When I shared my 10 goals for 2017 I said I wanted to participate in the Pinned It Spinned It Challenge twice a month.

So far I am making good on this and I have really enjoyed piecing outfits together from the inspiration thrown out by the Pinster Sisters. Here is a really quick look at my spins for January.

Floral Top

This first one is a terrible photo! Thanks a lot dimly lit living room and camera phone set on timer. It was also a really dumb day to try to dress up. I remember changing clothes in the afternoon because I was cleaning the stove and I didn’t want to get my light colored pants dirty. You win some, you loose some, but at least I tried.

Army Green and New Purse

This was my favorite outfit of the month.

The jacket and the purse were Christmas presents from J. I needed a new purse badly and after a lengthy search I found this leather bag from the Fossil Outlet and I just knew it was “the one”.

Leopard Print

One of my best friends was clearing out her closet and asked me if I wanted any of the clothes she was getting rid of. Being the second-hand free-cycling queen that I am I didn’t even have to think about it. This leopard print cardigan was one of the items I inherited and it worked great for this particular spin. I momified this combination to be a little more casual and comfy.

Sweater Season

From “momified” to “winterized”. I love the look on the left, but the day it was featured as a Pinned it Spinned it piece it was freezing outside. So I added boot socks, boots, and a winter hat. 

So far I have loved this challenge. I haven’t been able to do it as much in February because it has been so busy, but I am still keeping up with the goal of twice a month.

If you ever want to join in on the pinned it spinned it weekly challenge you can follow the pinterest board of Amy  and Jamie and then post your outfits on Instagram with #pinstersistersfebruary2017 (or whatever month you are participating in) . And if you don’t already follow me, but you want to connect on social networks then by all means follow me at instagram.com/messymom or pinterest.com/the messymom, or twitter/themessymom. I love meeting new friends so be sure to say hello!

I have heard that when it comes to kids reading the most important thing is that they are comprehending and processing the story. Phonemic awareness is a great start, but it’s nothing if the child isn’t gathering any information from the text.

This is one of the reasons that Z’s 3rd grade Language Arts teacher does a 40 book challenge rather than tracking reading minutes. Here is an excerpt from one of her emails:

“My ultimate goal is to inspire students to

become passionate, independent readers. Who wants to be curled up in bed with a good

book and their reading log, tracking every minute?

I believe in reading nightly. Research shows that the more a child reads, the more

successful he/she will be in all content areas. I still expect students to read at least 100

minutes/week, but I am no longer going to require students to record every minute he/she

has read. My plan is to create a more authentic experience for our readers. Instead of

recording the minutes read, students will record when they complete a book. I am

presenting it as the 40 Book Challenge, inspired by the work of educator Donalyn Miller.”

When I say reading together I don’t mean aloud. We are all reading separately, but at the same time. When we each have a sliver of opportunity we’ll grab the book and pick up where we left off. Our schedules are all so different it’s been easy to share. Z likes reading in the morning and early evening. I am mostly free mid day and J has later evening and weekends, not that any of it has been that structured.

I gave Z the assignment of making individualized book marks so we each knew where we were at in the book. He did a great job!

Z was hesitant to get started with this story, but now he loves it and is further than all of us in book #2!

The Magician’s Nephew is the first book if you are reading them chronologically. It was written in the 1950’s, but takes place in the year 1900 and it’s british so a lot of the dialogue and vocubulary is a little difficult to keep up with for a little guy. Z describes it as being written in biblical language which made me chuckle. Coincidentally, we just recently watched Mary Poppins and it was the perfect movie to accompany our book. I know that may sound strange, but it is also set in London in the year 1910 (and written around the same time even). This gave a visual and auditory example of the setting that we had been reading about!

Sorry, I know I am rambling, but I am a book nerd through and through and I had to share about this little endeavor. It’s turned into a great boding experience for us. All three of us have completely fallen in love with the Narnia series and we can’t wait to read more.

A couple years ago I wrote a blog post about sleep habits and was absolutely fascinated with the diverse responses I got on the subject. As I mentioned yesterday in my post “15 Weird Fact About Me” I like to fall asleep on my back with my feet tucked behind my knees (Indian style). My husband isn’t the biggest fan of this habit, so I will sometimes compromise with what we call “the figure four” where I put the leg nearest him straight and the other leg bent at the knee.

I also start off with socks, but then I kick them off in the middle of the night. By the end of the week there is a pile of socks collecting at the bottom of the bed.

