I AM BACK!

Yesterday my wonderful husband tried to help me with my computer issues but we had no luck. Then last night I was mentioning my problems to my sister from another mister(she is more than a friend but family) and she asked me if I had a warranty, I didn't know because my husband ordered it online and I wasn;t given a sheet saying so. Well she said for me to call HP. This morning came and decided why not? So I did and get transferred to someone from Tokyo...as in Tokyo Japan. I must admit I was nervous because I wasn't sure if I would totally understand her or him. But I did, there was a couple issues she had to repeat but for the most part we connected. I couldn't believe how much she helped me. I know it is her job, but had no idea how big of a job those people have! Long story short, she helped me and fixed my problem!!!!!!!!!! All it was was having to actually unplug both router and modem and plugging them back in, I guess like a reset? Bad news I found this out AFTER I purchased this Norton stuff thinking my problem was a virus. Well, I am waiting for the wrath of my husband and hoping he forgives me haha.
But I am back and more excited than ever! Colton and I had a mommy and Colton day yesterday. We went and saw Yogi Bear in 2d and did some shopping and he spent his Christmas money on....you guessed it! Thomas! Then on the way home we stopped and had a fattening treat-McDonalds. All in all, it made a bad day better and was nice having that time with him.
As for the giveaway since the week is almost over and there is even more Holidays, I will start it on MONDAY Jan. 3,2011! So stay tuned until then. This will be a great way to bring in 2011. Thank you to all the new followers! I am so excited!

Well this just bites....

Ok, today I have had some ups and downs. I am not computer savvy AT ALL!! Well as i was talking to my husband, who by the way is a half a world away in Afghanistan and my internet on my lap top just stopped working. He tried to help me for two hours and nothing worked. I called the internet company and talked to two guys and the second guy told me he would call back. Two and half hours later I decide to call back and talk to a different guy after ten minutes he tells me it is Firefox. So I get onto Internet Explorer and after five minutes it acts up again and says I have internet signal but no internet access?! Not the first time I have seen those words, but the first time today I have had such a big problem. And now of course I am stuck...in a rut...and hope and pray my husband can figure this out all the way around the world.
I hope as i type ever so loudly on an ancient computer sitting in an uncomfortable chair have to tell you, my readers that I had some HUGE plans this week. For most of you who have known, when I reached 25 followers was going to give a lucky reader a $25 gift card. Then, I also had some other minor plans as well. Being on here means the pictures won't be able to be uploaded on here and the giveaway will be put on hold until I can get back on my laptop. I am deeply sorry and I still promise to do this and will, I just don't know when.
I feel like a major failure and can not believe this has happened. So much for technology! We have a love/hate relationship and I must say I miss my cozy chair and my sexy slim laptop and how new it was that it didn't take forever to start.
Maybe one of you could help me or guide me on what I should do. I am reaching out to you on what to do. I will not give up and will keep going and will be back checking in and still posting! Thank you to all my new followers as well!

Christmas reminiscing....

I did not forget to post some pictures of our Christmas here, but there are just so many it took time to narrow it down to a few. I have always taken a lot of pictures, but the reason for taking 300 and counting just in a three day span for Christmas was for my husband who is deployed and wasn't able to spend it here. I also made sure to get video. I must say, it was worth it these moments I will forever remember but Colton most likely will not.

Digging into his Christmas jammies

He was so amazed to get a Handy Manny mechanic shirt haha

haven't hooked this up yet...but he does like it so far lol

Thomas

Dancing to Dance Star Mickey

Thank you for reading and taking a peak at our Christmas fun. Hope you enjoyed your Rays if Sunshine as I have over the Holidays!

Chchchch WOOWOO!

That is how Colton reacts to trains. Thomas is by far his favorite and his favorite toys Santa brought him for Christmas. Have you seen the commercial for the Thomas take n play Return from Misty Island set? It has the the little boy and his dad playing and they show how it packs up and goes. Well, if not Colton has and during the holiday season every time he saw it he would point and react and say what a train says and then proceed to look at me point and say THIS! So black Friday came and wasn't venturing out, but stayed up to see if Toys R Us would have sales online at 10pm and low and behold they did! But the downfall was there was not a sale on this particular Thomas toy. I went looking everywhere and did not find  a deal. I googled promo codes for certain stores and found a free shipping code for Target and decided to order it from there since it was cheaper. Christmas Eve night he opened it up and it has been his best friend since! He absolutely loves it and I do too! There is a bridge on top that shakes when you move the button over and a door that opens and closes to have the trains go from one side to the other. There is a hook system with magnets in the hook and comes with a set of logs with magnets in it to make the hook pick them up and the hook has string to make it long or short and it raises up as well. This is also well made, Colton tends to be rough with toys and he sat on part of the track and stepped on it by accident a couple times and it did not bend or break! I paid $40 dollars, but honestly I am beyond happy with the purchase! Plus, it folds up small and this will be great for visiting family,friends, and hotels!

