A Hollywood Ending...

A few years ago, I blogged about my Hollywood themed End of the Year Party--I will always remember seeing my kids faces as they walked the red carpet-- dressed up in "red carpet attire"--posing and grinning as their parents snapped photos of them!  After all the pictures were taken by the mama-razzi and papa-razzi, the kids snacked on popcorn, visited the walk of fame, and signed autographs for each other.  It was SO much fun, and the pictures from that day were just perfect.  I wish I could show you how adorable they all looked!!!!  I want to try a Hollywood Party again this year--and I hope to make it bigger and better than ever!  If y'all are looking for a fun year-end theme, I created my Hollywood Ending packet to make it easy for you to plan your party, awards day, and memory book activities--it's all in one packet!  

Have a little "Oscars" type awards ceremony with "The Classy Awards"-- 

just like those award shows--only smaller and more cute!  (30 unique awards for all your little smarties.)

Set up party stations with themed party signs--make sure everyone knows where to go!  

 Great for the last few days of school--have your little celebrities reflect on their year with you with a cute little memory book!

This packet also comes with a parent letter and mini autograph book!  All you need to do is add your own Hollywood themed decorations and snacks, and you've got a party that your kids will remember forever! 

 It's time I had a giveaway!!!!  The FIRST and NINETEENTH person to comment will get this pack for free--please leave your email address!!!

 Thanks for reading, and happy last few weeks of school to everyone!  We can make it!!!

Enid Blyton Novels

Emma and the boys have all enjoyed Enid Blyton novels ~
They are definitely for both boys and girls...how great is that?

Have you heard of this author before now? 
I learned about her when I married my Sweetie ~ his family is British.

Enid Blyton lived in England and wrote over 600 novels

for children and young people mainly during the 1940's and 50's.

Her novels often include adventure and mystery in which children do

the adventuring and mystery solving with minimal adult intervention.

They are *old-fashioned* and refreshing while transporting

the reader to a time of long ago.

Don't we all enjoy visiting other times and places and people

in the safety and comfort of our own home or back yard?

Emma has been devouring the adventure series 

of books ~ click on the link above to find them for purchase.

I often find Emma sneaking in a reading time over and above

what is required ~ she'll take a book with her to the 

yard, in the car, in the bath, or curled up in a cosy chair.

It's a joy to this Mama's heart.  :)

Happy Reading!

Camille

**Disclaimer ~ I am not compensated for my opinions, I just share what I like.
Please be aware that these books, being of the *old-fashioned* variety,
 sometimes contain things considered politically incorrect in our day.

Challenge #9 - Animals

Welcome back to another challenge.  I can't believe it's almost May!  Before I go further, I just want to re-iterate my thanks to Shirley for stepping in at the last minute to post the last challenge.  I couldn't keep Cards for Men going without the support and reliability of all the team and I'm very grateful.

So our challenge this time is sponsored by the fabulous, Paper Pretties, and the theme is Animals.

PAPER PRETTIES IS AN ONLINE CRAFTING STORE, AND HOME TO ZAC, LILY, SOPHIA AND COOPER - THE CUTEST KID STAMPS AROUND! (AT LEAST WE THINK SO). WE HAVE MANY EXCLUSIVE STAMP LINES, FROM ELEGANT TO WHIMSICAL, SWEET TO CLEVER; THERE IS SOMETHING FOR EVERY STAMPER IN OUR PRETTIES' BOUTIQUE.

ALONG WITH OUR FULL LINE OF HIGH QUALITY CLEAR STAMPS, WE ALSO HAVE A LARGE SELECTION OF DIGITAL IMAGES.

The prize on offer is a wonderful 6 digi stamps of choice.  The Design Team had the pleasure of working with some of Paper Pretties images.  Here's the results:

Shirley



ALAN

Michelle

Lisa

Patricia

CAZ 

I think you'll agree they did a great job.  Hopefully, you're all raring to go and just need the rules:

1. Your card must be new for this challenge and follow the theme set.
2. Your card must be for a man or a boy.
3. Your post must mention Cards for Men and contain a link back to this post.
4. You can combine your entry with others to a maximum of ten challenges.

