Thankful Tree

 On the non-preschool mornings Caleb sits there looking at me with a bored expression on his face and says "What are we going to do today Mommy?"  The things I come up with usually don't compare to the excitement of preschool.  Well, yesterday morning the question came-- I quickly scrambled to come up with an activity-- and suddenly I thought... "Thankful Tree!!"  So Caleb and I made our way to the backyard-- clad in pajamas and rubber boots-- and found the perfect tree branch and a bunch of rocks.

We "planted" our tree in a pot and made some leaves!  We cut our leaves out of orange, yellow, red, and brown construction paper and then used a hole punch along with a few pieces of twine to turn them into hanging leaves.  Caleb was particularly thrilled with the hole punch.  He specifically asked to keep the hole punch in his craft drawer for a few days :)

Then we wrote the things we're thankful for on the leaves and hung them on the tree.  We made lots of extra leaves so that we can keep adding to the tree over the next few days.

Can you read what's on that red leaf?  Caleb's thankful for Emerson.  I decided that it was definitely picture worthy-- I need to remember this leaf during those moments when the kids can't seem to co-exist peacefully in the same room.  We are thankful for each other...

Pre-Easter Fun

Let me first start by thanking those that participated in the "paint the table" poll.  I loved reading everyone's feedback-- unfortunately I am still hopelessly undecided :)  In the next few days I'm going to try and decide where the table will reside in the house-- that will hopefully make the decision making process a bit easier!

Well, over the past few days we've done a few Easter-ish things.  First up, I decided to bake paska.  I try to make it every year at Easter.  This year, however, I tried my hand at dairy free paska!  Instead of milk, cream, and butter I used soy milk and dairy free margarine.  I tweaked my mom's fantastic paska recipe-- it's truly the best recipe ever.  I'm totally unbiased when I say that :)  The verdict?  Still delicious.  Really though, what doesn't taste delicious when topped with icing and sprinkles?

Emerson had her first taste of paska.  She loved it.  I've been giving her bits of bread and rice lately and she will sit for the longest time trying to pick the pieces up.  So cute... she's still very unsuccessful.  What we have noticed is that she definitely uses her left hand more than the right.  Look's like we're two for two in the lefty department!  Doug is rejoicing.  If the kids get his height and my lefty-ness we're going to have some killer volleyball players on our hands :)

On Saturday I had three extra chickies at my house.  To keep them busy we had an Easter candy/craft party.  We made these cute little chicks.  The kids had scissors, glue, and paper flying everywhere.  If I had an extra set of hands Emerson would have been able to make one too... she unfortunately had to sit on the sidelines in her Exersaucer watching the other kids craft it up.  I don't think she really minded all that much.  In the end, the candy/craft party was a smashing success... the kids liked the craft and had some pretty great sugar highs going on.  They all crashed just in time for nap time... perfect.

These little munchkins got to do a bit of paska taste testing for me.

They approved.

Friday Friday Friday

Ahhhh.... it's Friday.  Even though I'm currently on a break from work (maybe I should say "work") Friday is still a day of excitement and expectation!  I just love the sound of the word... Friday.  Friday.

Well now, I thought I'd share a few fun things from the week.

First up, Emerson and I have had a lot of fun in the kitchen together lately.  Grooveshark + jolly jumper + dairy free cooking experiments = some pretty great dance parties.  It's hip hop Sunday at church this week... we've been practicing our moves.  Now, just gotta find the perfect outfits...


Next up.  I'm not entirely sure what to call these creatures, but whatever they are, Caleb and I made them.  We had a bit of a scavenger hunt around the yard yesterday and found a bunch of smooth rocks and pine cones.  Then we colored the rocks with crayons and glued googly eyes and pom poms to them with my glue gun.  Yes, I just said glue gun.  I found a cheap mini glue gun at Zellers for $3.00 and couldn't help myself.  It's definitely taken craft time to the next level.  These little guys have endured much creative play over the past two days... a couple of them may be missing an eye or two...


