Cutesy alert! I made these ATCs for a We Love Hello Kitty swap at Swap-Bot. I know, you either love her or hate her. The girls and I fall into the first camp.

So instead of just doing whites sorting all day on my husband's birthday, we went to Ikea where he exchanged a defective transformer and I took Kai and Tess to the cafeteria for a snack. Good thing I did because after that we decided to go out for Indian food and of course, the Boy child would not eat anything there. So the not so healthy PB&J Uncrustable he ate at Ikea turned out to be his dinner. Mine and David's on the other hand was delish, Vegetable Pakora, Samosas, Channa Masala, Onion Kulcha, Naan, Vegetable Biryani and Chicken Tikki Masala. Oh so good. I was disappointed in the side of pickle, but you can't have everything, I guess.

Birthday presents for Daddy.
The girls got out their polymer clay and made these adorable creations for their daddy. The 8 year old made the two bears and giant birthday cake tableau and the 12 year old made the bear with neck tie and cute little 'Happy B-day' sign.
Hee, hee, don't look too closely or you'll see some fuzz attached.

Happy birthday to my dear husband! We are the same age now until my birthday in July. Birthdays sure do change as you have children and get older. As he left with Lydia to take her to ice skating lessons, he told me what he really wanted for his birthday.
Was it a nice dinner out? A new power tool? A night at the movies?

Nope.

The poor guy said he really wanted for us to sort through the whites wash and get all the socks paired up.
Pathetic, no? What have we become? LOL

Yes, I am a dork.
I just got this in the mail today and boy, am I excited! I am a total Columbo/Peter Falk fangirl. I own seasons 1-5 and now 6 & 7 on DVD and I watch at least one episode a week. I can quote episodes, I know how many times Jack Cassidy played the killer (that would be 3), which episode starred Martin Sheen as the murder victim (that would be Lovely But Lethal).

I am a complete and total Columbo nerd and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Should I be?

I've always wanted to make microscope slide pendants, here is a sample of my first few tries. I need more practice with the putting on the silver foil tape. Some people use solder to hold the pieces of glass together but I don't mind the look of the tape. I made the group of 3 last night and Lydia did the one with the giraffe. They are really fun and I will definitely make more soon.

I somehow ended up with a subscription to Body & Soul magazine, I think I got it from a freebie site. All I know is that I never paid for it. Anyway, I was reading an article about an American woman who married a Swedish man and now they live on some Scandinavian island with their twins. She wrote a book about Scandinavians and their relationship with the outdoors. The article said that instad of nesting and hibernating in the cold weather months, that we should embrace the change of seasons and go out into the cold and experience winter to the fullest.

Well, my first reaction to that was, yeah, not a bad idea. I get depressed in the winter, I should go out and become one with nature and all that. So this morning I decided that Kai and I should go out for a walk around the block. We bundled up, headed out and I was miserable the whole darn time. It was even sunny but I just could not get into the spirit of it. Kai was fine but I was grumpy and mad at the cold. Yes, a 4 year old was more mature about being cold than I was.

Moral of the story? We won't be moving to any Swedish islands anytime soon and that's the last time some free magazine is going to get me outside in below freezing weather.

Another swap completed. This was a Recycled Stuffie/Softie, the point was to re-use materials. I made a sock doggie out of 3 of my little boy's mismatched baby socks. hee hee, I like the way he came out.

My oldest daughter has had a milestone moment in her life, I won't go into exact details of what that is. Suffice to say, she's growing up and it's bringing all sorts of different feelings up for me. The first one I felt when she shared this news with me was happiness, she's passing into a new world now, something that we can share, she's becoming a young woman and while I am first and foremost her mama, I also feel like I am her friend. We talked about my passing onto this stage of my life, I just happened to also be 12 and in 7th grade at the time. I told her how her grandma reacted when I told her. Not much hoopla, of course, my mom is not known for being very emotional, just very practical. That's ok.

I made her a bracelet and told her I hoped she would remember this day when she wears it. She was very reserved about it and non-plussed, like it's no big deal. Maybe it is no big deal, maybe she talks about it with her friends, I doubt it though. She is not one for talking, I wish she was but I can't force her to be something she's not. I do keep yapping at her about growing up and changes and yes...boys...ugh, she still seems uninterested but I told her I hope she's never embarrassed to ask me anything.
I wish my mom would have told me that, I never talked to her about anything personal, I wish she would have opened that door just a crack.

Oh well, one more daughter to go through this. Not for awhile, I hope, she will be another story entirely.

Happy 2007!

Meet my mouse for the Recycled Stuffie Swap at Swap-Bot, he's made out of two old wool sweaters that I felted and his fancy rhinestone button eyes are from my mom's stash. I hope he goes to a good home.

Getting more personal that I usually do here, but what the heck, I have like 4 readers? LOL
Went out with the kids to visit some friends today. I've been feeling blue and this perked me right up. It's amazing how therapuetic a bit of baby holding, watching your kids play with friends they haven't seen in a while and catching up with your own good friend can be. Why do they have to live an hour away?

