A Day in the Life: Tuesday, January 27, 2015

I always find Day in the Life of posts interesting. I like to see how other people spend their days. (Call my a Nosy Nelly.) I have also found that I enjoy looking back on the few that I have written in the past. We tend to remember the really big days, but the day-to-day seems to get lost in the memory jumble. So, I set out to take some pictures of our day on Tuesday this week.

-My day started around 6 with Mr Shortcake. (Well, in truth it started in the wee hours with a little feeding time with the afore mentioned 11 month old. He is still waking at night and the best way to calm him back to sleep is a feeding. Thankfully it is once a night and he does settle right back to sleep.)

-While I play in the living room with our little man, Mr Cherry gets up and gets ready for work. He usually leaves somewhere between 7 and 7:30. I go into the kitchen and get a lunch packed for him and send him on his way.

-This morning I also make the kids a hot breakfast. We are normally a cereal or toast kind of family, but I had seen a baked oatmeal recipe I had wanted to try, so I got to work on that.

-The girls wake up after Mr, Cherry leaves. (We have a rule that they need to sleep until 7. That way they aren't in a hurry to get out of bed when they still need sleep. They are pretty good at staying in their room until then.)

-We eat breakfast together and finish getting ready to get out the door by 8:30 to get Peachy to kindergarten. I like that her school starts a little later. It helps our mornings be a little more relaxed. However, it is still a hard time to get all three kids ready and out the door. Usually by this point we are already involved in something and need to stop in order to leave. Cream has the hardest time getting ready to go. I often have to remind her that I will put her in the van in whatever state she is in. This is a hard part of my day that can easily end in frustration and yelling. Not good.

-We drop Peachy off and Shortcake falls asleep on the way home. I successfully transfer him to the crib for his morning nap. Cream and I get some one-on-one time. Today she chooses to play a Disney Cupcake game.

-When Shortcake wakes up around 10, I decide to check out the area thrift shop before picking up Peachy. Before heading out, I give Cream and Shortcake a snack, throw in a load on laundry, and load up the van. At the thrift store I get some clothing to make into up-cycled animals for my Etsy shop and we get a few other things for our family.

-We get to Peachy's school a little early and finish our snack in the van in the parking lot. Peachy comes out just before noon and we head home. The girls decide that they would like to play a new game we picked up at the thrift store before lunch. I got Cranium Hullabaloo for $5! Great winter score!!

-We eat some lunch. Peachy decides she isn't really hungry which is unusual for her. (It is a sign of things to come.)
-While Shortcake naps I sometimes have the girls rest. One in their room and one in mine for a quiet time. I go and lay with Cream today in my bad and she actually takes a nap. Woohoo! Peachy stays in her room until three and we do some reading together. When Cream wakes up she is a bit sleepy yet and Peachy is a bit too, so I put on some Netflix.

-After some TV time the girls play while I start dinner prep. We have to go and buy some dishwasher tabs. Peachy isn't happy about this. She doesn't like going anywhere after school. We quick run and get the tabs and she crabs the entire time. When we get home I send her to her room until she can be nice. She ends up falling asleep.

-I finish making supper, soup, and go and wake Peachy up. It turns out she has a fever. That explains a lot. I give her some ibuprofen and she eats some supper which helps a ton.
-After we have eaten, I tell the girls that they should get ready for bed and we will have a pajama party. This is something we do that just means they get ready for bed and then stay up for a bit. But they call it a party! Ha!
-We settle in to watch some Property Brothers. (My choice!) Mr. Cherry gets home and eats his soup in the living room with us. By this point I am not feeling all that great. Oh lovely germs!
-We get the kids down for the night, but since Cream napped she won't go to sleep or lay quietly! Grr. We take turns going into her room and getting her to quiet down while we stream White Collar.
-Early bedtime for the parents tonight as well, 9:30. We are not night owls in this house.

Miscellaneous Musings

-Shortcake has finally decided he has the motivation to pull himself up. Once it was here on the ottoman to retrieve the coveted remote and just this morning it was on  open dishwasher. Time to move things up a little higher.

-Cream has started her Park and Rec Tumbling Tots class again. It is good for her to have something organized to do and to have something active in the winter is an added bonus. She received a real gymnastics leotard for Christmas and looks pretty cute out there.

-Peachy is still loving school, but also talks about missing her time at home. She is in a stage right now where she won't let you take a normal picture of her. She received this dress for Christmas and styled it herself with these tights. I loved it!! This is the best photo I could get. Goofball!

-While Shortcake is still extremely good-natured, he will let you know when you have gone against his plans. This picture shows him throwing a fit on the floor when I took something away from him. It is like you broke his little boy heart.

-There has been a whole lotta sewing going on over here as I continue craft fest preparations. A little here and a little there I am building up my inventory. And the house shows it! There are projects, though well organized, all over the sewing area and the rest of the house is looking a bit disheveled.

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Food Parings: Peanut Butter and Chocolate

I recently received an email from Pinterest with the title, Unusual, but delicious, Food Pairings. It suggested such things as olives and oranges and curry and banana. I am not so sure about those combinations, but there are some pairings that are tried and true. One of my all time favorites is chocolate and peanut butter. I really don't think that you can go wrong. The classic sweet and salty combination of Reese's Peanut Butter cups is one of my favorite pairings. When I was asked if I would like a chance to review the new Reese's Spreads, I jumped on it. And guess what? The spread is exactly what you would expect! Imagine Reese's Peanut Butter Cups blended to spreadable form and jarred.

