AIW ² Home School Club ~ Lesson 1.1

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Ava & I made it through our first full week of AIW² Home School Club with flying colors. I feel like she really enjoyed herself in her new classroom. She colored coloring pages everyday, which she is getting much better at with all the practice she is getting. I do have to admit that with each daily lesson, I did go on YouTube and found a short video or two that corresponded with that day’s lesson. For Instance, Monday requires that the weekly theme be introduced … last week was a  cow … I found a couple of cartoon videos that I showed her on Monday about cows. I don’t want to start putting her in front of the TV again, but she responds really well to videos with songs. That’s why I kept it to one or two short videos. I show them to her twice (once at the beginning of class, and once at the end of class) for the specific day they are required. Then I let the whole playlist loop and play in the background on the laptop so that she can hear the songs and music but  be working on something else (like a coloring page or practicing writing on the chalk board). That way during the day while we are doing things around the house (not in class), I can sing the songs to her and she kind of remembers some of the words.

Also, I don’t have any of the books that are in the book list that support the weekly themes. I did a search on YouTube and found a video of someone who narrated the book, so I included that in the playlist as well. I will probably do that every week.

You may choose not to use the videos as the original creator of this lesson plan did not. I just added them because I know Ava (being only 2 years old) responds well to them.

AIW² Home School Club Lesson 1.1 Video Playlist ~This is the whole week’s playlist. If you click on the YouTube icon at the bottom of the playing screen, you will be taken to the playlist on YouTube.com.

AIW² Home School Club Lesson 1.1 Coloring Pages

Just a note: These are the coloring pages I used. I either found them by following the links that Shelly had on her lesson plan or I Googled the subject and “coloring page”. You can do the same and find other pages for free if you don’t like the ones I’m including in this post.

I hope these things help you. And I hope you will check back often to follow our journey.

Vote for me @ Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog Directory

PLEASE TAKE ONE SECOND TO VOTE FOR ME!!! All you need to do is click on the banner in the sidebar to the right to register a vote for me! You can vote one time every 24 hours from every computer and cell phone! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! I really appreciate your support!

Don’t forget to find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

Calling All Prayer Warriors

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


You may remember back at the end of 2011 when I wrote about my best friend’s little boy, Bennett. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He has been getting MRI’s since his original diagnosis every 3 months to monitor the tumor. The type of tumor he was diagnosed with was not supposed to grow and was non-cancerous. However, unfortunately, the MRI he had this past February showed a 40% growth in the last year. His doctors recommended he undergo chemo-therapy to stop the growth and until he is old enough for radiation treatment (he’s only 3 years old). Of course, they got a second opinion and decided to move forward with treatment.

So this morning, he will start the long 18-month road of weekly chemotherapy treatments (bi-weekly for the first couple of months) … I’m sorry, I couldn’t even get through typing that sentence without crying. I guess what I’d like to ask you to pray for is that he get through this process with as little sickness and discomfort as possible … that the treatments do the job of stopping his tumor’s growth … that God give his family the strength to help this strong little guy as he fights through this … and that he comes out winning his battle.

Children shouldn’t have to fight these kinds of battles and this really hurts my heart to think about. But I’m going to pray and have faith that God will pull him and his family through it.

Before I end this post, I’d just like to mention that the family has set up a donation page where they are keeping updates and photos on his progress and journey. Bennett’s parents want to take him to Disney World after his chemo treatments are over. The donations will go towards that. I think it will be a great gift to give him for being such a strong fighter.

Vote for me @ Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog DirectoryPLEASE TAKE ONE SECOND TO VOTE FOR ME!!! All you need to do is click on the banner in the sidebar to the right to register a vote for me! You can vote one time every 24 hours from every computer and cell phone! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! I really appreciate your support!

