Dying to Dye

The kiddos have been raring to dye Easter eggs. Hubby and I blew these out, a couple at a time. Hard work! I made my own dye with red, yellow, and blue food coloring, then mixed to get orange, green and purple. The recipe: 1/8 tsp food color; 1/2 Tbsp vinegar; 3/8 cup hot water. (This is half the original recipe, I didn't want much because we were using rags and droppers to tie-dye the eggs.
It takes lots of concentration:


They were having so much fun, I ended up hard-boiling a few, too. We used a glue-water mixture and rolled some in glitter (the glue made the color bleed, though.) We used glue dots and glitter for some polka effect. They used crayons on a couple--I added a bit of vinegar to the boiling water, they drew on warm eggs, then let it set for 30 minutes or so.
Our egg stand, inspired by this one in Family Fun. It's my cake stand on the bottom, then an upside-down plastic cup, topped with a clear plastic dessert plate.

Eggy Stuff

I finally got out all the Easter and spring books last week, and did a craft. Good for fine-motor, too. ;) I cut out egg shapes from a pop tart box, then spread glue on a strip at a time.

(Yes, Honey made this neat row all by herself!)
Too many options for Speedy.
The Princess, perfectly filling hers in.
Speedy thrilled, I finally let them mix the beans, peas and lentils together. This provided some extra fun mixing, sorting, dumping and pouring. (Yes, there were some on the floor. I try to get them to keep everything on those trays, but it doesn't always happen.)
Finished eggs! From left: Princess, Speedy, Honey. Only glitch was the glue making the eggs curl. Maybe next time I'll lay wax paper (re-used from the bag inside a cereal box) and then a heavy book on top while they dry.

Flowers from my Hubby (XOXO)

Valentine Crafties

I made these streamers by cutting spirals into used wrapping paper--it was silver on one side, pink on the other--perfect for a Valentine morning!
Speedy's paper hug complete with sunglasses in the top right. :)
Princess & Speedy's paper hugs from No Time For Flashcards. We used pop tart boxes for the body, construction paper for the rest.
We used foam self-stick hearts to make butterflies on doilies. (I got the hearts for $1 at Target--there are hundreds of them, my best purchase for our cards and crafts!) Mine is bottom left, Princess on top, Speedy bottom right. They added flower blooms to theirs.
Another book and sorting idea from NTFF.

Happy Valentine's Day!

1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us."

Those I love most. Thanks, God, for blessing me beyond what I could have hoped or imagined.

Happy Groundhog Day!

We found these cute groundhogs to make out of hearts, appropriately! I used brown paper bags, white scratch paper, and black construction paper. Princess' is on the top; Honey's is bottom-left (I put the glue on and helped her place the pieces; Speedy's Picasso-like creation is on the bottom-right. :)
Our seasonal book selection:
Groundhog Gets a Say is kind of annoying to read, but has quite a few interesting facts, so I can tolerate it once a year. :)

The Biggest Valentine Ever follows the other books in the series (biggest pumpkin, biggest snowman, etc.) Clayton and Desmond are mouse friends who compete with each other, but end up working together.
The Valentine Express has a little Valentine history; then has a brother and sister rabbit make and deliver Valentine's to their neighbors.

Hugs and Kisses is about a curious puppy who sets out to see how all the different animals' kisses feel--of course at the end, his momma's is the best. :)
Froggy's First Kiss is typical Froggy. The Day it Rained Hearts is another cute one about a girl giving Valentine's to her animal pals.

Queens and Birthdays

You may be wondering about our paint trays. They are the bottom, cut in half (Princess & Speedy) of a votive candle packaging. Honey has the top. The little divots held just enough paint for her. Sometimes I use meat trays or egg cartons, too. I was going to toss these after we were done, but liked them so much I went ahead and washed them to use some more. :)
We're doing a little bit for school lately. :) Still reading some snow and winter books. Princess picked Q for the letter this week, and we made Queens. It's fun to see how each child does it a bit differently!
From left to right: Honey (I helped her), Speedy, and Princess (does a great job cutting on the lines!)Hopefully we'll get to this:
Geometric Shape Castle

