Believing in myself with The Pampered Chef.

I was signed up to sell The Pampered Chef cooking items and I didn’t think I was going to last. My husband signed me up because I wanted half of the products that came in the kit. I was nervous, scared and panicky at first. I was in deep shock to know that my husband had signed me up to do this. Its been four years since I left the house all by myself. I don’t like to drive. I haven’t spoken in in front of people in years. I cant..I cant..I cant…All the negatives was bombarding my head.  When I had my first person sign up to do a show I was nervous. I remember crying that night because I was mortified of getting in the car and standing in front of people. They were family relatives and all I could think of was that people where going to think that what I did was a joke. I didn’t believe in it..yet

I did my first show and I survived. then came second and third and so on. I am starting to feel a bit more comfortable and still learning new things every single day. I am thankful to be part of a wonderful team. I can count on my Director and Advance Director to guide me. I am a scary cat when doing new things. Always afraid of asking and the “what if I fail”. I am not alone. Everyone has their moments in life and when we let those fears control us we will never move forward. I, for one am learning to overcome my fear of driving to an unknown place. The more I do it the more comfortable I will be.

The best way to overcome any fear is to just do it! You never know where it will take you. For now I earn free products, flexible schedule and of course I get paid which means its my fun money. How cool is that!

Jeanette

For the love of Paint…

Ooops..momma caught me! I love the reaction on her face. Priceless! I asked her what is she doing and my son responds by saying “ Mom, she’s a dinosaur.roar.” Once she saw me snapping pictures she decides to approach me and attempt to roar on the camera.  She still had the brush on her hand and I was “running” away from her. Luckily she didn’t get it on the camera which was my main concern.

My son loves to paint on paper and my daughter on her body. She has painted her arms with markers and pens. She will chase big brother around with the paint brush thinking its funny while big brother yells saying “oh no! dinosaur is coming to get me!”

I see the two of them and all I can say is appreciate and cherish moments like these. It only happens once and next thing you know they will be teens and all the fun moments will be gone. I remember one of my moms sayings..LOS NINOS SON DULCES PERO CUANDO SON JOVENES SE VUELVEN AMARGOS. If that’s the case then I guess I should enjoy moments like these.

Jeanette

Some easy Valentines Day’s craft. Toddler to preschooler.

Once we took our Christmas decorations off the house looked empty. I decided to decorate the house for Valentines day because I couldn’t stand looking at my empty walls. We made rainbow hearts with watercolor paint and some foam stickers.

For this craft we painted cardboard boxes red and traced hearts with a cookie cutter. We then printed pictures of loved ones and brushed glued on it. We then placed some stickers on them and hung them on the wall. This was a two day activity. the first day we painted the cardboards and the second day we cut and trace.

This craft was bought at the Dollar store. Its an easy activity for 3 yr olds and up. My daughter kept putting the foam in her mouth and putting the pieces apart. It took about 15 minutes to do this craft. It was a set of three picture frames but my daughter ripped the cupcake one apart.

We went cardboard painting crazy. There was a lot leftover from Christmas that I decided to keep some. we painted the cardboard red and trace hearts with cookie cutters. We cut the heart shapes and place random bear stickers. These were also purchased at the dollar store.

These are a few homemade Valentines day craft perfect for a toddler to preschooler to do. They paint, learn to trace and cut at the same time. Cutting cardboard can be hard on little ones so please be patient when they ask for help more then once.

 

Happy crafting,

Jeanette

Using my Cricut Expression 2 Electronic Cutting Machine.

It has been a long time since I wrote something. The holidays were rough on me and my family. Gringo is in the grieving process and staying strong for the family seemed like an arduous task for me. During December I was looking forward for January to come. One of the gifts Gringo bought me was a Cricut Expression 2 machine. I love to scrapbook and designing my own pages is therapeutic for me. There's no right or wrong way and I have no one telling me how to do it.

Here are a couple of things we made. Valentine’s Day is around the corner and after taking all the Christmas decorations off the house seemed empty. We have made other projects too at home which am looking forward to write about it.

