I Love My Kids...

I Love my kids, I Love my kids, I Love my kids, I Love my kids....I'm like the Little Engine that could, trying to survive another gruelingly long and patience-trying day with the Four Amigos.  Keeping them up late last night did not result in an easier morning as Sienna was up at 6:30, shortly followed by Lawson, then Reese.  I'm a morning person and all, I don't mind being up early, but when it involves the rapid-fire demands of Sienna that change every 30 seconds, well it can be a little overwhelming.  I want a banana, I want water, ICE in it, I want a pancake, I want strawberries, I want an eggy, I want to watch Peppa Pig, she says as she's throwing the remote at my head.  Yes, literally!

In theory, making a huge tub full of kinetic sand today sounded like a great idea.  The kids love it, the stuff costs a boatload to buy in the store.  Why not try recreating it for pennies to the dollar.  I even went so far as to order the play sand online this morning so it would be ready when we got to Home Depot.  I dragged all four kids out, making multiple stops to get the sand and then the cornstarch for this project.  But my confidence in this project began to wane after we returned home.  Even after reading the simple instructions and seeing this other mom's sweet child playing nicely "for 2 whole hours" with the sand...I began to have doubts.  The only thing my kids can all do "nicely" together for 2 whole hours is sleep.  And there is a huge problem with this whole plan, namely, sand should not EVER be IN your house.  I did end up making it while Reese was at a friends' house and Sienna and Lawson were both sleeping so it was just Carter playing with it.  The 30 minutes he helped me mix it and played with it did not make up for the 40 minutes it took me to clean sand off the floor afterwards.  I'm such a sucker for fun-sounding Pinterest projects.  I, now a veteran mom, should know better than to bring sand into my home!

The whole outing to go and buy the sand was interesting too.  I did manage to get the kids rounded up and in the car in record time, which I was proud of.  I left at a time when Lawson was really sleepy....well he was actually sleeping until Sienna screamed in his face just as I was taking them out to the car.  But I figured he'd go back to sleep...  yeah, not so much.  Either he, or Sienna, or both of them screamed and carried on for about 90% of the time we were out.  Sienna performed her now standard shoe and sock removal ceremony in the car, which is oh-so-convenient when you have another screaming baby and are in a hurry and trying to get your errands run as fast as possible.  Every time you stop to get out, now you have to put her socks and shoes back on.  And the whole time you are driving she is crying that she can't put her shoes back on.  Her other constant request in the car, which is really more of an angry demand, is that she be handed a constant supply of varying snacks (usually ones I don't have) AND that she have new water and ICE placed in her cup.  I have tried and tried and tried to explain to her that as much as I'd like to have an ice dispenser in the car, we do not have one.  I have no ice in the car....but she still asks every time we go out.

Beanie Babies and Ice Chalk

The last two days have been wonderful...cooler weather, but not too cool, cloudy, but no rain.  It's been great to be outside with the kids and have some new adventures.  We went to North Park yesterday with friends and the kids had a great time playing at one of the playgrounds there.  There were signs for a missing wedding ring and band hanging all over and they spent about half the time searching for those, finding all kinds of other treasures, of course...a light bright piece, a straw, a yogurt seal, a button, a seashell... I kept trying to tell them, unless it's a ring, DON'T pick it up...but it was like talking to the wind.

 I found this cool Erupting Ice Chalk on Pinterest and thought I'd give it a try.  So I made it last night and it was nice and frozen for them to play with today.  Let's just say, it should be called, "Another new way for your kids to get Super dirty, Super fast Chalk."  Oh, they liked it alright...they really liked that you could spray it with vinegar to make it bubble and fizz too.  After spraying vinegar several times directly into his eyes, Carter realized you have to point it down at the driveway surface.  That's a tough lesson to learn.  One entire LARGE bottle of vinegar later, I cut them off...of course with much whining and fussing about wanting to spray more.  Tough luck kids, I can't justify using any more vinegar on the driveway today.

So since they weren't messy enough yet, we got out the regular chalk next and played with that for a while.  Oh these kids don't know how good they have it!

 We made a special trip to the Thrift Store today because the kids started baseball yesterday and I told Carter we could look for a ball and a real bat for him there.  They ALWAYS have baseball bats, but today, of course there were none.  So of course, being the practical and logical parent that I am, I let them pick out more Beanie Babies.  For 50 cents a pop, it's hard to pass them up and they always, truly always, do have those.  They are in a bit of a Beanie Baby craze right now...they play with them, TOGETHER, every day, sometimes for hours.  I know, right???, it's hard to believe...but it's true.  So what if we have an obnoxious number of Beanie Babies now....it's me buying some sanity, plain and simple.  And to be totally honest, I love Beanie Babies so much more than Legos for SO many reasons.  I'll give you just a few.

