If you don't want it, don't (kind of) ask for it

**Introduction: I have been working on receiving and accepting the fruits of the spirit. Which is far from my temperament and natural flesh response.***

This past week, Zander has been mouthy, uncooperative, and exhibited behavior that is completely unacceptable. Brad got a small (huge) dose of it this weekend, and was telling me last night he thinks Zander acts the way he does because I have such a bad attitude. (That didn't quite give me butterflies, more like a flush face. Good thing it was dark). I know I need to work on my mouth, but I didn't ask HIM. I would rather it be my idea. So I began to (kind of) pray about it, and what I would have loved to hear was, "I love you just the way you are. No need to change. Brad is just too touchy. And Zander most definitely has not received his poor attitude from you." --Annnd, I'm still waiting on that conversation to happen.

I had my Bible open to Proverbs, writing in Zander's Mommy-to-Son journal (because I do-not scrapbook anymore)
"if you love your children, you will be prompt to discipline them."
(Like by telling him this his response will be, "Oh! I get it. Well, mom, I lied about cleaning the toy room. Since you love me, you should probably spank me.")

Anyway, I felt prompted to read. But read what; close my eyes and point? So, I thought, well, I'll just read my parenting book, not that it will have anything for ME, but at least I'm reading something.

And behold, the chapter I opened to, "Destroying an Inheritance of Family Bondage". Hum.. how bout that.

• 
  
  Sometimes we accept certain tendencies toward sin in ourselves and we don't have to.


• 
  
  When we see things we don't like about ourselves reflected in our children, we can pray for them to be set free of that tendency as well.


• 
  
  A good way to see a negative trait broken in your child is to see it broken in you first.

Really? Thanks. Just what I needed. And I don't have a good attitude about it. Maybe that's the whole problem. So to sum this whole shenanigan up, if you don't want to know, don't ask. Because He's itchin' for a fixin', my friends.

Give a Little Bit

I know there are a lot of awesome moms out there that can't quite afford things they want for their children. (Crap! I'm one of them!) And since I'm covered up in the Holiday Spirit, I would love to give them a Toot Sweet Treat! Nominate a mommy, and tell me in your own words why they deserve something special this holiday season. I will accept nominations through Dec. 1. Upon selecting a winner, I will message/e-mail you to discuss items, sizes, styles, etc. The package will ship to be received the week before Christmas and will include your nomination request (unless asked to remain anonymous).

Please send your nominations to michaela.j.goodwin@gmail.com or send me a message through facebook with the subject "Toot Sweet Nominations".

I hope you all have warm, happy holidays, and a very Merry Christmas!

Double Braided Headband Tutorial

Since I'm not hustlin' these days... I figured I could pass along some of the tricks of the trade to you guys. (You say:Woop, Woop! ) Last night I was finishing up one of my last orders and figured I'd snap a few shots along the way. As you know, my picture quality is poor. But that's to be expected. I might confuse you guys if you came to my blog and saw semi decent photographs! Bha!

Check out the Double Braided Headband Tutorial!

Let me know what you think! :)

Halloween

Since everyone is starting this "I am thankful for's" I shall start mine today... and I am thankful for a huuuuggggguuuee family. That keeps me running way more than I would sometimes like. But when I think of the people who have no one to visit, it makes me feel blessed.

Now...onto October. :)
This is how we Goodwin's make cakepops.
BAH!!! I'm just kidding. That was the cake that we ate from the left over cakepops. He took a big lick like that was exactly what he was supposed to do. (pssst: it was)

And here were our trail run cat cake pops. They didn't turn out so pretty. We made some adjustments, and batch two turned out much (a little) better. Matasia took these to her class party that she unforunetly missed. The stomach bugs a....not fun. :) ---> inappropriate? Maybe a little.

And then daddy was determined to carve pumpkins. October 30 we went a lookin'. Food Lion, Wal-Mart, Kroger, Brazel's, Fred's, Rite Aid, and the Dollar Store... They had no pumpkins. Matasia's Grammy sent her home with one a couple of weeks ago, thank goodness. If not daddy would have made a promise he couldn't have backed.

(I promise I rotated this picture, and every other crooked one and they didn't rotate. ugh!!) This is pumpkin throw up, for those of you that didn't know.

My perfectionist husband had to take over. :) I'm getting used to it.

The finished project. Zander did the doodling.

And here is Halloween. The sky was beautiful. The clouds looked fake. I had to snap a shot.

Zander gets car sick and get got a little pale on the way to pick up Matasia. We figured puke in the bucket BEFORE candy, was better than puke on our borrowed from cousin Solomon dinosaur costume. Thankfully, no vomit. Shew.

I thought this was the cutest face. (Again, I DID rotate this. I promise.)

OMG! I didn't realize how many.--- Isn't she a ham!? So pretty. (yea--I brag? You gonna stop me?)

Here is Charlie Brown. His belly roll hit right at the zig zag- kinda killed the whole effect. But it worked.

