i can't CONTAIN all my joy

ok, so layne drew names and the winner for the cute vinyl frames is AMANDA WILLIAMS! hooray for you...we are all jealous. when you get them up on your wall, you have to let me take a picture so i can show everyone in the world how you used them. so fun.

and for all you who are feeling sad about not winning, here is something to make you feel better. KLM dutch airlines is giving away free luggage tags with the picture of your choice downloaded on them. instead of luggage tags, i put mine on our diaper bags. on the back you can put your address, email, and phone number. but instead of the address you could write "ALLERGIC to PEANUT BUTTER"
or
"THIS CHILD IS NAUGHTY AND WILL STICK BERRIES UP HIS NOSE AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT." anyway, they give you 2 tags. very cool. click here to make your own.

ok, so here is a crafty craft to feast your eyes upon. when lila was on formula(don't judge me...traumatic event completely stopped my milk production), i had all these cans that i saved because i just "knew i could use them for something".

confession:
hello, my name is jami and i am a craft rat.

a craft rat is much like a pack rat, except with crafts. you know you are a craft rat if you:
*don't throw away ribbon from cards or gifts that people give you
*don't throw away tissue paper from gifts that people give you because you will re-gift them
*save every piece of scrap fabric or craft paper leftover from projects... like even pieces that are 1 cm by 1 cm.
*save buttons that fall off jackets for a future craft
*occasionally think about ripping buttons off old jackets for a future craft(but then you remember that you should give the jacket, fully intact, to the needy)

are you a craft rat? where ma' girl's at? show yourselves...come into the light.

anyway, back to the formula cans--i covered them with fabric(using hot glue) and ribbon and made receipt and bill holders. but these would be good for all your craft/office supplies. and if you are a craft rat, these are great to hold all that stupid crafty stuff you can't let go of.

then i had an oatmeal container and used that for a toilet paper holder in the bathroom because we don't have one on the wall.

see, the containers that i save do come in handy. i am mostly saying this to my husband who tries to throw these valuable containers away. don't stifle my creative energies, babe. mkay?

so yes, i went hog wild with containers. and i liked it.

as promised...a fun giveaway

how freaking cute are these vinyl frames made by BUTCH&harlod? you don't need a hammer, you don't need nails...all you need is an empty wall. oh, you aren't familiar with how vinyl stickers work? you just rub them on the wall and they basically look like you are an awesome painter. when you want to take them off, you apply heat with a blow dryer and they come right off. by the way, etsy has so, so, so many cute vinyl stickers it will make you throw up with joy.

I have a bird on a tree in lila's room from singlestonestudio (a shop in etsy) her's is black and red as to go with the decor of course. so many people have asked me if i painted it. my response is usually, "yes, aren't i awesome?" but in my heart, i know i should tell them the truth about vinyl stickers and how easy they are to put on a wall.

back to the frames:

idea 1: put them in your living room above your couch. oh wait, that idea is shown in the picture displaying the frames. still a good idea.

idea 2: place them in your child's bedroom with their artwork in it. um, so cute.

idea 3: put them in your bedroom with pics of you and your husband making out. wait, that's a bad idea.

idea 4: put them in your kitchen with your utensils hanging in the middle. this would require you nailing nails into the wall--but c'mon, you can handle that.

idea 5: place them at children's level and paint chalkboard paint in the middle. how fun. and what a great way to create artists that will possibly fund your retirement.

idea 6: put them by your front door with hooks in the middle for keys. because you lose them. every day.

i could go on and on... but i won't. i want you to tell me your ideas. SO, if you want these frames, leave a comment with your best idea. i will draw a name and pick a lucky winner to have these 8 vinyl sticker frames!! csn.com will ship them directly to your house. did i mention their cute crib bedding?

can i enter my own giveaway? i want these. bad.

sweet treats day highlights personalities.

i think this fist picture epitomizes the statement, "every child has their own personality."

