Crayon Totes

I made these for my nieces!

Holds a full-sized coloring book along with whatever else (stickers, notepad,whatever), plus crayons, pencils, markers, etc. in the front.

I've actually made more than just these, in different fabrics and colors, but these are the ones I actually remembered to take pictures of. Crayon totes are, to me, such a perfect gift because they are completely functional and fun. Milo and Lucy each have one that we keep in the car, so they always have entertainment that we can take on long trips or into places I need to keep them busy.

Anyway, here is the link to the tutorial. (http://melaniekham.com/how-to-sew-a-crayon-tote-bag/) It's extremely detailed, and the project is so simple. Just in case you want to whip up some of these for yourself (or kids, or whatever - but I'm not going to lie, I would totally carry one of these around with an adult coloring book and multi-colored Sharpies).

Welcome to my world.

Have you ever tried to understand the mind of  two-year old?

Lucy has been having a hard time with naptime and bedtime. I understand. Why go to sleep when there is so much to be done (or, in her case, played with)? But understanding doesn't make it any less infuriating...

I walked Lucy back to her bed several times today when she was supposed to be lying down for her nap. I thought she had finally gone to sleep when I heard a huge commotion coming from her room. I was rolling out bread dough, so it took me a minute to get my hands washed and the dough set to the side (there was no screaming, so I took this luxury), and when I went in, I realized the commotion had come from Lucy climbing up her dresser and turning her fan so it was blowing away from her.

I started to ask Lucy why she had done this, when I noticed she was curled up in her bed, completely naked. Not a stitch of clothing on that child. She looked at me calmly and said, "Mommy, I had to take all my clothes off because I pee-peed in my underpants." (Does this make sense?)

"Lucy Jane, why in the world did you pee-pee in your underpants? You know where the bathroom is!"

And as serious as all get-out she told me, "Mommy, I went into the bathroom and the stool was on the potty, so what was I supposed to do?" I am not joking. These exact words came out of my two-year old's mouth.

It's true, the stool was on the potty because I had mopped a little while before. But in my mind, taking the stool off the potty was a lot less work than peeing in her undies, removing all of her clothing, and then scaling the dresser completely naked to turn the fan from blowing on her. Am I just not on board with her brilliant plan here?

And just to let you know what I'm dealing with on all fronts here...

Milo, who speaks better than most adults I know, loves to talk nonsense. He makes up words and sounds and just endlessly makes noise. Today, as he sat in the tub, he said something to the effect of, "Blabbity blabbity boogety sh*t."

I raised an eyebrow at him and asked, "Milo, what did you just say?"

To which he responded, "It's okay, Mommy, I just said sh*t."

EXCUSE ME????????

I responded as calmly as possible, "Milo, that is a completely inappropriate word. Where did you hear that?"

"I didn't hear it anywhere, Mommy. I just made it up. Why? What does it mean?"

Sigh of relief that no one is cussing in front of him, and then I calmly explained that it was inappropriate and I had better not hear it ever again or I would wash it out of his mouth with soap. I think I got my point across...

So, Happy Weekend!

Lucy's first dental appointment

Lucy had her very first dental appointment today! She was a little more on the apprehensive side than Milo was for his, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But she really liked looking around at everything, and was very serious and quiet. And cooperative. So cooperative and so sweet. And in the end, she liked it! Yay, Lucy!

SO serious in the car on the way there. She didn't talk or smile. Sweet pea.

I let her take a baby doll, which made things okay. Plus she saw one of her friends from gymnastics in the waiting room.

See? Better already.

She let Dr. Lopez clean her teeth with not a single problem. So proud!

Coffee and yarn

It is 100% knitting weather, and if you know me, you know that I have become a super old soul. I adore knitting and crocheting, and would rather do those things than most other things. I think I have literally dreamed of getting a babysitter and going to a coffee shop or hiding away and just knitting to my heart's content. I, in fact, follow a few knitting blogs and such, and find myself wishing I could be like these people, just knitting and sipping coffee all day long.

Yeah right. You do know I have little people, right? Knitting all day is not. going. to. happen. There is simply too much to be done, and after an hour or so, I start to feel guilty. Besides that, after an hour or so, I start being used as a jungle gym and I get tired of prying my yarn out of tiny curious fingers.

All of this seemed like a bad thing, but after pondering it for a while, I realized that I would rather chase these people around and cook meals and clean up and read children's books and teach home school than knit for a job. I just knit because I like it, and I want to keep it that way. Any time I've tried to make it my "business," I've ended up feeling exhausted. Knitting is my stress-relief, and you can't put a price on that.

