under (and prisoners of) the weather

Of course we're not the only ones to be dealing with fever, coughs, sneezing, and etc., but a few days home from school, cooped up with a foot of snow outside (plus an earthquake!?!), sure does make it feel that way.

Symptoms aside, he feels fine, so at least we've been keeping busy.
















Heart crystals (also above).
















Beads.  With which we make bracelets for each other, with names.  I personally am proudly sporting a princess bracelet and a Celia bracelet, which look almost the same.  Very definite ideas about which colors should be used.  Next up for Alex are a fireman bracelet and a fire chief bracelet (not sure how, or if, those will differ).
















Stamping, for Valentines and just for fun.  "I choosed black and red for the ladybug because ladybugs are black and red."  Later, for a funny joke, a purple and green ladybug was made.  As an aside, taping down our paper with painters tape is my smartest idea in a long time.  I'm sure I'm thwarting some kind of keep-the-paper-still-on-his-own developmental skill, but the decrease in frustration trumps that for now.
















Chalk.  We (I) also drew a bug house and a monster house. Very definite ideas about furniture. Note the Mike bracelet.

All with our monster soundtrack in the background, including songs from Justin Roberts, Laurie Berkner, Sesame Street, and of course, the movie.  Dancing was interspersed.

Tomorrow, a quilt.

a little February cheer

I saw this idea here first, and during our art-and-craft-athon on Sunday, we pulled out an old MSL and punched.  The heart punch was a hit, for sure.

















Then, I put the hearts in a bag, and forgot all about them until this morning.  Not a moment to waste.

We wound the bobbin,
















sorted the hearts,

















saved a favorite for later (in a zookeeper hat, of course, the safest place of all),
















and (I) sewed.

Lessons learned:

















layering back to back will make heart flipping and reflection irrelevant (a lesson for next year), and it's difficult to take a quality photo of a mirror.

all hallows' eve eve

Say that fast a bunch of times.

Not that anyone is dying to do a craft right now, but there's always next year...we did this at Alex's Halloween party today and I thought it was about the cleverest thing I'd ever seen.  I also really liked it because it appealed to my mess-hating craft-indifferent kiddo.  I cannot take one ounce of credit for it--it's the brainchild of the wonderful Miss Lisa at school.

Basically, cut three sheets of scrapbook paper like so: one triangle (the roof), one intact square (the "inside"), one square (the façade) into which you also cut doors and windows, using, I'm guessing, an x-acto knife and an angled ruler.  Precision was not the key, and the result was some serious wonk--all the better when kiddos are doing the gluing and the final product is a haunted house.  Some kids used regular Elmer's (including one who made a glue pond while my head was turned--they're so fast!), others glue sticks, and spider confetti was available.  You must make one!

 In the background, a moment.

And off topic, I really love the second life of a bouquet of flowers.  The original arrangement in this case was beautiful (and, alas, unphotographed--a surprise from my husband, just because!), but once the rest of them started to wilt these few were rescued, I re-vased...and I think I like this one even a little bit better.  Nobody's going to confuse me with Eddie Ross, but I sure smile when I see them--like I cheated flower death and eked out another couple of days of walk-by happiness.

 Trick or treat!