The Mother Lode

Crafts and Crochet

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Children’s Songs to Save Your Music Loving Soul

Okay, so you had a kid. This does not mean you have to listen to recordings of kids singing the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” all day. Some children’s music can be unbearably annoying. I am here to save you from endless repetition of the same four songs you can remember from your own childhood. Take a half hour to hop onto YouTube, Amazon, or I Tunes, and listen to a few of these:

Songs for dancing:

  • “I really love to dance” by Laurie Berkner
  • “Shake my sillies out” by Raffi (The version by Andy Mason is also jammin’.)
  • “Robot Parade” by They Might Be Giants
  • “Drive my car” by Laurie Berkner
  • “We’re going on a bear hunt” by Michael Rosen
  •  Try some old and new pop songs that are kid friendly like
    • “Day-O” by Harry Belafonte
    • “I’m a Believer” by The Monkees
    • “That’s what I like about you” by The Romantics
    • “Lollipop” by The Chordettes
    • “Firework” by Katy Perry
    • “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon (maybe a bit inappropriate if your child knows what shut up means, but we love it)
    • “The Best Day of my Life” by American Authors

Songs for sleeping:

  • “Moon, moon, moon” by Laurie Berkner
  • “The more we get together” by Raffi
  • “You are my sunshine” by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell, I like the Elizabeth Mitchell version
  • “Lavender’s Blue (Dilly Dilly)” traditional, and it is in the new Disney Cinderella
  • “All the pretty horses” traditional, I like the version by Charlotte Church
  • “Hushabye Mountain” by Bobbie Gentry (or Dick Van Dyke in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
  • “Rainbow Round Me” by Ruth Pelham

Songs for being silly:

  • “Apples and Bananas” by Raffi
  • “Pig on her head” by Laurie Berkner
  • “What kind of cat are you?” by Billy Jonas
  • “Aikendrum” traditional Scottish song, but there is a version by Raffi
  • “Five little hot dogs” several versions
  • “The Old Gray Cat” traditional, just discovered I have been singing it wrong as I learned it to be an old black cat
  • “Crazy ABC’s” by the Barenaked Ladies (Yes, they have a couple of children’s albums and the songs are hilarious)

I hope you find some new favorites from this list! Please tell me some of your favorite children’s songs!

 

 

 

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Play ’til they Drop: 8 Ways for your Toddler to Exercise

Wouldn’t it be amazing to have the seemingly boundless energy of a toddler? As my two-year old runs around the backyard, I envy the swiftness of his feet and his ability to brush off bruises. That being said, sometimes toddlers need energy direction. I wanted to share with you several ways to help your toddler feel ready for bed at night. (Since you will certainly feel ready for bed!)
  1. The number 1 way we get our toddler to expel some energy is going for a walk. We typically walk in our neighborhood, but if we have enough time, we go to a park with a trail. (Not as much worry if he runs off a bit!)
  2. It is worth a bit of a search to find a good playground for your toddler. The playground at the school in our neighborhood is great for the school-age kids, but my son won’t even climb because it’s too high. (Then he screams as we walk away because he wanted to go on the slide.) So we go to the next neighborhood, where he can do the slide confidently!playground toddler
  3. It is great to play schoolyard games with a bunch of school-age kids, but it is quite another thing to try to play those games with one two-year old! I suggest finding some pretend games that your child likes. My son loves the book We’re Going on Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. We act out the scenes in the book. There is a video on YouTube if you don’t have the book and want to check it out. We also play a shortened version of “Red Light, Green Light.” Toddlers learn a lot through pretend play. Imitating different animals is especially fun!
  4. We have a vegetable garden and several flowerbeds that always seem to need attention. Our two-year old loves pulling weeds with daddy, putting them into the brush can, digging, planting seeds, and using his watering can.
  5. A few other outside things we rely on: bubbles, balls, and sidewalk chalk.
  6. When I was pregnant with my second baby, I had terrible back pain. I found myself taking Tylenol every night and wanted to find a different way to alleviate the pain. I found some yoga positions to do every day that worked like a charm! My two-year old loves to “mommy exercise!” with me. Even just basic stretches are fun to him.
  7. One year for Christmas, my parents and my in-laws both gave my son a tent/tunnel combo. They are seriously a God-send! My boys love crawling through them chasing each other. Bonus: we have to pick up the toys to get them out!
  8. We love to dance! It can be hard to find kid-appropriate songs that don’t make you want to saw off your own ears. My suggestion is to find something good for dancing that you can tolerate. I promise to give you some great options in my next post, so stay tuned!

