Cardboard Castle

 

 

What child wouldn't want a castle for all his or her little knights and princesses? And when they're done with it...recycle it!

This one is based on the one found on the Family Fun site. But there are tons of other really creative ones out there. I LOVE this one.

Happy V-Day

Wishing you a happy day on this day of love!

Joke

Hannah is sound spelling and I love to read her little notes...it's almost like reading a coded message.

Kindness Begins With Me

We made a Thankful Tree back in November and haven't taken it down. But now it's February and it's time to change it up!

We cut and decorated little hearts that people can put up when they have done something kind, but if something unkind happens then a heart gets taken off. We're aiming to get the tree filled with love. It was a little difficult the first couple of days, but it's helping everyone to be more aware of the kind and unkind things that they are doing.

Fortunately, at the moment the kind acts are outnumbering the unkind ones!

I think Hannah was trying to work the system after I overheard her say, "Oh Emily can I help you to put that heart on the tree?" and then "Oh, now I get to put a heart on the tree!"...oh the mind of a 5 year old!

6 month update

Time for an update!

After just 6 short months, this happy baby is still very happy most of the time.

- She still loves to watch her sisters twirl, "skate", and jump around. And her face lights up when Hannah comes home from school.

- She makes lots of bubbles and drools nonstop but no teeth yet!

- She eats rice cereal, applesauce, sweet potatoes, and bananas and loves them all.

- She is getting stronger but still hasn't decided to roll over yet. She prefers to be sitting or on her back and really doesn't enjoy tummy time.

- She loves to use her hands to grab anything within reach, especially hair.

- She is all smiles when I lay her on Emily's bed to sing Emily a song before nap time.

We are so happy that she is part of our eternal family!

Turning Point

As a move to simplify, I am merging blogs so there will be more posts of everyday life here.

This last week Emily turned three! We had fun celebrating it over two days as a family.

She wanted a rainbow cake with purple frosting and the girls helped with the decorating.  I should have taken a picture of the inside which had layers of every color of the rainbow...I'm sure you can imagine it.

Here are some of her favorites:

• Favorite color: pink, which she wears just about everyday except on Sunday when she wears her favorite purple dress.
• Favorite food: just about anything, but especially loves fried rice and meatballs or just meat.
• Favorite activity: puzzles.  She starts to gather up all the pieces once she decides she can finish the puzzle on her own. Playing picnics is a close second.

New milestones:

• Is fully potty trained day and night and I couldn't be happier since this is hands down my least favorite parenting task up until now.
• Loves to say prayers.  It took a little bit of coaxing at first but now she loves to say them all by herself and of course now she and Hannah fight over who is going to say it.
• Knows her ABCs and lots of numbers.  It's hard to believe that she has 2 more years until school... 

Melt my heart moments:

• She usually thanks the cook of the meal, "Mama (or Papa), thanks for the delicious food!" 
• When she tries to contain all her love for her sister and says, "Baby Sarah I love you, I touch your neck!"
• When she and Hannah are getting along, which seems less frequent these days.  Why must siblings fight, compete, tease, etc. ?

We love you Emily!

Valentine

This is our first year making valentines for a little valentine party the girls and I are going to. I wanted to avoid attaching sugar as much as possible, since I already know there will be a lot of that around.

The hearts were made using the super simple Love Hearts crochet pattern, and they have a magnet attached to the back.

Originally I was going to reuse some used canning lids, since the message would make more sense, but decided against it since they sort of have sharp edges and all the paper stuff was too much work.