Where Does the Time Go? {Welcome Back}

You know how time flies and all of a sudden a huge surge of time has passed and you don't even know what happened? These last 6 months have been super crazy! Like, seriously. I have no idea where the time went or what we honestly spent all our time doing! I mean, yeah. The oldest is in school (1st grade) and I got my middle into speech services at the preschool. Good gracious that girl needed some help. And she starts kindergarten in the fall, or rather in the summer in our case!

How has this much time passed that I have not sat down and shared anything with you? Ok. Not quite 6 months. More like 5 months. I know I did not share much with you wonderful readers in the last year though. I am hoping planning to share more with you all.  Although did you see the new Boys Can Wear Pink post? He Loves his shirt! The girls got some new dresses in the Super Heroes and Princesses GYCT Spring Dress Tour which they wear all. the. time.

But, wait? What do I have to share with you now? I know my last year was not much in the sewing and crafting world and more of the mommy stuff and then this month I have shared 2 sewing posts.  What's up with the jumping around? 

Well, I'm not entirely sure what is up with the jumping around. It's just the way my life goes, especially with kids. So much jumping around. So much growth. So much change. Life is change. Life is growth. And man has so much happened in the last 5-6 months! Yet it almost feels like nothing much has. Isn't it kind of funny how it feels that way? It's like I can't keep up with how fast time is passing us by. I have not taken much time to sew. I have not taken much time to craft. I miss it. Motherhood has me by the horns for sure. I am jumping with the throws motherhood sends my way. 

I originally started this blog for the purpose of keeping up with family. I added in sewing and craft stuff after a couple years and then the shift occurred to where it was pretty much just sewing and craft stuff.  I plan to work on integrating it all together. There will be some motherhood stuff, some self-care, sewing for the kids, taking care of the family, some general trying to figure-things-out kind of posts, and quite possibly a little bit of God thrown in. But I will tell you now, it's not going to be perfect. I am not perfect. None of us are, really. I am still trying to figure out how to jump through some of life's hoops (and how to avoid some entirely). 

Welcome {back} to the journey of our lives. 

I Love Food {I Hate Food}

I have a love-hate relationship with food.

You know the battle? I love to eat food. Yummy... Tasteful... Flavorful... I love ingredients that are common but thrown together in such a way which cause your taste buds to dance. I love foreign and exotic flavors from across the globe which add an element of excitement to dinner. I love trying new foods, new recipes, and eating something outside of our normal dinner line up.

But, for the component of supreme dislike: I don't like to prep food. I am not good at taking the time to read the ingredients and follow the directions. I usually end up making a mistake and botch dinner or I change it to the point where it isn't the same and can't recreate the amazing meal. Hey, I'm working on that! But, it probably keeps me from eating all the food all the time! Ha!

The other night I was super excited. I found a cool cookbook at the library and was going to try one of the recipes. It called for wine, an inexpensive cut of beef, some simple ingredients in my cupboard already, and a new veggie I have been trying to fit into dinners lately. It was a win in my book all the way around. I even doubled the sauce, a mistake I thought I learned the week prior with a recipe from the same book. I followed directions, prepped the ingredients, set the crock pot and was good to go!

I loved it. Loved the flavor. Loved how the meat turned out, tender and juicy. I loved the combination of it with the orzo (first time trying that too). Took a bite and I was ecstatic. Looked over at the baby who was happily devouring her food...

See, I have this tendency to cook for the people in my house. I cook to appease the minions. I cook to feed the husband.

This time, I did it. This time I cooked for me.
Love. The. Food.

I look back at the baby who was silently spitting out all her food. The oldest was complaining about the leaves being something you weren't supposed to eat (it was bits of dried basil). My middle was pushing her meat around with her fork and her orzo with her spoon. Husband asked with every bite, "what's this, what's that flavor, what's this flavor".
Hate. The. Food.

