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Friday, December 2, 2011

Pee Pee on the Pottay....

So a lot of my good friends have asked me how I potty trained two boys at two years old, in three days.
So I decided to post a few pointers. I know that there are lots of different ways to train them, as with all things, but this has worked for us, so here goes!
1. Do NOT put them in pull ups!
    I dont love this option. I have a few sweet friends that are ok with their kids walking around naked. I am not. However, for the sake of potty training, I do it.  For the first day I let them walk around naked and watch them like a hawk. i have no life. i dont shower. i hardly brush my teeth. its not pretty. BUT its worth it!
2. I keep them confined to mainly one room.
3. I give them salty treats that make them thirsty and want to drink, in turn makes them have to go!
4. An M&M for even staying on the potty. And two for going!

Day 2 is similiar except today they are wearing undies. I show them the big boy undies, we talk about how they are dry and they shouldnt be wet, thats yucky. I put them on and make them feel them. "Oh they are dry, you get an M&M." So we are now excited about dry undies AND going in the potty!
Everything else is still the same. I make them go every 20-30 minutes and it works!

There isnt much more to it:) I do get frustrated, I do watch the clock till my husband gets home, but after about 3 days, they get it! Now and again Miles has an accident, but its usually when we put him in a pull up for church, or bed. Which is why I steer clear of pull ups during the day! They may look different, and cost more, but they feel the same to them!

So good luck! They'll get it. My friend once told me "they arent going to go to college in diapers:)"
And you will have a kid so excited he stutters:)...

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Its December!

December 1st! I love the holidays, and my hips don't lie. I love the food and the desserts and the chocolate! As most know today starts the first day of candy out of the advent:) Years ago my sister, being the fabulous barista she was, bought me this advent from Starbucks ...AAAAAiiUmKgAAAAAAJNylQ.jpg it has little boxes that you fill with candy every year and when you turn the box around it makes a cute picture!
I grew up on the chocolate advent calendars that you can buy at any walmart or cvs type place...

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did any of yall have these? I loved them!
Next year, when I plan more and have more time, I will make one like this....


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Seriously. Awe-Some. Cheri at iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com is seriously my DIY, cool mom, hero.



*So the hubs has to make a run to Target before he gets home to fill up our bad boy with some candy!
We definitely made up a super cheesy song to go along with the opening of each advent box, which I will not share, and you will thank me for.*

Another great, more important advent idea is the Jesse Tree. My husband and I started last year to do a Jesse Tree with the boys. Now, at the time Miles was 1 and call me crazy, but I waited till he was sleeping to get down with the bible stories. BUT this year they both are old enough to get it! And I am super excited about that! (Or at least Miles pretends to, because his big brother is into it:) For those that dont know what the Jesse Tree is, its gets its name from Isaiah 11:1. Jesse was Abrahams father, who is ya know, the father of all nations. Hes kind of a big deal. So the tree is kind of the lineage of Jesus, but moreso a tool to explain God's progress of redemption to our little tots (and it also is as exciting as the advent!) You can be super crafty and make ornaments out of felt and other materials, or what I do it print up coloring sheets and the kids color them, put them on a red or green card stock, hole punch them, string em, and hang them on their own little tree. If you want the print outs this is it dce.oca.org/assets/files/resources/jesseTree.pdf. It is such a great tool to teach your kids and get them excited about something more than just presents and Santa, which is all we seem to talk about this season. Dont get me wrong, if I had cable ABCFamily 25 days of Christmas and FALALALA Lifetime would be a constant in my house, but lets put a little effort in making Jesus the reason for the season!!



Have Fun!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Its up yall!

after a photo shoot with a few fabulous friends,
a trip to my sisters visiting her babies and my dad,
a late night working on her mac (much newer and faster than my oldie),
my shop is up and running and I am really excited about it!
please tell all your friends about it! and if you read my blog but dont "follow" please follow!
Yes, I craft because I love to do it and have so much fun coming up with things to do, but I am also doing it as a little income for our family:) So check it out. I can knit most anything, so custom orders I can do. I can sew too, check out the "Made!" link under my blog title. If you want custom orders let me know!
Enjoy your monday!

Monday, November 7, 2011

Sometimes you just gotta get away...

