Mommy Moments and Frankenstein Stitches

I was so honored to be asked to share a Mommy Moment on Mommy of a Monster and Twins. Natalie has an amazing blog and is a wonderful writer. The opportunity to get to share my thoughts on her site is fantastic.
What am I sharing?
The post I am sharing on her site today is about one of the scariest days I have ever had as mom. JDaniel started the day as a preschool dressed up in a robot costume ready to go to a playgroup Halloween party and ended the day with a scar on his forehead just like Frankenstein. 
If you have a moment, please head over and read about my scary day.

Muffin Tin Monday on Sunday- Veterans Day

Veteran's Day isn't until Friday, but I thought we would celebrate in a little early.
JDaniel loved the mandarin oranges in the star shaped ice cube tray. They were hard to pull out, but I think he thought it looked like more oranges than he usually gets. When he discovered they weren't enough, I reloaded the ice cube tray.
The stripes on the flag themed lunch are made of sun dried tomato bread, ham and cheddar cheese. I guess it is like having very skinny sandwich fixings.
This lunch was a hit. He could barely wait for the picture of the meal to be taken. He was also very hungry. We had a very busy morning.

If you look closely in the picture, you will see a hospital bracelet on one of his wrists. JDaniel fell and landed with his head against a coffee table on Halloween Day while we were at playgroup. I will be sharing more about what happened on Mommy of a Monster and Twins tomorrow.

This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday!

Thanksgiving Link Ups and Giveaway Winner!

I am going to be offering two Thanksgiving Link Ups this month.

The first will be a Thanksgiving Traditions link up that will be much like the Halloween Traditions link up. There will be links for recipes, crafts along with traditions and memories. This link up will run November 17th thru November 26th.

The second link up is called Serving Others Thanksgiving. This link up is an opportunity for you come up with a way to serve others during the Thanksgiving season and write a post about it. One post will randomly be selected  and the blogger will receive a $5 Starbucks gift card. This link up will run November 20th thru November 28th.

Here are some ways you could serve others:

Donate food to a food bank

Make a card for a neighbor, mail person, etc..

Send a card to a friend or family member that would rejoice in finding mail in their box.

Take a flower to a nursing home and ask them to give it to resident that needs cheering up.

Drop off a baked good at a police or fire station.

Find a family in your church that could use a little help.

Take your child’s teacher a cup of hot chocolate or special treat.

I will have button for both  link up on my blog soon.



In other news the winner of the Purse Perfector is paige. I have contacted her via e-mail.

Read.Explore.Learn.- Call Me Gorgeous!

Welcome to Read.Explore.Learn.! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie-in to children’s books. I look forward to seeing ways you have learned with and explored books.
Steps:

• Link your activity below.

• Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.
                                                         
  
  
  

<center><a href="http://www.jdaniel4smom.com/"><img alt="Shibley Smiles" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-wYnCaxCjpQ/TIbl9KccMVI/AAAAAAAAB98/vjalStjjb-I/s1600/ReadExploreLearn.jpg" alt="jdaniel4smom" width="150" height="150" /></a></center>

• Please try to visit at  least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment.

• If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.
  

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

Call Me Gorgeous by Giles and Alexandra Milton was shared during story time by the amazing Miss Amber.  The story is really a description of a very unique animal. Each page spread shares a beautiful illustration and new attribute of the mystery animal.

This animal has antlers, pig’s ears, spines on the outside, teeth  a beak, and frog’s eyes to name a few. As you read about it unique make up, it is hard to imagine what it will finally look like. The final illustration is priceless.


What did we do?


Online Creature Creation

We went to Switcheroo Zoo and created an amazing new animal. I love this online free program that allows you to morph animals by body section. We didn't write a story on the site, but you can create a story right on the site.


Craft

JDaniel created this monster with many eyes and a brain on top.

This post is linked to Feed Me Books Friday, Link and Learn,  Let's BEE Friends and It's Playtime .

Accepting Unwanted Candy and Sorting

When I was little my sisters would sort out their candy and pull out all the Snickers for me. It wasn’t out of the goodness of their hearts or because they didn’t like Snickers. It was totally about finding a cheap birthday gift for me
My birthday is two days after Halloween and candy was a wonderful gift to give and get. I really loved Snickers back then.

