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I know that today’s post is supposed to include photos of some sort….years past at the daffodil festival on Wye Mountain….but let’s be honest. I’ve barely found my shoes since we’ve moved, much less my external hard drive with ALL of my photos.

So instead, I give you something different. Aaron and I sing a song to Nate every night before he goes to sleep. They range from Darth Vader’s theme to Jingle Bells and Row Your Boat. But his favorites are Water is Wide, Sweet Baby James and Oh My Sweet Carolina. I’ve linked them for you…enjoy.

Photo from Alpha Mom

I wish I’d seen this last week, before the games started, but the ideas were just too cute to not share! Go to Alpha Mom for instructions on how to make the gold medal cookie necklace and Olympic torch. Super easy and the kids will have a ball playing Olympic athletes! And you know I love it because there’s a TP roll involved.

For the medals, use store bought cookies to keep it easy, or whip up a batch for the weekend. You could also make silver medals with regular foil.

First morning playing in front of the "new" bed

Within an hour of falling asleep

He probably fell out about three times the first night before we got smart and put pillows around the bed and next to that red table. When he would fall out, it would wake him up but he’d go back to sleep fairly quickly. He got used to his new sleeping space in about a week. Now he’s an old pro in a bunk bed from IKEA. Do you have any toddler bed stories to share?

Photo from Google Images

This is the first year since having a child that we are going out for New Year’s Eve! Yippee!

Our friend’s band John Paul Keith and the One Four Fives of Memphis are playing with Little Rock native Ben Nichols of Lucero and Cory Branan at White Water Tavern tomorrow night, and I simply cannot wait to see them! JPK comes into town about every six weeks or so, and as I tell them it is our standing date night.

Sound like a good time? Go hereto see if there are still tickets available.

For those at home with children, Family Fun has a list of reader-submitted tips for you to celebrate the Eve with the youngins. From a bubble wrap stomp to a celebration around the time zones,  there’s tons of different ideas for fun. HAPPY NEW YEAR! Be safe out there!

Have you heard of Etsy? It’s an online marketplace, started in 2005, for hand-made items and vintage goods. I could spend hours perusing the beautiful knit hats and sweaters, iPod cases, fabric-covered notebooks, vintage aprons.

When I saw this article on the New York Times website, I was intrigued to see that there are people making six figure salaries on Etsy. But I was not surprised to hear that those folks makin’ the big bucks are working like crazy to make it all happen. As one of the crafters in the article put it, “What’s the point of doing something you love,” she asked, “if you are too exhausted to do what you love?” 

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Hey guys! I hope you all had a great holiday weekend. I’ve spent tons of time with family and have eaten way too much in the process.

We’ve also dragged out all of our Christmas decorations and are in the process of putting up trees, big and small, hanging garlands, finishing up details on the Department 56 village and putting out the Santas.

I have to get the garlands up by tomorrow night, at least the one that holds Kiddo’s advent stockings. I picked up a few little toys for the stockings, and have a ton of candy leftover from Halloween also.

We’ve had to move the tree to a different location this year, since we have the wall-hung bike rack in the front room now. So I have to rethink how we will decorate the window in the Christmas tree room…as of right now, the boy’s artwork is hanging on the top of the blinds and I don’t want to take it down.

So I thought maybe we could make some garlands together for the window. I ran across this article in the December issue of Better Homes and Gardens(page 101) detailing how to create garlands from repurposed materials. I loved their ideas so I thought I’d share.

Circle Garland Use a circle punch or trace something round to make assorted circular cutouts from last year’s greeting cards (or other material such as scrapbook, construction or wrapping papers.) Glue each layer or circles, placing two lengths of twine between the 2 bottom layers.

Ring Garland With a sharp box cutter, cut cardboard tubes (from paper towels, toilet paper or wrapping paper) into 1 inch sections and fit rings inside each other. Poke holes in rings using a sturdy large eyed needle threaded with ribbon. One could also paint the rings before fitting together for more color.

