Felt Pumpkins

It's been a busy month! Hopefully with nearly two events (neighborhood benefit block party and school fund raising) complete, I can start posting some more. With Halloween quickly approaching, we have been doing crafts galore. I made these felt pumpkins weeks ago and they have been a big hit. I cut out several eyes, noses, mouths, and such so Cole could decorate pumpkins over and over. Great for busy bags and traveling.

Happy Decorating

This Poo Shall Tass

The last ten months have been crazy.  We moved to Germany in December 2011, me 8 months pregnant, new jobs, new home (not until we'd lived in a hotel over the holidays for 2 months), and into the bleak cold winter.

A lot has changed/happened since moving here. Cooper started school and being taken care of by others. Lillian was born. We started 2 new jobs. Everything different. I was a stay at home mom for a brief glorious 8 weeks.  We had a nanny. We had grandparents. We had a friend watching the kids. A constant flux of change.

I'm worn out. The kids are worn out. Its time for routine and something stable. What that is, who that will be, I don't know. All I do know is that we need it. Structure.

Yesterday was my first day bring Lillian to day care. A family child care provider to be specific. The Army trains/certifies mothers in military housing to take care of kids at home. Better than a daycare I feel because at least there aren't so many kids and she gets more attention and is at a house, not a building. We both had a rough day. She barely slept, and when I picked her up, she was just worn out. I held her and carried her all around the house. She didn't want to let me go. I think she was afraid I might leave her. Broke my heart. She went down for the night at 6. She couldn't stay up for her favorite time of the day, dinner and bathtime. She was just too worn out. Physically and emotionally. I wanted to crawl in the crib with her and snuggle her and have more time with her.

Cooper woke with his normal "Do we have to go to work or school today". With my "Yes, both," he wailed and hit me crying that I was wrong. "Today is Saturday," he kept yelling. "I wish it was, I wish every day was Saturday, Cooper".  After some cheering up I raced out the door with Lily to drop her off again. This time I couldn't linger an hour with her. I could feel myself choking up driving over there. The two other babies there came to play with her immediately and she smiled. I kissed her goodbye and she didn't seem to notice. Please take a nap today. Please be well loved and happy my baby girl.

Frank wrote me this morning about Cooper and dropping him off at school. He too misses us. He is in school all day. Longer than I ever was at his age or even in gradeschool! My mom stayed at home. Frank's mom stayed at home. I'm so anxious for the day when one of us can stay at home again too. There are so many precious moments with the kids right now. Hate missing any of them because they pass so quickly. Lately I am constantly wishing for the future or missing the past instead of living in the present and enjoying each moment.

As my mom always tell me, "This Poo Shall Tass". Her dad would say it to her. Just a little family humor to the ever so true "This Too Shall Pass". Yes, it shall. But I don't want my kids growing up to pass. Just the difficulties/stresses we are facing right now. Struggling with being a good mother and want to be better. I want more time with my kids. I want to not be exhausted when I pick them up or stressed or rushing them around. I know I must be positive and strong and be happy when I pick up the kids and  give them 100% me for the wee few hours I have with them in the evenings.  And pack in the fun times on the weekends. It just leaves little time for Frank and me or exercise or sleep for that matter. Life is so unbalanced at the moment. We'll get there though. This Poo Shall Tass.

Trick or Treat Sign

Halloween is just around the corner! Germans aren't real into the whole holiday, but since we are living by an Army base, we still can Trick or Treat and have lots of activities to do this weekend and next week. 

Cooper and I have been making crafts for Halloween all month long. All pretty small, but fun none the less. Cookies, decorating pumpkins, bat and ghost hangings, etc. The Trick Or Treat sign above was one of our little crafts we did together. I let Cooper paint the scrap piece of wood white. Then I printed the words and spider on my printer and we cut them out and decoupaged them using Mod Podge to the wood. Voila!

I had a pretty fireplace mantel, ready for pictures, when I noticed a weird smell this weekend. My pumpkins had all rotted while we were on vacation! Ugh. Nasty pumpkin mold juice all over the fireplace. And no more pretty halloween decor and no picture. Sigh. 

Source

Our favorite craft has probably been our chalkboard painted pumpkin because we can change up the face daily. We used normal chalk, but I think the chalk pens would work much better. Our chalk has taken off the paint in many spots. Thus the reason for using the Real Simple picture above vs my own.

