2011.... is outta here!

My original post for today was to do a review of 2011 and all my favorite posts, but I decided to share my last family tradition with you. As a child, we always got a new calendar on Jan 1, (kind of obvious right?), a few years ago, I was hard pressed for a present for my sister for Christmas. She and I are the same in that we love personalized gifts or taking a gift that we buy and making it ours!

Shutterfly has amazing calendars that you can personalize by adding pictures through out even on the dates on the calendar (again not a real unusual idea). I love the new idea of the fresh start for a new year.

I am not a big fan of resolutions, for the simple fact that everyone makes them and everyone breaks them. I  create goals, like my 30 year goals, a new goal each month to incorporate things that I wanted to work on and were important to me. I do this every year but when I turned 30, I actually assigned a goal a month instead of just making a goal list! Let me tell you how awesome it is to accomplish the goals each month!

In addition to adding pictures to remind me of dates and birthdays. I add notes about a previous goal or something that I want to work on in that particular month! Let me tell you what a great motivator it is. There is something about the goal being listed on the calendar to scream at you: get busy woman!

Yes, that note is to start my Christmas shopping and figuring out what I need!

I love our simple, highly motivating and budget friendly New Year Tradition. How do you keep track of your goals?

Happy New Year!

New Year Countdown

For the last few years, we have had the tradition of the time bags. New Years is not a child friendly holiday as far as I am concerned, I can remember being a child and I didn't understand what the big hoopla about the dropping of a ball. Remembering this as a child, I didn't want my kiddos to experiences that as well. Using some gift bags from the dollar store (I think I got 12 for $2.00) and some clocks I printed off online, I cut and glued them on the front. They took me all of ten minutes, maybe even less!

Starting at 6:00pm and then once every hour until 11:55pm, the kiddos open a bag and find a little trinket to help them celebrate the new year. Usually a timer is set, so that everyone knows when it is time to open the next bag. The kiddos love it and it helps to keep them into the holiday spirit and even the adults that have been part of the celebration have enjoyed it as well.

First year we tried it with the bags in a box

The first year we did the bags, I just placed them in a box, as we have perfected our tradition, we now hang them on a close line with clothes pins to hold them on the wall.  One year we even hung them on our decorated Christmas Palm tree.

Three tree we hung them on

I have also modified the time line, with the younger kiddos it is easier to do a bag every half and hour, because a lot of them do not make it until midnight. If that happens, then I just double up to allow them to open them all.

The best part of this tradition is that it is super easy to use, you can reuse the same bags every year and it is pretty inexpensive. At Fourth of July, I buy sprinklers and put them in my New Year bin, they are so cheaper than buying them around the holiday. After New Year, I buy them for Fourth of July, this way, I always buy them for cheap and have them for the next holiday. I usually end up buying cases of six for about .$10 each.

Some of the items, we have included in the bags:

Sparklers (usually in the last bag)
Bubbles (Usually home made, you can check out that post here)
Horns
Happy New Year crazy hats/crowns
Confetti
Party poppers
Boas/ light up jewelry
New Year play-doh (play-doh with sparkles in it)
Silly year glasses
a small toy ( a small doll, a toy car, stamps, rubber toys)

The best part is most of the above items can be found in the dollar store or in the dollar bins at Target.

Ornament Book

While we were decorating the Christmas tree this year, Peanut looked and examined each ornament like it was gold. Of course, I was loving this and telling him the story behind each ornament. Then he wanted to know where they came from, who bought them. At that moment it hit me and I decided that during the year, until next Christmas, hopefully it won't take me that long, I am making an ornament book. 

I started by taking a picture of each ornament on the tree.

My Sister and brother in law brought this back for me when they went to Vegas

Family Ornament from picturs in 2006

My hope is when I am taking them off of the tree to get a picture as well, so you can see them a little more clear. In Photo shop, I created a little page for the information and picture of each ornament. Yes, it is a big undertaking but I have ornaments from before I was born and so forth and my goal is to pass them on to my kiddos when they get older and what a treasure to have the information behind each one. The best part is I am already ahead of the game, every ornament my kiddos have ever made me, I have taken pictures of already!