Regifting candy seems to run in my family. After gathering candy with the little boy next door while trick or treating JDaniel decided to do it too.
Before JDaniel could regift some of his candy, he had to sort through it. JDaniel started digging through his Halloween bag on Tuesday morning and started sorting them into piles. The idea was all his own.
The first sorting projects involved sorting out the candy he likes into a pile with the remaining candy being things he doesn’t like.
He really doesn’t like anything with peanuts in it. The Snickers, Peanut M&M’s, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups ended up in the don’t like pile. ( I tried to guide him away from candy with peanuts when he was selecting candy while trick or treating, but we still ended up with some.)
Who gets  the candy he doesn't like? Dad gets them. JDaniel informed my husband that he can take them to work to give to his friends that don’t get to trick or treat.
Once the icky candies had been placed on my husband’s work laptop, the sorting began again. This time the candy was sorted by type. JDaniel wasn’t sure what some of the candies were. We had to give him a brief explanation of  what candy was behind some of the wrappers  before they could be place in the correct pile.

There was a candy bar pile, candy in bags pile, skinny candy bar pile, skinny bagged candy pile, and so on.
He did an amazing job of sorting and resorting the candy until he felt they were in the right place. I was invited to check his pile selections frequently. This took about a half and hour. He is nothing if not thorough.
When he was done with the “good” candy, he started hiding it all over kitchen. I encouraged him to keep them all in his trick or treat bag so we would know where it was. Thankfully he finally gave in and said that that would be good.

This post is linked to Alphabe-Thursday on Mrs. Matlock and Mama Kat's Writing Workshop! It is also linked to my Halloween Traditions link up. If you haven't had a chance to link up your recipes, crafts, costume pictures or posts on tradition and memories, please do. The link will be open until Nov. 4th.

Pause Life for a Moment- From Corporate to Domestic

Sometimes you read a blog and you just connect with the blogger's words and writing style. That happened when I first visited From Corporate to Domestic. I love what she says and I love how she says it. Natalie is an amazing mom, wonderful blogger and fabulous commenter. I am so glad she is here sharing today.

I could not have been more honored when JDaniel4's Mom asked me to be featured on her Pause Life for a Moment feature. I always love reading her blog and her Muffin Tin Mondays and all the fun activities she does with her son. I hope to be able to be as creative in the learning department once my son is older. JDaniel is going to be such a smart little boy because of his mommy!

When my parents dropped me off to college, I knew that a chapter in my life had closed. I sat on my bed alone and reflected on how my life would never be the same as in high school. My relationship with my friends would change, I wouldn't live at home anymore, and I would have a new found freedom.

This was the first time in my life that I wanted to push pause to have more time to say goodbye to my youth.

After 4 years of college, I had finally reached the moment that all college students are striving for---graduation. As my family, my boyfriend (now my husband), and my future in-laws left to return home I felt empty. I wasn't ready to let go of my college years to go into the workforce. I sat alone in my apartment realizing the enormity of that moment. I would soon be leaving this apartment, this campus to embark on a new journey.

I wanted to push pause to have a few more years of my biggest worries being if I received an A in my classes, being on time to my part-time job, and where I was going to hangout with my friends.

After all this planning, my wedding day was finally here. I was in my beautiful wedding dress about to marry my best friend. Once I walked down the aisle I knew the night would fly by.

I wanted to push pause to enjoy this moment forever. Dancing the night away with my Prince Charming.

As the moment finally arrived for my son to make his debut into the world, all I could think of was I've been pushing forever---is he ever going to come out? But then he did, and I couldn't believe how beautiful he was or how he was something my husband and I created together. A new life is such a miracle.

However, with all the hustle and bustle at the hospital I didn't realize how fleeting these moments were. I didn't think of pushing the pause button and before I knew it these moments were gone.

Today as I look at my 1 year old (as of last week) and can't believe he's no longer the little baby I used to swaddle and cuddle him on my chest. Now he's a big boy on the go wanting to experience everything.

I wish I could push pause so I could revisit these treasured moments. They are only small for so long and before you know it your baby is all grown up.

Life is such a precious gift make sure to thoroughly enjoy every minute of it.  JDaniel4's Mom thanks for having me over to reflect back on my "pause moments."

Please take a moment to go and explore From Corporate to Domestic!