Bribery and Beauty

Jakson is SO close to being done with diapers. Hallelujah! I promised him a little surprise if he could start telling us when he needed to use the toilet. The alternative (peeing on the floor, in his pants, etc) was becoming irritating.

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times: bribery works, folks.
So sue me.

I used his current obsession (besides Disneyland) of dinosaurs to my advantage. Not everyone can say they own custom underwear, eh?
ROAR!

While Jakson has been busy potty training, Storey has been busy growing a mullet. And since last time I attempted to cut her hair was a disaster (she moved just as I was cutting her bangs. Crooked is an understatement), I had to finally figure out how to create pigtails. I do not know how you mothers of girls do it. I stand and applaud you.

Here is proof of my sad attempt. Disclaimer: This picture was taken after church and Storey had pulled her flower clip out a number of times. Pretend that the front is all swooped to the side and pinned back. I realize that's a lot to ask.It hides the party in the back well though. I don't care if the 80's are back-my stance on the hideousness of a mullet remains.

MARCH DONATION: LAYLA GRACE

Our family was so blessed in 2009. I can't even begin to tell you the miracles we witnessed through those around us. This year, my goal is to give back. Every month in 2010 I want to find a family, organization, etc. that I feel led to contribute to either through donations or time. This month (March-starting a couple days early), I will be donating 100% of the proceeds from the sales of my fuchsia tutus to Layla Grace's medical expenses. Layla Grace is a little girl who was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma and at this point doctors have given her less than a week to live. I can't imagine how her family must be suffering.

Please help me donate to this family. I chose to use the proceeds from the tutus because they have the largest profit margin and I want to be able to give as much as I can. If you have ever considered purchasing a tutu for your child, as a gift, or for your photography business, please let this be the time that you do it. I would love to be able to donate at least $400. With your help that sum is well within reach.

Read more about Layla Grace and her family here.Purchase your Fuschia Tutu for Layla Grace here.

COUNTING DOWN

We are making our final preparations for Disney! I'm so excited-mainly because Jakson is so excited (the daily tantrums continue, though we curb them with threats of "no Disney" if he doesn't stop. I'm not sure what's going to happen when I no longer have that bribe available to me, but I'm totally taking advantage of it while I do).

When we first planned this trip, we decided to pay for it solely from:
1. change we've been collecting
2. money from the shop and sewing lessons

Nothing is coming from Zak's paycheck. We're doing this for a myriad of reasons, but mainly because we really want to stick to a budget and this is a more motivating way to do it and we really need his paycheck to go other places. Like savings. Due to our unemployment stint last year, we're still pretty wary and hoard our money.

It's made the collection of funds fun. Jakson and I spent one evening sorting through all of the change and rolling it. $120 worth! I love slave labor that doubles as a learning experience. We talked about numbers, he helped me count, and then dropped the coins into the rolls-fine motor skill practice. Not only that, but he thought it was great fun.Can you tell he dressed himself? That is a bathing suit shirt. He still hasn't come to terms with the concept of winter.

I also signed up and printed off the coupons for our free Mimi's Cafe breakfast.

We bought Jakson a little disposable camera for his sole use at the parks. That way he can document the things that he thinks are important. Or just take a bunch of pictures of people's legs. When we get home, we'll put his pictures onto a CD and then possibly create an Artscow or Shutterfly album out of them.

My Disneyland Bible arrived and I've been reading through it during free moments (few and far between). It's so nice to have someone else (i.e. the book) plan my itinerary for me.

Can't wait!

FORTUNE COOKIES: GIVEAWAY

My sister-in-law Crystal came over Valentine's Day and brought with her delicious fortune cookies- that she made herself!! They were dipped in pink chocolate with sprinkles (YUM!!) and even had awesome custom fortunes inside. Perfect for the holiday of hearts. They were so much better than the crackyourteeth cookies you get at a Chinese buffet!!

Thus hatched a business idea. Custom Fortune Cookies. For parties, anniversaries, birthdays, Valentine's Day, wedding favors--there are so many possibilties. But Crystal is a smart woman and decided that she needs a little bit of input from potential customers before starting up shop.

That's where you come in.

