Dear Diary,
I've been off enjoying a long weekend with the family. We visited some friends, we shopped for houses and spent good quality time together. The weather is turning (yahoo!), not that it's been a bad winter, but I really, really love sunshine and can't wait for it to warm me up again. I'll be back shortly with some new posts for you.
See you in the bright and shiny,
Jen
2.21.2012
2.17.2012
Week in Pictures: 2.12.12
Another great week in pictures. Sadie's not hiding in this shot but I thought it was a good follow up to her hide-n-seek pics. And then her with her BFF on the swings. Lotta love this week!
2.16.2012
Mommydom: The iPhone Dilemna
Well, you didn't hear it here first.
It's been a growing problem since the blackberry made it's debut. And now, even when we don't work at an office, we are tethered to our smart phones. They are so convenient. So handy. So easy to use. The problem is, we use them all the time. Too much. Just short of using them in the shower. We eat with them next to us. We play games while using the loo. Some of us tweet our labor and delivery. They are almost never out of our hands and certainly always in sight and within arms reach.
The iPhone.
I wanted to make a policy about the iPhone in our house. No iPhones at the dinner table. (I also wanted to have family dinners every night, but that didn't work out so well). When the Mister is working late (which is often, and by late I mean home after dinner), and I'm so worn out from not having a break all day (woe is me), it's nice to have the iPhone handy.
But, it's bad. It's so bad. I'll look at my phone for the silliest of reasons. Why do I need to know RIGHT NOW what the weather is going to be like tomorrow? Who lives in Texas, Sadie? I can look that up too. Why hasn't my infant pooped in 4 days? iPhone. Did I just get a new email? iPhone.
I'm addicted. The Mister is addicted. The only person not yet addicted is the little lady... but slowly and surely...
I'm open to suggestion here. What do you do with your smart phone when you're supposed to be having quality time?
It's been a growing problem since the blackberry made it's debut. And now, even when we don't work at an office, we are tethered to our smart phones. They are so convenient. So handy. So easy to use. The problem is, we use them all the time. Too much. Just short of using them in the shower. We eat with them next to us. We play games while using the loo. Some of us tweet our labor and delivery. They are almost never out of our hands and certainly always in sight and within arms reach.
The iPhone.
I wanted to make a policy about the iPhone in our house. No iPhones at the dinner table. (I also wanted to have family dinners every night, but that didn't work out so well). When the Mister is working late (which is often, and by late I mean home after dinner), and I'm so worn out from not having a break all day (woe is me), it's nice to have the iPhone handy.
But, it's bad. It's so bad. I'll look at my phone for the silliest of reasons. Why do I need to know RIGHT NOW what the weather is going to be like tomorrow? Who lives in Texas, Sadie? I can look that up too. Why hasn't my infant pooped in 4 days? iPhone. Did I just get a new email? iPhone.
I'm addicted. The Mister is addicted. The only person not yet addicted is the little lady... but slowly and surely...
I'm open to suggestion here. What do you do with your smart phone when you're supposed to be having quality time?
2.15.2012
Craftyness: Glitter & Glue
Another incredibly easy, albeit messy, craft for you and your little ones.
Sadie is obsessed with Elmer's white glue. Whenever she sees the bottle, she instantaneously wants to unscrew it and turn it upside down and watch all the glue pour out. So taking that cue from her, I put some construction paper down and told her that while she was upending the Elmer's, to move her arms around. After there was a significant amount of glue and pattern on the page, we used different colored glitter and colored sugar sprinkles and poured them over the glue. I then shimmied the glitter around to make sure we got full coverage - and poured the excess off the page and into a bowl to be used later.
Glitter is messy, but it's so much fun!
Supplies needed:
glitter,
Elmer's glue
construction paper
Sadie is obsessed with Elmer's white glue. Whenever she sees the bottle, she instantaneously wants to unscrew it and turn it upside down and watch all the glue pour out. So taking that cue from her, I put some construction paper down and told her that while she was upending the Elmer's, to move her arms around. After there was a significant amount of glue and pattern on the page, we used different colored glitter and colored sugar sprinkles and poured them over the glue. I then shimmied the glitter around to make sure we got full coverage - and poured the excess off the page and into a bowl to be used later.
