DIY Lego Tray

My oldest is OBSESSED with Legos! He has so many and they were all over his room (we told him they had to stay in his room because they were getting everywhere in our house) and all over his floor!

So for his 7th birthday I decided to get creative: I love going to Antique stores with my parents and they always have handmade "Lego Trays" but they are always over $20 at the very least. There had to be a cheaper, better way for me to get this gift of my son. So we went to our local Goodwill and luckily they had an array trays there! I found a breakfast-in-bed type of tray where there were legs that extended and it was clean-ish and functioning. Bonus was the price: $3!

So then we went to our local Walmart and bought 2 Lego base plates for about $8 each. Now if you are adding up the numbers, yes it was over the $20 I didn't want to spend at an Antique store but those trays didn't stand up like this one does so I was willing to pay a little more for it.

So after cleaning the tray with multi-surface Windex, I followed the directions to use Gorilla Glue for the Lego bases.

And then used Lego pieces to make sure the bases were together the right way because putting them side by side would have left it impossible to build in the middle where they meet. There was a very small amount of space in between needed to make it smooth and build-able. Then I placed 2 huge glasses on top and allowed it to dry for 24 hours! 

Now our son has a Lego Tray of his own that he can keep his current project on and free from the cats, his little brother and the evil vacuum that loves eating Legos. 

Happy Mommy-ing!

The Proximity Best Friend

The definition of proximity is: nearness in space, time, or relationship. And the definition of best friend is: a person's closest friend. My mother has had the same best friend for decades now and I envy her. I have meant some really incredible ladies and it's been my privilege to call them my best friends. But it always happens for me, we move away from one another and slowly but surely the texts and conversations through social media start getting fewer and farther in between. That's not a bad thing mind you! It just means that they are busy having their lives wherever they are; even though I am no longer apart of it. I would never want them to be sitting around their houses, doing nothing just because I'm not around them. Heck no! I want them laughing, and loving life! 

While most people, like my mom, are super lucky to have just 1 incredible best friend for decades, I've been pretty lucky in my own right because I've had 6 in my short life time.

As a kid, there were these 2 guys I did everything with from the age of 6 until we hit age 16. Our parents were all heavily involved in church so we were always together. One of them got married to another one of my best friends, a lady I knew in college for an amazing few years. Whenever we were lonely, missing our husbands whom were out of town working all the time, she was always there to make sweets and watch Disney movies with. The other guy got married and they are all living their lives happily. We grew up and grew apart, as it sometimes happens. 

I also had a girl best friend from school during that time and we were always together from around 4th grade until high school. Now she's an awesome mom of 2, living a few states away from me. 

In the most recent years I have meant 2 incredible ladies: 1 went to school with my younger sister and after connecting through Facebook, we end up being best friends for 5 years. Doing everything together and even living next door to one another! She was there when I had my youngest son and she watched our oldest while we were in the hospital. Any mom knows if you're allowed to watch someone else's kids, especially over night, that means they trust immensely! Her husband got a different job and that was that. She moved away and is working herself, making new friends and enjoying her life as a mommy to a sweet lil guy. I'm so happy that she's having a great life in her new area! 

Now the last lady I had the incredible pleasure of calling my best friend was someone I knew less than a year. We met at a play-group for our younger kids and after a few times seeing and talking to each other a little, we clicked and became inseparable! We ended up teaching together twice a week and although play-group was only 2 hours (set up, teaching, and clean up) we often stayed hours after just talking about anything and everything in the parking lot! We just couldn't stop talking! We were like peas in a pod, or like peanut butter and jelly... when you saw one of us, you saw the other too. She made me believe I wasn't failing in my mommy journey, since there's a million parenting books out there but nothing truly works because as soon as you feel like you're getting ahead...the kids switch up the game on you. She was older than me with 2 sons around the same ages as mine so bouncing ideas off her really helped me and she never made me feel judged. When my husband was away on business and I had an abscessed tooth, she was there to watch my kids while I went to the dentist to get it looked at. And sadly when we found out we were moving due to my husband's work, she got together all the ladies from play-group and organized a going away party for me. And she also made car packs for me and my boys for our road trip to our new house. It's very hard saying goodbye and it's hard not seeing her everyday but I am grateful for the time we had together. 

