Sewing Sunday

This is what inspired Sewing Sunday.  It is a Let’s Play Mail Wool/Rayon felt mailbox by Giggle.  I already made our daughter some felt mail for Christmas, and there was no way I was paying $50 for the mailbox.  I thought there was a chance that I could make something similar, and with a little thought, I did!  Yay!  I’m pretty impressed with the results.  There are a few things I would change, but overall, not bad for putting it together with just an image in mind.  I’m actually a little more creative then I give myself credit for (at least that is my feeling now).

I’m not too thrilled with the front door, but overall…a great victory for me!

Sorry for the poor photos!  My lighting is bad and I was trying to squeeze in a shot or two before the little one saw it.  Nothing like making Christmas gifts for her right in front of her.

Holistic Moms

I attended my first Holistic Moms meeting last night.  It was so very awesome!!  I felt so inspired and energized when I left (and, really within the first 2 minutes of being there)!  Finally, a group of moms that eyes don’t glaze over when you talk about nutrition, chemicals, breastfeeding, natural cleaners, not vaccinating, herbal remedies, etc.  I was totally in heaven!

These ladies set up a ‘Lacation Station’ at a recent Fall Fest, and received overwhelming support and rave reviews for it.  I would love to be a part of the next one and to help in any way I can to empower women.

Thanks to my super fantastic friend, Emily, for inviting me along.  Her mom is actually one of the co-leaders and a ‘retired’ midwife from the same team of midwives we used for our daughter’s birth and will use for this little ones birth. 

It is so moving to get a group of women together that share the same concerns and to be able to have sharing conversations with each other in a non-judgemental way.  I’m so looking forward to next month.

We meet once a month, with a different topic each month.  There is also a  play group too.  Yay, no more worrying about donut holes and other random food being served.  It is empowering to decline that stuff, but also a little awkward.  Empowering because I know I am making the right move for our daughter’s health, but awkward because I don’t want them to be offended. 

It is definitely a tough road to be an advocate for your children, and not one that is paved either.  It seems informed moms are having to pave the way themselves, and it can be a bumpy ride.  I actually had someone tell me today that they thought I was ’silly’ researching all this stuff, but now, she is realizing that there is a lot of nasty stuff out there and wants information.  She thought I would be offended…not in the least.  I’m actually extremely honored and humbled when others ask for advice and direction.  I figure why should they have to reinvent the wheel, if I already have some starting points for them.  I definitely don’t know everything though, so I try to encourage some research on their own as well.

It is hard to swallow what you may or may have been exposing your children to unknowingly.  I think it would be harder to swallow knowing the information I know and still choosing not to make informed decisions.  I am more than happy to help anyone at any time find the information and answers they are looking for.  I know I have a support system that would do the same for me.

Well, this mama had better take my own advice and take care of myself…time for a little R & R.  I’ll leave you with this though…if you have a Holistic Moms Chapter in your area, check it out and see if you’d like to become a member.  You have nothing to lose and so much to gain!

Kid Safe Chemicals Act 10 Americans

With this little one growing in my belly, I can’t help but post this video.  Please take the 20 minutes to view the video.  I guarantee, unless you are made of steel, that you may cry, become really pissed, or may even get scared.  I did all, but knowledge is power.  Inform yourself and take action.

A Little Oompa Love

I love, love, love Oompa!!  I love their products!  I love that there are two local stores!  I love that they play with our daughter when we go shop there!  I love that they don’t mind the mess we make either (we do clean up what we can).  I love their customer service and smiling faces when we walk through the doors!

We recently purchased this made by HABA.

It is a Christmas gift for our daughter.  I have been unpacking everything before wrapping.  I want to check out the quality of the toys (less surprises later) and also make sure no pieces are missing or broken.  Plus, less after Christmas recycling. 