Lastly, I prefer it to be really dark. When I was pregnant with Ezie I struggled with insomnia and had to wear a sleep mask. Sometimes I still put something over my eyes like a soft headband. I can’t have anything covering my mouth and nose though, but I know people that swear by keeping their face covered to go to sleep.

One thing is for sure, most people have a preferred ritual for maximum rest and I find it all very amusing.

Here are the comments I received from readers in the past. Please feel free to add your own if you haven’t already!

                 I sleep on my left side all curled up under my blankets, and my hair has to be covering my right ear. I cannot sleep if my ear is exposed. Random 🙂

                –Kate

                My sleep isn’t boring; neither is it regular!! I don’t always fall asleep right away, or stay asleep for long. I tend to wake up MANY times during the night. I                   think I sleep better the last 2 – 4 hours of the morning!! And, I also wear socks to bed in the winter…but if my feet get warm, my whole body is warm and I cannot     sleep; so, yes, the socks come off!

                  –Barbara L.

               I use to sleep without a pillow. I’d read somewhere that it was better for you. My husband hated it. Over the years I changed. Now I’m a pillow snob. I                      would travel with my own pillow more if it were easier.

-Nancy

I used to have a harder time falling asleep, but after my deployment everything change. I had to sleep with lights on, people being noisy, other random military type noises. After a week of not sleeping my body decided to just sleep through everything. lol Now I can sleep almost anywhere, but if I need to pee, I will lay awake for hours. So now I just hop out of bed if I have been awake for more than 15 min and it usually knocks me out.
I am a back sleeper and when I’m pregnant I have to sleep on my side which annoys me. 🙂

–Amanda H.

Depends on the season of the year, if it is summer, I throw the covers down and sleep on top of my head. If its winter, I love to be snuggled up under my blankets. I like having my feet warm too. I actually go to bed with slipper socks on which I love. You should try them out if you haven’t. I like no noise too.

–Tara U.

I need my feet covered, ever since a childhood babysitter said a lion would eat them if I threw the covers off. I do love me some nice cotton sheets to cover up with though.

–Jennifer P.

I have to have my covers all bunched up tight around my neck and shoulders even if it is smoldering hot, but I often kick my feet out. I also like to tangle up my legs with my hubby’s but it bothers me if he moves and rearranges me. I have figure 4 sleeping son and it has always cracked us up that he could sleeps like that.

Colleen M.

I start out Indian style! But I move a lot before actually falling asleep. I used to sleep on my belly, with my arms underneath me as well. It isn’t good for my neck & back (therefore my migraines), though. At some point in the night, I’ll wake up and discover that I’m on my belly, so I’ll roll over onto my back again. If my husband is already asleep, I sleep with earplugs so I don’t hear him snoring! If I really need to sleep in on a Saturday I’ll use a sleep mask. I wear socks when it’s cold, and I keep my feet covered.

-Amy

Well I sometimes start with socks but usually they are kicked off as well. I almost always have one leg/foot out of the covers at some point. I sleep with an extra quilt on my side because my husband is a cover thief, and I have a pillow I hug up to and a box fan. Box fan goes everywhere with us and if we don’t have enough room to travel with one it is the first thing we buy when we get into town and then we return it on our way out of town.

–Laura M.

I am not really interesting.. I sleep on my right side, hugging my pillow 🙂

-Marina

Pitch dark. No socks. Tank top and undies only. Sheets pulled up over my head. On my back. Arms across my chest holding my own hands.

–Susan S.

I typically fall asleep best on my back or side spooning my husband from behind.

He likes noise in the background because he has ringing in his ears and sometimes it bothers me but I can usually fall asleep with noise. Same with light, I don’t need complete and total darkness.

I’m very much like my mother, I can fall asleep anywhere, anytime. lol

-Linds

I sleep on my side and hug a pillow, my husband jokes and says I create a fortress for myself which is sort of true but I do it on purpose, I just find it most comfortable to be in a cocoon.

–Jessica

My husband also sleeps indian style, but he even crosses his arms too! Very annoying…after 18 years though I’ve gotten used to it.

-Kristin

Looking through old blog posts I came across one carnival I joined up with where you had to share random facts about yourself. Some of the old ones didn’t really apply anymore, so I decided to start a new list. Here are 15 random things you may or may not know about me.

