Thursday, March 28, 2013

Birthday GIVEAWAY!

Its about that time of year!
my Birthday month!

I was able to get some very generous friends to help me have a giveaway EVERY week throughout the month of April.

Every Monday in April a new giveaway item will be posted, and winners will be picked Sunday.
Theres a number of ways to gain entries for more chances to win! 

Here is a sneak peak of what we have to offer this coming month! 

Week #1 StONE RUSH handmade Jewelry Necklace
Week #2 Rustic Barn Door Yarn Wreath
Week #3 Petunia Picklebottom grab bag
Week #4 Yarn Bombed Antlers accent antler piece 


We will also have 2 insta-gram giveaways
for those of my IG followers. 

Giveaway #1 April 1st-April 13th
Anchor + Arrows handmade Necklace and earrings.

Giveaway #2
Sickfeet Art 8x10 Warrior High Quality print on Velvet art paper


Thursday, March 21, 2013

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Spirng has Sprung!

Heres a few of my favorite picks from one of my favorite shops 'Sweet William LTD'



Sunday, March 17, 2013

Healthy Toddler MUST Haves

After my trip to Wholefoods today I realized Ive never shared a few of my Toddler "must haves"
All three of these can be found at Wholefoods and most likely other Healthfood stores.

#1. CALM


 We use the NO FLAVOR powder mix a tablespoon in with Pellas Juice everyday, the benefits for Pella is that Magnesium is a natural stool softener, and it helps come down at night to get a better sleep (for the most part). The KIDS CALM is a multi vitamin and you can learn more about the benefits of Magnesium.

#2 KIDZ SUPERFOOD Chocolate flavor
I dont know about your kid but my kid is a picky eater, getting her to eat vegetables is like pulling teeth. So I mix one of these packets with her Almond Milk, and she doesnt mind it one bit!
Kidz SuperFood Chocolate is a nutritional powerhouse that combines 31 rainbow colored fruits and vegetables in a delicious chocolate drink powder. Each packet provides the nutritional power of 3 servings of fruits and vegetables.

#3 Garden Of Life Kids Formula Multi Vitamin 

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Natural Dyed Easter Eggs

Natural Dyed Easter Eggs!


  INSTRUCTIONS

I used two different methods to make these eggs; a cold method and a hot method.
For the majority of these eggs I used the cold method. Just mix the ingredients in a non-staining bowl (ie: glass is great) and add hard boiled eggs. Let them sit until the desired color is achieved.
For the hot method I added the ingredients and raw eggs to a non-aluminum pan, brought the mixture to a boil, reduced the heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit until eggs achieve the desired color.
The method used is noted in the directions below.
NOTE: The eggs may take on the flavor of the coloring agent.

  • YELLOW ONION SKINS: 1 cup of water, room temp + dry peel from one medium yellow onion + 1/8 cup of white vinegar (cold method). This combination will color one egg. Instead of throwing dry onion skins away during the year you can save them to color Easter eggs in the Spring. (The little dash of blue you see on the left side of the egg is from a rogue blueberry that ended up in the pan.
  • TEA: 3 tea bags+1 cup steaming hot water+1/8 cup of white vinegar (cold method). Steep the tea bags to make very strong tea. Add eggs and let sit in water until desired color is achieved.
  • BLUEBERRIES: 1/2 cup frozen blueberries (thawed & smashed) + 2 Tablespoons white vinegar (cold method). Roll eggs until color is achieved and  then remove. These took just a couple minutes to make
  • TURMERIC: 2 cups warm water+ 3 tablespoons turmeric + 1/8 cup white vinegar (cold method).  This ended up being one of my favorite colors. The turmeric creates a beautiful yellow color that reminds me of spring. The darker areas are where the egg sat on undissolved turmeric.
  • CAYENNE PEPPER: 2 cups warm water + 3 tablespoons cayenne pepper + 1/8 cup white vinegar (cold method). The speckles are created from the undissolved cayenne pepper.
  • RED CABBAGE: 1/2 of red cabbage head, chopped up + 1/8 cup white vinegar + 4 eggs + enough water to cover eggs (hot method). I love, love, love this color. The egg with white speckles/lines was created by wrapping an egg in a cabbage leaf and securing with a rubber band and then adding to pan with the other ingredients.
  • COFFEE: 1 cup of very strong brewed coffee + 1/8 cup white vinegar (cold method). This egg was a little darker, but I wiped the egg off after taking it out of the liquid and ended up with this light tan color.
  • RED ONION SKINS: 1 Cup water + dry peel from  1 large red onion + 1/8 cup white vinegar (hot method). This combination colored 2 eggs. As with the yellow onion skins, red onion skins can be saved throughout the year as well.
    Depending on the boldness in color your looking to achieve  you can soak eggs anywhere from 3 hours-9 hours. The photos of the eggs above were air dried after soaking for 9 hours!
    I just LOVE the Turmeric eggs! I cant wait to do these with Pella.