Can anyone tell me what a 7th grade art teacher bases her students grades on? Lydia chose art as an elective this year over chorus. She is very creative, finishes all her projects on time and does all the requirements, yet she got a B- this term. I am not hung up on grades at all, but Lydia was really shocked at getting this grade in her favorite class and is kind of disappointed.
It's 7th grade, not art school! I would think if you finished your assignments within the time period, showed interest in the subject and behaved in class, you would get the best grade. She always got As from this same teacher last year, I wonder what happens when you hit the magic 7th grade level. Oh well, I just happen to think she's very talented and creative but I am her mama after all. I told Lydia that grades really don't matter in the long run, especially if you enjoy what you are doing.
My parents were always disappointed if I ever got less than an A in any subject and I don't want to be that way with my children.

BTW, this baby I got to hold today is impossibly cute and sweet and her smile will melt your heart. She has blended into her family like she was always meant to be with them. It's a beautiful sight. *sniff*

Here are the Artist Trading Cards Tess made for the swap, the pumpkin one is not actually felt. It is a photo she cut out, she added the paper underneath. I really like the collaged one, she's so free with that type of thing. I'm kind of bummed with the swap because we haven't received anything from our partners yet. It's a kid's swap! You should not flake out on a kid. I hope they show up someday, what a bummer for their first swap.

The oldest girl fencing, she's on the left. Such a cool sport!

I signed the girls up for a kid's ATC swap at Swap-Bot, we made some together. It was really fun. These are Lydia's first ever.
I'll post Tess' tomorrow.

Happy Halloween!

I always sing to the kids before they go to bed, the littlest always seems to get the most songs and I was getting tired of our old ones so I decided to expand my horizons and pick a few new ones, but the boy is rather choosy and most of the new numbers didn't go over so well. Except for My Funny Valentine, which instantly became a favorite and must be sung every night at least twice now. Fine with me, I like it and it's not super long.

I was laying in bed with him last night, I read to him, sang him some songs, told him how happy I was that he was born and wished him a happy birthday one more time. He was silent for a few minutes and then started singing to me:

My funny valentine
Sweet comic valentine
You make me smile with my heart
Your looks are laughable
Unphotographable
Yet you're my favourite work of art

Is your figure less than greek
Is your mouth a little weak
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?

But don't change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine stay
Each day is valentines day

Sure, he needed a tiny bit of help and he skipped the 'when you open it to speak' line but my heart melted listening to his sweet little boy voice. On his birthday, he gave me the best gift.

I created a Halloween Softie swap on Swap-Bot and here are the two I made for it. The pattern is from Wee Wonderfuls.

Poor lonely blog, getting ignored in the summer. We were all very busy the past few months and we capped them off with a wonderful trip to Seattle for a family wedding. In crafty news, the girls and I went softie crazy and Lydia (12) has been on a polymer clay kick and what she's making is so darn cute, I just have to show them off.
Note to self: Dust before taking pictures on Macro setting.

We're home from up north, we had a wonderful holiday. Yesterday we rode on the Pere-Marquette Rail to Trail. David had Tess on the tandem and Kai was on the bike seat with them. I was free and easy. We started off at the trailhead in Coleman and for 3 miles, all Kai would do was whine about getting ice cream. We finally arrived in Loomis and saw they had a little play structure at their rest stop so we decided to let the kids play. There happened to be two boys playing there also and David asked them if there was any place in town where we could get ice cream. Well, there was a party store just over a hill. We rode over and not only did they have ice cream, but they had freshly made sandwiches and even string cheese for the kids. So we had lunch and dessert and headed off for Clare. Then we turned around again and went to a place called the Herrick Recreation Area. It was a little lake with a sandy beach, a huge playground, a campsite and indoor plumbing. What a good find! We hung out there for a while and then took the long ride back. I was really tired at that point and was thankful we were riding with the wind. We ended up riding for 20 miles total, I love cycling the rail to trails because they are relatively flat. Hills are murder on this out of shape body of mine. The only thing that would have made yesterday perfect was if Lydia had been there. I miss her so much. Only 2 1/2 more days until I go get her at camp!

I finished the Elephant from the Animal Friends book while I was gone, he is gray with a green and pumpkin striped sweater. His ears came out odd, but he's a cutie. Tess made two owl stuffies also. I taught her to sew on my mom's old, old Singer. She picked it up right away, she was following the curves and keeping her seam allowances straight. I think she's a natural. My mom couldn't remember how old I was when she taught me to sew, but I'm sure I was older than Tess. I am really proud of her.

The Animal Friends cat is finished! I think I will use smaller needles next time, but he is cute and I know my daughter will love him. My 7 year old (ok, she will be 8 in a couple of weeks lol) made this Bunny Dude (as she calls it) to mail to her big sis along with the kitty. He has 4 eyes, two on each side, but only one nose and mouth. He also appears to have been injured, note the gaping hole on one side that she declined to fix. My daughter wants to make sure I write that I sewed on 2 1/2 of the buttons and did the nose and mouth, but that she did the rest. BTW, I am unhappy with the way the photos came out, but they'll have to do as I'm really supposed to be doing something else right now.

I have such a love/hate relationship with my site meter. In one way, it's cool to see where visitors come from, but it is so disheartening to see the length of visits most often be 0:00. I don't expect comments but, sheesh, a couple seconds of perusing would be nice. Ok, end of whine, I'm over it. heh heh