Posts Tagged ‘Julia Mabel’
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One thing I am most grateful for in my girls is that they are good eaters. For having a 2yo and 3yo, we have very few “food fights”. Sure, the occasional issue arises, but mostly they are willing eaters of any thing I make. While I am far from a short order cook {my policy is, if you don’t like what I made, don’t eat}, I do struggle with lunch.
Right before lunch my girls are clawing my eyes out they are so hungry. But as soon as their plates are on the table, it’s like they’ve become complete monkeys. They pick at their favorite foods. Julia tells me her belly hurts. Hannah is off chasing Jack. Lunch takes an hour. It’s like our own “hour lunch break”. Though it’s not nearly as relaxing as my hour lunch break before I had kids.
Then a couple of weeks ago, I decided to try something new. I sectioned off their lunch into a muffin tin. I had read a few years back about how Michelle, at Muffin Tin Mom, put her kids’ food in muffin tins to make it more exciting. Talk about a food revolution. I don’t know what it is about eating out of a muffin tin, but my girls love it. Perhaps it’s all the choices they get {and that they get to decide on their second helping option}. Perhaps they like that it’s unconventional and new. Whatever the case, lunches are going so smoothly {well, to be honest, they aren’t always smooth, but smoother}.
One of the great things about muffin tin meals, is that it makes me focus on giving Julia and Hannah well-rounded meals. Meats, dairy, veggies, fruits and some carbs. Plus, when the pantry gets low right before grocery store days, having a muffin tin really stretches my imagination on the food front.
What ways do you switch up lunch time? Do you have picky eaters or willing eaters?
Visit Kristen at We Are THAT Family for more Works for Me Wednesday.
Flexing My Crafty Skills
Posted on: August 11, 2011
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Since making my braided headband, I’ve been trying to really flex my crafty muscles. Be it in the kitchen or something for the house, I am keeping an eye out for what will be a fun little project or adventure.
Recently on Pinterest, I came across this cute idea of turning an unused picture frame into a dry erase board.
The original idea for the board is to be used as a to-do list or menu. I already have a menu/to-do list board, but still really love this idea. I thought it would be really cute as a message board for the girls in their room.
Being the non-scrapbooker, I had no cute paper on hand {which is what the site suggests using}, but I did/do have cute fabric. And I scored double that the fabric goes with the girls’ color scheme.
We always ask the girls “How much do we love you?” and it is met with the reply “too, too much.” I thought it only appropriate to have that as our first message on the board. The fun part is, as the girls get older and start writing, we can turn it into a real “message board” and write notes to each other.
It was super easy to make and allowed me to try something new with low risk {helping me build those crafty muscles!}.
What crafty things have you done lately?
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures.
Visit Jill at Diaper Diaries for more Things I Love Thursday.
A Top Ten To-Do List
Posted on: August 2, 2011
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{Be sure to enter my giveaway for a copy of The Help}
I’m a planner. If I thought that it was at all reasonable, I’d have the next 5 years of my life planned out. I’ve tried that before. Trust me, it doesn’t work. But, I can plan out certain projects that I want to get done before the end of summer.
1. Paint Baby Boy’s Changing Table – We have the same changing table we used with the girls. It’s a little brown, three tier table. It’s nice, but because of Baby Boy’s new-to-us white crib, the table doesn’t match his room. So I’m setting out to paint the table white. Maybe, just maybe, I might add some blues and greens to it. Maybe.
2. Get a Purse Hook – My purse ends up either on the floor or kitchen counter. Neither place is very good, because it’s either in danger of little hands or taking up space. I’d love to find one like this at a repurpose store ::
3. Add Art/Color to the House – Thanks to pinterest, I’ve got a lot of wonderful ideas. However, I don’t have tons of time or money to see them all through. But, this is one idea that I really love
4. Finish Julia’s Dress – I’m in the process of making a dress for Julia {as part of my 30 before 30}. I’ve stepped away from it for the last several weeks, but I think it’s time to come back to it.
5. Paint Baby Boy’s Room – Currently, one of the walls in Baby Boy’s room is hunter green. And the window valence is a green/red/khaki combo. Not my favorite, as it looks super office-y. We are planning to tone down the green and get new curtains.
6. Plan Julia’s 4th Birthday Party – In my I’m-a-planner nature, I realize that I’m most likely not going to be up for planning Julia’s 4th birthday weeks after Baby Boy makes his arrival. Slowly I’ve been setting aside ideas for her party {going with a princess and knight theme}, so that when the time comes everything is ready to go.
7. Take a mini-vacation – Our family is in need of a little vacation. Nothing major, just a few days away. We are currently looking at visit South Padre at the end of August. Fingers crossed all goes well and we can enjoy beach time together.
