boots - Forever XXI super dupe clearance (but these are similar and much cuter)
skirt - Goodwill (altered)
sweater - Banana Repub via thredUP
Yeah, yeah. Yadda, yadd. Outfit photos of the millennium. We had about 47 seconds before Mass on Saturday night to snap these and it was windy and okay those are my only excuses. I asked Simon what he thought of photo number second and he said, "well, aren't the weirdest faces the most bloggable?" so. But rather than skip posting I tend to opt for quantity over quality around here. Always.
Okay so back to Saturday night. I know it sounds awful and possibly sinfully blasphemous but whenever Simon works on Sunday and we have to go to the hour long Mass it feels a little bit like walking the plank of doom. Simon's recovering from his 24 hour shift, I'm recovering from Simon's 24 hour shift, and the kids are at the delicious just-up-from-naps-and-ready-for-dinner-not-half-a-granola-bar-in-the-Odyssey phase of the evening. You know it well, I'm sure. So it's always nice when the kids aren't too twitchy and terrible and we only have to hiss a couple of, "yes, if you're good you can watch Dora Snow Princess!!" instead of one of us taking Sebastian out for one too many hymnal page rips/limb thrashes.
I think I'm going to make Sebastian start wearing a sign that reads, "just shake my hand during the sign of peace or risk breaking my heart into a million shards" because ALL he wants out of his pew/jail time is some hearty handshakes and all he's been getting lately are terse smiles and quick nods in his direction. I know kids are germy and maybe even contagious but I know you keep one of those little bottles of sanitizing gel in yo purse. I know it.
Okay. I started this post yesterday but then it was interrupted by a certain someone and his crap nap (the worst kind, the short nap, the one that foils all plans of blog posting and um other noble things) so I'll keep on huffing and puffing. I decided to move past the simple coloring stage of art time (four minutes always, these kids and their attention spans) and go wild last week. I reallllly talked up the fact that we were going to do, "arts and crafts" after naps and the kids had no idea what in the bleep I was talking about but were still "so es-sided!!!" and so when it was all said and done Julia announced ...
"I just love arts and craps! What kind of crap should we do next??"
And I think we've all peaked. Right here. If anyone has any (SIMPLE) ideas .... I am alll eyes. I started a Pinterest board but ... snore.
Okay the only way to save this post and really make it sparkle would be to throw you a meal plan. Razzle dazzle. And that's something I've yet to master. So I'm off to see about some bread bowls for tonight because it's 4pm and I fly by the strings of my apron and then I need to research some crap - for the kids.
oh!! and there's one medium ad and two small ads left for the month ... if you wanna.
Oh my... come sit by us at Mass. Paul is an avid hand shaker and will hold his hand extended over two rows during the sign of peace while he does the death stare until the one person he's picked has accepted his gracious offer.
ReplyDeleteI love arts and craps too!! Are you sure you weren't a camp counselor? : )
Not gonna lie....my kid's in preschool partly (greatly) because I hate arts and craps.
ReplyDeleteHA. did I not make it clear this was a huge labor of love? I'm with you. Big time!!!
DeleteI loved arts and craps but my son did not. All he wanted to do was build legos. Giant SNORE! oh well, he turned out OK...I guess. LOL! Dinner sounds yummy. Hope you find the bread bowls your looking for. Yummo!
ReplyDeleteOh yes good old arts and craps...my fav...its all for shits and giggles right? But your crafts are pretty impressive! Ours usually include a page ripped out of a coloring book, markers which never make it onto that ripped page but rather on bodies like tattoo art. I am over here teaching my kids the crafts of the mean streets..ya know? Haha.
ReplyDeleteAhh...I laughed till I cried. I love the idea of arts and craps...maybe when my kid gets older it will be less craps (markers on walls, glue on carpet, etc.) and more arts?
ReplyDeleteJoey is also super into craps. Especially glue or sticker-based craps. My sliding glass door is positively crap covered, in fact.