The love bug on the top was made by Gringo. I decided to take a shower and when I came out he handed me a love bug…I thought it was really cute! Little things like that make me feel special.

Cricut machine is really easy to use. It took us a couple minutes to figure it out but once you start using it, you don’t want to stop..it can be addicting!!!!

Have a great day!

Jeanette

A Memorable Visit To Santa!

One of our favorite places to go visit Santa is at Macy’s Herald Square in NYC. We have gone there in the past three years to take our family picture. We usually go on Thanksgiving weekend but this year my family came over to visit us. We didn’t have a chance to see Santa until this weekend. This year was different..actually memorable! You might be asking yourself..Well, if it was a family picture then where is Gringo and Gringomex?..right? Well, here’s the story…

Gringomex was super excited that he woke up at 5:00 am ready to go visit Santa. I on the other hand woke up at 8:00 am which by the time the kids were done eating breakfast we left the house at 9:30. We arrived at Santa Land and the line was so long that it had a two hour wait on line. I was not feeling up for it however Gringo was adamant that he wanted the buttons that they give every single year. He collects them and couldn’t go home without one. Sometimes my husband is more of a kid then the children.

So two hours later we are getting closer to enter the train that takes us to Santa Land. As we are getting ready to take our picture by the train, Gringo decides to pick up Gringomex and all of a sudden he starts throwing up. I place my camera inside my pocket to rescue my North Face jacket. Yes…I was more worried about my jacket then my son. I grab my jacket and start looking for tissues. Of course I wasn’t prepared for this. So we stand him there to the side to do his thing. A lady hands me a couple of tissues and as people try to skip over us we asked our son if he was feeling better. His response was “Momma, I feel better now. I think I can go see Santa.” What a tough cookie!

We continue our journey to see Santa Land. We take a couple of pictures even thought I had a bunch of them from the previous years. I made it a point to take pictures of the two children. Didn’t want Gringamex to feel left out. Finally we are closer to Santa. They place us next in line to take a picture with Santa. Gringomex is anxious, tired…overwhelmed child. So we walk towards Santa. I and Gringamex sit next to Santa and Gringo tries to pick up Gringomex so he could sit next to him. Santa decides to ask Gringomex “What would you like for Christmas?” My sons response “Dad, I think I want to throw up” and out it goes.

You cant see my son but he’s throwing up on the side by Santa’s boot and Gringo is standing next to him. My daughter is looking at him wondering what’s going on and the elf is trying to take a picture of us. I am trying to make my daughter look up towards the camera.

To my surprise Santa remained calm. He had a deep voice that for a moment I thought that he was for real. He told my son that it was ok and to feel better.

Also, while we were waiting on line Gringamex decided to grab my sons finger and bit him.

Memorable and Unforgettable indeed!

Jeanette

Making our First snowman in 2012.

It s that time of the year again..Winter is around the corner and snow has arrived. I was pretty excited for it. One of the first things Gringomex said was “mom lets go built a snowman, I want frosty to talk to me” It’s a really cute age of innocence. He thinks the snowman  is going to come alive like in the cartoons. Gringamex is also excited about the snow. They were having a blast making a snowmen.

Days are going really fast and it amazes me how much they have both grown. Last year Gringamex wasn’t walking and now she’s on her feet building a snowman. I went to Walmart and bought squirt bottles to mix with some food color and water so they can paint in the snow. That will be a fun activity for some other time.

Jeanette

Buying A Fresh Cut Tree at Critz’s Farm.

This year we decided to go visit Critz’s farm to purchase our Christmas tree. It’s about 10 1/2 feet long, Balsam Fir and we ended up paying $40.00 for it. Gringo forgot to bring his measuring tape, we wanted a 14 foot tree. It took us a while to fine the perfect tree. The kids had a blast walking around the tree farm.

 

I was exhausted and didn’t really feel like doing any decorating. I decided to grab my camera and take some quick pictures. The kids had fun decorating the tree. I felt like the tree needed more ornaments. One year I would like to make a Disney themed tree. I think the kids would love it.

Jeanette