Funny Abby

Yesterday I went sledding in the morning with both girls and we were sledding in the big bowl behind our house and there is a huge hill about 150 feet wide with a cluster of three trees at the bottom of the hill dissecting it into two equal halves.  Well, we decided to try sledding on the right side of the trees instead of the left side where we always go.  It's said to be steeper and longer.  After going down with Madison I saw Abby walking over with the saucer sled, that is the fastest of the three sleds, and set it down and proceeded to get on the sled head first.  I yelled at her not to go since she was right in line with the trees, but she was already starting to slide.  I quickly ran over and put my foot out to stop her.  The sled slid into my foot and Abby continued sliding off the sled and ended up skinning up her lip just a bit.  She cried and I held her grateful that I was right there to stop her and was at the bottom of the hill and not at the top.  I had time to get to her and stop her from plowing head first into a clump of trees at the very bottom of the large hill where she would have had the most momentum.  What a blessing!  But this morning she was complaining of her lip and said kind of slowly, "My owee...a little bit...kind of hurts."  I love the way she forms sentences now a days.  She keeps me smiling.

Fairy Tea Party Extravaganza

 Madison and Abby were invited to a friends party and their mom went all out.  It was so fun! First they made fairy wings, wands, necklaces, etc. and then they came into the tea party room where each one had a tea pot and cup and fairy food.  She made acorns, toad stools, fairy wants, sticks, and logs.  It was adorable and so good too!  The girls got to keep their teapots and cups after the party and they have used them for most meals since then.  How fun for everyone!  Those are fairies on their plates made from pipe cleaners, a fake flower, and a bed.  Cute huh?

This needs a lot of explaining.  I have been butting heads especially with Madison since when she is home she always wants to be doing and comes up with some really extreme games, wants, etc.  She is just like me when I was little.  She just loves crafts, using her imagination, etc.  I have been telling her 'no' all the time and when I was praying to know how to build our relationship I had the distinct impression to let her do what she wants if it's not hurting anything.  So the very next morning Madison found the umbrellas in the closet and insisted on eating her breakfast under the umbrella.  When she needed more cereal or milk or such, she would slide her bowl out from under the umbrella and politely ask for more.  They loved it and it didn't hurt a thing.  Sorry about the poor pictures, I have been lazy and used my point and shoot.  It's better than nothing I guess:-)  Other things have been wearing my skirt at night and tying the bottom to make it into a mermaid tail and sleeping in it that way, sewing random scraps together, building forts, expressing herself through her dress, setting the table in a very meticulous way, and other things I can't think of now.  It has been really fun to see her blossom and we have had some amazing times and experiences together since.  Who would have thought it was me with the problem, not her:-)

What We've been up to

 I made 11 chair covers for my sunbeams with a pocket on each one to put something in it each week that correlates with the lesson.  Their were a few who were having a hard time transitioning from Nursery, so we did this to make it a bit easier and gives them something to look forward to each week.  As you can see I get to have Abby in my class.

 Today was a no school day and madison wanted to make super girl capes.  She designed hers as seen below.  She chose the designs, colors of fabric, and where it was to go on the cape.  She stuck with it the whole time helping me.  Abby was into for a while, but then lost interest and doesn't even wear the cape.  Her friend got one for Christmas and Abby was in love with it...go figure:-)  She even designed hers too.

Our neighbor loves the cape way more than Abby:-)  She modeled it for me.  We also made super hero bracelets and the masks you see above with special super power gems.  I really need to take a picture of the sewing machine I found in the garbage and use for all my projects.  It pales compared to my friends or even the one I grew up using.  It's probably older than my grandma:-)  But it was free and it works and that's all that matters.  It just makes the final project all the more amazing:-)

The power of wood!!!

I can't express the joy I feel going into a home depot and walking down the power tool isle.  I get this high from going to the wood shop and creating something out of nothing!  I use scrap wood from headboards, pallets, anything I can find really.  Someone just dropped off a maple wood futon frame that I hope to make a wooden toy box bench.  I love cutting the wood, drilling holes, glueing it together, sanding off the gross stuff to reveal the beauty that is hidden beneath.  Each piece has a character of it's own that is just waiting to be recognized and recreated into something of use.  I love saving pieces from the landfill or the burn pile.  I drive around looking in garbages and on the side of the road for pieces just waiting to be taken home and remade into a treasure.  Madison loves projects too and is always there to help put it together and break it apart.  It's a joy I learned from my parents.  We had a sign in our home that said, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."

Projects made this year

 This was a changing table that we cut and resized it and made all the furniture for it.  The girls play with the furniture more than the house:-)

 This was our summer project.  We made it from a TV stand.  The girls helped a lot with it.  I have to admit that the girls play with the tea set the most, but use the cabinet part for a play house sometimes.  They actually fit inside of it and use it as a bed sometimes.

 This is the bench made from a headboard and a footboard.  It's just sanded and needs to be painted black.  I might wait to do that in the summer:-)  It's really sturdy and from all free wood.  I got it from a garbage at an estate sale for free!!!

I made these for the girls for Christmas so they could feed their baby alive babies.  They don't play too much with them after  a week.  It was a novelty at first:-)

Christmas Morning

 After they opened the baby alive from Santa, they had no interest in opening any more presents.  We fed, changed diapers, fed some more, and changed more diapers.  6 diapers later we finally got them to stop for a bit so we could wash the diapers (Santa brought cloth diapers).

 Just the girls!

 Santa ate the raisin oatmeal cookies and left two crumbs.

 Christmas morning breakfast and then off to church for Sacrament meeting.  It was the best way to start Christmas morning.  They had all these musical numbers with an oboe, french horns, piano, organ, voice, recorder, etc.  It was so spirit filled and made Christmas really focused on Christ.

 I made pumpkin pie for Brian and that ended up being our Christmas dinner.  Madison was in heaven.

 Name tags from Rick and Tamara's 50th anniversary. The girls loved them so much and used them for decorations on the Christmas tree.

 These are from their cousin Mason and Aiden!!!

 I got this from Lacey and love it.  Thanks for making it plastic...it arrived in one piece.

 This was our sucker tree with the nativity made from clay. People who came over got to pick a sucker from the tree.