Glove Animals

I was at the dollar store the other day when I found these really soft chenille-like gloves. I immediately thought of this idea I had seen several months ago.




I made a puppy for Rylee--it turned out pretty funny looking, but she loves the thing! Drags it around everywhere with her. Kids are so easy to please! The "collar" is a "Girl Power" bracelet Jason brought home from a lady he works with.

Homemade Baby Wipes

OK, I know my babies are 6, 6 and 3, but I have been intrigued by homemade baby wipes for months now, and I finally decided to make some.

There are tons of recipes online, each a little different. Here is the one I used:

• 2 TBSP Baby Wash
• 1 TBSP Calendula extract
  
• 2 Drops Tea Tree Oil
• 2 Cups Water

I went with this recipe because of the tea tree oil (for cleansing) and the calendula extract (for soothing). Rylee had 2 UTI's in 2 months this summer and often has an irritated little bottom ever since she has started insisting on wiping herself, so I thought this might really help her if she uses them when she goes potty. This recipe was a bit pricey because of the oils, but they will go a long way.

Along with varying recipes, there were also varying methods of making the wipes. What I ended up doing was mixing the above ingredients in a jar. Then I took several paper towels, as many as would fit in my wipes container (one of those small Huggies ones) and folded them to fit. Then I poured the solution over the wipes and let sit. After awhile I went back and squeezed out much of the excess back into the jar. I had read about wipes going musty if you made too big of a batch, so I figured this was a good way to start.


I ended up only using a fraction of the solution which I stuck in the fridge. Then when I run out of wipes, I just have to fold up a few more paper towels and the solution is already made up. Not sure how long it will keep--I'll let you know.


And of course, I saw this as a perfect opportunity to get out my hot glue gun! I saw similar wipes containers being sold on e-bay for $30!!! I made mine out of a scrap of fabric I'd used on another project, and leftover bits of ribbon from hair bow making. I think it turned out pretty cute!

PJ Bags

We have a problem at my house--laundry. I see it as being a two-fold problem:

1) I am not very good at keeping up with the laundry. I am good at washing and drying it, but folding, hanging and putting away are another story. It gets so bad that there are times when you can hardly walk down our hallway for the piles of laundry that have accumulated. All clean mind you. Honestly, I would rather clean a toilet than fold laundry. (I used to think I was the only sick person out there, but then my friend Kathie shared that she too has the same aversion. We are starting a group called LHA--Laundry Haters Anonymous. Anyone else care to join? I digress.)

2) My kids change clothes an excessive number of times in any given day. Whatever happened to kids wanting to wear the same clothes for a week straight?!

One of the biggest problems it that of pajamas. My boys think that every night warrants a new pair of pajamas. Even though they shower before bed and have finally mastered eating breakfast without getting it on them. But it's not enough to just get a new pair of pajamas. Somehow the old pair wind up in odd places: under their bed, in the toy box, on the bathroom floor, under their sheets. . .anywhere but in the hamper. It had gotten so bad that there were times I would go to change their sheets and find 3 or 4 pairs of pajamas stuck between the bed and the wall.

I finally decided that I'd had enough and decided to try to do something about it. I made these simple little bags for the boys (Dallas Cowboys fabric of course). Every morning when they get dressed, they put their PJ's in the bag so that 1) they don't go missing and 2) unnecessary laundry is not created and 3) they can find them when it's time for bed again. Then every few days we swap out pajamas. So far it's working pretty well! Now if I can just get them to stop changing clothes!!!

More Bows and a Budding Crafter

I found these cute little pom-poms and had to do something with them, and of course my ribbon obsession continues.

While making more hair goodies for Rylee (like she needs any more) she sat on the counter with me and wanted to "make a project" too. So I spread out an assortment of supplies and this little bracelet is what she came up with.

My little budding crafter! Of course, she didn't actually do any of the work--she just instructed me on exactly what she wanted me to do. The little princess is good at giving orders.

Rainy Day Fun

Our Monsoon rains have returned which means the kids were cooped up in the house for awhile today. This was my solution. I saw directions on THIS site and figured we'd try it. Only instead of newspaper, I used my husbands' old ESPN magazines--2 birds with one stone! The kids loved it and wanted to make one for each of them, but I ran out of staples after the first one--maybe tomorrow. But at least it kept them occupied for awhile.

Tooth Bears

My boys are both 6 which means they are starting to get loose teeth. In fact, Weston lost his first tooth today. Growing up we had tooth bears shaped like Care Bears with a little pocket in front to put the teeth in so they wouldn't get lost under our pillows while we waited for the Tooth Fairy to come. I think my mom made them for us. My boys are crazy sleepers, so I decided this was probably a good idea for them too. Here is what I came up with. Super easy and simple made out of a few sheets of craft felt and a little fiber-fill. My niece is staying with us and made the little tooth cut-out on the front of the pockets. Thanks Elizabeth!

Paper Dolls

My grandma was watching Rylee for me the other day, and asked if she had any paper dolls. I said no, and then the wheels in my brain started turning. I found THIS site and printed a bunch of stuff out. I knew she would play pretty rough with them, so I decided to alter the idea of the original paper doll and forgo the little flaps. I cut out the pieces, laminated them, and added sticky Velcro to the dolls and clothes. She loves them and the boys do too!