I will preface this post with the fact that I love my boys "third best" in the world:) Jesus and Davon come first, which I think is so important for them to know. But after five days straight of not leaving the house and being with them from 7am ish to 8pm ish all.day.long. I was ready to get away:)
So I called my mom up this morning and said lets go on an adventure!
First stop was a great shop called whipstitch fabrics. I have been following great crafty DIY blogs all over the US and so many of them have bought great fabric from this store. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon the fact that they are located in downtown Atlanta! Yay! They have all kinds of sewing classes if you are in atlanta, but they also have online classes! So as most of you that "follow" my blog dont live here, if you want to sew you can do it! And order some rad fabric! Here are some that I picked up for my "go green" sandwich bags!
Yep. I know its more boyish than girl.
But most reg fabric stores have great girl selections, but not boys!
After that we drove through atlanta and went to a yarn shop and a great little book store. Which sightly reminded me of The Shop Around the Corner (You've Got Mail, come on, classic). Mom bought three books for the boys, shes a sucker for buying books for my boys and I love it! She bought Pete the Cat Rocking in His School Shoes. Y'all. Pete the Cat is a fave in our house. Both of my boys have it memorized. So the second addition was a must! Here is a pic of it the original! If you have young kiddos, get it, they will love! 
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*She also bought a childrens book for the future about our nations history of racism called "This is Our Dream." It made both of us cry. I am excited and sad to have to teach them about our past, and really proud that they are mixed and won't ever have to experience the extent of racism that was years ago. *
I found a great book called "A Perfectly Kept House is the Sign of A Misspent Life" by Mary Randolph Carter. AMEN Sorry to my mother-in-law, who has a perfectly kept house, but I heart my mess:) -and even if I don't I cant keep it under control!

of course a trip to goodwill was in store. I got these fab rain shoes!

When we got home the boys were too excited about the books from Noni!

 Sometimes the best thing to do for a stay at home mom's sanity is to get out, enjoy the tree lined roads and the sunshine, without kids chatting, singing, yelling, whatever, in the back seat:)

Sunday, November 6, 2011

a pinterest kinda day...

and oh what a great one!
The boys and I woke up and decided to bake some divine pumpkin biscuits, which of course included our homemade apple butter and a whole lotta fun!
Then we watched Home Alone 2 while Jay hid out of fear of Marve and Harry, Miles remained dry pants, I knit a slouchy hat, and Davon played Angry Birds and Family Fued on his IPhone. It was such quality family time:)
The boys had soup for lunch, which they thought was to spicy, so I simply gave them milk so they could wash it down. Such a good mother.
Then while the boys had a nap, I attempted to do so, but then explored pinterest and got antsy.
Sooo 
I got up and...

tried the pin "mug brownie"
...probably wouldnt do it again unless I was desperate for chocolate.
The taste was so good, the texture was like brownie batter. Not sure I could eat a full cup!
Worked on this pin of a braided tshirt scarf. Love it.
Want to do it in so many colors!
Took these cutie pies out to play!
Miles and Jayson have been itching to play outside. Its been almost of full week of staying in the house all day everyday. I have gotten out, but Davon stays in, but Miles has not. So we decided to let him go outside in his undies (and some sweats, said in the voice of Nacho Libre). He was doing so great. But, my little boy is a tree hugging pooper. He loves to go outside, hug a tree, and do his biz. So I knew this was dangerous, seeing since he is still fearful of doing it in the potty. I'm not going to say its the hub's fault, but I went inside for two minutes and I hear Miles saying uh oh. Yep, didnt hug a tree, but still became one with nature:) So we are still working on that.
I am making home made stockings, a pin too, but havent finish. I will post those tomorrow. So cute! and getting super excited about Christmas! I love it!
The night ended with a trip to The Cheesecake Factory with two of my best friends from high school.
It was perfect....
ignore the lighting! I promise Meredith is not a zombie.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

The Potty Diaries...

Well sort of.
Since tuesday I have been locked in my house with my two boys. A (almost) four year old and a 2 year old. We usually spend most of our days at home, but we are outside. We dont have cable and the boys watch one show a day on the bunny ears so we try to get out and be active. Well, let be honest, they play and I watch. I am all about independent play! But since we are stuck in the house with "dry pants Miles." We have to think of fun things to do so that I dont lose it. We made "sweet" popcorn. Its just popcorn covered with brown sugar, butter, marshmallows and peanut butter.
Stop It. This is so divine.
 The way that my mom potty trained all of us, and tons more kids, is give them salty stuff so they will drink drink drink! So Miles has been eating so much JUNK! But, its fun:) He is doing so well on the potty, not at fast as his brother, but I think I am more of a patient momma this time. And come on....
Look at how cute his little butt looks in his undies:)
This was when he woke up! Yay!
(I'm sure you all wanted to see that, but be thankful I didnt post the picture of the poop on the floor:)

 Yesterday my wonderful mom came for reinforcements! She watched Miles and helped him so I could make dinner and get stuff done! We sat, knit, and played with the boys. It was perfect.
I also opened up my shop on etsy finally! It has a new name. I just havent figured out what I am going to sell. I make such random stuff that it all doesnt flow together? So by this weekend you'll see it! Thanks to ramblingsofalovesickmommy.com who continues to be one of my number #1 cheerleaders! I will link it up Saturday with my blog so you can see it in all its glory!
Today I have been doing another WIP (a knitters work in progress) and playing inside with the boys. I have about 5 loads of laundry waiting on the bed for me to fold. But we had to have something fabulous to do today. So....