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Cutting the Clutter

This drives my husband crazy:

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It is the clutter spot in our kitchen. You may have a similar area where paper items are kept. Mail, bills, coupons; they have to sit somewhere while I am chasing the kids! You may know that I am not anyone’s definition of “organized.” That being said, I do like things to be organized. I just don’t often make it a priority. So a few weeks ago when my husband expressed his dislike of this particular clutter in the house, I said, “Okay, I will take care of it.” And I actually did! I cleared out a shelf of the cabinet that had extra coffee mugs. (We had two shelves of coffee mugs and he is the only one who drinks it.) Then, I scoured the internet (okay, I scoured Pinterest), for ideas to organize the stuff. I found two ideas that would work in the cabinet. One idea was using cereal boxes to make a paper organizer. I glued three cereal boxes together, then cut them at an angle to create my organizer.  IMGP7577

Next, I picked scrapbook paper that I liked and covered the box all around with it. I just used an Elmer’s craft glue-stick and it worked fine. I used a coordinating paper on the inside also.

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After I finished, I made some labels with card-stock and stuck them on with my favorite tool ever, my little glue dot roller. I figured they wouldn’t be hard to change that way.

The next idea I found was for making laminated pockets from the blog Organizing Home Life

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I thought this was such a great idea! I used 3M command strips to hang them instead of Velcro, because I didn’t have any Velcro.

So the finished cabinet included both of these, plus a small container for loose change, a pen holder that a friend made for me years ago (can covered in fabric), hooks for keys (they were already there), tape dispenser, pocket calendar, and pads of paper for jotting down notes.

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The categories I used for organizing all the paper: coupons, invitations, bills, receipts, To-Do Mike, and To-Do Priscilla.

And now the counter looks like this and my husband can bow down to my greatness.

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Grandma’s Sloppy Joes

A few months ago, I had a hankering for some sloppy joes. I called up my sister to ask if she knew how my grandma made them when we were younger. She did, because she has a way better memory than I do and I think they were a more favored dish of hers. She also told me a couple of things that she does differently than my grandma. This recipe is a combination of my sister’s additions and the way my grandma always makes it. If you feel ambivalent about sloppy joes, but you have some ground beef in the freezer, and you are wondering what’s for dinner, give this a try!

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Now for some interesting facts about sloppy joes for your dinner conversation:

  • You may already know a few aliases for sloppy joes like beef barbecue and steamers, but I never heard of these names: dynamites, gulash (I think of ground beef, tomatoes, and noodles, right? And spelled goulash? Anyone?), sloppy janes, slushburgers, wimpies, yum-yums, yip yips, hot tamales, taverns, and spoonburgers.
  • The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink can’t pinpoint the exact birth of the sloppy joe, but traces it to about 1935.
  • Apparently there is an unrelated sandwich also called Sloppy Joe running around northern New Jersey that consists of deli meat with cole slaw, Russian dressing, and Swiss cheese on three slices of rye bread.
  • In the 1940’s inexpensive eateries and lunch counters were commonly called sloppy joes.

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Who knew? (Well someone knew, I found this information on the world wide web, after all.)

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Best Banana Muffins (so easy, a toddler can make them)

Yes, you read that right, a toddler can make them. Except for the measuring and the putting them in the hot oven part, but still, they are very easy. I have been making this recipe since I was about 16. My mom sometimes worked in the evenings so I was learning how to cook. My mom gave me a cookbook called Clueless in the Kitchen: A Cookbook for Teens by Evelyn Raab. It is still my favorite cookbook. The recipes are simple but delicious. The author is entertaining. She even includes menu plans, information for shopping at the grocery store, and diagrams for cutting produce. (I still open this book to check the ratio of milk to egg every time I make french toast for my husband.) Anyway, it is still available on Amazon. I bought it a few Christmas’s ago for my brother after he moved out of my parents’ house, but I don’t think he has cracked it open yet. Maybe someday when pigs fly!