Don’t forget to find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

AIW ² Home School Club ~ Getting Started

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Last month, my oldest daughter turned 2 years old. Ava is in the “repeating stage” as in she has every Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, and Doc McStuffins episode she’s ever seen memorized … true story (hey at least they are educational cartoons). She can act out episodes without the television even being on. She’s learned a lot of words this way, but it’s obvious I’m putting her in front of the television a little too much (bad Mommy). I considered video taping it and loading it up on YouTube (which I still might do) because it’s so damned funny, but I haven’t for fear that I’ll get “hate-comments” about what a horrible mother I am for letting my child watch so much television. She’s very expressive and even does the facial expressions and hand gestures. I find it hilarious that she has all of this memorized like a little actress in the making. That kid is gonna go places!

I digress … I started feeling guilty about it and decided that since I’m a stay-at-home-mom, I should be doing more with her in regard to her language and education. I think it’s time to start teaching her the basics … the alphabet, numbers (she can already count to 10 without help thanks to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), colors, nursery rhymes (she loves to sing Patty-Cake for anyone who will listen … I taught her that one), animals (she knows a good handful as well as the noises they make), etc.

So, I got on the inter-web and started doing some research. My first stop is always Pinterest (here’s my Homeschooling Idea board). This is the sort of thing I’m guilty of being cheap about … if I can make it or print it out myself at home, I refuse to go buy it … point being, you will find a lot of FREE resources here. I found a lady who has a 26 week lesson plan already put together (her link will be below, and I’ll follow it very closely as it’s the only one I found that I liked so far). Obviously, I’ll start looking for another one as we work through it and I’ll keep linking things.

My next step was finding a space to build this learning space for her. It just so happens that we have a loft/attic space in this house that we use for storage. Our landlord used to live in this house and was using the space as a play area for his nieces & nephews. It’s got an underwater mural painted all over the walls that I hate that I have been instructed not to paint over. But I decided to make due with what we have. This is the mostly finished product (I say mostly because I am going to be adding some items to the shelves … books, bins, learning toys, etc.).

Just a note: I am not a teacher and I don’t have a teaching education. I’m just a mom who is guilty of putting her child in front of the television for lack of a better idea. If you see a resource (flashcards or printables) that were created by me, it’s just because I was looking for something specific on the internet, probably found several things that had certain elements that I was looking for, but not all in the same resource, so I was inspired to create it myself.

I hope these things help you. And I hope you will check back often to follow our journey. Welcome to AIW² Home School Club!

If I featured your post, please grab an “I’ve Been Featured” button and display it proudly on your blog.

<a href="http://realhousewifehouston.wordpress.com"><img alt="" src="http://realhousewifehouston.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/featured_button.jpg" border="0" /></a>

Getting Started

I just added a new tab where I will post everything so it will be easy for you to find if you want to use anything we are doing, AIW ² Home School Club. I will be adding more resources almost daily as we work through the lesson plan (which I plan to start tomorrow), so please check back. I’m just getting started :)

 Vote for me @ Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog Directory

PLEASE TAKE ONE SECOND TO VOTE FOR ME!!! All you need to do is click on the banner in the sidebar to the right to register a vote for me! You can vote one time every 24 hours from every computer and cell phone! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! I really appreciate your support!

Don’t forget to find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

May’s Winner Announcement & June’s Giveaway Announcement

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


The winner for May’s $50 AmEx Gift Card Giveaway is Sharon Salu! I hope she will come back and try to win June’s Giveaway {enter segue}.

It looks like $50 is the magic number … so, this month’s giveaway will be another $50 Gift Card!

In case this is your first time to participate, this is how it will work …

  1. Click on the image below (a new window will open to a third party site so please allow for pop-ups).
  2. You will have 10 chances to enter, some options allow you to enter everyday!
  3. DONE!

egiftcard_$50

I will announce the winner on the first day of the following month. A new giveaway will be posted the first week of every month. :)

Vote for me @ Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog DirectoryPLEASE TAKE ONE SECOND TO VOTE FOR ME!!! All you need to do is click on the banner in the sidebar to the right to register a vote for me! You can vote one time every 24 hours from every computer and cell phone! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! I really appreciate your support!

Don’t forget to find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

June Subway Art

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Holy shit … where did May go?!? June will bring us Flag Day (14th) and Father’s Day (16th). Since I did a special edition last month for Mother’s Day Subway Art, I guess I have to do one this month for Father’s Day. So look for that around the 15th and I will link back when I get it up so it will be easy for you to find. Let me know if you have something you’d like me to include. 

