Updates!

So I haven't been keeping up with my regular scheduled programing and I think you readers deserve to know why. (whoever you may be, ha ha)
My hubby has been working a lot of odd jobs lately which has caused me to have the kids full time. (Usually he does nap and bedtime, but he hasn't been here.) Also we have been out and about a little more than usual.
I had Skylar's Ascent meeting. She will be pulled from class every Tuesday to go to her special Ascent class. (we lovingly call it her Nerd Club, lol. It is for children that are formally identified as gifted, and Skylar considers being called a nerd a compliment!) They will learn about different "Sets" throughout the year. I am sure I will talk about them on here. They sound quite interesting, I think. She is really looking forward to this. Also it gives her a chance to meet other children. There are only about 4-5 kids in her school that qualified so they are joining several schools around this area to make a full class. 6 schools total of 4th and 5th graders. I believe they will be mixed together. She already has her 1st field trip scheduled.
Quick Pregnancy update is I am 8weeks, 3 days and have my 1st OB appointment tomorrow. I feel like a slug and have no energy, so that's been fun, haha. It's all worth it though!
Hubby got a job. A steady job, too. No more weird days at odd hours. This is something set so we know what to expect. We are expecting him to start sometime next week officially. This week is all about paperwork, background checks, orientations, training, etc. So WOOT on that front!

Oh as a bonus, both kids were sick today. Skylar more so than Sebastian. She missed school and was NOT happy about it. It's mostly cold/flu like symptoms, but they seem so small and helpless when they are sick. Sad face about that one.

Hope all is well for whoever is reading this!!

Ode to My Children

Memory Lane (baby shower)

I have been thinking a lot about Baby Showers lately. Several people I know are expecting and it's been a fun topic to discuss. In my little world, everyone had a shower for each baby. Every baby got celebrated, ya know? It wasn't until I joined the online community that I discovered that isn't how it typically worked. Apparently, you have a shower for your first and either a Sprinkle or Sip and See with each consecutive baby. A Sprinkle is basically a smaller shower, less gifts, etc. A Sip & See is classified as a meet and greet after the baby is born and is typically thrown by the new mommy. (based on these definitions, I guess I had Sprinkles before, lol)
I do not know what I will have with little Peep. If no one throws me a shower or sprinkle I would like to plan a Sip & See. (I really see it going this way because quite honestly, I think people in my life are so focused on how soon I got pregnant again verses my financial state they cant see past it to be genuinely happy for me. I know Peep wasn't planned and Sebastian will only be 2 1/2 when this one is born, but I fall deeper and deeper in Love everyday and feel incredibly blessed to be carrying this baby!)

So, all this thought led me to thinking about my previous showers. I will describe Sebastian's for you:
Technically my sister threw this for me, but I think I did, ha ha. She kept saying she wanted to throw me a shower but I was getting further and further along and still no plans. So I started planning it. I adore planning events, so I didn't mind in the slightest. I planned every little detail and even did the shopping. Her and MIL footed the bill at checkout time though. (so I consider it a combo hosting??)

Food was simple little horsdevores. Nothing fancy.
Games were fun!
* Of course we did the standard "Can't say Baby", I made little Binkys on a string for guests to wear, and if you caught someone saying Baby, then you got their necklace. At the end of the party, person with the most necklaces won. (I actually won this, lol)
* Draw a baby. Hold a paper plate on top of your head and try to draw a baby. So funny!
* Guess Mommy to Be's belly size. Have everyone pull out a piece of string to get the waistline of the pregnant lady. Some of these were shocking
*Decorate onesies. This was my favorite. I gave everyone a blank white onesie and had fabric markers out for everyone to make the baby a onesie. This is really fun for the kids at the party, but adults got pretty into it as well.
*Pass the gift. Wrap a party favor up and read a story. It was a story about Mrs.Left who went right up the street, etc etc. As the words right and left were read you pass the gift that direction, and whoever ended up with the gift at the end of the story kept the gift!
*ABC list. ABCs were written along the side of the page and guest had 5 minutes to think of a baby animal that started with each letter. Winner was the one with the most letters filled in.

ETA: I forgot one of our favorite things! I took a small pack of diapers and everyone wrote a comment on the outside using a Sharpie and shoved them back into the bag. I was not allowed to read them until putting them on him and they had to b used in the middle of the night.
So much fun at 3am when you haven't slept in days pulling our a diaper that says "remember how much he loves you for being there" or "watch out he sprays!!". This was a really fun thing to do!