Here is what I designed for the pages and layout. I haven't decided if I want to hand write them or type them in, but the general idea is there.

I haven't decided yet how I am going to bind the book, I thought about buying an inexpensive Christmas album and putting each page in a sleeve, this way it will be easy to add more as we get/buy more ornaments!

I am excited to finish the project and have it to be able to pass long to my kiddos when they get older, if only I had the ornaments I made when I was little. :(

Don't forget to enter the MyMemories Giveaway

Christmas is over

Christmas is over, and hopefully you had a wonderful holiday and are resting up for the New Year! Today is the day that we take down the tree. It is a sad day for my house but happy as well because Pumpkin is going to be 2 in three days! I never wanted her to feel as if her birthday wasn't important so the decorations come down on  the 26th and 27th.


With that being said, I hate to throw things away and I have stacks and stacks of Christmas cards. I have them all the way back to my first Christmas. This year, I realized that I can't keep everything or my house is going to turn into a storage bin.

I sat down and sorted all my cards, the ones from my kiddos and my siblings went right into my special keepsake box. Nothing is happening to those. The cards from friends that are just that important to me ended up in another pile and finally the photo cards. I scanned all of the photo cards, that way I still have them (just seemed like the right thing to do), the next part was to cut the photos to make them fit onto my pieces of cardboard.

A few years ago, I had an ornament created with a picture of Peanut and my niece. I love how it turned out but boy was it expensive! I got it on sale for $22! Not really that budget friendly!

ornament by itself

what it looks like on the tree

Using modge podge (homemade) and ribbon, I created ornaments from all of the cards that I wanted to keep and now they are not only special but I smile each time I can put them on my tree! The best part is that they cost about $3.00 for an entire set.

I cut the cards to the shapes that I felt fit the picture and design. Then I glued the ribbon on the back to act as a hook. I love that I am able to keep the cards that my friends and family take so much time and money to create but also it helps to make my tree that much more personalized!

How do you save your Christmas cards or do they hit the recycling bin?

Don't Forget to enter the MyMemories Giveaway

December Goal

I am proud of myself and my family, I know sounds a little bold doesn't it? I wanted really hard this year to not stress for Christmas and enjoy the holiday. With a TON of planning and help on all of my familys' part, I am proud to say that I am enjoying a stress free holiday. I started planning in October by designing our Christmas card and the children's holiday outfits.

I arranged for our pictures to be taken early, in order to have a lot of time to order them and get them in mail. I had our cards addressed and ready to go by the 8th of December, although, getting to the post office seemed to be a challenge, I just mailed them on the 19th! We can't have everything right?

My biggest challenege this year was to figure out, buy, and make the gifts for the kiddos. I knew what I wanted to make them and I just had to figure out how to make them in a budget friendly way and not stress on how to get them finished (I just wrapped the last one, and cannot wait to share them with you all).

I learned something really important this year and that is that no matter how hard you try, there is always going to be something that doesn't go as planned and that is alright, but you need to remember that the holidays are time to spend with my family and the perfect holiday is when things aren't perfect but real.

From now on, I am not only celebrating Christmas with my kiddos but a real Christmas!
Some of my favorite real moments from this year:

making the crayon wreath for Peanut's teacher, you can see my original post on that here















St. Nick Night



Dinos decorating the tree

My sister took this of Pumpkin when we were visiting, she adores her dino outfit and Christmas trees!



 Don't forget to enter my giveaway for the My Memories Software.

Teach at Home Thursdays: Christmas Books/ Home Library

I have a fascination with books, I am not sure when it began, but I love them, each book is a new adventure waiting to be explored and how easy is it to go "some where" and learn about something new. Mr. Barefoot actually told me that I had to donate some of them because he was sick of carting books everywhere.

Our house has books everywhere and I love it, I often catch the kiddos reading books and that just makes my day. For each major holiday (New Year, Valentine's, St. Patty's, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and birthdays), I have special holiday books. I pack them away with the decorations so that they are new and exciting each year.  I do this for two reasons, one (this is just my personal belief) but reading a book or watching a holiday movie, other than the time of year, just isn't the same and two, I like them to view it as something that means that particular holiday to them and help get them in the holiday spirit.

