A Day in Wonderland

Today I made coloring books for the girls containing pictures from the Disney version of "Alice in Wonderland."  I printed many pictures and then we bought two pink binders from Target for $1.29 each and made our books.

We had a mini-tea party, which ended up being a mess, while we colored and watched the movie together. 

I didn't get many good pictures, but the idea was fun!  We'll do it again and next time I think I'll do "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and we'll eat apples!  Just not poisonous ones, of course.

Love,
Michelle

Ruckus Room

Wednesday my girls seemed a little rowdy, so we headed to the Ruckus Room.
It is located on Huffmeister between 290 and Cypress North Houston in Cypress, TX.
They have open jump times from 10-5, Monday through Friday.  The cost is about $5 per kid, though, so not a daily activity for us!

Sophie had a blast.  If it hadn't been for the two accidents we would have stayed much longer.

It took Lydie awhile to warm up to jumping, but she had fun once she did. 

She got tired toward the end and laid down on an inflated flower.  Too cute!

We'll go back again.  It was very clean, even the bathrooms.  After Sophie's accidents the staff, politely, asked where she had been playing and then went to every bounce house or play house and cleaned it.  Impressive, I thought!

Love,
Michelle

New Jammies

I decided Lydia needed another pair of summer pajamas and Sophie could use a summer nightgown.  So, off to Kohl's we went and here is what we bought.

Sophie wanted a princess nightgown and this is what we decided upon.

Lydia is too little to care, but I thought these were cute.  I had to chase her around to get a picture (notice her tongue sticking out of her mouth with the effort).

My two cutie pies!

Love,
Michelle

Chalk Animals

I purrchased a Crayola chalk making kit at Walmart on Monday and yesterday the girls and I made chalk animals.

It wasn't that hard or messy.  You add a few capfuls of water to the chalk dust provided and shake up the bottles. 

Once mixed you pour the liquid into the molds and let it harden for 15-20 minutes. 

It worked well and the girls had fun coloring with them.

It was a fun project, not expensive, and not messy!  Gotta love that!

Love,
Michelle

Playhouse

My mother-in-law generously offered to buy a playhouse for the girls.  Sophie and I spent some time looking at many, many playhouses online, showed Brian our favorites and we all picked one out.

It arrived Thursday and we enlisted the help of a neighbor, also named Brian, to go with my Brian up to Walmart to pick it up in his truck.  The box was so big it took up the entire bed of the truck!

Friday night I began putting the house together.  It wasn't too hard as each wall was one piece of the giant puzzle.  The front of the house has a full size door with cut out windows.  It also has a little planter, a mail slot, and a working doorbell!  (Lydia spent a good 10 minutes just standing in front of the house ringing the bell).

The two side walls have windows with shutters (The side wall picture, shows our friend Jack).  The back wall has a large window that holds a folding table/stove/grill.  The table folds in to be a stove and out to be a grill.  There is also a clock, two little shelves, a phone, and a mirror inside.  I must say this playhouse provides a lot for a good price.  The playhouse does not have a floor, but we're keeping it on the patio, so that will provide the floor.

Monday we went out and bought a few toys specifically for the outdoors and for Sophie and Lydie's new house.  We bought a few dishes, a small plastic tea set, a basket of food, a watering can and a dog bowl.  Sophie said her dog, Anna, might get thirsty.  For around $20 these additions really make the house.

Now Sophie said all they need are beds!  Um, I think we'll skip those!

Love,
Michelle

Ni Hao!

Sophie has started to like a new TV show, "Ni Hao, Kailan."  It's about a little girl, Kailan, and is somewhat like Dora as it teaches another language, Chinese, and good lessons.  Such as, what it means to keep a promise, how to share, and how to help your friends.

Sophie loves learning new words in different languages.  We have been working on Spanish and she has quite a few words under her belt.  However, now she wants to learn Chinese.

We went to the bookstore to see what kind of chilren's books we could find to help Sophie learn Chinese.
While at the store the following took place:

Sophie apparoached an Asian mom with three children in tow.
Sophie: "Ni Hao!"  Said a little too loudly.
The mom gave me a strange glance as if to say, "What did your kid just say to me?"
Me:  "She said 'hello' in Chinese."
The Mom:  Bending down to Sophie, "Oh, baby, we're Korean."
I stifled a laugh as Sophie looked over at me and said, "What?"
I explained that just as Chinese people are from China, Koreans are from Korea.
Sophie:  "Is Korea far away like China?"
Me:  "Yes."
Sophie:  "Is it as far as Wisconsin?"
Again stifling a laugh, "It's much farther than Wisconsin."
Sophie:  "Ok."