Christmas Eve night playing with his track!

Christmas afternoon. This folds out far and has 2 sides!

This was today, you can't see well but he was sitting on the track on the other side.

This train set is called Thomas the train Return from Misty Island you can find it at any department store and HERE the link is to Amazon. I personally love Amazon. But when I ordered from Target the service was fast, it was my first time ordering from them and I will order again from them again!
I hope you enjoyed your Sunday! The last week of December and 2010 is upon us!
I was not paid for this review. I was not told to and the toy was not given to me to review. The pictures are of my son at my home. The company did not ask me to do this review. The words are mine and so are the opinions I gave.

After Christmas fun!

Hope everyone had a Spectacular Christmas! We celebrated on Christmas Eve night as a tradition from growing up here at home and decided for Colton to open up everything even from Josh and I since Josh wasn't here. We ate dinner and then waited a while for it to settle before unwrapping gifts. We let Colton go first and open all of his since he had the most and would take a lot longer than us. It took about a 1/2 hour and did such a great job and never gave up. I thought he would give up opening or get made when we had to keep going. After his were opened we went in a circle opening gifts and I had the most fun watching everyone open their gifts, in my opinion I did a great job getting everything everyone wanted.
After we all ate dessert we worked on opening and putting together all of Colton's toys. I don't know about all of you, but opening toys from boxes is NOT easy. Luckily working retail in a toy shop helped. For all of you, pliers will be your best friend when opening, all you need to do is cut the wires and the toy(s) will pop right out. Much faster and so easy. All he wanted to do last night is play trains. He went to bed at 9 and woke up saying WOO WOO(what a train says) at 730 this morning. I thought he would sleep longer, but not upset because hey it is Christmas! My mom made chocolate chip pancakes and sausage and I must say it was yummy!!! Then we played trains and danced with Dance Star Mickey.
I will have pictures in the next day or so and I will also be letting everyone in on some great products soon! I won three different giveaways in a span of a week! I am so excited!! So stay tuned as I tell you about them! Happy Saturday with your Rays of Sunshine!

25 Days of Christmas...Day 25!

We made it! I can't believe how fast the days have gone and how much fun this was! Today is all about last minute things that may need to be done. Shopping for some is still not done and Toys r us is staying open 24 hours so everyone can finish, the sales there are insanely good and I am almost...ALMOST tempted to start Colton's birthday shopping but I don't see it necessary at this time due to us leaving in the next month or so. Another last minute is baking, mainly for Santa to come. At my parents the tradition is Christmas Eve night and I will follow the tradition they have while being here and next year when my little family are in a home we will do our present opening on Christmas morning. The reason for Christmas Eve night was mine and my brother's fault. We went to my grandmas and opened gifts and begged and pleaded with mom and dad to open our gifts when we got home, sometimes the persuasion worked and others it didn't until our parents finally decided that was when Santa would officially come to the house. This year we have cookies for Santa and reindeer food as well and tonight is when we will sprinkle the food and eat the cookies when Colton goes to bed. I know he won't understand but I still want to do the traditions. So he will get a later nap tomorrow so he can stay awake late after opening to play with his goodies. Another last minute is stockings being filled, Colton's is filled and jam packed. There is a book, a movie,cars, Thomas pez and the list goes on. I fill his stocking to the brim and thankful that it hasn't ripped. Josh picked it out last year for him and next year I would like to get Josh and I one too. The last bit of grocery shopping may be done as well to get the ham and turkeys and whatever else for your Christmas dinner. We always eat ham here and put pineapple slices on it on a cookie sheet. The flavor is truly amazing! I make my famous deviled eggs as well. My mom showed me how to make them long ago and now she can't make them right for the life of her, but me yes I can!
So while your doing your last minute Christmas stuff and you smile with joy thinking about being together with your families remember there is nothing more many could ever want id for family to be together. Enjoy your time and laughs and cries and maybe laughing so hard you cry. The joys on your children's face as you realize you have accomplished exactly what you were hoping to! I now will be MIA over Christmas and share pictures when I return. Spending time with my rays of Sunshine and enjoying how bright they are...MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!

