NEW SUMMER PINAFORES

Finally finished and ready for the shop are two sweet pinafore sets that I have been working on. I just had to show them off to you. Since I made them in a size 6, Hailee of course couldn't wait to try them on and has claimed both as her own. I just love the red and black one with the funky chickens all over it. They make me giggle every time I look at them. The blue one is just beautiful with big colorful corn flowers scattered all over it and the coordinating pink bloomers really make it stand out. The great thing about these cute pinafores is that the are reversible! The other side matches the bloomers and they can also be worn with jeans or with a blouse underneath in the cooler months. Available in sizes 2t to 6x, they are now for sale in my etsy shop so please stop in an take a look. I will be making more of these cute outfits along with many more fun summer dresses, shorts, and tops for your little girl or boy, so drop in frequently to check out whats new!

Erin

MAMA MERIT BADGES

Finally! Is this a great idea or what? Merit badges for us moms! Somewhere stored away in all my "childhood treasures", I have a collection of merit badges from Girl Scouts, Campfire Girls, Brownies, and Bluebirds, all clubs that I belonged to as a young girl. Earning merit badges required a test of some sort or the completion of a project and they were usually handed out by our troop leader in a small informal ceremony with our moms and dads present. For the most part these badges came in the form of a cloth patch that our moms would sew onto our uniform but occasionally the badges would be in the form of a pin that we would attach to our lapel. I can remember working very hard to earn those badges and feeling extremely proud when awarded one. It actually became a competition of sorts between myself and a couple other club members to see who could acquire the most.

Now that I am all grown up, I no longer belong to the Girl Scouts or Brownies, however I now belong to a much more adventurous club. No there are no meetings on Tuesday evenings with the troop leader, and no, there are no camp outs at the nearby State Park, but there are those exciting nights staying up half the night with a sick baby (should be worth at least one badge at least), all those fast paced afternoons of carpooling kids to ball games and dance lessons ( I'd say this one is good for no less than two badges), and let us not forget all of those weary nights after a long day at the office, spent cooking dinner, bathing the kids, helping with homework, reading stories, packing lunches, and doing laundry ( the badges for this one should be trimmed in GOLD).

Ladies, Someone out there is thinking of us! Yes, it is true! Amy, over at Mama Merit Badges, has heard our cries! She has come up with the cutest iron/sew-on fabric badges for us mama's to display proudly on diaper bags, denim jackets, jeans, scarf, purse, fridge (attach to small magnet), or wherever you want to "show it off" proudly! These little cuties are 1 1/2 inches in diameter and are 100% embroidery. You can either iron them on or sew them on for added durability and they come individually wrapped and only cost $5.00 a piece. There are several to chose from and would make a great gift.
-------Below is a brief description of these wonderful badges of honor------

* The Sex Badge: This lusty badge is for the drastic changes in your sexuality since birthing.

* The Breastfeeding Badge: This badge is to commemerate the nursing relationship, whether for a week or for years.

* The Shopping Badge: For the first time you take your newborn to the grocery store and strangers come up and touch his or her face during flu season and you maintain control.

* The Birthday Badge: This one is earned after you throw your one year old a party that was as expensive and fancy as a small wedding.

* The Diaper Badge: Has your baby ever peed in your mouth while changing his diaper? Have you had to perform gymnastics in order to prevent your child from stepping in poop? How about finding and scooping out poop from the bathtub? Yep! This award is for you.

* The Medical Badge: Ever had to break out the tweezers to retrieve a pea from your little ones nose? How about having to hold you child down in order for the nurse to give him a shot? and yes, he is SCREAMING in your ear!! Well, you have now earned this one.

* The Travel Badge: This one is earned by having to sit in your seat with a child who is potty training or a curious, shreiking climber for an hour on the taxiway or having to take a sleeping baby from a sling so you can walk through a metal detector. Your bravery and grit are honored with this badge.

* The Sleeping Badge: Have your kids slept with you part of or all of the night? Have you ever woke up with a porcelain doll's head jammed in your neck? Does your babysitter have to attend a special training seminar to figure out your kids bedtime rituals? Only get about four hours sleep a night? This badge is for you.

*The Reading Badge: Have you read the same book to your child so many times that you have memorized the text, the images and even the wear and tear patterns? Iron this one onto your library bag to remind yourself of a job well done.

* The Eating Out Badge: If you have ever picked up pasta from a filthy restaurant floor, have ever gotten your kids to eat a vegetable, have maintained your composure while attempting to snatch you little one out from under the dining table while eating out, than you have deserved this one.

