Advents for Kids

I've always been drawn to this neat little elf/advent calender (2 years and counting) by Chasing Fireflies, isn't he cute?? I'm not sure if I've got the energy to make something like that this year..which lead me to a search for DIY Advent calenders. Here's some cute ideas that sparked my imagination:

I'm loving the sweet simplicity of this paper envelope advent/garland from Quiet Fish complete with ideas for activities to put inside:

This advent from Just A Girl was done for Halloween (she's promised a christmas one soon!), but really works for any holiday - a user commented that this would be great for birthdays too. Cool idea! Another cool idea that I read somewhere (sorry, I've forgotten where-ack!) was an Adventine for Valentines day - what fun!


Here's a simple tutorial for a classic advent using a photograph, complete with step by step Photoshop instructions!


And more suggestions for activities to put in an advent calender....read the comments too - great ideas there!

Now to find the time to get one made up................. :)

Sweet Girl Boutique Freebie/Giveaway

Who doesn't love a freebie? I've followed Sweet Girl Boutique over the years from ebay, to etsy, to her own website and now to her blog. Pop over to her blog and check out her very first giveaway!

Wynken, Blynken and Nod on Wordl

I was wandering around in the blogosphere again...this time on French Toast Girl's site (LOVING her artwork!) and I stumbled across this very cool little site called Wordle. You can put in any words you want and it makes "word clouds" out of words you supply, emphasizing words that are used repeatedly. Very neat! So I put in the poem Wynken, Blynken and Nod by Eugene Field and I'm lovin' what it came back with!

Two Eights and a One

I haven't updated in a few weeks so I'll play catch up with one of my favorite Zander stories. :)

In an attempt to get my kids to sleep beyond 5:30am, I instituted a new "law" that it's not morning until 8am. If they wake up before 6:30am they have to either go back to sleep in their own bed or sometimes in ours - but it's sleep time and everyone must be quiet and sleep. If they wake up after 6:30am they can play quietly or watch tv in the playroom - with an emphasis on QUIETLY. Both of my kids have learned to recognize 8 am on the clock next to my bed and they know that's breakfast time...or at least that the first number must be an 8. One morning several weeks ago, Zander came into my bedroom singing happily "Moooooommmmyyyy, it's 2 eights and a one....it's time to get up." LOLOL! It was, of course, 8:18am....otherwise known as 2 8's and a 1. hehehehe. By the way, the 8am rule has worked pretty well - most days my kids now wake up between 7 and 8am. Hubby puts 2 sippy cups of milk for them in the playroom when he gets up, so Zander gets up (he's usually the early riser), grabs his sippy cup of milk and plays trains or watches TV while he waits for Ireland and I to wake up.

Does it hurt to fall down a waterfall?

Today's curiosity was waterfalls. I think it came from an episode of Dora or Diego. And so it began...."What's that? Is it a waterfall? What is a waterfall? Can people fall off a waterfall? Does it hurt to fall off of a waterfall?" ...."a waterfall is like a big hill with water going over it. yes, people could fall off a waterfall but they try not to. and yes I think it would probably hurt. " hehe, sweet boy.

We had out first little taste of fall today and it was scrumpdillyicious! :) We spent most of the day outside playing and enjoying the weather. Zander was somewhat annoyed at times with the "windy wind", a couple times he even claimed to be chilly. I found it ironic since Ireland had spagetti straps on, compared to his tshirt (which he insisted he be allowed to wear backwards all day ????) and she had no complaints.

I sat on the porch this evening, surfing the web and listening to a perfect selection of music for the weather on http://portabellopixie.typepad.com/. It was incredibly relaxing and I'm hoping tomorrow is just as nice! We'll still have weeks of hot weather ahead of us but it really has put me in the mood to sew for fall! Speaking of which, I found some really neat fall embroidery designs that make me want to make some throw pillows for the living room on Embroidery Library:
Aren't they fabulous? I really love the designs on this site and they always stitch out beautifully.