8/22/11 MM: Milk Magic

So while reading a blog I adore I saw this lovely idea. I can honestly say, this was a new one! I figured since today was Monday, we would give it a go! After all Monday is for Masterpieces, right? ha ha.
Supplies needed:
*Whole milk (any milk is fine but whole works best)
*Toothpick
*Dish soap
*Food color
*shallow dish

^^ My guess is you already own all that right? So here's the deal
*Pour the milk into the dish and put various drops of food color all around. Dip the tooth pick into the soap and begin to swirl.
Sebastian absolutely adored this project! We had to repeat with another color choice and let him create again. FUN. FUN. FUN. Hope y'all try this and let me know what you think!!

Yes, ha ha. He had to touch the milk, hahaha

After adding the milk, drop in some color. Dipping your toothpick into soap and then dipping the milk creates the colors to run away from the tooth pick. Very cool effect!

Take 2, ha ha. He wanted to do it again.

I seriously adore this. The color technique just looks so neat. Don't be surprised if it shows up as my new background!
ETA: I did add this as my background, ha ha

SS Bday Gift #1: FlowerPot

Today we worked on a craft for a friend. I am in a Mommy Group with other October 2009 babies. We have been in a little group of us 10 girls for over a year. Some of us have actually gotten rather close. ( I also mention this group here) This year for the kids birthday, we decided to do a Secret Stork (SS) and make a gift. Sebastian is to make something for the child's name we got and we should be receiving a handmade gift as well. I am looking forward to seeing what the other moms do!If our SS is a reader or follower on this blog, I hope this doesn't give it away!!
The first thing we did was a flower pot w/faux flowers.
Skylar, of course had to make one too, and maybe she will bless me with her flower pot? haha I can only hope. In fact I think these are precious and want one from both kids.
The kit comes with 3 ceramic flower pots, a set of paint, 1 paint brush, 3 pieces of foam and 3 sets of flowers. All you do is paint the pot, let dry over night, insert foam and your choice of flowers and Wah-La, a beautiful gift! I found this on sale at Walmart for $10, so you figure a little over $3 each if you make it into 3 gifts! nice deal, huh?
They both thoroughly enjoyed doing these. Sebastian didn't want to stop even after his was painted!
Tomorrow's goal was inserting foam (after they dried all night) and putting in the flowers, but we may have to paint something, haha. My kids just LOVE painting!
 Today was Step 1&2: Paint and let dry

On Day 2: Sebastian simply added the foam in the pot and inserted flowers. I showed him how to *fluff* out the flowers a little and he took over. It's amazing to think this was totally done by him! LOVE that. (Skylar hasn't added her flowers yet). I really hope his friend likes it!

Glow Jars

I have been toying with this idea for a while now, and I think it turned out really well. The reason I think it went so well, is because the kids wouldn't stop talking about it!
We made glow jars today. Super simple. We used an old baby food jar. (click on photo to enlarge. Sebastian was actually holding it!)
Simply take a glow stick, cut a piece of it off with a sharp knife, and pour contents into a small glass jar. Next I screwed on the lid, and gently rolled it around to spread the gloop.
Then you just take your child into a dark room and let them play!
Sebastian loved twirling it around and creating light shows. Skylar mentioned it would be a cool light in her bedroom, so that's where it stayed after Sebastian was finished.
My only complaint would be, I bought cheap clearanced Glo Sticks. This meant the color wasn't as bright as it could have been, and didn't last very long at all. Next time I will try to get better quality Glow Sticks. BUT the upside was: the kids didn't notice. They simply swirled them around in the dark and played and laughed. What more could you really ask for?

Quick WIUW Report

For Skylar's 1st day of school and WIUW, she chose to do brownies. BUT she put them in a cupcake pan instead of regular 8x8 like we normally do.
The boxed mix created 1 dozen amazingly perfect Brownie Cupcakes. Sorry I didn't take photos, but you can do this easily. Make mix as directed and pour into cupcake pan. 350 for 25 minutes and they were fabulous.

