Isn’t she lovely
Isn’t she wonderful
Isn’t she precious
Since one minute old
I never thought through love we’d be
Making one as lovely as she
But isn’t she lovely made from love
Happy 4th birthday, Alethea Margaret!!!!
You are LOVELY and LOVED!
So glad you’re our girl,
Mommy & Daddy
Some links for your Monday…
I’ve been a little out of it lately. Not sure if it’s the weather, but something just seems off, so I loved these tips on how to beat the doldrums.
I think I might try having Alethea and Lydia help me make a couple of these.
This little girl tells me that she wants a little brother because, “We need more boys in our house.”
Being able to have quality one-on-one time is something I’ve been thinking about a lot as Peter and I go back and forth on whether we will try to have more children.
Thought this was an insightful post about using social media.
I’ve sponsored a child through Compassion International for many years now and I’d love to take trip to visit our little girl in Africa someday. One of my favorite bloggers came back from her sponsor trip and made this simple, but so meaningful piece of art.
Happy Monday everyone!
Can’t believe it’s April 19th and there is a fresh foot of snow outside on the ground. I won’t say I’m thrilled, I’d much rather be gardening, but when your garden looks like this, you just have to find something else to do instead…
So instead of planting flowers or strolling along a sun drenched path the girls and I spent our morning outside doing other things. Like…
Building a snowman…
Hugging a snowman and…
Feeding a snowman lunch. Although I was in formed that our snowman was in fact named “Ms. Snowman” and was therefore a girl.
We also…
Put a ball in our mouth…
And pretended to be a puppy. And by “we” I mean “just Lydia” because no one else was so brave as to chew on a wet ball from off the driveway.
Additionally…
There was a pine tree close to the snowman and…
Alethea thought it was hilarious that the tree was tickling her. A bit of preschool humor there for you.
And for our last hurrah, we..
Found a puddle to jump in and had a good time getting soaking wet and then a not so good time becoming very cold.
After which we…
Went inside and had hot chocolate…
Good to the last drop!
Dude… It’s Thursday night and still no Tips and Tricks Tuesday post here. For shame…
So here’s a quick tip for you, something I recently learned on Pinterest. Love Pinterest. Did you know that you can make “air popped” microwave popcorn with nothing more than some popping corn and a glass bowl?
It’s soooo easy! You put two or three tablespoons of unpopped popping corn into a microwave safe glass bowl. Set the lid on top with just a slight gap for steam to vent…
Microwave on high for 3-4 minutes and voila!
Perfect, healthy, oil-free microwave popcorn!
Use hot pads to remove it from the microwave (the bowl will be HOT) and enjoy your uber healthy snack. OR if you’d rather have something absolutely divine that is not quite so good for you, stay tuned for an amazing gourmet flavored popcorn recipe I just tried out last week. It’ll be coming your way soon!
Can’t believe how long it’s taking for the snow in our yard to melt. Three full months into the New Year and it still sorta feels like Narnia around here (you know, always winter, but never Christmas). I think though that Aslan must finally be on the move…
There isn’t much green in my flower garden yet, but the Lamium is waking up! Yeah!
On the down-side, the melting snow has revealed one flower pot that has massively and completely self destructed over the winter. Last time I buy a pot from Home Goods. Boo!
Another sure sign of spring…
The Boys of Summer are back and Peter and I went to our first Twins game of the season and had the most amazing seats ever… right behind the dugout!
It was a bit cold, but totally worth it! I even got a ball. I wish I could say that Justin or Joe had tossed it to me, when actually it was an infield practice ball that rolled into the camera pit. It’s pretty beat up (Peter declared it a batting practice reject) but I don’t care. I got a ball and TWINS WIN, so pretty much best game ever in my book.
And lastly…
The rocking chairs are back out on the front porch. Alethea and Clifford both seem pleased at their reappearance.
There is snow in the forecast for later this week, but spring IS coming… I think… maybe…
So here’s something you may or may not know about me… I don’t really shop for clothing much anymore. And it’s not that I don’t want to look fabulous, or don’t love wearing a new outfit. It’s not even that I don’t know what looks good on me or don’t have the money for it. It’s just, quite simply, way too much hassle! The malls, the crowds, the parking, not to mention the trying to keep two small children out of trouble while navigating through racks, and stacks, and jewelry displays that ought to be placed higher off the ground.
But a couple weeks ago I decided that I really wanted something new to wear for Easter. And I happened to have a coupon for Dress Barn that came along with a mailer advertizing some cute lace tops. Since I’m a sucker for lace clothing (and also apparently a glutton for punishment) I loaded the girls into the car and off we went.
So we got to Dress Barn, in we go, and the girls decided to play hide and seek. Not my first choice for in store entertainment, but they were sticking close and not pulling things off hangers, so I decided to go with it, just long enough to locate the previously mentioned lace tops I was searching for.
Working as quickly as possible, I succeeded in picking up four possibilities before the wailing began. I turned around to find that Lydia had managed to trip over the edge of a display and had a gash on her upper lip that was already dripping blood. A glance in my purse revealed that I was fresh out of Kleenex, and I was thus faced with the choice to blot her face with A) the store’s clothing, B) my jacket sleeve, or C) the stuffed frog toy Lydia had brought with her.
Which is how I ended up marching to the checkout counter, a two-year-old on my hip, with a stuffed frog pressed to her face. The store associate on duty quickly passed me a paper towel that was accompanied by a look that clearly said, “Please don’t let your kid bleed on the merchandise.”
After the situation was sufficiently under control, I debated just going home then and there, but I figured we’d come so far that it was too late to turn back now, so I did end up trying on my four items (while intermittently applying pressure to the wound in the dressing room), and then purchasing the best one of the bunch.
So all that to say that on arrival home, I… 1) vowed never to go clothes shopping with my children again and 2) had a stuffed frog who needed a little stain removal intervention.
Fortunately I know a little stain solution (pun intended) that was perfect for the situation. Enter my good friend Hydrogen Peroxide…
You might know my buddy HP as an inexpensive first aid disinfectant. But did you know he can also get blood out of fabric? It’s so easy it’s almost miraculous…
Step 1: DO NOT GET THE STAIN WET! Resist the urge treat the stain with water. It’s fine if it dries. Really. I’ve used this on days old spots and it still works, just as long as the stain is NOT exposed to water.
Step 2: Blot any excess blood with a clean cloth (this was already done at the store with the paper towel in our case).
Step 3: Pour hydrogen peroxide on the spot. You should notice some white foam forming.
Step 4: Wait a few seconds for the reaction to slow, then blot the stain with a dry white cloth or paper towel.
Step 5: Repeat steps 3-4 until stain is gone or until the hydrogen peroxide no longer foams when applied to the stain.
And just like that, frog was rid of his spots…
(I’ve used this trick countless times, and on a variety of fabrics, but I should note that hydrogen peroxide is a mild bleaching agent, so you might want to try putting a little on an inconspicuous part of whatever you are trying to clean to test for colorfastness. Also, promptly laundering the object after treatment is a good idea, and in some cases when I haven’t been able to get the stain completely out with the HP, a trip through the wash has finished the job. As I mentioned above, this does work for dried stains, but the fresher the stain is, the more likely it is to come out completely. And again, if the item has been blotted with water, this trick doesn’t work well and if the item has been laundered, it probably won’t help at all.)
After a quick wash cycle and a tumble in the dryer, as Lydia put it so well, “Frog is all clean and fluffy!”
So there you go, my best stain removal trick, brought to you today by my hide-and-seek loving children and the stuffed frog who saved my jacket sleeve.