Picture Tiles- A Mother’s Day Gift

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I am very proud of myself. I had an idea, inspired by Pinterest of course, and executed said idea with great results!

I decided I was going to make some coasters for my mom for Mother’s Day. So I went to the dollar store to find some cheap coasters that I could Mod Podge some pictures of the kids on. (Grandmas like that sort of stuff).

While I was at the dollar store, there were no coasters to be found. Of course. But I did find these ugly tiles:

I had an idea that I could take these tiles and mod podge the pictures on them, leaving the words at the top. And they turned out really great! I had little stands for them and they fit wonderfully on the shelf at my parents home. They loved them!

So I was able to make my mom and awesome Mother’s Day gift, and I spent my evening decoupaging. And the best part: My husband helped! He cut out the pictures and made sure they fit perfectly on the tiles. I wish I had gotten a picture of him, sitting there on the floor, hunched over a buch of craft paraphernalia. Does life get any better? Um, yeah it does. But it was still fun!

 

Stephanie

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Mother’s Day- What I really want

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What I want for Mother’s Day

1) I want to not hear any form of whining for 24 hours.

2) To go to the bathroom with out someone hanging on my feet or banging on the bathroom door screaming, “Mom! I miss you! I need love!”

3) To make dinner and everyone sit down and eat it without complaining.

4) For someone else to stop the baby from pouring glue all over her leg. (That is what she is doing right now.)

5) To be able to drink a cup of coffee in peace, without someone knocking the chair I am sitting in over because the just have to have a hug right at that moment, knocking us both on the floor and spilling my coffee all over my face and hair.

6) To not then be so busy the rest of the day that I forget about the coffee in my hair and it dries and I don’t notice it again until I am at the store… with crusty coffee hair.

Actually, on second thought… I want all of that. All of those are signs that I am a mother. And isn’t that what this day is all about? I sit here this morning thinking of all the women who long to be mothers and it just hasn’t happened for them yet. I can’t help but to be grateful for the whining, yelling, crying, messes, and lack of social boundaries. With them comes hugs, kisses, memories, and unconditional love. I have been so blessed with the gift of motherhood and my prayer this morning is for all the moms out there who are not moms yet. Don’t give up.

So this what I really want for Mother’s Day:

To just be with my children and enjoy the…

Daddy/ Son Moments

 

Intense, super hero moments

Daddy/Daughter moments

Happy moments

Emotional moments- Jeremiah is crying because the grass is poking his legs...

Messy moments

Sweet moments

Happy Mother’s Day everyone! And if you don’t live with your parents anymore… Call your mother!

Stephanie

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Evil Book Shelf

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I finally finished the book shelf! What an accomplishment!

Here was the original:                        And here was mine:

 

 

 

 

 

 

It turned out pretty cute!

So why do I call this cute little book sling the “Evil Book Shelf?”

Here is the story:

One day, I decided I would try to make a little book shelf for my son’s room. I looked up the tutorial online and thought, “This seems simple enough. I should have no trouble with this.”

Famous last words.

First I went to Menards to pick up a double curtain rod bracket and some dowel rods. The first mistake: Bringing my children.

I never knew dowel rods were so hard to find. By the time I found them, we were all exhausted. Then I found the brackets but they were $7 a piece. I was not about to spend over $14 on a book shelf I had to make myself! “Surely I can find them cheaper elsewhere.” At this moment I felt like this:

 

I was still confident and had all my mental faculties intact.

 

 

 

 

I waited until the kids went to bed and decided to run to Meijer to look for the brackets. They had none. Now I felt like this:

 

I was slightly annoyed, mostly because it was 11 at night and I was out looking for brackets that didn’t exist.

 

 

 

I waited a day and went to Home Depot, once again bringing the kids. Home Depot of course has car shaped carts which meant I had to keep the cart moving at ALL times so the kids could pretend to steer it. It was exhausting to say the least. And they didn’t have what I was looking for. Now I felt like this:

Jeremiah: Mom, why aren’t we moving?

Me: Shhh. Mommy’s sleeping.

Jeremiah: That’s silly mom, lets go.

Me: Shhhhh.

-While taking a nap in the van in the Home Depot parking lot.

After my much needed nap, we headed over to Lowes where thankfully there were no car shaped carts. Praise God!

And I found something I thought would work! Now I felt like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I brought it home, full of excitement! Carl looked at it and said, “That’s not going to work.”

Now I felt like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got back in the car and went to Walmart. Walmart ALWAYS makes me feel like this:

 

 

This time was no different. AND they didn’t have any brackets.

 

 

 

I decided to go back to Menards to see if they had ANYTHING that would work.

I found exactly what I needed for $3.50 each. Now I felt like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I blame the children! They distracted me! So its their fault that I went all over town to find something that was in the first place I looked. It has nothing to do with me just being dumb and not looking one row down…

Once it came to actually making the shelf, it was pretty easy! Here are my tips though if you want to try it:

1. Just go to Menards. They have what you are looking for. Believe me.

2. Actually measure your fabric and make sure it is even. I just guessed so when I folded it up to make the sling… Lets just say I had some “trimming” to do.

3. Never ever never ever never bring your kids with you while you are looking for supplies.

4. Do let your one year old and four year old help you hang it. They are surprisingly helpful. Or maybe I had just completely lost my mind by then. Who knows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Come on back to see what shenanigans I get into while making a stick wreath! Should be exciting!

Stephanie

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When Plans Go Awry- Watch 30 Rock. A Typical Day in the Life of a Mom

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You know those days when you have plans to do all sorts of great stuff, but then your garbage disposal falls off and food goop and water get all over everything? Yeah, this was one of those days.

My plan:

1. Clean the kitchen

2. Give the kids baths

3) Do the laundry

4. Clean the bathroom

5. Finish the evil book shelf

What actually happened:

1. Began cleaning the kitchen, starting with the dishes. I had some orange peels and various other food that needed to go down the disposal. As I turned it on, it sounded strange but the food was all going down so I thought nothing of it… Until water began pouring out the cabinet onto my feet.

2. Opened the cabinet and saw this:

Its hard to see the full extent of food gook, but believe me it's there!

3) Sat back, soaking shoes squishing under my shifting weight, and contemplated. Which actually means, “sat there and thought about whether or not I actually had to clean this mess up.” Decided I did. Darn.

4. Cleaned off all the cleaning products thinking about how they should be self-cleaning and this was a waste of my time since I don’t even use these anymore but feel guilty throwing them away and am too lazy to take them to a disposal site.

5. Left the mess in the kitchen to give the baby a bath after she decided to crawl into the cabinet and sit in the water food gook mess. Don’t worry, the deadly chemicals were all gone by this point, though she might have eaten an old soggy piece of cucumber while she was down there.

6. Actually cleaned the mess- It took three bath towels to soak up all the water.

7. Had an epiphany. Since I can’t use the water, I can’t clean my kitchen. Too bad.

8. Celebrated not cleaning my kitchen by putting the kids down for a nap and watching an episode of 30 Rock while eating french bread dipped in ranch dressing. Yum.

9. Took the kids outside instead of doing laundry or cleaning the bathroom because since the kitchen was a mess, what was the point in cleaning anything else?

10. Finished the evil book shelf.

Typical day in the life of a mom: Make a plan, nothing goes as planned, make the most of it anyway.

Stephanie

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