from day 1, layne has been serious and smiling only comes from the depths of his soul--you really have to catch him on a good day to experience a happy heart(mmm, teenage years here we come). he does laugh a lot and is a well-behaved child for the most part. but man, he is a "serious sam".

then there's lila. she will laugh at anything. she is mostly always happy. she will eat anything(not excluding a bounty of leaves). very laid back. will go to anyone. in fact, loves strangers.

a lot of times us parents like to take credit for our kid's personalities or how smart they are. but the more children i have(i know, i only have two), the more i think we really have little control over personality traits, intelligence, and sometimes behaviour. i'm not saying we should let children be raised by wolves or not teach them manners and morals--we should. definitely. but we should probably be a touch less judgemental towards other parents because they have a crazy kid. in target. screaming, "gimme that transformer!". wait, was that layne?

anyshway--layne walked at 10 months, lila is 13 months and has no interest. layne was reading at the 4th grade level at 12 months, lila thinks a book is for snack time. layne is mr. angry toddler with grandpa(most of the time)...and lila is obsessed and laughs hysterically with him. the differences are funny, mostly because i didn't really do anything different with them in the raising department. this further bolsters my argument.

whatev. too many deep thoughts for one post.

please enjoy our "sweet treats day" pictures(or "halloween"as the rest of the world calls it). layne was an orange ninja turtle, lila was a pig, mommy was a pig farmer(please note i'm wearing a bbq sauce necklace...guess who's gonna get eaten!) and daddy was a ninja. hi-yah!

i know i said this would be the giveaway post for the awesome vinyl art, but i forgot about sweet treats day.

next post, i promise.

and sorry the pics are so over exposed. my bad.

mowing through preschool. that's m'boy.

i haven't posted about this little man in a while. so here is his update:

as you all know from a certain previous post, layne hated school. like, peed-on-himself-everyday kind of hatred. well now, after many a cinnamon sugar bagel bribe, he's a blooming preschooler with a happy heart. that doesn't mean he stays out of tomfoolery of all sorts. for instance, a couple weeks ago he stuck a berry up his nose and the teachers couldn't get it out. this can be dangerous...unless you're a filipino nose berry master.

the teacher's tried everything to get the berry out. and right before they were about to call me (wouldn't be the first phone call from preschool), they asked him if he needed anything. he said, "just a drink of water, thank you." he took a sip and then, with ONE hefty blast of nostril glory, shot it out of his nose.

he told me the story of how he got the berry out over and over again... with such pride and surprise. like it was an awesome accomplishment. i'll give it to him, it was. he saved me from taking him to the doctor and spending $100 on the removal. i raise my (juice) glass to you, layne nato.

a couple weeks before that, he and his buddy told the teacher they were cousins. mind you, these are three-year-olds pulling this stuff. when i came to pick him up they asked me if layne had a cousin in the other class. i wanted to say, "is the kid brown? then no. not related." i foresee more shenanigan's from these two "cousins" in the very near future.

anyway, one great thing about layne is that he mows the leaves for us( i.e. spreads the pile of raked leaves all over the yard with his fake lawnmower). back in the olden days, children were used as little employees. although i think that concept is a touch outdated, i rather enjoy the thought of layne with a real lawn mower doing real chores. when he's older. like five at least.

ok, and if you read this far you shall be rewarded with knowing the future. in my next post i'm giving away some vinyl wall art from CSNbaby.com -- they have some really fun room decor and some super cute crib bedding if you're in the market for that sort of thing. so stay alert...you will want this prize whether you have babies or not!

spilled milk

oh little fat feet...who can get enough of them? ok, me...sometimes. (but they look very cute all black and white). to get away from the little feet, i am taking a photography class this semester at the local juco. what i mean is, i just dropped my photography class at the local juco--it was every tuesday and thursday nights for three hours. too much of a commitment for me at this point in my life. but the idea was nice, wasn't it? first, i missed 2 weeks of class because of the stupit' swine flu. then, we sold our house and will be moving to a new one in december... the perfect time to move (sarcasm oozing). like i'll have time to finish out that class with dignity.