I'm not bitter about not talking to these special people any more. Of course I miss them but I have my wonderful memories with them and the universe took us apart for a reason. So far in my new area I have met a wonderful lady with 2 boys around the age of my oldest and she just happens to be my neighbor! With each friendship, I learn from them about life, mommy-hood, marriage and about myself. I am very blessed by all the people that have been so special and dear to my heart. I am looking forward to the future friendships and hope these people know how very special they were/are to me. 

Happy Mommy-ing!

When Mommy Needs a "Mommy Moment"

Have you stopped today to tell yourself that you are amazing? I'm serious here! I once saw a comic strip depicting a "mom-bie" like a mom as a zombie. I think that and the picture of a mom as a super hero are the 2 most correct ways of describing moms everywhere!

Think about it for a moment...we moms do SO MUCH and so many things in just a day. My eldest the other day told me the same story about a game on his tablet over fifteen times in a matter of hours! He told the lady at the store, he told the guy at the gas station, he told his baby brother, he told his Great Grandmother on a Skype call and he even told the cat! My sweet husband, got to hear the story once. One time! While I heard it so many times that by the time we were eating dinner and he told his daddy it once, I was so frustrated that I blew up at him. My eldest just wanted to tell his story because he was excited and passionate and I blew right past it because I didn't want to hear it again. How shameful is that!? But what do you expect?

We as moms can't go to the bathroom by ourselves, or eat forbidden yummy foods without sharing. We have to multitask chores like dishes, laundry, making dinner and referring the kids. We do all this (and more sometimes!) while our husbands go potty for 45 minutes ALONE, read an enlightening article, watch hilarious videos, go to the gym, work on the car or on their new high score on a video game. Sure the husbands might work full time, stressful jobs so that we as stay-at-home moms can do just that: stay at home. I love being able to do just that! I really do appreciate that my husband works at a job that brings in enough money for me to get to stay home with my kids! However, his job ends once he's home and then he can relax. My job, as a mommy, is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year! It is a never ending job!
No wonder I blew up at my eldest after I had heard the same story all day... but I wonder if I had left the room or mentally checked out during that story, would I have reacted the same way? One of my dear friends said this once to me: "when my husband is off of work at 5PM, so am I. He is off the clock and so am I." That's a wonderful thought and that works well for her but someone's solution isn't always your solution. This test of life is not a cheat-able one; it's a scientific theory kind of test. Tons and tons of trial and error! I wonder if I would have taken a "mommy moment" to clear my head, and breathe deeply to calm myself if I would have reacted better and with more love.
Kids are like the water that slowly wears down a rock. It takes a little bit with every current. My patience wears down bit by bit, my happiness bit by bit and my love seems to sink while the anger comes full force. How horrible! How horrible to think that's what my children might only be seeing: my impatience, my unhappiness and my anger.
I stay up late in the evenings because I love the silence of my house. I love getting the house back in order and everything ready for the next morning. I watch my romantic dramas and crocheting. That's my favorite "mommy moment". I used to get up before everyone too, eat breakfast in peace, and have a cup of tea, while it's hot to get me going. I'd be dressed and fully ready for the day by the time I needed to wake up the kids and then I could focus on them. Unfortunately, late nights and early mornings don't work together and no one likes or gets along with a grumpy, tired mom! When my boys get frustrated or upset about something, I tell them to "cool off" for a bit, take a break from whatever is making them feel that way and relax. Why am I not doing it myself?! I should be "practicing what I preach"! Why not say, "I need a mommy moment" and cool off?! I think I'm a bad mom that's a bit too uptight... but I know that I can get to that happy mom status I'm so desperately trying to achieve. Maybe more "mommy moments" can help get me to that goal and help me show more love and happiness for my amazing boys!!

