TuTu's and Tonka Trucks

11.29.2006

Finding a balance in life is never an easy thing. Finding a balance in your parenting can be very difficult, particularly with all the differing opinions on how one should raise a child. This morning I walked into the play room to find Madison happily placing dolls in her Tonka truck while wearing her favorite outfit of the moment. (as soon as we walk in the door she strips down and puts this on, at least she doesn't try to wear it out.)
Sometimes it is our children that provide the much needed balance in our lives. I am so glad she feels comfortable both dancing in her TuTu's (one for the top and one for the bottom) and pushing around a big truck.



Hope you find some balance in your day.

new banner

Here is a second new banner. Let me know which one you like.

New look

11.28.2006

Allright, it's here my new holiday look. It's been about 9 months since I started this darned thing and I haven't changed my look yet. Blogger just added a new feature which makes changing the look eaiser so look for more changes to come.
I am not particularly pleased with the new look so it may change tomorrow or the next day. This is about as close to decorating for christmas as I have gotten. I did get the house tidied up today so that we can bring the tree up in the morning (my house must be tidied up before bringing up the decorations) and I made Dan leave the tree intact in the basement so I wouldn't have to fluff for hours.
Yes a fake tree at our house it is. For many years Dan and I would go to the tree farm, walk the rows and pick a tree. I would find the perfect tree and he would cut it down. The pain of it all. Each year I got sadder and sadder as we cut down the tree. The last year we went to the farm I spied all these bird nests in the trees and felt horrible. I actually argued with Dan to let me pay for the tree and leave it there, in the ground. I said I would go back every year and pay for it so it wouldn't get cut down. Umm, he didn't really go for it and the next year we were off to American Sale for a fake one. Ugh. I am so torn, I hate the fake tree but can't kill anymore.....
Anyhoo... hope you enjoy the new look and I'll let you know how the decorating comes along.
Must get ready for tomorrow Maddie and I have to don our black duds for an incognito snipping of some sumac and pine boughs to add to the decorations.

birthday present

11.25.2006

Tomorrow Annie has a birthday party to attend. One of her preschool buddies is turning 5 and I am trying to make as many gifts as I can. So by combining a bit of this great birthday gift idea from Amy at Angry Chicken with a little bit of this adventure and throwing in a little sewn monogram tote you get a pretty nifty little gift. Tell me what ya think, one may be headed your way this holiday season.



Here is the little "A" bag. I used corduroy and some fabric I bought last spring.



In the bag is a paper bag with blank clothes pins, fabric scraps, ric-rac, ribbon, etc. I drew up some quick instructions and that's it. Annie and Maddie loved making the little dolls and this gift is for Annie's preschool teachers daughter so I think they will enjoy making them also.

I'm not sure if I should add a little bottle of glue and markers or if it works as is. What do you all think?

Well hope you are all having a great thanksgiving weekend. I am off to work soon and Dan is dropping the girls off at Grandma and Grandpa's for the night so he can play cards. They are sleeping over so I may get to sleep past 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. I may just give thanks for that by going out for a drink after work tonight.

Making Pretzels

11.21.2006

I am finally up and running again. I still have lots of software to reinstall and we have not recovered the info from our old hard drive. It'll cost several hundred dollars to get it off so we are going to wait awhile. I have learned my backup the hard drive lesson.

Aside from computer stuff lots has been going on around here. I have been finishing off orders from the craft show and have decided not to make an attempt at doing this as a business. Between my job and the girls there was really not enough time and I ended up shipping Dan and the girls off on the weekends so I could sew and that just did not make for good family time. So maybe I'll sell a few things here and there but marytree and co. is officially on hold.

Now on to the fun stuff.

Last week the girls and I made homemade pretzels. They were pretty easy and quite yummy. I used a recipe from Martha Stewart Kids Fall 2004. The recipe is not online but here is a different one.


As usual, our pretzels were not all nicely shaped twists but crazy shapes like M's for Madison and Tinkerbell hair buns. It is much easier to just go with the flow on these things then insit we have knotted pretzels. Give it a try.

This morning we were playing with out Breyer horses (one of my favorite toys from my childhood) and decided we needed a barn, so out came the cardboard box and mat knife. I then taped down the backside of some wrapping paper so we could make the pasture and a riding trail. Here is the result.






The girls loved it, especially Annie. I often pull out the craft or wrapping paper for Annie to make her own "play rugs" we have made train tracks and roads, villages for little people and and entire zoo. We can use them for a few days and either roll them up for later or recycle them. It really is a great way to bring an added level to imaginative play and cheap to boot!

And here are a few pics from when the computer was down.

Annie as Alice, Maddie as a bride and the Mad Hatter.



Annie modeling a hat I knitted for my nephew.



The girls with their pumpkins. I gave them scraps of paper and they nailed them on with a hammer. It was very easy for them to nail into the pumpkin and lots of fun. We added pipe cleaners and other bits.



Have a great day and I'll be posting more soon!

comptuter down

11.08.2006

Sorry about the lack of updates. My computer had the black screen of death and is still in the process of getting repaired. Our hard drive went out and we are hoping the magic computer man can retrieve the last year and a half of photos

BACK UP YOUR PICTURES NOW RIGHT NOW GO DON'T EVEN FINISH READING THIS.

oKAY hopefully we will be up and running soon.