hammered

Lowe's offers classes to kids twice a month and occasionally I have signed Maggie up for them. My mom took her to the first one where they made wooden ice cream trucks. We both took her to the second where she (mostly me) made a wooden bomber airplane. Chad was the lucky recipient of the airplane--father's day gift--and Maggie thinks it's pretty cool. She's a little young to follow the directions for the kits, but she enjoys being there with the other kids, wearing her apron, and taking something home at the end. If you haven't been, sign your kids up for the next Saturday/Sunday workshop and see what it's all about.

third birthday party

We threw Maggie her third birthday party on Saturday and she had a blast. She is super proud to now be three! Eight of her friends came to help her celebrate, and along with their parents, my parents and a few others, the group totaled over 30 people. The kids started out painting birdhouses (the very light party theme focused on birds. If you watch Portlandia you get it and if not, click here to see why). Then they played in the sprinkler toys for a little while before sitting down for lunch. After eating we had cupcakes and then let the kids take a few whacks at a bird pinata we stuffed for them. We filled it with the usual crap: candy, bouncy balls, bubbles, mini skateboards, etc. and the kids enjoyed both trying to break it with the stick and gathering the loot from the ground after it was broken. Finally we opened her gifts before everyone set off for home.  It was a busy but fun party and we're pretty sure most everyone had a good time. We hope anyway!

February art club

The kids this month came over to our house and made these initial paintings. I know it's not the most creative craft but they enjoyed it and the outcome was neat. We had 13 kids here and for the most part they were all well-behaved. We'll leave it at that!

Bird Feeders

A little over a week ago my parents took Maggie to the cabin for the night. One of the things they did with her was make peanut-butter-pine-cone-birdseed bird feeders. Apparently Maggie was more interested in eating the peanut butter than actually covering the pine cones (really though, can you blame her?). They brought the feeders back to our house and Maggie, Chad and I hung them together. She was more interested in doing that and now we can watch out our window for hungry little birds.

Chalk

This month I finally decided to bust out a large pack of sidewalk chalk because the weather has been so darn good. Mags and I have been outside as much as possible these days because who knows when the temps are going to change and actually make this area feel like winter again.

crafty gals

Last week my friend Amy organized a little craft night at her house. She had the supplies for fabric Valentine love banners for our mantels so that's what we made.  It was fun hanging out with the girls and getting crafty for the evening. Hopefully we'll do it again soon.

Art Club

For January's toddler art club we painted butterflies. Chad drew the butterfly template, I cut them out, and 11 kids painted them. Seriously, they loved the craft. In fact, a few of them painted two because they enjoyed it so much. Basically you let the kids paint as they want, then fold the butterfly in half and press the wings down. After pressing, let the child open the wings to unveil the neat pattern they designed. At the end we taped antennae to the back of the butterflies and then let them dry while the kids destroyed the house played with Maggie's toys and chased each other around. The children played so well together that the moms got to (mostly) relax for a few hours and chat. Fun art club day for everyone.

holiday luncheon

Just before Christmas Maggie and I were invited to our friends' house for lunch. It was a moms/toddlers Christmas luncheon with Christmas tree decorating, homemade mac and cheese eating, playing and, of course, a little dancing.

for Maggie's buds

Maggie and I made some Christmas peppermint play-dough to give to some of her friends this year. We had fun making it and hope they are enjoying it too.

Pom Poms and Pine Cones

Earlier in the month Maggie and I hosted our moms group toddler art club again. I thought it would be fun to make pine cone Christmas trees with the kids and I think they enjoyed themselves. I was able to photograph a few of the finished products before everyone left. The kids were proud of their trees and were enthusiastic about taking them home.

Thanksgiving

Our family had a great Thanksgiving weekend. We were able to spend it with Chad's parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews up in Shaver Lake. There were four people out of the 24 who couldn't make it this year and they were certainly missed. We went early on Thursday and left Sunday afternoon. The holiday weekend was filled with eating food, playing games, doing crafts, riding on the swing, playing in the snow, making bracelets, seeing Santa in town, opening gifts and spending time with each other. So much fun.

Turkeys Making Turkeys

Sorry for the week-long lag in posting. Maggie and I have been busy preparing for Thanksgiving. Hard to believe we're less than a week away.

