Messy Moments

This is what happens when Stella decides she wants to feed herself peaches. After she whacked the spoon out of my hand of course. The little stinker! She thought it was hilarious!

Chocolate Play Dough

A few years ago I found this recipe around Valentine's Day and I continue to make it every year. It smells so good! Good enough to eat, but I know it doesn't taste as good as it smells!

{Here is the recipe}

1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup salt
1/2 Tablespoon cream of Tartar
1/2 Tablespoon oil
1 1/2 cups water

Mix dry ingredients in a medium size saucepan. Add wet ingredients and stir together over low heat until a ball of dough forms. Remove play dough from the saucepan and knead by hand until dough is smooth and evenly colored. Store in an airtight container. 

 

8 Months Old

Getting a picture of Stella is beginning to prove quite challenging! She's on the move now and has no desire to sit still for a photo. She's growing up so fast! Her love of food is quite evident when I show her the empty bowl when she's finished eating. It makes her so mad! But other than that, she is still the happiest baby around. She has learned so much over the last month: she made her first painting, learned to crawl forward, learned the "correct" way to stick out her tongue, and how to make beautiful music. She sure has been a busy girl! {hehe} I wonder what she'll learn to do next?

Making Music

Madelyn thought she would teach Stella how to play the keyboard today. It would have been a miracle if she had succeeded because she herself has no idea how to play. ;0)

Forward Motion

She's crawling...forward! It took a while for Miss Stella to realize that crawling is a much faster way to get her sisters' toys than rolling or scooting backwards.She spotted Madelyn's watch on the floor this morning and away she went. Of course, the rest of the day she was snatching things up quite fast and Mady was handing out lectures about not touching other peoples things. {hehehe}

When Boredom Strikes...

..empty the toy box and have some fun!

...and again we have snow.

This afternoon we have been blanketed with a fresh new layer of the white stuff.

Before the storm arrived, I realized that I only like snow in December and early January, but anytime after that it loses its luster.

 But not for this little girl! She begged to go out and play even though no one else wanted too.

I did oblige her even though I would have been much more comfortable staying inside, curled up on the couch in a cozy warm sweater...like Lucy.

The Bad News

R.I.P my dear dryer. You have given us many good years but, now it's time to say good bye. :(

Today

The never ending laundry pile.

• It was -5 degrees this morning when I woke up.
• I bundled Felicia up in so many layers that she could barely move and sent her off to school.
• Hubby called the repair man to come fix my dryer because our laundry pile is rapidly growing.(see photo above)
• An hour after we sent Felicia to school they dismissed due to a power outage. We got the call 12 minutes after school was already dismissed. Luckily, hubby found out before the school called and went to pick her up. 
• Just as I finished lessons with Madelyn, I hopped on Facebook only to hear that there was a lock down at Brandon's school. Reports of a student with a gun. Hubby called the school and it was confirmed, only to find out later that the students were all told that NO weapons were involved. huh? Tell that to the person answering the phones, because apparently she didn't get the memo.
• After all of my kids were safely home from school, hubby went to the store with my list of things I needed for dinner, minus one very important ingredient. So, back to the store he went. 
• Finally this Monday has come to an end, but guess what, the dryer repair man never showed up. Crap!

Let's just hope that tomorrow goes a little more smoothly and less eventful than today!

A Girl and a Lipstick

I should have known something was up when the girls got very quiet!

The Tongue

 Madelyn sticks her tongue out at Stella.

Stella thinks this sticking your tongue out is pretty cool!

Really cool!

Love Birds

More Snow

We woke up to a fresh coating of snow and a 2 hour delay. Not too bad! However, the frigid cold that is coming our way is not so good! I think we will be spending the weekend hunkered down at home sipping on hot chocolate and snuggled in thick cozy blankets!

Have a great weekend!

Big Sister, Little Sister

It Got a Little Sticky!

1 batch of sugar cookies + 1 can of frosting = 2 happy girls

Igloos, Polar Bears, and Ice Skating Painting

Today we are having our second snow day in a row. Actually, with Martin Luther King Day on Monday, we haven't had school since last Friday! It's been nice lounging around in our jammies and watching movies all day, but the little kids are really starting to get bored. So, today we decided to embrace the ice around us and do some more winter crafts.

 Our first project of the day was igloos! Theses were super simple, but my girls love anything involving glue so they had fun making them. Just draw the basic igloo shape and they can glue on squares of white paper.

Next we made some hand print polar bears.

And last, we had some good old messy fun. We "ice skated" with our fingers! Just a little white paint on some foil and lots of fun!

The girls were a little bummed because it has been too icy to go outside to play, but these activities kept them busy for awhile. Hopefully tomorrow we will be back to our normal schedule!

Ahhh Woobie

This is Stella and her woobie. They are always together. When she's tired, she rubs Woobie on her cheek and like magic, she falls asleep. Actually, all of my kids had a woobie, blankey, or lovey of some kind. Do your kids have something special to soothe them, besides Mom of course?

Heart Suncatchers

Yesterday I posted this picture of  Madelyn ironing and asked you to guess what she was making.

Jill guessed correctly! We made hearts with waxed paper and crayon shavings. I love doing classic crafts with my kids that I remember doing when I was younger and this is one of my favorites! 

First you will have to peel and shave some old crayons. We used a pencil sharpener to make our crayon shaving. *Funny story: Once upon a time, a co-worker and I wanted to speed up this process, we thought it would go much faster if we used my Salad Shooter, which by the way, it didn't. Um...R.I.P. my dear Salad Shooter....good times, really.

Lay a piece of waxed paper on some newspaper.

Sprinkle some crayon shavings on the waxed paper and cover with another sheet of waxed paper.

Place a towel over the top and iron on low heat to melt the crayon shavings.

Remove the towel and allow them to cool.

When they were completely cool, I cut them into heart shapes and added a piece of yarn to hang them.

Gettin' Crafty

Can you guess what she's making?

Felicia

Sweet Dreams

Game On!

Painting with Kitchen Gadgets

Around here, anything can be used to paint with. Today it was kitchen gadgets!

I'll Do It Myself

Apparently, I'm not fast enough!

Silly Madelyn

This morning while I shoveled away a few inches of snow from our front sidewalk, Madelyn decided she wanted to play photographer. In addition to several rather unflattering pictures of me (which I will not be sharing), she snapped a few shots of herself!

I think she's quite talented, but I may just be biased! ;0)