Mommysteffen's Blog

13 ounces or less: A Gift of Joy For Brianna

mommysteffen — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:46:39 +0000

My friend from Treasures for Tots wrote a blog post about shipping packages under 13 ounces. Lucky for us our daughters are Pen Pals. so we got to be on the receiving end of the of this creative packaging.

When Brianna got home from ballet the package was at our house waiting! She was so excited… I was excited too to see all you could send via mail without an envelope or box!

Adorable and Amazing! Check out Givers blog for more 13 ounce or less ideas!

Winter the Dolphin and Baby Betta:-)

mommysteffen — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:15:02 +0000

I’m not sure there’s a kid who could love dolphin’s more… Brianna met Winter the Dolphin last spring and ever since she swears she WILL become a Marine Biologist. Even when I tell her it’s a lot of work… she does not care… these dolphins NEED her:-)

Today I was suckered into getting her the next best thing to a dolphin:-) She decided a Baby Betta Fish was what she needed to examine until she was in college.

Meet Winter the Baby Betta!

Our Soft Penguin from Our Bulgarian Friend

mommysteffen — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:52:08 +0000

We found Brianna’s Quilt from an Etsy store called “Teaket Quilt Shop.”

All the work is done with so much detail and love… you can tell when you see it! We ordered a little penguin for the holidays and he completed his long journey to our house. We opened him, loved him, hugged him, kissed him and found him a great home!

His Special Home!

LOVE IT!

KISS IT!

Opened Up!

HUG IT!

2011 in review

mommysteffen — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 23:52:43 +0000

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,900 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Cake Pops….

mommysteffen — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:55:15 +0000

Ok, the price at StarBucks to buy a cake pop always seemed a little high but I must confess they might be worth it:-) We made cake pops today and it was NOT hard but it does take time and can be very messy:-)

Mix batter… bake, cool, remove pan, melt chocolate, dip sticks in chocolate and then cake pop. Put in freezer. . . melt chocolate, add to cake pop, sprinkle and dry on foam block. I didn’t have this but did find a small cone… so i just rotated as they dried:-)

A square foam block would’ve been key:-)

Happy Almost New Year!

Brianna’s First Hair Cut (aka trim)

mommysteffen — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:20:28 +0000

I know it’s only hair but I always joked if I left on Brianna’s baby hair that she would stay little. Obviously, she’s growing and we are happy she’s healthy! So, today she decided she needed a hair cut. She said all the kids in her class had one and she just had to see what it was like.

Off to Carnival Cuts we went… She had the entire spa treatment… The Bubble Gum Wash and Fruity Conditioner. She chose the horse seat and asked the lady “what should we do?” The nice lady said, “One inch should be good to even it out.” I thought more would be ok but maybe she wanted to use baby steps for us? She also said she liked Brianna’s hair… so “one” inch later… she blew dry her hair and sprayed it with rainbow glitter… Then added a purple clip. Ta-Da!

Brianna was happy that she was able to go the spa:) I was happy that she kept all her baby hair in a little bag for me:-) The entire inch … haha!

Next time I think we can be more daring but it was a first step!

All evened out!

Omphalocele Child’s Book

mommysteffen — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 01:38:21 +0000

The book we created called ‘A Very Special Me’ has been selling very well. It’s a book that helps a small child make sense of their omphalocele. It’s been so exciting to read what people think about it via email and posts on FaceBook.

In only 2-weeks our book has traveled to 31 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Main, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin. . .

And. . .

7 countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Romania, South Africa. Scotland and Singapore… We have sold 75% of the books we printed. Very Exciting!

There’s a pending order for a hospital in Alaska and that would take us to 32 states. I’m getting eager for Brianna to get her maps that she asked Santa to get her for Christmas, so we can mark all the places on her map.

Brianna will deliver her book to her surgeon on Friday. He has no ideas we created a book, so it will be a very neat Christmas Surprise!

This has been such a great project because we love hearing how the book is helpful to many people. We started this “testimonial” section on our Web site, so we can track the feedback better in one location.

http://kas-publishing.com/Testimonials.php

You can also order on the main page of the link above!

Happy Holidays!

The Steffen Family

Brianna’s Purple Christmas Tree: Girly Ornaments Needed:-)

mommysteffen — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 03:57:31 +0000

Yesterday at Kohls we happened to stumble across a sparkly, pre-light, purple Christmas Tree. I confess… I decided Brianna needed it more than her! How could I help it… purple is her new fav color now. It was yellow for years….

Because she loves ballet so much those girly ballet ornaments were a perfect fit for her tree.

Today at the craft store we picked up felt, purple/red floss and some sparkly purple ribbon. We decided the tree will need some girly gingerbread people; so we created cookie cutter ornaments! I can’t wait to make more. . . Happy Holidays.

Holiday Wreath: Year 2

mommysteffen — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 03:22:29 +0000

Last year we decided to purchase a fresh wreath and decorate it… this year Brianna enjoyed it even more than last year! We made little round circles out of garland and hung them from the wreath. So Pretty! The wreath is made by Kim at Perfect Petals Garden Center. This year she also made my granny’s grave blanket. Her work is lovely.

One year without granny.

Turkey Hot Mitts and Pad

mommysteffen — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 03:27:43 +0000

Treasure for Tot’s posted a link to a BellaDia Blog post on how to make a Handprint Turkey Softie and Tutorial. For some reason when I saw it I thought about the need for a turkey hot pads!

I had zozo fabric scraps, so I quickly developed a festive plan.

Materials:

Hot Mitt and Hot Pad
Fabric Scraps
Floss
Needle
All-Temp Fabric Glue Stick (glue gun)
Disappearing fabric marker
Stiff Felt (orange, red and other warm colors)
Little hand for small hot pad

Hand Mitt:

I created a feather, wing, eye, beak and waddle pattern. You can look at some examples online and free hand them on paper.
Trace three feathers, one waddle, one eye and one beak onto the stiff felt. You can put wing on felt or stitch wing scraps directly to the mitt.
Use fabric glue to add beak, waddle and eye.
Trace the felt feather onto the fabric scraps.
Stitch the fabric to the scraps. This will keep it stiff and not droopy.
Stitch fabric scrap wing directly OR stitch to felt and hook under with thread + add fabric glue. I tried both ways and liked stitching it directly on best.
Stitch under the wings to add them on but then reinforce them with fabric glue stick.

Hot Pad w/ Little Hand:

Trace little hand on fabric scrap
Cut out a beak, waddle and wing from felt (Brianna didn’t want a wing on her hand print?) Looks cute either way.
Stitch little hand on hot pad
Use fabric glue to add wing, beak and waddle
Stitch on an eye

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I’m thankful for my family, friends and health.