January Craft Time with cousins

I'm so lucky to have my cousin Colleen and her family across town from me.   Our little girls get along really well and we have decided to schedule times to get together more frequently.   If it's not on the calendar, it just doesn't happen.....ha.....with so many things, it seems!  Anyway, we both like to make stuff and are mildly addicted to Pinterest. 

Olivia with her heart shaped cupcake.

These cupcakes turned out good, considering I forgot to add the eggs.   I always use applesauce instead of oil, but leaving out the eggs was a surprising calorie reducer. They were a bit more dense.

Belle made a mountain of frosting.

We tucked a ball of foil into the cupcake pan to shape them into hearts.  I considered saving the balls for next time I need heart shaped cupcakes....but thought that was a tad TOO thrifty.   Kinda wish I had now.....

Sweet tooth

Next up, another pinterest project idea.
"This is a MOMMY craft." we must have explained 17 times before the kids ran off to play.
We painted wooden hearts in conversation heart colors and then printed out our family names for each heart.   

AWWWWW  SWEET!

Chocolate, crafts, cousins:

A perfect afternoon.

no more wings

"My shirt has WINGS on the sleeves!!!!   Think you can do anything about that?"  a co-worker asked me.
I guess I'm starting to get a reputation for alterations.   (I personally would call them HACK JOBS, but whatever.)


I tried on the shirt myself, and yup...the sleeves were wing-y.  
2 quick snips, 2 quick seams and it's done.

The note says,

"I think the shirt will fit better now that I cut off the wings!"  
And I taped the extra fabric onto the note just...because.

I'm always amazed that the smallest tweaks can make such a difference in clothing.   :)

Sledding at RIT

It was a cold, sunny day.    
Gorgeous blue sky and puffy clouds.
20 degrees and no wind.


The perfect day for a family adventure with the Christmas sleds.


I thought and thought about the perfect place to go with a 6yr old, 4 yr old, 2 yr old.
someplace close to home....
someplace with bathrooms...
someplace not crowded.  

Hello, R.I.T.!!!

(When I graduated college, I was awarded "Person most likely to never leave RIT".   If those people saw me taking my kids sledding outside the dorms.....LOL.  It's true...I really like RIT)

It was so much more fun than I expected.   I whooped and hollered every. single. time. The kids had a blast.   Kaylee said it was "Wicked Fast".   (where did she pick that up?)

We stayed for an hour, and by the time we walked back to the car, all three kids were crying.

Joshua because he was hungry.

Kaylee because she was cold.

Grace because she didn't want to leave.

Brian and I just grinned and held hands while we drove 1.5 miles back home.   Family memories were made....and the tears will be forgotten.

oh christmas tree, oh paper tree

I made a few Christmas decorations, but this was my favorite.   I still havn't put it away, actually.  


Rolled up scrapbook paper,  random jewels, pearls and buttons glued on like ornaments.

"So that's where our pizza pan is?  I was looking for that the other day!!!"  Brian said to me.  
"Oh, sorry...."  I replied.  But I was thinking, "Dude, I spray painted that thing a couple years ago for some other project, and you're missing it now?"

I love that pizza pan as a back drop/ frame thing.  I'll keep my eye open for more of them at thrift stores....and maybe, just maybe I'll put one back in cupboard for Brian to use for pizza.   :)

Things heard around my house: December 2011

Brian:  Joshua!  Stop picking your nose and eating your buggars.  It’s really gross!

Joshua: Well, Kaylee picks her nose too.

Brian:  That’s true.  You *do* pick your nose a lot, Kay.

Kaylee:  Yes.  But I don’t eat my buggars!  I just put them all over the house!

(Maybe I should have a category for “Things I wish I Hadn’t Heard Around my House”)

 

“LOVE ALWAYS WINS !”   I overheard someone yell in the car.    I listened to figure out the context…and this is what I heard:

Paper, scissors, rock, building.   Building wins!

Rock, paper, scissors, toilet.  Toilet wins!

(Rock, paper, scissors, love.  Love always wins.)

After school, Joshua told me:  “There’s one birthday in my classroom for December, but that person is invisible.”   Huh?  “It’s Jesus”, he whispered like a secret.  “But Jesus is in every classroom!!”

(Grace is transitioning into no naps…some days less we find her in funny spots)

“I LOVE Cheetos!”   (Pause)  “But I hate Styrofoam.”   Kaylee

“I don’t want to go to bed!  Never! NEVER!”  Grace

“Hey!  I know who your dad is!”  Joshua said after I told a story about when I was a kid.

Brian:  Are you going to the store today to get some essentials like milk?

Me:  Yes. Milk and chocolate.

Merry Christmas!

 

It was the night before Christmas

It was the night before Christmas…..and they all fell asleep in the car.

I don’t know why, but I think it’s really funny when that happens.  Funny enough to say, “Hey take a picture of them!”

We spent Christmas Eve afternoon and dinner at Grandpa’s house doing fun things like duffle bag rides and opening presents.

Right before we left for a church service, Grace had a massive blow out diaper.   I didn’t bring an extra set of clothes because last time I did, no one needed them.    We hosed her off and then began searching for some clothes for her.   In the closet, I found a diaper bag that I had stashed just for this purpose….4 years ago.  I found a shirt that fit, but it had transformers on the front.  NICE CHRISTMAS EVE OUTFIT.

Joshua wore some jeans that had a small rip in the knees.   (I just can’t catch everything before we walk out of the house….. )  In the car, he managed to turn that small rip into an absolutely GIGANTIC rip.  I mean, like “worse than I’ve ever seen” ripped jeans.   See????

 

My mom asked if the church people saw my family and offered to take up a collection so I could clothe my family at Christmas.  LOL.

At one point, I gave Grace my phone to play with, and she managed to turn on Beyonce’s “Put a Ring on it” during the sermon.   I had an agonizing 5 seconds of desperately pushing pause and play and pause and play on the phone. Nothing like a little R&B ON-CHRISTMAS-EVE. 

The kids were restless, they covered their ears with their hands, told me 67 times how thirsty they were.

Going to church is hard.   We don’t do it much.  But on Christmas Eve it was just where I needed to be.   Listening to the songs of the season, the ones that mean the most at this time of year. 

Glory to God in the Highest