Catching Up On The Kids

 

It's been a couple of months since I did a catching up on the kids post, so here is what they are up to these days.

 

They both had all of last week off for Fall Break.  Miller especially liked all of the time off of school.  They got to hang out with their cousins and grandparents for part of the week.  Then we took a day trip to Mammoth Cave on Thursday. 

 

Miller's baseball season wrapped up on Saturday.  He really improved this season.  I think things have finally clicked into place for him.  Although it was fun to watch him play this season, I am glad the season is over.  Miller seems to be enjoying school this year.  In the last month his interest in reading has skyrocketed.  He is constantly asking us to spell things and trying to read anything in sight.  It is so exciting that he is interested in learning and we are not having to force him to read every night.  He is obsessed with Legos, The Avengers, and The Lord of the Rings.  Miller lost his very first tooth yesterday.  As soon as I get a good photo, I will post it. 

 

 

Harper is still a blue belt in Tae Kwon Do.  She goes several days a week, which keeps us all busy.  She is still enjoying Brownies.  They have participated in some fun events this year.  Her favorite was a synchronized swimming class they took at the local recreation center.  She has also joined a Destination Imagination team at her school.  She is really excited about it.  Third grade is definitely more challenging this year, but she seems to be taking it all in stride. 

 

I will be back on Thursday with some photos from Halloween.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie Recipe

 

 You know we are all about smoothies at my house.  Well, if you are like me I can't get enough of pumpkin right now.  This smoothie definitely satisfies that craving.  The kids love it too.  It makes the perfect after school treat.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie- serves 4

Ingredients:

1 can of pureed pumpkin ( I use the organic stuff from Whole Foods)
2 bananas (frozen would make it extra yummy)
2 cups of milk of choice (I use almond milk)
1 tbsp of maple syrup
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger

Place all the ingredients in the blender. Blend away and enjoy.  Top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon to make it extra special.

A Day In The Life- Tuesday- Part 2

Well, here's the rest of my Tuesday.   I am not going to detail every bit of my work day because that would just be to hard to document.  I will just include the important stuff like what I ate.

9:30 am- I decide to have a second cup of green tea. 

10:05 am- I drink my green smoothie.  It was extra good today.  It must have been all those sttrawberries.

11:30 am- Lunch.  We order out on Tuesdays.  Today we chose Panera.  I had a cup of vegetarian black bean soup and half a greek salad. 

2:20 pm- I eat an apple for a snack. 

2:50 pm- I am still hungry so I snack on some wasabi rice crackers.

3:00 pm- I leave work.

3:13 pm- I get home, check the mail, and change clothes.

3:30 pm- I make the kids a snack- a cut up pear and graham cracker with nutella.  I make myself one too.  Then I decide I need another one.

3:40 pm- The kids are home.  They run to see what I made them for a snack.  They eat their snack while watching a little TV.  I let them eat their snack and chill out for awhile, so I can sneak in a workout.

3:45 pm- I look through the kids folders.  Sign Miller's behavior chart.  He got a smiley face today. Sign Harper's planner and Tuesday packet.  I check to make sure that Harper doesn't have any homework.

3:50 pm- I grab some water and get ready to workout.  I am doing Jillian Michael's Body Revolution workout # 8.

3:55 pm- I start working out.

4:30 pm- I am finished working out.  I rest for a minute then get started throwing together something for dinner.  Miller has a baseball game tonight so I have to make something that is easy to eat and quick to make.  I am making breakfast burritos for the adults and ham and cheese roll ups for the kids.

4:35 pm- I decide to make the kids lunches for tomorrow while I have all the ingredients out for ham and cheese roll-ups.  Harper has to be at school at 7:30 tomorrow so my Wednesday morning will be a little crazy.

5:00 pm- The kids lunches are made.  They sit down to eat their dinner.  Mitch and I also sit down and eat our dinner really quick.

5:10 pm- Miller gets dressed for baseball.  I pack up snacks for the game. I get Miller's water bottle ready.  I  clean myself up and change out of my sweaty clothes.

5:25 pm- We head to the baseball field.

5:38 pm- We arrive at the ball field.  Harper and I go for a quick walk since the game doesn't start until 6:00.

6:00 pm- Harper and I watch Miller's game.  Mitch is the coach so he is busy on the field.  Harper and I help out in the dug out.

7:30 pm- The game is over.  We hand out snacks and wait for all the players to leave.  We head home.

7:47 pm- We get home and bathe the kids really fast. I change into PJs and wash my face.