1st Day of 4th Grade

Well today was Skylar's 1st day back to school, and my 1st day realizing how pregnant I really am. Morning Sickness to the 10th degree, I'm assuming. Due to it, I did not take Skylar to school today, which completely bucked tradition. She was sadden, but was super understanding. 
She got up early, as usual and got ready. She had her outfit chosen for weeks and looked ridiculously adorable. I made her favorite breakfast of bacon, eggs, and biscuits. After breakfast we went outside to enjoy the nice cool morning air and wait for her bus. We went out about 15-20 minutes early.
There was a baby cricket on Sebastian's pail on the patio table so Skylar checked him out.
The morning went really well, and included a very classic Skylar quote. She was talking about how on the outside she felt Happy and excited but on the inside her stomach hurt and she felt nauseous. I asked if she was just nervous about the new year and she said, "oh yeah. I'm sure I'm fine and it's just psychosomatic " LOL. love her.
Here are a few pics from her morning!

Best.Breakfast.Ever (in her eyes)

Looking so stylish!

Waiting for her bus

Baby Cricket stopped by to see her off

Letting them go, so I can go left.

My friend Hillary has several blogs and they are all fabulous. One in particular is the one I'm going to refer to now. It is called Thinking Out Loud. She has been posting a lot of quotes lately. I have been having a tough time in my personal life and some of these quotes have really helped me. One entry I can relate with so much right now, I feel I could write it myself. Instead I will copy and paste her entry in red because seriously she has completely NAILED how I feel right now.
Let them Go

I've been learning some interesting things about myself and I gotta say, it's making it a lot more difficult to move on and accept things the way they are.

There is a very small handful of others who have a place in my heart, who are great inspirations to me, who give me a reason to smile and who teach me new lessons in optimism and love.
What I need to work on now and figure out is how to let people go
another quote she had was this:
I feel as if everything is crumbling around me and I am left standing to pick up the pieces. Feels like nothing is going right...so I am going to go Left.

Life is what you make it. People can only truly affect you if you give them the permission. Life isn't always pretty and shiny. Things may be hard right now, but I have 2 perfect children and 1 on the way, so something IS going right. It's time to hold my head high and release all the negative energies I am feeling. Things are going to start looking up and I have to be in attendance waiting for God's Grace. I can't be off feeling sorry for myself. This chapter is done and time to start a new one.

Meeting Spongebob

OMG!! SPONGEBOB!! LOL
So, like most kids, my children adore that big yellow spongy guy. Sebastian was able to say Bob-bob before he even knew who he was! He knew of the theme song and danced to it (he will dance to anything btw) because Skylar and her daddy watch it together. Now he is slowly starting to watch a few minutes of TV at a time, which before he would barely make it past the song. He still doesn't hold TV in high regards, but will watch the occasional cartoon. For example, he asks for "cartoons" when it's nap time and bedtime, and will fall asleep next to daddy while they are on. While he is fully awake however, he barely gives TV any love, LOL. That's fine.
Also, I don't feel like a Spongebob debate, I know a lot of parents that both adore and loathe the spongy guy. I don't mind him. I don't personally watch it but my kids are allowed.

Ok, so all that brings me to the fact that Sponge bob was at our grocery store today! We have known about this for weeks and have been planning on bringing him. I was a little nervous, because he'd never seen a costumed character before (except Santa and that went over horribly), but he LOVED him. Oh my goodness. 3 trips through the line. He raced right up, hugged him, was dancing, etc. It was hard to take pics because I was laughing so hard. I even got teary-eyed at his excitement. He was such completely infatuated with this guy. He even waved bye-bye to him as we were leaving. It was so adorable!

Running up to shake his hand! ha ha

YAY! Spongebob!

Then Sebastian starts dancing

He was showing me his tongue, and saying he could see Spongebob's tongue

and of course, a HUG

 

8/10/11 WIUW: Butterflies and Cupcakes

Today we tackled Funfetti cake mix. I think it very well may be my daughter's favorite.
I made the batter (myself) while her and Sebastian ate lunch. After lunch they wanted to play with the Oobleck (found here) some more. Yep day 3 of play. This stuff is very well loved, haha.
After gloop play (and cleanup!), it was on to dessert!
 I made 12 cupcakes and put the rest of the batter into a small cake pan. She used that for her Butterflies. They were standard cake pop taste (found here) but with a fun cute new look!
Skylar painted the inside of 5 butterfly molds with food color, the poured in her vanilla candy melts. She let that harden, added her cake pop filling, topped with more candy melt and let harden.
Sebastian painted letter molds with food color and I filled them with the candy melt, and put in fridge to harden.Next I let Sebastian chose a color for icing (he chose blue) and I frosted the cupcakes. Skylar added the letters Sebastian colored to the cupcakes as toppers. Very cute! Today was fun! Scroll on for pics!                                        More Gloop Love!!        

Painting the letters

Painting her butterflies

Finshed cupcakes

Cakepop Butterflies!

