Craft: Thanksgiving Cards

Sunday is slowly turning into my craft day now that we are home most Sunday mornings. I wanted to do a Thanksgiving craft as the season is slowly sliding into Christmas. Ironically I was setting everything up as I listened to Christmas music. I've wanted to make hand print turkeys with Nate, so that was our goal today. After they all dry I will be transforming them into cards to send to our family and friends. He loved making them and actually cooperated and listened to me. We didn't get paint anywhere than on his hand and the paper! Quite a feat with an active 2 year old. I used only things that I had in the house, which made for a free project. All I need to purchase are a couple of stamps. I won't show the final product for another week since I'm sending it to people who actually read this, but here is some of the process.

Supplies:

• Orange Card Stock
• Yellow Envelopes
• White Card Stock
• Red Card Stock
• Decorative Scissors
• 3 Leftover cups from kids meals to put paint in
• 3 Paint Brushes
• Yellow, Orange, & Brown Paint
• Craft Glue
• Nate's Hand
• Red Sharpie

Pumpkin Bird Feeders

I love to accomplish many tasks in one day and today has been a really productive day. After my iron-on project I moved on to transforming a couple of the pumpkins we still have. We got a lot of small pumpkins this year from various trips to pumpkin patches and nurseries. I saw a craft for making bird feeders out of pumpkins on Martha Stewart's site back in September, but had to wait until Halloween was over to actually do it. It was actually fun and although Nate wanted nothing to do with the actual "yucky" pumpkin parts, he helped me with the seed and hanging them. I also love that there were more pumpkin seeds to roast. Here's some pics of the process:

Here's the bird feeder in the front yard.

Here's the feeder in the backyard.

First Attempt at an Iron-on

I've looked at the iron on patches in the craft store over and over again and yesterday I finally bought one. Nate picked out a red car to go on a white tee we recently got. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. Hopefully it will hold up with the right care. I forsee some iron on gifts for other kids we know this Christmas.

I love simple shirts on little boys. Most of the clothes out there are too busy. This was a hit with Nate!

Cloth Diapering

So today finishes our first week with cloth diapers! They are essentially cloth trainers that have the absorbancy of a diaper. Nate really isn't ready for full blown potty learning. He can physically use the potty, but he isn't really ready to tell us when he needs to go or to stop doing something fun in order to go. So we will really be approaching it closer to 2.5 years old which would be around the end of January. I'm just not worried about it :). Nate wasn't too thrilled about modeling his new diaper the first day, but he seems to like them now.

The trainers have been working well. We've had a couple of leaks, but I've been learning when I should use extra inserts. At night I know we need 2 inserts and I'm also trying to monitor the amount of liquid he takes in close to bedtime. They've been easy to wash and dry. The only regret I have is that we didn't start it sooner! Here's a pic of my small collection.

I'm really excited that I'm reducing the number of diapers that go in the landfill and reducing the amount of time Nate spends in a chemical treated garment. He has really sensitive skin and this week we had no trouble with diaper rash. He's only in them mostly when I'm home, but that's atleast a minor improvement for the environment.

Halloween Pictures & Clifton Day

We've had a busy 3 day weekend, which managed to slow down today since Nate is experiencing tummy troubles. I for once didn't work on Saturday and just hung around the house in the morning. We broke out the bucket of chalk that Nate has been carrying around for days. He was unusually grumpy and after a nap that was too short I was close to cancelling the Halloween pictures we had planned at Penneys. I pushed through and took him anyways. He actually was really well behaved! He had only worn his Dalmation costume for a brief period of time right after I bought it, but he loved showing it off. We got some cute pictures and I'm really proud of him for being a good boy.

Yesterday was the annual Clifton Day. The town of Clifton, VA shuts down it's streets and has a huge craft fair. Theres tons of craft vendors, food vendors, and other entertainment. We've gone for a long time, but I hadn't been since before Nate was born. We took the VRE train, which Nate loved! It was his first real train ride and was about 20 minutes each way. When we got there late morning we took Nate to the kids area. There was a Unicycle performer who had a whole area set up and she had music playing and balls and hula hoops for the kids to play with. That entertained him for a little while. There was also a petting zoo where the kids could feed goats, a calf, a pig, bunnies, etc. Nate didn't want to go into the pen and I didn't really want him too after I watched one fiesty little goat keep head butting people. We fed the animals from outside the pen. A girl scout troop had some kids games set up so he got to fish for a couple of prizes and loved standing on the little dock they made. There were other activities like bounce houses and pony rides, but we'll save those for when he's a little older.

