CatChick6 Creations

What’s hot and what’s not…..

Okay….I got inspired by one of my favorite blogs…..

She challenged anyone to do a what’s hot and what’s not list of their own…so here goes:

What’s Hot!!

1. Books. Books are always hot. My children wouldn’t know what to do with themselves without a book, and I’m not exaggerating. They take them everywhere..to school, in the car, to grandparents..everywhere!

2. Anything Harry Potter. My kids still love Harry Potter…he is hot right now because of Universal Studios opening up the new theme park in Florida! Guess where they want to go next Spring???

3. River. My daughter River is so popular with Tuesday and Quinn. They fight over who gets to play with her! No, really they do!

4. Hershey’s Especially dark chocolate cake recipe. It is currently my favorite and my daughter’s favorite dessert!

5. Cleaning and changing around bedrooms! It’s what we are doing around here.. in with the new…out with the old…..

What’s Not!!

1. Homework. It’s that time of year and my kids don’t like it..but hey who does or ever did????

2. Edamame. I love the stuff..but my kids don’t….but I’ll keep trying…

3. End of swimming. My kids love to go swimming and now the swim club is closed….so sad…

4. Early bedtimes. They are still on summer mode and want to stay up as late as they like…but that is no more since the beginning of school!

5. Getting up early. My daughter is in middle school now, so that means everybody getting up at 6:30….It is just easier if everyone gets up at the same time! (I’m the most unhappy about it!)

Differences…

It is amazing how children in the same family can be so different. These photos tell it all. The first photo is my daughter’s art desk and the second photo is my son’s art desk. Now, I have to be truthful and say that my daughter is in the middle of a school project right now…but it doesn’t matter..she is always in the middle of something and her desk always looks like this! I swear I didn’t touch anything on either desk….this is just the way they were left!

Back to School……

Well…it is that time of year…as everyone is saying….everyone is going back to school…at least in my little world. Tuesday and Quinn are back into the swing of things. My little one isn’t sure what to make of things. She is confused that they aren’t home during the day and she is really confused that they are going to TWO different schools! Now we just need to start potty training!

LBI…

Last week was our annual bike ride to LBI. My brother started doing this ride 12 years ago with his two children. Now my family tags along. I do the ride one way and my husband does the ride the other way. That way one of us can bring the car and the children. It is a lot of fun to catch up with family and have some down time!

Bursts of energy…..

Well, for the week, it is just me and my littlest one, River. Christopher took the kids up to Maine for the week. So, what did I do with all the time? Well, of course, I ripped up the carpeting in our living room! It was something I have wanted to do for a long time. I thought ripping it up was easier than getting the steam cleaner out and cleaning it! At first my 2 year old was very upset and kept saying that she didn’t want me to get rid of the carpet! But, after awhile, she seemed happy about it.

The first photo is a before shot. I took lots of photos while I was ripping up the carpet, but forgot a before shot!

Displaying artwork….

Lately, I have been coming across a lot of posts in different blogs about displaying artwork. I love having all my kids artwork all over the house. River is always quite anxious to have her art creations immediately displayed. So, I hung string across the fireplace and used clothes pins to display her work. We rarely have a fire in the fireplace and it is right in the same room with her art desk and all her books. She loves being able to help hang it. And she also loves to show it off!

Things…..

How do we take our lives and put it in a box? After the loss of my mother, I find myself doing just that over and over again. It is a difficult thing. To take an entire life and put the things about that life into boxes. Boxes that are going to be given away to charity, boxes that will be sent to other loved ones, boxes that are going to be stored in new dark places, boxes that will be treasured for more generations……it is a difficult thing. One of the boxes I have created is filled with some of my mother’s favorite jewelery. My mother was not one for fancy items. She loved simple things and handmade things. These were some of her favorite things that she treasured. Things that I can remember as a child touching and looking at with awe. Things that she thought were special and now I think are special. Things that my children can touch and look at and think of her and know how special she was….

What to get a one year old…..

I have been trying to think of a good birthday gift for a one year old. Long ago I made bean bags and my children have always enjoyed playing with them. They are one of those toys that they constantly go back to..inventing new games for them, no matter what age. My original bean bags were painted. This time I decided to embroider them, which took much longer, but I think it was well worth the effort. One side has the numbers 1 through 10 and the other side has a color and number coordinated picture.

My Mom…..

This Father’s Day was a bit different than any other. This Father’s Day was the day my mother died.

I am who I am because of my mom. She gave me my incredible gift of creativity. She taught me to love art and to love the simple things in life. She taught me that you don’t have to have a lot of money or a lot of things to enjoy life. She taught me how to be patient, humble and caring….all in a quiet way.

My mom was one of my best friends. I will miss her deeply. I will miss her every day. I will think of her often.

One of the things I am most grateful for is the time I spent with my mother. I am also grateful for the time my children had with her. I saw my mom often and spent many wonderful hours with her. My children will always remember her laugh, her smile and her love.

She loved the simple things in life. It didn’t take much to make my mom happy. She was a wonderful person, a wonderful friend and a wonderful mom.

Spring Cleaning…a bit late…

Well, I finally got around to cleaning out my woolie sweater closet. I should have taken a “before” photo..but I didn’t think of that until AFTER the cleanup! I filled two giant trash bags with sweater scraps! I hate throwing scraps away..I always think, maybe I can use them for something. But the scraps were taking over the closet. And I know that in another six months, the closet will be filled with more scraps! Also, please ignore the ebay postal boxes that I have used as separators! I need to actually make some separators out of wood!