Lessons I’ve Learned – Children’s Clothing

So, after 3 1/2 years of buying children’s clothing here’s what I’ve found.

Gap/Old Navy – Fits according to age better then anyone (for an average child.) But they’re lacking in letting babies look like babies. It’s like a child hit 12 months and the clothing seems too old, for my tastes.

Children’s Place – Has some awesome sales. Their toddler girl clothing is a little too bright for my taste, but I like the rest of it. Sleepers and t-shirts run small while other items tend to run big or spot on. However, their socks are THE best and should be bought in piles. I kid you not, everyone else’s socks run small, no one else compares to these socks!

Osh Gosh – Jeans run slightly longer than Old Navy, which is nice to know for taller kids (i.e. My son’s Old Navy jeans are beginning to look short, but the Osh Gosh jeans are still fitting him fine.)

Gymboree - Tends to fit right on, however I’ve never bought jeans from them. They have cute stuff and do a really good job incorporating the same line from infant to toddler to big kids. I’ve gotten some good deals, but I wish they had better sales.

Kid-to-Kid – Is definitely hit or miss. Their standards for buying clothing seems SUPER high, especially for the price they give you. But then I look at the clothing they have hanging in the store and a lot of times I’m not impressed. I’ve found stained items and dollar store items for $3 or $4. Be careful when shopping there.

Target - I love Target for little boy t-shirts. I usually can get them for about $5. Why buy a used one for $4 if I can buy new for $5? And they’re super cute. I just find that 3T and 4T sizes are hard to find. I’ve also found that their shoes are very reasonably priced, especially for tennis shoes.

Carters - I’m sure everyone knows by now that Carter’s runs a little big. They’re always the last outfits that a little one grows out of. I think they’re selection is adorable and they have good sales almost always.

Walmart - Just generally not impressed. I’ll see the occasional cute thing, but it’s far and few between.

Pajamas - I never spend more than $10 on pajamas and I can usually get them for around $6. Well, I do spend extra for their Christmas pajamas because I want them to be matching, that’s a guilty indulgence that I have.

Shoes - Crocks (or knock-offs) are awesome for kids just learning how to walk because they weigh next to nothing. Girls shoes have put me in a tizzy. I mean for 2 years John wore camouflage crocks, with the occasional brown-shoe-wearing on Sundays. But Lydia, man, she’s got a pair of shoes she wears with most outfits, but I get to Sunday and for the dress with black tights I need black shoes, and then are these tights white so I need white shoes? or are they off-white and I need off-white shoes? No those shoes are too cream. But that’s all I have. Alas, it can get difficult.

Lessons I’ve Learned – Toys

So, as a young mother with one child who couldn’t really get out his own toys, I had a small wicker toy basket that I kept in our living room. As John’s grown and we’ve added more toys, I have kept to basically one big toy box in his room. I liked the idea of sticking to one big basket/box because it made clean up easier… we just threw everything in there together. But now as John’s older and we have dinosaurs, cars, a train set, even doll sets for Lydia I’ve realized that separation is, in fact key.

Before it was all about ease in cleaning up. Now, we’re moving into a new stage of clean-as-you-go. We have not mastered this yet, but at least I can tell John, “John, pick up your train set before you play with your cars.” He’s pretty good at listening to me and being willing to pick up before he plays. The problem comes in when little sister doesn’t understand yet and dumps everything out…. then it takes us a few days to get to a clean room again. John’s 3 now and I think that’s a good age to begin to understand categorization without much help. He knows where his cars go, where the kitchen stuff goes, where the balls go, etc. I think the older the kids get, but Lydia especially the easier this will be. This method has also helped the kids enjoy their toys more too because they’re more accessible.

Bottom line: As kids reach about 3 years of age splitting sets of toys into smaller compartments is easier to keep kids’ rooms clean. While, for younger children having one big box is easier.

January 2010 in Review

1st – Flew back to Utah. And Lydia went to bed with her bottle, Betty, a bunny, and a baby.

3rd – Had lunch with a couple moving to Utah soon. When John saw the man on the sidewalk, he ran up to him and gave him a huge hug. (I’m thinking John thought it was an uncle or something.)

5th – Aaron: “John, stop picking your nose.” John keeps his finger in his nose, adds another into the other nostril, and exclaims, “I’M THINKING!” “Huh? John, you can think without your fingers in your nose.” John then complains, “Oh mannnnnnnnnn!”

