A Ghoulish Good Times & Other Random October Goodness

Well tonight was the big night.  We dressed up in the costumes that Tristan picked out for us  It was great for everyone but the Pink Poodle.  Really kid?  A pink poodle.  Oh man. 

We had a blast.  Tristan did really well, he completely filled his bucket up and we were out and around the neighborhood for almost an hour and a half!

We had out families over for homemade Halloween snacks that we made this afternoon!

Friday we went to Tristan's Halloween Party at Martial Arts Fitness Center, man we love that place!

Earlier in the week, Tristan and I and our sweet little friend Lily went to Disney on Ice.  We had a blast.  Tristan loved seeing Jack from Disney on Ice and Lily was super stoked to see Jessie from Toy Story!

For me it was like being catapulted back into childhood!  It was great!

Piper got bored watching John build Legos!

My hubby Never Ceases To Amaze Me

Tristan loves Jeeps.  He gets it from his daddy.  John's been taking his Jeeps four-wheeling for a couple of years now and about a year ago he took Tris on his first four-wheeling adventure up Wild Cat and Tristan has been hooked ever since. My parents took him to a monster truck rally and that just fueled his fire.    Tristan loves Jeeps. 

When we asked Tris what he'd like for his birthday cake (usually I just make cupcakes and put fun colors on them), he said he wanted a Jeep cake.  Well, thankfully John and I have enjoyed watching The Cake Boss on Netflix.  John thought he could do it.  I am a decent baker and John is proving to be insanely creative and detail oriented.  So I made some Rice Krispy Treats, buttercream icing, fondant & 2 pound cakes)  John started to cut and form the Rice Krispy treats into a jeep and then started to dye the fondant. 

This was a trial run, Tris' party isn't until Nov 14th, but we needed to know how much of everything we'd need (A LOT), how long it would take (the better part of 5 hours) and John made this awesome cake!  I'm shocked (and pleased) a how much fun we had making this together and how awesome the cake turned out.

                                                           Carving the Rice Krispy Treats

Making the fondant

                                                                       Here we go!!!

Thanks for a fun evening sweet hubby! 

Handy Coasters

I've been searching for fun, personal gifts for grandparents and great grand parents for Christmas. I came across this fun idea for handy coasters!

Here is what you'll need:

*  1 piece of card stock

*  chalk or pencil (I recommend chalk because it wipes off)
*  fun fabrics for each side of the coaster b(washed, dried and ironed)
*  1 package of double sided stiff fusible interfacing (I got mine at Joann's for $8.99 a yard)
*  Iron

*  Damp wash cloth

1.  Trace your kiddos and onto a piece of card stock and cut it out to make a template.

2.  Use a pencil or chalk to trace the desired number of coasters on one of the fabric.  Trace the template on the right side of the fabric and I suggest using chalk so it will wipe off easily when you are done.

3.  Cut the fabrics into rectangles (around the traced hand)

4.  cut out a rectangle of interfacing the same size as the fabric

5.  Follow the instructions on the interfacing packages. 

          Mine said:

          a.  iron fabric (on wool setting) wrong side down onto the bumpy side of the interfacing

          b.  turn the interfacing over and peel the clear plastic off

          c.  place fabric wrong side down and cover with a damp cloth

          d.  turn fabric back over and cover the other side with the damp cloth and iron

          e.  immediately iron both side without damp cloth to remove any remaining wetness.

6.  Let fabric cool and cut in cut out the cute little hand for a darling homemade little gift for friends and family!

Why Cloth Diapers

I grabbed a document from Tidee Didee Diapers about choosing cloth diapers.  I wanted to share some of the info with you.
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The battle between reusable cloth diaper sand single-use diapers is heating up once again.  In 1955 virtually every baby in the United States was diapered using cloth diapers.  In 1961, Proctor and Gamble introduced a single use diaper.  In 1991, approximately 90% of babies in the United States were diapered using single use diapers.  Coincidentally, the occurrence of diaper rash as increased from 7% in 1955 to 78% in 1991.

Many parents are taking a hard look at the many health and developmental, environmental and economic advantages cloth diapering has over single use diapers. 

