BoyVille

I know you have been waiting anxiously since I made THESE and teased you HERE for pictures of J's peg people!  They are so stinking cute I don't know what has taken me so long!  But aren't you glad you don't have to wait any longer!!!

I looked HERE, HERE, and HERE for inspiration.  I have plans to order some of the three inch pegs and make some for K. 

These two are my favorites!  I finally let J watch Toy Story and, of course, he loved it! 

He didn't know who Superman was (What!!!???) and didn't know about the knight.  I called him Lancelot but that only confused more!  Maybe Sir Giles from The Reluctant Dragon would have been more appropriate.

Mamaw colored the background and paper pieces for him and I will laminate them now that I finally took these pictures. 

He loves them!

Cupcake Baby Gifts

I love making these!  It is so gratifying to create something fun out of something ordinary.  Flannel blankets, tiny onesies and footies, and socks combined with coffee filters and ribbon make such a cute baby gift!

The first four "cupcakes" are for a guy that works with Blake.  I used four 30 x 30 flannel blankets from Wal-Mart, four white onesies, and I added little socks this time. 

These are for a girl that used to go to our church.  She moved last year and is now expecting twin boys!  Wow!  I love the green and orange.  I used four newborn sized footies in place of the onesies.  I even wrote a little poem for her!  Maybe I'll share it with you sometime.

These are super easy.  I found a tutorial HERE and I made some for Tela HERE.  The only difference is that I added the socks.  I rolled the socks and tucked them into the onesies.  I even had some extra socks that I rolled up inside the blankets.

The Cat in the Hat

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"'I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny.  But we can have lots of good fun that is funny!'"

Cat in the Hat paper craft 

"'These things will not bite you.  They want to have fun.'  Then, out of the box came Thing Two and Thing One!"

Thing One and Thing Two craft...I found this cute idea HERE.

"'And this mess is so big and so deep and so tall, we can not pick it up. There is no way at all!"

Cat in the Hat Messes...Painting Thing One and Thing Two made J want to paint his own pictures.  I don't understand why he wants to mix all of the colors and make giant blobs, but in his mind they are all different!  He told me stories about his paintings!  K got to join in with some finger paints.  She tried to pick up the little blobs at first but she finally got it everywhere!  She laughed and even put a little in her mouth.  It is non-toxic paint but she cried because it tasted so bad!  These are her first paintings. 

"A ring in the tub! And, oh boy! What a thing! A big long pink cat ring! It looked like pink ink!"

Cat in the Hat Bath...Painting with a one year old makes a mess, so I put her in the tub.  J wanted to take a bath too and I decided to try making bath paint.  I had the supplies to make THIS bath paint recipe.  I just gave them one color at a time because K dumped it out.  J would get tired of one color and give her the rest before I gave him the next one.  This was a hit!  The bath water was disgusting when they were done and they both smelled like Barbasol but they had a blast!  I found another recipe for bath paint HERE that would be better (tear-free and better smelling) but I didn't have bubble bath. 

"And they jumped at the snow with long rakes and red bats. They put it in pails and they made high pink hills! Pink snow men! Pink snow balls! And little pink pills!"

Pink Snow Snack

1 large box strawberry Jell-O

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1 cup water with ice added to make 2 cups

1/2 tub Cool Whip

Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water.  Add ice water and Cool Whip.  Stir until completely mixed and most of ice is melted (all of my ice melted).  Remove any remaining ice and chill for 30 minutes for soft set. 

A Week of Seuss!

When I was teaching first grade, spring was my favorite.  I liked to teach semi-thematically (if that's a word) and all of the fun themes were in the spring.  Not that I don't love fall, Halloween, Thansgiving, and Christmas but after so many holidays it was always fun to jump head first into spring starting with Dr. Seuss.
I covered my walls in characters from his books and we read one book a day for about 7 days.  Each day included some activity to go along with the book.  We always ended the unit with Green Eggs and Ham and our snack for that day was, of course, green eggs and ham.  Now that I am a SAHM, I get to share my love of Dr. Seuss with my children. 

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We began today with Hop on Pop.  This book is perfect for younger children because it has fewer words, lots of repetition, and they can help read along.  I copied picture cards from Words Their Way: Word Sorts for Letter Name Alphabetic Spellers.  J isn't a speller yet but the picture cards from the word family sorts worked great for rhyming practice.  I cut out the pictures and labeled them.  I chose one from each word family to create a header and then let him sort the rest of the cards with words that rhyme with them.  I had to help a little by saying some of the words out loud so he could hear the rhymes but he did pretty good after the first few. 

