Homemade Christmas

It's a good thing it's better to give than receive because I don't get anything for Christmas.  But I do get to give lots and I love getting stuff for the kids.  Thinking about what they like and imagining them opening it on Christmas morning.

Homemade gifts are the best because not only are they cheaper but it makes the fun last longer.  Since buying/making/wrapping for the kids really is my present.  I've been working like mad the past few weeks on gifts.  Having to do all of my work at nap time and after bedtime so the kids don't see. 

Anyway here's a list of what I've been making.  No pictures because the kids see the blog and I don't want them to see their stuff.  I'll take pictures after they open them.

- Felt play food.  Here's a good list of links to various instructions http://keeperofthecheerios.com/2008/12/best-felt-food-patterns-from-around-the-web/  I made ravioli, pizza, saltine crackers, doughnuts, pop-tarts, chocolate chip cookies, bananas, corn on the cob, pancakes and chips.  It was really easy and lots of fun.

-Superhero capes.  I followed these instructions for capes (Batman on one side, Superman on the other.)  Made one for each of the kids (minus Hazel.) http://pukingpastilles.com/?p=57

- Toss pillows.  I let them pick out their own fabric at the store and then made them toss pillows for their beds.  I had enough fabric let over to make tiny matching ones for their stuffed animals (aka their "kids".)

-I made my own Elmo doll for Phoebe.  It looks hilarious but she'll love it.  I had leftover red fabric from the capes so I free hand drew an Elmo on it then sewed it together and stuffed it.  I used leftover felt from the play food that I used to sew on his face.

-Quilted placemats.  They love placemats and I hate the laminated kid ones.  They're a total pain to keep clean.  These I'll be able to just throw in the wash.  I made a couple for each kid in various prints they'll love (like John Deere and Sesame Street.)

-Sock monkeys.  Using this tutorial http://www.web-goddess.org/writing/tutorial/Image0.html .  They were also really fun to make.

If anyone has any other ideas let me know.  I think I'm about done with everything I had planned.

Snow

Sunday morning we woke up to 16 inches of snow.  The kids were so excited, and honestly this time so was I.  So we spent an hour or so outside playing, shoveling, salting and building a snowman.  Right now there's currently a blizzard and more snow falling.  I only got a few pictures as the kids didn't want to stop and look at the camera, I didn't really want to spend my time taking pictures and because well snow isn't really the easiest place to photograph people.  But here's what I did get.













My snowman turned out quite cute.  But as the day went on he began to lean back and we thought for sure he would fall over.  But nope, instead he just kept leaning more and more and is still standing (and leaning even more than this picture.)  In fact if you look down from the upstairs window he's looking straight up at you.  It's very odd.

Bella Reading

First Real Bath

Tonight Hazel had her first real bath, sitting up in the big tub.  Her first of many many more to come.  I of course had to get some pictures of this milestone, and even made Corey sit with us and watch.  He was there mostly to spot the baby incase she fell while I was taking pictures (which happed a few times.)

At first she had no idea what to make of the tub and just seemed really confused.  That added to post pigtail hair makes for quite the look.



Then she discovered the plug and since she's in that "must grab everything I see" phase she went for it.





And of course with that phase comes the "what I grab then goes directly into my mouth" part. Which I immediately put a stop to because that plug has got to be one of the dirtiest things in our bathroom.



We kept trying everything we could think of to get her to look up, most of which did not work. So I stuck a wet rag on her head to see what she would do. She simply tried to catch the water with her tongue as it rolled down her face.







And in the end this was the best we got

Hazel 8 months

Hazel is 8 months old now.  She's now scooting around the floor, sitting up and has two teeth.  I finally decided enough was enough with her sleep schedule.  It got to the point that she was waking up every two hours all night, every night and I figured 8 months was old enough to stop.  So we had to rearrange rooms so she could have her own room and not wake anyone else up.  John, Bella and Phoebe are now all together and Hazel in sharing a room with Corey's computer.  But she's sleeping all night.  There have been very few tears shed by her and I'm enjoying my sleep again.

Us

This was my first time attempting to take a picture of the whole family myself.  I got the luxury of being the one to run back and forth between hitting the timer button and posing for the picture.  It actually went pretty good.  The lighting however was really bad which greatly affects the quality of the photo.  We'll try again later but for now I'm totally happy with this picture.

School

As of today we are on week 21 of 36.  If we don't take any breaks we'd be finished with Kindergarten in February.  So I need to figure out what breaks we want to take for the holidays.  We'll probably just finish up the official curriculum and then keep working on reading and math after that.  Really it takes so little time each day to get the actual book work done that I don't feel like they need any breaks from school.

Anyway here's a few of the art projects we've been up to lately.


Finger Paint



I have made finger paint before.  It was a recipe that used cornstarch and you cooked it on the stove.  So this time I wanted to try something different.  There's a lot of recipes on the internet for finger paint.  This one was simply equal parts flour, water and clear dish detergent.  And then just add food coloring to make the colors you want.

I personally won't make it again.  It turned out okay but the kids prefer to use paint brushes and aren't really finger painters.  And well I hated the smell of it.  I had Sun dish soap (that I didn't buy I think my aunt bought it when she was visiting) and that's what the smell was that I hated.  If I did make it again I'd add a few drops of scented oil and use a different soap.  The kids did enjoy making it though.







They ended up having the most fun just spreading a layer of paint on the paper and then using their finger to write stuff in it.




Snowflakes

The snowflakes were to practice cutting and glueing.  Phoebe did it too, except she can't cut so I had to help with that part.

So we cut colored paper into little squares.





Then spread glue onto the paper with q-tips.



And then put the paper squares on top






Ornaments



And then I found these cute little ornament kits at Target. These are my favorite type of craft because they're easy, cheap and the kids love them. These are especially great because each pack makes two ornaments. We got penguins, snowmen and Christmas trees.

Too Fast

My little girl is growing up too fast.  Yesterday Hazel started crawling, well it's more of a modified scoot right now.  Kind of on her hands and toes but it definitely gets her to where she wants to be, which is not where she should be.

And then today her first tooth broke through.  And the second is right there with it about to break through as well.