M.I.A.

Yeah, so I've been missing in action for a while, I know.  I hope it won't become a habit.  I've been intimidated by the thought of trying to recap, so instead of worrying about that, here's just a few recent pictures to let you know we're alive, and because I wouldn't want them to be even more out of date than they already are.

Halloween. I wasn't about to get all creative this year.

Of course I went all out for the pie making contest that was part of the Trunk-or-Treat/Fall Festival at the church.
Sheesh, I'm so competitive.
I won a chef's toque.

My little baby burritos. 

Bed head.

Yeah, they all needed hair cuts.

Just one of many shenanigans.

As if the lotion wasn't enough, yes, that's a permanent marker in the middle of it all.

Practicing to be clowns?

Ugh. Breathing treatments for Bronchiolitis. He was so good about it though.

This is a daily occurrence.
This particular masterpiece was done in the medium of yogurt followed by grilled cheese and tomato soup.
(Actually it's warmed up V8, or soup juice as my kids say. And yes, it extended onto the carpet).

This is the lovely Amaryllis I acquired from my Grandmother's house last January.
Don't ask me why it's blooming now. I also have no idea how it survived what I did to it this Summer. 

A Butcher a Baker, a Candlestick Maker...

Rub a Dub Dub, Three Men in a Tub...

We don't have a bathtub in the employee housing here.  I don't know why. I guess it has something to do with it being a government institution and they are required to make it handicapped accessible or something (although I don't think they could really hire a person who is handicapped at this physically demanding job, but whatever).  The boys were begging for a bath, which they badly needed (more on that later), and to be honest, I didn't feel like sharing my shower, so this is what we came up with.

(And yes, you will have that song stuck in your head all day now.)

Brothers

The shirts are a little obvious I know, but just in case you were confused...

Church Mice

Once upon a time, there was an old lady whose job it was to clean the whole church. One day, as she was working, she  came to one room that was particularly messy.

"Oh my!" she said. "This room is so messy, and I'm already so tired, I just don't think I can face this one right now. Perhaps I'll come back later," and she closed the door to go work on other things.
Meanwhile, some little mice who had been hiding in the closet said to each other, "That nice old lady is always cleaning and working so hard to make this place look nice. We should do something special for her.  Hey, I know! Let's surprise her by cleaning this room for her.  That will make her so happy! She'll be so surprised!" With that, the mice began cleaning as fast as they could.


Soon after that, the little old lady came back.  She opened the door slowly with a few jiggles of the handle (because the church was getting so old and the handle didn't always work properly) and when the mice heard her, they ran back into the closet and hid.
"Hmm, maybe this room isn't as messy as I remember," she said, "but it's still too messy to face right now."  She looked around listing all the things that needed to be done, but it was still too overwhelming. "Oh dear, I still don't think I can face it yet. Maybe I'll save it for last," and with that she left the room and closed the door behind her.


Once the coast was clear, the mice came out, and began cleaning again, paying special attention to all the things they had heard the lady mention.  They worked quickly and quietly.
A little while later, the old lady came back --once again struggling with the door, and the mice had just enough time to hide again before she came in.  This time the lady definitely noticed a difference in the room.

"My goodness!" she exclaimed. "Something strange is going on.  I'm sure it was dirtier than this when I was in here before. Maybe I'm going crazy, but I wonder what will happen if I leave it just a little bit longer..."  She noted out loud the few things that still needed to be done, and tried to remember them just to make sure she wasn't imagining things, and then she slowly backed out of the room and closed the door.


The mice warily came out of hiding.  They giggled to themselves to think that the lady didn't know it was them. They finished tidying up, until the room was spotless with nothing on the floor and everything in its place.  There were a few things that didn't belong in the room, but belonged elsewhere in the church, and the mice quietly opened the door and set those things in the hallway. However, when they went to close that stubborn old door, "BAM!" it slammed shut and made a terribly loud noise.  The mice squeaked in fright and hid in the closet again.


The old lady who had heard the noise came to investigate.
"What on earth was that noise?" She said to herself as she opened the door.  "Oh!" she exclaimed, dropping her dust rag in surprise.  "What's going on? Who has been cleaning in here?" She looked around in disbelief.  "Perhaps it's magic?  No... there's something here, in the dust... mice footprints!  It was mice who cleaned this room for me.  How kind!  I will do something to let them know how grateful I am."  And she quickly left the room.

The mice crept out of hiding, and found the dust rag lying there.  They decided to use it, for good measure, and just as they finished up they noticed that the old lady hadn't closed the door behind her, but in fact she was peeking in at them with a kind smile on her face.  They squeaked and quickly ran and hid, but she didn't chase them.  She quietly walked into the room and gently set something down saying softly, "Thank you little church mice!"  Then she turned and left, closing the door behind her.
When the mice finally dared to come out, they found a plate full of wonderful treats, perfectly fit for some helpful little mice.

