French Toast Casserole

When I woke up this morning I decided to create a breakfast I saw on Pinterest and since me and Adam both love french toast this sounded like a great idea....


Recipe:

• 5 cups bread cubes
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup white sugar, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon margarine, softened
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly butter an 8x8 inch baking pan.
2. Line bottom of pan with bread cubes. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, 2 tablespoons sugar, salt and vanilla. pour egg mixture over bread. Dot with margarine; let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Combine remaining 2 tablespoons sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle over the top. Bake in preheated oven about 45 to 50 minutes, until top is golden.

6 servings 

It takes a little bit of time but over all it was pretty easy. I also used my silk vanilla milk instead and omitted the vanilla extract by doing so. 


I did forget to set the oven 25* less than what the recipe called for so it only took 30 minutes. The outside was a little crunchy (my mom suggested I cover with aluminum next time). The inside was a little bit more soggy than I would have liked also (I can't stand anything soggy but Adam and mom liked it). Overall the taste was yummy. 


<3 Nik

Coupon Organization

So I am a huge planner... For example I have planned George and Samantha's entire summer break from field trips, cooking, science and art activities. All I need is for their mom to let me know what day their sporting activities are on and when.

Living at home my mom mostly takes care of the coupons and grocery shopping. I figured since I will be moving out soon I need to get a coupon system set up. I hate using those expanding file folder things bc they never stay open. So I found an empty box laying around the basement and decided to make little folders to fit in it.... Here is the outcome.

I made a folder for all the different categories plus:
*Air Fresheners & Candles
*Baby (even though I don't have one yet but it would have messed up the tabs if I didn't make it now and 2 years from now I needed it. Told you I am a huge planner).
*Bags
*Baking
*Batteries
*Beverages
*Bread
*Candy & Gum
*Canned Foods
*Cereal - General Mills
*Cereal - Kashi
*Cereal - Kelloggs
*Cleaners
*Condiments
*Crackers
*Dairy
*Frozen
*Health Foods
*Hygiene - Dental
*Hygiene - Other
*Jelly / Peanut Butter
*Makeup
*Meat
*Medicine / Rx
*Mexican
*Office Supplies
*Paper Products {T.P., etc.}
*Pasta
*Rice
*Salad Dressing
*Seasonings
*Sauce
*Snacks
*Toys
*Vitamins
Additional categories I made for specific stores:
*Bed Bath & Beyond
*Craft Stores
*CVS
*Kroger
*Target
*Walgreens
*Wal-Mart
Other categories:
Restaurants -- Gift Cards

I also made folders for different memberships so we can set the money aside ahead of time. This way when the membership fee is due we wont be searching for the money.
Sam's Membership
Moose Membership

<3 Nik

Layney's TuTu - Item for Sale

So one of my friends wanted a TuTu for her little girl's 1st birthday.... I thought it would be hard to do so I was a little nervous to do it at first. I actually went to the fabric store to go get supplies for a different craft and while I was there I was why not it's worth a shot. Here is the final result of Layney's TuTu... If you would like to order one Please e-mail me at dream.lovehope@live.com with the subject line Sweet Dreams Crafts. 

$10.00






<3 Nik

Sweet Cupcake - Item for sale

Me and my boyfriends mom were shopping for craft ideas and this is one of the many we came up with. This would be an adorable decoration for the summer time... ONLY $15.00 and it's yours....

Just e-mail me at: dream.lovehope@live.com with the subject line sweet dreams crafts (this is so I don't think its spam).

<3 Nik

Specialty Order Form

If anyone would like to order a gift basket here is an order form you can fill out and e-mail me @dream.lovehope@live.com

Please let your friends know :-)

<3 Nik

Stranger Safety

George is going to be 5 this week and Samantha is going to be 3 at the end of the month. It is a really great time to go into more detail about stranger danger with George. Since Samantha wants to do everything he does she is learning the basics but might not comprehend everything he does.

The kids mom got a DVD it is for ages 4 and up. The video is called The Safe Side: Stranger Safety. The company also has one for Internet Safety. These video's were created by John Walsh and Julie Clark. I have had a little time to check out the website www.thesafeside.com which has more resources for families and teachers to download. We have not had time yet to watch the video but when we do I will give you my opinion on it and weather or not the kids liked it and understood it.

So George has sat down with his mom and watched the video this past week... I saw him on Thursday and he could not wait to watch it again. I didn't actually get to sit down and watch it with him but he could already tell me so much about it and the clips I did see were great. This video his kid approved!!!! 

<3 Nik

Benefit Basket

Ok so back in February I made TWO gift baskets for a benefit. If you are interested in ordering a basket please e-mail me at dream.lovehope@live.com. I have several more pictures on my facebook page.

Just an Ordinary Can?

So I am always looking for ideas to with the kids I nanny for in which we will refer to them as George and Samantha. Their dad just got a new house and he gave me permission to decorate the playroom and buy any supplies we need. Did I mention I love decorating and I especially love it when I can do it for cheap? I have been working on organizing all of there art supplies. Needed something for the pencils ....

I know just get a pencil box right? Yeah sorry that is boring!!!! So here is my solution....

1 tin can (I used one of moms coffee cans)
Paint or Pretty Paper
Mod Podge and Paint Brush (if using paper)

Step One: Peel the paper off the can and wash
Step Two: Make sure you sand the sharp area down if there are any. (that's why I used the coffee can)
Step Three: If your having the kids help it will be easier for them paint. Have the kids put a base coat on of what ever color they want. Then, let dry. You might need more than one coat. If using paper cut paper to fit the height of the can. Apply Mod Podge all over the outside of the can and wrap paper around it. I then applied Mod Podge all over the top of the paper.
Step Four: (Optional) I am real big on putting labels on everything. What can I say I use to be a preschool teacher. So I made an awesome label and mod podged it on.
Step Five: Once dry they can decorate it with foam stickers, glitter, more paint.

Final Product (I forgot to take pictures as I went through the process promise if I make another one soon will try and remember to do so.)

Labels

So the combination of me being addicted to Pinterest, having the teacher mind set, and not having my own kids yet I had to find somewhere I could be constructive. Why not use all this knowledge on the kids I nanny? As I mentioned in the last blog I am very much so big on labeling everything!!!! This really helps the kids learn to read and helps keeps things organized.

Here are pictures of my SUPER NIFTY labels :-)

Steps to Creating really cute and durable labels :-)

Step One: I used a business card template and used bing.com to find really cute pictures. 

Step Two: Print them out! and Cut them out!

(This is similar to mine)

Step Three: Glue images on to card stock or pretty scrapbook paper... (depending on how durable you want them)

(Samantha got pink and George got blue)

Step Four: Either laminate the labels or use clear packing tape 

(I am very impatient when I am sick and when I am in the groove of making something so I just used packing tape)

Step Five: You have several different options on for this step...

         Option One: Velcro

         Option Two: String and a Whole Puncher (this is my pick especially since it is not my furniture)

         Option Three: Tape

Final Product:

George's Room

Samantha's Room

Close up of Samantha's Room

The kids dad told me the next day they were so excited about the tags later that night. Dad thought it was a good ideas also especially since George is starting to read :-)

<3 Nik