Church Bags 2.0

I don't know about y'all, but I have found that bringing my children to church every Sunday is both immensely rewarding and incredibly challenging, all at the same time!  My parents raised me in the Catholic Church, and we attended Mass pretty regularly.  My husband was raised in a "church for Christmas and Easter" family, so he was used to going to church, and he always attended with me once we started dating.  Throughout our (almost) 10 years of marriage, we've gone through droughts when we didn't make it to Mass regularly... but since we had kids, we've really made huge strides in our individual Faith Journeys, and both prioritize parenting with our Catholic faith as the central focus.  And while I feel so confident that we are making the best choices we can, I have to admit, it can be frustrating when I'm trying to pay attention to the Liturgy, and the kids are loudly distracting me & everyone around us!

Luckily, over the past 6 years, I have discovered a couple things that work for our family (everyone is different, I know!), some common sense, some surprising.  Snack are a must, of course - I think every parent in the world knows the immeasurable value of a pack of gummies ;)  We bring a water bottle & a container of dry cereal for each boy every week, and we get a lot of mileage out of that!  We also bring Catholic-themed coloring books, a pack of crayons for each, and some books for them to read/look at.

A surprising technique (to me at least), is sitting up front.  We spent many years sitting in the back, so that we could make a quick escape if the kiddos started acting up.  But once Aidan got old enough to have an opinion, he asked us to sit in the front of the Church - and we were amazed by how much more he paid attention!  Now, it seems obvious to me that he couldn't pay attention when he literally couldn't see anything... but, ya know, hindsight is 20/20...

But no matter where we sit, we never go to Mass without our "Church Bags" - personalized tote bags that the boys carry their supplies in.  These help us keep all of the "stuff" we bring organized and ready to go, and it keeps the boys from arguing about which items belong to which kid (most of the time, anyways).  I had made their original totes back when Leo was just a baby, using iron-on letters from the craft store.  But there was an unfortunate incident involving a mug of coffee and a sharp turn on the road to work one day, and... well, I needed to make new ones.  BUT - now I have my Cricut, so this was a whole new ball game ;)

I bought new totes bags at AC Moore, and I picked a nice, bright red iron-on vinyl to put on them.  I cut the boys' names in my current favorite font, as large as I could fit it on my Cricut mat.  And, since Daniel & I bring our "Minute in the Church" books, missals, and Mass Journal with us each week, I designed a quote to put on our adults' bag, too.

The next step is SO.  MUCH.  EASIER now that I have my Cricut - I just peeled the excess vinyl off the liner, placed the design on the tote bag, and ironed it in place.  I will admit, my font choice for the Bible quote was, like, a disaster, and I will never do that again... but I love how it looks now!  Lol.

 

The boys used their new, coffee-stain-free bags at Church yesterday, and they were super excited that Daniel & I had one just like theirs.  And now all 4 of us are ready to "grab and go" on those early Sunday mornings :)

Homemade Bread (Cyster Approved!)

Both my husband & I have been on paths to healthier life styles over the past year.  Sometimes our paths have intersected - both of us gave up all soda, for example - and sometimes they felt miles apart - over the summer, I was following a High Protein Low Carb plan, and he was exclusively juicing.  I've since switched to the essentially vegan Cyster Diet, and the hubs is in a "generally making better choices & watching portions" stage; but one of the things that we are always in sync on is the desire to pass our healthy choices on to our kiddos, to set them up for long term success.

We try to be role models for the boys, without being obsessive about food, either.  So, we emphasize stopping when your tummy is full & not eating just because you're bored... we talk about how yummy healthy foods are, and how good we feel when we eat fruits & veggies... but we also encourage them to enjoy ice cream & choose Happy Meals every chance we let them ;)  And, perhaps most importantly, we try to make sure they understand where their food comes from, so they can grow up to appreciate homegrown / homemade foods regularly, over processed choices.

Tonight, I attempted homemade bread for the first time, and in keeping with our vision for our family, I had the boys help me.  Luckily, this healthy, Cyster Diet-friendly recipe has just 4 ingredients, so it was an easily managed adventure.  And I am just so pleasantly surprised at how well the bread turned out!

The recipe we used was from this blog I love, and it only has 4 ingredients: warm water, sugar, yeast, and Einkorn flour.  I'm gonna be honest, if you're wondering what Einkorn flour is (and I'm sure you are), you should Google it.  My husband discovered it in his research of various health foods, and encouraged me to look into it for my nutrition plan.

In fact, this whole home baking endeavor of ours was his idea, too!  We've been trying to streamline our finances / improve our budget, as well as improve our eating habits, so our efforts there include a new vegetable garden (still in planning stage)... making our own butter... grocery shopping changes... and baking our own bread, to avoid the chemicals in store-bought options.  He has attempted a few recipes, both in the oven and in his bread machine, but this was my first go at it.

So, anyways, I gathered my few ingredients, putting the flour in 3 cups so each of my boys could "help."  We stirred the sugar into the warm water & sprinkled in the yeast, and the kids watched it bloom like it was something fun, lol.  When it was ready, they crowded around the mixer to dump the flour in, I drizzled the yeast mixture in, and they cheered it on as it combined.

This no-knead bread has to rise twice, so I covered the bowl with plastic wrap & let it sit while we ate dinner.  We came back to it 45 minutes later & Aidan's eyes were like saucers when he saw the puffed up bubble of plastic wrap - what a great opportunity for a science chat, too ;)

The rest was super easy - pour it into the buttered loaf pan, cover with buttered plastic wrap, let rise again.  Then bake it for half an hour & let it cool completely before slicing.  Unfortunately, I chose a too-small pan, which I didn't realize until the second rise, so the top mushroomed over a bit...

But it was still delicious - especially with some all natural apple butter on top ;)

Taco Bout A Party!

I can hardly believe it, but my baby boy turned three this month!  To me, he's still my baby, but if you ask him, "I not a baby, I a big kid."  And really, he's right!  He talks (endlessly), he does everything possible for himself, he climbs in & out of his crib (Lord, help me!), and he keeps up with his six year old brother like a champ!  He also knows how to plow his way through a few tacos and an order of chips & queso, so it only seemed fitting that we had a Birthday Fiesta for him this year ;)

As always, I kicked the theme into gear with the invitation we sent out:

I just design these in publisher, which is my favorite program in the word, y'all!  Print them 4 to a sheet of cardstock, cut apart, and they can be mailed in envelopes or even as a postcard, to save a little money.  I'm gonna be honest, I gave them out to family in person, and I texted a screenshot of it to anyone not in the area.  Lol, I didn't want them to get lost in the shuffle of Christmas Cards.

Back when my Aidan turned one, I started a tradition of making a shirt for the Birthday Boy, matching the theme & personalized with his name.  To connect to our Fiesta, I created a design of Mexican party flags spelling his name, and added "is three!" underneath.  I have to admit, it's easily my most-favorite shirt I've done so far - no doubt because of my new Cricut machine, which made it so easy to do!

I also used my Cricut to make the various signs & banners to decorate our house.  As our friends & family arrived, the "no time to siesta" sign greeted them.  Over our buffet line, I strung a banner saying "taco bout a party."  On the fireplace & on our window frame, I used Mexican fiesta flags to spell out "Happy Birthday Leo" and "Leo Is Three."  The bright colors, the fun puns, and the flag cut outs all added to the festive theme I was aiming for.

The buffet I mentioned before featured tacos & nachos, with both beef & chicken options, and plenty of fixings - queso, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, tomatoes, lettuce... I had hard shells, soft tortillas, and chips for anyone who prefers nachos.  Our kitchen is set up in a sort-of U-shape, with doorways on each end, so it really lent itself to a smooth-flowing buffet line, complete with drinks in the sink!  Everyone had something to eat, and seemed to really enjoy it, from toddlers to grandparents.  

 

The best part of the party food, though, was the "pinata cake" I made.  Let me choose to word this nicely, and just say it was quite a labor of love... the actual cake was easy: I layered 4 round cakes, cutting out a circle in the bottom three, to create an empty core.  I filled it with mini M&Ms and sprinkles, then topped it with the fourth layer, and iced the whole thing in white frosting.  My fatal error was deciding to coat the entire cake in rainbow nonpareils.  I was going for a festive, Fiesta-like feel... but what I got was a MESS!  Sprinkles all over my kitchen, stained countertops, an emotional late Friday night... Ay yay yay, I will never do that again!  But, I will say, it was worth it, because Leo's face lit up when he saw it, and all our guests enjoyed it!