i will say, i learned a lot about my camera and how much i don't know about photography. i learned to shoot manually instead of on automatic. it's way cool. you never realize how much better the pics are when you stop letting the camera do all the work. my photography teacher said that if you let the camera set all the functions for you, it will always take something away from the photograph. hmmm, deep thoughts. what are you missing in your photographs? so that is my challenge to all of you...if you have a nice camera, take it off automatic. find someone to teach you how to shoot manually--most photographers will be willing to show you if you just ask.

that is literally all i learned in half a semester. most of the time in class, i harassed fellow classmates and asked them way too many personal questions. we had a lot of good laughs and got in trouble often for being too rambunctious. i sat in between a 21 year old and a 60 year old. they both entertained me with their artistic viewpoint and thier views on relationships and life. and side note, when you don't care about the grade, college feels a lot different. it feels... i don't know... fun.

so ya, i'm just trying to make myself feel better for spending 300 dolla dolla bills on a class and not finishing. i guess there's no reason to cry over spilled milk. if you are smart, you'll follow lila's example and play in the spilled milk.

so hmmm, maybe i'll be able to take another class when i'm an empty-nester and actually finish it. i have 20 years to prepare i guess.


oh and....LISA won the onesie!! i will mail that to you next week...what size is your platypus wearing anyway?

i need "the patch"

well we've been too sick to go to the pumpkin patch this year, so i thought we'd reminisce.















these shots are from 3 years ago when layne was our only love and lila was an accident waiting to happen. (sorry, they are pixilated...i pulled them from an email. go with it.)

it's the middle of the day and children are around, so clearly i was drinking root beer in that first picture. oh, it looks like i've had an alcoholic bev or 2...or 5? no, that's just me being normal. but i get asked that all the time. to further bolster my case that i'm not a drunken mother hopped up on expired prescriptions, watch this:

what? that also looks like i was sh-wasted? don't all mother's river dance in public?


moving along, here are pics of last year's pumpkin patch extravaganza. yes, my son has a bowl cut. no, HE is not a little girl.



maybe we'll make it to the pumpkin patch this year, but i don't know. there is just so much going on and memories can wait can't they? wait, no they can't. we will go. we will go. we will go.

and this time, i'm giving up the river dancing and root beer in exchange for making friends and looking normal. i think. you'll just have to stay tuned to see what happens...

oh and next post i'm drawing names for the onesies. get excited!

a cornucopia of crafts. get it?

well i don't know about you, but i am not going to let a little cold weather stop me from celebrating fall with a few crafts. you might go so far as to say perhaps this craft is even guilty of flipping off "old man winter". i would never flip anyone off. but if a craft does it, is it so wrong? these are questions that will only be answered upon entering Heaven.

all that to say, this is my latest fall installment placed in a prestigious art gallery. the lamp is put there to make it look like it's in my home. ok, you're too smart, this is my home. this was an empty frame that my husband and i built a while ago and has been on the wall-- empty-- for 2 months. i was totally planning on putting smaller framed pictures in the middle, but alas, our home is on the market and i didn't want to put anymore holes in the wall. i already had the pictures printed and i bought these awesome paper leaves at the dollar store last month. so, cheap craft for me. but if you did this at your house it would cost you maybe $3 total for printing pics and buying leaves.



and below is my new birdie. i do love the other bird that i have been sewing on clothes, but i needed a new one to keep things fresh. this is what i came up with. so simple. two circles and a triangle for the beak. BLADOW.






who wants a birdie onesie? if you comment, i'll do a drawing or something. if i'm feeling generous, perhaps everyone will get a onesie. if your kids are too big for a onesie, too bad, gift it to someone who has a tiny papoose.

forgot to mention, i have boyish fabric too. so if you have a man-child i'll make a man bird.