I tentatively declared Fridays around here Art Day. We shorten our other homeschooling studies to short and fun things, and then we do something artsy. I am longing for some creative time for myself and figured I could eek it in if my son was also doing his own creative things. Friday is also the day I try to clean things up around here a bit more than normal. This morning was our first trial run. We played a matching game for math where the cards had equations and answers to be matched together, and we did a little reading, then I suggested some chalk on wet paper drawings. My son immediately said, "No, I want to make a stuffed animal." Hmmf, I thought, I don't want to. But not wanting to stomp upon his creativity, I said okay. I had him sketch the animal he had in mind...



It's a dragon. He drew pattern pieces, and I cut it out of the fabric then sewed it. He got the jobs of stuffer and face painter. It was a project that required more of my involvement than his, which isn't what I have in mind for Art Day, but the kid is very pleased with it.



It turns out that the baby doesn't like Art Day, she cried most of the morning. My other daughter took the lack of attention to be her cue to use the potty, no less than 20 times, and then run around the house naked refusing to get dressed. I also haven't had the chance to get anything but the mornings mess cleaned up and it's time to think about dinner. Who says art is supposed to be fun?

This is what went on a card for my Uncle Max because his birthday is coming up. We have always associated him with cows and sent him cow themed things on his birthday, probably because he is a rancher. I'll bet the cow thing is getting pretty old, but that's okay because he is getting old too. (I should have used that as a catchy phrase on the card. Oh well, too late.)

I am a puppet.

If you can guess what this is (or going to be), I'll mail you a dollar.

Before:



When I sat the baby down on the box my son exclaimed "It's her first time on cardboard!" And so I had to take a picture, when she is 16 and her first date comes by to take her out, we won't let them leave until we've shown him all her pictures. "Here she is climbing Mt. Everest, here she is winning first prize in the science fair, here she is with her team at the World Hockey Championships, here she is with her blue ribbon pig at the state fair....oh and here is our favorite, her first time ever on cardboard!"


After:




It was our goal to completely waterproof this box with crayon drawings, but we ran out of steam, and I am tired of it taking up the entire living room, so I think we'll call it quits. We have had fun while it lasted. It all started out innocently with a few items you might find in a spaceship being drawn, such as computer screens, steering wheels, and buttons for Chinese food. We ended up with everything but the kitchen sink, but if you need the kitchen sink while you're in space we did draw a few crayons that you can use to draw yourself one.

If you can't beat em', join em', or just take a picture.



This is a child who hasn't slept all day, it's nearly 5pm and she hasn't napped. We are both much more frazzled than she lets on in the picture. I figured I could take a picture of her screaming her head off and everyone could feel sorry for me and send their condolences my way, but as soon as I got the camera out she got happy. I kept pushing her away from me in the walker, but as soon as I did she would run towards me, laughing, with her eye on the camera supposing that I was going to let her have it to slobberify or something.

I guess you can't feel sorry for me because she is really cute, and that is all that matters, right?

Anyway, my last post was a bit premature, I still have a stack of thank you's that hasn't been handed out or mailed. It took me longer than I thought to simply put the sleeves on them. So save your eggs a little longer.

When does the statute of limitations run out on sending thank you cards after your third child? I think it should be their 3rd birthday at least. It's almost been 6 months since this third-ie of mine was born and I'm just now getting thank you cards out. The picture above is about what they look like, and then stuck in a little black sleeve, rather than an envelope, because most of them I'm not sending in the mail.

It's probably rude to post this because I will inevitably forget someone, and some kind act that they did for me, and then they will feel sad that I didn't give them a card too. If you are that person, feel free to cry, and then throw eggs at my house. Or you can fill out an "Application to Warrant a Physical Thank You" and turn it in at least one week before the child's third birthday.

We made bookmarks for my Dad for his birthday. His birthday was a while ago, but and we still haven't mailed them yet, I think I'm late enough that we need to make some valentines to stick in the envelope too. If we wait a few more weeks we could totally save on postage and put some St. Patrick's day doodles in there.

I love posting things that I draw with my childrens stuff because it makes me look really good. Actually I really like the one my son drew, the second one from the bottom, it is a picture of my dad in his garden. He's is very happy. And the plant all the way to the left is "very straight spinach." The flowery girly one is for grandma, so grandpa doesn't have to share. On the back of mine I wrote "You Are Here." Boy am I clever.

Yes, you may pet it, it won't bite. In fact, it's quite dead.

"What could be cuter?" I ask. "What is it?" You want to know.

It's a little pile of adorable baby collars... ahhh how cute... er, maybe.

I've always found collars on baby clothes to be annoying embellishments. They look fine on the hangars, but in practicality they just get in the way. This newest child of mine is excessively drooly, which drips down her lovely double chin and soaks into her clothes, which rubs against her skin and contributes to her eczema issues. Collars just make things impossible, so they have been removed. I simply took out the seams, and sewed the pjamas back up with a hidden stitch.

Anyone in need of a spare collar size 3 months-6 months?

