French Braids

I did it! I pinched Rose’s wispy Bink-hair into French braids! While she was eating breakfast yesterday I got out the spray bottle and comb and went to work. It was tricky to get the braid to be smooth when Rose kept turning her head to look at Jay every other minute. At last I tied the last twist, and my sweet little Rose wore her first-ever braids all day. I still can’t believe it worked!

I put barrettes in up top to keep the wisps in check.

Five hours later…

And then, post-nap…

(poor Jay wasn’t feeling well, although apparently  he’s already over whatever it was).

I love having hair to braid!

Sing 'n Sew

Yesterday I did my annual sing 'n sew. I turned on Handel’s Messiah and sewed the day away, singing along with my favorite parts. I don’t exactly enjoy sewing, but it’s still somehow satisfying in an inexplicable way. I do enjoy the Messiah, though, so it all evens out. Listening to the Messiah should totally count as scripture study. I wish George Friedrich had put the rest of the Bible to music! But I guess Lamentations conquered even his music-genius (understandably). So here’s what I managed to sew amidst phone calls, chaotic children, and musical rapture:

Jay’s Star Wars pajama pants:

He is 100% Star-Wars’d in this picture, right down to his undies.

Here’s a close-up on the fabric he picked out.

Rose’s Elmo PJ pants:

In the past few weeks, Rose has really started loving Elmo. She says his name so cutely, like “Ow-mo.” I need a video.

The pants turned out kind of big and billowy because I was paranoid about fitting them over her diaper.

They are SO easy to make. To prove it, here’s a quick run-down, no pattern necessary:

Trace a pair of pants loosely (maybe not this loosely) on the fold of the fabric, with the pointy part NOT on the fold. Then do it again, so you have two identical pieces.

Next, unfold the two pieces like this and sew from the top/waistband area to the tip of the point (from the elastic to the scissors in this picture), on both sides.

Then pull it apart at the top so the two crotch seams line up in the middle and tadaaaa, pant legs appear magically! Just finish them up with an inseam, some elastic, and a hem. I made big cuffs on the bottom so I can let them out when Rose grows. In fact, my third sewing project of the day was lengthening the PJ pants I made Jay during last year’s inaugural sing 'n sew.

While I sewed, Jay and Rose mostly cooked elegant, fuzzy meals.

Rose’s Fleece Jumper:

I did use a pattern for this one, and I must take this opportunity to say that sewing patterns are SO CONFUSING. But I eventually decoded the iffy instructions, finished the dress, and then watched Rose spill milk all down the front of it.

Of course amidst the sewing we had to make time to frolic in our beloved wide-open, scantily-furnished house:

 

We all love a nice rowdy game of chase.

Well, that’s it for the sewing, but in the spirit of Christmas craftiness, I shall show you a few more recent projects.

Popsicle Stick Snowflakes:

We used up our décor budget on inside Christmas cheer, so no Christmas lights outside our house this year—just a wreath and a snowflake. And a tipped-over pumpkin that Jeff never carved. Hmm.

I’m on a roll, so why stop now?
Two more holiday joys:

1. Babysitting the soft, snuggly little Laynie-girl. Adore. (doesn’t Rose look huge?)

2. Peppermint bark popcorn: SO YUMMY! The recipe (from ourbestbites.com) made 2 gallons of the stuff, and I’m the only one eating it. Yep, it’s been a good week.

As G.F. H. put it, A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ahhh-men, Ahhhmen, Ahhh-a-a-a-a-ahhh-men!
Amen.

Story-telling

One of the things I like to do with Jay and Rose is make up little stories to tell them. Often at bedtime, I make up a short silly story to tell before I say goodnight and close the door. They have two favorites: The Cousin Story and the Hiding Story. I keep the main plot the same and change/embellish the details around every time I tell them. I wrote the stories down more for myself and “the record.” They are interspersed them with kid pictures so there’s something to look at if you’re not in a reading mood.

THE COUSIN STORY (the latest version)
Once upon a time there was a little boy named Jay and a little girl named Rose. Jay and Rose wanted to play with their cousins, but little baby Laynie was still too small to play. So Jay and Rose went to the airport, got on an airplane, and flew allllll the way to Missouri and went to Steve’s and Dan’s house. They played on the Wii, they jumped on the trampoline, and they wrestled. Then they had chicken nuggets for dinner and watched a movie. That night they had a sleepover! The next morning, Jay and Rose gave Steve and Dan big hugs, went to the airport, got back on the airplane, and flew allllllllll the way back home to Washington.
The End.

[she fell asleep while hiding one day]

The Hiding Story
Once upon a time there was a little boy named Jay. Jay wanted to play with his sister Rose, but he couldn’t find her anywhere. So he looked and looked for her. He looked under the table, he looked behind Mommy’s chair, he looked in the laundry room, he looked in the trash, he looked in the fridge, he looked in the bathtub, he looked in the pantry, and he even looked in the potty, but he couldn’t find Rose anywhere! Finally, Jay looked in the toy box and he found Rose hiding there! Then they played and played together happily and had lots of fun.
The End.

Jay LOVES these stories! He laughs so hard when I think of yucky, impossible places for Rose to hide. He hangs off of every word about what he does while playing with his cousins. Yesterday I finished my run at the park, and I let Jay and Rose play for a while. When it was time to leave, we had a mile to walk home with the stroller, and I was feeling tired. Luckily Jay came to the rescue and asked me, “Mommy, can you tell me a story about a(insert noun)?” So I invented miniscule stories right and left and he and Rose listened intently the whole time. Before I knew it, we were almost home! It was a perfect distraction for all of us.