ReplyDeleteJuliana and Sebastion should be pew buddies. She wants to shake each and every hand twice and she leans back over the pew and holds her hand out with great enthusiasm. Does Bash do this? What kind of Grinch could refuse?
ReplyDeleteI'm totally with you on the sign for Sebastian thing. When my super-social 3-year-old was a year to two old I seriously contemplated making a shirt for him that said, "PLEASE talk to me". It was to be worn during grocery store outings, because the kid was golden as long as all the grannies stopped to tell him how cute he was. On the occasions that nobody answered his "hi, Hi, HI!" advances, we. were. in. trouble.
ReplyDeleteRe: toddler craft idea, I've got nothing. BUT. I did recently strike gold by throwing a couple of bath towels on the kitchen table along with an assortment of bowls, cups, and spoons, and allowing my 3- and 2-year-old boys to play with water. I told them that I knew they'd spill a little, but if they dumped all of the water out of the bowls, the game was over. And whaddya know? They actually listened. The setup occupied #1 for TWO hours and #2 for one. It was the longest, by far, that they happily stayed at the table. And the clean-up wasn't that bad: just sopping up a wet table and kitchen floor. I didn't even bother changing the boys' wet clothes: I told them they would dry.
The song around these parts about five years ago was, "If you're happy and you know it crap your hands!"
ReplyDeleteMaybe make some play dough, or salt dough if you want something permanent, that usually keeps them busy. Also there are heaps of slime or goo or washable paint ideas, you can stick them naked in the tub and let them go crazy then wash them off, also should work with water (coloured or not). Shaving cream is fun. Honestly at that age, their attention span is 15 minutes if you're lucky.
ReplyDeleteYou can also put paint in a ziplock bag and (securely) tape it to the table and they can 'finger paint' with out the mess.
you're right! 15 minutes is pretty generous too! I think the tub is a brilliant idea -- thanks for that!!!
DeleteArts and craps a la shaving cream. They'll have a blast, soooo super easy to clean up after, and it actually cleans the table like you wouldn't believe. Just cover the table in piles of shaving cream, give Bash trucks and let him go at it. (I highly recommend removing most clothing for this activity). Keeps the kiddos occupied for hours.
ReplyDeleteI found this site with some crafts. I don't know if any appeal to you but I still figured it was worth looking at :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.iamthatlady.com/easy-toddler-crafts/
Hi. Can you stop being so cute and put together? Cause see, I use the three kids in diapers thing excuse aaaaaLOT,- and, you're kind of takin' that away from me. Ok. thanks :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, when you said, 'crap nap' I thought you actually meant, 'crap nap'. As the worst kind. The kind when they fall right asleep, and you think you are good for a few hours and then one of them wakes up, because, well, you know, crap and then you are screwed.
DeleteWe do a lot of baking soda & vinegar volcanos, often in the kitchen sink or in bins in the bathtub because then, ta-da, everything gets clean because they get to use scrubby sponges to mop it up afterwards! But I'm pretty terrible about that kind of thing usually... We do lots of water pouring too, and sometimes I'll even add a drop or two of food coloring to their water and they pee their pants with excitement.
ReplyDeleteDo you have Color Wonder markers & paper? Because I think Julia would just about die if you got her a Dora color wonder coloring book and then nobody could color on the walls and when the kids leave the caps off the markers and you find the baby sucking on them it's just clear and won't stain Theo's face!
I wish Sebastian could stand next to our kids during mass, because our daughter ends up wandering around looking for someone to "peace her" while her younger brother stands back with his finger up his nose (his signature shy move). She'd gladly "peace him" more than once.
ReplyDeleteAlso, now I know what to do with all those leaves she collects on our walks "for our craft". If you have any suggestions with what to do with droopy dandelions, I'm all ears.
DeleteI am majoring in Early Childhood Education and spent an entire semester working on a scrapbook filled with arts and crafts ideas for the classroom {or home!}. If you'd like some ideas, I can email you.
ReplyDeleteGod bless!
