kirstencan

Miniswap 3 - Sent

We had a lot of fun planning treats for our Miniswap partners - two little girls - such fun!

T-shirts (thrifted) dressed up with some appliqué.

Little embroidered fairy dolls on linen.  The design was just a little doodle that I did.  Princess helped with some of the stitching.  The backs of these are two pink cotton prints.  I'm especially fond of the wool felt wings.

Hand-dyed playsilks and peg dolls.  Princess helped with the dolls, too.

One morning I got all three kiddos stringing beads.  It was one of those awesome moments where everyone is happy, quiet, and doing a project.  I love those (fleeting) times.  If you look closely at the beads you might notice a couple of clay ones and a few fabric ones that Princess and her friend made one day.

I packaged each girl's gifts separately - and there were a couple more goodies included in the package as well.

The Miniswap is such fun - and such a great idea.  It would be fun to do a little miniswap of your own with cousins or friends that live far away.  And the Miniswap flickr pool is a great place to get ideas for handmade gifts for kids.

(And here's what I sent and received last year).

Miniswap 3 - Received

The Miniswap package arrived!  My partner was Michelle of Greetingarts.

It was a blur of paper and goodies... the kids were so excited.

For Princess - markers, stamps, stickers, notebooks - good, girly, crafty stuff for my girl - and she loves it.

For the boys:  sidewalk chalk, books, and...

A rocket!

And aliens!  Michelle says the pattern is modified from a free one found here.  Since I don't knit or crochet, I'm always in awe at the cool stuff people can do with yarn!  These are awesome!

My boys (and Princess, but the boys especially) LOVE the rocket.  And Michelle, thanks so much for making two aliens!  I'm happy to report that the rocket flies well, the aliens have had lots of important missions, and are getting along well with spacerobot.

Thank you so much, Michelle!  This swap was fun!

(Hopefully she'll get my package today - and then I'll post what I sent to her girls).

New Boots

We dug out some rain boots - miraculously finding a pair for each of the boys.

We went outside to do the things we haven't been able to for months - like slide,

swing,

actually see the big trucks we left out all winter that have been buried in snow for months,

and generally make a mess.

Here's wishing you a nice and muddy Outside Day today - we'll be out back again this afternoon if you need us!

I like random posts

I'm wanting to show you what I made for my miniswap partner - we had fun putting the package together.  But that will have to wait a few more days until it's delivered!

Getting the package posted - not so fun.  I had several little packages that needed to go out, so we stopped by the P.O on the way to Thomas' bus stop.  With like 35 minutes to spare.  Plenty of time.

Or not.  There was (of course) only one worker at the counter, and he was helping a woman who ended up with a receipt that was at least 5 feet long.  No lie.  There were about 8 people in front of me, so when Monkey started trying to run away (and Princess, trying to help, was trying to tackle him) I just ditched and we left for the bus stop.  Sadly, we wouldn't have made it through the line in time!

Which means.... another trip after the bus stop  - only with three kids at the P.O. instead of two.  Now THAT's fun stuff, people.  Three kids, four packages, sympathetic smiles from the others in line...

.............

Possibly the sympathetic smiles were in part due to Princess' fabulous outfit yesterday.  She even fixed her hair herself (which usually turns out a tad neater) and wore a handmade pipe cleaner crown.  That's a sweet outfit.  I actually loved it and when I went to snap a photo of her she said, "Yeah, this is a pretty interesting combination, isn't it?"

Yup.  And the light blue hoodie she put on top of it all made everything even better, let me tell you!

..............

On the potty-training Monkey front:  success!  This kid, I swear he hasn't had an accident since the 2nd day of trying.  He's amazing, yells "Potty Power!", punches the air, and runs up the stairs all by himself.  Like, every 10 minutes - I'm getting a bit tired of emptying his potty chair so often, but I haven't had to ask him to go potty at all.  He even went at church (yelling "Potty Power!" down the hall and everything).  What a great kid!

...............

Also yesterday, I had my follow-up about my knee.  Apparently I've torn some cartilage and will need surgery.  The good news is that that should clear up the pain, which would be awesome.  The bad news is... surgery!  Yikes!

And I still have no cool story to tell about what happened.  Nothing happened, I swear!  So, I would like to start making up stories to tell people.  Like...
I was snowboarding, and on the half-pipe, when I wiped out.
Or, I was running after a burglar when I slipped on the ice.

Any other suggestions?

Winter Survival Tip #273

(yeah, a randomly chosen number).

I've been wanting to write a couple of posts about stuff to do with your kids when you're all dying to go outside - but it's just too cold, muddy, and wet.*

Get out the slide.
(Or, bring in the slide).

We bought this little slide when Princess was about 16 months old.  I remember wondering if she'd outgrow it too quickly, but it's been in near-constant use ever since.  It has always been an inside toy, and it has been especially fun this week because Aaron pulled it out of the basement, where it's been since we started remodeling the playroom.

When we lived in an apartment, we kept the slide in the living room, and I was always amazed at how much it was used.  Even while watching TV, Princess would be constantly climbing and sliding.  A good way to get some exercise.

Here's what the kids have been doing with our newly rediscovered slide:

Going down backwards into a pile of pillows and blankets.


Sending our stuffed toys down it (Lumpy, of course).

Having a toy car race.

You can also make hideouts.  The kids still try putting blankets over the slide, even though 2 of the 3 are now too big to fit inside - so they just lay with their heads under!

*I want to start getting outside with the kids more often - no matter the weather (note to self:  we need rain boots!).  In the spring/summer/fall we're outside a LOT - but it's been SO cold and we've had really bad air quality here, so we've not been able to lately.

p.s. And yes, the kids are in their pajamas again - I think I take the most pictures in the morning - and for the record we're not even BYU football fans, I found Thomas' shirt at a yard sale. ;)

p.p.s. It's Grace's birthday, today - go wish her a happy day!

