Spring Break Shenanigans 2016

I'm a bit late in posting this, partly because I've been crazy busy and partly because I've been trying to entertain a 5 year old during spring break. WOW that's a lot harder than it seems- like A LOT. This is the official first spring break that Monkey has had since he's officially a preschooler this year. I tried to fill his days as much as I could so that I wouldn't have to listen to how bored he was- but it's a lot harder to do than you'd think.

For some crazy reason, the school thought that a week and a half was sufficient time off. UM, NO. This is an insane amount of time off for a 5 year old. Not only did I have a parent/ teacher conference during that time, but a doctor's appointment fur the little sugar bean (Which we find out the sex of on Friday!!) but the rest of the time we filled with things like Monkey's first eye appointment. Boring, I know, but it was unintentional that it happened during break. On the plus side, while slightly near-sided he doesn't need glasses YET. He will within another couple years, when it's reasonable that he would keep them on his face.

He spent a lot of time with his friend, hanging out and going on adventures, like to various parks, on a hike, to the "castle" (Rocky Butte Park) and went to great-grandma's to help her plant flowers. Other fun we had was have a tie dye party with a friend where we all tie dyed shirts and socks. Surprisingly socks turned out way cooler than I thought they would. That's monkey rocking one of his new shirts. His teachers all thought it was way cool. He loves to tie dye. It's one of the few projects that he can help do for the shop.

I got a new embroidery machine over spring break. It was bribery because hubby wanted a new TV and I totally don't even care. He almost choked when he found out that some embroidery machines cost as much as a car. The one that I got was NOT that expensive, it was actually one of the cheaper models since I have no idea how to use it. I can upgrade whenever I want though, and at a severe discount, so that's nice. I will likely want to upgrade but I don't want to do it on a machine I don't even know how to use. This will come in handy since I just signed up for a spring bazaar at the end of April. I only realized the other day that half of my stuff can go so I need to sew like crazy this month to have enough to take with because a lot of my stuff is holiday related and won't likely sell this time of year. So I need summer stuff! Embroidery is going to be a quick filler for things as well.

Moose had his first Easter over spring break. He didn't really understand the idea of looking for Easter eggs, but he did figure out that he LOVES M&M's. He gets really excited any time you bring out the bag for any reason. He makes all kinds of funny faces and noises to get a candy. He's even working on his "please" and "thank you" which come out as "peas" and "tent too." His first Easter meal he LOVED. He tried and loved everything- mashed potatoes and gravy, asparagus, ham, salad, rolls, he even liked the Marion berry pie and ice cream. He painted himself with mashed potatoes. Grandma had to give him a bath afterwards because he was just a huge mess.

Lastly, during our spring break, Moose learned to run. He thinks it's hilarious to take something he knows he's not supposed to have, like daddy's phone, and run away. While running the other day in the kitchen, he tripped and fell. He smashed his face right on the corner of the high chair and blistered his eye. He cut open the under eyelid and so, of course, it's bruising and has become a black eye. He's a tough kid though. As soon as I turned on Sesame Street, the tears went away. That boy loves Sesame Street.

That was out spring break. On paper it doesn't sound like nearly as much as it was. It rained like crazy over break so it felt like we were trapped inside a lot. This Friday is the beginning of the A-Z challenge. Hopefully this is the year that I make it through! I need to plan my posts. Wish me luck, you'll be seeing a lot of me soon.

New crafty stuff coming your way

As I mentioned the other day, I decided to open a second Etsy shop. This shop largely fills a void I've felt for a while revolving around not using my professional baking degree. This really isn't the area to try and get into something from the ground up when most bakeries are either mom and pop shops or they are chain store bakeries that don't actually bake things. It's a tough position-- and in the end, I just didn't end up having a chance to use it. Blogging a food blog filled the void for a while as I got to cook and bake things then write about it, but as I had more kids, and my house in general started to deteriorate due to my landlord not really caring about her own property, it made it difficult for health reasons.

So now I changed my focus and decided to stick to something that I can DO for my kitchen, instead of what I can MAKE in my kitchen. Admittedly, I still use my kitchen for some things, just because it's it's the largest place in my house without carpet, but it's not something that requires eating. (Which I admittedly, don't need to do more of than I already do-- especially being pregnant). Today while finishing Easter shopping for Monkey and Moose, I picked up a bunch of new glassware.

Pictured is 3 sets of glass salt and pepper shakers, 3 oil bottles, one creamer or other type liquid bottle that I picked up on clearance at Target, and a set of 4 half pint mason jars that are in a cool flatter, bulbous shape. I plan on tinting them, or painting on them (little known fact about me-- I used to teach one stroke painting classes at Joann Fabrics while in college). 

I'm thinking of some other fun ways to decorate them too so I'm excited that this is starting up. I think it will be a fun project, and Mason Jars are all the rage in decorating most everything lately so it's perfect to want to get behind it. 

Do you have a favorite jar painting technique?

Now Participating in:A-Z Challenge

Before I decided to make a life change and make my sewing business my main business, I was a professional blogger. I didn't make a lot of money doing it, but I made enough to pay the bills and buy my kiddo a Hot Wheel every time we went to the store as bribery to behave himself. For the past couple years, I tried doing a fun challenge called the A-Z Challenge. It happens every April, and there is always a different theme each year. I was never successful in completing the challenge, largely because I was running an autism blog at the time, and April is Autism Awareness month. Hosting giveaways, and writing important posts was exhausting and took all my time. This year, I only have this one blog, and my actual sewing for my 2 shops. So you know-- a bit more time! Ha, no. That's not the case.

I have told myself for the last 3 years, I am going to do this challenge every single year until I can get through the whole alphabet, so guess what I'm doing this year?! Yep. The theme is Joyful Bridge which is a bit loose-- which I can work with. That just means I have a bit more flexibility in my posts and can be a bit more lenient with them.

We have a lot going on in April- Moose's first birthday, finding out the sex of Sugar Bean #3, house hunting, and getting my new shop up and running. It's really a lot going on. There's plenty of things to write about, Easter will be over-- which has always been a big center of my previous years. So here's to hoping that it all goes smoothly!

And Just because he's super cute, here's a picture of my Moose.