And then... I found this cute little garden stool at Home Sense for my living room.  I saw it and knew it would look so pretty in my house.  When I brought it home, Doug looked at the stool... then he looked at me with this expression on his face that said "what on EARTH is this?"  I quickly jumped in and told him exactly why I bought it.  "So Doug, picture this-- the kids are in bed and you're on the couch watching TV with a snack in hand-- instead of having to reach ALL the way down to the floor you can just move this little stool over to the edge of the couch and you instantly have a place to rest your snack!  So as you see, this is a portable snack holder."  Doug's response?  Awesome!  Great purchase.  So maybe that wasn't really the first and foremost reason in my mind, and I'm pretty sure he saw right through my reasoning, but I'm glad that we'll both be able to appreciate this new addition to the living room.


And one more thing that makes me happy-- we made a trip across the border last night for a bit of shopping and I picked up my favorite kitchen hand soap-- only in a new scent!  I actually didn't buy it for the new scent-- just the packaging... it's pink.

Have a good weekend everybody!

The week thus far...

I have so many pictures of Caleb helping me in the kitchen... it happens regularly around here.  Anything to keep the kids occupied until nap time... eh?

This week one of Caleb and Emerson's little friends joined us for the day.  It was a busy day... but they all had fun.  I hope.

We decided to bake cupcakes.

This lovely little lady "helped" from a distance :)  She's sure a cutie... much of Emerson's stylish wardrobe can be credited to her. 

Then it was craft time.

Here Caleb was trying to find her a "cool" picture to color.

This was my kitchen floor after lunch time.  It was quite the affair.  Caleb and the little lady ate and ate... and threw food on the floor.  I did my best to keep up with them... Emerson lay on the floor nearby and pooped her pants.

Then I put this kid to work.

And amazingly enough, all three kids napped AT THE SAME TIME for an hour.

I was looking for Caleb this evening.  I couldn't seem to find him.  Suddenly I discovered him sitting in the living room like this.  He was playing a racing game on my ipod.  Caleb remained like this for about 10 minute before emerging from the baskets-- he didn't seem to think that his behaviour was out of the ordinary in the least.

And Emerson helped me with the laundry tonight.  She mainly helped me carry it up the stairs.

As you can see, I like to put my kids to work-- laundry, vacuuming... start them young.

Just Another Weekend Recap

The weekend was a busy one in our house.  There was much time spent with family and friends... here's a few pictures!

I decided to start teaching Caleb how to use scissors.  This is something I've been dreading for a while now.  He was VERY excited... me... not so much.  It took a bit of practice for him to get his hand positioned in the scissors correctly, but once he had it, he had a blast.

Yes, my son is a lefty.  Like me!

 All weekend he kept saying... "Mommy, I want to cut.  I NEED to cut."  Oh boy.

What have I started?

Look Mom!  I'm so good at this I don't even have to watch what I'm doing!!

On Saturday we had family over for breakfast at our place.  

Waffles were a huge success with the kids.

We also had dinner at our house on Saturday.  I made soup.  It was not so exciting for the kids.  Picture four kids sitting around the table looking at their soup saying... Nah uh.  Not going to eat it.  And three moms standing around the table behind them saying... uh huh... you're gonna eat it.

Let the games begin!

There was negotiating.

There was gagging.

There was denial.

A couple of the kids decided to pretend the soup didn't exist.

Some selectively ate one or two items out of the soup.

In the end, each child consumed a small amount. 
And then the moms gave up.

Then we put on a movie and popped a huge bowl of popcorn for them so we could eat in peace.

And here's Emerson in her cute Sunday dress.  

The flower headband was so cute.

I had to adjust it probably 50 times during the morning, but it was still worth it.

Just another crafty morning in our house...

aleb took a little break from our regular morning craft time over the past few weeks, and instead became passionate about his legos.  Today however, we decided to do a fall craft since I had a few new ones to try out!  A friend of mine heard my cry for help a few weeks ago and sent me the link to an awesome website called Kaboose.  They have tons of great craft ideas for kids of all ages, so we had to try one of them out!  We decided to try the fall fingerprint tree craft.  It was a great success-- Caleb loves to try anything messy, so this was right up his alley-- and the end result was pretty cute too...

To make the trunk and branches of the tree we painted Caleb's hand and forearm to make an imprint on the paper.  He could hardly believe it when I started painting his arm not the paper.  I knew a moment of panic when I got up to get a washcloth for his arm-- whenever we tell Caleb not to move (when we're grabbing something to wash his face and hands after mealtime) he has the tendency to bolt into the living room... right towards my clean couches.  I could just see brown handprints all over my white couches... thankfully, he stayed in his chair.

