April 23, 2013

"Tutu" Cute!

We are now over halfway through our first year of dance class and Ayda has been doing great! She especially loves tap dancing and I always know when she likes a particular dance because I can hear her squealing inside the dance studio...over the music...and lots of giggling. Both her teachers have commented to me that she is quite the joker - do I take that as a compliment?

In her age group, they have to wear pink leotards, pink tights, and pink ballet shoes (and of course I had to spruce it up a bit with a little pink sheer overlay - not quite a tutu), but to be quite honest, I'm bored with it so I thought the only way I could change up the look a bit and to get her through the season was to give her a little sparkle. A new tutu and headband.
After

Before

April 17, 2013

Hi Ho Hi Ho Off to Work We Go

About 4 years ago, my wonderful husband made me a cute, little garden, edged in patio pavers and was about an 8'x6' space. It has been great for our family, producing tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and beans. Now that our family has increased by 3 kids, our garden has relocated and has expanded to a 20'x20' area.

So last weekend Adam spent a whole day reseeding the old garden and tilling the new garden. Every year I tell myself I am going to plan out, diagram, research and be the best vegetable caregiver I can be. If this goes as planned and we produce major amounts, I would love to learn how to can and make yummy salsa too. We shall see about this...if time allows I suppose.

Here is my new garden space. Don't you think a cute little fence needs to be added (with chicken coop in the inside) to keep the little critters out? I do, but I guess one thing at a time, patience is not my virtue...I'm sure my hubby would agree with this!

April 16, 2013

Team Work, Team Work!

Last night after dance, I looked around the house and it had become a disaster from the weekend. I have to admit, I was not that great about keeping a "contained mess" with all the kids' toys, but I had other priorities set aside for the weekend and I just didn't really care. So after we got the two little ones to bed, Adam and I were in full force in getting stuff done fast (laundry, dishes, bottles, putting toys away, and a little sewing for me).
Unfortunately, Ayda was still awake and can sometimes hinder me getting things done, but fortunately she was in a pretty good mood, so I thought I would be patient and have her help me. (I firmly believe that kids need more responsibility today so they don't EXPECT things to be done for them). Without her even knowing, I wanted to teach her a lesson. In the past, Ayda has always wanted to help with laundry and she does usually fold all the wash"clubs" (as she refers to them) and hand towels, but has never gone downstairs to help. So we (I) carried down all the dirty clothes, I showed her how to sort the darks and whites, I had her empty the dryer clothes into the laundry basket and then I handed her all the clothes from the washer so she could throw them into the dryer. And I will never EVER forget these innocent words she said to me, "Mommy, this is VERY hard work!" and "why are there so MANY clothes?!" Maybe, just maybe, I taught her a lesson on how hard mommy and daddy work at just keeping her clothes clean and that it's not necessary to change clothes 5 times a day. Next lesson will be to sort her clothes and hang them up. :-) I think we are making progress towards a very responsible little girl. Bless her heart!

April 15, 2013

Long Over Due

Today I decided it was time I finished both of my girls' afghans. I have procrastinated enough and just want to see the finished projects on their beds. Myla's, I don't feel that bad about since I had two babies 10 mos. and 10 days apart. I actually finished Henry's before I even knew he was going to be a boy. However, Miss Ayda's, I just don't feel like I have a good excuse...I got it out Saturday night and Ayda asked me who it was for. I told her it was for her and she said, "because you love me, mommy?" Every square I would stitch together, she would ask if I was finished, so now it has to get done! Myla's is the chevron stitch and Ayda's is the granny stitch. They will be bigger than what is showing right now. My hopes are for these little girls to someday want to bring them to college with them as a reminder of their mommy...love them! xoxo



April 10, 2013

Felt Fun (cont.)

As promised, here is another picture of the apron and chef hat I made for Little Miss Ma'am and her classmates for the theme week of Pizza Parlor.

WOWZA walls!!!

Every night I have good intentions of going down the basement stairs to do laundry, but I'm always distracted by my unfinished craft room and the smell of paint. I love walking in and turning the light on and dreaming of what it will be like to have my own little space of peace and quiet...only if I didn't have to paint, paint, PAINT!! So far I have painted the walls and ceiling with 2 coats of primer, ceiling - 2 coats of ceiling paint, walls - two coats of -- WOWZA! (Adam thinks its "loud") and still I need another coat. I guess drywall is thirsty.  Tonight I am going to be hopeful and put on a 3rd and final coat of WOWZA on the three walls. The 4th wall is going to be stunning! I am doing a chevron pattern with 5 different colors and it will be so fun (and I'm sure Adam will think it is "obnoxious"...LOL), but it will help rev up the creative mindset. So here you go...a little sneak preview of WOWZA walls!






April 3, 2013

Felt Fun

So here is an example of my love for creativity. Once I get an idea in my mind, I have to do it. At Ayda's preschool, they are having theme weeks and one of them is pizza parlor. When I read her newsletter for the month instantly I knew I wanted to create this felt fun for the kids. In addition to this yummy pizza, there are breadsticks, an apron, and a chef hat. More pictures to follow.