ToddleBits

Summer is in Full Swing

2008-07-04T01:11:00.002-04:00

Seems like most of my posts lately begin with some sort of explanation for why I haven't been posting. This time, rather than make excuses, I'll just post a few pics of what we've been doing around here.

We went to the park with Daddy, which we really need to do more often. Little Bit spent much of the time flashing her Pull-Ups to everyone while hanging on this bar. Hanging is her new favorite thing. She hangs on EVERYTHING: the kitchen table, Bitty Baby's Jumparoo, the handle for the oven door. If she can wrap her hands around it, you can be pretty sure that very soon her knees will be pulled up to her tummy and she'll be dangling in full delight.

She actually doesn't like looking at the camera, so sweet little shots like this are few and far between. Such a shame.

Bitty Baby spent most of her time on the infant swing before deciding to hang out with me. I was sitting on a bench in the shade complaining about the heat. I wasn't dressed for the park because we were supposed to be going to a museum...with air conditioning...but that's a story for another time.

While we sat watching Little Bit play, this way-to-friendly squirrel came by for a visit. I was slightly paranoid that he would jump off of the tree and climb all over me, so I tried shooing him away. At which point he moved back up the tree a few feet and proceeded to tell me where I could go. I swear he was totally cursing me out.

A few days later we were invited to a horse show close to our house to watch my aunt show her baby...horse that is. We all had a great time.

Bitty Baby sat on her first real horse...

and Grandma helped Little Bit show off her latest freezer paper stenciled shirt.

We even got some behind the scenes action before it was my aunt's turn to ride.

I would say that fun was had by all, but these two tweens, my nieces, were pretty bored until they were given a "job" to do.

Ask a kid to take some shots and they suddenly perk right up!

Turn Any Shoes Into Tap Shoes

2008-06-23T22:43:00.002-04:00

Here's an idea I've been wanting to try since seeing it in a Martha Stewart Good Things for Kids magazine. Little Bit, obviously bored, was actually asking me to do a "project." I was supposed to be enjoying some much needed personal time, but Daddy-O was "indisposed" at the moment, so I just needed something quick and easy that she could do for a few minutes until he could come and take back over watching her.

I grabbed some pieces of yarn and taped baby food jar lids onto the middle of the yarn. Next, I wrapped the yarn up around Little Bit's shoes and tied them at the top.

Then she shuffled around and doh-see-dohed and listened to the sound of her feet clacking against the concrete patio.

She always loves to dance, so this spur of the moment activity was a no-brainer. It would probably also be fun to experiment with different sounds. Or, perhaps strapping bells to her wrists and letting her go all out as her own percussion section!

Another Hiatus

2008-06-19T23:14:00.003-04:00

I know, my presence here has been sporadic. Here's what's been going on...

I have a new friend. Her name is Helen.

Is it strange to name a sewing machine? For some reason I had her named before I even had her in my car when leaving Joann's.

I just got her yesterday and prior to that I had spent most of my down time researching machines and visiting sewing shops. I finally decided on Helen (a Husqvarna Emerald 116) because she seemed like a good little machine for a newbie. She's not as fancy as many of the machines out there, but she seems pretty durable and she's nice and quiet...I think we're going to get along famously!

For my first project, I sewed a pint sized headband for Little Bit following these instructions. I'm not showing a picture yet because it was my "practice run." But I promise I'll show you a final version soon!

Another new addition to our family is this little guy:

He came free with Daddy-O's new MacBook and was my prize for letting him buy it. Of course my response to this was, "What am I going to do with that?"

Hah!

There's a ton of stuff I can do with it! I added our photos from Little Bit's birthday party to show my mom. I can keep it with me throughout the day and check my Google Reader and Email without having to leave the kiddos and go to my computer. And, I can download podcasts!

Yes, I said podcasts. Another thing I raised my eyebrow at when I first heard about them. But here I am, listening to CraftSanity, Grammar Girl, Material Mama, and Broadway Bullet.

Podcasts are wonderful to listening to while working on a project. In fact, I wish I'd had the Touch earlier so that I could listen to my podcasts while making new hair clips for the girls. Well, I say the girls, but in reality Bitty Baby is the only one who wears them without immediately pulling them out.