My favorite part is the crafts. However, this year there was an overwhelming amount of jewelry makers and I just can't justify spending money on that. I did get a Vera Bradley purse for 50% off! I also got Nate a little wood carved truck that he loves. I went back to the same toy booth and picked up a Christmas present for my nephew. My mom bought a couple of fall decorations and some local honey.

There are lots of food vendors there, but we chose to have lunch at the Presbyterian church where they were selling crab cake sandwhiches. It was actually indoors in their fellowship hall. One of the great things about Clifton Day is all the freebies. Pinkberry was giving out free samples of frozen yogurt. Nate loved it. There are always people campaigning who give out free bottled water and balloons. It's funny to think that we had a democratic balloon tied to our stroller, since I'm not really hard and face tied to one party. They were just the first ones to give us a free balloon. There were also lots of samples from the vendors who were selling things like peanut brittle and honey.

Our day started to wind down when Nate fell asleep and I put him on my back in the ergo. Everyone is always amazed when they ask how old he is and I say 2. The usual response is, "Isn't he heavy on your back?". Not really. Plus he's sleeping! We got cold drinks and listened to a band playing.

Nate also got his first child ID card. The Fairfax County Sheriffs office was processing them for free. So we filled out some paperwork, he got his thumbs electronically finger printed, then had his picture taken and all of that info was put onto an id card that they printed right there. I think that is a really awesome service to provide. We also got little DNA kits. All you have to do is swab your child's mouth with a q-tip, put it in a paper envelope and store it in your fridge and it will be good for a year. You can also add any teeth that fallout or bandaids that have blood on them. Kind of creepy, but if something did actually happen it might be life saving info.

Today is a taking it easy day. I actually have the day off of work, but we are at home in our pajamas. Something I never get to do anymore :)

The Glittering Continues

Right now I love all things Halloween and all things glittered. Nate and I stopped at Michaels yesterday and bought a jack-o-lantern cutout and some ribbon. Last night I glittered it! Here's how much this project cost.

• Wooden Jack-o-Lantern cutout- $1.49


• Ribbon- $1.39


• Glue- Already had


• Glitter- Already had


• Grand total = $2.88

I hung it on the front door and I think it will look neat after dark when we have our Halloween lights up. Yay for crafts!

Mommy & Son Weekend

A couple of weeks ago I decided that Nate and I really needed to get away for a weekend. He's generally mad at me every day when I get home and usually that results in him getting a time out atleast once an evening. So we needed some alone time. This weekend we went to CB by ourselves.

Friday my work day was thrown in the blender when a water pipe burst in the boiler room of the church/school. I ended up getting off 4 hours early which meant I got to pick Nate up 4 hours early. Friday just involved some shopping and dinner at Subway on the way down and cuddling up and watching Spookly the Square Pumpkin in our jammies.

Saturday we both woke up early as usual. I guess 7:30am technically was sleeping in for me. By 9am we were on our way to Stratford hall to go hiking. You can purchase a grounds pass for $5 and it allows you to walk around the grounds, you just can't go in the big house or the exhibits. Their trails are not very well marked. We e

nded up exploring a really short one and part of another one. I had to wear him in the ergo once we were in the woods because it was way to treacherous for a 2 year old to walk. It really was beautiful out there though. Although I did get tired of walking through spider webs.

On the same road as Stratford Hall is the Westmoreland Berry Farm. We went there after the hike since it was nearing lunch time. Nate got to see the goats, play on the playground, and run around in the open. We had lunch and picked out some fall items: mums, a pumpkin, and some Va honey. Nate passed out on the way back to the house. While Nate slept I got a nice break to just sit in front of the tv and relax.

