Cushy for the Tushy

The boys and I went to our 11 year-old neighbor's baseball game last week. It was so hot, and the seats were so uncomfortable. My neighbor used a a blanket to cushion the bleachers a bit, but it kept sliding down and was fleece (so hot).

I decided to make her a stadium cushion for the games. And since she's been jealous that I keep making things with a bag of old clothes she gave me (like a cute little halter and t-shirt skirt), I decided to use an old pair of jeans that were in the bag.

First I cut the butt out, so the cushion could have cute little pockets to stash a cell phone and some cash for the snack bar. I had to add a little denim from the legs to the sides to make it a rectangle (she's little, but if you have a larger size, you can probably skip that part).

Next, I grabbed some old striped canvas I had left over from another project and cut to size. I left a little extra on top to make a nice seam (to take advantage of the jeans waistband). Put the right sides together and stitched around three sides (leave the top/waistband open).

Then I stuffed it with some left over quilt batting. Made a little handle with a piece of the leg material, pinned up the top (attaching the handle) and stitched closed.

My quilt batting was in a bunch of little pieces, so I machine stitched around each of the pockets to hold it all in place inside. I think it makes it look finished and I love the look of the back.

May the force be with you

A couple weeks ago all my dorky (yet amazing) neighbors got together a dusk for a screening of the original Star Wars (when Carrie Fisher looked awesome in the big brown buns and white dress - Leia is my hero).

My Star Wars obessed kids had a ball. They maybe caught about 30 minutes of movie, but had fun with the other neighborhood younglings. They practiced their lightsaber skills, ate popcorn and yummy cupcakes (my neighbor KF is an amazing cake decorator).

I also whipped up these totally cute Yoda coozies. One for each member of the family.

We all dorked out and watched on the big screen (made of a sheet on a metal pipe frame).

And I did up my hair just like my little Leia friend. I'm gonna have to make myself a white dress and cool funky belt by Halloween.

Fun was had by ALL.

Adventures in Kindergarten

Well, it's official, I have a kindergartener. Never thought that would happen.

So far, so good, but it's only day three. No tears (or homework yet). As a treat, I thought it would be fun to take the boys to McDonald's today before school. I promised Parker I'd take him since he saw that they had Star Wars toys. His AT-AT walker is currently in his backpack to show his whole class.

That brings me to the point of my post. I took the boys to the bathroom (always an adventure at Mickey D's) before heading to school. All three of us pile into the stinky family bathroom in the play area and what do you know? Parker isn't wearing underwear. What?

I've been trying to instill a little independence lately, so I've been making the boys get themselves dressed (I have to approve the outfits though. Matching is a neccessity). Apparently, today Parker decided to take off his underwear before pulling on his shorts.

Needless to say, we made a quick stop at home for undies on the way to school.

Here's a pic of last week's first day of school. I think he was done with pictures by then.

Easiest T-Shirt Skirt Ever

I've been reading a lot of DIY articles about creating a skirt out of and old t-shirt. When I thought I found the easiest one, here: http://www.littlebitfunky.com/2011/05/20-minute-crafter-how-to-make-t-shirt.html, I decided to give it a shot.

This tutorial is really great and I'm in love with the bicycle skirt she made (gotta find that shirt), but I made mine even easier.

I started with the hub's old t's. He wears a L. Since the gray one had some deoderant stains, I chopped it straight across, under the pits. This makes the skirt body.

Next, I chopped the sleeves and cut the waistband out of the chest section (about 5 inches wide). I'm just making a fold over waistband (hence the reason it's so easy), so I measured the two pieces around my waist and sewed them together end-to-end making a circle. You'll want both pieces to be the same size (I'll tell you why later).

The red t-shirt has seams on both sides, so it made lining up super easy. Take the seams of each of the circle waistband piece and pin to the side seams of the skirt body. Next, I found the center of the waistband front/back and the center of the skirt front/back and pinned together.

I didn't want to cut the skirt body, so to make it hang nicely, I put two little pleats in each of the 1/4 sections (between the pins). Pin each pleat to the waistband. Now the waistband and body should fit perfectly. If you're thinner, you can make three or more pleats.