25 Days of Christmas...Day 24!!

Maybe some of you are baking,shopping,or wrapping. Maybe your doing all the above! Well, whether your outside or in give your child some playdough or crayons and a coloring book while your getting things done.
After my mom wrapped gifts she used up all the wrapping paper. The coolest thing was using it as a tunnel for Colton's cars. he played with it for an hour and went back at it this morning already. Dixie cups are also fun for stacking and such. Busy things that don't cost a dime are the most fun he has had. I cheated and did my Christmas shopping online this year, the boxes are being saved for when we move but I don't need many because we didn't bring a lot that needs to be boxed so Colton will have fun hiding and building a 'city' with them until the recycle man comes. If by chance everything is done sit back and have a glass of wine or eggnog and relax and close your eyes imagining being on a beach. I have to admit I have never had a glass of eggnog or even a sip. Maybe one day I will try it. instead of being on a beach I will be dreaming of my husband being home.
Yes,day 24 maybe wasn't the best, but some frugal tips t keep your child busy while your working hard or needing some time to yourself helps. Colton plays well by himself but something new always lasts longer.
Enjoy your day and with your Rays of Sunshine as I will.

25 Days of Christmas...Day 23!

Wow! Two more posts and the 25 days will be over and Christmas will be here. Are you working on wrapping gifts? I have been done since the past Friday. It took me 2 1/2 hours and four rolls of wrapping paper. There are frugal ways to wrap gifts. Either by the comic section of the newspaper for kids gifts and sports section for the sports enthusiast. Another great idea I found in the Family fun magazine is using empty cereal boxes covered in paper and putting ribbon at the top for handles for a gift bag. Many people even use paper bags or butcher paper and paint the outside or have your child put stickers all over. Gift tags can be made by cutting the extra wrapping paper from previous gifts you wrapped and are not big enough for small gifts. Another good one my grandma taught me is cutting up Christmas cards people gave you. Nowadays it can be difficult because many families make their own cards. When the holidays end I cut the picture out and throw away the border part that says Merry Christmas,Happy Holidays, Seasons Greettings....etc.
Hope you can take these ideas and use them this year and if not,maybe next year! Stay tuned for some more fun stuff tomorrow!

25 Days of Christmas...Day 22!!

Today I decided to make some cupcakes. The reindeer seemed to be loved by family and so these ones were a lot of fun. Colton helped pouring and mixing and I must say he is becoming a pro! I found the idea HERE. When I saw these I knew I just had to make them. I have never seen anyone make them and figured I needed to make them. They turned out really cute and so yummy.

I chose white cake and white frosting. Add a few drops of green food coloring and the hard part was breaking the pretzels into hooks and inserting them into the mini peanut butter cups.

In light of the holidays, we are taking a break from the alphabet this week. It will be hard enough finishing up the 25 days.

Something for kids and adults!

I am so excited to tell you about this very awesome program. It is called Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. This program you can sign your child up for FREE and once a month until your child is five, will receive a book. You can sign up online or check your local library. As most of you know, my husband is currently deployed so I am living here in Michigan with my parents. Well I have always loved the library here in town growing up and what not and so on one of our first visits since living here I came across a stack of pamphlets about this program. Everything is absolutely free and the books are not by your choice. They are chosen based on the childs age and what not. Colton has gotten quite a few and we both love watching the mailman deliver a new one into the mailbox. We actually know around the time the books normally come too. Some titles I haevn't heard of and then others I have but have not bought. These are such nice books and seeing Colton's face light up is a lot of fun. He absolutely loves books, we read throughout the day and Colton also 'reads' on his own too.HERE is where you can find the information about the program and to sign up. I HIGHLY recommend this and it is truly amazing to receive a book a month!