If I featured your post, please grab an “I’ve Been Featured” button and display it proudly on your blog.

<a href="http://realhousewifehouston.wordpress.com"><img alt="" src="http://realhousewifehouston.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/featured_button.jpg" border="0" /></a>

Via Lettering Delights.

Via Copy Cat Crafter. Click the image to download the free printable.

Via Today’s Fabulous Finds. Click the image to be taken to her website where she has several more in different color schemes.

Again, I had such a hard time choosing between all the cute Father’s Day themed art. The main reason I chose this one is because my girls are so small. Ava actually says, “you so silly” a lot because that’s something I say to her all the time. Since, she’s in the repeating stage right now, it’s something she’s picked up and repeats. :)

Vote for me @ Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog DirectoryPLEASE TAKE ONE SECOND TO VOTE FOR ME!!! All you need to do is click on the banner in the sidebar to the right to register a vote for me! You can vote one time every 24 hours from every computer and cell phone! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! I really appreciate your support!

Don’t forget to find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

Ava’s Chore Chart ~ Part 1

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Now that Ava is 2 years old, there are several significant milestones we are trying to work on and I feel like a chore chart is the best way to help with that.

  1. I’m trying to get her potty trained.
  2. I’m trying to teach her dental hygiene … she hasn’t quite mastered brushing her teeth and she has a mouthful of them.
  3. She’s getting to be a picky eater and dinner time is usually a battle.
  4. I’d like to teach her to help with picking up her toys.
  5. I’m in the process (I hope to have it completed by the end of this weekend) of building a learning area upstairs where I am going to start teaching her basic things (ABC’s, counting, animals & sounds, colors, etc.) to go along with her once-a-week-Mother’s-Day-Out class that we pay for just for socialization purposes.
  6. I’d like to get her to enjoy cooking with me (easy things like cookies).

I’m hoping it will also be a starting point in teaching her some responsibility as well. So I’ve been searching for inspiration on Pinterest. I think for her age and until we can get her used to this routine of doing things for herself, this method (by Sarah with Hefner Happenings) will work for us. I created mine in Microsoft on the computer so I could add some simple clipart pictures with each task since Ava can’t read yet. This is so she will start to associate the image with the task. I think we are going to start with stickers that way she can get excited about adding them to her chart every time she completes a chore. Also, I think we are going to start off with getting a reward at the end of each week. When she understands the whole thing, we can move her rewards to the end of each day.

Chore Chart Post 1

Of course, as she masters some of these simpler tasks (potty training, brushing her teeth, eating dinner without a fight), I’ll swap them out for new chores. The same goes with her rewards. For now, this is the list of rewards I’ve printed out for her to choose from each week …

  • Read A Book
  • Have A Tea Party
  • Go For A Wagon Ride
  • Swing & Slide Outside
  • Help Mommy Bake Something
  • Play A Game
  • Color
  • Have A Picnic In The Backyard
  • Make A Card For Someone
  • Paint Your Toes
  • Blow Bubbles
  • Draw On The Driveway With Sidewalk Chalk
  • Learn A New Song
  • Go Out For Ice Cream
  • Swim In The Backyard (Kiddie pools start at around $10 at Wal-Mart)
  • Pick Flowers
  • Build A Fort In The Living Room
  • Draw On The Bathtub Walls With Bath Crayons At Bath Time
  • Take A Bubble Bath (you can add, “In Mommy & Daddy’s {garden} tub if you have one for extra excitement ~ makes them feel like they are in a special swimming pool in the house)
  • Stay Up An Extra 30 Minutes (or 1 hour, my 2 year old doesn’t understand the concept of time yet so 30 minutes is plenty for her)
  • $1 For My Piggie Bank (she has to put this in her piggie bank to save … until she’s old enough for me to teach her about money, I’m not letting her have any of this money).
  • Get A New Toy (set a price limit of $5 or $10 … at the resale shop, that way it’s easy to find something under your limit)

I just created a simple 2 column table in Microsoft Word to make these, printed them on card stock paper, cut them, put them in a mason jar I already had, and printed out a cute label to go on the jar using address labels we had in the office. Once she starts to understand the concept of chores & rewards, we will probably try a new method (and of course I’ll keep you posted when we do).

