Thanksgiving

I had so many grand plans for my Thanksgiving post.  A reflection on all the things I am so grateful for, my plans for sharing that appreciation with my kids and the lovely meal plans I was to prepare.

But instead, potty training, colds and a cat emergency consumed the last week.  So before I pass out from exhaustion and my sister's hot whiskey/honey cold killer I will leave you with the most amazingly awesome recipe I have ever found to replace the traditional turkey.

Behold!  Heaven for your mouth being hugged by a warm blanket of bacon.  I will never cook a whole turkey again.

This recipe is super easy, but be warned you need to read ALL the instructions first and get your schedule down.  Unless of coarse you want to partake in the most common of holiday traditions to announce dinner will be at 2 except, not really, you will eat at 6:30…

And my recommended changes - add more bacon, brine for only 1 hour and if you don't like a little spice, cut down on the chili pepper.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bacon-wrapped-turkey-breast-stuffed-with-pear-hash-recipe/index.html

Here's to new ventures and the power of creative collaboration!

I gave myself one year.  One year to settle my family in our new home, new town, new...everything.   One year to really get to know my kids without a laptop permanently open and cell phone in my hand. A year to bleed out the intense stress I carried from my previous job while trying to continue my work from home.  I gave myself 365 days to figure out what I really wanted to do when I grew up...again.

I wont bore you (in this post) with my meltdowns over the wildlife in my closet or my "welcome to your new home" by spending a week in the children's hospital!  You could say I let time get away from me while I actually starting living, both the good and the bad.

Somewhere around day 410 that little push came in the form of a gift.  A lovely little tote with a hand drawn design on it from a friend.  Over the next few days I watched as she shared her artwork online and questioned it's worth as a possible product.  My producer brain buzzed with endless ways to help market her designs, while also looking at ways to expand her creations with some crafty ideas of my own.  A few weeks later, and several dozen coffee's we decided to go into business together creating fun handmade products that spotlight her artwork.  And while I in no way pretend that my sewing expertise spans more than the last few months, I have to say I think I am getting the hang of it.

So here's to new adventures and a lot of creativity to share.  Join us, like us, and visit regularly as we roll out new ideas that often come from late nights, lots of coffee and car sickness.

https://www.facebook.com/lambkedesigns

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LambKeDesigns

Lunch Bag

So I was sitting in the living room many weeks ago, sorting through school supplies and bursting with pride over having collected all the items on my daughter's school list in advance.  And all that was left, the afternoon before the first day of school, was to sort and label all my acquisitions.  I am pretty sure I even proclaimed my awesomeness at being a proactive mom to the husband, who usually laughs and reminds me that it is with those announcements that I tend follow with a realization and expletive at the discovery that I might have made a mistake.

Yeah, so I checked the list, over and over, and managed to skip over the "lunch box" on the list.  Just recently I had thrown out last years model, not only due to its worn out appearance, but I had no faith it would last another day of use.  As the panic set in and the acceptance that I am too lazy to drive in to town to go to Target I decided to see if I could find some online help and take advantage of the plethora of material I have been hoarding (and not using).

Have I mentioned how much I love Pinterest?  It didn't take long to find a link to Craft Buds with an insanely easy and super cute bag design.  With the 6 year old's help (which usually adds a bit of time) we were able to churn out this cute little bag with snack bag in only about 2 hours!  And although some of my posts may be out of order, I should point out that this was only the third sewing project I have ever done (major props again to Craft Buds for their easy to follow instructions).

I need to give a HUGE shout out to Craft Buds for rescuing me at the eleventh hour.
Here is a link to the site and directions for this versatile bag!

http://www.craftbuds.com/car-trash-bag-reusable-lunch-bag/

You can check out my recent post with instructions on making the snack bags (For about $1 per bag!).

http://growingupkiddos.blogspot.com/2013/10/reusable-snack-bags-for-1-make-4-with.html

Reusable Snack bags for a $1! Make 4 with one Fat Quarter.

Last year I was in this natural grocery store and found the cutest reusable snack bags.  I went ahead and forked over the $10 per bag (one for each kid) hoping that I could eventually make my own.  After a few variations and help from friends who sew much better than I do, I finally came up with these.  Not much different than the store bought version (albeit a little less polished and MUCH cheaper).  Hopefully my little picture tutorial is easy to follow, let me know if you have any questions!

SUPPLIES
This assumes you already have a sewing machine and thread!

1 fat quarter - $1 at big lots or on sale at Joann's!
rip stop - (I get it from Joann's at $7/yd) only need 1/4 yard for this project
1/2in double fold bias tape (From Joann at $1.99 for 3 yards). I use just under 24in per bag for a total of 96in.  You still have enough for 3 more snack bags.

The above materials will make 4 snack bags at a total cost of $1.19 PER bag!
(NOT including any coupons or other sales you might find!)

Here are the instructions!

Lay out your fat quarter with rip stop underneath and trim to 18x22 (I notice a lot of the fat quarters I get have a little excess on one side or another)

Make your first cut across the shorter end at 6 inches, it will be longer than the rest, you can either trim it to 15 inches or make a deeper snack bag and prevent any waste.  Then cut the remaining large piece into 3 equal strips of 6x15.