8. Plan Julia and Hannah’s Spring School Schedule – We started preschool yesterday. Nothing major, just learning numbers, basic math, ABC’s and introduction to writing/reading. {I do need to brag for a second. Julia totally wrote her own name yesterday!} We started school so early, because I plan to take off November and December. But, before Baby Boy arrives, I want to have the spring planned out, as to not have any excuses for not finishing the school year off strong.
9. Start Christmas/St. Nick Shopping – After last year, we decided to go forward with not exchanging gifts on Christmas. We are celebrating St. Nicholas Day and using that as our gift giving holiday. I am planning to make gifts for our neighbors and have some pretty great ideas going. This one I thought was really cute ::
10. Read More – That seems a bit vague, but I’m really wanting to read a few more good books as the summer ends and fall begins. I’ve gone through two in the last month, so I’m hoping to going through two or three more. Just a little mama time when the girls sleep.
Do you have an end of summer to do list? If so, what’s on it?
Visit Amanda at Oh Amanda for more Top Ten Tuesday.
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Our living room is set up in such a way that there is a great little space between our long sofa and love seat. Many a day, the girls have played back there. Jack, on occasion, has even taken to hiding from the girls resting there. But in the last couple of weeks, it’s seen little use. Which I find a little sad, because if I could comfortable fit, I’d be in that little nook all day.
This weekend I came across a cute {and easy} idea from Pinterest ::
On Monday, with the girls help, we created our own little reading nook ::
And least you think that the girls are quiet, non-messy readers, this was how their nook looked within the first 2 minutes ::
Have you ever made a reading nook? Or do you/your kids have a reading nook?
Visit Kristen at We Are THAT Family for more Works for Me Wednesday.
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I’ve joked that if given the chance, the girls would permanently attach themselves to me. From the moment they wake up, to the moment they go to bed, they are constantly touching me. A pat on my arm to get my attention. A sweet hug to show their love. Or my personal favorite, sticking their hands up my shorts/skirt while I’m cooking. Actually, that last one drives me a little batty.
While I’ve always said touch is one of my love languages, I think 3.5 years into motherhood might be proving that wrong. {My love language now is extra sleep.} Now before you think I don’t like loving on my girls, please know that I do. Very, very much. I could hug, snuggle, kiss on them all day and be perfectly happy. But {and that’s a very big but}, there are different touches that can make me start to unravel, in a mama’s-losing-it sorta way.
Like clinging to my feet while I’m trying to clean {Hannah literally clings to my feet, forcing me to drag her around with me}.
Or, patting my arm while repeatedly saying “mama, mama, mama, mama, mama”.
Or, in a moment of sibling rivalry, deciding who can sit the closest to me while we’re reading {normally resulting in jumping on me}.
There are several more, but frankly, they are a bit TMI {if you’re a mom, or married, use your imagination… yeah}.
So, from 6 am to 8 pm, there is a whole lotta touching going on. And really, after the fourteenth time of having a little hand go up my shorts, I have to draw a boundary. Rather than waiting till I’ve hit my touch limit for the day, I schedule out personal “no talk, no touch” times throughout the day. One normally after we’ve had breakfast and sent Jonathan off for the day. Then one during Hannah’s nap and Julia’s quiet time. And then a final one in the late afternoon or early evening. It might sound harsh to some of you, but I need my “no talk, no touch” time.
I set the timer for 10-20 minutes {it’s usually longest in the morning so I can have my quiet time} and the girls know that they can’t talk or touch me until the timer goes off. Once the timer rings, we are all back in the game, with little hands everywhere. And by then, I’ve had enough “no touching” to be ready for the next round. There are times when the touching starts to drive me crazy between the “no talk, no touch” times. But rather than flat out telling them to stop touching me, I ask them nicely to only do it once. Or in the case of who-can-sit-closest-to-mama, I tell them I can read two stories – one story with my arm around one girl, and another story with my arm around the other girl.
Do you have touchy children? How do you handle too much touchiness?
Finding Joy in Everything
Posted on: July 8, 2011
- In: Life
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This week has been crazy. Tuesday was spent recovering from traveling to DFW and getting the girls back on a real schedule, cause the one they wanted was not working.
Then I had the chance to show a lot of grace to Hannah has she started having more and more potty accidents.
But, even in the challenging parts, Julia started swimming on her own – which was completely awesome.
And I realized, joy doesn’t mean life will be easy, or flawless, or even fun. Joy simply means that there will be a deep love of life that can’t be fully explained or defined. It will be there when your child pees on the living room floor. It will be there when you are battling bad attitudes at 6 am. It will be there when your child swims to you for the very first time. Joy is life. Joy is allowing struggles to mingle with triumph. Joy is knowing that at the end of the day, love is what matters. Not clean floors. Not perfect children. Just love.
