The Very Hungry Caterpillar and a Cupcake Holder Lampshade

Emma and I did several projects over the summer that ended up being a little bit too difficult for Chloe to fully participate  like:

                   

 turning this

Into this

This is so simple to do.  All you need is a good deal on a lamp, some cupcake holders, and some earring posts and backs (pack of 30 pieces at hobby lobby for $1.99), and spray paint.  We spray painted our thrift store lamp ($1.49) and then turned the cupcake holders inside out and pinned them on the shade..  Easy Peesy... But, since it involved spray paint and sharp things, it was a little bit too old for Chloe.

So, I scouted out a few things that I could gear specifically for Chloe to do in the couple weeks we've had between Emma starting school and Chloe starting.  

And, I came across this oh so cute "Very Hungry Caterpillar" on Pinterest and, after reading the story, I got to work on painting hands... When we finished the handprint caterpillar, Chloe commented that she wanted to make the butterfly too.  And what do you know but the next time I went on Pinterest, a friend had posted a picture of a footprint butterfly... So low and behold

A complete metamorphosis!  

Emma Donate's Locks Again

Taken June 16, 2011

Posted August 24, 2011

We cut off Emma's hair once before to donate to "Locks of Love"in 2009.  At that time, she immediately started letting it grow so that she could donate it again.  It seems as if it takes just a little over two years to get another 10 inches to donate..  Since I didn't think that her hair would be in real great shape after a summer of swimming, we decided to go with the 8 inches that Pantene Beautiful Lengths requires.  I guess this will an every two years or so ritual.  I'm so proud of her.

Blessings,

The Second Day--Emma's First

 Well, we got off to a rocky start in more ways than one.  Emma missed her first day because she was running a fever and in the chaos of taking care of her, I forgot to charge my camera battery.  But, we got back on track and staged these pictures after school and that's why they're so bright..  I mainly wanted to capture the smart fashion sense that she's developed.  The outfit that she settled on wearing her first day of school was actually a dress of Chloe's that she wore as a shirt with a pair of capri pants.  I'm not sure if she realizes what this will obligate her to later down the road in the little sister department but it works to her advantage for now.

Anyway, Emma bounced back just fine and absolutely loves the 3rd grade. She will switch classes for Math and Science this year and loves both of her teachers.  She will also be in the gifted and talented program and is so excited to see what that is all about.  She ended up with several of her friends in her class and it appears to be a formula for a great year.  

As far as extra curricular activities go, she talked about doing cheerleading but eventually landed on taking guitar lessons.  I was excited about that decision because Chloe is playing soccer and I wasn't looking forward to spending every day at the Rec. Center.  And, we all know that Taylor Swift was cooler than the cheer captain because of the fact that when she was on the bleachers, she was also holding a guitar.. Emma will also continue to do Jazzercise at school like she did last year.

Here is my age progression storyboard that I like to do every year... It can also serve as an advertisement for True Green Chem lawn and a sprinkler system.  We ditched the lawn service to make room in the budget for Chloe's preschool and our sprinkler system broke.  I'm pretty sure it's a simple fix that Adam's done before.  But he's ended up having to mow the grass less and our water bill has been lower.. So, I think we inadvertently kept pushing it to the bottom of our To Do list...  Even though our yard looks like a brown mess in the middle of all of our neighbors beautiful sea of green and we are "that neighbor", it does have it's positives...

I came across some fun treat ideas to put in her lunch box for the first week of school.. I think it got me major "fun mom" points.  She even said that some kids were saying she was lucky.  Go me :-).  I still remember random little things that my mom did for me to let me know that she thought I was special like baking miniature cakes for tea parties with my dolls so I always look for ways to imprint those kind of memories in my girls.  

Cupcake shaped sucker, "3rd Grade is a piece of cake".

Swedish Fish "You are O-fish-ally a 3rd Grader"

Starbursts "You're a 3rd Grade Super Star"

And my favorite: Rainbow Sour Tracks and Rolos

You're the gold at the end of my rainbow... 

Looking forward to having her home for the weekend and sleeping in!

Initial Rag Wreath

The girls and I had an absolutely marvelous summer.  We crafted and created and swam and played and I just enjoyed them so much.  It was a refreshingly recovery from last summer since much of the past year has been a blur of going through the motions as I tried to get a grasp on the grief that I was experiencing from all the tragedies that our family and friends experienced in the year or so before.  I'm finally beginning to feel like myself again.   

Anyway, I have a lot of catch up posts to do including Emma's "real first day of school".  But, this is what I did on her first day back to school with a little "help" from my little hot mess that I call "My Chloe Girl".  