Back To School Traditions

<--------(a few of her favorite things)

Well looks like the time has, unfortunately, come. the back To School Countdown. This depresses me every year. I love having Skylar home with me. I have even considered homeschooling, haha.
But Skylar is excited so it's time Mommy puts on her *Happy Face* and shared in the excitement.
We tend to pick up little things here and there that she likes for her school clothes all summer. We have done the big massive, all-in-one-trip shopping, but Skylar and I both tend to like this way better.
As for supplies, her list was really easy this year. Very simple and inexpensive. I liked this years list, lol.
Skylar has gone through her stuff more times than I can count. She loves new school supplies and is very excited about entering 4th grade. She hasn't seen anyone all summer, so I'm sure her school friends have a lot to do with her excitement.
The theory goes that this is one of the hardest schools in 4th grade. Supposedly they challenge you to the 10th degree. I hope she does well, and in all honesty I have every bit of Faith that she will be great!
What are you back to school traditions? As of now, we don't really have anything other than your standard shopping trips. But I have some ideas in mind, so that may change in the coming years. I did throw her a little end of year party (click here to see), so I think maybe I'll continue that or even a Back To School Party.

Click on me to see her 1st day of school!

Pineapple Angel Food Cake

Need a super simple and yummy dessert?
Try some pineapple angel food cake. Simple buy a box of Angel Food cake mix, the kind that requires water only, and a can of crushed pineapple in it's juices. (I'm not a fan of heavy syrup ones, but this is my personal preference so honestly, I don't know how well it will work with that style)
DO NOT add water to your mix, just dump the entire can in the bowl with the mix. Beat for 30 seconds on Med and 1 minute on slow. The mix will fluff up like crazy, so use a large bowl. I don't have an Angel Food fluted pan, so I looked for alternatives I did have. Skylar got out the cupcake pan, which I had been thinking as well, so we used that. Worked great! 350 for 18minutes and we had yummy cupcakes. Top with some whipped cream if desired. Hope you enjoy
(btw, I have two great friends that enjoy this and talk about it often, so I had to try it out. lol. Thanks H & R)




 <---link up

8/8/11 MM (I wanna touch it!)

So today the kids played with Gloop. Is there a better term? Skylar and I referred to it as Oobleck from Dr. Suess.

You have probably made this at school or some other point in your life.
Making gloop is a 2 ingredient ordeal. How cool???
You need water and cornstarch. EASY PEASY.
I made 2 separate bowls as I was unsure on how you *share* this type of activity.
I also colored it. I'm sure you can tell by now, we love color. We try to add color to a lot of our crafts, and even food. Haha. Skylar wanted Blue Gloop and Sebastian wanted his to be green.
All you do is add however much water you want and double that for the amount of cornstarch needed.
Skylar's was 1 cup of water (mixed with food color) and 2 Cups of cornstarch
Sebastian's was 1/2 Cup of water and 1 Cup of Cornstarch.
He was a little weirded out by the concept of what he was supposed to do, but once he got going, you can see the excitement on his face! He thoroughly enjoyed this, as did Skylar. She told me it was a Science Experiment as well. She said the substance didn't make sense, like Jello doesn't. Is a solid? Is it a liquid? Who cares??? It's FUN!!

Keep it moving and it is a solid

Let it rest and it's a liquid!
Move it again and it'll re harden!

Bubble Snakes

Today we made Bubble Snakes! So fast and easy, but best of all, both kids thoroughly enjoyed it.
I got a book at the library about quick and easy crafts, so I copied some down! Hope y'all like them, as I plan on doing them in the upcoming MM and beyond!
So, Bubble Snakes are simply that: Snakes made from Bubbles. Instructions could not be simpler:

 ITEMS NEEDED:
*Old bottle with bottom cut off
*Use a rubber band to secure a washcloth to the opening in bottom
*Shallow bowl w/water and a tiny squirt of Dawn
*(I tried adding food color to the water, didn't work. I'm going to add it to the washcloth next time)

 Simply dip your bottle into the bowl and blow.

 These are really fun to play in and if it weren't so hot out today I could totally see this lasting a while with both kids.
Be warned though. If doing this with a toddler, have a sibling, older child or adult do the blowing. I had a lot of "baby do it" requests but I fear them not properly blowing and you could suck in soap. Bleck, no one wants that! Therefore, I was the designated Bubble Blower.

 *oh, and another thought! How fun would this be in the bathtub??? haha