Family Musings

Sometimes I surprise myself and actually follow through on a craft idea I find. This month, I took my lead from Disney's Family Fun  magazine (February 2012) and made some adorable doily shirts for some cute girls in my life. Generally speaking, I followed the instructions they shared in the magazine and online , but I didn't need to use nearly as much glue as they suggested. For me, a few well placed dabs was plenty so long as I was careful about dabbing the fabric paint on the shirt. The great thing about this craft is that it was very inexpensive. I used t-shirts and doilies I found at the local Dollar Tree. I did buy the paint and brushes from Jo-ann's. Fortunately they were on sale and I was able to use a 20% off crafting supplies coupon. That means I was able to decorate 3 shirts for less than $12 (including $5 for a 9-pack of brushes). Plus, I have enough paint and doilies to make, oh, 20 more shirts! The pink one above is for Mary to wear with leggings an...

Tonight, Mary uttered her first 5 word sentence - "My daddy drink my milk." That's the kind of thing that only a parent can appreciate. This happened towards the end of dinner tonight and when her declaration was over, Bruce and I just looked wide-eyed at one another. "Five words." We both had silly grins on our face after we watched Mary pull this off. It's possible that no one else will see how big of a deal this is, but we do. We've watched her explode in language over the last two months. There are few words that she is no longer willing to attempt. We get to have real conversations with her now. Her pronunciation often needs to be translated by me, but I don't mind. It just thrills me that she is trying to make more noise. (Well, in theory it thrills me. Not so much when we are in a confined space like our car.) Also, Mary might be one of the funniest children around. There is not a week that goes by where someone doesn't tell me, ...

A while back, Esurance posted 5 " mom-inspired driving tips ," and while they are good, I thought they needed a little re-touching to make them more real world. So, here are my 5 driving tips sure to   get you a ticket    cause an accident    result in injuries  entertain you. 1 - Only wear your seat belt if it is comfortable and convenient for you. After all, it might choke you in a car accident. And if it doesn't, it could still leave you with a diagonal bruise across your chest. That's way better than having your head crash into the front windshield. 2 - Hurry up.  Nobody likes being behind the slow poke. So, instead of responsibly driving the speed limit, hang out in the left lane and zoom past everyone. Then, no one can complain about your driving. While you are at it, add a few zigs and zags to your driving pattern. That will make sure everyone notices you as you blow past them. Maybe they'll feel bad and stop to offer you...

A child who is 4 years old should be learning how to write out their full name. This skill is standard kindergarten readiness and even if you plan to homeschool, as we do, your child should still work to attain this skill in a timely manner. Why? Well, in our house at least, Charlotte spends time with her peers at church and they often bring home worksheets and art projects that need her name on them. More importantly, it imparts a great sense of pride when a child can successfully write their name on their own. With that in mind, I want to start our handwriting homeschooling instruction by teaching Charlotte how to correctly write her own name. She is already pretty close to having it down. But, since she has 9 letters in her name, someone still has to spell it for her. And her 'e' is always backwards and upside down. To the right is a sample of her handwriting from the thank you notes we made for her Christmas gifts. I don't think it's that bad, but with practice ...

Once a week, we eat breakfast for dinner, aka Brinner. Why? Because breakfast is the most awesome meal of the day! When else can you eat cake (i.e. pancakes) and call it a meal? No one even bats an eye if you serve panCAKES, especially when they are these awesome Pumpkin Pancakes . In fact, if you were at my house, you might even get cheered by the under 5 crowd when you announced cake for supper! Another brinner that I love to make is affectionately known as "Dirty Omelets," so called because it, well, because it looks dirty. (Get your mind out of the gutter!)  Now, I'm sure someone out there is going to want to argue the point that, technically, this isn't an omelet. And before you go there, I'll admit, this is not, officially, an omelet. But it captures the essence of an omelet, at least in my opinion. (Let's pretend that plate has a warm biscuit and a pretty fruit salad on it, okay?) Everyone has their preferences for omelet fillings, but if you...

Does anyone else ever have a hard time trying to figure out how much dry spaghetti to make per person? We never seem to get it right at our house. I usually make too much and Bruce usually makes too little. And those times when I measure it to get exactly one serving (like when I was on Weight Watchers), I always laugh at the portion size. It is about half of what I really want to give myself. A long time ago Bruce asked me to buy him that gadget with the holes in it that suggest how much pasta you need for a certain amount of people. I do try to be frugal so when I found this one at the local thrift store for only 25 cents, I just scooped it into my basket... without even really looking too close. I seriously doubt it is going to solve MY portion size problem though... at least Bruce and teenagers will be eating well.

One more recap before 2012 marches on... here are the most popular posts on Family Musings in 2011 that were not some sort of review or giveaway: Keeping Life Real & Honest : In which I share about my personal struggle with depression and the steps I was taking to make a better life for myself and my family 8 Tips for Occupying Kids in the Car : Inspired by a FB post from MOPS Int'l, I shared how I manage our car time without losing my sanity Why We Chose Sonlight : This was an important post for me in clarifying why our family chose this homeschool curriculum for our preschooler My Mother's Day Gift to My Mother : Every mother loves a good gift, and my mom loved this one! 30 Day Photo Challenge : This series held many of my most popular posts of 2011. Too bad I didn't finish it. Maybe that will be one of my blogging goals for 2012. Acting Out Bible Stories: Jonah & the Whale : Want a fun way to help your children remember Bible stories, then thank my husband...