Now, you can sew the waistband to the skirt body. Pull it on and fold over the waistband and you're done. The red one is a little shorter because it had a grease stain in the middle (thanks for fixing my car hun).

My neighbor stopped by yesterday and noted that we were wearing the same skirt. My reply, "Yeah, but mine was a shirt yesterday."

Now I have an eye on this old navy blue shirt. What can I ask him to do to get a stain and make that one mine too?

Copycat Headbands

I love accessories. They're a great way to make my stay-at-home-mom gear look a little more polished. Right now it's necklaces and headbands.

I picked up this little beauty at Target for $7.99. I love the colors, but it slides out pretty easily (I have soft hair and "no hook" as a college friend once informed me - you know that little bump at the back of your head that helps headbands stay on).

I was thinking the other day that maybe one of those stay-put headbands might help keep it in place. Anyway, I have some scrap fabric left over from this great little tutorial from Make it, Love it. http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2009/05/scrappy-camera-strap.html. My scraps were pretty similar colors to the original - I have a weakness for orange, but I figured I'd give it a shot.

My scrap was about 17 inches. I ironed in some seams and stitched it all around.

Then I did some accordian-like folds and pinned it in place.
I cut a piece of an old stay-put headband, the kind with the grips weaved in, about 6 inches long and popped that in the end.

After running several seams to hold the elastic in place, I checked the length and did the same on the other side.

Viola! New headband! Or two!

Change of Address Cards

It's amazing what you can do when your children are entertained. Since my neighbor is sick, we had her two kiddos for a playdate today. They had a great time and mommy got a lot of stuff done.

I pounded out 20 cards for my friend MG to pass out at their going away party tomorrow. And 9 cellphone shaped ones for her preteen daughter. I have to say they are AWESOME. So awesome, in fact that I decided to share.

For the ground ups, I made up a little poem (I had a little help from the sick neighboor - she rhymes better than me). And included a 3-D little cactus flower and house. Here it is.

We're moving to the desert where it's toast and hot.
Please keep in touch, 'cause we'll miss you a lot.

The kid one is shaped like a cell phone and includes some text-speak the teenagers use. Yes, I had to look it up because I'm not as up on the lingo as the kiddos and not a very good texter.

Check 'em out.

The Kool-Aid Mom

I sometimes like to think of myself as the Kool-Aid Mom. The house where the kids in the 'hood like to congregate. Or maybe it's the fact that the swingset is in my backyard and that my house is in the middle of the block. But anyway, I do love it when the kids hang out here.

I remember when I was a kid and was always at my BFF's house (she had Nintendo and all we had was Atari). I also remember my mom wishing we would be at our house. I think she just really wanted to know where we were, but maybe she wanted to be "Kool-Aid Mom" too.

I had all the kids over the other day to decorate cookies. Check out the sprinkles little J used on his cookies. It was more about eating than decorating.

My neighborhood rocks.

T-Shirt goes from frumpy to OooLaLa

My family wears these silly "Happy Camper" t-shirts on all of our camping trips, which, during the summer, is a lot. We try to go as often as possible.

We got back from a trip last summer and I saw this pic of myself in mine. Yikes! Since when did I look so frumpy? And it's like P is staring at the worst part! Oh, and cut me some slack, we are camping after all.

I've been reading the Dress A Day blog for a while and figured I could take some scissors to the offensive t-shirt.

I started by cutting off the crew neck and turning into a slight sweetheart line. Next, I shortened the sleeves and length of the shirt itself.

I'm really into a banded bottom t-shirt right now, so I ran a quick straight stitch all the way around the new bottom of the shirt, pulling the string to gather it a bit. Measuring the left over bottom to fit around the upper part of my hips, I trimmed off the excess. I sewed the left over together forming a big circle and pinned it to my newly gathered shirt bottom.

A quick seam to attach the band and seam around all my raw edges, and BAM! new t-shirt.

Totally Inspired

So, my friend, KS got me hooked on pinterest.com. It's pretty freaking awesome, if you haven't checked it out. Anyway, there are so many amazing DIY pins on there that I'm inspired to blog about some of my own. I've been pretty lax as of late in posting on my blog, but I'm hoping this new inspiration keeps me going.

