Back to School Tips for Preschoolers

As our summer vacation comes to an end, we are finishing up our last days of freedom. With having been home for 4 years, the biggest change in August was my husband going back to work. Now it will be back to work for both of us and to school for the other two.

As a newbie to this school thing (I usually am on the teacher side of the occasion)- I found this great article on Back to School Tips for Preschoolers. There are great ideas for what to include in your child's backpack and tips for first timers.

So off to Grandma's for a few days of "vacation"- two children and stairs are probably not the most relaxing ways to spend the last few days! Counting the days down...

Unbecoming a Stay at Home Mom

After four years at home, I am becoming a WOHM- a work outside the home mom. As a mom, I have only been a stay at home mom recently adding the work at home mom part. Now, as my friend Amber says, I am a work at home mom with a moonlighting gig.

I am going back to teaching in one week. I got a great job- a consultant teacher to teachers that teach the gifted and advance middle school students. I travel to four schools and help teachers teach the really smart kids.

A far cry from my last teaching- teaching children with learning and behavioral problems.

I am excited about the job since it is what I always wanted to be as a teacher. I am not excited about getting up each morning and getting my children out of the house. My children have never been forced to get up- or for that matter- have a bed time. All of that will change now. :)

So continue with me on this journey... see how I am a WAHM WOHM! A work at home mom (still with Smart Moms and my preschool site) and a work outside the home mom. What a adventure- what a story!

Multiple streams of income... right?

Bad Hair Day

This was too good not to publish today-

Hair after a day at the beach (having been up in a pony tail)!

Two Girls Dancing!

Two two years old get together + "Who Let The Dogs Out"= FUN! FUN!FUN!

Bloggtipping for August

I am joining in with other work at home mom blogs to blogtip other blogs.
I learned about this from Bev's Easy Craft Site and I participating with the 4fabmoms.

Blogtipping Definition: Blogtipping is where you publish a blog post in which you link to three unsuspecting blogs and offer three compliments and/or one helpful tip to each blogger. (Or adapt those numbers to your own preferences; the principle of selflessness is what matters most here.) Blogtipping is a refreshing and useful surprise that can start a blogger’s month with a huge smile!

It is great to find other blogs that have wonderful information and to encourage others to view your blog.

This month's tips:
Lilly Grace- the youngest of the tipped!
Life on the Road- Home Business, Homeschool, & Cats
The Mommy Blog and her adventures at Blogher

Glamour Magazine Wants to Know About Prayer

I received this email from Rachel Hamman about a survey Glamour magazine sent about prayer.

If you would like to participate, answer the following questions and email the answers. Or just comment on this post so we can see your answers.

1. What's the craziest thing you've ever prayed for?
(or most unique or silliest thing)

2. What's the last thing you prayed about?

Send me your responses--a couple of sentences for each--and your:

full name:
age:
city/state:
phone:
email:
PLUS, a high-res JPG photo of your smiling face (if someone else is in
the photo, we can crop it).

A True Summertime Experience- Home Made Ice Cream

I made ice cream yesterday. I make home made no cook ice cream at least one time per year for our church annual ice cream social. It was soooo good to me, but no one at church hardly ate it. That is okay though, since I brought home the rest and saved it for myself!

I always use a no cook coconut ice cream recipe- this time was Almond Joy. If you like coconut, this is for you. It was quite rich so you can only eat a little at a time.

To read more about the recipe, you can see my Preschool Activities Everyday blog with the whole kitchen fun recipe. Make some ice cream with your family!

ChipIn for a Single Mom Scholarship

Helping Hearts and Hands is a local social service organization of women in our community. We are giving one scholarship away Sept 1 to a single mom attending vocational school or college that is a resident of our county. With your help, we can give away 2! Chip In to donate. All money will go directly to Helping Hearts and Hands (less paypal fees I will have to pay!).
Thank you for your help.

Blogging for Beginners

As I reach my 100th post on my very first independent mom blog, I have began to research on ways to make money from a blog.

Smart Moms is always looking for ways to make money from home. A blog is a simple way with little monetary investment to make money, if done correctly.

Do I know what correctly is?

Not completely or much at all as I begin to research.

However, believe it or not, this blog, without effort except posting quite a few days per week, has made me around $50 in the past 4 months.

Not much, but not too bad for not much work.

Over time, it will be enough to buy a new pair of shoes without guilt, or eventually pay for a family vacation (my trick is that the money will all go into an online bank account I do not access on a regular basis!).

And the only cost I have in this blog is my new domain- www.the-day-of-a-mom.com (no more blogspot.com!) and that is costing me $5.99 a year from 1&1. And that is even with a free email address!

I am going to be forging ahead with learning about blogging and I hope you will join me. Here is a place to start, a 6 figure income earner blogger with some beginning blogging tips.

One more star for hubby!

I have already bragged about my husband about how great it has been having him home. Last night, he cleaned out the pantry! I got the nice pantry shelf organizers about 9 months - 1 year ago and cleaned it out pretty good. But I did not look at any expiration dates. Well, here in the hurricane state, you tend to stock up on canned goods and non-perishables. Who knows how long those things last? Well he found some pretty old ones. Have you ever heard of a can of artichokes exploding???? ...that is what started all of this off.

So now the pantry is free and clear of old food- now I don't have guilt over not using it.

And you know what they problem was... recipes. I would gather up ingredients to cook a recipe and go back to the plain old food I always cook! Gourmet cooking is never a quick option!

Thanks to my hubby and his wonderful eagerness to clean our house during his vacation!

P.S. He wanted me to add that we have more pasta per capita than any other house in the US. I never use up a whole box and always try to work it in. It would help if I only bought one type of pasta and then that would solve the problem!