The Violet Hours

The best stuff on earth!

Ahavati — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 09:00:36 +0000

Homemade banana bread! Warmed up and smothered with butter! Yum!

Today’s project!

Ahavati — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:35:34 +0000

Today I tackled a new project! I made the boys crayon rolls. They are a really cute and fun way to take crayons on the go. Stick them in your purse or diaper bag and you have them ready for those times when you need to distract kids. They’re great for traveling too. My younger son loves dinosaurs so he was extra excited to find this fabric. All of our crayons are in pieces so later we’ll go get some fresh crayons to fill it in. I also found tutorials for pencil rolls and may make one of those as well.

Here are pics of the first one I did. I have another 2 to make, one for each kiddo. I think I’ll be making them a matching sketchbook cover to go with these. Later we’ll be making library bags for each

15 minute pajama pants!

Ahavati — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:53:20 +0000

I found this quick tutorial for making 15 minute pajama pants. It took me a little longer because I had to chase kids while doing it but none-the-less it was super quick! Think I might go raid the fabric store for some more fabric and make up some for Avalea and Ephram too! Maybe even a cute tiny pair for Chaiya!

Baby shower goodies

Ahavati — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 15:53:19 +0000

My best friend Vanessa is expecting her second little boy in July! She decided she wanted to cloth diaper this one so I made her a fun little basket full of cloth! Of course I have plenty of stuff that my little chunker just grew out of so between that and some other new stuff I got her, she has quite an addition to her stash! I can’t wait to give it to her. I also can’t wait to see the newest little boy!!

I made the little monkey card as well for her with a little help from my mom who makes beautiful hand quilled and stamped cards. You can see her work HERE.

I have some other fun stuff I’m working on that I’ll be posting soon!

*Copyright Cassandra Baldovinos

Here is a close up of the card! We added 2 little monkeys since she’s expecting a second boy

*Copyright Cassandra Baldovinos

Avalea’s first finger painting!

Ahavati — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:49:24 +0000

Today, thanks to Color Wonder by Crayola, was Ava’s first attempt at finger painting. I know my child and real paints + Ava would equal a new paint job on my walls, carpet, furniture, Chaiya and the dogs. These color wonder products are awesome. I think we’ll get her the coloring pages too! She really enjoyed making her masterpiece! She made 2, one for Daddy’s work and one to be proudly displayed on our refrigerator. Once she goes down for her nap, the boys will get to use real paint…in the kitchen…with protection. They may be older but don’t underestimate their destructive power!

Franklin Goose

Ahavati — Mon, 17 May 2010 17:31:17 +0000

Recently I came across a promotion. Franklin Goose was a new, online, up and coming store that featured natural and organic kid stuff. They had a promo running where they gave $5 store credit for every legit review you left on their products. So, I sat down and did quite a few reviews. I had used a lot of stuff that they had listed so I racked up quite a bit of store credit.

Using that credit, I ordered a bunch of play food and kitchen items for Avalea’s birthday. We are getting her a play kitchen and these would go great with it. I also was able to order a couple booster seats (one for our house and one for Nana and Papa’s). Shipping has been slow but these are free to me. I just invested a little bit of time. And they got such a huge amount of reviews and orders that they are behind. I am thankful though for the opportunity to get some things we otherwise probably wouldn’t have for nothing but a little of my time.

I’ve now become an affiliate with their store. Whenever you click the link to them from my blog, I get 5% of the total amount in store credits. It helps us get a few things for the kiddos! So check it out. They sell everything from cloth diapers, baby care, car seats, clothing and toys. Their customer service is great too!

Visit Franklin Goose!

Getting into the groove

Ahavati — Mon, 17 May 2010 17:22:30 +0000

I haven’t written a blog post in a very long time. 4 kids can definitely affect that.

We have a lot going on right now so I’ll be posting a lot more! My second child Ephram is having his 7th birthday soon. Hard to believe he is that old already! our sweet Chaiya is now 9 weeks!! We’re finally getting into a better groove and routine. A routine is a must when you have 4 kiddos.

More coming soon!

Making waves – Change is happening!

Ahavati — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:01:52 +0000

Waves by .EVO. on flickr

I have been SO unmotivated lately to do blog post. Actually unmotivated to do anything! But we have some awesome changes happening soon (no hope here…hehe) All for the betterment of our family. So I figured I’d blog a little on what’s happening with us. Things have been tight here and there through the past few years. But I really feel G-d has been working in our lives and slowly but surely things are getting better. He’s opened up opportunities that we would have never thought would be opened. We’re slowly getting things on track and are in a better place just in comparison to a couple years ago.

1.) We are having a baby sometime next month!! Very hard to believe that in a month, another little kiddo will be in our home. It feels like only yesterday that we found out we we’re pregnant. And on the same note that Avalea was a year old. Now she’s so big at 18 months. Changing daily and getting big. It’s bittersweet. I have no clue if this baby WILL come early or decide to come on time. She confuses me but I just go with the flow. I just hope she comes as close to 40 weeks as possible. I’ll post more on baby stuff in another post.

2.) My wonderful husband (who I must add has been insanely great at helping me with stuff while I’m in pain and dealing with all this PGcy stuff) will be starting a new job in a week. After being where he is for 2 years and some change there affecting him, he is moving on to an awesome opportunity! Still in the same field of work. He will be in a management position, bringing in a good bit more income and getting benefits again! He is also making strides in the community. Great connections that are/will be helping in the future as well as now. I’m thankful he works so hard to provide for our family! And proud of him for the accomplishments he’s made.

3.) We’ll be moving in June/July! Since the new job is happening, we can move out of this house and move closer to my parents. (which happens to be less expensive). We’ll be closer to them which will be nice. I can’t wait to move and get out of this neighborhood. We’ve been here almost 2 years but it’s time to move on.

4.) Least but not last, we’re getting a second vehicle! Finally! Thanks to the government (aka IRS) we will be getting back quite a bit and will be buying a minivan soon. I am definitely not a minivan person by any means. My love lies with a Suburban, but at the moment, we don’t want to burden ourselves. So we are going with a minivan and paying cash for it so NO car payments!! I’m happier knowing we’ll have a paid off car and will have room for all of us to go in one vehicle. (Our XTerra only seats 5, so no room for the baby). We’re going to work hard to pay down the XTerra and save for our Suburban. We want to be able to eventually pay cash for it. NEVER again are we locking ourselves into another car payment. The freedom of no car payments will be great!

So lots of things happening. It’s going to be great though! Everything is just falling into place where it needs to be!

My first real attempt at diaper making!

Ahavati — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:17:02 +0000

I made this little newborn diaper over the weekend for the baby girl. It is not perfect by any means but it is useable for sure. I must say I am very happy with how it came out. With more practice, I can get them pretty nice I’m sure! I can’t wait to use it on her! I will def passing this bed rest time making more!

I also embellished a prefold for my Elmo crazy daughter!

Diaper for the new baby!

Inner of baby's diaper!

Avalea's Elmo prefold!

Dear sleep…

Ahavati — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:04:35 +0000

photo by emdot on Flickr

I love you. I miss you. I wish you hadn’t left me. I’d do anything to have you back even if for a couple nights. I’m sorry my body hurts so much at night and it takes me 5 minutes just to turn over, every 45 minutes. I’m sorry I usually have to get up to pee. I even try to go to bed earlier so I can spend time with you. I try to see you when you spend time with Avalea during the day…doesn’t happen though. What’s going on? It’s really beginning to bother me.

Please come back to me.

me.