I love to read but even being a stay-at-home mom I tend to not have much time. Yes, of course I get time to myself while he naps or is in bed but that is also time to catch up on other stuff and get ready for the next day. I am on the computer it seems like for most of the day. If my husband was home it would be a little different because I know I wouldn't be so lonely to need to be attached to the computer. Well, I found a way I could read and for free. Besides the lovely library, there is also Amazon. I want a kindle so bad but just find other things that are needed before I spend money on myself. Until today. I downloaded the kindle for the PC! Yes, for free and no charge. But it doesn't stop there, I have maybe 60 or a little less of titles that I downloaded for FREE too! Some are older ones from Jane Austen and others are newer that I have never heard of. As well as some Christmas stories and a couple children books too! HERE is where you can download it to your PC and then just do a search for free books rt there on Amazon and BAM! You now can read too. Nothing costs a dime either, boy isn't it a nice little gift to yourself after spending too much and going crazy with Christmas preperations?
I do hope you take advantage of both because the books that are free are not always free so jump on that while it is hot! Happy reading and enjoy your Saturday with the Rays of Sunshine in your lives!

25 Days of Christmas...Day 21!

Wow, only 4 more days to go! Today I decided to show off some more salt dough ornaments. Last month I showed you all my Santa hats I made, this time around I made gingerbread men and Christmas trees. Well, I haven;t painted the gingerbread men due to my town not having any brown paint. So if anyone of you know how to make brown paint...let me know! So I will show my Chrstmas trees and I must say I love how they turned out! I used half the recipe. Go to the November salt dough ornament post and it will show the recipe. All I used was cookie cutters. I hope I can find brown paint so I can work on the gingerbread men and women.

These salt dough ornaments are so simple and easy. The possibilities are endless of how you decorate too. I used paint and glitter glue, but beads and other fun textures would be neat too. I hope I find brown paint or can figure out what colors to mix to make brown paint. Happy Friday everyone!

'L' is for ladybug!

Today I decided to finish the ladybug. I had Colton paint yesterday because it was bath night and so today we glued all the spots and put the ladybug together. It didn't take long but since both my parents had the day off today I thought the less we did the more time Colton could spend with them.

yeah, its a lil sad...no eyes, legs,or antanae(sp)

So that finishes the week for 'L' and I missed the craft I wanted to do to make a lion, if I feel like doing that this weekend, I may still.

'L' is for lollipop

We made our own lollipops and not the ones you can eat. I found the idea HERE. So ours doesn't look as cool, but hey we accomplished what we needed to to create a lollipop! After dinner sure was crazy and we had a lot we were doing so I chose this because it was fast and quick. I cut a piece of yarn and let Colton do with it as he wanted. Definitely a fun transformation.

playing with yarn for the first time

He balled and folded it all up but it still looks cute.

Stay tuned for tomorrow for a day of ladybugs!

25 Days of Christmas...Day 20!

SNOW! What is Christmas without snow? Well, for some of you, snow isn't an option and for others there is A LOT of it! Well, here in Michigan in the 'thumb' area there is just the right amount. I LOVE snow, but I HATE driving in it. Sunday we had a big snow storm here, it wasn't the snow but mainly the wind that was the issue that created the HUGE drifts in the yard. I am short as in 5'3 and there was two that were as tall or taller than me. So if you don't have snow, create your own. Yeah it may not be as fun but there is still some fun stuff you can do. Cotton balls, salt, ice. All are very fun and if you have the real stuff go out and play. Being outside in it with Colton made me feel like a child again. I loved making snow angels and having snow ball fights. Running and frolicking was a blast and our cheeks were read and our smiles were very big. When grandma came to the door to tell us dinner was ready I spent 15 minutes bribing Colton to come in the house. This will be a White Christmas this year and a fun one I will never forget.

one of the many laughs

sliding like a penguin

guarding that snowball

He may never remember the day we spent outside here but I know I will. Taking pictures of the special moments are what I do. Every time I look at these pictures I will remember where we were and what we did. He melts my heart seeing that precious face enjoying the outdoors and experiencing something like it was for the 1st time, not remembering that last year he spent some time seeing snow.
Another small idea to add to this is reindeer food. I have been finding this all over online so I never got the idea at one set place because every blog I have gone to has a 'recipe' for this. Just some oats and glitter! Colton poured it in a sandwich bag and we will sprinkle it outside for the reindeer.

Happy Day 20!