Dry does not mean clean.  The multinational corporations who manufacture single use diapers have misled the American consumer to believe that as long as a baby is dry that they are clean.  The urine in a wet diaper breaks down into ammonia and is a breeding ground for harmful bacterial regardless of how dry it feels. 

What ever kind of diaper you use, cotton or disposable, babies should be changed often about every 2 hours.  Bacteria begin to form as soon as a child wets or soils and leaving a diaper on a baby for prolonged periods can not only produce irritation and rash but may compromise the skin to the point of serious infection.  The chemical dryness of single use diaps has produced a great lowering of stands in baby care because parents are led to believe that as long as the diaper feels dry it is alright to leave it on.  It isn't.  Dry does not mean clean. 

Another area of concern are the toxic chemical present in most single use diapers.  Nearly all single use diaps use sodium polyacrylate to absorb moisture.  Sodium polyacrylate is the same sort of substance that was used in Rely tampons in the mid 1980's.  Many consumers notice clear beads of gel on their baby's genitals after a diaper change (I did!).  This material is sodium polyacrylate.  An additional serious concern is the risk that dioxin, a by-product of the paper bleaching process, may exist in single use diapers.  Dioxin in various forms has been shown to cause cancer, birth defects, liver damage and skin disease.

Harsh perfume and chemical emissions have long been known to induce asthma-like symptoms in children and adults.  Now, researchers have found that disposable diaps may be a trigger for asthma.  A study published in the October 1999 issue of the Archives of Environmental Health found that laboratory mice exposed to various brands of disposable diapers suffered increased eye, nose and throat irritation, including symptoms similar to that of an asthma attack.  Six leading cotton and disposable diaper brands were tested: cloth diapers were not found to cause respiratory problems among lab mice.

An estimated 1 billion single use diapers are thrown into landfills each year, taking as many as 500 years to decompose and commonly contain raw, untreated sewage.  Disposable diapers make up the third largest source of solid waste in landfills, after newspapers and food and beverage containers. It takes upwards of 82,000 tons of plastic and 1.3 million tons of wood pulp or a quarter-million trees to manufacture the disposable diapers that cover the bottoms of 90% of babies born in the US.

Single use diaps are, as their name implies, used once, then discarded.  They are almost always sent to landfills or incinerators, never reused and almost never recycled.  In contrast, the average cloth diaper is used between 100 and 150 times as a diaper and then retired.  Retired cloth diapers are in high demand and have a second life cycle as rags for detailing shops, window washing services, janitorial services, piano retailers, and assorted other businesses where soft, lint-free rags are needed.

Whether using cloth or single use diapers, a baby should be immediately changed after it wets or soils a diaper.  Based on this fact, the average infant should be changed approximately 70-80 per week. 
If you changed a baby 70 times a week with disposable diapers you'll be spending approximately $39.90 a week on diapers, compared to $18.00 a week IF you use a cloth diaper service. 

Many parents who use single use diapers think nothing of spending $15 or $20 on diapers when they shop for groceries, which quickly gets hidden in the total grocery bill.  When this hidden cost is revealed it becomes immediately apparent that cloth diapering is far less costly than the cost of single use diapers.

24 months of single use diapers: $4149.60
24 months of a cloth diaper service: $1820.00

36 months of single use diapers: $6224.40
36 months of a cloth diaper service: $2730.00

48 months of single use diapers: $8299.20
48 months of a cloth diaper service: $3640.00

There is a noticeable increased awareness and interest in cloth diapering as a viable alternative to the short-sighted and wasteful practice of using single-use diapers.  This document demonstrates that cloth diapering holds a clear and significant health and developmental, environmental and economic advantages over single use diapering.  Additionally, the convenience of modern cloth diapering rivals the convenience of single use diapers.

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This document caught my attention because just today I mentioned to my hubby how nice it was to never have to "go grab diapers" because we just ran out or constantly take out the garbage b/c it was full of diapers.  We are on week 4 of cloth diapering and I love it.  We do it 24/7 now.  I was using disposables at night, but about 5 days ago started using cloth at night and it is simple.  Piper hasn't had a single bout of diaper rash, she had it all the time before, and her rear end is super cute in all of her sweet little diaper covers!  I love the switch for 1007 reasons!  It's not for everyone, I get that, I never thought it would be something I would do, but man do we love it...even Tris cloth diapers his bears!  There is a great sight  to check out if you're looking to start cloth diapering: Nicki's Diapers

Peanut Butter Deliciousness

So a few years ago I had a friend tell me about peanut butter balls that she made that were super healthy and her kids love them.  I make them for Tris (let's be honest: it's for me too!) every couple of months.  They don't last long at our house, but they are a super yummy, healthy, protein filled snack.  Here's how you make 'em.

