Easter/St Patrick's Day Rainbow Cookies

My family has had the tradition of making these cookies every Easter for as long as I can remember. You'll want to double the recipe below.

Recipe for cookies:
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Mix your flour, baking soda and baking powder in a small bowl and set to the side.

 

 

Mix your softened butter and sugar together with a mixer. Beat in eggs and vanilla

 

 

Slowly add in your flour mixture.
Set your dough in the fridge for an hour.

 

In small bowls seperate your dough and add your food coloring to your desired colors.

 

 

Choose a color and roll it into a ball.

 

 

Choose your following colors and roll into long strands- wrap around the ball.

 

 

Press your colors together to make sure that they don't fall apart.

 

 

Cut in half and place on baking sheet.

 

 

Just make sure you give your cookies plenty of room or else this can happen!

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11 Weeks old and my birthday

Tomorrow is my 27th birthday. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Not so much about turning 27, but the idea of having to celebrate what has become just another day in my life just because it happens to be the day I was born.

I haven't ever cared one way or another about whether or not I celebrated my birthday, even as a child, although my parties were always big, I didn't care one way or another if I had it. I know this because on my 9th birthday my grandma passed away and I wanted to cancel my party to focus on what was going on in my family rather then my birthday which was trivial in comparison.

It was a couple of days after my son was born when I hit on something, a realization that can shake a person to their core. I grew up the youngest in a large family of all girls. I was one of many and so I was never first in any one's affections. That is until I met my longtime boyfriend and the father of my child. Despite knowing I was first in his heart, I often felt second best to his grandmother who he, even to this day, has set on a pedestal. Now that we have a child together my ranking, I knew, would drop. I can't tell you how badly this scared me. I felt jealous of my son and the place he took in my boyfriend's heart.

It's been 11 weeks since my son's birth. I've gotten over my jealousy for the most part, mainly due to the realization that my son has become more important to me than my boyfriend so it seems to be a fair trade. But this year, more than any other my birthday seems so unbelievably trivial. And I think I finally understand why I have never cared much for my birthday. When you are the youngest of a large family, you get used to having every one's hand-me-downs, to not ever being the center of attention, to fading into the background (unless you are a spoiled rotten child who has never had to have hand-me downs and has always gotten your way). I think it goes against my nature to be the center of attention.

This resounds within me as being true. For Christmas my boyfriend's parents (after 8 long years) decided to get me something other than soap for Christmas, they got me a spa day. Being sore, tired and feeling like a zombie, I looked forward to a little pampering. I went and got my hair cut which was amazing, followed with an eyebrow wax, a massage and a facial. I won't lie- the only part I enjoyed was the hair cut. I opted out of getting a pedicure because I hate getting them. And now I realize I hate facials, and I'm withholding judgment on the massage because I honestly think it was just a really bad massage.

I want to be able to give my child a brother or sister in a few years. But taking a good long look at my life and attitude, I realize that having multiple children can have negative effects on a child's self-esteem.

Superhero Wipie Case

Last weekend I went with my mom and sisters to a women's expo where they handed these wipe cases that just demanded some attention.

 

I'm all for free baby items that I'll use, but not for having my baby as an adversment.

 

So I decided to make take this case to a whole new level.

 

All I needed for this was some modge podge, a paint spunge and a picture.

 

 

And just like that Superman took flight.

 

I love the idea of personalizing things like this because you know you'll use it, you know you'll be carrying it with you in your diaper bag, and you might as well make it fun for you and your baby. It only takes a few minutes of your time after all.

 

DIY Baby Onsies

After becoming pregnant, pinterest became my newest addiction. All the fun and cute little onsies quickly grew into a life of their own. But being able to afford onsies with funny sayings written on them wasn't in the cards for me.

Thus I got creative- something I love doing.

To do this, get yourself a package of fabric markers;

 

 

and a package of onsies and get creative!

 



Felt Baby Blocks

While veiewing pinterest I came across a similiar DIY block made of felt, I decided to make my own but make them cooler.

Star Trek Block

 



 

Super Hero Block

DIY Dino Rattle

Make this cute little dino rattle for your baby.

Start by making your pattern. I picked out a dino shape I like from google images and printed it out. Cut your pattern out twice using felt.

Next cut out your ribbons of choice. You can fray check them to keep them from fraying, however fray check is highly flamable and this is for baby so I suggest burning the ends of your ribbons instead.

Your ribbons will be folded in half to make dino scales along the back.

Pin your ribbons in place along the back of your dino.

Using embroidery floss begin to sew with the back stich. I find this stitch the most secure which is why I recommend it.

Begin stuffing with your fiber fill.

Add a bell to the inside of your rattle and then pack your fiber fill around the bell so it's not hard.

Finish sewing around your dino and you're done!

Button, Button, Whose Got the Button?

One of the biggest downfalls to my being pregnant was that my old job took away all my hours and hasn't even scheduled me for the past 2 weeks. Around the same time, my sister took on a new job and was in need of a new daycare provider. This seemed to work out perfectly so we worked it out that I would watch her girls for her and she'd pay me to do this.

While I have enough colors, coloring books and Barbies for casual visits. Coming up with long-term play ideas hasn't exactly been easy, or cost effective.

So here are some of things I've done:

A box of "hair pretties" that are easily accessible to the girls to take out when they want to do each other's, or more often than not, my hair. This keeps especially my youngest niece entertained for a long period of time. She loves doing hair and all it took was my putting all my hair clips and bows in one place for her to get to.

Baking Mondays. This is a win-win for me because it provides for my sweet tooth and it gives me something to give them for an afternoon snack for the whole week. On Monday afternoon we bake something good to eat together. This is really easy and doesn't have to cost much. It keeps the girls entertained and a sense of accomplishment because "THEY made it!"

Pre-nap story time. We visited the library which is of course, my favorite thing- FREE! Each girl picked out 10 books each and every day before their nap they each pick out two books. One for them to read to me and one for me to read to them. They love reading and they love being the ones to read to me because they are in control of the story. I think for them it's a great way to encourage creativity, and being a writer myself I find that really important to the human spirit.

This week we are having craft time because their mom's birthday at the end of the week. So each day they are doing a little bit to make their mom's birthday gift. They don't know what they are making yet but they will know tomorrow. Thursday we'll make cards and wrap their gifts and Friday they will be able to give their mom her presents. I'll be doing a separate post on what they are making later this week so you can see each day.

While looking through my craft space this week I came across probably one of the best finds for keeping the girls entertained yet. My Grandma's old button tin. This is great, because it's free and they have so much fun playing with the buttons. I presented them with the button box yesterday and my mom had the idea of also giving them muffin tins to separate the buttons into. They loved it. Today we added the addition of some twine for them to string the buttons onto so they can play at making necklaces. Tons of entertainment for them, zero cost to me! Can't get much better than that.