Well, I unpacked this toy one morning last week and was removing all the packaging, or what I thought was packaging (Note:  HABA is a Germany based company.  Most of the box is written in German and it came with no instructions.).  If you lift the lid where the buttons sit, there is a piece of foam underneath the buttons…packaging, or so I thought.  Once I removed it, I realized that it was not part of the packaging, but a very important part of the toy.  Once removed, it is virtually impossible to get back in place and the buttons are not functional once removed.  I was instantly sick to my stomach.  You see, this is a $40 toy.  Something I debated about getting our daughter because of the cost.  (Another side note:  I actually had a 10% off coupon I used and if you spent $50, you received a $10 gift card, so really I paid $26ish for it).  I called Oompa and the customer service rep told me I’d have to speak to a manager on Sunday.  I hauled my unhappy hinny into the store yesterday, only to be told that she could email the company and hopefully get a replacement part for me, but that she couldn’t refund my money.  I left her my information and left feeling a little defeated, but hopeful.  Well, I got a phone call from the Oompa manager before 11:00 a.m. today.  She had wonderful news:  HABA is going to send me a brand new register and a mailing labeling to mail back the non-working register!  Yay!!!  Thank goodness for great service!

Okay, so it was probably my fault, but again, the foam did look like packaging.  I will know this time and not remove it!  I think I may try to figure out something too so that our daughter doesn’t remove it while exploring and playing with the toy as the foam is exposed to little fingers.

I’m so grateful for the great service!  It is one of the stores I have fallen in love with and would be disappointed if I was left with a toy that didn’t work.  I will definitely continue to recommend the store to others and tell them about my experience and how it was resolved. 

Any stores you love? 

 

Scenes From Today

Today for me was, well, a bummer.  Overall though, looking back at some scenes from today, I need to remember what is important and what is not.  Our little girl definitely brightened my day!

Here are some scenes from our day together…

I heard this tractor pulling around this very squeaky wagon most of the day.  Her little cars fit in it so nicely!

This little bear (a Maple Town bear of mine from childhood) all tucked in!  So cute!

Her new HABA butter and wooden toast were definitely a favorite today!  I reorganized her wooden food and she really paid attention to a lot of the food items she had abandoned for so long.  We had lots of fun playing grocery store today and eating buttered bread.

‘Snoopy’ came along on our shopping adventures today.  She named him after her best friend Katie’s cat (Katie has a dog too, Sydney…somehow Sydney did not make the cut for naming her dog).

Our turkey.  He is a part of our everyday routine now.  Everyday our daughter picks a feather and adds it to the turkey.  We will do this until Thanksgiving, then we will start our Christmas decorating and countdown.  Yay!

Word Art

I plan to sew this on Sunday morning…

It will hang in our daughter’s room.  I used a thrifted pillowcase and just folded the raw end over.  I’ll sew it shut along with attaching the ribbon on Sunday.  The letters are ironed on and at this point, I’m choosing not to bother sewing them.  It really did not turn out how I thought it would / planned it to.  It was originally going to be framed, but that idea got tossed out when I couldn’t fit the fabric into the frame.  At least I can return the frame.  Not really loving the blue and brown letters either, but it is what it is.

Loving Right Now

This shelf…

My brother-in-law custom-made it for our daughter’s room.  I designed it and am so glad my measurements were spot on.  Yay!  I polished it with Three Beeautiful Bees Beeswax Polish.  It only took about 25 minutes to polish too.  Another Yay!!  The top shelf is for books, but it is still a little high for her with her stool, so for the next few months we will leave them where they are.  When this little one comes though, she will have to adjust to the books being up higher (she’s pretty resourceful) because we will need the space.  Love this!  Now, where to put all her Christmas gifts??

This pizza…

I bought this the other day with some of my birthday money from my in-laws.  I have been wanting this for our daughter for a little while now and she absolutely loves it!!  She plays with it frequently and ‘roasts’ pizza for us a lot.  She will not give you just plain cheese pizza though…you need the toppings she will tell you.

Green & Blacks Organic Dark Chocolate…

Yum!!!!!

What have you been enjoying lately?

 

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Cookie Monster’s Birthday

Today is Cookie Monster’s birthday.  We are celebrating here.  We made No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies.  I actually tweaked the recipe a little this time and added 3 1/2 cups of oatmeal instead of the 3 cups the recipe calls for.  I also chill mine for a little bit.  They are yummy!  Our daughter really wanted to make a cake, but I figured one cake this week will be plenty (my birthday is later in the week).