Shaving cream with food dye!


After this I had to stop taking pictures:) This shaving cream was all over them, and the floor. Miles was of course clapping with it, Jay was encouraging him to get it all over (Jay himself didnt do it for fear he would get in trouble, but he just loves to instigate his brother doing things:) They took baths and turned the water green and loved every minute of it! Jay said to me "Mommy, this is such a fun day."
I love those boys...

Do something fun with your kiddos today! I had a wonderful mom who did all this messy fun stuff with us, but if you cant think of anything then go on Pinterest! There are so many great DIY stuff for kids! Enjoy them!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

be productive, be be productive!!

This past month has been cahrazy! But I have missed blogging so much! So I plan to get some great bloggin done today. But we all know there's a plan, and then there's children:) I tried to revamp the look of my blog with this new "dynamic" design, but it didnt show the option to share on fb or show friends blogs, and I love the option for my friends to see other friends blogs! Its a great way to help out other bloggin friends:) So same ol same ol!
This past weekend we celebrated the life of Davon's beautiful grandmother, who was almost 101 years old! She was born in 1910. Can you believe that? To experience all the things that she had been through in her life, what an amazing woman she was. She had 12 children, 46 grandchildren, 90 great-grandchildren, and 59 great-great grandchildren. What a beast of a woman. To think of just having 12 kids? I remember her telling me that she even took in some of her nieces and nephews. She was such a hard worker and awesome caregiver. I would love to leave the type of legacy that she did. She is the type of woman I think Proverbs 31 describes and what I aspire to be like:) So today I decided to be productive! As Proverbs 31 says "she looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness"; and as Dr Phil would say, "How's that working for ya?" Eek. I have washed and dried two loads of laundry (not folded out pull away), I have loaded pictures onto facebook (important household stuff ya know!), made oatmeal for breakfast, and avacado, crackers and pepperoni for lunch (super healthy:), I have followed Miles around cheering him on to go pee pee on the potty (which he held for 4 hours and then begged to go nigh nights), I've made my bed!, brushed my teeth,  and cleaned snot from Miles' nose about 20 times. Pretty productive right?! I have a huge list of things that I am working on that need to get done! 1. being to take a shower:) I have been wanting to take a picture of my craft room to show you all, but I've wanted to clean it, then take a picture. Well, everytime I clean it I forget to take a picture, and because of it being the playroom too, everyday it gets messy! So I said screw it! Here's a picture of the craftroom while its at work! (and btw its also the laundry room;) hence the laundry basket!) oh-and I guess the bathroom as well:)
Ok so enough blogging, the boys are in bed and quiet, time for a shower and finish up that Candyland baby mobile for a sweet friend of mine:) Enjoy your day, and take a shower, if not for yourself, for the people around you!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Randomness!

In my new craft room/boys playroom the light pours in the windows from about 3 in the afternoon till sunset. Its so beautiful and inspiring! Because of the boys adjusting to actually having light in their room during naptime (as opposed to the basement room with no windows) I have not been able to sit a get creative! Jay is turning four in 3 months and I am pretty sure he is saying good bye to naps..eek! So he has a quiet time for about an hour (or however much i can convince him of) and then up and full of more and more questions to exhaust me with! But right now he is sitting at the desk with me talking to himself and drawing, so I am blogging:) Today it is a blog of what we have been up to, via random pictures!! Hope you enjoy!
I painted the underside of the boys' train table! The playroom is gray and yellow, so I decided to just go with gray, which is a titch boring, but I like it. The great thing is I bought a sample jar of paint, in "elephant skin" and mixed it with 2 tablespoons of non-sanded grout and viola! its a chalkboard table!!

Remember in an old post I had this picture frame, it was brown with an ugly looking chicken as the picture? Well, I took the picture out, painted the frame with yellow paint I got from the "oops" sections at home depot and made in into a hanging pin cushion. Cute and practical!

my little artists! 

For Miles's 2nd birthday I made him this art apron with the shark fabric that he specifically picked out and covered it with vinyl so paint could be wiped off. I made it long enough to cover pants if he is wearing them, and it velcros so he can take it off. For his independent "MY DO IT" personality.  He also got a ton of paint and the easel!

