Meal Time {Chalkboard}

Do you hear "MOMMMMM, what's for dinner?" {every single day of your life?}

Don't worry Mom, you are not alone...!

I decided to make a Meal Time Chalkboard to put on the pantry door. Each morning, I write what is for dinner that night on the chalkboard and usually draw pictures as well for the little ones. I have a drawer right next to my pantry where I keep the chalk.

 I knew that I wanted to do something to solve this problem, but that something had to involve anything that I had already in my house. I love the idea of writing on a picture frame with a dry erase marker, but I had no extra frames at this time.

I did have a plain chalkboard, just a cheapie, couple bucks at a teacher supply store.

With cream colored acrylic paint, I painted the wooden frame part.

While the paint was drying, I made my favorite fabric flowers out of material, burlap and a button in the middle....alll hot glued together.

Around the frame, I hot glued twine to hide the paint that wasn't "perfectly" applied.

The fabric flowers were then hot glued onto the frame.

Lastly, I chose ribbon and hot glued that onto the back of the frame. I just used hot glue since the chalkboard is so light, but of course you can attach it however you choose.

Now the kids just look at the board in the morning instead of bugging me...!

Summer Fun {Bucket}

Summer time is almost here...!

I made the kids this Summer Fun Bucket to have waiting for them on the last day of school. I've been hiding it until then.

I filled it with all kinds of goodies {mostly everything found in the Dollar section of Target.}

I bought a plastic storage bucket to put all the summer treats into.

With my Cricut and my Doodlecharm cartridge {love that cartridge!} I put vinyl onto the outside of the bucket. I was thinking vinyl would be easy to pull off in the future if needed and oh so cute!

There is sidewalk chalk, a movie, sunglasses, popsicles, fingerpaints, paper, notebooks, bracelets, nail polish, sunblock, bubbles, swim goggles, water balloons, plastic straws, and crayons.

Whenever they get bored over the summer, I'm going to encourage them to find something in their Summer Fun Bucket...!

Last Day Of School {Tradition}

On the very last day of school, we've always had the tradition of taking the school children alone to dinner. Since the last day is always minimum day, we do some fun things at home and when Daddy gets out of work we head out to dinner.

Each child gets to pick where he or she wants to eat for dinner because it is their special night.

My son chose Red Lobster for 3 years in a row because he loves seafood.

Last year when sister started school we told them that we would take 1 child out on the last day and the other child out the next day. Maelyn always chooses Mexican food whenever we vote on where to eat on regular nights. For some reason, the kids both compromised and wanted to eat together at IHOP on the last day of school.

It is a special time for them. One on one time can be rare in this family. They always want to hold hands with us wherever we go that night.

I make sure to bring their report cards to talk about. I also have notes written down with positive things that happened that school year and things that we can work on next year to improve {whether it be making sure lunches are packed, or homework is turned in...etc.} If their report cards are good, which they have always been {we're pretty strict with them...we've only had one B so far} they get to go pick a little something out at the store. They usually choose Pokemon cards.
My daughter who is going into Kinder this upcoming year said "I can't wait until I go to dinner with you guys!"
I really look forward to this time together.
The children know what we expect from them in their school work and we work together for solutions to problems and they get to hear praise from us.

Tank Top Dresses {Tutorial}

This is the best "tutorial" that I can give of the Tank Top Dresses.

Sewing is difficult to get in because most of my crafting is done while the kids are asleep. However, my kiddos scream "Mom, turn that thing off!" when they hear the sewing machine at night. So, I have to squeeze it in while they are outside playing or distracted. I didn't think about taking pictures while making them, just tried to hurry.

• Machine wash the tank top and dry.
• The next thing I did was Tie Dye the tank tops. I found a great tutorial here for you! I've used those kits before and liked them. When using 1 color though, which I really like to do....I prefer to buy these. They are cheaper and have more liquid in them. To use them, it's a bit different than the tutorial. Use the same rubberband technique for the effect. However, I put liquid and warm water in a bucket {measurements on back of bottle.} Use a bucket that you don't want because it will stain. I've been using a 5 gallon ice cream bucket leftover from a party. I put some rubber gloves on because it will stain and carefully put the shirts into the bucket with Tie Dye {after you rubberband them up!} Leave for 30 min to an hour depending upon how dark you want them to be. Stir occasionally. Take them out and put them on a rag towel {they will stain.} Cut the rubberbands or gently pull them off. Rinse the shirts under water. Dry them in the dryer.  I love the Tie Dye effect. These are a couple of things that I've made.

• If you are using Men's Tank Tops, try them on your daughter and cut and pin to where they need to be sewn. Skip this step if the tank top fits prefectly.