We made a meal once and had some people to come over. One of our guests complained about feeling bloated from "eating this junk". That was a few years ago. What we made was from scratch. How could it be junk? It wasn't junk. But it stuck with me. It was enough to discourage me. Maybe there was/is something wrong with my taste buds. Or, maybe my flavor palate is just different.

And now my family was not eating what I had made...  again...

Love the food...

Hate the food...

It's a fine line.

Do I cook to appease the masses? Or do I cook for me?

I think I am just going to start cooking for me. I have a feeling there will always be that love-hate relationship with the food.

What Kind of Example is My Messy Room!?

"Why should I clean my room, Mommy, when your's is such a mess?"

My mouth dropped open. I'm sure a fly might have flown in, buzzed around a bit and left. Those were the words that came out of my oldest, my 6-year-old's, mouth. Sure, I might have been scream yelling at him to clean his room for the last few hours days prior to that question's utterance, just to get the house ready for guests. But, come on. Your 6, child!

How do you respond to a statement such as that? How do you combat the logic and reasoning presented to you by a 6-year-old mind? Because, it's true right? I mean, what have I shown my son besides a messy room? What kind of example am I leading?

We celebrated the baby's 1st birthday a few weeks ago. It was glorious. Funfetti cake with bright blue frosting... The kids were playing their little hearts out in the backyard... We spent the better part of a week cleaning the same parts of the house over and over again just to be ready in time.

As a friend of mine went through our master bedroom to use the bathroom (the guest bath was occupied) I cringed at the thought that she would have to traverse the tiny pathway and actually see the mess! Oh good gravy, the mess... The Mess... With all the yelling and watching and supervising, I never got to lay a finger on my own room.

How much time a day do you talk to your kids about cleaning up? I am pretty sure I tell my kids about 10 million times. Ok. Maybe not that many times. But, I'm sure it's a lot. I tell them to clean up if they want to watch tv, clean up if they want candy, clean up so they can drive their power wheel car outside, clean up for this, clean up for that. I am sure I say it 10 million times more than is absolutely necessary.

But, how often do they see you cleaning? I am pretty sure I spend most of my time standing at the sink washing the gazillion bowls they thought was necessary for breakfast. Apparently a kid needs more than one bowl for cereal in the morning. I don't understand their rationale, or how they manage to get the bowls. I place them high in the cupboard on purpose. They are ninjas... But, do they see me tidying up my own things? Not really. I leave them where I put them, set them down on the counter real fast so that I can pour a glass of milk and forget what I was doing in the 10 seconds the action of pouring milk takes. They don't see me clean.

After everyone at the birthday party went home, we were left behind to take in and absorb the shambles that only a really good birthday party leaves in it's wake. I walked into my kids' rooms and saw the mess. My son looked at me with defeat in his eyes. I just shook my head, shrugged my shoulders and gave him a hug. "did you have fun with your friends?". "yes" he told me. Then I walked to my bedroom and looked at the mess there. No one except my 1 friend went through there and it was worse than my son's room. What am I showing my son? What kind of example am I setting with my own room a mess?

Have you read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up (check out my initial review here) or ClutterFree with Kids (initial review here) or Allie Casazza's Blog? Even the multitude of the organizing/tidying/purging/cleaning facebook groups say to do the same thing when it comes to teaching your kids how to clean/tidy their own spaces. I'm sure if I search harder I could find it stated more. Lead by example. Eventually they will do it too. 

Really, that's what I need to do to get my kids to clean their rooms? Lead by example? At least that's the position we are in now. The towers of boxes and books and fabric and patterns all need to get torn down, purged/cleaned/organized. No matter how long it takes, I need to clean my own stuff and my kids need to see it being done by me. 

Maybe they might not clean it right away. Maybe they will find another excuse. But if I can get it under control at least I am leading by example, and they will learn through their interactions with me and my things. At least I wont hear him say "why should I if you don't."

Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon: Using Your Senses {Read and Play}

We jumped in with Virtual Book Club for Kids and their weekly book selections this past week. Since S has only a year and a half until she starts Kindergarten, I figure it might be a good idea to start doing more to get her ready. It was so fun when we followed along while N was a preschooler... This week's theme is penguins, and the main book is Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon. We love her Penguin series and S was super excited when this one came in at the library! (seriously, holds are awesome!)

There are so many directions you can take this book, one of the reasons we love the series! We went the science route and combined it with art!
**Check out my inspiration of the painting activity over at Inspirational Laboratories**

What you need:

• Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon
• objects from around the house to practice using the senses (Sight, Sound, Touch, Smell, Taste)
• Rocks (we searched for ours outside. Yay, Desert Nature!)
• Black, white and orange paint
• paintbrush
• newspaper (I'm just glad I had the wipes available! oops!)
• wipes for quick and easy surface clean-up

We've read the book several times by this point. I opened this "lesson" by feeling, sniffing, and looking at the book.

When I get to the point where Penguin is using his senses to discover that pinecone is not a snowball and cold we pause and talk about what Penguin is doing in each of the images (using sight/eyes, taste/mouth/tongue, touch/hands/feel).

Discuss the senses and how we use them to observe and make sense of the world which surrounds us. Practice on objects from around the house and what senses we use for those particular objects. We used a koosh pool ball, a soft rattle, a foam number, and a lolipop!

Using sight, touch, (and maybe smell) search for the perfect rock on which to paint your own penguin. We talked about not always using all our senses (we don't want to lick rocks, Yuck!)

If you decide to wash off your rocks, give them time to dry. We just dry brushed off the dirt before starting.

While we painted we talked about P being for Penguin and Pinecone too! And I think these turned out great!

I ended our activity with a quick recap of our senses!

The possibilities are endless!

These little rock penguins were super fun! We did some role play after they dried. Paint some more and use them for counting, one-to-one correspondence practice, non-standard units of measure, Paint some pinecones and use them in combination with penguins for adding/subtracting, create a tic-tac-toe set

My Baby is NOT a Baby! {potty trained! and a quick round-up}

I can't believe my baby girl is potty trained. Aside from night time that is. Does that even count?

She decided towards the middle of last week that she did not want to wear diapers. So We decided to go bare bottom...

Little did I realize that her sitting on the potty was also practice for actually potty training. You know, because babies use the potty before 2!

Now I now that kids can be potty trained early, and sometimes it just emphasizes the potty usage when there is an older sibling that does.

I didn't expect it.

Baby girl essentially potty trained herself. In 3 days. She has even made 2 trips out of the house without any accidents.

When wearing a diaper, she started pulling the "potty" yell after she did her business. When we went diaper free (no pull-ups or even underwear of any kind), baisically naked, we had only a handful of accidents.

I remember doing this with little man. He was a little harder. Took a little longer (like a week), and needed incentive: potty chart with smiley faces, jelly beans, chocolate... But he would loose it if he had an accident. We did the no diapers with him too. He was ready, but didn't want to give it up. He wanted the Big Boy Undies more though...

Honestly, if I were to do it all again I would do it the same way. I'm still waiting for the regression with Baby Girl. Like this was a fluke. After all she is only 21 months, not even 2 yet (but almost)...Accidents will happen. That's a given.

There are so many resources of potty training without diapers (quitting diapers cold turkey). So many people have written blog posts about them. And a lot more since we went through this with Little Man.

I thought I would compile a list of different reading for you if you were going through the same thing as I am right now, or did 2 years ago...

Parenting.com - Extreme Potty Training - a fairly humorous diary account of a mom's bootcamp style potty training with two twin boys at 2 years. We would say the same thing with accidents. we didn't need much reward besides clapping for little girl.

Alphamom - How to Potty Train Your Kid (Boot Camp Style) - We did not do underwear right away. Neither kid like the feeling of pee running down their leg being stark naked. We did underwear by day 3. and I didn't bring only 1 pair of change of clothes... My little girl prefers to be naked. It's hard to use that as a consequence when that is what they want.

