Moran Family Adventures: musings of a boy mom

No time to scrapbook!  I used to be a scrapbooking junkie. Back in 8th grade, my friends and I went on a school trip to Washington D.C., afterwards, Trudi (who is still my best friend to this very day!) invited us all over to scrapbook our adventures. I was in complete awe of all the fun things you could do with paper crafts after that day and have been hooked ever since. I like to make a calendar every year and scrapbook vacations, our year together etc. Give me a bottle of wine, some decent movies on Netflix, and lock me up in my craft room for a weekend and I'll be happy.  I've developed quite the supply of scrapbooking materials in my time. Since having a kid though, I find that locking myself in my craft room with a bottle of wine may be a thing of the past. At least until my boys are older. So I decided to document my years through a different method. First, I have this blog, which is great and all but I like having pictures around the house. I've used Shutterfly...

Mess-Free Painting  I saw another Pinterest idea that seemed easy to do since I had all the products on hand. One lazy weekend afternoon I decided to give it a try. I'm always up for doing arts and crafts with my little one. It'll give me a fun keepsake and introduce him to a new activity that hopefully sparks his interest. I took a piece of white scrapbook paper, used painters tape to make a C, put some dollops of kid friendly paint on the paper, put the whole thing in a ziplock, taped it to the sliding door, and away he went meshing colors together. He needed a little encouragement from me because at first he didn't know what to do. And then he seemed more interested in the camera than finger painting....maybe we'll try this project again in a few months. He just didn't seem ready for it at 15 months. Or perhaps I just don't have an artsy inspired child. Who knows, we're learning as we go here! Anyway, when we were done, I took the paper out of the zi...

It's That Time Again Last time I sent care packages to the sand box it was Halloween and I used Jellybean's feet to make cute little Halloween characters. This time, it's Christmas, and those little feet are at it again making cute little festive characters. This time, in the form of mistleTOES. Chalk it up to another Pinterest inspired kid craft!  My girls are still deployed and I know there's nothing better than getting a thoughtful care package this time of year. Cookies, decorations, and a little something from Jellybean is sure to put a smile on their faces! And since I talk to them everyday, I know they're working hard over there and definitely need those cookies and smiles!  I spent an entire Sunday whipping up about 8 different types of cookies and putting together random Christmas themed items. I also made cakes in a jar. It's the most genius idea for a care package that I've seen yet. When Matt deployed, a bunch of us girls with deplo...

Love DIY  I am such a craft junkie. The amount of STUFF I have in my craft room (most of which I hardly touch nowadays) is appalling. But I truly believe that crafting is such a fun way to express yourself and now that I have Jellybean, it's an even better way to creatively capture my new adventures with my son. Between that and my MANY impromptu  photo sessions…and working/living every day life, I have my hands full. Sometimes I stress out over all the crafty things I want to do and the little time I have to do it. Well, really, I stress out about just about everything I have to do and the little time I feel like there is to do it. Some days it seems like I move at mach 8 the entire day without taking a breather or time to just acknowledge how fortunate I am. Between getting everything together to head out the door by 0630, work, working out after work, picking Jellybean up at 1730, getting home, taking care of the pets, making dinner, feeding...

Homework  Jellybean isn't even one year old yet and he's already getting homework assigned to him….from daycare! Well, mom is getting homework from daycare. Last month it was a collage of family photos, this month, it's family hand prints on a tree. They display the arts work in the hallways for everyone to see, so the Moran family definitely has to step its game up. What can I say? We're a bunch of show offs with a pretty ferocious competitive streak.  I love when I look in Jellybean's cubby and there's artwork (finger paint on construction paper) for me to talk home and display proudly on the fridge or at my desk. So when the daycare asks for me to help out with arts and crafts time, I'm more than willing to help out! Besides, I saw the idea on Pinterest and wanted to do it anyway.  Like most things on Pinterest, that website makes things look so much easier than it really is! For example, baby handprints are next to impossible to capture perfec...

Fall, Arts and Crafts, Pinterest, and Jellybean Sometimes I think Jellybean is more like toy or a prop....is that a horrible thing to say? Having this kiddo has opened up a whole new category of arts and crafts, memory making, and picture taking opportunities! And I am going to take advantage of every single moment, this most certainly includes plopping my baby in a pumpkin and styling a fall themed photo shoot. What I'd give for our family Photographer to be in Virginia this time of year! But, I guess I'll have to settle for using my own creativity and my own camera. Maybe it's time I put the effort into learning how to use those crazy expensive photo editing programs I bought for my computer!  When those pumpkins started overflowing at the local supermarkets, I knew I had to do something with them, like get the biggest one I could find, cut out a hole so I could fit Jellybean inside, and two more holes to fit those chunky legs I love so much.  Carving a pumpki...

Pumpkins And Footprints  It's no secret that we are a military family. I'm so proud of that fact. It's also no secret that I love arts and crafts, fall, Pinterest, and JELLYBEAN! Put all that together and what do you get? One awesome Halloween themed care package. Our time in the military has introduced us to the most wonderful people from all over the country. Two of my dearest friends are deployed right now, and I thought I loved putting together care packages before....but then I had a baby. And these girls love my Jellybean, so I know putting something special in that care package from Jellybean makes that present in the mail that much better.  While surfing Pinterest for fun fall decor,  I saw an idea that used a baby's footprint as a ghost. Easy enough right? Get some water soluble paint, a baby, and paper. Well.......I have no idea how those Pinterest footprints came out so great because Jellybean is way too squirmy to get a perfect transfer. I don...