Pretty Please

So, my 2 1/2 year old, Jasmine, is excellent at saying "thank you". But her use of "please" is sadly lacking.

I thought using a sticker chart might help.

Me, being me, wanted to design one.
So I did:

Any time she remembers to say please with her requests,

I make a big fuss and bring her over to the fridge to get the sticker of her choice and let her put it wherever she likes.

I started this yesterday, so I can't tell you if it's helped us any in our quest for politeness.

(And it didn't help that she is still fighting off a fever, I'm not sure why I thought it was the best day to start this. Newbie mom.)

So far, its basically been me reminding her to say it after she has asked in a very demanding way.

But she did seem to show a pinch of improvement by the evening.

But since I made the chart, I figured I'd share it, any case there are any other princesses out there needing some Pretty Please inspiration.

You can get the printable here.

Hope it helps
(you and ME!)
 :)

The Perfect Staying In Clothes

You may remember me talking about getting my act together on some stuff a while ago.

One of them was getting dressed more regularly.

I was having a really hard time changing out of pajamas since well... there are many, many, many more days, than not, where I am in the house all day long with only my girls. (I was also having a hard time figuring out when to get dressed, since so often the girls are both clamoring for part of me.)

But I wasn't feeling so great about myself walking past my mirrors, sporting bed head, no make up and pjs.

*To be clear, even though I'm writing this post I am NOT declaring I have my act together. I'm actually typing this in my pajamas next to my sick two year old, while my teething, sick baby sleeps.

I still have a hard time figuring out when to change. But its getting easier as they get a bit older.

Anyway one thing I have figured out is:

Maxi Skirts!

Um, why did I not realize this before?

Maxi skirts feel like pajamas but count as clothes!

And...um postpartum...YES!

Nothing works easier than skirts through the post baby days!

They are magical in the way they can fit through so much change!

(Some of them might even make it through pregnancy and back with you!)

And...easy nursing. (Some dresses are great for these reasons too -- but skirts are a no brainer!)

And because Maxi Skirts are long,

you can do mommy maneuvers all day long 

without exposing yourself.

What more could a young momma ask for?

Bringing Up Bébé

So I just read this book.

via

And honest to goodness, it changed my life.
Or...
is changing my life.

I've been "writing" this post in my head for a week now.

But I can't get anywhere,
because
well,
I don't know how to sum up this book well enough for you.
If I were to try and quickly convey the ideas, it wouldn't really explain what needs to be said to get the real idea across.

I also can't get anywhere in my head-writing because...
Well,
as much as I LOVE the book,
I've come across online reviews basically hating this book,
and...
it covers parenting issues,
and we all know how parenting issues are treated online -
like piñatas.

So I don't want to offend anyone, 
and I don't want to imply this is the only way to parent,
when I write this post.

Booster Seat Solution

I've enjoyed using a booster seat as opposed to a designated high chair, now with both girls. They take up less space in our small kitchen.
Actually we just got a "beautiful pink chair (aka booster) for Cinderella" as my older daughter, Jasmine, has been referring to it, so both girls can have their own. 

Anyway, I've always had a hard time figuring out what to do with that tray that goes with it when its not being used. It always ends up laying around in annoying places. If I stick it back onto place on the booster  I can't push the chair into the table. Not to mention the fact that it makes getting a baby into it frustrating.
So last week I got the idea that I could hang it on the back of our chair, if I just tie some ribbon through the holes {that it has to attach onto the seat.}

And just like that, my world is that much sweeter!

Works great!

Admittedly its a tiny bit tricky to stick the tray onto the chair with the ribbon in the holes, but if I just make sure the knot is out of the way it still snaps right in.

I'll take it!

Make Your Own Tinted Moisturizer

I've been mixing up my own Tinted Moisturizer lately, and I gotta say its really great!

I like the way it looks --- more natural realistic than regular cream foundation.

Its super easy and has a couple nice perks.

Literally all you have to do is combine some makeup with lotion.

You can use cream or powder makeup.

I've personally find it easier to use cream. Its quicker, less messy, and I don't need as much makeup to achive the same level of coverage.

