Wednesday, February 29, 2012

"Snowstorm" 2012

Alrighty, folks....supposedly we were to have this monster storm Saturday-Sunday...didn't happen. THEN it was supposed to hit last night at 6 p.m....no wait, make that 10 p.m....no wait, make that midnight. I was up at 1:30 a.m. with kids and it was still clear. WELLLLL....it finally hit this morning. Kinda.

I'm not gonna go all postal about how the meterologists don't know what they are talking about...I mean, afterall, they get paid to ESTIMATE...and they are trying to estimate GOD...so, I would say they are playing a losing game. I'm not angry....I feel sorry for them.

And even if this storm isn't amounting to anything in our area (I hear it is actually pretty bad other places) I am thankful for the fact that yesterday the kids and I booked it for W-town while the roads were pristine, and are spending the day with our dear friends who got a snowday from school. I am spending the morning with the kids at Anne's house....later we'll head to our house and the roaring fireplace (and basement FULL of laundry...oy!). So my morning looks like this:
The oldest 3 play on webkinz....no, the house isn't cold...they just like to have hats on.

Big chair. Little man. A book. Perfect.
Snowday+Barbie=Perfection to Leve & The Little Brown Haired Girl

The view off the deck...very fine snowflakes falling...totally beautiful.
Totally blessed, right? Later we get to go to a Leap Year Birthday party for a dear little person...our first REAL Leap Year party ever....so fun!
Hope your snowday is awesome too!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Rainbow Curtain

You may recall that I was going to keep you in the loop about what I've been doing to the apartment...alas, like all my other blog content it has been largely tied up on the "important, but not as important as feeding and clothing my children" list. ;) Until today!

The girls LOVE the idea of rainbows...who wouldn't?!?! It's all their favorite colors rolled into one! AND since I don't really care about their bedroom in this "temporary" (even though we've lived here 6 months) home I let them have what they wanted...but on a STRICT budget...as in, $0!!!

When I found out about the apartment I started to gather dirt-cheap window coverings at garage sales. I got some teal valances for $.50

They are nice..but not nearly enough to cover these HUGE windows...so I got a bedsheet for $.25. And pulled out the Sharpie markers
...and the rubbing alcohol. Sounds dangerous, right?!

DANGEROUSLY FUN!!! (tee hee!)

The girls and I went after the bedsheet and colored ALL OVER it!
 


When it was all colored, we hung it up in the shower to minimize mess, then  took a no-longer-used nose aspirator (yup, it HAS a name), filled it with rubbing alcohol, and squirted the alcohol all over the sheet.




BOOM! TIE-DYED affect without the actual tie-dying! (Which would have been faster, but the colors are hardly ever as vivid as these are; plus it would have cost mega $$ since we would have needed every color of dye!)



Once it was dry (and the shower was cleaned out...very easy...no biggie; promise) I set the girls up with the serger and had them attach it to the valance to make the curtain.
Yes, we did it first thing in the morning so Jammies and bed-head were the dress code. :)
We pressed it a bit, then hung it up! Hooray for curtains!
I have to be honest that it isn't the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen, but the girls LOVE having their drawings on their curtain and the "church window" effect it has on the room....it definitely doesn't block much light, but it works well for privacy, which is what we really needed it for since their window looks out on a busy street.
Snacks anyone?!

Monday, February 27, 2012

Simple Strawberry Hats

You all got to see Leve's Birthday Party here...and the super fun Strawberry Hats she gave as party favors.

The idea came to me when we were at the Dollar Tree and I saw hats for $1...seriously? $1?! They weren't anything to write home about, but they were certainly warm. and red. I figured we could make them into something fitting for the party.

 I also got some yarn and green felt
 The first thing I did was to make the stawberry "seeds"...just "V"s stitched in by hand.
 The inside view
 It took awhile to do this part, but at least I had a cute little boy on the other end of the couch to look at!
 Next up I cut lengths of yarn for each side and put it through the hat on either side. Since the hat I used was sort of knit, I just found a space in the stitching and made it large enough to get the yarn through.
 Then, I braided the two sides. I finished the bottom by simply wrapping several pieces of yarn around the braid and tying it tight.
 Next, I cut about 3 sets of leaves per hat, piled them on top of one another, then stitched them to the top of the hat. (A few of the hats I serged the brim of the hat...they went to siblings and I wanted them to have a way to tell whose was whose.)
 Done and DONE!



The girls all looked SOOOO cute in them and they were a blast to make.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Leve Turns 4

As I said, we are heavy with Birthdays this time of year...and Leve turned 4! It was so much fun...I had to share some photos of that fun evening! She (of course) went with a Strawberry Shortcake Theme.
(The party was planned in D-town and then we all went over to W-town for the actual party...afterall, that's where Our People are!)



Kiki and Leve were in charge of putting out the Strawberry Shortcake Decorations. I like to put up a photo from each Birthday so we can remember the child at each age. These are just mounted onto foam core and hung with painter's tape.  At the end of the night they go back into the "Birthdays" Box.

Party Favors & more decor....the bottom shelf (not shown) was for playing with toys.

Part of Leve's gift were large Strawberry Shortcake stickers for her wall by her bed....
we cut them out and taped them to the wall for the party. She and Kiki had a blast deciding where they should go.


Normally we stick with solid colored party ware, but do themed napkins to make it special....and save $$$.


Pre-party next to her crazy straws...she was SO excited about these!
Note her outfit from Grandma & Grandpa...so cute!

She picked her own menu and Green Scene and Grandma M made it happen...fruit, pizza, and spaghetti.

TJ wasn't feeling 100% that night...just VERY warm and a small rash...so he was in a diaper most of the night. *He is in paper because we were in W-town. We are currently only using cloth in D-town...it just keeps life simpler.


The crew eats...check out the Birthday Girls' face...she slays me!
AMAZING friends and Godmothers to 2 of my children...can't you just SEE how great they are?!

A view of the entire room...very small, but FULL of love!

These two. ;)

How could you NOT love this photo?!

Prior to presents Kiki had everyone downstairs to take part in her "FAIR"...she had set up games and activities for everyone to do in the basement....since most of our possessions are in storage or in D-town she had to be pretty creative. I wish had better photos of all that she did. What an awesome Big Sister. :)
Present time...she had changed clothes into her Lemon Meringue t-shirt she and I had made together....she colored a photo, I scanned it, then printed it onto transfer paper and ironed it to shirt.

TJ tried to find a good place to sit....next to Grandpa C and Grandma M?


Next to J?


H's lap seemed to be the right spot!

Cake time! The tops to the cupcakes were erasers...so fun!



Excited to blow out her candles (in outfit #3!!!)

Waving the smoke away!

Girl Party Favors.
(Boy party favors were Superheros and treats)


She wanted a photo with all her friends where they closed their eyes...so funny!

Homemade strawberry hats.



"Where's your hat, H?!"

So CUTE.

Leve with her most of her Godparents...just missing 1. What a blessed little Girl!


Even "Green Lantern" was tired by the end of the party!