25 Days of Christmas...Day 19!

Today while Colton was working hard on his lacing, I decided to do some crafting that involved paint. This is more of a mommy project or an older child project.
To make 1 snowman, you will need:

• 7 popsicle sticks/craft sticks
• white paint(i used acrylic)
• black paint
• red ribbon(optional)
• wiggly eyes
• orange marker
• paint brush
• tape
• glue

First, you will paint 6 popsicle sticks white and let dry. You may need a 2nd or 3rd coat. Paint the left over stick black and top part of white sticks black. Tape the 6 popsicle sticks together. Glue the black stick on the snowman creating a hat. Glue on wiggly eyes, draw or paint a carrot nose, and paint or draw a mouth. I enclosed pictures so you get an idea. Sorry if directions are vague or bad, but believe me this project isn't hard.

all taped

I also glued a hanger

Sorry about not including a picture of finished product, I thought I did, but I am sure you get the hint of what they look like.
Another fun and easy and quick project is a jingle bell bracelet. I bought a bag of jingle bells, thinking there had to be some great stuff I could do with them and unfortunately haven't thought of much except this bracelet and the cotton ball snowman. So I will gladly take ideas if anyone has any. I took a red pipe cleaner and put jingle bells on it, folded down the ends so it wouldn't poke Colton and twisted it on his wrist. He kept shaking and shaking his wrist and it was and still is a ht with him!]

quick,easy,and painless

he was so amazed

I have to say, Colton LOVES his bracelet and has pointed to his wrist wanting it on. The craft stick snowmen are way too cute and had to make four and may make more. Hope you all enjoyed day 19!

'L'acing fun!!

When I was at Rite Aid about a month ago loading up on foam crafts galore, I stumbled upon some foam lacing beads. I have been wanting to order the Melissa and Doug lacing beads but I am a major cheapey and would rather make them or such. So when I found this huge package of colored shaped lacing foam beads for $1 of course I bought them. This week is 'L' so of course we had to try them out, the problem is I was planning on it being crazy winter outside and didn't buy yarn. The holes are also very small. I was digging through our craft laundry basket and found pipe cleaners and had to try them, well low and behold they work! Like magic, they slip in so nice and I must say are also the same colors...so we not only practiced lacing, but colors,shapes,matching,and soon I will add in patterns. If you have a Rite Aid near you you NEED to go and get these! This kept Colton so busy while I worked on other crafts. This was his first time and got really frustrated when he couldn't put the shapes on the pipe cleaners. I calmed him down and told him it was okay and when he accomplished taking the shapes off, I applauded like crazy which led to more and more trying. This is a great tool and I am so happy I found something like these.

trying hard on putting the bead on the pipe cleaner

Taking the beads off

concentrating on taking beads off

Having lacing with your sunshines!! Any other ideas? I am thinking of using toilet paper tubes and cutting out shapes from cereal box containers...those will be posted on a later date.

25 Days of Christmas...Day 18!

Yay only seven more and the 25 days will be over. Since the oven has been ready on Saturday, the oven has been on everyday. We all have missed the oven! So this weekend we made our famous Christmas cookies. Okay, maybe not famous like Oprah, but famous for anyone who knows our family. I am not going to share the recipe, but I will share pictures. The recipe has been found and mastered by my mom. I love reading it from time to time seeing the flour stuck to it from our cookie baking years. I am the one who rolls and cuts and my mom makes the dough and watches the cookies. After they are all done we decorate. The whole process lasts about three hours.

The finished product

Colton decorated and ate one too

light bulbs,snowflakes,mittens,santa hats,snowmen,bells,stars,Christmas trees,angels is what we chose this year.

After them, we made chocolate chip walnut cookies. My mom has always made them with walnuts and i will continue to do it that way as well when I make from home made. My opinion is that they are yummier and give it what a chocolate chip cookie is missing. I didn't take pictures of them, but should have because they are HUGE!
The last but not least is the church window cookies. They are simple and easy! We have never made these before so we went HERE for the recipe. For the nuts, we used walnuts left over from the chocolate chip cookies. They are so yummy too! I suggest when you cut them to slice them like a loaf of bread and then in half again because they tend to be rich. I must say, I will be making these next year for a pretty addition to my cookie trays.

these are really pretty

This year was fun baking and decorating with my mom. I hope one year she will come visit or one day can live nearby so we can keep baking the holiday cookies. Next year I will be making these and also some fudge. Josh loves fudge so that is a must. Cookie trays are what my mom gives to friends and coworkers and leaves the rest for our family to snack on through the wait of Christmas and Santa. I will be continuing the tradition of this and really think that a cookie tray is the best gift to give a friend,coworker,or family member.
What are some of your favorite cookies during the holidays?