And last but not least,

*the Tantrum Badge: This badge is earned early on in most parenting careers. This one is for enduring all of those times when your 5 year old has thrown stuff at you while slamming doors and screaming " whatever! I hate you"!, or the times in the grocery store that your child has thrown himself in the floor screaming and kicking because you have refused to buy him the cereal with the toy in the box, even though it's a cereal he hates and everyone is looking at you like "OMG....what an awful child"! I think some of us could earn this one several times in one day for not shaking, striking, or screaming at our children when this occurs!

Please visit Mama Merit Badges to order several of these badges ( cause I KNOW you have earned them!)


After looking through all of the ones that Amy has come up with, I feel as if I should order them all. I know for sure that I have earned each and every one many times over. How about you?

LEST WE FORGET

Many of us are off work today and enjoying a long weekend filled with barbecuing and outdoor parties. The kids are out of school and we are celebrating the beginning of Summer while planning our long awaited vacations to the beach, Disney World, or any place that we can get away for a few days and have fun with our families.

Let's not get so busy today however that we forget the meaning of the holiday itself. Memorial Day is a day set aside to remember and pay tribute to our brave men and women that are fighting for our country everyday. There are many ways to involve your children in today's festivities as well. Talk to them and tell them what this holiday is really all about. Show them pictures of how our soldiers are being remembered all across our great country. While the U.S. Department of Defense is asking us NOT to send letters or packages that are not addressed to a specific service member, there are some excellent ways to communicate your support to our military troops.

Here is a list of ways to show your support:

Operation Dear Abby

Send e-mail messages to deployed troops of any service from your home state at http://anyservicemember.navy.mil/


Defend America

Sign an online thank you card to troops at www. defendamerica.mil/nmam.html

Operation USO Care Package

Contribute to the purchase of a care package of items requested by troops such as sunscreen, disposable cameras, prepaid calling cards, and toiletries at www.usocares.org/home.htm

Operation Uplink

Contribute to the purchase of phone cards that will be distributed to military personnel and hospitalized veterans at http://operationuplink.org

Also to support our military and their families:

Offer your time and resources as an individul, an organization, or business to give families of deployed troops help with activities, such as household repairs, spring cleaning, or yard work. You can also volunteer by contacting one of your local chapters of one of the following organizations.

American Legion

American Red Cross

Boys and Girls Clubs of America

National 4-H headquarters

Veterans of Foreign Wars

You can also get more information on how to help our service members and their families on the Website of the USAFreedom Corp, a government-sponsored volunteer organization. USAFreedomCorp

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday today, but, please.....let us not forget the ones that put their life on the line everyday to defend our great country!

Happy Memorial Day!

Erin

If you are like me, and probably alot of other mom's out there, there is a good chance your kids have clothing that they have either out grown or just don't wear any more, for one reason or another. If this is the case, than check this out!

There are numerous creative ways to turn no longer used items into new and fun things that are once again useful, in other words----RECYCLE that old tank top, pair of jeans, or tee shirt!! Here are a couple of great ideas to get you started......

Take an old tank top (see picture above) and cut a small slit in hem. Insert a ribbon and run it through the hem casing until it comes back out of the slit (this is MUCH easier if you attach a safety pin to the end of the ribbon and then push the pin through casing, as it will automatically pull ribbon through). This will make a "drawstring". Tie the two ends of the ribbon together, pulling the bottom of the tank top closed. Voila!! You now have a cute tote bag. The arm holes are used as "handles".

Now, those old jeans that your daughter claims are too short..... well, cut them off into shorts or even capri's and add some cute fringe to hem or jazz them up a bit with a little "bling" by adding rhinestones on the pockets. Use your imagination, and you can come up with all sorts of ingenious ideas to recycle those old, unwanted pieces of clothing and your kids will think they have something "brand new".

Have fun!

Erin

USE YOUR NOODLE!

Mommy, I'm bored! Sound familiar? On those rainy days when the kids can't get outside and they can't find ANYTHING to play with (because of course, they have NO toys at all!!!), try trowing some pasta at them. Not literally of course, just gather the little ones up around the breakfast or dining table and then go dig out all of the boxes of noodles such as penne, lasagna, wagon wheels, bow tie, or any other pasta that you may have in the pantry. Now, this is where your imagination comes in. Use the pictures posted here as examples of fun little trains or princess tiara's that are easily stacked and glued together to create cute "toys". The kids will have a ball, and this project will keep them busy for quite some time. Like I said, let the kids use their imaginations while creating all sorts of fun things "using their noodle"! For the tiara above, all you need is a little plastic headband and of course some pasta. lay some newspaper down and either spray paint the little noodles different colors or use a paint brush and water colors to create a one-of-a-kind crown for your little princess! Just stack and glue the little pasta shapes into the desired shape on the headband, and voila! Your little Cinderella has a crown of her very own.