We have also been singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Cookie Monster.  Something fun for Monday I guess.

Sewing Saturday and Sunday!!!

Hi there!  Hope you all had a good weekend!  I really enjoyed myself this weekend!  I spent a lot of quality time with my husband and daughter.  We carved our daughter’s pumpkin on Friday night.  Saturday we trick-or-treated the grandparents and attended a graduation / Halloween party at my mom’s.  No door to door for us though.  Our daughter fell asleep a few minutes before we arrived home and was cranky when we woke her for supper, so we didn’t even make it to our neighbor’s houses.  Oh well, I guess she is only two and there is next year to look forward to trick-or-treating.  Sunday brought a trip into town for me, some daddy and daughter time and lots of afternoon fun!  I bought our daughter this pizza and she played with it pretty much continually ever since.  I also bought our baby two Sandra Boynton books.  Fun!

Saturday after all the festivities, my husband and I were both TIRED, but somehow had a big burst of energy after our daughter went to bed.  I decided to sew.  I got all of my machine sewing done and finished the hand-sewing on Sunday afternoon.  Here is what I made…

More Klean Kanteen Cozies and 4 newborn knot hats

The knot hats were made out of some old shirts of mine…repurposing.   Yay!  They were pretty simple.  Just hope they actually fit the little swimming in my belly.

A snake…that doesn’t really look like a snake, but we’ll go with it.  It was made out of an old shirt sleeve.  I say, it just ate a rat and that is why it is the funny shape.  My husband kept making fun of it…I’m sure you can see why. 

I also attached a ribbon to this pink bag and made two bags out of my old halter tops for our daughter to lug stuff around in.

  

I’m not sure what next week will bring.  I’ve been wanting to make some framed fabric word art for our daughter’s room, but yet to find the right fabric or the frame for the project.  Oh well, at least I have the font of the letters picked out and printed (that was a job in itself).

Any sewing your way?

Traditions

I am really getting more and more into traditions.  I had some growing up, but it was more of where we would go when and not so much what we would do.  For example, it was always a given on Christmas Day that we would go to my Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  I like the idea of knowing where we are going on what day, but I also really like the idea of having fun things to do at home that are a given.  I want my children to grow up remembering these traditions and to want to come home to mom and dad (even when they are older and we are no longer super).  I want to be able to reminisce with them and form lots of special memories.  I really think this helps us all bond too.  As our children get older, we are open to their ideas too!

Here are a few traditions we have already started here:

*  Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas countdowns.  These are really simple!  For Halloween and Christmas it is a long paper chain (black and orange / red and green) to a pumpkin or Christmas tree.  Each day we take off a chain link and count the number of days until the upcoming holiday.  This has also been a good way to get some more practice counting.  For Thanksgiving, I just made a turkey body out of a paper grocery bag and crafted some paper turkey feathers.  Each day we take off a turkey feather and count again.

*  Birthday (for our daughter only, not for us, although a tradition for us is in the works…)  She gets to wear her birthday crown, have whatever she wants to eat (including if she wants birthday cake and ice cream for breakfast), open presents, wears a sewn by mama birthday shirt and do whatever fun activity she would like to do for the day (the last two years we have just picked the zoo for her, but this coming birthday she will pick).  We also hang a mama sewn fabric birthday banner.  We also make sugar cookies cut out into the year (for example, last year was 2 and this year is going to be 3).  (Thanks to my sister for this cute little tradition!)  My husband even got ‘30′ cookies last year!

*Christmas:  We always go to my mom’s on Christmas Eve to eat and open presents.  First thing in the morning we open our stockings, eat breakfast and open presents.  Then, late morning my husband’s side of the family comes over.  We watch the Christmas Story (typically while our daughter has napped as it is on over and over again for 24 hours on TBS I think).  We play cards, open presents, eat lunch and supper, and just enjoy each others company.

*  Christmas tree:  Last year was the first year we ditched our artificial tree for a ‘real’ tree.  I’m so glad we did.  We just went and picked one off the lot.  We will definitely get another ‘real’ tree, but I’m not sure if we will just get one off the lot or cut one down…to be decided.