Mostly I hide at home all day, but when I feel like I need a little attention I get all dressed up and hit the town. Okay, so hitting the town means going to the grocery store, getting dressed up means wearing my baby, and the attention I get is from little old ladies. It seems that the combination of the baby, snuggled ball-like, in the sling with the goofy hat makes for some great entertainment for all the other people who don't get out much.

The sling. Yup, I made that. It's just one piece of fabric sewn into a loop (with what I think is called a french seam) and both sides hemmed. The only tricks to it are curving the seamed end convexly, and getting it the right length. Fortunately, for me, my right length is just shy of the width of a 60" piece of fabric so it takes less than a yard. At $2 a yard, this is the cheapest most usefulest baby item ever.

Winter Tip #1
Put snow in your bath tub.

No, it's not an age old remedy for ring around the tub. If your daughter wants to play outside in the stuff, and you don't want to spend 10 minutes getting her dressed in snow clothes so you can help her take them back off 5 minutes later, it is a good solution. (Please note: this works for boys too.)

What would Christmas be without new, tacky, felt ornaments to stick on the tree? Well, it just wouldn't be special enough. So I made a whole entire 4 of these.

Instead of showing you the politically neutral halloween costumes I made for my kids, I'm going to tell you who I think you should vote for tomorrow...

Chuck Baldwin

If your in California you will have to write him in, as well as in a few other states.

Oh man! I can't believe I forgot to tell you it was November, a.k.a. NaNoWriMo! I'm not even going to try this year. If you think I'm a nincompoop because of that, I hope you write it like this NinComPoop.

Someone happened upon my blog after googling "my baby ate polystyrene beads." That really made my day, hope yours can be just as wonderful.

I bought some green yarn to tie the blanket for my son, (the one I won't let you see.) And I had a lot left over, I figured since I also had a crochet hook somewhere in the house, I would try my hand at crocheting. After watching a series of videos on Youtube, I started this hat...



Since I didn't have enough yarn to finish it, I had to get some more. And I didn't just get enough to finish it, I also got some brown stuff too, and made another hat for the wee little one.



Now I have some left over brown and purple yarn that I will have to crochet something else out of, and there probably isn't enough to finish something and I'll have to get some more, I'll probably be crocheting for the rest of my life now.

Also take note that I take back some of the bad things I've said in the past about crocheting and the people who espouse such an activity.

I haven't done too much since that baby of mine was born, but here is one thing I made. It's a bag to tote around items for that baby, and the older siblings as well. I hate carrying things around with me everywhere, but since I have to, this bag is nice to have. If you look really closely you will notice that the strap needs a bit more sewing to be complete. If that bothers you then don't look closely.

I also made a blanket for my sons bed, but I'm not too excited about it so I won't show it to you. I'm also making one for my daughters bed and I'll probably not show that to you also. Too bad for you.

It's her 3 week birthday, so I figured it was high time I showed off her mullet. She has dark hair right now, but you can expect it to turn blond like my other kids after a few more washings. My womb is like a cheap beauty salon where we give bad dye jobs and bad hair cuts. Her eyes are still dark and haven't turned their true color, I'm holding out hope that they will be brown. If they aren't that's okay, I won't toss her out with the bath water, I'll just add her to my collection of kids that don't resemble me in any way, shape, form, or color.



Here is a short version of the way she was born, I'll spare you some of the details.

I woke up to wimpy contractions around 4:30 a.m. they were about 10 minutes apart. After about 3 and a half hours I called the midwife and told her she could come, because it would take her about 45 minutes to get here, and I didn't want a repeat of my last labor when I had to call the midwife and tell her to get there now because I suddenly felt like pushing (luckily the last midwife was only across town and got there pretty fast.) Turns out this labor took a bit longer, we were eating lunch when my water broke, splash all over the floor! (I said I'd spare you some of the details, not all.) The midwife cleaned it up and then finished lunch. My contractions were getting to be truly painful and I decided I had enough and I wanted to go have the baby. So we went into the back bedroom and I had the baby at 1:30. It was a pretty mild labor, but don't get me wrong, there was plenty of pain and suffering...poor me. The baby weighed 8 pounds and was 21 inches long and she was a very proficient sneezer.

Now three weeks later I feel pretty good, I keep thinking of all the things I'd like to do outside in the yard, especially since the weather has turned cool, but then I remember I had a baby and I just don't need to be doing them. If anyone wants to plant some spinach for me, come on over.

I had a baby, but I don't feel like sitting in front of the computer to tell you all about it right now, so that is all I've got to say on the subject.

Bee-cause Someone ordered a bee dragon. I think You really wanted a dragon dressed up like a bee, pretending to do bee things, but I can't be trusted to follow instructions. If it's bee parts aren't anatomically correct, You may suggest changes, and if I'm in the mood to not cross anything off my important list then I might be willing to oblige You. On the other hand I might ignore You and draw an anatomically incorrect flower to go with it. Does You, or anyone else think it needs the other set of legs in the picture?