Vote for me @ Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog Directory

PLEASE TAKE ONE SECOND TO VOTE FOR ME!!! All you need to do is click on the banner in the sidebar to the right to register a vote for me! You can vote one time every 24 hours from every computer and cell phone! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! I really appreciate your support!

Don’t forget to find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

Happy Birthday Husband

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,


I’m sorry I haven’t posted anything in the past couple of weeks. I have been working really hard on my husband’s birthday gift (which was this past Friday). I made a video of photos of the girls to music using Microsoft Video Maker on our computer. I didn’t want him to know about it, so I was only able to work on it at night while he wasn’t working on the computer (usually after he went to bed). Plus, I had to get 2 years worth of photos into this video and make it as short as I could … which was really tough for me because we take a lot of photos of the girls (and they are so damned cute I can never pick favorite photos). At any rate, the video ended up being over 20 minutes long. But, I’m going to try to do this every year so the videos in the future won’t be as long since I won’t be trying to cram so much in one video. Hopefully, someone will come out with some new father/daughter music for me to use in the next year. :)

Vote for me @ Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog Directory

PLEASE TAKE ONE SECOND TO VOTE FOR ME!!! All you need to do is click on the banner in the sidebar to the right to register a vote for me! You can vote one time every 24 hours from every computer and cell phone! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! I really appreciate your support!

Don’t forget to find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

Happy Mother’s Day To All ~ 34 Free Mother’s Day Subway Art Printables

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Subway Art

You may or may not know this but, … I am obsessed with subway art.

  1. It’s so easy to create.
  2. There are so many people who know how to make it that are a bazillion times more creative than I am.
  3. It’s easy to find it for free and print it from my home computer making it a very inexpensive way to spruce up any area of my home.

In honor of Mother’s Day tomorrow, I thought I would post a special edition featuring all the adorable Mother’s Day themed subway art I found on Pinterest. I went looking for some to print out for my side table and had a really hard time choosing just one to print. Which one is your favorite?

If I featured your post, please grab an “I’ve Been Featured” button and display it proudly on your blog.

<a href="http://realhousewifehouston.wordpress.com"><img alt="" src="http://realhousewifehouston.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/featured_button.jpg" border="0" /></a>

Via “A Night Owl”. Click the image to be taken to the website so you can download this free image. She also has this print in other color schemes!

Via “Lovely Living”. Click the image to be taken to her website where she has this in a couple other colors.

I believe the originating artist has a watermark at the bottom of this print.

Via “My Computer Is My Canvas”.

Via “The Spotted Olive”.

Via “Boutique Cafe”.

Via “Gael’s Crafty Treasures”. She has another color scheme on her website.

Via “Today’s Fabulous Finds”. She has lots of other color schemes on her website!

Via “I Should Be Mopping The Floor”.

A NOTE: I try to give credit and link back to the artwork creator when I can find where it originated from. Sometimes when I find things I like on Pinterest, it is difficult to find where it originated from. If I don’t have the originating artist or website linked to the image or noted below the image, that means I couldn’t find it. If it belongs to you or you know who it belongs to, please let me know so that I can give proper credit and link back to them. Thank you for your help.

Vote for me @ Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog Directory

PLEASE TAKE ONE SECOND TO VOTE FOR ME!!! All you need to do is click on the banner in the sidebar to the right to register a vote for me! You can vote one time every 24 hours from every computer and cell phone! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! I really appreciate your support!

Don’t forget to find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

3. Weekly Photo Challenge: From Above

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


This week’s photo challenge is From Above. For these challenges, I’m going to start going through my old Instagram photos and then possibly add more new ones. Enjoy. :)

This is our old yard in the rain. I miss this house. It’s where I brought my first daughter home to.

My 2 favorite animals.

One of my favorite snacks.

My favorite meal (DUH).

My 2 favorite times of the day.

