dance if it makes you happy.. or serious

Addison LOVES to dance. just loves it. For as fun, energetic, and free spirited as she is.. you would expect her to be all over the place at dance class. maybe one of those not so ready to pay attention kind of kids. but this couldn't be more opposite from her while in class. it's always been that way. She actually started dancing when she had just turned 2!! i know, you probably think "wow what a stage mom." but no, she really really wanted to & we had friends going to a studio in Coronado & the teacher that taught the little girls said to let her try it... and it was a hit! even then at 2, she was very attentive.. like she was soaking it all up!



dec 2011




sept 2009- first day of class











For the second year, she was in the local version of the Nutcracker. This year her class danced as "the Spanish Dancers" while Clara was in The Land of Sweets.


She takes her dancing very seriously.
She practices all the time!
She very much wants to do the proper positions with her feet.
She can't wait for the day she can slip on a pair of toe shoes!
She even pours over books that are much too old for her.. but we read them over and over & check out the videos on line of the ballerinas.









It makes me so happy to watch her. i want her to do whatever she likes.. but i really hope she keeps liking dance.

a fun day with Addie & rainbow rice

yesterday morning i was skimming through facebook and saw a post from a blog i read, myblessedlife & i thought "that is perfect for today"! it was to make rainbow rice and use it in a big bin to play gardening. cute for spring.. but this is winter in NV so we aren't talking about growing much right now! so i thought of how much fun she had playing with her new pots & pans.. perfect!

so first we put some rice in a bowl and addie put a few scoops into 5 different plastic baggies. we made the 4 food coloring colors & of course purple! we did not do exact measurements. about 1/2 a cup. then into the baggies we put food coloring. about 2 tsp. and then rubbing alcohol, again about 2tsp. (except the green.. it got about a table spoon!)

then she mixed it up in the baggies ...








...and spread it out on cookie sheets to dry. we put it on the table in the sun & they dried really fast.








in the mean time she practiced her letters.
she does a great job! but oh the frustrations (and mess) of a lefty trying to use a dry erase book!




after they dried she scooped them into her pots and pans, using a funnel. we had fun playing bakery.. filing up cupcake holders and dishes. she made a cute display for her cupcakes and we all had one last night :) these are "special cupcakes that you eat with a spoon" she said. :)










Finally she asked if we could make real cupcakes..
and how could i say no?

what a fun day we had together! she seems like she is staying with a task for longer now and she's really enjoying creating things. she's a funny girl.. with her own ideas.. and her own style for sure.

trees

this year i decided to make some trees :) i loved the way the wine bottle trees came out. and this pumpkin tree didn't disappoint either! i thought it was so fun to use the pumpkins from fall in a different way. (did i just figure out how to link something??)

















This tree was easy, obviously. just some scraps of fabric i had. i used the lid of a sturdy box. i didn't even have to paint it because it has a nice finish on it already. it worked in a spot that just needed something but i didn't have anything for it. as addie would say "easy peasy lemon squeezy!"













this may have been my favorite :) we did these for Nana & Papa and Grandma & Grandpa. i had planned to do a bigger one for us, using all our hand prints. but micah wasn't too thrilled about it so Gparents won out. We'll save that for next year!











the kids did these out of beans and oats.
cute!
can you guess whose is whose!?
















i think that's it for the trees :) we did use food again though.. this pepermint wreath hung with all the trees.. standing strong and meshing in with a bright green poinsettia! sadly i didn't take a pic of all of it together on the shelves...

Garrett did this pretty wreath for me!

christmas decor continued

we really needed a new Christmas wreath this year.


















easy gift for a hostess of a cookie party :)

wine bottle tree!!
















2 more fun wine bottle christmas trees!













finally going through our christmas season pictures. Man i have a ton on my camera!!
we really had a great few weeks.. celebrating in every way. more to come!

wreaths

i made this for the kids' school... A Step Ahead. Saw it of course on Pinterest. i love it!!

the tag says "A Step Ahead - A Merry Little School"
it was part of one of the songs addie's class sang at the Christmas show. it was so cute...
"a step ahead's a merry little preschool. so much to explore. blocks and toys and glitter all around the floor..."

Now it's hanging in the school office :) I hope it brings lots of merriness for a long time to come.






i can't get this pic to flip.. but obviously it's sideways since the "f" is not right.

again, i can't flip this . it's too late too care right now ;) flower is at the top.. you get it :)
i must have taken these pics at an odd angle.. why won't they flip!

annoyed right now... but they looked great when you don't have to turn your head sideways!

