Doll Closet

My daughter is obsessed with 18" dolls. Her goal is to eventually save up enough money to buy an American Girl doll, but for now she has the 18" dolls from places like Target and Toys R Us. She not only loves her dolls, but she loves to dress her dolls, which means we have an abundance of doll clothes. She had a big bag that she kept all of the clothes in but it was really hard for her to find specific outfits because she would have to dump the whole bag out to search through it. So I decided to make a little closet for all of her doll clothes!

I went to a thrift store and found an old cupboard. Luckily it was in really good condition, and it was already white which is the color I wanted it to be. And it was only $15! I took it home and cleaned it up really good, then cut some vinyl using our Silhouette machine. I put the vinyl on the doors to make it look cute and girly.

The Original cupboard

The cupboard with the vinyl on it

The next thing I did was add a bar inside for the clothes to hang on. I also got some little baskets to put the shoes in at the bottom of the closet. For the hangers, I got children hangers at Target and then used gardening sheers and cut them so they were the right size for the doll clothes.

(I hadn't put many clothes in the closet yet when I took this picture)

 I think it turned out pretty cute! My daughter loves it and it definitely helps keep her doll clothes more organized! 

~Megan

5 Ways To Make Your Child's Birthday Special

Birthdays are so much fun for kids.  My family does get presents for our kids, but we wanted to find other ways to celebrate and take the emphasis off of "what am I getting for my birthday?"  Here's some ways we have come up with to make birthdays special.

 1.  The Birthday Sign:  On our birthday every year while growing up my mom would put out a wooden tole painted clown that said "Happy Birthday".  It was something we looked forward to when our birthday rolled around.  Recently my family was staying at my parents house for a few days.  It happened to be on my Dad's birthday.  Sure enough, when I got up in the morning the birthday clown was out along with a birthday mug.  Even with no children at home they keep up the tradition.  At my house we have a shiny silver banner that gets hung up.  Last year I made these Happy Birthday (reversible-blue on one side, pink on the other) blocks.  My kids remind me when a birthday is coming to get the sign and blocks ready.

2.  Birthday Letter:  A wonderful idea (at which I am currently failing miserably) is to write a letter to your child on their birthday each year.  It could also be added to over the course of the year.  Include special things about the child.  What have they been doing during the year and what fun times have you had together?  How have they grown and changed?  What do you love about them?  This can be given to the child the following birthday to read.  They can then be saved in a binder.  What a special gift for your child to know you have been thinking of them and why you love them.

3.  Spend time together:  With school, homework, and soccer practice my daughter's birthday was very busy.  When she got up in the morning we cuddled up on my bed and spent some time talking.  We talked about her day, about what I remember from the day she was born, anything she wanted.  It was off to school and went non stop until bed time.  We always open presents in the evening when the whole family can be together.  When my husband & I went up to bed I checked on all the kiddos and found my birthday girl still awake.  She came into our room and spent a few more minutes with both of us.  They get excited for the cake, parties, and presents, but what kids need the most is time with their family.  We always try to fit in some one on one time with our birthday child to let them know how much we love them.  


4.  Special Food:  What's a celebration without food-right?  It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive.  Some families let the birthday child pick a restaurant to eat at.  Growing up we always got to pick what my mom would make for breakfast and dinner.  We also got to pick out the birthday dessert.  Most of the time for kids that ends up being cake & ice cream.  My kids get to pick a theme for the cake if they want, as well as what flavor.  As you can see, my talents do not lie in the cake decorating department (it looks crazy, but both of my girls said this was the "best cake ever!"), but my kids love having a fun cake every year.



5.  Serve Others:  With children birthdays can quickly become crazy.  Children often get the me-me-me attitude.  My family has already had our first birthday for the year.  We decided this year to try something different.  On the morning of her birthday I asked my daughter to think of a secret service she could do for each family member during the day.  She had so much fun thinking of ways to serve the family.  It made everyone happy.  It helped her remember that she is not the only one that matters, while also helping her feel special and important.  This will definitely be something we continue in our family.



Every family does things differently, but a lot of it seems to boil down to starting traditions.  Have fun finding creative ways to show your children how special they are.

~Amy

Chore Chart

Something I've been thinking about for awhile has been getting my kids to help more around the house.  They would grudgingly do the chores I asked them to do but I figured it would be better to have it more organized so they just knew what their chores were instead of me having to fight them on it all the time.  I created a dry erase chore chart through Heritage Makers, who I am a consultant for.  Here is what I did:

If you want one like this you can go to foreverstorybook.com.

I selected to have it come UV coated which makes it dry erase.  I put on chores like Dusting, vacuuming, taking out garbage etc.  On Saturday they each have a chore in the bathroom which we will rotate each week so they don't get stuck with the same one all the time.  For my youngest, I did simple chores he could help me with like folding the towels.  They also have daily chores they need to do which were: making their beds, putting away their backpacks, coat, and shoes after school, etc.

We are on the first day that we were home for them to do their chores and I didn't have to force any of them.  They came home asking where the things were they needed for their chores and got to it.  I am sure there will be bad days too but at least it is a start.

We let them decide if they wanted to earn basically fake money to use in a family store or a real allowance and they decided a real allowance.

I hope this continues to work and am glad I can erase the chores and redo the list as needed for whatever doesn't work.  This is similar to what we did as kids so I know it can work.

~Andrea

Legwarmers

This time of year, I always end up making a lot of legwarmers.  Little girls love them!  I take custom orders for the legwarmers on our etsy shop, Fabulously Frazzled.

Here are some examples of the legwarmers:

 They have a fun texture and either a flower or a bow-which I don't have a picture of on here.

If you would like a custom pair, please go to our etsy shop and request a custom order.  In order to make a custom pair, I need a few measurements.  Around the ankle, just below the knee (or lower if you don't want them as long) and the length between those two measurements.  I also need the legwarmer color request, I can do a big variety, whether you want a flower or a bow and what color you would like that item to be.  Any adjustments other than these may be available for an extra fee.

~Andrea