Missed out on Part One? Hasn't she grown so much?
Monday, June 24, 2013
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Nerdy father's day gift: Edible tackle box
How many ties, shavers, gift cards, & shirts can you buy before feeling like you are getting the same thing over and over for your dad? After all, I am a daddy's girl. Like pretending to love football and even memorizing the stats of players to feel closer to him as a kiddo and going out of my way to "HELP" him. Although somehow that always got me into trouble....like the time I cleaned out his oil pan to "help" and he was mortified to find his little girl covered in car oil. But I did have that pan spick-and-span let me tell you LOL. Or how about the time I tried to defrost a can of olives (who puts olives in the freezer anyway) and blew up the microwave. Hey I was just a kid TRYING to help and it was out of love right?
Some of my FAVE memories are being on the docks fishing together. Most of the time it was just me and him doing the fishing as it was not my mom or sister's thing which meant more time for just the two of us. Since he has started up fishing again (and that is the plan for father's day) we made him an "edible tackle box" for a small gift.
You can use a real tackle box or a craft organizer like this one that was re purposed. Whatever is clever.
Some of my FAVE memories are being on the docks fishing together. Most of the time it was just me and him doing the fishing as it was not my mom or sister's thing which meant more time for just the two of us. Since he has started up fishing again (and that is the plan for father's day) we made him an "edible tackle box" for a small gift.
You can use a real tackle box or a craft organizer like this one that was re purposed. Whatever is clever. 
The funnest part was filling it with goodies (all found at the dollar store of course) to which my girls GLADLY ate a boat load helped fill the box with "bait" for fishing:
To personalize it further and create a label, I modpodged some pretty paper along with a heartfelt quote:
The kids can't wait to give it to him & I am looking forward to honoring him on Father's day and catching some REAL fish!
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Dude. It's an explosion of pink.
Pink. Ruby's is soooooooooooo in love with pink and it melts my mama heart because it's just so, well, GIRLY. For her big 3 yr old bday party (like weeks ago- or was it a month and a half ago?) we had to make sure it was extra girlified AND not too much effort to pull off with a newborn attached to my um...anyway....
I found these cute little gumball machines for only $0.50 right before valentines day! My kind of deal. The tags were easily covered with pink poster board that was glued on, along with a personalized note of pure awesome cheese: "Hope you have a ball! Love Ruby". I couldn't help myself ha ha ha
I found these cute little gumball machines for only $0.50 right before valentines day! My kind of deal. The tags were easily covered with pink poster board that was glued on, along with a personalized note of pure awesome cheese: "Hope you have a ball! Love Ruby". I couldn't help myself ha ha ha
They were the cutest party favors and fit into the theme=)
As far as entertainment, we came up with the idea of having a tattoo/earring station for the kiddos and I loved how entertaining and SIMPLE it was.
Pink buckets were filled with stick-on earrings (found both at target) & temporary tattoos (you can get a whole booklet of them from Old navy).
Ruby was our very first customer.
Getting her ears "pierced" & some tattoos...by the end of the party she had partial sleeves just like her daddy!
The kids also got a kick out of being able to draw on our chalkboard wall that we did last year, which is always a go to for entertainment. Admittedly, we have had to make a few apologies after friends have visited and their kids went home with the mindset that they could actually draw on other walls. Oops. Guess it comes with the territory. It will still go down as one of my all time favorite projects that we've done and is great for rainy days (you can check out when we experimented with drawing with chalk under a black light here).
You can snag a small can of chalkboard paint at Home Depot for under fifteen bones and it goes a loooooonnnnngggg way. So if you've ever wondered about painting a wall- DO IT! 
Back to the party- for snacks we put out strips of seaweed (by request by our girls because they beg for it) & rice crackers with seaweed. 
We also had pink lemonade and lychee drinks. All pink of course.
And we couldn't forget octopus hotdogs!
Let's take a moment and reflect on these awesome pink and yellow plates from target because they are spiffy and you need to go get some. (Wait...that came out wrong. This is a family post afterall).
Our only splurge and Ruby's main gift from us was getting a cotton candy machine from our local party store for the day (they normally run around $35). It was sticky and fun! We actually had to have it in the backyard because all of the cotton candy was flying around and the machine was gigantic LOL
So worth the sugar rush!!!!
Just ask the birthday girl =)
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Confessions of a working mom
* This is a wordy one full of run-on sentences and random things capitalized lol Bare with me here. I left the filter out for the sake of being real my friends.