* Easter:  I cut out paper bunnies and our daughter searches the house for them.  She loves this!  Each year it will get more challenging and fun (for her and us).  She finds her Easter basket and also some mama sewn fabric eggs.  We then head over to my sister-in-law and brother-in-laws house for an Easter lunch and egg hunt.  We had been going to my side of the family for Easter for as long as I can remember, but I have to say we really enjoyed ourselves so much last year that we will now start going to my husband’s side.  (My side has so many gatherings that it is nice for a change of pace.  Plus, it makes my husband happy.  I think he has always felt like his family gets left out of the holidays and I don’t want him to feel like that.)  Leading up to Easter, we also dye Easter eggs.  Last year I made the egg dye and it turned out really good (cheaper too).

*  Valentines Day:  I really want to keep this about love and friends.  Not so much about romantic love, but about loving and being thankful for all the love and support in your life.  We have a special Valentines Day dinner and our daughter gets a few special things (I think last year she got a book or two and some small treats).  My husband and I might exchange a small gift like chocolate or his favorite beer, but no big bouquets of flowers or romantic dinners here.  I also make Valentines Day cookies in the shape of a heart.  Our daughter will be more involved in this process this year.  I also cut out paper hearts for our daughter to find, just like we do at Easter.

*  Oktoberfest:  We just started celebrating the last day of Oktoberfest this year.  My husband is half German and I really want to bring some cultural awareness into our lives.  We just celebrated this year with Oktoberfest beer (for my husband) and a German dinner.  There are some activities that we may try in the future, but this year was just the start.

*  Footprint and Handprint Christmas Ornament:  The daycare our daughter attended her first year made us this cute little fabric ornament using our daughter’s hand and footprints.  I am continuing that.  I have the 2007 one (from daycare) and I made a 2008 one.  I will make the 2009 one sometime in mid-December.  I’m not sure if we will hang these on the tree or if we will do some kind of display.  We will see.

What we want to start implementing:

*  St. Nick’s Day:  I really loved this thought and think it is something easy and fun to implement.  We will leave a pair of shoes out on the night of December 5th and see what St. Nick brings us in the morning.  This is yet another way to celebrate our German (not mine) heritage.

*  Cookies for Santa:  We will be leaving Santa cookies this year too and a glass of milk of course.  Not sure if we will pick a cookie that Santa will have every year or if it will vary…we will see.

*  Advent Calendar:  I found a tutorial last year on a cute little felt advent calendar and sewed it back in September or so.  I have all the presents wrapped and ready to go for this.  Super excited to start this tradition.

*  Thanksgiving ‘What I Am Thankful For Tree’:  We are going to get a medium-sized branch and I’ll cut out construction paper leaves and we will all write down things we are thankful for during the month of November.  Hopefully, we will have a full tree by Thanksgiving.

*  Birthdays:  We will expand the birthday celebrations to my husband and I.  We will get to pick what we want to eat that day (since my birthday is in a week, I plan to pick orange juice, french toast, coq au vin, chocolate cake and ice cream…two flavors) and some place we would like to go.  This year I’m picking the zoo, because they have a free family day and honestly, it is the only way I’m getting my husband to go for a 2 plus hour drive to a zoo that will be crowded.  We will also start watching home movies this year. 

*  Kids Day:  My husband had this tradition growing up.  Somehow he and his two siblings conned their parents into having a Kids Day, because of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.  Kid’s Day was always right before they went back to school in the Fall.  They each got a gift and did something special.  This sounds like fun to me.  I love giving gifts and having something fun to look forward too.  I’m sure we will keep it semi simple.  It would be really great if I could make a special breakfast, lunch and dinner for each of them (or maybe just a special dinner).  I would definitely be a short order cook that day, but with a little planning, I’m sure it would all work out.

*  Giving to needy families.  We would like to start some kind of tradition to give to others.  I’m not sure what this will look like yet.  It could be a toy for Toys for Tots or a blanket for Project Linus or even volunteering somewhere.  We will see, but something I definitely want to instill in my children.

What are some of your traditions?????