Finding His Words

Unfortunately he doesn't have any words yet, but today he spoke. I think it went something like this:

Okay, these are not cowboy hats - I don't care what she says.

Is it over?

Oh, she's back and with more princess stickers...Don't we have a cat?

It's not all bad, she does smell like frosting.

Little Haar As Opposed To Big Hair

I cut my hair last weekend. It was time. I had been wearing it in a French braid which Laney really liked, so when I came home with short hair she said, "Mom, what did you do to your haar? It's little!" She was not too happy about the change, but I'm liking it. I had it this length in college, so it was not a shocking change, but it has definitely been a while. The photos are for my grandma who wanted to see. I wanted to Photoshop them to erase the freckles and a few creases, but Sam said I couldn't because someone was just criticized for doing that. So, here you go Gua, the new me with "little" hair and big freckles.

Inexpensive Valentine Kid-Crafts

We have been crafting and crafting around here. In addition to all of our regular Valentine crafting, I was in charge of Spencer's class party. If I don't see another piece of construction paper or card stock for a while that will be okay. In the meantime, here are some of the crafts we worked on:

We made woven paper heart Valentine holders:

To make the Valentine holders, you will need two pieces of different colored paper.

I used two jumbo 12 x18" sheets, but it also works with regular sheets - you will just get a smaller heart.

Fold each paper in half.

Cut the folded paper in half.

On the unfolded side, cut to round the tops - these will become the top of the heart.

On the folded side cut your strips for weaving. I used 4 strips and that seemed to be a manageable amount for 2 graders. Each strip was 1 1/2" and I cut up the piece 6 1/2". Whatever size paper you are using, when cutting the length of the strips be sure to leave a little bit of wiggle room because you will need it to weave in the final strip.

To begin weaving, hold each paper, folded side down, at a 90 degree angle.

Starting with the upper strip, begin weaving through the strips. Just remember "through".

Once you are you are ready to weave your final strip, make sure that all of the other woven strips are pushed upwards because you are going to need the "wiggle room" you allowed for when cutting the strips.

Once the final strip is woven, push all of the woven strips down - it just looks better.

The final check - open the heart. If you did it right, your should have a pocket.

The last step is to add a handle. You can cut a strip of paper for the handle, or use some string. I found some cute heart brads, so we attached our handles with those.

Another easy and inexpensive craft - Plaster of Paris hearts. All you need is some Plaster of Paris and a candy mold to make a whole bunch of cute little hearts.

I glued magnets on the back; the kids then painted them and added some little eyes.

We also made our family valentines from the hearts as well.

The kids (mostly Laney) painted the hearts and, I have to say, as much as I love art created by children, these were ugly. Really ugly. I began a bit of a beautification process by adding some silver scrolls and I think that was all they needed. I painted them with a clear coat and a magnet and off they went. I mailed them with a section of egg carton over them, so they would not get damaged - hope it worked!

For the class valentines, Owen decided to pass on the heart crayons and took cherry smelling play-doh. He woke up this morning at his usual time of 5:30am, but he vibrated all the way into our room - he was "so excited about his Valentine's Day party".

Smelly Play-Doh

3 cups white flour
2 packs of Kool-Aid
1 ½ cups salt
1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
3 ¼ cups water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
In a saucepan mix flour, Kool-Aid, Salt and cream of tartar. Stir in water and oil. Mix Well. Heat over medium –low heat until dough begins to thicken. Continue to stir until it is too thick to stir (the dough will thicken more as it cools). Let dough cool until it can be handled – knead until smooth.

The labels were printed on a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11" card stock cut into 4 pieces (4.25 x 5.5" each). I have uploaded the card here to make it easier - just download, cut your paper and print.

Initially Spencer wanted to take play-doh as well, but after talking it over we thought maybe stickers would be a better choice for older kids. So, last night I printed some valentines and used some stickers I had from last years post Valentine sale at Target. They came out great and are much more sophisticated than play-doh hearts. These were also printed on the cut up card stock. I don't know about you, but I have a heck of a time cutting them straight if I print all 4 on one sheet. Anyway, the template will work for any of those American Greeting Sticker packs (15 sheets per set). Depending on who is doing the project, you can either tape the stickers on, or make slits with a craft knife.

Happy crafting.

7 Months

Our little AJ is 7 months today. He is an intense little guy.

The little rascal is still very much a Type A personality and cries a lot, but when he isn't screaming he really is the sweetest little guy. He loves to give kisses and has fallen in love with Laney's baby doll.

AJ now sits on his own - for a while anyway.

He has two teeth and another on the way. He smells really good and when I try to get a sniff of his neck he giggles a melodic giggle. Like Laney, he raises one eyebrow, gets a twinkle in his eye and then tries to melt you with his smile. Wait for it...

With his deep voice he says "dadada", babbles and sings from time to time. He is still bald, okay, he has a little bit of hair, but not much. He eats whatever we put in his mouth, likes to feed himself Cheerios and banana and thinks it is pretty cool to drink out of a sippy cup.

We are not sure what we will do when he outgrows his swing because he loves it so - see, he is welling up already.

He still doesn't sleep through the night, but definitely needs to because he wears himself out.

My days with him are long, but are going by way too fast.

Poor Penny

Well, Penny had her big surgery today and came through just fine. She was monitored closely because of her heart condition and, thankfully, she will live to steal another sock. There was one minor complication though - her teeth. While she was under the doctor decided to pull two of her baby teeth to make room for her big girl teeth. Apparently she was at risk for having a wonky bite and we can't have that. Only in this house! Oh well, at least all of these things give us something to talk about.

5 Minutes For Mom

I simply asked for 5 minutes of rest (not sleep, just rest) on the sofa to nurse a cold.

I got up to find Frida Kahlo with Chicken Pox. She was not crying about her new look, but because she let the dog steal her peanut butter graham cracker. I think preschool may be in her future.