snowflakes

I found this really great site a few years ago and every winter we print out some templates. Each year it's fun to see what is done with them.

Daniel looked them over with dis-interest and went back to his nick jr games. lol

Emma excitedly decorated but wasn't interested in cutting them out.

Another great year of making snowflakes!

building

I have tried this with baby marshmallows but they just don't hold the weight and it is nearly impossible to go 3-D.

These gumdrops - they really held up.



Emma enjoyed it - Daniel wasn't much interested. lol

Garage not-sale find

I have been wanting to clean out our garage since the nesting instinct during my pregnancy kicked in! For some reason a few nights ago I just went for it. There were things that just got put there when we moved but should have been brought into the house for safer storage. In one of the boxes was a streamer that I used in color guard in high school. Another box held my harmonica. The kids wasted no time in having a party! in the bedroom. Emma twirled and Daniel hatmonica'ed to some fun song on the radio.



Ahh - life is good!

Sledding on the agenda

For the birds

It was time to put our garlands and peanut butter pinecones out for the squirrels - er birds.

Each helped in their own way:

We then scattered a bunch of peanuts around on the ground.

Apparently "scatter" means something a little bit different to them! :o)



I see one, Mom! I see a squirrel!

You do? Where?

Oh - ther it is!

Who is watching who?!

Doll House

Emma really loves her cousins' doll house. She has informed us that she wants a doll house. It's very important to me that it be a family gift so she agreed that she and Daniel could each have their own personal dolls while sharing the house (with Beth of course when she is older). Daniel decided that he wanted to help save up too in order to more quickly save enough. We talked about how much it costs (a lot) and how long it would take to save up the money (a while) and what they could do to earn/save money for it. So I give them quarters for putting away their own laundry (Emma's forte - she even helps put away ours!) etc and when we go shopping instead of buying them a treat as usual I give them what the treat would have cost and they save it for their dollhouse (Daniel's forte - he spends all laundry time jumping on the bed. lol). I am also putting more effort into my Etsy store to help them earn enough.

Emma was very excited and chose a jar to keep the money in. I offered her a quarter to wash it out (wow - was it dusty!). She got right to work.


Hey - no having fun - saving up is hard work!






Kidding!



The other day I was reaching for my purse and accidently knocked the cup full of spare change off of the piano and onto the floor. Ugh! It had been a very frustratng day and I was ready to cry. Then I had an awesome idea.. I told the kids that whatever they picked up they could put in their Doll house jar. I was even surprised that they were still gung-ho over saving up money! And the coins got picked up really quickly. :o)

Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's Eve with my sister and her family. Her kids' big Christmas present was a doll house.


My kids loved it!



My sister's husband is a big Simpsons fan and I love the dancing Homer in a Santa suit in the background. lol


Daniel made it to about 11:50.


On New Year's Day we made a birthday cake for the New Year.


You can't tell, but that frosting is on it's way to her mouth!


What better excuse to have some cake!



Happy New Year Everyone!

When Emma was a baby I saw a picture in an EC book of a sister holding her infant sibling over a potty. Crazy me - I thought how neat it would be if Emma could help her sibling(s) go potty like that picture.

Baby nails are sharp!!

The morning after Christmas I woke up and gasped when I saw Beth laying next to me. Four long scratches along her forehead. Poor baby. We got up and I sat on the couch to nurse her while I crocheted up a pair of mits for her.


It didn't take long for me to realize that she would need two pairs. One to wash and one to wear.


Don't ask where I found the pattern - I just made it up as I went along. And I'm super proud of that! :o) I love that I can make something that she needs right when she needs it and from things that I already have. I don't have to wait until I have money or until I can get to the store. These mitts were not made in China by children.

Doll Case

I suggested making a bag to hold Emma's Christmas doll (and one other she had) and all of their accessories. She thought it was a good idea and decided that she wanted to put her fancy nancy picture on it. She worked really hard to get it done and worked really late. I wanted to teach her a french knot and a boullion stitch but she was just too tired. Later - no rush.




I did sew the arms, legs, flowers and some butterflies. She sewed all the rest - the hair, clothes and some butterflies. I love the rainbow hair on Nancy's friend!



I don't love the case. I have never made one before and I definately learned what not to do. I think I will actually take the inside off and redo the pockets to fit much better. When I have time. Ha, ha!

Emma's gift to Daniel

I thought that this deserved its own post.

When I asked Emma what she wanted to give Daniel for Christmas she said that she wanted to sew him a picture of a car. She decided on Lightning McQueen and when she saw Mater she wanted to do him too.

I found some coloring pages and traced them with really minimal detail.



Lightning McQueen was her first. I didn't suggest any color details and she made him all red with black eyes.


When she sewed Mater she got much more creative with color.


Emma did all of the sewing herself. All I did was thread the needle, tie it to the needle and tie a knot at the bottom each time she wanted to change colors. She worked really hard and steadily and finished these in just 2 days! I heard lots of "Daniel, don't come in - I'm making your Christmas present!" and "no, no, no, noooooooo - you can't look at it!" LOL


She was so excited to give it to him. She helped me fold the paper into a box shape and wrapped it and tied the ribbon. (I did the bow). She convinced him to open it for his Christmas Eve present. He was properly impressed and delighted with his "Ligh Teen!" and "Matee!".












She completely cought the embroidery bug and wanted to sew a doll picture for Beth. I stumbled upon a site with Fancy Nancy games and she fell in love with one of their coloring pages.

She didn't get it done in time and decided that she wanted to put it on something else - something for it's own post as well.

Snapshot Sunday

How it began

Soience Project giveaway!

Coming in just under the wire on this one.

The mission:
complete one science project from one of Janice VanCleave's science projects for kids books.


Completed:
one spider


Mission successful!


Did you know that spiders have eight eyes?

Neither did I. Oh joy - a whole new level of terror when I see one running around. lol

Head on over to Ordinary Life Magic to see what others have done.