BeadsCut pages from magazines and catalogs into 1 1/2 inch wide strips. Spread glue on one side, place a drinking straw lengthwise along one edge, and roll the paper around the straw. When dry, use scissors to cut the paper-covered straw into 1 inch pieces. Thread the beads onto ribbon.

Let me know if you guys make any of these! I’m getting read for my big boy’s FOURTH birthday party on Saturday. I can’t believe that he’s actually going to be four. It’s still so young but much older than I want him to be. After the crazy week I have planned, hopefully we will get a chance to sit down and make some.

Here’s what my Turkey day morning looks like so far:

Trip to the grocery store first thing for cinnamon rolls and hashbrowns. Wearing pajamas with unbrushed teeth. *gasp*

Pulled out all of our Department 56 Christmas in the City pieces, for the first time since we have lived in this house. The bookcases the husband built are especially made for my village with outlets for their lights…yeah!

Tried to explain to my almost 4 year old that these are NOT toys, and if he touched the ones at his Grami’s house he would probably be put in eternal time out.

Easily over $1,000 worth of porcelain.

Halved and scraped five butternut squash for a Thanksgiving lunch puree…if it turns out yummy, I”ll share the recipe.

The most beautiful shade of orange.

Laundry so my husband will have clean underwear.

What’s in store for the rest of the day:

Late lunch at my parent’s house, with more than 25 folks milling around.

Pat’s broccoli casserole and lemon pie, Ellen’s hashbrown casserole and Jim’s fudge, Sister Schubert rolls and my late Mimi’s dressing.

Crazy kids in the garage/playroom torturing the dogs and each other.

Several glasses of wine.

I hope your Thanksgiving is as wonderful as mine will be

So pretty and YUMMY.

I’ve been having a lot of fun with my bento boxes lately. For a quick refresher course on what a bento is, go here for a refresher FAQ session and here, here or here for some blogs of moms making preschool bentos.

I’ve started a Flickr set of bento pictures, where I’ve uploaded pictures of my boxes, my first time to use my rice mold, and other goodies I keep picking up. Hop on over to see what I’ve been up to, and let me know what you think.

Here’s a few tips that I’ve picked up over the past few bento-making weeks:

• I find the easiest bento boxes are made with leftovers as I’m packing up after dinner. I just make sure that I have my bento makin’ goodie box is on hand so I do not waste time searching for anything.
• You do not have to have speciality items to do this. See my previous post on what I found at the Dollar Store that is bento-perfect. The key is just to have it handy when you need it.
• That being said, my Laptop Lunch makes it SUPER EASY to pack a lunch. I will definitely have to get another one when my kid starts school.
• Be creative with what you have already. Who would have thought a scraper from Pampered Chef would have made a great food divider. It did!

Do you have any ideas or suggestions for bento box fun? Do share!

Yes, you could be a winner! Go here for more details on a contest Moody Mom is hosting. Hint, the prize is red and sparkly. Ooooo…..

My son has an overwhelming collection of markers, crayons and pencils, as I’m sure most children do. We had finally painted his table for the back room (more on that later) and I wanted him to have his colors on the table; easily accessible but presentable. And organized. You know me and my love of organization. So I started thinking…

Ready to organize!

I had been collecting empty oatmeal canisters (I’m big on oatmeal in the a.m.) so I pulled them out for the project. Yes, I have a closet where I keep random things into which I will breathe new life one day. My husband will just laugh and shakehis head every time I add TP rolls or spice jars. He’ll see….he’ll see….

Lining up the marker to get an idea of where to cut.

Anyway, I knew I’d want to separate the pencils, crayons and markers into different containers, so I lined up a marker to the bottom of the canister and cut down the seam to bottom of the cap.

Cutting around the canister.

Then you just have to cut around the canister to remove the top part.

Nice, huh?

I got a hot chocolate canister out of the closet for the pencils, and had a finished set of containers for $0. Isn’t that great!

The goodies

Here’s the goodies on his desk. Notice the muffin-tin crayonsin the white basket? Those are still a hit. I guess we could paint the containers or decorate them, but I kinda like having them in their naked repurposed glory. It’s like a reminder that they are on their 2nd life. And that’s a good thing to be reminded about!