I had been searching around Pinterest for a cute wreath idea for our front door.  I'm just not your typical flowered wreath kind of girl and I was looking for something that just struck my fancy.  Well, eventually, I decided to compile a couple of ideas together and this is what I came up with.  

I posted a picture of this on my friend Jay's facebook wall and my friend Heather requested a tutorial.  So, I'm going to do my best to give you one..   I always have intentions of taking pictures step by step when I do something like this and then I get in the zone and get in a groove and I forget... But, this was so unbelievably easy that I think it could be done with no picture instructions at all.  But none the less, I do have a couple..

Chloe and I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and we started out with a ball of scrap fabrics in fall, green, browns, yellows and reds and an initial which was on sale for 50% off of 2.99!  Score!  

Side Note:  though I've become a bit of an organizing junky (not by nature but as a coping mechanism to my husband's ADD), you could never tell it by walking in our front door because my dining room is always functioning as either an art or a photography studio and more often than not, looks like this.  

I spray painted the "E" with Krylon spray paint that I used to create the Shrek head pieces for our Christmas play last year.  The color is "Ivy Leaf" but we affectionately call it "Shrek green" and that's a more appropriate description.  I tied a piece of yarn to the "E" before I spray painted it so that it would also get painted and would serve as a way to attach it to the wreath

I was delighted to find a wire hanger after digging through all of the closets.  I'm not sure why I had it but you can usually get them free from the cleaners.  

I sort of shaped the hanger into a circle using wire pliers.  Then I just went to town tying on scraps of fabric.  (This is where I got excited and forgot to take pictures).

Once I got it all together, I decided that the "E" looked too plain so I pulled out the white circle stickers that I used to make everything polka dotted  for Chloe's "Pink Polka Dotted" Birthday Party last year.  

And waa laa, a polka dotted E..  

And there you have it, a wreath that is me and cost about $7.00 to make and is very much my style.  Could be cheaper for you if you actually sew and already have scrap fabric!  

It Was the First Day of the Third Grade-- And Emma was not there...

Because my friend, Sam is finishing up her Early Childhood Education Degree and goes to school in GA and GA starts back to school a week earlier than we do and Sam was working with the teacher that she'll be interning with to set up her classroom, I had Ron and Sam's kids the last two weeks of summer.   By the end of the second week, the kids were acting like brothers and sisters and were tired of being cooped up inside together because of my fear of taking all four kids out by myself.  But, since we had two of the kids that were in our youth group years ago in Panama City, Andrew and Holly, who are now fabulous adults, arrive on Tuesday and I had Holly as an extra set of hands, I developed a brilliant plan.

Since GA was already back in school, I knew it would be an opportune time to catch Chuck E Cheese's on a low crowd day... PLAN NOT SO BRILLIANT.... Emma contracted some kind of stomach virus.  And though she only threw up once, her fever keeps returning... So, she missed her first day of school..

I tried to pull a Billy Madison and go for her.  I walked into the classroom and her teacher said, "Hi, I'm crazy" and I instantly knew it was going to be a wonderful year.  I replied that I was Emma Ellis' mom and that I was crazy too and was prepared to stay and be a substitute 3rd grader but her teacher (whom I think we're going to love), graciously took her materials saying that she would use Emma's as the example set up..

  I put these treats together to give to the class just to remind them that Emma was on her way.

Emma was devastated at first, putting this event into the same category of worst things that have ever happened to her as Rotavirus and broken leg.  But, being the optimist that she is,  quickly decided to make lemonade out of lemons and is using this last day off to finish up the second Harry Potter book.... She knows almost all of the kids that are in her class this year.  And really, she has the confidence to walk into a room full of kids that she doesn't know anyway so I think we'll survive.

The No Title Post

Will words ever come again?  I don't know...

We're in the midst of living a life that we are constantly trying to figure out as we go.. A life where things happen that I'd like to ignore so that we can soak up every second we have with the love that we've made.  The two beautiful little girls that are spunky, and a amazing, and completely exhausting.. The ones that turn another year older every time we turn around..  I can't ignore life, but I want to steal every second that I can.   I can't sleep but I can't write either... So I'm going to go crawl back in bed next to that little person that crawled into my bed and woke me up to begin with and try to memorize how her little body feels lying next to mine.  To imprint it in my memory.  Because it won't be long before it's much bigger and I'll be longing for the memory that, no matter how hard I try, to put into words here, can only be captured through experience...  Too much life to write down...  Maybe, one day, when they're unavailable to me,  when they're off doing bigger and better things, I'll write about the memories... But for now, they're mine to cherish..  So I will go and write these memories upon my heart :-)...