My girls love to draw and color.  I am so happy with this new table I have for them.  It has a paper roll and is just the right height for both of them.

Miss always asks me to draw “smiley faces” and pictures of each of the members of our family.  I am not an artist.  And it’s kind of funny to try to draw myself, but she likes it, so I do it.  Over and over.  Here’s my latest “self portrait.”  Lass decided to color me yellow.

Just a few photos from our lazy day at home.

I love the process of finding cool old stuff. Sifting through antique stores, junk shops, flea markets, yard sales. Finding that one special thing that can really make a statement. I love taking something that is a piece of trash and making it shine. I love the challenge of taking something that was used in one way and making it work in a new or better way. I just love old things, period. Antique items all have a story. Some of the things in my home have a story I’m somewhat familiar with, as they are family pieces passed down through generations. Some the finds I’ve made over the years are just old, but I can imagine where they’ve been and like to wonder what their story might be. Some of my things aren’t all that old, but their story comes after I purchased them. Like the old coffee table I bought for $3 at a yard sale before moving into my first house in college, and then refinished using glue to make a crackle effect on top before moving into my first by-myself-apartment in graduate school. Or the armchair I got at a flea market for $20 that had a hideous, torn royal blue floral print upholstery. My mom reupholstered it for me and it was a great addition to the waiting room of my first private practice office. Some of my favorite things are both old and have been tweaked by me in some way.

For example, one type of item I especially love because of its endless possibilities and inherent artistic appeal is an old window. I have scored lots of cool old windows over the years at great prices. Most as low as $5, some even free. One person’s trash, and all that…

Old windows have so many great uses. I have lots of them that I love using for wall art. I’ve collected them over the years. I have done work on some of them, and some I pretty much just kept as they were when I found them. Here are some of the ways I’ve used them for wall art:

With this old screen I didn’t do anything but turn it sideways and add the hooks to the top.

I didn’t do anything to the top leaded window in this photo. I added the flower stencil to the glass on the bottom one. I just love the shapes of these windows and the textures of the old cracked paint and wavy glass.

I love the elongated shape, crackly paint, and great old hardware on this window. When I bought it, it was missing one pane of glass. Rather than adding more glass, I thought it would be more interesting to cut and punch a piece of tin to fit. The tin was brand new, so I rubbed a little brown paint on it to take off the shine.

This window was free (yes, in this case that means I picked it out of someone’s trash). I didn’t do anything to it but scrub it up and add the pieces of a very old and tattered quilt in the openings.

This window is one of my favorites. It still has its original paint finish, turning lock at the top and handle at the bottom. I screwed the old door-molding-corner-piece-things in from the back to give it some more interest and a little function too. Initially I used the little shelves for pillar candles. Now, with the window in the entryway of my home, they hold mini framed photos of my girls or provide a place for guests to drop keys or hang hats, coats, or bags.

After dinner and before bedtime. That’s when we have the best times as a family. My hubby is home. The girls are content. I can leave the dinner dishes and spend some quality time with the loves of my life.

Sometimes we get a little crazy. Tonight we had another dance party. You might remember the last time I posted about a Family Dance Party. We have them fairly regularly. My girls love to dance.

Miss has some moves, and my big girl can be graceful too.


Naturally I spent some time jumping and swaying and flipping with Miss too.

I just love the joy on their faces when we get the music playing and our bodies bopping and spinning and dipping to the beat.

My girls’ laughter is contagious.

Hello. Hello?

Such is life with a toddler, I suppose. And of course, I know she hears me. She knows the things I’ve taught her. She can say her ABCs and sings all sort of songs I’ve sung to her. She can sort of count to 20 (the 14, 15, 16, 17 gets a little muddled) and she knows the sounds that all of her letters make. She can recite all or most of many of the books we have read over and over (one of my favorites is when she “reads” Brown Bear, Brown Bear and instead of saying “Teacher, Teacher, what do you see?” she says “T-shirt, T-shirt…” Perhaps I need to enunciate a little more). She typically uses her manners nicely. I hear her using phrases we have said to her many times, like “Keep trying” and “That’s not a toy,” or even “No Ma’am!” (said firmly to her sister). She recently started saying “Damn it!” after I said that in front of her once. Of course, much to my chagrin, she spent several moments in front of my in-laws last week saying over and over, “Damn-it-Damn-it-Damn-it!” while walking around their room frowning and pointing her finger emphatically. Lovely.