I'm going to start with my latest DIY project and will later document some of my older ones.

For Father's Day, I decided I wanted to make the hubs a new tire cover for our camper. If you've been camping with us lately, you'll know that the whole fam wears these silly "Happy Camper" t-shirts (stay tuned for a future post on how I altered mine).

I was inspired by a sticker my sis-in-law gave my husband for Christmas a couple years ago. It's based on the Colorado license plate.

I picked up some vinyl at the local fabric store, a leather needle for my machine and some heavy duty thread. You can use a Sharpie to write on the back of the fabric and it won't show through. I typed up the letters "HAPPY CAMPER" and printed them off on my computer. After cutting them out and tracing them (backwards) on the vinyl, I cut out each letter, pinned them in place and stitched them down. Since I don't usually sew on anything other than cotton fabric, it took a bit of adjusting to get the machine to sew correctly.

The old tire cover measured 24 inches in diameter, so I worked with a circle cut about 25 inches. I added the sides and a small track for tightening it around the tire.

Here's the final product. We'll be the most styling campers on our next trip in a couple weeks.

Murphy's Law

Doesn't it just figure that all hell breaks loose as soon as my husband leaves town? Dillon is finally not pooping his pants every five minutes. And BAM, that ear infection that he's been fighting for a week kicks in.


Grandma volunteers to come over so I can run out for a bit and pick up yogurt, bread and crackers (you know, things that you give a dehydrated kid). Exactly what the doc told me at urgent care last night. Duh - I know about that stuff. I've suffered through morning sickness. I was hoping he'd give the poor kid something to stop him up. Something. Anything. I got. Nothing.


Anyway, 20 minutes after Grandma leaves Dillon is complaining about his ears). One second later (I'm not exaggerating here), Parker pukes all over the couch.


Can it get any worse? I left a message for the nurse at my pediatrician two hours ago. Still waiting... I don't want to give Dillon antibiotics for his ear because we all know what happens when you take antibiotics. You get diarrhea. It's a vicious cycle.

Now that's a lot of crap. Literally.

What to do with a potty training toddler with diarrhea? TMI? Sorry, folks, but poop happens. Thank goodness it's laundry day. I asked if he wanted to wear a diaper, but the answer was, "No."


I hate when my kids are sick. They get that little sad look on their faces and you just want to do something. But what? Around here, it's a snuggle and a bath. Snuggle officially over. I have about three minutes until bath. I guess it's time to be a responsible parent (What was I thinking when I signed up this job?) and start that bath.

My Kids are Hilarious

I'm sure every mom says that, but mine really ARE funny. I'm amazed every day at the crazy things they come up with.

At dinner tonight Parker asks me what "interupting" means. I start to tell him and he yells, "Don't talk with your mouth full, Mom." Geesh. At least he's learning something.

Here are some of the other funnies they came up with today:

Parker: "FIRST one down the hill is a ROCKIN' egg!"

and...

Parker with a hand full of pennies: "I'm rich!"

Dillon (totally clueless): "Hi Rich."

Entepreneur to be

Once again I find myself unemployed, so what's a girl to do? Start my own little business, that's what. I may not make much (or any) money, but whatever. I'm having fun making some cute little kid's hats based on one I made for Dillon's Halloween costume.

I opened my Etsy shop, Naughty Kids, yesterday. So far, there are only six hats there, but I'm working on adding more as well as some little baby blankets.

Here's a pic of the hat that started it all (and a cute little mousey wearing it). Now, I gotta get sewing.

When you get a chance, check me out on Etsy at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/naughtykids

Breakfast fun

My neighbor tells me I have WAY too much time on my hands for a mom of two crazy boys. I'm starting to think she's right. Check out the pancakes I whipped up this morning.

I'm blaming it on the first good night of sleep I've had in a week.

Road Trip Sans Diapers

Last year at this time was P's first roadtrip in underwear. He did great (mostly). This year it's D's turn. I hope it goes as smoothly.

