Thanksgiving & Craft Reveal!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving, I know I did! We hosted the day at our house, same as the last 2 years. My turkey turned out perfect, I'm happy to say. I only make it once a year, so I tend to forget what I did the year previous. I need to stop reinventing the wheel and just write it down or something. In addition to the turkey, I made stuffing (of course!), deviled eggs, spinach Parmesan dip, cranberry sauce, croissants with pumpkin butter, and rice pudding. With the dishes that everyone else brought, we had quite a spread. I didn't get very many pictures since I was so busy hostessing and running after the girls. The stamps that I made last week made a cameo at the table:

I think they turned out really nice! We also made the traditional turkey handprint and I tried to make a cornucopia out of D's foot. I think it would have looked more like a cornucopia if I had painted her toes different colors. Still cute, though!



Hopefully in the next week or two, I'll have time to feature the sweater dress tutorial I found. I hope everyone made it through Black Friday alive! We hermited in the house and didn't go anywhere. Perfect day for me ;)

Two Steps Back

I had an absolute armpit of a day today, which is really disappointing because I feel like I've been doing so much better lately. I think D is teething, so she's been in a rotten mood the past few days. Both my kids were painfully slow teethers. Emphasis on the *painful*! D only has her four top, four bottom and four molars in. I noticed her canines poking through this morning, so hopefully we're in the home stretch.

I swear I spent over half the day either crying or trying not to lose my shit. I really need to pay more attention to my personal habits, too. I know I skipped breakfast and forgot to eat lunch until almost 2 in the afternoon. That certainly doesn't help my mood.

N's been getting more possessive of her toys, too. Today she had a huge setup of Littlest Pet Shop animals and a building block city on the couch. Right at D level. As soon as D would come within a 5 foot radius of N's bustling metropolis, N would shriek at ear splitting levels and whack D on the chest. Everyone crying again. I need to make a little D-free zone for N to have her imaginative play time, because that takes up a large portion of her day.

The last recurring trial of the day (really the last week or two) is that D is obsessed with the "potty". I hate to discourage her, but she only wants to play in the bathroom. If I bring the little potty out of the bathroom for her, she wants nothing to do with it. She wants to sit on the big potty and play with N's toys, which inevitably fall between her legs into the toilet. Then she wants to get down and rummage in the extremely un-kidproofed closet. Ten times a day. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that one. Like I said, I don't want to discourage her from potty stuff if she's interested, but I suspect she's just using it as a vehicle to achieve fun times in the bathroom.

Hopefully, the coming holidays will be a bit of a break with A home. We're having everyone over to my house for Thanksgiving, so I'm really excited about that. I have photos of the stamps and the craft we used them with to post, but I'll have to save that for another day. I have to go clean!

Tomorrow will be better, right?

Craft: Home Made Stamps!

So this is my first attempt at a tutorial-type post. I'm making Thanksgiving place cards with the kids (probably just N) later this week and I didn't have any fall themed stamps. I had a mini-epiphany on how to make my own (it's so easy that I'm sure there's an identical tutorial out there somewhere) with stuff I already had.

You Will Need:

Puffy Paint or Glue Gun
Adhesive Backed Foam Sheets
Flat Glass, Mirror or Ceramic Surface
Washable Marker
Scissors

 I'm terrible at writing backwards, so I used the back of a plate to lay out my text.

 Press the foam sheet to the marker before it has a chance to dry.

 Ta-daa!

 I did one word at a time so that it didn't dry.

 These words were a little small for the puffy paint, but I wanted them to leave room for N's decorations on the place cards.

 These will take about 24 hours to dry, so plan ahead!

 For the decoration stamps, I just freehanded some fall-themed pictures directly onto the foam.

 If you need a stamp RIGHT AWAY you can also use a glue gun. It's not as smooth as the puffy paint and the lines are thicker, but it dries in just a few minutes.

 Pilgrim hat!

 Here they all are :)

After they dry, I'll trim them a little closer and adhere them to... something. Maybe I'll get A to cut me wooden blocks. Those small cardboard disposable jewelry boxes would also work well. We'll be using sponges to apply poster paint to the stamps in a few days. I'll update with the finished product in a few days!

Attack of the Toy Fairy

If you've been keeping up, you may have read about the Toy Fairy. I have threatened to leave toys out for the Toy Fairy in the past, and this usually spurs a little cleaning frenzy. N was feeling particularly obstinate the other day, so when she refused to help me clean I said "That's ok. I'm just going to clean this up for you and since you can't take care of your toys, I'll just leave them on the front porch for the Toy Fairy. She'll have lots of fun playing with your toys." I got through three bins of toys before N came to help me finish. Whenever she passed the kitchen window and saw her toys on the porch she got a little sad. The next morning they were gone. That day was fine, but the next morning she wanted to build a tower. I told her that if she helped me clean up all the toys that were out that we could write a note to the Toy Fairy asking for her toys back.