Aside from the aforementioned activities, projects with the little ones have been few and far between. Due to an unexpected chain of events, Daddy-O has been home all week and will be around for a couple more. With him being home, we tend to fill our days with either running errands or simply enjoying family time together.

I did manage to squeeze in a mixed media collage today with Little Bit and her cousins, but I ended up joining in rather than taking pictures! I'll see if I can paint you a picture with words: fabric scraps, yarn, glue, old children's books, buttons, and glitter. Lots of glitter.

I'll probably spend the next few nights getting better acquainted with Helen, but I can't wait to come back and show you what I made. Hopefully I'll end up with something blogworthy!

The Birthday Bash

2008-06-16T00:07:00.003-04:00

No Unplugged Project this week. We were so busy getting ready for Little Bit's party, we just didn't have much time left over for other stuff.

The party was great. The kids had a blast. And Little Bit LOVED having everybody over at our house.

Of course, we forgot to buy eggs, so the cake didn't get baked until about 45 minutes before the party started. In all of our last-minute preparations, we forgot to hang the Birthday Banner. And the ice cream balls came out looking like this

But, with all the fun, none of that really seemed to matter. Here are some of the highlights:

The sand bucket cake was a big hit!

As was the slip and slide.

Yes, we let the kids play with squirt guns. I know, very questionable parenting.

I love this one with the two little heinies. They're reloading their squirters in the pool.

We forgot to teach her how to blow out a candle before hand, but she worked it out (with my mom's help).

And, of course, presents. Here she is sporting her freezer paper stenciled birthday shirt while she opens a card.

The party really could not have gone any better. There were about 8 kids at the party (half 3 and under and half 8 and over) and everybody got along. I was afraid of the big kids taking over, but it wasn't even an issue.

Even with all the fun, these parties are a lot of work! I'm so glad they only have one birthday party a year. Now I'm in the clear until Bitty Baby's first birthday in October. Hmmm....4 months away? That might be enough time to recover from this one.

A Story About A Little Flower

2008-06-11T23:10:00.002-04:00

Back in April, we planted seeds as a way to connect with nature in honor of Earth Day.

We watered everyday.

Often more than once.

The stalks grew quite tall.

Then, one sunny day, a little bud popped up and bloomed into a beautiful, vibrant, flower!

The end.

Comments Disabled

2008-06-10T21:59:00.005-04:00

I'm doing a bit of an experiment for myself and this blog. It has occurred to me recently that every couple weeks or so I start feeling totally burned out on the whole blogging thing. Here's how it usually goes:

Oh, this was a good post! Lots of comments! People like me!

Oops, what happened? Nobody commented today. What did I do wrong?

Oh, goody! Some more comments on this one!

Look. Some new people commenting! I wonder who they are? I'll go check out their blog, too!

Oh, no. Where did everybody go? Nobody likes me. This sucks.

The comments turn blogging into a complete roller coaster ride. And I know, for a lot of people, the comments are where it's at. It's where most of their blogging satisfaction comes from. But for some reason, for me, I think the comments are draining. Not only do I get my panties all bunched up over how many comments I got on a particular post, but then I want to go around and comment back on everybody's blogs. And if I just don't have time to get to everybody's (because I take care of a baby and a toddler who rarely take naps at the same time and who both demand 100% of my attention all through the day), then I get my panties all bunched up over that, too.

So, you see. Much of my blogging woes have to do with the comments. And since that's the case, I'm going to experiment with disabling comments for a while and see how that affects my approach to blogging. If anybody still wants to get a hold of me, you can shoot me an email. It's on the left sidebar under "About."

I'll still visit everyone and try to leave comments as I am able. It might not be as often, but be sure that I am reading. :) Let's see how it goes!

This Weekend's Birthday Bash

2008-06-10T14:17:00.003-04:00

I've mentioned that Little Bit's birthday is coming up. Well, it's this weekend.

GASP!

She'll be TWO!

Anyway's, I didn't want anything big, but somehow I still managed to create a bunch of work for myself. In addition to the usual house-cleaning and other pre-party prep-work, I've added a few other things on my list of things to do.

Here's the rundown of our party preparations:

-Beach ball invitations- done

-Felt flag banner- mostly done...just have to cut slits to run a ribbon/cord through.

I decided to do the flag banner after seeing a post at Our Green Nest. I loved how festive and cheery all the colors are. And, since it's pretty generic, we can use it again for birthday celebrations down the road (assuming the felt holds up).