And here's Caleb's craft time masterpiece proudly displayed on the fridge.  He specifically asked me to send a picture of his painting to Auntie Angie and Uncle Tyler.  So here it is!

Caleb has also been wanting to show off his new toothbrush to Auntie Trisha (she's a dental assistant and is not randomly obsessed with toothbrushes in case you're wondering).  He was at the dentist for a check up a few weeks ago and scored a sweet Diego toothbrush.  Here it is Auntie Trish...

[Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hirsche]

More sewing projects...

Let me begin with this disclaimer... the following items were not sewn by me.  I was the mastermind behind the following projects, but recruited my Mom to actually complete the sewing part before she left town (if you know me, you'll know that this is my method of operation... just ask Doug)  Even though I didn't actually do the grunt work, I think they are still post-worthy.

Sewing Project #1... a hooter hider... also known as a bosom buddy (I've been telling Caleb it's a superman cape.  He's too young to learn the word "hooter".)  I couldn't find any cute ones in the stores around here, so why not make one yourself?  I googled "hooter hider pattern" and found tons of online tutorials.  My mom and I found one that was suitable (here's the link in case you want to check it out) and made a few more adjustments to make it even better... we decided to line it with a complementary fabric, and rounded the corners to make it look more professionally made.  The first time I used it, Doug asked me if it worked.  I asked if he could see them.  No.  Then it's working :)

Here's Caleb modeling his superman cape...  He's gonna really love me someday for taking these pictures...

Sewing Project #2... a removable cover for my breastfeeding pillow.  The pillow I purchased three years ago before Caleb was born (it unfortunately remained unused until now) did not have a cover that could be washed.  In my mind, all I could think about was how disgusting the pillow was going to get after regular useage.  So I pulled some fabric out of my stash, picked up a zipper, and my mom got to work.  She made up her own pattern and whipped up a cover in no time.  Check it out... Emerson's the model this time around.

My Mom is a sewing genius.  I've got more sewing projects from my house to share (house related projects, not baby ones).  Ones that my Mom helped me figure out.  Stay tuned!

And now for a craft update...

On the mornings we're at home, Caleb and I do crafts while I drink my morning coffee... make that coffees.

We've done some painting, played with playdough, glued macaroni (and ate it while gluing... Caleb, not I), we've made thank you cards, made telescopes and binoculars out of toilet paper holders... the possibilities are endless.  All it takes is glue, paint... basically anything messy.

And when we're done with the craft... we just play with markers.  Cheap entertainment.

Getting girly around here...

Emerson needed some girly things... I did my best to find some gender neutral clothes and blankets from Caleb's stash, but we needed to introduce a little bit of pink around here!  Since newborns basically live in sleepers and pajamas, I figured Emerson could use a few feminine blankets to wear!  Time for a project.  Last weekend I did a bit of online shopping on one of my favorite sites to order fabric and found  some really cute flannel that was perfect for making baby blankets.  Luckily it was on sale!  And after searching online for a coupon (found one for 20% off) my menno heart was happy.  The fabric arrived at my door three days later, and I got busy sewing!

Here's Emerson modeling my newest creations.  

Blanket number 1...

And number 2...

And the girly-ness continues around here.  My friends and family threw a baby shower for Emerson and I last night.  We brought home a ton of cute, pink, girly clothes and blankets to add to her closet.  Thanks ladies!

I knew Caleb might be a bit envious, so this morning I woke up early and re-wrapped all of the gifts so Caleb could re-open them for Emerson.  He had a blast pulling the tissue paper apart and showing Emerson all of her new things.

And why not throw a picture of Caleb in?  He may not be girly, but he's cute :)  This week I did my best to do a few crafts with him in the mornings while Emerson was sleeping.  I was having a bit of trouble coming up with projects... finally I remembered one of my favorites from children's church when I was a kid-- the classic shoestring licorice fruit loop necklaces.  You all think I'm so creative... not so when it comes to kids crafts.  Caleb may have had more fun eating the craft than making it, but in the end we had a necklace to show off... for a few seconds at least.  Here it is!

Do any of you moms have fun craft/project ideas that Caleb and I could attempt?  I may be able to stitch a blanket or two together, but I sure am not all that crafty... any suggestions would be much appreciated!