The other day I got a chance to spend the morning with Stephen in class. I love these class observation days as they always give me insights and ideas into what may keep our little Iron Man busy at home…

As the two older ones require more one-on-one time, it’s always a struggle to keep the little one from scribbling on homework papers or running off with the violin when no one’s looking.

So anyway, one of the “works” (Montessori term for “activities”) was a little wooden board of nails for the children to stretch rubber bands across into various forms. Very simple, and it kept Stephen entertained for a good 10 minutes (which is a lot for him). He was also thoroughly engaged in cutting tiny strips of paper and doing dot pictures. So after class, I took him to Michael’s and got a set of dot markers. Visit my Resources page to find a list of places to print free dot-art pages! I also picked up a wooden slab for $3 to make my own rubber-band peg board. Here is a quick tutorial:

Rubber-Band Peg Board

You will need:

• A wooden board (mine measured 10.5″x8″)
• Wooden screws (nails would work too, but since they are tiny and sharp… and would make a good weapon if played with improperly… screws seemed a safer option)
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Drill (or screwdriver)

1. Mark off every inch with your pencil and ruler to help with screw/nail placement.

2. Place a screw or nail according to your marks.

3. Ta-da! All done!

Also during our trip to the craft store, I picked up some sprigs and fake succulents to make a new wreath:

I spent $30, a bit more than my usual, but I really wanted something natural but “modern” (a.k.a. “not country”). You definitely pay up for non-tacky-you-can-spot-it’s-a-fake sprigs…

Speaking of sprigs and sprouts…

When did my baby boy…

…get so big!!!

Calvin turned 7 earlier this week. We had a small party for him at the Clubhouse Fun Center, complete with go-karting…

…that even little Stephen enjoyed…

…miniature golf, and arcade games. Our guests ranged from 2 years to 12 years, and there was something for everyone…

Embrace the dorkiness!

We also attended his second concert the night of his birthday:

Even Stephen enjoyed it:

Especially since they got some ice cream afterwards

Unbelievable. The guest who most definitely overstayed his welcome.

But hey, it’s upstate New York. I would expect nothing less

Despite the winter weather, the spring-clean bug has taken over much of my spare time. Along with sorting through closets, I’ve been slowly painting my way through the house.

The entry hallway before moving in…

The living room before moving in…

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Getting ready to paint:

I ended up painting the living room twice since the initial color I chose looked completely off.

Hallway and foyer after:

The choice of the olive green wall (a.k.a. family photo gallery) is taken from the backs of the family room built-ins.

Gallery wall almost complete!

The living room:

I think I’m starting to have a thing for green. In fact, I’ve always wanted to paint something kelly green. So I managed to pick up an all-wood dresser, complete with dovetail joints, from Craigslist. It was pretty yucky at first sight. Grimy, gritty, shoddy paint job, loose drawers, dead bugs, etc. I almost walked away from it. But after talking the owner down to $20, I figured I was willing to pay that much to get a chance to paint my one green object.

It took me four days to strip the entire thing. Another day to sand it down, wash it, and let it dry. After three coats of paint and polyurethane and new knobs…

A closer look…

While loading the 6-drawer beast into my car, I spotted a small side table, perfect size as a little desk for Charissa, sitting on the curb. Likewise, it was dirty and yucky. But unlike the dresser, it was free… and in much better condition than the piece of junk (as Jeremy referred to it) I paid for So I took it home, stripped it, sanded it, and painted it purple:

Oh right, and I repainted Charissa’s room for the third time.

Before moving in:

After moving in:

Last year:

And now, something a bit more grown-up and calm:

This past Saturday, I hosted a “green-eco-friendly-health-conscious-spring-themed” baby shower for a good friend of mine.

Along with 17 adults that included husbands, we had 18 children ranging from 2 to 12 years romping around in the basement and in our backyard (insert shout-out to our awesome youth group babysitters!)

To go along with our eco-friendly theme, I whipped up some canvas tote-bags…

…complete with pear and watermelon-flavored jellybeans in a jar and clear Christmas ornaments filled with moss…

Note: Another wonderful friend of mine put these together. We originally intended for them to be hung somewhere but realized afterwards they were too heavy. The little metal cap kept on pulling off from the weight. I found them to sit perfectly in some tea-light holders.