The Unemployed Mom - 15 Tips for Potty Training Boot Camp Style - Totally makes it easier when you remember to bring the training potty with you. It was difficult going out with little man without a potty and so much easier when we brought it with us for little girl. Positive attitude is half the battle. You don't want to discourage the little learner.

Four Moms For Moms - Potty Training the Cold Turkey Way - I almost needed to use candy as bribery for my son. Towards the end we used it as a counting game (subtracting and counting again). Anything can be turned into a learning experience. Little girl didn't even care about the candy... You really don't need all the baby potty training paraphernalia. Just strong whits, positive attitude, and endurance to make it through to the end. They will get it, eventually. Every child is different. Read your child;s cues.

BabyCenter - Potty Training in 3 Days or Less - honestly this was too much to read for me... too much prep. I would much rather dive in head first and get it over with... Like showing the kid how to do a potty dance... I never did that, didn't need to. A kid will think of something all on their own once they have the control. You'll see it too... But it does off some great resources at the end.

Toilet Training in Less than a Day by Nathan Azrin (1989) - I haven't read it, but it shows parents have been doing this for a while, right? Your local library might have a copy.

These are just a few in the web bound with LOTS of info... I'm sure you can find whatever you are looking for!

Happy Training!

Track Your Yells and Work on Stopping {The Orange Rhino}

Ever since I joined in the challenge back in January, I have been working on becoming yell free. It's hard. It is very hard. I am still working on it and I still slip up. More often then I would like to admit...

Like yesterday and today. I had quite a few slip ups. Why? 

• I wasn't feeling good and just wanted to sleep
  
  
• The computer wasn't working and I had things I *needed* to get done (not really, it could have waited)
  
  
• Truth?     I just didn't want to be bothered
  

Sad? Yeah, but that is life sometimes. Day in and day out we are a parent. Just doing things we want to do is no longer an option. It makes it harder when all you hear is the same question over and over and over again when you are just trying to think!

I CanNot handle all that Noise!!!

Well, they are just trying to get your attention. They are just responding the way you are showing them to respond...

Hard, I know... Especially when you just want to do things you enjoy, just for you. When you haven't had the opportunity to do those things in several weeks.

The Orange Rhino is such a helpful tool to make those times between yells easier. Like taking the time out to track the yells (head here and scroll to 4)... Honestly, I might not have noticed those three things bulleted above if it weren't for the tracking sheet.

I did so much behavior tracking for the purpose of modification while I was working in special education. Who would have thought to do that for myself? It's amazing what you can find out about yourself. And learning to handle the yells; hold them in, redirect them into a pillow (my personal fave), is something that is going to help them later. I know I don't want my kid to be the kid that yells at there sibling or at their friend on the playground.

I watched a kid throw shoes at my son while on the playground at the park. I have no idea what went on and I know my son is not innocent by any means. I am glad it wasn't my son that through those shoes, I just hope that he doesn't turn into one that will...

I am working on not yelling.

Check out her site. Follow along, take the challenge, and give it a try if you feel you yell too much. You might be surprised what you find out. 

The Turtle and the Monkey: Learning About Plants {Virtual Book Club for Kids}

*This post contains affiliate links. All views expressed are my own.*

This month's author for the Virtual Book Club for Kids is Paul Galdone. We have read so many of his books this last month it was so hard picking one! How can you not love a good fairy tale classic retold and illustrated wonderfully?

Our library had so many of his books (some of the ones I had on hold have not been available yet)!

We decided to use the book The Turtle and the Monkey (Paul Galdone Classics)

Nikolai seemed to really enjoy it and asks to read it every day. :) I am so glad that he loves to read.

Because of the banana tree that Turtle finds and plants, I decided to pick up a flower plant from the store to transplant. I wanted to build on the understanding of why Monkey's half of the banana tree did not grow. We discussed this during the reading, that a plants needs roots in order to live, but it is not a topic or concept that we have really gone over before.