Yesterday was my first day back to work after almost three months being home with our three little girls. I took my maternity leave early due to complications and thus had to go back a tad early as well (just a few days before Jasmine turned 11 weeks). I tend to swing between two extreme pendalums internally- the one that says "You are doing this for your kids so they know that they can do ANYTHING they want when they grow up AND also be a mommy. You have more to give your kids because the time you have with them is quality time and not merely quantity" and then the other part of me says "Quit your job! You know you would be a better mom if you just stayed home. We could live in a cardboard box and be happy. You know if you really had a choice, you would be home all the time. What mom would CHOOSE to go to work."
I'm not sure what I was expecting but part of me half way imagined something like this- the girls all bawling in unison and me prying them off of me to head out the door. Feelings of guilt plaguing me all the way there only to get to the office and find I no longer remembered how to do my job. Will I remember how to collect audiometric data again? Or even know how to use my otoscope? These feelings had been building for the weeks leading up to my return and all I wanted was the gray cloud to part and an angel swoop down and tell me I could just stay home forever. And to be honest with myself...I can. I can stay home. I have a choice. Yes life would look differently but it is a choice nonetheless.
The morning was not the nightmare that I envisioned at all. It was smooth. It was uneventful and the girls and myself were all ready before 7am without a glitch or a meltdown from them or me (way earlier then the past few months). They were gracious and our snuggles were more sentamental but there was no work fairy who appeared like a grim reaper and snatched me from my girls. We said our goodbyes and Nevaeh in the most endearing tone explained to Ruby "It's OK. When you are a mommy you will have to go to work too. And thats OK because they will be your kids and you will always come back." while we all hugged. A part of me was crushed she was the one doing the explaining not to mention that she was telling our 3 year old that she would "HAVE to work" when she was a mommy. I try to explain that mommy helps people hear better- mommies and daddies and grandmas and grandpas. I tried to remember that explanation of why I do what I do but that morning there was no rational nor reason in my heart or mind. I simply got in the car and drove to work. And it did all come flooding back in an instant. Like riding a bike and not even thinking about where you are riding to. Or being too busy with patients to be able to think what my left or right hand was doing but somehow it came to me as natural as nurturing my newborn child. There were no big fireworks or tears...then.
I came home a little resentful that things had gone so smoothly. I packed up the youngest girls after work, headed home, played, and ate dinner, and then we were off to Nev's basketball game all as a fam. Maybe I half way wished that it was such a rough day that I could have said "SEE! I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!! I'm never supposed to work again!!!!!!!!!!" I may or may not have created drama in my heart. It may or may not have built up until the point that when the kids were in bed I cried to my husband and said some things I didn't mean. I may or may not have hurt his heart because I was hurting with my own internal battle. My go to place when I am dealing with something is I can do it on my own....Without Jesus, without my husband or friends. Just me and my girls in my little bunker. To be a hermet and just shelter and love on them forever because BY MYSELF I'm so much better off. Not my proudest moment but my sinful heart reared it's ugly face showing my need for a Savior. And in our flesh we like to hide our sin. So here I am exposing it for all the world to see.
Today was day #2 and I cried all the way to work. Because deep down in my heart I know I am doing the right thing but IF IT"S THE RIGHT THING WHY DOES IT FEEL SO BAD. And there are so many stay-at-home moms that would tell me that I am doing the wrong thing. That I should be at home. That I am missing out. To you I say- my family will always be my first priority. Always. And thank the Lord each day He promises to provide us with what we need even if it may not be what we want. That His grace is sufficient. I hope that I am brave enough to daily ask the scary question "What do you require of me today?" For today- for this season and for this time frame, this is what I am supposed to be doing. It is not the all or nothing that I make it out to be. It is not work OR be a mother. Right now for me it is doing both and as my six year old put it, it is OK.
Yesterday was my first day back to work after almost three months being home with our three little girls. I took my maternity leave early due to complications and thus had to go back a tad early as well (just a few days before Jasmine turned 11 weeks). I tend to swing between two extreme pendalums internally- the one that says "You are doing this for your kids so they know that they can do ANYTHING they want when they grow up AND also be a mommy. You have more to give your kids because the time you have with them is quality time and not merely quantity" and then the other part of me says "Quit your job! You know you would be a better mom if you just stayed home. We could live in a cardboard box and be happy. You know if you really had a choice, you would be home all the time. What mom would CHOOSE to go to work."
