Bye-Bye Gingerbread House!

O and I destroyed our gingerbread house today! 1st we attempted to remove the candy (this was NOT easy) since we didn't think the candy would be good for the wildlife. Then we hammered and broke the house with our hands.
   

After the house was broken into bits, O threw pieces to the ducks and squirrels.



This was lots of fun! O kept running from the picnic table to the lake to get pieces of the house for the ducks. It was really funny because she only got one piece at a time. She must have made at least 10 trips!

DIY Babylegs

I've wanted to make babylegs for a loooong time (about 2 years), but I never found the perfect pair of socks and then I just forgot about it. On the day after Christmas I found several pairs of cute socks that were super cheap, so I decided to give it a try. I used this tutorial. At first I was totally intimidated by the tutorial, and I decided not to even try it. My mom and I cut the feet off of the socks and just hemmed them. Then I decided to look at the tutorial again, and it didn't seem quite so scary :) My mom and I worked through it and made the 1st pair of babylegs (I NEVER would have figured it out without her!). After that it was easy peasy! I LOVE to make babylegs, which are great for my little ballerina who likes to wear leotards or bathing suits even in the winter. O LOVES the babylegs, and she even sleeps with them under her pajamas. My niece also loves them, and I was excited that they fit her (she's 4 and a half). Also, they are MUCH cuter than the leg warmers my sister and I used to wear in the eighties! So...give it a try, but I'll warn you, it's addictive :)

Getting Back into Our Groove

O and I are home after being out of town for more than a week, and we are starting to get back into our routine. We took most of December off from Montessori work, primarily because she wasn't interested, but also because we were so busy with Christmas activities. We both really enjoyed "school" this morning!

A DIY Child's Pouch Sling

One of the most frequently asked questions from this blog is "how do you make the child's pouch sling?" I've always felt like I wasn't explaining it very well, so my mom and I decided to do a tutorial. I hope it makes sense :)

1) I cut a pattern from newspaper. The pattern is 18.5 inches long and 11 inches wide. It has a curve on one end. I pinned the pattern to a folded piece of fabric and cut around the pattern.




2)Use this pattern to cut 2 pieces of fabric. They will end up being 37 inches long with a curve at each end.




3) Pin the pieces together right side to right side and sew around the edges leaving a small opening for turning at one end.




4) Turn the sling right side out and iron it well.


5) Top stitch all around the edges (you will sew your hole closed at this point). I'm still not very good at top stitching, so Guh-guh took over at this point :)




6) Fold one end up to the other end approximately 1/2 inch down from top as shown in the picture. Stitch across the curve to connect the pieces together. Be sure to back-stitch well at both ends.




7) Fold the bottom piece over the piece you just stitched. There will be some fullness that you will need to work in - to produce a rounded end. Be sure to back-stitch on both ends.




8) You're done! Give the sling to a sweet child and enjoy :)



O loves this sling since it's blue :)
Just in case you noticed...yes, she is wearing Halloween pajamas even though it is January, and she's trying out my Annie headband from 1985. My mom saved everything!

Miniature Pumpkin Pies

Guh-guh and the girls made miniature pumpkin pies yesterday afternoon for a special treat :) The girls put vanilla wafers into cupcake liners. They then mixed 1 can of pumpkin with about 4 ounces of cream cheese, a tsp of pumpkin pie spice, a half teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar, and one egg. Guh-guh poured the mixture onto the vanilla wafers and baked them at 325 for 25 minutes. Yummy!

Gathering Collards from the Garden

Guh-guh and M planted collard greens a few months ago, so we'd have them to eat on New Year's Day. Yesterday afternoon, O, M, and Guh-guh picked the collards. M was thrilled to help pick them since she planted them, and then she got to eat them. Yummy! I was actually surprised that both girls enjoyed the collards. We eat collards for wealth in the new year and black eyed peas for good luck :) What traditional foods do you eat on New Year's Day?

