Bubbles and Colored Milk

Almost 2 years ago, I was complaining to Aaron about how hard my day was at home with the kids. All about how so and so did this and it took me FOREVER to do that because so and so was whining and so on. (In my defense, I was transitioning back from being a working mom to a stay-at-home mom.) Very seriously, he looked at me and said, "All you do is complain. Do you even LIKE being at home with our kids?" My snap reaction was "Of course! I love our kids." But it got me thinking. 

I do love my children and love being at home with them.  I also know that it is best for them that I am at home, but somewhere along the way all thar joy and love was missing and I felt negative by the end of everyday. Among many realizations I had that day, one of them was that I was being negative. All day long, I would say no. "No you can't do that. Stop that right now. Leave him alone. Not right now, maybe later." Plus, I was looking at my day from the view of all the things I wasn't doing or couldn't get done because of caring for my children. So, I first made myself look at all of the positives of my day, including but most especially all of the moments I was spending with my kids. I also promised myself that I would say "yes" at least once a day. "Yes, you can eat that with your fingers. Sure, I'll read you that book right now (instead of wash dishes).  Let's have a picnic in the front yard." Gradually, the days got better, and while we still have tough days and tantrums, everyone seems to be more positive. (Well, minus the brotherly "love" fights. I don't think those will go away anytime soon.) If I feel like I'm having a bad day, I try to think of something the kids might enjoy, like a story and cuddle session, a picnic at the park, or a dance party, and it usually makes our day better. So today's "yes" was colored milk and bubbles...

One day, I thought it would be fun to add food coloring to our plain milk. Now, whenever the neighbor kids come over to play I hear, "Can we have colored milk?" (Yeah, I'm the cool mom.) :) So day it was turquoise colored milk with straws. They started to blow bubbles in their milk and my gut reaction was to stop them But instead, I set the ground rules of "no spilling or overflowing," and then let them have fun. They loved it and I feel so much better...

(Plus, won't this be fun for them to remember when they are older?)

Cheese Puffs

(photo found here)

Today was one of those days where I just really didn't want to get out of bed. It didn't help that my eye is hurting again, so the shades were closed to dim the light, which in turn made the day even more dreary. It seemed that everyone was feeling it. Everyone was irritable and whiny. So when we ran out of diapers at  five o'clock in the afternoon, I put on my sunglasses and loaded everyone into the car. We first stopped at Hobby Lobby (my happy place) and then went over to the grocery store. Knowing how everyone felt, I promised that if they were good and all went well they could each pick a small bag of chips. I know. I'm a bad mom, bribing my children with junk food, but like I said it was one of those days. All went well and we even got to sample some pork tamales (which I gave in and bought a package). I kept good on my promise and allowed each kid to pick a small 3 for $1.00 bag of chips. Funny enough, all three children picked Cheetos, the puffy kind. Aubrey of course wanted me to open hers immediately and the boys never before moved so quickly through the check out line and into the car. Funny how bribes work like that. I myself prefer the crunchy version, but no matter which you eat you always, ALWAYS end up with orange fingertips. Half way home, I look behind me to three children blissfully happy and cheesy-faced. Oh, I wish I could have captured that picture for you. Nothing like Cheetos to make your day better. I had Seth pass me a few and joined in the bliss. I chuckled. The taste made me think of my grandmother. Why you ask? Let me share a little story...

Growing up nearly every (or maybe every other) summer, our family of 7 would load up in our minivan and drive cross country to visit our paternal grandparents in Utah. I have many fond memories of those road trips and visits but let me share one particular memory...cheese balls. My grandparents loved their puffy cheese balls. They always had a large canister of them in their pantry. However, we weren't allowed to eat them unless Grandma or Grandpa shared. We would smell them and come running, ready to beg and plead for them to share. I have memories of Grandma or Grandpa falling asleep while eating the cheese balls and trying to sneak one without them waking. One of our last visits before Grandma died (and after Grandpa had passed away), Grandma had fallen asleep eating cheese balls while we were packing up to go home. She woke up to hug us and wish us well. Then, like always, she stood on the porch and waved as we drove away. You could just barely see her cheesy fingers and as we all waved in return, she smiled. My dad (the funny man) commented, "Oh, Grandma's been eating cheese balls!" We turned once more to see Grandma smiling with cheese puffs stuck to her teeth. We busted up laughing and my parents tried to keep a straight face until we turned the corner. That is one of the last memories I have of my grandma before she died. It has been a sweet recollection and inside joke in our family for some time now.

I smiled the rest of the way home from the store as I thought of those memories and cheese puffs. Someday, I'll share this story with my kids and how their cheesy faces reminded me of a grandmother they never met. It was a day made better, all because of cheese puffs.