This is my adaptation of the banana bread recipe in the book. If you have some bananas lying around, waiting to die a terrible death, give them new life as yummy banana muffins! Really, you’ll feel better about yourself for saving them from such a sad ending.

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. I use the foil cupcake wrappers because the muffins just come out of them so much better than the paper ones. If you are using wrappers, put them in the muffin/cupcake pan. (Or have your toddler do it!) If not, you can grease the pan with spray or Crisco, whichever you prefer.

In a large bowl, mix together 3/4 cup white flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, dash of nutmeg, 1 cup sugar, and 1 tsp baking soda. (I measure each ingredient out and let my toddler dump it in.)

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My cute little guy likes to stir the dry ingredients.

Next, I use a 2 cup glass measuring cup to smash two ripe bananas with a fork. Once they are smashed enough that I can stir it up, I scrape into a small bowl. Then, I use the measuring cup to pour 1/2 cup of vegetable oil. I put that into the small bowl with the bananas. Finally, I crack two eggs into the small bowl, tossing the eggshells into the measuring cup.

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Vent your frustration over that time your car got a flat tire/died/started billowing smoke.

 

Now, I mix the eggs, bananas, and vegetable oil with the fork until it is mostly smooth, with a few banana chunks hanging around.

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This was the first time he mixed enough to break the egg yolks himself!

Finally, I pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk them together. At this point I sometimes add about 1 cup of chocolate chips. (The reason my 2 yr old likes to cook with mommy.) I use dairy free chocolate chips, but whatever kind is safe for your family will be great.

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Don’t over-mix! Some lumps are okay!

I use a 1/4 cup measuring spoon to put the batter into the muffin cups. I even let my 2 yr old do it, but today he was more interested in eating chocolate chips.

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Mmmmm chocolate chips

I fill the cups about 3/4 of the way.

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So even! Mad skillz, yo

My oven is from the 1950’s, so I bake them for 15 minutes, then check them and they are usually done. Sometimes they need another minute, but 15 is the norm in my (extra hot) oven. If you want to make banana bread, you can bake this in a greased loaf pan for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees as well.

Mmmm, can you smell them?

I use a cake tester to make sure they are done.

Go ahead, you know you want to make them!

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Hello, cute little muffin

 

 

 

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Simply Delicious Turkey Burgers

A few summers ago, my husband’s workplace offered a free Weight Watchers program. Even though I thought he was perfectly handsome, he decided to lose some weight by consciously making healthier choices. He usually isn’t the one who does the cooking, though, so we worked together to find some lighter recipes to cook! We discovered that we enjoyed cooking with lean ground turkey. It isn’t expensive and it is quick and easy. One of the first things we tried was turkey burgers. I found a recipe that sounded good and tried it out. It was wonderful and we have made it many times since then, with some modifications. I love making these because there isn’t much clean-up since they are made on the grill, they are fast to put together, and the ingredients are items I typically have on hand. Those are the usual requirements for food made by this mother of two little boys! Additionally, it is dairy free (unless, of course, you want to top yours with some cheese.)

First assemble your ingredients. You’ll need 1 lb of ground turkey for 4 burgers. You’ll also need one small onion (any kind is fine, my favorite is a sweet yellow onion), 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper.

I usually get started by mincing about half the onion and the 2 cloves of garlic. Then I put the turkey into a bowl and toss the onion and garlic on top. My husband isn’t a number 1 fan of onion like I am, so I try to keep them to a minimum! If you look at the onion and garlic and think you need some more, go for it! Then I put in salt and pepper, and finally the olive oil and Worcestershire sauce. (If you really like Worcestershire sauce, add a few more dashes like I do! It is wonderful in this recipe.)

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After I holler at my husband to turn on the grill, I mix everything together with my hands and form the patties, making a bit of a divot in the middle. This keeps them from getting too round! For 1 lb of ground beef, I make a big ball with it all, then use my hands to cut it into quarters. In this picture I happened to use more than a pound so I got five burgers.