    Perfect HARD BOILED eggs? Heres how...

Friday, March 8, 2013

Crock pot apple BBQ Bacon wrapped chicken

TGIF!
Yesterday I made this AMAZING recipe in my crock pot.
Its a keeper.!

 Ingredients:

3-4 chicken breasts
½ cup barbecue sauce
1-2 apples, peeled and grated
Juice of 1 lemon
6-8 slices of bacon

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine barbecue sauce, grated apple, and lemon juice. 
2. Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry. Wrap 2 pieces of bacon around each chicken breast half.
3. Place wrapped chicken in a greased 4-5 quart slow cooker and top with BBQ sauce mixture.
4. Set to low and cook for 8 hours.

thats it! SUPER SIMPLE AND DELICIOUS

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Co-parenting.

Co-parenting doesn't have to be the pits.
I watched Dr Phil today and below you can watch a snippet of todays show.
 It was more or less nightmare of a co-parenting situation.


I can honestly say that regardless of some of my negative personal feelings and opinions I have with Pella's dad, I am happy to say 3 years later we have come to a place where him and I can be in the same room, same place, exchange our child with no drama, not want to rip each other apart or hurt one another, and most importantly communicate with one another. NOW, I'm not saying our situation is the perfect situation, its not, there are times when we upset one another with choices that we dont like, or whatever it may be... 
3 years ago when I was pregnant going through the hell of being pregnant practically single. gave birth, had a baby, got through the first year of her life, it was THEE toughest 22 months ever.
I'll be honest, I'm stubborn, I'm honorary, I'm independent, and I struggled with "co-parenting" especially when its with someone you have NOTHING but resentment and hurt with.
What was important to me what being able to provide my daughter with positive energy, and a stable home. I knew me being with her dad was NOT the answer, but being able to get to the point where I really accepted that and acted on that took me a damn year. With therapy and medication (no SHAME) after Pella's birth, I learned I can't control him, or control my daughter, I could only control myself. So that meant letting go of control...super duper hard for me. It meant letting go of negative feelings I had for Pella's dad REGARDLESS of the unforgivable things he put me through, and the anguish I put on him TRYING to make him feel MY hurt. NONE of that is effective when trying to co-parent. I was inspired to write a little bit about my situation now and how it was then because today's Dr Phil made me FEEL so embarrassed for those people sitting up there who not only look stupid but are completely NUMB to what their doing to their kids. I was raised in a single parent home by my DAD, my mom was absent most of my life following their divorce when I was 10. I have a pretty good memory, and I NEVER heard my dad say one thing "bad" about my mom. I never heard them "Fight" in front of my sister and I. My mom may have chose to live the life she did, and my dad could have put his frustrations and negative feelings on us, but he never did, and I also don't resent my mom for what shes missed out on or the choices she mad.
Parenting is a choice in my opinion. "CO-Parenting" is also a choice. 
I hope I can inspire people who hang on to negativity and control with their baby mama's and or baby daddy's to LET GO and do whats right for your kids. I am who I am today because my dad chose to set as best example as he could with co-parenting. Its unfortunate and things happen when it comes to relationships, and I definitely disagree with A LOT of Pella's fathers 'life choices' but I can only do whats best for Pella and maintain stability for her. Pella is 100% ENTITLED to love her dad, and feel her own emotions with life situations, I only hope her dad would say the same about me too, and right there I can sleep at night knowing co-parenting doesnt have to be the pits!
 I hope more people would do the same to preserve the good in our children and not wreck them with mental anguish!