Crystal is going to be giving away a package of 10 homemade fortune cookies (with custom fortunes inside!!) to TWO lucky winners in exchange for your feedback! Please be sure to read all of the rules before entering. The giveaway will end February 28th at midnight. You must have your email in your profile or leave it in your comment so that we can contact you.To enter:

1. Leave a comment answering the following question: What event would you purchase custom fortune cookies for?

2. For THREE extra entries: Complete this fortune cookie survey and leave a separate comment telling me you did.

3. One extra entry: Post about the giveaway (with a link) on your blog, Facebook page, or Twitter.

Wickeriffic

The bar stool height table we were using in our last house just didn't fit in our new kitchen, so after we moved here we had to find a new table and chairs. After a few weeks of looking, I found the perfect table at D.I but it, of course, did not come with chairs. A couple of days later when I saw an offer for four wooden kitchen chairs on Freecycle I jumped at the chance, not really knowing what I was going to end up with.

Thankfully, the chairs were in nice shape and already painted a green color that worked perfectly with the green at the art table. But the seat was made of an awful, falling apart wicker. So I added "cover kitchen chairs" to my list of things to do.

That was six months ago. Finally I got tired of sweeping up little shreds of wicker that Jakson was pulling off during meal time and added "cover kitchen chairs" to our goal sheet for February.

A couple of night ago, while I was working on some orders, Zak pulled out his staple gun, some foam, and the vinyl covered fabric I ordered back in September and turned this wickeriffic chairinto this absolutely terrific chair.No more wicker crumbs!

Hold the presses

We're finishing up day TWO of big boy underwear. And no accidents to speak of!
I thought the desire would never come, but thanks to a little motivation from Pixar this might be the final stretch.
The lesson?
I'll never stress about potty training again.
Kids will get around to it when they get around to it and no amount of pushing, bribing, humiliating, belittling, peer pressure, or rewards will do the trick if they just.don't.care.
Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!

Just wondering why although I bought THE smallest size of underwear available, they are still saggy.
My kid's a shrimp.

Do you believe in miracles?

I do not know the Staker family personally, but have been following their story that, for a myriad of reasons I won't go into now, hit very close to home. You may want some tissues.

God is good. So good.

Unrelated Items

Item #1: Become a fan of my (relatively) new Love, September Facebook page and be entered to win a personalized pillowcase in your choice of fabrics/color scheme!Oh, and you can choose the name too.

Enter giveaway here.

Item #2: This is the most awesome picture that has ever been taken of Jakson.Whatever I want to. Gosh.

Item #3: We're spending a romantic evening getting all of our tax paperwork together. Bleh.

Dinner Tonight

Zak cookeda romantic dinner for....four?
Just so you understand how amazing Zak is-he made lobster tail (oh, fancy!) for me even though he is allergic to shellfish.
That's chicken on his plate.
I felt very loved. It was so good!

Happy Hearts Day

Jakson's preschool party was today.
Of course he didn't want to go.
Instead he threw himself on the ground screaming "DISNEYLAND!"

Biggest mistake of 2010: Telling Jak about our trip BEFORE we arrived in the park.

Don't ask me what I was thinking when I showed him hundreds of pictures online (did you know there are a dozen different Flickr groups solely dedicated to pictures of Disneyland?) and hyped it all up. Obviously, I thought he'd handle the situation like a mature adult.

But he's three.

I will never let my excitement overrule "duh" again.

In the end, I convinced him to quit writhing on the ground with promises of an awesome party.
Fine, you caught me. I also told him if he got in the car I'd give him some marshmallows. Like you never bribe your kids.

I realized that before getting in the car I needed pictures to document his first Valentine's Day party, so more bribery occurred.
For the sake of posterity, folks. The greater good.Not sure why he felt the need to kiss the Rice Krispie heart...Finally we piled in the car with visions of conversation hearts and cartoon cards dancing in our heads. Well, at least mine-Storey was talking to herself about Bear (a stuffed animal that she actually refers to as "beer") and Jakson was still seething about our non-trip to Disneyland.

Fortunately, I was right (when will they learn?-I'm ALWAYS right) and the party was a hit. Jakson came home with a bag full of goodies and a smile on his face.

Only one month left of morning Disneyland tantrums.
Did I mention that he also started yelling "Disneyland" over and over last night around 10PM?
Anyone want to come visit? Our house is so fun!

