Attack of the Markers

Last night Little Miss Trouble

(a.k.a. Mackenzie)

struck again.

This time it was with a marker.

exhibit a

exhibit b

exhibit c

I was in the other room with Wesley and Aaron when the crime took place.

After her graffiti fun, Mackenzie ran up to me and turned herself in.

Mackenzie: "Mommy, I made a bad choice. I was coloring with the marker ALL over my hands and my sheets".

Me (running to her room): "Show me. (I walk into her room and see the marker)...AARON!"

My first words to Aaron, "Why does it always have to be on the bedding!"

At least it was only on the sheets this time.

There's never a dull moment in this house.

Never.

My little tattoo lover

Mackenzie loves tattoos.

A couple days ago I put a fake one on her.

Apparently that made her catch the tattoo bug.

Yesterday she ran up to me while I was doing dishes and said,
"Mommy I was not obeying."
Me (slightly freaking out): "What did you do?"
Mackenzie: (handing me a Sharpie marker)

"I was coloring on my hand. I was making a tattoo."
(shows me her hand).
Me: (envisioning Sharpie all over the walls and furniture in true Mackenzie style)

"Show me where you were coloring."
Mackenzie takes me into the other room. After a thorough search I'm relieved to see that the Sharpie is only on her hand.
After I give Mackenzie and time out and talk to her again about only coloring on paper, etc. we go about playing.
A minute later Wesley runs up to me and I see his little Sharpied face.
Apparently Mackenzie thought Wesley needed a little tattoo too.

Never a dull moment...

Little Miss Trouble reigned again.

The morning of Mackenzie's birthday party
I walked into her room to find

this

and this.

She was covered from head to toe in

greasy

sticky

Vaseline.

So were her new sheets

and pajamas

and blankets

and bed rail.

Thankfully her quilt and pillows escaped the mess.

The process of removing Vaseline looked like a big pain

and since I had already spent hours removing this and this from other things

and I had a birthday party to throw that night

the pjs, sheets and blankets went straight to the trash.

That was the easy part.

Getting the Vaseline out of Mackenzie's hair was another story.

I washed it and I washed it.

And I washed it some more.

With real shampoo

not the gentle baby stuff.

But after multiple washes

her hair looked like it was wet

even when it was dry.

Thanks Vaseline.

So my mom took little Miss Trouble with greasy hair

to the hair salon to try to get the Vaseline out

while I got ready for the party.

They washed her hair some more with heavy duty clarifying shampoo.

It helped.

A little.

There's never a dull moment in this house.

Never.

Stay in Bed Bag Tutorial

When Mackenzie wakes up in the morning
or from a nap
she has to stay in her bed until Aaron and I come and get her out.
To occupy my little angel
and to prevent this or this from happening again
I came up with the magical
Stay in Bed Bag

A bag that hangs from her bed
and is filled with her favorite
non breakable and mess free
toys.

Hopefully with the Stay in Bed Bag
we will have no more
Little Miss Trouble
incidents to report.
Fingers Crossed.

*Warning*
Sorry if this tutorial doesn't make sense. My baby still doesn't sleep through the night. And I require at least 10 hours of sleep to think clearly. Just email me if you have any questions :)

Step 1:
Draw your pattern
and cut it out.
I like to fold my piece of paper (or whatever scrap material you have on hand. I used the inside of an old gift bag) in half,
draw half of my pattern and then cut it out
to make sure both sides are symmetrical.
My pattern was approximately 28'' x 18''

Step 2:
Trace your pattern onto your fabric.
You will need two front pieces and two inside pieces.
Pin one front piece and one inside piece (right sides together).
Sew along the pattern line you just drew.
Make sure to leave an opening to turn it right side out with.

Trim around the line you just sewed
and turn right side out.
Repeat with the other front and inside piece.

Iron so they look nice and pretty.

Step 3:
If you would like to add any embellishment to the front of your bag
now is the time to do it.
I cut off the ruffle from an old sheet I had
and added it to the top of one of my pieces.
It would also be cute to add your child's initials
or the word "toys".

Step 4:
Pin your two pieces right side together
and sew around the perimeter
(leaving the top open)

Flip right side out
and your done with your bag!

Step 5:
Now for the ties...
Using a yard stick trace two front pieces
that are approximately 25" x 2"
(If I did it again I think I would make my ties a couple inches longer).
Pin your front pieces to your inside pieces (right sides together)
and sew (leaving a small opening for you to turn it right side out).