Another Felt Quote

Tonight my Mom put vaseline on O's lips because they are chapped (when she was getting ready for bed). O said "O can't hug baby Emma cause O might get vaseline on her. She's made out of felt, you know." Mom said, "I thought she was made out of cotton." O said "No! She's made out of felt!" She's a little obsessed with felt. She gets it honestly :)

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has had a happy and safe New Year's Eve. We saw a really beautiful fireworks show that ended abruptly when the grass caught on fire :( We spread out a sleeping bag in the tennis courts next to my sister's house, and the girls pretended we were camping out. Lots of fun, but cold!

I thought I'd share some of my new year's resolutions, mainly to keep myself accountable :)
1) learn to knit and crochet
2) organize my house and KEEP it organized (this is a biggie!)
3) lose my fear of my sewing machine, especially now that I have one of my own :)
4) finish all of my handmade Christmas gifts before December
5) run/walk at least 4 times a week
6) take my new handy dandy grabber with us on walks to pick up litter :) (I'm excited about this one since I like to pick up trash, but I don't like to touch it)
7) learn to play chess
8) have family movie night and family game night once a week
9) spend more time teaching O (and myself) Spanish

Hmmm. I'm sure I have A LOT more, but that's all that I can think of now. What are your New Year's resolutions?

A Suitcase of Dress-Up Clothes

O's favorite Christmas gift was her suitcase full of dress-up clothes, specifically her beautiful Cinduh-ella gown and glass slippers :) I love that the dress-up clothes are in a suitcase and therefore, super easy and convenient to transport. We brought them with us to my mom's for the week after Christmas, and we're taking them to a tea party when O wakes up from her nap. Here are a few highlights:
O and M have been having LOTS of Royal Princess Tea Parties!

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Princesses playing with Storytime Felt dolls.

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Another Felt Funny

O: Is Baby Emma made out of felt?

Me: No. I think she's made out of cotton.

O: O ont (want) Baby Emma be made of felt! (said in a sad voice, and she was almost crying)

(We've been in the habit of speaking to O in third person since she was a baby, and she now refers to herself as "O" instead of "I." It's a hard habit to break, and it sure is cute :)

O Likes to Search for the Pickle, too!

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O asked to search for the pickle tonight. My mom hid it for her, and she had a great time looking for it. We need to do more of this because she needs a lot of practice looking and finding objects :)

A Cozy Hat

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I wasn't the only one who gave handmade gifts for Christmas! My aunt gave O this "tosey" (cozy) hat for Christmas, and she loves it. I'm hoping that I'll learn to knit using this book that Ell gave me for Christmas :)

Special Ornaments

Every year (starting last year) we trace O's hand onto craft foam, cut it out, and let her decorate it. Can you tell that we love things made from handprints?

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Elliott's Aunt gave this angel ornament to O for Christmas. She loves it because it's blue (her favorite color), and it has her name on it (under my finger). I love it because it reminds me of our baby who is now O's guardian angel. O knows that the baby is an angel who is watching over her to make sure she is happy and safe, and although Ell's aunt probably didn't intend for the angel to have this special significance, it does for me and it will for O as she gets older and understands things a little better.

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Bilingual Zingo

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We LOVE Zingo! My friend, Becca, sent this fantastic game to O for Christmas. We let her open in on Christmas Eve along with a few special presents from us (we didn't want it to get overlooked in the craziness of Christmas day). I'm so glad we let her open it early. We were all so excited about it that we immediately played the game. We had a great time, and O caught on quickly. We are going to play in English for a while before we switch to Spanish, but I think it's going to be GREAT for all of us to practice our Spanish vocabulary. I highly recommend this very fun game! Thanks, Becca!!!

Searching for the Pickle

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Guh-guh and Grandpa have a tradition at their house of hiding a pickle on their Christmas tree, and whoever finds the pickles gets a special monetary surprise! We usually forget about it until my mom starts hinting around, but Elliott remembered this year. He kept making eyes at me trying to get me to start looking (I was sitting by tree). I finally figured out what he was talking about and started discreetly looking for it. Then the others remembered and we started frantically searching. I was the lucky one this year! Hooray!
Guh-guh and Grandpa also have lots of stockings hanging around decorating their house, and this year they put surprises in them, too. They left a note on the hearth telling us about this. I was the only one who saw the notes, so I had a head start! These are really fun traditions that we REALLY get into :)