Baby Art!

Since today it is just me and the babes, I decided that it was about time we endeavored to do some baby art. I got out a colorful sheet along with some tempera paints and white paper. Then we stripped down to our skivvies (well, the babies did anyways!) and got to work. I decided to tackle this one baby at a time to avoid the ingestion of paint. Maya was first. She jumped right in! Her technique was a kind of grabbing motion, and there are lots of good fingerprints and grab marks. She was really interested in the paint that was on her body, and liked painting her thighs!








We wiped down Maya, and then it was Sofia's turn. Maya kept trying to help, so I had to give her something else to play with to keep her at bay! Sofia wasn't sure what was happening, at first. I put a couple drops of paint on her paper, and she just looked at me as if to say, "Is this a trick? Am I gonna get in trouble for making a mess of this?" It was so sweet! I told her to put her hands on it a few times before she braved a finger. Once she realized it was OK, it was on! She really liked rubbing her hands on the page from side to side. She's definitely a smearer. I just let her paint until she lost interest, and then we were done.










After all the fun was had, it was time for a B.A.T.H. I wasn't sure how Sofia would react to being in a strange bathtub, especially since Marie told me how she gets kinda clingy in the tub. I'm thinking it must have been the strangeness, the company of Maya, or all the great toys distracting her, because she seemed to have a great time! She even let me wash the paint out of her hair.


Butt Action!





Here are the finished products! Sofia's is on the left, and Maya's is on the right.

Charley Harper - an Obsession

I have recently become a crazy person when it comes to being crafty. I've made a gzillion hair bows and tutu's, I've sewn a really cool banner for my upcoming craft show, and I've purchased stuff to do scherenschnitte (German paper cutting to the lay person) and cannot wait to get started.

While surfing the web for ideas, I came across a blog post about this artist whose work I'd actually seen before in the kids section of the bookstore. I think every time I set foot into a bookstore and see any of Charley Harper's stuff my inner dialogue goes a little something like this:

inner me#1 - "OOOOHHHHH! Look at this gorgeous book!"

inner me#2 - "Wow, that is really pretty. But, did you see the price tag?"

inner me#1 - "But, you can't put a price on beauty."

inner me#2 - "Oh yes you can, and that price is too much. You said you were going to stop spending on stuff you didn't really need."

inner me#1 - "But, I think I need this."

inner me#2 - "No, you don't"

inner me#1 - "Yes, I really do!"

inner me#2" - Behave yourself. Get it under control! What will Pete think when you walk in with more stuff? You'll hate yourself tomorrow."

inner me#1 - "Dang you, stupid inner me#2!"


Seriously, his stuff is so gorgeous I'm thinking about buying a book or two, scanning the pictures into my scanner, printing them out, and framing them. They are gorgeous beyond words! I will probably break down and buy the coloring book for Maya. When she really starts making art, and knowing that she is making the marks on the page, I'm going to let her do watercolors on them. Definitely frame-worthy!

Cupcakes!

This morning I called Ciera's Dad to confirm that I'd be picking her up this evening to make cupcakes. Her birthday is tomorrow, and she wanted to bring cupcakes to school to share (which her dad refused to help her with, but that's another story....grrrrr). Anyhoo, Andrew overheard me saying something about cupcakes, so we decided to make our own batch this morning!

Andrew and Austin helped mix in all the ingredients. We chose spice cake!



Andrew wanted to use the electric mixer, and he did a dang good job, too! Austin was not a fan of the loud mixer, which is probably for the best. He would have made a MESS!


After the cupcakes baked, Andrew and I iced the with cream cheese frosting, and Austin helped decorate them. We even put little dinosaurs on a couple of them. They turned out very cute!




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Valentine's Day?

Let me know, please, if you'd like to use my services on Saturday before Valentine's Day. I'm open until 1am, so technically it should be Valentine's Day by the time you pick up your sleepy head! Thanks!

Andrew's Here!

It was a snow day at Andrew's school, so he stopped by today. It was so great to see the little dude. We missed him! We spent the morning playing with toys. He was pretty pumped about playing with the new fire house, but was not a fan of the babies coming over to play with it, too. I taught him that the best way to get rid of a pesky baby who's taking your things is to give them something different to play with. We opted for the airplane.



After a minute Sofia gravitated back over to the firehouse, so I moved her over to the toy bucket rack and did some walking. She likes playing with my camera, so it wasn't too hard!



Later on, Miles came over and we decided to do a craft. Since I just finished a jug of milk, and I had another in the recycle bin, we decided to make elephants. They turned out pretty cool.


After that, we had lunch, read a couple stories, and headed off to bed. What a nice day!