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Home ยป Archives for Tsoniki ยป Page 113

Birthdays (without pressure)

February 5, 2007 by Tsoniki 2 Comments

Here was any birthday in my family when I was a kid ~ everyone (meaning cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, brothers, sisters, friends, etc.) gathered at a house (ie our house, my Grandma’s house, one of my Aunt’s houses, etc.) for a meal, cake, ice cream, singing and presents. We are a very close family and there is at least a few birthdays every month (save for October when it is only my husbands birthday and of course when I was a kid, he wasn’t around). It wasn’t unusual for someone to call on Monday or Tuesday for a party that weekend.

There was no person dressed as a mouse, no matching napkins/plates/cups/balloons/plastic silverware, etc, nothing out of control and crazy. It was a casual undertaking.

And yet we had fun. We had a great time! We ran around, played games, visited, etc. We didn’t have to have someone or something entertaining us, we were kids and knew how to play on our own.

When we have thrown birthday parties for our kids it is much like when I was growing up. When Alice turned one we had a party and invited a few people over. My Mom happened to be visiting the area and was able to be there. We made sloppy joes and had chips and probably potato salad, cake and ice cream. Alice wasn’t interested in the cake at all – she wouldn’t even touch it. LOL She and the other babies sat by each other and stared.

I didn’t throw her a party when she turned two because I was due with Jake on her birthday (and Chris was not around because of work). My Dad and a brother (and a couple of his kids) were visiting and we had cake and ice cream. Jake wasn’t born for five more days.

For her third and his first, we had a combined birthday party. A few friends came over and we bbq’ed and had cake and ice cream and the kids toddled around the yard.

For her fourth and his second we had another combined birthday party. This time a friend bought this blow up house thing that she owned. The kids played in that as well as ran around the yard. The adults gossiped/visited and ate food.

For her fifth and his third we didn’t have a party as we were living here (SC) and only knew one other family here (other then our neighbors) so we just had dinner and let the kids pick what to eat as well as the kind of cake they wanted.

If we are still here this year for her sixth and his fourth, I plan on having a party at the gymnastics place. I plan on having balloons, cake and ice cream. If we aren’t here, well we’ll just have to figure that out later.

Easy, not overly (or at all!) decorated and yet fun. We have great pictures of sweaty kids eating ice cream, of friends sitting under the shade on the patio, of the kids running after each other. We have pictures of the Dora cakes I (and my Mom) made when they were 3/1

Alice's 3 year cake Jake's 1 year cake

and of the Dora and the Elmo cake Chris and I made (it’s an abstract Elmo) when they were 4/2.

Alice's 4th birthday cake Jake's 2nd birthday cake

Ever since being married and attending friends’ kids birthday parties, I’ve had a hard time dealing with birthday party stuff. I don’t like the themed-out-to-the-max decorations and I especially don’t like the gift bags.

All of this is coming from my attending a birthday party yesterday. The birthday girl had picked out her theme from the birthday express catalog. I looked at the catalog once and while the things in it are cute, they are so very expensive considering the amount of time they are used. I don’t understand the idea of buying so many things just because they are cute and they match when they will only be enjoyed for a matter of hours.

Getting back to the gift bags, I’ve always felt that your birthday was a special day just for you – what fun is it for a kid if they say thank you for the gift, here is one for you too. That just doesn’t make sense to me. I like to think I’ve done my kids birthday parties as mine were done when I was a kid. Sure I have them at my house so there is the cleaning up and doing dishes (or having extra trash from paper plates), but that’s what I want and what I enjoy and more importantly ~ it is what I want to pass on to my kids.

I was visiting with my Mom about the birthday party because other then looking like a unicorn threw up (seriously, *everything* in that room matched, it was overwhelming for me and I’m 28. I can’t imagine how those kids felt!), the invitation said no gifts please. So we made a cute card (pictures soon, I made two of them), wrote a nice note and the kids each signed their own names. And when we get to the party, there was a table of gift bags of presents. For a moment I thought oh no, were we the only ones to not bring a gift – and then I was over feeling…whatever that feeling was. Then I felt annoyed that no one listened to the Mom who sent the invitations. No gifts means no gifts. I think it was disrespectful for others to not pay attention to the parents request.