  

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Parenting 101-TANTRUMS- A good read.

Probably one of the best things I've read in the last week, with exception to a child being cured from HIV.

I literally copy and pasted from Rebecca Thompson's blog called "CONSCIOUSLY PARENTING"
So here it is, ENJOY! I know we can all relate to TANTRUMS and the need to Connect with our children during them....





"I've been working on the part of my book about nurturing relationships.

Honestly, I found myself feeling kind of stumped. I've found that life circumstances sometimes create irony and laugh in the face of a writer trying to explore a particular topic. I've been blessed with a feeling of doubt- that I have no idea what I'm actually trying to say. Seriously. I've stared at this part of the book for days and days now and it was supposed to be finished last week.

And then, often, an opportunity arises to explore it deeply. Tonight, I had a moment where it all came together for me. Nurturing relationships is about taking the time and making the space for connection. Not just being in the same room or not interrupting. But connecting heart to heart.

It seems like a "duh" moment. Like I really didn't need nearly 40 years on the planet, 18+ years of schooling, and nearly 20 years working with families to come up with that.

But bear with me.

Nurturing relationships means moving in closer when others might back away. 

Like when your child is having a tantrum on the floor.

Or your spouse had a hard day.

It seems that many well-intentioned parents are trying to remain calm in the face of that tantrum. Somehow, we've got the idea that if we just stay happy or make it look like we've got it all together, our children will pull it together and we'll all get back to eating our soup or having a fun day at the park.

And add to that the "expert" chatter. We've been advised to ignore tantrums. We've been told to put our children in time-out. And if we're really trying to do something different, we might talk to them and mirror back what they're saying.

Or we try to fix it for them. Or give them what they say they want.

But what do they really need?

Connection. Deep, someone gets me, and feels it, too, connection.

They need to know that someone gets it. That someone gets them and feels it with them. That they aren't alone with the sadness, the anger, the frustration.

I'd go so far as to say that what your child needs, in essence, is the same thing you need when you're upset.

Tonight, I was upset. I was upset about times in the past when I've been alone with deep, painful emotions. With grief and loss. Add in some abandonment and rejection layered like a thick, heavy wet blanket and you've probably got the idea. Those painful circumstances are in the past, but the pain surfacing for me was very real.

Recently, I attended Adventures in Intimacy with my husband. This is an amazing weekend with Hedy and Yumi Schleifer ofwww.hedyyumi.com where they teach couples how to deeply connect with one another using a technique called Crossing the Bridge. When you "Cross the Bridge," you leave your own world on a shelf and come to visit the world of your partner. As the visiting partner, you repeat back what you hear your partner saying and ask, "Have I got you?" to make sure you heard and felt what they said.


As we crossed the bridge tonight, I felt seen and heard and felt. My husband can't make the losses of the past different, but he can be here for me now. I felt my body relax. Something really important happened for me in the space of our connection.

And this is what our children need from us, as well.

If you were upset and your partner or a friend came over and ignored you, tried to put you in time-out, or just repeated back the words you were saying in a monotone, you might become very upset. You'd probably have some words for your partner or friend about how you need someone to understand. You need someone to get you, not make it worse by creating a mosh of feelings including abandonment (leaving physically or emotionally) and/or rejection, even if that isn't their intention.

Think of someone you feel supports you- maybe a good friend or perhaps your partner. What does this person do? Do they try to fix it? Give you a solution? Send you away? Hang up the phone until you can calm yourself down? No.