I also found this initial letter/picture matching game to use today.  I cut out the pictures and he had to match them with the letter with their beginning sound.  It was the first time we have really talked about vowel sounds so it was a great way to introduce some of those letter sounds. 

When I was teaching, our big activity was making lists of rhyming words.  I had about ten words written on butcher paper and the kids helped me fill the paper with words that rhymed.  It was always neat to see what they came up with.


"Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You."  ~Dr. Seuss

Bread

My cooking plan worked pretty well last week so I cooked again yesterday.  I didn't have as much to do because some of my meals are already in the freezer and a couple of things for this week I can't really do in advance.  However, I did make homemade cinnamon rolls and a taco braid and sausage roll for lunch today!
Our house smelled so YUMMY yesterday!  I love the way homemade bread smells when it is rising.  The dough I used for the stuffed breads was store bought but it still had to rise and smelled delicious. 
I made Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls, minus the maple icing, and they were the best I've had in a while.  We have used other recipes the last few times but this one is perfect!  And it makes a ton of cinnamon rolls.  I made 8 pans with about 6 rolls in each pan.  We ate one, gave two away, and put the rest in the freezer.  I think I will make it again and make regular rolls. 
What have you cooked lately?  Share your recipes!  I am always happy to try new ones.


My Icing for Cinnamon Rolls
Adapted from Mom and Geneva's recipes

2 sticks butter, melted
1-32 oz. bag powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
milk

Melt butter.  Combine with powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt.  Add milk a tablespoon at a time, stirring until icing is thick but pourable.  Pour evenly over warm rolls making sure to get all of the edges.  This was enough for 8 8-in. round pans or about 50 cinnamon rolls.

Dental Health Activities

We have been reading books about teeth this week because February is Dental Health Month.  Today J painted yellow teeth white with a toothbrush.  He also made a smile collage.  He loves cutting things with his scissors so he had fun cutting out faces with smiling faces. 

"A heart is not judged by how much you love, but how much you are loved by others."  ~Wizard of Oz

Pigtails and Snacktime

"Great balls of fire.  Don't bother me anymore, and don't call me sugar!"  ~Scarlett, Gone with the Wind

35 Before 35

My sweet cousin Ashley posted a 30 before 30 list on her blog this past summer.  I laughed that my list would have to be really easy because I would be turning 30 a few weeks later!  But she challenged me to create a different list.  I finally did it!  Some things are more important than others.  Some may never happen and I reserve the right to adjust my list as needed in the next four and a half years.  But it was kind of fun thinking of things I might like to do in that time.  On my birthday, I will look back and see if I can cross off anything. 
What would your list look like? 

35 Before 35

1.  Build a house
2.  Have another baby...or two!
3.  Buy a bigger car
4.  Go skiing
5. Take my family to Savannah
6.  See Derek Jeter play baseball
7.  Go to a pro football game
8.  Have a fondue party
9.  Build a tree house or play house for my kids
10. Take my children to a musical
11.  Read the Bible through
12. Get new living room furniture
13. Keep a plant alive for more than six months
14. Learn how to do a waterfall braid
15. Find the perfect pair of jeans
16. Read all of Jane Austen's books
17. Read Gone with the wind
18. Make perfect pie crusts
19. Get hired to plan a party
20. Complete graduate school
21. See the Pacific Ocean
22. Go back to Canada
23. Create welcome baskets and hospital baskets for church
24. Hire a gardener
25. Reupholster a piece of furniture
26. Catch up my children's scrapbooks
27. Embroider something with my machine
28. Learn to drive a tractor
29. Plant fruit trees
30. Have portraits painted of my kids
31. Sew a dress for K
32. Become a Deacon's wife
33. Have a party featured on someone's blog
34. Write a children's book
35. Pray daily
"All I'm saying is, kindness don't have no boundaries."  The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Sitting Pretty and Fetch

K wants so badly to sit at the table in the play room.  She falls out of the chairs because she just isn't big enough.  

This is what I found when I checked on the kids while changing sheets yesterday morning! 

She was so proud of herself and had the biggest time playing alongside her brother.

 I love how she swings her little feet because they don't touch the floor!

While I was getting dinner ready last night, Blake and J went outside to play.

Our neighbors were outside enjoying the sunshine so J had to visit with Ms. Jenny and the baby. 

He also played fetch with Cornbread (one of their dogs.)

"We must face tomorrow, whatever it may hold, with determination, joy and bravery." 

~Mr. Magorium, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium