Happy Mother'sDay Wish

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the moms i know & love.  First & foremost to my own mom who showed me unconditional love & self sacrifice, almost to a fault. To all the moms that came before her in my family that paved the way. To my aunts who were second moms constantly surrounding me with a sense of humor, a nurturing nature and the love I needed.  To my sisters who are not moms yet but have blessed my daughters with kindness, love, generosity and laughter.  

To my mom friends. Whether we walked the mall armed with Cheerios & sippy cups, shared misery about nasty diapers or the pukeys or whether to call the pediatrician.  Figuring out preschools or trips to Disney.  Moms who have endured playdates, hangouts & room mom responsibilities by my side. From the mundane-sharing recipes or cleaning tips. To the hilarious TMI stories that we have sworn to keep secret.   To the heartbreak we have all shared over loss of a parent or loss of a pregnancy.  To mom's who have shown unwavering courage & strength through their own children's diagnoses & illness.  To those persevered by my side through infertility, especially to all who listened to my heartbreak as I struggled with it and still loved me afterwards!!  

To moms to be, step moms and any woman who has loved a child, this day is in your honor too!!  

This day would not be possible for me if it wasn't for the unselfish gift of a mother who sacrificed and placed two precious babies in my arms and allowed me to take over for her as mommy for the rest of their lives. I am still in constant awe of the gift I was given, some days I am still moved to tears!!  

I hope you all have a Mothers Day that is peaceful.  I hope your are honored today and shown love. Hope you are spoiled rotten & your day is designed the way you imagined!  

Thank you for the impact you have made in my life. 

Love,

Tracey

He's so gay!

Conversation between me & the girls the other night...

twin: He is sooooo gay!

me: gay? do you know what that means?

twin: yeah, it means if a boy acts like a girl

me: hmm no, not really? where did you hear that?

twin: this boy at school, everyone says that he acts like a girl, he talks like a girl & he thinks he is a girl, so they call him gay.

me in my head:       ::well hold on to him ladies cause he will some day be your bestie!!!!::

me: well, hmm how bout I tell you both the truth about the meaning of gay, cause your friends dont really have it right..

me:      ::deep breath, hoping i get it right::

me: sometimes, a person is born they have feelings like they like being with someone, they identify or like to hang around someone who is the same as them. A boy can like a boy & a girl could like a girl. they can fall in love & be together for a really long time, they may date for a short time, they could even get married.

twin: but they cant make a baby

me: no, but they can adopt a baby and can be a family

me: but they are gay and its part of them just like the color of your hair or the freckles on your nose (S) or the two different color eyes you have (C) Its very much who they are and not something to be made fun of, if you make fun of someone because of being gay, you are a bully. it would be the same as someone making fun of you because of the way you look. Its just part of who they are.

twins:       ::silence::

me in my head:       ::holy crap, i hope i got that somewhat right......but i think i did?!?!?::

twins:        ::more silence::

me: so what specials did you have in school today?

So this conversation has been one I have been waiting for.  My girls are official tweens, they will be 11 in a few weeks. We have had the discussions about body parts, changing, growing up & yes...."the birds & the bees".  This was the next phase of the dialogue, Dialog really never ends in my chatty house.  With two girls + me, its inevitable.  But I kinda like it that way.  Open dialog & honesty seems to always have worked for us.  My mom was always open & honest with me, I chose to parent that way also.  

My goal for my children is to teach them kindness, love, acceptance of all people.  Regardless of....well... anything.  It makes me sad that so many people are so divided on this topic.  I felt good about telling them the way I told them.

If I have lost friends because of this post, then that's sad.  If I have helped another parent with telling their child the same thing then great!  I never really know what direction I want this blog to go in.  I just felt really compelled to share this here.  Leave a comment if you'd like.

More Hockey Autograph Books

So I was asked to make a new batch of hockey autograph books for a "Hockey Mom"
who is a busy mom raising 2 adorable Hockey Boys
while running her own business

The Hockey Mommy

I originally made this book for her older boy

Very First Hockey Autograph Book

Her boys are huge fans of the local team here

The Carolina Hurricanes

Her boys have been able to skate with the Canes
so these books are perfect for collecting all those famous signatures!!!

These are the newer, updated books I made for her son & two friends.

Very cute, very fun to make "boy" stuff

I had to really stop my self from adding a flower or a burlap heart!

It was a lot of fun to be asked to make these again!!!

A Tribute to The 26 Angels of Sandy Hook Elementary

Amazing song in honor of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary Tragedy

My prayers goes out to every one who knew & loved all these beautiful angels

Grapevine & Burlap Rosette Wreath

So I have totally been on a wreath extravaganza lately

It is a simple way to change things up for the seasons

and so far the ones that I have made 

have been really frikkin easy

I found this one 

Grapevine & Burlap Rosette Wreath

on Pinterest...of course

Here is the technique Jenni recommended to make rosettes

For this wreath

Really all you need is:

*Burlap

*Glue Gun & lots of glue sticks

*Grapevine Wreath 

Thats it!

I love the wispiness of these grapevine wreaths

but it would work with anything

I am soooo addicted to burlap

Its everywhere

I love how elegant & rough it looks at the same time

So here are few pics I took along the way

and some instructions too

It is really simple, so I am sure my lame attempt at explaining isn't really needed but here we go...

So I started with about a 1 1/2--2 inch thick strip of Burlap 

 I rolled, twisted & glued.  

 as I went to get the rosette look

Roll, twist & glue

Roll, twist & glue

Kinda like

Lather, rinse, repeat...

hee

You really cant screw this up, the faster I went, the more sloppy the rosettes were & I actually liked the sloppy ones better,

kinda like I do in real life

(liking the sloppy ones, that is)

Then I lined the rosettes up along the circle (inner part) of the wreath till they looked right

again i just eyeballed them

I was going with the odd number rule too

Love how that works out!

This is the finished wreath

Hanging on the front door

Close up

I also made a tiny one for a bridal shower

& attached a Gift Card.  

Kinda a nice gift?!?!

So that's it, lots of fun to make & super easy!

Let me know if you try one!

Burlap & Denim Wreath

So I was totally inspired by this wreath on Pinterest

Burlap and Denim Wreath

I had just cleaned out a ton of 

oh so flattering 

hideous mom jeans
from my closet 

PLUS  

I had burlap that I HAD TO BUY when I was in JoAnns.

This was the perfect time to make this wreath

Here is how I did it

Unfortunately I didnt take pics as I went but it was so easy...

Cut a long strip of burlap and wrap it around a foam wreath

(Using a glob of glue from my glue gun to anchor it) 

I just wound it around the wreath till it was fully covered.
I did a few more globs of hot glue as I went
then at the end of it too.  

I actually didn't have enough of the burlap strip cut 

to cover the whole thing 
cause I am really precise when I measure stuff
wait no I'm not
I wing it....

so I just glued the added piece to the back 

shhh, nobody will see the back anyway

Cut strips of denim to make the rosettes and create the flowers
I liked the different shades of denim too
(was wishing I still had my acid wash jeans for this--HA)

I used the tutes from these 2 sites

Poofy Flowers

via-http://rebekahgough.blogspot.com



Rosette Flowers

via-http://mysparkle.blogspot.com


There are like a zillion tutorials on how to do flowers on Pinterest and YouTube
Just pick one you like, you really cant mess this up!!!

 For the "Welcome" sign I used an old cereal box 

to cut the little pennant triangles 

then used Tacky Glue to stick the denim to them 

then cut around them to make them even & neat

 I stamped "Welcome" using acrylic paint and clear rubber stamps from Michaels, they are so old, but i love them still!!

I hole punched two holes in each corner & threaded twine

I just played with it till it sat right

Here it is all finished

I totally love it

It isn't exactly like the one on 

The Magic of Ordinary Things Blog

But I am really happy with it!

Summer time things to do with the girls

We are in a year round school 

 our calendar is weird

We are in 9 weeks (called track/ed in), 

off 3 weeks (called track/ed out)

We love it

Most people who have never lived the year round calendar

cringe when we say we are in school year round

But really, it is AWESOME

I love track out time

except

sometimes I panic.....

like today

today is the last day of school

I am in panic mode....

did I say that already?

I feel like I am Julie the cruise director

....without a clipboard

OK, so we only have a week off between grades-

aka-summer vacay

weird... 

I know

we track in on July 9th

(first day of school)

...weird

We track out July 27

for 3 weeks

...weird

then we track back in

August 20th 

...weird

SO rather than popping Xanax like its candy I turned to my trusty old Pinterest to get me through trying moments Track out

Here are 10 Pinterest inspired Summer Ideas 

I am going to do with the girls during our 1 week "summer vacay" & our 3 week track out in August

Animal Drawing

My girls are not the most artistic but every once in a while they will find a picture & try to copy it, they will love this site!!!

Glass Pebble Bracelets

I am pretty sure you can use the glass pebbles for this, 

with my Michael's coupon loaded on my iPhone

after we have gathered a few supplies 

we are ready to rock these out in no time!!!

Hopscotch, Tiddlywinks & 4 Square! Game on!!!

Identity Grids

I personally L-O-V-E these!

I am going to make one!!!

In the sprinkler, this could count as a bath right??

For little ones its Tattle Monstesrs.....for 'tweens we can make it Mean Word Monsters

DIY tee-pee-tent

OK, a little more adventurous 

but would be a fun activity for dad to help us with, 

right, dad?!?!

Dad??

Yoo Hoo...

Dad???

Miss Mary Mack, anyone???

Button Hair Ties

Pretty!

Flower Pretzels

There isn't a link for these 

but it is just stick pretzels, hershey white chocolate kisses (Hugs) & M&Ms

Bookmarks

The link to these was no longer available 

but these are sooooo cute!

OK so I said 10, which turned into 11

if i don't stop now, 

I will be sitting here 

DREAMING 

up amazing things to do with my  kids 

rather than 

DOING 

amazing things with my kids

So I am stepping away from the computer

and Pinterest for now

Leave a comment if you have found any other fun things to do with your kids this summer!!!!