…and tossed together some scrappy “multi-media” centerpieces:

Coupled with a branch found on the side of the road and Christmas ornaments:

If you have some crafty scraps lying around and are looking for ways to welcome spring, here is a quick tutorial:

Scraps Needed

Note: Not pictured is a hot glue gun that you will need

Directions

1. Cut your fabric rounds into spirals.
2. Cut your cardboard scrap to fit the top of your metal bin.
3. Cut along the radius of your white paper rounds.
4. Roll your fabric spirals starting from the outermost end…
5. … continue rolling…
6. …until you reach the end. Then dab some hot glue…
7. …and press down to secure.
8. Do this for all your fabric spirals.
9. Push a straight pin through the center of each flower…
10. …and pin them to the cardboard.
11. Overlap the free-edges of the white paper rounds to form a wide cone.
12. Secure the overlapped edges with glue.
13. Push a straight pin through the center of each cone…
14. …and pin them to the cardboard.
15. Toss in some used corks…

…and you’re done!

Unless you want to add a broken light bulb…

If you wish to get really scrappy, you can:

1. Grab a large branch off the side of the road.
2. Hang some Christmas ornaments on the branches.
3. And gather up all the scrap construction paper pieces from your children’s table and use a hole puncher to make lots and lots of tiny rounds.
4. Then with needle and thread, string them together to form a mini garland:

This would look neat too with multi-colored hole punches. Perhaps for something really festive!

Oh yeah, and if you look closely at that last picture, you’ll be able to spot my half-finished project…

Hint: I’m not trying to set a new trend with a two-tone sectional Yeah. Crazy me decided to re-upholster my really-icky-abused-by-all-sorts-of-kid-fluids-what-was-I-thinking-with-a-light-colored-microfiber sectional. Hopefully, I’ll finish it by the end of the week!

So while driving like a crazy lady to Calvin’s school to drop off his red shirt that he was supposed to wear today and that I was reminded via email twice within the last 48 hours but still forgot… I came up with a new theory on why women are purportedly worse drivers than men.

Because the majority of women drivers are mothers.

You see, if the car in front of you is being annoyingly cautious with a turn at a light, and the driver is a woman, she’s probably a new mother going out with her new baby for the first time and hyper-risk-averse for fear of getting into a fatal accident…

…or a mother who has another person’s child(ren) in the car and God forbid something bad happening on your watch…

…or a mother who just received a call from the school about a supposedly sick child who’s not feeling bad enough to definitely go home but not well enough to refrain from making multiple trips down to the nurse’s office… to pick up or not? The internal debate will slow her down…

Or if you see a mini-van drag-racing down the street, and the driver is a woman, she’s probably a new mother with a feverish baby who needs to get to the doctor’s office RIGHT NOW for fear of brain damage or worse…

…or a mother who has another person’s child(ren) in the car showing off their karate moves and needs to get home before something bad happens…

…or a mother who just remembered she forgot to dress her child in red and now, because of HER negligence, is the ONLY one in his entire class not wearing red which will most definitely scar him for life… will drive like an insane person to deliver that red shirt.

And because most mothers are sleep deprived. And according to a recent study, “getting less than 6 hours a night can affect coordination, reaction time and judgment…” (click here for original article).

Anyway, that’s the end of my “Not-So-Fine Driving” portion.

Back in February, Jeremy and I took our annual NYC fine dining trip. This time, we stayed at the Hudson Hotel thanks to Will! [waves excitedly to Will who probably doesn't even read this blog]. Great location. Right around the corner from Columbus Circle:

We made our second trip back to Momofuku Ko. They have a no-photography rule, so this is the closest we’ll get:

The food was painfully good. I think we counted close to 20 courses. I couldn’t eat my last two savory dishes. But I finished all the dessert courses. Because, you know, I have a separate stomach for that And since going, I now have a third stomach just for the last course which was this miso-ice-cream-with-tapioca-and-some-other-deliciousness-that-I-can’t-recall in a cone. I still think about it… sigh…

We tried two new places; Daniel (Beware. this website plays annoying music)…

Excellent food. Nothing super creative, but everything was well-made. Our chef at Ko referred to Daniel as “the place for old people”. Ha. I guess she’s right now that I think about it, considering the waiter thought we were newly-weds…

…and Marea…

…which we visited several hours after Ko. So not a full-blown meal. Perfect late-night snack type of place.

