Friday Follow-up

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Don’t forget to enter our necklace giveaway by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter, then commenting here by 12 noon EST tomorrow!

Happy Friday! I hope you’ve had a great week! I’ve been super busy between work, rebraiding my hair and two large craft projects. Oh, yeah, and a toddler!

Jax had a spill yesterday while playing with sidewalk chalks with the sitter yesterday. He’s at that age where he thinks he is invincible (maybe that never ends for boys?) He took a few layers of skin off his forehead, but didn’t fuss about it.

Jax’s baby apple tree is doing great! So well that the roots were popping out the top and bottom of its little pot. So we went to the store yesterday and bought it a larger pot and some soil. It looks much happier!

I decided on my color scheme for Jax’s refurbished toy kitchen. I had thought about doing the tall cabinet as a magnetic fridge door when I got an amazing price on magnetic primer, but then I couldn’t get the door off! In the end, I decided I’d much rather save the primer for when I refresh his chalkboard. Then he can play with magnets on it! (I like these…) So the main body with be the same apple red as his chalkboard frame. the sink, door handle and shelf will get sprayed silver. The knobs are going lime and aqua to match his table. And the counter will be aqua. Because there was a lot of water damage on the counter, I will have to do some camouflaging there. I have aqua glitter paint if I want to do a retro glittery look then clear coat it. Or I can try a more speckled look. The glitter is certainly the easy route.

My quickly Photoshopped color plan (minus the clock)

So far the kitchen has been scrubbed, partially disassembled, sanded, and partially primed. I can’t take the clock hand off because they are on there with a strange brad. I’ll have to hand paint that area. My next step is to test the silver spray paint. If that works (I got a very small can) I will get it in aqua and lime for the knobs and counter.

Thrift Store Gems

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We hit the motherload at the kids’ thrift store today!

Jax has been having trouble sleeping due to teething, so we were up and ready for our day a little late. The local kid’s thrift store opens at 10 am, so we had breakfast to waste a little time before heading over. I was hoping for some board books and was keeping my eyes out for a wooden kitchen to refurbish. I didn’t expect to find one (they always had small, ugly plastic ones) so I planned to drive over to the adult thrift store after to check for small hutches I could convert.

But, what did I see when I walked in the door? A 100% wooden (be it mostly MDF) kitchen for $12.25! It is missing the large door (the shopkeeper offered to hold it for me if it turns up), but I think I’ll leave it open and put wire baskets on the shelves. The backsplash shelf is broken off but intact. The faucet needs to be reattached and some of the knobs are glued together a little wonky. All-in-all it just needs a good scrub (there is dirt and mulch inside it), a sanding, several coats of paint and some nails and screws.

I’ll have to get some number decals for the clock as it will get painted over. I’m thinking bright red for the whole thing, with all the door and accents in silver. Maybe a magnetic primer under the “fridge” door for magnets. Should I do something special to the backsplash? It will have its shelf halfway down. I love that the sink is wood so I can paint that too! If any of you hardware-inclined friends have suggestions on reattaching the shelf and faucet, let me know – L brackets under the shelf? This is going to be a fun, quick project now that I only have to paint!

     

We got lucky in other ways at the store too. I found 4 great board books for Jax. He is BIG into being read to now, and I have to read him at least a dozen books every night (or the same one 10 times!) The thrift store is great for books because they sell them for 10% of the cover price – meaning they were all 59 – 79 cents each! We found: Where Is Baby’s Belly Button? A Lift-the-Flap Book, Peek-A Who? (which has a mirror in the back), Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?.

I also got a Melissa & Doug Rainbow Stacker for $1.75. He has stackers, but those are his favorite toys and I like that this one is more advanced with smaller holes. He has to concentrate to put it together. We found Stride Right boots 1.5 sizes up from where Jax is now for $2.50. They are in perfect condition.

Do you thrift shop? I used to in college and only recently started up again. Reusing is great for the environment AND your wallet!

Necklace Giveaway!

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Time for a giveaway! The prize is a necklace handmade by me and perfect for fall. It would look great with both work and casual clothes. The necklace is made of beautiful green-blue stone beads with hints of yellow, round wood beads, small glass seed beads and a wooden pendant. The clasp is magnetic, so it’s easy to put on and off.

To enter, like us on Facebook (if you haven’t already). For a second entry, follow me on Twitter (if you haven’t already). Then come back here and leave a comment letting me know which of the two you completed. Make sure you leave an email address so I can contact you if win.

The contest will run until noon on Saturday. I almost want to keep the prize for myself, but I have one more pendant to make my own.

Good luck!

Link-o-rama!

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Did you have a nice weekend? They always go so fast… Jax has started teething again. He’s working on his canines now. Rough nights ahead!

I love having a little boy, but I am a little sad about the lack of Hello Kitty in my house. I grew up with her (and My Melody & Little Star Twins!)

Here are some fun links I’ve stumbled upon recently:

Hello, Pancake!

Enjoy your Monday!

Sunday Souvenir: My First Day of Ballet

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This photo always makes me smile. This was my first day of ballet. I took it when I was 4 and loved it. The teacher was a sweet family friend. I used to love this one dance we did where we put on pretty tulle skirts and were little windup dolls with cardboard and tin foil cranks. When my mother passed away from breast cancer shortly before I turned 5, my ballet classes were forgotten.

When I was in middle school, I rediscovered my ballet teacher in the community center by my school. I happily took classes from her until I graduated high school.

Did anyone else have one of these neat ballet boxes? They were more often in pink and had a little compartment at the bottom for your ballet shoes. They actually have one on Amazon!

       

Check out Ronalyn’s Sunday Souvenir: The Adventures of Esa and Zed

Leave a comment if you’d like to be added!

Jax’s 18 Month Painting

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Two hands? Why not!