We'll be packing extra underwear, a step stool and a potty seat just in case. We have all the emergency stops marked out, including Kremling's local Kum & Go (the stop we used last year and if you've ever been to Kremling, it's not a bustling metropolis).

Next year, we will pack lighter, no diapers, no potty seats, no step stools. Maybe we'll have room for a new toy for Mom and Dad. Humm, will a snowmobile fit in the back of a Durango?

No Getting Anything Past This Kid

There's no getting anything past this kid. P, who's one of the most observant people I have ever met (you know, besides me), can be so hard to please.

I made grilled cheese sandwiches the other night. Usually, I make them with cheddar, but this time I used American. What does he say? "The cheese tastes weird, Mom." Then, last night, I was out of my usual creamy pesto sauce mix (which is P's favorite), so I make some from scratch and I get, "I don't like this Mom." Frick, no getting anything by this guy.

Jerry Seinfeld's wife has a whole cookbook about sneaking healthy things in your kids' food. That would never fly in our house.

Getting all creative

If you're a FB friend of mine, you know I love doing crafts (and so do my boys). I'm especially obsessed with handprint art. I've made turkey placecards for Thanksgiving, Christmas reindeer, Halloween ghosts and flowers.

A couple months ago, the boys saw an episode of Special Agent Oso where Oso helped a kid make a snowglobe. They've been begging me to make one ever since. They're LEGO freaks, so I decided we'd put little LEGO creations in the jars. P's is a little house and D's a little car. Check 'em out.

I'll post some of our other creations another time.

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

I made the best lunch today. After scouring the pantry shelves for about 10 minutes, I decided to make a quick chili. The hubs had to leave for work in 45 minutes, so I didn't have tons of time.

He once said that one of the things he likes best about me is my creativity. When it looks like there's nothing to eat in the house, I bust out with something yummy. Today was one of those days. He has already called dibs on the leftovers to take to work tomorrow.

Easy Peasy Pantry Chicken Chili

Ingredients:
1 boneless skinless chicken breast (chopped into cubes)
1 ½ cups beef broth (I use Better Than Bouillon Vegetarian Beef Broth)
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 can black beans
1 can red kidney beans
1 cup frozen corn
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp dehydrated onions
Sprinkle of white pepper

Directions:
In a large stock pot, boil broth and add chopped chicken until cooked. This gives the chicken a nice flavor and cooks it very quickly.
Add onions, cumin and pepper to the pot.
Drain and rinse both cans of beans and add to the pot. Add tomatoes and return to boil.
Let simmer for 10 minutes. Add corn about 3 minutes before serving.
Top with grated cheese.

You're welcome...

Sing a Song

The boys have taken to singing every song they have ever heard (and even some no one has ever heard) over and over again. The other day Parker was singing "California... City of Com-Kin." Seriously, just like that.

Now, I'm a bit afraid that the new song has become "What, What, in the Butt." Don't know it? Look it up on youtube. Not exactly an appropriate song for 3 and 4 year-olds. Dillon's two favorite words these days are what and butt (not neccessarily in that order). It made me bust out in the song one day - bad idea. Bad. Shame on you Tosh.0 for featuring a segment with Samwell (the artist behind said song).

If you see us anytime soon, feel free to bust out in song. "Twinkle, Twinkle" or "Row, Row Your Boat" are on the the approved playlist.

Whoa!

I can't believe I just asked the question, "Did you hold your penis down all the way?" What has my life come to? I'm just so tired of cleaning the toilet and have decided that it's worse than cleaning the catbox. Seriously. Ugh!

Can't help but think of yesterday

Why is it that I can hear a song on the radio (in my case it's George Michael's Faith) for the first time in probably 10 years and remember every word, yet I can't remember my parent's phone number?

These days I find myself writing everything on the calendar and putting post-it notes on the door to the garage and I still forget to bring snacks to the kids' schools.

Please don't tell me I'm turning into my great-grandmother - she once 'forgot' where she put all of her bras. I'm serious! She forgot she put them under the mattress of her bed. In her defense, she did have dementia. What's my excuse?

"I gotta have faith, de faith, de faith. Baby!"