Happy MLK Day

If you follow me on Instagram you might remember me sharing a pic of Savannah on set in front of a green screen. She was participating in a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with the 264th Medical Battalion. I am sharing the video below. It came out great. Enjoy!

264th Medical Battalion Equal Opportunity MLK Observance 2014 from JOE MUSTANG on Vimeo.

Preschool at Home: Christmas Crafts

It has been really hard staying on our learning schedule with family in town. We have always used workbooks but I have a new appreciation for them now. When I don't have time or the opportunity to do full blown lessons with her it's great to whip out one of these workbooks. We can do a couple pages in a few minutes. I like that because it keeps us from totally abandoning our learning efforts while we have so much going on at home.

We normally always do some type of learning lesson before we start our craft. Today we did the workbook before moving on to some fun Christmas crafts.

I found a pin on Pinterest that used popsicle sticks to make ornaments. I found these colorful sticks at the Dollar Tree and we used super glue to make them hold their shape. She decorated them with glitter after they dried.

I also thought it would be fun to make a Rudolph face. For this quick and easy craft we used a paper plate, eyes, puffy ball (for nose) and pipe cleaners. I also used a hole punch to make the holes for the "antlers" but you don't have to. The pipe cleaners should poke right thru the plate. Savannah curved the cleaner in a U shape before I poked it thru the plate. Rudolph's smile came out pretty nice. 

Once we were done I felt like our face didn't look like a reindeer. I grabbed a brown marker and filled his face in. It made him look so much better. I would recommend wrapping your plate with a paper bag or painting your entire plate brown if you decide to do this. Hindsight being 20/20 I guess I could have cut off the white edge. Maybe next time (LOL)...

What kind of crafts have you been doing with your little ones to get into the holiday spirit?

A Chic Thanksgiving: The Recap

Well. Well. Well. It is Monday night and I honestly don't think I have fully recovered from Thanksgiving. Talk about tired. Girl, I am tie-yurd. I had a great time cooking dinner and hosting Thanksgiving this year. We even had our guests over again to eat leftovers. Here are pics of some of my dishes. 

sweet potato pie with streusel topping

squash casserole 

turkey stuffed with lemon, garlic and onion. marinated over night. it was delicious.

cornbread stuffing

mac n cheese

sweet potatoes. ran out of time to do the casserole.

fried corn

chewy cake

green beans

Sav after dinner…

Sorry I didn't get pics of the banana pudding or potato salad. It was all so yummy and we had a great dinner. How was your Thanksgiving?

Glade and Ziploc Holiday Collection

We are so close to the true start of the holiday season. In my opinion, the holiday season doesn't truly kick off until after Thanksgiving. We've been talking a lot about Thanksgiving here. I wanted to share some very fun and inexpensive ways to add that extra touch to your home this season. I am so excited to share the Glade® Winter Collection and the Ziploc® Holiday Collection. 

One of my favorite ways to get into the holiday spirit is by filling my home with yummy smells. I'm currently burning the Pure Vanilla Joy™ Glade® candle. It smells like a fresh batch of frosted sugar cookies. Yum! The collection also offers Sparkling Spruce™ if you prefer the scent of fresh cut pine and Apple Cinnamon Cheer™ if red apples and spice is more your style. My family will be trying Frosted Berry Kiss™ next because it's a mix of red berries and fresh green garlands, love! Perfect for Christmas, especially if you're like us and you opt for a not-so-live tree.

I always decorate our kitchen for the holiday season. This year I'm happy to have a little extra Christmas flair with the Ziploc® Holiday Collection. All of my Thanksgiving leftovers and desserts for friends are going to look so festive in these storage bags and containers.

We got the red and green containers. Since there were coupons in the paper for this collection I grabbed a few extras. You know these types of items tend to leave your home and not come back around this time of year. I'm happy that I was able to score some to have extras on hand for to-go plates.

These would also come in handy for hostess and teacher's gifts. Visit Kmart.com for over $12 in savings on Glade® and Ziploc® holiday collection products. 

So what do you think? Are you as excited as I am about the approaching holiday season?

THIS IS A SPONSORED POST IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NICHE PARENT NETWORK. I AM A KMART SC JOHNSON BLOGGER, THOUGH ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN.

A Chic Thanksgiving: The Recipes

I had a few people request recipes for the Thanksgiving menu. I created a PDF for the recipes that I've never blogged about or do not have a pin for. Please let me know if I missed anything. If so, I'll share it via Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Enjoy and I hope this helps!

Here is the menu in case you missed it…

Click here to get the recipes included in this menu…

And for the recipes that have been previously shared on this blog...

Potato Salad

Banana Pudding

Chewy Cake

I realized that I didn't have the squash casserole in the PDF. I knew something was missing! I'll be sharing decoration ideas for your Thanksgiving dinner this weekend! Let me know if you have any questions about the recipes. Happy Planning!

