DIY Easter Baskets

I'm sure that it is a little late for anyone to decide to throw together an Easter basket project, but I wanted to share the baskets I finished for the boys anyway! Maybe you can "Pin it" for next year?!

I wanted the boys to have matching baskets and when I took a look at what as out there, I thought that I could probably DIY it for much cheaper and be happier with the finished product. So, using a couple of Dollar Store baskets, and some scrap fabric (from this project), I got to work!

I didn't have enough fabric to make a full liner for the basket, but there was just enough to trim the edges. To do this, I simply sewed a very long rectangle, and folded it around the top edge of the basket. 

I secured the fabric with a small piece of velcro, and added a piece of twine. I painted a couple of wooden letters and attached them with hot glue.

I wonder what goodies the boys will find in their baskets this Sunday??

Happy Easter!

xo

A spring bird feeder...

Good morning! Today I am over at The Taylor House sharing a fun kid's craft for springtime. Take a second to check it out!

Don't forget to check out some of Chrissy's other great posts and the incredible features from her "Pinterest Power Party"!

Organizing kid's medicine...

Why is it that our children's symptoms always strike in the middle of the night? I can't count the number of times I've had to frantically search my cupboards, in the dark, looking for Tylenol to ease the pain of teething or treat a fever. Up until now, I had kept all of our kid's medicine in a small travel bag. This worked well for tossing in a suitcase, but was not ideal for quick access at home. I decided that with a growing collection of lotions and potions, it was time for an upgraded system!

I started by picking up this tackle box at Canadian Tire. I gathered all of our kid's medication into one spot and tossed anything that wasn't being used or had expired. I was happy to see that everything fit nicely into the box, including measuring spoons and droppers, with room for anything else we may need to add!

In order to save more night time frustration I printed up a fever chart and a dosage chart for Infant and Children's Tylenol as well as the Advil drops... my eyes can never focus on the small print at 3:00 am! 

I attached the 4 charts with a ring clip and tucked them into a little pocket, made from paper and tape, on the top of the storage box.

 I'm hopeful that the worst of cold and flu season is behind us, but poor Henry has some pretty 

swollen looking gums that will keep us up in the night's ahead... wish me luck!

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Mini Egg Blondies...

I was looking for a fun recipe for a "Girls Night In" when I stumbled upon (this pin), that I had found a few months back. The recipe was for Cake Batter Blondies that had both white chocolate chips and rainbow sprinkles... they looked fabulous! However, I wanted to make a few changes to "Easter them up" a little so made a few adaptations...

Here is the recipe, you can throw the batter together in about two minutes, but they do take about forty minutes to bake.

Ingredients:
1 box of Rainbow Bit cake mix (I used Betty Crocker)
1/4 C canola oil
1/4 C table cream
1/4 C milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 200g package Cadbury Mini Eggs

Combine cake mix, oil, cream, milk, egg and vanilla in a large bowl and stir until the mixture is smooth. In a separate bowl smash Mini Eggs (I used a mortar and pestle). Stir half of the smashed Mini Eggs into the batter. Pour batter into a greased 8x8 cake dish/pan. Sprinkle the remaining smashed Mini Eggs over the batter and bake for approximately 40 min. The blondies are finished when the edges are golden and crispy and the middle is still quite soft (they will harden as they set). Allow blondies to cool for 20 minutes before slicing and removing from the pan.

I think I'll make some more for Easter brunch!

Enjoy!!

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*#%* my three year old says...

Andrew has joined the rest of the world in the asking the question that society has been pondering for almost 80 years...

"Mama, why Donald Duck wearing a shirt but 

he's got no pants on?"

Bunny Taggie Tutorial

Yesterday I decided that with Easter just around the corner, I better make Henry the Bunny Taggie that I have been dreaming up for the past few weeks. It was a fairly quick little project, but as a sewing beginner (maybe turning the corner on novice), I made my share of mistakes! I took pictures along the way so that I could put together a little tutorial for you, but you'll have to forgive the lack of technical sewing terms!! You can download and print the pattern here if you would like to make one yourself!

For this project I used a coordinating set of flannelet remnants that I picked up at Walmart, but any scrap fabric would do. It would also be a good way to repurpose old receiving blankets.

First, place two pieces of fabric, right side together, trace the "body" and cut. 

Using a different fabric, fold over a strip wide enough to accommodate the "belly". Place the pattern piece along the folded edge, trace and cut. Using the same technique and varying fabrics, cut out four "outer ears", two "inner ears" and one "muzzle".

Once all of the pieces are ready to go, it is time to sew the muzzle and belly to the bunny's body. I was concentrating so hard that I missed one important detail.... the ribbon whiskers (wouldn't be much of a "Taggie" without them!).

There wasn't much I could do to fix that mistake... so I started again.

