Trick or Treat!!!

I made up a few different Halloween "Trick or Treat" bags one for Sophia, Maxon and a few to sell on my etsy. Who would'nt want to hit the streets with one of these bag?

IVillage.com Feature!!

Did you happen to see my Candy Corn Door Hanger  get published/featured on IVillage.com? Here is the link.  Pretty cool! Go check it out..... I totally feel like a little kid being this excited! 1 of 12 from around the web...not to bad for my little blog!

Sophia's Mermaid Bedroom

It's done!!! Well for now.  I think a room is always evolving and changing but, for it's done.

Sophia just turned 4 yrs old and all she wanted was a "Mermaid" room. She would have loved Disney's Ariel but, I'm just not a huge fan of character theme rooms. I hit the web searching for mermaid fabric and found Heather Ross, Mendocino. She loved it and so did I! The only bad part was that it's discontinued so every time I found a yard or even a half yard I had to pay through the nose for it.

Here I use some of the fabric as art. I love how it looks!

I keep and re-used many of the items from her old room such as her name, I just changed the ribbon to match the new colors. I also kept the white bedding and large white pillows with the multi colored fringe and the black frames. Remember this post? I re-used and painted the lamp shades to match. Why buy new when you can work with what you have?

I'm in LOVE with the pillows! I made the mermaid and octopus one and found the yellow ruffled ones at Home Goods on clearance for $7.00 each.

View from the door.

I found this great mermaid wall decal on ebay. It has a lot of detail but it was hard to capture in the photo. The wall that the decal is on still needs something but, I'm not sure what. I'll leave it alone till something inspires me or you guys can suggest something.

Different view.

This cute vintage crystal lamp was a great find at a local thrift store and I again painted and re-used the shade.

The chair was another thrifting find! I have a cute little side table to go next to it but, it is in the garage getting painted white.  I made the little pillow to tie in with the pillows on the bed.

Where are her toys and books you ask? I store that stuff in the closet.

It's nice that our closets tuck back a few extra feet. Helps keep the rooms clean, clutter free and if they make a mess I can just close the closet doors. Most of the kids toys are kept down in the toy room.

So what do you think?

Good Behavior Chart

Alright, so I really had some reservations about sharing this post.  I came to the realization that it was healthy and good to share the so called "real" struggles as a parent. Let's face it child rearing is hard! Besides this is a positive post about how we found a solution. Not a negative rant!

Sophia had been acting out and we had been dealing with a lot of negative behavior for the last year. We called it the "I have a new sibling syndrome"  and then some of it is just naturally the age. Think about it, how hard does that have to be on them? They go from being the center of attention to feeling totally displaced. Goodness I would act out too!

We (Keith, husband) did try to spend alone time and do special "date nights" with Sophia but, it still was not helping change the bad behavior. While visiting my sister we were talking with her sister in law Angie about how hard this age frame (3-4) is. Angie is a preschool teacher, so she is used to dealing with this age everyday. She suggested a Behavior chart. Hmm..... I was not so sure at first as I had thought that it was rewarding the bad behavior. I learned it was more about reinforcing the good things and modifying the bad behavior.

When I got home I searched the web for charts and found this one.  It's simple, visual and easy for Sophia to see the goal she is after. After Sophia fills all the lady bugs spots with stickers, she gets to pick one special treat from her "Treasure Box." I filled it with candy, a small coloring book and little things she loves. Each treasure under $3.

I also did some behavior modification of my own.  I stopped venting to Keith about the struggles of the day. I noticed that Sophia started saying "Mom tell daddy about what I did." Meaning the bad things she did that day. Broke my heart realizing a big part of the problem was me. Hey, it's a learning process for parents too! We are making a point to praise her and talk about all the good thing she does during the day every night. You should just see the big smile on that sweet face and how she lights up when when do.

I'm happy to report that Sophia is doing great! She has turned a corner and even my mother-in-law has noticed. She is on her third chart in less then four weeks! She is using her manors all the time, sharing toys with her brother with out being asked, less whining, and I see her tender side again.  Makes me tear up just telling you about it! We are so proud of her and best of all she is so proud of herself too!

Candy Overload

SAD...this jar was over half way full last week. How am I ever going to make it past Halloween!?!

Hope all of you have been well. We have been busy with preschool and taking in the last days of fall before it's too cold out. So, sorry I have not been posting anything amazing or inspirational in the last two weeks ;)

I promise I'll have something soon.