But that doesn't mean I can't leave you with a little knitspiration.

Happy Wednesday!

FYI: NOT my legs. This is an image from one of my favorite knitters. Check out her etsy store here.

Does this blush make my cheeks look round?

So I've recently realized that I should be accentuating one of my best features - my super round smiley cheeks (no lie - if I answer the phone smiling, my cheeks will hang up on whomever called). I invested in some blush that has four different shades that are supposed to blend together. It usually works really well, but every now and then I wonder if the darkest pink gets a little out of hand on me.

This morning sweet Lucy curled up on the couch next to me while I did my morning study time. I could feel her studying my face, and after a few moments she said, "Mommy, your cheek is all red!" And then, just to be sure I got the message, she continued, "So red, so red, so red, so red."

Thanks, Lucy. Point taken.

Better than Advil

I can not deny that I have hilarious children.

Last night I cooked Brussel sprouts for dinner, and I was curious what my little people would think of them. I did a little prep ahead of time with Lucy and showed her how cute they were. I let her hold them and inspect them, and by the time she got to dinner she was 100% ready to eat what she referred to as "precious adorable sprouts." Perfect.

This morning I woke up with a headache, and it was everything I could do to just pour these little people some Cheerios and sit upright at the breakfast table with my coffee.

And then Milo started telling me that he had a dream last night about a T-Rex that was stomping toward our house. I was ready to coach him through nightmare recovery, because it sounded so intense. I asked him, "Milo, was it a hungry T-Rex or a non-hungry one?"

He looked at me so seriously and told me, "Hungry, Mommy. VERY hungry. And he could talk. He walked right up to us and said, 'Can I have some of your chicken?'"

I guess people-eating dinosaurs aren't even on his radar yet, and I'm totally fine with that. Apparently the hungry dinosaur took us home to his dinosaur village and his old-enough-to-know-better children had made a mess, and he proceeded to "whoop them with his tiny dinosaur arms." There's no lack of creativity around here, right?

So I am smiling a headache away this morning, which I think is a better remedy than Advil.

A Little Lesson in Exodus

My little people love to learn. Just about anything will do, but what they especially love is learning the Bible. We read every morning during breakfast and discuss what we're going through, and I am learning myself just by teaching them.

I will tell you this, though. Sometimes I'm so challenged by their questions that I don't quite know how to answer. For example, we just began studying the book of Exodus. There are so many things to catch a child's attention, but here's what Lucy, who adores babies with her whole heart, can't let go of.

Exodus 1:22 "Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: 'Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.'"

I like to be honest with my little people about everything, but in this case, I didn't go into the whole scenario. I simply read the verse as is. And then Lucy heard the verse when we were listening to Bible stories on CD in the car. And even weeks after we had read this passage, she couldn't stop thinking about it. She tells me often, "Mommy, Pharaoh was SO bad. He threw all the babies into the river. Oh, Mommy. That was so awful. Why did he do that?" Or, when we're out in public, "Mommy, we don't throw babies into the river. Who does that?" (It's a little awkward, I'm not going to lie.)

Each time she brings it up, we discuss how that was just one of the ways that we knew how evil Pharaoh (and really, for their lack of protest, the people of Egypt) was. We talk about how he was punished for what he did.

But that still doesn't solve the problem of the babies in the river, does it? Just wait, it gets worse, because the other day both little people had this revelation, as we were having yet another discussion about the babies in the river.

Milo: "So, Mommy, did Yahweh get the babies out of the river?"

Me:  (loooooong pause, considering my answer) "Well, no, Milo. Yahweh didn't."

The look of horror on Milo's face was evident, but Lucy hadn't quite caught on yet.

Lucy: "Well, Mommy, who got the babies out of the river?"

Me:  (again, pausing while both little people stare at me) "Well, Lucy, the Bible doesn't tell us that anyone got the babies out of the river. Remember? It's one of the reasons Egypt was punished so harshly."

Oh, Lucy Jane's little face. Because she understood. She understood very deeply and her big beautiful eyes brimmed with tears.

Yucky. Yucky, gross, horrible facts. Do you dread those moments when your little people catch on that the world isn't all sunshine and roses? When they realize that there are really evil people who are not afraid to harm innocents? As I steered the conversation back toward the fact that God punished Pharaoh and all of Egypt for what they did, I had to remind myself, too.

