Craft Idea

I'm making some of these for Christmas presents. (This one is my first attempt, so it's not a masterpiece. It's also a little difficult to see the brown flowers in this picture, but they are there.) Sorry for those of you who read this and will be receiving one - it will no longer be a surprise. 

 

 

I saw the idea on Etsy months ago, but can no longer find the ad for it. Then I googled how to make paper flowers and found this tutorial.  A pretty and relatively simple gift.  If you want to make this, here are a few notes I had to learn on my own:

1. Card stock works nicely as long as it's the regular kind and not the overly thick kind. I also used 6x6 squares instead of 4x4 to make bigger flowers that would fit into the 8x10 shadow box.
2. Don't make your swirls too wide or too small.  Try and stick as near to 1/2 inch as possible. If you have to err to one side, go too small, though.
3. You don't have to roll it all the way to the center. The center is a pain.  Cut it off.
4. If you are using card stock, roll it tight! Then after rolling, hang on to it for a minute before letting go and letting it unravel. 
5. Close it up at the end with some glue or a sticky dot (my preference).
6. If it unravels more than you would like, don't throw it away.  Roll it tight again. It can be salvaged.

Halloween

It was the Boy's idea to go as Mickey and Minnie Mouse this year for Halloween.

In addition to the regular Halloween night, we had trunk-or-treat at church the weekend before.

We participated in the little parade and trick-or-treating they had downtown.

And finally, just before the real trick-or-treating began, we went to a little party at the neighbors where they had a bounce house, bobbing for apples, and create a mummy.  It was a great time!

It felt like this Halloween was a week long and I'm a little happy to see it go.

Ewww...

Just in time for Halloween, The Man decided to have a mountain biking accident.  I feel it's in bad taste to post the "before stitches" picture.  Here's the after, though.

It looks a little Frankenstein to me.

Money

Like almost every other child this age, the Boy wants me to buy him something every time we go to the store.  He also thinks that if he treats his toys badly and breaks them, we will just buy another.  At these moments, I usually tell him that if we spend money on toys all the time, we won't have enough to buy other things that we really need.  

A few days ago after having this conversation with him for the ___th time, he came to me with all the money in his piggy bank.  He wanted me to have it (since apparently I didn't have any).  Despite my assurances I did not need it, he insisted that I take it.

A day or two went by and The Man also had a conversation with him about money.  The Boy mentioned that he had given me his piggy bank because I didn't have any.  So The Man asked, "Do you think I have money?"  To which the Boy responded, "I think you have a pretty nice collection going".

Such a funny boy.

Pumpkin Patch

The Girl and I attended a field trip with our Parent Participation group (which is basically a fancy play date with a little parent education thrown in).

She fed the goats and the ponies.  She chased the chicken.

She ate the apples on the hay ride, which made me miss New York.

And she picked a couple of pumpkins.

Bigger Boy Bed

It was high time we got the Boy out of his toddler sized bed - especially since he broke it about 6 months ago.

The secondary reason for the full sized is so we can actually have a place for guests to sleep. So come visit. And please ignore the spot on the brand new quilt where the Boy wrote his name in pen.

World's Best Glass Cleaner

I love this glass cleaner so much, I had to share it with you.  It really is the world's best.  It's foamy so it doesn't run. There's no ammonia in it, so it doesn't smell. (Actually it smells nice.) And it doesn't streak!  I use it with a microfiber cloth and my windows and mirrors are perfect.  If you can find this where you are, buy it.

It's A Major Award!

The Boy got an award this week at school for being a "Superstar".  That's the award they give for achievements in character and other non-academic related things.  When I hear that term, I can't help but think of Mary Katherine Gallagher from SNL, though.

The class had a little "ceremony" with the principal to give it to him.  This is what his teacher wrote about him on the certificate:

"[The Boy] is a responsible learner in Room One. He worked hard as our very first classroom line monitor! [He] comes to school ready to learn. [He] is a kind friend to all. Congratulations, you are a true superstar!

Big Girl Living Room

We've been waiting for our new living room furniture for a while.  The room used to look like this:

While the kids really enjoyed the running space, the adults were tired of being relegated to the toy room in order to sit down. The furniture came today, and the room now looks like this:

Ahhh....feels good to have that complete.

More Art

This time by The Boy.  The Man found this picture taped to the lighpost outside our house next to a Missing Dog poster.

Photography

I want to cover every wall of my house with this woman's work.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/CarolynCochrane

I only have one wall to fill though.  What to do?