- Freezer paper stencil T-shirt with beach image.

You can read about freezer paper stenciling here.

- Sand Bucket cake.

I did a practice run of the cake and it was super-easy and quite tasty. I think I'm going to add a layer of bananas in with the pudding. Yummy!

- Beach ball ice cream scoops on a stick, from Martha Stewart.

OK. So not really beach balls, per se. But I think a ball of ice cream with colorful sprinkles (center) is close enough.

- Favors- plastic beach buckets filled with travel sunscreen, sunglasses, beach stickers, goldfish crackers, and SPF 30 lip balm.

- Sandbox- need to buy a bunch of play sand and fill plastic pool.

- Slip-n-slide- can easily be set up at the last minute.

Hmmmm. Anything else?

Oh, yeah.

- Take dog to groomer.

- Relax.

I really wanted this to be a small get together, but due to some family politics, I think there are going to be a few more people than I had planned.

As long as Little Bit enjoys herself it will be a good party. :)

Sticky Project in Pictures

2008-06-08T22:57:00.003-04:00

Busy weekend.

Very tired.

Unplugged Project: Sticky

Tissue paper on sticky side of contact paper.

"Can I stick it here?"

"I want to try!"

Two artists at work.

Viola!

Found this at The Artful Parent. Go there. Also check out other sticky projects here.

Off topic: Very behind in my blog reading. Hope to get caught up this week!

Easy and Delicious Homemade Ice Cream

2008-06-06T07:44:00.002-04:00

I recently tried out this recipe for homemade ice cream with Little Bit and I could not believe how EASY it was, nor how tasty it turned out for being so incredibly simple to make. Your kids will love making the ice cream as much as they enjoy eating it.

First grab:

One gallon-sized resealable plastic bag
One resealable sandwich bag
Kosher salt (or ice cream salt)
Half & half
Vanilla extract
Sugar

Fill half of the large bag with ice and add 1/2 cup of salt.

Then pour 1 cup half and half, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract into the little bag.

Now put the little bag into the big bag...Make sure both bags are sealed tight!

And shake. Shake. Shake. Shake. Shake your bootie off. Shake for about 5 minutes.

Little Bit had a hard time shaking the bag. It was just a smidge too heavy for her. :)

After shaking for a few minutes, check the consistency of the cream mixture. Once it's nice and thick, you can scoop it out and enjoy!

This ice cream was so good. You could easily change it up by using different flavored extracts. I'm thinking a little almond extract would be yummy!

Bloggy Business: Meme of Fives and an Award

2008-06-05T13:58:00.003-04:00

First of all, I was tagged by Maureen, Toddler Mom, for the Meme of Fives.

How it works:
1. Post the rules of the game at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read the player's blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer.

What were you doing five years ago?
I had just completed my Master's Degree and was searching, and searching, and searching, for a job I didn't want in a career that I had no interest in pursuing.

What are five things on your to-do list for today?
1. Clean house (perpetually on my list)
2. Sew some felt
3. Upload the day's photos
4. Post to my blog
5. Try to maintain my sanity

What are five snacks you enjoy?
(Lately it's been:)
1. Yogurt
2. Granola
(before it was:)
3. Ice cream
4. cookies
5. frosting

What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?
1. Hire someone to clean my house.
2. Travel extensively.
3. Hire a private instructor to teach me to sing and dance like a Broadway star.
4. Take classes...all kinds.
5. Blog about being a billionaire.
(These are all completely self-centered. I'm sure I would do a ton of philanthropic stuff, too.)

What are five of your bad habits?
(all of my habits are disgusting...fair warning)
1. Picking my ears
2. Picking my nose
3. Scratching my head
4. Plucking my chin hairs with my fingernails, especially while driving
5. I think four bad habits is more than enough

What are five places where you have lived?
1. Florida
2. North Carolina
3. Missouri
4. Virginia
5. Germany
(The first four were in the last 5 years or so, the last one was when I was a kid)

What are five jobs you've had?
(in no particular order)
1. Card stuffer (Hallmark)
2. Graduate TA
3. Shallow water life guard
4. Exceptional Student Teacher's Aid (one-on-one)
5. Compensation Analyst

Five people I tag:
1. Somebody who can't think of anything to write about.
2. Somebody who has something in common with me based on my answers.
3. Somebody who has never been tagged and would like to be.
4. Somebody who cares for at least one toddler on a daily basis.
5. Somebody who puffy hearts Memes.

