Parooski Goveriet

Sometimes, I feel like changing the language on my blog to Russian, or Greek, or maybe Swahili.  Any takers?

Exercises

Last night, my mom stopped by to drop something off and spend a few minutes with the girls.  They had a blast, running (and screaming) around the room.  Yaya led them in some exercises.  I have some great videos...but, I can't put it up right now. 

Hands on your hips, and twist, twist, twist

Stretch those legs out and touch your toes....reach.....

I'm pretty sure Yaya was the one getting exercise here.  Hannah asked to be a "backpack", so....here she is, being a backpack while Yaya jumps around.  Who is having more fun?

My mom was going to let Hannah "fly" on her legs, but then Nicole wanted in on the fun, and they both ended up collapsing on yaya. 

My mom also tried to teach them how to walk on their knees,  Hannah gave it a good shot and made us laugh hysterically.  That's on video...maybe I can get that up next week.

Sew, Sew, Sew

Seeewwwwww.....I'm doing a lot of sewing right now and having a lot of fun and trying new things and having a lot of fun (did I already say that in my run-on sentence?)

Sew....I made curtains for the kids' room (will post pics this weekend).  I am THRILLED!!!!  They look super great!  I am making a few more casserole carriers as gifts...and ?maybe? to try to sell?  I have a few changes I am making to make them nicer.   I am hopefully going to make the girl's matching dresses tomorrw.  This will be a challenge for me because I don't like patterns.

BUT...I have a problem.  I am dumping way to much money at the fabric store.  More than I expected...there were a few things I needed, and a few I thought would be helpful (like a marker that disappears in a few hours....really great when you are making little marks and measurements).  AND...I've just discovered that I will need 3 packages of bias tape for my casserole carriers and matching oven gloves or hand mitts.  Sew....I need to go back again tomorrow.  I mean...I'm not dumping hundreds of dollars or anything...just more than I thought I would for these projectss.  Like lots of little dollar or two items (like bias tape and rick rack and scraps to practice on)

I had a little personal sewing class the other day.  The lady who gave me my machine (out of the kindness of her heart...thank you Lord for that blessing).  If you live in the area and want classes, I'll pass on her info to you.  She's super sweet and I learned a lot in a short amount of time.  And...I e-mail her all the time with questions and pictures.  She's great.

There are a few of you who know why I am sewing right now...please do NOT allude to them in my comments.  I appreciate it...thanks!  I'll share more later!

Ummmm...well, no pictures, I'll post in a few days when I have more projects done:-)

Life is Good

Life is Good for these three kids:-)

This morning the girls and I did some Sand art.

Hannah's sand art (OK, mine...but I let her shake the sand off)

Do you notice the sand on and under Hannah's lips....I guess she thought they were decorating sprinkles???  She kept trying to sneak a lick!

Nicole's sand art (I was to busy doing mine helping Hannah with her sand art that I didn't fully explain to Nicole the point.  She started taking all of the stickers off to pour the sand on.  This is the reason you can't see her flowers)

Then we swung for a while....

and swung....

and swung.....

I have the cutest pictures and video of Nathan from yesterday, but I won't put them on the blog because his little naked tooshy is showing.  He's had a bit of diaper rash, so we had some "free time" yesterday.  However, I can show you these sweet pictures.

After some time playing on his belly, he rolled over.  Since he was still "in the buff" I quickly made sure he was covered up....mostly because I had already been sprayed once that day.  I walked away and came back to these sweet poses he managed all by himself.  I didn't instigate this at all.

I think he liked how soft the towel was.  I wish I could show you the other pics....he had the BIGGEST smiles!!!!  I think he loved "being free"

New Style

We have struggled with Nicole's hair for some time.  We all (including her) want long hair, but it's so fine that it gets terribly knotty.  It's also straight on top and tightly curled underneath.  So....I convinced Jeremy to cut her hair, short, to get rid of the "baby hair" and hope that some strong hair grows back in place.  I was hoping it would make this summer more bearable for all of us since she doesn't always let me put it up and usually won't keep it up....so short hair would stay out of her face, get less knotty and *hopefully* look better and be easier. 

So far...the only thing that's happened is it's less knotty. Make that...there are NO knots at all...which was great this morning.  However, her hair seems to be even more unruly and unmanageable.  I don't want to...but, I think I'm going to have to flat iron her hair in the mornings (although I think the first time she goes outside, everything will frizz up again:-(  Poor girl...She's got my texture of frizzy hair, only there is a lot less. 

The above picture was taken right after she got it cut, so it looks pretty good.  But, in every day life, it's pretty messy looking.  I've always been sort of against putting product in a child's hair...but, I think I'm going to have change.  She's going to need something, or else I'm afraid she's going to have several years of awkward pictures. 