I have my costumes all ready for the kids, but wish I had made them this year instead of buying them. There are so many amazing ideas out there right now on all the blogs! I couldn't resist the Old Navy costumes though. So cheap and warm! Here is my Lily in her flower costume.

Top Ten Gift Subsciption Ideas!

Time to start my Christmas Gift Planning! I am going to make as many gifts as possible by hand, but also use some subscription services.  Here is a list of my Top Ten Subscriptions to use for Gifts. No, I am not sponsored by any of these companies, but I sure wish I was!

For Kids

1. Kiwi Crate. This is the best gift for kids aged 3-7. Each month, a box arrives in the mail with 2-3 activities/crafts for kids. My son Cooper loves his! Last month was a kit to make fruits and veggies, decorate an apron, and play money. He is still enjoying pretending he runs a grocery store and setting up his items for sale. Cost - $19.99 for one kiwi crate with free shipping.

2. Babba Box. Same concept as Kiwi Crate, only a little bigger box with one or two more activities. For ages 3-6. I haven't tried this one out, but want to soon. Cost - $29.99 monthly subscription.

3. Green Kid Crafts. This works like Babba and Kiwi Crate, with 3 or more crafts for kids ages 3-8, but with an eco friendly twist. All the supplies are environmentally friendly! I need to try this one out as well.

For Food Lovers

4. Harry and David - Fruit of the Month Club. I've done these a few times. There are tons of different option, from 3 month subscriptions to yearly, and all kinds of different fruit combos to pick from. from $69.99 on up for the 3 month options I looked through. The fruit is always excellent, and the cookies, chocolates and other goodies are always amazing.

5. Vosges Chocolate of the Month Club. This is not a cheap subscription, but each month, 9 gourmet chocolate truffles come in the mail for 3 months for $139.00. This is for serious chocolate lovers.

For Ladies and Mothers

6. Umba Box  - Beautiful handmade surprises every month (2-3) products each month. For a 3 month subscription, it is $75.

7. Indie Gift Box.   Items from independent artists and small businesses. There are four different themed boxes you can subscribe to: Dainty Box, Color Box, Beauty Box, and Boho Box. Costs $15 - $20 a month.

8. Stork Sack  - Each and every month, Stork Stack delivers "Stacks" of 5 hand-selected products to parents, so they can discover the best brands for their family. Stork Stack takes its commitment to the parenting community very seriously. With every subscription purchased of three months or more, Stork Stack donates Stacks to families in need through the Stork Stack Gives Back. 3 month membership costs $84.

For Men

9. Microbrew Beer of the Month Club - 12 Bottles of microbrewery beer for $22.95 a month.

Members get twelve, 12-oz. beers from two different lightly distributed U.S. Microbreweries. Each shipment includes four different beer styles, three bottles of each style and our monthly newsletter detailing tasting notes, beer specifications, brewery profiles, suggested food pairings, and more.

10. Dean and Deluca Artisanal Coffee of the Month Club - Fresh whole bean coffee shipped to your door for $60 for a 3 month subscription (3 one pound bags).

Woodland Theme Baby Shower Part 1 - The Food

 Update - I updated this post here with better photos...

A few weekends ago, I hosted a family friendly baby shower with a woodland theme for our friends Mike and Kumi. My friends Veronica and Cristina cohosted and helped a ton with the decor, food, preparations, and photography. Kids were invited too, so we tried to make sure we had foods that men, kids, and the ladies would all enjoy. Since it is fall, we tried to make everything fit into the fall woodland theme, and tried to make sure we added enough pinks and yellows because they were having a baby girl. I split this post into two parts, one covering the food, two covering decorations and activities.

Part 1 - The Food

Starters



Owl cheese ball with crackers, apples, and carrots. Cristina was trying to make it look like an acorn, and it looked more like an owl.  I like the owl even better!



Tomato mozerella toadstools. Instead of using mozerella cheese sticks for the base, I used fresh mozerella and tomatoes from my garden. The green moss is pesto. Yum!


We also had sausage cheese balls and veggies with dip set out on tables, but I didn't get a picture of those.