Family shot. Annnnd I realized how far I've NOT come since I had Casen...8 months ago...I guess that 4 cans of soda a day isn't helping. :\ I know, I have a problem. But that's a whole nother post.

Matasia with her THREE brothers. (No sister) **She may be getting a pair of brass knuckles in her stocking this year. I would hate to throw her in with no form of self protection***

Zander and Casen with Granny Judy

Pa, Nanny, and the kiddos.

The boys with their Pa Don.

Me and the boys with Granny Dorthy. They were feeling under the weather. I hate seeing my Grandparents slow down and lose their health. It's unfortunate part of life.

Poppy and Yaya with the boys. Miss Matasia had to go back to her mommy's by now.

Zander with his Granny Laurine. She is my cute little scooter riding Granny (in case you forgot- but I doubt you did. Because she is the cutest Granny EVER)

And this is how we wrapped our night up with Papa, Lili, and Uncle Joah. ha! They had had enough. 6 hours into it, yea.

Halloween was a great success! Casen kept the fussing to a minimum, Zander guarded his candy bucket like his life depending on it, and Matasia had a magic pumpkin, every time she got in the car her candy magically disappeared (in her belly). Ha! What fun! Soooo much family. And so many blessings!

Uh, hum. I have an announcement.

*** My spell checker is broke. Be warned***

When I started sewing I instantly loved it. My husband thought it would be a phase (I do tend to jump from one thing to the next), and to be honest I wasn't so sure that it wouldn't be myself. But the love has never faded. I started doing a few outfits for friends, then had other people inquire about it as well. I was to the point I couldn't keep sewing for free, so we thought a little side business would be a good thing. In the past 6 months my business has picked up dramaticly. At times it is even more than I can keep up with. I have been completely estatic. I love what I do and I love that other people love it as well.

However, the past couple of weeks my mind has been turning. Sunday morning I was laying in bed with Casen and Zander. They were wrestling around, laughing and playing, tag teaming mom already. And one of those "still frame" moments happened in my head. Like I was taking mental pictures of that memory, their smiles and the light in their eyes that kids loose far too early in life. By the time we left church Sunday I had made a decision. Not from frustration or because I'm burnt out, but one for my children. So here it goes...

I am offically closing the business side of Toot Sweet Boutique. Honestly, this is not a money making business. The small profit I've made this year does not make up for the time I've lost with my children. Or the items I've not made for them because I'm sewing for others. I have resolved to be in the floor playing with my kids instead of sitting on my sewing bench.

I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for your orders! They have really ment the world to me and I've loved every second of it. I don't by any means plan to stop sewing. I have a blast doing fall craft fairs with a long time friend (it's practically the one time a year we get to see each other) and I plan on continuing those shows as long as it is fun to me. And I can't deny my creative self the chance to create. It's an outlet for me to take "nothing" and make something from it. If I get the itch and have nothing to do with it, I'll be placing those items on my Etsy shop and will advertise them through my facebook as well.

So what I guess I'm saying is, I'm taking Toot Sweet from a business back to a hobby. Which, for all my other crafty mom's out there, may be beneficial to you. I plan on posting projects and tutorials as I do them. :) I loooooove me a good tut!

Thanks, again, for all your orders and business and for promoting me to your friends and family. In so many ways it has been such a blessing in my life.


There is a little stroll down memory lane. :)
This is the first outfit I ever made. My cousin, Terri, is the one who started me out. She helped me make the dress and started the John John. Then our sweet Granny Laurine helped us finish it up (it was beyond our comprehension).

I made this for Zander's friend, Lakelyn, for her birthday this past month. It was my first true bout with hand applique.

And I made this one for sweet Kade's birthday, which we didn't get to attend unfortunetly. A moody two year old and sick 7 month old didn't seem party ready.

My best friends mom ordered this from me for a friend's baby shower, and I got to steal her picture to use! Isn't she beautiful.

And a church friend ordered this for her sweet baby's holiday picture. That's actually how a lot of my business began-Church friends who spread the word.

This was Matasia's 4th of July dress. I had to make it the day before because I was so slammed with orders. Things like this is a little bit of the reason I want to take the business out of it. I want to enjoy sewing for my children.

Here is this was my first tie onesie. Sweet little booger. I made him and his brother a matching set.

This is a pair of Little Miss Sassy Pants I made for my cousin's baby girl this past may. Baby's and ruffles... and butts. Oh I want to squeeze!!!

Little Guy Ties... don't you love them! This has been THE most popular boy item I sale. And I know why... Zander wore a tie EVERY Sunday when I first bought this pattern. I would sew him and Matasia a new matching outfit almost every week. Ridiculous things like that is what I would love to do again. :)

Bibs and burps for baby Beau. My BFF Kayce started, then stopped, then started. haha I jumped in the middle to help her out. Now she's have a sweet baby I get to sew for!! Pray it's not a girl... I'll sew my poor fingers to the bone making all the sweet baby stuff Matasia is too big for.

Lorelei is where is all began. Renee Bouldin has been a loyal customer, and strummed up quite a bit of business for me along the way.

