Happy 5th Birthday, Clare!

Happy 5^th Birthday!

Five years old.  It sounds like such a big number.  You sometimes have growing pains in the middle of the night, and your Dad or I rub your legs to help with the pain.  You always wake up happy and excited to run to your growth chart to see how much you’ve grown.  You can finally reach our tall light switches and can barely swing open our enormous SUV’s door. 

This was the year that our schedules started to look a lot more busy and full.  Lots of firsts: swimming lessons, Pre-school, and ballet lessons.  You were a cautious fish in the water, and loved every afternoon we spent in the sun.  You could even swim about 6 feet all by yourself by the end of the summer.  Then you got your first taste of school.  You love all the playing, but complain about how fast they want you to work on your letters before recess.  I have a feeling your slow working style will be an issue the rest of your schooling life.  You like to take your sweet time on most things.  And after many impromptu and improvisational dances in Albuquerque, we signed you up for ballet class.  You did really well and loved the class. 

While you are changing every day, some things have stuck with you since you were in my womb: hiccups.  If you get to laughing too hard, you always get the hiccups.  You had them in my belly, you had them when you’d laugh as a newborn, and I’m starting to think this might stick with you for life.  You’re a nice mix of optimism and realism.  You love to tell me, “It is what it is, Mommy.” And can typically find the silver lining in whatever situation arises.

Nap times are a thing of the past now, but I still insist on quiet time for my sanities sake.  You spend the time dressing up like a princess, bossing around your pretend friends, and pulling out every toy you can find.  Most mornings, I wake up to find you and our cat, Mae, sitting on the couch and “talking” to each other.  The cat likes you almost as much as she likes me now, and that’s saying a lot!

Your Daddy and I love you so much.  And as you have started to say, we love you to the moon and heaven and back real slowly.

Love Always,

 Mommy

 

Clare Quotes 4 Years Old Edition

Here are a few gems from Clare's 4th year of life!

Me: I can't remember off the top of my head...
Clare: Is it in the bottom of your head?

While walking on the edge of a lake and peering over:  Is there a whale in there?

While eating honey:  Oh those bees, they do such a good job making something so delicious.

While finding a good spot on the shore to fish:  Where do you think the fishes table is where they eat?  That's where we need to be fishing.

Clare: I love you even when you're stinky.

Clare: I love you to the moon and heaven and back... real slowly.

When we were visiting William's grave, we were crying and trying to explain why we were sad.  So then Clare told Kevin.  "Daddy you'll have another baby and if you don't, you can be a grandpa and I'll have a baby for us to love."

Why I Quit the Homemade Laundry Detergent Craze

 



Homemade Laundry detergent.  It was so appealing in the beginning.  You will find recipes and fantastic photos of it plastered all over Pinterest.  You can save so much money compared to buying it at the grocery story.  As an extremely frugal housewife, there was nothing more appealing than the cost savings.  I'm so cheap, I once decided against buying a shirt because it was $7.  So of course, I jumped at the opportunity to save a few cents.  But the honeymoon stage only lasted for so long...

4. Preparation - While I'm known for being very thrifty, I'm also known for being lazy.  I even had a friend (Thanks, Mandi) who would buy, grate, and deliver the soap bars to me.  Even then, I still got annoyed at having to mix together all the other ingredients.  I much prefer throwing a bottle into my shopping cart as I cruise for groceries down the isles.

3. Lack of smell - When your grating the soap bar, your kitchen will smell of lovely cleanliness.  When your clothes are swishing away in the washing machine, your laundry room will smell fantastic.  But when you pull those warm, clean clothes out of the dryer, you will smell... nothing.  Not stinky, but not fragrant.  Just the odd, normal scent of cloth.

2. Phantom grey stains - Does your Grandma's use those huge white, thin tea towels?  Both of mine always have, and my mother does, and so do I now.  Most of mine were given to me by my Grandmother that passed away last year.  Now I'm not saying that the homemade detergent caused these little grey splotches all over them, but they were never there before then and they never showed up again after I quit.

1. Grease Stains - Maybe it's a sign that I'm a messy cook, but every single one of my shirts ends up with some sort of olive oil stain on it everyday.  This detergent doesn't come close to cutting through those stains.  Every shirt needed to be rubbed down with liquid dish detergent before washing.  I always thought detergent commercials that boast stain fighting boosters were just exaggerating, but now I'm a believer.

Good Eats: Sesame Chicken with Stir-fry Veggies

 

Sesame chicken is a staple dinner in our house.  This is originally a Weight Watcher recipe, so you know it's got to be a great, healthy choice for the whole family.  I've added on a stir-fry veggie that's super simple and tasty.  I also normally cook white rice to make a good square meal.

 

 

 



 Chinese Sesame Chicken
2-3 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken thighs
6 oz. apple juice (or one juice box)
1 c. water
2 Tbs. packed brown sugar
4 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs. ketchup
2 cloves minced garlic
Dash ground red pepper
2 Tbs. cornstarch dissolved in a little water
4 tsp. toasted sesame seeds

Brown chicken in med-hot pan sprayed with pam.  Combine juice, water, brown sugar, soy sauce, ketchup, garlic, and red pepper.  Add sauce to chicken and bring up temp to a low boil, then reduce to low for a simmer.  Cook for 20-25 minutes, flipping the chicken over half way through.  Remove chicken and whisk in dissolved corn starch.  Cook till thickened. Add back chicken and add sesame seeds.  Enjoy!