The train pictured here is also a lot of fun to make also. As you can see in the photo above, by using a little ingenuity, your little engineer can create a locomotive that all of his friends will envy! By gluing wagon wheel pasta to the bottom of lasagna noodles, and then stacking and gluing penne and other noodles together, you can create a a fabulous train. Also try painting it different colors. The trick here is to let your kids come up with all sorts of fun things using pasta. String noodles onto yarn or string for a fun necklace, glue onto poster board to make a sweet Fathers Day card for dad, paint and glue a few small pasta shapes to a hair clip for a cute hair accessory. The items that you can create are endless. All it requires is pasta, paint, glue, and a little imagination!

Have fun!

Erin

BOTTOMS UP TO THE NEWEST HEALTH CRAZE!

With better health being on every one's mind these days, including my own, the market has become flooded with all sorts of drinks, powders, vitamins, etc... that claim new and improved well being, energy, immune builders, and more.

It seems that the newest and most popular antioxidant rich, exotic sounding "health food" out there at the moment actually comes in a bottle! Kombucha tea is flying off the shelves of all health food stores with it's claims of providing better health and improved energy. This drink, which actually is a "mushroom" tea that derived from a region in Russia, where studies show that people there live far longer and have much better health due to this tea's benefits, claims to detoxify your liver, give great energy boosts,and improve your overall sense of well being. Although it is is reported to have a slightly sour, vinegery taste, it is naturally fizzy (but not carbonated) and some say it is "refreshing" and "clean" tasting. Another enticing claim is that the bacteria found in this tea is a form of probiotic bacteria, similar to what you would find in yogurt, which helps maintain intestinal health as well as overall immune system health. HMMMM!!!!

We have all been there, done that with chai tea, yerba mate, the grassy tasting South American tea that is drunk from a gourd and through a straw, and roiboos, the antioxident rich (claims reported) tea from South Africa that is made from a red bush native to the cape region. We, or I should say, a large number of us "overly" health concious folks continue to try new and reportdly "better" health remedies no matter what the cost in hopes to revive our innerbeing (or live longer)!!

Kombucha is a form of tea that is fermented using colonies of bacteria and yeast, which results in production of various vitamins, amino acids, and mild acids including acetic acid found in vinegar. It is said too that you might even find bits or "chunks" of it in your drink, but not to worry, those are some of the strands of the live cultures dancing around.

Many health food stores carry this tea now, and one popular version of it is available at Whole Foods and is called GT's Synergy, which is 95% kombucha, but also 5% juice, and 60 calories per bottle. This particular brand also has about 8-14 mg of caffeine - and most kombucha has a lot less than traditional teas - which is considerably less than most bottled teas.

I don't know about you, but I am rushing right out to find some of this "miracle" tea so I too can live to be 120!!!! Theres is ALWAYS something, isn't there!!!!!

Erin

Erin

CLEVER IDEAS

I am constantly thinking of new ways to use things that I have around the house. Take those little soy sauce packets for instance. You know, all the ones you have accumulated from your Chinese take-out dinners and stashed in a drawer in the kitchen for using later. Well, did you know that those little packets make great mini ice packs for those little boo-boos that your little ones frequently have? Just toss a few into the freezer and the next time you need something cold for that ever so tiny bruise, there you have it! You can also use those leftover mustard, ketchup, and mayo packets. They work great!

Here are a few more household items that you probably have around the house that can be used in ways you never thought of:

* Vinegar - For shiny hair, rinse hair after shampooing with a little vinegar mixed with water. Removes soap buildup and leaves hair super shiny.

* Coffee Filters - Great for little disposable snack bowls for the kids (for popcorn, chips, crackers, etc...). Also very good for cleaning mirrors with, wrapping around a Popsicle to stop drips, keeping in the car for napkins or quick cleanups, for use as a mini cutting board for chopping (not slicing) an onion or tomato, to line the bottom of a pot when re-potting a plant (water will pass right through but will keep dirt from washing away)

* Fabric Softener Sheets - Place one under the seat of your car for an "air freshener", tuck inside shoes in your closet to keep them smelling nice, place a sheet inside your underwear drawer to keep things smelling nice, I even place one in the bottom of the wastebasket in the bathroom to keep bath smelling fresh.

* Ice Cube Tray - Great for drawer organizing. Place inside a dresser drawer to store and organize earrings or other small trinkets. Also great for storing bobby pins, hair elastics, etc... so you always have them handy. I also use these with the kids when crafting. Ideal for organizing or seperating beads, or mixing different colors of paint.

* Baby Wipes - Last, but not least, you can never have too many of these stored in the car for messy cleanups, in your purse for a quick freshen-up, in the house for wiping of sink fixtures, wiping up sticky spills, or for use as a great quick cleaning on leather sneakers or sandals. These little jewels work wonders on so much more than the baby's butt! I keep zip-lock bags of them everywhere!