Kindergarten

It was the Boy's first day of kindergarten this week.  I have lots of video - unfortunately I used his name in almost every one.  But here he is walking to his classroom:

He did great and I managed to not cry. On Friday he hugged his teacher goodbye and told her he'd miss her on Saturday and Sunday. I think he likes school.  After his first day he got to choose dinner.  We had ham, boxed mac n' cheese, and blueberry cake.  I hadn't really heard of blueberry cake, but he insisted he did not want pie or muffins so I googled it.  Lo and behold, I found a blueberry cake recipe and he loved it.

What Do You Get...

...when you mix a cold with spaghetti and blue iced sugar cookies?

This.

My Boy

The other day the Boy told me this:

"Mom, when I get older I'm going to buy a house next to you and marry the Girl so that I can take care of you both."

That made my heart just melt. I told him how very sweet that was and then had to briefly explain that he isn't allowed to marry his sister.  He insisted it was okay because he loves her very much.

Toys

Finally the toys have been organized. They used to look like this (plus a bookshelf and drawers you can't see here:

Now they look like this:

It took me a long time and three different companies to find and get something that finally worked, looked good, and wasn't ridiculously expensive. The train table is up in the Boy's room, but I think I'll sell it soon.  Looking at this makes me happy.

The Beach

We finally made it to the beach this weekend.

The water was freezing, but the kids didn't seem to care.

Even the Boy, who shivers at the sight of an unheated pool, played and played. 

Learning to Ride a Bike

The Man and the Boy chose a new "big boy" bike together. It's lime green. I've bribed him to learn to ride by promising to buy the new Angry Birds Space game on the iPad.

The Girl is pretty interested in learning, too.

Climbing

The Boy never bothered crawling out of his crib. I think he was around three before we even decided to put him in a toddler bed. The Girl, though, found her way out of the Pack 'n' Play while we were in the process of moving and then realized she could climb out of her crib once we got here.

She has slowly stopped coming out of her room, but this is sometimes how I find her.

Hello, California

We have arrived.  The first thing we did was take the Boy to soccer practice.  Now  it's time to unpack and hopefully stay a while.

Goodbye, St. Louis

I have really enjoyed living here.  After only a year, I'm a little sad to be moving away tomorrow.  Knowing all along that this was only a temporary gig makes it a bit easier, though.  On to California!

British Soccer Camp

The Boy had soccer camp this week.

We loved Coach Mike and Mike and their British accents.

It was so hot all week long, but he never complained once.

Happy Birthday, Girl

She'll be two next week, but we celebrated tonight so Papa could be there. I seem to have lost her birthday sash so we got a ribbon instead. I think I like it more than the sash idea - way easier and something she might be willing to wear every birthday up until 18.

The ice cream cupcakes were a hit with her. Then she opened presents:

A baby doll from Papa.

 A backpack with Mini Mouse inside from Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Jim.

A few things from Daddy, Mommy, and the Boy including her own vacuum cleaner.

Happy Birthday, my beautiful baby. I can't believe you're so big already. We love you!

I Want...

Yesterday the Boy kept telling me things that he wishes he had. At some point he became slightly whiny about it.  So I decided to have a brief discussion about how "stuff" does not make us happy, and how we are most happy when we are grateful for the things we have. To which he responded,

"But Mom, I want to have more things to be grateful for".

All I could do was giggle.

Sing a Song

She loves to sing in church now.  It is followed by walking up and down the aisle to avoid sitting and to gain attention from as many people as possible.

It Begins

This was the first day of my soccer mom life.

He had a good time - I'm hoping soccer is his sport.

Missouri Drivers

My sister has listened to me rant about Missouri drivers since I moved here.  She visited us back in February and realized I wasn't kidding.  Seriously, they just cannot stay in their lanes.  So when she saw this card at the store, she couldn't resist sending it to me as a reminder to be careful what I say in front of the punks.  Hehe...

Yay!

I love summer TV for one reason alone...So You Think You Can Dance.  Should I consider that a guilty pleasure?  If you don't watch, you missed something amazing last night.  At first I thought this guy and his description of his dance style was creepy and weird.  Then he started dancing. Admittedly, what he said is still weird and creepy, but he is incredible. Watch this.

Back From Phoenix

We spent a week in Phoenix with The Man's brother and family. I tried to blog from there using the iPad, but apparently there isn't "an App for that". At least not a good one.

We swam a little, and went to the lake a little, and watched a lot of TV. The Man and his brother spent a good while filling up water balloons for the kids. 

The fight lasted about 1 minute.

It was a nice break.