A mommy moment.....her first stick figure.

As a mom of four I feel overwhelmed with STUFF! Don't you? I like to save stuff my kids created but I know I can't save everything meaningful nor do I have time to scrapbook everything. So, I save a few and I take pictures of some special ones. I toss the rest and look the other way back from the recycling bin. Here's some examples.

Here's my daughters first stick figure drawing.
My daughters first note to me.

"Dear Mom, I appreciate you.
I love you."

This was all on her own and I loved that moment when she presented it to me on the magnet board.

What do you do to preserve these priceless moments in your life?

A Free printable- Teaching kids to write their names

Are you tired of drawing dots to help your preschooler write their name? Do they have a unique spelling for their name? Here's a link to Kid Zone where you can type in your child's name and print out multiple doted names for them to trace. I use this site for my daughter to practice the letters in her name.

http://www.kidzone.ws/tracers/none/index.asp

Creative healthy school lunches UPDATE!

UPDATE: I was looking for nutritious, fun, creative and cool lunches HERE on a previous post. I just got an e-mail from Tip Junkie and it was what I was looking for so I am sharing it with you. You gotta check out the link. Those ladies are soooo creative and inspiring.

I am feeling the full weight of being a stay at home mom/wife/volunteer/car-pooler/cook/maid/church volunteer/gardner/farmer's market seller on my shoulders right now. We all feel the weight heavier at times. This is my time of feeling it. I am trying to stay positive and try my best to finalize our family routine, sharpen our discipline tactics, and accomplish school work. I am a stay at home mom by choice and I am telling you this because my life is only as exciting as I make it. I choose to add creative little things like lunches in my daily routine to invigorate me and challenge me. I thrive on a new things and a challenge. It's a break from the norm and my kids feel loved by my extra efforts. I am happy when I am being creative. I can't wait to try a few creative lunches this week! Have a great day everyone.

I am a Tip Junkie! Are you?

I want to give a shout out to one of my favorite sites. http://www.tipjunkie.com If you are in a dark hole and haven't been there you have to click on over there. I am inspired by many things I see on there. It screams Mommy creativity!!! Laurie has a real passion for blogging and "promoting creative women through their ideas and products."

Here's a link that I am interested for Back to school traditions!OUR school starts MONDAY!

Staci's note: This weekend I want to pump the kids up in preparation for school starting on Monday. We'll be getting out our glue gun, iron, and sewing needle for a backpack makeover (see the link above for an example). I love the idea and "blinging" up my daughters back pack. I have some hot pink flowers and possible iron on decals in mind. I'll post the before and after picture ideas when we are done.

Have a great weekend and first day of school! I bet a lot of you have started already. You can still do this project this weekend with me. Are you a Tip Junkie too?

My search for healthy, yummy, edible, school lunch box ideas

I have begun my online recipe search for school lunch box ideas. I receive e-mails on my children's development from www.babycenter.com and they had some interesting lunch box ideas. It helped me to get the ball rolling. I want to know what you pack for your kids that is healthy, tasty, and fun for lunch boxes. Please leave me a comment or send me an e-mail. Thanks a bunch! Staci

Here's one I found that caught my eye!
Veggie Wrap Roll-ups With Cream Cheese from www.babycenter.com
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 0 minutes
Total time: 10 minutes

Sandwich wraps now come in a variety of flavors and colors -- we like to use whole wheat, roasted red pepper, or spinach wraps.

Ingredients

2 sandwich wraps or flour tortillas
1/2 cup softened cream cheese
1 tomato, very finely chopped
1/2 cucumber, very finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, cut into very thin slices

Preparations

Place each wrap on a plate and spread the entire surface of each with cream cheese. Place the tomato, cucumber, and pepper evenly over the cream cheese. Roll each wrap up from one end, and cut roll-ups into four or five pieces to reveal the spiral pattern inside. (Makes 2 servings)

Variations

You can also add grated carrot, shredded lettuce, or chopped red onion to the roll-ups. If you prefer, use low-fat or nonfat cream cheese.