My kids bug me. Really, they do. Okay, so maybe "bugs me" isn't the right term to use here, but allow me to explain. Our pre-dinnertime routine consists of the kids biting at my ankles, total chaos, prayers said in the middle of my dinnertime preparations, and then pulling chairs up to the counter and letting the kids eat at the counter. S-T-R-E-S-S. Big time. I hate it.
Well, we finally bought a table last week that actually fits our family. One that I'd like to use as a segue into a more calm and respectable dinnertime routine. One where the kids help set and clean up the table. One where we pray as a family sitting around the table, not standing in the living room amidst the chaos we call our life. One where Ed ( at 21 months) can help with something. Anything. And then it hit me. Place mats. He can put place mats on the table!
Here's what I did (in a nutshell):
* Starting with a yard each of two coordinating fabrics, cut into tops and bottoms of place mats, each measuring 18" x 13."
* Cut batting the same measurements, and place in between the top and bottom pieces of fabric.
* Pin to hold together, then sew vertical stripes 1.5" apart all the way across the place mat.
* Follow this tutorial on how to do a binding, and struggle until the last place mat to actually get it right (all except taking the time to do a blind stitch. Nah. No time for me for that one. I'm using my machine).
* Look at the finished product and smile. Big.
Now comes the hard part - teaching Ed to help when he's hungry and all he wants to do is scream at me and have me hold him. Nice.
