Most People Take a Family Holiday Photo

...but not us...unless you count Halloween in the larger scheme of "holidays".

We have been celebrating Christmas at our house as a family of four, which we love...but that means there's no one to snap a family picture.  We've somehow managed to snag a neighbor each year to take our Halloween picture, though, and I love the tradition!

I saw the cutest "eyeball" frame (in the middle) on Pinterest, and I knew I wanted to make it.  When I finished, I decided to come up with frames for our other pictures -- three total, to date.

I am so SUPER proud at how everything turned out!  (And I'm SUPER-DUPER proud that I actually finished before Halloween!!!)

 

And here are each of the frames individually...please pardon the flash.  I didn't have natural light to work with, and this pathetic excuse is as close as I could come.  :(

I bought the frames at Michael's for $1.  (I also saw them at Walmart for $.97.)  I got the wiggly eyes from the dollar store, and I found the B-O-O letters at Michael's, and the E-E-K at Hobby Lobby (for a different font).  I used standard craft paint in black, pumpkin, and electric green.

I'm linking up with Marcia today for her "CREATE" theme.  :)  :)  Go check out her adorable gift tags!  And then tag yourself to showcase something "creative" you've done recently!

Raising Savvy Consumers

My girlies don’t yet watch TV, and at least part of my hesitation is that they would be exposed to advertising.

It may sound a little funny, given my years spent in the marketing field, but the idea of marketing and advertising being directed towards my children just gives me the willies.

I’ve read that until the age of six or seven, most children aren’t able to discern between the presentation of facts and advertising.  That, against the likes of Disney and McDonald’s, who begin marketing to babies virtually in utero?  No, thanks.

I do look at magazines with the girls, and I’ve been pointing out the advertisements to them since they were about two years old.  “This company wants to sell us shampoo.  They are saying that using it will make our hair look thick and shiny, but we don't know if that would really happen.  We like the shampoo that we use, so we don’t need to try this.”

I flippantly commented on a milk ad one time, “Now here’s an advertisement that we agree with.  Milk is very good for our bodies.”

The girls always make me laugh when they see an ad for milk.  “Mommy!  We agree with this advertisement!  Milk is good!”

We don’t do TV, and we don’t do fast food.  Flippantly, once again, in the middle of 1,001 questions one day, I told the girls of a fast food restaurant in Walmart, “They put chemicals in their food.”  The girls latched onto that [of course], and they love to point out restaurants as we drive through town.  “Mommy!  That restaurant puts chemicals in their food!”

I’ve further explained to the girls that some people eat fast food.  I told them that Mommy and Daddy have done a lot of reading, and we also work with their pediatrician and our doctors to know what’s best for our bodies.  “Some people may not have the same information that we do, or they may make different choices.  It’s our job to make the best choices we can to take care of our bodies.”

I laughed so hard a couple of days ago.  We were stopped next to a fast food restaurant at an intersection.  They had scrumptious-looking pictures on the side of their building.  From the backseat, Baby A said, “Mommy!  That restaurant has quesadillas!  And they look GOOOOOOD!  But we wouldn’t eat them because they have chemicals!”  Hahaha!  All of this in a sing-song voice.

I hope I’m positioning the girls to recognize fact from persuasion.  And I hope I’m raising them to have strong minds and make good choices…choices that are right for them, not necessarily what’s right for someone else.

It’s definitely a tall order when messages are everywhere we look.

A Bit About Me, October Edition

My birthday is February 23, and while I keep this blog mostly focused on my girlies, I designate the 23rd of each month to share a couple of random things about myself.  Here 'goes!

I’ve never ridden a 10-speed bike.

I got my first bike for my sixth birthday.  It was lavender, and it had a white basket on the front.  It was super simple…the kind with the pedal brake and no speeds.

I kept that bike for many years, although my dad had to change the tires frequently.  We lived “in the country”, and we had a long gravel driveway.  Despite the heavy tires we had on it, I still got flats quite often.

I guess it was that I really didn’t have a good place to ride my bike…only to the top of the driveway and back (which was maybe a quarter of a mile)…but I never got a fancier bike.

I don’t feel “robbed” of that childhood experience…but I have warned my hubby that one day he’ll have to teach the girls to change speeds on their bike, the same time as he teaches me!

I went trick-or-treating until I was a senior in high school.