 This time remembering to carefully tuck three pieces of ribbon under each side of the bunny's muzzle.

On to the ears! First, sew the "inner ear" to the front of the "ear". Then place the front of the ear 

and the back of the ear right sides together. Sew along the perimeter, leaving the bottom open. Turn right side out and iron flat. Then, to get the "crinkle effect" that babies love, stuff the ear with your noisiest grocery bag and sew the bottom closed.

This is where it gets tricky... Lay the front of the bunny body down, placing his ears at the top of his head, but folded down over his body. The ears should not be flush with the edge of the fabric, but overlap by about 1cm. Then, carefully fold in the whiskers, and lay the back of the bunnies body directly over top (right side down). Pin this whole little package together and sew around the perimeter, taking extra care around the ears to ensure your needle goes through both pieces of fabric. Remember to leave an opening large enough to stuff the bunny through.

Turn the little guy right side out... and... wait for it... Yay! It worked!! (I always hold my breath waiting for something to fall off at this point!)

Use a permanent marker to add eyes and a nose. Buttons would be cute for an 

older child, but not safe for a baby.

Almost there! Fill the body with cotton batting and add a few bells. To close the opening, tuck the edge of the fabric in to line up with the seam and iron flat. This is where knowing how to do that fancy invisible stitch would come in handy, but I don't, so I always just sew around the perimeter again. I decided to keep going all the way around, to make it look uniform, but I forgot to watch for the poor little guy's whisker!

I was definitely not starting again at this point, so I just ripped those stitches out and called it complete!

As it turns out, Henry loves it even though it's not perfect!

Happy Easter, Bug!!

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Menu Planning for Baby...

Now that Henry has been enjoying solids for over a month, the variety of foods he is eating is growing quickly. We have also just added lunch to the menu, which means a full three meals a day! Sometimes I find it difficult to keep track of what he ate and when he ate it, which means it's very likely that he will have the same dinner three nights in a row. I know I wouldn't enjoy that, so I thought it was time to come up with a menu plan! 

I find dinner time to be the most chaotic in our house. Rob is rarely home from work, Andrew is getting restless and Henry seems to go from happy to hungry in the blink of an eye! Knowing what is on the menu, and having it thawed in the fridge is a great step in the right direction. Also, in the very rare event that I get to leave the house and someone else feeds my kids, they will know the plan!

At the beginning of the week I will sit down and fill out the menu, knowing what I have on hand, and what new foods I would like to introduce for the week. It is recommended to introduce new foods slowly, giving baby at least three days with each new addition before trying something else. I have left a space for comments on the menu where we will keep track of his likes and dislikes, whether he has missed a meal or any adverse reactions (gas, constipation) he may experience. 

The second part of my plan uses these adorable little jars! I wanted to be able to label the meals in the fridge so that they would be easy to identify. What better label is there than a little bit of Chalkboard Paint! I used  baby food jars, but may switch to the small mason jars once Henry is eating larger amounts. *Be careful to keep the paint away from the inside of the lid, where it may come into contact with baby's food*

Each night, I quickly check Henry's menu, pop the frozen food cubes into the jars, label with chalk and place them in the fridge for the next day! I thaw few servings of fruit for his dessert as well. I am loving that his meals are thawed and ready to go (especially when I remember on my way out of the door that he will want some lunch before we return)! 

I had so much fun designing Henry's menu that I decided to make a few more for you!

If you would like to print one off, simply save the JPEG file below and print! It is also super easy for me to customize this printable, so if you are interested in one with your baby's name, send me a message on my Facebook Page, I would love to hear from you!

Happy menu planning!!

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Henry is 7 months!!

Happy St. Patrick's day, from our little leprechaun! What a coincidence, "lucky 7" on St. Patty's day!

This past month saw some pretty awesome gains in the Henry department! The biggest one for me was the two straight weeks of 8 hour sleeps! I was beside myself with delight when this little man conceded to sleeping most of the night, so excited and surprised that it took me a week to sleep for all 8 hours myself! Unfortunately, the inevitable (and painfully slow) arrival of his top teeth have put us back to waking twice through the night... Oh well, we will get back on track later. Henry has been enjoying all sorts of new food this month, and has become quite a pro at sitting up all by himself!

We spent some time in Bowmanville (with my family), where Henry enjoyed a nice visit with his Great Grandma (aka GGMa). It was fun to see how they both enjoyed inspecting each other, Henry exploring her shiny glasses and GGMa investigating his toes and chins!

The interactions between Andrew and Henry have been amazing! Henry is always so happy to see his big brother and it is already so obvious that he idolizes him! He was so excited, in the picture above, to sit up like a "big boy" in the grocery cart, and Andrew was very proud to have him there! I can't wait for the snow to finally stop and the mud to dry up so we can get outside and play!