My New Life video

Have you heard of Stephanie Nielsen (or Nie Nie)? She is an amazing women who survived a near-fatal plane crash. I occasionally read her blog and always feel inspired. I came across this video, cried, and knew I needed to share. What she said about motherhood really struck a chord with me. Please check it out and be inspired. (and if you love the music, go here for a free download.)

A Girl with Glasses Update

Some of you may remember the glasses post that I did to support a little girl unsure of getting her first pair of glasses and starting kindergarten at the same time. For anyone interested, her mom posted an update of Pumpkin rocking her TWO new pairs of glasses. (Check it out here at This Mama Makes Stuff.) Now, I totally want both pairs of those glasses!

Don't you just love Sesame Street?

I just wanted to share this cute clip. If you've seen the Old Spice commerical "The Man You could Smell Like", you may have seen some of the spoofs. If you haven't seen it yet, click here. This one by Grover, "How to Smell Like a Monster" is so funny. I love the last line..."on a cow."

Would You Wear This (or Even Buy It)?

So floating around blog land are posts and link parties called “What I Wore Wednesday”, where bloggers share what they wore during the week. These are usually meant to be fun and usually not necessarily high style fashion. I occasionally like to do these (on my craft blog) because it gets me motivated in the morning to actually dress nice (instead of t-shirt and sweats) which in turn motivates me to get things done during the day. I also like to think that it is a way to record for my children what Mom looked like on a regular day and not just special occasions (which seems to be the only time I am able to step out from behind the camera). Well, I won’t bore you with the whole post,(you can check it out here). This is just the shortened version that I wanted to share with you.

Basically, this week I wanted to play with some of my accessories, most of which I made myself. I have contemplated making and selling these on Etsy. (I have a shop but nothing in it.) So let me know would YOU wear this? Or would you want to buy it if I were to sell them? Thanks!

Close-up of the my favorite necklace. I recycled plastic into “shrinky dinks” put writing on them, shrinking them, and then sealing it with Mod Podge. It’s hard to tell here but there is a cluster of charms-each one a family member’s name, then a black silhouette of a temple with Together Forever written underneath, and a little purple heart. I love this necklace and wear it quite often.

  
On Saturday, we had to go to the wedding of a friend.  So, I had these great plans of making a sash to wear over my old standby of a black dress. After lots of hours and way too much fabric. I ended up with this 80’s prom looking thing. (Horrible, I know…) On the way to the wedding, I took the toll way. The toll booth attendant asked me if I was going to a wedding or something. I said I was. She said, “Your dress looks nice. She actually picked out a pretty good dress.”  I guess she thought I was a bridesmaid or something, totally not the response I intended. So future bride’s, consider having your bridesmaids wear matching sashes instead of matching dresses. Just a thought. (I will totally rework this one before considering selling some, something less 80’s and more modern.) I’m also wearing the removable ruffle on my shoes. Didn’t think to get a picture of those, so if you see me wearing them, feel free to ask me how they work. :)

Sunday’s outfit. Thought I would try the tucked-in shirt/high-waisted pencil skirt combo, I’ve seen a lot of lately.  It’s kind of growing on me. I added  a ruffled denim sash/belt (that I made), a simple denim knot necklace, and some denim flower shoe clips (again that I made) for added color. The sash needs to be tweaked,  but I love these flower clips.  Love them! After Aaron saw my outfit, he was like “You should invent a clip or something that you can put on you shoe and change out with different flowers and stuff.” I reached done, unclipped the flower, and said, “You mean like these?” Yeah, that was pretty funny. Later in the week, I decided to play with these in different ways.

For Wednesday’s outfit, I clipped the flower to my wire necklace.  Then, I also wrapped an old bangle in a spare piece of denim(which I’m totally loving).  Close up.

Then I changed it up and clipped the flower to my shirt.

Then my hair. I eventually clipped it to the elastic band on my ponytail. Perfect for a playdate-and-clean-up kind of day.  (Sorry, no pic of that one. Hard to take a picture of the back of your head…)
 
But here is a close-up of my favorite button earrings, vintage Osh-Kosh-B-Gosh denim colored buttons. I made more and will definitely post these in my Etsy shop (eventually).
And just for fun, my favorite accessory, a perfectly polished polka-dotted pedicure. Try saying that 5 times fast! :)
So what do you think? Would you buy or even wear any of these accessories? (Sorry, my toes are not for sale.) If you’re interested in buying once I get my Etsy shop going, leave me a comment and I’ll let you know when I finally have items posted. Thanks everyone!