Puzzle Mania

The mini just completed her first solo 100-piece puzzle. In 35 minutes! I'm so proud of her! She has done a couple of other puzzles this size with help from an adult or an older child, but this is the first one she has done from start to finish on her own. I should have taken pictures of the process, I know, but I was just so amazed watching her that I didn't think to grab the camera until it was complete. At least I got a cute "after" shot!

Creative Memories Success....Kind of, Anyway!

Woo Hoo! I just finished up my family CM album (don't ask about the status of our travel album), including pictures, journaling and decorating....for 2007! Now I'm only a year behind. I'm going to have to get moving on that soon. But at least I'm only a year late. That's progress, right?

Show Stopper

The mini had a fabulous dance recital this morning. All of the little girls in her class were very cute, and very pink! For a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds, they actually did a smashing job. Yes, there was a lot of "bunching" together rather than everyone having enough space, but for the most part, they followed the coreography and performed beautifully! I'm so proud of my little tapper/ballerina!

Presidential Inauguration

I suppose I should be a bit ashamed of myself. I was so distracted by the playdate this morning from 10:30 'til around 2:00, then I finally got the Mini to lay down for a nap with me, that I totally forgot to watch the inauguration, and in fact only remembered it when I turned on the computer and saw it as front-page news. I think President Obama will forgive me for my lack of enthusiam. I really needed that nap!

Nursery "Theme"

So after much agonizing, I decided to go with a more neutral pallette for the nursery - I'm going to do the wainscoting/beadboard on the bottom and do more of a beige color on the top of the walls. Then I'm going to accent with bolder colors, reds, blues and yellows. Since we have dark nursery furniture, I was concerned about making the room feel too heavy, so I thought the paint color was one way to keep in on the lighter side. Oh well, so much for my adventurous spirit!

On another note, we just repainted the upstairs bathroom to a gender-non-specific shade of green rather than the pale purple it was for the mini. Now we just need to hang the mirror, the wall cabinet and the towel bars and we're done!

Baby Boy Nursery

So we're trying to come up with decor for a baby boy that isn't too "themey" but will incorporate a little bit of Mickey Mouse. We bought drawer knobs at Disney World in 2001 that are a bunch of the Mickey characters and want to use them in this nursery. So I was thinking, why not red? The room that is going to become the nursery is already a red, so I consider it already primed. I'd change the color by a couple of shades, but still keep the red and maybe do half the wall in wainscoting just so I don't overwhelm the little guy. And I'm thinking that I'll paint all the trim/wainscoting in an antique creamy white/beige instead of stark, bright white. Then I can accessorize with dark blues and stong yellow golds in the bedding, etc. That sounds like a boy room, doesn't it? What do you think? Has anyone else ever done a red nursery? Am I totally insane?

Birthday Fun

So the mini's birthday isn't until Monday, but we had her party today. Nine of her friends came and had a science and My Little Pony party. Strange mix, certainly, but still a success! The strawberries and cake were devoured, the goodie bags were self-decorated and for a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds, I think the kids did a pretty good job of paying attention and following the science projects. They got to make ice cream and silly putty, create a "volcano" and learn about and pet different live animals, including a ferret, frog and scorpion.

Watching the "volcano" as it begins to erupt.






Look, Mommy! I'm making blue silly putty! This is too cool!






Seeing the world through the eyes of a bug.






A hug for mommy.






Yummy birthday cake!

Christmas

Christmas was a lot of fun in our house. The mini, of course, was the main focus of attention, and we mostly did video, but we did manage to get a few pictures.

Showing off her new pink nightgown and robe.





Dress-up in her new mermaid costume.





Girls just wanna have fun - in a pink Barbie jeep!





Yay! A big pink dollhouse from Santa!





Secrets with Santa