What brought you joy this week?
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You might remember how I shared a couple of weeks ago about Julia “swimming” on her own with a water noodle.
Last week, we moved on to the life jacket.
And this week?
This week, my sweet little girl is swimming completely on her own.
She started off Monday, while we were visiting Katie. She’d swim a foot or so between Jonathan and Katie. Then Tuesday, at our pool, she started swimming about two feet from the stairs to me.
Yesterday was the big day. In deep water {for her that is} she swam about 4 feet from the side of the pool to me. Completely under water. Without any help.
I can’t tell you just how excited I am for her! She loves it and is really proud of herself {as she should be!}. It is so awesome to see how she’s progressed in the last couple of months, from being nervous about being in the big pool to swimming on her own. She’s rocking it! The funny part is, I really can’t take any credit for teaching her how to swim. Other than her seeing Jonathan and I swimming, I haven’t shown or told her anything {perhaps just that she needs to kick her feet and move her arms}. She’s a natural fish.
How old were you when you learned to swim? Have you ever taught anyone to swim?
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
Dollar Movie Days with the Kids
Posted on: June 30, 2011
- In: Life
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Tuesday I took the girls to a dollar showing of Charlotte’s Web, along with three other mamas and their kiddos. We knew the place would be a mad house, so we arrived early to get seats and the kids settled.
The girls had a blast. Between being in a theatre, being in a theatre with their friends, their way awesome mama {go me!} got them popcorn and a Sprite. Though, let me just say, I need to figure out a better way to bring in popcorn to the theatre cause that stuff is expensive!
Sadly, I’m not so awesome that I can take two kids {one who is potty training} and remember to bring my camera {or even take pictures for that matter}. So this is our only shot of our movie date:
Aside from needing to bring in my own popcorn, I did learn a very valuable lesson about taking both girls to the theatre – sit on the end, not the middle. Because, some little one {who shall remain nameless} will ask to “go potty” at least six times during the movie.
Thankfully, the other mamas didn’t mind keeping an eye on Julia, and let’s face it, a theatre full of kids isn’t exactly going to be quiet and uninterrupted. Even with the multiple potty breaks {the girl stayed dry the whole time!}, it was so much fun treating Julia and Hannah to a mama date. I’m hoping to take them back again in August when they show The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything. This time with my own popcorn.
Have you taken your kids to the movies? If so, what did they think? If not, I highly recommend doing a dollar show just to try it out!
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
Visit Jill at Diaper Diaries for more Things I Love Thursday.
Decorating With Letters
Posted on: June 23, 2011
- In: Life
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Before Julia was born, I found these adorable white wooden ABC letters at Hobby Lobby. Since we had decided on her name, I went ahead a bought the letters to hang in her room. Once Hannah was born, I got the letters for her name too. Since moving {not only from house to house in Iowa, but across the country} the letters have been tucked away in our closet for “later”.
“Later” finally came last week. Inspired by a sign hanging in the girls’ room, we choose the colors.
Jonathan, being the genius that he is, came up with a whole scheme for which letters should be which color:
So I got to work. I laid out all the letters that coordinated with a certain color:
Then I started painting, or spraying, however you want to look at it:
After working most of the morning, this is my end result:
What fun projects have you done lately?
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
Visit Jill at Diaper Diaries for Things I Love Thursday.
Julia’s New Swimming Adventure
Posted on: June 16, 2011
- In: Life
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This week’s Try New Adventure isn’t about what I’ve tried, but what Julia did.
We go to the pool a shameful amount. After all, it’s free and the weather is hot. There is an amazing kiddie pool, that is about 1.5 feet deep {as well as a normal pool}. We typically go during the mid-morning and stay till naptime. As the weeks go on, the girls have gotten more and more confident in the water. Hannah will jump off the edge {whether you’re there to catch her or not} and Julia will dive under for several seconds.
But this past Tuesday, Julia started swimming.
She’s been hanging on the edge, then will push off towards me. She’s not actually swimming, but at least getting confidence in not holding on to me or the wall for a few seconds. We got out the pool noodle and the girls were jumping off the edge, onto the noodle while I stood there to catch them. I exampled to Julia how she could balance herself on the noodle and “swim” on her own. She was doubtful at first, but finally tried it.
Next thing I knew, she was swimming. Of course, she was balancing herself on the noodle {to support her upper body} and I was in front with my hands out in case she needed help. But the girl did it. She swam all over the pool.
It was awesome.
She was so incredibly proud of herself. At one point she said “I can’t wait to tell Daddy. He’ll be so proud of me!” He was. And so I am.
What new adventures have you tried? Or even your kiddos?
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures.
A Wife Loved Like The Church 
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