Hands

One of my twitter friends, Maiden Jane, posted an interesting task on her blog...share a picture of your hands.  For some reason this struck a chord with me and I knew I wanted to participate in the link-up.  I can remember being a little girl and playing with my mom's hands.  She didn't like her hands, but I love(d) them.  Her nails were always manicured and painted clear.  It was only for nice occasions that she painted them any color and that color was always a muted mauve or light pink, never a bright color.  I can picture the nail polish bottles as I sit here.  She was tragically taken from us 7.5 years ago in a car accident, and oddly enough when I (stupidly) envision the accident, I don't see her face, I see her pale fingers gripping the steering wheel as she always did when she drove.  My hands remind me of my moms and I hope I keep remembering that as I age.

So anyway, onto my picture.  I don't try to throw myself a pity party, but those generational photographs where baby, mom, grandma, great-grandma all have their hands on top of each other drive me bonkers.  If you have one, no disrespect...in all honesty I'd probably have one too if I had the ability.  The only reason I don't like them is because they remind me of what I do not have - my mom or my grandmas.  But two Christmases ago, my dear friend (Beth Tilley Green Photography) photographed my little family of 3.  When I saw the pictures I was immediately drawn to the picture of my hand holding Kaylee's.  It is officially my favorite photo and is hanging on our wall.  And so, here is my picture of my hand doing what I think is it's most important job...guiding Kaylee.  Tonight she held my hand as we walked from the kitchen to the dinner table, just because!  I didn't want to let go.  Figuratively I don't think I ever will.

Genius

Go ahead, call me a genius...I'm pretty sure I'm the first person to discover this trick.  I bought 36 yrds of butcher twine for a baby shower invitation project but I needed it cut in 36" pieces.  I painstakingly measured my first piece with a 12" ruler, cut it, then continued to measure a piece and cut.  After two pieces cut I thought to myself "I wish John were home so I could make him stand here with his fingers 36" apart and wind the twine around them to cut all at once"...and then I proceeded to measure and cut another piece.  Then I thought to myself "Too bad I don't have a 36" piece of cardboard" and proceeded to measure and cut another piece.  And THEN it finally hit me, "use a yardstick Kate"!  Genius!  Feel free to pat me on the back for discovering this trick for you...no need to tell me that Noah used the same trick when cutting rope for the ark...

    

 Yay! All the same length!

Thank you for coming to take my survey! I'm sorry this is another link to click on but Twitter won't let me post the actual link for some reason.


click here for my Parents of only children Survey


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Pure Delciousness

If you haven't ordered from Have it Sweet you are completely missing out!  Last summer I ordered the Bourbon Pecan Caramel Bar.  As stated in the shop description this creation was inspired by Pecan Pie and man oh man, does it ever live up to a good southern pie flavor!  Since I'm a creature of habit and rarely change my favorites I figured I'd settled on my new favorite for a lifetime...but then Have It Sweet went and included a sample of a different variety...the Organic Drunken Salted Pecan Turtle Caramel Bars.  Oh. My. Goodness. Pure deliciousness.

I recently ordered the full size bars...that is a 1/2 lb of caramelly, salty, turtley goodness!  Apparently I can't even think of words to describe how yummy these are and have to make up words.

You need to try them yourself.  Have It Sweet has other items too like marshmallows birds (corn syrup free!), lollipops, and sampler packs which I just sent to a friend!

I am incredibly lucky to have married a man who doesn't like chewy caramels so I don't have to share!  **insert evil laugh**  Although apparently Kaylee takes after me and has had a few nibbles.



Disclaimer: Have It Sweet has no idea I'm writing this post.  I purchased the candies myself.  These photos were taken by me, but you must check out their website and THEIR photos will convince you to buy!

Make Your Everyday Beautiful!

I'm linking up with Everyday Beautiful blog for her “Make Your Everyday Beautiful Inspiration Party"!  Check out her website (and her amazing Fabric Shoppe!)   

This week I used everyday items to create a fun and easy activity for myself and my 2 year old!  Click here to read! 

Hello Spring!

Wait a minute, it's only February? It has to be 70 degrees outside right now! I was just reading twitter posts from friends who have snow outside their windows!  It's so warm here I had to go back inside and put a short sleeved shirt on!  This coming summer will be the first where Kaylee can run through sprinklers on the grass and I am so looking forward to introducing that activity to her.  But as much as I think today is "hot", we'll stick to a fully clothed activity until it warms up even more.

Kaylee (2.5) loves anything to do with water.  So much so that she takes baths just for fun and wants to brush her teeth five times a day so she can run the water and use her cup.  So today, for an easy water activity I grabbed an empty plastic bin, added 3 inches of water and the following everyday items:

• legos - because they're colorful and float
• beach toys - to pour water with 
• funnel - to pour water from a cup into it and watch it pour out the bottom
• turkey baster - to teach the squeezing and releasing actions
• cinnamon roll icing cup - just because 
• measuring cup - to pour water with
• colorful buttons - fine motor skills, they sink and are harder to grab in water
• and red Solo cups - because I thought it was funny that 10 years ago red solo cups had an entirely different use in my life...

The little purple and pink beads are waterbeads.  Normally they're in a bin of their own but I threw a few in for fun.

It's been 45 minutes and she's still playing...although now she's IN the bin.