples of how we used them in class  Dot Painter Names and Jellyfish

#3 Free Art

 Save the TP tubes and egg cartons. Grab a bin and fill it with recycled items, unused coffee filters, paper, glue and markers. Don't forget the scissors. Throw in a roll of tape (this makes a great fine motor activity). Then, just let them go. Give them the opportunity to create and use their imagination! When they are looking at an app, video game or TV show, kiddos are simply accepting what someone else has put in front of them. This does not necessarily foster the best environment for them to explore their own creativity. 

So spend the $20.00 and give them an opportunity to learn through doing and to be creative!