8:00 pm- Harper brushes her teeth and gets in bed to read.  Miller decides he now wants to eat his dinner.  While he eats, he reads me his assigned book for the day.

8:14 pm- Miller brushes his teeth and gets into bed.  I read to him until 8:30 and it's lights out for both kids.

8:35 pm- Miller has requested overnight oats for breakfast tomorrow.  I get the ingredients all mixed up.

8:42 pm- Miller is up.  He wants me to lay with him.  I tell myself that he won't want me to do this much longer so I should enjoy it, but I am actually frustrated.  I am ready to go to bed myself.

8:45 pm- I leave Miller's room.  I sit down to write this post, but the internet isn't working.  I type it up anyways and make a copy in Word in case I lose it.

9:05 pm- I floss, brush my teeth, and get into bed.  I read in bed until 9:55.

10:00 pm- I am fast asleep.

A Day In The Life- Tuesday- Part 1

It's been awhile since I have done A Day In The Life post, so I felt like one was due.  I love looking back on these and realizing how much has changed or not changed.  So here is my Tuesday morning documented.  I am breaking it up into 2 parts so that it is not one huge boring post.

6:21 am- Miller's awake, which means I am awake.  He plops in front of the TV and I go shower.

6:53 am- I am showered and dressed for work.  I even applied some makeup.

6:54 am- I ask Miller what he wants for breakfast.  He wants cinnamon toast and eggs.  I start getting the toast ready.  I also get all of our vitamins out. The kids get a multivitamin and a probiotic.  Mitch and I take a vitamin D, probiotic, and an emergen-c.

7:00 am- I wake up Harper.  I ask her what she wants for breakfast.  She wants cereal.

7:05 am- I pour Harper's cereal while Miller's toast is toasting.  Then get started on his eggs. I also unload the dishwasher while the eggs are cooking.

7:10 am- Breakfast is on the table.  The kids sit down to eat.

7:15am- I get my breakfast ready.  I usually take a bowl of oatmeal with me to eat at work.  I start getting all the ingredients together to make a green smoothie. 

7:20 am- I blend up the green smoothie.  I pour mine into a mason jar and Mitch's into his klean kanteen.  I rinse out the blender and put it into the dishwasher.

 

7:25 am- I fill up Harper's water bottle and put it in her backpack.  Then pack them snacks.  Miller wants a bar of some sort every day.  Harper prefers to have something that she can snack on while she works.  So she usually gets some sort of cracker or pretzel.  The kids are buying their lunch today, so I don't have to pack lunches.

 

7:30 am- The kids are finished eating.  They bring their plates to the kitchen and I load them into the dishwasher.  Miller also checks the weather on the computer.  He likes to know how he needs to dress for the day.

7:31 am- Harper is in her room getting ready for school.  I help Miller find some pants to wear because he didn't want to wear any of the pants in his drawer.  Lucky for me the pants he wanted to wear were in the dryer. 

7:34 am- Miller brushes his teeth.  I blow dry my hair and straighten it.

7:45 am- Miller is all dressed and has his shoes on.  I brush my teeth and check on Harper.  She is all ready to go.  She just needs to brush her teeth.

 

7:48 am- I have some extra time so I check my e-mail then get sucked into Pinterest for a few minutes.

7:55 am- We get ready to walk out the door.  Miller decides he needs a band aid on his finger.  So I slap a band aid on him reallly quick.  We grab backpacks and jackets and jump into the car.  I tried to get Miller in this photo too, but he ran away from me. 

 

7:59 am- We leave the house and head to my friend's house to pick up her girls.  We carpool with them.  I take them in the morning and she brings them home in the afternoon. 

8:03 am- We drive to school.

8:11 am- I drop the kids off at school and drive to work.

8:20 am- I get to work.  I turn on my computer, fill up my water bottle, make some tea, and get my oatmeal all ready.

8:30 am- Time to work.  Here's my view. The leaves are starting to change.  Woohoo.

I will be back tomorrow with the rest of my day.  So did anyone do anything exciting this morning?

Boogie Board Writing Tablet Cover

 

 Have you seen these Boogie Boards?   They are LCD writing tablets.  I think they are pretty cool.  They are perfect for jotting down math problems or just doodling.  I kind of want one for myself. : )We got one for my niece for her birthday.  It seemed kind of boring on its own, so I decided to make a case for it.  I used an old hard back book and covered it with fabric.  I did take photos so if anyone is interested just leave a comment and I will get a tutorial together.

 

Here's the front. 

 

and the back.
 

Anyone else been up to anything crafty?