The remaining instructions apply to each bag you assemble.  

Start by doing a double fold at the bottom of your bag, this will end up being the pocket opening.  Then sew that fold closed and sew around the edges of your fabric/ripstop.

Once both pieces have been sewn together, fold the bottom half over leaving a 3 inch flap at what will be the top of your bag.

Next, pinch the bottom of the bag and fold under a 1 inch bottom.  Pin the folds to secure for sewing.

Before you sew, add your bias tape.  start by folding the bottom of the tape to leave a clean edge.  The pin in as you fold it over the edges of your bag.  And yes, I DID take a break to have a manicure session with my kids ( :

When you reach the top corners of the bag, fold the bias tape under at the corners and clip.  Do not run the bias tape along the bottom.  

Quick awesome side note, my mom turned me on to using hair clips instead of pins, no more bleeding!!  

I do a double stitch seam to secure the bias tape and bag together, especially with how much my kids use these.   And there you go!  Repeat 3 more times and you have 4 snack bags!   Machine washable.

Summer Schoolin' Activities

I am now a few weeks deep into my first official summer break since college (too many years ago to count!).  Instead of planning pub crawls and road trips I have spent some time now preparing for 8 weeks of activities for my 6 and 2 year old.  I wish I could say we plan to just enjoy each day and lounge, but I know that none of our personalities are geared towards that so my "producer" brain requires I have a plan.  We had a 2 week trip planned and 2 week long camps which left me with just a few weeks of idle space to fill.


After first grade orientation and conferences with teachers it became apparent that having a little extra education throughout the break was definitely not going to hurt, so I used that as my foundation.  I took a bunch of the suggested guidelines from our first grade teachers summer recommendations and then scoured the Internet for others.  Have I mentioned yet that I am obsessed with Pinterest?  No?  You'll soon see how deep that love affair goes.  I then bought all my supplies at the Dollar store to make it look less "school".  Another plus in my house (most days) is that my 6 year old always wants to teach her little sister, so I created activities that have her "teach" her little sister without (hopefully) realizing she is learning something too.  Hopefully my kids will continue to underestimate my sneaky-ness for many years to come.  They still don't know about the banana's in their waffles.

So far the biggest hits have been the measurements and the writing journal, but we are starting science with Dad this weekend which I think will probably take the cake.  How can you go wrong with rockets and volcanoes?

Despite my constant urge to keep everything consistent, I promised myself I would not make this an "mandatory" event each day and there are a lot of days we don't consult the bucket for ideas.  However, whenever it gets a little too quiet or too loud we have something to do!  Each subject has its own little bag and inside it an index card with the task.  Most of the materials are from around the house or the dollar store.  I figure if this works, even half the time, I will build on it each summer adjusting the activities to each girl's upcoming grade level.

Here are some of the projects I included -

SCIENCE
With each project she has to enter her guess of what will happen, observations and final report of what occurred with each experiment into her journal.  On the schedule are building and launching a rocket to see how high it will go, trying to decide which bugs our chickens like to eat most, the ever standard (and favorite) baking soda volcano and rainbow water/celery test.

MATH
So far the biggest hit has been the scavenger hunt.  I gave Peanut a ruler and sent her and her sister on a hunt throughout the house to find objects that were as tall as each inch increment up to 12 inches.  Then we lined them all up, re-measured, drew pictures of them and labeled them with their name and height.  This took ALL morning with a few breaks.   Other activities included creating a summer countdown calendar to her camp events, baking muffins, sorting my change and doing dot to dot puzzles I downloaded free off the Internet.

READING
We read a lot in our house, so the big treats from this bag are going to the library for new books and doing scavenger hunts in town to find words on signs.  I found this really cool idea that I thought we would try too!
http://pinterest.com/pin/435934438901154590/

WRITING
This was actually the easiest group of ideas to come up with for Peanut.  She loves to sing/dance/draw and tell stories.  so most of these activities involve writing her own books, writing letters to friends, write a song, create flashcards for her sister and my favorite is writing out all the family names so we can make our own family tree.

Every night before bed we read and then talk about our day.  I ask the girls to tell me something that made them sad, and something that made them happy.  On evenings that we are home in time, Peanut and I now sit and write out these thoughts in her journal so she can continue to practice writing her letters and building sentences.  It also gives us a chance to reflect on our day and talk about any bad choices we might have made so that we can learn from them.

So I'll let you know how it goes when we are back in school.  We definitely won't do all of these, and some may be a bust, however I figure we can keep them around for those weekends the words "I'M BORED" are uttered.

Happy to Meet You!

Consider this first post a "Happy to Meet you!" as my girls say.  

I'm sure it will continue to evolve as we go but for now I just really wanted a place to consolidate all of the bizarrely hilarious antics of my kids as they teach me how to be a mom as well as all the great things I have been finding from other very creative people (with proper credit of course) that help keep me sane.  

Hopefully if you happen to find this page you might find something that makes you laugh, makes you create or inspires you too!

- Enjoy the Mess!