I actually found the combination better as a dip for sweet crackers or pretzels than in place of my morning pb and chocolate spread, but seeing as the jar is all but gone, I would say it was a hit. If you are a fan of the classic combination of peanut butter and chocolate, you probably owe it to yourself to check out Reese's Spreads.
The opinions in this post are all my own, but I was provided the Reese's Spread in exchange for the review.

Sibling Love

These three

Ah, these three are so good at being siblings

Hating one moment

Loving the next

Wanting to spend time together

Hating being around each other

Siblings

Shortcake: 11 Months

Representing the four time national champions the NDSU Bison!

Ah, we are so very close to the one year mark here. Crazy. I know that every parent says it, but it really has been going way too quickly this time around. And although it can really wrench my heart to see my babe growing up, the milestones are rolling in now. We are having so much fun at this age. Mr. Shortcake still isn't moving more than an army crawl, but that boy would make the army proud. He can really make tracks. I like watching how he can maneuver and turn without leaving the floor.

He has mastered the fun games of waving, high five, peek-a-boo and the like. But the boy doesn't perform on demand. Only when he feels like it on his terms. Not to show off when momma wants.

He has an odd relationship with any stuffed animal. He really seems to think of them all as wrestling partners.

There are also lots of sounds coming out of his mouth, some are discernible and others not so much. He is getting pretty good at copying the sounds we make, though. His night time sleep still leaves much to be desired and a tired momma, but I have a hard time not taking care of my sweet boy in the middle of the night. He will raise one little arm to me and I am mush. Smart boy.

At this point he is up to seven teeth and eats whatever he wants for the most part. He is quick to catch on when I am eating something and he doesn't have it. He will even remove food from his mouth and hand it to me as if to ask for the "good stuff" that you are eating. We are cutting down a bit on the nursing sessions as he eats more and more solids, but the boy still loves to nurse. And while he has pretty much mastered the sippy, he won't always take breast milk from it or a bottle. Could make weaning interesting or he might surprise us and make the switch easily.

Poor sticker really didn't stand a chance this month.

He still will sit back and take it all in, but also enjoys being a part of the action. Lately he has been loving cruising the basement in his walker. He also enjoys being a human vacuum and picking up anything on the floor that he shouldn't have. Why do we even bother with toys at this age? It also amuses me how he can at one minute be the gentle observer, and then switch to crazy maniac man.

A gentle observer moment.

Shortcake's Room Idea Board: Little Boy's Camping Room

Clockwise from top: birdhouse light, orange dot rug, birch bark stacking baskets, stuffed bear rug, tree branch hook, happy camper pillow cover

We are at a bit of a standstill on the house right now. I am super pumped to get started on the kids' rooms, but first we need to remove the paneling and then we need to get the drywall ready to paint. In the meantime, I am dreaming up ideas and gathering supplies.
I have decided to go with a camping/outdoor theme for Shortcake's room. There is lots of inspiration to be found. Above are a few of the items I am thinking of for the room. I have a few of the components gathered and can't wait to pull them all together.

Unglued Craft Fest 2015

I received some super-d-duper exciting news last week. I found out that I would be a vendor at the upcoming Unglued Craft Fest!! This is the third Unglued that I have the privilege to be a part of and I am so pumped! You can read all about the fest here.
Unglued Craft Fest is an awesome indie craft fair in the middle of winter in Fargo, ND. The setting is amazing in the Plains Art Museum and the fest is just plain awesome.

You can read about my first Unglued experience here.

And my second experience here.
I am so excited to get going on my product for the show as well as my booth design. I will share my progress on here and of course a post on the fest. If you happen to be in the area, you really won't want to miss it!

Christmas 2014

Another wonderful Christmas is in the books. We ended up, like most years, with many different times to celebrate the birth of our Savior King. Our celebrations started with the girls' Christmas Eve service. They both had small joint recitations and a song to sing at the beginning of the service. And I am happy to say that they both nicely walked to the front, stood relatively still, and sand and spoke well. Phew! In Cream's words, "We didn't bonk into anyone!"

My parents were able to join us for a brief period including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day morning. We opened gifts with them in the morning and enjoyed a turkey lunch before we each headed our own ways.

We loaded the van and drove to Mr Cherry's parents' for his family Christmas. As usual, we enjoyed a jam packed celebration there with all 20 of us staying under one roof. There is lots of noise, conversation, and wonderful food.

Mr Cherry's grandmother always made homemade eggnog for Christmas, so his sister has carried on the tradition. It is so good!

After returning home for a few days we journeyed to my parents' for a little quieter, but equally enjoyable, celebration. Since neither of my sisters could make the trip, we spent time Skyping and chatting on the phone.

All of those days of Christmas celebrations wore this this three year old out. Good thing there was an auntie lap to sit on

More tired kids.

Today we took down all of the Christmas decorations and reorganized the toys make room for the new ones. While it is always sad to pack the decorations away, it is nice to have a little less clutter in the house.

Two red-headed cousins.

Big cousins are the best!

Peachy goes back to school tomorrow. At the beginning of her break she was happy to be home and lamenting that she couldn't be home everyday with us. Her tune quickly changed and she was so bored at home. Mr Cherry took an extra day off, so we will be easing back into our routine.