Through this whole episode the mom and her oldest child were laughing a bit too.  She was really nice and such a good sport with Sophie.  Thank goodness she was a mom herself and understands a bit how little minds work.

Zai hui!  (Good-bye)

Love,
Michelle

Summer Flowers

A few weeks ago Sophie and Daddy went to the plant nursery and Sophie bought a pink petunia, with her own money, to plant in the front yard.  It has been doing so well that today I took the girls to buy a few more for them to plant with Daddy.  Well...apparently petunias don't like the heat, so the nursery isn't selling them anymore. :(  However, they did recommend zinias and vincas.  So we bought a few of each.

Here are some pictures of the girls digging and helping Daddy.

Lydia had decided she had had enough shoveling, so she started picking the petunia flowers.  Check out the deviant look on her face!  Is she trouble, or what?

Sophie and Daddy

The finished flower bed.  (You can see the lovely, pink petunia.  They may not like heat, but I think they get just enough shade to do well).

One happy, little zinia.

Love,

Michelle

Making Cookies or Making a Giant Mess!

I decided to make cookies with the girls on Saturday.  We mixed and rolled and baked.  It was pretty tame.  They helped, but didn't make a mess.  I was grateful, thinking "we had such fun and I won't have a mess to clean up."  I should have removed the girls from the counter just as I finished the thought, but no...I had to get the camera to document their cleanliness.

However.....I forgot that I left the flour on the counter between them. Well...you can imagine what happened from there.

At first they just moved it around on the counter.  Then Lydia tried to fill the Pyrex with it. 

Then Sophie poured flour on Lydia's head. 

Then Lydia decided to try to eat/drink the flour that was piling up on the counter.  Needless to say I had the biggest flour mess I have ever had in my kitchen. 

But, at least they had fun, right?  Right?

Love,
Michelle

101 Things in 1,001 Days

I have accomplished many items on this list of late, but today I did #78!

#78.  Catch up on all ironing.  (I suggest not letting it get to this point!)


#18.  Go a whole week keeping every dish in the house clean.  Today is day seven!

#25.  Teach the girls to swim (or have them take lessons) - In progress for Sophie

#41. & #42.  Go to San Antonio and Go to Sea World. - This is planned for Labor Day Weekend with Brian's family.

#51.  Read a spiritually awakening book. - Read "Prodigal God" and finished it in April.  It is a must read and one that can be read over and over.

#54.  Make all the beds, every morning, for one month. - This is in progress and I began it 5/11/2010.  Today is one week and I think that is a triumph too!

#60.  Have a couple (we don't normally have over) over for dinner.  On Thursday, May 13th, we had Jack & Lael Arrington over for dinner.  Jack was our previous pastor at church.  They are heading out to South Carolina to their new church in just a few weeks.  They will be missed.

That's it for now!

Love,

Michelle

Sophie's Dictionary

Two new words for Sophie's Dictionary:

Famungous - Very Large  (I suppose she means humungous!)

Scrumdaleecious - A combination of scrumdiliumptious and delicious.

Love,
Michelle

Button, Button, Whose Got the Button?

I have begun collecting buttons.

I began my collection in March when I was in Round Top for my church's women's retreat.  My friend, Amanda, came back from an afternoon of shopping and told me about this women selling buttons.  She told me that she had the buttons sorted my color and they prices were reasonable.  I was so excited.  So was Amanda.  She had told many people about her button find and no one seemed really interested until me!  There's a reason.

My grandma had a button tin when I was growing up.  It was a large, round tin, almost the size of a hat box and it contained hundreds, maybe thousands, of buttons!  I loved them!  I loved sitting on the floor with my sister and rummaging through them.  Often times my grandma would let me keep them, other times we had to put them all back, but I loved it.

When Amanda told be about the buttons I knew I had to stop there on the way home and begin my own collection.  Sophie loves them!  Sometimes we just sit on the floor and make shapes with the buttons or separate them by size, color, etc...

Here are a few pictures when Sophie and I made a button boot.

You know I think I should ask my grandma whatever happened to her button collection.  I sure would like to know!

Love,
Michelle

Dog Bite!

On Friday, day two of Brian's vacation, he decided to go for a jog.

Our neighborhood has a really nice paved trail that runs along the Faulkey Gulley.  Brian is on this trail running along when he comes upon a man with two small dogs off their leashes.  Thinking nothing of it, he jogs on.  One of the dogs begins to pace Brian.  Brian, assuming the dog is going to sniff him, continues to run.

Before he knows it the dog scratches the back of his leg and then bites him!  YES!  Bites him!  Can you believe it?