My kids have a lot of toys – so many toys that I am putting away at least half and we are going to start rotating them, so many that the kids stick to playing with their three favorites because there are too many to pick from. I intend to tell people no gifts please – but I’m thinking I’ll say something like if you feel you need to do something, please make a donation to _____ (I haven’t thought of what yet). I would gladly make a donation in name of someone.

So in talking to Mom about the party she says she just read about something where parents were protesting how out of control kids birthday parties have been. A quick google search and I found Birthdays Without Pressure. What a great idea! I am going to tell everyone I know about this. I’d rather my kids have great memories of playing with their friends then some cheap toy they received after turning in a bunch of tokens, that cost the birthday childs mom and dad quite a chunk of change.

I’ve never felt competitive with my friends over birthday parties but I don’t understand how we have allowed them to get out of control. The stories over at Birthdays Without Pressure are way more then I’ve personally experienced and I’m so glad. Here is to a birthday without pressure – spread the word.

Filed Under: Inspiration, Ramblings

For The Kids – Alphabet Activity Calendar

February 1, 2007 by Tsoniki 4 Comments

My friend Nicole was one of three people who put together a [tag]Kids Activity Calendar[/tag]. Click here for a free lesson on the Letter “A”.

I am loving this! My son is three years old and earlier this month I started doing more with him with school activities. I think he was a little jealous of Alice “doing school” and so he basically insisted on starting preschool. He’s doing great for his age. He knows a good majority of the basics – colors, shapes, alphabet, counting – so I’m now starting to build on that. We worked with numbers today and he stops counting at 14. LOL And probably a third of the time he stops at “R” and says “now I know my ABCs, next time won’t you sing with me” and smiles.

If you want to buy the full [tag]kids calendar[/tag], click here. The website will tell you more but here is what is included:

* Introduction of a new letter each week
* Weekly coloring sheets and printable worksheets
* Fun weekly audio about the letter of the week
* Crafts, Activities And Snack Ideas
* Parent Guide

That was me that highlighted the crafts. ๐Ÿ˜‰ What kid doesn’t love doing crafts? The calendar is at an ‘early bird’ price of $29.97, which comes down to $1.15 per letter. That is a lot of stuff for $1.15 per letter!

The kids are both up late tonight because Daddy is working until about 1AM. When that happens I don’t make them go to bed until 11. Geez we have a crazy schedule right? LOL But we have plans, we need to work on either the bookmarks we are making or our Valentine’s Day cards.

[tags]crafts[/tags]

Filed Under: Fun Links, Kids Crafts

Sew Excited!

February 1, 2007 by Tsoniki 9 Comments

Pun Completely Intended!!

Look at my fun, super cool, awesome, so shiny and pretty new sewing machine!!!

Euro Pro Shark Intelli Sew machine

Way back in October my sewing machine died. I only found one repair shop in the area though I admit I only looked in the yellow pages. And it was farther into town then I typically go, so I’ve never made it there.

But Chris needed his uniforms fixed and I always sew the patches on. This saves a little bit of money but more importantly, I am MUCH faster then the tailor. Like I can get a uniform done in maybe a half hour, but the tailor always quotes at 10 days to 2 weeks. So we bought the Euro Pro Shark Intelli Sew (from Target! $50 off the regular price!) because it’s been so long, because he needed the uniforms, because I just needed a new one! The other night I got the machine out, read a few pages about the basics and within probably 10-15 minutes I was sewing.