After Nate woke up we headed out for a little shopping at the couple of stores that CB has. We finally checked out the small bakery in town. Every time I've gone by there I've thought about how I need to stop, but never actually did. It was small and cute. Nate got a cookie which tided him over while I shopped. Then we made our way to my favorite seafood restuarant, Wilkersons. It's my favorite place because they give you a big basket of hot hush puppies as soon as you sit down. Plus theres always the exact same waitresses there. I'm sure they don't remember us, but they act like they do. There is also an awesome view of the river. We ate and discussed all of the things we could see, water, boats, birds, and people. We had dinner early, so we had plenty of daylight left. There is a newish, really nice playground in the middle of town, right across from the ice cream stand. We played on the playground then went over for ice cream. It's the last weekend the ice cream stand is open. When it opens it signals that summer is starting, so I guess it really did signal the start of fall this weekend.
This morning we headed home and did some shopping on the way since both of us need fall clothes. It was so nice to have time alone with him. I have a feeling I'm going to try to do the same thing once a month.

Why I'm Taking a Break From Church

Today the straw broke the camel's back. Without going into details I feel fed up with church. I tried to lead an event that actually would have benefited many people and would have been a mission opportunity for me, I had no support. Nate and I do not have a place in church. I'm actually feeling a lot stronger in my faith than I have in a long time, but I don't feel stronger in my commitment to attending church. We are taking a break and I don't know when we will participate at this point. I am comfortable in the fact that I can offer more in "bible learning" to Nate at home then he will learn in the church nusery. I am also comfortable in the knowledge that my faith is not measured by how many services I attend each month. Lots of praying is in order.

My Green Living Transition

So every time I mention to my mom the things we should be doing she rolls her eyes. Last night after I mentioned wanting to use reusable baby wipes she responded with, "didn't Amy move to Colorado?". Yes, my sister is the one that spurred on our semi-transition to green cleaners and some other things. However, I'm taking it further. Nate is going to be using cloth trainers. I'm just waiting for them to get here. I've got my trash can, wetbag, green laundry detergent, cloth diaper friendly diaper cream...now all I need is the actual trainers. I'm also going to buy some baby wipe solution and go the route of using baby wash clothes as reusable wipes, atleast when I am home. I figure we've got a long road ahead of us when it comes to potty training and he will atleast be using trainers even longer at night and nap time, so it's a sound investment.

Another step I'm trying to take is to work on having organic snacks available for Nate and even myself. He is a snack monster. So right now in the closet we have organic toddler mum mums, organic animal crackers, organic fruit strips, and then a lot of regular junk that I hope to soon replace. Of course it's all more expensive, but it truly is worth it.

The final focus for me right now is to make our Christmas more green and sustainable. I've fallen in love with etsy.com and love searching for present ideas on there. I'd much rather support an individual then a corporation. The cloth trainers I ordered are made by a mom of 5 and the wet bag I bought is from an individual on etsy. I also recently bought a baby doll sling for a friend's child that is from etsy. Yesterday I bought a hand carved 3 piece train toy for Nate for Christmas. I guess I just want him to get toys that aren't all plastic and made in China. Plus now an individual made $8 instead of Wal-mart making $8.

More to come...

Craft: Glittered Pumpkins

I love Martha Stewart Crafts. I wish I could afford to buy all of her crafting tools. Well, and I wish I had the time to actually craft on a regular basis. I found some Halloween crafts and completed my first one tonight! I bought some MS glitter at the Christmas Tree Store in NH, and it was majorly discounted. There's just something about the glitter, that it looks expensive or something. The colors are really rich. I picked up a few small pumpkins at the farm market when we were apple picking last week. Combined with a few things I already had: glue, paint brush, and brown acrylic paint, this was a really inexpensive project.

Here's the process:

I think they will look really pretty through October and November. More crafts to come!

Here is the link to the craft on the Martha Stewart website: http://www.marthastewart.com:80/article/glittered-pumpkins

Apple Picking in the Country

I'm not an outdoorsy person, but I can appreciate a nice afternoon in the country. This past Sunday the parents accompanied Nate and I to an orchard in Winchester. We've never been there and I found it on the internet, so we really didn't know what to expect. It was wonderful. There is a huge market boasting freshly baked goods, produce, plants, ice cream, and fudge. A large playground with lots of different climbing structures. A small cow train for children to ride in. A wagon ride that weaves its way through acres of farmland. Then theres the whole reason we went there, the apple picking.

