Thanksgiving at the In-Laws

Thanksgiving 

HOLY CRAP!  It has been a week since I posted!  I am a little behind but I am finally posting about Thanksgiving!  Whatever.  I don't know how some of these women bloggers do it, I have always been super impressed.  

Anyway...

So, as awful as it sounds, we have never spent one holiday, Thanksgiving or Christmas at my husbands Mothers house.  NOT ONE!  Can you believe it.  Isn't that awful.  I have know him for 10 years!  10 years!  And we have not ever spent a holiday there.  We swap holidays between my parents and his dad but never his poor mother.  

Anyway, the time has finally come!  We went there for a nice Thanksgiving meal this year!  Unfortuanlty we did not get to be there on Thursday but we did finally get there Saturday.  (Nicks Job and all, you know how it goes...)  But the kids had sooooooo much fun!  His mom and step dad own a small ranch and the kids really LOVE going to see the animals.

Chalry's favorite is the horses.  She even got to ride one this trip, and Soph loves the cows, especially the babies.  She was a little disappointed this trip to see that the babies had all grown up but was excited to hear that there would be new babies in a couple months.  It's the little things, you know.  But I will post those pics tomorrow.  

Thanks for stopping by everyone, come back and visit us again soon,

 -Sarah

 We love that you stopped by and cant wait to see you again soon! If you liked Yuen Yarn, check out some of our older posts, Like us on Facebook, ,visit our ETSY shop or come see our website www.yuenyarn.com.

Our Daily 'Thankful For' Ritual

I am Thankful For...

So, we are not deeply religious people.  I would be happier to say that we are but I am afraid to say we are not.  Neither of our kids are baptized, neither have even ever stepped foot into a church, really.  But we do have a daily 'what are you thankful for' ritual.  

Everyday before dinner instead of traditional grace, we go around the table and say 2 or 3 things we are  each thankful for.  

(Yes, this is a giant Charly eye, it's what I get for letting her play with my phone for extended periods of time! But I love it, it's what is staring at me every time my phone locks.)

Charly is frequently thankful for things that were fun at school and recently has begun adding her sister to the list.  If we are lucky, daddy and I make the list every other week or so.

Soph, everyday, is thankful for her swimming pool.  Always the swimming pool, at the top of the list, in warm weather or cold, rain or snow, for the last 18 months or so.  Then there is school, crafts, sissy, and sometimes mom and dad.  

And the hubby and I are generally thankful for the family, having good days with the kids, you know, the usual.  

I really like this tradition, it has gotten the kids to think about things that make them happy, things that they are glad happened, and it usually opens them up to start talking about things that have happened at school.  All the good things, and bad.  

Usually when we walk home from school the only answer I get when I ask her about her day is 'I don't want to tell you right now'.  So this really helps get her to open up.  

Have a great week everyone, maybe you can implement this into your routine.  I know, daily is a bit time consuming but even once a week I think you will be amazed at how many new stories you get to hear.  

Thanks for stopping by everyone, come back and visit us again soon,

 -Sarah

 We love that you stopped by and cant wait to see you again soon! If you liked Yuen Yarn, check out some of our older posts, Like us on Facebook, ,visit our ETSY shop or come see our website www.yuenyarn.com.

Our ETSY Shop is Finally Back up and Running

Yeah for ETSY!

So, I know, I know, the ETSY shop has been empty for a while.  Quite frankly I don't know how long.    I had really thought that I would get an e-mail or something as things expired and {apparently} I was not paying attention and I went to check it one day and it was empty.  I think I got a bit side tracked with the blog end of things, you know, trying to get up and running, trying to get posts written, trying to figure out how to post and what to post and all that jazz!  

But we are back up and running now!  Woot, Woot!  

I have only updated the things that were previously in there but I plan on adding a few new items as well.  Just as soon as I get them photographed!  Oh, so much to do! 