Stir-Fry Veggies
1/2 small head of cabbage
1 onion (I like red)
2-3 peeled carrots
soy sauce
salt
pepper

Dice up cabbage, onion, and carrots.  Add a little oil to a pan or pot on medium heat.  Sprinkle on soy sauce and add a few dashes of salt and pepper.  Cook till carrots are tender and cabbage nice a wilted.  Add more soy sauce to taste.  Approximately 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Travel Maze Tutorial

 

I found my maze on a google image search, or you can get creative and think of your own design.  The only important factor is that your path is wide enough for your bead or marble to push around.

 

I choose a crazy checkered fabric in hopes to make it more complicated for my 4 year old. 

 Don't forget to add your bead before you close the gap up, or you'll end up with a weird hanky.



 



 

 This takes a little patience, but it will all be worth it!

 

Now you have a start and a finish!

 

When your kiddo gets good at getting the bead from the start to the end and the end to start, then you can create variations.  I like to steal the maze, put the bead in a weird secluded part of the maze, and then ask Clare to get it to one of the buttons. 

 

It's a super simple sew, that can give lots of car time/waiting room entertainment.

Tear Stains on the Attic Floor

Up in my attic, you will find the general clutter of normal houses; red and green tubs filled with Christmas décor, dust coating every surface, and years worth of Clare's clothing that she has slowly outgrown.

I remember packing these tubs.  Smiling at the little outfits that were just too adorable.  Carefully folding each onesie, even those that were so stained that I would never use them again.  All the while, wondering how soon it would be before I was dragging them all down again to sort and clean for the next baby.

Life moved on.  More tubs were added.  We lost our son, William, before I even thought to start sorting clothes.  Months changed to years.  Now Clare is 4 years old.  Not a shred of her baby gear can be seen.  No soft soled shoes, no changing covers, no umbrella strollers.  All locked away in clear little plastic tubs in the attic waiting to be opened again.

I am doing a sewing project for my new niece and had to crawl up in the attic today.  I cracked open those bins and saw all the tiny clothes.  Clothes that were saved, because they were thought to be worn again soon.  And these past 4 years drew out before me like a long scroll.  Years filled with joy and sorrow, doctors and drugs, tests and negative results, religious prophesies and unfulfilled hope. 

I cried bitter tears on that attic floor.  I find it ironic that I feel more sorrow and loss for a child that I've never had, than for my own son that I held in my arms and buried in the ground.  At least he was alive. At lease he existed.  That's more than can be said for these tubs left to gather dust. 

I'm not writing this post looking for solutions or advise.  I've done everything I'm willing to do.  I've prayed the novenas, I've seen the doctors, I have looked into other options, and I have heard prophesies.  I know I am young, and my life will change.  I just desperately want to feel peace.  I hope laying this pain out for others to see will bring me closer to that.   

"Oh Lord, you will establish peace for us, since you have done everything else for us." Isaiah 26:12

DIY Personalized Baby Shower Gifts

I am very excited that my very first niece is due at the end of this month!  While my two little nephews are very sweet and wonderful, there is just something about a little girl that makes me sigh like a little love sick puppy.  With my love of all things crafty and original, I decided to make personalized gifts for Baby Maria.


The first gift is wonderful because it requires little to no skill at all.  Have a computer? Have a printer? Then you are all set!

I created the document in Word. (It did take a lot of experimenting to get the spacing right).  You can customize it to any name you want and any color scheme.  Print it out on a nice sturdy cardstock and place in a frame!  Easy Peasy!

These two onesies are a snap to make too!   I bought both in a combo pack with no designs on the front.  

For the one of the left, I used double sided fusible paper to create the initial and then ironed it onto the onesie.  I did a tight zigzag stitch around the edges just to ensure durability.  

For the one on the right, I created the image using PicMonkey.  It is an absolutely amazing photo editing site that is very user friendly.  Instead of adding shapes and text to a picture, I added everything to a white background pic saved from Paint.   Then, just print it on fabric transfer paper and iron it on.  No sewing required!

These are all super simple ideas, with beautiful results!  I hope you give them a try.

Lent for Kids

This year, my little girl is 4, so I've decided to try to have her participate more in Lent.  I want her to start to see how the practices of Lent are difficult, yet in the end truly satisfying.  To simplify the season, I wanted to work on the basic "add something, take away something" sacrifices for Lent.  I tried to talk to her in depth before this and explain how doing hard things for Jesus will show him how thankful you are that He died on the cross for you. His death on the cross makes it possible for us to go to Heaven.   A place with no tears and pure joy is really something to be grateful for. 

 

To add something, I created this prayer chain for her.

 

There are 40 chain links with names on them.  Before we can leave the house (hence why it is hung by the door), we will pray for that person and add in a Our Father and Hail Mary.  This will hopefully show her the importance of lifting others up in prayer and also give us extra practice on our memorized prayers.  As the chain gets shorter, she will have a visual representation of how close we are to Easter!

 

To give something up, we made up a box for loved toys.

 





 

For 40 days, the toys of her choice will stay in this box in her room.  Then on Easter, we will celebrate the return of the lost toys!  I made sure to not persuade her into what toys to give.  I told her to pick some toys that she loves best and stood back to see what her tiny, pure heart would produce.  For my Princess and book obsessed girl, the toys in this box are some of her most prized possessions.

 

Tomorrow is ash Wednesday, so we will see how this Lenten journey unfolds! 

New Mexico Love

For my brother-in-laws Christmas gift, I created this picture for him.  I know you can buy it online, but after many hours and curse words, I did it myself!  Please do not inform me of any misspellings, or it might cause me to cry.