"a peppermint water miracle"

my kids have been fighting a lot lately .. i guess you could say i'm ready for them to go back to school. and they do, in the morning. and i have a feeling it will seem very quiet around here.
saturday was a step in the right direction however with the older siblings... a day when i wish it would be like that always. i wasn't expecting much from the day.. i was actually in a really bad mood. wanting to get so much done around here and knowing that it wouldn't happen. harboring anger against matt because he was going into work and keeping track of "all the things i've done" i was off to a bad start. the kids noticed and asked what was wrong and i said i didn't feel well.. not completely a lie. the next thing i knew they were asking if they could put water in addie's new pots & pans she got for christmas and use them in the real kitchen. "ok fine. only water, " i told them. thinking this wouldn't last long i tried to use the few minutes to do something.. i don't even remember what. they told me not to come into the kitchen. so since micah was down for his morning nap i went out to the garage to do some spray painting! well.. that was fun. and it was for me! Not expecting that & it did boost my mood. i came in to check on everyone, surprised not to hear fighting or crying. score! then G yelled "dont' tell her!" Addie came running to me saying they had a surprise for me and they were giving me a peppermint! there was a little comment then about "i told you not to tell" .. but i think G realizes that Addie cannot keep a secret. they told me to sit down on the couch to relax and they carried over on a tray a cup full of peppermint water & a candy placed beside it. it was to make me feel better.

and it did!

so while i choked down some peppermint flavored water (I'm not a mint fan).. they told me how they dissolved the peppermints in the different pans until the red lines vanished & that's how you know it's done. the 3 of us played phineas and ferb game (way fun by the way!) until micah woke up. the day went on, much better than i had anticipated. later, when micah was getting ready for another nap they asked if they could make more peppermint water. really? why couldn't they play with toys they got at christmas? i guess, in their defense, they were. but still it involved my kitchen which needed a lot of work and somehow adding sticky water all over seemed a little wrong. but remember.. i was in a good mood now ;) so i said yes. as i was rocking micah i heard them... "this is so fun garrett!" "yeah, we can make peppermint water for next friday." (referring to our 4:00 friday with friends after school!) "ok.. let's make lots!" "ok. we can fill up pitchers and gatoraid bottles. i think those will be good. and we should make some for daddy b/c he was coughing." then i shut the door, happy they were happy. a few minutes later addie came peeking in. i showed her the universal sign to be quiet. i almost gave her the universal sign of "go back out the door" but she seemed bursting with something. she told me that she and garrett "hugged because we love each other in our hearts. we hugged by the stove because that's where we are cooking and having so much fun. we are making lots and lots of peppermint water and it's magic and good and so pretty!" i gave her a kiss and told her to go tell garrett something. i heard her run out and say "garrett!!! Mommy is proud of us!!"

i expected to cry on saturday. just in a very different manner.

their shirts were wet. shocker!

first post of 2012

we had a wonderful christmas. i missed blogging! so many times i wanted to jot down the memories, and maybe i should have. but... time. we all struggle with having enough of it, especially during the holidays. i really tried to let go of things that were not as important, hold tight to traditions that we have come to love as a family, start a few new ones... things of that sort. so i had to let go of logging our season as i felt sleeping was more important! lol.. i'll figure how to work it all some day. wait. no i won't. anyway.. it didn't seem to matter that i seemed to have a little typewriter in my head dinging at the end of a thought i would have liked to write about. it still didn't make it to the computer!

not quite back to the daily grind here yet.. the kids are off this week too. they went to school right up till friday before christmas. it was nice as it did allow me to get a little extra wrapping, crafting, gifting while they were at school. then we didn't have the lead up to christmas excitement either. it was christmas eve and it was here! liked that. then we took off for san diego two days after the big day and enjoyed the wonderful warm sunshine and beach and time with friends. it was Truly relaxing. just what we needed.

now back to the mess of a house we left. yesterday we had to dechristmas the house. i tried to be extra careful packing up everything.. we not only will not see that stuff for a year... but next time i open those red and green bins we will be in an new house and a new city. a lot will certainly transpire between now and then and i'm looking excitedly towards it. (well, not sure about that cross country drive yet. i don't travel well!) but all the same it's daunting. and it's different. and unknown. we've come to feel at home in this little town. not love it, i'm not going to lie. but definitely feel that we have carved out our spot. we spent our second quiet -just our little family- christmas here. we've made some wonderful friends... proving once again that it's not the place... it's the people!! sooooo.. i think i need to get to cleaning up this house so i can spend time with those people in this last part of our stint in Nevada. :)

here's a few cute pics of the kids on christmas...