Sunday, January 30, 2011

Roll Call

Who's still reading?

I miss your company and your input!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

I Will Not Cry...

After holding onto Caleb's clothes for the past 5 years, I have finally let go.

I have been holding onto them JUST IN CASE we have another baby.  And we still might.  But taking up two lengths of shelf space in the shed was getting ridiculous.  The collection of Rubbermaids really snowballed after Sarah started outgrowing her clothes, too.

So, I spent a few minutes in mourning and I started sorting.  One pile for Goodwill, one pile for Baby Charlie (9 months), one pile for Baby Ethan (due any minute), and one pile to consign.

Little did I know, it was my lucky day.  If you believe in that sort of thing.  Luck, I mean.

First, I had to figure out how to get Sarah and two Rubbermaid bins into the store.  Then, the store clerk explained to me their NEW clothes buying policy!  Once she went through my clothes, she would be offering me CASH MONEY or STORE CREDIT right away!  No more waiting 3 months just to see if anything sold.  The store was going to BUY my clothes from me up front!  Yay!

What did I manage to walk away with?  From 2 bins of clothes sized newborn to 3T, I was offered $154 cash or $194 store credit!  Take a deep breath...read it again...

This momma has some mad money stored up for the next time I want to go kid's clothes shopping!

And IF another baby comes along, I'll bet there will still be some credit in that store account to furnish a new wardrobe...or at least part of it!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Valentine's Mantel

I used a combination of things to create our Valentine's mantel.  

First off, I bought some pre-cut foam hearts from JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts at 40% off.  I think that made them $3 and some change.  Caleb separated the solid hearts from the heart outlines, then he ordered them in his own little pattern.  I glued them to a length of yarn and taped them to the mantel.

Second, I printed vintage Valentine's cards from the internet.  I just Googled "vintage valentine's cards" and picket out some that I liked.  I printed them on regular copy paper and cut them out.  I used pink and red cardstock to create "mats" for them according to the sizes that I needed.  The heart in the white frame is just a piece of printed scrapbook paper cut into a heart and taped to a piece of paper.

Finally, I pulled my red mosaic candles (from Kohl's) back out from the Christmas mantel and presto!  I was done.


Monday, January 24, 2011

Crafting with Caleb: Penguin Footprint

This week's craft inspiration came from "Meet the Dubiens."  See her version HERE.

I should have thought things through a bit more with this week's craft.  Since I wanted the penguins to come out looking like...well, penguins, this project was heavily supervised (I gave him limited responsibilities).

Here's how it went down:
I painted the kids' feet.
Jadie helped he kids place their feet firmly and evenly on the paper to get a good footprint.  That didn't exactly work out.  Oh well.
I cleaned the kids' feet.
We waited for the paint to dry.
For Caleb's penguin, I painted an outline for the white body, the black flippers, and orange beak.
Caleb painted inside the lines.
I painted Sarah's penguin.
The end.


Caleb's Penguin (5 years)

Sarah's Penguin (17 months)



Thursday, January 20, 2011

Give the Family Jewels

We heard the most awkward commercial on CBS tonight.

This is the narration from the commercial:
"Wanna do something special for your woman on Valentine's Day?  Examine yourself for testicular cancer.    It's easily treated if detected early.  This Valentine's Day, why give a diamond when you can give the family jewels.  CBS cares."

I totally appreciate the informative commercials, but Wow...

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Quote of the Day: Let's Be Honest Edition

Caleb (as he practices tracing and copying his capital O's):  "Crappy.  Crappy.  Crappy."


I suppose it's better than the other possible explicative words, but it's not my proudest moment as a mother.


What words have you added to your child's vocabulary that you wish you could erase?

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Things Sarah Can Say: 17 months

Gee Go = Gig 'Em
Gaggie = Aggies
Shoo = Shoes
Jackie = Jacket
Ho-E = Holy
Ni-Ni = Night Night
Mom-E or Me-Ma = Mommy
Dad-dE = Daddy
Dussy = Dusty
Bruhver = Brother
Bo = Bow
Baa = Bath
Mee-uhl = Milk
Deh Doh = Let's Go
Me-Muh = Clean Up
No = No (duh)

Friday, January 14, 2011

Crafting with Caleb: More Snowflake Art

I prepared the masking tape snowflake.  I think this is pretty self-explanatory by looking at the picture :-)

He chose his colors..


He painted carefully at first...

He showed me how to dance like a ghost...

He painted colors randomly over the entire paper...

He painted white over everything before it was dry, creating a fuzzy flurry sort of effect...

I peeled up the stubborn tape...as you can see, it got he best of me!

I traced around the edges with black Sharpie.  All done!

Caleb's Quirky Kipper Craze


Caleb has been watching Kipper on Netflix since last September (or thereabouts).  If he could watch this show everyday, he would.  There are 10 episodes available at Netflix, and Caleb watches them over and over.

Honestly, I don't mind this show.  It's simply made with all white backgrounds and simple, but interesting  plots.  I believe that it is a British children's show, educational in nature, and broadcast on PBS beginning in 1999.

Kipper the Dog at Wikipedia

His favorite part is the intro.  He likes it so much that he acts it out with Kipper.  What fun it is to be a kid!






Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Delicious Pumpkin Gingerbread

I made Pumpkin Muffins for Breakfast yesterday morning.  Yumm!  The problem is that the recipe calls for 1 cup of pumpkin, which is only 1/2 of the can.  I didn't want to double the recipe, because that would be too many muffins for sure...

So I searched allrecipes.com for another pumpkin recipe.  I found a great one!


This Pumpkin Gingerbread is divine...if you like that sort of thing.  I decreased the recipe to half the number of servings and used what I had left of the pumpkin from breakfast.  Waste not, want not...I'm sure glad I didn't!

I've also copied the address below as I made it.  The original recipe yields two loaves, but the halved version yields one.

Pumpkin Gingerbread


  • 1-1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1/2 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder


  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
  2. In a large mixing, combine sugar, oil and eggs; beat until smooth. Add water and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin, ginger, allspice cinnamon, and clove.
  3. In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed. Divide batter between prepared pans.
  4. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour.  I had to leave the loaf in the oven an additional 10 minutes.  Just use the toothpick test and you'll be fine.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

First Day of a New Preschool

...And we both LOVE it!

Here's why:

  • Caleb's class is for 4-5 year olds only, not 3-5 year olds.
  • No wasted nap time.
  • 25% cheaper per month.
  • Closer to home by about 5 minutes driving time.
  • Located across the street from a grocery store.
Here is a sampling of what he did today.  And I love the daily note from his teacher.  That's going to be very helpful!






In other news, Sarah wore pigtails today!


Posted by Picasa

Monday, January 10, 2011

Caleb's PJs

I finished Caleb's pajamas that we bought fabric for just before Christmas.  He selected the fabric and I did the sewing, of course.

I used Handmade Mommy's tutorial for the pants.  It was sooooo easy!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Quote of the Day

Caleb asked me to play a game with him.  I suggested that Jadie play as well.

Caleb's response: "No. If Daddy plays he might win every time and then we will be the dumb losers."

I'm not sure where he heard that, but I hope it wasn't from me...

Friday, January 7, 2011

Crafting with Caleb: Snowflakes on the Stove

I try to give credit where credit is due, so here's where I found this wonderful idea.  Roots and Wings Co. has lots of other fun ideas, too!  Check them out when you get the chance.

And here is the process as we created our melted crayon snowflakes!
I started out folding the snowflakes and drawing the parts I wanted Caleb to cut out.  He got frustrated when his cuts were imperfect and I was happy to oblige when he asked me to do the cutting!  Although I did  not use coffee filters (regular paper for me), I found this step by step photo tutorial helpful when it came to getting creative with my designs.

This is my favorite snowflake!

Our multi-colored snowflakes...I later decided I liked them better in a single color.

I lined a frying pan with foil.  The bigger the pan, the better.  Some of my snowflakes were too big for my pan and we had to do some shifting to color the entire thing.

Proof that Caleb did help with this project.  It's true that I did most of it, but Caleb did enjoy coloring the first 4 or 5 snowflakes with me.

Laying out on waxed paper for the melted crayon wax to harden.

One in the pan...



I decided to tape them to the front glass door to display them...

A close up on the front door...

I recommend this project for kids 5 and up.  The main thing is that your child understands not to touch the pan or foil.  We used a tall chair for Caleb to stand on so that he was coloring from above the pan, making it easier for him to avoid touching the hot pan or burner.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Monday, January 3, 2011

Quote of the Day

Caleb: (referring to cotton candy) "I just don't like fuzzy candy."

Sweet Peas

I couldn't get her to eat them from a bowl or her high chair tray, but straight out of the can...she'll take them that way!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Resolutions

  1. Drink more water. This is a repeat from last year, but I know I should go for it again. The benefits far outweigh the cons. The body craves water and the wallet is heavier when I obey the craving.
  2. Make a stronger effort to remember birthdays. I sit here with a card organizer. I will use it. I will use it. I'm filling in the birthdays today and my most immediate goal is to purchase cards to fill it.
  3. Nag less. Jadie would appreciate this. And I'm sure I will appreciate the resulting husband who isn't annoyed or frustrated by me. Win-win. (a) about things I am annoyed that he's not doing. A reminder is received better than incessant nagging. Knowing the difference is key. (b) about the things I want him to do that he just isn't up for. Staying at home when I really wanted to go somewhere is not the end of the world.
  4. Revert back to my love of lists. Seriously, how can they not be helpful? Leaving them at home is not helpful, but the list itself is indispensable.
  5. Be present. When I learn how to do this, I'll let you know. But for now, I will try to control my urge to be constantly moving. Oh, and that urge to be doing more than one thing at a time. Multi-tasking really isn't as great as I once thought. Really, I'm only doing two things with subpar effort instead of just doing one thing really well. And I miss enjoying the people I'm surrounded with.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Caleb's Five Years Old!

This year was a little more difficult to prepare a birthday party for Caleb.  I'm not sure if it was the way the holidays fell or my lack of preparation or the two-children factor or what...but we had a very small party at home this year.

And it was just as fun...especially when my favorite five-year old opened up a Whoopie Cushion from Grandma Fran and PaPa Freeman.

Guests included: Granana, Grandma Fran, PaPa Freeman, Junior, Beth, Mikayla, Amanda, Wilson, and Noah.

His cake was perfectly imperfect and his attitude was incredibly positive.  All he cared about was that it was his birthday party!

So, here you are...