A New Project

Since I'm bored all day without a single thing to do (please see the sarcasm in that sentence), I have decided to take on a new project; sewing alphabet letters. One night when I was on the We Teach website, someone shared a link to this blog Rag Quilt Letters where the owner shares a tutorial and patterns on how to make alphabet letters out of cloth. I have a sewing machine but never sew. Actually, I don't know how to sew, but I save patterns "just in case I learn." Thursday night my friend Stevie, who knows how to sew, came over and showed me what to do. So far I have only finished Hattie and Celie's name, but I'm hoping to finish the whole alphabet by the end of the weekend. I'll post when I finish.



Hattie helping


She kept saying, "H is for Hattie!"


Soft enough for little hands

93

My grandpa is 93 today! These are pictures taken back in November. Happy Birthday Grandpa!


Looking at a photo of Celie and my grandma, Cecilia

Reading his text messages

Four generations

Sunday-A Week in Yor Life-Last Day

Lazy Sunday around here. Went to the Campbell Farmer's
Market in the morning, then I headed to the store to buy
my dinner for the week (I'm starting a diet), Hattie had a
day of time outs, we then headed outside and watched Hattie
on the swing, watched Celie watch Hattie on the swing, read
a book, Hattie showing off the treasures she found when she
and Randy went for a walk, and talked to Grammy on
Skype where Hattie showed off her caterpillar.
A Week in Your Life

Muffin Tin Monday-No Theme (bugs)

For MTM this week, there wasn't a theme, so I decided on a bug theme. We are finishing bugs this week, and we read the book, Bugs For Lunch during calendar time this morning. She loved this tin. Went straight for the juice, then worms, then pasta. She tried celery for the first time and said, "I don't like it." Oh well. I don't really like it either.



L to R: beetle juice (apple juice), bug-shaped pasta (Safeway),
ladybug (apple half with peanut butter and chocolate chips),
ants on a log (celery with peanut butter and raisins), butterfly
(heart-shaped bread with pretzel stick as body) and
gummy worms.

Saturday-A Week in Your Life

Lazy day around here. Snuggling first thing in the morning,
playing Wii, trip to Costco, relaxing in the sun, playing
Ring Around the Rosie (again), trip to OSH-grass seed
for a project for Hattie in May, In-N-Out for lunch, Celie
watching us eat, dreaming of the day she can eat a french fry.

Friday-A Week in Your Life

Quick trip to the library to donate, return and checkout
books, Hattie's lunch-couscous, grilled chicken and an orange,
my lunch-caramel frap from McD's, a very cranky baby,
reading, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," showing off her
caterpillar made out of an egg carton, watching
The Food Revolution (loved this show) and
Trader Joe's for dinner.
A Week in Your Life

Thursday-A Week in Your Life

Our daily "cheers"-Hattie with her milk, me with my coffee,
making breakfast in her kitchen while I make hers in mine,
playing with friends at the park, daddy doll on the toilet, a
quick trip through Target, two girls in the car, playing Snail's
Pace Race, and watching the best show (next to the Young and
the Restless) on TV-The Office.

Wednesday-A Week in Your Life

Waking up before 7 (and the kids), morning routine of
everyone piling into bed together, feeding the girls their
breakfast, being spit up on exactly two minutes before
walking out the door, running errands (in a new clean shirt),
eating, no, devouring Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Peanut
Clusters, helping with housework, and Grandma and Grandpa
here for a visit.

Tuesday-A Week in Your Life

Here is Tuesday's edition. Watching the garbage truck is
always so much fun, taking baths and brushing teeth,
checking emails first thing in the morning, sitting on our
own, painting blue snails, having fun with friends at a
play date and eating spaghetti for dinner.
A Week in the Life

Monday-A Week in Your Life

A few photos from yesterday. We had a fairly normal day. Had breakfast, got dressed, gave Celie a bath, did "calendar time," hunted for lady bugs and gnomes, celebrated Celie's 7-month birthday, ate lunch out of a muffin tin, I got 20 minutes of silence (overlap of nap times) while watching "The Young and the Restless," and made pizza. Taking more photos today.
A Week in Your Life

7 Months and Avocados-Yuck!

7 months. Many new things to share from the past month.
At 7 months
She:
-takes 3 naps a day
-sleeps from 6:30pm to 7:30am with one, sometimes 2 wake-ups.
-is consistently rolling from her back to her belly
-is sleeping on her belly
-has 1.5 teeth
-still sucks her thumb
-signs "milk" and is learning the sign for "sleep"
-can sit up on her own
-loves to play Ring Around the Rosie with Hattie (she sits in her exersaucer and Hattie holds her hands and turns her around-big smile the whole time)
-sleeps in her pack n' play in the office (to be moved to her sister's room soon)
-imitates me when I scream in a joking way (had to clarify the "joking way")
and for the avocados,
-doesn't like rice cereal, bananas, sweet potatoes or avocados (these are the only solids that she is eating right now, and she doesn't like any of them!)

