Worst Mom of the Year Award

Ever have one of those parenting moments that cause you to want to just melt into the floor? Well, I've been blessed to suffer two of those moments in the same evening!

Tonight we went to the Salvation Army's Citadel Brass Concert with Scott's family. From the few strains I caught, I believe the performance was lovely!

I should've realized the course the evening was going to take when we took our seats and three elderly ladies sitting in front of us loudly whispered, "We shouldn't sit here with all those children behind us!" as they got up and moved across the aisle... Anyway, before the concert started, a gentleman opened the night by asking everyone to turn off their cell phones and to take their children to the lobby if they got antsy, explaining to us that they record this service to send to missionaries around the world. Of course, about two songs into the event, Cassidy was beyond antsy and I dutifully took her and Selah out to the lobby as the man had requested. Now, it is extremely difficult to describe the seating in the lobby. Besides normal chairs, they had these humongous red velvet ottomans that were about 4 feet in diameter and stood off the floor about 3.5 feet. I couldn't tell if they were tables or seats since they were quite high! Anyways, I stuck Selah on top of one of those plush things with a few baby toys while Cassidy wandered around exploring the lobby under the watchful eye of about four ushers. I was standing right behind Selah, but turned when I noticed Cassidy was climbing to the top of the stairs heading to the upper theater seating. Suddenly, I heard a thump and looked down to see Selah lying on her back ON THE FLOOR. After a brief pause, she started screaming. I quickly scooped her up, trying to comfort this injured and traumatized child, feeling like the worst mother in the world as I could feel the stares of the ushers boring into my back! Thankfully, Cassidy returned to my side when she saw her sister's distress.

(This is the closest thing I can find to a picture of this ottoman thing on the internet, 

except the one Selah fell off was much taller!)

Picture Source

Selah only cried for about 3 minutes and seemed no worse for wear, I'm thankful to report. Praise God the lobby was carpeted! I still can't believe I let my baby fall 3.5 feet.... anyway, two ushers followed me into the ladies bathroom and asked, "How is that poor baby? I saw the whole thing!" (Yes, I'm sure you did.) After observing for themselves that Selah was settling down and looked okay, they left, only to return a few minutes later trying to persuade me to fill out an incident report. (Why? So I can sue you because of my own stupidity?) I assured them that she was fine and that no report was needed.

Eventually, we made our way back into the auditorium in hopes that Cassidy could sit through the last few songs. Scott worked with her since Selah fell asleep in my arms (saved by the baby!). After practically wrestling with Cassidy to sit still the entire time, she finally sat quietly as the band sang together a blessing to close the concert, listening listening to the beautiful harmony. The last note rang out and the lights grew brighter as the sound faded. I was thinking in my head how perfect the ending was.... when during that precise moment always at the end of a song, right before applause breaks out, when everything is so quiet you can hear a pin drop.... Cassidy loudly asks, "WE DONE?!"

Melting again!!!! I expected the heavy hand of an usher to press down on my shoulder, telling me to leave... that we had caused enough trouble! Thank goodness that didn't happen, and at least our family had a chuckle over the incident. Grrrr.... what a little booger! I guess that's what three days of no routine and little sleep will do to a three year old.... along with a naughty, naughty heart! Sigh.... What to do?

I apologize to any missionaries reading this that receive the recording of this concert.

It's all my fault.

Giving Thanks

On this day of giving thanks, my little family has traveled to Michigan to be with my husband's parents and sister's family, to share food, laughter, black friday ads, games, and lists of what we are thankful for.

The feast was unbeatable.

The fellowship divine.

Most cleared their plates in record fashion....

... in order to watch the Detroit Lions play football.

 Even though hopes were dashed as the Packers stole the victory,

at least the Lion's loss stayed true to tradition. There is something strangely comforting about tradition, right? Ok, maybe not.... but at least I was a winner no matter what! Since the Packers won, I'm happy 'cuz that's my team.... but if the Lions would've won, I'd be excited for my hubby! Win-Win! :)

Selah even got in on the leftover feast with her first tastes of homemade squash...

topped off with her favorite "carrot wheels" snacks.

And we finally got our first family snapshot taken since the birth of Selah.... sad considering she'll be 1/2 year old tomorrow!

Happy Thanksgiving, friends. We have so much to be thankful for..... for God's never-ending grace, the comfort of family, and the love of good friends.

What Was Lost, Has Been Found!

This is embarrassing, but I need to follow through on all the coffee drama. IT HAS BEEN FOUND!!!!! 

