Bye Bye Binky :(

Sadie is about to turn two and we decided it's about time for her to give up her binky.  According to the Farmer's Almanac, the best time for weaning is during a shrinking moon.  Weaning during this time seemed to work for Aubree, Hailee and Felicity and I was hoping Sadie wouldn't be any different.

Day 1: Sadie was extremely tired.  She said, "Elmo binky".  Which means she wants her binky, her Elmo blankie and her bed.  I took her over to her bed (knowing that I had already made her binky disappear)

Me: I don't see your binky, it isn't in your bed.

Sadie: Lost it, binky. Find it.

I pulled her crib out like we always do to find her binky, but there was no binky there.

Me: Do you see it?

Sadie: Find it, Sadie's binky. Lost

Me: I don't know where your binky is.

Sadie: Downstairs table.

Me: You lay down and I'll go downstairs and look for it.

Sadie: Mommy, find it binky, downstairs.

I lied :(  I went down stairs and Sadie fell instantly asleep. It broke my heart to lie to her, but I didn't want her to cry.

Day 2: Sadie has her jammies on and we've now read the book, "Where the Wild Things Are?" 5 times.

Sadie: Wild Things Are, again.

Me: It's time to go night, night

Sadie: Mommy find it binky downstairs...

How did she remember that?  Now I feel terrible about lying to her.

Sadie: Sadie, drink it water?

Me: Do you need a drink of water?

We start walking downstairs to get Sadie water and as I came to the last step I thought, "oh no...she tricked me!  She's lured me downstairs with the request of a drink, but she is going to get me down here and then demand her binky."  I was panicking inside. Oh, the tangled web we weave, I was thinking!

What lie am I going to have to tell her now?

...I gave her too much credit.  She got her drink of water and we went back upstairs. As I placed her in her crib she looked up at me...

Sadie: Elmo, binky?

Me: Oh, wow gosh.  I forgot all about looking for binky downstairs. (I tucked her blankie in around her) I'll go down stairs and look for it. Did you say you thought it was on the table?

Sadie: Table. down stairs. Mommy get it. 

Tears are now moistening my eyes, I've now lied to my baby twice!  

Day 3: We read, "Where the Wild Things Are?" 4 times, she kissed everyone goodnight, she got a drink twice, and she was asking for her binky.

Me: Do you want Mommy to go look for binky?

Sadie: Mommy, find it, binky.

Me: Okay, you lay down and I'll...

Sadie grabs a hold of me and says, "no, lay down!"

Her daddy comes over and takes over.

Sadie: Yogurt, lunch

Dustin: It's night, night time

Sadie: Yogurt, lunch

It's now about 10 p.m. and Sadie is sitting on her daddy's lap eating yogurt!  We finally get her back upstairs and once again she asks for her binky and once again I told her I would go downstairs and look for it.  She was laying quietly there while I went downstairs...and she quickly fell asleep again.

This is supposed to go smoothly...it's a shrinking moon! 

Corky Kitchen

After moving into our home about a year and a half ago, I decided it was time to replace the shelf paper!  Yes, I know that most people probably do that first thing but at the time we had a 3 month old Sadie and were planning our October wedding...it just wasn't a priority.  Combining our lives, also meant combining our kitchen stuff...and there just wasn't enough room for everything!  So I washed down the ugly shelf paper (or at least thought I did) and the most important items made the cut...everything else would remain in a box in the basement until the day it was needed.  When I needed something from the basement, I would; wash it, use it, and stick it under the cabinet (unfortunately, even if that meant that it wouldn't be used again for another year).  

After a year and a half of this our cabinets were completely out of control!  One thing taking up so much space in the back was a Tupperware cupcake taker.  Do you know how often I make cupcakes and actually take them somewhere...never!  Time to declutter and time to get rid of this shelf paper which just didn't go with the red kitchen!

The only shelf paper I really liked was from Chick Shelf Paper, but it had to be ordered online.

It matches our kitchen curtains but I just didn't want to wait. I also kept thinking about the cork liner.  At first I didn't like it, but then I kept thinking that it would go with anything.  A good thing when it comes to our kitchen color history.  When we moved in our kitchen was yellow.  It stayed yellow for the first couple of months and then we (we as in Dustin) painted it light green.  I picked the color and he painted it.  I was so committed to green that I bought a jadeite bowl, two jadeite saucers and a leaf-shaped jadeite candy dish for our cabinet with the glass door.  By April we could no longer stand the green so we (we as in me) painted the kitchen red.  Almost a year later...it's still red!  But you never know when that will change...cork it is! 

Luckily, the old shelf paper came up in one piece!  Some of the cabinets were oddly shaped, so I used the old piece as a pattern to cut the new piece.  The first one, of course, was cut upside down, but I only made that mistake once.  (At $12 a roll, you don't want to waste any!)  It is pricer than regular shelf paper, but it's supposed to be permanent!  