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Then my husband grills them for us, about 6 minutes each side and an additional minute or two, depending on how hot the grill was.

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Here are my favorite toppings: lettuce, tomato, cheese and pickle. Even my picky two-year old eats these! I hope your family loves them, too!

 

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Ice Paint with Toddlers

My son’s 1st birthday party was a few weeks ago and I have yet to send the thank you notes. I may or may not have a thank you note love affair. Generally I feel that if someone gives you a gift, particularly at a time you did not get to speak with them and thank them properly (like at a party or if they send it), then you should send a thank you note! It doesn’t have to be fancy, just heartfelt. That doesn’t mean it can’t be fancy: I personally like fancy ones the best. Anyways. Toddlers can’t write their own thank you notes, but they can make something pretty to go on the thank you note. I wanted to have my son use finger paint for making these cards. It was a fail. He cried almost the whole time and just kept trying to crawl over to his big brother. A few days later I decided to try ice paint which I had seen on Pinterest (of course, where else.) I filled some leftover yogurt and applesauce containers with water and a few drops of gel food coloring. After an hour in the fridge I stuck in some wooden dowels. (After cutting them down by hand in the garage as the boys were sleeping. Yeah. That was an adventure.) I let them harden overnight and the next day had a successful ice painting session!

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I used painter’s tape to keep the paper in place on the high chair tray. (I used inexpensive watercolor paper, but any thicker paper would be fine.) Then, I pretty much gave my son the ice paint chunks and let him go. It was great because he is teething, so he loved chewing on them. Much less nerve-wracking than regular paint because eating it is safe!

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A week later I finally got around to turning the artwork into thank you notes. I cut the tape off and cut each piece into four separate pieces.

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I used patterned and plain cardstock to make cards and affixed the artwork to the cards. I also had some cute “Thank you” adornments hanging around and used them on a few cards.

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Now if I could just get all of them written, addressed, and mailed, my life would be complete.

 

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Plan a break!

Everyone needs a break now and then. It’s true for everyone. The routine can become painful! This is especially difficult when you have young children as there are so many things you are responsible for when caring for them. I know when my children are older, there will be difficulties as well. (You know, when they someday are angry and give me the dreaded “I hate you!”) For now, though, the responsibilities can sometimes be overwhelming. Do we have enough food they can be persuaded to eat in the fridge? Are there any t-shirts they haven’t gotten dirty yet? Am I going to run out of diapers? Wipes? Pacifiers? Sanity? So I am encouraging everyone (even if your days don’t consist of getting smears of food on your shirt and stickers on your butt) to plan a break! Seriously, pick someone you trust and beg them to watch your children/cat/ficus and go away. Planning isn’t usually my personal strength, but as I’ve gotten wiser (okay, maybe older, too) I’ve come to understand that if I actually want things to happen I can’t rely on it to just work out that way, I’ve got to plan for it! So stay up an extra 20 minutes tonight and plan a break for yourself with your husband, sister, friend, mom, dog, or whomever else is awesome in your life.

Maybe you can be inspired by my break: I came home last night from a weekend in Chicago with my mom, sister, and niece. It was our girls weekend and it was so wonderful to leave concerns behind and just play! First we went to the Shedd Aquarium, which was fantastic. We saw too many creatures to keep track of and spent more time than we had anticipated there because it was so great!

View of Chicago from the Shedd Aquarium

View of Chicago from the Shedd Aquarium

Sea urchins at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago

Sea urchins at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago

We ate Chicago-style pizza and had fun shopping on Michigan Avenue. We ate a fancy dinner at Wildfire which was delicious. (I especially enjoyed choosing foods with cheese, since I tend not to cook with it as much because of my son’s dairy allergy.)

Parmesan crusted cod from Wildfire in Chicago

Parmesan crusted cod from Wildfire in Chicago

We finished our weekend off with doughnuts and mass (where we even took up the gifts!)

"Chocolate 4" doughnut from Glazed and Infused in Chicago

“Chocolate 4” doughnut from Glazed and Infused in Chicago

Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago

Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago

 

Conclusion: plan a break from the mothering and you will find yourself relaxed and ready to take on whatever madness your children can dish out!