I am the first to grumble at the older kids who come through our neighborhood on Halloween, especially if they’re not in costumes…but if I’m being honest, I was one of those kids for several years.  The last real costume I remember wearing was probably in the sixth grade.  After that, I’d pose as an obscure character from a book, if anyone asked me.

My parents were pretty conservative with what they let me do, so I’m assuming back then…and in our small town…high school-age trick-or-treaters weren’t the nuisance they seem now???  At least that’s what I’ll tell myself as I think back in time!

Super Stuff on a Monday

So thankful for the super-fabulous highlights of this week...

1)      I took the girls on Monday for their flu shots.  B’s chin trembled ever-so-slightly when the nurse came to get us, but we didn’t have any tears!  The girls chose one of my favorite cafes for their “reward” lunch, asking if I thought they’d have Brussels sprouts that day.  The girls were in luck…and they ate their sprouts in their entirety before they touched their fruit or their sandwich. 

2)      Tuesday the local fire department paid a visit to the girls’ school.  They were so excited!!!  They helped me make a fall-themed snack mix for the firefighters, and I loved hearing them plan what they were going to do and say.  They both wanted to get to school early to spend as much time with them as possible.  HA!  Baby A wanted to ask if they had a Dalmatian, and B wanted to see their axes.

3)      I asked the girls after school how many firefighters were there.  I wish I’d written down exactly what they said, but it was so funny how they were trying to figure out gender words.  I gathered there were three men and one woman.  They were comfortable saying “firemen”, but they didn’t know how to express “firewoman” (?).  [That’s why I always use the term firefighter!]

4)      I took the girls to Panera on Wednesday morning for our weekly bagel treat.  An older man whom I see in there quite often was behind us in line.  After we placed our order, he stepped in to pay for our snack.  He said what a pleasure it was for him to observe us, and he complimented my parenting style.  That SO made my day!!!

5)      On Wednesday I let the girls wear their Halloween shirts (the same ones from last year…I resisted buying new ones this year…yea, me!).  I got huge pleasure from seeing my ladies in orange and black stripes, and they even wore their super-cute Halloween headbands, at least for an hour or so.  [We might have been stopped an inordinate number of times for people to talk to the girls...but that's OK.]  :)

6)      Our friends M&C turned three on Friday.  I thought it was so cute how focused the girls were on what day was their birthday, and how that related to their birthday party, on Saturday.  A&B were very focused on making cards for them, and they had a fantastic time at their party.

7)      This seems like a little thing, but it makes me so proud…the girls always seem to eat a great meal at M&C’s house.  For the party, there was ham, macaroni and cheese, and fresh fruits and vegetables.  Both girls had seconds (and then they had a big piece of cake WITH ice cream).  They slept well that night!

8)      Often during “quiet time”, Baby A will spend some snuggle time with her baby doll Abby.  There’s hardly anything sweeter than hearing her whisper and coo to her baby.

9)      And Baby A also takes good care of B’s doll, Lily.  I can’t help but smile when I see my A with a doll on each hip.

10)   And the quotes of the week…

B: "I put a trapezoid where a rhombus would go, so now I don't need a triangle."

B: Complimenting her sister on her block structure…”That’s a nice chair, Sissy!”

B: "Mmmm [with great exaggeration]...this milk tastes like it came from a VERY nice cow!"

B: (apparently on a “cow” kick)…”This is a mommy cow.  I can see her teats!”

B: “We’re busy bees, Mommy!”

A: "Mmmm...I like this, Mommy! Thank you! It makes my mouth taste good!"

B: "No, Sissy! I want to go to Portugal today!"
A: "OK. But when we get out of the plane I want to get in the car so we can go a little farther."

Finally! My {Handmade} Fall Garland!

At long last, I finally got up my fall garland!

Now I know it's only been fall for about a month now, so I don't seem too far behind, right?  Well...I actually cooked up this scheme LAST YEAR, so -- taking that into account -- I am a wee bit tardy.

The important thing is that I finally got my act in gear...and I think it was worth the wait!  I love the handmade fall leaves that are adorning my mantle!

Please don't judge what's on my mantle!  I seem to have simply added my couple of "fall" things [the girls' scarecrows and a little ceramic ghost and pumpkin] to the usual suspects.  Also hanging out are the penguin and shark the girls got at the Cincinnati aquarium, and the adorable bluebirds they made at school that I just can't seem to part with...still, they don't belong on my mantle!

Here's a closer view (perhaps the only view I should have included, in which I was mostly able to crop out the junk)...

