Simple Skirt

I have been surfing all the sewing blogs and even have a new sewing book that has me all excited for the spring. I have made it my goal this spring and summer to sew more skirts and outfits for Virginia. I took advantage of Reiggin being home today and started on my goal. I took this lovely flower twin bed sheet that my mother in law gave me and turned it into a simple spring skirt for Virginia. It only took me about an hour using MADE's simple skirt tutorial. 

Crafts with Virginia

We have been keeping busy playing outside while the rain stays away for a few days. But during the rainy days we have been busy inside doing crafts. Last night I ran across this great craft blog called Kiwi Crate. I decided to try the watercolor resist painting with Virginia. 

Supplies:

Watercolor paints

Paper

Contact Paper

Scissors

Luckily I already had all the supplies in my craft room. I quickly googled fish and let Virginia pick her favorite picture. Then I printed the image and taped it to the contact paper to cut out. All I had was sketch paper so that is what I used. When we do this project again I would like to get some good watercolor paper. I carefully peeled off the contact paper and stuck it down to the paper. I found it best to peel part of the contact paper off and stick it slowly down to the paper. That way I could make sure there was no air bubbles. 

Next I got the watercolors set up and let Virginia go to town. I think she got a little confused at why her paint was not sticking to the fish. I told her to cover the whole page with paint and in the end there would be a surprise. Virginia is so silly, it took awhile to get her to paint the whole page. But after some pushing she got the whole page cover and then I carefully peeled up the contact paper and we were left with a beautiful fish painting. 

The craft was a hit and I think I would even like to do one myself in the future. Hopefully I will pick up some Ikea frames next time we are down there and hang some of Virginia's paintings up in the play room. 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I have to say for the most part 2011 was great to us. I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for my family and friends. Some things that I look forward too is the birth of my first nephew. Also getting to see Samantha and Virginia continue to grow up. 

This year I plan to start doing a letter of the week Tot School program with Virginia. We have been doing it off and on. But this year I plan to stick with it. Virginia enjoys all the games and I love watching her learn. I am going to try my hand at the 365 project again. 

My main goals, I won't say resolutions, are to keep on a better cleaning schedule. Also to try to create a family budget and stick to it. I have tons of projects and ideas in my head. Hopefully this year I will get my butt in gear and finish some. 

Here is to a great year and fun adventures! 

White Chocolate Cinnamon Pretzels

When I am not blogging on my site you can catch me over on CentralPiedmontMommies blog. I am in charge of running their blog on a weekly basis. Today I blogged about how to make white chocolate cinnamon pretzels. So run on over and learn how to make a sweet and salty treat.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit!

Driving Virginia to speech this morning I noticed all the wonderful Christmas decorations that my neighbors had decorated their yards and houses with. One house was fully decked out from the yard to the house. They had huge Christmas ornaments hanging on their trees. 

Once I dropped Virginia off for speech I headed to the Dollar General to look around for some cheap Christmas decorations. I found a pack of 20 medium size Christmas ornaments for three dollars. Then picked up a pack of 175 ornament hangers for one dollar.  I was ready to decorate the trees in our front yard. 

Virginia was super excited when I picked her up and told her we would be decorating the trees in the front when we got home. This project was so easy that Virginia was able to help me. She grabbed the ornaments and put the hooks in and handed them to me. Then I had her help me pick the perfect spot on the tree to hang the ornaments. She kept saying, " I am a big girl mommy I can do it by myself ". She really is getting so independent lately. 

The decorating took about ten minutes and when we were done we had a beautiful Christmas tree that cost only four dollars. Now once we get the rest of our decorations down from the attic I can string lights on the tree. I am ready for the holidays.

Love My Family!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their family and friends. This year we had Thanksgiving at our house. I was in charge of cleaning the house since well my cooking skills are not the best. Reiggin was in charge of the food. He cooked for days it seemed. All the food turned out great. We had so much food by the end of the day I just crashed on the couch. 

I was a little down about not being with my family on Thanksgiving. But I was thrilled to have my sisters and niece come up and visit on Saturday. I know I have said this before, but my sisters are rock star aunts. And I love how close Samantha and Virginia are.  Lisa got to the house first. I gave her the grand tour since it was the first time she had been to our new house. Then Virginia got her into a intense game of fishing.

As soon as Susan and Samantha got to the house, the girls went into Virginia's room to play. They dove into everything. But the hair dryer and beauty toys won out as the favorite. After a little play time we headed to Chili's for some lunch. During the ride, Lisa taught the girls some new vocabulary like chillaxing and some crazy dance moves. It was hilarious.  It was nice to be able to sit down chat and catch up with both my sisters. 

Once back at the house the girls went to play as me and my sisters played on the wii dancing to Just Dance 2. Again I stink at the game and got my butt kicked. It was great having family over to our new house this weekend. I am just thrilled to be able to host family and friends at my place now.

Softball Player in the Making

The weather this week has started off beautiful. It feels like spring with a breeze in the air. This afternoon Virginia and I played in the backyard. I am loving the fenced in yard and being able to just sit on the deck and watch Virginia run around the yard. After awhile she decided to go to the front yard and play. She grabbed her tee ball set to play with. This makes mommy very happy. My sisters and I played softball growing up from 8 years old til the end of high school. Our dad was always our coach or acted as assistant coach. So secretly I am hoping Virginia will want to play softball as well. Here is a video of her hitting the ball off the tee. I was lucky I didn't get hit. Almost had a funniest home video on my hands.