And...I was awarded an award! My first bloggy award!

I have the marvelous CC from If I Only Had Super Powers to thank for my award. Thank you, CC! My gratitude overfloweth.

I am passing this award on to:

My Sweet Life because Kelsey is going to help me improve my picture taking skills. She is a very talented lady who not only takes inspiring photos with touching and humorous stories, but also gives great photography tips on Fridays.

Bits and Pieces because Jenny is a lovely gal who openly shares her home and family in a way that makes you feel like you've been pals forever.

Here you go ladies....this is for you!

The Sweet Taste Of Summer

2008-06-03T22:39:00.002-04:00

For more WW fun, click here.

Tuesday's Toddler Tornado #4: Lookie Bottles and Bags

2008-06-02T23:17:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago we made this little "lookie bottle" to try to help keep Little Bit quiet at church. It's a plastic soda, er, I mean water bottle filled with rice and tiny toys such as novelty erasers, Legos, jacks, and unused party supplies.

As much as we tried to show her how much more fun it would be to play with this bottle than to talk loudly during the sermon, she had no interest in it. So, it just kind of got tossed in the playroom and was forgotten about.

Until...

She found it on her own a few days ago and became totally engrossed in finding all of the tiny toys that were hiding between and behind the rice.

Perhaps our approach in church, triggered by desperation, was slightly mishandled. On her own, Little Bit was captivated by this toy for a good 20-30 minutes. That's long enough to take a shower, so in my book, this toy is a keeper!

Just a note if you decide to make a lookie bottle (this is just what we call it, you can make-up your own name) for very young children, don't forget to glue the top on so that you don't have to worry about the tiny toys falling out and getting swallowed.

Alternatively, you don't even have to make your own. I came across these "Eye Spy" bags while Pouncing at Etsy (if you've never Pounced you're missing out!). Same concept, but so much cuter! The seller's name is Ainsley and Oswald and she has several of these bags in different motifs.

Photo from Ainsley and Oswald's Etsy Shop.

Do you have any tips for parents of babies and toddlers, or even preschoolers? Parenting lessons you'd like to pass on? Snack ideas your just itching to share? Or a product you think every Mommy and Daddy of little ones should know about? Post your link here every Tuesday and check to see what others are doing!

The World is Her Canvas

2008-06-01T23:15:00.003-04:00

We love to paint with Little Bit, so this week's Unplugged theme, paint, had us very excited. We decided to bring the paint outdoors and let Little Bit have free reign over our sliding glass doors!

We poured our tempera paints into a muffin tin and mixed a few additional colors for variety.

Then I explained to Little Bit that she could use her paint brushes to paint on the glass doors.

Little Bit was a little apprehensive at first and she's still learning how to use brushes as opposed to her hands, but she started getting into it after a few minutes of exploration and a little modeling by yours truly.

Of course, I should have know that the painting would soon extend to other surfaces.

Subsequently, she abandoned her brush and went back to using her fingers.

Can you tell she had a blast?

Once she had decided that she'd had enough, we made a print of her artwork on a blank piece of paper (inspired by this idea).

And clean-up was easy-peasy with the hose!

This was a fun project and one that I know she'll ask to do again. And, it was a nice "easy" material to work with for this week's Unplugged Project. Actually, I've been meaning to do this activity with Little Bit ever since the weather started warming up, so this week's theme gave us the perfect excuse! Wouldn't this be so much fun to do with a group of toddlers, like at a paint party?

To see how other participants in this week's Unplugged Project used paint, click here!

Peaceful Slumber

2008-05-31T22:32:00.003-04:00

I managed to capture this photo shortly after my last post of Little Bit's first time sleeping in her twin bed by herself, which, by the way, was just a nap. I realized later that I didn't make that clear. We're going to give her week of naps in the bed and then decide if we want to let her go all night.

She ended up sleeping with her head at the wrong end of the bed. I guess the bed rails we put up at the head of the bed were pretty useless. I checked on her periodically throughout her 2 and a half hour nap and she stayed in pretty much the same position the whole time.

Sound asleep.

