6am and a coffee IV

I forgot how much I hate waking up at 6 am. My daughter was always an early riser but in the last year, she would sleep until 7 or 8 am. I kinda got used to it..... But now I have another child and we are back to waking up at 6am. Now you may be saying, "duh, comes with the territory...." or "aren't you up in the middle of the night? Is that any better?" Yes. Yes it is... Here is why... If I get up at 3 am with my son I have a lot of hope that is usually fulfilled that I will get to go back to sleep. But the 6 am mark is often too close to wake up time and therefore, all hope of going back to sleep is lost. So you see, I don't like getting up at 6 am.

On another note, I have an idea for moms... What if coffee was given through an IV drip so that when you woke up at said 6 am, you wouldn't be so groggy? So you have to sleep with a needle in your arm... At least you wouldn't be a zombie.

Sewing- The toddler way

Earlier in the week, Lily used a needle and a piece of yarn to learn sew. At first, my mom had gotten plastic needlepoint canvas that unfortunately the holes were too small to pull the needle through. So, I decided that I would punch holes in a piece of paper and sew the piece of paper. I got this idea from Childhood 101. 

She successfully put the needle through the hole and pulled the needle taut. I hope to do this skill more often as it helps with her fine motor skills. She also really liked the hole punch... a little more than sewing actually!

Making Crayons out of crayons....

It is a super rainy Sunday today so Lily and I made crayons out of crayons. It was a quick project but one that was simple and elicited a lot of investigating on Lily's part. I got the idea from Designed With Purpose (a blog by a friend from high school). This was a great activity to do during a rainy day.

First, we took all of her old crayons and peeled off the paper. Lily attempted this but gave up after it took her forever to peel one wrapper off. So, I ended up peeling them. Then I put all of the old crayons in a plastic bag and gave Lily a mallet.

 I told her to whack away. She was a little light handed so I grabbed a rolling pin and joined in. 



 

Yes, she is a total ham.

Once the crayons were broken apart we dispersed them into the silicone molds. (hearts, bunnies and gingerbread men) Then they went in the oven for about 10 min on 170 degrees but you could probably do 225 degrees for 5 min.

Be sure to keep an eye on it, you want the wax melted but not bubbling or burning. Then pull them out and put them in the refrigerator or freezer to cool. 

 Once they are cool, pop them out and enjoy! All of them came out smoothly except the gingerbread men. (but honestly I have baked in those gingerbread men molds and they haven't come out smoothly either.) You can also use muffin tins with muffin liners.

This is Lily organizing her new crayons.... because that is what she does. Organizes. Everything.

Growing

My son is only 3 1/2 months old. He is going through yet another growth spurt. He is already outgrowing 6 month clothes. By this rate, he'll be wearing my husbands' clothes by his first birthday! Which leads me to a question: My husband eats all day everyday.... (he has a super fast metabolism), how am I going to feed both of them without a) going broke and b) Lily and I not starving from the lack of food in the house because the boys eat it before we get a chance to?  On another note, I think I may buy stock in potato chips since my husband goes through those more than he drinks water.

On another note, my daughter is a very picky eater. But I have discovered that she is on a "shapes" kick. So all of her food is being cut into shapes. Her pita bread with hummus was cut into a train today and her cheese is cut into squares, triangles and hearts. Now if only I could make our dinner into shapes....

swagger wagon

Note:
Pictures will come as I get to them.... sorry for the inconvenience.. I'm doing what I can:)


Well, we are now the proud owners of a Toyota Sienna XLE minivan. I am estatic..... my favorite part? The working key fob. For those of you who don't know, Jan and I have been trying to go for a minivan for the past couple of months. We used to (it feels nice to say that) have a Jeep Grand Cherokee. With both car seats in the back, Jan could no longer fit in the front (he is 6' 2") No really, he turned the car off with his knee while driving on the highway.  I was pushing for a minivan for the convenience sake and Jan eventually agreed and so we embarked on the car hunt.

Now, if anyone knows my husband, you know that him actually purchasing said minivan within 2 months of the decision that we need one is near implausible. To say my husband is analytical would be an understatement. And so, armed with a thick folder and many financing scenarios, we went to the car dealership. Now I honestly did not think we were going to purchase on Sunday. This is my husband after all. It took over a year for him to purchase his current car.  So, I was pleasantly surprised to be able to say buh bye to my jeep.

This weeekend, Lily went to craft class and we did not have a meltdown! She made a crown, mask and necklace.
This morning we attempted to sew. I got quickly creative when the needlepoint canvas' holes were too small for the needle.
She kinda got the idea but liked using the hole punch instead.

What am I reading? I'm reading Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery on my iPad. And Room by Emma Donohue in hardcover. I'm in the beginning of both.... so no comments yet.

sickies

In my house, my daughter, son and I have been sick for some time now with wicked colds.. so we have been hunkering down inside. It's finally starting to warm up again so I am hoping ot get outside with the kiddos soon.

Trying to find ways to pass the time with a toddler and baby has been hard and some days I'm just not motivated to do it.

Yesterday, we had a very eventful day. My daughter attempted potty training : FAIL, but that's ok we will try again. I made chili in the crock pot, and Lily and I did a science experiment with baking soda and vinegar. The problem is, it lasted only a couple of minutes because you can't really have a conversation about the scientific process with a two year old. Sigh. We also made carrot snack sticks and Lily paticipated in the cooking a little more than usual.

I decided that today I would make carrot ginger soup in the crock pot and use my new immersion blender to puree it.. so that is the activity for me later today. Lily is wearing her Christmas dress and pretending to be Princess Lily. She is really cute! 

Ok, here's the question for today.... Does anyone have a husband with the metabolism of a 14 year old boy? I made Chili last night in a 5 1/2 qt crockpot, my husband had 4 servings over rice. 4 SERVINGS! I had one... we did have some left over but there should have been more, right? Oh and then he ate 1/2 a bag of chips when he got back from the gym. I am trying to save us money,  but it's difficult when my hubbie eats so much... and on a side note has to TRY to gain weight- argh.  Any ideas of ways to fill him up without going broke?

I love you honey!

Start again....

I have been thinking of relaunching a new blog and starting all over, but I kinda like the name of this one, so I'm just going to restart this one...
Since my last post, I have had a second child, a son, who is now 3 1/2 months old. I also have a daughter who is almost 2 1/2 years old. My goal was to have the blog looking beautiful before relaunching it. But let's be honest. I have two kids and the computer with the fun images is downstairs. And every time I try to get on it in the presence of my daughter, she takes over. So, I'll try to get images and pretty stuff up soon. In the meantime you will have to read my words alone.

So what is this blog going to be about? Well, everything. The beauty is I can write about what I want to write about when I want to write about it. If it interests you, great. If not... that's ok too.

I hope to post book reviews (children's and adult books) recipes,money saving ideas,  fun links, interesting stories, accomplishments and failures, goals and dreams and whatever else drifts into my brain. 

I hope you enjoy it.. if there is something you want me to write about, let me know...