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The Dress....Part I

I borrowed some inspiration from SouleMama over the weekend, and soothed the frustration which had resulted from The Other Dress (see Part II below). I traced the outline of one of Baby Birds tops, added some shoulder ties, and then pretended I know how to sew ruffles.

Hurray! It fits :) I mean really, is it so much to ask?

Later this week I hope to debut a matching pair of bloomers. It doesn't look quite finished with a little diaper bum hanging out at the bottom ;) Cute (oh, how I love that little diaper butt), but not finished.

The Dress....Part II

Okay, so other than the fact that you could fit three Baby Birds inside of it....I am very happy, thrilled even, with how it turned out. Considering that the last time I used a pattern was Home Ec. in the 8th grade......this brings to mind the lovely red and white, horizontal striped, jersey knit fabric that I chose for my home ec. project. A fabulous, off the shoulder (think Flash Dance style) long-sleeved top. Ahhhh.....the 80's. I can't honestly say that I miss them.

But I digress.... what a buzz kill that the sundress doesn't fit! I was so angry I couldn't even look at it for a few days :(

Oh well.... I guess I'm already one step ahead for next summers clothes?

An update...

In March, I told you about a great new idea for kids birthday parties called ECHOage. I also promised to give you a report once we had tried it out for Big Birds' 4th. So here we go......

I have to say first, that the website does everything it promises to do. It was easy to sign up, easy to organize, and uncomplicated to send out invitations. I would advise you to have a list of email addresses handy when you are creating your invite list....something I did not have. I opted to cut and paste addresses out of my email address book instead, a minor hassle, but not the end of the world.

ECHOage kept track of all the gift donations, and that information was easy for me to view from within our account on their site. As promised, a week before the party, they sent out a reminder notice to all invited guests, which was great for us, because there were a few, oh, let's call them slow pokes who had not yet responded to the original invitation.

And that brings me to my final thoughts about ECHOage....the only *problem* we had actually had nothing to do with ECHOage itself. If you read my original post (linked above) about this approach to birthdays, you'll see that our main reason for using it was to try and cut down on *Gift Overload*. We really want to help our kids understand the joys of giving AND recieving, as well as to minimize the expectation of a mountain of gifts on special occasions. ECHOage helps to do this, *as long as your family and friends are willing to play by the rules!* Several folks on our list graciously donated to the ECHOage site, but also brought or sent gifts as well.

That said, the mountain of gifts was MUCH smaller this year, so maybe we're making progress afterall? (baby steps, Robyn. baby steps.)

I wish you all a happy weekend .... we will be spending most of our time trying to avoid the one hundred degree sun. ( i'm meeelllttttiiinnnggggg.....)

102. That's right folks....one hundred and two. That's the number of degrees fahrenheit it will be at our house today.

8:30am isn't too early for popsicles, is it?

Excuse me while I go crawl into a dark, shady hole.

Make mistakes.....
...isn't that what Ms. Frizzle always tells us? Baby Bird and I made a fun one yesterday. I read somewhere (couldn't tell you where) recently that mixing craft glue with tempera paint can be a whole lot of fun. In my early morning, pre-coffee, mother-of-two fog I grabbed the finger paint instead. Okay, so it's not an 'oops, there were no weapons of mass destruction' kind of mistake, but still- it lead to completely different results. The beauty of open-ended *art* is that since there is no planned outcome, mistakes like this really don't matter!

We filled up our trusty squeeze bottles, and almost immediately noticed the raw egg-like consistency of the glue/finger paint combo. Sort of sticky, stretchy, and shiny all at once! Baby Bird was in sensory/texture heaven :)

Like any good almost-two-year-old, the fingers got involved fairly quickly...

Maybe tomorrow we'll do it the *right* way.....or, maybe not!

Can we talk for a minute?

I have a bit of a problem.....it seems that I have laundry *issues*. Laundry-folding issues, to be more specific. Yep.....that's clean, unfolded laundry you see up there folks. Six baskets of it, if you really want to know. See how cozy my sweet Baby Bird is in her little nest? I'm good through the collecting, washing and drying stages of this process.....but that seems to be where things start to break down. It turns out that if I find myself with a moment or two of spare, uninterrupted time....I'd rather knit, sew, read, drink my coffee, do yoga or blog. But definitely NOT fold laundry.

I used to keep this *problem* a secret. I'd rush frantically to move all the unfolded clothes into the office just before playdates would arrive; trying to appear as if I had it all together.... another successful happy homemaker.

Then one day, on a whim, I confessed; to the one friend who I thought maybe wouldn't disown me if she knew about the mountain of laundry hiding just behind the office door. And guess what I discovered (after she finished laughing at me)? I'm not the only one who does this! It turns out that other people avoid folding their laundry too....some folks stash it behind closed doors like me, some pile it high on a spare bed, and others leave it in the dryer until it can no longer be avoided.

It is such a relief to let the world know that I HATE FOLDING LAUNDRY! I GET MINIMAL AMOUNTS OF TIME TO MYSELF IN A DAY, AND I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT TO SPEND THEM FOLDING THE STINKING LAUNDRY!

Go ahead, give it a try. Confess to someone today. Where do you stash your dirty little secret?

Daddy doesn't often get the opportunity to "do art" with the kids (something I suspect he may secretly be ok with!). On Sunday I set them up for this activity from Preschool Art, by MaryAnn Kohl. The glue and squeeze bottles came, as usual, from here.

First, a little design with the glue.

Next, sprinkle some sand on top...

er.....and a little more sand.....

... and then shake off the excess. Both kids enjoyed this, although I will say Baby Bird got a much bigger thrill out of it. She was ready to keep going after completing several pictures. The designs are dry now, laying on our kitchen table. Every time the kids pass by, they stop to run their fingers over the sand squiggles; they seem to be enjoying the texture.

This activity would be fun with coloured sand too. You wouldn't necessarily need a backyard sandbox to make it work either. A large, shallow container from your local dollar store would do the job just as well.

Happy Monday! Have fun :)