So [last year, ahem] I let the girls experiment with red + yellow = orange.  I let them loose with finger paints and big sheets of paper.  They were happy to oblige.

I then spent what I remember as large amounts of time, tediously cutting out intricate maple leaf shapes from the girls' masterpieces.  (I downloaded a template somewhere...there were a ton to choose from...just search "maple leaf shape".)

I glued the leaves onto circles of cardstock.  This year [ahem] all I had to do was punch some holes in the circle and thread them with a couple of pieces of twine.

[I originally tried to thread strips of burlap through the holes, but I quickly learned how burlap ravels.  Maybe a tighter weave of burlap would have worked?]

The girls were beyond excited to get up one morning and see their leaves -- which they remembered! -- across the mantle.

Happy Fall, Y'all!

I Have a Certain Weakness for Pumpkins...

I stopped by Julia's blog, as I do every Saturday, to check out her awesome "Mama Loves" link-up.  This week she's talking about how much she loves everything "pumpkin".

I definitely have a weakness for the big orange gourds...it's the true essence of fall in my book.  I love pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin gingerbread, pumpkin spice muffins, and I even made pumpkin spice rice krispy treats last week...not too bad!

But my very favorite thing about pumpkins -- realized over the past few years -- is taking my babies' pictures in their midst.

When I realized this was the exact anniversary (the third weekend in October, also known as the culmination of "Hate Week", the always-anticipated Alabama-Tennessee game) of our first trip to our local orchard and pumpkin patch as a family of four...I just had to join in Julia's link-up.

Thanks for the invitation to the trip down Memory Lane, Julia!  This is one of my favorite spots, for sure!

2009: A and B, 9 1/2 months old

[Side note...what made me remember this exact week was that I inadvertently wore an orange sweater to the orchard.  It was fitting in light of the the orange pumpkins...but I felt like a traitor wearing "Tennessee" colors.  HA!]

2010: A (standing) and B (sitting), 21 months old

2011: B and A, 2 3/4 years old

2012: A and B, 3 3/4 years old

2012: A and B, 3 3/4 years old

Yes, I love pumpkins...and I love this tradition!

More Big Kid Milestones

We’ve had so many big kid milestones already this year…down with the baby gates…up with the highchairs…hello, cups without lids (at least for snack time)…and our get-around-town stroller hasn’t seen action in months and months. 

As I describe our two most recent milestones, you may shake your head at the way I still “baby” the girls in some respects.  That may be a valid accusation…but I can only say that I have to take baby steps with my babies big kids. 

When I posted pictures of my sleeping beauty one time earlier in the year, most of the comments glossed over how stinkin’ adorable my slumbering Baby A was with her tush in the air…in favor of something along the lines of, “Wow!  You STILL have them in sleep sacks?”

Yes, my girls STILL wear sleep sacks, and they STILL sleep in cribs.  And, up until a couple of weeks ago, I was STILL adhering to the AAP guidelines for infants having no suffocation hazards in said cribs.  

That’s right…at almost four, our girlies were still sleeping in a bare bed.  (I still put them on their backs to sleep, but they tend to contort themselves into various positions…and I have finally come to be OK with that.)  :)

So what happened a couple of weeks ago?  Well, the girlies were battling colds.  Hubby and I talked about it, thinking – given their congestion – they might be more comfortable with a pillow.

I told them their pediatrician suggested it, so as to set the stage that pillows are not toys.  They were so tickled to welcome their [very flat] pillows into their beds cribs, and I’m thankful to report they’ve done great!  Mark it down…our girls use pillows!

That was definitely a momentous occasion.  How could I even consider allowing another milestone???

I can only say that I’m very brave.

IN ADDITION to the pillows, our girls are now using regular silverware!!!

Since the girls started using utensils (at age two…LATE, I know!), we’ve stuck with the kiddie-sized forks and spoons.  Hubby again suggested a few days ago that they might make less mess (always a plus) if they had bigger spoons to reign in their jambalaya.

The silverware we use has always felt kind of oversized to me (it’s sleek and heavy and makes me feel very sophisticated…HA!), so I dug around and found an old set that I have from my mom.

The girls took immediately to using the spoons and salad forks.  “I’m just like a little adult!” B exclaimed the first day.

Yes…yes, you are.  Don’t remind me, Honey. 

But I guess I can handle this change, too…as long as I get to lay my TINY BABES down in their CRIBS come nightfall.

Deep breaths.