6th – “Do you want to watch Winnie the Pooh?” “Yeah. Poop.”

7th – John go back to your room.” “No.” “Ok, just stand there and pout.” “I can’t!” (running away.)

11th – John drew eyes, nose and mouth and it really was a smiley face. It’s the first time he’s drawn a picture that looks like what he said it was.

14th - So, John went poop in the potty, but got up. I had him go back to the potty so I could wipe his little tushy… He walks up to the toilet and says. “Look mommy! I see a snake!”

15th - JOHN: (Taking my head and forcing me to look up.) Mommy look at the elephant walking around up there.

ME: There’s an elephant walking around the ceiling?

JOHN: Yeah.

ME: Wow! What color is it?

JOHN: Green.

ME: A green elephant?!

JOHN: Good jobs mommy!

17th – John loves squirting contact solution in the toilet so he can see the bubbles.

19th – (Aaron extends a lollipop) “Say please, Lydia.” (She smiles and stares at me.) “Say please, Lydia.” (More smiling and staring.) “Say pleeeeeease, Lydia.” Then Lydia says, “Pshhhhhhhhhhhh” and giggles. “OK, here you go!”

21st – Went to Jumping Jacks, an indoor bounce house place, yesterday. Today when I told it was time for Preschool, he said, “No. Jumping Jacks.”

23rd – I’ve decided to embrace the night owl in me and get more productive things accomplished after the kids go to bed.

25th – A gas guy came to install a gasline in our house. Lydia snuggled with me the whole time because the noises the guy’s tools made scared her. But when he walked out the door she was sitting on the couch and she said, “Bye Pawpaw.” and then made a kiss sound.

26th - John wakes up this morning and goes potty (which means he takes off his pull-up and his pants) A few minutes later I open my eyes to John holding his underwear drawer to show me that it’s all gone. (Luckily there was clean underwear in a pile in my room.)

29th – John likes me to go through all of his DVD’s, “um… no. um… no. um… I think it broken. um… no.” etc. until I have maybe 5 left before he picks one.

Cheesy Sausage Pie

Tonight I wasn’t eating dinner with the family. So, while searching recipes for pie crusts (since I had bought some on sale and needed to use them) I ran across Cheesy Sausage Pie. Since, I also had sausage I needed to use and I don’t like sausage, I decided to try it. Well, it ended up becoming a family favorite. The kids gobbled it up and my husband went back for thirds! I had a bite, so I could see if I could eat it, and I ended up thinking it was REALLY good. It immediately became a family favorite.

I made some changes to my recipe compared to the Pillsbury site, just due to family preferences and what I had on hand. But here’s the recipe.

Ingredients

1 lb ground sausage

dried minced onion

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1/2 (15 oz) can tomato sauce (traditional spaghetti sauce)

1 can of diced Italian tomatoes, drained

1 cup corn

1 refrigerated pie crust

shredded cheese

Directions

Brown sausage with minced onion and minced garlic and drain off fat.

On stove, in the skillet add to the meat the tomato sauce, tomatoes, and corn.

Let it boil some “water” out.

Place prepared pie crust in 9in pie plate and then put the meat mixture in pie plate.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes

Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for another 12 minutes.

Let stand before serving.

For someone who doesn’t like sausage… It was surprisingly yummy!

December 2009 in Review

1st – John gave me a high three and a high four!

3rd – Lydia tries to feed a teddy bear her cheerio.

8th – John calls a snowman, “It’s a noseman.”

14th – John sang, “Coooo coooomputer COMPUTER!” To the tune of Bob the Builder.

16th – Went to a local “farm” that had thousands of lights. John and Lydia had a great time.

17th – Aaron missed his flight by 5 minutes and ended up having to sleep in the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport for the evening.

19th – Roared at seagulls to save Lydia from certain death… ok maybe just certain getting a chip stolen out of her hand.

22nd  - Went to the Naples Zoo. We saw the black bear behind the glass, but he was a ways away, so I took John around the corner to get a closer look. But John stopped and said, “No, mommy, scarys.” And then clung to me with a vice grip.

23rd – On the way to the Shafovaloff house from the airport, we stopped at Chick-a-fila. It happened to be family night and they had a cow dressed at Santa. Once again, when John saw the cow he FREAKED out!