Valentine's Day printable (free!) coloring cards from here. I am so jealous of talented people. And I love it when they are willing to share.
The Rice Krispie idea was from Family Fun-I just stuck a lollipop stick in the bottom of each one for extra excitement and wrapped them in plastic wrap (because that's what I had). You can buy lollipop sticks for about $2/package on the candy/cake making aisles of craft stores. I got them at Hobby Lobby, but I'm sure Joanns, Michaels, etc carry them as well. In order to cut the treats (with a cookie cutter) I had to wait until these had COMPLETELY cooled. I learned the hard way. Impatient people end up with Rice Krispie blobs.

Cinch Skirt Pattern

The Cinch Skirt pattern is FINALLY available in the shop.
Thanks to my fabulous, wonderful testers for helping me out.
This pattern is great for a beginner and a quick project for a more experienced sewer.
Fits sizes 6 months to size 7-8 in girls.

Read reviews from a few of my testers here, here, here, and here.

**All proceeds from the sale of this and all of the other patterns in my shop continue to go to Haiti until 02/12. Originally, I was only going to do this for a week, but every time I watch the news, I want to donate more. See all available patterns here.

Disney Give a Day

In 2008, we started saving for Disneyland.
Storey came along and two kids in diapers was expensive.

In 2009, we started saving for Disneyland.
Zak got laid off and we used the money to eat instead.

Now it is 2010-and we are GOING. TO. DISNEY!
Can you tell I'm excited?!?

In case you haven't heard, Disney's current promotion is the "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" program. Basically, you give a day of service to a participating organization, and you get a day at one of the Disney parks.

You can search for participating organizations and service opportunities available in your area here. We chose to make quilts for Project Linus. It was a great project for our family because it didn't involve leaving our kids for any amount of time. And I love that it involves two things I'm very passionate about--sewing and children.

You have to sign up through the Disney site and then someone from the organization will contact you to confirm the service date and give you any other information you need. If you are interested in making quilts, please make sure that Project Linus is participating in your area.

The qualifications for the blankets we sent in were:
between 40" x 50" and 50" x 60"
handmade, new
tied or quilted

*****************************************************************************************
Quick Project Linus Quilt Tutorial:
Zak made his own quilt-he was a first time quilter. If he can do it, so can you!

Cut out 63 blocks, each 6.5" square. This will make a quilt that is 7 blocks by 9 blocks, or roughly 42" x 54". Arrange your quilt in a way that you like and then take a picture of it. The picture will help you remember what order the blocks were in when you are stitching your quilt together. Use a 1/4" seam to stitch your blocks together one row at a time.Once the rows are finished, pin each row together, matching up seams and sew those together, starting at the bottom and going up.Once you have sewn all the rows together, your quilt top is complete!!

Project Linus doesn't have stipulations about batting, so I chose to use low loft. In my opinion, it's easier to tie through. I laid the batting down on the face down quilt top and layered the backing fabric on top. I used large safety pins to secure the three layers. Zak and I watched TV while we tied at the corner of each square with embroidery thread. There was a lot of TV watching going on while we made these quilts.

There are lots of ways to bind a quilt, but my favorite is making my own binding and hand sewing it. Sounds really complicated, but it is not. Again, Zak did this part as well (in front of the TV) so it can't be that bad. I would explain the whole process here, but why reinvent the wheel? My favorite tutorial for binding a quilt was written by the Old Red Barn Co. Detailed steps, great pictures, you can't go wrong.

Once you've finished the quilt, contact the person from Project Linus in your area to arrange a drop off date and two or three days later, a voucher for your free ticket(s) will show up in your email!******************************************************************************************
If you know me well, then you know a lot of planning/deal seeking has been put into this trip. We don't stop at the free tickets, people.

First off, if you are going to Disneyland/Disneyworld this year, you NEED to get a copy of The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland. Try your local library before purchasing. I've used versions of this book in both parks and it is invaluable. The Guide includes ride itineraries (depending on your party-with kids, without kids, big groups, small groups), ratings of the rides, and reviews of hotels/restaurants among other things. I love the itineraries.

The internet has been a great resource as well. The best "Get a Day" tip that I have discovered is if you take your ticket (your free ticket) back up to the ticket booth halfway through the day, you can upgrade to a multi-day park hopper ticket. Because you already have a one day/one park ticket, they will take $72 off of the price of the multi-day ticket. For instance, we're going to purchase 2 day park hopper tickets, which are $151 originally. That means that both Zak and I will end up each paying $79 for our 2 days. You can see all of the ticket prices at the Disneyland site. Be sure that you look at all of the box office rates-the internet prices do not apply!