The challenge will run from now until midnight (BST) on 12 May 2013.  Enter a link to your post (not just your blog) in the link list below.  If it's not there for some reason, leave a comment and I'll add it in before the draw.  Good luck.

Firstgraderatlast on Instagram!

At the time of this blog post, I have exactly ONE picture on my Firstgraderatlast Instagram account...but please don't let that scare you away!  I am an Instagram beginner, and promise to post many fun pictures of my adventures in and out of the classroom!  I am excited to join What the Teacher Wants and Apples & ABC's for their #teachertalktuesday linky!  Please follow me, and I'll follow you back--I can't wait to see what everyone posts each Tuesday!

Sun Starved

I'm sure I've said it before, but, it bears repeating ~

by this time of the year we are sun starved in our neck of the woods.

Absolutely and utterly sun starved.  We get a little giddy when we begin to
feel the warmth of its rays after a long winter of wet, rainy, grey days.

The line goes up (we take it down for the winter months due to 

the fact that it's attached way up high to a spindly tree that sways 

in the wind...I've lost more than one line to a wind storm),

the BBQ makes its début, and the tulips come into bloom.

Its time for us all to begin soakin' up some rays.

And, boy oh boy, are we ready!

I've been finding the two youngest outside reading lately ~
Fraser (in the first photo) opts for no blanket...
and Emma (below) prefers to use one.

 Sparkly shoes complete the ensemble...of course!  :)

Is it warming up where you live?  

What is your favourite thing about spring?

Many Blessings to you!

Camille

Yummy Oatmeal Muffins

In keeping with my recent buttermilk theme,
I'm going to share one of my favourite muffin recipes with you.
This particular recipe comes from the Canadian Heritage Cookbook ~
I think that's fitting since I am Canadian through and through.  :)

I've altered the method a little to allow for a soaking time for the oats.
Did you know that soaking grains is an important thing to do?
I didn't until just a few years ago. 
It's not difficult to incorporate soaking into the cooking process ~
it just requires a little planning ahead.

Before I share the recipe, I need to tell you about another favourite of mine.
These paper chef parchment paper muffin liners are the Best!
And, did you know that they can be re-used?
Even though they are more expensive than their bleached
or coloured counterparts, they are more economical if you 
use them twice instead of just once.
I've even made them last for three baking sessions.

Now, on to the recipe.
Here is my hand printed recipe...hope you can read it!
If not, just ask.  I'm getting lazy, aren't I?  :)

The oats I use are the rolled/old fashioned ones.
I use sea salt, and occasionally, I will substitute Sucanat 
(as pictured below) for the brown sugar. 
I use butter, not oil, and if I want to be extra good, 
I will use whole wheat flour instead of white.  :)

Mix buttermilk and oats in a large bowl ~
Cover with plastic wrap and leave on counter to soak overnight.
In the morning, mix brown sugar, egg, and melted butter into the oat mixture.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, sea salt, baking soda and baking powder.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just moistened.
Spoon into muffin tins lined with papers ~
if you do not use paper liners, grease the tins.

Bake at 375 degrees F for about 20 to 25 minutes ~
A toothpick will come out clean when they are done.
Mine are usually done in 20 minutes.
Transfer to wire racks to cool.
Makes about 10 to 12 large muffins.

The photo above shows the muffins prior to baking ~
I fill the cups right to the top.  
I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.  :)

Many Blessings,

Camille

Buttermilk Pancakes

There is just something down-home-good

about buttermilk pancakes, don't you think?

And, a stack of them?  Hot off the griddle?

So much the better.

This is one of those recipes that I copied from

my Mom's recipe box when I was still in my teens.

It's a classic.  Want to know the recipe?

Of course, I will share...you knew I would, didn't you?  :)

~ Buttermilk Pancakes ~
(From my Mom's recipe box long, long ago)

2 cups Flour
1 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 Tbsp Sugar 
2 Large Eggs
2 cups Buttermilk (full fat)
2 Tbsp Butter, melted

Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl.

Combine eggs, buttermilk and butter in another bowl ~ whisk together.