24th – We played outside in the snow and built a noseman, and threw noseballs, and went sledding. John had a blast (and pronounces snow as nose).

30th – Aaron and I went to see a dramatic performance of The Screwtape Letters written by C.S. Lewis and performed by Max McLean. It was excellent.

31st – Brought in the new year with Shafovaloff Monopoly and Nertz.

UF Logo Afghan block

I’m made an University of Florida Gators sampler afghan for my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas this year. I created two patterns for the afghan. The UF logo block and the Gator logo block.

Here is the pattern for the UF logo.

I chose orange as my main color and blue for my U and F. So, Stockinette stich is orange (knits and purls are always orange) and Seed stitch is always blue. S = seed stitch

CO 54 st

Rows 1-14: Stockinette stitch in Orange.

Row 15, 17, 19: K3 orange, Seed 10 blue, K6 orange, S10 blue, K2 orange, S20 blue, K3 orange

Row 16, 18, 20: P3, S 20, P2, S10, P6, S10, P3

Row 21, 23:  K5, S6, K10, S6, K6, S6, K6, S6, K3

Row 22, 24: P3, S6, P6, S6, P6, S6, P10, S6, P5

Row 25, 27, 29: K5, S6, K10, S6, K6, S6, K15

Row 26, 28, 30: P15, S6, P6, S6, P10, S6, P5

Row 31, 33, 35: K5, S6, K10, S6, K6, S12, K9

Row 32, 34, 36: P9, S12, P6, S6, P10, S6, P5

Row 37, 39, 41, 43, 45: K5, S6, K10, S6, K6, S6, K15

Row 38, 40, 42, 44, 46: P15, S6, P6, S6, P10, S6, P5

Row 47: K5, S 7, K 8, S7, K6, S6, K15

Row 48: P15, S6, P6, S7, P8, S7, P5

Row 49: K5, S8, K6, S8, K6, S6, K15

Row 50: P15, S6, P6, S9, P4, S9, S5

Row 51: K6, S20, K5, S10, K13

Row 52: P13, S10, P5, S20, P6

Row 53: K7, S18, K6, S10, K13

Row 54: P13, S10, P7, S16, P8

Row 55: K9, S14, K8, S10, K13

Row 56: P13, S10, P11, S8, P12

Row 57 – 70: Stockinette Stitch

Gator Logo Afghan Block

This is the second block in the afghan I made for my brother and his wife… HUGE gator fans does not quite describe them! Anyhow, I set out to just make a block with a simple gator’s head design. I ended up with more of the offical Gator logo. (Especially since I can’t draw, tracing has been my biggest assest!) So here’s a picture of the block, with the pattern below.

Note: This is a stockinette block, the beginning of each row will be denoted by K or P, and the stitches by color. Since O for orange can get confusing orange is denoted with an R.

Cast on 54 with blue yarn.

St st 18 rows in blue.