Nate was so excited to go apple picking. I had talked it up for a couple of days. He picked most of the apples and would have kept going if we hadn't filled our bag. Then to cool off we grabbed some ice cream in the market and some sodas from the food stand and sat on the porch in rocking chairs. Nate ran all around the playground, with me chasing him of course. We got a wagon ride all to ourselves and saw lots of interesting things including a pig pen out in the woods. Nate picked out his own special little pumpkin in the end to take home.

We had such a good time. Spending time in places that feel like small towns is making it easier for me to picture living in CB. I have a feeling that we will be going to visit there again next year.

Nate Night #2

So I've been a bad mama and haven't kept up with my date nights with Nate. My goal was to do it once a week, but hasn't happened. About a week and a half ago Nate and I had our 2nd date night. On our way back from Richmond we stopped to do some shopping which included new shoes for his quickly growing feet. Then we went out to dinner at Bob Evans. Nate and I rarely eat at sit down restuarants as a pair. We generally only do that with other family members around. So this was a special treat. I also had Nate's free kids meal coupon that he got for his birthday (score!). We had an awesome time together. They stuck us on a side by ourselves and we had a fun time being silly, eating yummy food, and even ordering dessert. I wouldn't give up my alone time with him for anything.

Homemade Lemonade

So I'm definitely a liquids junkie. I love things that are flavored, and I'm really not a fan of water. However, I'm increasingly becoming bothered by how much sugar and aspartame I consume. So tonight I decided to make homemade lemonade. I substituted honey as the sweetener. Here's the ratio I used:

• 3/4 cup lemon juice (half fresh squeezed lemons, half store bought lemon juice)


• 3/4 cup organic honey


• 2 cups hot water


• cold water to fill the pitcher

It was really simple to make. I squeezed about 4 lemons which gave me half the lemon juice. I combined the honey and hot water in the pitcher first to make it dissolve then added the lemon juice and cold water. It's a very unique lemonade taste. It's not as sweet as the sugar sweetened variety. Which is actually a good thing. It kind of has an earthier taste too, which I think is because of the type of honey. I gave Nate a taste, but he wasn't impressed, lol. My poor sugar addicted child is going to be in for a rude awakening. I'm going to be making a lot of changes around here, starting with natural sugar alternatives.

Busy Weekend

This past weekend was my first 3 day weekend since I started working. My nephew's birthday is September 5, so we decided to fly up to NH to celebrate with him. We booked our tickets way before I even had an interview at my job. It just perfectly worked out that I planned for a hypothetical job.

We left our house to drive to Baltimore at 5am on Saturday morning. We dropped Nate, Mom, Nana, and Bubba at the airport then Dad and I had to go to longterm parking and ride a bus back. I got attacked by a couple of mosquitos and got bit on my face. Not a fun start to the day! We made it through check-in and security. We made it to our gate just in time to walk on the airplane before everyone else. Bubba has to use a wheelchair in the airport, so our entire group got to go on first. We had the first two rows on the airplane!

Nate was so excited to be riding on an airplane for the first time. We had a special harness for him, that made it so we didn't have to use a carseat on the plane. I highly recommend that to everyone. He had so much space and I didn't have to have my elbow on a carseat.

Nate was so well behaved. It's not a super long flight to Manchester so between the entertainment of the flight crew, snacks, free peanuts, free juice, and the toys we bought, he was totally happy. We were the last ones off the plane and Nate was invited to sit in the cockpit.

Once we made it to Manchester Uncle Mike picked us up and Nate was very excited to see him. We grabbed some breakfast then went back to Mike's house. Nate feel asleep in the car (since he was up since 4:30 am) and I managed to get a 3 hour nap out of him. Everyone came over that afternoon for Jacob's first birthday party and it was a lot of fun. Nate got plenty of attention from all of the grownups in attendance and really enjoyed the monkey cupcakes that Aunt Brigid made.

Sunday and Monday were filled with visiting, shopping, and family meals. I had to fly back Monday night in order to be home for work this morning. It was only my 2nd night away from Nate and boy did I miss him. Here are the two boys together.