Turn right side out, iron and then top stitch.

Step 6:
Pin your ties to the top corners of the bag
(where the seam meets)

and sew to secure.

Tada!

Your very own
Stay in Bed Bag!

Tie to the side of your kiddos bed or crib

Fill with kid proof toys
(I put chipboard books, dolls, stuffed animals, etc.)

and enjoy some peace of mind
knowing your little one will be entertained for a bit
when they wake up in the morning or from a nap.

Finger Painting...Mackenzie style

Coloring was so last week.
This week Mackenzie was into finger painting
with diaper rash cream.

Mackenzie went down for a late nap
and had been sleeping for a long time.
We went into her room to wake her up
because it was almost time for dinner
and we found
our child
and her room
covered in diaper rash cream.

Everywhere.

This time I almost wanted to laugh.
Almost.
Because I was thinking,
"You have got to be kidding me!
I just finished getting pen out of everything."

Mackenzie was covered from head to toe in white.
Literally she looked like a circus clown.

And the {almost} funny thing is
Mackenzie did all of her "finger painting" pre-nap.
Then when she got tired
or figured her masterpiece was complete
she crawled back into her bed and went to sleep.
Like it was a completely normal nap time.

She was still sound asleep when we walked in the room
and discovered her surprise.

Remember how much pen was on the glider?
I was so excited when I figured out that I could flip the cushion over so it looked brand new
and now the brand new looking side
looks like this.
Pen on one side.
Diaper rash cream on the other.
Perfect.

These were her pants.
The back side is equally as messy.

Her shirt.

The quilt.
Oh yes, the quilt.

And the pillows.
Again.

While Aaron was bathing Little Miss Trouble
I googled "How to remove diaper rash cream"
and learned that baking powder would be my BFF this week.

So after I scraped off as much of that evil cream as I could
I poured baking powder like it was going out of style.
(supposedly it soaks up the grease)

Then sprayed everything with stain remover,
washed it twice
and praised God because pretty much everything came out.
Again.

*I also want to mention that after the pen incident we moved every potentially messy thing out of Mackenzie's room. Unless it was something that we needed in there (for example diaper changing stuff, lotion, etc.) we put it on top of her big dresser where she couldn't reach it. However my kids have really sensitive skin and pretty much perpetual diaper rash, so I put diaper rash cream on multiple times a day. Thus it was out, but on top of her changing table where I thought she couldn't reach.
I was wrong.

Little Miss Trouble

My new BFF.

Think stain removal.

You will never believe the surprise Little Miss Trouble left us today.
Stay tuned for details.

The Terrible Two's

Pens can be good.

In the hands of an author.
good.
In the hands of an almost 2 year old.
not so good.

Getting Mackenzie to nap in the big girl bed has been a
night.mare.

One particular day last week

I spent almost 2 hours trying to get Mackenzie to nap.
She was tired but refused to stay in her bed.

So after many time outs

and multiple times of me putting her back in her bed
there was finally quiet coming from her room.
I was so thankful that she was asleep
or so I thought.

After about 10 minutes

I began to hear some unusual noises

coming from the baby monitor.
I walked into her room and found
pen
ev.ery.where.

When I saw it I cried.
Everywhere I looked

I discovered more.
It was...

on her quilt and pillows
{that took me hours to hand make for her}

her pillowcase and sheets

glider

and ottoman

walls

shoes, clothes, etc.

changing table/dresser

I was so, so sad and mad.
All I could do was stick Mackenzie in the pack and play (AKA baby jail)
for a time out.
We both needed a time out.

Within a couple of minutes Mackenzie was fast asleep.
All that drawing had worn her out.

I quickly googled "how to remove pen"
and learned that rubbing alcohol would become my new best friend.

A hour of scrubbing
and an entire bottle later
I thankfully got most of it out of the sheets, pillows and quilt.

My little Picasso left nothing untouched.
She had colored all over herself too.
Even the bottoms of her feet.

We have had a week full of surprises.

The next day I noticed the bathroom door was closed

I walked in to find Mackenzie

fully dressed

inside the toilet.

Yes inside.

All wet.

Yesterday Mackenzie discovered a bottle of lotion.

Nothing is safe in our house.

Nothing.

I think we have officially reached the terrible two's.