Because, the babies in the river are still a problem for me, too. And not just the babies in the river, but the slavery, the Crusades, the Holocaust, and even what's happening today are still a BIG problem for me, and every morning when I walk I'm working out a lot of things in my mind.

I won't go into all the things I've been considering after all this, but it's quite a list. Maybe another day I'll let you in on my thought process, but it really comes down to this (and this is a serious oversimplification). Please, dear Lord, get me out of Egypt, and get all the Egypt out of me.

Facts of Mommyhood

There is this weird phenomenon that always seems to happen in my house. My little people become sick, I power through the whole thing, and just when everyone is feeling energetic and well, I manage to become sick myself. Fact of mommyhood, I guess?

Anyway, this was short-lived for everyone, and it seems we're all back to normal now. Correction: these little people are EXTRA energetic to make up for the few slow days we had. And this was what sick looked like... Smiles. Robes. Cuddles. Done.

One of those days

For some reason, no matter how many times I heard that every child is different, I certainly thought that we could parent both of our little people fairly the same. Like maybe that saying just wouldn't apply to us...

Right. From the very beginning, Lucy has shown us that she is her very own little passionate person, and that all the strategies that would work for laid-back Milo would be completely wasted on her. And I adore her personality and who she is, so I'm willing to adjust.

I will say this, though. Lucy is as passionately sick as she is anything else, and that's one transition I don't handle as well. We try to go as natural as possible and administer as little medicine as possible (Milo has literally never had antibiotics, Motrin, Tylenol, etc.). But Lucy Jane. If my sweet girl is going to run a fever, she's going to do it up right and run a HIGH fever the whole time. Since her incident last year, I just pull out the Motrin or Tylenol by the time she hits 100 degrees. She scared the bajeebas out of me this morning around 3 a.m. when she came out crying with a 103 fever. Let's just say neither of us got very much sleep last night...

All this to say, hi, I'm tired, and I haven't blogged much this week because my little people aren't well, and I hate that more than most things. But we're all in for a day of rest tomorrow, and hopefully it makes all the difference.

Milo's Invention

Today Milo took an old box, a stick horse, some books, a piece of cardboard, and a dog statue and made... Well, I'm not entirely certain what it was. But he was calling it an invention, and he was serious that no one should disturb it. Serious enough to leave this sign. On an etch-a-sketch.

Old Dogs

We have OLD dogs. They don't love to play with our little people, and they're pretty much just interested in being pet or putting their paws on people to lure them into petting them. But apparently that's not why they aren't Lucy's favorites.

As she sat on my lap yesterday, she wrinkled her nose and said thoughtfully, "Mommy, I just don't care for Bruiser's breath."

Understood.

A day of rest

Last night I was exhausted. It had been a looooong day of cleaning and cooking and getting ready for a day of rest, and that's exactly what I intended to do today - rest. But before bed, Milo had other ideas. 

"Mommy, you don't have to work tomorrow, right?" he asked.

"You're right, buddy. I'm going to spend the whole day resting."

"Do you think we could also play three games?"

Tell me how you feel about games... Because I will play them, especially given that these little people like them, but that is nowhere near what I consider resting. 

"Of course we can, Milo. You know Mommy likes to play games with you." I replied.

"Okay, good. And I also want to build all of our puzzles. Will you do that with me, too?"

"Um, sure. Yes. At some point tomorrow we will build all of the puzzles."

I actually really like puzzles, and Milo got some really fantastic ones for his birthday. In fact, he got a number of puzzles for his birthday, so I started to realize that I was committing to quite the activity here. But still, this was good. I tend to feel like I've earned time for myself on Saturdays, so I usually like knitting, or just sitting still and looking at Pinterest. However, of all the love languages, Milo speaks quality time the loudest, and if he's asking for games and puzzles, I am completely on board.

He remembered our conversation this morning before his eyes were even all the way open, so after book time and breakfast, these little people and I hit the floor in the living room and didn't look up again until noon. We played Mexican train dominoes. We played Crazy 8's. We played Don't Break the Ice. And we did every single puzzle in the house and set up a lovely display for Nate (which served my picture purposes just fine). And guess what? I had an amazing morning. Probably the best I've had in a while. 

That's 11 puzzles, just for the record.

In other news, how cute are these three? I'm loving Nate in these snuggly pj pants...

Happy 2016

We're ready to embark on big adventures this year. Happy New Year!!!