the mermaid’s song

Nicole found a mermaid toy in her bucket and broke into song. Ahhh, this brings back memories... memories of myself singing the 'ah ah ah' "song" from The Little Mermaid. I distinctly remember my kindergarten classmates asking me to stop singing it all the time... and I also distinctly recall thinking they were just jealous they couldn't sing as well as me. haha.

 

mini crafters

On days when I have more than one small child at a time I like to set them up with a craft or activity, as long as everyone is getting along. (and oh, they don’t always. There are some kids that are just lethal combos, or for example Nicole has one friend that gets along with her just splendidly, as long as it is just him and her. If there are other kids around, he and she are cats and dogs.)This particular little boy here never seems to have a problem with anybody, he’s just a chill little dude. So we did some beading! I bought this kit at Walnart (as my cellphone’s autocomplete likes to write) while I was in Grand Forks. I honestly couldn’t tell you if my local Walnart has it or not, I have never noticed it before, but that could just be me. Regardless, it’s a little kit that looks like a clear take-out box full of foam shapes, and it has a little plastic needle and a bunch of clear elastic thread.The needle even has a ball on it’s little plastic tip, so, super safe. But, problem, one needle, two kids. Solution? Bobby pin! Worked just fine, because I was doubling up the thread anyways with a knot on one end and the needle on the other, so the thread couldn’t be accidently yanked out of the needle.Both little crafters proudly (and quickly!) threaded up their necklaces. Little Boy L was very impressed with himself and wore it around for a while, then put it in his backpack so he wouldn’t lose it. Nicole, however, makes everything ‘for Grandma.’ Except the stuff she makes for Auntie ‘A-manna.’

This activity was great because it bought me a good half hour to do a crossword puzzle in the newspaper develops dexterity and they play around with sorting and recognizing colors and shapes! And then my ridiculously amazing child cleaned up all the foam shapes after they were done because she likes to clean up her activities before moving on to the next one. Not every time, but more than half! She won’t think to pick up a few dolls on the floor, and if a mess is too big and intimidating she ignores it or asks for help. But most things she tidies up after herself! *dreamy sigh*

Sorry, this kid is mine, get your own.

Its what’s INSIDE

We received a package for Nicole yesterday. When it comes to packages from Baby Half Off, I like to let her open them herself. (Well, mostly. I cut them open and let her have at.) As you can see, she is quite delighted when she does!These are cute little dolls called Sprites. They look sortof like the Ty beanie dolls, I guess. Nicole loves them! I had a few women over last night, and since Nicole crashed out at 4:30 for a two-hour nap she was up all night. She spent a good chunk of time plunked beside her Auntie ‘A-man-na’ playing with these dollies.  Today she’s got a friend over and aside from tearing around the livingroom when I’m trying to take a picture of it, scattering notebooks and crayons on the coffee table, and placing a Random Small Chair in the livingroom, if you look on the sofa you can see the little dolls again; they’ve been played with a lot again this morning. I find it’s the little bitty stuffies that Nicole is really into taking around with her lately, giving them grand adventures and gibberish-stories. I went out for New Years but Chris opted to stay home with Nicole. (Possibly for the best, considering after a drink or two I fancy myself quite the singer/dancer, a regular pop sensation, and there was karaoke involved. Suffice it to say it’s maybe for the best the only person I could embarrass was my own good self.) When I got home I found him 90% done tearing up the carpet! Guess he figured my secret plan to tear it up myself as soon as he went back to work and decided better get’er done. Something stupid, though… if you look, you’ll notice in the front of the picture darker floor, and then lighter. Well, that’s no optical illusion… they decided to put down a huge rug of some sort in the livingroom right away, I guess, and instead of varnishing (or whatever) the whole floor they stopped at the rug! There’s a jagged line and everything. ASK ME HOW MUCH I LOVE THE PREVIOUS/ONLY OWNERS??? Not lots, let me tell you. Quite the opposite. Did I ever tell you the soap dish story? Another post, perhaps. This one is quite long. Regardless of the ridiculousness, this floor still looks better than our dingy, stained carpet, and in summertime chris is going to sand it all down, stain it, and seal it. After taking the wood from the bedrooms and putting it in the kitchen so we have all one type of floor in our open-concept home!

this is two

This is two candles blown out ever-so-neatly with family and friends.
This is a batch of cupcakes eaten icing-first by little people, and some big ones too!

This is the happy birthday girl, eating one of her favourite things.

This is a neatly made bed (I will treasure the picture, lol) with a new comfortor from Gramma.

This is the terrible twos, relished quickly and with lots of enthusiasm.

This is a princess and a monkey and mommy and daddy's precious little baby, already two years old!

(And... we did it! We waited for her birthday to give her the kitchen! LOL... we have a bit of a reputation for NOT waiting to give gifts on the proper day. PS, how cute is this kitchen? It has little baskets! And a pot rack (not shown)... mine doesn't compare!)

PS: I totally forgot... this is the Market Skirt from MADE's tutorial! I plan on adding the adorable pockets yet, but DH needed me to turn a longsleeve sunday shirt into a shortsleeve one tonight. So... later!