My sister watched the kids for me for a couple hours last night while I went to a work event, and while I was gone she made it her mission to find my coffee. She said she only looked for 5 minutes and found this:

taken with my sister's phone and texted to me!

How crazy is that?!! No, I don't normally keep my coffee next to my Pine Sol, on top of my garbage bags.

And the worst part? I can't even blame the kids because these doors have safety locks on them!

Oh dear....

What "Scott" Does NOT Mean in Spanish

First, a little background to our "funny" today. Yesterday was not so funny. I lost my coffee. It was an almost full bag of Berres Brothers (Turtle Sundae Blend!!!!). There is quite a lengthy and dramatic conversation on facebook I had with my friends yesterday, so I won't duplicate it here.... but the gist of it was that I was missing both my coffee and my filters, so I thought someone (Scott or one of my siblings) was pulling a prank on me. I searched with good humor, thinking it would show up any minute.... but after getting to 11 AM with no coffee to be found, I was thinking that NO ONE would really be that mean to me! I ended up going to good ole McD's for a large cup of Peppermint Mocha (yummy, by the way!), and after finding my filters in my pantry and hearing adamant assertions from my hubby  that he would NEVER touch my coffee, I decided I just was going crazy. Grrrr.... all kitchen cupboards and cabinets have been thoroughly searched, along with both the fridge and freezer. While I admit I do love my morning coffee (and I'm probably a little dependent on the caffeine), what was mostly driving me bonkers was that I knew it was somewhere in the house, and yet I couldn't find it.

How could a huge bag like this just go missing?????????

So, by the time Scott came home from school, I was really bummed because

I had wasted an entire morning looking for something that I never found, and then was so sleepy in the afternoon I ended up taking a 45 minute nap after I finished teaching piano lessons. I felt like my entire day had been wasted, and I was in no mood to cook dinner!

My wonderful hubby agreed to go to a Chinese buffet to try to end the day positively, and it was really nice to have an evening out with just our family. And to top it off, the girls behaved beautifully in the restaurant (amazing!!!!), and they ate fairly well... not quite $5.55 worth of food, but we won't be particular now... :)

Now to my story.... You've all seen Scott brand toilet paper and paper towels, right? If not, here is a picture for you:

During the meal, Brooklyn and Cassidy both needed to use the bathroom, and while washing their hands I noticed that the paper towel dispenser said "Scott" on it. Since that is my husband's name, and Brooklyn has been practicing writing the names of everyone in our family, I pointed it out to her. She slowly sounded out the letters, then looked at me  wide-eyed. "How come it says Daddy's name in the girl's bathroom?" she asked. 

And since she thinks that every language not English is Spanish from watching Dora, she then answered her own question with wonderful 4-year-old logic: "Maybe Scott means toilet paper in Spanish!"

Well, there you go, Babe! Now you know what your name means! :-)

Tutorial: Candy Corn Costume

As promised, here is a quick post showing how I made the candy corn costume for Selah (posted about here). It is super easy. If I can do it, anyone can! I made this into a sleeper sack since Selah is only 5 months old, but if you are making this for an older child, just hem the bottom instead of sewing it closed, and make it into a dress (probably a girl-only costume at that point, but as a sleeper sack, it could go for both genders, minus the bow for a boy perhaps).

On one of our "Friday Craft Dates," my sister Melissa and I just "winged" the costume, using the same basic steps that I had used to make  pillowcase dresses HERE.

1. Trace a sleeper sack that fits your child to make a pattern. Since there are three stripes of colors that will need to be connected, add 2 inches of length to cover all the seam allowances. Also, widen your sides out into an A-line shape to make the triangular look of candy corn.

 

2. Cut your pattern into three even pieces to divide your pattern for each color of the fleece. Then pin it to your fleece and cut out two pieces of each color (for the front and back). Sew the three stripes together.

3. Placing right sides together, sew the front to the back, down the two sides and across the bottom. Leave your arm holes and neckline open.

4. Next you will make a casing for the ribbon. Fold over the width of your ribbon, adding 1/2 an inch. I used really wide yellow polka dot ribbon I found at Wal-mart, so my casing was huge!

5. If you want to do what I did and only have a bow on one side, insert the ribbon in one side, pull it through using a large safety pin, then keep going through the back casing and out the other side. After guessing how much you need to tie a bow, cut off the remainder. To keep the neckline gathered scrunch the fleece in the middle of the casing, and sew the casing shut on all four sides. This will keep the ribbon from slipping. If you want, you can also continue sewing all around the arm hole. The fleece will not unravel, so you don't need to bother with folding the raw edge over.  The stitches will just make the arm holes look "finished."