N dictated the note, decorated it and signed the bottom. She even drew a picture of the Toy Fairy in the bottom left hand corner. The little blobs above it are her wings, haha! After all that she *still* had to wait until the next morning to get her toys, since the Toy Fairy (like most fairys) only operates at night when you're not looking. For the most part, she's been better about cleaning up lately. We'll see if this made any kind of impression on her next time I need to pull it out!

Postception?

I know a post promising that I'm going to post a post is a little redundant, but maybe if I put it out there it will actually get done.

I think I want to redesign a *little* to include a crafty section for my blog. It will give me something positive to write about as well as motivate me to craft more and document what I'm making. Coming soon... sweater dress, bear ears, home made stamps, ummmm... maybe a hat or two? Most of these won't be tutorials since what I'm making was picked up from another blog or website, but I'll link back to my source so that y'all can try it out if you want.

I'm excited, how 'bout you?!

Don't Worry, It's Just a Phase

I've been away from blogging over the summer. My husband was home more and my evenings somehow disappeared into a haze of cleaning and vegging in front of the TV. (yuk!) Now that the semester is yet again underway, I'm on my own at least 4 full days a week. It's definitely trying my patience, but we're all adjusting. I'll touch on a few things before I get into my "real" blog post.

Preschool

N started preschool this year. *tear* She goes in the mornings two days a week. It's a nice break in our routine, but it's a busy way to start our loooong week. I was worried that N would have a little trouble being away since she's never been watched by anyone other than immediate family. I should have saved myself the grey hairs. I don't even get a kiss goodbye before she's running into her classroom. Of course, D wailing and draping herself across my arms may have something to do with that, too. D redeems herself when we go to pick up N and she's squealing and dancing before we reach the door. Actually, both of them are. Cute!

 

N's First Day of School

 

N's First Two Weeks of Classwork

The Garden

This turned out to be such a nice project for the summer. We ate oodles of squash, and a good amount of cucumbers. The peppers were a little sparse, but I think that was due more to the damage of the storm/hurricane than anything else. They were coming in late in the season, right when the storm hit.

The Beach

We went on vacation to Nags Head, NC for a week with my parents. IT WAS AWESOME! We had a great time. The girls behaved so well and the weather was perfect. I can't say enough good things about our time there.

 

A & D in the outside shower. This is my favorite picture from the week! (seriously, we didn't take a single shower inside all week)

Family Photo! The stairs on the right hand side of the photo led to our cabin.

Ready to head home :)

Not Much Else

I'm sure we did more, but nothing is standing out to me at the moment. We didn't do anything life changing or epic (other than our rockin' vacation).

Just a Phase

You know when you hear that phrase... it's exactly WHILE your kid is doing something embarassing/out of control/or vaguely obscene that someone sagely nods their head and says "Oh don't worry, it's just a phase, hon." I hate that. Unfortunately, it's also true. I remember when we thought that Nora would never get out of her 24/7 temper tantrum. I felt like she spent 90% of her waking time rolling around on the ground sounding *exactly* like what I imagine a stuck pig to sound like.

This is her licking snot off her nose following a fit because the stupid baby bjorn wouldn't stay on or something. This was March 2010, so she was 26 months and D was one month old. Obviously, we weren't in the best frame of mind to deal with the trivial (to us!) problems of a two year old, either. However, this time passed without us noticing the end of it. That's not to say that N never has hissy fits, they're just much less frequent and often we can head them off at the pass and avoid it altogether. At the time they were absolutely unavoidable. The frustrations of being two coupled with distracted parents and a new baby sister (not to mention her sassy personality) were a recipe for disaster. Unfortunately, D is just gearing up for her time to shine...

Oh, bad mommy won't let you pull a frying pan full of ground beef and grease on your head. :(

N's bedtime routines have also eased up a bit. We have a nice, SHORT, reasonable routine in place. No more 30 minutes from start to finish. I think a big thing that helped with this was N giving up her nap. (If you could spend a moment of silence to mourn its passing, I would appreciate it.) With no nap and school in the mix she is very tired by bedtime, which has been bumped up to 7 so that she goes to bed the same time as D. Sweet! There's little resistance especially on nights that A isn't home. We have our ducks in a row and mommy doesn't take any crap. Not that daddy does, but I think with two of us around she sees the opportunity to take a chance on someone being a softie.

