Getting Organized

We are getting to be big on make lists at our house. I have noticed that the visual ones tend to have the most impact, plus they are cute. Last night my daughter made her own morning routine checklist based on our going to bed checklist from last year. I really like the cereal bowl, waffle and cup on milk picture. After that comes get dressed, brush teeth, brush hair, wash face and pack the backpack. They are getting to be so self sufficient. It is wonderful and a little sad at the same time.

Today I found this great tool at to help me organize my meal planning. I received in via e-mail within a few hours. Don't you just love not having to wait for things you are excited about. The pdf came with a printable meal planner, calendar and shopping lists. My meal planner is filled out and on the fridge. I don't know why I haven't done this sooner.

This is from wildolive. Sorry about my typos.

Muffin Tin Meals - 9/27/08

The new garden is not our only focus on food at the moment. I am determined to increase the number of foods my six year old will eat. She loves cheese+bread in any combination, mac and cheese, quesadillas, grilled cheese, plain cheese pizza. Fruits and breakfast foods are not a problem and P.B. and J. is always a hit but that is about the limit. So, the girls and I took part in sycamore stirrings muffin tin Monday's challenge this week. The theme was shapes. I pulled out the old favorites plus some adorable little star shaped carrots. It was a hit. We had so much fun and cannot wait to see what the next challenge will be. What a fun way to bring in new foods.

The shapes: circles, square, stars

The foods: bread, cheese, turkey, olives, strawberries, carrots.

Pictures for our book interview

I was approached this week to contribute to a craft book that is published in China. Affa, from flickr requested an interview for her newest book "My Kids with My Crafts" due out Dec '08 or April '09. I still have to respond to the questions but today we took some photos to submit.

Expanding our garden

For the past six years or so we have had the seasonal basil/cilantro/parsley garden. These fresh herbs make it into a dish or two if they're lucky. But there is just something about knowing they are there and can be eaten that makes us happy. This year the whole family decided to expand our garden to include tomatoes, lettuce and sweet peas (thanks to some seeds from my parents). I snapped a few pics and the speech pathologist in me loved the whole sequential aspect of the process, excitement, preparation, planting, watering, observing.

mini banner

I was feeling unfocused today. After several unsuccessful projects (stamped soft letter blocks, pretend cell phone, shape magnets) I finally created this. Now I feel satisfied and can get on with my day.

I have been very into reading blogs lately (soulemama, saltandchocolate, NieNie...). I draw so much inspiration from mom's out there who are gardening, baking, sewing and creating with their families. It is really a wake up call to stop and think about what is important. It can be overwhelming when I think about all the possibilities and new things to learn. What I have found in common with these amazing mothers is that they focus on the little things. I spent some time outside with the girls now that the weather is starting to cool down. I am looking forward to more days like these.

Ava's bird feet made from twigs.

Turning back time

When our girls were born we had to put away all the dog's toys so they would not unintentionally eat the stuffed animals. Ava has been very into pets lately so I decided to make something for the "boys" to play with. This simple rectangle piece of stuffed fleece has given us hours of entertainment. The labs (10 and 7) are playing like puppies again and we are enjoying every minute of it.

The transformation

I have been feeling the itch to get on the sewing machine again. I bought some beautiful fabric from http://www.aboveallfabric.etsy.com/ and here is what I came up with.

1. The tunic. This fabric wanted to be a tunic, however it was 44" wide not the 60" that were required. That's okay, I thought, I'm petite. I'll make it work. Well I found out that tunics are long for a reason. It was very wide on the bottom and looked like a tent on me. ]

2. The dress. Now what? How about I shorten the sleeves, add some ribbon and turn it around as a dress for my daughter? Great in theory but what it became was really just another tent.

3. The apron. I have had plans to make an apron and now seemed like a good time. I ended up cutting the back off and adding long ties to the sleeves. Eventually I added pockets too. Not great for cooking because I am a splatter on the shirt kind of chef but if I ever do a craft fair I'm set.