1. I own a pair of pink cowboy boots that my aunt wore in a movie with Whoopi Goldberg.
2. I used to be a puppeteer and even competed. It was a children’s ministry I was a part of in Atlanta.
3. I can cross my pinky toe over my other toe, but only on my right foot. I don’t want to post a picture of my gross feet so here is a drawing I found online. 

4. I learned the Greek alphabet in the 6th grade and I still remember it. Of all the things I have forgotten, that one stuck.

5. I used to be allergic to shrimp and bee stings. I am no longer allergic to shrimp because one time I accidentally had some dip made with shellfish and I did not react. The jury is still out on the bee stings because I haven’t been stung since I was  young girl.

6. I tried  hair extensions one time

I know that’s probably not what you were expecting to see, but my hair was really short at the time.

Also, this was 2005. Emo was the thing and chunky extreme layers were in style, plus I was 22.

7. My husband has a niece and a nephew that are older than me, and no they do not call me Aunt Natalie.

8. I ate cow tongue once.

9. I prefer falling asleep on my back in the “criss cross applesauce” position.

10. I haven’t drank soda since high school

11. I used to be a big time couponer. In 2009 I got $1,000 worth of free products and was questioned by the police for trying to find coupons in a recycling bin.

12. I am Natalie and my husband’s name is Jeremy. My brother’s name is also Jeremy and his wife is also named Natalie. We each have 2 boys and 2 girls. Between the two of us they are ages 9, 7 (in a month), 6, 5, 4, 3 (in a couple weeks), 1, and 10 months. 

13. I used to work on a farm and milk goats; this goat is a buck which I did NOT milk. 

14. We have lived in 5 different homes in the last 5 years: three different states, 4 different houses, and one apartment. 

15. My favorite kind of book is memoirs. I don’t know how many I’ve read, but definitely over 50. I am currently reading “The God I Love” by Joni Eareckson Tada. 

Over the summer I worked with my 8 year old and his best friend doing reading and writing projects. This was a way to bridge the summer gap and start off 3rd grade ready to learn.

With this assignment they even made a few bucks. I wanted them to know that writing is beneficial in all areas of life and can help you make money too. Without further ado here is a guest blog post by L. Pikachu (not his real name)

In this experiment you’ll get all the information on how to make slime.  You can make slime, but when you don’t add food coloring it will be white. Slime is a very squishable thing. You need lots of stuff to make it.

Here is What you need:

1. 3/4 cup of cold water

2. 1 cup of glue

3. food coloring

4. 1 teaspoon of borax

5. 1/2 cup hot water

Instructions :

Step 1: In bowl mix together cold water, glue, and food coloring.

Step two: In another bowl mix together the cold water glue and borax until the borax is completely dissolved

Step 3: Slowly add glue mixture to borax mixture. Mix well. Pour off the excess water.

The Way Slime Works:

Slime is a liquid plymer. Molecules in the glue are in strands like a chain. When you add borax it connects all the chains.

My favorite part is that I can play with it. The slime is very fun.

Fun fact. Actually, cancel that. It’s not really fun. Everyday I have a to-do list of 10 things that I want to accomplish that day. I have done it this way for YEARS. In fact when SJ was diagnosed in 2012 I had “SJ’s ENT appointment” as #8 on my to do list that day. I will never forget it. It was supposed to be so simple. 1 of 10 things to do that day. Who knew that number eight would dramatically change my life forever. For a while I even stopped making lists because it haunted me. I couldn’t keep the habit at bay for long though before I was back to my to-do lists. If you are a list person you understand. We get each other.

In the spirit of my daily to do lists here is a master list for the year.

1.Devotions with kids

This year we kept it simple for advent by doing a daily scripture reading and devotion ending with a prayer. While the fights over who got to put the sticker on the advent tree could be brutal, the kids have already missed this daily time focusing on Jesus a family. So yesterday we started Fruits of the Spirit. We aren’t going to be doing one every day, but maybe weekly or bi-weekly. Whatever rhythm we end up with, I hope to make to do at least 10 lessons, because it’s been so great for all of us.

2. Pinned it Spinned it

I blogged about this yesterday. I am hoping to participate in Pinned it Spinned it a couple times a month, like those rare times I am actually out of the house.

3. Get Ezie in Preschool

Ezie will be turning 5 in 2017 (Gasp. That sounds so grown up.). That’s not until October though, so he still has another year before he starts kindergarten. However unlike public school, preschool isn’t free. In fact it’s really expensive.  I could skip it, but I think at age 5 he would really benefit from the structured environment that would prime him for when he does go to school the next year. Lots to think about it.