To you new mommies...this is why you can't be to dogmatic on how you think a child should be raises or what you should do with them.  When real life comes around...sometimes those things you thought you'd NEVER do (like flat iron a 3 year old's hair), you may end up doing....just to help manage the craziness. 

So....what do you think?  It changes her whole look, doesn't it?

Anyone ever made things out of felt?

So, on one of my coupons blogs, Hip2Save, she is giving away 8 free patterns for little felt food, dolls and books.  I seriously want to win this give away.  I know I don't have time to do this...but maybe eventually.  I don't want to infringe on this girl's copywrited photos....so, click these links and check out these ADORABLE felt toys!!!!

Country Farm Barn (I love this...it's a barn that opens up into a field with corn and a trough for the animals.  And, everything fits into the barn for easy clean up)
Gone Fishing (fish, a fishing pole and a bag)
Activity Book (I LOVE this....several pages of fun things for kids to do like tic tac toe, ice cream toppings, hanging out laundry)
I Know an Old Woman ("act" out I know an old woman who swallowed a spider book with all the little things the lady can swallow...oh, I LOVE this!!!!)
Doll House (all the items fit into the doll house for clean up)
Nativity
Bakery Sweets (cinnamon rolls, spatula, etc)
Fun Fruit (including sliced apples and oranges that you can put back inside the fruit, kiwi, etc)


Have you ever made anything like this?  Any ideas on how hard/easy this would be???

And, again...I don't know the lady who sells these patterns, I just thought they were adorable, and I was wondering if anyone who reads my blog has ever tried to make anything like this.

Sisters

These two pretty much love to be around each other. Yes, they fight...yes, they cry....but, they are learning to love and be sweet to each other. One of my favorite things that happens is when we pick the girls up from their classes at church on Sunday, Nicole runs to Hannah, gives her a hug and tells her she misses her.

Nathan kicking around.

This is just a little video full of Nathan kicking around and having fun. Mostly for our dear family far away to have a chance to catch a glimpse of him:-)

Hair Bow Holder

We really don't have as many hair bows, head bands and clippies as most families with two young girls.  I guess that's partly my fault.  I'm not a bow kind of girl...but, my girls like them (if only for 5 minutes).  Keeping your hair bows organized and off the floor is an annoying task.  But, there are some crafty moms who have come up with some great ideas.  The problem is, for me anyway, that these crafty ideas are expensive.  Here is a hair bow holder that is $70!!!!  That's a bit over kill for me...especialy since we own about $5.00 in hair accessories.  There are also more simple versions, like these.

Yesterday though, I needed a quick fix for some new hair accessories in our home.  I did a quick search and decided to make my own little bow holder.  I used an animal plaque that we already have in the kids' bathroom, and two piece of ribbon from my ribbon stash....and some hot glue.  That's it.  It's not perfect, it's not professional, but it'll work for now.

Nicole had fun helping me too.  She had never seen me use a hot glue gun.

We made two loops....one is sort of a "hill", and the other is an actual loop at the end to put the headbands through.  Now, I need to think of a way to put rubber bands on there and knit headbands.  Maybe with a button?

Homemade Flower crayons

I've had my eye on this craft for some time that I first saw on Elle Belle.  However, I've been waiting for a while to try it because I didn't want to buy a silicone baking tray at full price.  I found a tray full of cute flowers marked way down at Wal-Mart last week...and since then, I've been trying to find time to make these. Today was the day.





This was a fun craft with my little ones....perfect for my preschooler who likes to tear the paper off crayons, and perfect for my toddler who likes to break crayons in half. 

Here the girls are getting started. 

You simply take the paper off your crayons, break them into small piece and fill your tray.

Then you put the tray in the oven at 250 degrees for 15 minutes (mine actually took more like 25 or 30).

The note on Elle Belle says to make sure you use high quality crayons.  I just used whatever broken, falling apart crayons we had...some were NOT high quality, and there was a difference where they were used. 

While we waited for the crayons to melt, Nicole got a little creative with the camera.

Waiting, waiting, waiting....

They're done (notice there are a few that are still lumpy....those crayons just wouldn't melt!  Those would be the "low quality ones" I believe)

But, I love the final product.  After you remove them from the oven, let them cool (we gave them a boost by putting them in the fridge while we ate lunch) and Walla...."homemade" flower crayons.

The lady whose site I got this idea from actually sells these on Etsy.com!  She also makes "no roll" crayons...basically melted broken crayons and flattened.  Sheesh...why didn't I think of that?