Kids

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30
Dec 12

Handmade Christmas 2012

I made blankets for the kids this year for Christmas, and gave them on Christmas Eve. They both look exhausted in this photo because it was 9:30 at night and we had just gotten back from a long night of dinner and festivities with family.

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Gunner made the cutest paper penguin ornament for the tree. He even stamped the date and signed his name on the back (you can kind of see through it in the picture).

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Nola’s favorite movie currently is Coraline, and as a result, she asked Santa for a “little Nola” for Christmas (because Coraline has a Coraline doll in the movie). It took some scouring on Etsy to find a doll that was within our price range, looked (somewhat) like Nola, and was appropriate for a toddler. Finally found an absolutely adorable “little Nola” from TashiBear — all the way from Australia!

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I could have done without the kids’ waking up at 6:30am after I had stayed up until 3am wrapping presents (the sun wasn’t even up yet), but other than that, it was a wonderful couple of days. We all ended up taking naps on Christmas day, anyway. Can’t go wrong with holiday naps; with bellies full of cookies and pie and good food, and brains full of excitement and fun and love! Magnificently exhausting!

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31
Oct 12

Halloween 2012: Finn saves Frog Princess with Lady Rainicorn!

We had a great Halloween! Nola as Frog Princess, Gunner as Finn the Human, and me as (at least half of) Lady Rainicorn!

Nola kept the glitter-tulle dress on for all of 10 minutes; long enough to get her pictures taken. Then it was jacket and trick-or-treating time! The grandparents’ house got a good dusting of glitter — you’re welcome, mom & dad!

Nola was a total trooper, and made it around about 10 blocks (up and down the massive hills of my hometown) before asking to be carried the last block back to Grandma’s house. It was such a beautiful fall evening! The fresh air and the fun walk with the kids, everybody all dressed up, it was wonderful.

We decided to skip the local costume contest this year; Gunner said he didn’t really want to go, and I wasn’t going to argue. Halloween on a Wednesday is exhausting!

I found a tutorial online for making the backpack, so I didn’t even have to sweat over the pattern or sizing or anything, and it has a functional zipper! We (I) totally nerded-out, and filled it with episode-accurate items from the Prisoners of Love episode, where Finn just happens to list off all the stuff in his backpack as he’s digging through it; yellow sweater (came in handy), flashlight, water bottle, flute, trail mix, binoculars, and I even got him a “Ninja manual” (a-la the Chamber of Frozen Blades episode). He also found our copy of the Enchiridion (Epictetus’ version, that is) on the bookshelf and stuffed that in there. Maybe he’ll actually READ IT!

I made Nola’s sparkly “gown”; my mom found the long-sleeved, long-leg unitard at Goodwill in a total stroke of luck; and we already had the crown from the dollar section of Jo-Ann’s. The mask and hands are from Etsy shop Mahalo, and they are SO CUTE! The set included some adorable little frog-feet shoe covers that you can’t really see, but it was so wonderful to find a frog mask that wasn’t terrifying and it came as a whole set! Thanks Mahalo!

Here you can see how my knees bend backwards. Don’t worry, it’s just a connective-tissue disorder. But handy for freaking people out.

Now its time to deconstruct my costume back to a plain-old pink hoodie. Not sure what to do with the ginormous rainbow scarf, but it is super-warm! Maybe save it for next year, and Nola can be a rainbow!

Kids / Movies — No Comments
19
Oct 12

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Happy birthday to me! I am now 30-years old, and my birthday was on a weekend this year! (I usually get weekday birthdays) So what do I do to celebrate my 30th birthday? Watch The Nightmare Before Christmas with my kids, of course!

We only have it on VHS (whoa! time-warp!), but we also happen to have a VCR hooked up to our TV in the living room. Pretty interesting watching a nearly 20-year-old VHS tape on a 52″ high-definition television… but it did afford the opportunity to explain the mechanics of a VCR to my 7-year-old,  who couldn’t understand why it was getting all “glitchy” and said Tracking at the bottom of the screen, LOL

The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 stop-motion musical fantasy film, originated in a poem written by Tim Burton in 1982. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a being from “Halloween Town” who opens a portal to “Christmas Town” and decides to celebrate the holiday.
– Wikipedia

This post is part of my October Horror Movie Marathon 2012 series.
To see all my OHMM movies in reverse-chronological order, click here.

Art / Crafts / Design / Internet / Kids / Nature — No Comments
3
Sep 12

Printable Animal Masks

Today, Nola asked me if she could be a tiger. I told her she could not draw on herself with that black Sharpie she had in her hands from who-knows-where. Thankfully, she asked first! Needless to say, I had dashed her little two-year-old dreams to bits, and the dejected look on her face damn near broke my heart. So I asked if she would like a tiger mask instead, and she was so excited about it she was literally jumping up and down in anticipation. “Yeah, yeah, yeah!!”