Time for the Big Bed

2008-05-31T13:31:00.001-04:00

In Little Bit's room we've had a twin bed mattress on the floor, in addition to her crib, since we moved into this house in October. Over the past two months or so she has started expressing interest in sleeping in it, but it wasn't something Daddy-O and I thought would be a good idea. "It's too soon," we thought.

Well, since we've been trying to spruce up the room, we went ahead and bought a twin frame and mattress set and put it in the room. Little Bit was soooo excited about it. I do believe she has asked before every nap and every bedtime if she could sleep in it.

She wore us down.

Today is her first time sleeping outside of her crib without somebody sleeping by her side. We went through our usual routine: change into a diaper, sing a few songs, then say "night-night" to everyone. It took her a little longer to settle down, but by the quietness in her room I would guess that she's peacefully sleeping now.

I'm dying to go in and take a picture but I don't know if I should risk waking her up. Maybe in a little while. :)

In the meantime, I just can't get over how proud I am of her at this very moment. She's such a big girl and is so confident in herself. I know that not every milestone she faces in her childhood will go this smoothly. But today, she has secured my respect and complete admiration.

The Writing's On The Ball: Beach Ball Invitations

2008-05-29T22:47:00.001-04:00

Little Bit's second birthday is coming up in just a couple of weeks and we've decided to do a beach-themed party for her. Really it's a ball theme using beach balls.

The girl has always loved balls and this was the best way I could think of to incorporate balls into an actual theme that wasn't all about sports. And actually, it wasn't even my idea. It was my friend, Christine's idea. One of these days she's going to get her blog going and I'm going to be able to link to her. But for now, she will just be my friend, Christine.

So, for this beach ball themed party, we decided to do beach ball invites. Again, not my idea. And shame on me, I don't remember the site where I saw it originally, so I won't be able to spread any link luv their way this time. My apologies.

I blew up the balls and used a Sharpie to write, "Come have a ball at Little Bit's Beach Party!" I also included other pertinent information such as where and when and how to RSVP on each of the balls' respective stripes. Then I deflated them and stuffed them in little manilla envelopes. I used 3 stamps and I'm still not sure if that will be enough to cover postage, but I figure even if the recipient ends up with a few cents postage due, at least they're getting a free ball out of it! :)

With her birthday approaching quickly, I will be sharing more of our ideas for her party in the coming weeks. I've also been working on redoing the nursery (if I can still call it that) and I hope to get some pictures up of that soon, too.

We're still in the planning phase of this thing, so by all means, if you have any ideas for the party, please feel free to share them with me!

Tuesday's Toddler Tornado #3: Protein Snack

2008-05-19T23:38:00.001-04:00

I love, love, love this book and have found so many wonderful ideas within its pages. Most recently, I served up one of the snack ideas it mentions and it totally hit the spot!

The book calls this snack, "Peanut Butter Pinwheels" but I think a better name would be "Goopy Protein Roll-ups".

Ingredients:

peanut butter
granola
honey
flour tortillas

Spread the PB, sprinkle the granola, and squirt the honey onto the tortilla shell, then roll. Slice into bite-sized pieces and serve. I made these during Little Bit's nap and chilled them until she woke up so that they would firm up a bit, thus cutting down on the gooey factor.

The first thing she said after trying them was, "More?" Which is always a good sign! However, these little bite-sized morsels of goodness are very filling and oh-so-very sweet. So, don't think you need to make a bunch at one time. I could only eat about two of the pieces before feeling like I'd had enough. I made two tortillas and it was more than enough to go around.

Enjoy!

Toddler Measuring Activity

2008-05-18T22:55:00.003-04:00

I think I reverted back to my senior year in high school this week. I kept waiting for Mr. Clagget, my walrus-looking English teacher, to pop out from around my sofa and lecture me (read: yell and shake his finger at me) about procrastinating.

But, we did finally come up with an idea for this week's Unplugged Project involving ribbon and completed it. We used the ribbon to measure each of our family members and then we adhered the ribbon to a wall for comparison.

First we got everybody measured:

Then we stuck the ribbon to the wall, side-by-side, and briefly compared the different sizes. We talked about the biggest and smallest pieces. And I asked Little Bit questions about which ribbon belonged to who.

