The Workings of a 2 year old Mind

My children have always been literal in naming their stuffed animals…You may remember Mousie,  Mousie the 2nd , and Mousie the 3rd. 

Behold!

“KITTY”

“BABY”

“MeeOww Kitty”

“MOUSIE” (the first)

“BEAR”

 

and………………..

“WOOF WOOF” (?)

[who says "Yee Haw!"]

Some Recent Projects

I am getting the painting bug again.  Last weekend I painted the bathroom from Boring White to…

 

~~~~~~~~~~~and I recently sent off this little pillow to baby Lucy in Texas (and since I know it has safely arrived there I can put some pics up here!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~and a new summer dress for little Miss Claudia, who saw the fabric at JoAnn’s and kept saying Pooh?  Pooh dress?  Pooh dress?  So instead of finishing the curtains for the newly painted bathroom, I stitched this up.  The curtains are Almost done….

The man in the Yellow hat

A few weeks back we went to see Curious George at the Bookstore.  Claudia was terrified of him, but Edison thought it was pretty cool and high-fived him.

Neither one was too impressed with the man in the yellow, er, backwards tan, hat.

 

Claudia spent most of her time as far away from the monkey as possible in the train section. 

Strong Museum Of Play

While we were in Rochester over Easter weekend we went to the Strong Museum of Play not just Once, but Two Times!  And we didn’t even get close to playing with/seeing the whole place.  Such an amazing place to explore!

 

Claudia, of course, loved the Sesame Street section (I have to admit, I did too…I got pretty excited to Be INSIDE Elmo’s World…and to see the green 123 Sesame Street door!)

 

 

Me and The Count  (Ah ah Ah!!!)

 

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Berenstain Bear Country!!!   

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Mr. Potato Head

  

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Heading Home with Her New Elmo Doll…

sleepwalking

I’m having some trouble with my computer/camera cooperating, so I can’t upload all of the fun pics I’ve been taking lately.  But once I get it all straightened out, I promise to do better!

Edison just came into the office (10:45 p.m.) all bleary-eyed and said “But MOM, I wanted to drive!”  You wanted to drive where, honey?  “I wanted to DRIVE there!!!”  Ummm, I think you’re sleeping still, let’s get you back to bed.  “OK, but can I drive there?”  Sure.

Easter at Nonni & Grandpa Jack’s House

We are enjoying the spring weather SoooOOOooooOOOooo much around here.  Spending most of our daylight time outside playing – and raking – and then more playing.  But since Today is a Rainy Day, I thought I’d quickly update the happenings from the last few weeks.

 

Easter Weekend!

We spent Easter weekend in Rochester with G’s family.  Oh my goodness – it was so much fun!  It included Grandpa Jack bringing home a Bounce House from his rental store, 2 visits to the Strong Museum of Play and, of course, EASTER Baskets! 

Makeshift Easter Basket

sugar happy child

Cloudy with a chance of falling ceiling tiles….

bounce house with a slide!!!

it felt like it was about 20 degrees out, but the kids braved the elements 

I think I’ll save the Strong Museum pictures for another post…..

Today’s post brought to you by the Letter X

oh, gee whiz, where did March go????  We seem to have spent a lot of time just waiting for this to melt away…

Under all that snow we found a slide, a hula hoop and a little chair that all weathered the winter outdoors. 

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This past week was filled with rehearsals and performances of a local high school’s production of GREASE that Garrison & I were both in the pit for.  It’s always fun to get involved with high school musicals – all the energy of high school students can be catchy.  Which is good, when you have to stay up late into the night and then are still awakened early in the morning by your 6 year old son showing you how Great his Pajamas are!  Super Mario Brothers, Mom!!!  AND it’s Pajama Day!  So I Can Wear them At School!!!!  (Fine, but it is 5:30 in the morning and so I’ll look at them in a few hours….pillow over the head…hoping that sends a clear enough message that I need More Sleep thank you very much!)

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Tonight while driving in the car with the kids, Edison & I were singing silly songs and Claudia would LOUDLY start singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star over anything we tried to sing.  E & I eventually gave in and started singing along with her.  Changing the lyrics to the alphabet song when we got tired of “how I wonder what you are….”   It reminded me of when Edison was 2 and obsessed with the alphabet song.  He would sing it over and over and fall into a fit of giggles every time he came to the letter X.  Something about the letter X was extremely funny to his 2 year old brain.  I recounted the story to him and after a pause he said, “Now that you mention it, I still think the letter X is funny.”  And now that He mentions it, I guess I kind of find the letter X funny as well….