I Googled “printable Tiger Mask“, and from the results found a really cool-looking one, which led me to a page on preschoolkids.net FULL of printable animal masks! We printed out ten different animals, and they are beautiful! The kids are having a blast, and no Sharpie on the toddler.

I couldn’t wait to Pin it — but, lo-and-behold, “no pinnable images”.  What the spark?! So, I decided post a blog entry, complete with pinnable thumbnail preview, and direct readers to this great resource.

Printable Animal Masks from preschoolkids.net

Source: PreschoolKids.net Printable Masks

Kids / Nature — No Comments
16
Aug 12

Summer’s End

Cramming in some last-minute summer fun, before Gunner’s return to school on Monday for second grade! The summer break went by way too fast, as usual. Gunner has all his school supplies, complete with an “Annoying Orange” backpack, and today he got a slick haircut at JCPenney’s for FREE (always nice). Then we went to lunch with Grandpa, and he had a super-cool surprise!

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PRAYING MANTIS!

He had found it this morning on an outside window of the building where he works, got a plastic container and scooped it up for us! SO COOL! We brought it home to the country and released it back in the brush. It can eat all the Japanese Beetles and crickets and grasshoppers it wants. I took way too many pictures! Here’s some of the better ones!

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Had some difficulties finding it with the viewscreen on my camera; it blended in really well with all the tall grass and weeds. Much safer than the concrete and glass of the city!

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It looks like some kind of crazy alien.

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To wrap up the summer, I’m taking Gunner to see Paranorman on Saturday, and blow the money we saved on the haircut for some spankin’-new back-to-school shoes! I would have liked to get to the pool one more time (or three) before school started, but the weather has been very comfortable in the 70s/low-80s the last couple weeks. Not exactly outdoor-swimming weather, especially with a two-year-old in-tow. Oh well, there’s always next year!

Crafts / Kids — No Comments
7
Jul 12

Latex Glove Chicken

Latex Glove Rooster

My husband turned our last latex glove into a rooster, and the kids went bonkers! Good job, Dad!

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9
May 12

KCWC Spring 2012 Results

So, yeah, I’m a bit late in posting this. HA-HA! Go figure!

I applied myself to the Elsie Marley Kids Clothing Week Challenge Spring 2012 with blazing ferocity, and the result is a cute little Southerny apron-style sundress! Even I was not expecting it to turn out so “country”, but that’s where the fabric led me. Seems appropriate, since we live in the country, after all.

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This is the first actual article of clothing that I’ve ever made! I started with vintage handmade curtains, acquired from a friend whose grandmother had moved into a retirement home, and who graciously allowed me to ransack her attic and basement for fabrics and other lovelies. I was thinking about actually using the curtains; they were so pretty, but totally not my style. She already had the lace trimmed and the tie-backs ruffled, so I decided to hack them up and sew them back together in a new configuration, like the Frankenstein that I am.

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I used one tie-back and half of one curtain panel, and lined it with muslin for modesty’s sake. I didn’t use a pattern, as they terrify me and my mother has yet to instruct me on the ins-and-outs of such exotic things. I took some measurements, made some plans and adjustments and poorly-drawn diagrams, and used a cereal bowl to cut out the curvatures of the armpits — because that’s how we do things around here.

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I love it, it’s adorable and precious — but Nola is less than thrilled. The whole week while I was working on it, she would ask, “Mommy workin’ on my dress?” Yet every time I try to put it on her, she says “No! No! I don’t want to wear it!” Freakin’ 2-year-olds, I swear. We’ll see how much actual wear it will get before she grows out of it. Glad I didn’t spend the extra time installing those pockets I was contemplating.

Maybe I’ll bust out another panel and make her something a little less “contemporary” and a little more “active”, so she can do all those things that her impulsive two-year-old brain compels her to do — i.e. chasing the dogs, rolling in the grass, jumping in mud puddles, throwing rocks at *whatever*, kicking her brother, etc.

Oh, but definitely with pockets this time.

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30
Mar 12

Kids Clothes Week Challenge

I will be participating with the Elsie Marley Kids Clothes Week Challenge for Spring 2012 (April 23-30). This sounds wonderful! (and cathartic) — February and March have been so hectic and stressful, I’ve barely had time for any “leisure” sewing (or much leisure any-crafts or anything else). I’ve got pants to convert to shorts and summer dresses to make! This challenge will be a great impetus. Can’t wait to see what everyone does!

Elsie Marley Kids Clothes Week Challenge Spring 2012 (April 23-30)

Crafts / Events / Kids — 1 Comment
27
Mar 12

Gunner’s Birthday: It’sa Mario Time!

