Hello Again!

Holy Moly…(yes I'm aware that 'holy moly' is not a cool saying anymore, but don't judge me, as I never said I was 'cool', ha!).  It's been a long time since I've been on here!  So much has changed!

1.  JoeyHandbags is now Pickee Kids!  It's a change I am SUPER excited about, as I have been thinking about it for a very long time.  I wanted the name of my shop to reflect what I'm selling as well as the passion behind what I do.  Pickee is long for (can you say that??) P.K. and E.  P for Paul Kingston, K for Kace, and E for Emme.  While I love my doggie, Joey, the inspiration behind JoeyHandbags, I now sell so much more than just hand bags!  Also, there was a small and unfortunate incident regarding our sweet puppy, Joey, and he lives with Nana now…Anywho -- Please be excited for this change!!  Also, feel free to swoon over my logo, personally designed by my most talented big brother!  I am one lucky little sis!

2.  Baby girl, is now almost 'ONE' year old…Again, holy moly. Time flies. More on that in a later post!

3.  I am going to be a vendor at the Gilbert Art Walk starting on October 4th!

4.  More blogging….gonna try my best to keep up at least every other week…I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!

Halfway Through!

Well... My goal was to make it almost though the alphabet by October 1st, but I'll call halfway a success anyway!! 

Hooray for October, cooler weather, and Pumpkin Spice Lattes (decaf still...boo)! Even though we are only to 'M' we are doing fall/Halloween activities for the rest of the month! Excited about all the goodies we'll be making this month! Hopefully the little crazy bears will think they are just as fun and yummy as I do! 

So here's what we've been up to for 'J' to 'M' activities:

J is for Jeep:

-I cut sponges in the shape of a 'J' and let them go to town. 

-On the same sheet of paper I let them pick their favorite car/jeep and dip it in paint to make jeep tracks. This was a fan favorite! They also enjoyed washing their cars in the sink afterward!

J is for Jungle:

-First we colored a bunch if pictures if 'jungle' animals and themed cutouts.

-Then I used yarn and tape to attach them to the ceiling to turn the playroom into a jungle. This was a huge hit! They ran through the 'jungle' for an hour and it completely tuckered them out! 

K is for King(ston):

Nothing easier than just letting the kiddos play King by putting on some crowns. 

K for Kangaroo Hop:

Step in some paint and jump across the K paper! Big hit! But also paint everywhere!

L for Lion:

I think I had way more fun than the boys with this one...

L for ummm L?

Cut out a sandpaper 'L' and rubbed with a crayon, the turnout was pretty cool, but the little guy didnt quite have enough strength to make the 'L' show up on its own.

M for M:

M collage: the boys had more fun with this than I thought they would. Little guy liked ripping up magazines, and 3yo is always up for some scissor action. We did this activity for almost an hour!!

M for Monkey:

Cut out pieces of for ears and an M and let them glue them on the paper. Very easy, but they turned out really cute!

Making Alphabet Fun!!

When I made the original Stay at Home Mama Schedule I didn't quite take in to account the fact that I'm into my third trimester and have reached the exhaustion point... Soooo, we are a bit behind my own made up schedule but still considering it a success if we complete one alphabet activity a day. So here is the last week or two of activities:

I gathered the ideas for a lot of these activities here if you're interested!  Also check my pinterest page for other places I pulled ideas.

F is for Fizzle:

-Combine Baking Soda, Corn Starch and warm water to make goopy chalk paint (and food coloring or washable paint if you want it colored). Kingston loves blue, so everything we do ends up being blue. Let the kiddos go to town outside. Then just when they think the fun is over, bring out a spray bottle of vinegar. When they spray the chalk with vinegar it fizzes. Super fun, but smells bad. Especially if you're preggo. 

Goop Paint in blue of course.

Sponge Chalk Goop Painting

F is for Fishing:

- This one was a fan favorite and now a regular outside activity. Bought the little fishing rod and bath toys at the dollar store...

FISHING!

Look MA!  I caught one!

Busy Activity:

-Butterfly catching: This game 'Elefun' was a gift from a dear friend for Kingston's 3rd Birthday. They have SO much fun with this game!!! Butterflies fly out the trunk and they try to catch them in the net. 

ELE---FUN!

Can you tell that he thinks this is fun?

H is for its freaking Hot Outside!

-ice painting: Froze ice cubes with food coloring and popsicle sticks in them.  They used them to paint...and well, eat.  The blue ice cube dyed Kingston's face for a few hours, so beware!

This blue popsicle looks yummy!

Busy Activity:

-The Pom Pom Drop...They played with this for 20 minutes straight.  I'm saving up more paper towel rolls though because we had a few fights over just one!

Pom Pom Drop.  

H is for HATs and HANDS:

-Busy Activity for 20 month old:  Throw out a bunch of hats and let him go to town!  

-Make hats out of our hands.  Both kiddos weren't really too excited about this project, and took more prep from me, so probably won't do this one again...

Hats!

