Growth Chart

About 2 weeks ago I was feeling guilty for not having a growth chart for the kids. That’s right I have neglected this childhood ritual for 4 years already and was feeling really badly about it. Part of the reason we hadn’t done it was because as a military family doing it on a doorframe or wall isn’t really a good idea. But let’s face it, you and I both know there are plenty of growth charts out there that I could take off the wall and roll up and take with us whenever we need to move, so honestly I don’t know why we hadn’t done this before.

So last week, when I was drooling over curtains online (not to buy, but I once wanted (would still love) to be an interior decorator) there was an ad along the side for a sight called http://www.dearlillie.com/. By the way, it’s pretty creepy how google and other computer God’s know exactly what I like and what I “need” at exactly the right time. It was almost like they were in the room when Tim and I said we needed a growth chart for the kids because there it was-

A growth chart that we can move with us and its good looking enough that it doesn’t have to be banished to the kid’s room. Two problems though: #1 I’m not buying anything new for a year. #2 Even if I were I wouldn’t spend $75 before shipping.

Naturally, as with almost anything I see, I was convinced I could make one. After all the site gave me the dimensions of the board and the idea- the hard work was over.

So I went to Lowes and bought (gasp- I know) a 1x6x8 board for about $6. The rest of the supplies I had on hand.

First I sanded down the edges and surfaces of the board. It was a quick, light sanding with a relatively fine grit paper.

Then I brushed on the stain, wiped off the excess and let the board dry overnight.

As I was letting the boards dry, I googled “ruler font.” Well when you do that the very first result is for a blog where the chick is making this exact same thing. Man, and I thought I was being fairly original. Turns out that Pottery Barn offered the growth charts circa 2008 and people have been making knock-offs since, either to resale at other heinous prices or for their own homes. Here is the site where I found the font (Century at 200pt) http://517creations.blogspot.com/2011/04/ruler-growth-chart-pottery-barn-knock.html. And even though it hurt my ego a little to know I’m not in fact all that crafty, I am glad I stumbled upon her page because my plan was to print out the numbers tape them to cardboard and cut out the numbers to create a stencil. Because I’m also insanely hardheaded, I still wanted to do this my way, so I even started this taping and cutting process but my “stencils” were very rough and jagged. Eventually I conceded and printed out “mirror images” of the numbers.

The next day, while the girls were napping, I measured and marked off the “ticks” of the ruler. Believe it or not this required a lot of thought on my part. My blogger helper and Dear Lillie marked off 1 inch increments, which totally makes sense since we are making a growth chart. I, however, seemed extremely bothered by the fact that there are 16 “tick” marks on a real ruler instead of 12. So I tossed and turned in bed until I finally fell asleep, at peace with my decision to deviate from the traditional growth chart, not ruler.

Like the other two sites, and because my kiddos will probably be pretty tall, I decided to start my ruler growth chart at 6” so it would be a 6 ½ ft ruler instead if 6 ft.

I wanted to and should have bought a black paint marker, but since I had already splurged and bought the wood boards new I decided to use the (white) paint marker I already had. My plan was to paint everything in white and go over it in Sharpie. Well as I started that process I quickly realized that if I wanted to do this right, I needed to go buy a black paint marker, so I did. My new black, fine-tip paint marker worked wonders and turned out to save a ton of time.

So now it was time to use those “mirror image” print outs. This is so unbelievably cool that my project list just doubled because I want to do this AGAIN and AGAIN! All I had to was go into my “advanced” printer properties and turn “on” the mirror image option. My printer was bought for less than $50 in 2007; it is nothing special so I was pleasantly surprised to learn about this feature. Anyway, you simply just need to place your mirror image face down and scribble hard on the back of the paper, over the number, until the number transfers to the wood. I AM STILL BLOWN AWAY BY THIS.