My little boy is 7-years-old!

To celebrate, we had planned a morning-to-night birthday Saturday — with family in the morning, friends in the afternoon, and a couple friends staying over night. BUT THEN: Ear infection sneak-attack the night before the party. Arg!

At the last second, had to push the friends/sleepover party back a week (with lots of phone calls at 10:30-at-night to attendees’ parents, *awkward*). Luckily we kept the “family” party as planned, so it wasn’t a total destructo-bummer for the birthday boy, who had been waiting in great anticipation of epic-birthday-party-day. Still had grammas, grampas, aunt & uncle, presents and decorations — and I forced the dozen family members there to eat the 4-dozen cupcakes I had prepared for the weekend. Who doesn’t love a birthday cupcake brunch?!

The decorations were left up for the week (quite festive). Fresh batches of cupcakes were baked the following Saturday (thank god my best friend was here and graciously offered her help to frost them, because I was about damn sick of frosting cupcakes), and promptly devoured by the ravenous hoard of first-graders.

Cupcakes with toppers

If you hadn’t guessed by now, the party “theme” was Super Mario Bros! *Sweeeeeet* I made 90% of the decorations myself, with the help of my trusty printer, resulting in a lot of scissor-blisters and deadened hand and finger nerves.

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For the 4-foot character wall graphics, I culled some large images from the internet, sliced them up in PhotoShop and printed the pieces out — Toad was 5 sheets, Bowser a whopping 24 sheets, and the others fell anywhere in between. I cut out all the pieces from the sheets and glue-sticked them together (felt like I was in grade-school again!); hung them on the walls with good-ol’ double-sided tape. They were a big hit! (with the kids and the adults!)

wall decorations

Also mocked-up a papercraft question block template, printed and assembled and filled them with gold coins for the kids.

Papercraft Question Block Boxes

Gunner had fantastic fun with his friends, and the weather was gorgeous (78° in mid-March Iowa?!) which kept the kids entertained outdoors most of the time.

Gunner being goofy with his friends!

I was the most apprehensive about the sleepover, but it also went really well; barely any quarreling, no homesick kids, and all three boys were passed-out asleep before midnight without any problems. Overall, a pretty successful birthday. Not sure how we’re going to top it next year!

Crafts / Kids / Projects — 1 Comment
22
Feb 12

Nola is 2, and has a “new” room

Nola is now 2-years-old, and continues her refusal to both sit still and smile for pictures. 75% of her photos are either exuberant-grinning-blur or disinterested-curmudgeon-stare.

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She really is a happy kid, I swear!! Just seems like whenever I get my camera out she puts on her poker-face, lol. We found her a Cabbage Patch kid at Goodwill that I could not believe — excellent condition… with clothes on, even! So of course I had to make her new baby doll a blanket.

Doll Quilt

I knew I was keeping all those strip-scraps for a reason, and not just because I’m some kind of fabric hoarder… because I’m not… I also made her some fresh new pillowcases for her big girl pillow that she has now!

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I put in some extra effort to put French seams on them, which easily doubled sewing time, but WOW was it worth it! So nice… I think I’ll put French seams on everything from now on… lol yeah right like that’s going to happen!

Nola also got a bedroom makeover “for her birthday” (not that she would really know any better, but that was my manic justification, anyway). Remember a-year-and-a-half ago when I was all like, “I’m gonna make Nola’s room all awesome!” with grandiose plans? Well none of that really happened until just recently…

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Yes, those are the same Alphabet Wall Cards as mentioned in the original post, finally up on the wall! They are so wonderful, great quality, and create a nice large-scale effect that fills a lot of space (’cause empty wall space is what we had!) — and for less than $20, you really can’t go wrong. The Discovery Kids Lunar Phase Moon Lamp is pretty effing sweet, as well. I also got one for Gunner’s room, and now I’m thinking I need to get another to put in our (the “grown-ups”/parents) bedroom.

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Lots of toy storage, with room for more (dear god please, not too much more). Plus a couple shelves dedicated solely to BOOKS — Nola’s absolute favorite things ever.

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(Note the dotted-line silhouette in there where bunting will eventually exist.) The picture hanging at the end of her crib was drawn by her big brother especially for her! There’s also a sneak peek at the crib bumpers I’ve been working on (sheesh, by the time I get them finished she won’t be sleeping in the crib anymore).

Zippered Reversible Individual Crib Rail Bumpers

I’ll be posting a blog entry with more pics of those when they’re all finished. The fabrics are “Fandango” by Kate Spain for Moda; and yes, they are now out-of-print — and now you know how long I’ve been picking away at this project. Diligence!

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