That's it! The easiest costume E.V.E.R! It is super quick to make... probably took us about an hour (minus kid interruptions!). Selah was so eager to try it on, but we made her wait until we also made a pointy hat to match the top of the candy corn.

For this, we just traced one of her baby hats. We measured her head circumference to make sure it would fit.... but didn't consider the fact that fleece really stretches. We had to take it in twice before it didn't fall down over her eyes! Oops!

After sewing a decorative flower and button onto the hat, Selah was ready to model her first costume.

 Trick or Treat!

Trick or Treat!!!

Brooklyn highly anticipated Halloween this year. She told me, "Mom, Halloween is my most favorite day of fall!" When I asked her why, she replied, "Because we get to wear costumes and go to everyone's houses to show them what we look like!" Haha... that kid makes me laugh.... and she didn't even mention the candy!

Here are a few pictures from this year's Halloween adventures. On Saturday night, October 29th, the girls went trick or treating in my parents' neighborhood. It was cold, but they got a bunch of candy! Cassidy wanted to be done after about 3 houses.

Brooklyn was Rapunzel, Cassidy was Tigger, and Selah was dressed as candy corn :)

My sister Jackie asked me to help her make a Tinker Bell costume 4 hours before trick or treating started! Good thing I had a green tank she could borrow! She made a tutu out of green and white tulle and found green fairy wings at the Dollar Store. She froze that night even with my white sweatshirt and some shorts and tights underneath, but she looked really cute! Not bad for being thrown together at the last minute. :)

Sunday afternoon, a bunch of friends came over and we all went Trick or Treating up and down our street in Butler.

It was a good thing we had gone Trick or Treating the night before, because it started pouring rain after we had just gone down one street! It tugged at my heart strings when Brooklyn turned to me all sopping wet and said, "I just want to go home now!" Poor dear! And it was her favorite day of fall. :(

So we went home and the kids watched a movie, and then we went over to a friends' house for dinner and games. Even the rain couldn't spoil our fun!

While Cassidy's Tigger costume was already one we had in our dress-up chest, I ended up making the other two girls' costumes! It was kinda fun! I enjoyed doing it so much, I may make a few more costumes for the girls for Christmas.... they love dress-up!

My sister and I had a candy corn fetish this past fall (even the girls' birthday party ended up being candy corn themed!), so it just kinda popped in my head to make Selah a piece of candy corn. I'm going to try to post how I did it sometime this week in case anyone else would like to try this next year.

Brooklyn had never asked to be anything special for Halloween before, so when she asked me this year if she could be Rapunzel, immediately the wheels started turning. I've never spent more than $15 for a costume in the past, and the Rapunzel dress at Toys R' Us was priced at $40. Not happening!!! After snooping around the internet at various Rapunzel dresses for sale, I headed to JoAnns with a basic idea in mind. Happily, with coupons, my purchase came to around $15! Not too shabby! I loosely followed the tutorial from "Make it and Love it" for her Cinderella dress to get the measurements for Brooklyn's dress. I also used her idea for the bodice, since Rapunzel's looks very similar and I already had some shiny metallic ribbon in my stash. It turned out pretty good (don't look to closely at the uneven hem or funky sleeves... etc), BUT it took me about TEN.HOURS.TO.MAKE!!! If I had known that in the beginning, I might have thought twice! I don't think I'll be making any other princess dresses for quite some time! 

Brooklyn loved the end result, and after my hubby helped me make a gigantic braid of yarn, she didn't take off the head piece for the entire week before Halloween! It was even the hit of her birthday party -- She sat on her top bunk, dropped her hair over the edge, and her friends pretended to climb up her hair! Kinda crazy, but they had fun!

And the best part of the dress? It's perfect for twirling! :)

Makes the long hours and headache worth it! :-)

Let's hope the costume next year isn't so difficult... or that my sewing skills have grown immensely by then! lol

Happy 3rd Birthday, Cassidy!

Happy Birthday, Cassidy!

My spunky, happy-go-lucky middle child had her 3^rd birthday on October 1^st (and it seems like we’ve spent the entire last month celebrating it!).  Because all Cassidy said she wanted for her birthday was cake, we made her a skittle cake and brought it to Aunt Julie and Uncle Mike’s house on September 30^th when Scott’s parents were in town. Then Daddy made her pancakes for breakfast on her actual birthday (since we had a youth group activity that day and couldn’t really celebrate). She also had a cake at my parent’s house on Oct. 2^nd, and a birthday party with her little friends from church on the 22^nd. Crazy, crazy month! 

