another snow day.....

.......another craft.

These floral barrette's and headbands are all the rage lately. I see them all over blogland, and have a few other friends that have made them too. They are super simple to make. Just take some synthetic fabric (organza, acrylic, satin,etc..) cut out circles of different sizes, run the edges over a flame of a candle or lighter, and assemble. The edges melt and naturally curl into a cup shape, then you stack the cups together in descending sizes, and they make beautiful frilly flowers. Then if you like, take beads or sequins and stitch to the center. Wala... pretty flowers. You can stitch the flowers to barrettes, or headbands, or even to a shirt, or necklace. They are very nice and add a cute feminine touch.This is Natasha's finished barrette.
And Alena's.
Kenzie was trying to thread her needle.
Here is just a few of our finished frillies. Perfect activity for yet another snow day!

Do not be decieved....

This little face, this cute grin, the infectious giggle, and the funny little words he says, It is not what it seems. This boy is trouble!!
Jackson is such a little smarty pants! He has so much energy, and he is so very smart. He looks innocent enough, but that little mind of his is thinking about what he can get into next.
He won't be 2 for another 3 weeks, but he is already perfecting the art of temper tantrums.
He can point out many numbers and letters by name, and he can throw like a pro ball player.
The other 2 kids are smart too. JT is a math and construction genius, and Mackenzie has been on the honor roll for a year, but this little guy is very, very advanced for a nearly 2 year old.
I can't decide if he keeps me young, or makes me feel really old. He definitely keeps me on my toes!!
No matter how much trouble this little guy is, you can't help but love him! He really is the center of attention at our house, and he brings us all so much joy!

All done!!!

Do you remember the snow day projects that I started during the great "snowmaggeddon" that we had in the last few weeks. Well there is still snow outside (how long will it take for 3 feet of snow to melt),
But the projects are finally done.

Here is Jackson's new table and chairs, chair pads and all. I painted them, and then sanded the edges for a more rustic look. The table started out brown, but I decided that color wasn't right, so I used leftover blue from Jackson's bedroom walls, and painted the table blue, but the inside is the same green as the chairs. I am debating about painting a chalkboard on the table, but John doesn't like that idea. He thinks it will encourage him to draw on the furniture. I still think the table top needs something.
I did a little detail stitching on the chair pads, and made a cute felt applique that matched the fabric print. I did 4 of each turtles and snails. The chair pads are reversible, with yellow and snails on one side, and white and turtles on the other.

Here is a look at the chairs, one with each side of chair pad showing.

The chair has a shelf on the bottom, and a storage cubby under the seat. Jackson likes to put all kinds of treasures there.
Yesterday, Jackson enjoyed his first snack at the table. The furniture turned out quite large, his feet don't even touch the floor. He should be able to use these for a long time. JT even sat at the table with him yesterday.
As long as I can keep him from climbing on top of the table, we should be fine. I think he likes them!!

Happy love day

This little icicle was our little Valentine miracle hanging outside our bathroom window this morning. I thought it was perfect for the day! I hope you all have lots of love today.

Last night our church had a progressive dinner for the adults. It was a ton of fun. appetizers at one house, main course at another with different couples, and dessert at the church with everyone, and games to boot. I do believe a great time was had by all, and I hope we do it again!!

We came home from church today to heart and lip shaped sandwiches from daddy. It was all yummy, and extra special with the love.

What did you do for your snow day?

This was my snow day project this week. I spent a couple of days playing carpenter
We got this table and chair set from a neighbor. It has 4 chairs, and pretty hearts allover it. Nice, and perfect for the little girls it came from, but a little too delicate for our rough and tumble rowdy boy. I was just going to replace the backs of the chairs, and give it a new coat of paint, but they are old, and a little wobbly.
So I made a new base for the table using these plans here, from Knock off Wood. I used the existing table top. and the base has a storage bin in the bottom.
I also used the plans for this chair here, but I changed it a bit, and added a hinges seat with an additional storage bin.
Jackson seems to like them, and they are quite large and he will be able to use them for a long time. They still need some wood filler, sanding, and a good coat of paint, but they turned out pretty good! I may have to sew some chair pads too, who knows, there are endless possibilities to think of.

Round 2

Round 2 of the "snowpocalypse" or "snowmaggedon" hit us Tuesday afternoon. After the 21" that we got on Saturday, we got another 12" this round. This storm was enough to cancel school and all church and other activities for the rest of the week. (they could have had school, but they have Monday off for Presidents day, so I think they wanted an extended weekend)
This is what the street looked like on Wednesday morning. It snowed from Tuesday afternoon until Wed. at 9 pm.

JT and his friend Justin spent the day building snow caves and a tunnel system. It was really quite large and roomy.
I think I have had my fill of snow for the year, but unfortunately it is supposed to snow again in a week. So much for global warming.

Blizzards and Stone Soup

Winter here in Pennsylvania is often very cold, and usually snows, but nothing like this!! PA has been declared in a state of emergency today due to the wonderful blizzard that we had last night. I think we totaled around 15-18 inches in our area(Ok officially it was 21"), but there are drifts up to 4 1/2 feet. I also so a pic of some near us that measured 22 inches( they have dubbed this storm "snowpocalypse 2010). John works weekends, and tried to go to work this morning, and after shoveling the car out of our driveway, he made it about 4 houses down the street, before getting stuck in a neighbors driveway.


This is what Jackson looked like in a shallow drift, and below is me on our back deck. It is past my knees.

So, What is a kid to do with snow like this? Make an extensive cave and tunnel system of course!! All of the kids on our street congregated in front and built some pretty cool snow caves!
This is the snow drift up the side of the van.
The girls were all cold, so they huddled together and all tried to stand over the heat register together. So what are cold kids supposed to eat on a day like today? Stone Soup!! I invited them all to participate and bring something to donate to our soup, I even added a real stone!!
Jackson was my little Chef's apprentice, and helped me put the chopped veggies into the pot.

We enjoyed our soup with homemade whole wheat bread (with red swirls for Valentines day). One kid told me that he doesn't usually like wheat bread, but mine was good, and I have to agree, it is pretty darn good!
All of the kiddies enjoyed their meal. I think all but one had multiple bowls of soup and pieces of bread. One of the moms down the street made chocolate chip cookies and brought to share too. Not a bad way to spend a snow day!!!

New Jammies!

This fall Kenzie's band played with the Shippensburg University band at one of their football games. At the game they were handing our these free T-shirts. They were plain except for this saying on the back.I decided to use these to make something else.

New Jammie for the little guy. Now trying to get him to hold still long enough to take a good picture of them is a real challenge, but they turned out cute!

I used the existing neckline and collar so that part was easy. I also used the bottom hem that was already there for the ham on the pant legs, so less work for me there too! I just traced around some pants and shirt that we already had, and cut out the basic shape. I traced the sleeves separately, and then sewed them on after. As for the saying on the back, I added this green stripe with some scraps from a different project, and then I used some scrap orange to make the snake. The snake kind of wraps around to the back of the shirt too.
It turned out cute, and only took me about an hour to sew all together. The best part is that it was all FREE!!!!