4. Eye doctors, ear doctors, and dentists OH MY!

I am bad about keeping up with all the regular exams. When you have a family of 6 with at least 3 doctors each (except for Ezie who only goes to the pediatrician, but needs to start seeing the dentist) you end up with over 40 doctor visits a year. I hate going and dragging along all the younger kids along for the ride. But everyone is due for all kinds of regular checkups so I am going to make that a priority. Bleh.

5. Clean up old blog posts

I have a lot of old blog posts that either need to be deleted or revamped. What this means, along with #6 below is that I won’t be writing new stuff on the blog as often as I usually do. I’ll be around though.

6. Get a book deal

I know this sounds ambitious and it is. This is my number one focus for the year. Even if the deal is with myself. I am ready to move forward with the book I have been working on.

7. Four Fabulous Dates

Year after year my goal has been to go on one date a month with my husband. It never happens. NEVER. This year I’ll make it realistic and aim for quarterly dates and hope to make them really  special.

8. Relaunch my email list

I am so sorry, I have failed big time when it comes to my email subscribers and I am hoping to change that.

9. Soak up every last drop of school for SJ.

This is it. We’ve spent the last 5 years of our life primarily focused on giving SJ the gift of communication. She started at OVV when she was two years old. She is about to be 7! She won’t graduate until summer of  2018, but she starts 2nd grade in the fall and it will be her final year. We’ve had so many memories and traditions that are now coming to a close. There will be lots of emotions going on. There are also practical matters as far as transitioning her into a main stream school. So that’s going to be a big focus for the second half of 2017.

10. Get Elle hearing aids

Elle gets hearing aids in January. Hearing aids were a nightmare with SJ, but they were not benefiting her because her hearing loss was so profound whereas Elle’s will make a notable difference. I was told to be prepared to struggle for a few days or weeks even. After that hopefully it will be smooth sailing.

 I am looking forward to the new year, and I wish you all the best as well. Cheers.

*This post was originally posted on MessyMom.com two years ago and never transferred over when I switched to Word Press. I wanted to reshare it though because I am going to be doing it Pinned It Spinned It again this year.* 

I recently saw something on instagram called “Pinned It Spinned It”. I thought the idea was to pick any pin you want from your “fashion board”  and try to recreate it.  But, it turns out that is not how it works. The outfits for the week are preselected and if you want to follow along you can view the pin for that day and then put your own spin on it.

Get it?

At first I didn’t think I would like that because I would rather pick outfits that I pinned personally, but in the end I really enjoyed doing it this way. It forced me think outside of the box and make different combinations using what I already own in my closet. I don’t dress up everyday  hardly ever, so I only partially participated. I still had so much fun with the three that I did do.

SCARF: The Limited (although I bought it used)

DRESS: Target (my friend tried it, but it didn’t work for her so she gave it to me)

TIGHTS: Target girls department

SHOES: Yard Sale

 This dress is made of soft, stretchy tshirt material that isn’t even hemmed, so it’s super casual and comfy. Also, the neckline is low and stretchy enough to breastfeed in a dress. I just have to keep the score kind of middle of the road because it’s always tricky to chase little ones in these boots.

I still love them though!

JEWELRY: The necklace used to belong to a friend, but she was getting rid of it so I scooped it up. Over the weekend I wore it long,

but this pin inspired me to double loop it to make it shorter.

The bracelets were a gift from my brother from Africa.

SHIRT: Gap outlet and the white tank is Forever 21

PANTS: H&M

SHOES: Lucky Brand. Also a reject item. I don’t like that word! Regift? Recylce? Eh, whatever. They were my sister in laws, but she was giving them away so I took them. Anyone else starting to see a pattern here?

The only reason it’s not a 5 star for moms is the jewelry. Shiny jewelry with my children is just no the best combo. This outfit is still very practical, although for the record I changed to boots before I left the house because it’s freezing cold and I am not walking through ice and snow in flats!

So that’s it for my first ever pinned it spinned it.

If you want to joint in on the pin it spin it weekly challenge you can follow the pinterest board and follow Amy and Jamie on instagram. And if you don’t already follow me, but you want to connect on social networks then by all means follow me at instagram.com/messymom or pinterest.com/the messymom, or twitter/themessymom.

One more link and then I’ll leave you alone. Check out What I Wore Wednesday at the Pleated Poppy for more inspiring outfit ideas.

Have a great day everyone!