Hula Hoop Weaving

Zoey gets the Disney Family Fun Magazine and enjoys looking through it each month for a craft to do. The one that caught her eye this time was making a rug out of old t-shirts and a hula hoop!
We had the supplies on hand, so we got to work!



She had to take breaks, but did a lot of it herself and had fun!


And what did we end up making? A rug for a puppy of course! (it's that whole, if we build it, they will come idea... if we make a dog bed, we will get a dog)

Day 47- Sick

The reason for my absence on the blog and for the big catch-up...

My Sweetest Valentine - Day 45

All on her own, Zoey worked hard to make me a special Valentine this year. I love, love, love it. I love it because I actually think it is super cute, and I love it because she did it upstairs secretly for me, and I love it because she did it all on her own, and I love it because she has my heart:)

Day 43 - B-ball

The kids are playing in a fun, non-competitive basketball league on the weekends. Neither of them have ever played before, so it is definitely a learning experience. Zoey is picking it up and having fun. Love the pink ball!

Mario Kart Racing Tournament - Day 42

With all of our snow days, and kids who don't want to sit and watch a movie (how I wish we could all just snuggle in with some popcorn)... we have to come up with creative ways to pass the time when we are shut in!

Enter Mario Kart on the Wii and turning it into tagteam racing or tournaments, with Ross and I included! We take lots of turns and cheer each other, which is good. Here the kids are racing together, with the ottoman as the drivers seat. Max is concentrating as can be seen by his tongue!

Zoey's Class and the Muse Machine

Every year the third grade classes at Zoey's school join up with a professional actor from the Muse Machine (a local company) to put on a very unique performance. The classes not only come up with their performance completely as a class on their own, but it is unique to each class that year and involves lessons they are learning. They cover subjects in English, Science, Social Studies or Math.

Zoey's class became the "Forces of Motion Rappers" and put on a rap performance explaining the various terms! It was very cute and funny. They did a good job. Here is Zoey in costume for her school performance. They were told to wear lots of "bling."



They did the performance at school and then later in the evening for the parents. At school, Max's class watched the performance, and he told me he saw his sister Zoey up on the stage and was calling out to her. I thought that was so sweet.

Here she is in the high school auditorium before the evening performance!








Here's Zoey yelling her one line about friction and having "no breaks at all!" The video is below too:)


Even the teachers joined in, which I thought was so cute. Here is Zoey's sweet teacher.


And here is Zoey's theatrical debut on video!

Day 38: Crazy Hair McGee

We let Max take on the whole shaggy hair look in the winter. It is cute on him, but sometimes in the morning, he wakes up with some pretty interesting hair. This morning in particular, was especially good!

Our Valentines

Zoey really enjoys making Valentines for her classmates. Starting around mid-January, she starts talking about it. I am not very creative, so I just go searching around the internet (thank goodness for all the craftiness out there!). One snow day, I remembered what Susie did with her girls last year! I showed it to Zoey and she instantly decided it was what she wanted for this year! Yay for the tutorial, thanks Susie:)

It was the perfect thing to keep us occupied during our many ice days, too!

Max also wanted to do the same thing, so it worked out well. And I love how they turned out! Super cute candy boxes:







here are Zoey's. She really did a large part of it all by herself. I love the little hearts in the ribbon.


I was asking Max if he just wanted me to buy Spongebob Valentines but he wanted something puppy related. And then he decided on the boxes, so we found his cute puppy-heart print ribbon for him. Maybe we are turning over a new leaf with him and crafts (okay, not really...) but he did put his name on every one without complaint and woke up early one morning telling me he really needed to get to work on his Valentines!

Happy Valentine's Day

I used to be one of those who didn't like the commercialization of this holiday. However, I have taken a new look this year. My kids love it and I love them and my family and so why not join in the celebration of love for them along with the rest of the world? I mean, ideally we should find ways to show our love on the other, regular days as well, but I am not going to be cynical and not celebrate on the day that is set aside specifically for that reason. So Happy Valentine's Day to you and your loved ones.

Day 34: An Ice View

In the nature preserve behind our house, after the ice storm...

Day 33: Valentine's Day Central

We are making Valentines for the kids school parties, and it's a multiple day project! We started on one of our ice days off from school... A little sneak peek!

Ice Storm 2011

The big storm that hit a majority of the US this past week came to us in the form of ice! I woke up Tuesday morning to a pretty sight and this was really just the beginning. It was freezing rain the entire day and night again. By midnight our trees in front (they are little and just a few years old) were so ice covered they just hung so low! And then the wind picked up and it was eerie to lay in bed and hear the trees breaking from the weight of the ice! Thankfully we didn't lose power (many in our town did). Ross and I were thinking that maybe we paid our dues for at least a couple years after our 11 days without power a couple of years ago!! (of course, now that I say that...)

Anyway, ice is crazy and dangerous, but it makes the trees look like they are dipped in glass!









The frozen grass was cool. You could just kick your feet through it and pieces would go flying! It always makes me think of this guy that Ross new from Minnesota who, when he was little, would wait for the girls at the bus stop and see if anyone came with wet hair, and if it froze they would go and snap it off!

Spongebob Squarepants Craft

On one of our snowy days, we decided to make some Spongebobs. Max loves the books and comic books! On our trip over the holidays, we bought some DVDs. He is mixed about the actual shows (some are weird), but he loved the little bonus sections they sometimes have. One of them had a video tutorial of how to make your own Spongebob! I may have mentioned before that Max is just not the crafty kid. He doesn't like it very much. He will build with legos or play games all day, but break out the paper and glue, and he just says no thanks! So when he said he wanted to do this, I was excited! And he loved it! It is that way with him and everything though. He loved playing the video, and pausing to do each step and making him Spongebob come to life. He and I followed the directions pretty much as they were. Zoey decided to make a girl (she named her SpongeBette because she has a Grandpa Bob and Grandma Bette!). And Ross... well, he improvised as well...

Getting all of the supplies ready.


It was snowy and stormy on the day we decided to do this, so we went to one store for supplies. Of course, they had one package only of sponges that would work and only two were yellow! Oh well, it made for variety.


Waiting for the glue to dry is always the hardest part, isn't it?



He's starting to look good, Max!



Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?




and all of them once again... from L-R (mine, Ross, Max, Zoey)