Crafty Goodness....

This week has been such a relief for me. After we got back from vacation, i had a TON of work to do. Not only in the house with laundry, unpacking, etc etc (which took almost an entire week), but i had notes due for work & they are only due once a month. It is crummy when all the craziness overlaps & the past two weeks were the lucky weeks i guess. We had all that plus i've opened up 2 new referrals for work, continued to work my 2 days, went to a mother's day tea, a staff meeting, made gifts for teacher appreciation week, and end of year teacher gifts also since Eli just finished up his preschool year. Can we say CRAZY?

So this week i have finally been able to sit back & breathe a sigh of relief. Whew! And how did i celebrate? By crafting, of course. Not because i HAD to though , but because i wanted to (it really does make a difference! I check in on blogs almost every day to see if anything new strikes my fancy & this week i came across several things.

Yesterday, while Eli napped, i finally gave freezer paper stenciling a try. I had the paper for months but was nervous to give it a try. But i found a video tutorial online which helped give me the confidence to try it. It is HERE if you want to watch it. This is what i did....
I drew a robot onto freezer paper, shiny side down. Then i used an exacto knife to cut out the "innards". I placed the stencil on an old stained shirt of Eli's & then ironed it. It set very quickly. Then i took regular acrylic paint & painted the shirt. I could have bought fabric paint, but i didn't want to go buy anything for this project & i knew from first hand (unfortunate) experience, that acrylic paint doesn't wash out! lol! Once i peeled off the stencil, i had a cute little robot waiting for me!Here is Eli, getting his first look at the shirt. He said... "That's MY robot??"
Of course, i didn't want to throw out those "innard" pieces either. So i took the same blue shirt like Eli's, but this time it was Jackson's stained blue shirt & i ironed on those pieces- to make a "mask" so to speak. Then i poured bleach into a bottle & took the shirt outside to spray. After literally SECONDS, it was bleached out, so i took it back inside & rinsed. Then i had this.... CUTE!Next time i will dilute the bleach for a less dramatic effect, but for my first try, i was pleased. And so was Jackson! The bleach soaked through the legs that were ironed on, but oh, well.. it was supossed to be abstract!

Yesterday, just after our morning snack, i realized that i forgot all about the "floater" teacher in Eli's classroom! Ooops! So, quickly, Eli & I threw together a necklace for her. They are made of washers, paper, modge podge & diamond glaze. Once they dried, we strung some cording around them & Voila! We went ahead & gave one to his regular teacher with her box we made too!

Then last night when i was searching the same blog from the tee shirt idea above, i found this idea which was a DUH! moment for me, & i knew i could do it. Soooo, i did it today... Here is my "non-camisole" made from a tee shirt bottom, cut off about 3 inches from the bottom, then sewed up the side at the right width to make it snug around me.
Now it is a tube top that mocks a camisole without all that hot layering in the summer! Voila!
When i was at JoAnn's today browsing, i also came across some really cute belting with turtles on it. I immediately thought of Eli! He doesn't have a belt but Jackson does & i thought he would like a belt. Since it was only 2.29 a yard, i went ahead & bought an entire yard because i wasn't sure how wide his waist was. I sewed the belting to D-rings & check him out....

Okay, last project, to post about, i promise! This has been a marathon post! But, at this same blog i discovered yesterday (which has already been bookmarked b/c i love it so much), i found these cute cuffs for boys. Oh, my- this has "Jackson" written all over it! He's really into wearing those silly bandz & will even take my hair ties to wear on his wrists. So i knew he needed this. PLUS, i gave Randy a pair of pants for Christmas that had a canvas belt on it & he doesn't like those belts. Score! I dug it out of his closet & got to cutting/sewing. I managed to finally figure out the snaps (they were a pain) and then i used embroidery thread to make the red dashes along the edges. Then i used iron on stars. Sooooo cute! He is tickled, too, let me tell you!

Mother's Day 2010

Jackson had a mother's day tea at school this year & it was super sweet. The table was all decorated with placemats made by the kids for us. And there was a vase full of 'flowers'....Each parent had a gift from their child, too.... mine was a painted butterfly magnet.(on a side note here... the morning of the tea, Jackson woke up & put a nice polo shirt on. I asked him why he was wearing a collared shirt to school & he said, "Because it's Mother's Day." Such a sweet kid!)We had yummy pound cake with strawberries & cool whip to eat.....And the kids all lined up to sing a few songs about mothers. (I would upload the video but it is pointless, since a parent brought a sibling who literally screamed through the whole thing! lovely.)And since i was there.... i went ahead & took two pictures of the girls he talks about the most from school.... Taylor...and Kaitlynd... (who he has said all year is his girlfriend!) You can't tell it in this picture, but she immediately grabbed his hand when he came over! It was so fun to see Jackson in his element with all his peers at school. I am so glad he enjoys school!

