The Rainbow Game March 7, 2012

What do you do when you have some colorful paper and a long-ish morning with the kids? Make up a game, of course!

I cut a bunch of 1″ strips of paper and glued a “rainbow” of them onto 3 white pieces of paper, labeling the colors because I want Anja to start identifying written words with everything.

I grabbed the nearest receptacle, which happened to be a paper bag, and tossed the rest of the scraps in. We took turns drawing paper strips out until someone covered all their colors and completed their rainbow. Anja got frustrated that a couple of her colors had a stack of strips five high and she wasn’t drawing the color she wanted, but it’s a lesson learned in patience, right? Both kids loved it, and it was a nice little departure from our usual Candyland-Go Fish-Memory-Hi Ho Cherrio routine.

I was surprised how well Markus did with this, neatly stacking his colored pieces on top of the correct color. He knows all his colors and has for some time, but the fact that he was able to get them pretty much lined up made me very happy for him.

For Aunt Barb December 23, 2011

Don’t be fooled by the face. She wore this sweater two days in a row because she liked it so much! Just thought you’d want to know some of the beautiful things you made are getting another life.

I made some pillows December 21, 2011

They are eventually for our master bedroom, which is in a sad, unfinished state, and may remain that way for awhile. But I have them in the living room now so I can enjoy them. I didn’t have a pattern but had seen several tutorials here and there that gave me a general idea on how to make them. I never have the patience to hand-sew the final bit together after I’ve stuffed the pillow in, so seamstresses who visit my house: no peeking at my seams!

Wee Rice Hand Warmers December 2, 2011

So here we have a bit of a tutorial. I was making these the other night (for Christmas gifts), and I thought I’d take a few photos and make a post of it. Especially since my other tutorial is all the rage on Pinterest, somehow!

Find some fleece (re-purposed is great, mine is a half yard from JoAnn Fabrics).
Cut some shapes. I did cute hearts for the gals, manly squares for the guys.

Thread your machine (I did a contrasting white to give the stitching a little “pop.” After the fact, I would’ve chosen something matching to hide my errors–ha!). Stick the needle in a corner.

Sew most of the way around your shape, lifting the presser foot with the needle still inserted in the fleece to rotate it as you make your way around the tricky curves. Leave about a 1″ gap for the rice to go in. Snip thread.

Use a funnel or make a paper funnel (if you moved 6 months ago and still can’t find half your junk) to put rice in the bag. Not too full, mind you. This should feel like a very loose bean bag.

Overlap your previous stitching by about 1/4″ inch on each side to make sure the rice won’t fall out as you stitch it up the rest of the way.

Ta da! Done. Include these directions for their use:

Heat for 20 seconds in microwave. Put in your mittens or your pockets to keep your hands toasty for 10-20 minutes. Repeat as needed! If they start to discolor or smell funky, throw them away. They’re past their prime.

Thankful November 29, 2011

During the month of November, our family “grew” a Thankfulness Tree. It was a lot of fun, and it gave us time each day to think of things we were thankful for together. Since I’ll be throwing away all the leaves from the tree, I decided I’ll record the things we were thankful for here for posterity. Markus had to be encouraged not to put “books” on his leaf every day, and Anja had a hard time coming up with ideas besides food. And some of the kids’ ones crack me up.  Daddy has less because he wasn’t always with us at dinner time when we put up our leaves.

Husband:
Family
My job
Food
Variety
Salt
Joking
BBQ
Health
Warm house
Lentils
Beer

Me:
Creativity
Grandpa Mike’s help on our house
“Cooking” with my kids
Facebook
Inspiration
Bedtimes
Hot, healthy food
Snuggles with my kids
Central heat
Mornings at home
Fresh water
Anja and Markus
Daddy’s hard work cleaning the garage
pretty chirping birds

Anja:
Yummy Owl S’mores
Sweet oranges for yummy snack
Cat picture I colored
Trees (she wrote that herself)
Bananas and fruit
Our old house
Alydia, Sherman, and my other toys
If someone will fix my kitty
Colorful leaves
Jesus
Heaven
Pretty birds and yummy fruit bananas
Coloring crayons
God
Beautiful rainbows
Markus
Daddy and Mama

Markus:
Biggie (his lovey)
Green leaves
Books
Hugs
Breakfast
Trucks
Graham crackers
Toy school bus
Bananas
Mama and Daddy
Fingers (twice!)
M & Ms
Myself
Boomer (his fire truck)

Carving Pumpkins November 28, 2011

Aw, sad. This is a post from last year that I never completed! So I’ll put up a couple pics of our family pumpkins from this year (soooooooo last month, I realize). Anja wasn’t afraid to scoop the innards of the pumpkin this year (a first!), which made it a lot more fun. Markus was still squeamish, but that’s okay. He’s only one.

Mine is the cannibal, Husband’s is the spooky drippy mouth guy.

Happy Thanksgiving! November 24, 2011

Anja and I worked on these little place cards (thanks for the inspiration, Kate!) for our Thanksgiving this year. I love the month leading up to Thanksgiving–it’s such a good thing to count our blessings together and then celebrate with family. Hope you are enjoying your day and thanking God as well!

Paper Bag Dolls June 9, 2011

Another recent craft from the use-what-you-have school of thought is paper bag dolls. I cut two little doll shapes out of a grocery bag, then gave Anja a bunch of scraps of paper, recycled greeting cards, her little scissors, crayons and a glue stick.

With a little help from Mama, she ended up with two cute little friends. One, as you might be able to tell, was accessorized by me, one by her (those are “sleeves,” not water wings, and no, she hasn’t been “cutting.” She just has veiny arms…). She insisted on also making them beds, pillows and blankets, and a little “house” out of the remaining paper bag. Cheap fun for little girls!

Felt Cupcakes June 8, 2011

I borrowed this idea from Rachel (of Small Notebook) who wrote about it at Alphamom. I had a bunch of felt scraps leftover from when we made our Jesse Tree ornaments, so my cupcake and frosting colors might be a little unorthodox, but Anja loved them just the same (great thing to pack for trips, too–all the pieces fit in a sandwich bag).  I don’t know how many cupcakes I ate that day, but it was a LOT.  ;)

This Present Moment March 17, 2011

Since my little transformation last fall, I have really been treasuring every moment (okay, not every moment, but I’ve sure been trying harder) as it comes. Being a mommy, many of my moments include daily chores: the wiping of faces and behinds, the folding of laundry, the planning, preparation, and making of three square meals. But every once in a while, I get to sit and just create with my girl. She wasn’t finished with her work of art when I shot these, but I will try to remember to post a picture of it soon. It is so beautiful. She definitely doesn’t follow any rules when she makes art, but I am A-okay with that, since I like my art open-ended, too.

Plus, she liked my art, too, so I gave them both to her for her bulletin board.  A simple phrase to remind us to have grateful hearts, and a new Crocus.

(She hangs her lower lip when she concentrates just like Mom. Not the most attractive thing in the world, but more forgivable on a child than an adult.)