I love these boys!

Little mini Bob Ross enjoying his cupcake after a hard day of painting his happy trees.


I wanted to add an S to my shelve that we built (pics to come once the wood is stained!)  I bought a huge S at Joann fabrics and covered it with moss, super easy, inexpensive, and cute!

My little cutie pie son bear.

He was so serious as he was painted and he picked out the paint all by himself (well maybe a little help:)

This is the dresser that I refinished. It is also on an old post of mine. Once I figure out how to link the posts I will.  But it was old ugly brown wood and gold handles. I sanded it down and painted it with a sample jar of paint-only $2.96! and of course bought new handles!

Before we got a box spring...he fell asleep praying, I'm sure of it, so holy.

He was zonked after painting, guess no time to wash his face:)


Saturday, September 17, 2011

sister sister...

If anyone is blessed to have a close knit relationship with their sibling they would understand this post. The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful sister. Life would not be the same without her. She is my best friend, closest confidante, listening ear, adventurous other half, and so much more. For one year in about 12 years we had the opportunity to live close to one another and unfortunately she moved to the pretty city of Savannah. Luckily she is the get up and go type and I am the home body, so when she delivers her baby I am ready for her to start traveling again and visit me:)!! I miss her and the easy, know what your thinking, layed back relationship she and I have and I am soo excited about her new little one coming into the world! I love having a chance to have little girls in my life and precious little nieces. Don't get me wrong, I want 6 kiddos and ALL boys, but I love Marley and could not imagine life without her! I cant wait to love this new little addition! Hope you enjoy the precious pictures!








Thursday, September 15, 2011

dirty little secrets...

Ahhhhh we are finally settled into our new house and it feels wonderful! We still have quite a few things at my moms. In fact a started to make baked potato soup and had been thinking about it all day, and whoops my soup pot was still at my moms...so Taco Bell came to the rescue. I know all the boys were excited (and me too:) We have been eating like crap lately and it doesnt help that the oven in our new house makes the kitchen about the same temp as what you are preheating at! BUT, this house is a blessing:)! I plan on posting pics tomorrow, that is to say if I get it all tidied up enough to take pics and post on the blog! In the mean time, a blog that I follow inspired me to share with you some dirty little secrets that you may or may not want to know about me:) So here goes.....
1. I pick my nose and make my husband or children get a tissue for me. Ugh. I know its gross, and even saying it or typing it is gross, but I cant stop, why??
2. I allow my van to pile up with junk, papers, wrappers, toys, you name it, and then say to Davon, "Honey, why haven't you cleaned out my van yet?"
3. I sometimes pretend, ok most everytime pretend that I am sleeping when I hear the boys cry in the night just so the hubs has to get up and get them.
4. I leave all the poopy cloth diapers sitting in the bathroom so my husband, who has a s-t-r-o-n-g sense of smell will walk in the house, and oops I forgot to clean the diapers....
5. I have shaved my arms every day since I was a junior in high school. I dont like body hair, and I felt a little bit to braidable, so it had to be done, and still is.
6. I hate bugs. I will spray them till they are good and dead and put a cup over them till someone moves it, ie my sister coming over or Davon getting home from work.
7. I love reality tv. I cant get enough of it. Its killing me that we dont have cable now, I feel like I am going through some sort of detox, and let me tell you its not easy!
8. Probably 3-4 nights out of the week I dont brush my teeth before going to bed. Yeah, I've had cavities I know its stupid, but I get tired and lazy. Dont judge.
9. I never iron. If something is wrinkly I will put it under my pillow and sleep on it, toss it in the dryer, or just do lunges in it for a while.
10. Every night when I get into bed I am fully aware that I am/will be thirsty for ice water, yet I still ask Davon to get it for me on his way to bed instead of just doing it myself. Even now, headed to bed in a minute, thirsty, I'm gonna ask him, why? I dont know.

There is so much more, but lets be honest, I've said to much already! Welcome back to reading my blog! Hope you didnt miss me too much!

Monday, August 29, 2011

to pack or to stall?? hmmm....

