Photography Tip

I am obviously not a professional photographer, and this may be a widely known trick, BUT I discovered a secret to getting real smiles out of kids (as opposed to CHEESE-y grins)!

I was taking pictures of some nieces and nephews and asked them to smile...

Without being prompted, they started cheesing.

And then I asked them to laugh...

SO much better! It worked like a charm every time I pulled the camera out. By the end of the day, they were laughing for the camera before I even asked them to!

A Special Gift for a Special Delivery

My sister is having her first baby soon, and I am SO excited!  Being an aunt is one of my favorite things.  There is something so nice about having little ones to cuddle and play with without actually having to give birth.

I wanted to make something meaningful and special for the baby.  I thought about my other nieces and nephews and the kind of baby gift that was meaningful for them.  Three of them were given either a blanket or quilt at birth that has become almost a part of their identity.  Anyone who is close to them at all knows which blankie belongs to each child.  Those blankies go everywhere and cannot be slept without.  So, I decided to make a baby quilt.

My sister and brother-in-law decided not to find out the gender ahead of time, so I looked for fabric that was clearly "baby" but not too gender specific.  I skipped the batting and opted for a flannel backing.  It is so soft and warm but still lightweight enough to be carried around by a toddler.  Best of all, it came together in just a couple of hours.  It is by far the easiest quilt I've made yet.  You can find the pattern, "Lap Quilt 'In a Jiffy'," at Moda Bake Shop.  The only change I made was to leave off the border.  A baby quilt doesn't need to be that large, but if you are making a lap quilt, go for it.

I used one of the fun stitches on my sewing machine for the quilting.  I love the little details!

I found all my fabric, including the flannel, at Ben Franklin.  Sam was a huge help as I looked for non-gender specific prints and patterns.  I'd say it was a success!

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This Week {illustrated}

Well, our nephew and niece went home on Monday evening, and it sure seems quiet around here.  We loved having them here, but it would be dishonest to say that we were heartbroken to see them go.  We were so tired after our week with them, and we all ended up getting colds at the end of the week.  Even so, both of the kids said they had a fun time.  Mission accomplished.

Here are a couple more pictures of the fun food we ate last week:

car shaped pizza

candy coated apple slices

pancake and banana "ice cream cone"

I've been working on cleaning up the house, and I keep seeing these little reminders that make me miss having the kids here just a little.

"hair pretties" and Barney on the bathroom counter

cars on my nightstand

dice in the date money jar

lambie

the little kitchen in the big kitchen

We had big dreams about having a relaxing week at home after the kids left.  That lasted for about half a day.  Marshall and I went golfing one evening, and we noticed a whole bunch of apple and pear trees on the third hole.  Marshall called the president of the club and asked if we could pick some of the fruit.  Her response was, "I wish somebody would do something with it!  It hasn't been treated with chemicals, though, so you might not want it."  No chemicals?!  Yeah, we'd love some!  So we picked bags and bags of apples and pears, and I've been canning ever since.  We are SO thankful, even if it has made for a busy week.

2 jars of pickles curing and 11 cups of applesauce in ziploc bags to freeze (to be used in place of oil in baking)

Maple Spiced Applesauce

Vanilla Cinnamon Berry Applesauce

Pear Sauce

Maple Apple-Pear Butter

 And I'm not even close to being done...

This Week {illustrated}: Kid Style

We've been super busy with our special little people this week, and besides reveling in all of our bodily functions, here are some of the things we've done.

They are so cute.  I could just eat them up!

The strawberry snake and cheese mouse were a huge success .
{snake} {mouse}

They were thrilled to get fun shaped pancakes!

I've seen this on Pinterest and was eager to try it out.  One liked it, and the other one freaked out that noodles were coming out of his hot dog.  On the whole I'd say this idea is a flop unless you keep your noodles really short.  They get tangled up and are a big mess to serve.  It was worth a try, though.
{wormy pasta dogs}

They LOVED the crab apple.
{Crab Apple}

I laminated pictures of the kids so they could draw on them with dry-erase markers.  They have been a big hit!
{laminated faces}

I turned these old boxes into...

...Flo and Lightning McQueen!

The kids are excited about family night tonight, and we're doing a drive-in movie theater with their cars.  If  the weather is nice, we'll do it outside with the laptop.  We went shopping yesterday and picked out movie night snacks.  So fun!

Confessions of an Aunt

Today begins our kiddo craziness, and I'm SO excited for our nephew and niece to arrive!  We love them so incredibly much and love having them over.  You might think I'm making this up so that my brother and sister-in-law will read this and be impressed, but I'm being completely genuine here.  I had the opportunity of living next door to them for a year and a half, and it was so much fun to be a part of their daily lives.  They only live a couple hours away now, but it seems like the kids change so much from one time I see them to the next.

As much as I love having them here, it is a lot of work to host a five year old and a two year old for a whole week.  And here is my big confession:

The last time he was here, my nephew (5) told me that his house was way more fun than mine.

The conversation went something like this:

Me: If you could go anywhere in the whole world, where would it be?

Him: Home.

Me: Why would you want to go home?

Him: Because it's the funnest place I've ever been to.  It's more fun than your house.

Ouch.  It really stung, even if he is just a little boy.  The reason it hurt so much is because it was true.