For Maelyn's Older Diva Dress.....

• The guitar in the middle is a Iron-On Applique that I got from Michael's.
• To make the ruffle that is used for the bottom trim, I cut the fabric twice the length that I wanted it to be. I simply did the gathering stitch down the middle of the fabric. Next, I pulled one of the threads and gathered the fabric to make the ruffle. Then I sewn it onto the bottom of the skirt with a regular, straight stitch right in the middle of the ruffle to camaflouge the gathering stitch.
• The little ruffley thing on her shoulder was made using this tutorial. I did every single step on that tutorial except when I went to put it on the dress..I didn't like the look of it that way...not with that Tie Dyed Tank. So I just bunched it up and sewn it on the shoulder for a little older look.

For Patience's Girly Look....

• The collar was made the exact same way as the bottom of Maelyn's dress. Cut the fabric double the length, do the gathering stitch down the middle, pull the string to make a ruffle and straight stitch onto the shirt.
• The ruffles on the bottom were made using this tutorial. BTW: I'm attempting on making my 3 girls that dress for winter pictures. We'll see how they turn out?! Wish me luck.
• The fabric flowers that I spread throughout the bottom of the dress are made just like I made the hair flowers right here.

Carmendee's Cute Little Dress...

• I made the ruffley bottom of the dress the same way as Patience's dress just using different fabrics. The tutorial is here.
• On the back of the ruffley bottom, I put a big bow that I cut with pinky shears. It just reminded me of a cha-cha type of dress with those colors.
• The sleeves were made by making a regular ruffle...tutorial here. I just pinned it into the inside of the dress and sewn it on to the sleeves.
• The fabric flower is made like so in my previous post.

I apologize for not writing you back if you had questions. I just wanted to answer questions all at once. Email me if you need additional information. I promise I got your back.

Bloggy Blog World

I feel like such a bad blogging friend lately; like someone should slap my hand with a ruler. I haven't written back to people, haven't commented on anyone's blogsites, haven't even been on most of my friend's pages.

I can't help it. It's not on purpose...! I want to be a better friend.

I can't even say that it's the end of the school year and I'm tired and have no energy.

Quite the opposite, I'm feeling good...bike riding and taking family walks...spending every minute of the day being busy.

The weather here in California is gorgeous.

Can you blame me?

Fire season has been super busy. Noe is called to a fire almost every single day.

I know most people pray about not having fires, but I pray the opposite. It's our lively hood for the entire year just in one season...! I do pray everyday about safety and people's homes and miss my husband with all my heart....don't get me wrong.

This upcoming week I'm going to post my most-asked tutorial. Tutorial, not most-asked question.
The most-asked question would be for all you who are wondering....anything that has to do with all my children.
Everyday when we are out and about I hear all sorts of questions.
Let's see....

"Are all of them yours?" "All of them, you're not babysitting or anything?" {Geez, bite my tongue.}
"Wow, you have your own _________{insert here} band, football team, soccer team, cheerleading squad!" {I know...you were trying to be clever with your comment, I've heard it before....many times!}
"Are you finished having children?" {Really stranger? You feel the need to be all up in my personal business?}
From my retort to the last question.... "How do you know you're finished?" {OMGosh are you asking me to share my contraceptive choice with you? On what planet, is that considered having manners?}
"Are they from different Dads? {Gasp! Not cool. Yes, multi-racial kids have all different skin colors, hair colors and eye colors....but they do have the same features.}

One day while I was at the grocery store I ran into one of my close, personal friends {you never go grocery shopping with your friends so it's just a different atmosphere.} She looked at me and looked at the kids and said "That's how you grocery shop? I guess I never pictured it with that many kids!" I just had to laugh {I had Noah pushing the little kids in one basket and I had another basket for the food items that I was pushing. The kids all had a grocery list of their own searching for the pictures on their paper and screaming out..."I found it!" when passing by the items.}

I do appreciate the wonderful comments that I receive from people "You have the cutest kids I've ever seen." "They are so well behaved" "What good helpers?" or advice from older woman about enjoying it while they are young. Keep those coming. They make us smile...!

Stay tuned for more posts from Casa Camacho.
It's the last 2 weeks of school....! Eekkk....Exciting...!

Friday Book Project {Pie in the Sky}

For Friday Book Project, we decided upon the story Pie In The Sky by Lois Ehlert.

It is really a wonderful book to add to your collection. The pictures are colorful and words are easy to read.

I had read the girls this book early in the week. Patience grabbed one of my doilies that I had laying around from the mantel decoration that I was making. She took the book out and started coloring the doily saying it was a pie....! Adorable. We had to use this book for our Book Project.