Good Morning to all! What a busy weekend! The BRICKS was great friday night. We have been having about 300 jhi'ers coming the past two weeks that the school year has started. Its been a mad house, but so much fun! I can tell this is going to me a great ministry year at the BRICKS!! -for those that don't know, Davon is the director of an outreach ministry for junior high age at our church. It is mainly unchurched kids that come, hang out in a safe environment, and get to hear the gospel. Such a cool thing that we are a part of! 
Saturday morning I had training at church for childcare and then met Davon up at the park were he had set up a volunteer appreciation lunch. It was a great time, the boys were sweaty and exhausted, I forgot my camera- but we are getting our iphones September 1st! So I have no fear that my documentation of everything will be taken to the next level! 
Saturday night we attempted to start packing, but instead gave up and knit a coffee sleeve...coming to a rickrackstacks store near you!
so fall and so fabulous!


pumpkin spice tea....so excited about cooler weather!
Sunday, I woke up with a summer time cold, thanks to both of my boys sharing with me! Ugh, I hate feeling nasty in the summer time. Stuffed up, achey, and Davon thinks its weird when I say this, but breathing hot air out of my nose. Does this happen to anyone else? When I get sick the air that comes out of my nose seems hot? Ok, maybe weird, now that I typed that out I am tempted to delete it?? I do sound a little strange. But whatev. So, had a long nap, had pancakes and salad for dinner (I know-weird combo-I am NOT pregnant, just wanted something healthy along with the pancakes). Put the boys to bed and sang sweet songs with Miles, snuggled up in his toddler bed:)



Then after two hours of getting them to go to sleep. They finally did, but it was exhausting!
So instead, Davon and I watched reruns of our all time favorite show, Psych! Its airing again on October...watch it, you will not regret it. Its on USAnetwork. 
Anyway, I would be packing right now, but Davon and Jay ran to get newspaper, and Miles is sleeping, so hey, why not blog?? ...ok I think I hear the door, and since I nag him for not working just cause I am sitting, I better not be caught red handed, not working and playing on the computer! Have a great day!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Heroes in a half shell

Lately it has felt like fall is in the air. I love this time of year so much, especially when the mornings have a slight chill. I am mainly a "social" coffee drinker. I love it as a dessert, or a midafternoon snack, but if I drink it in the morning, its messes with my system. I feel like i have a 7 month old fetus kicking around in my belly with all the churning:) (sorry to much tmi?) So on cool fall mornings I drink a cup of pumpkin spice tea or chai. So delish. I just love the fall. Fires in the fire pit, jackets, oranges, browns, purples, apple picking, stews, soups, baking, candles that smell like cinnamon, halloween, costumes, candy, Hocus Pocus, Casper, snuggly nights, and on and on. I mean really who doesnt love it?!
Last weekend Davon and I went to a consignment sale and stumbled upon this number.
Its so rockin cool and for 5 bucks, who could beat that. Cowabunga.  Its original intention was for halloween, but Jay stripped almost immediately and has asked to put it on almost every day since. I know the outfit is Raphael and the eye cover is Michaelangelo, and Jays actual favorite is Leonardo, but he LOVES it. When he went to have a nap he told me that "Ninja turtles dont sleep with Jeffeys (his lovey that he has had since birth)." Then he also told me that "Ninja turtles DO NOT kiss there mamas" umm yes indeed they do son!
We also got a super rad Spiderman  joystick game, that Davon has spent some time trying to "teach" Jay how to play it. Honestly I am pretty sure that the whole time we have had it all I have heard is "Daddy, can it be my turn?!"
I love having boys!
come on.... cutest ninja turtle ever right?!

Dont forget to click on my Made! link underneath the banner to see more creations! Get yourself excited and start saving your money for all the items you want to buy from rickrackstacks on etsy:) wink wink!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

An outfit and a winner!

My little Jay is growing up so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was potty training him, now he is getting himself dressed! As I have written in previous blogs he has a pretty good sense of fashion too. Most of the time he picks out cute little matching outfits, but sometimes he thinks that just because its a green color it should match. Oh Jay, hunter green athletic shorts do not go with an olive green polo, not in our house at least. So we're still learning:) Sorry I am not one of those moms that will let him pick it out and then just go about the day, I have to have some agreement with him if I am going to take him out! I mean even Davon has had to change and outfit or two! Jay loves clothes, and loves when I "rock" up his tshirts! He is always telling me something new he wants on his shirts and he gets really down and out when I make something for Miles and not for him. A few days ago I told him to get dressed and this is what I came in to find..
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Not only was it laid out perfectly, but his underwear even matched!! He cracks me up so much. Now that I took a picture he wants me to do this with every outfit he picks out! What a goof. I am working on a cool dude motorcycle shirt right now for him...stay tuned!

OH! and the winner of the give away and the name of my new shop on Etsy is.....
RickRackStacks by mouseymom.blogspot.com! You can send me your address and if you want it girlish, boyish, or neutral! My email is tstack1904@gmail.com. Thanks to everyone who came up with a name! It was fun hearing all the comments! Be on the look out for my new shop...