New Year, New Inspiration!

Welcome to 2016! 

 

With the new year comes new motivation and new inspiration! This year is going to bring a variety of projects for me, and I hope it will bring lots of projects for you as well.

So many things happened last year that pushed me to grow in almost every aspect; this year I feel like I can do anything! Let's analyze; think about the struggles and impossible situations that you overcame in 2015. If you got through that, you can literally do or be anything you want. I realized 2 important things:

1. You don't need to be a professional to do what you love - We can't let the fact that we aren't "qualified" hold us back from our passions, because practice makes perfect. I used to be under the impression that a short film had to be this magnificent work of art, and that discouraged me from making movies. But I got tired of waiting for inspiration to strike, and I started making little videos to work on the technical side of my craft. If you love something don't wait until someone gives you permission. Just go for it!
2. Hard work, passionate work, always pays off - Passion can leak into to everything you do. When you try your best at something because you love it, the right people will notice and things will take off for you! And even if no one ever notices, the satisfaction of finishing a task that you know you put 110% of your best efforts into is indescribable. 

Maybe I am a little ambitious to be taking this on, but I feel like if I stick to it and work hard, I will succeed. One of those projects is to start a YouTube channel. It's time to take the time to practice my craft. So I started out already with a couple short videos...

my short film...

  

and a new trailer for my book!

 Soon I will also be posting irregular Vlogs documenting our transition from Puerto Rico to Raleigh.

(Stay tuned!)

The point is 2016. 

It is the year of inspiration, motivation, and new challenges! 

Forget about a new year's resolution! 

Set goals and make yours dreams happen! 

 

Teaching Toddlers 105: Baking

 I think that instant baking mixes are the best thing since paper plates, especially the brownies! 

They are delicious, affordable, and they make an amateur baker look like a master chef. 

Anyone can follow directions off the back of the box, even a toddler.

 

Baking is the perfect opportunity to teach your child about common goods like eggs, milk, and flour. 

In my opinion, it is never too early to start teaching kids about food!  

 

My 2 year old, Nico, couldn't agree more!

He cracked eggs as if he had done it a million times.

Due to his excitement and eagerness to help, baking brownies with me allowed Nico to practice following complex instructions and identifying the ingredients by shape or color. 

When the time came to mix the ingredients, I allowed Nico to explore the texture of blended food.

 As he got his hand (and his shirt) messy, I explained that putting different foods together changed the way they felt and turned them into something new! 

 

 

And after everything was mixed up well, he got to have a little taste of his hard work!

 

The finished result gave him something to be proud of and taught him that behind every brownie, there is a baker and an egg.

Teaching Toddlers 104: Playdough Playtime!

Everybody loves play-dough! It's squishy fun that molds into any shape your imagination can dream up, which is what makes it the perfect tool when it comes to toddler exploration! If your child doesn't like to color, playing with play-dough is a fantastic indoor alternative!

One of Nico's best birthday presents was this cool Playdoh Beach Creations bucket. It came with 4 tiny cups of Playdoh, and a bunch of different molds and tools to sculpt the figure of our choice. 

 

 

That little bucket included all the materials we needed for almost an hour of play time, and that best part was that Nico didn't even realize this was a lesson! 

 

He developed his motor skills, as he practiced scooping it out of the cup with the tiny shovel, and his imagination when he pretended to "feed me" his Play-doh food! 

 

 

 

Then, he tried to actually take a bite and found that it was not appetizing. 

(There are edible play-dough recipes that are very easy to make for extra sensory fun!)

 

Aside from learning that this specific play-dough is not food, we went over the colors and constructed different shapes! 

 

 

 And, as hard as I tried to avoid it, we ended up with mixed colors. 

My advice? Don't fight it.

But that's what play-dough is for; to make messes and mix colors and to fire up their little imaginations!

 

The Extremely Awesome DIY Cars Birthday Party!

This year was Nico's last birthday he will have while living here in Puerto Rico, so we decided to do it BIG! 

He turned 2 years old and I'll admit, my mom and I got a little carried away! 

 

 I made the invitations using Microsoft Publisher and pictures and fonts downloaded from the internet for FREE! It cost me about $10 to have them printed on glossy paper at Office Depot.

  

There was one side with the information in Spanish and one with information in English for our bilingual birthday bash. 

 

The theme was cars (not the movie) since Nico has an obsession with toys cars, and to save money we DIY'ed everything we could, even his candle!   

Regular Candle + Sharpie       

Most of the decorations were done by hand also.We used a lot of paint and a very old hot glue gun.

 

To make other party favors and decorations we used sheets of foam, construction paper, glue, and printed pictures of the birthday boy. 

 

The goody bags were just plain black bags from Party city with construction paper to create the lights and a little flag was later added to keep the bag from folding open. 

For his cake table, we used table cloths and banners that were ordered from Ebay. 

 

I would like to personally thank my aunt who made and decorated Nico's delicious birthday cake! 

  

Based on some adorable ideas from Pinterest, we made cute little labels for each dish that we decided to serve. I created each label on Publisher and downloaded the fonts and images from the internet. 

We served hot dogs, french fries, chocolate doughnuts, pigs in a blanket, chicken nuggets, sandwiches de mezcla (traditional Puerto Rican party food), and chips and dip! 

The food was such a hit that our guests gobbled it up before I got to snap a picture of the lay out, but I have included a few labels to give the idea. 

The Iced Tea reads Motor Oil, the Lemonade reads Anti Freeze

 

 

My extremely talented mother and I my this piñata togeteher using an old box, super glue, tissues paper, construction paper, and tape! We were very proud that it at least resembled a car!

Though all the really mattered was that the kids had a blast destroying it!

 

 Nico was the only one who wasn't very enthusiastic about scrambling for the candy. 

I guess he is wise beyond his years, knowing that there was plenty to go around!

 

However, after some encouragement on my end, he eventually reached in and picked up just one toy. 

 

I think what he enjoyed most were the games, crafted by my mother and me!  

 

 

  

 

 

 

Each little player tried their hardest and each little winner got a mini prize!  

 

What I enjoyed most was the beautiful photo booth once again made by my mother using a sharpie, a large box, and construction paper.

Nico and his lovely Grandmother AKA The Artist

And even though I was against it in the beginning; when in doubt, get a bouncy house. 

As much as I hate to admit it, it was a huge success! All the little ones who were too shy to participate in the games enjoyed bouncing to their heart's content. 

*Tip!!*

Make the older kids and the younger kids take turns.

(Learned this the hard way after my poor little guy got trampled, basically my worst nightmare)

Baby Bounce!

 

 We enjoyed spending an amazing day with family and friends...

My cousin's gorgeous daughter

 

and we were blessed enough to be able to take such a memorable picture! 

Primos = Cousins!!

Nico is holding the "O"

 

I honestly could not imagine a more perfect 2nd Birthday Extravaganza!  

**All of the inspiration for this party came from Pinterest pins all saved to my board Nico's 2nd Birthday Party **