Storm Warning

I hadn't intended to take such a lengthy blogging break this time around but it has been just what I needed. After having my wisdom teeth out last week I was down for the count. I truly didn't realize what I was getting myself into and wasn't prepared for any of it. Thankfully I have an incredible family that stepped up and without my hubby, mom, and mother-in-law things wouldn't have gone so smoothly around here. I'm happy to report that I'm nearly back to 100% and now that I can actually eat something I'm feeling much more like myself and things are getting back into routine around here. It's about time. The girls were really feeling the change this time and already this week I can see things starting to settle back down.

We did have an unexpected bump in the road last night in the form of some severe weather. The girls slept through the entire thing but I stayed up to make sure the storm passed us by with no trouble. Some strong winds but nothing to worry about in the end. It did, however, make me realize that I haven't done any preparing for this years storm season as of yet. Our emergency bag was still packed, of course, but hadn't been updated in several months. The flashlights were scattered and many of them with dead batteries after the power outage last week. Not a good sign.

So this morning the girls and I will be getting ready.



Today the girls and I will be going through our bags to make sure everything inside is current, getting familiar with our safe location and learning a bit about tornadoes. If you have any good links for teaching young children about severe weather send them my way!

Cuppow

I just received the most fun little birthday gift in the mail. My sister sent this little jar topper to me and said it looked like something I'd like to try out. She was right, I couldn't wait to try it. But first I had to make some iced tea, I think it is pretty much a requirement to drink tea out of a glass jar (something I inherited from my mother no doubt). It's BPA free and recyclable so if it gets worn out or chewed up I can just toss it in the recycling. Yea!



I've started journaling again (which I missed so very much) and since today was such a nice day I thought I'd take it outside. Perfect chance to try out my Cuppow. I actually really liked it, and the girls thought it was so neat. It just sits on the top of the jar and you screw the ring down like normal. It will be great for the summer to keep things out of my drink while I'm outside. The only complaint I have is that it only fits on wide-mouth jars. I would love one that fits on a smaller mouth jar so that I could use them for the girls. These wide-mouth jars are a bit too big for Kait to carry around. Does anyone know if someone makes them for small jars? I definitely would like to have a couple more though as I can see it getting a lot of use.

Birthday roof

Strange post title I know. Doesn't everyone get a new roof for their birthday? No? Oh well. That's what is happening here today on my birthday. I've never experienced a new roof being installed (do you even call it installed?) so I didn't know what to expect but I can tell you I wasn't prepared for this. And to say the girls were unprepared would be the understatement of the century.

We woke to the roofers at the door bright and early this morning and then it all went downhill. The girls were fine with the process until Kinsley started seeing the pieces falling and the noise really started. That was when the tears started falling and my poor sweet baby was terrified. Thankfully Papa came to the rescue and off they went to Nana's house for the morning. I needed to go fill out paperwork for Tuesdays wisdom teeth extraction (more birthday fun) so it worked out nicely anyway. I was gone all morning and came home just a bit ago to this...








Watch out for those nails!


The moment the van door opened you could see the uncertainty in Kinsley's eyes. It was so loud but I thought once I got her inside everything would be okay. We had new movies and yummy snacks but no. She tried really hard, bless her heart, but it wasn't long before the tears were flowing again. And I really can't blame her. It is so loud in here. And poor Kait is really trying to take a nap and just getting frustrated by the noise keeping her awake. Certainly not the way I had anticipated spending my birthday. I think we might just need to take a trip into town for a bit and get away.

But I will have these beautiful flowers waiting for me when I come home, thanks honey.

Tree of Love

One last post today for Valentine's Day. After nap we had some time we needed to fill so we made a love tree for each girl.

All you need is:

Green construction paper
Hearts
A paper to glue them onto
Scissors, pen and glue



I cut all the hearts out while the girls were napping and did about 12 for each tree. You can do as many or a few as you want.




Then when they woke up we traced their hands and arms onto the green paper to make the trunk of our tree.




Glue the "tree" to the other paper. (we used legal size to give us plenty of room for the hearts)




Then glue the heart "leaves" all around the tree.



After we glued on all the hearts the girls told me all the things they love so I could write them on their hearts.



I put their names and the year at the top of each page. I plan to do this every year, Ithink it is a nice way to see what things they value at each age.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope everyone is having a terrific and lovely day today. The girls and I are immersing ourselves in all things pink and lovely (and yummy). Daddy is really the one in charge of Valentine's day gifts so I take on the roll of filling our day with hearts and fun. We started the day off with some new Valentine socks inside pink mailboxes and a love themed breakfast.




I haven't done Bentos as often lately so the girls were especially surprised to see one this morning. Kaitlyn even ate her toast, which is a big deal for her. I need to remind myself to do them more often.

Just before nap Kinsley whipped up some of this 'Fudge' we found on Pinterest. It was a perfect easy recipe for Kinsley to do and doing it right before nap made the time it needed to stay in the fridge easy to handle.


