AWOL

I've been busy and not busy all at the same time. Here's the highlights since my last post...

• Lia and I went to Touch a Truck yesterday. Lia now knows how to honk the horn on the car but isn't quite strong enough to do it with her preferred one finger method. Thank goodness!
• Lia put candles and toothpicks into playdough today. She called the candles crayons for awhile. Pretty smart cookie.
• We spent the weekend with my folks. Lia took a poo in their baby pool. My mom fished it out. Score!
• David messed up his back so it's been movie marathon around here to keep him from going stir crazy. Adjustment Bureau: pretty good. Go With It: pretty bad but a few funnies.
• I'm going to start an advent calendar for Lia. I hope to get it done by Christmas. It may drive me crazy.
• I'm crocheting a scarf that I literally spent about two days trying to figure out the repeating stitch pattern. It's awesome but a little confusing. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it by the time I finish.
• Lia finally is coloring by moving the crayon gently across the paper instead of slamming down.
• Lia is getting new teeth...drool factory.
• It's hot.
• I'm tired.

That is all.

Colored Rice Sensory Box

Yesterday I set about making a sensory box for Miss Lia. She has been cooped up in the house due to really hot weather and now our house is being painted. Sooo in a pursuit not to go absolutely bonkers inside, I worked on this box. Here's how it went down...

First I gathered up these things: rice, 1 cup measure, a tablespoon, a plastic 'craft' bowl (this is not time for your good china), a metal spoon, good quality food coloring (more about later), wax paper (again more later), and paper towel in large quantity.

First get to mixing each batch of colors. I used 2 tbs of water, a healthy plop of food coloring, and a cup plus a bit of rice. It is pretty important to use a wilton/americolor type food coloring. The cheap-o stuff will be too wet, too runny (even if it says gel on the box!) and not dye your rice in anything close to a vibrant color. Now mixy mixy mixy, throw it on paper towel to dry. Here's where I realized the importance of wax paper. See the food coloring will soak through all 5 paper towels you put underneath. Thus the teeny tiny light red stain on my countertop. So I put waxed paper underneath. Don't tell David!

After you've let your rice get really dry...several hours to overnight...you can dump it in a bowl. Mine was definitely a rice patty...so I had to break it up. Below is a picture of my rice all mixed. No it's not fruity pebbles.

Lastly, throw in some toys. We recently went to the zoo, so I've been trying to piggy back on this and used plastic animals. You could use any plastic type toy. Letters, shapes, etc. I recommend putting the playmat down so you can save a little bit of what will get on the floor...because it will. Especially if your child is like mine and decides that she should throw the rice in the air and perhaps stick her foot in it!

Did you know???

You can write a note on a ball....

Put and address on it...

Take it to the post office and mail it for about a $1.50? How cool is that?!? I know four little boys in Wisconsin who will be getting a surprise. I also know of at least one annoyed mail carrier because carting around four balls is not an easy task! Add in a toddler who would like the balls for herself and you've got your hands full! :)

Lia's Sad Room...Fabric Collage Tutorial

Before we moved Lia had a small but happy room. I had plenty of decoration to fill up her room and it looked cute. After the move, Lia has a much bigger room and it doesn't look so cute. In an effort to dress up the place I have scoured high and low on the internet to find the perfect things to update her now sad room. Enter the fabric collage.

****This is not an original idea. I found it on Pinterest.com****

Here's how it works...

Gather these materials...

• Embroidery Hoops: As many as you want in whatever size or sizes. I had these already so they are all the same size. I've seen different sizes and it looks super cool. Caution, if you get a giant hoop, a fat quarter may not fit. You may need to just buy a piece of fabric to fit.
• Fat Quarters: You can get these at any craft store or even Wal-mart. They are cheap about a dollar apiece. However, if you wait, they may go on sale like mine did. Choose fabrics and colors you like. I did the basic colors with mostly geometric patterns. You need one for every hoop.
• Scissors
• Option: Fabric Glue or craft glue that works on fabric and wood such as Tacky Glue

The oh so difficult procedure

1. Cut the fabric to fit hoop.
2. Undo hoop, put in fabric with a little overhang.
3. Glue fabric to inside hoop. I opted not to do this in case I want to change colors.
4. Trim off excess. Once you trim, that fabric is in there. You can't pull it out and put it back in...it just doesn't work that way!
5. Hang on wall.
6. The end.

So can you do it...yes you can! Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezie! I'm still deciding where to hang mine up on the wall, so no photo of that yet. I plan to do a before and after of Lia's room. But this is a start. Next project, permanent hanging balloon mobile type thing!

Shaun the Sheep

This is Shaun. He turned out pretty awesome. I bought the pattern off of ravelry.com. I can forward that to anyone interested. It was pretty cheap, like 3 bucks or so. The only downside is the pattern called for stick on eyes. I bought sew on eyes. Unfortunately the loop to attach it was so teeny tiny Lia was able to pick the one eyeball off in about an hour of having it. Therefor I plan to crochet some eyes to stick on for my little one. She's just not old enough to handle stick on eyes. Until another eye gets made or she picks both eyes off, he's a cyclops.

Here's Shaun from the side. His little tail makes me laugh!

Boom Boom Pow!

We have been super busy over the 4th of July weekend. On the 3rd we hosted a little party for our family and friends. Some we don't get to see very often, so it was really great! Then on the 4th we went to David's brother's house for an evening cookout. On the 5th, it was off to the zoo! We also received some exciting news that David's other brother, Tim, and his wife, Megan, welcomed twins into the world. Megan is a real trooper and has been in the hospital since around May! The end is near and Megan and the twins, Charlie and Margo, seem to be doing very well. Cute little things too! Here's a few pictures of our adventures...

This is the cutest laundry in the whole world. Look at those tiny shirts hanging there. I die!

Someone figured out that Mommy isn't trying to poison her and actually ate some watermelon! She loved it. Eat baby eat!!! The peanut butter sandwich is still poison unless it's toast. Go figure.

David and Lia at the zoo! We got there early enough to hear the lions roaring and see most of the big animals before they hid from the sunshine. We even saw an elephant get a bath. Lia was very excited.