Oh yeah, and the Lounge at Per Se. I’ve lost track of how many times we’ve been here:

And to work it all off, we went shopping (or I should say, I went shopping):

Disclaimer. I swear to you I didn’t wear the same outfit everyday. It just appears that way in the photos…

Oh yeah, for all you other foodies out there, here is a review you must read. I swear I kept on scrolling up to make sure it wasn’t something from the Onion. All this review is missing are some poorly-lit pictures taken by a second-rate camera Our favorite line…

“Instead of the raspberry lemonade she suggested, I drank water.”

Apparently, people were making fun of this 85-year-old lady. So now I feel bad. Maybe we should go to Olive Garden tonight for dinner…

I’ve updated my “Word Families” worksheet page.

Charissa is moving right along with reading. The same cannot be said about math. I have to constantly remind myself not to get frustrated [insert my dear sister's claw-and-roar imitation of a tiger mom]. They say that couples are less likely to turn a disagreement into a bad argument if they hold hands. Maybe the same applies to teaching children? Yeah. So extra hugs tonight

Know the verse on love in 1 Corinthians? I’ve never given the passage any more thought other than “these are the attributes I need to work on or look for.” Since having children, I’ve come to appreciate the fact that “patience” is listed first. By far, it has been the most challenging and ongoing lesson for me… second to functioning on very little sleep… and the troubling notion that I can’t quite recall my children’s first few months… It’s all… a haze…

Now that Calvin and Charissa are older, we’ve started a chore chart via High Score House!. If you’re looking for a way to motivate and keep tabs, this site is great. Your child earns virtual stars/points for tasks completed which are then redeemable for whatever rewards you set.

Several months ago, Calvin brought home an I.O.U. lunch note:

My first thought was, “What have you been eating!?” Second thought was, “I can’t believe the school would let a kid buy things they can’t afford!” I only give him $2.25 a day for the most basic school lunch. Then came the question, “Now Calvin, just how many Doritos have you bought?”

Anyway, poor Calvin had no idea what was going on. So I called the school and found out that the lunch lady had forgotten a decimal point. Really. Kind of an important little detail don’t you think? Sigh. So yes, he only owed $0.25. Apparently, his quarter had fallen out of his wallet that he then promptly lost. So I made him a little origami wallet out of an old atlas page:

with a little paperclip to keep his quarter in place:

And then I proceeded to go off on a tangent and fold some paper atlas airplanes for his room:

Decimal points and quarters aren’t the only little things we’ve been losing lately; Calvin’s lost his ability to to make a proper “th” sound which resulted in me making a little tooth pillow to help him with recovering lost lunch quarters:

I forgot to sew on the very important tooth pocket so ended up using fabric glue. If you plan on making this for your little one, sew the very important little pocket on first before anything else!

Click here to download my tooth pillow pattern in PDF.

I patch-worked my fabric before tracing the pattern and cutting it out.

Speaking of little things, I have a little dilemma: I’ve noticed a very faint shadow of a mustache appearing above Calvin’s lips…

It’s hard to see it in this picture. But trust me. It’s there.

Should I do something about it? To see if he’s noticed it or if other children at school have pointed it out, I said, “Hey Calvin! I think you might have a mustache!” [insert big concern-free smile]. To which he replied after licking his lips, “Is it gone now?” Maybe he though I meant a milk mustache… So anyway, the dilemma remains - to “undorkify or not”…

One-and-a-half months to fully recover from the Holidays, the flu, a visit to the E.R., and other exciting adventures before getting back into routine.

Some days, I still find it hard to believe we have three mini people… and they’re all still alive!

Stephen definitely introduces “craziness” into the mix.