On the actual day of Mother's Day, we had a little cook-out at the park after church. Randy was sick at home with a migraine & tummy ache, so i went solo with the boys. I didn't manage to get a picture of me with the boys that day, but i did get a picture of me & Rebecca... the two "mamas"! Little Sara Beth is really starting to grow in that belly!I did get a beautiful hanging basket for my front porch from Randy & the boys....And some cards from the boys.... and let me tell you... that Eli continues to astonish me with his writing skills. Just back in February, he surprised me by writing his name independently. Then this past weekend, he was asking me how to spell "Happy" and so i told him letter, by letter what comes next. Then he asked about "mothers", then "day." This is what i saw.....If you look closely enough... it's all there! The "happy" is spelled out of order because he puts letters where he finds room, not in order, so the top line is Y-P-P-H-A" and then the second line is in order with "MOTHERS" (The R & S are a little funky) and then day is "A-D-Y". Can you believe he can write all these letters? I couldn't! I was amazed.

I am so blessed to have such sweet boys & to get to be their mother. I had no idea how my life would change once i became a mother & now my whole life revolves around these two kiddos! And i am so blessed to have such great mothers in my life. From a mother who always put us before herself no matter the situation, to a step-mother who always treated us as if we were hers all along , to the best mother-in-law a girl could ask for who treats me like a real daughter. The Lord has blessed me abundantly!

The horrible, no good, lousy day.

So this past Friday was a doosy. A real, doosy. I have to admit that i was almost in tears from my kids behavior by 9am. Seriously, ALREADY to that point by 9am. Keep in mind that this particular morning we got up at 7:45am. We have to argue over everything from what color plate we eat off of to the pair of shorts we put on. And with Eli, we also have to argue over who is going to do it... me or him... (I want him to do it, he wants to be helpless & have me do it for him!) By lunch time, Eli had begun to get it together & then he fell & skinned his knee. And you know how it all went down the drain from there. I used this to my advantage. I doctored him up (despite his literal kicking & screaming when i poured peroxide on it!) and gave him his lunch right quick. He actually whined, chewed, whined, chewed, etc (you get the point) until i just couldn't take it anymore. He was fine at this point, but was just hanging onto the drama. So i decided to play along.... I told him we needed to get his leg back to feeling better so he needed to 'rest' it. I told him to grab a pillow off the couch & we took it upstairs. Then i told him we needed to lay in the bed & prop his knee up on the pillow to rest it. (i also gave him a dose of advil for good measure since he loves taking medicine & i figured it wouldn't hurt). In less than 2 minutes.... this is what i found when i peeked in....This was a full hour before his regular naptime! And he slept for almost 3 hours which hasn't happened in quite some time. I think he must have needed it. I know i sure did. And this gave me some time to reflect on some changes that needed to be made....

In recent months, the drama has been building at the Moss house. I guess it mainly has to do with Eli's age & the fact that Jackson is tired & grumpy from school. But man, it has been rough. My attitude has been diminishing as a result & i could hear myself becoming the kind of parent that i don't want to be. All i heard was negativity from myself to the kids & as a result they were giving me negativity back. It was a vicious cycle. And it was one i knew i needed to break.

So, out of the horrible, no good, lousy day, a new behavior chart was born! We had been using a stop light system. The kids have a stoplight on the fridge with name labeled clothes pins attached. If they were doing well, they stayed on green. If they needed a warning, onto yellow they went. If they went to red, then there was a consequence of some sort. There were two problems, however.... 1) again- this only promoted the negative consequence and 2)they were policing EACH other & moving each other's pins around (plus all i was hearing was "i'm on green & you are still on yellow! **invision a tongue sticking out because the tone suggested that he might as well have his tongue out!**) I had been talking to my friend Meredith about this some because she has been using a great system to teach her kids bible verses. I wanted to use bible verses to show the kids how they needed to behave, not because "i am the mean mommy." - which yes, i have been called in recent months, more than once- but because this is how God wants us to live & it pleases Him. So Friday night, i made these and posted them to the pantry door Saturday morning for a fresh start!
I explained to the kids that each night we were going to place stickers on our charts for each behavior & with the behavior, we would recite our verse which tells us WHY we behave in the good ways that we should. Day one, was a success overall.... but by day two, we are already doing a little worse..... but that's okay! There's always tomorrow to start fresh. Here is Jackson's chart.... And here is Eli's tonight before we went to bed. Can you tell the areas we struggle with around here?? lol! Each time they get a line to the end... they get this.....
And as a side note. I have kept the stop light to use with this system as well. It gives them warning when they are about to lose an opportunity at a sticker on the chart. And it keeps me accountable to that as well.

