Apron String Symphony

I’m such a slacker, man. New post coming soon. Swear.

Just in case you’re not sick of hearing about all the crafts we’ve been doing lately, here’s another one. I read Hip Mountain Mama’s blog and had a childhood reminder: Apple stamping. Does anyone else remember doing this as a kid? You cut the apple open crosswise and the pattern the seeds make is a star. You then either dip the apple into paint or paint the apple and stamp it onto paper. Tons of fun.

We didn’t have any paper to be found, but I did scrounge up some of those sheets that are perforated to make post cards. They’re useful for all sorts of things, just pop ‘em in your printer…or let your kid stamp on them and then rip ‘em apart.

Once again, we just used some good ol’ fashioned acrylic paint and some apples, of course. We even used an apple that Adrien had eaten half of previously. Waste not, want not.

Anyway, it was tons of fun and a great way to pass time indoors — which we’ve had a lot of lately. Between the ensuing monsoon season and the threat of the swine flu, we’ve been keeping to home quite a bit. Crafts are awesome time fillers. And I’m betting nearly everyone with kids has apples laying around.

So here are some pics. Hope you enjoy! And go take a gander at Suzy’s craft page…and then stalk her blog some.



Okay. I’ll do a real post soon. Swear.

It’s October. And the weather here has been surprisingly, October-ish. Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year. The weather is cooler, but not yet freezing. You can go to pumpkin farms and you can eat soup without breaking a sweat. This year it’s been a little wetter than usual, so we’ve been trying to find indoor activities.

Since we’ve not yet made it to a pumpkin farm to pick our Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins, I picked up a bag of mini pumpkins at the store the other day. Adrien was quite excited, because every day we’d gone to the store previously he’d wanted to get a pumpkin. Very badly. So to get a whole bag of mini’s was just sublime.

We also picked up some Halloween cookies that day at the store.

What do you get when you take a rainy day and add a few mini pumpkins and paint, then top it off with freshly baked cookies? One happy preschooler…and some Fall decor, of course! This project only requires mini pumpkins (or gourds or whatever) and old fashioned acrylic craft paint…and loads of newspaper to put down.

I really love the outcome!

The best part of this whole thing is that 8 pumpkins came in the bag I bought. A 3 year old does not have the attention span to sit and paint 8 pumpkins at once (or at least mine doesn’t, and if you say yours does, I’ll have to ask what you’re drugging them with). So what that means is, you can drag this project out. Which is good, because it’s been raining like it’s monsoon season in south east Asia lately. Come to think of it, maybe we should be building an Ark instead of painting pumpkins…

This weekend was great! Saturday we went to the State Fair of Texas. We were there a few hours, and I think we must have walked around it a billion times. So much to see and so much to do. It’s a money-pit, but it only comes once a year and I think it’s worth it. The Fair here is sort of known for its obnoxious variety of fried foods…and this year, we’ve heard that fried butter was on the bill. I guess we skipped the over the top fried food section, because we didn’t see any of it. That was the only disappointment of the day. (And believe me, it’s not because we wanted to eat any of it! It’s just, you know, to say we went and saw.)

We did eat some fried food though. You can’t go to the State Fair of Texas without eating a Fletcher’s corny dog. Even Jude got in on the corny dog action. You know it’s a big deal if Jude eats it!

Something else that your visit to the Fair isn’t complete without? A ride on the Texas Star — a ginormous ferris wheel. I am absolutely petrified of heights, so I spent most of the time worrying and praying, but it was a decent time — as long as I was on my way down. Adrien really liked it, though. He’s been waiting to ride the ferris wheel for months now. You can see the giant wheel from the highway we drive on to take Andi to and from work. Here are a few pics from that whole experience:

The view from the top:

Adrien got to ride his first “roller coaster”:

And on the way out of the fair, Adrien experienced what could possibly have been the best thing ever: He got to drive Lightning McQueen (and it was FREE!). He definitely had the “run into something, reverse, forward again” thing down pat. This photo was one of the few times he was actually watching where he was going.

The whole day was so much fun! And so exhausting. Later on that evening we headed down to Tyler so that we could go to our previous church (where we’re still technically members) and spend Sunday celebrating Andi’s parents’ birthdays (his Mom and Dad were born within 11 days of each other. Or something like that.) We had ribs and all the fixins. I made banana pudding. Jude is finally getting to the age where he and his cousin can play together (Jackson is about a month and a half younger than Jude). It was so much fun!