Then I outlined the number with a ballpoint pen. If you clicked on the other gal’s blog you can tell that I’m now playing along. This was her idea and a good one as the pen creates an indented border that is helpful when you get your paint marker out. After you outline the numbers it is now time to fill the numbers in with your paint marker. Between an iron-deficiency and a caffeine dependency I DO NOT have a steady hand. Thankfully this part only required a little extra concentration and my numbers turned out pretty good.

Once the paint dried, I flipped the board over, added picture hanging hardware and hung the board so the top was 6 ½ ft off the ground. I even got it level! Here’s the finished project- 4 years late.

This would make an awesome baby shower gift.

A few helpful tips:

I did not add a clear, protective coating because I wasn't sure how it would when marking off the kids' heights. Maybe next I'll try one with the coating....

My foot and half foot markings are 2”

My ¼ foot markings are 1 ½”  long

Any other markings are 1”

I started my numbers to the left of the foot hash marks and 1 ½” down the hash

When scribbling on the back of the paper, try to just go over the number. I got lazy and scribbled a big square area. The number still transferred but you can kind of faintly see the other indentations in the wood too.

 

This is where you can sort of see the indentations outside of the 3.
If you want your ruler to be "perfect" I would just color the lines of the number

This is what Laura did while I worked- she loved it- she was free and no one bothered her in there.J

And here's a glimpse of Shannon's fashion sense- She's so much fun!

How Bout Dem O's

My favorite part about blogging (and the part that I feel bad about when I don’t blog) is taking and posting pictures of the kiddos for our family to see. So sorry family and friends I PROMISE I will get back into the swing of blogging regularly. Plus we have actually been really busy and I have a ton of pictures and stories to tell for the blog. So for today I’m gonna share with you all the pictures from the Orioles’ playoff game we went to, but first, let’s back track a bit.

From the time I was 4 until I was in 8^th grade, there was one thing I wanted to be when I grew up. Anyone remember?

I wanted to be the first woman to play Major League Baseball.  That’s right. I can’t imagine what my poor teachers thought as I wrote that in every journal entry and all my paperwork over the years. To their credit, I don’t remember any of them ever shutting me down. My mom never had the heart to shut down my dream either. In fact, when I was in 6^th grade she argued with the local Lion’s Club League leadership to allow me to play baseball in the all boys league. Maybe I’m biased, but I’m pretty sure after they decided to let me play, I held my own.

Of course the Orioles were my favorite team growing up. My favorite players were Eddie Murray (and so I always wore the #33), Brady Anderson (all little girl’s favorite), Rafael Palmeiro (I was a first basemen), and of course, the great Cal Ripken. Because I was young and the games often ended well after my bedtime, I remember racing up the hill to our mailbox each morning to grab the morning newspaper and check the standings and stats. I would memorize them so I’d be ready to share with my best buddy, Justin, when I got to school. Again I can only imagine what our teachers thought.

My parents tried their best to take us to as many games as possible and 2 that really stand out for me were when Eddie Murray hit his 500^th homerun (that we stayed through a 4 hour rain delay to witness) and the playoff game against the Indians that my Mom took me out of school to go to in 1997.

So fast forward to the 2012 season (if you didn’t catch the 15 seasons in between, really, you didn’t miss much). In July, I started to get excited that the Orioles were playing really well. I was cautious to be excited before that point, because we have had a few seasons in the last decade where we played really well in the early months only to fall to the bottom of standings by the All-Star break.

But by August we were still playing well and I was really excited. We even brought up Manny Machado, who, after making the best (smartest) defensive play of the season, became my favorite player on the team. At one point Tim and I had decided that if the Orioles made it to the playoffs we would have to go.

 

 

I was 11 the last time they were in the playoffs and if I had to wait another 15 years I would be 41!

The entire month of September felt like the playoffs but we had to wait until the end of the month to secure our spot in a single game elimination wild card game! Tim and I couldn’t have been more excited and so when tickets went on sale we snagged some up online. After we beat Texas in the WildCard game, it was time to play our division foes, the Yankees.