We also glued faces from magazine cut-outs onto paper plates, and then attached them to the ribbons at the top for little heads, but they turned out really weird looking. I think we'll use photo printouts of all of us instead.

We haven't made growth charts for the girls, so I thought that this ribbon measuring activity would be a great way to introduce the concept of measuring with Little Bit.

To see what others did with ribbon this week, click here!

Oh, Sure. I Had an Orgasm Too When I Was Giving Birth.

2008-05-15T22:51:00.001-04:00

Well it wasn't really an orgasm, per se...but you probably couldn't tell it by listening to me. There were a lot of, "Oh, God"s and "Ahh ahh"s.

I gave birth naturally and was seduced by the notion of an orgasmic birth, which I read about in our childbirth bible, Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way.

Such bliss. Ending ones pregnancy in the same way it began. If only 'twer twu.

While I was not so lucky as to experience this Heavenly gift, there are plenty of women who have brought their babies into this world while cheering "O". (I know, sounds a lot like cheerio, but there are only so many ways to say "orgasm" so bear with me).

A new documentary, Orgasmic Birth, is set to premier on May 16 in Prague China. For a little preview, visit the film's webpage or check out ABC's 20/20. According to Midwifery Today, 20/20 will air its piece on May 16 as well, but I haven't seen confirmation of that on ABC's site. Just keep a look out.

And, if you have any tales of wild, passionate, birthing, by all means, share them here! On second thought, maybe just a nice comment saying that you too are intrigued by this notion and will happily visit the filmmaker's website would suffice.

My Toddler, The Poet

2008-05-15T00:01:00.001-04:00

"Oh me, oh my. Not a thing goes by."

With the wisdom of an eighty year old woman in her voice, Little Bit has been repeating this line since yesterday at dinner.

We have no idea where it came from.

We have no idea what it means.

Now, don't get me wrong. I believe my little girl to be as precocious and brilliant as can be, but could she really have made up this little rhyme?

"Oh me, oh my. Not a thing goes by."

She says it with such conviction.

It's quite funny to hear. She may as well be sitting in a rocker, sporting glasses and a hearing aid, talking about the good old days.

"Oh me, oh my. Not a thing goes by."

And I can't decide whether or not it makes no sense at all, or makes absolute perfect sense. Apparently there's a fine line between nonsense and genius.

For now, I'll stick with the latter...but I reserve the right to change my mind tomorrow when she's pouring her milk onto her PB&J.

Wordless Wednesday: Frustration

2008-05-14T13:33:00.001-04:00

Tuesday's Toddler Tornado: 5 Ways to Reuse Baby Clothes

2008-05-13T07:45:00.002-04:00

After Little Bit was born, we saved every stitch of clothing she outgrew, knowing we would be trying for another baby relatively soon (and hoping for another girl). Now that Bitty Baby is growing out of them, we've got piles upon piles of baby clothes that are taking up space in their room. Much of it will be consigned or donated, but some pieces are either too worn or too sentimental to give away.

Here are 5 ways get some more life out of those baby clothes:

1. Give to a teddy bear to wear.

Some garments are just too dear to us to part with. From both girls I have set aside a few outfits to hold on to as keepsakes. One is the going home outfit that Little Bit wore home from the hospital, and the others are just outfits that I loved seeing them in.

By dressing a medium-sized teddy in their clothes, I can hold on to the clothes, have them out where I can see them regularly, and make a bear look adorable!

2. Refashion into a quilt.

You can create a keepsake to last forever by cutting squares out of them and assembling a quilt. Even if you don't have mad sewing skills, there are companies like this one that will use the clothes you send them and make a blanket for you.

3. Embellish over stains and give away.

I always hated throwing away onesies with small stains, but what else is one to do with them? This Recycled Life shows just how to hide little blemishes, and make those onesies even cuter, by sewing sweet appliqués over the stains. Then, you can donate them, pass along to a expectant mother, or save for your own future bundles!

4. Use as scraps for crafting.

Even worn-out and stained clothing can have some good spots left on them. Cut off the bad parts and save the rest for future arts and crafts projects. Fabric collages are always fun. You could also use the fabrics as scrapbooking embellishments, or use pieces of them to make appliqués to cover up other stained clothing (see #3). Really the possibilities are endless.