But here is what is in there now:

Baby Booby Beanie:

Cinderella Inspired Tulle Dress-up Dress:

Melty Fabric Flower Barretts:

Crochet Infant Hats with a Tail:

Glass Magnets:

Crochet Baby Hats:

Rapunzel Inspired Tulle Dress-up Dress:

So, that's what I have in there now, and like I said, stay tuned, I will be adding lots more stuff soon!

Thanks for stopping by everyone, come back and visit us again soon,

 -Sarah

 We love that you stopped by and cant wait to see you again soon! If you liked Yuen Yarn, check out some of our older posts, Like us on Facebook, ,visit our ETSY shop or come see our website www.yuenyarn.com.

DIY Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal Packets

Homemade Oatmeal Packets

So, you remember the brown sugar we made yesterday?  Well now you are going to take some of that and make maple and brown sugar oatmeal packets.  Super easy.  And cheap, I love saving money.  They only cost about $.05 each!  What!?!?!  Seriously!  Versus $.70 per meal.  (Because each packet only has about 1/4 cup of oatmeal and we added 1/2 cup instead.)  LOVE IT!

Homemade Maple and Brown Sugar Packets 

1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup maple
1/2 cup oatmeal in each baggie

Mix your brown sugar, white sugar and maple syrup together...

Add 1/2 cup oats to a small sandwich baggie...

Combine 1/2 cup oats with 2 Tbsp sugar/ syrup combo in your bag.

And ta-da, ta-da!  Done, ready made breakfast for at least a month!  And thats if two people are eating it every day.

I am super stoked to have these ready for the mornings for both the kids and the hubby!  Plus, he is on the road a lot so these will be great to pack in his grip (work backpack).

Next I am going to be looking for other things to pack in Charly's lunch box too.  She has never been a great sandwich girl so we have to pack other things but have you seen how much sugar is in those prepackaged snacks?  So that is our next quest.  It is going to happen.  Get fired up!  We are going to come up with some really great ideas, I know it.

Do any of you have kids in school that are not great sandwich eaters?  What do you fed them?


Thanks for stopping by everyone, come back and visit us again soon,

 -Sarah

 We love that you stopped by and cant wait to see you again soon! If you liked Yuen Yarn, check out some of our older posts, Like us on Facebook, ,visit our ETSY shop or come see our website www.yuenyarn.com.

DIY Brown Sugar

Homemade Brown Sugar

Seriously, it could not be easier!  I have been making my own brown sugar for a few years now and I really like it.  Plus we get to save money in the process.  It takes less than 5 minutes to make.  What does an average bag of brown sugar cost, I think about $3.50, and making your own is about a $1.00!

Woot, woot!  Super exciting!

Simple Brown Sugar Recipe

All you are going to need is:

3 cups sugar
3 oz molasses (2/3 cup)

Place your sugar in your food processor or blender and turn it on, and start adding your molasses.  Blend for a few minutes until it is completely combined.....   AND.....    Done!

Yeah!  How can you not love that.  And if you do buy your brown sugar, now if you run out you wont have to run tot the store to finish your recipe.  You can just make some.

Now we are going to make something with it next week...  Something to make your mornings easier!

Thanks for stopping by everyone, come back and visit us again soon,

 -Sarah

 We love that you stopped by and cant wait to see you again soon! If you liked Yuen Yarn, check out some of our older posts, Like us on Facebook, ,visit our ETSY shop or come see our website www.yuenyarn.com.

Wine Cork Tree Ornaments

Cork Ornaments - In the Shape of Trees!

So, like I said before, I have tons of corks.  And I wanted something fun to do with them.  I decided to make ornaments out of them to place on top of gifts for the family this year.  

Not a bad use I thought.    So here is what you will need:

- corks
- hot glue
- a star of some sort (I found this confetti in the basement)
- ribbon (one wide and one thin to make a bow)












Now start gluing your corks together in a pyramid.  I liked to keep the corks all the same way, with the holes from popping the cork on one side and the stained on the other but it is all up to you.  I did also use the plastic corks, but I didn't really mix them with the real ones.  Really just personal preference.  Do what makes you happy!