Nate Night & My New Job

Since starting work I've wanted to make sure that one night a week I devoted to Nate and doing something fun. Thus I have created "Nate Night" which is essentially date night with my 2 year old. We spend time together every night, but usually that includes dinner, bath, cuddling, and watching Dora. As a semi-Stay at home mom I made sure that we did something fun/interesting every week and I don't want to give that up now. So tonight was Nate night. It actually started at 2pm. Mom brought him to meet me for lunch at Panera then he came to work with me. He got a big kick out of the kids and the things we were doing.

There is a rec center directly across from where I'm working so we met Amy there when I got off. Nate loves the pool! This particular pool has a fun kiddie area, although I think his favorite part was taking a hot shower after getting out of the cold pool.

To top off my good day I was offered a fulltime job for this school year at the preschool. I've been praying about it, not just about that job in particular, but about getting a job that I will enjoy and grow in. Obviously I need to spend more time praying. I accepted the offer! I will be working with 6months-2 year olds in the morning and 2 year olds in the afternoon. I think it will be nice to have a job where the morning is different from the afternoon. It is going to continue to be a transition for Nate and I, but I think with the institution of things like Nate night we will continue to have a close, loving, attached bond that can't be broken.

Day 4 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge

Today is Day 14 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge. This afternoon while Nate was napping I was able to take some time to organize all of my grandma's files. She doesn't have a whole lot, but it does take up a drawer of a filing cabinet. It felt good to accomplish something and I do love organzing things. It's relaxing in a methodical way.

Days 10-13 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge

My first week of work didn't leave me with much time to do anything and thus I didn't really do anything out of the ordinary for anyone on Days 10, 11, and 12. I'm sure this happens to many people at some point. I guess in a way I just gave a gift of fully devoting myself to Nate when I got home everyday. On Day 13 I was able to give my sister a small gift. We are working at the same place and she had to be there super early and work a long day, so I picked her up an iced coffee on my way to work.

Day 9 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge

Today is Day 9 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge. There was no physical gift today it was more of a big step to change my life and secure the future for my son and I. I started a full-time job today. This is really hard when you're an attached mama. I did really well emotionally until about lunch time and proceeded to cry through my lunch break. It has nothing to do with the job or not wanting to work. It's an enjoyable job and everyone I've met so far is really nice. It's more about knowing that it is the beginning of a forever number of days of working and being away from Nate. I won't be there to do all of the little weekday things that we've always done. At the end of the day we had 2.5 hours together before he went to bed and it was filled with dinner, bath, changing into pjs, cuddling and then getting him to go to sleep. I do have to say though that my day was made when I walked in the door and he said, "mommy, mommy, mommy" and gave me a big hug with his arms wrapped tight around my neck.

Day 8 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge

Today is Day 8 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge. Today I took time to write some handwritten notes and included pictures from Nate's 2nd birthday. Some things I mailed were just simple "here's your picture", but I did take the time to send notes to people who have been in my life for a long time, but that I rarely if ever see. I think it's important to take that time to stay in touch with people and let them know you are thinking of them.

The Magic of Chuck E. Cheese

Pre-parenthood and even when I had a newborn I always scoffed at things like Build a Bear and Chuck E. Cheese. Who would take their children to a crowded hot building to waste money and encounter all sorts of people? Well I guess I'm one of those parents now since we've been to both BAB and CEC this week :P.

I knew Nate would be excited for the rides because he occasionally rides things at the mall or the fire truck at Babies'R'Us. He LOVED the car ride.

He is normally terrified of the merry go round, but I think Molly being there helped him overcome his fear.

He kept feeding tokens into the wack a mole type game, but I'm not sure he ever actually played it.

The combination of bright colors, smell of pizza, loud music and cheap tokens sucks you right in and you feel the need to spend money and coerce your child to try all of the rides. You should take their cue that they are done when they lay down on the floor and refuse to get back up. We still have half a cup left of tokens. I guess we will have to go back!

Day 7 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge

Today is Day 7 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge. Today I was a nice driver and that was my gift to society. I let people in and didn't even get mad when I got tail gated through a neighborhood. I'm making a point to really not say bad words when driving. Especially when I hear a little chorus of "go, go, go" from the backseat.