'L' is for ladders and lighthouses

Yesterday I forgot to do the alphabet with all the reindeer fun we were having. I feel like I am neglecting the alphabet learning with all the holidays and busyness we have had lately. Today we did two different transformation letters. I found the ideas HERE and HERE. I chose to go a different route with his attention span is a lot shorter lately. I also thought lowercase letters for both were better than uppercase. I used some colors we don't or haven't used in a while as well.

A GREAT Deal!

I have asked Josh for a laminator for a while. The reasons are to make my life of being a mom and wife a lot easier. This was also something that was missing from my list to Santa. So when I came across it from a blog I 'like' on facebook, I could not pass it up. GO HERE It is to Amazon. The laminator runs about $80 and this is $16.99 $19.99. So spring on this while it is hot. I don't know how long this will last so better hurry!!!!!!!

25 Days of Christmas...Day 17!

As you may know, my parents found a stove. That also means it is just what we needed because it not only helps heat the house with all the cooking, but is just perfect for the holidays! The weekend was filled with 3 different kinds of cookies and I will share tomorrow. Today was a day of reindeer. I made Colton reindeer ears from a paper bag and his hand prints. I painted his little nose red with my face paints I have and we set to work on making reindeer cupcakes! They turned out super cute and were just as yummy! I found the idea HERE. That blog is awesome! I love the ideas and go there for an added 'bonus' a lot of times. She hasn't updated in a while, but there are enough ideas to last a long time. Colton helped pouring and actually did it by himself. Something as simple as that makes me happy and warm inside. Here are our decorated cupcakes. As you will see I ran out of chocolate covered pretzels. When I bought cupcake liners there were a bunch of picks that came with them, so i shoved them in and added little extras. The snowmen turned out super cute too!

Isn't he just too cute?

I had to share the snowmen too!

and here is my real life reindeer.

Hope you all stay warm and for those that are cooped inside, baking sure makes the house smell yummy!

Something for free!

My parents finally found a stove! Which means a lot of baking this weekend and some more through the week! Christmas is getting closer (14 days) and last minute shopping for many. I am done shopping and have been for a few weeks. All mine was done online this year and everything has already arrived so all that is needed to be done is the wrapping and I will wait until next weekend. I emailed my Santa and gave him a list of things I needed/wanted...okay maybe more wants than needs. But I did this mainly out of humor, not thinking he would take it seriously. But, he did and I am so not complaining because who doesn't like getting gifts? Well a package arrived yesterday and had the movie New Moon and Eclipse in it. Yeah laugh, but the books are amazing and have read them quite a bit. Being a mother and a wife I put myself below both my boys so I have surpassed these movies numerous times. Well like I said I emailed my Santa and he sent them. Another item I received was Bryan Adams new cd. I forgot to mention last Sunday my mom and I went to his concert. Oh how great it was! I have always loved his music and my mom is a pretty big fan so when I found out he was coming I jumped on buying tickets. He has been touring without a band. It was him, a guitar,harmonica, and a guy on a piano. This man on the piano has been touring with him and truly is someone to watch. Bryan sounded AMAZING, never have I ever been to a concert where the singer or band sounds so amazing live. I am attached to Bryan Adams for life. Josh and I's wedding song is When you Love Someone from the movie Hope Floats. My parents wedding song is Everything I Do from the movie Robin Hood (an old one). The night was perfectly amazing.
Now onto something else. I am a camera-aholic. Ever since I have lived in Hawaii for a year as a newlywed and then became pregnant I have been attached to a camera. My husband is so great and last year for my birthday and Valentines Day upgraded my alkaline battery needed digital camera to a Nikon d3000. Yes, I was stunned and even cried. The camera is easy to use and takes such great quality pictures. I also love editing pictures I take. I googled photo editing for free. In high school I was journalism editor and we used Adobe photoshop, that program is expensive and I love free. So I came across THIS. I haven't found another that is easier and does everything I wanted from an editing program. My favorite thing about picnik is that when I edit a photo and save it, it doesn't replace the original photo. I noticed the editing program that is on my lap top and also on Picasa it does this. Plus, all the extras that picnik it has is great. The premium is 24 something and that averages to 2 dollars a month. I had this last year but found I wasn't editing as much and was using more regular edits. Go check this out and try it and let me know what you all think! Here are some photos I have edited.