Two ingredients:
White chocolate chips
Strawberry frosting



Dump the chocolate chips in a bowl and resist the urge to dive right in and eat them all. What? That's not just me right?



Melt them in the microwave and then add in the frosting and mix well.



Or if you're Kaitlyn just eat some and watch.




Doesn't this look good?



Then we spread it into a pan we coated with a bit of cooking spray and decorated the top with some heart sprinkles.



It's so cute!



Pop it in the fridge for a bit to harden and you're finished. I cut a few out with a heart shaped cookie cutter but I had a hard time getting them out of the pan in one piece. I think if we had used a smaller pan, so they would be a bit thicker, it wouldn't have been a problem.

I will warn you though, they are like eating pure sugar. Definitely a case of a little goes a long way.



We definitely won't be eating all of them with our after nap snack.

Valentine Play

We're still working on some Valentine crafts today but this morning we woke to a thin layer of snow outside. The girls always really want to play in the snow but within 5 minutes are complaining of the cold and ready to come inside. This time mama was prepared and last night I put an empty plastic tub out on the back porch to catch some snow for a little inside snow play.








They had a blast playing with snow for the next hour. Building animals, making shapes and eating lots and lots of it before it finally melted.





We also had a Valentine station set up this weekend so they could make Valentines as the mood hit them. I took one of our 6 count muffin tins and filled each compartment with different papers and supplies.



It's always easy to tell which art belongs to Kinsley because everything is usually in a straight line.

Today we're going to be doing some pages from this Pre-K Valentine pack from Over the Big Moon! It is full of fun pages and there are things both girls will be able to do which is nice.

Toilet paper roll heart painting

I love Deborah over at Teach Preschool and have gotten so many great ideas from her blog, like this heart stamping activity.





Easy Peasy. Gather up your supplies:

Toilet Paper Roll--I cut one roll in half since that was all I had empty
Paint (we used acrylic)
Paper



I taped the papers down to the table to keep them from slipping but mostly to keep Kaitlyn from throwing hers into the floor.





I spread a layer of the acrylic paint into a couple small glass bowls to help keep the mess contained. You could just as easly spread it on a paper plate or piece of waxed paper.




Then take your toilet paper roll and squish it into the shape of a heart. I wrapped it with scotch tape to help it hold its shape but that wouldn't be necessary for older kids.



Then you just turn them loose and let them go!








Kait quickly tired of getting paint on her fingers and opted for a brush. (not that it was any less messy)



Kinsley decided to use a brush and fill in her second page of hearts.





We ended up with some terrific Valentine art for the house and the girls had a great time painting with something just a bit different.

Boys and birds

Have you made these birds yet? It is such a fun and easy pattern. Great for a last minute baby gift since they go together so quickly and easily.



I've made them for every new member of our family since Kinsley and they've been a big hit with all of them. I made a few changes, adding a bell inside and a ribbon tail and they've become a fun toy. My girls mostly use theirs like missiles now but at least they are still being played with.

I also finally made the tie applique shirts that is seems like everyone else has already made. I've had them bookmarked forever and I don't know why they kept getting bumped down the list.



Much more comfy than an actual tie and super cute too. I printed this template , from Crap I've Made, to make mine. She has a picture tutorial too if you're new to applique.

Winter week

Brrr. What a cold morning to start our week. I was beginning to think that Winter was just going to skip us this year but today we are reminded that winter isn't quite over yet. I think it is one of those days to stay in warm jammies and stick close to the fire. We have a lot more cleaning out and organized ahead of us this week (neverending it seems) but we're also going to be working on some valentine projects.



Little miss Kait is finally starting to take a (very small) interest in our crafting though she still prefers to try and eat whatever supplies we may be working with. It will come in time I'm sure.





We need to get better paint brushes though, something a bit more sturdy and reliable for small hands. I'm not sure if I should just pick up some nice 'adult' brushes from the craft store or go for some of the thicker ones designed for kids. I'll likely end up doing both, a set for each girl perhaps.

Seuss Party...Part 2

Everyone had such a great time at the boys' birthday party. Somehow it managed to be pretty stress free and none of the kids had any major meltdowns so it was a success. Obviously the boys didn't understand why there was a party but they liked it anyway. Especially the cupcakes!







And what good would a Seuss party be without some matching outfits. The boys, of course, needed to be Thing 1 and Thing 2 although we weren't quite sure which one should get which number but since Andrew is technically a few seconds older he got number 1.










But of course babies need bibs. Even if we didn't remember to have them wear them during the cupcake eating process. Whoops.


















The Seuss fabrics were all so cute that I couldn't resist making the girls some party dresses as well. Kinsley picked the yellow fabric for hers and Kait got the Cat in the Hat. She walked around saying "hat mama! Hat!" and pointing to her dress. I made the dresses a bit bigger than their actual size thinking they could wear them some this Spring but it turns out they have grown since the last time I took their measurements and Kait may not be able to wear her dress again. She's growing way too fast.