 

As if the candy-stuffed cake wasn't enough sugar, we sent each person home with a rock candy stick, with a personalized tag to match our theme.

I have to say, throwing a themed party for my boys is one of my favorite things to do.  I attribute it to my mother, who planned the most epic themed Day Camps you've ever heard of, and who throws the best bridal/baby showers ever!  So as long as my kiddos let me, I'm gonna keep it up ;)

Unicorn Graphgan

Remember when I made this unicorn pillow for my niece?  She just loved it so much, I thought I'd make her a blanket to match it, for her Christmas gift.  It turned out to be a much larger endeavor than I anticipated, but it was definitely worth it, because she was delighted, and I was quite pleased with what I made ;)

I've posted about using the Corner To Corner (C2C) crochet method before, like when I made my cross-body tote and for L's baby blanket.  For anyone who doesn't know how to do this yet, I use this great picture tutorial from The Lazy Hobby Hopper.  I love the fabric it creates, but I also love it for another reason - the grid-like structure lends itself perfectly to graphgans!  A graphgan uses a graphed pattern, similar to counted cross stitch or perler beads, to create a picture out of the crochet stitches.  So, in this case, I turned the picture of the unicorn pillow into a graph of a unicorn:

I think there are websites that will do this for you, but you can just do what I do & put graph paper over the picture & do your best.  LOL.  Once the graph is designed, you just start at a bottom corner & work your way row-by-row through the pattern.  It builds diagonally, of course, moving... well, corner to corner ;)

I just love the first color change - it's so exciting! 

Just looking at the graph, it didn't look too scary; however, as I worked my way through it, I realized it was making a much larger blanket than I anticipated.  Thank God I started it waaay early, back at the start of the school year, because with my limited crocheting time available, I was still weaving in ends on Christmas Eve morning!  It was totally worth it, though, because it turned out to be my most-favorite project I've done to date:

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year, y’all!

Goodness gracious, it has been a looong time since I’ve posted – almost 6 months!  I’m not sure how I let that slip up happen, but I’m going to try my best not to fall into that trap again!

I don’t usually put much stock into the whole “New Year, New You” concept of making resolutions, but this year I figured I’d try it.  Nothing about losing weight – I’ve already been on a path of healthier eating & respecting my body for a while now, and anyways I absolutely refuse to be consumed by the toxic mess spewed by the diet industry.  My goals this year do include continuing my healthy endeavors, but they are also about my mental health, and about taking steps towards my ultimate desire in life of being a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM).

My path to a healthier physical self is all about treating my PCOS – exercising regularly, drinking plenty of water, remembering to take my medicine twice a day, and following my “Cyster Diet” meal plan (more on that in a later post).

My goals for improving my mental health are making time for Bible study and praying a rosary (at least one decade) every day and making sure I continue to read the kids’ Bible with the boys every night.

Working towards being a SAHM is a complicated, long-term plan for my hubby & me – we’re working very, very hard to get our finances under control and get everything in order for that.  But, in addition, I have a secondary goal of being able to grow a (very small!) crochet business, once I’m no longer going to an office every day.  So, to that end, my 2019 Resolutions include crocheting for 30 minutes each day, and making sure I blog at least once per week (you’re welcome).

To keep me on track with all of this, I ventured into a territory I always swore I'd avoid (if only because I had a feeling I would become addicted, and add pens/graph paper to the list of supplies my husband has to roll his eyes at)  - Bullet Journaling.  I kept it to just this one subject, though, and I created it on my computer, so that I kept the supplies to a minimum.  I simply made the chart in excel, printed them for a binder, and began filling them in with my pen.  I'm hoping my competitive nature, combined with my OCD & love of beautiful patterns, will keep me on track with all of my goals.

You can see today is not over, so the row for 1/2/19 is incomplete

I have a pile of projects I never posted about: a pillow for one niece, a blanket for the other… some house decorating…stockings for my family… So, beginning next week, I’ll roll those out as soon as possible.  But I’m also going to use this blog for the originally designed purpose, to share personal aspects of my life, as well.  So, hopefully, my weekly entries will help others in similar situations, or allow my loved ones to learn more about me, and ultimately connect to my overall goal of a healthier, happier me ;)