Today was also a day to spend fun time with Nate. I took him to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. We met our friends Casey and Molly there. Nate was pretty spastic, but I know he had a good time.

Day 6 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge

Today is Day 6 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge. This is a bum around the house kind of day. However, Nate pretty much did the giving for me. He wanted to play with his markers and he kept bothering Bubba (his great-grandpa), so I set him up at the table and they've been coloring and chatting away. It's so important for them to have time together and I'm glad that I figured out how to facilitate that. Plus Nate has now been occupied for awhile, giving me a break!

Sometimes Life Puts You Back Where You Belong

Today I realized that sometimes life puts you back where you belong. For the past 9 months my life was starting to go in this weird zig-zag pattern and I didn't know where I was going to end up. When Nate was born the plan all along was for me to move to CB with my family sometime around summer 2011. We are back on track. I have had some ups and downs in the past few weeks, but I've made some important decisions for myself and I'm no longer going to allow distractions to deter me from what I need to do; provide a future for my child and myself. Here are a few things I am going to work on in the next few weeks:

• Start my new job, enjoy it, and work really hard
• Get organized, get rid of clutter, and keep everything clean.
• Spend quality time with Nate.

It's already weighing on me that I will spending so much time away from Nate. I've gone to school full time and worked 2 part time jobs all at the same time during Nate's life, but I've never been gone all day, 5 days a week. I'm incredibly grateful that I've been around him so much for the past 2 years, because that's time that I will have in my heart forever. Now it's time to allow him to have space and to spend more time with his grandparents. I know he is in safe, loving hands with them.
To lift my spirits I wanted to share a then and now:

Day 5 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge

Today is Day 5 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge. My day started at midnight with lots of love and patience. Nate woke up still complaining that his arm hurt, couldn't go back to sleep, and refused to take any tylenol. I knew that we would end up going to the doctor today to figure out what was wrong. We finally fell asleep in my bed together at about 2am and slept late into the morning. When I called the doctors I was grateful to get an 11:30am appt. It wasn't with his doctor, but it was atleast a female doctor which he seems to do better with. When we got to the doctors he was all smiles and actually was talking to the nurse whom he didn't want anything to do with last week at his 2 year checkup. We colored while we waited and when the doctor came in she almost immediately concluded that his elbow was out of place. It's called Nursemaid Elbow and it's really common in toddlers. It happens when they jerk away really fast when they are holding hands with someone or if they are being swung by their arms. Ours was the first situation. He sat on my lap and she rotated and manipulated his arm and popped the elbow back into place. He only moaned and kept saying his arm hurt, but he didn't cry! Within 5 minutes he was using his left arm again. We have to be really careful from here on out because he is more susceptible to it now that it has happened.

So now the giving part! After all that I took him to McDonald's and got him a Happy Meal. He's now enjoying his chicken nuggets and french fries and watching Little Bear. I'm so thankful that his arm is better and I have my happy boy back.

Day 4 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge

Today is Day 4 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge. Last night Nate actually went to sleep at 7:45, so I had a really productive evening. I finally finished painting his giraffe toy box and got a protective coat on it too. So today I was able to set it up in his room and fill it with his big collection of stuffed animals! It was built by his great-grandpa 30 years ago for my brothers and was painted a dark blue with yellow spots. It took MANY coats of paint to cover the blue. I love that I was able to re-purpose something for Nate!

Day 3 of My 29 Day Giving Challenge

Today is Day 3 of my 29 Day Giving Challenge. I actually was given a really awesome gift today. I'm not going to say what it is because that's not really necessary. However, my gift in return is a heartfelt handwritten thank you. The gift was something I really can use and came at a really good time and I want the individual to know how thankful I am.

A Boy and His New Bear

As a birthday present to Nate, his cousin, Kristin met us at Build a Bear to let him pick out a stuffed animal. He was a little tired and thus proceeded to run around the store like crazy. We did corral him long enough to get him to pick out a stuffed animal, let the guy stuff it, and put a heart or two inside. We got some accessories for it and Nate even tried to play at the computers. He showed it off to everyone when we got home and has been lovingly cuddling it this afternoon. It was a great birthday present for a 2 year old.