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Embossed Birthday Card

I hate spending extra money on something that I can make just as well (or better) myself. I also tend to forget birthdays because I never pay attention to what the date is. (Which means I need to get a card ASAP.) As such, I have been making handmade birthday cards (and Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Anniversary, you name it, I’ve made it.) Since my boys were taking good naps today, I ran downstairs and made this super fun birthday card! (For my friend whose birthday was five days ago. I know; I’m terrible.)

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A few years ago, my mom gave me a light table and some embossing materials. She had them sitting in a drawer for a long time. I remember her using them one year to make our family Christmas cards. It would be great to use it to make Christmas cards, but we just have such a large family that it would take weeks to get them all made! Instead, I figured out how to make my own embossing plates! First, you will need some paperboard, preferably a bit thicker than a cereal box. You can also use an old plastic lid from a container like a sour cream container. Use a pencil or pen to write the image you would like to have. If you don’t want to write it out yourself, you could also print the words in bold using whatever font you like in a word processor.

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Next, use an x-acto knife to cut out the design you created. It takes some time and effort, but it is worth it because then you will have the image to easily emboss whenever you would like!

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Once your fingers are ready to fall off, you are probably finished.

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Put it on the light table (or a sunny window) upside down.

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Place your paper over the design. Make sure you have it lined up properly.

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Now, use the embossing stylus to press the design into the paper. Be careful not to press too hard or you may rip the paper. Once you have pressed with the embossing stylus, turn over your work and say “Ta-da!”

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You can leave it as is, paint it, or you can use some oil pastel to bring out the design as I did here.

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Now my card is ready to be mailed to my friend!

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Craft Space Makeover Reveal

My space has been ready in the basement for a few weeks and I have been enjoying it (mostly in the wee hours of the night!) I wanted to wait until I practiced using it to put all the little doodads in their final home. Now I know what items should be the easiest to access and what items can sit in a drawer or cupboard until the end of the world.

The old workbench in the basement covered in my craft junk

Before

We cleaned this whole area of the basement and used leftover paint from our bathroom remodels. We also used some water blocking primer on the concrete blocks. It looks 1,000 times better!

After

After

Before

Before

Here you can see my wrapping station which my husband built for me at Christmas. It looked so nice that we just HAD to clean up the rest of the area! My mother-in-law gave me a great paper storage cart for my birthday, as well as a bunch of storage boxes.

After

After

My doodads

My doodads

It’s great to have everything organized, but at the end of the day, this isn’t a prominent area of my house, so I didn’t care about having fancy containers. The silver cans are formula cans and the other containers are baby food jars and baby food containers. They are the perfect size for paper clips, brads, stick-on pearls, buttons, erasers, etc. This shelf was built into the counter. I had attempted to use this tension rod to hold ribbon in my closet upstairs, but it was too small. It was the perfect size for this shelf, though!

Ribbon holder from shelf and teeny tiny tension rod

Ribbon holder from shelf and teeny tiny tension rod

Fabric!

Fabric!

I needed a shelf for my fabric and this one was hanging out in our house holding soda of all things! It is actually an old, deep media cabinet. It ended up being a great shelf to fit my fabric. I just rolled it up and shoved it in! On top of the shelf is a small file holder with patterns, stickers, labels, etc. In addition to the wrapping station, my husband also got me this amazing chair from Wayfair. I used to sit on this stool that my friend painted for me in high school. It is still adorable, but not comfortable! I plan on sitting here for many projects, so I am glad that my new chair is comfortable! It is also on casters so that I can roll around like a ten-year old. Hopefully over the weekend I can get a little crafting to happen and share it with you!

New, comfortable, amazing, wonderful there-aren't-enough-adjectives-able chair

New, comfortable, amazing, wonderful there-aren’t-enough-adjectives-able chair

Old, adorable stool (Yes, that is Sleeping Beauty because she is the best: loves sleep, sings, and talks to animals. )

Old, adorable stool (Yes, that is Sleeping Beauty because she is the best: loves sleep, sings, and talks to animals.)

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