I made these for my bridemaid's. I love aprons and never have had the time to make one for myself, like most sewers. But that is my resolve. I will have one, or ten.

That was nice. :) Thanks again, really. I mean it from the bottom of my heart. I have loved every minute of this! You guys are the best! Don't forget about me at the craft shows next fall! It will be a blast!

One Scoop or Two?

My sweet Matasia is five. Brad and I started dating a little before her first birthday; I've really gotten to experience most of her phases and changes as she has grown up. I'm so thankful for that. I can't believe how big she has gotten. And so often we focus on the daily tasks: brushing teeth, getting baths, eating healthy, etc. that we forget about the importance of responsibilities and attitudes as they develop as well.

This weekend we started a Chore/Responsibility Chart with sissy. (I like the "responsibility" better. Chore puts a very negative condensation on the process) For each completed task, Matasia will add a scoop to the ice cream cone. If she has misbehaved in a specific way, she will take the "drip" from that section and add it too the ice cream cone. If she shows an act of kindness without being prompted and we see it she gets to add a cherry on top of her cone. She LOVES the set up. It's perfect for a little girl, I think.


We're still working on the rewards. At first I had said we would do the gain a quarter-lose a quarter, like an allowance. But she has sooo much stuff, and gets sooo much stuff, that Brad isn't sure about that. We've talked about letting her pick an activity or event she would like to do, and when she earns so many (of whatever we decided) she will get alone time with Brad, myself, or us both during her reward. That sounds bad to say, but with two younger brothers, complete alone time is nearly impossible. We're not sold on anything. All suggestions are welcomed :)

Her responsibilities are:
1.) puts away shoes
2.) takes clothes to laundry basket
3.) takes dishes to sink
4.) cleans up toys

I really wanted this to be a positive experience, so I choose to use positive words instead of "acted ugly" "was sassy" etc.

The drips go under each of these categories.
1.) positive attitude: that means no whining. fit throwing, etc
2.) follows directions: that's a given
3.) speaks nicely: no sassing or use of inappropriate language that these crazy kindergartners like to use. Where do they learn these words!?!?

And I added a Bible verse to each, because I want her to understand why it is important to follow these "rules".

I know...tongue is spelled wrong.

For whatever reason I could not get these to print clearly. When I have time I'll pull out my slower than Christmas moving photoshop and make it properly. :) I'll post them so you can use them if you like. For now I'm making due with scrapbook paper and my 1st grade handwriting.

Here a cone and scoop lay out. For the "cherry" I just got one of those buttons you cover with fabric and used red with white polka dots. Magnetized everything and popped it on the fridge.

Today Kari Jobe posted a link to her new song, We Are, I thought it went perfectly with The G-Attitudes--- kinda like Be Attitudes....just Goodwin style.

What's in a Name?

For a while now I have been doing Kay Arthers, "Lord, I Want to Know You". It's been a slow one for me. I love Beth Moore, Andy Stanley, even Dr. Dobson's child rearing books. My attention is kept when I feel like I'm being talked to, instead of talked at. Ms. Kay (Arther) and Ms. Joyce (Meyers) are very knowledgeable women of God, and much can be learned from them. However, they tend to put me to sleep. I know this will feel completely contradictory to Kay Arther's teaching methods, but I don't feel a lot of mental interaction from her books. ANYWAY, it's been slow, at times boring, but this week I've walked away with an exciting Revelation to the methods behind her maddness.

When you get to know someone, what is the first thing you do? Learn their name. Hi, I'm Michaela...Someone who knows me a little better might know me as Michaela Goodwin. Or someone from my past might know me as Michaela Simmons. But the people I'm closest too, they know that I am Michaela Jade Simmons-Goodwin. They know all of my names, from first to last.

But my children, they have a very special name for me. They call me "Mom". That name...that name is different. That name means I provide for them, watch over them, I am always there for them, except excellence from them, I pay attention to them; their needs and desires alike, I tend to illness and boo boos, I deserve respect from as their authority figure, in pregnancy I carried them, cared for them, they came through me--- That name, "mom", that name carries a responsibility like no other.

You may yell my name in a crowded room and I could never hear you. But if my child yells mom, I hear that. I will seek them until I find them. I will look for them with an urgency as if my life depends. There is such an intimacy there, a mother and a child. A father and a child. I believe with my whole heart God gives us our children to catch a glimpse of his agape love for us. I never understood "unconditional" it it's true form until I had a child.

Today I feel that. I know that if I cry to my God, he will hear me. He will seek me, never leave me, heal my illness, carry me when I can't go on, provide for me. He is my Lord, my master. My El Shaddai, Jehovah-jireh, Jehovah-rapha, Jehovah-shammah, Elohim, El Roi, El Elyon. HE IS. He is all I need.

I nudge to take the time to learn, it can't hurt. And by learning who God is through His names, you may experience a new intimacy in your relationship with Christ. Now wouldn't that be worth your time? I thought so. ;)