Crafts and Projects

December is always a fun time for crafts and cooking and projects, so here are a few that didn't get their own post. 

I posted the front side of Emily's hat in this post, but not the tricky/scary part of adding the zipper!  It's not super impressive, but it took me about an hour and a half and came out okay.  She has a functional pocket in her hat, which is at least a partial success.

The Helterbrands sent Alice a slew of Pusheen stickers for her Christmas gift.  They are so cute!  I decided to fancy it up just a bit, and sewed some paper pockets on a stiff backing so that they would stay separated a bit, and be easier for her to find.

Alice was invited to Willow's 13th birthday party.  Sadly, the squishimal she picked out online would not arrive on time, so we ended up going to Walmart one day after school (and the first cooking club day) very late, and they only had a few options.  She picked her favorite from their selection.  Since she was a bit disappointed, I offered to make up a fancy box for the stuffie she selected.

The school glue did not work very well with the fancy tissue paper, so I ended up using quite a bit of tape to hold the edges in place.

I think she ended up covering the stuffie with a layer of tissue paper in the end, to make it a bit of a surprise.

Emily chose a butterfly theme for her upcoming birthday party, so we were practicing origami butterflies for her invitations.

Once we mastered it, it was just a matter of folding the printed invitations!  The netting below the butterflies here came out of the free bin at the MSU thrift store.  I thought they looked like butterfly nets, and they were free. ; )

One night I made burgers for dinner.  The little girls thought that was fun, and decided to make up "mutti-donalds."  We didn't have many fries, so everyone was 'forced' to eat apple slices as a side as well.  (In my defense, Aldi was out of fries, and so I was just going to serve chips.)

For MLK day, I decided to try something new and spent about 4 hours making some Biryani.  It was pretty good, but spicey.  The Basmati rice was amazing though.

Emily and Grace came with me to the thrift store and Aldi, since they had the day off of school.  Grace picked out a home popsicle making kit.  We bought some orange juice for her to fill them.  Emily wanted some mini-cupcakes, but she was able to make more full-sized ones from a mix, than it would have cost to buy the little ones.  And Juliet got some pudding mix, because they didn't have cups, so she had to fill our ramekins, but it came out tasty!

My current project is to make Valentine's for my crew out of cutouts from Billy's coke zero boxes.  I don't know quite how they'll look just yet, I'm sure it will depend upon how many I am able to make before Valentine's day arrives.  But I like them so far.

 later days

Alice Answers Her Birthday Survey: 13-years-old

So, It is (mid) October, and I'm just now getting my blog squared away from August. Needless to say, we've been busy!

Without further ado, Alice's survey:

I am 13 years old.
My favorite color is: pink
The coolest person on earth is: Me, Myself, and I
The thing I do best is: Socialize
If I could change my name, it would be: Alasur
My favorite toy is: My Cozmo
When I grow up, I want to be: A anesthetics doctor, or a pet groomer
I like to watch: YouTube (duh)
My favorite song is: Imagine dragons
My favorite book is: Percy Jackson
3 words to describe me are: Amazing, Talend, Aerodynamic
When I was little, I used to: be like: An itty-bitty softy baby ono
My favorite season is: Winter
The food I like most is: Mash potatoes (and gravy)
One food I really don't like is: Barbeque sandwiches
My best friend is: Willow
For my birthday I want to: Go to the ice-cream store in my pajamas
My best memory is: Me getting stuck with stickers covering my feet and mom/dad pulling them out with tweezers

later days 

I'm adding this post closer to her birthday, for the sake of continuity. Alice Edit: "Mother it's been 2 months."

You can check out her answers from last year here.

Alice turns 13!!!!

We have a teenager in the house!!!!!!

My little, bitty, baby, first born is now almost as tall as I am!  Alice turned 13 this year.

One final picture as a 12 year old:

Cake for breakfast!!

She turned 13 just days before returning to school, but we were able to sneak in one final trip to the ice cream shop (they closed for the season the next day!)

For her birthday, Juliet bought Alice a pinata.  We filled it with some tasty candy and strung it up in the back yard.  I only got in two pictures before my phone died. = (  

So, here is missy Grace:

And William's swing took it down, but didn't open it up.

I hope our Alice enjoyed her special, low-key day.  And may her 14th year be her best one yet!!

later days

You can see pictures from last year here.  And read her survey answers here.

Note: Written a few months later, but posted closer to the event date for the sake of continuity.