The point is. The kid hears what I say, even when she is studiously ignoring it.

Yesterday she showed me something different about her capacity to hear me. She showed me that she really listens and internalizes the positive things that I say to her. Of course I always knew that she does, and this isn’t really a grand epiphany. Obviously a toddler/preschooler internalizes what she hears and sees from her parents all the time. But yesterday I had a moment when I saw just how important it is to tell my girls I love them a hundred times a day. To tell them how beautiful and smart and good and kind and strong they are. I tell them these things constantly, and now I have been reinforced. Yesterday Miss repeatedly stated, “My Mommy wubs me” and gave me a hug. Now, I’ve already posted here about the little love fest we’ve been having around here lately. As amazing and swoon-worthy as it is to hear my two-year-old repeatedly saying “I wub you Momma” and many other variations on that statement, it was much more rewarding to hear her saying in such a heartfelt way in her tiny little voice, “My Mommy, she wubs me.” And just as good, when we were singing a song about her eyes she said, “I have pwetty eyes.” Yes. Cha-ching.

Hearing this from my older girl just thrills me. ‘Cause I know there will be days when the “I love you Moms” won’t be so forthcoming, but as long as my girls know how much their Mommy “wubs” them, we’ll be okay. They might curse me someday for any number of imagined tortures. But deep down they’ll know that “You-are-not-going-out-of-the-house-wearing-that-studded-leather-biker-jacket-I-don’t-care-if-you-bought-it-with-your-own-money” (yep, my Mom said something like that to me 20-ish years ago) comes from love and the curfews and sleepovers not permitted because the other kids’ parents are sketchy

This was yesterday

It was a beautiful day and I knew that it was supposed to get cold again this weekend (as in highs under 50 degrees), so we took full advantage of the warmth. We stayed outside all day, even having a picnic in the front yard instead of coming inside to eat lunch.

Today is kind of gloomy and cold, and Miss woke up with a low-grade fever. She hasn’t shown any other symptoms, but didn’t want to do much playing other than lying on the couch and maybe hiding under the covers.

So I decided to make it a movie day. We started out with a new Care Bears movie (she loves the Care Bears!) and then put in Madagascar (the “Wion Moobie”) after lunch.
I’m not much of a TV person, and normally I wouldn’t let her watch two movies in one day, but sometimes you have to break your own rules, especially when one of your little one isn’t feeling well. I would much rather have days like yesterday, outside playing all day, rather than sitting in front of the TV. I’d also rather have my girl feeling well and being her little spunky self. But since she isn’t feeling great today, a movie day is a nice change of pace. It’s a real treat. Something totally different, which makes it that much more special and fun. She thought it was pretty cool, and it was a great opportunity to all snuggle on the couch.

Unfortunately this afternoon her fever started creeping up.

She didn’t even finish watching Madagascar. She asked to go to bed. She never does that!
My poor girl had the hardest time falling asleep, but fortunately the acetaminophen kicked in and she was able to get comfortable and get some rest. Her fever went up high enough that I called for a doctor’s appointment for this afternoon. It breaks my heart to see her feeling sick. I’m hoping this will be just a quick bug and my sunshine girl will be back to feeling like herself by tomorrow.

We love Dr. Seuss. Our favorite Dr. S books in our house are “Dr. Seuss’s ABCs,” “There’s a Wocket in my Pocket,” and “Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?” Today our local library had a birthday party for Dr. Seuss, complete with cake,

storytime,

Cat in the Hat pictures to color,

making new friends,

books to check out and bring home,

and a Cat in the Hat party favor.



I have to say, I was a bit disappointed in the storytime, as the story teller only read one book (a Dr. Seuss book called “Ten Apples??”) and the rest of the time performed a couple of other story-type things that had nothing to do with Dr. Seuss. And there were tons of kids sitting right up front who kept standing up and/or talking loudly and/or yelling, so the story teller kept interrupting what she was doing to redirect these kids, and not once did a parent come up to attempt to corral her own child’s behavior. Call me a stick in the mud, but I sat on the floor with Miss and Lass to make sure Miss behaved well. I’m all for letting her have fun, but not if it disrupts other’s ability to enjoy the show. She did a great job, by the way. And we did have a wonderful time even if the story time left something to be desired, in my humble opinion. Miss loves the library, so we’ll be attending story time more regularly in the future (the story teller today was a guest, not one of the regular children’s librarians). Happy 107th Birthday Dr. Seuss!