Learning About Plants: An Intro to Plants and their Parts

What you need:

• a small plant such as a flower or herb
• a pot to replant
• soil
• coloring page or printable book for parts of plants

1. looking at the plant in it's container before you take it out, talk about what you see naming the parts of the plant (stem, leaves, flower). Have your child gently feel and smell the plant.

2. Before you take the plant out, make a hypothesis, encourage your child to discuss what he/she thinks is below the soil

3. Carefully remove the plant from the pot, point out the roots talking about the child's thoughts/hypothesis. Feel the roots, look at them. Use this time to talk about how the roots work.  We drank a glass of water to help understand what roots do.

4. replant the plant

5. color the book/coloring page talking about what was seen and noticed about the plant. we used this booklet here and he just likes to keep re-reading and pointing to the parts of the plants. :)

The cool thing about this is that you have the plant to continue watering and revisiting later. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Please, check out these other sites contributing to the Book Club. If you have anything you want to share too, feel free to contribute!

There are a few rules for this blog hop that we ask you to follow, so make sure to read them: 

1. Link up only posts inspired by Paul Galdone that share children's book inspired crafts, activities, recipes, etc. Any other posts will be deleted.
2. Visit other blog posts on the linky and comment on or share the ones you love!

see you next time,

3 month Update..

It's been crazy 'round up in these here parts! Baby girl can roll over from tummy to back and very much prefers to sleep on her tummy...

Nikolai loves singing his ABCs and story + activity time. Love it! I have my Nick Sharratt story activity on the camera, but just need to get it onto the computer...

That is, after the craziness of Halloween!  Can't wait to share our costumes!

I attempted to join in at the end of Kids Clothes Week and look forward to the next sewing event! Fun!!

We've also been to the zoo...

And celebrated a birthday....

So when I am not rushing to finish the costumes I will post more! :)

Just Wanted to Share... Household Budgeting System from A Bowl Full of Lemons

I had been searching for a different way to budget for a while. If you follow me on Pinterest, you have probably seen some of the stuff I have pinned about budgeting.

I have wanted to make this wallet for the last 8 months. But I don't have the zippers nor have I taken the time to sit down and make it... But then, what good is it going to do for me without actually doing that type of budgeting? I used to do that way back before I met Brandon, but then stopped (why I have no idea). I needed to improved the system I had been using, but wasn't sure how.

Me, being the type of person I am, have to share this with you!

Arizona Flag Mug Rug

I am super stoked! I started this project back on Flag Day (which actually was a coincidence, totally not intentional) and I became way discouraged. I know how to paper piece, but creating a paper piece template/pattern is way different. But with time and patience, I like to rush sometimes, I was able to complete this Mug Rug and I am super stoked!

One Bucket List item is now half complete! :)

Update, you can now but this pattern! Arizona Mug Rug on Craftsy

Potty Time!

It feels like it has been forever since we started trying to get Nikolai to use the potty. We tried naked, only to have him demand a diaper. We tried underwear, only to have him demand a diaper and accidents galore. (don't mind the yellow on the walls in the bathroom, we haven't decided what color to paint yet)

 

Then I started to tell him, as soon as the diapers are gone, you have to start using the potty. So then, after every diaper change we counted the number of diapers left and talked about when you wear underwear you have to tell mommy and daddy when you have to go potty...

A Modern Mini in a Pillow

4th Grader's Nine Patch Block - May 2013

So, I have been wanting to do something with this block that one of the 4th graders designed. If you remember I talked about the quilting thing that the 4th graders did here. I was so glad that they did that this year (they didn't last year).

I hadn't found the perfect thing to do with this yet. I had only really done foundation piecing on two separate blocks for the Craftsy Block of the Month last year and I thought it was the way to go with this one. Well, I thought that it would be pretty simple right? I had no idea That it would test my abilities this much! :) But that is a good thing, I am still learning!

I was really excited with the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge beginning this year over at Ellison Lane Quilts! I followed along with it last year though did not participate. This year I wanted to, and that was the perfect opportunity to jump in with this design! So excited!