In our living room, we have a simple bin with handles that holds all of their Christmas books. Their Christmas bin, just happens to be red, for each holiday they are a different color and the bin gets packed away too. This wasn't done on purpose, just kind of ended up that way.

Christmas Library

The kiddos can walk their books anywhere in the house and oh boy do they!  They love to sit on the kitchen floor and read, while I cook dinner.

To create the holiday library (as with any library in your home) you need a variety of books on different reading levels. For example, you can have chapter books, along with picture books and everything in between. The goal is to help them choose appropriate books but also to have books, so that they can enjoy them with you. In our collection,  we also have personalized books. Each year for their first 5 Christmases, I get them a personalized book, along with a Hallmark ornament. The personalized books are a huge hit, they love hearing stories about them and their friends as the main characters.

Santa's story is a personalized book, then there are pictures books and chapter books.

We collect the books from everywhere and they tell a fun story of our lives and the places we have been. Some of our favorite books come from living in Hawaii and the rich culture and heritage that we were able to learn while there.  Three of our favorites are:

click the picture to purchase the books

The snowman bestfriends a reindeer made of ice that is bound for the lobby of a grand Hawaiian hotel and along the way, he shares some of his snow with those who need it. However, there is only one problem: he is getting smaller and smaller, and soon, it will be the day!

This delightful Hawaiian holiday story, tells of Merry, a newly trained Christmas Elf, who falls from Santa's sleigh and finds himself in Hawai'i. Lisa Matsumoto's story and Michael Furuya's illustrations create a magical and heart warming holiday story capturing the true meaning of Christmas and Hawai'i's spirit of Aloha.

Celebrate the holiday season local style with Numbah One Day of Christmas, the much-loved children’s song “12 Days of Christmas” retold in pidgin for Hawaii’s keiki. Music and lyrics to Numbah One Day of Christmas make a wonderful ending to this fun tale and are sure to get readers of all ages in the Christmas spirit.


The best part of the library is that the books are never old or boring. Using the holiday books only during the holidays helps. The everyday books that we have are also on a rotating basis. about every two to three months, we completly remove all of the books and pack them away for the next set of books. I also do this with their toys and movies. It is a real budget saver, as the books, toys and movies all seem new and exciting when they only get to see them and use them for small increments.

our bins of books, each cycle has their own container

My top 5 helpful hints to encourage readers in your house:

1. Read with them at least once a day
2. Allow them to see you reading
3. Let your kiddos "read" you the story, even if it is just from memory
4. Provide them with a bunch of different books
5. Try to relate different aspects of the story to their life, if you are expecting a baby, try and find a book about a new baby. You would be surprised how reading a book about a life event or something that is going on with them will open up the conversation.

I don't do this for every book, but often times, I will find a book that has a craft or make a craft that relates to the story, this is another way to encourage reading, if they can act out or create something based off of the book. My kiddos love the kissing hand and you can read about our activities here.


Now, I know what you are thinking, how can you possibly have all these books, without breaking the bank. Let me tell you, being a teacher is one of the easiest ways, I am given free books all the time from Scholastic and teacher that are retiring etc. I also look at garage sales, you get the best prices, I once got 75 books for a dime! Target has the dollar bins when you first walk in and they have some good little books in there, you ca often find two for a dollar. Freecycle is another wonder resource. Finally, I have two really good friends, that I swap books with. We take our books that we have outgrown or no longer want and send them to each other. It's a great way to get new books and recycle. Finally, the libaray. They are wonderful resources and really help to stretch your dollar. 

How do you encourage your children to read?

Don't forget to enter the MyMemories giveaway

Pictures and descriptions for the Hawaii books came from The Islander Group.

