One Little, Two Little...

... Two little Indian girls.

On this very last day of November, let me share these Thanksgiving Indian pics before December begins and the Christmas season officially starts.

Nana and Grandaddy came for a visit last week and brought all kinds of fun goodies to craft with! When I came home I found two little Indian girls with feather headresses and papooses on their backs. :)

This was on Monday. The rest of the week, Caroline insisted on wearing her Indian attire EVERYWHERE we went.

to school

to Target

to the library

to Publix

There were quite a few Pocahontas sightings around town last week. She didn't understand why people were so friendly with her. She would say, "Mama, that lady wave a me!" or "Mama, why that man call me Pokie - hanus?"

I even found them busy in Anna Cate's room the next morning making some Indian headresses for Will and I so we could be Indians too.

Have I mentioned how much I love these ages of two and four?

They are so much fun right now.

Fun, and messy.

These were some pics I sneaked of them when it was suppose to be rest time.

Does it look like they were resting??

And yes, this room was clean before they went down for rest time.

No judgement please. It is impossible to keep this house straight. As soon as one room is picked up, another one is destroyed. It is a maddening battle to fight.

Surprise!

Yes you are busted little lady!

...

But now onto the holiday season. Apparently, I had a moment of temporary insanity last week and agreed to participate in a holiday market on December 8th.

Caroline has been busy helping me get ready. She irons and cuts my scraps of fabric while I stitch in a mad furry trying to get everything ready. I've also been busy working on another sewing project that may involve some of you that I hope to share SOON!

stay tuned!

Art & Literature - The Rainbow Fish

Ok, so this pick of a book and art project is a little obvious, but still worth sharing. The Rainbow Fish is beautifully illustrated with watercolor pictures and one of my favorites to read with the girls because of the pretty pictures. No brainer for a pick to pair with an art project!

There are probably better art projects you could use with this book, but I was trying to use what we already had on hand and this is what we came up with:

First, I traced the Rainbow Fish onto some heavy cardstock and the girls painted him using their watercolors.

We've got some serious concentration going on here

Until mama says, "Caroline, smile!" and we get the closed eye cheesy grin.

We added his scales using some glittery letters that I had cut up into small pieces, while we discussed what the girls would have done if they were the Rainbow Fish.

Of course Anna Cate quickly responded how she would have shared her beautiful scales with all of the other fish, while Caroline stubbornly insisted that she would have chosen not to share.

After a lengthy discussion on hurt feelings, sharing, and being a good friend, she could not be persuaded. The verdict remained the same: sorry to the other fish, but Caroline was keeping all she had to herself.

As for myself, I had to make a mental note to work harder with her on that necessary life skill with that little nut that is so hard to crack!

via

These fish cupcakes have been in my file for forever and would have been perfect for this lesson as a follow-up snack, but I didn't have any M&M's and wasn't feeling particularly ambitious that morning.

****

As a side note, this picture was snapped on the same morning we made our fish. I was so excited that her hair was starting to get fuller and longer...so pretty! :) But it wasn't to last long...

Remember how I shared her newly acquired skill of the ever-s0-popular big girl tool of scissors??

She found a pair one night,

IN Anna Cate's room,

IN her book-bag

which was IN her closet...

and snip snip...

goodbye to the right side of Caroline's lengthening locks.

Oh this child! She definitely keeps me on my toes!

Tiny Dancers

You wouldn't believe our calendar right now, even if I showed you! For ten days straight we have something going on every morning, afternoon, and evening. That is insane when you have two little ones...insane I tell you!

I have so much to get done, the last place I should be right now is on this blog, but I wanted to share some pictures from Anna Cate's "recital" from last night. Remember this past spring how she started ballet lessons with Miss Alexa from church? Last night was their end of the year performance to show us all they have learned. They were precious little ballerinas!

Way to go mom! We were in such a rush to get out of the door that I completely forgot Anna Cate's tights. Oh well! I don't think she noticed she was the only one with out them.

Only the mamas, daddies, and siblings could come to the performance and this is why:

We got to play sardines during the performance

:)

We love you Miss Alexa!

Thank you for a wonderful first year of ballet!

P.S. - Dear Anna Cate and Caroline, please stop growing. You both look much too old in this picture and I'm not used to seeing myself with two children, not babies or toddlers.

This mama is requesting that you just stay little.

Giddy

We are so stinkin' excited around our house right now because somebody is learning to R E A D!

On Tuesday night after dinner, we were playing with our Scrabble board game. Anna Cate loves to put letters together and ask what word she made. She and Will were taking turns making words for each other and the light bulb just totally clicked! I could actually see it in her eyes...all of the sudden she understood that the letters make sounds that make words and she could figure it out on her own.