But his charm offsets most of it

Unfortunately, Calvin and Charissa have outgrown their charm to offset what we discovered the other night on our carpets upstairs:

It is the return of the Sharpie nightmare. A few years back, Calvin had gotten a hold of a black Sharpie and masterpieced on every single cushion of our light-tan microfiber sectional. It took me an entire day to remove the marks.

He was 3 and didn’t know any better.

Now that he’s almost 7, we expect better judgement from both him and Charissa.

I was horrified to say the least. I wanted to be angry and laugh at the same time. As bad as it was, it was funny on some level… like the “life-would-be-too-hard-if-we-didn’t-find-the-humor-in-it” level. Apparently, they thought it would be a good idea to sneak out of bed and label everything…

Normally, I would scold Calvin for spelling such a simple word incorrectly. But in this case, it was one less letter to clean up. In total, there were 12 labels. It took us massive amounts of rubbing alcohol and rolls and rolls of paper towels to remove the lettering. There are still splotches, but they will have to wait until my arm muscles recover.

Seriously. Really?

Just you wait guys, when you have kids, there will be no pity from us

It’s that time of year when I get all giddy about putting up the Christmas tree and lights together with the kids…

…and feel so blessed to be making cookies with little people…

Adding to this year’s decorations are 30 ft. of tinsel garland wrapped around our banisters and gold stars popping out from our dining room wall:

These were inspired by this tutorial. If you’re looking for some easy, last-minute, and cheap holiday decorations, here is one to try!

Materials:

• Square pieces of paper (mine measured 6″x6″) Any kind of paper will do, but I used glitter cardstock.
• Scissors
• pencil
• Exacto knife and cutting mat
• Glue

Directions
1. With the front facing up, score along the middle of each side as shown:

2. With the back facing up, score along the diagonal as shown:

So now you should have something like this:

3. Using a pencil, draw a diamond as shown:

4. Draw a square as shown:

The lines you made in steps 3 and 4 are to help you draw these next series of lines that will guide you on where to score.

5. Draw lines as shown below in orange:

6. Using scissors, cut down the center score lines, stopping at the intersection of the inner square and orange lines:

7. Score along the orange lines and fold:

8. Overlap the flaps and secure with glue (I used hot glue since cardstock is pretty thick.)

9. Ta da!

Repeat with the remaining flaps:

10. Turn it over and you’re done!

Leave as is, or put two back to back for a more “star” effect, or stack a bunch together to make “trees”:

Use as centerpieces, on the mantel, as wall art… the possibilities are endless!

Charissa is officially five today! I can’t believe she’s gone from this:

to this:

Definitely looks better with hair.

I don’t know how it happens, but we always end up throwing three parties each time one of our kids has a birthday.

Last Sunday, it was a cooking party at Tops:

complete with 16 kids, a new dress:

self-made and decorated cupcakes:

and of course, hand-made favors of chocolate-chip-and-sprinkles pancake mix:

and little-people-sized aprons:

And to keep the family tradition of going to Red Robin, we had a birthday meal with the grandparents before they headed out on vacation:

Nothing like an onion ring tower and ice cream cake to say “happy birthday!”

And then because it felt wrong not to do something on her actual birthday today, I made her an easy two-layer lemon box cake, with cream cheese, ricotta cheese, and sugar frosting… with, as you can see, a butt-load of sprinkles:

Yummy!

Happy birthday to my little girl!

All images and graphics in this post are copyrighted. Please do not use without permission. Thank you!.

Mario!

Princess Peach!

Mario time!

…and Stephen…

…who was supposed to be Baby Mario. But after spilled applesauce on his red shirt, and utter refusal to wear his Mario cap unless he constantly had a marshmallow in hand/mouth… kind of had to scrap that idea… maybe next year…

Oh yeah. And Princess Daisy:

Calvin Mario took this picture on my iPhone. Nothing against Jeremy, but most of his shots capture me at awkward moments (pictures taken at a friend’s costume birthday party)…

The camera doesn’t love me.

And yes, I made our costumes. My kids… and I… aren’t really into dressing up outside of Halloween, so I figured sewing them myself would save me a few bucks. But not without some sacrifices… like Calvin’s constant slight wedgie due to a minor miscalculation in the crotch area…