Vintage Sheet Napkins Tutorial



I have been using reusable napkins for many years now.  It was one of the first and probably easiest changes I made when "going green" over 4 years ago.  Not only does it help the environment, it also saves me money.   I can't even remember the last time I purchased paper napkins or paper towels.

I have several different types of napkins that I have collected over the years.  I have several smaller flannel napkins, which after 4 years of constant use are looking more like rags.  Then I have several larger cloth napkins.  We all tend to grab the larger cloth napkins first.  These have also held up better over time.  In an attempt to replace my old flannel napkins, I decided to dip into my stash of vintage sheets and pillowcases to make some napkins.   I don't have to spend any money and I get to put the vintage sheets to good use.  Can't beat that.

I made three different versions for some variety.  I made all of my napkins between 12-14 inches square.  When using pillowcases, I found that I could get six 13 inch pieces cut from one pillowcase.

The Everyday Napkins are probably my favorite.  They are made from a single piece of fabric with a hemmed edge.  You can choose a larger napkin (18 inches square), a medium size napkin (13 inches sqaure) or a smaller napkin (10 inches square).   I made my napkins 13 inches square. 

Here's what to do:

1.  Cut fabric to desired size

2. Fold each side down 1/4 inch and iron.  The fold again and iron.
3.  Sew your ironed edges down.  You are done!!

The Fringe Napkins require less sewing and ironing, but the unraveling does take awhile.  These can easily be no sew napkins for those that do not want to pull out the sewing machine.

Here's what you do:

1. Cut fabric to desired size.

2. Stitch around all of the edges. This helped me to know how far to unravel (This step is optional)

3. Start unraveling the edges. 

4. Stop unraveling when all the edges are the same length.

The Reversible napkins are the easiest to make in my opinion.  I used two thinner fabrics that I thought would be too thin on their own, but just right when sewn together. 

Here's what to do:

1.  Cut 2 pieces of fabric to desired size. 

2.  With right sides together, sew along all edges leaving a 3 inch gap for turning.

3.  Turn the fabric right side out through the gap.

4. Iron the napkin flat making sure the unsewn edge is tucked in neatly and even with the other edges.

5.  Topstitch around the napkin.  I did two lines of stitching because I liked the way it looked.

So now that you know how easy it is to make your own napkins, give it a try.  Little changes can make a big difference.

Crow Pose

We have been taking full advantage of our wide open space in the playroom.  I have been trying to master the crow pose in yoga.  So of course the kids had to give it a go.

 

 

Harper's crow pose looks pretty good.  She is so strong.
 

 

Miller and I still have some work to do.

 

Anyone have any pointers?

Purging

We had a garage sale this weekend.  It felt SO good to get rid of things that we no longer needed.  It also makes me feel good that maybe some of our stuff will live on with a new family for a little bit longer.  I am definitely feeling lighter after the weekend.  It is so freeing to not be so weighed down by stuff.  Hopefully I can keep it that way.

I mentioned last week that we have been working on our former family room.  We are turning it into a playroom for the kids.  I was so excited that we were finally painting it that I totally forgot to take any proper before photos. 

Here's a photo that I dug out of my archives.  This is pretty much what this door looked like for a whole year.  Ugh. We were so busy with the kitchen remodel.  This room was completely neglected. 

Here's another one from the archives.  This is what it looked like to the right of the door (minus all of the fabric piled on the table).

 

Another view from the archives.  You get a glimpse of the paint color and sectional. 

I really had a good time looking through all my old photos trying to find shots of this room.  This is a really old one, but you can see the rug and curtains.

Hopefully you got a pretty good feel from these photos how dark and gloomy this room used to be.  It was definitely time for a change. 

Ahhh, so much better.  It is amazing how much lighter and brighter this room feels now. We still have lots of plans for this room.  We want to change out the huge entertainment center and find a desk for the computer.  We have plans to get a sectional for the new family room and move the leather couch into this room.  We are hoping this room becomes a place for the kids to hang out with their friends.  The wii is also hooked up to this TV so Miller has a place to play without taking over the main TV.

You can tell from this photo that my foyer is still unfinished too.  You can see my pretty yellow mirror though.  I need to find some artwork to put on the walls.  Mitch and I made the bookcase on the left from an old door, shutters, and a window.  We made it before we moved into the house.  I guess I might still need to purge some books or have Mitch build me another bookcase.

Mitch and his dad made the entertainment center for our first house, which had vaulted ceilings.  It was also made for a much deeper TV.  Now TVs are so thin we don't really need it to be so deep. The piece has always been a little too large for our house, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to part with it.  We are still trying to decide what to do with it.  Anyone want it?

I am finally starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.