Oh one more amusement for the day. Zander had 3 lunches today. Last week after I had my tonsilectomy, Zander came up to me, kissed me on the forehead and said 'I know you don't feel good so I'm going to fix my own lunch today'. He got out a hot dog, put it on a plate, microwaved it the correct amount of time, put some ketchup on his plate, got out some pretzels, got his own ice and water from the dispenser and ate his meal. hehe. He's been so proud that he could do this all on his own that he's insisted on fixing his own meals since then. So this morning we had breakfast at 8am - he fixed toaster waffles and ice water for himself. Then at 9am, he fixed "lunch" and then dessert was graham crackers and milk for he and Ireland. 11am rolled around, he fixed another lunch for himself and this time included lunch for Ireland. She had ham bites, carrots, ketchup, applesauce and wheat thins - he also got out a sippy cup for her, a cup for him and fixed ice water for both - under her close supervision. lolol! We played some more, then at 2pm they decided they needed another lunch so we did it all over again. hehehe. All this time I've been struggling to get them to sit down and eat - who knew that all I had to do was sit down and do nothing! LOL! Sweet babies!

Do tonsils make you grumpy?

So today is day 5, post-tonsilectomy. By all reports it's the day that the pain increases due to the healing process (scabs are being shed - yuck) - and I can confirm that. Egads, it hurts today! Hurts to swallow, to talk and yet strangely enough it hurts less to swallow soft bread. Go figure. I'm still off of the pain killers except for some ibuprophen, which is only helping a tad. I'm just hoping the pain passes soon so I can move on.

Zander came to me this morning with his usual barrage of questions that I thought I'd share. Funny boy. "Where's your tonsils mama? in your 'froat? are they in your 'froat mama? did the doctor take em out? what did the doctor do with them? did he 'frow em in the trash? what do tonsils do? do they make you grumpy?"

There's no answers in between questions because this is how most of our conversations go. He asks a stream of questions, almost without a gasp of air in between and then we try to catch up. My answers were quick and to the point today, it was just too painful to even talk. "yep, yep they're gone and won't make me grumpy anymore. I'll be better soon."

What else...ah yes, I placed an order with Crazy 8 today. Not normally one of my favorite stores but they had a couple of boys shirts that caught my eye - and no ugly rough edges! Here's what I ordered for Zander:
First is this cute Halloween shirt. One bat says "I love the nightlife" and the other says "I like to boogie" - it just makes me giggle and want to break into the hustle lol!
This very boden-ish "Lone Wolf" shirt - cute for $5:
And this green funky dog shirt that just makes me smile:
Can't wait to see it all IRL!

Is that Chocolate Milk Mama?

What can I say, you've found me involved in sort of a blog-fest. I had my tonsils taken out Wednesday and let's just say that supreme boredom has set in. ;) So I decided to take care of all of those "online things" that I've been meaning to do for ages.

So let me fill you in on life this week and well....you'll see the reason for the blog name as well. ;) As I mentioned, Wedensday was tonsilectomy day - did I mention I'm 40? Yes, a tad old for this sort of thing, but hey, the tonsils were driving me insane and the doctors and I decided it was time for them to go! Wednesday post-surgery was great, I even had a little playdate here for the kids - ok really it was for me, in case I needed help, but I was fine (ok heavily drugged but fine) so it was just a fun playdate. The doctors office called on Friday to check on me and I tell them that I'm itching like crazy and nauseated. The doctor prescribed darvoset for pain once I'm able to move off of the liquid hydrocodone and phenergan for the nausea. I've had some experience with the phenergan and thought, wow, that's kind of overkill huh? I realized later, that this should have been taken as a warning and not a judgement on my part! LOL! My son (Zander, 4yrs) woke up from his nap later than day and started with his normal round of questions 'hi mama, whatcha doin'? what's that? etc..' and for whatever reason I answered with puking in the trash can, right out of the blue. Of course he's standing next to me watching and the whole time, saying 'Whatcha doing mama? You frowing up mama? Mama, are you frowing up? Are you sick mama? What's that mama? Mama, is that chocolate milk? Is that chocolate milk mama? Can I HAVE some chocolate milk mama?" Sigh, what is it with 4 year old boys that upon seeing someone throw up chocolate milk, would make them actually WANT some?? By Saturday morning, nothing, including medicine was staying down so I went cold turkey off of all the medications. MUCH better! Yes my throat hurts but certainly not worse than the strep I just got over and no nausea! Yay!

So now it's Sunday, I've been laying around bored to tears for days and I'm soooooooo ready to get something done. Enter blogger and 1 more thing I can check off of my endless to-do list!

Oh so the blog name - well you've seen what I went with and why..my other option was 'Why am I watching Noggin alone?' Both were good options, as I'm left with both questions buzzing in my head throughout each day. But then I wouldn't have had a great reason to tell the 'frow up' story, which I thought was entertaining, at least to other parents. ;)

Hugs!
Andrea