Vote for me @ Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog DirectoryPLEASE TAKE ONE SECOND TO VOTE FOR ME!!! All you need to do is click on the banner in the sidebar to the right to register a vote for me! You can vote one time every 24 hours from every computer and cell phone! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! I really appreciate your support!

Don’t forget to find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

15 Easy Mother’s Day Gifts For Under $25

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Mother's Day Gift GuideMother’s Day is coming up so it’s time to make a list. I am a new mother so I haven’t had the pleasure of getting any special gifts from the minis yet. I already know that the really special ones to me will be the ones they make themselves. You know the ones with painted hand prints and foot prints along with special poems that instantly make you cry. My oldest mini just turned 2 years old the other day and I feel like the time has just flown by. Some of the things I want to remember are …

  • How her little hands feel wrapped around my finger or holding my hand.
  • The way she cuddles with me when she’s watching her favorite cartoons.
  • The silly games we play right before she goes to bed.
  • The sound of her giggles.
  • Her smile when she sees me walk into the room to pick her up after a day at school.

As much as I hope I never forget these things, I know the memories will fade. I can’t wait until they are old enough to enjoy making crafts and Mother’s Day gifts for me to help me remember those things.

I’ve compiled a list of some easy Mother’s Day gifts for your minis to their mommies and grandmas (because grandmas are mommies too).

If I featured your post, please grab an “I’ve Been Featured” button and display it proudly on your blog.

<a href="http://realhousewifehouston.wordpress.com"><img alt="" src="http://realhousewifehouston.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/featured_button.jpg" border="0" /></a>

1.  I love this bookmark by Love Bug Living. It’s very simple to make and has pictures of the minis on it so you can enjoy looking at them every time you open your book.

Mother's Day Mod Podge Photo Bookmarks by Love Bug Living

Mother’s Day Mod Podge Photo Bookmarks by Love Bug Living. Click the image for her tutorial on how to make them.

2.   This is another easy photo project that can include the minis. Make letters out of poster board and spell out “Mommy” or “Love” (the “Love” one can be given to grandma) and take a photo of each mini holding a letter and then put it in a collage photo frame.

3.   You’re always looking for a scrap of paper to jot notes down on. What mom couldn’t use this adorable personalized notepaper by Simply Kierste. The minis artwork is proudly displayed at the bottom which gives it a personal touch.

Personalized notepaper by Simply Kierste

Personalized notepaper by Simply Kierste. Click the image for her tutorial on how to make them.

4.   This homemade candy jar was so cute I couldn’t pass it up. One of these days, I am making this for sure.

Candy jar by The Creative Homemaker.

Candy jar by The Creative Homemaker. Click the image to be taken to her photo tutorial on how to make it.

5.   This hand print flower vase made from a mason jar is right up my alley. These are the kinds of gifts I’d love to receive … so I can have something to remind me how tiny those little hands were. Plus, it’s re-purposing!

Hand print mason jar flower vase by The Special Mom's World.

Hand print mason jar flower vase by The Special Mom’s World. Click on the image to be taken to her tutorial on how to make it.

6.   These DIY hand print oven glove or pot holders are the cutest and look incredibly easy for the minis to help with.

Hand print pot holder by She Always Loved Larking

Hand print pot holder by She Always Loved Larking. Click the image to get to her DIY tutorial.

Hand print oven mitt by Sonshine Classical Academy

Hand print oven mitt by Sonshine Classical Academy. Click on the image to be taken to her DIY tutorial.

7.   This is another photo gift that should be pretty easy to create with the minis for grandma that I think is timeless.

4 generations of photos in photos.

8.   You should know by know that I am obsessed with subway art. So, I love this subway art created especially for grandma with all the grand-minis names and birth dates on it created by Coco Stine Designs. The original Pinterest pin that I found this from said it cost $18 for her to customize this for you.

Personalize-able

Personalize-able “Grandkids” subway art by Coco Stine Designs. Click on the image to be taken to her Etsy ad.