Some of the 2012 Orioles warming up.

Unfortunately it was late, cold, wet, windy and we lost. And because of the weather and time of night, the kids stayed with Gram and Pop to watch from the warmth of their home. Although the game didn’t turn out how we wanted it to, it was an experience we will never forget. I still get goose-bumps thinking about being in a sold-out Camden yards again.

Those dots are FANS!!!

FANS I tell you!!!

 

Better yet I got to share the experience not just with Tim, but with my Aunt Sheryl and Mom, who always have and always will be a die-hard Orioles fans and my brother who has to be the most relentless Oriole fan I’ve ever met.

 

 

It’s easy to be a fan when they are good, but to be as excited about a team that hadn’t had a winning season in a decade, that takes real dedication.

Much to our dismay, the Orioles lost the series to the Yankees ( ugh, how it pains me to write that), and while the details of the season will soon be forgotten, the memory of driving up and down 95 twice in 3 days to watch our beloved Orioles in a cold, rainy, exciting playoff game will last forever. 

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Just wanted to post some pictures of all the Halloween fun we have partaken in the last week or so. Of course being a kid is fun, because you get to celebrate holidays with your gymnastics class, your soccer team, your schoolmates, your neighborhood friends and sometimes even your mom’s friends!

In September Patrick decided he wanted to be a knight for Halloween. And he must have heard that we aren’t buying anything new, because he asked me to make him a knight helmet out of cardboard. So, of course, I obliged, and here is the end result, the scariest knight helmet I’ve ever seen.

And I’m sure as many other parents could guess, exactly 2 days after I finished my masterpiece, Patrick changed his mind. He wanted to be Batman instead. I’m thinking it is no coincidence that he changed his mind AFTER he saw the knight helmet I made. So instead of attempt to make a batman costume- it crossed my mind and would have been so easy, I asked around and finally found someone who had a size 5 Batman costume for us to borrow. That is one of the many benefits of being in a running club with 700 plus mom’s, if you need something, someone there has it.

 

 

 

And just for fun, Patrick decided to wear his Pirate costume to gymnastics!

 

 

 

Because Patrick was originally supposed to be a knight we thought it would be cute for Shannon to be a dragon and since she already had a pair of dragon slippers she loves to wear we didn’t have to do much convincing. Fortunately I was able to snag 1 on ebay for less than $5, including shipping. Luckily when Shannon changed her mind, she wanted to be a butterfly and I was able to find some really cheap wings for her. Elmo was also in the running for a few days and made a brief appearance as well. But I was really partial to the dragon costume so I was very happy when she changed her mind again and still wanted to be a dragon.

 

 

And I really had no idea for Laura, but after scanning her closet and asking a friend I figured she could either be a cowgirl or a bumblebee. When it came time to actually dressing the kids up, I could never decide what I liked Laura in best so for the party at our house and trick or treating she was a bumblebee and for Stroller Warriors and gymnastics (no she’s not taking gymnastics, but it wouldn’t have been fair if she was the only one not dressed up) she was a cowgirl.

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some pictures from our party at the house. Mrs. Jing and her friend made and AWESOME pinata!



Mrs. Paula is so creative!

She made these witch hats too!

 

 

 

 

 

 














There are lots of pics, ENJOY!

 

 

Trick or Treating with Kenz and Mrs.Steph

 

Our little cowgirl!

 



 

Patrick got to dress up for Fall on the Farm day at school also!

My Problem with Pinterest

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last two years, you’ve probably at least heard of Pinterest, if not spent countless hours on the site aimlessly perusing.  I could spend days on there looking at clothes that I covet, rooms that I want to recreate, food that I crave, and crafts that I want to try. So what’s the problem?

