Pinterest Find: Easy Nightgowns

I'm picky about the pajamas that my kids wear.  We use only tight fitting cotton ones because they haven't been treated with flame retardants.  All the rest have.  Yeah, yuck.  If that's not enough, I also don't like polyester against their skin at night.  It just doesn't breathe well and a couple of the girls get rashes and dry skin very easily.

This leaves my kids asking longingly if they can wear the pretty princess nightgowns that they see in the stores.  I refuse and try to explain that they would not be comfortable in them, as pretty as they may look.  The only other solution I've come up with is to make our own pajamas.  I've searched Pinterest a few times for easy nightgown patterns and even pinned a few but never completed them.  However, when I saw this one, I knew I could do it!

(I won't rehash the instructions, click the link for those.  It is very easy to follow along and has great photos.)  I went right out and bought three women's t-shirts and made these easily.  The girls are thrilled and have worn them almost every night since!  I offered to iron something on the front, but they are enjoying them plain so far.  I'm going to have to sew a few more of these for sure.

Little Mermaid Diamond Edition (Giveaway!)

The Little Mermaid Diamond Edition (2-Disc Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack with Digital) is set to be released on October 1!  We are excited to be receiving a copy of the DVD and have one to giveaway as well.

The DVD includes all kinds of fun extras - a music video, a behind the scenes look at animation, sing-a-long, and you can even meet a deleted character.  My girls have actually never seen The Little Mermaid.  We are excited to share this with them.  I'm sure we'll have lots of discussions about Ariel's choices and the consequences that she experienced.  As a family we really value being able to read or watch things together and then talk about them.  I'm hoping the sea witch doesn't scare them too badly, but I think they will really enjoy the music and fun scenes!

Would you like to win a copy?  Leave a comment (be sure to include your email address) letting me know who your favorite Disney princess is.  If you're a subscriber to my blog leave a second comment letting me know that for another entry.  The giveaway is open to residents of Canada and the US, ages 18+.  A winner will be chosen on Fri, September 27th.  Until then, check out the movie's website for clips, games, activities, and more.  :)  Giveaway closed.  Congrats WendyP!

Disclosure: I received a copy of the movie in exchange for this post.  All opinions are my own.

Giveaway: Kiki's Nation Towel Clothing

Kiki's Nation contacted me and asked if we would like to review their towel clothing.  My girls were excited to each get a skirt in the mail!

These were great to slip on after swimming to help keep the girls warm.  It also helped keep my lap dry when they wanted to snuggle!

The skirts look well made and held up nicely in the wash.  I received three different sizes, all of which fit perfectly.  I really like the length of these, not too short, but not so long that they got in the way.  There is also a good amount of stretch in the waist, so the skirts aren't constricting at all.

They are a bit pricey, but I can see us getting lots of use out of them.  My girls love wearing skirts and thought it was great fun to put one on after swimming.  :)  Would you like to win one?  Leave a comment and let me know which style and color you would pick!  They have shorts, pants, skirts, and more.  I'll choose a winner Monday evening, the 16th.   Giveaway closed.

Pinterest Find: Shape Sticks

Esther had a blast playing with shape sticks this morning!

I found the idea here, and bought sticks and Velcro from Amazon (see below for links).

I printed and laminated the cards, then spent a few minutes sticking Velcro on popsicle sticks.  It all fits inside a zipper top Ziploc bag for storage.

Esther was so proud of her flower!  She's such a puzzle whiz, I just handed her the cards and she figured out how to make things.  Lucy enjoyed making some of the alphabet letters with her too.

Basement Mess to Playroom!

We live in a tiny two bedroom house.  with four kids.  and a dog.

The other day I decided to clean out the girls' bedroom.  I ended up removing most of their toys in order to give them more space and calm.  They still have bins of things stored under their beds, but the toy shelves moved downstairs.  The problem with downstairs was that it looked like... well, you'll see.  It wasn't really useable.  Therefore, my next project was tackling the basement mess.

Before:

After:

We bought metal shelving from Costco that completely covered one wall and gave us so much more storage space.

I don't have before and after pictures of the laundry room, but we also added more shelves in there to store food, toilet paper, etc that had all piled up.

I love my clean organized basement; its like adding a whole room to our house!  Thanks to my wonderful husband for working hard all weekend to help me get this done.  :)