Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Maybe I AM my mother's daughter!

I sewed something! I did it! I actually made Halloween costumes. And now I want to sew things all the time. Ut-oh! My friend Sarah (see her blog over at Grover's Corner) and I decided to follow through with a craft (also a huge accomplishment for us...) and this is the product!

My mom is totally awesome. She used to sew things me and Tim all the time. She made us Christmas outfits, Halloween costumes, pillows, and lots of other things. She always did an amazing job at crafting things, and I always thought it was so cool that she could sew. I never really caught on, so to speak, so I didn't try sewing for a very long time. Last Christmas, however, I decided to ask for a sewing machine.

This week, yes, 10 months later, I decided to try and sew.

And it worked.

See the following steps to make a fun dinosaur hoodie. Lily LOVES dinosaurs, so this idea for her costume was perfect. I did a little online research (ok, research meaning reading crafting blogs), and came up with these bad boys. Jack is going to be a dino, too, because Lily would probably change her mind and not want to wear her costume...

Step 1: Make the patterns. I found these online, measured them, and then recreated them in a word document.

Step 2: Trace onto felt. Mark the middle of the felt.

Step 4: Pin the felt to the hood and back of the hoodie (I used zip front hoodies from the Jumping Beans collection at Kohl's. They are SO soft!). The felt should form a straight line down the back and look like sideways diamonds.

Step 5: Sew the felt to the hoodie.
Step 6: Glue the felt in half to create triangles. Then, sew the triangles closed (You don't have to sew them, I did for extra hold. The glue helps stiffen the felt to make the spike stand up).

Step 7: Add eyes and teeth, if desired. Lily's has eyes and teeth; Jack's just has spikes.




Step 8: Enjoy!

These cuties will be wearing the hoodies on Halloween...


Monday, October 21, 2013

Lily is 28 Months!

Admittedly, 28 months sounds weird. Really, she's 2.5 years old. For the sake of these posts, though, I will use months...

At 28 months Lily loves...

1. ...Little Einsteins. Especially the fire truck rocket episode.
2. ...flashlights, or, as she would say fashyights.
3. ...going to school! She truly loves the arts and crafts and play-doh.
4. ...playing with Abby, Charlie, and Andrew. She loves her neighbor friends!
5. ...lollipops. 
6. ...finger painting. She really loves making a good hand print.
7. ...reading new books. She really loves her Disney goodnight anthologies. 
8. ...getting her hair done in ponies. Two ponies.
9. ...helping mama and dada cook. Her specialty: pancakes.
10. ...and, of course, mama and dada!


Friday, October 11, 2013

Power Down

A few days ago, I asked my friend Becky if she thought that moms have always felt guilt, or like they were being judged, or, worse, that their mothering wasn't good enough. She said, well no, probably not, they didn't have the internet to tell them those things.

How true, I thought.

Before, moms had their family and their friends, and likely, those people were helpful, even encouraging. They didn't have millions of internet "friends" showing them the latest, most beautiful dinner they made, or the most perfect craft they did, or the three perfect children they have (no snot on their faces, not one hair out of place). They had their lives. And their kids, who may or may not have been perfect. They had perfect dinners and pizza boxes. They worked outside the home. They stayed home. They loved their kids.

So, this is what I have to say to you moms who feel like you aren't living up to the internet.

Turn it off. Tune it out. And go play with your kids.

Why?

Because on the internet you put the perfect dinner, but probably not the burnt one. And you put the pretty craft, but probably not the cake pops that fell off the stick (ok, if you're me, you put up the ugly pops because, let's face it, that's hysterical!). And you put the pretty pictures, but probably not the ones of snot laden, spit covered, crying children. The truth is, the internet lies.

So moms. Please, get over yourselves. Get over the fact that the ideal of parenting isn't the real. Mostly because there is no ideal, or perfect. There just is. If you love your child, you provide for her, and you show your child every day that you want the best for him, then you are doing just fine. So power down. Step out of that fake internet life, and into your real one. It's much better, and happier, and more wonderful there, anyway.

Cake pop fail.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

A lot of crazy.

My kids are asleep. My husband is out playing softball. I am sitting here alone. Time to type.

So lately...we have been fairly busy. I had my 10 year high school reunion last week. It was so much fun! We went to a bar downtown and had drinks and appetizers. It was wonderful catching up with my classmates and friends. It was also really nice to get out of the house and do my own thing.

Our October is shaping up to be crazy. We have things going on practically every weekend. This includes Homecoming, which is some crazy planning. We want it to be really awesome for the kids, so we are trying some new things this year. I will be happy when it's all over, so I can get a bit of time back!

In addition to the craziness on weekends, I am crazy planning for classes. The new curriculum has a lot of project based components that require a lot of backward mapping, so my time is taken up working on those. I am enjoying teaching the English 11 curriculum. I am not so sure about English 10. I have been teaching 10th grade for 7 years now, and I think I am ready for a change. I like getting my feet wet with one section of English 11, so I am thinking (hoping...Becky, are you reading this?) that next year I will be ready for something new.

And as if these things were not enough, I have decided to try new recipes in the evenings for dinner. Last night I made beef and broccoli, and it was awesome! It tasted great. Tomorrow night, we are going to try bang bang shrimp. I really love Bonefish Grill's bang bang shrimp, so I hope I can make something close to that.

Anyway, time to plan. Until next time...