Muffin Tin Monday-Leftovers Rock!

So, besides A Week in Your Life
and Celie's 7-month pictures (coming soon), today is also Muffin Tin Monday.
The theme is Leftovers Rock, which is perfect for today since we have sooo many leftovers in our fridge. She ate everything but the chocolate. Must not be my daughter.

L to R: chicken, pasta, this morning's oatmeal,
salsa, chips and leftover Easter candy

A Week in Your Life Starts Tomorrow...

If you know me well, you know that I scrapbook, sort of. I mean I do, just not as much as I did before kids. But every year, I participate in Ali Edward's "class" called, "A Week in the Life." All day long, for seven days, you bring your camera everywhere you go and take pictures of your day and document all of the little things. When the week is over, you gather your photos, any journaling and any other memorabilia from the week and put it into an album. I have been doing this since 2006and it is always my favorite project of the year. I will post some of the pictures I have taken each day on the following morning. If you are interested in trying this project, go here: A Week in Your Life

You don't have to do this tomorrow, but maybe you can try another day.
And because I don't like writing posts without at least one photo, here is a picture of Celie on Easter. Still trying to dig through all of the photos.

Hidden Villa Farm

Today Hattie and her friend Madi visited Hidden Villa Farm in Los Altos. The girls had fun watching the goats and sheep being fed, chickens lay eggs and pigs roll in the mud. They also watched a mama and baby cow in a field and tried to feed goats some hay. The farm also has a large garden with a variety of fruits and vegetables. Our theme next month is a garden theme, so we'll be back in May for some lessons.

Little Girl

Click on photo to enlarge.

Hattie Street

Drove by this in San Francisco (Nov. 09) and had to stop and take a photo.

Muffin Tin Monday-Rainbow Theme

Woohoo! Two weeks in a row. I'm on a roll. This was a fun theme; lots of possibilities.

Easter photos coming soon...

red strawberries, orange mandarin oranges,
yellow banana, green avocado, blue leftover Easter candy,
purple grape jelly and peanut butter sandwich, and a pot of
"Gold"fish crackers at the end of the rainbow.,

Muffin Tin Monday

This is the first week I have participated in Muffin Tin Monday. I have run across it many times on many blogs, and I finally decided to join in. What is Muffin Tin Monday (MTM)? From the website:


What is a Muffin Tin Meal? Pretty simple here. It's a meal served in a muffin tin. For Muffin Tin Mondays we make them for our kids, but anyone can have a muffin tin meal!
What is Muffin Tin Monday? A weekly blog carnival, every Monday, here at Her Cup Overfloweth, where we get together and link up posts about the muffin tin meals we make for our kids. Sometimes there is a theme, and sometime there isn't.


Since there wasn't a theme this week, I kind of just put some random stuff in the tin. She ate most of her lunch. She even started with the hummus! I probably won't be able to do this every Monday, but I'm going to try. It's a fun way to eat my boring lunches!




Left to right: umbrella-shaped almond butter and jelly sandwich,
pretzel rods, roasted red pepper hummus, jelly beans, fish crackers
inside eggs, strawberries

Easter Bunny photo

On Tuesday, my mom and I took the girls to the mall for a picture with the Easter Bunny. Celie took her "my first photo with the Easter Bunny," picture. She did great. Sat there and smiled the whole time. Then it was time for Hattie and Celie to take their photo together. And surprisingly, that also went well. I had to rehearse with the Hattie not to cry when she sat on the rabbit's lap, and she did it. She didn't smile, but she didn't cry. Good enough.

This is the same face Hattie had with Santa too.

More St. Patrick's Day Photos

A few last photos of St. Patrick's Day. The Leprechaun decided to leave us a special treat since he had been so sneaky all week. He made us a delicious rainbow cake in which we enjoyed for breakfast, lunch and dinner! (The cake was not the entire b, l, or d; just part of it).
He was also kind enough to leave green play dough for Hattie's friends when they all came over for a play date. We will miss The Leprechaun, but we are sure that we will see him again next year. I wonder what the Easter Bunny has instore for us...

Please Vote!

Update #3: We won second place! Thank you all so much! We are so happy. Thank you for voting and passing the information along to others.
Update #2: We are tied for 2nd. Thanks so much for voting!
Update: We are tied for 3rd. The contest ends Friday at 3pm. Vote! :)

Hi Everyone!
One of our photos has been nominated by our photographer as one of the best of 2009. The winner will receive a Custom Session for their family. If you have a minute, please vote for us at the link below by this Friday, March 26, 3pm. Our picture is "Mama."
Thanks!


http://annamayer.com/best-of-2009-contest/?utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Best+of+2009+Contest+Begins%21&utm_campaign=Best+of+2009+Contest+Begins%21&utm_term=vote

6 Months and Sisterly Love

I love 6 months. Babies are so happy (usually) and they are more aware of their surroundings and they sleep better (usually!).

