About Casa Camacho...!

Hola!

Welcome to Casa Camacho....!

Since I have gotten quite a few new followers, I thought I would introduce ourselves to you. Thank you by the way for making me want to blog. I have met so many wonderful people that have many of the same interests as me. Really, if I didn't get all your comments....I don't know if I would spend time and effort on here. You feed my ego....{haha} I mean you have blessed my family!

This is me as of lately. I transform alot. If you look through my blog and notice I've had many hair colors and styles, glasses and contacts, my weight is up and down. I've put on some weight lately, but don't worry...I'm working on it! Usually the heavier I am, the busier I am. Sad truth!

I am a Stay-at-home Mom. Most days I love it....some days are hard!

When older ladies come up to me at church or the supermarket and say " It goes by so fast, don't let these moments pass you bye." At those moments I really feeling like saying "You can babysit for a couple of hours if you want!" {hehe} Really, I hug them and kiss them when we get to the car because it does go by incredibly fast!

I have a 5th grader. Where does time go? I'm way too young and hot to be a Mom of a 5th grader {haha}

I am very organized and scheduled but most of the time feels like I could have more organization {if it was just me living here....it would look really good!}

The kids are homeschooled from birth until Kindergarten which is why there is a Homeschool Section on the right.

We have been toying with the idea of homeschooling the rest of the kiddos....however we are undecided right now on where we will be living and if we'll be moving anytime soon. So, we put that decision off for the time being.

My husband Noe is a wildland firefighter. Actually, he has been an engine captain the past two years. Before that, he was a Hot Shot for 10 years.

He finds this fun and exciting...!

He is gone alot in the summer for fire season which is why you might hear me saying something about being alone.
We met right after High School graduation, at a college where we both attended for a summer program.

We've been together ever since...!

He loves his job to pieces....! Oh ya, and loves me too...!

Sometimes he doesn't get to talk with us for awhile, but if someone has a laptop...he usually checks Casa Camacho to see what his family is up to while he's gone.
He is called to fires everywhere around the nation. So, he travels alot.

We have four children. One boy and three girls...!

I love having 4 kids. We always have even teams.

2 of my kids are lighter and look like me and the other 2 look exactly like their Daddy. However, personality wise....the ones that look like me act like their Dad...very laid back, forgetful and sweet. The other two that don't look like me, act like me...very outspoken, witty, responsible. {Among other traits of course!}

They are involved in all sorts of things. We have them at least try everything once and finish it. They could then determine if they like that activity or club or sport, on their own.

We are a Christian Family, so we also get really involved in things happening within the church. It's good for our souls. It makes us happy, like we make a difference...!

With one income coming in, we have to be thrifty and tight with our money. We try different ways of doing affordable things to have fun.

Someone recently called me a cheapskate when it comes to giving gifts. I think that is a hurtful word. What most people don't realize because they have 2 incomes, is that it is a way different scenario for us and our family. We have to watch everything we spend. Just think if you only had a firefighters salary to pay everything. We are able to give so many gifts because of my organization and thinking ahead and stocking up. It's difficult to make something out of nothing sometimes!

Yes, it is a personal choice that I made to stay home.....and I'm happy, so please be happy with the little things we do.

We like to do alot of themes around here.

Theme for learning, parties, Date Night, playdates, Halloween costumes...yes, I get carried away. However, it's just how my brain functions. When I have a theme in mind...I search out stuff for it. I feel less scatter brained. I'm able to get alot more done and not feel so overwhelmed. Plus, awesome friends will tell me that they found something with that theme somewhere....it's just easier I tell you...!

I like to participate in blog parties. I have been really slacking lately with my linkys. I'm trying to get into a new routine with school back in session and one child at home now. It's so different for me. One child at home. So quiet! Here is the link to some that I participate in if you wanna join and it also says a little more about us.
My husband describes our blog as this ...."Our Life!"

We are not fake. We don't post stuff to make it seem like we are so busy or perfect or that I do so much with the kids. If you read this blog, you see into our home. It's just us...raw and everything. These are the things that we do. Our everyday. You can't fake it...if it's how you are.

When I say my kids have a bedtime routine and are in bed at 8. If you come over at that time, they will be in bed or heading towards it. If I give parenting advice on here, I practice it.

People have said that it always looks like we do alot of stuff. I usually always keep my blog current. They are not past pictures. We do...do alot of stuff. However, I do try to keep that balance {where organization/scheduling comes into play.} I do most of my school stuff {PTO, etc} from home because that is my balance I want to maintain personally. I have to make sure my little ones get lessons done and the house is clean before other work is taken care of. It's just how I want to live. We all have to make our choices in life...!

