Organized for Preschool

My daughter started preschool this fall!  Just two days a week, and she LOVES it.  I was a little worried because she’s never really had structure before.  Most mornings she would just snack and wander around and play until she felt like doing something.  So I came up with a very short list of the things that absolutely had to get done to get ready for preschool:

1.) Pee (We just barely finished potty training in time for school!)   

2.) Get Dressed

3.) Brush Hair and Teeth

4.) Eat Breakfast (this was what I was most worried about getting done.  She’s a snacker and she needed to learn to eat in a timely manner on school days!)

5.) Pee again right before we leave

6.) Get backpack

Simple and easy!  That’s all it takes for us in the morning.  To make it even easier, I installed a hook near the potty she usually uses in the morning where we hang her outfit for the day.  We’re usually ready to go in five minutes, and then we just have to work on finishing breakfast!  No stress yet, although the day my newborn had a diaper blowout just before our scheduled departure made me happy we usually arrive early to school =) 

Framed Flower Vase... A 3 year old friendly version =)

Michaels had a half off sale on their frames, so I snatched up a couple for Serenity’s wall!  That means I finally got to do this framed flower vase project!  I bought these flowers months ago when I first moved her into the room, but just now figured out how to use them.  I wanted it to be kid friendly, so instead of using a fancy vase I just used a plastic drinking glass, and wrapped some twine around it to hang it from a simple hook.  I like the pop of light aqua color, and when she stands on her book club to play with it (which she WILL do)  there’s no danger of her breaking anything =)  She loves her flowers!

You can see the other side of her room here =)

Art Wall Update

Serenity’s wall is coming along nicely =)  No longer blank!  I stared at it for the longest time, and then when I hung things I stared at that too…  I just didn’t like the really dark pink, it disappeared into the dark wall, so I painted those little ledges I got at Target with some light pink.  Then when I added photos to the other frames I didn’t mind the touch of really dark pink.  Much better!  Next up I’m going to play with some empty frames and 3-D objects that you see everywhere!

Before: ( You can also see old versus new camera!)

After:

Finding pictures with purple and pink were easy with a three year old girl =) 

Easiest Halloween Costume: The M&M

Here's a little blast from the past... my nine year old nephew's first Halloween costume.  My sister couldn't find a costume his Daddy would approve of and was sad that he didn't have a costume for his first Halloween.  This is where my Mom's amazing fabric stash came in very handy.  We just cut out a couple of fleece circles and stitched the M to them, and sewed the top at the shoulders and voila!  An M&M, very cute.  We also made a pair of pants modeled on a pair he happened to be wearing that day, and a blue hat that he refused to wear, but that made a very handy Halloween candy basket.  So there you go, thirty minutes to a Halloween costume if you need last minute inspiration =)

Another Fancy Wall

I love my gallery wall in my bedroom so much I want to start on one for Serenity's purple room!  I picked up a few things in Target and just started hanging them to get it moving...  And I'm not sure I like it yet.  The hot pink looked bright and cheerful on the shelf but it gets lost on the dark purple walls.  I think maybe I'll take some paint to them.  Also, Serenity can reach the shelves from her book club roof so nothing stays where I put it =)  Oh well, I suppose it is her room after all.  Here's what I've got so far!

 

Felt Food

I've been working on felt food all month!  My Mom bought me a set of patterns and kits from FeltCuisine.com.  The patterns are great, and it's fun handwork.  I've always tried to make felt food using my machine, but I think in the case of felt it's actually faster to just do it by hand!  And it's relaxing =)  The best part of the cupcakes, tarts, and cakes was using foam for the base.  I made Serenity a set of cupcakes for Christmas, but getting a real cupcake shape was impossible because I was using stuffing.  With the foam they stand up nicely and hold their shape much better.  So, I learned not to fake it with the wrong materials and not to be lazy and try to use the machine =)  Do it right the first time!  And aren't they cute? 

DSLR!!!

I got a new camera for my birthday!!!  I'm so excited, hopefully the pictures around here will start looking a lot better before too long.  I'm very excited to learn to use it, and intend to take an online class from www.ashleyannphotography.com next month.  I told myself I wasn't allowed to buy a bunch of lenses and gear before I at least read the book it came with and figured out what ISO means...  but I'm glad so far that I bought the ten dollar filter that a friend with a DSLR recommended to me... because here is the 14th picture I took with my new camera:

Yup, those are her feet, right on my new camera.  So glad they're on the filter and not the expensive lens =)  That's what I get for looking at the buttons instead of at the three year old =)  It's pretty cute though.

Where on earth did I go? =) And some great library books =)

I've fallen horribly behind on posting!!!  I've actually been working on several different craft projects, but I didn't stop in between to write about any of them yet.  Bad blogger.  I promise to get pictures up in the next few days or even hours if my baby continues to sleep =) 

We have several new book recommendations I can start with though!  We are still going to the library, although lately I've mostly been requesting books and just picking them up since our schedules have gotten much busier.  But here are our recent favorites (My daughter just turned three in case you're wondering what age these are good for.)

We just discovered that Mo Willems has a whole series of I Can Read level books, his Elephant and Piggie books.  They are hilarious!  We particularly like, "There is a Bird on Your Head!"  Serenity and her friend Henry took turns reading the Elephant, Piggie, and bird parts like they were in a play =)

Big,  Bigger, Biggest:  This book is completely awesome, spectacular, amazing =)  It's full of great vocabulary words to describe all sorts of animals.  So we've been walking around using words like enormous and lackadaisical and finding it hilarious =)

Pigs to The Rescue:  Another funny one!

Cha Cha Chimps: Dancing chimps, what more do I need to say?  It's a nice counting book with a fun happy rhythm and great pictures.

Press Here:  Not sure it can be described, must be experienced.  Just do whatever the book says and amazing things happen =)

Rainbow Slide!!!

My Dad and I turned our normal playground slide into a rainbow slide!  It made for such cute photos and the kids loved sliding down the rainbow!  It was very easy to do, we just took a long piece of plywood and cut a little arc from the top, and then attached the pieces we cut to the bottom to make the bottom arc as well.  It was a very gentle arc since we were working with a fairly narrow scrap of plywood, about four feet by nearly 8 feet.  Then I painted it and we screwed it to a stake that we drove into the ground and roped it to the play structure!  Easy peasy.  It could also be done in cardboard I believe, and possibly then just taped securely to the slide with some colorful duct tape.

 Rainbow Party Decor
Rainbow Games and Activities
Rainbow Favors and Tents
Rainbow Photobooth
Rainbow Picnic and Food
Rainbow Slide

Pinterest Challenge =)

A couple of the blogs that I avidly follow, Young House Love and All Bower Power came up with a great idea, their Pinterest Challenge!  They are each taking one idea that they pinned to their Pinterest board and actually doing a project inspired by it!  I think this is so much fun because it's so easy to get carried away with pinning that you never actually finish anything =)  They are posting their projects tomorrow.  I just did a little one this time around.  I've been shopping for a new fancy camera and I played with my brother's to get this picture of Donovan.

 

 

I was inspired by this pin. 


I have a ways to go before my photography is as good as Katie's but I love learning about it! I'm going to print this and add it to my photo wall in my bedroom.  It's about time Donovan was represented up there by more than a blurry ultrasound pic =)