Uncategorized – Page 936 – Plain and Not So Plain

encouragement for Moms of little ones

amy / 12/05/2013

Four little children were lined up in the bathtub, ready to wash their hair. No one enjoyed it, including myself. But it had to be done. So I started explaining to the children that we were going to wash their hair and if they keep their heads up, looking up at God, then they would not get any soap in their eyes.

I started out with the one who protests the loudest. “All right, Jentzen,” I directed briskly. “Put your elbows on the edge of the tub. If you keep looking up, the water will run through your hair and down your back. It is only when you look down that the water seeps into your eyes.”

Once again we began this twice weekly ritual of explaining, and then quickly washing and rinsing as the howls of protest rose around my ears. “Keep looking up! Look up at the ceiling!” I tried to keep encouraging. But Jentzen didn’t quite trust me. He put his head down, the soapy water run into eyes. The howls led to frantic screams as Jentzens’ hands searched for a towel to wipe away the water from his eyes.

It was so easy to wash the next child, Autumn as she has learned to trust what I say. She will patiently and trustingly put her chin up until I am finished.

The other two follow suit with the first child, Jentzen and will howl and scream when the slightest bit of water will reach their eyes. Oh for the day when they will all put their heads back and look upward!

Mothers of little ones, keep looking up! If we turn our eyes downward, the “dirt” and water will seep into our eyes causing them to blur our vision. The quarrels, tantrums, dirt, and grime of everyday mundane tasks will sting our eyes. So tip your chin up! We are building for eternity.

mouse in a tin inexpensive christmas gift made from altoid tin

As I have mentioned before, I love to come up with ways to make some homemade gifts for my children without spending a lot of money. While perusing the internet, I came across this cute mouse in a tin. I thought this would be super cute to make for my child. But I did not want to spend any money, so I thought I would take on this project, then I realized my distaste for sewing. I knew that I would just end up frustrated for even starting this project, so I had to goto plan B.

What is plan B?? Figure out a way to mimic what I like in this mouse in a tin. First I had to find some small stuffed animals that would fit inside of my tin. Goodwill was a great place for that. I even removed some of the stuffing from the animals by ripping the seam in the back and then re-sewing them up.

I covered the bottom of the tin with a small piece of felt. Made a mini pillow. Hot glued the covers to the altoid tin. For the window, I cut a piece of black felt and cut out moon and star shapes to hot glue on. I cut mini curtains out of scrap felt. I covered the outside with a piece of scrap felt as well. In order to keep “froggy” shut down, as he is a little puffy….I had to attach the yellow strips to the edge to help the lid “catch” to something. A fun, inexpensive cute toy that didn’t cost me much.