just a couple of days late. :-) This week's art courtesy of Allyson. A great looking baboon (made using pastel chalks).
I feel like I'm in a big rut lately.....a scrapping and cleaning rut. :-( I can't seem to create a paper scrapbook page for the life of me! I've grown bored with the daily household chores and have slacked off a bit & it shows. :-( Scrapbooking and a clean house go hand-in-hand for me. It may sound weird, but I can't get my creative juices flowing if the house is messy....so my creative well has been running on empty lately.
I've recently taken action to remedy all of this though. Apparently, that bite from the spring cleaning bug is pretty nasty. I've emptied every closet, every drawer, and all of the nook and crannies on the lower level of the house. I've given away tons of stuff on freecycle, and taken multiple loads to the charity store. Look out kids, 'cause mom is headed upstairs next!! :-D
I've also implemented a new chore system for the kids, so they can really earn their allowances. Emily has always kept her room tidy, but the younger two...oh my, what mess-makers they are!! Our new chore system is random; they draw 3 sticks every day w/a different chore written on each stick. The chores are easy and are meant to take less than 10 minutes each day, but are geared toward helping the girls learn to do a daily "tidy-up" on their areas. Our new chore system has been a huge hit with the kids and they are SO excited to draw sticks every morning.
Now, I must admit that the worst remaining room of clutter is probably my scraproom (also known as the family craft room). I can't wait to get up there and start going through things. I want to be able to enjoy my space again. The green on the walls just makes me happy. I've purchased some new glass jars to store my pretty ribbons, and I look forward to seeing them sitting on the bookshelf. I can't wait to sit down and "play" with my supplies again. ((Note: if anyone has any great scrap room storage ideas, please send them my way!! I'd also love to see pics of your scrap rooms if you want to share.))
OK, back to my previously scheduled cleaning now.....
Another afternoon of "waiting" time between dad's choir practice and the children's choir. It's just too far to drive back home between the two, so the girls and I have to entertain ourselves somehow. We found some really tasty "entertainment" yesterday....the blizzards did the trick! ;-)
The girls were invited to friend Kate's birthday party on Friday. The theme of this year's party was "Mad Science". The mad scientist travels to schools and churches in the area and does cool presentations for the kids, and he did the same type of demos for the party. I think the favorite activity was making slime (of course!). The homemade hovercraft was a bit hit too.
Claire talked a little more about her "crush" yesterday. Apparently, the little boy she has a crush on is one of her best friends. They play together every recess. (I've noticed that Claire always seems to get along well with the boys because she plays as hard as they do.) When I asked her what she and her friend Corbin play at recess, her response was "We always play cops and robbers."
Ah yes, so glad our Claire is such a girly-girl!!! :-)
Had this conversation with Claire yesterday morning as I was combing her hair:
Claire: "Mom, what does it mean when you have a crush on someone?"
Me: "Well, I guess it means that you REALLY like someone." After seeing the funny look on her face, I continued with "Why? Do you think you have a crush?"
Claire: With a sheepish grin and giggle, "Yes"
Me: "What's his name?"
Claire: "It's Corbin...he's so cute."
Me: "So you really like him?"
Claire: Grins all gone and totally serious, "No mom, I *LOVE* him...I really love him."
Me: "Are you going to tell him that you like him?"
Claire: "I really want to, but I'm afraid he'll faint."
All of this from a 6-year-old....oh dear, we're in trouble! ;-)
We worked outside yesterday afternoon, trimming the shrubs, "scalping" the lawn, etc. This is what I found while taking a look at our Japanese maple tree. This tiny nest was perfectly placed in the fork of our little tree. Isn't it the sweetest thing? I was surprised to see so many eggs in the nest. We made sure not to disturb the nest while taking the photo. We're going to check on the progress of this bit of nature every few days to see if they hatch. I don't know what kind of bird eggs these are...maybe Robin? If anyone knows for sure, please leave a comment.
Hey, I think I just saw Laura Ingalls!! Oh wait, it was just our little Claire. :-)
Her class has been studying about pioneers this week, and today they went on a field trip to an old one-room schoolhouse. Last week, the teacher sent home a note asking that the kids dress up in pioneer style, so I quickly sewed a comfy dress and pinafore for Claire to wear. Claire has been SOOOO excited to wear this outfit and has been telling her teacher how "hard" I've been working on it. lol She didn't realize that I *had* to work hard on it due to the short notice...not to mention that my sewing skills are a bit out of practice!
This morning, Claire got up early because she was so excited about going to school. A nosebleed stopped the action for awhile, but she was finally able to don her outfit. She REALLY wanted braids, so I did the best I could with her short hair.
The bucket Claire is holding was her lunch pail (a request from the teacher was that the children bring their lunch in a pail or basket). Our pail had 2 giant razorbacks on it, but a little spray paint did the trick. The pioneer theme was carried even further by packing only foods the pioneers would have eaten - w/o plastic baggies and all of our modern conveniences. What fun!!
The Brownie and Junior Girl Scout troop visited the fire department on Saturday. We had a lot of girls attend, so we split into two groups...and unfortunately, I have no pics with Emily in them. :-( Allyson was at a friend's house, so she missed the event. Claire enjoyed climbing in and on the fire trucks. She even tried out the bed in the ambulance. "-)
The saddest part of our fire department tour was when the fireman explained the air tanks. He said that each tank has a "beeper" on it that will sound if/when a fireman is still for a length of time (so they can be found if they are hurt inside a burning structure). He went on to explain that there were many, many beepers that could be heard when the towers fell on 9-11. So very sad. :-( 
When Allyson & Emily go to piano practice, I do my best to keep Claire entertained. She's always so full of energy, so we usually take a walk down the dirt road to the creek. Last week though, we had SO much rain and it was "Chicago-style" windy that we spent most of the time in the car, just talking about silly things and having fun. This is the kind of pics you take when you're bored in the car. :-) 
Emily also took one of the water spray as we drove through water on the road.
Emily made her first quilt last year at the age of 11. I figured that if she could make a quilt, so could I (never too late to learn right?). :-) I sewed the quilt top together and took it to my dad's shop to have it quilted. I'm pleased with the results. The thing that makes this quilt special to me is the fact that my dad quilted it for me.
I also altered some wooden letters to spell QUILT for the shop wall. This was supposed to be a Christmas gift to my dad, but as usual, I had too many projects going...so it became a spring gift! :-)
This week's FFFF challenge is "slippers". The girls don't really wear house shoes or slippers much, but Claire is really big into wearing these slipper socks lately. These are one of Claire's little treasure finds as I was cleaning out some drawers one day. She spotted these socks and fell in love with them! She thinks the little gripper dots on the bottom are the coolest. :-) Don't they look so stylish with her animal print jammies?! lol
You can check out more slipper clad cuties here.
I love looking through the girls' Tuesday folders from school. It isn't all of the little notices and newsletters from school that I look forward to; it's the ART. I can always count on at least one or two really cute drawings or paintings from Allyson & Claire. I save as many as I can to put in their school scrapbook albums. Here are a few of my favorites from March:
I've been playing around with digital scrapbooking a little this week. I'm not very good at it (two of the layouts below are class layouts), but am enjoying playing with the program. I'm not ready to give up real paper and glue yet, but it has been fun. These are a few of my recent layouts. (Thanks Christina for the info about the digi class...it was very helpful!!). :-)
Papers courtesy of Shabby Princess
