I remember a few years ago we went to visit my sister in law and she is so good at this – she has her journal right out on her counter so she can write little messages to her daughter about what happened, her milestones, etc.  I have tried doing that a few times and it worked for me for a week and then would realize a month later that I hadn’t done it so I gave up. 

I was on Pinterest (of course) and saw this idea as a picture (the link was broken so they may have done this is a little different).  

This is so simple!  I just got some notecards (I got larger than index size) and then in a corner write the date (just month and day) on each one.  To start I just did May & June because I felt overwhelmed by the thought of writing 365 index cards out at one time.  When the end of June approaches I will do the next month and be ready.   Once you have this done you write the year on one of the lines and what happened that day and then move it to the back.  Do the same thing for every day and then next year you will add the 2013 line and what you did.  This seemed manageable to me – I created this last week and I am still doing it so that is the right direction.

The original picture I saw had these set up as a book type thing with d-rings but I couldn’t logistically think how I could get something so thick binded so I used a photo box that I had that I was not using. 

Self confession  -- I showed this to my mother in law when she came over and she said that is cute but isn’t it 2012?  OOPS – I was writing 2011 as you will see by my picture which I have changed now so just be sure you remember the year :)

~Jackie

We had a whirlwind of a week!  We had school activities with Jules, waterpark fun and new countertops installed, so not much work got done but it was a productive week. 

Sometimes, I just think my kids are crazy!  The first picture is just a random shot that Jeremy got during silly time before bed and this is how they are all the time -- they are certainly best friends and it warms my heart more than you could ever imagine!  Then, you will see a crazy shot of Jordyn -- I was cooking dinner and she was awfully quiet so I peeked around the island and this is what I found -- I just laughed then of course Jules spotted her and said that she needed to have a pre dinner snack of chips too!   We had waterday at Jules' school and she was a little timid of the slip n slide at first but then she jumped in and loved it.  The last picture -- this is Jules' bedroom about 4pm -- my kids have a playroom jam packed full of toys and 80% of the day this is the mess they  make in Jules' bedroom.  They pull everything in there, including the sheets from my bed all within the 10 minutes it took me to make dinner!  How is it even possible?!

I had a lack of work this work and mostly because I was preparing for this kitchen demo / install -- had to empty all the cabinets and because we had crazy tile countertops they had to demo the day before so we tried to make due for the 24 hours without a kitchen so things were just a litle crazy!  BUT, we love how they have turned out so far...

We still have to pick out a backsplash which we are working on but so far so good!  

I did get a few things done and a few more that I just forgot to photograph....

Have a great week!

~Jackie

There must be lots of babies out there all of a sudden and this week it is mostly girls...bloomers, burp cloths, onesies and a Gator outfit for a little lady to show her school spirit!  Also, made some birthday fun with a train birthday shirt and Mr. William's 10 month birthday onesie :) Another hit was the princess dress and the coordinating short and shirt set that I did for Jules.  I always enjoy putting together what customers want but really love putting together things for my little ladies....

Ms. Jordyn is about to celebrate her first birthday in a few weeks so I took the time this weekend to put together her birthday celebration pieces.  I have known that I wanted to do a rainbow theme and finally found this fabric with some searching and with the bloomers I love it!  I can't believe that she is going to be 1 already.  And, she has this little number to wear on the day of her birthday...

I really like this cute little tank that I picked up at Target with the little bow on it -- I might have to go back to pick up a few more for summer shirts!  

We had a fun week with a visit to Animal Kingdom included but my phone was on the outs (which was gratefully replaced by Apple this weekend) so no pictures :(  

Hope you all have a fabulous week!

~Jackie

• Fluorescent notecards
• Steno note pad
• Hole puncher
• Tape
• Glue
• Scissors
• calculator

Yes, some of these things we already have but I am a big fan of having something complete – when  I need to pull out the office I don’t want to have to go searching for the items I just want it all together.  The entire thing cost us $8! I used a Thirty-One bag that I had on hand that I wasn’t using but you could also use a basket or bin. 

When we got home we unpackaged everything and I explained that she could cut up, paste and tape anything she wanted in this bag and that it was her “office” for when she wanted to go to “work”.  She promptly added that I didn’t need to be sad because she wasn’t really leaving to go to work it was just pretend :)

So, off she went to work with her bag – now, be prepared to get some things done because she played with this for both entire full nap times of Jordyn which is a total of 4 hours!!  Never has this happened in our house so I took  full advantage of it and knocked my to do list out for the week!  Since then she has been playing with the office each day – she mostly does it when Jordyn is sleeping but every now and again she will ask if she can go in her room and play with it and she does for a short bit.  To say the least – she LOVES it!