If you are curious, here are the behaviors & verses on the chart (Most of them the kids can already recite some or all of just after 2 days!) When i ask them each night "Were you a helper today?" They will answer me & then I will ask them, "Why should you be a helper?" And this prompts them for the memory verse of "Even a child is known by his deeds." So that is an example of how we are using it. Here 's the whole list of them from our chart:
* I was a helper. (Even a child is known by his deeds Prov. 20:11)
*I used kind words (A soft answer turns away wrath. Prov 15:1)
*I shared with others (Honor one another above yourselves Rom 12:10)
*I did not interrupt others (i am still looking for a verse for this one- probably something on respect!)
* I treated others with love & kindness (Love your neighbor as yourself. Matt 22:39)
* I obeyed the first time (Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Col. 3:20)
*I controlled my temper (Do everything without complaining or disputing. Phil 2:14)
* I cleaned up my own mess. (Do all things decently & in order. 1 Cor 14:40)
*I ate my dinner with thankfulness. (Unto thee, oh God, do we give thanks. Ps. 75:1)

More Teacher Gifts

This coming Tuesday is Eli's last day of preschool until next fall! Can you believe it? It really snuck up on me. It's a good thing that i already had my end of the year teacher gift idea ready to go! I hit Michael's to get some bead boxes ($1.99 each) and then i hit the Staples next door to get office supplies. Throw it all together & this is what you get....
I already had the ribbon, paper, & zots adhesive that i needed in my scrapbooking / craft supplies. I made Ms. Beverly's first...
And then i decided that if i was going to make hers, then i needed to make Jackson's teachers & just hang onto them until June when his year is over.

Here is what is inside....
I got all the supplies for the inside of 3 boxes for $16 at Staples. I happened to hit a good sale week where some of the supplies were half off. I added some chocolate to a few squares, as well as some marble magnets we made around Christmas time. In the other areas we added matching erasers, binder clips, paper clips, thumb tacks, a calculator, and 2 mini highlighters. I love to make gifts that i know the teachers will use! I, of course, didn't come up with this idea on my own..... i have THIS blog to thank! Her's is much cuter than mine (& brighter) , but i thought mine turned out just lovely!

Fruits of Our Labor...

This is our first year at growing a garden. Last year, since we were moving mid-summer, we helped Rebecca & Todd in their garden, and split the "proceeds" so to speak, but WE didn't grow a garden. We just watered it from time to time & came over to help pull weeds when it was needed. So since we are settled into our new home, i wanted to grow my own garden this year...We decided on a raised bed because of the slope of the back yard as you can see in the above picture. Next year we will add another large bed for more produce as well as maybe a smaller one to accomodate our herbs. But since this was our first year on our own & in a new soil (red clay) that i was unsure of, we kept it small. Randy built a fence around it to keep Zack out of it (& the kids if we are honest!) Hopefully by next year, there will be some grass along the outside of this fence too! lol!
I have been taking the kids out there to help me water it & check on the plants to see if anything is growing. It is so exciting to see the small changes & such a great lesson for the boys on how the Lord provides for us. When we get our produce in the grocery store, the kids can't see that this is how God gives us food- from small seeds to food in our mouths. It is just taken for granted that we have food & i have enjoyed talking to the kids about the process that God gave us.
Last week, when Jackson was at school, i took Eli out there with me to get some pictures of the plants. My little helper.... He was so cute checking on each plant.... Here he is smelling the dill...
I told him he could taste the cilantro if he wanted & told him we put it in salsa so he gave it a shot. He wasn't enthused! He spit it out & said, "Uh! Mama! We don't eat 'pwants'!" I told him that some plants, like herbs, we do eat, like the basil, dill, & cilantro we are growing. But the other plants, we pick the vegetable off of the plant to eat. He gave it a second taste, but still didn't like it plain (can't blame him there!) Here is my planter (it originally hung on the deck until an episode with Zack!) with our herbs....
I think the basil leaves are so pretty & full! I will be using some this week on a pizza with feta cheese & roma tomatoes. I can't wait!

Here is the first fruits of our labor... two tiny little cherry tomatoes! I couldn't have been more excited to see these cuties!
And i think the squash might be the next to produce some veges....All in all, we are growing squash, plenty of tomatoes- (regular size ones, roma, cherry, & grape tomatoes!) We have cucumbers (the bush variety at my father-in-law's suggestion to save space in the garden!), red, green, & yellow pepper, as well as zucchini & cantaloupe. Of course there are those three herbs too- cilantro, dill, & basil. I think next year i will add rosemary and maybe 2 apple trees! And i have some romaine lettuce seed, so i might grow a late summer crop of those too!

As it turns out...

So, as it turns out, we love him. Yes, i am talking about Zack, the dog. I have to be honest & say that it hasn't been easy. I personally, wanted to kill him about a gazillion times over the last 5 months. But i have held onto a little tidbit that my friend, Randi told me. She said, "If you can make it until he is 6 months old, it will be soooo much easier. Just keep telling yourself that." Well, at the time, i was thinking, "Six MONTHS?? I can barely think 6 days at this point with this dog." But she was right.... Zack just turned 6 months old & he has become our little, or rather, BIG teddy bear. He is becoming more & more obedient, and much more willing to please us. He is protective & thinks it's his duty to let us know ANY noise he hears in the house, by barking & investigating. He loves to snuggle ...and play frisbee...
And chase (and pop!) any ball in sight!
If you say, "oops" he comes running from ANYWHERE in the house to find a crumb at your feet. And he is just funny! He thinks everything is a game... especially when the kids are involved.So despite his tendencies to swallow socks whole & regurgitate them, and his digging habits in my planters, and his incessant chasing of Lola- We love him & we think he's a keeper!