A Chic Thanksgiving: Getting It All Done

Now that we've made a menu and gone to the grocery store let's talk about our plan of attack. How are we going to get all this done? With little kids and no one to help it can be difficult to cook such a large meal. To keep frustration and rushing to a minimum I start prepping days in advance. Doing a little bit each day helps me stay organized and in the holiday spirit. 

To start off the week of Thanksgiving I normally check (and double check) my grocery list and recipes to make sure that I have everything. I do any last minute store runs and get all of my fresh produce. If I plan to buy flowers or anything like that I go ahead and make those arrangements too. Or I take note of what my grocery store is offering for decorations. Normally when it's the week of Thanksgiving you can get a pretty good deal on anything Fall/Thanksgiving related.

On Tuesday, I do my mise en place. (Can you tell I'm a Top Chef fan?) I chop up all my celery and onions. I clean and shuck my corn and cut it off the cobb. I cut and clean all my veggies. Once everything is clean and chopped up I place everything in a zip-loc bag or a tupperware container. Everything goes back in to the fridge.

Wednesday afternoon, maybe around lunch I'll start cooking. I make the cornbread for my cornbread stuffing. While that's in the oven I start on my pie fillings and appetizers. When my pies are ready for the oven I get all my veggies going. After my collards, corn and green beans are on the stove I make my potato salad. So by the time Wednesday is over I've cooked all my desserts, the potato salad and all the veggies. If you're like me and you only have one oven then you know it only makes since to make some this stuff a day ahead. 

I normally wake up at about five on Thursday morning because I like to have my dinner ready around one or two. I make my rice and dinner rolls the day of too. Thursday morning is all about the Turkey and casseroles. I make the Turkey last. While the stove is working hard I mix up the lemonade and make sweet tea. I begin heating all the veggies about half way through the Turkey's cook time. Once the Turkey is done I let it rest for a while and then it's time to eat!

This is how I tackle getting all that cooking done. I plan to have Savannah help me as much as she wants. I know it may seem like a lot but splitting it up really helps. I have been asked about sharing the recipes for the Thanksgiving menu I created. I am working on that and hope to share it early next week. How do you prep and plan for big dinners?

A Chic Thanksgiving: Grocery Survival Plan

We have all been there. It's Thanksgiving Day and you're knee deep in pots and pans when you realize you forgot to buy something, you're about to run out of something or you don't have enough of something. It sucks. The last thing you want to do is try to find a store that's open. And God forbid you have to ask your husband or some other unwilling family member to run to the store.

We all know how that turns out. They either can't find what you need or they get the wrong thing. Even though episodes like this are the stuff that holidays are made of I try my hardest to avoid them. I like being prepared so that I can enjoy my time in the kitchen and my husband can enjoy his football.

You remember that episode of The Cosby Show when Claire kept having Cliff run to the store...

Love that episode. I don't want him to end up like Cliff so I start shopping in advance using two separate grocery lists. A list for non perishable items and a list for my fresh produce and items. I carry the non perishable list around with me and whenever I go to the store I grab a few things off the list. By the time Thanksgiving week comes I only have to buy what's fresh.

Tailor your list to what you're making. Here is an example of my non perishable list. 

We have limited freezer space so I'm not able to freeze much in advance. So, I buy my turkey fresh. I do freeze my butter though. 

Now. These are just examples. By looking at this I can already see where I need to add sour cream. Make your lists based on what you choose to make. I make my own Turkey broth so you'll notice there isn't any broth on my list. Do what works for you and your menu. If you plan to use coupons start getting the paper on Sundays if you don't already. I have already purchased my cooking soups, extracts and some spices because the coupons were in the paper last week. Last year there were several ways to save on a turkey and that's another reason I wait to buy my bird. Those coupons normally come out a bit closer to Thanksgiving. 

I like doing my shopping this way because it allows me to buy little by little. I don't have to worry about being in the grocery store all day or running around at the last minute to find special ingredients. Cuts down on stress. What do you think of this shopping plan? How do you get your Thanksgiving dinner shopping done? 

Preschool at Home: A Christmas List

Whether you have accepted it or not there are seven weekends left until Christmas. I was going through the Sunday paper for coupons when I noticed that there were several Christmas toy books in the paper. After counting how many weekends I had left to prepare I thought it would be a good idea to have Savannah write her Christmas list and letter to Santa. 

Anytime I work learning in to something we have to do anyway I feel like I'm winning.  Because there were so many sales papers and toys books in the paper I thought it would be a great time to help Savannah get comfortable with using her scissors. I started by having her cut coupons. (teaching her to save money and cut at the same time -- win) Her job was to cut along the dotted lines on her page. She thought it was very fun to cut coupons for the toys. 

