Level 4 2013 Beam Routine!

So, as we know I do gymnastics! I am currently working on level 4, and I hope to be ready to compete in September! I am definitely looking forward to it! Here are my first and second attempts at the beam routine. They are NOT GOOD AT ALL, and I am missing an entire element. I had just learned the entire routine about five minutes before recording this ENJOY!!!

Cleaning your toddlers room and keeping it clean!

Let me start by saying, there is no way possible to keep your toddler's room as clean as the ones in the magazines! There will always be some kind of chaos going on in there. I was not a big fan of organizing a toddler's room until I found a way to do it that organized it enough to keep it clean but it wasn't so organized that every single little thing had a place.

I mean let's get real, what toddler is going to color code their Lego's??????????????

So here is how I organized my little boys room in a way that made it easy for him to clean up and for me to keep tidy!

The first thing I did was purchase a cheap entertainment center from the goodwill, nothing fancy just a place to hold his T.V. and a few other things.

When I went on the search for the entertainment center I was actually looking for one that I could turn into a kitchen because he absolutely loves playing with his friends kitchen so I wanted him to have one too!

When I saw the entertainment center I thought it would be perfect for that so I bought it and brought it home. I put it in his room to make sure it would fit where I wanted and my wheels started turning!!!




Here is the final result!!

Now, the number one thing to remember with any organization project: BINS ARE YOUR FRIENDS!!!

In these four bins I have all of his small toys that don't really belong to any thing they are just kind of there. On all the other shelves I have the medium size toys. These two things are easy for him to help clean up because they don't have a particular place, they just sort of go. This also helps me because I can pick it all up in about five minutes or less!!

Under the T.V. behind the doors are his books! He loves being able to open the doors to get to his books. My child is a HUGE reader. 

In the corner of his room is where I keep all the larger toys that are too big for the shelf. On top of the entertainment center are toys that we don't play with often, need supervision, or things that aren't toys at all. In another corner is where we keep all of his cars and things. Now, he can put up the large toys and cars anyway that he chooses! There is no order to it, but it is organized in a way that keeps the room from looking completely chaotic! 

I also have his shoes hung up in an organizer on the wall that I cut in half, the other half is in my craft room and is used for paint and things but we will get to that in a later post! You will also notice that there is no dresser, we will get to that in another post as well! Remember to keep checking back with us for more great cleaning and organizing tips, as well as your everyday projects!


***If you have any tips for me or other readers on how to organize a child's room, please feel free to comment and share!

ROUND OFF FULL TWIST!!!

Learning Round off Fulls!!!

Not another chalkboard idea?!?!?!

So, I have gone and done!! I fell into the chalkboard era!!!

I know I know there are thousands of tutorials on the internet about how to make a chalkboard this and how to make a chalkboard that... 

Everyday when I pick my son up from daycare, he is standing at the chalkboard by the door drawing circles and lines, he is two so this is really all he can draw!!!

But he absolutely loves it and I have to tear him away from it. I decided about a month ago that I was going to make him a chalkboard for at home. I didn't want to paint it on the wall, I wanted it to be something we could take with us when we move, so I did some research and decided I would use my big vanity mirror that was gifted to me out of a bathroom form a theater. Well, three hours after working ont his mirror and making it perfectI took the tape off and it was ruined and when I tried to write on it with the chalk it was ruined. Maybe it was the paint I used or maybe Ijust did it wrong, I do not know, but I decided I wasn't going to let that get me down and went and bought a piece of 2'X4' plywood from Lowe's. I also discovered my new addiction while I was there Valspar Paint!!! 


I absolutely love this stuff! they have so many bright colors and a wide variety of things to choose from. The main reason they are my favorite new addiction, Lowe's has their chalkboard spray paint for $6!! I was skeptical, and didn't think it would work but for $5 I couldn't turn it down!!







Now onto the actual project:

Materials needed:

• Plywood, 
• size is at your discretion, I wanted something small, but big enough to sit on the floor so it didn't have to be hung up.
• Valspar Color paint
• Valspar Chalkboard Spray paint 
• You can pick up either one of these products online at  this link!
• Elmers Glue, or any other washable glue
• Small paint brush
• Masking tape or painters tape
• printed letters of the word you want on the  board

Step One:

Paint the plywood the color you want. Do not make the same mistake I did and think you can spraypaint plywood like you can anything else, it seeps in, and looks all spread out, you really have to go slow and double over each strip. I put three coats of the blue on my plywood.

