Lynx

Cross-Stitched Thanksgiving Sampler

Bald Eagle

University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Bath Toys

Instead of paying $25 to $30 for one of the suction cup tub containers that will get pulled down or fall down defeating their intended purpose, invest in a sturdy $4 dish strainer. It will allow the toys to drip dry and the tray underneath will collect the water.

My son likes it. As he scampers to the tub, a pause by the dish strainer is always done. He collects all the toys he can carry and then waits for me to lift him into the tub. This is nice for me, too. There is less clean up if he doesn't bring them all in each time!

Can you see the Face? | Pawtuckaway State Park, NH

Pawtuckaway State Park, NH

Welcome Home Sign

While my husband was gone on a business trip, my son discovered a love for markers. I taped card stock pumpkins on to this large piece of paper and traced them. While he colored all over the pumpkins and the paper underneath them, he created the scribbled ground. The pumpkins were removed and mailed as autumn gifts to the grandparents, aunt and uncles. I filled in the rest and created a welcome home sign for my husband.

Cross-Stitched Halloween Sampler

Crochet Dinosaur

"Fancy" Fruity Pebbles

My son is not a super picky eater, but he does not like the stereotypical kid foods. For any meal, he will scarf down a banana every day or applesauce. However these two fruits can have serious consequences: constipation or diarrhea. One would think balancing the fruits would have offsetting properties, alas that is not the case. It is all dependent up on teething or growth spurts.

A great filling breakfast, or any other meal for that matter, is to mix plain rice krispies with yogurt. I like the archer farms varieties from Target because they have resealable lids. Yoplait  is good too; it has more flavors. My son, especially when teething or growing, loves this meal. It is filling and healthier than fruity pebbles. Enjoy.

Apples

Portrait of a Woman

University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Falling Leaves and Acorns

It's the Great Pumpkin!

I tried several crochet pumpkin patterns before I dug out my knitting needles. I found a pattern for knitting and doubled it to get the above pumpkin. 

Bibs

The Velcro that secures most bibs will take your child no time at all to figure out. Once they have figured it out, let them feel proud of their accomplishment for a while, then give them a new challenge. With a seam ripper take off the Velcro, then secure according to directions snaps. You can buy snaps at Michael's or Jo Ann Fabric. Eventually, your child will figure this out too, but hopefully that won't be until they started to improve their eating habits!

Portsmith, NH

New Topic | Household and Mom Tips

By request of my relatives, I have decided to add a new category to my blog: Household and Mom Tips. I will be covering fun ideas to decorate, clean or organize you house. There will also be ideas for new Moms trying to figure out ways to entertain and occupy their kid(s). For example: play dough recipes, toy storage solutions, and how to keep a bib on.

Crocheted Baby Ring Toy

Spanish Moss | Louisiana

Crocheted Basket

Red, White and Blue Crocheted Stars

Cross-Stitched Shepard

New Orleans, LA

St. Louis Cathedral | New Orleans, LA

Crocheted Toy Basket

Crocheted Basket

Mayan Ruins

Temple Guarded by Elephants

New Orleans, LA

Louisiana Foliage

Woods, MN

Crocheted Bag

Crocheted Tote

E.B. White

As this Easter was only the third Easter away from family, I was feeling nostalgic. Chris, my husband, and I started talking about what we used to do on Easter and what we were going to do for Ethan once he was old enough to appreciate the Easter Bunny.

First, we discussed who is the Easter Bunny. This may seem like a fairly simple and straight forward answer. However, in my family we always referred to the Easter Bunny by his formal name, E.B.White. Now, I had always assumed (yes, I know what that means) that everyone understood that meant Easter Bunny White. I referred to Mr. White in this manner and Chris thought I had spent too much time in the Easter candy. That the sugar was starting to erode my brain. From there we moved on to a more fundamental difference: Easter Baskets.

Chris always had his basket placed on the dinner room table waiting for him. Perhaps a few times it was lightly hidden. I was incredulous. I once spent 17 hours trying to locate my Easter basket. (it was hidden under a pillow at the end of my bed that I never moved or used.) In my family's house it was not only how well the baskets got hidden, there were rules attached to the search. There were certain areas of limits, naturally, and you always had to leave things better than when you found them. In other words, the entire house would get cleaned from top to bottom while in the vain search for chocolate bunnies.

Places where our baskets were hidden were very creative and required the use of our "little gray cells" as Hercule Poirot would state (Agatha Christie). It all started out innocently enough with dishwashers, washer and dryers. Then it advanced to being inside the styrofoam and inside my mom's Serger box. With it's final destination located in the upstairs library in the hidden passageway. (It was a large house in Louisiana where there were hidden passage ways and rooms behind the bookcases of certain rooms.) Or being hidden in a t-shirt, in the camping cooler, in a large box of books located at the back of the under stair closet. My mom loved that one, it meant that whole closet got cleaned out very well, which it desperately needed. I questioned her this year about that particular one. If the basket was all the way back there, why didn't they put everything back better than when they found it. She said then I would have known something was up becuase it would be clean. Right.

As my sister (Kelly) and I got older, it became infinitely harder. All the cereal boxes on the top of the refrigerator were sliced apart and meticulously taped together with Kelly's basket inside. The bottom of our recliner was removed, my basket inserted and the liner stapled back on. The sofa pillow had it's stuffing partially removed and the basket was inserted. The pillow was than re-stuffed, re-sewen and used as a foot rest by my father while he watched us desperately search.

When we claim we looked everywhere, my parents would state that if that were indeed true, we would be enjoying some chocolate right now! Eventually my dad would give us each a riddle that would lead to our baskets. The riddles were always complete gibberish until we found the baskets. He claimed that E.B.White left a note for him stipulating the rules of the search and the riddles that were to assist Kelly and I in our hour of need. After retelling all this to my husband, he laughed and said he loved it. I told him that after 17 hours of searching and cleaning an entire house, a chocolate bunny has never tasted so good!

Crocheted Bag

Crocheted Necklaces