If you take something from this blog, it should be that we enjoy each other. Our family loves spending time together. We have fun. We are silly. We love each other. We are living life to it's fullest together. We only have this one lifetime. Forget about yesterday and all the things that were wronged. Live for today with the people who matter most...!

I may dissappoint you readers from time to time...I have my moods like everyone else. I do really appreciate and love your words.

You inspire me everyday....!

Handprint {Sun}

This Handprint Sun was really fun for Carmendee to make. She had a great time.

"That's me Mama!" "Those are my hands Mama!"

I just printed out a picture of her and cut it with a yellow construction paper into circles. Carm glue them together for the center of the sun. I cut out all her hands after tracing them. {A time saver is folding the paper and cutting more than one hand at a time.}

Using Martha Brand orange glitter, Carm glued the rays of the sun.

This project brought a bright ray of sunshine into my house!

My Month Of Meals.

So my Month Of Meals is over....and I so miss my freezer being full!

I have to say my experience was incredible {cue Angels from Heaven coming down!}

It took 2 days to make everything...one for meals and the next for extras {jam, ketchup, etc}

My feet were hurting those days but after that, the experience was a great one.

I was a little shocked by the grocery bill at first, but I had to keep in mind it was for the entire month.

Overall, we saved money.

Since my meals were already made and I just had to pop them in the oven, I had so much free time. I made homemade bread all the time. I baked more. I was able to do more crafts and learning around the house. It was really amazing!

I was short maybe 5-7 meals. I had factored in eating out once a week with my hubby. Since there were fires almost everyday this month, we didn't really go out.

We did get tired of eating some things. The kids loved the Homemade Sloppy Joes. It was quick and easy.

I am going to do more variety next month. I learned you can freeze almost anything! So, why not just take my families favorite meals and make them? If you eat mostly chicken with sides, make the chicken up ahead of time.

We also couldn't go the entire month without going to the store. Since I didn't know how much we ate of some things, I needed to go back for 2 more boxes of powdered milk and flour, etc.

Our family also doesn't eat frozen veggies or fruit too much; hardly at all {just our preference not that there is anything wrong with it.} We live in Central California rich in agriculture, so we go to our Farmers Markets every single week. So, we did spend a little more on fresh fruits and veggies than was suggested in an article I read. You have to make that decision too on what is most important to eat or buy for yourselves.

With schedules getting busier and busier, I'm defintely going to keep this up. I had no food in my house by the end...and was a little dreading making the lists and grocery shopping and starting over.

In the end though, it was so worth it...!

Space {Fun}

These were the last projects we did for our Space Theme this summer.

I found these great printouts at DLTK's Kids Craft site.

Using some shoe box lids, they glued black paper on to make an outer space. After cutting out planets and stars from a printable, they glued them on..!

My girls would make the Nasa Space Shuttles rock...!

My favorite craft was these astronauts. They colored the space suits however they wanted. Patience said when she's an astronaut, she wants to put a space suit on our guinea pig and take her to space. Adorable!

Maybe my 3 girls should go to space together? Can you imagine a hot pink shuttle?
So, they have been using these like paper dolls and making them ride on the Space Shuttle then jump into space. It's funny because Maelyn asked for ribbon like the cord from the astronaut to the shuttle.

A kind lady from Facebook gave me the link to this Moon Sand Recipe.
I couldn't find craft sand at Michael's....I'm still looking around. We'll make this soon...hopefully.

{First} Day Of School 2010

It was the First Day Of School...! Woo-Hoo...!

I'm officially exhausted. I hope I muster up more energy for the rest of the week.

Here are the kiddos before school all ready to go.

Me: Honey, can you take lots of pictures of them while I get ready?

Noe: Yep

Me looking at all the pictures he took....2 and these next 2 are the ones...!

Sorry babe, a career in photography is not in your future.

Every year we go early and eat breakfast at McDonalds on the first day of school...!

{My boys}

My boy is in 5th grade now...! Oh how the years go by?!

The cool 2nd grade group...!

Maelyn Ms. Popular.

Patience is in Kindergarten now...! I was so wanting to cry. She's my little girl. However, there was a class full of cryers this year Moms and kids....so I was strong. I tried to pump them up and tell them how fun it was going to be...! Noe was proud of me.

My sweetie in her dress. She loves her dresses.

"Ok Bye Mom!" Umm....you're coming home with me. She brought her lunch pail and everything...!

{BTW...they started a new free breakfast program in all the classes this year. Look what they served! Sugar upon sugar upon sugar. I know I'm bad....when I already complained. I have a meeting with the Superintendent about the food. I hate being that way....but...}

It was a minimum day for them and they just had a blast...! I hope the rest of the school year goes well. I have to admit, it was a little quiet at home with just one child. I'm not used to it. Different.