                                                                   

                                            What the board should look like

NOT OKAY

Step Two:

 Make sure you have applied at least two coats, but if possible three. While you are waiting for this to dry go to your computer and print out letters you want. I put my son's name at the top, I used Ariel Black Font, because I wanted it to be something I could easily cut out. I printed them letters in size 500. Use what you think will work best for the size of board you are using. After printing cut out the letters!

Step Three:

Check and make sure your board is dry, now take your washable glue and apply it to the back of your letters using the small paint brush. Be sure to lay the letters down before hand and get them where you want them, with the washable glue you can move them around a bit, but not too much. You may remove the paint or tear the letters. Once you are sure of the placing remove them one by one and apply glue then put on board. 

Step Four:

If you want to make a design, here is where your masking tape comes in. Simply lay the tape where you don't want chalkboard paint, be as creative or geometric as you want! I chose to do simply lines. I forgot to take a picture before I applied the chalkboard paint ((( I was too excited to get through )))

Step Five:

By this point the glue on the letters should be dry! You are ready to spray your chalkboard paint. At this point you should know how to spray the paint onto the plywood. It is not going to "seep" into the wood like the first color did, but you still have to go slow, and make sure you cover every inch. I applied two coats of chalkboard paint!

I am not sure why it looks purple here :/

Be sure to spray straight at the wood, if you spray at any angle it will get underneath any piece of paper or tape that is sticking up!!

Step Six:

Set the timer on your oven, microwave, or phone for two hours! The can says one, but I always add an extra hour. Sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee (( or share a book with your child, here is one that I recommend, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons )))

Step Seven: 

After your two hours are over you are ready to take your tape off and see the finished product!!

SSSOOO....

I am learning a double front and an arabian at the gym... This is my third or fourth attempt at the double front into the pit!! For those of you that don't know, a double front is basically a front flip, only instead of going around once you go around twice!!!

Picture Frame

So, a few weeks ago I bought this picture frame/poster frame that was on sale. I had no clue what I would use it for but I knew I wanted to do something with it. I was walking through wal-mart looking for a candle warmer to put my Purex Crystals in to see if it would actually work in making the house smell ridiculously good ((( it does ))) and while on that aisle I cam across these little rock gems and had an epiphany. Here is the final Product!

 Here is what you will need to get started:

One 22x36 poster frame
Hot Glue Gun & glue sticks
Acrylic Paint
Mod Podge
Any gems or rocks of your choice
Photo Paper of your choice














The first thing you want to do is wipe off the outside of the frame where you will be gluing the gems. Make sure there is no dust or anything on it, you want your gems to stick very good. Then get a container or a bag and put all the gems in it so that way your choices of what goes next is more    random, unless you are going for a pattern then make a pattern with them. 

After you have all your gems on take the cardboard backing out of the picture frame and paint it with the color you chose. I only put on one coat and spread it very thinly, I wanted it to look almost "Rustic" I guess is the word I am looking for. 





While you are waiting on everything to dry, pick out your pictures, print them, and choose what pattern you want them to be in. Once your paint and glue is dry put your mod podge on the back of the pictures and place them on the cardboard. Wait for that to dry and put your picture frame together.

  And Viola!!! I haven't decided where I am going to hang it yet, but I think it turned out absolutely amazing!!
I hope your picture frame turns out amazing.

Meet The Blogger

Well, what can I say about me? I am a mom to a beautiful little boy. I am a wife to hard working man. I teach gymnastics everyday. I come home and super mom at night. My son is currently two years old. He is in speech therapy, which is heart breaking to have to go through but I know it could be worse. My husband manages a movie theater which basically means I get to see all the movies I want, although I never have time for that anymore, and I rarely get to see my husband. I have taught tumbling, cheerleading, and gymnastics for nine years now. I love teaching and I love helping children that have a passion to learn. When I get home at night it is usually dinner time, bath time, play time, story time, and bedtime. I try to do them in that order but I'm sure most moms will agree with  me when I say it doesn't always happen that way! My family is my everything, my job is my passion, and my home is my hobby!