 I just had to throw in the picture of my mantel decoration inspired by Tatertots and Jello. It took 10 minutes total!

In the book, the Daddy tells the child that pies are growing on the tree outside that was planted. In the end, they make a cherry pie.

It just so happened that their Abuela gave us some cherries that same day....destiny? Pie destiny?

All the kids made a little design on the top of the pie crust.

We used the recipe in the book and it was oh-so-good.

Daddy did an art project with the kids. The entire book consists of pictures that look like craft projects. It is pretty neat. The tree in the book reminded us of cardboard.

Each of our 4 children chose a season of the tree's life cycle.

They designed their own cherry trees...!

Honey Bee Turned 5...!

Patience Meah turned 5 yesterday.

She's going into Kindergarten this year...! Eek...biting my nails. She's my little sweetie.

We didn't have a party, just a typical birthday in the Camacho Household.

Her table of goodies that she woke up to. We also had yellow Chinese Lanterns hanging with brown tulle above the table.

I can't have a birthday without photos of them somehow. It makes it special for them and I love looking at their little faces. Is that weird that I stare at their photos all the time?!

Daddy and Mommy blew up a ton of balloons at night so should could wake up to in the morning. We also decorated her bunk bed with crepe paper.

Honey Bee getting all gorgeous {even though her hair is so straight the curls were gone in an hour!}

For breakfast she got her favorite donut {chocolate twisty.} She had some Graham Crackers shaped like Bees for snacks and yellow Bananas and yellow Candy on the table.

She wore this Queen Bee crown all day long. She quite enjoyed being the Queen Bee for the day! Brother and Sisters were extra nice to her. For some reason, there is no fighting just lots of hugs and nice words on birthdays. It is so nice. It's like an unspoken rule of how to behave.

Daddy made this Bee shirt flying in the shape of a 5.

She picked Pizza for dinner and Salad.

Abuela came and picked her up to take her shopping. She got to pick out an outfit. She came home with a fancy dress....so Patience.

Daddy and Mommy took her to Target to pick something out for her gift. She picked 2 pairs of shoes out of the whole store we walked through. Gotta love girls.
Grandma got her this Swim To Me Puppy. During Christmas time, the girls asked for one of these. They were always sold out. My Mom was able to find one, which went to Maelyn. It has been an argument for these past months about sharing it. The stores still get sold out of these things. She was able to find a couple more last month and grabbed one for Patience's birthday. Thank you!

She got some Pokemon cards from Maelyn and gave her a big hug.

She got cards in the mail from my family and more presents from her Aunts and phone calls from Noe's family.

Time to sing her Happy Birthday. She was so shy and cute.

So many candles for such a little girl...!

{BTW...the recipe for this cake is here. It was amazing. I had to print copies for everyone while they were eating it; then my Mom and sister were joking about who gets to make it on our family outings. You just can't say the name of the cake around the kids..! {hehe} I used Butterfingers and Skor bars. Yum!}

Happy 5th Birthday my little Honey Bee...!

The Sweetest little girl in the world.

Teacher {Gift}

I've been doing some of these File Folder Mini Albums now. I know, geez, you can make an album out of anything...! Toliet paper rolls, bags, cardboard, file folders. You name it and it can be made into something.

I started to make myself one of these babies to organize my grocery shopping needs better. I thought that it would be a neat gift for a teacher for the end of the school year.

It is as easy as it looks to make. I went to www.youtube.com and searched file folder albums and came across this idea. I just sketched a rough draft in my notebook to make because it just seemed easy enough and my "Add To Favorites" section on my computer is a mile long now...!

Hint: I suggest using something strong for adhesive like Terrifically Tacky Tape available at Walmart and online.

Oh, and make sure you have a bone folder handy....lots of folding...!

I'm not for certain what direction to go next with the gift. I might put a gift card in it or coupons. Restaurant.com has great deals on coupons.

Otherwise, I might make another File Folder Album to go with it and fill it with all the pictures I have taken of the classes over the school year.

We'll see?!

I know.... I'm on a roll with posts today. I haven't used the computer in a week and I feel so behind. Bare with me ladies and all my quirks..!

{Spa Day} Part 2

We had a Spa Day for the girls this weekend. It was a nice, relaxing time. Just what we all needed.

Us girls ate some chicken salad and strawberries with tea and water. Patience said "This is the best food ever!"

I set up rotations, so that each of the kids would always be doing something.

They got their feet scrubbed in the foot bath.

We put on facial masks with cucumbers on our eyes.

The girls got their nails done all pretty.
I massaged their hands and feet with lotion.
We lit candles and were listening to a cd. The girls almost fell asleep!

When they were all taken care of....they painted my nails and did my feet.

A great girly day!