I am so jealous of your 30 minute mass. I try to send our priest brainwave messages during his homily to please hurry. He never receives them and I'm pretty sure it's God's way of telling me to calm the heck down.
ReplyDeleteSooo my mom is a preschool teacher and molds the minds of beebs ranging in ages the likes of your tiny humans. One of her favorite things that is easy, fun, and easy clean up is race car/marble painting.
ReplyDeleteSince you you are the most avid of Costco goers (Costgoers) you can easily pick up one of those shallow cardboard boxes (I'm actually not sure if they have those at Costgo - Sam's club heathen over here) - but in the off chance that they do grab one! Then put in a large sheet of white construction paper. Get two tubes of washable paint and either cheapie Hot Wheels or marbles. Dip said car or marbles in a paper plate of paint, put in box and let your kiddos tilt the box as they create a pattern. The art is actually pretty cool - easy clean up and its fun.
Have fun crap-ting!
Well, any arts and crafts I have EVER attempted are crap, so I think that arts and craps is the best I could ever manage. Poor S., wanting a handshake! I admit to being a germaphobe (AND to have the hand sanitizer in my purse. I am that person) but I love the sign of peace with little kids, especially when they're excited about it. Big person with the nasty sniffle holding out your hand in my direction? Forget about it.
ReplyDeleteI am working on Christmas presents for grandparents with my 2-year-old with this idea from my sister-in-law who went to design school. It has to be done in multiple episodes because her attention span is really limited, but... I have a pack of origami paper with different patterns, which I've torn into strips 1/2" x 2-3", and which she gets to glue randomly onto a piece of heavy paper with a paste stick (like an Uhu stick - she keeps licking it - gross). Collage! And it actually looks pretty because of the patterns on the paper, as opposed to just construction paper. But she's still only good for 10-15 minutes at a time. We've finished one and are working on another - the finished one looks really cute in a cheap frame.
ReplyDeleteI have two girls that are 3 and 2, and I am a leeetle obsessed with doing arts and craps. They love stickers.. just a stickers and paper.. I kid you not, my 3 year old would sit for over an hour just putting stickers on paper. They especially love those foamy stickers. I've gone nuts and let them "paint" glue pictures and sprinkle glitter on them... yeah... Stringing noodles on yarn to make necklaces was also a big hit. You can even dye your noodles different colors. I have been up since 2 and can't think of anything else, and am not sure if this comment even makes sense at this point.
ReplyDeleteNever any arts and craps up in here at Chez Chatfield. Because I am Mommy-lame-o in that awful department. And because I have boys who couldn't care less, thank goodness. The artsiest we ever got were Color Wonder markers and books, which are the most awesome invention ever. Because what mother doesn't love a clear marker in the hands of a two-year old that can't ever get on the walls/floors/table/dog/counter/tile, etc. Oh, and I have one who loves to do duct-tape art. We've got every color and pattern of duct tape imaginable around these parts. Because who doesn't love some duct tape.
ReplyDeleteMy toddler just saw the display of colors and designs at Home Depot just the other day. He was amazed.
DeleteI was really hoping you would call the board "Toddler Arts and Craps"...
ReplyDeleteand THEN do another board that is called "Toddler Arts and Craps Tantrums" where you compare the pinned mini-Van Gogh toddler art that is NYC Art Gallery Worthy to the realities of what happens when you give toddlers markers and leaves..
DeleteOh, I would love to shake Bash's hand. Julia cracks me up. One easy! craft that Grace loves is for me to trace her hands, then she colors in nail polish, bracelets, or whatever. Quick and no mess.
ReplyDeleteArts and Craps! Love it! Here's my recommend- http://alphabetglue.com/ and http://catholicicing.com/
ReplyDeleteNot crafty, but loads of fun, anytime you can buy those giant packages of individual wrapped toilet paper or paper towels...they make great building blocks.
"What kind of crap should we do next?" Hahaha! Love that. I let my kids dip some leaves into glittery paint and print them on paper. Very few actually looked like "prints" but they had fun.
ReplyDelete