DIY Canvas Pictures

Due to the fact that I have an amazingly talented photographer that just happens to be my cousin, I have a house full of beautiful photos hanging on our walls CDs with beautiful pictures. I made it my mission to finally print our latest family portraits and display them throughout our home. I was in love with the idea of canvases rather than framed pictures but canvases are super costly and that just doesn't work for my teacher budget. Rather than giving up my desire for canvases, I turned to Pinterest for a DIY version.

I found several tutorials but ultimately decided on this tutorial. I like the way that it created the canvas texture on each photograph. I printed 16x20 prints at SAMs club for around $5 each. I picked up all other necessary supplies at Michaels. 

I put the boys down for their nap and got to work! I was able to complete all five canvases during their nap! I let the canvases dry for the remaining afternoon and was able to hang them up after the boys went to bed for the evening. I LOVE how they turned out! This was a super easy project and I definitely plan to convert several other framed prints from around my house into beautiful canvases. 

This project was so easy that I decided it would be the perfect gift for my students to give to their parents for a Christmas gift. With the help of my fabulous coworkers, we were able to turn 67 student portraits into beautiful canvases. The kiddos were so proud and I'm sure the parents loved having a present they could keep out year-round!

If you haven't tried a DIY canvas project, I highly recommend trying it! It's super easy and so much cheaper than purchases canvas prints. 

Easy Meal Prep for a Busy Mom

Thanks to my personal trainer brother, Taylor, I have discovered the importance of meal prep. I am in the process of making a lifestyle change when it comes to food and meal prep is the key to my success!

Meal prep makes my life so much easier! I prepare food every Sunday for the following week. I make my breakfast and lunch for the week. I prepare dinner each night after I get home from work. I knew going into this meal prep adventure that I would need something quick and easy because I wasn't willing to give up the three to four hours people typically spend on meal prep.

Before reading on, it is important for me to mention that I don't mind eating the same thing each day. Actually, eating the same thing keeps me on track! The variety comes into play during dinner and that works for me.

Breakfast is my favorite meal! Before this journey began I rarely ate breakfast which led to me being starving later in the day. My favorite item to make for breakfast is egg muffins. I love these because I can make 12 (or more) at a time and that lasts me all week. My nearly two year old son also loves them. I simply make them on Sunday and store them in the fridge in an air tight container. Each morning I pop two into the microwave for about 30 seconds and I'm good to go.

Ingredients:

Turkey sausage
Eggs
Egg whites
Spinach
Shredded Cheese
Onion Flakes

I begin by browning turkey sausage. Once done, I divide the turkey sausage evenly between each of the 12 "muffins". Next, I combine 5 whole eggs, about a cup and a half of liquid egg whites, and pepper to taste. I evenly pour the egg mixture into the muffin tin. I also add shredded cheese, a few onion flakes and shredded spinach to each muffin. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Next up is lunch prep. While the egg muffins are baking, I get busy making my lunches for the week. My lunch of choice is turkey burgers and broccoli. These are simple, quick, and delicious. 

Ingredients

1 lb. lean ground turkey

Oregano

Minced Garlic

Ranch Dressing Seasoning 

Mix the pound on turkey, seven shakes of oregano, seven shakes of minced garlic and the packet of ranch dressing seasoning. Divide the mixture into fourths and form four patties. I use my George Foreman grill and cook all four patties at the same time in about 15 minutes. These are seriously delicious! 

While the turkey burgers are cooking I steam one bag of Steamfresh broccoli and divide the broccoli among my four containers. Voila! Four lunches are complete in about 20 minutes! 

You may be wondering why I only prep four lunches. I do this because I tend to have leftovers from at least one dinner. I use those leftovers for lunch on the following day. Along with breakfast and lunch, I pack a few healthy snacks for between meals such as an apple, orange, and nuts. 

All in all my weekly meal prep takes about 45 minutes, including clean up! I can give up 45 minutes of my Sunday to ensure that I make healthy choices throughout the week. If you haven't tried meal prep, I would highly recommend it! If you already meal prep, what are your favorite meals?

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is AMAZING!

I have recently discovered the amazing Annie Sloan Chalk Paint! If you haven't heard of this miraculous creation, head over to Pinterest for a plethora of ideas. It is the perfect paint because it doesn't require sanding or priming. It is also super forgiving and easy to work with. 