5.  They are way cuter than Legos
4.  The kids have them piled up on their beds at night...you can't cuddle with a Lego man!
3.  They are easier to clean up at the end of the day than Legos...they don't get lost in the carpet!
2.  They have fun names and poems that go with them...Legos can't touch that
1.  REASON #1...if you are walking around in your child's darkened room at night, it hurts WAYYY less to step on a Beanie Baby on the floor than a Lego.  If you have ever stepped on a Lego in bare feet, you know exactly what I mean.  Men, if you have ever desired to know what childbirth feels like, just take about 50 handfuls of Legos and throw them all over the rug, then turn out all the lights and spend the next 20 hours walking around on them in bare feet.

Beanie Babies...they're the way to go!

Servin' up some ice chalk!

 Sienna and her little friend...I would love to get into their heads and know what they are thinking.  My guess is... something like this, "Sienna, you are so filthy and you need to take a bath RIGHT NOW!!!"

Sienna is thinking..."Dirt = FUN!!"

Busy little beavers

 Well, we've been VERY busy the last 4 days trying to get lots of bigger projects checked off our to-do list.  Derrick finally got our garage door fixed, the basement bathroom is tiled, and today everyone was "helping" start the kitchen tiling project.  It looks awesome so far...I'll post the finished photos soon.






I had a pair of pants to shorten, which I was absolutely dreading.  I found this tutorial on Pinterest which had you use the original hem and it turned out SO great.  I did it on a pair of yoga pants but have so many jeans that are too long...I'm so excited to try it out again on some of those.  I love it when a project actually goes better than anticipated!

 Yesterday we enjoyed a lovely outing to the playground...the girls had a blast and it was almost warm enough to lose the coats.  I don't think Sienna was even walking last time we were there.  That was hard to remember as she RACED around everywhere yesterday...I couldn't keep up with her!

Ohhhh, Peppa!

 Reese's Peppa Pig 4th Birthday party is fast approaching and until tonight I was feeling like I had nothing ready.  But tonight we whipped out the pink paint and...voila!!!  I painted a Peppa on some posterboard for a pin the tail on Peppa game.  I made a Peppa face which I'm going to cut out the mouth for a beanbag toss.  And, the crowning achievement, which was a joint-effort.  Derrick made another amazing pinata (It's newspaper, water and flour...FREE!!!)  We used this tutorial, also used for Carter's Angry Bird Pinata last year.  I painted it pink tonight and added some felt ears.  Now I'm afraid I'm rather attached and might just shed a tear or two when they are smashing it to bits with a bat.

Enjoy my favorite Peppa episode!

Completed projects

I finished a quick project this weekend for Sienna's room...a little banner from scrap material I already had on hand.  Score for a free room embellishment.  It makes me happy just looking at it!

 I had already painted letters for her name a couple months ago...so nice to feel like I can still finish a little project every once in a while!

School is in session!

 I'm desperately trying to get the kids into some kind of pre-school routine before I have the baby.  Saw some cute ideas on Pinterest and gave them a try for the first time today.  I made a chart for them to follow along what we were doing...they move the smiley face down each time we finish a "subject".  I printed out a calendar we filled in together with the date.  For reading, I grabbed a bunch of educational books at the library yesterday that they can choose from.  Math was Counting, Using Scissors, and practicing Left and Right today.  I found a verse that we printed out and recited together (see pic of Reese).  Writing was practicing ABC's.  And Activity was a game/activity/craft of their choice.  Today we played dominoes and Bingo.  So maybe it's not a huge deal, but at least we made it through all six things without tears or too much griping.  Maybe if we do it for the next 4 weeks we can actually keep going with it even after the baby is born.  We'll see...

Productivity??