The best hotel tip I've found is to use the Priceline "name your price" feature. I've read in many forums of families getting rooms for around $40/night (for a 4 star hotel) using Priceline. Sure, they may have to take a shuttle to the park or drive and park, but if it saves $50 or $60/night, I'm good with that!! We haven't booked our room yet, but I plan on starting at $35 and moving my way up (you can bid once a day). I'll let you know what kind of deal I get! **EDIT: I made an offer for $35 this morning and it was accepted! We are staying at the Holiday Inn. There is a shuttle to Disneyland that picks up directly in front of the hotel! Hooray!**

A few other helpful links:

• The Disneyland theme park calendar (click on the day that you are planning on attending to see the times of parades, ride closures, and hours of the park)
  
• When will it be busy at Disneyland forum -we actually changed the days we were going because of this forum!
• Mimi's Cafe eClub-sign up and get a free breakfast. There's a Mimi's Cafe pretty close to Disneyland and we plan on eating our free breakfast before going into the park. We are trying to eat inside the park as few times as possible. It's so expensive!! The coupon expires 15 days from sign up, so be sure not to sign up too early!
• Disneyland Dining Search-complete with menus and prices. If anything this will prove how expensive food is in the park!!
  
• Everything you ever wanted to know about how FastPass works
• FAQs about the Free Voucher

Have you been convinced yet to Give a Day?!?

The Big Reveal

Zak has been jealous of me since we got married-because I had a quilt and he didn't.

We'll call this phenomenon "Quilt Envy."

Since Christmas morning, he covets no more.

The backI know it looks complicated, but it's really an easy patchwork with a little twist. I followed the pattern Old Red Barn Co. has on her blog. I didn't have a chance to do the quilt-a-long when it was actually happening, but the steps were SO EASY to follow. I'm not a big quilter and I thought it was extremely simple. Really, don't be afraid beginners!!

I sent the quilt out to be machine quilted, but if I had to do it again, I would definitely send it locally. It took two months to get it back, which is why I didn't finish the binding until last week.

I love it, but better yet, Zak does.
Just in case you are curious, I used a mixture of Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Anna Maria Horner, Michael Miller, and some other no-name fabrics I picked up to fill in the gaps. If you want more specific details about fabrics, just let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to answer your questions!

Here's the story from A to Z....

Pick up at Jak's preschool is a little like a Spice Girl reunion gone wrong.

There's Sporty Spice--the mom that drops her kid off in full work out attire.

Every single day.
She's very committed. Or she just really likes work out clothes.
Sometimes she'll up the authenticity with a towel around her neck.
I can't tell if it's sweaty or not, but I believe her.

Baby Spice--the mom who looks about 17.
And has a three year old.
And two other kids.

Posh Spice is my favorite.
She shows up in 4 inch heels, a modest, but tight dress, her Blackberry to her ear.
Of course, her hair is perfectly coiffed with a Bump-it.
People, this is Utah.
Bump-it: don't leave home without it.

Scary Spice.
Wow.
Always looks like she rolled out of bed just in time to throw herself (and kid) in the car.
Lady, that's what a beanie is for.
But no, she definitely prefers the au natural look.

Ginger Spice is late everyday.
Her kid is always the last to be picked up and (I'm assuming) the last to arrive.
Unreliable just like the Spice Girl version who ditched her friends early for a "better" gig.
How many little girls did she devastate?

And then there's me.
I'm not exactly sure where I fit in.

Unkempt Spice?
At least I remember a beanie-the great equalizer.
If I'm wearing a beanie, you can't tell if my hair is freshly washed or hasn't been for days.

Frazzled Spice?
Why do children insist on fighting in enclosed spaces like the car?

Mommy Spice.
Seems the most fitting.
I now dress like a mom (sans the mom jeans, I'll leave that to Steve Jobs).
I definitely have the "wear kids' spit up and parts of their breakfast" look though.
I have mastered the mom glare,
not to be confused with the teacher glare, something I had down years ago.
My conversations consist of recounts of temper tantrums and attempts at toilet training.
And my kisses have healing powers bordering the miraculous.

Now if I could just learn all of those awesome dance moves.

I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want.

Bedtime

My favorite time of day.