little lovelies handmade

The Tutorial that almost was...

I have noticed that if we have a planned activity or craft for the day things run much smoother on the four year old front. That's a no-brainer, but it did take me awhile to figure it out. Entertained kid=happy kid=happier mom. In order to inspire myself to keep the fun rolling I am calling it our Summer Camp at Home (sooo clever). I think other bloggers did variations of this last summer, so admittedly it's not so much an original idea. But we are rolling with it.

Yesterday our craft o' the day was those melty crayon wax paper jobbies. Yeah, that is totally the technical term for it. I was going to be all cool and do a tutorial, but then I thought, really, if folks a) couldn't figure out how to melt crayon shavings between waxed paper or b) hadn't done this once before in their entire lives, then we had bigger problems than me doing a tutorial on the simplest craft ever.














So there, see? Two pieces of waxed paper with crayon shavings between. Lay an old hand towel over the top of your waxed paper and iron. There you are, crayon waxed paper stained glass thingies.

I'm hoping to spend a little time this weekend coming up with fun things for us to do next week. An outing or two and some simple crafts or recipes to try. We just got a backyard firepit, so marshmallow roasting is on the top of our list of things to do. I was thinking we'd make our own and roast those for smores. Anyone know if homemade marshmallows can hold up to campfires? If this is a sucess, I can see lots of them in our future!

Things I can't forget...

That sweet little face waiting for Daddy to come home.

.... and Monkey watching Shrek 3 and deciding after watching a scene where the words "loser" and "stupid" (which are a big nono in this house right now) were liberally being tossed about to turn off the movie and color. I tried to tell him it was ok to watch it, but he just needed to remember not to say those words, he said "No Mommy, those words are naughty and we shouldn't watch this right now."

In light of recent weeks and the language he and his sister have been using with each other it felt really good to watch my four year old decide that this wasn't the best movie for him to see right now. (nothing like being out-parented by your kid...)  We colored and played the rest of the afternoon without a second thought towards the television.

Monster Mash

Today we ran a bunch of errands - one being a trip to Joann's to get the parts needed to create a monster for Monkey. We drew a rough sketch on some flannel and went to town with these two beasties. I was shocked at how into choosing the fabric and floss colors for his (the yellow) monster he was. The red one belongs to Peanut and I did all the choosing while she did some napping. The first words out of her mouth when she woke up were "Where's my monster?"

It was fun to see the kids tote these ramshackle little guys around all day, though by dinnertime Monkey mysteriously couldn't find his (he'd been playing in the mud in the backyard, so I have a feeling our new friend was initiated into the fraternal order of four year olds. I had a meeting to go to and couldn't investigate then, though) and Peanut's went missing at bedtime. But it was fun while it lasted and was a whole day's worth of entertainment. At this point that is really all I can ask for, right?

Cupcakes at the County Fair

Too cute. I didn't get to try one because the crappy corndogs and fries we had for lunch wiped me out financially. I did ask if I could shoot a couple pics of their booth, though. Does this mean cupckaes are officially overdone now that they are bona fide fair food? Oh well, even if they are the set up was awfully cute.

My mother was one of eight children. Her aunt (my grandma's twin sister) had 13 children. My parents had five kids. I have 22 cousins just on my mom's side of our family. Having such a big extended family made for reeeeally fun summer vacations filled with camping and plays that could actually be cast by all realitives, camping trips where our family actually rented half the campground and just general fun chaos. I have always sort of expected I would have bunches of kids.

Except for a couple teeny details...

1. I am the most unorganized person on Earth and if one intends on raising their own sports team at least a third grade level of organization is helpful. I mean I just sent my poor son to his grandparents house minus his toothbrush, nighttime pull ups and his pink-eye medication. I forgot my child's medication for a highly contagious and highly irritating malaise. Yes, my inlaws deserve a medal for accepting me into their family and putting up with my crap. (I'll be there with all the forgotten goods tomorrow morning, promise!!)

2. I get ridiculously depressed when I am pregnant. Usually it hits a lot sooner than the 6th month, so I guess I should be happy, but it's here now and I am highly unequipped to deal. I'm not really, but it did just kind of hit me like a ton of bricks in the last week or so. Unfortunately being generally uncomfortable and depressed and unorganized does not a good mother make. Like I mentioned previously Monkey was all too happy to go to Grandma's house and I can guarantee when I saunter up to the front door with his stuff tomorrow he will not be pleased to see me so soon.

Can't say that I'll blame him.

All this has led to thinking about and discussing and praying over whether or not this should be our last baby. Such a hard decision to make, but in light of the two reasons above and mostly the second I am feeling like this may in fact be our last little one. We still don't know for sure and likely won't make the final descision until she's a few months old. It's strange to be contemplating such a big descision, because in my family it just wasn't something people did (obviously).

We'll see.

Thank Goodness For Fairy Godmothers

I definitely have one by way of my mother in law. She called me yesterday afternoon and offered to take Monkey (and therefore rescue him from me) for a few days. A few days. Well, good attitude permitting. He certainly could cop a 'tude with her and cut the trip short. Le'ts just hope it doesn't come to that.

He clearly needed a break from me because when it was time to go he grabbed is bag and said "Bye mom, bye peanut, see you!" with a wave and not even looking back at us.

Now, peanut is napping and I am watching this amazingly bad movie.
 















Remember it? A Knight's Tale with Heath Ledger. One of the first movies I saw Paul Bettany in (who I think and will always think was the real star in that movie) as Chaucer. Hill-ar-ious. In the sort of way only a midevil times movie showcasing such hits as "Lowrider" and works by such gems as Queen can be, anyway.

I'm giving myself this particular time waster today because tomorrow and the rest of the time my boy is gone will be devoted to moving him into his own big boy room. We are all about milestones here people.

t's so sad.