Someone who supports you probably notices how you're feeling and stops what they're doing to be with you. This is someone who wants you to tell them more. To keep going. Who will help hold space for the tears, the anger, the frustration.

But adults are different, you may be thinking. They can at least tell us why they're upset!

True. Kids can't always tell us what they're upset about. Even if they're verbal, they may not know what's bothering them or be able to explain it in a way that someone can understand, either in the moment of the upset or later. Part of that is maturity. And part of it is the way the brain is wired. There aren't always words. If you've ever sobbed in someone's arms and not said a word, you know what I'm talking about here.

But we want to understand what is happening with them. If we don't understand WHY our child is upset, we tend to have less compassion. We feel like he just needs to get over it. And we push against our children to try to get them to straighten up and behave themselves.

Consider for a moment how frustrating it is sometimes to have a 2 year-old. All the hazards- busy streets, light sockets, hearing "no" at inconvenient times, not being on your own time table, but instead on the time table of someone who is completely focused on the centipede crawling down the sidewalk instead of getting into the car.  Now put yourself in the shoes of your child. Just feel what it must be like to be 2 and not be able to do all the things you want to do, go where you want to go, etc. It must be frustrating.

And this is just normal 2 year old stuff. This isn't thinking about other big things that may be happening in your child's life. (The grandma who just died, the tension in the home from her parent's stressful marriage, etc.) Put yourself in your child's shoes and feel that. That's enough. When you can feel it, too, there will be a connection.

And that's all your child is really needing in that moment. When we connect- truly, deeply connect- there is a shift in our child.Maybe his crying changes to a whimpering. Maybe she crawls into your lap. That's how you know you've connected.


I'll never forget a session with a mom, Brenda, and her 18 month-old daughter, Raina. Raina started screaming during our session when Brenda set a limit about nursing. This was one of those ear-piercing shrieks where you know you're either going deaf or it must stop. Brenda was doing a great job of holding the space for her daughter's feelings, but she wasn't connecting with her. Raina sat on the other side of the room and Brenda was using a gentle tone of voice. Between her daughter's screams, I asked Brenda how it felt for her to need to wean Raina and the tears began to fall. I suggested she tell Raina how hard it was for her (the mom) and that she knows it must be hard for her daughter, too.

As Brenda cried, Raina crawled up into her mother's lap in a cradle position (something she normally didn't do unless she was going to nurse) and cried a really sad cry. They cried together as mom softly talked about how hard it has been for both of them. And then, after about 5 or 10 minutes, Raina fell into a deep sleep in her mom's arms. Instead of the tantrum ending in more frustration for everyone and more disconnection, they understood one another. And they connected deeply in that space.


Children aren't trying to make our lives difficult with all their emotional expressions. They're trying to get support. They're trying to connect. And when we do connect with them, everything changes. They don't need to explode to get our attention. And if they do, we might have an idea of what to do to support them. A need when met will go away. A need unmet is here to stay.

Meet the need underlying the behavior and the behavior will not need to be there anymore.

It is all about connection, isn't it? That's what we're all looking for."

Monday, March 4, 2013

YES PLEASE!

Mim Pi is a  Dutch children's clothing company, that I accidently stubbled upon when I was browsing international clothing websites. Its pricey, but CUUUUU-UTE!







Friday, March 1, 2013

Perfect Sunny Day

Im going on day 3 with a nasty cold! Of course it happened to be the hottest, perfect day so far this year, and I's stuck inside my house plague ridden. I decided not to sit inside all day, it was just too nice out. I planted finished planting my spring garden which includes, Onion, Lettuce, Broccoli, Peppers, Cucumbers, Zucchini, Carrots, Beets, Sweet Peas, and Watermelon.
I also decided the exterior of our house needed a little landscape facelift, so I got a few plants to plant in  our front yard planters. I bathed my dogs, laid outside in the sun for a little bit and did a little house keeping, and MOST IMPORTANTLY Registered Pella for PRE-SCHOOL for the Fall!
I cant believe my baby is going to be going to be in Pre-school! :/







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