Guest Post from Melissa with the Blog Content Guild: Birthday Parties

I am ridicoulsy ecstatic to share this post with you from Melissa from the Blog Content Guild! Melissa has some helpful hints on planning a toddler birthday party. Her hints were perfect for me as Pumpkin's birthday is in 8 days! I cannot believe she is turning 2 already, where does the time go?


And now for the post:

Planning Your Little One’s Birthday Party

Turning two is a big deal to parents and grandparents, but fortunately not to two year olds.  They’ll understand that there is an event going on, but the full concept will pass over them.  The party is usually more about what the parents want or are capable of doing for this special day.  Cake and attention will mean more to a two year old than whether or not you’ve decked out the house in Mario Brothers party supplies.  

Be aware of a timeline, at this age meal and sleep times are the structure that makes the world go around.  If you host the party mid-morning know that kids will be used to getting a meal around noon, and if you host around 2pm know that nap time is on its way for a lot of kiddos, and they’ll start to get a little cranky if their schedule is disrupted too much. 

When it comes to food, you don’t have to break the bank with anything elaborate. In fact simple sandwiches cut into shapes are probably your best bet for food.  Juice and milk boxes, mini cupcakes (instead of a giant cake), and chips, pretzels, and bit-sized fruit are pretty much a complete meal for these guys. 

If it’s a family only party, there won’t be much need for activities. Those are more for generating social interaction and entertainment to keep kids occupied.  However, if you are inviting a few kids from daycare, you can have some coloring, sprinklers, and bubbles outside if it’s warm enough, and maybe a story time book after the sugar crash. 

Any way you approach it, remind yourself not to stress out too much.  Your little one is still too young for the birthday hoopla to make complete sense.  They just want to be the center of attention, and that is hard to accomplish if you’re running around worrying about making the perfect toddler birthday party happen.

Melissa C.
Blog Content Guild http://www.blogcontentguild.com
e: melissa@blogcontentguild.com


Thank you Melissa for your wonderful hints! I especially love the book idea (then again, that might be why I  became a teacher :) )

Christmas Crafts on a Budget

I love making things with my kiddos, there is just something special about spending time with them and creating something, anything!  The best part is when they don't break the bank!


Here are a couple of my favorite, I don't have step by step pictures because I made them before we were blogging, but they are way to good not to share!


All of these crafts are created with items you can easily find around your home, or can be purchased very inexpensively at the craft store. I am also assuming you have some sort of craft paint, and glue at your house.


The first one is a Christmas wreath made out of a paper plate.
You will need: a paper plate, paint (whatever color you wish), noodles and a ribbon!

I love how easy and festive these are. First, cut a circle out of the center of your plate. Paint your wreath whatever color you wish, we choose the gold because I wanted it to pop against all of the other art work on our wall. We dipped the pasta (we used a variety, about a hand full each) in the paint and then placed them on the wreath, you can use glue, but the paint acts like glue. Once it was dried, we added a festive bow! Total project time: about 15 minutes, not including drying time.  You can also add a photo in the center and give it to the grandparents!


The next craft is a tree made from a roll of toilet paper, a drinking cup from a water dispenser, a piece of construction paper, glitter and glue.

Take your toilet paper roll (you are saving those aren't you?) and glue the drinking cup on it. Wrap the cone with construction paper and glue, then trim. It will help to make an easier cut and cleaner looking tree. Using the glue, decorate the tee and roll in glitter to create your design. Shake excess glitter off and you have a simple and recycled Christmas Tree!


My last one and this one happens to be my favorite is the terra cotta pot tree.

You will need, 4 Terra cotta pots, my smallest one is .5" and the biggest one is 4" to form the tree. You will need one final one to make the trunk, I used a skinner and longer one with a 1.5" diameter. You will also need a Terra cotta plate and a wooden star. Paint your pots accordingly. I painted my green and then one brown. To form the tree, glue the pots together according to size and then the Terra cotta plate into the last one, this will allow the trunk to show. Decorate the tree how you want it, we used glitter and glitter glue, all things we had in our craft cabinet. Finally add the wooden star.


The cost for this one was about $5.00, I found pots on sale after season at Michael's and Hobby Lobby they came to about $3 and the star was about $1.75. 