 Here is where you will start adding your wider ribbon.  Stick it in between your bottom corks and start wrapping it around.  As you wrap it around place a little bit of hot glue in the crevices of the corks so the ribbon follows the contour of your trees.

Here's a side view too.

Now glue your star on top...

 Make a bow with your thinner ribbon and glue those on too.  And done!

 Ta-da, ta-da!  That's right, it got two ta-da's today because I think they will look especially cute as decoration on top of presents then on the tree for years to come.


Thanks for stopping by everyone, come back and visit us again soon,
 -Sarah

 We love that you stopped by and cant wait to see you again soon! If you liked Yuen Yarn, check out some of our older posts, Like us on Facebook,  ,visit our ETSY shop or come see our website www.yuenyarn.com.

Toy Room Reorganization and a Christmas Tradition

Toy Room Makeover and our Christmas Toy Tradition...

Ok, now to tackle the toy room.  This was another on the to-do list and I am super excited to have it done!  It took some convincing on my part to get started but once I did I was glad.

























So here are my before pics.  We had just moved this bed into the kids toy room / guest room.  We always had a bed in there but as you can see, this bed is ginormous!  We finally upgraded to a king size bed as a queen was just nor big enough for our family of four plus 2 dogs.  THe kids don't sleep with us but inevitably one, if not both of them, sneak in in the middle of the night.

Anyway, I just felt crowded in there and, quite frankly, for the kids that is fine but I thought my family might feel uncomfortable in there.  Plus I didn't want them to fight with the tulle canopy over the bed.  Although the kids like it, it may be a bit much for adult company.

So I went to work...

I first started moving things around, pulling out old toys, and generally reorganizing what I already had.  I didn't want to buy more furniture for that room so I had to make due with what was there.

I already had all those baskets on the shelves for different groups of toys, and although they don't stay that way after the kids have been in there unattended for a month, it makes me feel better to know they do have a place.

It was right about this time I started to get scared.  Started thinking, oh lord, what have I started. But I persevered...

See, when I organize, it is a hot mess until I am done apparently.  I just like to pull everything out and start over, apparently!

By the way, I left the kids to fend for themselves for a couple hours and when I came out to check on them at one point this is where I found my eldest.  She said she was reading.  Then here sister said 'your not supposed to find her!' and slammed the door, then there were tears, and yelling, and hitting, and I had to break it up.  And then they were friends again...  aaah, the inner workings of sisters.


And now..... dun da na na....
























I moved the toy box into the closet and filled it with all their dress up cloths (yes, it is full, I think it may be their favorite game at home).

I moved the shelves together, took down the tulle canopy and turned it into a makeshift curtain for the shelves.  I know you can see through them but I still think it would be better to look at when your lying in bed than a pile of toys.  I also wanted to hang them from a curtain rod but I didn't have one lying around so I just tacked the curtains to the ceiling.


See,

closed,

              open.


I will leave it open for the kids to play in most of the time but at least now I have the option to close it if I want.






I love it and I am so glad I talked myself into it.

Christmas Toy Tradition

This was also a good opportunity for me to weed out the old toys that they don't play with anymore as well as have the kids pick out 2 toys each that they would like to donate to less fortunate children this holiday season.  We have done this for the past 4 years and I really like giving the kids the opportunity to help someone in need this time of year.  There were some tears this year but our incentive has always been that if you don't have any toys you would like to give away, there will be less toys Santa will bring you on Christmas.  It seems to get them in the spirit as well as clears some room in to toy room for after the holiday.

They have been too young to go somewhere to donate with me in the past (I have laways just gone to the local thrift store), but this year I would really like to take them with me to show them that their toys are going to a good cause.  Does anyone have any ideas on where I can go that will take used toys and the kids can see who is getting them?

Thanks for stopping by everyone, come back and visit us again soon,

 -Sarah

 We love that you stopped by and cant wait to see you again soon! If you liked Yuen Yarn, check out some of our older posts, Like us on Facebook, ,visit our ETSY shop or come see our website www.yuenyarn.com.