Mother's Day Gift

Okay, so I know it's a little late, but I really wanted to share this mother's day gift idea. I teach 2 year olds part time so I wanted to come up with a gift for their moms that they could have a part in but one that the moms would actually love. I saw some ideas on pinterest of kids holding signs so I came up with these. The frames I bought from the Dollar Tree as well as the mats. I let the kids choose 3 colors and then they painted. We went down the hill next door and took pictures in front of a tree with grass and trees in the background. (I always think nature has the best backgrounds. I don't like when buildings or manmade items get in the shot) Then using Picasa (WHICH IS FREE) I edited them by adjusting the lighting and making them black and white with the focus on the red heart. The signs they are holding are dry erase boards from Target written with black and red dry erase markers. The little girl is my Princess2 (I'm a pretty lucky Momma because she is in my class) and I LOVE these frames even though I helped her make it. Ha! The moms were pretty happy too. And that's all that counts :) What do you think??

My Favs: Gardening Gloves

Okay so I have to post about these gloves. Gardening is one of my hobbies (which I am still learning at) so I have purchased quite a few pairs of work gloves over the past few years. Well, ones I have gotten never seem to live up to my expectations. If I go cheap they are too thin and water goes right through them. I have had the thicker kind but I had difficulty feeling smaller items like weeds and maneuvering my fingers correctly. I also don't want to spend a fortune because they're work gloves and get beat up. Well my DH works in construction and is always using these gloves for work. They're great for moving wood or furniture etc...So I borrowed them once and LOVED them. They have a rubber coating on the bottom part of the hand and the top of the hand is a breathable material. You can feel your fingers well enough to weed but they are tough enough where you wouldn't feel thorns from a pruned rose bush. I use them for cleaning up branches or picking up leaves and a ton of other things.They aren't the most glamorous but for 3.99 at Lowes or The Home Depot you really can't beat them! And if you lose them they are cheap to replace! What do you use? Do you use these?

Iced mocha or Mocha Frap

Okay, so I don't know about you but I LOVE Starbucks' Mocha Frappuccino. When I get stressed or am having a bad day sometimes I'll go get a tall mocha frap and...*sigh* aahhhhh..... it's like my version of nicotine...lol. No, I'm not a smoker (tried it once when I was 7, inside my friend's dog's house, but that's another story:) )  but it just makes everything feel so much better. ha ha! I'm also not a regular coffee drinker but those frappuccinos are seriously my favorite! However, at 4-5 bucks a pop, it can hurt your wallet. SO I found this recipe on Pinterest and adapted it a little. I keep it in the fridge and have to be careful that I don't get carried away because it is SOO amazing and I really need to keep my eye on the calories. I had a friend over who was skeptical about trying it but she loved it. Tell me what you think if you try this recipe!

Addendum: 6/25/2012

So after much testing, I have determined to remove the chocolate syrup from the sweetener only to add it to the actual drink when ready. I have used strikethrough on the parts to omit and I have used BOLD and Italics on the parts that I added.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Folgers Black Silk Dark Coffee

12 cups water

1/4 cup chocolate syrup

12 oz. can evaporated milk

14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
Chocolate syrup

I got these cool little pitchers from Sam's Club for way cheap. It's perfect for keeping my iced coffee stash on hand in the fridge. Pour 1/4 cup chocolate syrup, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk in a small pitcher. Mix together and refrigerate.

I have a 12 cup coffee pitcher which I filled to the top line. Carefully place the coffee in the filter so as not to allow any coffee grounds to leak into the coffee. Brew the coffee. Allow to cool. Pour into a pitcher and refrigerate.

Here's what you store in the fridge.

Once, you have the concentrated coffee refrigerated and the sweetener ready then it's time to enjoy! Fill a glass with ice. Add 1/2 cup of coffee and 1/2 cup of sweetener and a tablespoon of chocolate syrup. You can adjust the coffee and sweetener and chocolate syrup to your liking. If it's too sweet add a little milk too. Top with some whipped cream and enjoy!!

For Mocha Frappucino:

If you have a blender then you can blend it all together and make it into a frappuccino.
For a single serving I add about 10 ice cubes from my icemaker, about 1/2 cup each of coffee and sweetener and a tablespoon or two of chocolate syrup. Then I blend it all together to break up the ice. I actually don't measure, I just eyeball it. If it's too thin then add a couple more ice cubes. Adjust it to what you like. When I make it at home, it seriously tastes like Starbucks! I haven't gone to Starbucks in awhile since it tastes so similar. It's sooo yummy and way cheaper!