I took advantage of my parents being out last weekend to get some bigger sewing projects completed.  What started as a well-intentioned plan to make three Roman shades for Reese's new room ended up being my greatest Pinterest disaster ever.  No, I will not be posting the tutorial I found that said you could make easy Roman shades using a cheap Venetian blind.  It didn't work...not even close...and this was not discovered until about 8 hours of effort were spent, several trips were made to different stores, and a lot of fabric was purchased.  I just about lost it when I realized I had all this fabric, and the shades just weren't happening.  Then Derrick suggested I try to remake them into a pull curtain for our sliding door.  (our other blinds had just broken).  So I was able to use almost all of the fabric that was salvageable and spent the rest of the day making this curtain.  I'm not saying it's anywhere near perfect...I was just glad to somewhat redeem myself after such a dismal failure!!!

 After that bomb, I decided to make myself feel better by sewing something easy...really, really easy.  So I made a dozen or so cloth wipes from some green dotted flannel I had (shown here hanging in my laundry room drying with my new cloth prefolds!!!).  Excited to give this a try with baby #3.  Woohoo, I can sew a bunch of little squares...go me!!!

My final project was to start on Reese's Halloween costume.  I couldn't pass up this cupcake costume when I saw it involved no sewing...and was especially glad for this after the blind debacle.  Hopefully she will still want to be a cupcake by the time Halloween rolls around.  OK Pinterest, I guess you have redeemed yourself.

Rainy day fun

I saw these cute Ellen Crimi Trent owls in a tree print for sale on Totsy this week and was THISCLOSE to buying one for Reese's room...when I remembered...  I've had a big frame/print that we don't need just sitting in my room to donate.  So I've been working on making my own picture for her room for the last two days and I must say, it's not too shabby.  Best part about it...FREE!  Score!!  I'll post a pic when it's done and hanging in her room.

I took the kids down to the Children's Museum for a couple hours today.  Derrick was able to bike over from town and join us for part of the time.  When we got home, I asked Carter what his favorite thing was at the museum today.  He said, "That Dadda could come with us."  Awwwww.  When I asked him what else he liked, he said, "The drying machine in the art room."  He had fun putting Reese's wet paintings through the machine over and over again.  Glad I made the trip down there so we could dry some paintings...haha.

Busy Bees

Reese loves the bird seed at the Museum

Well, I'm not sure that we could have possibly squeezed in any more activities over the past several days while Nani and Pop Pop were visiting.  We took the kids to the Children's Museum on Thursday. Did Reese's professional 3-year photos on Friday as well as mini-golf. And Saturday we went to Living Treasures and Moraine.  So much fun!

 The kids loved doing the big bubbles together once the heat started to fade after dinner one night...

Carter and his Super Heroes

Feeding a 7-month-old giraffe

Carter and a baby zebra...so cute!!!

 After Living Treasures, we took the kids to Moraine State Park for a picnic lunch and a little wading in the lake.  It was a gorgeous day with lots of boats on the lake.

Reese getting her piggies wet...and the rest of her clothes shortly after!

 After church this morning, Carter told us his class didn't get to have a snack.  When we asked him why, he said, "My teacher told us the girl who was supposed to bring the snack was playing hockey."  (Pretty sure the was hookey)


 Lastly, I was able to get some crafty things accomplished while Mom and Dad were here to help with the kiddos.  I found this idea for Hello Kitty Dolls on Pinterest and am making one for each child at Reese's Birthday Party in a couple of weeks.  5 down so far!  (Well and the one I already made Reese, which is pretty disgusting from all the adventures it's been taken on!)

I also saw this idea for mounting large prints to wood using modge podge.  I put the pic in Reese's new room...see purple walls and curtains. It is ALMOST finished...will post pix when it's fully assembled.  The print was less than $3 from Sam's club for a 12x16 size and the wood/ribbon were already on hand.  I LUV modge podge!!!

A completed project

I just had to post a picture of my finally completed table and chair set for the kids.  This was in the works for over a year I think...not because it really took that long but I just couldn't seem to find the time to get it done.  One rainy Saturday afternoon was all I needed.  I think they turned out cute.  We ended up just staining the table because I lost motivation after I did the chairs.  Derrick then coated them in polyurethane to protect them and so they're nice and shiny.  I got the chairs, (formerly plain white) from the thrift store a while back for $7 total and the table from Ikea for about $12...not bad!

Spring Projects

I've tried a few new recipes this week and wanted to share:

Couscous salad with chickpeas, tomatoes and mint.  I subbed in whole wheat organic quinoa for the couscous and it was great.  Very tasty and healthy and quick to make too.

Haven't made this yet but this Chicken Enchilada Soup is on my radar.

This Honey Glazed Chicken was easy and very tasty.  May try to cut back on some of the butter next time though.

Derrick found this Shepherd's Pie Recipe tonight and it was very good.