Main Course

We had homemade Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Owl Fruit Salad, Chili,  Mini Sesame Turkey Burgers, Mini Feta and Garlic Beef Burgers, and grilled Portobella Mushrooms on Mini homemade yeast buns. I didn't take any picture up close before the food was attacked, but here is the table after most of us grabbed our plates. We set out lettuce, tomatoes, avacados, and pickles for the burgers.

Desserts



The Dessert Table

 

Homemade Apple Pie made by Veronica



Carrot Cake Birds Nest Cupcakes with M&M Eggs



Mushroom Cupcakes (Vanilaa Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting)



Homemade Marshmallow Kebabs dipped in Chocolate and graham cracker crumbs (made by Veronica)



Party Favors

 

S'Mores Kits

We filled snack baggies with the makings for S'mores (2 marshmallows, 2 Graham Crackers, and 6 peices of Hershey Milk Chocolate) and tied twine to tags we made and placed in a bowl in the entryway.

Baby Shower Canvas Guest Book Tutorial

Ever been to a baby shower or wedding shower with a thumbprint guest book? Well, here are a few steps to make your very own! The great part is, you can use this tutorial for so many things! I have made several gifts now using this technique, including drawer knobs. So easy and the results are great.

Here are the steps:

1. A Blank Canvas. I used an 8x10 Canvas I ordered on Amazon for a few dollars.

2. A Spray Bottle. I used an old cleaning bottle and rinsed it out. Fill it with water.

 3.  Golden Gel Medium. This Gel transfers the images for you onto paper, canvas, wood, and other surfaces. Mod Podge works too, but I think this gel works a little more consistently. You can find the gel at craft stores or on Amazon.

4. Foam Brushes. I got mine at the Craft Store on base for about .99 cents. You could just use a paint brush. 

5. Print the image you want to transfer. I used a Laser Printer.  

NOTE: I was hosting a Woodland Themed Baby Shower for a baby girl, so I wanted to do a tree. I looked for lots of images of trees online, and couldn't find anything free or perfect, until I came across the website wedding chicks. This link will take you directly to the app on their website that allows you to customize this tree with the date of the shower or wedding or event in general, and the name you want to add. Even the colors are customizable! So awesome! I love the Internet.

6.  I flipped the picture backwards in my "print options" knowing I was going to transfer the image onto canvas. If you don't have words on your image, you don't have to worry about this step.

7. Cover the image in the Gel Medium using your brush. Make sure to use plenty of gel so the whole image  will transfer. Then, turn the image down onto the canvas and rub it with some pressure with the back of a spoon. If you have a Brayer, use that. Wait a day for the gel to dry. 

8. Once the Gel is dry, take your squirt bottle and soak the paper till it is completely wet and you see the image. Rub the paper off the canvas with your fingers gently. It makes a mess of little paper pieces. You have to keep rewetting the paper until you rub it all off. If you rub too hard, you will take the image off accidentally. Some people like to use a sponge for this part, but I feel like I have more control using my fingers.

9. Once all the paper is off, it should leave just the image you wanted to transfer, and now all you need to do is seal the image by either painting on another coat of gel medium all over the canvas, or use mod podge. I use mod podge because it is cheaper. However, if you are adding fingerprint stamps, wait to seal it until after the thumb prints are on there.

10. That's it! Here is how it turned out with the finger prints.

Busy Times....

This has been a crazy month for me. My mom left in mid-September, so then daycare was difficult once again as well as getting the household chores done, and I have had to pull some late nights and weekends working. Not fun. To top it off, we hosted a baby shower this past weekend for 35+ people and had to decorate, cook, and clean the house for that (before and after). And my in-laws arrived Monday and Cooper had a big festival at his school to attend and the list continues...

The Baby Shower was a huge success and so fun and Mike and Kumi were so appreciative. I can't wait to post all the details for the shower on here. I am waiting for the photos taken by our friends Kevin and Cristina who are photographers and took a lot of pictures during the whole event. Can't wait to see them! I will probably do several posts to cover the whole thing.

Here is a preview of one of the things I made for the shower. It is a Guest Book Canvas for guests to stamp their thumb prints on. They sell them all over Etsy and other websites, but I figured I could make one for just a few dollars, and it worked out great! I'll be posting the Tutorial soon and the rest of the shower details.