I haven't been a fan of our builder grade bathroom cabinets for a while! Scouring Pinterest in hopes of finding a solution, I came across Annie Sloan Chalk Paint! My first project was my guest bathroom. I chose the color Duck Egg Blue and I LOVE the way it turned out! Obviously, I need to decorate the remaining portion of the bathroom but I'm too impatient to wait for the finished product before taking the "after" picture! 

Warning: Once you discover how simple painting with this chalk paint is, you will want to paint everything in your house! 

My next project was the master bathroom. This project was a bit more ambitious considering it consisted of two vanities, bathtub frame and tall towel cabinet. For this project I chose the color French Linen. This color is a great compliment to our bedroom wall color. I absolutely love this color! I have recently purchase rugs and will post an official "after" picture soon!

My next project is the laundry room cabinets! Now to decide on the color...What color would you suggest?

Classroom Management at Home? Yes, Please!

It's official! I'm the worst blogger ever! One of my New Year's Resolutions was to be more consistent with blogging and well, it is now February 2nd and I'm ready to make that happen!

Elijah, my four year old son, is finding it hard to turn is listening ears on and his whining off! Seeing as I am a third grade teacher, I decided to put my classroom management skills to work! I mean, if a behavior chart can help 20 students follow directions then surely it can work miracles for one child! Right?!?

I decided to introduce the clip chart behavior system. This little system has been such a blessing in the classroom and I am so excited to use it with Elijah. I sat down with Elijah to discuss what our family rules should be. I began calling this "Elijah's Rules" but decided that family rules would be a better fit seeing as these are rules that apply to our whole family and will soon work for our nearly two year old, Griffin.

Elijah will start each day on "Good Job." We will mark where he is on the chart with a clothes pin (soon to be added). I will have in decorate the clothes pin to help increase his ownership of this little chart. One little trick I've learned in my seven years of teaching is that when they feel a part of the new system they are more likely to follow it willingly!

As the day progresses, Elijah will have the opportunity to move up or down the chart depending on his behavior. I LOVE this part of the clip chart system! Even if he moves down the chart, he has the opportunity to improve his behavior and move back up. This is helpful because occasionally students who move down give up and continue to act out. Having the opportunity to move back up gives them motivation to reflect on their behavior and make improvements.

At the end of each day we will discuss where he is on the chart. I have purchased small sticker jewels that we will add to his clothes pin each day he ends the day on "Great Job." My plan is to take him to the Dollar Tree and Target Dollar Spot to pick out a few small prizes. Once his clip is full of jewels he will be able to choose a prize from his prize box that is filled with toys he selected. Exciting, right?

Click Here to download your own copy of this behavior chart. If you would like to have different rules or consequences feel free to let me know and I can email you the version of your choice!

Enjoy!

Elijah's 4th Birthday: Construction Theme

It's official! I'm the worst blogger EVER! It's now been close to two months since Elijah's party and I haven't documented it yet!

Elijah is a typical four year old boy and is obsessed with all things cars, trucks and dirt! He is especially fond of construction type vehicles, thanks to all of the road construction going on in our area. So a construction themed party was perfect!

Per the usual, I began searching Pinterest for as many DIY decor projects as I could find. I ended up making his cake based on a tutorial I had found. I was thrilled with how it turned out!

One of my favorite parts of the decor was the food table. Each food item had a corresponding construction term. This table was a huge hit at the party! The kids loved the yummy food and the adults loved the clever match-ups between the food and the construction theme. 

We created several stations for the kiddos making sure to stick with the construction theme. We had a station where the kids hammered golf tees into foam blocks that I had wrapped in construction themed paper. 

Other stations included a "construction site" where kiddos used giant bricks to build their masterpieces. Also, we used a baby pool to create a sand pit filled with miniature tractors, dump trucks and bulldozers. 

Elijah was thrilled to see his load of presents as well! He ended up with every construction toy that exists, I'm certain! He was beyond excited and still plays with these toys daily!

What's a construction party without TRACTORS?? This was by far Elijah's favorite part of the party! My uncle was kind enough to supply two tractors for the kiddos to sit on and take pictures with. They were a huge it all around!