We've been preparing for Easter this week.  Resurrection Eggs have been a big hit with the kids this year.  If you want to make your own set, here is just one website with instructions...there are many variations.

I found this cute Easter Basket/Bucket I'm going to try to make for Reese tonight.  She broke the whole bottom out of her old basket when she was jumping in it...doh!  I don't think she'd be able to break this! And I have a bucket already that will work perfectly for this project...FREE!  Score!!!

New DIY to try

Who doesn't want to eat an entire bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough?  Well I found this Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough dip on Pinterest last night and it sounded WAYYYYY too good to be true.  I whipped up a batch and it is REALLY good.  So good Reese even gobbled it up, and she's a tough one to trick!  It doesn't taste like a "healthy" snack at all but it really is pretty good for you when you look at the ingredients!

I made this Pumpkin Pie Spice Body Scrub for a Christmas Gift as well as this Lemon sugar Hand Scrub.  Fun!!!  

Today ended up being a much nicer day than expected so I took the kids outside to play for a while.  I wanted to get the yard cleaned up since I knew the rain was coming.  I was in grabbing the shovel and a bag and when
I came back out both kids squatting down, putting their heads close together, and looking down at the ground at something while laughing hysterically.  The game they were playing?  They were taking turns spitting on a pile of dog poop.  This was one of those OMG moments where I was part mad, part sad, part embarrassed and part ready to pee my pants from laughing.  And so I ask again...why do I buy them toys....why oh why?

DIY Lately

 I am just so excited about some of the things I've found and tried from Pinterest lately and wanted to share a few.

Party favor masks for Carter's 4th Birthday this weekend.

Was skeptical about this but a homemade fruit fly trap worked WONDERS. Within minutes of putting this baby together, there were already several flies inside.  YAY!

Made another owl (well I'm making it...still need to sew and stuff) for a baby gift.

 This hand-painted sign for a baby gift.  I used carbon paper to get the letters to come out right.

 Found this "necklace onesie" and couldn't resist.  So happy with how it turned out.  The flower was from this tutorial.

Thank Heavens for Little Boys...especially once they are in bed at night!

1/4 cup of Cornstarch
1/4 cup of water
1 drop or 2 of food coloring
= fun sidewalk paint!

Not sure if it's washable yet...(that might be the last time you see them in those outfits)....have a hunch it isn't, so I'll let you know.  The kids really had fun bedazzling our driveway today.  I'm pretty sure it's the most colorful in the neighborhood!

Now that Reese is officially never napping anymore, I feel like I've been forced to be extra creative in finding things to keep them both occupied and happy all day.  It seems like the days are very long sometimes and I know it's only going to be more difficult the more cold, winter weather approaches.

I feel like if I don't get Carter out and running around for at least a few hours a day, he is completely, ridiculously, over-the-top crazy by night time.  I mean he is non-stop wrestling, screaming, drive-you-out-of-your-freaking-mind child by 6 pm and often doesn't go to bed by 9.  My ability to tolerate my children's antics plummets as the evening advances, so nights are tough for me when he is in this state of craziness.  I found him a couple new super heroes at the thrift store today so currently those are keeping him happy and quiet...but it's only a matter of time.

So, sad as this sounds, I am always incredibly happy when it's bedtime.  I LOVE my children, don't get me wrong, but they do know how to suck every bit of my energy out, almost effortlessly!

Rainy weather "projects"

The rain is on the way and I've been combing the internet for good projects to do with the kids indoors this week and all winter long.  Here are a few that caught my eye:

Cut up pipe cleaners in a bottle that kids can move around with magnets.

Make your own sidewalk paint.  I know this is more for outdoors, but I definitely want to try it.

Toilet Paper roll bird feeders...too cute!

Make your own "pinata???"  Not sure if this could work for Carter's bday party.  Sure would be cheaper!

Monster out of a tissue box...genius!

I give all credit to Pinterest for these ideas.

Happy crafting!

Fall DIY Decor

I'm always so jealous of people who have an eye for decorating.  I'm not very creative with my holiday decor and don't usually know where to start.  But I feel like I stumbled across a couple great and easy ideas for this year.

I found these flower balls on Pinterest.  Just artificial flowers and ribbon stuck into a Styrofoam ball.

I was hiking in the woods with the kids and found these cool berries that I picked.  They look great as a centerpiece and they were FREE!!!  We grew the larger yellow gourds in our own garden too!