And kind of in keeping with the queen theme, we had PAT playgroup today, in honor of our state's birthday. So there are birthday crowns. :)
We made some cute birthday cakes, wrote the kids' names and birthdates on the front, then glued on candles for their current ages. Then taped those purple pockets on the back to hold a couple extra candles to add. And made construction paper state flowers; and tongue depressor photo frames decorated with stately plants. :)

What's Going On

What's going on is that I should be in bed. But I'm blogging. Because I don't want to forget life's funny and endearing moments in this noisy haze of mommy-dom. :)

Honey's personality is blossoming. She's a ham. Performing for herself in the mirror when I put her up here to change her diaper. Singing, batting eyelashes, cocking her head, the whole deal. Oh, and these are her new 'woof-woof' jammies from Aunt Natty.
Speedy was QUICK to get dressed Monday morning, we'd had our last Christmas with my folks and sibs the day before, and he had new clothes. Yes, shorts. Yes, it was freezing outside. I did get a long-sleeve under his new tee at least. The belt in his hand is one of my younger brother's from days past. Speedy put it on all by himself, yay!
Princess and Honey were going to sleep in their new tent (in the living room) from Uncle J. Speedy wanted us to move his BED into the living room so he could sleep in there too. Floor too hard? Anyway, Honey was all over the place, so Princess was scared and lonely in the tent, so everybody ended up back in their own beds. :)
Honey is a big girl, posing in the mirror with one of big sister's new hairbands. At one point all 3 kids had one on, but didn't catch a picture of that. Honey is in that vocab explosion stage, it's so fun to hear her try to repeat what we all say. But she still resorts to fussing when she's tired or doesn't feel good, which has been the last 2 days, so that's frustrating. But to be expected.
My sister made this cute boppy cover for Snuggle-Bug. Princess wanted to be in the pic, and just totally cracked me up when she put up her little bunny ears. Princess doesn't miss much anymore! She gets the jokes, she watches what other people do.

More holiday fun!

Here's our little reindeer on her first Christmas. She was so easy for us, sleeping through lots of noise and being drug to all sorts of activities!
The 2nd annual Wehrman talent show: Speedy wanted no part of it--until he saw the microphone, and he quickly signed up! We wanted him to tell some of his funny jokes, but he wanted to SING! Jesus Loves Me, then Hallelu, and he would have kept going, but there were other acts to perform!
Princess & Speedy sporting some new bib overalls from Daddy. He picked them up at Orscheln's (sp?) in the town we go to the doctor, while I had the baby at her 2-day check-up.
Speedy loves to wear his to go to the farm!

Christmas fun

I should really be working on Christmas cards, or folding laundry, or something, but catching up here is more fun. :) Here are some of our sugar cookies--it worked great to roll out and bake a bunch, then stick them in the freezer. We pulled out a few at a time to frost and decorate. These went in goodie bags for our neighbors. When we deliver, it's always fun to read 'A Snowy Surprise' by Amy Hest. It's about Sam the bear and his momma delivering cakes to their neighbors. This year we didn't have to tromp through snow, though. :)
Honey was in the kitchen with me (where else would she be??) and licked a chocolatey spoon. She was actually much messier than this, but wiped part of her face while I got the camera. She has a great 'cheese' face, and over Christmas developed a scowl, too. (no pic of that). When other relatives at the table asked her to use her spoon, etc., she responded with a scowl and looking down. She also has a 'shy' response--looking the other way when someone she doesn't know well talks to her or is in the room.
Princess (on the left) playing 'crazy make-up girls' with some cousins. They reminded me of the spice girls. :)
The fam filling up Hubby's classroom. It was so funny to see the seats fill up.
Three little Santa's helpers!

Happy New Year!

At some point, I'm hoping for some time to reflect on 2008 and maybe set some goals for 2009. Although those resolutions and such often just leave me feeling like they are just another thing I didn't get done. :) For now, I think I'll just resolve to stop what I'm doing and enjoy those little moments as they come.
Snuggle-Bug today: 13 days old.
And my little Honey, hamming it up. :)