I is for IGLOO:

-Although I know Kingston had no idea what an igloo was, he did enjoy eating and building with the marshmallows!  Note: next time use smaller cups so that there's less area to cover for the igloo.

Igloo Building!

I is for ICE CREAM!

-By far the most favorite activity of the month...go figure.

Yes, mine is the one in the middle...Delish.

Field Trip:

One of our favorite places to go is the Phoenix Children's Museum!  This place is a toddler's dream land.  We went with my beautiful mother (aka Nana) and are now members.  I suggest this to all parents in AZ!  

Phoenix Children's Museum

Mustache Love

Since I have two little boys already, and I'm pretty sure this baby #3 is a boy as well, I've hopped on board the new mustache trend train.  Hence, the inspiration behind these retro baby booties.  See them in my shop here: Joey Handbags

I got the fabric off of my favorite site Spoonflower.com from this great designer: Katarina.

As always, feel free to share on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest for discounts!!  Just message me for your coupon code!

Keepin' Busy Alphabet Style

When I decided that I was going to stay at home, I wanted to make sure we had enough crafts, activities, and outings planned to keep the kiddos (and me) busy. I researched and came up with a lesson plan for each day with busy activities, educational activities, and even messy activities... I found a lot of these ideas off of a great website: Hands On As We Grow

Day 1:

- Solo cups are your toddlers best friend! Stack 'em, knock 'em over, kick 'em!! Let them go crazy!

- Pipe cleaners plus a colander...Nuff said.

#sahm

Day 2:

Bees are for 'B'!

-Fly Swatter painting! My favorite activity so far! Got the swatters from the dollar store and let them go to town swatting bee stickers on butcher paper with paint! All washable paint of course.

Day 3:

Buh buh buh B for Balloons!

- Just blowing up balloons provided hours of entertainment! We played 'don't let it touch the floor'...clever name I know. 

- Fingerprint Balloons. My 19 mos old wont touch the paint, so he had fun just playing with the yarn and the glue. My 3 year old went to town on the fingerprints, but had a hard time gluing down the yarn for the balloon string.

BALLOONS!

Day 4:
'C' is for Cupcake.
- Not sure if you know, or if this was just news to me, but Barnes and Noble does a great weekly storytime!  Kingston loves it, and Kace enjoyed hanging out on stage...always has to be the center of attention!
- I had Kingston help me make cupcakes.  He counted the eggs, helped me stir, and of course devoured them.

Day 5:
Ribbon Painting and 'C' Review
- take some old ribbon lying around, and dip it in washable paint, and have them throw it at the paper.  Kingston only did this about twice before he asked for the fly swatters again!

Ribbon Painting

Day 6:
'D' is for Digging for Dinosaurs
-I bought some dollar store dinosaur toys and froze them in tupperware.  The kiddos had a really hard time digging out the dino, but enjoyed gradually watching it melt in our 108 degree weather.  Next time, less ice, more dino...

Dino Excavation

Day 7:
'E' is for Elephant
- Had an outing at the zoo to go see some live elephants.

Baby Shower Time...Bird Style...

We found out about five months ago that our dear friend, Emily, and I were both due to have our babies within days of each other; my third, her first. Our husbands have been best friends since grade school, and I couldn't be happier for the couple to embark on the hilarious, exhausting, and oh so fulfilling world of parenthood.

This past weekend I co-hosted her baby shower with her MIL and my MIL. I, of course, wanted to make her a Joey Handbag diaper bag, but it had to be special. Since I normally like to personalize with the Mama's favorite lullaby or theme, I asked her Hubby for some advice on the matter... Not much of a help there (go figure) besides telling me that they are doing birds for the nursery and no special songs came to mind. So I embarked on my journey to find the perfect fabric; when I saw this fabric on spoonflower from DianeF, I knew I had found it. It just screamed 'Emily'!

If you'd like this diaper bag for your own, please see the listing here:

Back View

Side View

Booties for sale here

Front View

Isn't she just the cutest preggo ever!

Obsessed with Booties!

Emily and I touching babies...

Back at it...

I recently made the jump to being a stay at home Mama.  With my last job (which I loved very dearly and hope to go back to someday) I had to travel a lot, and I hated to be away from my little bears so often.  Missing major and even minor milestones in their life began to get to me.  With a three year old, an 18 month old, and one on the way this November, working just didn't seem to be in the cards (or my heart) for me anymore.  I worked basically straight through the last two pregnancies and births, and am looking forward to getting to know this newbie from the start.

Any-who, back before I had the baby bears (hence why I have posts from 2008), I spent a lot of my free time sewing handbags and diaper bags.  I only sold a few and gave many many away as gifts, but I've always had a great response from the receiver/customer.  So now that I have about 2 hours a day of free time (during nap time, of course) I have decided to actually try and do this as a little business.  Please follow me along this adventure!

I plan to not just post about my shop, but also about my life as a stay at home Mommy, and to connect with other Mamas out there that are perhaps in the same boat as I am...

My Bears.  My Heart.