 

I was thinking just a simple quilt, nothing fancy. But then as I was doing each 6.5" square I was thinking this was too simple. I had done a foundation piecing before, I needed to do something different. Something I had never done before. After all, isn't that the point of the challenge?  As I read through the details of the challenge (for the 100th time, couldn't do it enough) I thought, pillow! I have never made a pillow before! Little did I know that sewing all those blocks together with represent a challenge enough! LOL, but so would the pillow!

 

And so starts this item's existence into being...

Tula Pink Quilt Along: Blocks 1, 2 & 3

I am excited to share my first three blocks! I sat on the idea for a while on whether I was going to join in or not, and then a week (almost 2) after they really started the QAL, I finally decided to join in!





I figured it be something to do, to use up my scraps, and just be there when I have time. Goodness knows that 5 weeks from now (give or take a couple weeks) I wont have nearly as much free time! :)

So here are my first three blocks! :)



Block # 1

Block # 2

Block # 3

If you have been following me on Instagram, or Facebook then you have already seen these! ;)

These blocks are a part of what I am doing with the TulaPink City Sampler Quilt Along!

Happy Sewing! :)

Receiving Blanket: Mitered Corners Tutorial

 

For Nikolai's baby shower, one of the best gifts I got was the receiving blankets from my friend Tiffany. They were the homemade kind from the snuggle flannel, and not to mention HUGE. Perfect for snuggling, perfect for swaddling, and we still use them! Since these last few weeks have been jam packed with baby showers, and I am back into my sewing (and enjoying it), I decided to make some.

 

But how to do the hem? I loved the look of the mitered corners that I did for the Robot Baby Quilt I thought how great that would be to do that for the hem on the receiving blankets? I am pretty proud of myself because I pretty much did not use any website to help me out with this, mostly because I couldn't find anything! Since I am super proud at how they turned out I figured I would share how I did the corners! :)

 

The size of fabric I used was enough to make a square. I got 1.25  yards and trimmed off the extra. I can use that later (wof=42" that gave me an extra 3"), hurrah for scraps! :)

 

How I Did My Mitered Corners

 

1.  I pressed the first quarter inch in around the whole blanket, then the amount that I wanted the hem to be. I was thinking about an inch, but for receiving blankets I think more blanket is better and did about 3/4 of an inch.

 

 

2. I think that makes this part so much easier! You can see the creases from pressing the hem in! I used that to my advantage (mostly because I was not sure about where to measure!

 

 Open up your hem and fold diagonally. I used my grid to help me make sure it is straight. Line up the 45 degree line on the crease, that was my guide of where to draw my line and sew.

Draw the line on the fabric using your marking pen, chalk, pencil (whatever you use). Remember not to sew over that 1/4 inch. If you do, that makes folding that part in a little difficult! ;)

 

3. Sew along your drawn line! I locked in the stitch near the quarter inch. I know that will be gone over with the hem stitch, but I think babies give a lot of wear and tear on these things (Nikolai is still using his 2 and a half years later!)

 

 

4. Cut off the excess! I cut off about 1/8 from the seam. It makes it less bulky.

 

I also trimmed a small corner where the point will be. Be careful not to cut the seam!

 

5. fold your pieces back in, press and pin. Then sew around your hem!

 

 

I have no pictures of the sewing part; the batteries to my camera died.

 

Sew as close to the inner edge as you can. I don't have a hem foot to help me with that so I just use the standard foot. But, you have to make sure that you are also sewing over your 1/4 inch. That is to keep the fraying down and the blanket from falling apart. :)

 

So easy! I had no idea it was so easy! I whipped up a couple so fast once I figured out how to do it! Yay me! I'm just excited! (can't you tell?)  ;) I am so proud of those corners!!

 

 

I hope the recipient likes them as much as Nikolai does! Perfect for swaddling! And I like the way they look tied up with selvage... Cute!

 

 

I can't wait to make some for baby girl! :)