Well #1 I see pictures of crafts that I think I want to try. And actually first let me clarify something. “Crafts” makes me think of the things that I have my Sunday school class make out of clothespins, pipe cleaners, elbow macaroni and popsicle sticks. These “crafts” that are on Pinterest are actually of a different variety. These are high designer craft mastery. For example a few months back I saw these cool wall hangings all over Pinterest. Well believe it or not, when I clicked on the picture, these wall hangings, that sell in similar versions at home stores for upwards of $50, were made out of old toilet paper rolls that were cut up, spray painted black and glued together to look like wrought iron. Well Holy Smokes! That’s awesome and right up my alley. I love cheap décor and creating things. Again, so what’s the problem? Well the people who made these must have had the patience of a saint and they most definitely did not have 3 energetic kids running around or pretty much didn’t do anything else but glue toilet paper rolls together for a week. And they make it sound like they tried once and BAM! they have a beautiful 4’ flower that stops everyone in their tracks the moment they see it. Well, unless they are some sort of toilet paper roll ninja, I have to argue that their pictures are not their first attempt at this. Despite the fact I don't actually need or want a toilet paper roll wall hanging, I collected toilet paper rolls, spray painted them black, cut them up into 1 inch pieces but alas I had a mess of gluey, black little pieces or cardboard and nothing that resembled a faux wrought iron wall hanging.  

#2 Along the same lines as #1, but if I follow your directions to a “t” and your picture looks like this

then why does mine look like this? 

Why do my apple balls still have a flat edge? Do you want to know why? Because no matter how many times I tried I could not get a full, round, ball-period. This is what an unphotoshopped mini apple caramel ball looks like. The truth is the caramel icecream topping drips, the peanuts don’t stick and THE BALLS ARE NOT ROUND!

#3 And this ties me back into #1 as well. I used to think I was crafty. I once made my Mom a holder for tampons from an oatmeal container. I have made scarves, ornaments, cards, scrapbooks and candle holders. But these things that used to pass muster in the world of creativity, do so no longer. The crafts that I can make belong at some country art folk festival up in the mountains of Western Maryland while the stuff on Pinterest could be seen in designer homes and art galleries in the most posh cities in the country.

#4 Thriftiness- I get excited when pins claim to have a thrifty solution for something or a thrifty way to make something. And I love the idea of soda can tabs on a hanger to add an extra place to hang another piece of clothing, but most of these pins are not actually "thrifty." Note: It is not actually thrifty to make these things unless you have a space in your home that resembles Hobby Lobby where you stockpile all your craft making supplies. That's right, I do not have an endless supply of blank canvases, every size of every letter of the alphabet in wood and cardboard, paper lanterns, 20 old men’s shirts, 50 wood pallets, 100 extra mason jars or 1,000,000 buttons.

#5 Ninjas. My last problem is that I could spend hours on Pinterest. But if I spend hours on Pinterest looking, that is hours I am spending not creating the things I see on Pinterest. So my observation is this: the people that have time to make bolts into bracelets, 

 

frumpy t-shirts into cute boutique-worthy dresses,

Canvas art with Elmer’s glue

wall décor from toilet paper rolls

and anything and everything you could imagine out of a wood pallet

are not the same people that spend hours on Pinterest looking at these things. Right now I am reading “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin. It is about her yearlong quest to find happiness by examining and making “improvements” in 12 different realms of her life. Well, she is annoyingly like the Pinterest ninjas. I would be happier too if I had 58 hours in a day to explore the history of happiness, write a book, lead a half dozen book clubs, host weekly dinner parties, catch up with every old friend I had since elementary school and all the while still feed and take care of my family. Similary, if I wanted people to think I was crafty and wanted them to repin my creations, I would need an equal amount of time to come up with the idea and then actually turn my old “Johnson’s and Johnson’s” soap bottles into holders for my cell phone while it charges. So clearly Gretchen Rubin and the Pinterest ninjas do not actually spend hours on Pinterest like the rest of us normal folk.

And what’s up with people repining this. Really?

And yes I know I sound like a hater, and I may be slighty jealous of ninja craftiness but really I might just be upset I didn’t think of this in college.