Happy Christmas Crafting!

Happy 1st Birthday Barefoot: MyMemories Review and Giveaway!

To help celebrate our first birthday here at Barefoot in Paradise, we are giving you the presents! That's right, a couple weeks ago, I was approached by a wonderful company, MyMemories, to host a review and giveaway! My memories is a digital software program where you can design your own scrapbook pages or use one of their ready made templates and tweak it to fit your needs!

You can make calendars, cards, digital scrapbooks and photo books! I am in LOVE with MyMemories digital scrapbooking software. I was hesitant at first when I started the download process, not because it was difficult, it was super easy actually. I have always designed all of my own cards, photo books etc and stayed away from using someone else product, for the fact that I wanted things to be "mine" and not the same as anyone elses'. With MyMemories, there are so many different options that you can create one of a kind designs with the help of predesigned items and save yourself some time. Isn't that what we all want anyway? Time saving activities that are sure to make our creations ours.


I played with MyMemories, for three days before I even saved anything, there were so many fun options to add, I could create a digital scrapbook and add movies and videos, hello many hours sitting and paying with this software.  I created a few items to share with you and even make some more things to share with you at different times, (I am super excited).

I created a Christmas photo book, although, it hasn't been printed yet, as I am waiting for our pictures from Christmas morning. I was able to create some pages with our Christmas pictures. I love that while you are working, it gives you the shaded area in which will be trimmed off when you print your book. The software couldn't be more user friendly!

working screen, you can see all the options along the top and bottom

you can even add your own music, it pulls it right from your computer!

pumpkin and her daddy!

riding on the airplane

Savory Sunday: Lumps of Coal

For Peanut's class for each holiday we like to create a little snack, and for their Christmas Party we created Lumps of Coal. If you remember my post on making the Oreo Balls, you can read it here, I decided to use those to make the lumps of coal. The best part was the students loved them and they were so easy to make.


You will need one package of cream cheese per bag of Oreo cookies and a bag of melting chocolate.
Crush the oreos, mix in the cream cheese and form into balls. Place in fridge to cool and harden. Melt chocolate. Dip the oreo ball into the chocolate and allow to harden. Serve.


Peanut and I discussed it a few times and we finally settled on making green and white lumps of coal. You could make them black, by mixing 2 parts green, 3 parts red and 3 parts blue of food coloring into the melting chocolate. Peanut was afraid that his class mates wouldn't eat it if we made them black.

Lumps of coal after hardening in the fridge

Normally, when I make the balls, I like them to look nice and round but for the coal look, we decided more rugged look would be appropriate.
We used very little chocolate on the balls, just to help hold them together and wrapped each one in its own plastic bag with a personalized tag.

notice how some of the chocolate is missing to show the lumps of coal

Here is the bowl of lumps of coal for his class:

so yummy!

and his personalized tag

I just loved how they turned out!

Inspirational Sunday

Holiday displays

Trying to find space around the house to display artwork and our holiday cards is a huge task. Each year for the last five years we have lived in a different house and the budget doesn't allow for decorating a new house in a different way each year. About four years ago, I found these lovely little candy cane garland/card holder at Pottery barn kids. Loved them but at $10.00 a piece it was insane. I took a ton of pictures of the yarn, the candy canes themselves and then clothes pins that hold the pictures and art work.

I used red and white felt and mini clothespins, that I already had on hand, so I had to buy the leather strap and get busy. I sat and cut for about an hour and then was able to glue all of the pieces together. When I was finally finished, I found that I loved how they turned out and knowing I made something for a third of the cost was even better!

This year we hung them on the dinning room wall and did the top two rows, old Christmas cards and pictures and the bottom row, the kiddos art work. 

Some years we have hung them in the hallway going up the steps, that happens to be my favorite as it is a new discovery with each step! 

I also decorate my kitchen cabinets with the kiddos artwork, it is an easy way to bring christmas into the room and not cluttler up the counters, tables etc. I love how each cabinet sort of frames the art work and we have a wonderful Chritmas display.

What ways do you display and decorate with old cards and art work?