Talk about a rush! It was our very own little Helen Keller moment. ;)

She was giggling and squealing, which made Caroline start giggling and squealing. Miss Carrie is lending us some of Reece's Bob Books to practice and they are wonderful.

Is this a "d" or a "b"?

I can't remember...?

Silly me... of course!

The letter "d"!

Can you tell she is just a little bit proud of herself?

I am so proud of her too and swept up with her excitement and wonder at her new big girl talent.

But a big part of me also misses this little lady and I find myself wondering where in the world have these four years gone?

*sniff sniff**

Here is a quick clip, although if you aren't a grandparent, it may be more like watching paint dry. ;)

Perspective in the Gift - journal entry 8.24.11

Sometimes God gives us the words before we understand their meaning. The ink to these thoughts were not yet dry in my journal when he showed up to whisper, Be still and know...

****

A hope deferred can either grow into a festering obsession or aggrivation, causing sin through worry, resentment, jealousy, and doubt

or

it can be an exercise of faith

- a chance to practice waiting in hope for His perfect plan, believing what He gives is all grace -- what we perceive as the good and the bad. If it is from Him then it is good for God is great and God is good.

God is love and love is patient.

And in this exercise of patience, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, we receive the promise that He guards our heart with a peace that is inexplicable.

The same bait that the enemy uses to weaken and destroy our faith is the exact thing that will draw us to the Lord perfecting our santification - if we so choose.

He allows us the opportunity of choice.

Daily I must choose to see His grace. To fight the lure to doubt His goodness. To wait in His providence and trust Him for the rest-- for the peace that passes all understanding.

A gift that only He can give.

Surrender and He will provide.

****

If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and its not so bad.

C.S.Lewis

The Halloween That Wasn't

So Booooooo, we didn't get to go trick-or-treating this year. :( The girls both have something called Hand, Mouth, and Foot Disease. Heard of it? I hadn't until last week when warned by a friend that her girls had just been diagnosed and we had just spend the entire morning before with her family.

So instead of meeting up with friends for the annual trick-or-treating get-together, we were quarantined inside the house with a very moany, very drooly, very unhappy Caroline (and Anna Cate to soon follow).

Fortunately, they had already had the chance to wear their costumes at a friend's birthday party a few weeks ago, so pictures of the costumes I do have.

So without further adieu, for the sake of grandparents, I present (in the word's of Anna Cate) two little Poodle Skirt Girls

Have you ever seen two children more thrilled and excited to be at a birthday party?

Didn't think so!

Smile Caroline, smile!

Remember we are having fun!

I did see a little smile when it was time to sing Happy Birthday

and drink some milkshakes.

What a cute idea for a birthday party!

Leah, you really outdid yourself on this one. ;)

You can see more pics of the party on Lil's blog.

(And yes, the skirts are homemade, but super easy to do. I followed Martha's tutorial but used hot glue to attach the ribbon to the skirt and found the poodle iron-on applique at Hobby Lobby...no sewing involved!)

And I love this last picture. Nobody is looking at the camera, but it shows how the girls always find my hands (or is it the other way around?) when we are together. I wonder how much longer it will last? I'm pretty sure holding your mom's hand doesn't rank too high up there on the coolness factor when you are eight.

Art & Literature - Miss Lina's Ballerinas

Just popping in to share this fun art project that Anna Cate and I worked on this summer that I am just now getting around to sharing! Each day of the week we have a different activity (library day, baking day, etc) and Art & Literature is one of our weekly events. The girls and I read a book and then work on a corresponding art project, thus the name Art & Literature...how very sophisticatedly collegiate of us! ;) he he

I found the inspiration for this project on Pinterest from a tutorial on ballerina paper dolls via The Crafty Crow. We used a different book from her suggestion, but I think the end result was just as stellar. Even if you don't make the ballerinas, this book is precious! It comes very highly recommended from the three of us (and you can also use it to teach rhymes, counting by twos & threes, and the art of practicing hospitality)

Ok, enough teacher talk, and onto the project...

I didn't take pictures because you can already find the tutorial here.

Anna Cate's little ballerinas turned out super cute and it was a project she really enjoyed working on. I made a set of ballerinas too, but I'm not sure where they ended up... I think Caroline may have "danced" them to death.

Anna Cate's ballerinas now grace her memo board in her room and are quite precious! Maybe I can get my act together to share more of our Art & Literature projects. If anybody has suggestions on a great pairing of a book & art project I'm all ears!