Add wet ingredients to dry and stir to moisten with your whisk ~ 
don't worry about really little lumps.

Heat frying pan to 375-400 degrees ~ 

when it's hot enough a little water dropped on the
pan will dance and evaporate.

Melt a little butter in the pan and swirl around.

Pour 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake onto the pan.

Cook until small bubbles form and pop ~ see photo above.

Flip to cook the other side ~ they are done when they are golden in colour.

Serve hot with butter and maple syrup ~ YUM!

This recipe makes 16 four inch pancakes.

In our opinion, they are better than any pancake mix around.

I'm sure you'll love 'em just like we do.  :)

Blessings to you,

Camille

Sixteen

Sixteen.  Our Calvin is sixteen!

He wants to learn to drive.

I'm not sure if I'm ready for what that entails ~ LOL.

How can my little *Bulldozer* be ready to take the keys?

It was with great joy that we welcomed our second
little boy into our lives sixteen years ago.
Calvin was born only six days after Austin's second birthday.
It was so exciting for Austin to have a little brother to grow up with.
Right from the start, Calvin made us smile.
He was always full of life and energy, and still is!

 Calvin, I remember when you were about three
years old, just before going to bed at night, you would cheerfully say ~
"When I wake up in the morning...I can have some food!"
You always said this little phrase while doing your characteristic
hopping step and wearing a big grin on your face.
Oh, how you made us laugh!

 The LORD has graciously saved you Calvin,
and has called you His own.
He is shaping you and moulding you into
a caring and compassionate young man.
We are so pleased to see how the LORD 
is working in your heart and life.
He is evident in you ~ at the end of the day,
that is all that really matters.

 Follow and serve Him all the days of your life ~
with all that you have and all that you are.
He will never fail you.  He will always be Faithful.
He will lead you and guide you as you seek Him for wisdom.
What a blessing it is to belong to Him!

What would we do if you were not in our family?
It just would not be the same. 
We are so very thankful that the LORD 
entrusted you to our care and placed you in our home.
We are blessed to be your parents.
We are so thankful that the Lord 
chose you to be our son.

With all our Love,
Dad and Mum XOXO

FYI ~ His birthday *cake* was not a cake at all ~
He requested Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream,
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (perhaps a future post?),
Homemade Chocolate Sauce and Smarties.  

Giant Sunflowers

So all of my readers by now should know about my terrible gardening skills--if not, please read this post.  And also this one.
 
Funnily enough, we are now learning about...PLANTS!!!  HA!  Even though I have bad luck with real plants, I can totally deal with some paper plants.  So today, I let the kids go crazy with butcher paper, and make a mess that totally stressed me (I *may* have a *tiny* OCD thing about a clean and organized classroom--I had to tell myself a few times to just PUT down the broom!), but the end results were too precious.  I would brave the mess again for such cuteness.

Giant sunflowers=giant mess.

Although I love craft templates, sometimes you need to give kids some paper, scissors, and glue, and let them just create.  I LOVE how UNIQUE each flower is, and the kids were so proud that they made their special flower all by themselves!  

Challenge #8 - Anything Goes

Good Morning Crafters, sorry this is a bit late but Donna is unable to write up this challenge and asked me Shirley if I would do it for her, and as I dont know her Inlinz password I wont be able to add it at the bottom but if you leave a link in the comments box Im sure Donna will add the Inlinz as soon as she is able.
Todays Challenge is a "Anything Goes" one and I know how much we all love this one so we are expecting a big turn out for it, but before I go any further two of our Design Team have had to stand down because of prior engagements and they are Viv and Sandra, we are so going to miss both of these very talented girls, but all the Team want to wish them all the best for the future.
And now we have a brand new sponsor this fortnight and that is

Squidgi Digi Stamps

and they are offering a fabulous prize of 4 digi's of Winners Choice

and here is what Bethany says about her company:-

Hi my name is Beth, I am 19 years old and am studying a Degree in illustration at Blackpool University.

I started drawing images for my Mum , who made cards with them and then she put them on her blog . She got lots of great comments and people saying i should sell them - so here we are !