I had a great time planning Elijah's 4th birthday! All of the hard work always pays off when I see how excited he his during the party! I'm already dreaming up and pinning away for his next party! 

Teacher's Toolbox and a New Classroom Theme

I have been scouring Pinterest for some classroom organization tips! I came across many amazing ideas, but one was so fabulous that I had to make it immediately!

Introducing the teacher's toolbox...

Haha! I know it doesn't look like much now, but wait until you see the finished product! I bought this 22 compartment storage masterpiece at Lowes. The navy color didn't work well with my classroom color scheme so I opted to spray paint it black! I LOVE the black, however the spray painting didn't go as well as I had hoped! I've read that you can find the same product in gray at Home Depot, so that may be a better option! I removed all of the drawers and spray painted the entire organizer black! While it was drying I began printing and cutting my labels. I purchased my labels off of Teachers Pay Teachers and followed this fabulous tutorial. The total project took me about an hour! I am in love with the finished product and cannot wait to use it in my classroom next year!

My hubby had a day off yesterday so we decided to let the boys go to daycare and have a very rare date day! We started the day off at IHOP, which was delicious! I highly recommend the cinnamon pancakes! 

Despite my best efforts, we didn't go to IKEA, but I did manage to convince him to take me shopping for my classroom! For the past six years, I have had a jungle theme in my classroom. This year, I decided it was time for a change! I decided to go with BRIGHT colors and chevron with a splash of elephants! Weird combination, I know! However, I'm obsessed with elephants and thanks to my friend, Sara, I've found a fabulous classroom decor pack that perfectly integrates my love of chevron and my obsession with elephants! We stopped by the Dollar Tree where I scored loads of book baskets that matched my color scheme perfectly! Next, we headed to Walmart in hopes of finding a coordinating rug! I lucked up and got the last chevron rug they had and it was perfect!! On the way to checkout we passed my favorite find of the day....an elephant beanbag!!!! I am beyond thrilled about this purchase!! Since I was unable to find a chevron chair (every chevron themed classroom has to have a chevron chair, right??), I ordered one online and can't wait for it to arrive! Overall, I am ecstatic about the progress I am making towards redecorating my classroom! 

6th Anniversary

Brian and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on May 31st. I can't believe that we have been married for six years!! We have an amazing life together and I can't imagine my life anymore perfect that it is now! I am so thankful for the life we have together and our precious baby boys. I can't wait to see what the next sixty years brings!

Before the anniversary celebrations began, we headed to Elijah's blastball game. I just love watching Elijah play this game and having Brian out on the field with him. So precious! After Elijah's game we came home to change clothes and then headed to Brian's parents' house so that we could drop the boys off. I don't love the idea of the boys spending the night away from home, but I know they are in good hands with their Nanny and Poppy. After dropping the boys off, we headed out to celebrate our anniversary.

Brian planned a day full of surprises. I'm not really a fan of surprises so I was a bit nervous, but I was pleasantly surprised! We started the day with a lunch date at McAlister's Deli. This doesn't seem too exciting, however, it's where we had our first date! 

Next, we headed to the next surprise....Mad Platter! This is such a fun place that I love to go but Brian isn't always excited to join me. We decided to make a celebration plate that we could use during all of our future celebrations. We had such a great time, maybe I can't get him to come with me more often! 

 

After Mad Platter we had time to kill before the next surprise so we went SHOPPING! Yay! We headed to Marshalls, of course, and I scored two new shirts! We stopped at a few more shops and picked up a few items for Elijah's upcoming birthday party. After several stops, we were on our way to the next surprise on the agenda.

I had no idea where we were headed and was pleasantly surprised when we pulled in front of the Balanced Day Spa! Brian had scheduled a couples massage. The massage was wonderful and such an amazingly relaxing time!

Next, we were off to dinner. I had mentioned in prior conversations that I would like to try The Melting Pot at some point. Little did I know, Brian actually listened and surprised me once again with dinner reservations at The Melting Pot! When we arrived, there was a rose and a sweet note from Brian waiting for me at the table! So sweet! Dinner was delicious but a lot of work! We both agreed that we would go back for dessert only, seeing as that was our favorite part of the meal.

We had a wonderful anniversary and I absolutely can't believe we have been married for 6 years and are the parents to two amazing little fellas!