I'm not sure what I was expecting but part of me half way imagined something like this- the girls all bawling in unison and me prying them off of me to head out the door. Feelings of guilt plaguing me all the way there only to get to the office and find I no longer remembered how to do my job. Will I remember how to collect audiometric data again? Or even know how to use my otoscope? These feelings had been building for the weeks leading up to my return and all I wanted was the gray cloud to part and an angel swoop down and tell me I could just stay home forever. And to be honest with myself...I can. I can stay home. I have a choice. Yes life would look differently but it is a choice nonetheless.
The morning was not the nightmare that I envisioned at all. It was smooth. It was uneventful and the girls and myself were all ready before 7am without a glitch or a meltdown from them or me (way earlier then the past few months). They were gracious and our snuggles were more sentamental but there was no work fairy who appeared like a grim reaper and snatched me from my girls. We said our goodbyes and Nevaeh in the most endearing tone explained to Ruby "It's OK. When you are a mommy you will have to go to work too. And thats OK because they will be your kids and you will always come back." while we all hugged. A part of me was crushed she was the one doing the explaining not to mention that she was telling our 3 year old that she would "HAVE to work" when she was a mommy. I try to explain that mommy helps people hear better- mommies and daddies and grandmas and grandpas. I tried to remember that explanation of why I do what I do but that morning there was no rational nor reason in my heart or mind. I simply got in the car and drove to work. And it did all come flooding back in an instant. Like riding a bike and not even thinking about where you are riding to. Or being too busy with patients to be able to think what my left or right hand was doing but somehow it came to me as natural as nurturing my newborn child. There were no big fireworks or tears...then.
I came home a little resentful that things had gone so smoothly. I packed up the youngest girls after work, headed home, played, and ate dinner, and then we were off to Nev's basketball game all as a fam. Maybe I half way wished that it was such a rough day that I could have said "SEE! I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!! I'm never supposed to work again!!!!!!!!!!" I may or may not have created drama in my heart. It may or may not have built up until the point that when the kids were in bed I cried to my husband and said some things I didn't mean. I may or may not have hurt his heart because I was hurting with my own internal battle. My go to place when I am dealing with something is
Today was day #2 and I cried all the way to work. Because deep down in my heart I know I am doing the right thing but IF IT"S THE RIGHT THING WHY DOES IT FEEL SO BAD. And there are so many stay-at-home moms that would tell me that I am doing the wrong thing. That I should be at home. That I am missing out. To you I say- my family will always be my first priority. Always. And thank the Lord each day He promises to provide us with what we need even if it may not be what we want. That His grace is sufficient. I hope that I am brave enough to daily ask the scary question "What do you require of me today?" For today- for this season and for this time frame, this is what I am supposed to be doing. It is not the all or nothing that I make it out to be. It is not work OR be a mother. Right now for me it is doing both and as my six year old put it, it is OK.
Friday, April 19, 2013
The down-low on decals
Decals. They can transform a wall and thus a room instantly and if I had the choice I would plaster them over all of our walls...oh wait..... I ALREADY DO THAT! It started a few years back when we decorated Ruby's nursery. Just try to ignore the creepy naked baby doll in the crib. Better yet, let me give you a tour of the decals around our home:
A cherry blossom branch decal,
that we moved from Ruby's old red room (which is now becoming the play room) to the girls shared room:
Pink flowers in the girls bathroom
A cherry blossom branch decal,
And let's not forget about the tree, bird, and flowers that were in Nevaeh's old pink and green room (can you say Target?) before we painted it blue and the girls started sharing the space:
And then was the turning point!....decals are so expensive and almost a luxury so why not make your own???? So we put up a (YOU GUESSED IT- ANOTHER ONE) huge unicorn!
But this time I made the decal myself out of poster board!You may have read about it previously here. However, I want to show you a more detailed step-by-step on how to do your own beings that it is my second attempt (this time making an anchor and stars). Here is how to make these bad boys out of POSTER BOARD (they range from only $0.79- $1.29. Can you say cheap?) :
 | |||
| These act more like wallpaper & are long-lasting. Make sure you love where they are at! |
And last but not least (do you hear the drum roll) Here is a sneak peak into the new "playroom" with the nifty new anchor decal:
What would you want to create to transform your space? An owl? A rainbow? A branch? You can really make any decal you want!!!! And now you know how =)
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