The Other Tour

Sometimes you walk around looking at the colors...

... and other times you walk around looking at the "decorations" (and shaking your head sadly).

My kids are very involved in our home decorating, can you tell?

Here's the Pièce de résistance, the coat closet door:

Lovely, isn't it?

Ha!  Couldn't let you think our walls were pristine or anything.  Oh, and I forgot to take a picture of the edge of one of our walls - covered with sharpie and attacked with child scissors.  It's awesome.

Hope you have a nice weekend - we'll be trying out our new (used) car (finally!), working on a Nice Hands chart for Thomas, and in the bathroom a lot with Monkey (he's doing AWESOME!) - oh, and finishing up the Miniswap - I'm almost ready, I swear!.

Wish Me Luck

Big stack of underwear?  Check
(Stack of cloth diapers to sop up puddles?  Also check.)

Potty chairs pulled out and cleaned?  check
(One for upstairs, one for downstairs + the urinal!)

Not shown:  stickers, fruit snacks, water bottle, and lots of juice - check.

Doofy little sign to hype up the day?  Check.

Thomas took a whole year to be fully potty-trained.  Which is why I've had no energy to train Monkey yet.  And he's actually wanted to (sometimes).  But as much as I'm kind of dreading this, I know he'll be much easier to train than Thomas, and I'm looking forward to having no more diapers in the house! 
What a thing to imagine! :)

Belated

I took the kiddos with me to Thomas' class Valentine party.  Princess and Thomas were both wearing red and looking very cute.  Thomas for some reason had an opinion on his wardrobe that morning - and would not wear a red shirt - until I whipped up a Darth Vadar button for him to wear with it (picture from a Lego magazine + thrifted button maker = rock on!). 

Monkey wore red, too - except I put him in his red shirt far too early, and, of course, he spilled on it.

What should you wear now?

Oh, I'll wear my robot shirt!

(Oh, the plain shirt that you've picked out for your robot shirt, but doesn't actually have a robot on it yet?  He's always been a little envious of Thomas' robot shirt, I think.)

Well, I spent literally 5 minutes stenciling this little guy - who has a heart because of the holiday.  And I dig his turquoise shoes.  He dried just in time to wear to the party.  It's a little sloppy, but Monkey was very very proud of it.

He kept looking down at it and pointing out his robot to people (and we all wore little felt heart pins- made from that felted sweater that I made Princess' stocking from).  And then we had pasta for dinner and he proceeded to ruin his new shirt.  Figures.

Cream puffs were on the menu for Valentine's day - and they didn't happen for some reason or other.  But tonight I made them.  They're really so easy to make - impressive, but easy.  I fill them with a faux-mousse made from pudding with cool whip folded in - quite yummy. Since the boys' don't eat any dairy, Princess was quite impatient for them to go to bed so we could eat them! :)

MRI

So, Friday morning found me at the hospital, having an MRI on my knee. 

It was actually really interesting, I wish I would have taken my camera.

I didn't have to go all the way into the MRI machine - which I was grateful for - if I ever need to, I might need the valium they offered.

I took OK Computer to listen to.  It was the perfect music choice and if you are having an MRI anytime soon, I highly recommend it.  Even with the crappy headphones provided, it made for some good listening.  I'm afraid that the technician was none to happy about listening to Radiohead, but I couldn't spend 45 minutes listening to her country music station.  No siree.

(Oh, by the way, Mom, I changed the presets on your car radio.  You had two buttons the same and one country station!  That's not allowed).

I discovered that I'm not good at keeping still.  I'm really not.  I almost tapped my foot during Kharma Police, but otherwise I did great.  In part because I could see the timer and know exactly when I'd be able to itch my nose.

They told me to come in sweatpants.  I discovered that I don't own any.  Now, had I known that earlier, I could have made cute pajama pants (or bought some sweats).  I decided to go for the gusto and arrived in my leopard print pajama pants.  Also highly recommended. ;)

Meeting Shannon

So, about that special valentine...

Princess and I had a night out this week.  It's always fun to have a girls' night out.  We headed downtown to a bookstore where Shannon Hale and her husband were speaking.

What fun!

They are hilarious.  No, seriously, they are both super charismatic and I was laughing the whole time they spoke.  They have a short story written together in an anthology called First Kiss (Then Tell) so they were talking about how they met and ... it was just so funny!  It's awesome when you see that someone who's work you respect is nice!  Quite, actually.

Later, they signed books - Princess brought Princess Academy, and I brought Austenland (you already know I love Austenland).

Princess wanted to make Shannon a valentine, so she made her a cookie bouquet - with a Black Apple card attached.  The best part was what she wrote on the back:

Dear Shanonn:

I love your books!

Please let me know when you write a new book.

(and then she wrote our phone number!) 

Heart, (she drew a heart) [Princess]

p.s. Thanks for writing good books.

Sweet, huh?  It was pretty funny to watch her - she was a little nervous (and SO excited) to meet one of her favorite authors.  She's read and re-read most of Shannon's books.  When it was her turn to get her book signed (it was a nice small group, so the line wasn't long, and Shannon took time to really talk to each person) Princess totally froze up!  She managed to say a couple of times that 'They're really good.'
Ha! 

This from the Girlwhowillnoteverstoptalking-
noseriouslywearetalkingaconstantstreamofchatter. 

So it made me chuckle to see her dumbfounded. 

What really made me chuckle was when we were heading out of the store and Princess stopped to tie her shoe - I finally opened the book to see what Shannon had written in my copy of Austenland:



Yeah, baby!