THE END

This is a game we played as children with my mother or older sister playing the part of the old lady, and we got to be the mice. Why a church, and why mice? I have no idea. I'm not sure where the story came from, it may or may not be original, but I've definitely taken liberties with it as I've written it down here.  After all, it was a little different every time we played (i.e. sometimes the lady left a vacuum instead of a dust rag, or both).  Anyway, I have fond memories of this game. I recently introduced it to my own children and it's been a hit!  I told them the story, and then the first time I had their dad do it with them as a mouse to show them how it's done (they are 4 and 2 after all), but since then they've shown themselves capable of cleaning their own room all by themselves!

Of course, as with all cleaning tricks and games, the novelty will soon wear off; but if it works for even a little while it's worth it right?  I'll take whatever I can get.

I'll post other ideas to make chores fun as we try them.

Do you have any other fun cleaning ideas?

Feelin' Crafty: 'Tale of Two Toys' cloth book

So, this is one of those posts to make me feel better about myself, even if it was a long time ago that I did this, I thought I'd share it here.

One (kind of) finished product, and two un-bound pages.

My husband and I like to give handmade gifts for Christmas, and two years ago we were giving gifts to his brother's family who has two boys close to the same age as our own, and so I thought I'd double up on the project.

I had the idea of making cloth books when I came across this printable (and washable) fabric.  So many awesome ideas ran through my head.  The one that stuck with me was to take pictures of the toys that I was giving as gifts to the boys and put them together in an adventure story. Then the kids could read it together with their toys and perhaps it would excite their imaginations.  I also wanted to personalize it, so I gave the end a twist to include the boys.

Here's the story: (I had the text on the pictures, but I guess I didn't save that version, so you just get the raw stuff.)

Once upon a time there were two toys who ran away from the store to explore the world outside.

They went to the park to play on the swings,

and the slides.

Sometimes they went to the zoo,

to see the animals.

They often climbed trees,

and watched the beautiful sunsets.

They also made friends

with different animals.

Soon, all the leaves fell off the trees, so the toys made a big pile to play in.

One day it snowed.  The toys decided they needed a home.

Then they had a great idea! They got in special boxes and send themselves to two little boys they had heard of who would take care of them and love them. That way, they could always be together.

THE END

I had a lot of fun taking the pictures for these, and I'm sure we got a lot of weird looks, and you have no idea how much lunch meat I fed to the neighbors cat to get him to sit still close to the toys!   We actually lost one of the toys to a dog in the park who decided it was a play thing, and had to go back to the store to replace it.  We were lucky to get an early snowfall so I could finish the book in time, however, when I did the layout I found that I was short one picture.  I'm sure you can figure out which one was photoshopped -horribly I might add- but the kids don't seem to mind.

I wanted to take pictures of things the boys could relate to --things that they did often, and could even bring their toys along to do as well.  The last picture I did differently for each family, and I'm afraid I didn't have the pictures of my own kids to personalize it for them, but it turned out really cute for their cousins, and apparently they really liked seeing themselves in a book.

All I had to do was print the pictures out on my regular ink jet color printer (the instructions are on the fabric), iron them to set the ink, and sew it all together.

The hardest thing for me was actually the sewing it together--since I really don't sew, and luckily two of my wonderfully talented sister-in-laws helped me with that part.  Still, my design for the cover could have been better.  Maybe next time I'll figure it out.

Over all, it was an easy yet somewhat time consuming project --since it spanned over at least a few months, but it didn't really have to.
And did the kids really appreciate it?  Kind of, but it hasn't been until recently (two years later) that they've really taken much interest.  Maybe they were just too young before, but now they've been asking me to read it to them more often. If nothing else, it's fun for me to read because it serves as a reminder of good times and I have fond memories associated with it.

Favorite pictures: The awesome sunset we were lucky to catch, and the giraffes at the zoo.

Shortage

There's been a shortage of cuteness here on my blog.  So here you go.

6th percentile for height.  4 mos.  

Get it?  Short + Age!  ha ha.  

ok so that was pretty lame.

Actually, he was just being stubborn about stretching out to be measured (he's a strong baby!), but I think we finally got it up to 25% on our 2nd try.  

FYI, 70th percentile for weight and 89th for head circumference! 

Yeah, we make 'em big around here (especially their heads... check out this melon --97th percentile!), 

2 2/3 yrs

but they're still so darn cute! (If I do say so myself) ...and funny, and smart...

4 1/2 yrs

Not to mention extremely talented.

Now we've just got to work on photogenics.  The older two are into the phase where they give me goofy smiles any time I get the camera out.  And yes, bed head is apparently all the rage around here. I even sport it on occasion (but no, you don't get a picture of that... that would counteract all the cuteness.)