This is what I turned around to find, while cutting the next piece.  Sadie used the step stool to climb into the sink....oh...that is what she meant by, "Sadie's turn" and that is what I get for repeating everything she says but not actually letting it register!

This is what I found hidden way back in the shelf.  No, it's not mine...I guess it came with the house...and...I guess I really didn't clean the shelves like I thought I did! (Oops!)

Here is the finished project.  I do have some touch-up painting to do now.  The old shelf paper wrapped around the front side of the shelves and when it was removed...some of the paint was removed at the same time.

Much better!  Back to the basics...and a bundt cake pan...that probably needs to join the extra large cheese keepers in the basement!  

It ended up taking 10 rolls, but I really like the way it turned out!

Until next time, I guess it's...time to put a cork in it!  :)  

Kaleidoscope

I think it was 2nd grade...we all gathered into one of the 2nd grade class rooms and watched a film strip. No, it wasn't "your changing body" or anything like that. It was basically an advertisement for Kaleidoscope.  Kaleidoscope looked like heaven to a roomful of 7 and 8 year olds, a heaven where you could make your own puzzles and look into crazy mirrors.  I remember the teachers saying, "wouldn't this be a wonderful field trip?"  We were all so pumped about this place we couldn't stand it.  Recess was filled with talk about the first thing we would do when we got there.  Even though the teachers wouldn't just come right out and say it, we knew we would be going to Kaleidoscope for our field trip!  I mean why else would they show us that film strip?

Yes, why did they show us that film strip?  The year came and went, and we never went to Kaleidoscope.  We went somewhere else for our end-of-the-year field trip.  Where did we go?  I have no idea!  I don't remember!  I only remember it wasn't Kaleidoscope!

Now here is where I must explain this place in more detail to all my friends in Springfield, Missouri. The Kaleidoscope in K.C. is a place that kids can go make cards, pictures, puzzles, door hangings, etc. The supplies are Hallmark leftovers.  You get an hour to create beautiful items which you get to take home and it's completely free.  Wow!

Now here is where I must explain to my friends in K.C. why I'm explaining this in such detail to my friends in Springfield. If you live in Springfield, Kaleidoscope to you is where you go get your body pierced or tattooed or get a t-shirt that you wouldn't be allowed to wear to school.  It's locally owned and has been in Springfield for almost 40 years. Wow!

Even though it was never our field trip, I did eventually end up going to Kaleidoscope but it was after I had my own kids.  I've now been several times and I still think it's amazing.  When my kids are too old to go, I'm going to borrow other people's kids so I can keep going and not look like the weirdo that's there without kids!

Sadie being 7 weeks away from turning 2, it was time to introduce her to Kaleidoscope! So, last Saturday, everyone in our family, except Hailee, went to Kaleidoscope. The one in K.C., she isn't allowed to get her tongue pierced until she is 4...lol!

Making a crown...at the Crown (Crown Center)

I'm not sure what they're going to wear with these.  You have to have the right kind of outfit on to look right in a crown. :)

We love it here!

This was Sadie's favorite thing!  She was pushing buttons and making music.

Silly mirror...just liked I'd always imagined!

I still think it is amazing every time I go!  I'm glad it lived up to all my anticipation!

So friends in Springfield, when I tell you that we took our darling daughters to Kaleidoscope and they did everything there, that there is to do... you now know that all the art work is on puzzles and paper with the exemption of the self-inflicted marker marks on Sadie's hands!

Here is the Handle and Here is the Spout!

Monkey bread was made and waiting for us when we got home from work on Thursday.  What a nice surprise...the bigger surprise is that Hailee made it!  Hailee doesn't cook! Hailee doesn't ever cook!  When she is hungry she talks someone else into making her something to eat. 

Being out of school sick Monday and Wednesday, she didn't get to cook with the rest of her FACS class.  To make up for missing the cooking assignments, she had to cook for us and then we had to email her teacher to confirm that she actually cooked.

As it turned out the Monkey Bread was microwaved.  Really?  How Awesome!  It was actually good, I just never realized that canned biscuits could be "baked" in the microwave.  She looked so proud of herself and with a huge smile on her face she said, "Now, I can make my kids microwave pizza and monkey bread!"   

(Sounds nutritionally balanced :) )

Monkey Bread

1 can refrigerator biscuits
4 tbsp. butter
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Place a glass in the center of an 8x8 glass baking dish and drop butter in the dish.  Microwave butter 1 1/2 minutes on high until melted.  Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon.  Cut biscuits in 4 quarters and coat in mixture.  Arrange biscuit chucks around glass in dish.  Microwave 4 to 5 minutes on high or until biscuits are slightly firm to touch.

