Me + Africa

I saw some $12 shoes at Target a few weeks ago, and fell in love. I tried them on, walked down the shoe aisle, and my feet hurt. Bummer. Is this what my life has become? I'll no longer buy shoes solely on the basis of appearance? Yet another aspect of my youth slipping away...

I digress. I mysteriously found myself in Nordstrom's shoe department the very next day. 20 minutes later, and I was the proud owner of my very first pair of TOMS {mom, it's a shoe company that gives a pair of shoes to Africa with every shoe purchase}. I love these things. I'm already stalking a pair of their ballet flats.

So now I've given Africa my breast milk and shoes. We're becoming good friends.

Little Dude is...

Oh, this little boy is growing up so fast.  We were at the doctor today {the poor thing is sick}, and he's weighing in at 21.1 pounds.  I'm glad his growth has plateaued a bit.

Here's what my big boy is doing:

• This little guy isn't so little.  We're in a carseat predicament.  We bought a Peg Perego Primo Viaggio carseat, which is designed for babies up to 30 pounds and 30 inches.  Well, he's not 30 inches yet, but his torso is too long, even at the biggest setting!  It's ridiculous.  So we'll be buying another Recaro Como convertible seat soon.
• He's a crawling monster now.  It took him a few days once he started to figure it out, but now he's all over the place.  The Sunbean is not that pleased about it.
• It took him a few months to warm up to table food, and now he can't get enough!  He'll eat anything and everything put before him.  Last night he ate half a quinoa burger.  He also eats the Sunbean under the table, with no problem.
• His sleeping is so great....but I'm dreading night-weaning.  The Sunbean did it herself at 9 months, but I don't see that happening here.  He's sleeping 12 hours at night {waking up for a snack every few hours}, and takes 2 naps.
• He's becoming such a social guy.  He loves to play with the Sunbean, and just loves it when someone is interacting with him.

I don't have all of his nine-month pics edited yet, but here's a favorite:

 Love that sweet boy.

Not-So-Happy Hour

There is an hour or two here every day that I refer to as 'happy hour'. It's that blissful time when my littles are both snoozing.

I usually spend it eating lunch or a snack {or both!} while watching smut on Netflix.

Last week, I was fixing the cord on the wii in preparation to settle down with some 'Say Yes to the Dress', and bumped a picture frame off of the wall. It landed on my foot, resulting in this:

 

It.  Hurt.  So.  Bad.  Like, I literally threw up for 20 minutes from the pain.  I called MacGyver, and he sweetly came home from work to wrastle the children while I lay on the couch and felt sorry for myself.

It still hurts a lot, especially when the Sunbean steps on it, but I can tell it's getting better.  I did plenty of Google-based research and concluded that it was unnecessary to pay a medical professional to tell me to keep it iced and elevated.

It baffles me that one little picture frame could do all that damage!

Holler.

Hey, do you remember that one time, when I had a blog I updated?

Because every post is better with a picture.

It's been a seriously crazy week.  We've:

• rented/sold our house!  Hurrah!  No more rent + mortgage + double utilities every month!  It's not 'official' yet, since the bank is still building a portfolio on the interested person, but he's moved in and paying us rent.  Winning.
• traveled home to make sure the house was ready for our guy.  It was weird to walk out, knowing we'll never live there again.  We've had 6 months to move on, though, so it wasn't too emotional.
• made travel plans for Florida!  My mom, the kids, and I are headed down in a few weeks.  I'm sure it will be nothing short of crazy with whiny kids, but that kind of sums up my life here, so might as well do it on a beach, right?
• taken a road trip up to Cabela's in Michigan.  My dad is hunter/fisher/outdoorsman extraordinaire, so this store is like home base for him.  He likes to take the kids up once a year, so up we went.  We made the experience complete by taking his new Ford truck.  Yep, we're that family.  To balance things out, I made sure we stopped at Target and Starbucks {twice}.
• spent an entire Friday night + alllll day Saturday looking at new cars for me.  We've more or less narrowed it down to a Honda Odyssey.  We're open to the Toyota Sienna, but we're Honda people.  My CR-V is at 250,000 miles right now, and still going strong.  You just can't argue with that.  So we found what we want a few times on Saturday, but it basically boiled down to being cheapskates thrifty.  In three months or so, we'll be able to pay cash for the van we want, so why finance?  Sure, we could finance now and then pay it off then, but I think we'd probably end up going on vacation or something with the money.  I think it will feel good to drive away in a new {to me} van that we actually own!