Then came the dilemma of where are we going to keep them so nothing gets lost. I originally had high hopes that we could keep the clothes separated by theme, but it is hard enough to get a 3-year-old to clean up , much less actually sort the items first. So I got this idea from my Aunt Kapi.

I used my big laundry basket as a template and cut out 2 pieces of fabric in the shape of a circle. Sew them right sides together, leaving enough room to turn inside-out. Then stitch around the perimeter leaving enough width for the ribbon. Thread the ribbon through leaving 2 places where it is exposed as handles.


Now when it is time to clean up, she just has to pile everything in the center and pull the 2 ribbons. It couldn't be easier!

Chore Chart

I think we have had a break-through! Rylee, my 3-year-old, has had a problem for a long time with sleeping in her own bed. She absolutely refuses to fall asleep in it, and though she will sometimes stay all night in it once I move her, she often makes several trips back and forth making for restless nights for both of us. I have spent months trying to get to the root of it all, and finally concluded that she has just made up her stubborn little mind that she will not sleep in her bed and that's that. Being the terrible mom I am, I have given in, not wanting a screaming tantrum at 11:00 at night. BUT. . .she has been wanting to do a sticker chore chart like her brothers. So last night I thought, sure, let's try. I told her that if she went to sleep in her bed and stayed there all night, I would make her a sticker chart in the morning. And every night she sleeps in her bed, she will earn another sticker. It actually worked!! She crawled right into bed and stayed there all night. So true to my word, we made a sticker chart today. She picked the pictures and the paper and even helped me "goo" it and laminate it--notice the wrinkles? But she doesn't care. (I love her little belly sticking out.) And she has already decided that when her chart is full, she wants a new bear. Whatever works!

Birthday!!

My baby girl turned 3!! I can hardly believe it. We kept it simple with a family party (and a few close friends!)

Rylee can be such a girly-girl and LOVES anything pink. So pink and crystal was the theme. Pink cake, pink plates, pink tablecloth, pink utensils, pink flower petals and pink punch. She was tickled pink!



Tulips in January--aren't they pretty?!
She could hardly wait to blow out the candle.
She wanted a princess cake and, of course, Belle is her favorite. I think it turned out pretty cute! The little hearts around the bas of the cake were made from whit chocolate chips. I melted them down, added food coloring, poured them into those silicone ice cube trays in the shape of a heart and let them cool. My crazy idea worked!! I love it when that happens. :)

Football Birthday

On Saturday we had the boys' birthday party. All year they have been saying they wanted a football party--I really meant it when I say they are totally obsessed! Even my sports-crazed husband says he thinks it's remarkable how into it they are at such a young age. We were driving home from my parent's house last night and they asked if there were any football games on the radio. Seriously! It's hard enough for me to watch a game, and here they were asking to listen to one! Crazy boys.

Anyway. Back to the party. I started out by sending out these invitations:

When I asked them what they wanted to do at their party, they said they wanted to go to the park and play football with their friends. Easy enough! But not with last week's snow storms and the freezing temperatures. So I had to get creative.

We started out by eating food that you eat at a football game, or as the boys said, "Dome food", so-called after the big dome NAU plays in. We had hot dogs, popcorn, pretzels, nachos and soda--all very healthy. It was a huge hit!









The boys said they wanted to buy football jerseys for all the kids at their party, but after we explained how expensive that would be, we opted for making our own t-shirts. They were really easy and turned out pretty cute--football players for the boys and cheerleaders for the girls. It was a packet I got at Wal-Mart where you can print right off the computer onto these iron-on papers. Then the kids colored them with markers and crayons, you remove the backing, and iron on to a shirt. The instructions say you can wash them--we'll soon find out!

Next we played some games:
**Musical footballs: I cut a bunch of footballs out of foam sheets and hid them around the room. After a game of "find a football", we then played a variation of musical chairs with them.
**Hot football: Hot potato only with a football. I had no idea they would like this so much!
**Dizzy Kicker: Jason was the target. I would spin a kid around until he/she was dizzy, then they had to try to kick a balloon and try to hit Jason. The kids thought this was hilarious!

All the games were a big hit. Our house was sooo loud! But it was a lot of fun. And with the exception of one little boy who kept trying to cheat, all the kids got along really well. The winners of the games received a "Superbowl" trophy with gum inside.

Then on to cake and ice cream. I miscalculated and the cake only went up to the 40 yard line. Even I know that there should be 50. The boys were so excited about the football action figures that they didn't even notice. If they had, however, we had a backup plan--when Jason was in High School, he played 8-man football on an 80 yard field. So if they had noticed, we would have told them that we did it on purpose. The scale of the players is way off, but oh well. They didn't care.















Instead of goody bags, Jason had the idea to put all the loot in Gatorade bottles. What a creative husband I have! I found Strawberry Shortcake cantines for the girls. The kids seemed to really like them. Especially when they found out there was candy inside. We also included gum in plastic football containers, gold medals, candy watches etc.




I bought these little foam footballs and it was my plan to have each of the kids sign the ball, but I totally forgot! So I just wrote their names on them so they can remember everyone who came to their party.

On their real birthday, we had a family party with aunts, and uncles, cousins, grandmas and grandpas. And of course, another cake.

Football Cake #2