We are keeping up with our monthly canvas paintings and I’ve really noticed a difference now that Jax is 18 months old.

He recently mastered dipping his food into sauces and dips. He calls it “di di” (dip dip). I laid out four plates of paint for him (hiding the bottles – he gets very distracted if he sees them), handed him a paint brush and told him to dip dip. And, he did without hesitation. He had a lot of fun dipping then making a few paint strokes before choosing a new color. It really looked like he was starting to understand he could paint a new color when he dipped in one first.

At the end of the painting I helped him make hand a foot prints on it to have a record of how big he was at 18 months old. Then we cleaned up together, with me washing him off and him splashing in the tub of water.

It came out great and he had so much fun! I’ll be hanging it on the wall as soon as I paint over the staples on the edge of the canvas.

Finished painting

Loving It: Gray & Aqua

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ACQ63VQU5386 I’ve been obsessed with the color gray since spring, but I’ve found my new favorite color combination: gray and aqua!

How sweet is this pom-pom hat from EcoStreet on Etsy? Perfect for boys or girls! The aqua is subtle in this BKE cardigan, but it would look great over a bright top. Or you could mix all the blues and grays in this drapey cardigan. And, I think I need a fairy godmother to get me this fringed purse from my wishlist! I may need to make my own version of this Lucky Brand necklace. More stuff: turquoise bracelets, baby boy zip-up fleece jacket, China Glaze nail polish, kids Yoga Mat Flip Flop, turquoise and amethyst earrings, and an infinity scarf on Etsy.

iPad Games for Toddlers

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A reader asked if I had suggestions for iPad game that toddlers would enjoy. Here are a few that Jax loves!

For young babies, Look Baby! is great!It has four simple activities: a teddy bear you can tickle, a butterfly that changes color, bubbles you pop and shapes that bounce around. Jax sends himself into a fit of giggle when he “tickles” the teddy bear and it laughs at him!

The graphic designer in me loves Interactive Alphabet. The illustrations are so bright and fun! Ever letter has a fun activity, plus you can sing along to the ABC song and watch a robot dance (the robot, of course!) at the end. Jax adores the train, the hamster hiding under a hat and the zipper. It’s on sale right now, so snap this one up!

The first game he fell in love with was Peekaboo Pets. We got it when it was free – it now costs $1.99. It would have been money well spent. Jax learned many animal sounds from pushing the buttons and popping the animals out. He calls the iad “Baa” because of the sheep in that game. He also learned to use one finger to push the button after starting out smacking it with his whole hand.

A more recent purchase was Nighty Night. Jax was enchanted by this half ebook/half game as soon as the narrator started to speak. The graphics are beautiful and the animations and sounds are cute. You can interact with all the farm house animals, then put the light switches to put them to bed. Jax used to just wave “night night” to them, but now he clicks off the lights and is so proud of himself! He loves the fish pond because the fish make silly faces and sounds.

I also recommend all of Sandra Boyton’s ebooks: The Going to Bed Book, Moo, Baa, La La La! and Blue Hat, Green Hat. It’s fun to be able to read those books when we are away from home. Plus, they all have fun interactive elements.

We most recently got Pat the Bunny. It is adorable! You can record your own auto, which I did on the iPad, and if you have a camera (like I do on my iPhone) your baby can see himself in the “mirror”. Every page has a different activity. Jax’s favorites are the nesting dolls, the velcro shoes and the kitchen band.

Hope these suggestions help!

Playground Bullies – What would you do?

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Jax is currently napping off our morning adventures… His daddy worked the overnight shift and Jax had trouble sleeping. That lead to him being crazy and loud right when my husband was going to sleep in the morning, so I got him out of the house.

I drove out to one of Jax’s favorite playgrounds that has an airplane theme. He likes that there are objects of all sizes to climb and play on – like this blue plane – and I like the the rubber ground. After playing for a while, we sat in the breeze and shared a mango smoothie. We walked hand-in-hand to the pet store and he pulled my hand to his mouth and gave me a loud kiss: “Mwah!!” So sweet.

To read more about our morning (we rescued a lost dog from a busy road!) visit my personal blog.

So back to the playground… There was a little girl around 2-year-old who had woken up on the wrong side of the bed. He mom was outside of the playground enclosure reading a book. Jax was steering the plane and she came up and edged him out of the way. “Okay, let’s give her a turn now!” I said and helped him step down. She followed us, reached out and shoved him by his head!

What would you do?

Luckily, Jax had no clue he was being bullied. I decided to speak up, and in the same calm voice I’d use for Jax, I said to the little girl, “No pushing, please!” before we headed off to another section of the playground. I heard her mom look up from her book and tell her to stop pushing a few minutes later, so I guess she found another victim.

I’m not looking forward to run-ins with bigger bullies later on. Have you had to deal with this situation?

Sunday Souvenir

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In April, my aunt and a dear family friend visited for three days from Colorado. They brought a wonderful surprise of boxes from my grandparents old house. Many things were my mother’s. I loved seeing them, as she died when I was very little. I plan to make a shadow box with some of her trinkets. I have a huge stack of drawings and letters I sent my grandparents over the years to go through. Looks like they kept everything!

The biggest surprise was the old kiddie car I remembered as always being at my grandparents house. I knew it was old, but my grandpa said on the phone that it had belonged to my grandma’s mom. Grandma was born in 1916, so that car is old! A metal piece was added to the steering rod by my grandpa at one point, and one of my mom’s cousins added a target sticker to the handle from a model airplane kit. But otherwise, it’s remained the same. I have a photo of myself riding it as a little girl.

It will have a place of honor in our home, and one day Jax can pass it on to his children.

Check out Ronalyn’s Sunday Souvenir: The Adventures of Esa and Zed

Leave a comment if you’d like to be added!