…and yes, this is a picture of Claudia gnawing through half a loaf of homemade bread.  She laid claim to it in the classic way of little siblings everywhere – grabbing it, licking it and grossing everyone else out to the point of us just saying “you can HAVE it!”

still winter

I was hoping that spring was Really Springing, but here we are getting another big round of snow.  Oh well, it’s a good excuse for Butterfinger Hot Chocolate.  Yum.  Although, I couldn’t find it the last time I was at the store…hmmm….maybe that gets phased out when bathing suits are getting phased in!?!?

A few weekends ago G took the kids to a winter festival – sledding in the closed off street, snowball throwing contests, hot chocolate, etc…so that I could have a Day To Myself.  Pure Bliss. 

I had this stack of fabric that I had purchased on a whim – not really knowing what I was going to do with it – calling out to me…I was thinking funky spring skirts at first, but then decided I wanted to see the fabric more often than that. 

 

 

I started the day by making these curtains for my craft bookshelf.  In an effort to stay more organized (and so that there aren’t always piles of supplies on my dining room table) I moved this bookshelf into the dining room.  She needed a little dressing up though, no?  So far it is keeping me much more organized, and it makes me happy to see the cheery 70’s like fabric.

Then I went to the movie theater – at noontime – to see a movie, By Myself!  I bought my ticket, my popcorn and my giant soda and went in and picked out a seat to the movie Coraline.  It was a beautiful movie (but would have scared the pants off of my kids – I know it’s supposed to be a kids movie, but yikes (!) kids getting their eyeballs stolen and buttons sewn on instead…).  I was there for about 5 minutes when my phone vibrated (I had turned the sound off like a good movie-goer should!) with a text message that the kids had tired out already and they had all come home at 1:00 instead of 6:00.  So instead of a Whole Day to myself, I got a few hours, but it was still wonderful!

~Here is Claudia modeling the strings of flocked beads that she found on my -not yet organized – shelves…

 

February Crafting

So, this month’s creative challenge theme over at Mo’s was “gifts for children”.  I have had such a fun time making things (and making messes!) for some of the little people (and soon to arrive little people!) in my life.

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First off, I started with this knitted hat.  Which as soon as I finished, Claudia grabbed and declared it  “MINE“, in that classic 2 year old way.  So, out came the knitting needles and I quickly knitted up hat #2.  I Love this pattern and see many of these hats in my future.

  

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Next came this sweet little Stroller Blanket – Warm Fuzzy Fleece on one side and this darling Romantic cotton print on the front.  I like that the colors aren’t screaming traditional GIRL or BABY.

 

 

Those lovely ladies do seem like they’re having a nice time…

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On Valentine’s Day, Edison and I worked on the next project together – Crayon hearts.  My kids hate to use broken crayons, so we save them up until we have enough bits and pieces to melt together into molds.  The hearts were perfect for February.  They’re fun to color with because you never really know what color will land on your paper next!  oooo Surprise Surprise!

 

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I also made a few bibs with scrap fabric that I had – embroidering one of them (because everything is better with a little embroidery, right?)  And those little ladies made an encore appearance…

 

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And last, but not least, I hand stitched up this little guy while watching a movie last night.  Claudia quickly dubbed him “Twinkle” and added him to her collection of best friends.  I can imagine a little fleet of these to watch over nurseries everywhere.  And So Baby Friendly!

 

The Full Collection….

Happy Presidents Day

Edison has a man crush. 

This is just a small collection of the pictures he has colored and brought home from school…There are many many many more…