New Journey . . . {updated}

I really have some supportive followers!! I haven't done much at all in a really long time, so for so many of you to come back every. single. day is humbling to say the least. Thank you!

I have decided to change blogs and my blog name. There are a few reasons for this which I have explained over on my new blog.

Nurturing Wildflowers

Again, thank you for always supporting me and following my silly blog even though I go months without posting sometimes.

See you over there!

Lyric

{Christmas} Tablecloth

I know that I am the. worst. blogger on the planet. I truly do love to do it, but to be honest "crafting" just does NOT fit in my life lately. I hate that it doesn't! I really am going to try to squeeze it back in, but let's be honest; I've said that a gazillion times. I really do need this as an outlet though. I sometimes feel so overwhelmed by the daily grind that this would be a fabulous "escape" at times.

Anyway, this isn't extremely detailed, but I have a few people asking me about this tradition of ours. I started it back in 2008 and I'm SO glad I did! I love love LOVE looking back to previous years. It's our Christmas Tablecloth. We put it on our table starting on Thanksgiving night when we put up our Christmas decorations. Part of our night is signing the tablecloth as a family, then as the days go by and people come over to visit they also sign it. Then, when things are taken down after Christmas I'll work on stitching over the names for the next couple of weeks . . . tuck it away for next year and start all over again. I don't let people eat on it, when we eat we take it off, or if one person is eating they'll just push it out of the way while they eat.

We love it, and I love to think that someday it will be an even greater family treasure.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Reward System

I have a . . . let's just say . . . challenging 3 year old. She's my third daughter and for some odd reason she came totally different than the other two. Why they all have to come different is a mystery to me {kidding}, but nonetheless, I had to figure out yet another discipline/reward system for her. Let me tell you right off, for her personality, this system has been AWESOME.

I hunted and hunted for some way that she could earn something {like the sticker on a chart type of system} where she could really see her accomplishments. For a long time we did a "token" system where when they did something good, nice, helpful . . . they got to put a token {a.k.a. poker chip} into a pail that they had decorated. This system did NOT work for her. I think because she could see her tokens unless I took her pail down and showed her. I knew I needed something that she could "show off" and the sticker thing bugged me because they weren't easily taken away. SO . . . I found these . . .

. . . at Target and thought PERFECT!! I knew I'd need to figure out how to put them on the wall but I figured that wouldn't be too big of a problem. Luckily when I got them home I noticed they had a certain piece {see top picture} that actually hung perfectly on a nail. WIN.

SO, here's the system: We were in the car and decided to call them something . . . the girls . . . after about 50 different names, decided to call them "gems"

When I notice them being good, doing something nice, doing things right when I ask them to without an eye roll . . . yes, that's a challenge for these girls of mine . . . I'll let them pick out a gem and hang it on their chain.

I have the right to take them away for back talking, being mean to their sister, not doing what they know is expected of them, etc. BUT once they get to 10 gems they get . . . 

 . . . one "spark" . . . yes they named these too. They decided that they can be sparks so that when they get a lot they'll be "sparkles" . . . GIRLS! haha

I bought a bag of the thicker craft sticks, pulled out the paint and we all decorated them, glued a sparkle on them and stuck them in a jar for them to pick them out when they "cash in" their 10 gems.

 Once they get "sparks" I can't take them away. They can save them for bigger prizes or spend them when they get them. I have a chart with things like:

2 sparkles: picnic at the park

4 sparkles: frozen yogurt

5 sparkles: Sea World for the afternoon {we have passes FYI . . . I don't fork out that kind of dough!}

So far it's working like a "gem". We went on vacation for a week and a half and didn't use them and let me tell you, this girl did a 180 and was back to her . . . ways . . . in a matter of a couple of days. 

THE Best Chocolate Chip Cookies . . . by FAR!

My daughter went on a field trip to the USS Midway and brought me home this chocolate chip cookie recipe. My husband made them today and they are THE best cookies we've ever made. SOO good!! Enjoy.

1 lb butter, cream well {that isn't a typo . . . one pound!}

2 cups granulated sugar and 2 cups brown sugar: add both to butter and cream together

2 eggs, 2 tsp. vanilla: add both to the mixture

2 tsp. baking soda, 1.5 tsp. salt, 4 cups and 8 Tbsp flour: combine these and then add to the mixture

1 bag chocolate chips {large}: stir into batter. 

{we didn't have a whole bag so we used about 1/4 bag of milk chocolate chips and 1/4 bag of white chocolate chips. In our opinion they turned out perfect!}

Spoon onto sheet and bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Don't give up on me!!