9.   I’m grouping the next 3 gifts together because they are slightly different but very similar. Kids really do say the darnedest things. I think it would be fun to let the minis fill these out every year and keep them in a safe place to be made into a book (maybe have a special binder they can go into for safekeeping so mom can look back at them over the years). Best of all they are free to print out!

Mother's Day newspaper printable by Martha Stewart

Mother’s Day newspaper printable by Martha Stewart. Click the image to be taken to the free downloadable printable.

Mother's Day printable by B-Inspired Mama.

Mother’s Day printable questionnaire by B-Inspired Mama. Click on the image to download this free printable.

Mom & Grandma Mother's Day questionnaire printables by The Crafty Chicks

Mom & Grandma Mother’s Day questionnaire printables by The Crafty Chicks. Click the image to download these free printables.

10.   Here’s another freebie for the minis. All you have to do is print out this adorable coupon book. I think any mom would really enjoy the rewards she gets from this set.

Free printable Mother's Day coupon book by I Should Be Mopping The Floor

Free printable Mother’s Day coupon book by I Should Be Mopping The Floor. Click the image for the downloadable printables and a tutorial on how to put it all together.

11.   This is something I’ll be purchasing myself very soon. She started with what’s called Bare Books. They are all under $3. Then handed them over to the minis to draw in and decorate for grandma. You could also give one to mom. :)

Bare Books Mother's Day book of artwork by Just Deanna

Bare Books Mother’s Day book of artwork by Just Deanna. Click the image for a better explanation of what she did and the link to the website where she got them.

12.   I am a huge fan of Shutterfly. I use these books as “yearbooks” and make one every year for their birthdays and for dad for Father’s Day. They would also make great Mother’s Day gifts for mom or grandma. They start at under $20 for a certain amount of pages. The price goes up if you add pages, want a larger sized book, or want it to have a hardcover. Especially around whatever holiday is coming up (i.e. Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day), I can usually find a 30% discount code somewhere online by just Googling “shutterfly discount code”. If you don’t add any of the free borders, page ribbons, or sticker embellishments, they have a “storybook” feature that allows you to drop the photos onto the page and it arranges everything for you and takes almost no time to finish. However, I tend to spend a lot of time (sometimes 1-2 months) on mine adding all the fluff to each page. I also scan in the girls artwork over the year and add those. In the future I plan to add awards and report cards also. Everyone always loves them.

Mother's Day photo book by Shutterfly

Mother’s Day photo book by Shutterfly.

13.  This one is for the husbands and again is totally free and can be printed at home. They are meant to be filled out by the DH’s and secretly slipped into mom’s favorite magazine or book for her to discover that day or even at later dates. This is so cute and such a great idea so husbands can contribute to making mom feel special too.

Hot Mom Alert free printables from the husband brought to you by The Dating Divas

Hot Mom Alert free printables from the husband brought to you by The Dating Divas. Click on the image for the free downloadable printables.

14.   If you want to go for flowers, I personally prefer a plant that I can keep growing and it lasts longer than just a vase of cut flowers. Also, my favorite scent in the whole wide world is Gardenias. The fragrance is strong and carries all through the house. These cute Gardenia Bonsai Trees are under $25! Or, you could always order the seeds for around $1 a package if you just do a Google search.

Gardenia Bonsai Tree

Gardenia Bonsai Tree. Click the image to be taken to the website where you can purchase it.

15.   This is another good one for the husbands. It’ll give them a chance to use all those wonderful building skills that only they can contribute with … Did you see what I just did there? :) I’m betting they will have most of the items it takes to make this herb garden in the garage somewhere collecting dust. This is something I would personally love to receive. ;)

Mason jar herb garden by Day2Day Super Mom

Mason jar herb garden by Day2Day Super Mom. Click the image for her DIY tutorial.

And there you have it … easy peasy, right!

Vote for me @ Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog DirectoryPLEASE TAKE ONE SECOND TO VOTE FOR ME!!! All you need to do is click on the banner in the sidebar to the right to register a vote for me! You can vote one time every 24 hours from every computer and cell phone! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! I really appreciate your support!

Don’t forget to find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Until next time, this has been a real housewife in Houston moment.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 26 other followers