Friday, December 7, 2012

Tutus for all!

My latest crafting binge has taken me to tulle. I've been making tutus for a month straight! Some for the littles, some for Maddie's dance class and my latest, for our Christmas tree!

That's right, our Christmas tree!

It was so easy, and looks pretty cute if I do say so myself!
Best part?
It took all of 25 minutes.

Here's how I did it:

Step 1: take some ribbon, a thin satin ribbon is what I used, and measure the diameter of the bottom of the tree. Cut it to that length. You may want to cut the ribbon a bit longer so you have some left to tie once you place your tutu around the base of the tree.

Step 2: take a tape measure and measure the length you want from the base of the tree. This determines how long your tree tutu will be.

Step 3: cut several pieces of tulle in your selected colors to the length you measured. (There is an easy way of cutting tulle, I use it for wearable tutus but I didn't do it this time). Take some cardboard and cut it to be the desired length of your tutu. You can then wrap the tulle around the cardboard. Secure each end of the cardboard with rubber bands. Then cut each end! This method creates tulle strips of equal length!

Step 4: take your piece of ribbon and begin to tie the tulle onto the ribbon. I just knotted it to the ribbon. The top part of the knot will be super short, the bottom will be the length of the tutu.
Continue tying knots of tulle to the desired fullness of your tree tutu.

When the tutu reaches the look you want, place it around the base of your tree and tie the ends of the ribbon together.

Viola! A tree tutu :)

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Is your Elf too exciting for the shelf??

Tis the season to be jolly!

Our Elf on the Shelf, Tinsel, has returned from the North Pole! Our kids were so happy to see him the other morning. Of course, I couldn't wait for the season to start and would've preferred him to arrive on Thanksgiving, but the hubbs insisted that Tinsel take a few extra vacation days...

Anyway, when our good buddy Tinsel returned to us, he left his mark on several of our framed family photos, and a note on our sliding glass door in dry erase marker! He put mustaches on each photo in our living room... Little miss diva found this frustrating... She immediately went over to each photo and wiped off the mustaches! She was tickled to see Tinsel returned, and loved the note. 

This tradition has truly become a favorite in our house and we love Tinsel, but it can be so difficult to come up with new and exciting hiding places for him! If you're like me, you've spent some time on Google and Pinterest finding ideas from super creative Super Mom's and Dad's who have some awesome ideas for their elves! Here are some of my favorites, I hope you'll find them to be helpful! :)

Lil Blue Boo

She Knows Parenting Blog

Thank you Google for these first two...





This last one is Tinsel and his finale antic last year! Definitely our favorite we've done so far!




Happy Elfing!




Thursday, November 29, 2012

To 3D or not to 3D?

Hey again :)

So last night I took the diva to see Rise of the Guardians at the BG cinema. I finally realized it was in 3D at 7:10 pm and there was an earlier showing of the movie not in 3D, after I had promised a mommy night and around 6:30 pm. Oy. 

Now there are several things wrong with my plan. The obvious being that my oldest has a bed time of 8:00 pm. She's 7, that seems fair. The movie is 1 hour and 37 minutes long (figure in about 10 minutes for previews...) and we're looking at getting home around 9:00. Hmmm... Okay, well I'll have some faith in her ability to control herself. 

The second part of the plan that aggrivated me is the fact that I thought we HAD to see it in 3D. I didn't realize there was a regular showing of it. So I missed out on the earlier show annnnd had to pay more. For nothing... Seriously, there were no big 3D scenes...the previews in 3D were probably the best part of the 3D effects. 

So, other than those few details, the movie was great! It's not super Christmas-y, so if you're looking for a good Christmastime film, this probably isn't it although Santa is pretty much in every scene. 

The Guardians, aka Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Sandman, along with the newest Guardian Jack Frost, are all out to save the believers ((children)) from the boogeyman, Pitch Black. Sounds kid of cheesy, I know. Pitch is pretty creepy, very dark and has a spooky British accent. ((I think it's to make him seem more scary?)) He brings nightmares to all the children who once had lovely, happy dreams. The nightmares were a bit scary to me, they are black creepy horses with glowing eyes. Mini me thought so too, she winced every time they showed up. 

The nightmares and Pitch do some pretty awful things to the Guardians, even killing the Sandman, which looks like he just gets sucked into a black nightmare...but they have a memorial for him, so I mean, he's pretty much gone. So that's pretty sad... Mini me was crying a bit, no joke. 

In the end, the Guardians take make happiness and do away with Pitch Black thanks to some brave believers ((aka kiddos)). The moral to this story was pretty cool. Yes, nightmares happen... Yes some things are meant to be scary, but you can choose to not be afraid. You can turn a bad dream into a good dream by doing something silly. 

((Love it)).

This movie couldn't have come at a better time because our little diva has been having nightmares of her own lately, so the message came out loud and clear. We even talked about how she could do something silly in her nightmares to turn them around. 

Success :)

All in all, I'd say this one is a must see for older kids, maybe 6+. I definitely would say to pass on the 3D... Don't get sucked in, it's not worth it! Really, there were like, 2 scenes with floating snowflakes. Not worth it... You can comprehend the movie without the 3D. 

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Here goes nothing!

Well, it looks as if I've joined the blogging world. ((Wish me luck!)) I've always enjoyed writing, so why not?!

Most of what I hope to write about will be for Mom's like myself. I hope I'm not too boring... My life is fairly interesting, ((in my humble opinion)) so who knows, maybe I'll have some readers. I would definitely read this blog if I were a mom searching the internet for a mommy blog... Totally

Why? Because it's real. life. stuff. 

Things that a mother of three goes through.

Things that a mother of a seven year old diva, toddler whirlwind and one TBD just entering toddlerhood.

Things that a supermom goes through. ((Did I mention, those three little angels are all girls?)) 

Yes, my poor husband is surrounded by estrogen. Poor fella. He handles it pretty fabulously if you ask me. It takes a superdad to handle that. 

Superdad+Supermom=Unstoppable 

Now, when I say *Supermom*, I am not... repeat N.O.T deeming myself as mightier than thou, because trust- I know better than that! I am simply saying that as a mom, I know the job title is never well described, the hours are endless and the pay? Well, it's xoxohugs and kissesxoxo. It takes a supermom to keep going when the laundry has doubled since you started the washing, when the kids all need something from you at the very same time, when the dog has eaten ANOTHER of babies toys, when your husband can't find his ...well  anything... You know how it is. If you do know what I'm talking about and you managed to survive? 

You too are a supermom. 

Say it to yourself, you'll feel better. :)

So now that I've explained myself, I'll leave you to it. Do you consider yourself a supermom? What stand alone moment made you realize you are a supermom?