At 6 months,

She:

-is so happy!

-is more aware of her surroundings!

-is sleeping better! She sleeps from 7pm-8am with 2, sometimes 1, wake up.

-is more interested in Hattie and what she is doing then anything else around her.

-has just discovered Cameron, but doesn't seem as interested in him as Hattie was.

-is drooling tons, but no teeth yet.

-has her 6 month appointment next week.

-is not yet sitting up on her own.

-loves to grab her toes, and is very close to being able to chew them.

-still sucks her thumb.

-will start solid foods soon.

-still sleeps in a Pack n' Play in our room (not ready to have her share a room with Hattie yet).

and Sisterly Love-this picture was taken on St. Patrick's Day. More photos to come!

Sneaky Leprechaun

For the past several days, a Leprechaun has been sneaking into our house while we sleep, and plays tricks on us. Monday, he tipped our furniture over in our family room. He also turned our milk green! On Tuesday, we awoke to find green streamers hanging down from our ceiling. The funny thing is, he takes pictures of himself and leaves them on our camera to discover.

E-I-E-I-O

Every month since September, I have introduced a theme, or a concept to Hattie through activities. We have learned about shapes, seasons, and "all about me," just to name a few. She learns new concepts through art, gross and fine motor skills, pretend play and basic math. We have even invited our friend Liam over to join us. This month we are learning about farm animals. We are all up, fed, and dressed by 9. Around 9 we sit by the calendar and count the days of the week, read a book or flannel board story based on the month's theme and sing a song. Afterwards, we do a "caft" (craft) or activity. Hattie loves learning new things and making stuff, and I am enjoying teaching again.


September's Theme-Shapes


January's Theme-Winter Photo of Liam holding a bear face
from the book, "The Mitten." Snack: mitten-shaped toast
with bear and bunny cookies.


Hattie and Liam :)



March's Theme-Farm Animals. Hattie painted a small box
red and made it into a barn for her animals.

I KNEW she was too quiet

I needed to make beef and black-bean chili to put in my crock pot for dinner tonight, so I sat Hattie in the office and turned on Sesame Street for her. The whole process should have taken 10 minutes. I would go check in on her every 2 minutes or so, and she would be sitting on the chair watching the tv. Great. No problem. At some point, she comes into the kitchen, but I tell her to go back into the office and finish her show. After about 2 minutes, I thought, "hmmm, she sounds too quiet. I had better go in and check on her." What I hadn't known, was when she came into the kitchen, she had taken the cayenne pepper out of the spice drawer, and now she had practically emptied the entire container all over the office. There are piles of the red spice on our carpet, WHITE chair and ottoman, on her doll and in a book of ours. After taking the appropriate amount of photos, I put her into time out. I think she got some in her nose because she has been sneezing and the area around her lips are red.


One of the many piles of cayenne


Do you see her scratching her nose?


Time out

Thumb Sucker

Our little Celie is a thumb sucker. I often find her with her thumb in her mouth while she is napping. We thought Hattie was going to suck her thumb because she seemed to always have her fingers in her mouth, but at some point, she just stopped. Hattie and Celie's daddy was a thumb sucker, so this does not surprise us. We have never given the girls a pacifier, so a thumb was used. I may regret it someday, but for now, it is So.Darn.Cute!

5 Months and Positive Thoughts Needed

Celie is 5 months old today. Can't believe that when Hattie was 5 months old, Randy had just arrived home from Iraq. Seems like such a long time ago.
At 5 months,
She:
-has just started sleeping through the night-8:30pm to 7:30am
-falls asleep easily on her own for naps
-takes 1.5 hour naps
-grabs her toes
-holds toys with two hands
-wants to sit up instead of being on her back
-smiles and laughs at Hattie
-still fits into her 3 month clothing
-was 13lbs. 5 oz. at her last doctor's appointment
-sucks her thumb (pictures of that soon)
-is still an easy-going baby

And positive thoughts for my dad. He had a heart attack on Wednesday and has had surgery. The surgery went better than everyone expected, and he is doing well.

Tweet!

104 temp on Monday. Poor thing.

I am now "tweeting." Huh? I have an account on Twitter and I post "tweets" or updates on what we are doing throughout the day. It's for the grandparents, but I am sure many of you are interested in my housekeeper, beef stew and sick kids. I lead a glamorous life. If you are totally bored, with nothing else to do, you can follow me by clicking on the "follow me" link to the left of this page or just read the updates right here on the blog.
And the kiddo feels better, but she is still not herself. Yucky nose and would rather sit on the couch and watch TV then play which is fine with me. I just want her to rest.