I'm new to Etsy, so I don't have any sales/feedback yet, but I am really loving having this shop to put my stuff on. It's really fun to be able to create and post it for others to see and I know that someone is going to love these things as much as I do. I feel like I have especially needed this creative outlet recently.

I'm not sure if I have baby blues (for those of you who don't know me, I recently had my third baby.), but I have been extremely moody a lot lately. It's not really that I'm sad, it's more that I get mad a whole lot easier. I loose my patience with my kids more than normal and I have felt really bad about it. (That's why I really have needed that craft time for myself at night. I need some kid-free time to relax.)

Since I've been "the mother of the year" (YA RIGHT!) I've been trying to do fun activites with my kids to show them that I love them and that I'm sorry for being so grumpy. I thought it might be fun to share ideas with you to help with those "I'm bored" moments that we hear in the summer. They aren't anything new, just things we like to do:

We've made homemade playdough (which I think I might do for some play kits and put on Etsy.) which Hannah of course promptly mixed all the colors "to make a cake" so I'll have to make some more for her.

We've made collages from magazine pictures. This is one of Hannah's favorite things to do. I have a box of things that I cut out of all sorts of magazines, everything from Parenting, Better Homes and Gardens, and The Friend, to catologs gets cut up to put their favorite things in the box. They like to go through it and pick out what they're into at that point. Luke's actually learning to say more new words by looking through the box with me too. I even let Luke do the glue stick this time too.

Another way to get to look at my magazines and play with the kids is to play "I spy" while I'm going through them. They usually find pretty cool details that I don't notice and sometimes things that will inspire a project.

Sidewalk chalk is always fun and Hannah has really been into drawing our family lately. It's pretty cute and she is becoming quite the artist. She also has helped me make cookies. So it's not like I'm trying to be an awful mom, I just really hope this hormonal roller coaster passes soon and things get back to normal.