Mix equal parts of honey, rolled oats, peanut butter (Adam's creamy works best in my humble opinion), and dry milk.

Stir until mixed well, roll into balls and refrigerate.
Seriously it's that simple and utterly delicious!

Invasion of the cousins!

Since I have no siblings and John just has one brother (who has one son), our family get togethers are relatively small.  But since the kiddos are all so young there is no shortage of screaming, laughs & energy when we all get together! 

Yesterday we celebrated John's 29th birthday with our families (his actual birthday isn't until Tuesday).  We had a good time and the kids were so cute!  Tristan will be 5 in a couple of weeks, Piper is 2.5 months and Bennett is almost 14 months!

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let down your hair...so I can put clippies in it

So in having a beautiful sweet little girl, I am realizing how much I love little hair bows!  My neighbor, Linda, showed me a simple craft in my Parents Magazine that you can do to create a darling little place to showcase all those sweet little clippies!

So here's what you need:
*  Scissors
*  A way to measure 3 yards of yarn
*  a 4 inch embroidery hoop
*  a roll of heavy weight yarn

Step 1:
Cut 42 + 3 yard long pieces of fabric

Step2:   Line the ends up together and pinch the yarn in the middle (tie a knot with a piece of yarn to keep in together in the middle) & lay the yarn on the inner embroidery hoop.  Tighten the larger hoop on to the smaller one and flip the hair over.

Step 3:

Arrange the yarn so it covers the embroidery hoop and tie a cute ribbon at the base of the embroider hoop (like a ponytail).

Step 4:
Braid the yard in thick strands all the way down

Step 5:
Tie cute ribbon around the base of the braid (leave 4-5 inches of yarn below the base of the braid) then cut off the unever yarn and inset your hair clippes into the braid!
Super cute, simple and fun craft!

Dryer Balls

So my friend Darcy sent me a link to http://www.bummis.com/ where they were talking about dryer balls.  Dryer balls yarn wound wool balls that you toss into your dryer along with a load of laundry. These balls fluff your garments more during tumbling, which softens clothes, and keeps them from clinging together, so that more air exchange occurs between the clothes, leading to faster drying times.

I have a Energy Efficient dryer that drys jeans in 44 minutes.  However, my cloth diapers take a full run time and a half of another just to dry my cloth diaps.  So I checked out this link and made my own dryer balls and it actually worked!  My cloth diaps dry in 44 minutes!  woo hoo!  Also when I washed our sheets this morning they were dryer quicker (24 minutes) and weren't staticy at all! 

The only draw back is that it took me an entire roll of wool to make a dryer ball, and at Joanns each roll of woll costs $6.00 (it needs to be 100% wool), however if you load up on their 50% off coupons, you can make 4 dryer balls (I use 4 balls in the dryer for best results) for only $12.00! 

So here is how you do it!

Here is what you'll need:

*  1 roll of wool per ball you'd like to make.  Make sure that the yarn you're using is 100% wool or it won't felt properly.

*  Old pantyhose or socks

*  A small amount of non-wool string (cotton or acrylic both work fine)

*  Scissors

Step 1 :Roll the wool like 15 times or so around your 3 fingers

Step 2:  Pinch the roll in the middle and wind continue wrapping the wool around, turning the ball slightly every few loops or so. You don't need to be neat about this first bit since it won't be visible once your ball is finished.

Once you reach the end of your roll of wool tuck the end deep into the ball or use a crochet hook to push it down. 

Step 3:

Put all of the balls into pantyhose and tie a tight knot with string in between each ball.  Throw these into your regular wash (the hotter you wash them the better it will be), then (keeping them in the pantyhose) toss them in the dryer for a load or 2.  Pull them out and cut them out of the pantyhose and now your dryer balls are ready to use and help save you time & money!