I told her Mommy and Daddy would use some of the coupons and that we could send the other coupons to Santa to help him save money. (and yes, I realize Santa does not need coupons) I liked having her cut coupons because the dotted lines on them made for the perfect guide. My only tip would be to make sure they are not practicing on a page that has coupons that you might actually need.

Once she was done cutting her pictures and coupons we wrote a letter to Santa. I helped her a lot. We both hold the pencil and I make sure her letters are as close to the real thing as possible. She can do a few letters by herself but for the most part she still needs a lot of guidance. 

"I have been a good girl. We will bake cookies for you. Please bring toys to me and Mikey."

Then I had her glue her pictures to a blank piece of paper using a glue stick. I wrote in a couple of the requests she had and we were done. I am currently looking for Santa's address. I would like for her to get a letter back from him in the mail. I'm not sure if the USPS is doing that again this year. I was able to find this PDF but I don't know if that's for this year. I'm going to do more research and I'll post what I find out about this year's Letters From Santa program.

And I just wanted to share this. She has developed a love for the letter H. It's all she writes, paints and scribbles.

Have you and your kids made Christmas lists yet?

Give a Minute. Help Make-A-Wish

Happy Friday! Although none of us want to admit the holiday season is THIS CLOSE to rearing is cheerful head. One of the best ways to get in the spirit a little early is to give back. During the month of September Straight Talk Wireless is donating $1 to Make-A-Wish for each person that takes a minute to  learn about Straight Talk at their participating Wal-Mart. 

Straight Talk will donate a minimum of $500,000 and up to $1,000,000. If you don't live near a Wal-Mart you can still give back by sharing and viewing this video. Your views will help toward the overall million dollar goal. Great, right?  This is the second year that Straight Talk has hosted this program. Last year they were able to meet their million dollar goal! 

Like Straight Talk, we want to help grant a sick child's wish. So, if you're in the market for a new cell phone or thinking about gifting one this holiday season please learn more about Straight Talk's service. They have an unlimited plan for $45 per month that is perfect for a texting talking data needing teenager. 

I participated in this sponsored campaign for One2One Network. All opinions stated are my own.

Happy Memorial Day!!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day! It's a great time remember all of those have served and are currently serving our country. I'll be spending the day with my Soldier. 

My parents also served in the Army. This is me wearing my father's original BDU coat. I kind of "borrowed" it in high school and never gave it back. Now everyone is wearing camo jackets! So glad I got a vintage one for free! Thanks Mom and Dad for your service to our country!

Guest Post: Cheaper by the Family

Cheaper by the family

One vs many 

Having a family to pay for isn’t always as expensive as you might initially presume. If you really think about it, there’s a huge amount of discount available if you aren’t going at it alone. Carrying the full burden of a mortgage, holidays and bills all adds up and single people spend more than  £250,000 over the course of their life than those who are a couple or family. 

In fact, there are heaps of occasions to note that charge more for singles than the 2 point 4 children package. Think about food; buy one get one free and bulk-buying etc are all specifically catered for a larger household. If you are the only one in your house, these offers would generally leave you with too much produce that you struggle to consume before the best by date. 

Holiday for, more than one...

This theory translates to the holiday option too. As many people are opting to stay on our own soil for their vacation getaways, there is an infinite amount of money to be saved, if you’re not going alone... 

There are the obvious savings like shared petrol expenses, kids go, or eat free options that are cropping up everywhere, family railcards and bulk ticket buying for all those activities, admissions and adventures. In fact, in this day and age, having a family is almost a money saving incentive! At least parents are being helped by the public, if from nowhere else. 

Here’s to having a family

As one of the top British holiday destinations, Blackpool has so much to offer for families of all ages. There’s Madame Tussauds, Blackpool Tower Dungeons, The Pleasure Beach, The Illuminations, Sea Life and much, much more. As even more of an incentive to go on holiday and save a fortune with your family, the AN in Blackpool as of the 2^nd May 2013 have just launched Blackpool Resort Passes specifically designed for families to give discount access to some of  Blackpool’s top attractions. There’s heaps of add on options to enable you and your family the best catered package for the activities, travel and entertainment you require. 

You may be thinking what’s the catch and what about accommodation, that’s always expensive right? Wrong. You’re not going to believe your luck when we tell you that you even save money by having a family to bed and board. There are very cheap hotels in Blackpool from Travelodge which have family rooms for the same price as a double, unbelievable right!

 It’s definitely not looking good for all the singles out there, but it’s starting to sound like the universe is taking the side of the more the merrier and congratulating you for your family, enabling you to have and enjoy the cheap summer holiday that you all deserve. Who would have thought that having a family would actually save you money and allow you to go on holiday for a bargain and a half.