Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Mini Fabric Bolts from Cardboard Boxes

This is one of the best organization ideas I've seen in a LONG time. I LOVE IT! I'm totally going to organize my fabric like this! A great way to use up all the empty cardboard boxes in my garage and organize my fabric at the same time. You can find the tutorial here. Thanks for sharing, Fawnda!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Paper Bag Pumpkins - Revisited

{This was originally posted in October of 2009 but is one of my posts that generates the most hits! I thought I'd share it again, for anyone who missed it last year :)}


This was such a simple and fun craft to do with my 3 yr old and would be a great craft for kids of all ages. Here's how we created these adorable fall decorations.

Supplies:

- Orange Paint (I buy large bottles of Tempera paint in primary colors and then just mix the paint to create the desired color -- in this case we mix the red & yellow in a muffin tin to make orange)
- Paint brushes
- Scissors
- Paper bags (2 bags for each pumpkin) - I used lunch bags but you could make large pumpkins with paper grocery bags.
- newspaper
- rubber bands (at least 1 for each pumpkin, but I used 5 for each pumkin - explained below)
- Green cardstock (I used 1 sheet of 12x12) you could also use green paint instead.

Tear newspaper into strips.

Open a paper bag and insert a second paper bag into the first one so you bags are now doubled up. This makes them more durable and if one bag tears it won't show.

Fill paper bag about 1/2 - 2/3 full with newspaper. Press the newspaper down as you go, so that your pumpkin will be "full".

Gather the top of the bag and wrap a rubber band around the top several times, to create the stem of your pumpkin.

Now wrap another rubber band around the top 1 time, then pull the rubber band down around the bottom of the bag as shown. Optional: Continue doing this with 4 more rubber bands and arrange them somewhat evenly around the bag to create the ridges of the pumpkin. I like this step because it gives the pumpkins a more realistic shape and look when finished.

Paint the base of the bag orange.

Leave the pumpkins to dry overnight. Once dry, cut the stem of your pumpkin to the desired length.

Tear a strip of green cardstock and wrap it around the stem of the pumpkin. Glue the end of the paper to the stem. Then tear or cut out a leaf shape and glue it to the stem. If you are using green paint, you would paint the stem green.

Proudly display your new fall decorations!



Monday, September 6, 2010

Say CHEESE!

That's right. Cheese!!!!

Two weeks ago, Taylor asked me "Mommy, when will I be able to have cow's milk?" This is not the first time she's asked me this innocent question. She does very well with her food allergies and is very accepting that she has allergies and she there are certain foods she can't eat. But every now and then, she'll ask that question in different ways "When I get bigger can I have cow's milk?"

So, when she asked that day, we had an honest discussion about outgrowing allergies and that some kids outgrow allergies and some kids don't and the only way for us to know if she's outgrown her allergies is to feed her to the food she's allergic to. Her food allergies have never shown up on blood tests as she has milk protein intolerance (for which there are no tests). Her reactions are delayed by about 12 hrs so we plan our food trials carefully. As the day went on, I realized she'd be off school for the next week (she's been in preschool all summer), and she's been pretty healthy for the last 6 weeks or so, so it's a good time to feed her dairy and see if she's outgrown her allergies. Our GI doctor had given us the go-ahead to try dairy with her. Of course, if your child has an allergy, you should always consult their doctor before feeding them their allergen.

Well, I'm thrilled to report that after a week of slowly re-introducing dairy, she had no signs of allergic reaction and we're saying she's officially outgrown her dairy allergy! We've proceeded in re-introducing dairy into her diet slowly because it's very common to become lactose intolerant after not consuming dairy for an extended amount of time. Her body should adjust to the dairy as it becomes a regular part of her diet. At this point, she's eaten yogurt, milk mixed with rice milk, sour cream, cheese, cheese enchiladas (which she doesn't really like), and pizza.

In other news, we got the results of Taylor's scope and probe that I posted about a couple of weeks ago. I'm choosing to just take the results as another piece of the puzzle. It was determined that she has "non-acidic" reflux, and the GI doesn't think she needs any meds at this point. In all honesty, I'm a little frustrated because she still complains of tummy pain, and I'm not really sure what the culprit is. In the GI's words "we don't have a good reason for why her tummy hurts". He recommended a dietary supplement called Prelief, that she can take before she eats acidic foods because she definitely has reflux, and when she eats acidic foods, her reflux is painful. I also believe, based on her frequent complaints of tummy pain and based on what I've read, that non-acidic reflux is still very uncomfortable.

So, that's our update!