Row 19: K – 17 B, 20 R, 17 B

Row 20: P – 15 B, 24 R, 15 B

Row 21: K – 13 B, 28 R, 13 B

Row 22: P – 11 B, 4 R, 24 B, 4 R, 11 B

Row 23: K – 10 B, 3 R, 28 B, 3 R, 10 B

Row 24: P – 9 B, 3 R, 30 B, 3 R, 9 B

Row 25: K – 8 B, 3 R, 32 B, 3 R, 8 B

Row 26: P – 7 B, 2 R, 3 G, 17 B, 2 G, 5 B, 1 G, 7 B, 3 R, 7 B

Row 27: K – 6 B, 3 R, 6 B, 4 G, 3 B, 3 G, 14 B, 8 G, 1 R, 6 B

Row 28: P – 5 B, 1 R, 11 G, 10 B, 13 G, 6 B, 3 R, 5 B

Row 29: K – 4 B, 3 R, 6 B, 13 G, 10 B, 11 G, 1 R, 5 B

Row 30: P – 3 B, 3 R, 29 G, 2 W, 3 G, 7 B, 4 R, 3 B

Row 31: K – 3 B, 3 R, 8 B, 4 G, 1 W, 28 G, 4 R, 3 B

Row 32: P – 3 B, 3 R, (1 B, 1 W) 3 times, 21 G, 3 W, 5 G, 7 B, 3 R, 3 B

Row 33: K – 3 B, 2 R, 8 B, 28 G, 2 W, (1 B, 1 W) 2 times, 2 B, 2 R, 3 B

Row 34: P – 2 B, 3 R, 4 B, 1 W, 1 B, 3 W, 1 B, 1 W, 6 G, 2 W, 17 G, 8 B, 3 R, 2 B

Row 35: K – 2 B, 2 R, 8 B, 17 G, (1 B, 2 W, 2 B, 2 W) 2 times 7 B, 2 R, 2 B

Row 36: P – 2 B, 2 R, 7 B, 1 W, 3 B, 1 W, 2 B, 2 W, 2 B, 1 W, 1 B, 2 W, 16 G, 7 B, 2 R, 2 B

Row 37: K – 2 B, 3 R, 6 B, 6 G, 2 W, 1 R, 5 G, 2 R, 2 W, 1 R, 1 W, 1 R, 17 B, 3 R, 2 B

Row 38: P – 3 B, 2 R, 12 B, 7 R, (1 W, 1 R) 2 times 2, W, 1 R, 2 W, 2 R, 2 W, 1 R, 6 G, 5 B, 2 R, 3 B

Row 39: K – 3 B, 3 R, 4 B, 5 G, 2 R, 1 W, 3 R, 1 W, 2 R, 1 W, 4 R, 1 W, 9 R, 9 B, 3 R, 3 B

Row 40: P – 3 B, 3 R, 4 B, 1 W, 1 B, 1 W, 3 R, 1 W, (2 R, 2 W) 2 times, 3 R, 1 W, 5 R, 1 W, 2 R, 1 W, 1 R, 5 G, 4 B, 3 R, 3 B

Row 41: K – 3 B, 4 R, 3 B, 5 G, 1 R, 2 W, 1 R, (1 W, 2 R) 2 times, 2 W, 5 G, 3 W, 2 R, 2 W, 2 R, (1 W, 1 B) 2 times, 2 G, 4 R, 3 B

Row 42: P – 4 B, 3 R, 5 G, 2 W, 1 R, 3 W, 10 G, (2 W, 1 R) 2 times, 10 G, 3 B, 3 R, 4 B

Row 43: K – 5 B, 3 R, 2 B, 11 G, 2 W, 1 R, 22 G, 3 R, 5 B

Row 44: P- 6 B, 2 R, 36 G, 1 B, 3 R, 6 B

Row 45: K – 7 B, 3 R, 1 B, 30 G, 3 B, 3 R, 6 B

Row 46: P – 8 B, 3 R, 18 B, 13 G, 1 B, 3 R, 8 B

Row 47: K – 9 B, 3 R, 1 B, 10 G, 19 B, 3 R, 9 B

Row 48: P – 10 B, 3 R, 20 B, 6 G, 2 B, 3 R, 10 B

Row 49: K – 11 B, 4 R, 24 B, 4 R, 11 B

Row 50: P – 13 B, 28 R, 13 B

Row 51: K – 15 B, 24 R, 15 B

Row 52: P – 17 B, 20 R, 17 B

18 more rows of st st in blue.

November 2009 in Review

1st – Shepley and John Caleb entertain themselves by throwing coconuts in the pool and retrieving them.

2nd – Took the kids to the beach, you know John’s having fun when he barely notices a helicopter fly by.

4th – John made a friend, Luke, on the airplane and they played nicely with stickers the whole time.

8th – John read to me for his bedtime story!

10th – I was labeling CD’s and I wrote, “John 1:1-18; John Piper” My son John looked at it and said, “John!” He can recognize his name!

12th – Whenever I drive on Bangerter my children go “oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo” and let the car jiggle their voices.

13th – Last night I made chocolate chocolate chip friendship bread. This morning I woke up to John, on the counter, taking a fork to it, with a birthday hat on, saying, “Birthday cake! Birthday cake!”

14th - Lydia just emptied our clothes hamper. Aaron said, “Lyddie did mommy let you do that?” I said, “no.” and looked up. Lydia looked at me and said, “Oh no.” and started putting the laundry back in the hamper.

17th – Lydia’s 18-month well-baby check up. She’s 25 lbs (68 percentile) and 35 inches (98 percentile). HOLY COW!

18th – Lydia picked up three blocks at once into the air and triumphantly pronounced, “I didee!” (I did it!)