Sorry to overload there was just too many. But I stopped. I love this site and hope you will too! Let me know what you think of it! Have a very happy Saturday with your Rays of Sunshine!

25 Days of Christmas...Day 16!

SANTA! Today was just a simple but cute craft. A very cute Santa can be made by your child's hand print! I found the idea HERE. I decided with it being bath night and Colton missing painting that this was simple enough to do. I took a foam brush and painted his hand white and stuck it on a piece of construction paper. I chose green and red paper to do this on. I used markers,paint,pom poms and construction paper to make this. Only I am not going to make this as a card. Once I get somewhere I would love to frame it for decoration. I am still unsure though, I may give one to my mom.

For being 1 1/2 I think he has some big hands. Aren't they cute?

This was fun and EXTREMELY easy!

Happy crafting with your little Christmas elves! Have a safe and warm weekend and I will see you all tomorrow!

25 Days of Christmas...Day 15!

I did not feel like blogging yesterday. I was so tired from a mouse that kept me up all night. But today I worked double time to craft for two days worth. Boy was it fun! Yesterday I put together a snack for Colton and it was such a hit with him that I made it again tonight just a tad different. It consists of a glass bottle filled with milk and food coloring, a ribbon around the neck of the bottle for a scarf and a powdered donut for the head of the snowman and added eyes with icing, and don;t forget a straw to drink with. The bottle was an old coke one and cleaned out. I found the idea HERE scroll mid page or so and you will see it. Cute idea and just had to do this. Also since there is no snow (YET) here, decided we needed some more snowmen but of a different texture. The last one was from foam and construction paper. So yesterdays frosty was from cotton balls. This idea has been all over online, but we did ours a little differently. We made a scene, he is sitting in snow with trees and his 3 buttons are jingle bells. I am in love with this! Here are pictures and sorry to keep you waiting! I also read Frosty the Snowman book and The magical snowman both were Christmas books from his grandma.

This was last nights

He did a great job keeping them on the glue area!

It is just too cute for words!

Included is todays drink and fun!

25 Days of Christmas...Day 14!

Angels! Yes, we have reached two weeks!! Boy has it been so much fun! I am very excited and blessed for the ideas and crafts and the passing along of these as well. This craft was so easy to do and just calls for a paper plate and scissors. Well as well as whatever you want to decorate her with. I must admit for a little boy, Colton LOVED putting glitter on his angel. I thought she needed some eyes so of course wiggly eyes are the way to go about it.

He had fun and was so excited. Plus I definitely think we will be making a few more later.

The other angel we did was made from cutting shapes from construction paper, circle for head and triangles for arms and arms. What is an angel without a halo? You can also add a little pipe cleaner halo to the top. As you also see in the picture I used a sparkly pipe cleaner for a halo, I just think it adds some bling.
Hope you all enjoy making angels with your very own little angels!

'k' is for Kite!

The weather has been very cold and very windy lately. Which means it is just too cold to go outside to play even when there is no snow either. So we stay inside learning and crafting in any form. Today I decided to cut out a diamond shape from scrap construction paper, get some thread and form bows from pipe cleaners and make our own kite. This was a fun way to learn colors,shapes,and try new textures too! i suggest doing this or something similar. After Colton glued everything down, I gave him a marker and told him to stay on the kite, he did a very good job with this. He did however go out of it a few times but the most part he stayed in and this was great practice.

He is working so hard and did such a great job!

He is so content and making his creations

I had fun making this for him to glue just as much as he had learning and growing.

25 Days of Christmas...Day 13!

Christmas Picture! Today I decided to have Colton make his own picture, to do what he wanted and how he wants. Being able to not have to show him where something should go; instead to show him the different things he could use was fun. About a week ago I bought some different foam crafts and some foam Christmas shapes. So I took a white piece of construction paper and spread glue all over the page for him and let him set his Christmas shapes everywhere and anywhere he wanted. He sure had a lot of fun and I had fun watching him! I also showed him that he could decorate a tree if you will, so once he knew you can pile foam on top of foam he was more into it than I thought he could be!

His finished picture

He held it up and was so proud of the work he did!

That completes day 13! My Rays of Sunshine as you can see, was beaming and I wish you could see me beam.