I hope you enjoy my images and would love to see any creations you make with them

We were so lucky to have been given several images to play with and the team have taken that on board and have created some stunning cards with them.

Alan

Donna

Patricia

Shirley

Lisa

Caz

Michelle

Didnt I tell you what stunning cards they were? Anyway as we are now two girls down on our Design Team, and Donna has decided to run a DT Call at the same time as the Challenge, so if you are interested in joining our very talented Design Team, and you able to create a card every fortnight following a theme that is set, and also have it uploaded to the DT Blog in time for the Challenge to be posted on the Monday, please can you add DT at the end of your name on your entry.

And now please dont forget to visit the girls and thank them for all their hard work and leave them some love to show how much you appreciate it.

Donna will add the inlinkz as soon as she is able to, can you put your card link in the comment box until she does. Sorry for the inconvience and don't forget to add DT if your interested in joining us.

If you don't know how to add your card here is the code

<a href="Insert your link">here</a>     You insert your card link in the

space indicated, you write this whole code in the comment box at the bottom of this Challenge, then click on publish.


Edit:  Thank you so much Shirley for stepping in at the last minute.  Sadly my Grandad passed away last Monday so you can understand why I've taken a back seat this week.  I have now entered Mr Linky in and will make sure everyone's cards are linked up with a number before the draw.  The normal challenge rules apply and the finish date is midnight BST (British Summer Time) on 29th April 2013. - Donna xx

Kickin' it old school. Also, pugs and popsicles. And Cinderella.

1.  This: 

If you read my last post about my grassy-haired egg heads fail, well...this was just the cherry on top.  We had storms roll in yesterday, and I had my egg cartons sitting on our screened in porch at home--{you know, so that I would remember to water the crazy things?!}  And I know what you're thinking...no...I didn't kick them over in a fit of fury!  ;)  A huge gust of wind blew the egg cartons over, and googly eyes and dirt were everywhere.  Those egg heads are now in the trash.  Ridiculous.  :)

Anyway...

2.  Fun with Cinderella "C" and Gentleman "G"--we learned all about soft c and soft g in phonics this week!  The picture below shows the cover of the mini reader my kids read during guided reading earlier in the week.  We also played word recognition games using clear pebbles--which one little friend cleverly named "magic reading ice".  Smarties.  We really had fun with this unit!

Click the cover page below to see more of the unit details:

3.  An Adventure in Space--kickin' it old school with Greg & Steve.

When I was in first grade, my music teacher used to get us doing movement activities by listening to Greg & Steve tapes.  My absolute FAVE was "An Adventure in Space! OH THE CHEESINESS!  But, it is just good fun and GREAT for the imagination!!! I downloaded it on iTunes for my kids to do today!  The kids flipped for this!  They act out taking off in a rocket, and then pretend to float around in space, dodging asteroids and such.  Super way to end our space unit!  {The song is only 99 cents--the album is called, "On the Move"}

4.  The Popsicle Store.  {I Heart Steel City Pops!}

Um, a little obsessed.  I won't tell you how many popsicles I've had lately.  This local store is GENIUS.    Maybe we're behind the times here, but I have never seen a popsicle store--and along with that, these aren't ordinary popsicles that are all fake and from a box.  These are homemade and made with fresh ingredients--with some flavors that are a little unusual, like "chocolate chili", "jalepeno pineapple", and "peanut butter".   I'll probably have one tomorrow.  Just sayin'.  They have no idea I am blogging about their yummy goodness, either.  I just love them so much, I had to tell you about them.

5.  My dog.  I love my sweet Teddy-kins.  Emma & I have been spending our sunny afternoons coloring with chalk.  Teddy rolls around in the chalk pictures until he is rainbow colored, then rubs his stinky face all over us while we are trying to color, and makes a laugh.

He also knocks the pillows off of my patio furniture to make room for him to sit like a person.  Look at his little legs!  HA!  He sits on his bottom in a chair!  He was enjoying listening to the rain--alone--no one was out there with him!  Silly pug.

Link up with all the fun "Five for Friday" posts with Doodle Bugs!!!  

Being random ROCKS.