Now that it is done there are a few things that I would change – I probably wouldn’t have included the hole puncher because she doesn’t have the strength to do it just yet but she does try.  I also would not have gotten cheap tape because it is IMPOSSIBLE to use the little cutter thing and we have to use the scissors to cut off a piece of tape – oops! 

Hope you are able to knock out a few things on your ever growing to do list with the implementation of the office!

~Jackie

~Jackie

My wonderful iphone has decided to give me troubles and doesn't allow me to take pictures most times I want it to because it says the storage is full -- I don't get it!  But, anyway that is why there are not many photos these past couple of weeks!

This week we went to Disney to visit the Flower & Garden Festival at Epcot before it closed down and we really enjoyed ourselves -- they had some great exhibits with the fairies and butterflies so Jules really got a kick out of it and as you can see she found the face painting booth :)  It was also a Mother's Day breakfast at Jules' school that she & I attended that was very sweet, loved it!

This week I worked on a bunch of towels a customer got to give as birthday and teacher gifts -- great idea! I also worked on a few baby gifts for customers!  The tank tops are actually adult tank tops with bows that are attached by safety pin -- another cute idea!  The popsicle shirts are for my girls that Jules helped me do over the weekend and she was so excited it was her creation -- she is proudly wearing it today :)

Off to work in Jules' new "office" that we put together this morning! Have a great week!

~Jackie

Then I picked various things from around the house for Jules to test in her water to see if it sunk or floated.  I also gave her a pair of tongs to do this which which she thought was the best!

I walked her though the first one to explain what she was looking for but then she did the rest by herself.  When she was done she went on a hunt to find more things she could try. 

Jules really loved this activity and it taught her the basics of objects floating or sinking so it was a win / win.  This morning when I told her we were sticking at home today she pouted but then when we offered this activity she was all for it!

Enjoy!

~Jackie

After much deliberation we finally decided on a bike attachment for Jules.  We have the iBert for Jordyn as we had it for Jules but needed something for Jules and finally picked one up for her.  We had our first family bike ride and it was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed ourselves.  We also did our usually Gymboree classes :) We also made some personal cards for Mother's Day & Teacher Appreciation week with Jules.  

This week I did some birthday present gifts that customers requested (did you know your item can be wrapped up in a birthday theme bag and be ready to go upon pickup?), another raggy golf shirt, ladybug birthday shirt for Greta, some MOPS bibs to give for moms who have a new addition and wrapped up the cruise order dresses :)

Hope you all have a fabulous week!

~Jackie

We had a fun week!  We went to Disney and rode the new Dumbo which was a lot of fun and seemed to go faster :)  The line was a lot less compact so the wait was not near as bad and we went on a Monday so it was only 30 minutes.   We also went to SeaWorld this weekend and visited the new Turtle Trek exhibit -- the animal exhibits during the wait were neat but the 360 degree, 3D movie was not for Jules so we did not see but a minute of it -- seemed a little intense for her! We also hit our local splash pad for the first time this season and Jordyn was a fan :)  Jordyn also learned to help herself in the fridge and got her first Publix balloon :)  Great week -- I am also starting to work with Give Kids the World again on a very exciting personalization project that I hope to share the details with you in just a few days! 

This week seemed a lot busier than the picture shows because I sewed 5 dresses for a large order I have but now have to add the embroidery to them this week. I also completed the large pink shirt princess order and worked on some more super hero shirts.  Finished up a baby order and did some pirates for a family going to tour a pirate ship -- how fun!  

Hope you all had a great week!

~Jackie

At our last MOPS meeting there was a roundtable on nutrition led by Lori Wegman that had some good ideas to make eating fruits and vegetables more fun.  This is great for people who just want to spice it up a little or for those that do not necessarily care for the fruits and veggies so much. 

The first tip is what we refer to as the cupcake tray – when I heard this idea I stopped on my way out and picked up a new cupcake tray to use!  The idea is simple – the tray has three rows – you fill the outside two with fruits and / or veggies and then the middle row with dips and you can either provide a utensil (skewers are very fun) or allow them to use their hands. 

Here are some pics of our first cupcake tray snack experience….

In it I had bananas, green peppers, carrots, cucumbers, pineapple, grapes and strawberries and then for dips (I had one extra) I had ranch dressing, cool whip, yogurt dip, peanut butter and hummus. 

As soon as I put it down I kind of chuckled because I found Jeremy & I eating just as much of it as Jules was – she was a big fan of the idea and starting dipping all kids of crazy combinations but she ate them.  She tried everything and found she is a BIG fan of green peppers dipped in hummus but not such a fan of carrots :)

I have since done several other variations – I usually make a tray and when the snacking is done I wrap it in cling wrap and put it back in the fridge and then just take it back out, replenish and use it again.  The other variations included some raw broccoli, celery, cherry tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe and the options can go on forever.  I pretty much stick to the same dips but know you can probably think of more!  

Enjoy the healthier snack options...

~Jackie