Kate's Swing

Kate got a baby swing for Christmas. She loves being outside in it, and Megan and Jared love taking her out and pushing her. (We LOVE the warm winters here. It's the perfect time to play outside!)

Necessity is the mother of craftiness

My sweet friend Andrea is having a baby. And I got to help throw her a shower! Now, I am not a terribly crafty person. Really. No, really. I'm not. Put a computer in my hands and I am a happy girl. Give me a paint brush and some scissors and there will be tears. And blood. But, sometimes things have to be made in actual life, not just on the computer. This was one of those times. I was so excited to be asked to help with a baby shower, but since it was at my house, it seemed like it was most logical for me to do the decorating. Logical, yes. Easy, not exactly.

And because I am ever practical, it seems silly to me to make lots and lots of decorations just for one event, so I tried to think of things that could maybe be reused in other places. Like decorating the nursery. Andrea said she had a "Classic Winne the Pooh" theme for the nursery, so we went with that for the party as well. Sort of. I didn't want to go over the top with Pooh, more like create the feeling of the hundred acre wood, with hints of Pooh.

I made 5 pictures with Winnie the Pooh quotes and some coloring picture line drawings in PSE, printed them out as 5x7s, and stuck them in frames.

"As soon as I saw you, I knew adventure was going to happen."
"Let's begin by taking a smallish nap or two."
"Sometimes, said Pooh, the smallest things take up most room in your heart."
"How do you spell love? ~ Piglet You don't spell it, you feel it. ~ Pooh"
"One advantage of being disorderly is that one is constantly making discoveries."

They were displayed at the shower, and afterwards, Andrea got to take them home.

I also made an 8x10 print with the quote "You're just in time for a little smackeral of something." because I thought it was cute. I displayed that one with an easel on the food table.

I made lots of cute tissue paper flowers, hung them from the arch way, stuck them in vases, scattered them around the table. And then I decided that we needed bees. And I couldn't find any (okay, I found some to order, but the ones I liked cost an arm and a leg). So I made some, mostly using materials I had on hand - pompoms, pipe cleaners, felt, and hot glue. (I spent $.99 on a package of medium sized yellow pompoms because the package I had at home was multicolored and only had two yellow pompoms. Cuz I decided that red and green bees would be a little weird.)

Basically, I just wrapped a piece of black pipe cleaner around the pompom a couple times, and twisted the ends together. I used needle nosed pliers to twist the ends and to cut the pipe cleaners.

I cut wings from some white felt.

I hot glued the wings onto the pompoms, over the spot where I twisted the pipe cleaners together. Tada!

I thought about adding eyes and antennas, but I think they are cute just the way they are. (And best of all, I made 26 of them in about an hour for less than a dollar!) I wrapped some thin wire around some of them and wired them to the cupcake display, so they looked like they were buzzing above the cupcakes, and I hung some from fishing line so they looked like they were flying around some of the flowers in the archway. I also nestled some in the flowers on the table.

Maybe my craftiness is expanding. Maybe.

I  wanted to make a honey pot (how can you have Winnie the Pooh without a honey pot?), so I found an old vase that had the basic pop belly shape, and I painted it with acrylic paint. I learned a LOT about using acrylic paint on smooth glass. (Thin layers work better than thick. Lots of drying time between each layer. Patience is your best tool.) When it was all painted, I sprayed it with some sealer, and then added a piece of fabric and some jute to finish it off.

All in all, I had a great time helping with the shower. And I think it turned out wonderfully.

Present: If you give Anna a cookie

If you give Anna a cookie, she'll probably want a glass of milk to go with it.
As she goes into the kitchen to get the milk, she'll probably notice the dishwasher didn't get run last night.
As she puts soap into the dishwasher, she may notice that there is a little room on the top shelf. She'll want to go find some dirty dishes to fill that spot.
She may may go into the bedroom to get the water glasses off the night stands.
As she gets the glasses, she'll remember that she wanted to wash the sheets today. She'll pull the sheets off the bed and carry them into the laundry room to put them in the washer.
While she is starting the washer, she'll wonder if there are any dirty clothes hiding in the kids' rooms.
As she walks down the hall, she'll notice that the linen closet is such a mess, the door won't close. She'll stop to straighten it up.
She'll notice the red curtains on the shelf - the ones she's been meaning to hang up in the kitchen.
She'll take them to the kitchen to hang them up before she forgets again.
While she's in the kitchen, she'll see the gallon of warm milk on the counter. And as she's putting it back in the fridge, she'll wonder where her cookie is.

This may or may not be a description of my morning.

My bed is unmade.
There is an empty glass on top of the dryer.
The dishwasher hasn't been run.

But, the curtains are hung. And the linen closet is straightened. That should count for something, right?

Our Artist

Megan had a painting displayed at the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Art Show. We are so proud of her and her hard work.

Present: What We've Done Today

I'm making an effort this year to say yes to the kids more. To do more with them. To be more involved. To be PRESENT in the activities they are interested in.

If you are still talking about what you did yesterday, 

you haven't done much today.  ~Author Unknown

Today, we have:

Played with a basket. Who know baskets could be so fun?

Created holiday decorations for Barbies with clay.

Started designing a Rube Goldberg machine.

What a fun afternoon. And the best part? My big kids cleaned up most of the messes from their projects without being asked. 

I am enjoying being PRESENT.

Travis's Latest Cake

Travis finished his cake decorating class on Monday. I am so impressed with everything he's learned and I'm looking forward to the upcoming holidays and birthdays, when he'll have a good excuse to decorate some fun cakes for us (any excuse for cake is a good thing, in my opinion!).

We Love Surprises

My father-in-law (who lives in Toucan) called this afternoon, asking what our plans were for dinner. Surprised, I said that we really didn't have any plans (I was planning to make cornbread from a box and pick up some chili from Wendy's. Cuz I'm an awesome cook like that. :D). He said that he was here in Houston for some meetings. He hadn't told us because he wasn't sure if he would even have time to see us, but his dinner hour was free and would we like to meet at a restaurant. Megan and Jared were bouncing in their seats the whole way to dinner, they were so excited. And Kate's face lit up when she saw him at the restaurant. It was a lot of fun to see him and a very pleasant surprise.