5. Repurpose as Gift wrap.

The colors and themes found on baby clothing are ideal for wrapping a gift for another baby. Fabric is often a better choice than paper when wrapping awkwardly shaped items such as pacifiers, bottles, and some toys. You can find many ways of folding fabric to cover your gifts here.

These are just a few ways to squeeze a little more life out of those adorable baby clothes that you just can't find anything else to do with. Because really, who wants to throw away a sweet little yellow ducky romper just because it has a little spot on it?

Newspaper Streamers

2008-05-12T07:10:00.001-04:00

Hooray for newspapers!

What a great theme for this week's Unplugged Project. So many possibilities...we made streamers!

We used strips of newspaper, a round plastic lid with the center cut out, a popsicle stick, and yarn and tape to hold it all together.

This picture shows pretty well how it all came together:

I think this was Little Bit's first experience with streamers and it was an instant hit! She loved swishing her new toy all around her body...

or just carrying it around with her.

And, not wanting to leave Bitty Baby out of the newspaper fun, we folded a newspaper hat!

We had actually planned on doing a couple other newspaper projects, but Little Bit fell sick at the end of the week and we just didn't get to them. But never fear, I'm sure we'll do them soon!

Go check out what other folks did with newspaper at Unplug Your Kids!

Family Portrait

2008-05-10T22:19:00.001-04:00

I've always preferred candid photos over posed. I love the reality that is depicted and the stories they tell. This picture in particular has always resonated with me.

We've stopped for a photo in front of the Washington Monument and nobody can look up because the sun is so bright. My mom is holding us closely and smiling as though all is perfect. A real smile. You can tell just by looking at her eyes.

That's the thing about my mom, she was always happiest just being a mom. She also happened to be a single mom serving in the military. We moved around, saw husbands come and go, but my mother's love swaddled and protected us from the harsh realities of her world.

We were such a happy little family that my brother and I never really knew things were supposed to be different.

Somehow my mom managed to carry out all of her roles in such a way that we never felt deprived of anything.

That's what I see when I look at this old picture. No, life was never perfect, but we were blinded by our happiness to that fact. We had each other, and we had a mother who was strong, confident, nurturing, and completely selfless.

About 10 years ago I framed this photo and gave it to my mom for Mother's Day. She thanked me and was happy to have received it, but she was puzzled as to why I chose this particular picture. Our albums were filled with better pictures of the three of us...professional portraits with us all actually looking at the camera. My explanation at the time was something along the lines of, "I don't know, I just always liked this one."

Well, Mom, only a decade later and you finally have a more complete explanation as to why this image of our family is so meaningful to me. Consider it the second half of the gift. :)

Our Mother's Day Gifts for the Grandmas

2008-05-08T21:59:00.003-04:00

I didn't think it would be this long between my Mother's Day Crafts post and now, and I'm sure you've all been just teetering there on the edge of your seats waiting for me to present the silhouette card idea that I left as a teaser at the end of the post.

Oh...you didn't get that far? Just a skimmer, huh? Well, here it is anyway.

On the inside I included this poem (that I wrote so please be kind):

This is your day,

It's all about you,

Flowers and cards and how do you dos.

This one time of year,

We remember to say,

Thank you, dear Grandma, for your loving way.

We also made some hand flowers and taped the hands onto a pipe cleaner stem. One hand from each kid. Tis very cute. In fact, I think I'm going to make an extra one to keep for myself. :)

The silhouettes were VERY easy to do. The hardest part was getting a good profile shot of a kid who won't stay in one place for more than a second. Once you have the shot, there are just a few steps in Photoshop to go through.

I found directions here. Basically, you delete the background using the magic wand tool, desaturate, decrease brightness, and increase contrast. Very easy. Just make sure you have a good clean background...saves a lot of time with the magic wand.

I'm loving how mine turned out, but I think that someone who really knows what they're doing could turn this idea into something truly impressive. If you do try this, let me know. I'd love to see what others can do with the silhouettes!

P.S. A BIG heartfelt thank you to those who offered your kind words and prayers. The Lord heard you and every time I thought I had tapped out all my baby-watching resources, He would send someone else over to help keep an eye on my little ones so that I could go spend some more time with my husband in the hospital. Between the memorial services for Grandpa tomorrow and Daddy-O coming home, things should definitely start getting back to normal by the weekend. Thanks again for your thoughtful words.