Here are two products of yesterday’s story-walk:

The Story About Jasen’s Truck
Once upon a time there was a guy named Jasen. He had a truck. He loved his truck so much that he drove it everywhere. He drove it around Grandview, he drove it across the grass, he drove it at the farm, and he drove it in the fields. One day a wheel fell off of the truck and rolled away! Jasen had to run very very fast to catch the wheel. Finally he got it and put it back onto his truck. He parked his truck, went inside, and had spaghetti for lunch.
The End.

The Story About the Car
Once upon a time there was a dog named Toby. Toby really wanted to drive a car, but he didn’t have any hands to hold the steering wheel, and his feet couldn’t reach the gas pedal. So Toby got his friend Zeke to help him. Zeke laid down low and pushed the pedals while Toby steered the car with his paws. They drove all over the place with the windows down.
The End.

My impromptu stories got shorter and shorter and dumber and dumber until finally I asked Jay to tell ME a story.

Jay’s Story About A Flag
“Once upon a time there was a flag named Rach-o [made up word]. He wanted to chase a dog. So he ran and ran and ran. Finally he caught it. The End.”

Then Jay re-told me a few of my own silly stories while we walked. His memory is astounding! He has always been able to “read” our books from memory, but I was surprised that he did so well just telling a story that he’d heard once, without any pictures to help him along. He loves it when there’s something unusual or goofy like dogs driving cars or Rose hiding in the fridge. I love the story game!! Last night, Jay told his best story yet. I think at one point I told this story to him, but it’s been weeks since I told it, so I’ll give the credit to him for it:

The End.

CTBC

When I was in 3rd grade, living in Indiana, the standardized testing was called CTBS. I have no idea what that stood for, but all the kids on the bus called it Child Torture Before Spring. Well, today I put Jay and Rose through CTBC—Child Torture Before Christmas. In other words, we went to Joann Fabrics.

The fleece was all 50% off! You know how I love fleece.

I’m not sure Rose feels the same about it.

I do my best not to take my patient kids to the fabric store with me. It’s not usually fun for any of us when we all go together. Predictably, when I told Jay we were headed there today, he was not excited. Then I told him that they have Star Wars fabric there, and we were going to get some to make PJ pants for him. He perked right up and suddenly Joann’s wasn’t such a bad store after all.

We spent over an hour there, and I have to say that Jay and Rose were actually very GOOD! I was pleasantly surprised. Jay stayed relatively close to me the whole time and didn’t break anything. Rose let me bury her in fleece without a problem. I’m not going to claim that their behavior was all because of my amazing parenting or anything (I tend to think that nature and nurture are equally divided 50/50), but it was gratifying to have a long, potentially lethal outing end so well.

I got 1/4 a yard of at least 10 different colors of fleece for future craftiness, plus enough fleece to make Rose 4 jumpers (since she has already managed to grow out of most of the winter clothes I got her back in October). The lady at the cutting counter was very friendly and didn’t even tease me for my mountainous heap, although I think she was surprised to see Rose’s little face emerge from the depths when I started unloading the cart. FLEECE! AHHHH!

I’m dying to know what she was thinking (she was probably dying to know what I was thinking, too).

We need a little Christmas

There are so many FUN things to do with family at Christmas time. It makes me feel so rich to have such a perfect, sweet family to enjoy this season with me. We’re living it up:

Our Christmas tree. Ten points to whoever spots the origami Yoda on the tree.

Garland—our very first bannister to decorate. I love how homey and cozy garland is at Christmas time. I got the garland on sale a month ago, and we wrapped our own lights around it (because pre-lit garland is outrageously expensive, even at 50% off).

Remember this paper advent calendar from last year? It still works.

In each pouch of the advent calendar, I put a puzzle piece and a letter (A is for Angels, B is for Bethlehem, etc—I got it from last year’s December Friend magazine). I made a flannel board out of cardboard (surprise, surprise) and flannel for the letters. The puzzle is a picture of the manger scene. Jay wants to do the whole puzzle all at once, and he keeps sneaking pieces out of the pouches.

Stockings are my favorite way to give gifts. Jeff got us two poinsettias from a school fundraiser, and I keep forgetting to water the poor things. They are rather pale and papery.

Yesterday morning, Sunnyside High School had a cookie decorating activity. Clockwise from the top left: Jay’s, Jeff’s, mine, and Rose’s. When Rose discovered that all this colorful stuff was edible, she gave up decorating and started eating her frosting off the plastic knife.

I love this picture: Bink in a scarf.

Sunnyside’s lighted farm implements parade—we finally went this year. Jay did not like it when the giant trucks honked their horns. When we asked him what his favorite part of the parade was, he said “not the beeping.” They were LOUD.

Rose enjoyed the lights while climbing all over us.

Those cheeks!!!

Jay liked waving back at everyone in the parade.

Dog pile on Daddy

I think a horn had started honking right when I took this picture—Jay is on alert, and Rose is hamming it up. Oh, their personalities.

This may be the best family picture we’ve taken all year—everyone is smiling, even if we aren’t all looking in the same place. And to think, all I did was set the camera on auto and hold it a few feet out in front of us.

We have finished all of our Christmas gift shopping and I only have one more gift left to make, so I’m glad there are cookies, crafts, cuteness, music, and activities a-plenty to get us sufficiently Christmas-ified by the 25th.