My camera battery is dead and I can't find the charger. The last time I saw it was when we were in Southern California visiting with my brother. Hope that doesn't mean I left it in he hotel there. Although the other scenario is that it is somewhere in this house and I am that bad of a housekeeper that I can't find it. Sadly scenario two is the more likely one.

I have been crafting up a storm, too, and have lots to show. Or would if I had a working camera. Go figure. Though, if I did have a working camera I am not sure I would have the time to even get to downloading pics and then posting them. I have been busy with a new website I am launching with Handmade Parade, putting together press kits and holiday advertising and special stuff for Glitter and Grunge, and in the middle of all that I have been dealing with the sassiest, whiniest 4 year old I have ever encountered. And sadly he is mine.

The bummer about having a sassy kid with a younger sibling is that you end up with two sassy kids. Who fight. All the time. Being 25 weeks pregnant isn't exactly bringing out my mad parenting skills either. There is much yelling and sending to the room. What kills me is that I'll be asking them to do something for the fiftieth time and completely going insane because I'm so ticked that they didn't just do what I asked the first time (or the third, for that matter) when Monkey will calmly look at me and say, "Mom. You really don't need to yell." accompanied by a look that clearly says "I don't know what you are freaking out about, this isn't a big deal."

Half the time I laugh and realize ok I'm crazy, but those dang kids need to listen (and then actually do what they are asked)! The other half my head spins around exorcist style and I make them go to bed at like 5 pm. Either way my kids now pretty much think I am crazy. My poor mother. I remember doing exactly the same thing to her. In fact I witnessed my 19 year old brother telling her to calm down, he'd mow the lawn sometime this morning, and her head spun around just like mine does. Good to know what I have to look forward to.

Thankful

Last week was a tough one. I am increasingly grouchy, increasingly impatient, increasingly sensitive. My kids and Aaron unfortunately get the brunt of this, which is unfair, but sort of the way things go sometimes. The ones you know won't leave you (or can't escape)get worst of you on occasion.

Tonight we had to take a little detour to Labor and Delivery to check on the baby. I realized that I hadn't felt any movement for about a day and a half and was feeling extraordinarily run down. This baby has been pretty kicky for the last two weeks or so and it seemed like suddenly she just stopped.  After a quick call to the doc he advised we check her heart rate at the hospital to ease our minds at the very least.

I never had this sort of thing happen with my other two, so I felt like we were in uncharted territory. There were fears that I never had before running through my mind and I had to really focus not to let panic set in. Thankfully after only a few minutes on the monitor the nurse found a good strong heartbeat and assured us that for 24 weeks, it was actually stronger and easier to find than in most babies. In a matter of moments we went from unsure that things were ok to being assured that our baby is stronger than most at this stage. Go figure.

Nothing like a little scare to make you appreciate your Mother's Day and the wee ones who made you one even more. Hope you all have a good one. I know I will knowing all my babies are safe and sound.

Boy This is Fun!

I saw a guy that I used to work with at our gym the other day and he sat down next to me and started asking me, "So are you done yet?" When I laughed and sort of gave him a non reply, he started going into the whole, "Wow, three kids. Sure you can handle it?" Diatribe so many people feel the need to give us these days. Well, dang people. If we didn't think we could handle it we wouldn't have decided to have another one. And whether or not we can handle it, or should handle it, or how many kids I am going to have or not have and if they are going to public, private or homeschool is not your business and really isn't open for discussion, thankyouverymuch. I don't know what it is about the third kid that makes people feel the need to 1)Talk to you like you are stupid and clearly didn't think things through before deciding to have another child and 2)Treat you like a martyr, because clearly only a martyr would have three children.

When I said, "Oh I'm not really worried about having a big family, I came from a big family", he reminds me that coming from a big family and raising one of your own are two very different things. Yes, I realize this. Funny how when you tell people you are having a third kid the first thing that pops into most peoples mouths is something along the lines of "But you already had a matching set, why would you want to mess that up?" or "Are you sure you can handle this?" and then a sheepish congratulations follows, but it has already been spoiled by the clear thoughts of this woman is crazy.

Perhaps this is the type of stuff that all people hear, perhaps it is just me. A couple other friends of mine who are expecting a third and fourth say they aren't getting quite as much flack as I am. One has two boys, so people are like "Oh cool, trying for a girl?" and the other who has three now people say, "Oh good, you are making it even now. " Yes because trying for that girl or evening up the playing field is so much more noble than ruining a matching boy-girl set.

Oh well since I ruined my children's chance at happiness, I'll have to make sure my children take good notes so they'll have their stories right when they tell their therapists how awful it was to be one of three*.

*We do reserve the right to decide to have more children, and if we do, please don't ask us "Are you done now?"

Maker Faire and Some Other Stuff

Thanks so much, to those of you who joined in on the discussion from my last post. Seems we are all pretty much on the same page, which is cool. Feel free to hop over there and continue the dialog.

So. The Maker Faire was over the weekend and very fun. Definitely more for the 4 and up crowd. Poor peanut was having a bit of a hard time with the walking and the making and the not whining. Actually, at some point in the day, I believe we all had a bit of trouble with that, but isn't that what makes family outings so darn fun?

One thing that went over very very well was foam printing. Both kids really loved etching drawings into the foam and loved rolling ink over their stamp even more. I am very excited to have cute little kid made prints to hang in their rooms one of these days. Add it to my list of things to do.

Speaking of things to do, now that we have a pretty good idea that we are having a girl (I need to remind myself that the US was so early that we could get a little surprise if you catch my drift) now the countdown is on to complete the room arrangements. Which means I need to tackle my craft room. Which is truly frightening. Poor Aaron has been begging me to clean it out since January. Boy time flies when you are avoiding something!