Winter Weather?

We have had almost no snow so far this winter.  We finally got snow Monday--enough that the kids had a snow day.  Then it started raining and the temperature rose (It got up to 55°)  We even had thunderstorms!  It was quite a difference from last week when we had temperatures in the single digits (and that's not counting wind chill!)

This is what our yard looked like this morning when I was out with Andy waiting for the bus.

Front yard looking East

Front yard looking West

This is the amount of snow we have left

barely anything!

Back yard

I Made More OOAK Polymer Clay Art Baby Dolls

Okay, so that's the fancy way of saying I sculpted some more clay babies!  I really enjoy working with the clay and forming a little doll, but so far, they don't really come out looking like an infant, which was my goal.  I got a new kind of clay (FIMO rather than Sculpey II) and it was nicer to work with, although it got lint covered easier/faster.  I still need to improve but I do think I got a little bit closer!  I need more work on the limbs!  I found a tutorial on how to paint the clay creations using acrylic paint (which I had) and to attach the hair with Liquid FIMO (which I also had). 

So here are the latest two clay babies:

Cody
~5½" tall, soft body, jointed

 

I broke his finger off

The limbs on the left are unpainted and the ones on the right are painted
 

Deborah

All clay body, 2½" tall. I also knit her some little accessories.

Fleece Pillows

We had an offer for a girls' "Craft of the Month" club to get the first two projects free.  I decided to try it out to at least get the free projects.  One of the projects was a fleece pillow.  It came with a camo-ish blue fleece square and a solid blue fleece square.  I looked at it and thought, "You know, all the kids would like to have a fleece pillow".  Thus started my quest for other fleece fabrics in the kids' colors.  (I have designated a color for each kid and their stuff is labeled with that color so we can tell whose things are whose.) 

The kids each helped sew their pillow and turn it right side out.  I opted for pillow forms over stuffing as they would keep their shape better and be more washable.

Fronts

Backs

Book Review: Inspirational Zingers Jumble

I had the chance to review "Inspirational Zingers Jumble" by Christopher Hudson (with Megan Chrans).  It was unlike any book I had ever seen before.  I really like puzzle type books so I enjoyed this book.

You have to unscramble the letters (jumble) to form a word.  Some of the letters in the word you just made are circled and you use those letters to unscramble to find the answer to finish the zinger (a quick, witty, or pointed remark or retort).

There are several different levels of difficulty:

• with clues
• words/answers in a word search
• mixed up clues
• cross word jumbles

This allows for it to be challenging for a wide variety of people which is very nice.  It also gives the answers in the back if you get totally stuck ☺


I was given a free copy of this book to review by Tyndale House Publishing for their Tyndale Blog Network

Knit Balloon Animals

My kids love balloon animals.  What they don't love is that they deflate and get flat.  Sarah actually declines to get one even when they are free. 

I found this pattern for a knit balloon bunny and thought it was a cute idea. I made it and it turned out okay, but I made some changes (nothing unusual for me!).  I made the "balloon" thinner and I knit it in the round so I didn't have to sew up the long seam (I actually did this on the original pattern, too)  I looked up balloon twisting instructions online and used them as inspiration for making more knit balloon animals.

We gave these to the kids' teachers on the first day of school

These are the kids' balloon animals

Cold, Colder, Coldest

I have been needing to put plastic on the living room window, but didn't think I had any and would need to buy some more.  I decided to double check and I did actually have a box meant for a sliding glass door.  I had to cut it creatively to get it to cover, but I was able to make do.  I decided to take a picture of the thermometer sitting on the window sill before and after adding the plastic to see the difference it made.  And for the fun of it, I decided to take a picture of the thermometer sitting on my washing machine in the laundry room (which the previous owners created out of part of the garage)
(These pictures were taken during a "warm spell" when the outside temps were about 40°)

Living room-before               Living room-after               Laundry room

Andrew's First Day of School

In November, I contacted the school to find out what was available in the way of speech help for Andrew.  They tested him and he qualified for getting speech therapy.  He had two individual sessions in December and then in January, an opening was available for him to be in Jumpstart, a preschool for speech therapy.

He wasn't too happy about having to stay once we got there.

With his teacher, Mrs. Busen

His first ever bus ride

Andy playing with my flannel board things when he got home

Andy wanted me to write his name and take his picture with it

Getting on the bus