We had a quick pizza dinner and they finished up homework and packed up lunches for tomorrow.

Happy Schooling...!

Teacher Gift...!

A quick Teachers Gift that tastes oh so good....!

I bought some pencil boxes at Walmart for .60 cents.

The kiddos made a tag for the top. There were no pencil boxes with a smooth top...I was looking to decorate them further. These turned out fine anyways...!

Inside, we added Pencils. Ok...Pencil Sugar Cookies.

{My cookies didn't turn out quite as I wanted because of no piping bags or parchament paper. I used sandwich bags and a clean ketchup squeezzee bottle. Oh ya, and no cookie cutter. I just used a knife to cut the shape out!}

Royal Icing Frosting

{Got this recipe years ago when taking a Wilton Cookie Class. It wasn't a Wilton recipe, my instructor gave us her favorite recipe}

2 lbs Powdered Sugar

6 TB Meringue Powder {available at Michaels}

12 TB Water

1 tsp Vanilla {Michaels has the pure white vanilla...it's different that the store brand...makes your frosting really white}

1 tsp Lemon Extract {or raspberry ext., strawberry, almond....}

Sift the powdered sugar and meringue powder together into a bowl.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.

This will give you the thicker outline for the cookies.

For the thinner middle, add 1 TB at a time of water until you get the consistency that you want to flood the cookie.

*

I'm sure the teachers would appreciate this gift anytime of year as a special treat...!

Back To School {Treat}

These German School Cones are a tradition in Germany...!

I wanted to channel my half German side on the first day of school with this cute cone or Schultute as they call them.

You can buy these cones anywhere in Germany when school time comes around.

They fill them to the max with all sorts of things like toys, candy and school supplies.

You can make them any size...big or small and decorate them with all sorts of decorations. I have seen some really adorable School Cones.

Another thing they do is wrap the tops or treats in cellophane or tissue paper.

Doesn't that sound really fun to do...?!

Since I went school shopping with the kids already and filled their backpacks, I just opted for a few things to put in their German School Cone. I'm going to place them on their placemats in the morning when they get up.

Mine are super simple...just using scrapbook paper. I cut 3 inches off of the paper {am using the scraps as tags for their teachers gifts that I'll post tomorrow.} I just taped into a cone shape and added a sticker tag for what grade they are going into.

I'm really excited about these! Maybe next year I'll fancy them up more {if it turns into a tradition?} They are just adorable. I think the kids will be surprised to see this treat in the morning!

{**Twinkle Toes**}

{Fishin} For A Good Summer...!

We had some friends over and I wanted to know what everyone's favorite thing they did this summer was....so I drew some fish templates on scratch paper for a "Fishing For A Good Summer" slogan.

The kids took the templates, traced them on a piece of construction paper and cut them out.

On the backs they wrote what their favorite thing that made it a good summer for them.

They turned them over and decorated them. I had glitter and pom poms, etc... but since I brought out these sequins....that's all the girls wanted to use!

It was interesting learning what each kiddo liked best. I try to keep that stuff into account for future activities...!

It seems like we Caught ourselves a Good Summer...!

Mom's Bucket List {Before} School Starts...!

It seems like my list of things to do before school starts next week gets longer. I'm trying to get things done, I promise...!

This was my list that I had up the past week and the things that I've accomplished:

1. Make backpack ID Tags. {check}

2. Get a Girl Scout Troop up and running in our town. After months of paper work and waiting, it's finally happening! Just in time for school to start. We have lots of girls signed up already. {check}

3. Catch up on cards and mail out. Birthdays, Get Wells, and Babies....been piling up. {check}

4. Make sure Summer Bucket List gets done. I'm trying! We just need Sunrise Picnic {I've been lagging on getting up at 5:30ish}, go to the Beach {which has been cancelled several times due to fires this season} and End Of The Summer Celebration.

5. Embellish Notebooks {check}

6. Finish School Shopping {check}

7. Get Banner made for PTO to use for Back-To-School and Kinder Orientation {check}

8. Organize the Book Fair....book dates, ask volunteers, etc... {check}

9. Get Hair Cuts. Maybe we'll walk to the park later and take pictures because they look adorable?! {check}

10. Noah needed 10 year old shots. A Mom just told me that last week after we had came from the doctor for Patience. We had to get them done. {check}

11. Make lunch list and grocery shop for Back To School. Costco is our best friend...! {check}

12. Make Teachers Gifts. Got the stuff, need to get it done this weekend.