Its a Wild Life

Saturday, January 17, 2009

When the Sisters are Away...

Mommy and Cali play.

My turn is coming for our preschool group. I've been thinking about having a snowman party for our day. I needed to try out a few things and figured Cali could help me get started.

We made snowman dough tonight. We often make playdough and it's always a hit. We usually make it with Kool-Aid as it smells so good and is great for color. This time we left it out. I was wondering if I could find some sort of essential oil that had a woodsy scent. I thought it might remind me of the outdoors, where snowman should be built.

I let Cali do most everything other than cook it. Our dough is a little oily as it was tricky for her to pour the oil into the tablespoon. And it is very glittery; she just kept adding and adding!

After we made the dough, we needed to test it so we set forth making snowmen. I probably shouldn't have let her do this part as it was something I intended to do with our group. I am hoping over the next few days she will come up with more ideas of things we can use for embellishments. We used pipe cleaners, some craft foam scraps, and buttons.

Cali's snowman has a lot of stuff going on but what I love the most is the jump rope.

My snowman is rather boring next to her creativity but it was fun to make just the same.
Cali took this lovely photo. (It was a looong day- hence the reason I look sooo tired)

After we made our snowmen I told Cali to build whatever she wanted. She made this.

I'll give you 3 guesses.
1. It's not a spider.
2. It's not a sun
3. It's not a ...(fill in anything you can possibly think of here)

It is a...

Trampoline for the snowmen!
I thought it was so great I told her I wanted another picture. While I was trying to take this picture, Cali said (and I quote) "Mom, kids make art, and I am a kid who makes great art!"

And I agree!

I am thinking "Mother's Day" gifts made by the kids

Isn't this the cutest.
I saw this post at Zakka Life a while back. (I thought I'd been led there via How About Orange and this post but I don't see a link there now so God only knows how I got there.) Anyhow, when I did, I immediately thought they would make nice Valentine decorations or even a cute gift Mother's Day if I could incorporate some color. I was thinking along the lines of doing them with Cori's and Cassi's classes.

I finally made one yesterday. I didn't have the paper cutter out so my cuts aren't perfect. :( Such is life. After I was finished, I still kept thinking it needed a little color. So I grabbed a tiny spray paint can and gave it a quick dust of yellow. The I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw some of these flowers in a vase on the counter, popped one off and viola!, now I LOVE it.

I won't bother with re-writing how to go about it since I've linked you above, but they are super easy. And I still think they will be perfect for reusing an old magazine around the house and make a cute decoration/gift for Mom in her favorite color, whether it be for Valentine's day or Mother's day.

We are off to make several in pink, purple and teal for Princess Cassi's room.

Have a fun day!

Friday, January 16, 2009

This is so AWESOME

OK, so maybe I am her MOM, but still I think it's cool! Cali made her name with pipe cleaners today. She and her sisters were making all sorts of things last night with these; like flowers and butterflies. She would not let me put them away this morning. Now I know why; she had a plan. Here it is.

PS. She had peanut butter and jelly for lunch. :)

Another Daily Dose.

This is the most wonderful story. Enjoy.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

A Daily Dose

Here is your first dose today (maybe) of something awe-inspiring, whimsical and just plain old cool.
Go here to read about it. I read it about it first, here.

Cheers!

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Here is it...

THE FIRST PICTURE OF THE NEW YEAR!

OK, not really. I took a lot of photos as the clock struck 12 however since this is tradition and it's what I choose to call it, so we shall.

And in case you aren't aware, this Holmes family has a tradition that started Cori's first New Year's Eve. Actually, just before we went to bed that New Year 11 years ago, we held out a camera at arm's length and took a photo of the three of us.

Every year thereafter we did the same thing. Just before going to sleep we held out the camera and took a photo. When Cassi came along we piled in a little closer and by the time Cali came we had added a few family members that are always with us that night and have even had some visiting family every now and then.

As our numbers grew it became harder to hold the camera at arms length and get a photo that included every one. And although we always try to take it that way we have often had to have a friend take the photo before they leave the house.

Since Amber was with us this year, as was Wren, and we are all getting a little bigger, it was almost impossible to get a good photo that we all fit in. To be sure we had some thing to keep forever and always Veon stayed long enough to take a few photos for us.

Here is wishing you the best for 2009. My wish is that we all be happy, healthy and grateful.

Happy New Year

Can you believe it is 2009?

2008 was quite a memorable year: My children each one year older, Scott and I married 1 year longer, and we've had visits from Great Aunts, Grandma's and Nana's and even Great-Grandma's.

All 5 of us are looking forward to all the New Year brings. Ahead of us, we have performances in "Oliver", dance recitals, cheer competitions, and lots of soccer.

As the weather begins to warm (and trust me even 0 will be warm compared to the 20-30 degrees below that we've seen lately) we will spend more time at the beach collecting rocks, playing in the sand and making fires to cook out by, getting ourselves in-gear running and practicing some footwork with a soccer ball and just being busy! It's what we do and we love it.

The Eve of the New Year was filled with silliness and belly laughs, and all around good fun. Here are a few highlights, moments that make my heart swell and things that make me smile. (And you too, I hope)