You’ve got to watch this video of us singing Happy Birthday to Cassidy at my parents’ house. It just perfectly describes her personality!!!  (Sorry I couldn't get the video to load on my page.... You'll have to click the link!)

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-397xhPjIuI

Even though it wore me out, I enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate this special and very unique life that God has entrusted to our family. Cassidy makes me laugh every single day. She has the funniest expressions and ideas, and she takes after her daddy with silly jokes! Cassie has a tender heart, wanting those around her to be happy. It drives me crazy how she will give up a toy or treat that she wants just to make Brooklyn smile…. And even though we are working on teaching Brooklyn to not take advantage of her loving little sis, it warms my heart to watch the generosity Cassidy displays.

She idolizes her big sister. It is sometimes hard to know what Cassie’s own interests are because she wants to do whatever Brooklyn is doing. Ever since she could focus her eyes as a newborn, she has kept her eyes on Brooklyn. She couldn’t wait to catch up to her! I love how they play together for hours, using their imagination to play “house” and dolls, pretend they are animals, or act out Blue’s Clue’s and Dora. They love to read books together and have long discussions about the pictures. I pray Brooklyn realizes the influence she has on Cassie, and that she is a good example for Cassie to follow.

Cassidy is good at puzzles and “seek and find” books. She amazes me with her observation skills! She also is my singer. She makes up songs for every occasion – even when she has a tummy-ache! (Picture her bouncing and singing while holding her stomach: “My tummy hurts, my tummy hurts!”) That girl cracks me up!

 

It’s amazing to me to realize the capacity of love I have for each of my children. I remember being pregnant with Cassidy, and wondering if I could ever love another child as much as I loved Brooklyn. Now I can’t imagine my life without any one of my three kids. They each have a special place in my heart that only they can fill. I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about, but until you have kids, it’s so hard to understand…. And even now hard to explain!

Love you so much, Cassie-girl. You are a burst of sunshine in our home, and we love you to the moon and back.

How to Detangle Doll Hair

For the last several months, my sister Melissa and I have been getting together most every Friday afternoon to work on crafty things while the children are napping. We've accomplished quite a few projects, including a ruffle shirt using this tutorial!

Isn't that cute? Too bad Melissa got to keep that one! :)

I’m going to try to post some of the projects we’ve accomplished on our "Friday Craft Dates" to keep track of what we’ve done, and to prove to my friends that I really do make a bunch of the stuff I “pin” on pinterest.com! :) But for now I’m just going to throw out there the weirdest project we’ve done to date: untangle doll hair! Yup. You read that right!

Meet Josiah:

SHE has been Brooklyn’s doll for over 2 years. Before you comment that Josiah is a boy name, I'll assure you that we are aware of that fact. Almost every person Josiah gets introduced to has tried to convince Brooklyn to call the doll “Josie.” But Brooklyn is adamant -- Her name is Josiah! (It helps that she has a good friend named Josiah, and a cousin Josiah… both boys, by the way!) Anyway, Josiah is a well-loved dolly, and over the years, her hair has become quite disheveled.

Melissa and I tried to find some help on the internet to fix her hair, but we couldn’t find much help. I had previously tried just brushing the tangles out of the doll’s hair, even using a hair detangler spray, but it just pulls the hair right out of the head. Not good! A friend had told us to try baby oil... she had heard somewhere that it worked. But we couldn't find any tutorials "out there," so we came up with our own method.

1. Undress the doll and wrap it in an old hand towel to protect the body.

Meet the master beautician!

2. Take your baby oil, and pour a decent amount onto the doll hair.

3. Massage the oil onto every strand of hair, and let it sit for about ten minutes.

4. Comb the oil through the hair. Try to brush from the ends to the top to avoid pulling the hair out of the scalp.

5. Take gentle shampoo (we used Johnson's Baby Shampoo), and lather it in the hair.

6. Carefully rinse the shampoo and oil out.

7. Brush the hair smooth. It should be pretty easy! Cover the doll body with a plastic bag to keep the water from dripping all over it.

8. From the brushing, some hair will be longer than others, so a slight trim may be necessary.

9. Dress the doll and surprise your little girl with a baby that looks good as new! 

BEFORE AND AFTER:

To be completely honest, after a week or two, Josiah's hair was again standing on end. HOWEVER, since the treatment, my daughter can easily brush through it with a comb, and it lays flat again. It isn't oily at all, but somehow the baby oil treatment continues keeps it from getting tangled and knotted up. 

I call this a success! Not our usual type of project, but a fun one none-the-less! And it sure made Brooklyn a happy little "mother." Hope it helps other moms of girls with crazy-haired dolls!