Glitter is messy, but it's so much fun!
 |
| pink iridescent glitter |
 |
| blue sugar crystals - gives at matte effect |
 |
| black glitter - this is Sadie's gingerbread man - can you see him? |
 |
| black sugar crystals - originally for Halloween baking that never came to pass |
2.14.2012
Tasty Treats: Valentine's Anytime's Cookies
Baking day with Sadie! It's my favorite day of the week. Sadie likes it too... for obvious reasons, although, I think it would be awesome if she grew up and loved baking as much as we do now. Luckily for us, it's Valentine's Day. The perfect excuse to make Valentine's cookies, but these could be anytime cookies as well. I found this recipe over at Two Tarts, and it's a good one. A keeper. It may make a reappearance at every holiday.
Sadie helped roll out the dough, and then I gave her a hunk of it to play with on her own. Our dough was the right consistency but it got warm too quickly, so was a little bit hard to transfer from cut shape to baking sheet.
The cookies baked perfectly. Then I just filled some cupcake liners with toppings, iced the cookie and had Sadie do the decorating. It was easy for her to upend the cookies into the various sprinkles. She had so much fun, we did it twice!
These cookies are based on shortbread recipe. And they taste fantastic dipped in coffee.
Enjoy!
Craftyness: Hallmark or Handmade?
Let's talk about Valentine's Day.
At my daughter's school, the administration goes out of it's way to make sure that parents know that the school's policy on "Hallmark" holidays are strict.
1. If you want to give out Valentine's, make sure every child gets one.... Well, duh. What parent of a 3, 4 and 5 year old is going to exclude children from getting a Valentine? Maybe I'm naive, but I think most parents realize that everyone should be included. I get this rule, for older kids, but for the little ones...?
2. Do not hand out Valentine's in view of the children. The reason they give for this is that some of the children might feel bad that they didn't give out Valentine's. What? I don't get it. My child might be sensitive if she didn't GET one, but if she didn't give them out? Maybe there would be kids who would feel bad if they didn't give Valentine's but got some... not any kids I know. But I guess it's possible.
However, despite the school saying it takes a "low-key" approach to holidays (which I think is great), when you send out a policy like the one above, it scares people off. It nets (in a class of 14 kids), 2 kids bringing Valentine's. Now who's going to feel awkward? The kids who did bring or the kids who didn't?? That low-key policy is really turning into something else entirely.
As a young child, I loved Valentine's Day. Then as I got older I was taught that Valentine's Day was a Hallmark holiday. I learned that at school. I don't recall my parents being one way or another about the day. My dad always gave me and my Mom something. I don't know if he gave anything to my brothers. It was a quietly special day at home and a generally fun day at school.
But maybe my daughters school has a point about kids feeling bad about not giving out Valentine's. Maybe they should feel bad... I happen to think Valentine's day is a GREAT holiday for kids. I don't care if Hallmark created it to sell more cards or not. In fact, I'm going to stop calling it a "hallmark holiday". I don't buy cards anymore anyway. I make them. Valentine's Day is the perfect HANDMADE holiday. Sadie collage'd cards and she used paint to "stamp" cards. We baked cookies. We didn't buy anything commercial, even though it's a commercial holiday. Everyone one of her friends is getting something. It's the perfect way to teach our children that it's just as nice (maybe better) to give rather than to receive.
Obviously, Valentine's Day is never going away. So if we don't like the hallmark aspect of it, why not just make it our own. I love this holiday. I love making things for it. So if we want to continue to rebel against a holiday that is here to stay, let's change our thinking. Change our children's thinking. Call it a handmade holiday. Our kids know we love them everyday (at least we hope they do and I'm sure most of us tell them this). This is just one extra special day. Need an excuse to go crafting crazy? Valentine's day. An excuse to give our friends and family something special that we made. Valentine's Day. A way to teach your children about giving? Valentine's Day.
