Tips For Avoiding Mosquito Bites

Now that spring is here and summer is nigh, the mosquitoes have decided to come out and play.

Aah, my old nemesis, the mosquito. I completely forget about mosquitoes until the weather turns warmer and suddenly there is a buzzing around my face as I am trying to get to sleep. This happened last night. I swatted blindly in the air a few times, trying to deter the insect from biting my face. Then I covered my face with the blankets, hoping this single pesky mosquito won't smell the carbon dioxide from my breath and come after me any more. Finally, having enough of the annoying buzzing, my husband got out of bed, turned on the lights, hunted and killed the mosquito. Thank you, thank you my brave mosquito killing husband!

The mosquitoes seem to be out in full force now and swarming our family with pleasure. My legs have so many red, swollen bites that it looks like I have chicken pox. My kids are complaining of being itchy and have annoying bites on their faces, arms, and legs. Poor kids. I have a "family friendly" mosquito repellent, but I'm not sure if it works too well. And especially with new generations of mosquitoes being DEET resistant, what can we use to avoid mosquito bites?

Generally you should avoid using insect repellent with DEET for children, as DEET is absorbed into the skin. If you feel you should use DEET, find a repellent with 10% DEET or less and make sure you wash it off your child when they come inside. Other repellents that are generally safe for children are citronella and soybean oil. Here are a few other tips from this article about repellents for children:

• Make sure to keep as much of her skin covered with clothing as possible, including long sleeve shirt, long pants, socks, and a hat.
• Wear light colored clothing, so as not to attract bugs.
• Avoid using any scented soaps or other products on your baby, since the fragrances can also attract insects.
• Apply insect repellents to clothing instead of to skin so that it won't be absorbed.
• Wash off insect repellents as soon as possible.
• Avoid areas with insects nest.
• Follow the instructions, including age restrictions on any insect repellent you are considering using.

You can also make your own repellent, or use these helpful natural tips for repelling mosquitoes outlined it this article.

You could also use insect repellent candles, lanterns, zappers, catchers, etc. But I find the best way for me to avoid those pesky bites is to keep covered.

For more information on mosquitoes and how to get rid of them, visit the American Mosquito Control Association website for some really useful information.

Lovely Blossoms

I had a little fright the other day. I looked out the window and saw white on the tree in my backyard. For one tiny, scary moment I thought it was snow, but thankfully I was wrong, The crab apple tree is in full bloom.

My kids love the flowers, and my five year old girl "E" likes to pick them (along with handfuls of dandelions) for a present for me. She puts them in a little cup with some water and arranges them so pretttily, often with long pieces of grass or other greenery that she can find. She puts them on the table and insits that they stay there all during our meals.

I'll have to get a picture of her flower arrangements and do another post on them.

It's so lovely to have blossoms now and to see the flowers start to bloom and have some colour in my world (besides the white and gray of the long winter). I think spring truly is my favourite season.

Kids Say The Funniest Things!

A few funny things my five year old has said lately:

1. While looking at some baby sheep in a field:

"Mom, those baby sheeps look like little white pigs. But I know they're sheep, not pigs because they have wool. But they should be pigs.

 2. "Mom, do animals get married?"
     "No. Animals don't get married.
     "Why? Is it because they don't know how to dance?"

3. Her own joke:
    Knock knock.
    Who's there?
    Why did the cheetah cross the road?
    I don't know. Why?
    Because she liked it!

4. "E" was helping me make supper. We were browning ground beef for tacos and I was telling her that the brown meat was cooked, and the red meat was not and that we needed all of the meat to be brown and to see no red.

(Speaking to the meat) "Come on red! Beat yourself up so you can be brown like the rest of the guys!"

 5.  "If I were made of noodles, I would bring my foot up to my mouth and eat my toe."

Birthday Cake and Card

On Sunday we had a little birthday for my son "G" who turned two. We had a few friends and family come over and have cake and ice cream. "G" absolutely loved the attention and especially loved it when we sang, "Happy Birthday" to him. His face lit up with the biggest smile and he clapped and cheered when we were finished. He had a little trouble blowing out the candles, but his sister helped him with that.

For his cake, I made cupcakes and placed them in the shape of a 2 and turned it into a caterpillar. It was so easy and quick and "G" loved it.

Oops, there's already a cupcake gone from the cake in this picture. Just imagine it's still there. I used licorice for the legs and Skittles for the face and decorations on top of the cupcakes. "G" ate the candies off the cupcake, licked some of the icing, and left the cake. Then he wanted more candy. He had lots of fun. I loved using cupcakes because it made portion control so much easier and I found that it was not as messy as a traditional sheet cake.

It was also a friend's birthday this week and I made her a birthday card.

I used the "Sweet Treats" cartridge for the Cricut and used the card feature to make this cute birthday cake card. Shaped cards can be a lot of fun!

Geneology

Have you ever seen that show on NBC called, Who Do You Think You Are? It follows celebrities as they search for their family history. I find it fascinating. I've never really been interested much in family history and geneology, but after watching that program and sensing that feeling of wonder and amazement that people receive when they learn about their ancestors, I have become much more interested in finding out more about my family. I even went down to my local family history center and started searching. I can see why so many people are doing geneology now. I heard that geneology and family history is the number one thing searched for on the internet.

I found a great brand new website for people who need help in starting their geneolgy. It's called Find My Ancestors and has a great post titled What Is Geneology? It's a great article and ends with this:

So my answer to “What Is Genealogy?” is this: The quest born of a deep desire to know those who are related to you, how you are connected, and to understand how you came to be". When you succeed at this quest, the reward is better than gold. That sounds rather magical, and it is. How else can I describe the feelings I have that make what could be a mere hobby into an obsession?

This site is really helpful with lots of good tips (especially this page title Getting Started) and you can even hire someone to help you search for your ancestors. I for one can't wait to see what's in store for me up my family tree.

Crazy Cranky Kids

Why have my kids been so cranky today? I thought at first maybe it's just Monday crankiness, but today is a holiday. There is no school, no work and we have just been doing chores and the kids have been playing. We even slept in this morning. Is there a full moon? I mean, my kids are beyond cranky - they are out of control, crazy, grumpy, rude, not listening, hitting each other, and the list goes on. Is anybody else's day like this? It's making me cranky just writing about it.

Super Hero Cape

Today is my son "G"s second birthday. I can't believe he is already 2 years old! For his birthday I made him a super hero cape. I used a simple pattern that I found on a really cute blog Creative Kismet.

I made a few alterations though. For this pattern, it called for a serger, but I don't have one and don't know how to use one, so I used my sewing machine instead and stitched the two sides of the cape right sides together, then turned it rightside out and stitched up the neck.

For the super hero symbol I cut out the shapes and used fabric glue instead of applique to adhere it to the cape.

I then used a zig-zag stitch around each shape in their corresponding colours (I did all of this before stitching the two sides of the cape together). Since I am fairly new at sewing, I made a couple mistakes. As you can probably see in the picture, you can see some of the fabric glue through the white fabric. Next time I would learn to use an applique and try that out.

Another alteration I made was to use matching fabric instead of felt for the collar and I used Velcro instead of a tie to fasten the cape as this seemed safer.

The reverse side is Spider-Man. I know Spider-Man doesn't wear a cape, but it was the only superhero fabric left at the store (there was a sale!) and my son loves red.

I had a lot of fun making this easy cape (even though I was up until midnight finishing it off in time), and now my daughter is asking for one too. I'll just have to find some fun girly fabric for her and then I'll pump out another one of these fun babies!