Fortunately, it isn't me! Actually, I just thought I'd share the video that has my 4 year old giggling up a storm today. It is Judy Collins singing I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Spider  on the Muppets. She gets a little help from the old men in the balcony. (I can't remember their names!)   This is a fun song for toddlers and preschoolers for a couple of reasons. First, it's totally absurd. The mental images conjured up by an old lady eating a goat are super silly. Second, it's full of repetition so it doesn't take long for the kiddos to learn the words and join in on the absurdity! What song is tickling your child's funny bone right now?

Last Fall I did something unusual. I wore the same dress for 31 days in a row. There are lots of reasons why I chose to do it and you can read about them in the first 2 posts I wrote, covering week 1 and week 2 of ODP11 (as it became known). It was an exciting fashion experiment for this unfashionable momma who is sitting in her pj's as she writes this post, even though it's almost 2 PM! For those of you who cheered me along or did the project with me, thank you. It made a huge difference to know I wasn't the only person who had to look at the same dress on the hanger each morning and try to find a way to make it new to me again. My friends Karissa , Ida, Cathy , and Shawna Lee all shared wrap up posts a long time ago and now it is time for me to add mine to the list. First, the pictures from the last 2 weeks of October 2011. Day 13, 14, 15, 16 Day 17, 19, 21, 24   There are several days missing from the last week and that is primarily because I was re...

Over the summer I began swapping childcare with a mom who lived nearby. One of the swaps we do is for a date night, about once a month. The first few months it was enough to just have a meal together and hang out... but now that we've been doing this consistently for several months, we need to mix things up and make them more interesting for both of us. It is just too easy to let all of the conversation be about things that we need  to talk about, like the children, budgets, or our schedule for the coming week. Inspired by a good price on Arts Cow  playing cards, I decided to create a set that we'd be able to use for playing games on our date nights. The first date night we use them might be the most fun though, because I designed these cards with room to write on the back of them. The plan is for each of us to get 2 suits of cards and then write out one thing on the back of each card that we love about the other person. I think fine tipped permanent markers would work be...

Today, instead of reading my rambles on here, you can read them over at Inside That Head of Mine . Angela is the blogger over there and she interviewed me for the first in her series of blogger interviews. I think she asked some great questions and I had a fun time answering them. Learn all about what inspires me as a blogger. If you like what you read, leave her some comment love when you visit. Then come back and do the same thing here!

After a couple of years, some things, like this post, just become tradition. So it is without further ado, that I show you our year in calendars, courtesy of The Shabby Shoppe . (Here's a secret about the next 4 desktop calendars... I made them for this post. Seems like I got busy again and didn't have a chance to do them in a timely manner. Oops!) (photo credit: K Barber Photography ) Here are links to the 2010 and 2009 calendar reviews.

A recent post by Joy at Church Planting Confessions , sparked an idea to share with you how I manage my blog reading time. I've had to become more intentional with my online time recently for lots of reasons, including my desire to spend more time with my family and declutter my home. The main tool I use to manage my blog reading is Google Reader. Every blog I read is given a label and categorized by the type of blog it is. Some of my categories include 'Friends' (real life friends who blog), 'Moms' (other mom blogs that I find interesting), 'Church' blogs (from pastors and ministries I respect), 'Missions' (written by missionary moms), 'Miscellaneous' (crafts, fashion, or other random topics), and 'Homeschooling'. I read my friend's blogs first to keep up with their lives, even if I see them regularly. It helps us get into deeper conversations when we are together. Reading my friend's blogs is also a way to help my childr...

I've wanted to share this homemade gift idea with y'all for weeks! But too many people on my gift-giving list were getting these and I didn't want to spoil the surprise. This gift is great for teachers, people with mobility issues, parents of toddlers, or people who are just too lazy to bend over and pick up a fallen dish towel! Hanging Towel Not only are these gifts useful by anyone with a kitchen, they are also super easy to make. I whipped up a whole stack of them in about 30 minutes. And, if you don't have access to a sewing machine, these can be done by hand if you needed to.  First, start with a coordinating dish towel and pot holder. You need the kind of pot holder that has the loop in the middle. Corner loops will not work for this project. I bought these 5 piece sets at Wal-Mart and was able to get 1-2 gifts out of each set. You can also buy the dish towels and pot holders at dollar stores to save a little more money. I think I spent $6 on this 5-pac...

We started our Christmas day off by going to church. It was a great way for us to keep our focus on the reason for celebrating and to remind the girls that we exchange gifts with one another as a way to remember the gifts that the Magi brought to Jesus when he was a toddler.  I got the girls all dressed up and we posed in front of the tree for some sister love. We say " no to the dress " around here, so Mary is wearing a dressed handed down from her friend Clara and Charlotte is wearing a Matilda Jane dress I won from DesignHer Momma .   After church, we fed the girls a quick lunch (hot dogs and yogurt!) and then began opening gifts. It sure does look like a lot of stuff in that picture doesn't it? Fortunately, it wasn't all for those 2 sweet angels up above and it was divided between 7 of us. Charlotte loves her new purple hat... And Grumpy and Grandpa liked their new travel mugs. The girls had painted these and made finger print fish on...