Another change that I have noticed since the last time I blogged is that things are a lot more in control for me at home. I cook a lot more, and the house is almost always tidy. I still have a hard time keeping up with the "real" cleaning like mopping, bathrooms and laundry, but the dishes are usually done and the floors/countertops are clear before I go to bed. I attribute this solely to audiobooks. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?! It makes it so much easier to lose myself in my book while cleaning. I never look at the clock to see if I've cleaned long enough to sit down guilt free, and I actually look for things to do so I can listen longer.

I know people always say that they wish that there were more hours in a day. What I want is another *day* in my day. The only caveat is that my kids need to be on another plane of existence while I have my extra time. There are a few basic things that I want/need to accomplish with my time sans children: cleaning, crocheting, reading and the occasional blog. I can not keep up with all these in the time allotted. Since I have the girls from waking to sleeping, at least four days a week, I also need to get to bed at a reasonable time every night. This is very hard for me, still. I want to cram as much "me time" in the hours after 7pm that I end up staying awake way too long. This makes me cranky and short-tempered the next day, which is bad for everyone.

Well, the long and the short of it is that I need to: 1) remember how far N has come in a year, 2) cut D some slack and 3) discover how to manipulate the space-time continuum so that I can get everything done.

Easy peasy, mac & cheesie!

K. I. S. S.? I wish!

Keep it simple, stupid!

I know that toddlers and pre-schoolers thrive on routine, but N's bedtime rituals are getting a little ridiculous. This is what happens EVERY night:

Things that NEED to be in the bed:
2 Pony Security Blankets
2 stuffed Ikea ferrets
2 different stuffed giraffes (they both rattle/jingle which is annoying)
regular pillow
bear pillow
down throw blanket
large egyptian linen swaddle blanket
large crocheted blanket
pink patchwork quilt

If any one of these things is missing from her bed, she WILL notice and you MUST find it. Sometimes she's carried it out of her room, sometimes it's just lost in the crazy jumble of toys and blankets. Either way, if it's not there, she's not sleeping. The list is only about half of what's in her bed, the rest is a semi-rotating gathering of toys and blankets that are crammed into her bed tent. There are nights that she gets it in her head that she needs a 4" tall piglet change purse that hangs out in her bed. Try finding that in the dark!

After we make sure everyone is in bed and ready to go to sleep, it's time for the routine.

Read a book in Mommy & Daddy's room, because D's sleeping and we can't do it there.

Make sure her fan and nightlight are both on.

Once in bed, we say the sleep rules:
1. Stay in bed.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Be very quiet.
4. Go to sleep.
5. If it's red, stay in bed. (this refers to her nightlight / toddler alarm clock, which also must be on)

Then it's time for prayers:
Now I lay me down to sleep... and also God is Great (the one you say before eating). I'm not sure how this got added in, but whatever.

Then, I sing her two songs:
The Beatles, All My Loving (Close Your Eyes)
and Mr. Moon (Before you judge, my mom used to sing it to me and I didn't think of changing the lyrics until it was too late, haha!)

After that, I have to hold up the sign language I Love You sign, and say "Goodnight, sweetheart." The very last thing is to lay in bed with her for more than 30 seconds, but less than 2 minutes. She doesn't like it if you  stay too long and she says "OK, please go away now."

While all of this can get a little annoying, especially finding all of her toys in bed, it works like a charm. If I follow the routine, she's good to go. The downside is that when we aren't at home, she has a very difficult time going to sleep and never naps.

The simple days. 1 Pony, 1 Ferret, no fuss!

D, on the other hand, I could chuck her in bed from the doorway and just go downstairs. (Of course, at her age, N was the same way!) We read her a book or two before bedtime, just because. For naps, I take her upstairs, hand her the bear blanket and cover her up. She'll fall asleep on her own in 5 or 10 minutes. If she's not sleepy, she'll talk to herself for 30 minutes before she settles down. I don't remember the last time she cried when I put her down to sleep. We've been super lucky with her. Also, A and I have always firm believers in sleep training, and protecting the girls' need to sleep and nap. The book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child was our bible from when the girls were 4 months old and up. Whenever someone is going through a nap transition, or having trouble, I still refer back to it. I highly recommend it to every new parent, or to parents of older kids with sleeping or napping issues.

Anyway, I'm not complaining about N's routine. I think it's cute and only mildly annoying that she's so inflexible. It comforts her and gets her to sleep, so it's all good in my book! I've found that a well rested child (and a well rested parent) is much easier to deal with, so whatever it takes is worth it.