Makeover

Mimi loves doing makeup.  The only way to prevent an entire bathroom makeover is to offer myself as the subject.  She was very intent on her work.

 

 

 

And SUCH a sweet face. 

Books

The other day Brad moved some bookshelves from the craft room into the purple room, which meant that eventually, all the books needed to move too!  The girls helped me with that task this morning.  They were all sidetracked by their baby books, and Mimi chose to look at hers in a laundry basket.  Cool.

Art

Mac and Mimi took to the paint today.  Mac was on a roll!  First she painted a gumdrop. 

 

 

Then a rainbow for Daddy.

 

 

Then she really got crackin' on a beach scene!  Unfortunately her juices ran out midway, so it is incomplete, but the blue is the water and the tan is the beach--I think yellow and orange just lend color. 

 

 

Then she changed mediums, and did a colored ink drawing of  her walking the cat.  So cute.

 

 

Mimi also wanted to paint a rainbow, but then decided that mixing all the colors together was more fun.

 

 

Leiden came home from school today with these drawings.  They had an inside recess, and they drew animals with shapes.

 

Pretty cool.

 

 

I love watching their creativity. 

Chores

Occasionally Mac will remember the value of money, and that when you have it, you can buy stuff you want at the store!  She got seriously on board today, with extra chores to earn some cash.  She will only clean the windows if she gets to spray the Windex.  Then it becomes a fun adventure.

Babies!

Our good friends from England are expecting twins!  Today was the baby shower at Brad's work.

 

They had to match socks--and they won.

 

Sarah-Jayne got a crown and a sash,

 

 

while Ed got an awesome hat from Brad.

 

 

They are so excited for their new arrivals to come!

 

Congratulations, Ed and Sarah-Jayne!

I Love You

Valentine surprises came in the mail today from Grandma!  Leiden was obviously very excited about opening the box! 

 

 

 

Grandma sent 'I Love You' beans, which are stamped with those words.  They come in little kits that you plant and then they grow!

 

 

Mimi still grimaces when you ask her to smile.

 

 

Before school today we put them together.

 

 

They now sit in the kitchen window, which is not very warm, but at least it's in the light.

 

 

After which Leiden bundled up WARM and hopped on the bus!

Puff Paint

Tonight while Brad was gone to exercise class, we decided to experiment with microwave puff paint!  And I don't think we'll do it again!  Mac and Leiden were okay with it, thinking it was pretty cool to squeeze the 'paint' and food color in the bags.  Mimi just squeezed until it glopped out on to the floor!

 

 

We finally got the accidental glopping under control, and then moved on to intentional glopping.

 

 

Look at that concentration.  She is just squeezing the heck out of her bag.

 

 

Leiden was a little surprised.

 

 

Leiden's was full of little hearts, and words.

 

 

Mac's was a bunch of hearts.  You can see what happens when you microwave the paper--the 'paint' puffs up and gets big!

 

 

A fun activity for us girls, but I think we'll stick to regular paint next time!

Borax Crystals!

It worked!  Pretty well.  They sparkle and are pink and turquoise--what's not to like?!  I read that if you use red pipe cleaners you get much more vivid pinks and reds, but they are pretty.

 

 

Mimi kept grabbing and pulling hers before we put it in the Borax solution, so it's a little skeewumpus. 

 

 

 

The girls all put them on their doorknobs--except Mac.  Hers is on the counter.

Sick

 Poor little Leiden is a sickie.  She's got a fever, and is therefore COLD all the time.  She has school off today and tomorrow, anyway, so hopefully things will improve to get her back when it starts up again.  All she wanted to do was huddle in Mac's room, where there is a swath of direct sunlight to keep her warm.

 

 

And that's understandable, because it's FREEZING COLD outside!  Feels like -26?!

 

 

Mac wanted to make Leiden a Get Well Soon card, which was the cutest thing ever.  I forgot to get a picture of the card itself. 

 

 

Later this evening Leiden perked up a bit, and while Brad was at his exercise class, we began the process of making Borax crystals with pipe cleaners.  Hopefully they are awesome! 

M-a-c-h-a-r-a

Mac's preschool switched to lower case letters after Christmas, and Mac is a champ!  Check out those letters!

Mail

Every day we get Mac from school, she asks if she can go get the mail.  I tell her yes, and recently Mimi has wanted to go with her.  Mac started leading Mimi along today, holding her hand so she would be safe on the snow and ice.

 

 

Mac can barely see into the mailbox,

 

 

but she manages to get the mail out and brings it back up with Meems. 

Playdoh

Our playdoh stash has been woefully lacking, with only one bag of stuff remotely usable.  Actually quite a feat, considering it was made last February for Mac's birthday!

 

We remedied that today, and made six new batches in six new colors.  Leiden helped with the blue and red.  We forgot to put the salt in hers, but it seems fine, so she played with it for quite some time.  She came to me a little while later and showed me her Valentine cake.  Super cute.

Bed

Poor little Mac has been sleeping on her crib mattress on the floor in the corner of her room since the summer.  She hasn't complained, but she's seriously growing out of it.  When she's all stretched out her little feet hang off the end.  A while ago I mentioned our intentions to buy her a real bed, and she's latched onto that.  She has been asking for a couple weeks now, "When can we get me a bed?"  We finally made good on it today!

 

 

Mac is the proud new owner of a twin bed and boxspring!  She and I went out this afternoon to Target and she picked her bedding--owls and woodland creatures in pink pink pink! 

 

 

She's pretty excited, and while her bed is still on the floor in the corner of her room, it's at least a little more respectable. 

Dryer

Mimi worked on her marshmallow snowman this morning, and Mac brought home a cute little painted hat picture from school.  Combined with the snowflake Leiden made some time ago, I'd say we're pretty festive!

 

 

I have just today discovered green smoothies.  This is not the most appealing picture, except it does show the bright green smoothie!  I am astounded at how easy it is to mask the taste of two giant handfuls of greens!  And it's a super easy way to get multiples servings of fruits/vegetables in at once. 

 

 

We went this afternoon to pick out a new dryer, and while we were there, we decided to just replace the washer, too, so they would be a matching pair should we ever decide to move.  Brad went back tonight to pick them up in the big car.  I am very excited to do laundry!  It's amazing how badly you want to do laundry when you can't!