Valentine's Day Decorated Oatmeal Container with Many Uses

I drew the hearts on the paper. JDaniel helped with coloring and adding stickers to this oatmeal container.

Now what can we do with it?

• Fill it with a present for my husband
  


• Line it with a plastic bag that comes with the newspaper and make it a vase
  


• Put pictures we find in magazines that have to do with Valentine’s Day or the color red inside. Later we can take each picture out and talk about it.
  


• Use it as a prayer stick container like the Prayer Pail Lu Bird Baby did on her blog. You have to check it out. She decorated a flower pot and then labeled tongue pressers with people she would like her family to pray for. They can pick a stick out and pray for the person on the stick that night at dinner.
  


• Roll it back and forth on the floor and name a person we love each time we roll it.
  


• Put treats in it and take out one treat each day as we count down to Valentine’s Day

How else can we use this container? Leave a comment letting me know what you come up with.

Muffin Tin Monday-Valentine's Day: Red Tin Part One

There isn't a theme this week for Muffin Tin Monday. Since my blog theme is Valentine's Day this week, I went ahead and did a red themed tin (next week's theme on Muffin Tin Monday). I am just calling it " Red Tin Part One".

JDaniel had hot dogs, strawberry yogurt, red pototoes, red grapes, strawberry applesauce and a little chili with red beans. I decorated with three cookie cutters I received in a Valentine's Day exchange with Country Mouse, City Mouse.

If you would like to join in, please click the logo below.

Three Awards to Pass On

I feel so honored. I have received three awards this week that I would love to pass to some wonderful blogs.



To accept the "Happy 101 Award" I need to:
1. Acknowledge the person who gave it to me
2. List ten items that make me happy, and
3. Award it to ten other bloggers.

I would like to thank Jumpin Beans for this award.

My father in-law is still getting weaker and weaker. We went to see him yesterday. He wasn’t talking much, couldn’t sit up without help, and ate only small amounts of food. While we were there, I did see a whole lot of love. This award is supposed to be 10 things that make me happy. I hope you don’t mind that I am changing it to Ten Ways I Saw Love This Weekend.

Ten Ways I Saw Love This Weekend

1.My mother in-law helped feed the man she loves and did so with such respect.

2.The nurses that take care of him kissed his forhead when they came to rotate him in his bed.

3.My sister in-law Gina slept on an air mattress in his room so, my mother in-law could go home and get rest. Each of my sister in-laws has been doing this for a few months.

4.My sister in-laws and brother in-law along with my husband and have been rotating who will come into town to help their parents. (My sister in-law Marcia comes for two weeks at a time.)

5.A freezer filled with food each one has made so that my mother in-law won’t have to cook.

6.Text messages flying from one family member to another. It has helped us know how to pray and how he is doing.

7.My twenty three month old throwing his grandfather a kiss and telling him he loves him.

8.My sister in-laws singing and playing with JDaniel to help keep him entertained.

9.The stream of friends that came through to check on my father in-law.

10.My father in-law reaching out his hand for my mother in-law and her hearing her tell him he had quite a grip.

Here are the blogs I am passing this onto:

Living with Fairies

Lemon Drop Pie

Live and Love Out Loud

For Love or Funny

The Practical Mom Guide

Steph's Cafe

Confessions from a Working Mom

Izzie, Mac, and Me

Tickled Pink Twice

The Mama Zone



I received this award from the Sevin Family and Acting Balanced. They both have amazing blogs. Please check them out! Check out Jumpin Beans while you are at it.


Here are the rules to the award:

1.Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
2.Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
3.Link the nominees within your post.
4.Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5.Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

I am passing this award onto the following blogs:

See Great Things

Home Grown Families

Singing in the Rain

Mine are Spectacular

Good, True and Beautiful

Totally Tots

Buried with Children

Out Numbered 3-1

Mama to 3 Blessings

Mommy Guru

Winners of the Cozy- Soft Wear Me Blanket Giveaway

AF_wife and coriwestpha have won the Cozy- Soft Wear Me Blanket Giveaway. I will be contacting both of you via e-mail today.

Winner of the Child's Apron Giveway

Angela is the winner of the Child's Apron Giveaway. I will be contacting you via e-mail today.

Family Dance-off Video Competition

You know that JDaniel4 and I love to dance. We are still dancing around to Ross King every night. Here is a fun competition that includes family dancing and great prizes:

Family Dance-off Video Competition, sponsored by Primrose Schools. Primrose Schools, the has launched a national campaign to promote physical activity and healthy lifestyle choices by encouraging families across the country to boogie on down!

Here's how you can compete in the Family Dance-off:

1. Record a 30-second home video of your family's best dance moves. The sillier, the better!

2. Visit FamilyDanceoff.com and upload your best take from now until March 19th, 2010.

3. View and vote daily for your favorite family dance video!If your video makes the cut, your family can have a chance to WIN these great prizes:

$5,000 grand prize
Wii Fit Bundle
FLIP Video camera
$30,000 donation to your local Children's Miracle Network hospital

Disclaimer: I was contacted by MomSelect and asked to mention this competition. It was possible to register for a prize by mentioning it. I have not registered for the prize. This just sounded like fun.

World Math Day Competition

Do you have a child that loves math? Here is a great opportunity for them to flex that math muscles:

World Math Day for students ages 5-18 on March 3, 2010. You can register at http://www.worldmathsday.com/2010/Default.aspx?. The competition is a free, online math competition where students compete against one another in a quest to answer the most math questions in 24 hours.

Last year, a new world record was set after a staggering 1,952,879 million
students from 38,058 schools in 204 countries answered 452,681,681 math
questions correctly during the World Math Day competition. Students are looking to break the record again this year.

Guess Who Snuck a Chunk of Nana’s Cake

On Thursday I made a cake for my mother in-law. I left it on the counter to cool during nap time. When JDaniel woke up we came downstairs to play and get a snack. Well, the phone rang and I started talking to my friend Bridget about how we had each done at the Angel’s Attic Consignment sale. JDaniel decided to get himself snack since mommy had been side tracked. He pinched a chunk of the cake that was sitting on the counter. Then he brought it to me. At first I couldn’t figure out what he had in his hand. I thought it was a piece of bread that fallen on the floor during lunch. My housekeeping is lacking, but I don’t usually leave chunks of food on the floor. I looked at what he had in his hand again and asked him if it was cake. “Yes!” he said. After telling Bridget I need to go and why (Yes, I told her I was the mother on a cake sneaker.), I went to investigate and there was a toddler size chunk of the cake missing.

Thank goodness I can cover the area with frosting. He has never taken things off the counter before. That maybe because he was too short to reach the counter until now. I immediately placed on the toaster oven high out of reach.

Friday Fill-In #162

1.I know that it will get warm here soon.

2. Why does February seem like the longest month?

3. You can't help but you can pray.

4. Ice and snow are on their way; bring it on!

5. Where have you looked to find the silver lining?

6. Hope and warm weather will soon be available.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to spending time with my in-laws in Georgia, tomorrow my plans include trying to get JDaniel to take a nap in the portable crib at his grandparents and Sunday, I want to get ready for Valentine’s Week on my blog!

Please click here to participate in Friday Fill-In #162