Happy Mommy-ing!

Holy Ink!

It happens to us all at one point or another, a pen was left in the wash and exploded in the dryer! WHAT. A. DISASTER! What do you do first?! Buy a new dryer and start over maybe?! 

Before you run out and spend hundreds of dollars, here is a simple solution: 

Nail polish remover works wonders on removing those ink stains in the dryer! Use gloves to prevent your fingers from getting stained with ink and getting dried out from the nail polish remover. Also make sure to have a fan or proper air flow to prevent any head or health issues. 

This was what my whole dryer looked like to begin with:

This is halfway through using paper towels and nail polish remover:

I had a nice pile of paper towels by the time I was finished cleaning:

My husband ending up lending me some of his elbow grease but it took the two of us less than 20 minutes to clean our whole dryer. It is not perfect but it looks a whole heck of a lot better than it did to begin with and now our clothes won't come out of the dryer with ink stains on them. We left the dryer open over night to make sure the alcohol fumes were completely away and I washed it with some soap and water on a rag. 

That's it! Simple solution for what seemed like a huge problem!

Happy Mommy-ing!

Less Stressed Thanksgiving

It is officially the holiday season and with that comes the holiday stress! I blinked and all of Fall is gone! It feels like it was just summer and I was just getting my oldest for school again.... and now I've put up my Christmas tree 🎄

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite memories with my family. Tons of yummy food that we get to spent all day eating and then eating so much food that everyone naps after dinner while we watch a Christmas movie🎅💤 Unfortunately I haven't lived in the same state as my family for many years but I do have friends over to help celebrate this wonderful holiday. This year I decided to try to make things easier on myself. Here is what I did to reduce stress:
● On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving: I made the desserts, a cake & pecan pie. Both take about an hour to cook and I cooked one in the morning and the other in the evening.
● On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving: I mixed up all the components for the green bean casserole and put it in the fridge. Then I made the mashed potatoes and placed them in the fridge as well. I wanted to make Stuffing muffins so I chopped up the celery and apple and placed it in the fridge. All the side dishes done!
● Thanksgiving morning: after having a simple breakfast (my family loves "Monkey Bread" which you buy in the freezer section & microwave for 2.5 minutes. Simple but so yummy!) my family helped me by cleaning the house for our guests that afternoon. Then I took out my serving plates and placed them where I was going to use them later.
● Thanksgiving afternoon: my boys went down for quiet time/nap-time while my husband started to deep fry the Turkey 🦃😍. I actually got to relax a bit before my guests arrived because everything was done.
● Thanksgiving guests arrived: I had all the appetizers out for us to enjoy. And I just had to cook the casserole and reheat the mashed potatoes and heat up the Hawaiian rolls.
Everyone helped me clean up after dinner, I used paper plates for easier clean up and then we enjoyed some time around our fire pit outside. Then dessert and a Christmas movie 🎄🎅

Next year I will be doing the same thing because it was less stress for me and I actually got to enjoy the holiday instead of being in the kitchen away from it all.
How do you deal with holiday stress? Tips?

Happy Mommy-ing!

The Button Behavior Jar

Like everything in life, my kids are always changing! The punishment system/behavior system we put in place last school year is not having the same effect this school year. I wanted to try something else, like a visual reward system, for my oldest especially. I came across this Pin a long time ago and decided to try it out:

How it works:
It is pretty basic, you use the buttons like money and then there are rules that I have set out for my oldest to both receive buttons for good behavior and get buttons taken away for bad behavior. In order for him to get 1 button he can: be good/good listening, do a chore, behave at school or behave at the store. Each one of those gets him a button. To get 2 buttons he has to: do a chore without me asking him to or  behave really well at school. And if he does very, very well at school (I get notes everyday on his behavior) then he receives 3 buttons! Now when he has "Bad behavior" I will take away 1 button per the following: being bad, having to be told "no", telling me "no" when asked to do something, or misbehaving a little at school. When he is behaving worse, he will get 2 buttons taken away per each for: very bad behavior at school/phone call from teacher, putting his hands on others or the cats (hitting, pushing, etc.) or throwing a fit instead of using his words. And the biggest offenses of them all that earn him 3 buttons taken away are: being extremely bad at school, needing a spanking or throwing a fit in public.