Why it's awesome:

• It's one less thing to buy (assuming you have make up and lotion around)
• I go through my make up much slower this way
• You can use the type of make up you like, and the type of lotion you like
• You can control the amount of coverage you would like

I have sensitive, breakout-prone skin, so I am able to use the brands that don't bother my skin to make my tinted moisturizer.

I can make my coverage less on good skin days, and heavier on not-so-good days. 

I can even alter it for specific locations on my face -- like I usually make the coverage pretty strong for under my eyes, but not so strong for the nose.

And if I have a blemish that day, I can just use the makeup straight to cover it and it's still the same tone as everything else!

This was such a great discovery for me!

Humming

I am a Downton Abby fan.
I just love it.
I have this built in love of England that I cannot escape.
Its in my genes.
I’ve never been there, but I think my blood recalls it.

via

There was one day, years ago now, when I drove away from my parent’s Illinois farm house, down our country road, with my cousin, and we saw someone on horseback. I turned to her and said, “Do you know what would be the ultimate in hotness? An English Cowboy.”
I was sure this was a figment of my imagination.
There was no wild west in England, as far as I knew.
But you see, my dad grew up in Montana, so the cowboy’s soul is also in my veins.
Not that I can ride, or do anything cowboy like. But the heart beats in me.

I thought I had come up with the combo all on my own. Really.
Just the idea of the accent and the essence.

I had no idea, when those words left my mouth, that the English blood that courses my veins, had come to America carried by my Great Grandfather who moved to Montana to live as a cowboy.

I find it so utterly intriguing. I feel like I remembered something I never knew.

So I think, when I watch Downton Abby, there are pieces of me raining down on my skin --- its just that I don’t really know which pieces.
What I do know is, the scenery opens me up.
Takes me away from Iowa.
Makes me want to go outside. Right now. And BE.

When my eyes come off of the TV to my living room, I forget what’s outside my window -- a town surrounded by flat land made of corn and soybean feilds--
And I remember instead another place, a different place that I am made of.

My Grandpa’s cottage in Michigan. (This is my Mom’s dad.)
I grew up more blessed that I could have ever know, getting to go there every summer and then some holidays. We spent many Thanksgivings there, crammed around a table that just barely held us. (Well, I, of course, was at the kids table (and I loved it!)) We went there for the 4th of July and played with sparklers and “snakes” while the boys set off bottle rockects into the creek at the bottom of the hill. And when we weren’t down at the creek, our family would drive 5 minutes down the road, to the beach on Lake Michigan. Cherry Beach. That’s the beach where I wanted to (and did) get married.
The cottage is to me, a fairy tale place. Every little thing about it. And it’s woven deep down into my muscles. I feel it sometimes when it is rainy outside, like the ache of something once broken.
I miss it so much, while being here in Iowa.
I miss it’s smells. (And if you’ve been there you know it smells shut up and musty. But I miss it all the same.) I miss the sound of my feet walking on the sand-dirt roads, especially if it’s just rained. I miss the wind on my skin as I take in the lake. And the stairs that make your legs burn to get down there. (Or back up again.) I miss the secret hole my dad and grandpa cut into the floorboards upstairs, just so I could have a secret hiding spot. I miss the pine trees. I miss getting  dirty --- so, so dirty. Pebbles flicked up, stinging skin, flung by three-wheelers going down to the track, and coming back to find my face freckled by mud and my lungs blown clear. And the sand, the sand that is perpetually in the bedsheet, no matter how hard we tried not to get it there.

Oh I miss it.

Something about Downton Abby smells like the cottage to me.

And I want to go somewhere I know.
I want to go so bad.

I’m aching.
Really.

I’ve started to get used to Iowa.
But its not in me.

There are other places and other things.
And they are humming in me.
And I don’t know what to do with their song.
Because I am here.
You know?

My parents were here for my birthday this weekend.
And I loved it. I felt like me.
But they had to go home.
And I feel like I’m left trying to figure out how to make this home.
At least for now.
Because I’m left feeling home sick.