The 365 Project 2012, Week 1

Week one of the 365 Photo Project
                   of 2012!!






Day #1- Abstract, The feathers and crystal on my dreamcatcher...
Day #2- Action, Time never stops...
Day #3- Up in the Air, Silk parasol covering the ceiling light fixture outside A's room.
Day #4- Alive...my reasons for being.
Day #5- Amazing...because he amazes me every day. (I didn't eat sissy's gingerbread train...honest!)
Day #6- Animal, Man's best friend.
Day #7- Aqua...ribbons of blue tangled through my house.

Hobby Horse, an impromptu craft

The other night A saw a cartoon where the kid on it had a hobby horse, and he was enchanted by the idea.








Crafty mama and her trusty glue gun to the rescue!

Melting Rainbows

This morning I decided we were going to try the project I found on Julie-K's blog. It was time to cull out the busted crayons anyway! (We only found about 10 in the entire bin that weren't already broken!)

Now I had done crazy crayons before, but only in muffin tins in the oven, and they were cute, but not too practical. This way looked much easier!

Paleo-crafting!

Last week I came across an awesome idea on the Kids Craft Weekly blog. We were going to make FOSSILS! We had some air dry clay on hand that would be just perfect, and TONS of shells, too!

So I gathered the supplies, and the kidlets, and we got our hands dirty!

Reduce, Recycle, Entertain!

I am always reluctant to throw things out. I'm always conscious of the things that come into our home, and the things that go out of it...to compost, to recycle, to the trash...My goal is to make that last as little as possible!
Our youngest is now past the baby food stage...and for the last year, I had been saving all of those little tubs. To what end you might ask...ah...mama had plans! LOL

Happy happy TURKEY DAY!!!

Sending a HUGE happy happy turkey day from me and mine to you and yours. May the coming year be full of laughter, joy, and promise. May the chaos be contianible, the family strong, and the patience unending!!!

Dino Transportation

Did you know that the preferred mode of transportation of the 3 year old dinosaur is....

a ballerina???

LOL


I love my littles dress-up games. Scored the dino costume for 50% off at Kmart today. A is over the moon! LOL.

Organization is essentially

an ongoing effort to stem the tides of chaos. It is kind of akin to the story of the little boy with his thumb in the dike. It often seems to me that there is a never-ending FLOOD of kid related detritus littering MOST surfaces in our home, LOL. When you run a kid-centric household, I guess you have to kind of  expect it. There is not a single area of our home that is off limits to the kids. No rooms have locks...most only have (nonfunctional) pocket doors. lol. Nope...not even the bathroom, lol. Apparently mommy needs assistance to pee.

Halloweenies!

A, with is stickers a bit askew, lol.

Halloween...we had been preparing for a while, LOL Budget being what it was, costumes were recycled or handmade. I actually prefer it that way, myself. Since my kids are pretty used to frugal-mindedness, they didn't complain!

Mom gets a night out!

I don't get a night out often...ok, a more accurate statement would honestly be almost never! This weekend marked the very first time I was out without kids in tow in over 4 years. (Because you absolutely cannot count childbirth as a kid-free experience!! LOL) To say I was overdue for a night of relaxation was ever so much more than an understatement!!

I knew she was a winner!

I am so very proud of my girls N and M!! They showed such creativity with their art projects. Mama is impressed. The contest ran this past weekend (Oct 29/30). They drove their projects to the venue with their daddy, and turned them in. The contest was for all ages...so they were competing not just against children in their own age groups, but against adults and professionals!! That takes some guts, I'd say.

They are both winners in my eyes...

What a GREAT DAY!

It is a wonderful, fabulous, amazingly awesome day!! After 30 MONTHS of unemployment, after dozens upon dozens of resumes and applications and interviews...in a depressingly down market...HUBBY GOT A JOB! My hubby is now OFFICIALLY an employee of the Tuscan Ridge Golf Club!!! You cannot imagine just how THRILLED I am...even though it is only part time to start, it is SUCH a huge relief. 30 months is a long time to struggle, and I couldn't be more thrilled than I am now to have a little bit of the weight taken off my shoulders!!

The beautiful grounds hubby will be working on...

Going Global

Proud mama alert!! I just wanted to share some shots of my miss M working on her globe project...She is doing a darn good job!

So many LEAVES!

Never again will I underestimate the number of leaves on a tree! Imagine a number...ok...now triple it...that is probably a closer estimation!

The last 2 weeks have been a frenzy of artistic creation and mountains of paper mache around here! 12yo N and 8yo M have been preparing for this years Recycled Art competition. The show is this weekend. They are SO excited. They both still have a lot of work to do in the next few days, but I have to say I am really very impressed with their efforts!

Enjoying the little things.

Sometimes in a hectic day of running around, cleaning up, picking up, changing diapers, taming mountains of laundry, and spelunking under beds in search of missing dishes, the little things can seem to pass you by.

I really try not to let that happen. The time we have with our little ones is so fleeting. I want to enjoy as much as possible!

Now THAT is MY shirt!

I have a new favorite obsession...my friend Christina turned me on to a company called TeeFury. Every day they offer up a new and unique tee shirt for the unbelievable price of $10!! ONE tee only, and it is ONLY available that day (unless there is a grab bag day or a reissue!)

My hubby and I are growing an awesome collection of amazing shirts thanks to this little gem. (Thanks again to Christina! :D ♥)

Today, the shirt of the day just SCREAMS "Coffee and Insanity"!!

and a close up...It is a mashup of Jabba the Hutt and a cup of coffee....

Java the Hutt ("Cup of Java"). LMAO!!

This shirt IS mine!! LOL.

Getting into the Halloween spirit

Getting into the Halloween spirit...


R's picture...she says...

"Zombies eat meat and their arms fall off...
and the mummy is the one wrapped in paper towels and toilet paper!"

lol

Insanity is...

A crazy preschooler being followed and mimicked by an equally crazy 18mo old.  No surface is safe, no height or depth goes unexplored. Much mess-making is accomplished. More work for mama later...

Insanity is also a stir crazy 6yo home from school with pinkeye (it could be worse, right???) Video games, arts and crafts...sure its fun, but it is just not schoooool mom!

The gremlins got it!

I think we have gremlins...sprites...a poltergeist...

Things are ALWAYS going missing around here. You wouldn't think it is possible, it is really not that big of a place...but it happens CONSTANTLY.

The most frequently missing-in-action items are the cable and dvr remotes...the WII remotes come in a close second.

But sometimes...

Fun at Johnny Appleseed Days!

This weekend was our local apple festival, Johnny Appleseed Days. Locals come out in droves to consume insane amounts of fresh baked apple pie, visit the food vendors and the artisan fair, and enjoy some great live music. We had quite a day! Being a musicians family, we spent most of the day on the hill overlooking the stage. The kids LOVED it...