And on Saturdays he can "cash in" for rewards. I am hoping this works and motivates him to behave better. If this does work, I will be making something similar for my youngest.

Happy Mommy-ing!

Back To School 2018-2019!!!

The Summer is finally over!!! I know lots of moms that are so happy to have school back in session! I learned over the Summer that my boys behave the best when we are on a schedule of some sort. So our Summer week looked like this:

Something Every. Day! No wonder I didn't have any time from blogging! But it was well worth it! My boys had a great summer, we did new things and met new people and that's really all a mom could hope for. But now we are back in school mode and I am so beyond happy! My oldest needed to do something else because he was starting to get bored with everything.
Now I am NOT a last minute type of person (not that there is anything wrong with that by any means, everyone is different) heck, I already have Christmas presents in my closet! So I got pretty much everything ready for my son to go to school as soon as we got the school supply list (which we got off the Wal-Mart App! It was SO COOL!). Plus is helps so much that his birthday is at the end of the summer and he gets lots of clothes for that!
The only thing I need to do is make sure everything is in place for us in the morning because I am a very grumpy woman in the morning and anything to make it easier is a blessing, for everyone!
My Tea :

My cup with my tea and the Kettle all filled with water so all I have to do is turn it on and add sugar! 

Back-Pack:

My son's back-pack lives in the kitchen, on his chair! It only leaves once it's time to go to school and gets put right back as as soon as we get home. Makes it easier to pack and see all his school papers.

My Purse:

My beautiful Lily Jade Cailin lives at the table too! Makes it easier to pack and grab once it's time to leave!

Clothes:

My clothes for the next day, totally helps when I am half asleep!

My youngest's clothes since I tend to wait until it's time to leave to get him. It is so much better for me to not have him under foot or have the 2 of them fighting while I am doing other things around the house. Plus he is very grumpy if we wake him too early! Then I bring breakfast for him in the car.

Snacks/Lunch:

These are our lunch pails: Spider-Man for me and my youngest's snacks and space for my oldest at school

After we drop off my oldest at school, my youngest and I still follow our summer schedule of doing something everyday before nap time. And of course it helps to have a few "mommy routines" as well to help keep everything moving in the right direction:

1. I try to do 1 load of laundry (wash, dry, fold and put away) every other day so everyone has clean clothes. Last year I wasn't so on top of this and there were a few times it bit me in the rear: my oldest has long legs but a tiny waist so even though he has a lot of the next size up (because I just know he's going to grow here soon!) he still only fits in about 5 pairs of shorts right now. So keeping the laundry going is a huge help so we are not yelling in the morning that he doesn't have clean shorts.
2. I have my oldest pick out his own clothes on Sunday night and place it in this hanging divider in his closet so he can get dressed quickly.

3. I run the dishwasher at night right before I go to bed. During the day I fill it with dirty dishes so there aren't dishes piled in the sink and then unload it the next morning or after I drop off my oldest at school.
4. I have an alarm for when I need get up and one to go to bed. Sounds so funny right?! Why would I, a mom, need a reminder to go to bed? Well, when the house is finally quiet because the kids are asleep, the house is clean and everything is ready for the next day... I like to relax on the couch, watching my show (currently The Vampire Diaries!), eating those foods I don't what to share (you know what I'm talking about!) and crochet my next project in peace! Of course time would get away from me! If I didn't have my alarm, I would stay up pass 11 PM and it still takes me about 20 minutes to get ready for bed and then I don't even know how much longer it takes for my brain and body to relax enough for me to fall asleep! But I just know that with my alarm, I am in bed asleep by 10:30 PM! It helps, trust me!

Those are some of my secrets to making the week a bit less crazy during back-to-school! 

Happy Mommy-ing!