Sweater Vest and Matching Leg Warmers

Ready for a fun project that requires no sewing. My friend Jessica saw this idea on Good Things Utah. Anyway, here's what you do, go through your closet and find an old wool sweater that you don't wear any more...or go to Savers or DI or Good Will and find some wool sweaters. Go home and wash the sweaters in hot water in order to shrink them. Then simply cut off the sleeves. The sweater becomes a sweater vest and the sleeves become the leg warmers or leggings. So, here are the steps:

Step 1: Get a wool sweater.

100% wool is probably the best, but as you can see mine is 98% lambswool, 1% nylon, and 1% lycra spandex.


As you can see, the washing instructions clearly show that you should not wash a wool sweater in hot water. However, since we want it to shrink, go ahead and ignore that. Also, I threw mine in the dryer for a bit after I washed it and that seemed to be fine.


Step 2: Wash your wool sweater in hot water to shrink it and then allow it to dry.



Step 3: Cut off the sleeves at the seams


Step 4: Find a cute little girl to wear it like my neighbor Chadley.


She is about 4 1/2 years old and was the perfect size for my new sweater vest and leg warmers.


So this sweater went from a GAP woman's size S to 4T-5T...pretty awesome huh?

After cutting off the sleeves at the seam you will need to even them up so that they have a straight top. Also, according to Chadley, the wool leg warmers were a little itchy for her so I would recommend having your child wear tights or something like that under the leg warmers.

Smoothie Central!!

So, we've gone a little smoothie crazy in our house...I make a big one about every other day or so and my girls love it!



I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but it's a great way to get kids to get their servings of fruit...and their vegetables servings. Here's what I usually include in my smoothies:

-2 bananas
-1-2 unpeeled carrot
-a handful of spinach or a half cup of spinach puree (warning: makes the smoothie a weird color, for example, the smoothie pictured below does not have spinach in it)
-whatever fruit I have on hand (like pineapple, apricots, peaches, pears, etc.) or...
-some of my frozen fruit mix from the freezer
-a Nature Valley granola bar
-yogurt
-fruit juice or sometimes milk or water, but usually...
-oranges or orange juice (especially recommended for smoothies with spinach in them)



I fill up their straw cups and away they go! My girls love them, they can't get enough of them. And it makes me so happy because with each gulp and swallow, I'm thinking about all of the wonderfully healthy things going into their bodies...and with no struggle or convincing. The granola bar makes it more filling and the carrots and spinach provide lots of awesome nutrients. Another tip I've heard is putting flax seed into the smoothie as well, which provides Omega 3 (more for mom than the kids).



So, drink up and enjoy!