But now I need a nap!

So, the moral of the story is: If you go the Texas State Fair, you must ride something big, eat something fried and get something for free (because you’ve already spent the rest of your money on the riding and eating).

I love my family.

Luckily enough for us, both my mother-in-law and my Mom have birthdays within a week of each other. Neither of them own any re-usable shopping bags, so we decided to make each of them a personalized one. I had dreams of putting “MeeMaw” on each bag (since that’s what the kids call them), but the iron-on letter kit I bought didn’t have enough e’s.

I think they turned out great! After taking these pictures, I added the kids’ names by each of their handprints and put the year in the lower left hand corner.

This project cost less than $10 (including both canvas bags, t-shirt paint and iron-on letters). I highly recommend keeping a box of baby wipes close by to immediately wipe paint-covered hands with. It was super easy and turned out great!

Enjoy!

Three words: So! Much! Fun!

Nashville was an amazing time with amazing friends (A BIG fat thanks to Nicole and Kristin!). I forgot what it was like to be surrounded by people who actually get you. I came back more exhausted than rested, but it was all worth it! The conference kept us busy pretty much the entire time, but I did get to go out and see some of Nashville Saturday night.

The whole conference was an amazing experience. The general sessions were all filled with wonderful music and great speakers. I attended a Plumb concert Friday night. The classes we got to choose to take were all full of absolutely superb information. The trip overall was a really lovely spiritual experience. All of my spiritual holes were filled and I’m here feeling refreshed! Which honestly, after the last while, I’m overdue for.

I left the whole thing feeling loved (by great friends and God), and also empowered as a mom and Child of God.

The resort the conference was held at was gorgeous (Gaylord Opryland), and I can’t wait to go back with my husband some day! It was wonderful to get away, but I’m happy to be back home. I was absolutely pooped upon return, and my wonderful husband let me take a nap and then woke me up with a dinner he’d cooked. Amazing friends and a great family: I couldn’t ask for more!

[Also, I really apologize as my auto-updater didn't work for my blog apparently. I had at least one post planned to go up automatically Friday and it didn't. So I'll save it for another day.]

We ventured back to the park today. It’s the second day of Fall and it actually feels like Fall. That’s tremendous for Texas. I’m sure that summer will be back next week, but for now we decided to take advantage of the cool weather.

Adrien was pretty pleased with a puddle he found to throw pebbles into, and Jude just enjoyed climbing on things. No pants-poop to report today.

I was relishing the long-sleeve weather.

I recently found out an old acquaintance from high school sent out invitations to her son’s first birthday party, upon which were listed a host of registry locations. That’s right. Registry locations. For birthday presents. In what society is that acceptable? I was only made aware of this because a friend of mine received said invitation and put up a little blurb on Facebook about it.

Registries are great tools…for things like weddings and babies. But birthdays? Come. On. Are we trying to be so in control of our lives that we can’t even leave our kids’ birthday gifts up to serendipity. Sure, there’ll be a few what was that person thinking gifts unwrapped. In my opinion, that’s just part of it — and why man invented the gift receipt.

So registries for birthdays — tacky or trusty? Most people I asked, had the same exactly response: That’s crazy! My personal advice if you receive an invitation with registry locations listed? Purchase a gift from a store not listed, and try to make it a toy not requested. But maybe that’s just me trying to get under people’s skin.

The friend who received the invitation to buy pre-picked gifts got this response on her Facebook post from one friend:

It’s tacky. and I mean, like waaaay tacky. It’s tasteless and shameful. It’s asking for gifts. Screw them. They don’t need gifts. I wouldn’t buy the kid a gift at all if I found out mommy registered for crap. Aww, sorry Timmy, you didn’t get any presents. Why not mom? Because I’m a shameless hussy and asked people to buy you stuff. You suck, Mom. I know.

A few weeks back I attended a birthday party for a friend’s child who was turning 3. Her invite requested that we all bring a pair of new shoes for a school-aged child to the party in lieu of a gift for her child.

A few months back, when I was looking for ideas and themes for Adrien’s birthday, I ran across more than one person who suggested this as an idea for a party. The whole thing didn’t sit well with me, not because I’m stingy or anything…but because I don’t think my child is quite old enough to grasp the whole thing. He’s only three, and I’m sorry — but charity just isn’t on his mind. In his mind, birthdays are about parties, friends, cake and presents. I can just imagine trying to explain to him that the boxes showing up at his party weren’t for him. In my opinion, charity has a time and a place; it’s wonderful to teach your child about philanthropy. But I’m choosing to do that on days other than his birthday…at least while he’s so young.