I. Love. This. Machine. Sure I have some of that “this is my new toy and wow it’s so pretty and shiny” going on. And at first I was just floored at how cool it looked LOL and then all the hidden stuff. Case in point, the top:

Euro Pro Shark Intelli Sew machine

Everything is hidden away! So the top of the machine is nice and smooth. The bobbin winder works well and the display has a picture of a bobbin being wound when it is working. LOL There is also a list of every stitch available and a graphic to show how to thread the machine.

Euro Pro Shark Intelli Sew machine

There are like a million fee that this came with. Okay, not a million, maybe 12? 17? I don’t remember. I don’t even know what more then half of them are for! I only ever used the regular all-purpose foot (or maybe the walking one?) on my old machine. This compartment also has the tools that come with the machine – screwdriver, little brush, a few extra bobbins, etc.

Euro Pro Shark Intelli Sew machine

Now this is cool. See that red? That’s a package of needles that I bought and they are in the secret compartment! Or at least I think it is a secret. LOL And over to the left, see that box? That is … I think it’s another foot of some kind. Anyway, it came stashed in that other compartment! How cool is that! And last but not least, see that indent that looks like a thumb? You can lift up the top compartment and there is another stash of stuff under that! It had another bobbin (three or four came with it) plus the thing that holds the thread (wow, don’t you love my technical wording?) in place on the top of the machine.

The led display is very cool. The light near the needle is very bright and florscent and reflective. Also the foot that it came with (all purpose? walking? Sheesh, I really should learn the terms!) isn’t exactly like the foot on my old machine so it took me a bit to get used to. I just mean – you know when you are sewing, and you can see down the foot to the needle, and that helps you keep everything lined up? This one has a that – but also has a small what looks like a ball of metal – it’s attached and supposed to be there, but I don’t know what else to compare it to – and that ball is what the needle is lined up with.

But the sewing – wow. Fast and easy. Maybe my old machine was just slowly breaking but this one was so great. And it has the fun feature of having a start/stop button! I used that for half of it and then the foot pedal for the other half of the sewing. You can set the speed so that was nice.

Ah, so cool! I really like this machine and can’t wait to figure out when I will start my block a day so I can use it more often. ๐Ÿ™‚

Filed Under: Inspiration, Sewing/Quilting

The Blanket Is Done!

September 15, 2006 by Tsoniki 2 Comments

I am SO excited!

I finished the baby blanket I was making. The last time I talked about it, I needed to do all of the edging. Well my friend emailed over the weekend and said she was going to pack her hospital bag because she’s been having braxton hicks contractions. She isn’t due for I think six more weeks, but the body is obviously gearing up!

And there is it! I am so happy with how it turned out. ๐Ÿ˜€ I did one edge on Tuesday night and the other three on Wednesday night. After I washed and dried it, there it is!

Close up of one of the corners – I always have such a hard time with mitering the corners. Three of them were easy this time around but one gave me heck. I had to put it down, walk away, and then go back and finish. I have to say I am glad that I put the blanket away for a little while – I don’t think I could have finished the edging in a day and a night if I were working on it right after putting it all together.

I’m mailing it off either tomorrow or Monday – I’ll let you know what she says! ๐Ÿ™‚

Filed Under: Finished Projects, Ramblings, Sewing/Quilting

Stuck on the binding

August 12, 2006 by Tsoniki Leave a Comment

I whipped that baby blanket up in no time flat right – only to be stuck on the binding! The binding is always the hardest for me. I think it’s partly because I make it hard. Once I get started I know it will be easy to finish.

So far here is what I have done:


See those three pins? I think I have a total of seven pins in there. I know! It’s barely inches on that thing. *sigh* I know I need to just sit and get it done, but I just feel stuck. I almost feel like putting it away and coming back to it after I do a few other things. But my girlfriends baby is due in two months (from today!) so I know I can’t put it away for too long.

Maybe I’ll just put it away until the end of August. Then I can finish it in a couple of days and still get it in the mail to her in time. Hhmmm, there’s an idea….

Filed Under: Sewing/Quilting, Works In Progress

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