19th – I got Lydia up from her nap and she had a poopy diaper and she told me, “Gucky!” (yucky!)

21st – I’m simply enjoying John saying, “oops.” Which he pronounces like, “up-th”

24th – John had a Thanksgiving Feast and little “performance” with his preschool.

25th – Family bowling night. John LOVES bowling and Lydia was so excited about all the balls! It was her first time bowling. I think we will make this a tradition.

26th – Enjoyed a great Thanksgiving with the Summers, Langworthys, and Maggie.

– Maggie brought cupcakes for the kids. Lydia ate hers in the highchair. The rest of the kids left their cupcakes unattended at the kid table. When I let Lydia get down, she kept eating all the other cupcakes. At one point she did this little sinister laugh and we turn around to see her shoving cupcakes in her mouth! It was hilarious.

27th – I went Black Friday shopping from midnight to 5am with my friends Mary Ann, Maggie, and Alyssa. Then we topped it off with a yummy Crackle Barrel breakfast.

28th – John sees the number 17 and says “seventeen!” … to be fair, however, he also saw 25 and said “fiveteen!”.

29th – John walked in on Aaron peeing and exclaimed, “Good job, Daddy!”

- Spent the weekend cleaning the office – now guest room – and Aaron’s been trying to keep the kids out all day. Well, we found them playing in there and Lydia saw us, clasped her hands behind her back and gave us a huge cheesy smile as if to say, “I’m too cute to get in trouble daddy!”

30th – One of my children hid their dinner in the vase on my table. I was expecting that to start happening years from now!

A Surprising Beauty Regimen

In light of this being the month that we focus on our thankfulness…

I ran across this blog article and thought I’d pass it along.

A Surprising Beauty Regimen

October 2009 in Review

2nd – Aaron found John in the kitchen, on the counter, trying to scoop ice cream onto a plate… with his backpack on.

5th – Lydia started whining in her crib. When I got to the closet (her door was closed) I flipped on the light… she stopped crying. I flipped off the light… she started crying… I flipped on the light… she stopped… I flipped off… she started… hehehe

6th – John no longer takes naps. But during Lydia’s nap time he has quiet room time. Well, he just came out of his room with a pj top on (he was wearing his school clothes when I put him in his room), a poopy bottom and holding a pull-up. He said, “poopy, mommy, potty.” So, he ran to the bathroom, and I found him putting the poop that was in the pull-up in the toilet. So, apparently, John changed out of his clothes, put a pajama top on, put a pull-up, pooped in the pull-up, then took the pull-up off so he could put the poop in the potty where it belongs.

1oth – I got home from our Vintage girl’s overnight and Lydia comes running, “Daddy!” And John hears her so he comes running around the corner, “Mommy!” and gives me a hug. As I sit on the couch, I sniff the air smelling poop. As John turns around I see his poopy bottom.

12th – Got permanent eyeliner.

15th – Lydia finds joy in just about everything. Even using  mixing bowl as a hat!

18th – We celebrated out 6th anniversary!

19th – Cassie and I are somewhat famous. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/19/AR2009101902130.html

20th – Tammy always tells kids to go find the chicken as to distract them, since there are no chickens. Well, later today John said, “Where chicken? Twerp twerp. Where chicken?” I think the twerp, is his sound for a chicken.

21st – Lydia does “pushups” (nodding her head up and down) with Aaron’s Perfect Pushups.

23rd – Woke up this morning to the water running in the kitchen. I sneaked in and saw John trying to empty the ice trays. When he couldn’t he took them out and climbed onto the counter with them to try and fill them up. Good this I stopped him because the water was really hot and would have melted all my ice!

24th – House is taken over with the nice furniture and all my old boxes from my childhood that my parents brought.

25th - John’s first night in his new bunk bed!

29th – Just woke up, and I got Lydia from her crib. I came back into the bedroom to grab her clothes and a diaper, and realized the diapers were downstairs. She was talking gibberish and then tooted and she said, “yucky.”

30th – John finds a toy camera at Omi’s. He proceeds to “take pictures” of everything (sometimes rearranging things to make them just right) then “looks” at the picture and declares, “Oh so cute!”

31st – There’s a sink in the kids’ room at my parents. John pulled the stopper up and filled the sink with water. The hot handle broke off and the sink overflowed, flooded the area and leaked into my parent’s kitchen.