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

February 22nd, Aunt Rocky's Birthday Celebration, at Defy

Today the high was a cold and windy 47F.  At least at this temperature, ice and snow start to melt and the mounds cleared from the roadways start to recede. = )

The highlight of the day was celebrating Aunt Rocky's impending birthday at Defy!  They could not wait to get started!

Aunt Rocky and Billy bounced too!

Playing 'basketball' with Aunt Rocky.

I have no idea what happened.

I think Alice was feeling a little off.  She spent the final 20 minutes ore so on the couch watching the TV.  And when we came home she took a nap.

For lunch we went to Chick-fil-a, and while we were there I picked up a gift card for Cali's upcoming birthday!

At home, Emily and I spent some time making (and a lot of time waiting on glue to dry in) her 3D card!  Emily found an online tutorial, so all the crafts she's done lately have been 3D card or displays. = )

It came out super cute.  Once everyone signed it, we got it into the envelope, before I got a picture. =  0  So, we had to open it to take a 'finished' picture, but I think it will be okay.

For dinner we ordered in Chinese.  And we all enjoyed the party favors that Aunt Rocky got for us: Giant Hershey kisses for the kids and beer for the two adults. = )

later days

Waiting for Christmas

Waiting for Christmas is so tough when you are a kid!  We did our best to bide our time.

I am working hard to let the kids have natural consequences for things (i.e. If you don't get your backpack out of the car, it will still be in there the next morning.) I'm such a micromanager, that it has been hard to not just grab it for them, but I'm working on it. 

On that same note, I'm also a big fan of trading off my chores for rewards.  The three big kids have been packing up their lunch each night, so that they can stay up an extra 5 minutes.*  I don't know how long this will last, but it is amazing.  I help them clean up a bit, and pick out the correct containers, but they have been doing an awesome job.**

Legos have been a big hit with the twins lately, and while Avia was here one afternoon, the big kids wanted to join in building too, before she left.

Juliet and Grace love to dress up!

Why play on your own computer, when you can just watch big sister play?

I assembled Aunt Rocky's Christmas present, and of course William wanted to play in it.  The twins wanted to help, so they put on the cover. = )

The snow had melted just a bit, but then it started to come down again.

Alice was so excited to build her airplane model, and was beyond disappointed when the paint and glue were dried out. = (  We tried soaking them in water to see if that would help, but couldn't recover them.

Billy and I made a special trip to the dollar tree while everyone was in school on Friday, and got Alice some paint, and glue.  As fate would have it, there was one small diy wooden birdhouse model right next to the paint.  So, of course, I bought it for Emily, since she lives for crafts. = )  They were quite excited to get to work.

The snow did eventually stop.

It picked back up after the morning Christmas eve service, and with no schools in session, the plow and salt trucks were scarce. So we didn't go anywhere that evening. = )

Alice was the last one awake on Christmas eve, so she wrote the note to Santa.  We have a chimney for our furnace, but no inside fireplace.  Alice was worried that santa would be scared of the dark in our basement, but I told her that he could probably tap Rudolph and his nose. Because of that, she left Rudolph the longest carrot she could find, and several shorter ones for the other reindeer. = )

Especially on Christmas eve, it is nice to slow down and reflect, instead of go go go, on what an amazing gift this season brought.

later days

*William, not yet 6, does not have any minutes, so this was 100% increase for him.  Emily has 10 minutes because she loads her own dishes into the dishwasher and now 5 more for lunch making. Alice has 10 for dishes, 2 for hanging up her own clothes, and 2 for collecting all the dirty laundry from around the house, plus her 5 for making lunch. = )

And maybe don't mention it to them, but it takes them longer than 5 minutes to make their lunch.  They just do it so cheerfully and willingly!

**Emily is to thank for this actually.  One night she made her own lunch so that I "could go to bed earlier," since I'm usually very tired in the evenings. = )  She something special, our Emily.