Later that night, Hailee surprised us again with Oreo Ice Cream Treats! They tasted like Oreo Blizzards!  Delicious!  4 cups Vanilla Ice Cream 2 cups Milk 10 Oreos We don't have a mixer so she used the food processor.  I sent Hailee to the basement to retrieve the food processor, but she had no idea what she was looking for.  Hailee: What is a food processor? Aubree: It's the thing Mom used when she was canning Hailee: Well, how am I supposed to know what a food processor looks like. I had to laugh, I thought this was just something you were born knowing!  Guess not. She came back, box and all, with the food processor a few minutes later and began to assemble it.  Hailee: What is this thing on the side, it looks like a spout. Me: I don't know, I don't think it's a spout.  I would remember it having a spout. Hailee: I'm going to put a glass under it just in case. Me: Good idea! Hailee: I'm scared to turn it on.  Can you do it first? Me: It's not a big deal, just slide this button over. Hailee: It's not working. I can't get it to turn on either.  I thought maybe it was the plug in so I moved it to the plug in by the stove.  It still wasn't working and realized it wasn't "locked".  I thought I was going to break it when I finally heard it snap into place.  I slid the button over and...yes it is a spout and yes I did forget to move the glass when I moved the whole thing (milk everywhere)... We moved the food processor back where it was and Hailee finished the mixture (while I cleaned up the spilled milk. No I didn't cry about it, lol)...with a glass under the spout.  Delicious! Updated Recipe: Oreo Hurricanes 4 cups Vanilla Ice Cream 1 1/2 cups Milk 10 Oreo Cookies Mix with a food processor for a few seconds. scoop or pour mixture into cups and sprinkle Oreo crumbs on top. Yum!

Drinking Blue Milk

Activity: Painting Toast

This is a fun activity which I used to do with the three oldest of my four darling daughters.  It's fun and silly and as I thought more about it I realized that the best part is that it can be a stress reliever in two different ways.

So if you follow my blogs you know that painting is a great stress reliever for me...well so is eating, lol!  Even though it isn't politically correct to admit that, it is totally true!

Sadie must be really stressed, she is trying to eat the bread and paint it at the same time!

Here's the "recipe"

Toast Painting:

Milk
small cups
food coloring
clean unused paint brush
bread

Pour a small amount of milk in a few small bowls.  Add a drop of food coloring in each cup of milk.  Stir the colored milk with the paint brush. Paint on any design you would like.

Next you can toast the bread.  This really brings out the color.  Sadie chose not to wait so we painted two pieces, one to eat and one to toast/eat.

The toast is in sideways because Sadie ended up taking a bite out of this one too!

Looks good enough to eat!

At least Sadie thinks so.

Sadie decided she wanted to paint the milk on paper too!

Mixing colors!  Nice pouring!

Splash Painting...literally! (Love the chubby toddler hands!)

Milk is milk I guess, even if it's blue!!

Sadie looks pretty stress-free now...painting and eating.  A great combination!

Dress Shopping on Autopilot!

One of the greatest things about having four darling daughters is that they are all so different in some ways and so alike in others.  While Aubree hadn’t decided she was going to Court Warming until it was less than a week away.  Hailee knew since the beginning of school that there would be a Winter Dance and that come hell or high water she would be there.  Hailee is my planner.  Making lists and planning every aspect of her life is just part of living with Hailee.

2  Months Out:

Hailee: Mom we need to go shopping for a formal for the Winter Dance.

Me: Hailee, its two months away, and I’m not really worried about it this minute.

Hailee: I’m sure everyone else already has their dress by now.

Me: Remind me in a month.

6 Weeks Out:

Hailee: Mom when are we going to go shopping for a dress.  Seriously, all the good ones are going to be gone.

Me: I wish I was 12 again and only had one thing in the world to worry about.

Hailee: Come on, Mom.  I’m just going to borrow a dress since you won’t get me one.

Me: Great idea, if it means you will leave me alone about it.

3 Weeks Out:

Hailee: Am I really going to borrow a dress or are you going to get me one? (Now she is sounding desperate).

Me: Go look online and get ideas

Now it’s not that I never go shopping, but it seems like every time I went she was not around.  A couple of times I tried to get a hold of her to go with me, but no one would answer… when she stays the night with someone, they never wake up before 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. (no, I’m not kidding)

1 hour later:

Hailee: Okay, I know the dress I want.  It’s at Maurices can we go there now?

Me: Its 8:30 and they’re closed

The next day we go to Maurices. 

 She grabs the dress she went there for...

Grabs another dress she didn't see online and kind of liked...

Tried the first dress on again, just to make sure...

Yep, that was the one!

I also picked up three work shirts on clearance for myself, plus the dress and we were in and out of there in less than 45 minutes! It must be a record!