Tag... I'm it! (Picture Tag)

I was tagged by Deborah Sunflower Stories... I am supposed to post the 4th picture in my 4th picture folder, and blog about it. I don't have fancy categories for my pictures, they just get automatically filed by date... so the 4th folder is from our trip to the Rochester Museum and Science Center where we saw the Giant Insects exhibit. The family of one of the little ones that I babysit for gave us a Family Pass to the museum as a Christmas gift. The kids had a great time there...I'll have to take them back soon. There's a GPS exhibit coming up that I'm sure Ethan will love.

And just because I have the folder open I might as well post a few more from it.....
Now... who to tag?? Amber, have you done this yet??

Deborah tagged me because I have been quite lame and haven't posted since Valentine's Day..... well, I haven't really had much to post about. The kids were off from school last week, Justin and I made an 8 foot tall bed for the musical that our daughter is in, my sister is getting a divorce, we stimulated the economy by getting new furniture (and new mattresses for the kids.. their mattresses were like family heirlooms, having been passed down through many generations), I am working on dance costumes for the recital in May and selling old dance costumes on ebay.... hmmm... is that it? Even though there is a lot going on I jsut don't have the time or energy to write. We have our "Costume Weekend" the weekend fort he dance studio where a few moms get together and make costume parts and pieces for the 170 kids that dance. It is always a lot of fun. Maybe I'll take a few pictures of what we are up to and then I'll have something to write about.

Happy Valentine's Day

We seem to be surrounded by pink today, mostly in anticipation of Alex's party tonight.....goodie bags

...collage hearts

...treats from yesterday's parties at school (and leftovers that Alex's didn't give away)

...hanging hearts

...cookies and yummies left over from the school parties yesterday, but I'm sure will be eaten up tonight.

Even More Valentines

Have you ever been over to The Crafty Crow? It's an awesome website filled with great craft ideas for the kiddos. I stop by there at least four times a week. Its wonderful when Cate (the little girl I babysit) wants to try something new and we need inspiration. They are all about Valentines right now at The Crafty Crow. I saw this easy craft and thought it wold be perfect to fill that last half hour before Cate's dad came to pick her up. Ethan was home from school with strep throat (but had been dosed with antibiotics several times before Cate arrived, so don't worry!) so he joined the fun.

Both kids really loved painting with watercolors. I forget that just switching up the supplies can be so exciting for these little people.

They drew what was in their hearts first, then painted them. Cate painted a "crazy man" and her cat Pumpkin. Ethan first made the veins and arteries coming out of the heart (future medical illustrator perhaps?) then drew in his family, including my grandmother and great aunt who both recently passed away and the Ford Escape that Justin rented once for a business trip (??) I know, sort of random. But I love them!

If you have a 9 year old boy you may understand how awkward Valentine's Day can be. Hudson hates the store bought Valentines so we always have to come up with something that is not too mushy or lovey or "girlie" but still captures the essence of Valentine's Day. This year he drew a spaceship and I transferred it into a stamp, the same way I did the stamps for letterboxing earlier this year. Then I printed a simple message on the computer and he stamped away. We added the little heart stamp so it would be more "Valentiney". We folded each card, sealed the bottom and side with tape and he had a little pouch to place his goodies in for his schoolmates. (You can see it at the very top of the picture below.)

The nice thing is that he now had a cool spaceship stamp to use when we go letterboxong, or for whenever!

Sweet and Simple

This year Ethan went simple and to the point with his Valentines. (Last year was pretty simple too.) He stamped out hearts, on blue paper for boys and red for girls, using the same sponge I made the hanging hearts with. I had him write all his classmates names on the outside of each little card. I wrote "Happy Valentine's Day" on the inside and he signed each one. We probably attach some little goody to the back- a candy bar or a sucker or something. Our school has a "no homemade goodies" policy.

Sunday

Sunday I was exhausted. After church I crashed on the couch and snuggled with Ethan. I asked him to go get my camera so I could get a picture of his precariously dangling front tooth. Silliness ensued. I love this picture even though it looks as though I am dying. It could easily be the image that goes with that creepy Christmas song about a boy buying shoes for his dying mother. Like I said, I was exhausted... I am exhausted. There has been so much emotional stuff going on in our family... as soon as you think one thing is resolved or dealt with something else happens.

Anyway, Ethan had a lot of fun playing with the camera. He loves to know how things work, and to mess with buttons and stuff, so this thrilled him to no end. I showed him how to set the automatic timer and he set up this shot.

Then he went about documenting what was happening around the house.. which was actually not much. Just a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Hearts A- Flutter

More decorations for Alex's party.

I just cut a sponge into a heart shape and printed out 72 images onto white and cream construction paper.

When they were dry I cut out the hearts, glued two together wrong sides facing with a piece of white thread sandwiched in between. Then I taped them to the ceiling in the kitchen. There are 36 hearts fluttering from the ceiling.

Alex wasn't home when I hung them, so when she came in I got a great reaction... a huge smile and "Oh, COOL! Thanks Mom."

Finished the Quilt and more....

I finished my quilt on Saturday and celebrated by snuggling up on the couch with a glass of wine and a magazine... after I fought my daughter off of it. Here is a picture of Cate napping under it on my dirty couch. It's the perfect couch size. It ended up a bit wonky (isn't everything I make a little wonky?) but I still love it because I made it just for me! I threw it over my comforter on my bed the other night and realized it it goes perfectly in my bedroom. My walls are green and my comforter is brown. If my room wasn't so dark I would try to get a picture of it in there, but it probably won't be happening. My daughter is having a Valentine party next Saturday, so we are changing out the more colorful lanterns to pink ones. And I finally got around to hanging up my paper heart garland. I made it a couple years ago, but just recently saw some very similar ones at maya*made

(And keeping it real- here is what that picture started out as..... my messy kitchen.)

I had some girlfriends and their kiddos over this morning for coffee and made this delicious orange zest cake that I found over at Angry Chicken. It is sooooo good. Try it. Yum.

I added walnuts and craisins to the recipe. It is seriously yummy, and goes great with coffee.

And, oh my gosh, I just realized that I missed my blog anniversary!! It was on Feb. 1st. Whoops! I'll have to think of something to rectify that.... hmmm. Any ideas?

I meant to show these a week ago...

Aren't these cute? I saw them a few weeks ago in my Kid's Craft Weekly newsletter. (You can see it online here as well.)

We hung them up as a surprise for Justin's Chinese New Year birthday party, and kept them up because they brighten up our dull winter days.

My daughter is having a Valentine Party on the 14th and we are making more lanterns out of pink paper.

(The smaller ones look better, but Ethan asked me to make a big one using blue paper and a piece of map, because "Daddy travels." I obliged, but it looks too saggy in my opinion.)