Christmas Crafting

On Wednesday Audrey said, “Let’s go get a cwistmas twee.” At first, I was hesitant but then thought about it and realized I really didn’t have a reason for saying no. I said, “Okay let’s go!” She was surprised. We got in the car and headed to our local nursery to pick out a tree. LAL are like me they all wanted the 12 foot tree, I’ve already made the mistake of getting a tree that was too big once. The kids often ask who drew on the ceiling and I go into the story. We all agreed on one and chose an eight foot tree. Once we got home I put it in the stand and told LAL we couldn’t decorate until tomorrow so the the branches could settle. Now for the magic to begin…

Thursday LAL went to school and Cubby the elf went to work!!! By the time they came home to decorate our tree the house was decorated for Christmas. They were in awe when they walked through the door. They still are. I love that they are so proud of the work that Cubby did they show anyone who walks through the door multiple times. We put Christmas music on and got to decorating.

Oh I’m completely off track I’m supposed to writing about crafting. Here it goes…

I love Pinterest! I love it for recipes, crafts, and anything really. One day I was looking for an easy DIY wreath from my front door. And I came across this. It looked simple enough. Everything looks simple on Pinterest though so I was hesitant which is why I didn’t take a ton of pictures of “the process”. Well I didn’t take any really. Ok one…here.

That picture was really for me to see what it looked like. Not for blogging purposes. Maybe one day I’ll learn how to use my fancy camera and actually take decent photos. Anyway back to the story.

All I bought for this was a whole bunch of ornaments from the dollar store (I think I bought 15 tubes in different sizes), a glue gun, and a styrofoam wreath base. Then I started gluing. And that was it!!! All in all, I’d say it took me about two hours to complete. This is the finished product.

Next time I’ll do a couple of things different. First, I’d spray paint the wreath base. When I look at it up close I can see some of the white. Which drives me bananas. But I’m trying to cut myself some slack since it’s my first one. Second, I’d cover the back with a piece of felt. I thoroughly dislike whenever I walk past my front door seeing the back of the wreath. Again rookie mistake so I’ll let it slide and adjust mine eventually.

If you’re up for it, this is an easy DIY. If not, you can buy one from me!!

Most Useful Monday: Podee

I know it’s not technically Monday but we were having too much fun with my bestie Heather and her girls to stop and blog. So here I am a little late but as the saying goes “better late than never,” right? Right.

My most useful for today is the Podee. This little bugger is a hidden gem. Anyone that saw me with them couldn’t believe their eyes. A Podee is a hands free bottle. “How can it be?” you ask. It’s ingenious. A bottle with the nipple attached to a flexible tube.

This was perfect for the transition between us holding their bottles for them and LAL doing it themselves. Don’t get me wrong we didn’t use these exclusively for that period of time. They were a supplement bottle to our regular ones. They allowed me to leave the house alone without having to make a big production out of feeding three munchkins. I am frequently road tripping to see my family, and this was heaven sent.

When LAL were a bit younger I would have to get the flow going for them. Once I did, I’d pop it in their mouths and they’d suck to their hearts content. As they became more comfortable and their fine motor skills increased LAL were able to take the nipple out and put it back in at will.

The one problem I had, was (actually it was more with me than with the product but I’ll blame the bottle) if the nipple was not screwed in really tight there wouldn’t be enough suction to draw the formula up. It’s a quick fix but when I had a cranky baby wanting to eat it was always the last thing I thought of. I also found using a number four nipple to be very leaky. If the baby takes it out the formula is free flowing.

We loved it and always tell anyone having a baby (especially multiples) it is a must-have.