So I suppose that's why I haven't been updating the ol' blog.  Tomorrow I'm visiting a friend and taking a meal to another, so it will be another busy day.  Also on the agenda is sewing some clothing for my children so they aren't running around naked or wearing winter clothes in Florida.  Ah, the troubled life of a stay-at-home momma.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love = M&Ms

I can't resist holiday M&Ms.  And I can't resist pink and red together.  So the valentine M&Ms are pretty much the most awesome thing, ever.

To give myself a decent excuse to buy them, I made this little activity for the Sunbean.  I thought your kids might enjoy it, too.  And here's hoping it occupies your littles for at least 10 minutes {that's always the goal, right?}.

To save each of the images, right-click and choose 'save as'.

When you print them, make each image 7x7.  The little circles will be just the right size.

Have a lovely weekend {pun intended}!

The 5,000 Year Leap

I joined a book club here, and it's great.  Well organized, lots of snacks, and tons of discussion.  We've read a big variety of books, which has helped me get into some genres that I'd normally never even consider.

This month's book was The 5,000 Year Leap.  It's not exactly light reading, but it is so fantastic.  I'm not quite finished yet, but I've learned so much.  It's written by a man who has studied the founding fathers and the basic principles of the constitution for years.  He gathered his thoughts into basic principles that the founding fathers wanted our country to be founded upon.

It's a very timely read, with the general political climate and the upcoming election.  I'm amazing at the foresight the founders of our country had.  And after reading this, it's clear to me that they were guided by Heavenly Father.  There's no way they couldn't have been.

 

Don't let the endorsement by Glenn Beck scare you off...this is a level-headed and factual read.  I'd recommend buying a paper or digital copy...you'll want to make notes!

How to Print on Fabric

Do you have this problem?  I always get this 'idea' in my mind of an exact shirt I want, for me or my littles, and then I can't find it.  Or it's too expensive.  Most of the time, I just make it myself.  But sometimes that's hard, like if it's some sort of screen print.

Then, I had an idea.  I have a good printer.  Well, I think.  I like it, at least.

Why not print on fabric?  I've seen tutorials for freezer paper and the like, but I didn't ever feel like messing with that.  So why not?  Worst case scenario, I have to replace the printer.  Good thing it worked out.

Here's what I did.

First, I started with an old knit shirt.  It had little holes all over and more than one stain.

Then, I cut a piece to 8.5x11, for printing.  I also cut a piece of WonderUnder to the same size.

I ironed the two pieces together, and then taped it to a sheet of cardstock, to stabilize it for the printer.

Then I dinked around in Photoshop until I had a few things I wanted to print, crossed my fingers, and pressed 'print'.

It worked!

 

Then I just used the 'knit' stitch on my sewing machine to attach the graphics to shirts.  The top one is a cute little onesie for Little Dude, and the bottom is my new Republican shirt {go Mitt!}.  Don't be mad, Dad.

 

Here's a tip:  if you're ever in the market for a plain shirt {retailers totally missed the boat on that market}, check out the girls' section.  I can get by with a large or extra-large, and they are usually half the price of the same thing in the women's or junior's section.  So dumb.

I have no idea if this is machine-washable.  I figured I'll find out when it's time to wash them.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with my $5 project!

Homemade Granola Bars

 

I saw a recipe for homemade granola bars on {duh} Pinterest, and gave them a whirl on Sunday.  Sidebar:  luuuuuuurrrrrrrrve 9:00 church.  I get so much accomplished on Sundays, what with the husband home to tend the children, and all.

Anyway.  This recipe is fantastic.  I followed it exactly, and we all ate them right up.  The Sunbean is a dairy-lover, and prefers fruit, veggies, and dairy above all else.  That's fine, but I always get excited when she likes something that's healthy, filling, and non-dairy.

Next time, I'm going to experiment with a different amount of honey/sugar/butter, and use raisins.  We can't get enough raisins around here.

These certainly aren't the next superfood, but they aren't processed, either.  A step in the right direction.