Anyway, yesterday Maggie and I had our art club friends over for the morning. She was so excited for their arrival and absolutely loves having her friends here to play. The craft I planned for the kids was a little painted hand-print turkey I found online. The kids enjoyed themselves and made some cute little turkeys to hang up at home.

Paper Jack-O-Lanterns

On Friday Maggie and I had our mom's group friends over for a little craft time. The children created collage pumpkins on paper and surprisingly really enjoyed themselves. Sometimes with toddlers crafts can be a little hit-or-miss when it comes to interest and enjoyment, but I chose well with this one, fortunately, and the children liked it. After the craft we headed to the backyard for the activity that is ALWAYS a hit: running wild and playing.

Fun with Friends

On Monday we had an art party for the friends in our moms group. The kids worked on their projects and then we let them free in our backyard to play. Nine kids showed up and I'm pretty sure they all had a good time. I know Maggie did.

Lots of Hearts

Monday was our play group's Valentine's Day party. It was hosted by a woman who invited and encouraged the entire lot to come. She is brave. While not everyone was available to attend, there were about 30 of us who took over her house for the party. The morning was full of snacks and crafts and playing and digging and painting and running around, having a great time. By the end of the two hours I was beat, but of course Maggie was still going strong. Stinker.

Hearts

On Monday Maggie's little play group gathered at our friends' house for an art party. The toddlers (and me) made these little hearts. Maggie wasn't really into it and kept looking at me strangely when I ripped the little bits of construction paper. I don't think she wanted either of us get in trouble. Obviously, just like with presents at Christmas, learning which paper is acceptable to tear and which is not is going to take some time. She didn't like having messy glue on her fingers either, as you can see from her facial expression in the photo. I think she's still a bit young for arts and crafts but I plan to keep working on it and will try to patiently wait until she's ready. She did, as always, enjoy playing with her friends though and loved pointing at and telling me when she saw our friends' cat. Cat. Cat. CAT! Sorry, Maggie, we will not be getting a cat.

Hobby Lobby

I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new Hobby Lobby in Visalia since last year when they announced it would be replacing the empty Mervyn's building in the Sequoia Mall. This Hobby Lobby is the first to open in California. My first impression of it, besides being huge, is that there are tons of home decor items in there. Knick knacks, mirrors, silk flowers, frames, reproduction art, candles...stuff like that. They also sell craft materials and tools, party supplies, fabric, and Christian-themed gifts. I wish there were more craft aisles, but who knows, maybe they'll add them in someday.

Interesting fact: they don't use scanners at the register. Every item in the store has a PRICE TAG and the cashier has to manually enter that price when you go to check out. The receipt has no mention of what you bought, just the price. Weird and old fashioned, huh? For such a big and new store, I'd say so.

One more interesting fact: they are not open Sundays so don't make plans to shop there then.

It's hard for me to say what this store is like. I'd say maybe a combination of Jo-Ann, Michaels, Party City and (cheap) Home Goods with some Christian book store thrown in to top it off?

Hobby Lobby was busy on the Friday afternoon we went to check it out. It's a good addition to Visalia and I'm sure will be successful there. I know I'll pay them another visit next time I'm in town. 

Gourds

Way back in the olden days we planted birdhouse gourd seeds in our garden. After a few months those seeds spouted and grew beautiful vines, leaves and robust green gourds. When they finished growing we cut them from their vines to give them the opportunity to dry out and harden. They've been curing for approximately two years now which was a year longer than necessary. Last weekend Chad decided to clean a few of them and turn one into an actual birdhouse. It's not a quick or easy process, but it was worth it and he did an excellent job.

2 1/2 Weeks Old

We had more visitors come meet Maggie this weekend: Loren and her mom, Judi! They stayed the night on Saturday and we had a great time catching up with them and introducing them to Maggie. Mags slept most of the time but at this point, what else is new? Here we are with Loren at breakfast on Sunday and below is Mags in her new onesie--an awesome gift made by Loren and Andy! I can't decide who loves it more, Maggie or Daddy...

Crib Skirt? Check!

I set aside this morning to start working on the crib skirt for the baby and by 2:30 this afternoon I finished it. The project wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be and I feel pretty good to have completed it in only one day. One-day projects are the best--especially when you can add in lots of breaks without falling too far behind. I ended up making a very basic crib skirt and it turned out exactly how I hoped. Not perfect, of course, but pretty darn good for a first attempt. The fabric is the same as what we used for the window valance but instead of orange, you'll see that it's green.