I think doing the donation bit is wonderful for older children. And it’s wonderful if you’re doing it for a cause you feel strongly about…but as far as the Mommy Circuit is concerned, I totally see it as another way of saying, Look at my child and our family. We are above asking for gifts at a birthday party. My child is mature. And honestly, I’m really not saying that everyone feels this way — I know my friend didn’t have the shoe donations for any of those reasons. I’m just sayin’. So before you get your big ol’ granny panties in some sort of knot, I ask for your understanding of the Mommy Circuit.

Fellow blogger, Sara from My Party of 5 put it best when she tweeted this: I would never register for bday presents. I love the charity idea but I don’t think kids can grasp the concept yet.

And then there are the parents who do the outlandishly extravagant parties for their kids. I’m guilty of going a little overboard with the details. (I mean, helllooo, nothing says happy birthday like 17 gumpaste fire trucks!) I remember talking about a fellow blogger (Angry Julie from Angry Julie Monday) who blogged about a tremendously expensive cake that was a party she attended for one of her child’s friends. Not to mention all of the celebrity tots we see making headlines with their birthday bashes, often costing upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Has our culture become so pretentious that all of these things override the simple childhood joy of a good ol’ fashioned birthday party? I sure hope not.

We had been at the park all of about 10 minutes today, when Adrien waddles up to me and confesses that he’d pooped in his pants. He hasn’t done that in a long time. And I can’t say I’d missed it. So we went back out to the car where I stripped him down in the back of my car and slapped a Jude-sized diaper on his bottom because — HEY — I pack a change of clothes for school, but not for every day life.

He whined the whole way home about wanting to stay at the park.

Me: “Sweetie, you can’t play at the park in just a diaper and a shirt. And you might be sick…”

Adrien: “No, I’M not sick, just my tummy is!”

Although I’d had all the plans in the world of getting cute pictures of both boys, I only scored these:

Home from MOPS. Had fun. Listened to a former area director speak about the 6 needs of moms. It was good. It was funny. Good food, good coffee. And now I’m home, with two sleeping children. Oh yes, the sound of silence…etched over by my click-clacking fingers.

Next Thursday — that’s less than a week away — I’m heading out to Nashville for MOPS convention. I’ll be hanging out with my Tyler, TX MOPS moms. I miss them. Should be great times! I just feel so guilty for leaving the kids here. I know I need the break and all, but you know. When I signed up to go, I thought for sure Jude would be weaned. Didn’t think I’d still be breastfeeding a 14 month old. I also didn’t think we’d be back in Dallas. I thought we’d be most of the way through with his feeding therapy by now…not in our old house with no insurance to pursue any sort of therapy, let alone check up.

So I just feel bad about leaving him. I know Adrien will be fine. But Jude? That’s a whole other issue. He still insists on nursing off and on all night. He’s still co-sleeping (adding to the night nursing issue), and he still isn’t eating wonderfully. Although his eating has improved, he has his on day and he has his off days. One day he could put down quite a bit of food, and the next day hardly a thing. So I feel bad for him, and I feel bad for my husband and mother-in-law who will undoubtedly suffer due to my lack of control over my child’s eating habits.

The night weaning has been partially just laziness on my part. I am not a pretty picture when I’ve not had enough sleep. And can you imagine 14 months of never sleeping through the night? That’s me, right here. It took Adrien a year to get the sleeping down and I though by now Jude would have had it. But no. That’s not the case. I’m sure the nursing is partially to blame, but I’ve tried to cut back and even when he doesn’t wake wanting to be fed, he still wakes — screaming. I just don’t know what it is. As far as children go, I just wasn’t blessed with sleepers. And so I’ll be off in Nashville, sleeping all night for the first time since, ever, and my poor husband and mother-in-law will be cursed with the sleepless monsters I’ve created and enabled. I feel like I should just lash myself or something. Because, you know, it’s all my fault.

I don’t really know what else to say on the matter. If I weren’t going, I’m not sure how much longer I’d continue to nurse him…and supply wiling, after I return, it’ll probably be right back to the same ole’ thing. Never saw myself as an extended breastfeeding type…but here I am. Let’s see how my boobs are doing after I get back from a weekend away…

I’m sure Jude will be in therapy for years later on in life because I cut him off suddenly, cold-turkey.