Happy Valentine's Day. My favorite handmade holiday.
At my daughter's school, the administration goes out of it's way to make sure that parents know that the school's policy on "Hallmark" holidays are strict.
1. If you want to give out Valentine's, make sure every child gets one.... Well, duh. What parent of a 3, 4 and 5 year old is going to exclude children from getting a Valentine? Maybe I'm naive, but I think most parents realize that everyone should be included. I get this rule, for older kids, but for the little ones...?
2. Do not hand out Valentine's in view of the children. The reason they give for this is that some of the children might feel bad that they didn't give out Valentine's. What? I don't get it. My child might be sensitive if she didn't GET one, but if she didn't give them out? Maybe there would be kids who would feel bad if they didn't give Valentine's but got some... not any kids I know. But I guess it's possible.
However, despite the school saying it takes a "low-key" approach to holidays (which I think is great), when you send out a policy like the one above, it scares people off. It nets (in a class of 14 kids), 2 kids bringing Valentine's. Now who's going to feel awkward? The kids who did bring or the kids who didn't?? That low-key policy is really turning into something else entirely.
As a young child, I loved Valentine's Day. Then as I got older I was taught that Valentine's Day was a Hallmark holiday. I learned that at school. I don't recall my parents being one way or another about the day. My dad always gave me and my Mom something. I don't know if he gave anything to my brothers. It was a quietly special day at home and a generally fun day at school.
But maybe my daughters school has a point about kids feeling bad about not giving out Valentine's. Maybe they should feel bad... I happen to think Valentine's day is a GREAT holiday for kids. I don't care if Hallmark created it to sell more cards or not. In fact, I'm going to stop calling it a "hallmark holiday". I don't buy cards anymore anyway. I make them. Valentine's Day is the perfect HANDMADE holiday. Sadie collage'd cards and she used paint to "stamp" cards. We baked cookies. We didn't buy anything commercial, even though it's a commercial holiday. Everyone one of her friends is getting something. It's the perfect way to teach our children that it's just as nice (maybe better) to give rather than to receive.
Obviously, Valentine's Day is never going away. So if we don't like the hallmark aspect of it, why not just make it our own. I love this holiday. I love making things for it. So if we want to continue to rebel against a holiday that is here to stay, let's change our thinking. Change our children's thinking. Call it a handmade holiday. Our kids know we love them everyday (at least we hope they do and I'm sure most of us tell them this). This is just one extra special day. Need an excuse to go crafting crazy? Valentine's day. An excuse to give our friends and family something special that we made. Valentine's Day. A way to teach your children about giving? Valentine's Day.
Happy Valentine's Day. My favorite handmade holiday.
La Casa: Heartastic
Up until very recently there was only one item that I had owned with hearts on it, that I absolutely loved. A necklace my Mom gave me, it was possibly my grandmothers at one point. It was very plain. A gold chain with 3 gold heart outlines with a little diamond at the center point of the heart.
Sadly, I lost that necklace. It fell off while I was at a party and it was never recovered. Other than that, I wasn't really into hearts on things. But my tastes come and go. Like when I used to absolutely refuse to wear pink, but now love it... Without further ado, I give you hearts.
Sadly, I lost that necklace. It fell off while I was at a party and it was never recovered. Other than that, I wasn't really into hearts on things. But my tastes come and go. Like when I used to absolutely refuse to wear pink, but now love it... Without further ado, I give you hearts.
From top:
Tiny Hearts Paper Garland, Blue Caravan
Heart Clips, Omiyage
Red Heart Doily, Omiyage
Little Vintage Hearts, Sarah and Bendrix
Charm Chain, Looka Jewelry
Open Heart Stud Earrings, Michelle Chang
Harriet Heart Print Sticky Tape, Zeena Printed Textiles
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