Wow, life has been a major roller coaster the past couple of months. The biggest blog set back lately {aside from summer of course} was that we were forced out of the house we were renting. The owners had to move back in and gave us 30 days to find something . . . only thing is . . . we couldn't find a THING!! So frustrating. Luckily we found something when we had a week left to get out. Big. Relief. SO, we held a garage sale to put toward our charity organization, Charish's Hope {charishshope.blogspot.com}, and made $300. Awesome! The next day, our house flooded . . . total bummer seeing as we only had a week left in there! Next day . . . my car got broken in to where I stupidly left my purse WITH the $300 fundraised money. REALLY!!?? Not only that but after my sister passed away I decided to use her wallet where I kept a few special things . . . like pictures of us etc. All of which was taken. Sad day for me . . . nonetheless life has been crazy with all of that junk {replacing EVERYthing basically. Who doesn't keep everything in their diaper bag?}and with the move . . . I truly H.A.T.E moving . . . things of the "crafting" nature have taken a back burner. So today I decided to get on and post something that I had done and never posted, only to find that the computer that actually works when I try to download pictures, in fact does NOT work. Sigh . . . so here we are, on the computer that "works" but doesn't work for what I need it to. I am in serious need of fixing that stinking computer so that I can get back to doing what I love to do while sharing my ideas with you.

So . . . I'm once again asking that you don't give up on me. Someday I WILL get my act together. Until then . . . please hang tight! Thank you!!!

More Fabric {Flowers}

 Day one of our paper chain activities was to make fabric flowers. My girls have been asking me to teach them for a while now, so it was fun to teach them how to do it. I recently posted a different kind of fabric flower {here} if you're interested. This isn't the best tutorial. I was trying to focus more on helping them figure it out than taking step by step pictures, but I did take a few and I'll try to explain it the best I can!

We cut 2 inch strips of fabric, folded it in half long ways, and stitched {using a long stitch. I used the longest stitch that my machine goes to. That way it's easier to bunch up the fabric} along the raw edge side leaving long "tails" of thread on either end. 

Taking one of the two threads on one end hold it tight while bunching up the fabric. Be really careful not to break the thread . . . if you do you'll have to re-stitch it and start again.

 My 9 year old wanted to make her friend a "bright pink" flower clip. She told my daughter that she's the nicest friend she's ever had today . . . made her day! I guess this is her "thank you." I didn't take pictures of the process, but once the fabric strip is bunched all the way, I started at one end and wound it around itself, hot gluing all along the way {wrap, hot glue, wrap, hot glue . . .}. Once we got it wrapped all the way around she cut out a felt circle and a clip and hot glued it to the underside. 

 Didn't it turn out super cute!?

 My 7 year old decided to also give something to her friend. She wanted to glue a flower onto a green pipe cleaner, but I ran out, so she decided it might be a cute idea to use a pencil for the stem. We just hot glued one end of the flower to the eraser side of the pencil, then wrapped around just like the first one {wrap, hot glue, wrap . . . you get the picture}

 After the whole thing was wrapped around the end of the pencil she cut a felt circle with a slit in it . . . 

 then I hot glued it to the bottom to hide all of the loose edges.

 My goofy daughter smelling her hot glue smelling flower. Fun little project . . . although I wouldn't let them hot glue. I've been burned one too many times and didn't want to deal with little burned fingers and tears. 

Paper {Chain}

It's ALMOST the end of the school year . . . about this time every year my girls get really REALLY unmotivated to wake up and be happy that it's a school day. Last night while discussing ways that we can enjoy the next couple of weeks my 4th grader came up with choosing a fun activity for every day until the end of the school year. In that idea I decided to help them make a paper chain where they could write different activities of their choice on each link.

They made a list of WAY too many things . . . so after some long discussion we got their list down to 17 things . . . one link for every day (even weekends) until the end of the school year. I went through my junk . . . er . . . I mean drawers of scrapbook paper {That's right . . . I went through "the scrapbooking" phase} and cut 1 1/2" strips.

We numbered all of the strips according to the dates we have left, and after looking at the calendar to make sure we didn't over schedule any of our days they wrote out their chosen activities on the strips.

{Notice the 6. Go to Golden Spoon strip? That's because I'm holding a fundraising event that night for an organization I started after my sister passed away called Charish's Hope. If you live close to Poway California and want to come support us and the American Heart Association come! June 6th from 6-10pm. I'll be there!}

Then after making sure we put them in the right order we taped the links together to make our chain.

The next couple of weeks are going to be action-packed . . . they're SO excited! Okay, I am too . . . especially for that "make brownies or cookies" day . . . bring ON the chocolate! ;)