We usually have quite a few projects going on, and it's so hard to set those aside, especially when you've got motivation and momentum to get them done.

The last time my nephew came, it was more of a spur of the moment deal.  I've had a lot more time to plan this visit than I did last time, so I'm hoping to make this one a lot more fun for him, his little sister, and for me.  My plan?  I'm going on vacation with them.

Instead of dusting the furniture, I will get down on the floor and play cars with them.  Instead of making "nice" meals that they don't eat, we may eat a lot of hot dogs and PBJs.  I'll even cut their PBJs with cool cookie cutters instead of worrying about wasting food.  Instead of trying to keep them quiet inside, we will spend as much time outside as possible where they can run and yell as much as their little hearts desire.  My plan is basically to not have a plan or big expectations.

I'm excited about them coming and am excited to let you know how it goes!

For those of you who have been asked to watch over little ones and are intimidated by the thought, here are some ways that I maintain my sanity:

1.  Keep chemicals and sharp objects up high.
2.  Put tissues, paper towels, and napkins out of reach.  I don't know why, but medium-sized pieces of paper are REALLY fascinating to toddlers.  If they are in reach, they will be everywhere.

3.  I only put a little bit of inexpensive soap in the dispenser in the bathroom.  They tend to use way more soap than they need (and I don't discourage them from using it!), but I don't want them to empty out my Bath & Body Works soap when they decide to wash their hair in the bathroom sink.

4.  Take the batteries out of noisy toys.  If they never knew the toy made noise, they'll never miss it.
5.  Buy toys.  You don't need a whole bunch, just a few.  Better yet, ask friends with kids if you can take any off their hands.  They probably have more than they want in their house and will be weeding them out eventually anyway.
6.  Don't load kids up on sugar.  It seems obvious, but it's really tempting to spoil kids with sugary stuff.  We will be having "cookies" for breakfast one day, but what the kids don't know is that they are all natural and don't have sugar or sugar substitutes.  I guarantee you, they will still think they are getting a treat.

{via}

Versus

{via}

7.  Be clear on what your rules are.  I starting going over the bedtime rules with my nephew when he was two, and it didn't take long before he could recite them by himself.  Every night that he spends here, I ask him what the rules are, and he repeats them.  We rarely have problems at bedtime, and when we do, he knows that he has broken the rules, because he knows what the rules are.

8.  Be consistent.  Most kids have some kind of set schedule, and you might be able to mix it up for a day, but two days might be out of the question.  It depends a lot on the child and his/her age.  My two year old niece can maybe skip the afternoon nap if she goes to bed early that evening, but my three year old niece couldn't care one bit.  Everyone will be happier if you can avoid toddler meltdowns.

9.  Ditch the diaper bag.  If you need to go out for a couple hours, don't worry about packing up the whole house.  Just toss a diaper, a bottle, and a toy in your purse.  Don't stress yourself out!

10.  Have fun!  I'm obviously still working on this, but here are some of our favorite things to do: make a tent in the living room and have a pizza party in it, drive downtown to watch the train come through, watch boats and barges go through the locks, picnics in the butterfly garden, bonfires and s'mores, anything with stickers, swim, etc.

These are just a few of the things I've learned through the years, and I'm sure I'll learn a lot more as I go.  What about you?  Do you have any tips on keeping kids busy?

We've Got the Golden Tickets!

We are having some very special visitors soon, and I've been preparing for their arrival for quite some time now.  Two of my brother and sister-in-law's children will be staying with us for a whole week on "vacation." We don't have children of our own, so it's always exciting to have them stay with us.  It gives us an excuse to go the library and the park, swim, bake cookies, and watch kid movies.

My nephew visited a couple of months ago, and unfortunately, he got extremely bored while he was here.  It rained almost all week, and he is not a stay-inside-for-five-whole-days type of kid.

Needless to say, I'm determined to make this trip more enjoyable.  I've been preparing welcome buckets for them and coming up with free and cheap activities we can do.

I've also been searching all over Pinterest for some ideas on keeping them entertained.  I came across this idea for bedtime passes, and it got me thinking.  The idea is that you can give your child a bedtime pass, and he/she may get up to go potty, eat a snack, get a hug, etc. as long as he/she has a pass.  No more passes, no more getting out of bed without consequences (ex. take away one pass from the next night).  I thought it was  a great idea!  Little Mister (age 5) usually does a good job of staying in bed (although his excuses lately have been highly unbelievable... "I smell monster..." "I can't lay down because my back won't move..." etc.), but Little Miss (2) is a frequent offender of getting out of bed.  Since my nephew is older, he will just get one pass.  My niece will get two.  I'm eager to try them out!

I wanted to have some "fun" passes, too, so I made some for trips to the library, a movie, an ice cream cone, and a bedtime snack.  They will get two library passes each and just one of the rest.  I'm hoping this will help with the boredom.  It'll also give them something to look forward to.

If you're interested in trying out your own passes, here is a set I created just for you!  The images are all public domain and were copied from openclipart.org.  They have a great collection of clip art, and I'd suggest searching their site for images if there are more activies you'd like to create passes for.  I kept mine very simple as my nephew and niece won't be able to read them, but the options are endless for older kids.  Here's hoping this solves our boredom and makes for a fun week!