Brian tells the guy, "Hey, I think your dog just bit me."  At the time, Brian wasn't sure if the dog had really bitten him or what.  The dog owner runs off after his dogs and Brian continues to run.  After a couple hundred yards he looks down and realizes the dog really did bite him and he needs to come on home.

We dressed the wound and Brian showered and headed out to the doctor.  The wound was small, but deep.  The doctor said they don't stitch animal bites because the risk of infection is so high, though if it hadn't been an animal bite,  Brian would have been the proud owner of a few stitches.  Armed with antibiotics and a wounded arm from a tetanus shot, Brian came home to try to salvage his vacation day.

Our camera doesn't take great close ups of small objects, but I promise this little bite was pretty darn deep!

Love,

Michelle

Huntsville State Park

On Thursday, May 13th, we headed up toward Huntsville to go boating at the park. 
It was overcast with a cool breeze.  A great day to be on the water.

Unfortunately...when we got there and paid our entrance fee...they informed us that the boat rentals are only open Friday-Sunday during May and that they would be open during the weekdays too in the month of June.

Doh!  So, we drove an hour up there with the excitement mounting and were disappointed.

We played on the playground and went on a nice long walk anyway.  We didn't get any great pictures, but here are a few.

Sophie sat on the paddle boat we never got to use.  You may also notice the mismatched socks.  Sophie insisted on wearing her "boating" socks and these are them!
Tried to get a picture with the squirmy wormies. 

After the park we drove through Elkins Lake.  It is a retirement golf community that Brian's grandparents lived in until his grandpa passed away 13 years ago.  Brian spent many summers there and has very fond memories.  The best picture from our trip happened here on the way out of the subdivision we spotted some deer.

Cutest picture award goes to Lydia who fell asleep reading a book (that she had upside down) on the way home.







This trip also met #56 of the 101 Goals in 1,001 days "Visit two state parks in Texas."  Yeah!

Love,
Michelle

Sophie's First Swim Lesson

Today Sophie had her very first swim lesson. 

Brian and I have been in the pool with her in years past, but only a handful of times.  I knew she liked the water, but I wasn't sure how she would do.

I should have known not to worry, I mean, this is Sophie we're talking about.  She met the instructor, Miss Doris, and loved her from the get go. 

Miss Doris played with Sophie in the shallow water for about 10 minutes, before moving to a different part of the pool to begin working on kicking and such.  As you can see, Sophie is having a blast!

I can't post enough of her big smile!

Sophie even kicked, while balancing on a floatation device, by herself.

And...she floated, holding a little board, for 20 seconds.  Apparently, this is impressive.  I didn't even know it at the time!

Later, Miss Doris told me that Sophie did really well and skipped about 3 levels with today's lesson.  She is unafraid and willing to follow directions.  Yeah!  The one thing she wasn't willing to do was put her face in the water.  I guess she can't be perfect at everything! :)

Can't wait for next week and I know Sophie can't either.

Love,

Michelle

Looking at the World

Yesterday afternoon Sophie picked up her little chair and headed for the front door.  Trying, unsuccessfully, to unlock it, I aksed what she was doing.

Sophie:  "I want to go outside and look at the world."
Mom:  "Ok.  You have to stay near the door so I can see you."

Sophie set her chair up just about as far away as I would let her.  She sat, so cutely, in her chair and sang a little song to the world around her about the fact that she was watching it.

I took this first picture from upstairs.  I thought it was a good vantage point to watch Sophie look at the world!

When I went out in the front yard to see if she would like to come in, this is how I found her sitting.  She's a hoot! 

Let's remember to take a look around us at the world.  God's creation is beautiful and I love being able to see His hand in so many things around me!

Love,
Michelle

Mother's Day Boxes

So the girls and I decided to make something for the grandmothers for Mother's Day.

We went to Hobby Lobby and decided on painting wooden boxes.

About $10 later we had our needed supplies and we headed home to begin.

Well...we headed home for naps!  And mommy prepped the boxes and we painted when they got up.

Grandma Georgie is getting a red box and Gammie is getting a pink box.  (Sophie's color choices).  We also added a glitter top coat for extra shine!  A few heart stickers on top and we were finished.

Inside the boxes they will find chocolate and "love."  Sophie put more heart stickers inside and said we had to give them love.

With a final touch, we tied a ribbon around the boxes and we were finished.

I am mailing Grandma Georgie's to Arizona today, but it probably won't make it there until Monday, so she can read my blog and see what to expect! :)

We'll see Gammie on Sunday and present hers then.

Happy Mother's Day!

Love,

Michelle