Having fun with her cousin's gifts

Grace had a great time playing on the plasma cars that her cousins got for Christmas. This cars are really fun. I even tried them out!

Christmas Photos

Eating Santa's Cookies

Santa's cookies looked so good that Grace had to try one.

How long can a stomach flu last?

Okay, seriously-- Grace is approaching the world record to how long a child can have the stomach flu. I have done so much laundry that my washing machine is saying "no, not again". She must have snagged two stomach viruses back to back as one could not possibly last for 12 days. Hopefully, it will clear by Christmas...and I can stop checking my shirt for throw up stains before I go out of the house (attractive, I know).
On the bright side, she is not dehydrated (by some miracle) and seems to be taking it all in stride. We have been to the doctor twice and received reassurances that she is suffering from a transient virus.
Get well soon sweetheart!
(and knock on wood that I won't get this stomach flu)

Update on the Felt Board

There are two more three sleeps until Christmas, but I may not get any of them unless I get to work on finishing my homemade Christmas gifts. Why did I want to make them myself again? Oh yeah...I remember....frustration with the commercialization of Christmas, instilling wholesome values in my toddler, doing crafts to relieve stress (???)....

Tonight I finished the felt board. I covered a spare board with an old flannel baby blanket and secured it with the glue gun. Man, why don't I use the glue gun more? Everything goes so quickly!

I sat down to watch TV with a pile of felt and scissors. One episode of "Little People, Big World" later and Voila!!

Below are the milk cartons that I have painted to make the homemade bowling set. I need to do some embellishments to make them more fun! I think I will make some bean bags for another game as well. How many hours to Christmas again?

Homemade Christmas Cards

Shhh...I have not given these cards yet...but I wanted to show you a sneak peek. I challenged myself to make four different Christmas cards (for the girls at work) from the same core materials.

I suprised myself with how creative I was. It is hard to see all the details in the photos, but are each quite unique. I think I forgot how much I liked to do paper crafts.

Family Photo from this fall

Talking in Sentences

Grace has started talking in sentences.....
This started about one week ago and she has been getting better each day. In early October she started to be able to tell us stories about things that had happened that day at daycare. She would say that she went on the bus or that they did crafts; however, now that she talks in sentences (at times) she is able to elaborate more on her stories. It is very cute!

Last week her daycare class when Christmas shopping at the Dollar Store. The parents provided the money and the list of people to shop for. Tonight on the way home she told me about wrapping the presents for mommy, daddy and "Pete" (the bird). She won't tell me what she bought, so I think we will have to wait for Christmas.

Petey, the budgie bird

A few weeks ago, we took in a budgie bird that needed a good home. A family member of one of Gordie's co-workers was giving away their budgie bird. It seems that their family cat was eyeing the bird quite closely. We debated taking him for a couple of weeks, and then I relented. He came with his cage, toys and food, so we needed to do little preparation.

Grace quickly named the bird "Pete" (also called "Petey"). We have no idea where she came up with that name! Grace seems to like the bird, but it is on-going struggle to keep her out of his cage. She loves to help Gordie feed Petey and gets most of his food in the dish.

Petey seems to be settling in well, despite my terrible idea one afternoon to let him out to stretch his wings. An hour later, with three major bangs into the patio door and no tail feathers (I don't know why they fell out!) he was back in his cage. Needless to say, I won't be doing that again soon! Sorry Petey.

Favourite Pictures of Grace

Here are some of my favourite pictures of Grace from the last few months. She is growing up so fast and changing every day!

Homemade Christmas Gifts for Grace

For a couple of reasons I have decided to make some of my Christmas gifts this year:

• I am getting frustrated with the commercialisation of the Christmas season. I'm a little sad that people keep asking Gracie about what Santa is bringing her. I really don't want her to think Christmas is all about getting new toys.
  
• I really enjoy making homemade gifts. Even though it is time consuming, it is relaxing.
  
  
• I am trying to be more "green" and reduce/reuse/recycle more.
  
  

Today I took a break from working on Chapter Two of my thesis and decided to make a homemade apron for Grace for Christmas. I used a new tea-towel and some left-over trimmings from other projects. It is super cute! I know that Grace will really love wearing it when she helps me in the kitchen.

I am also working on making her a home-made bowling set. I have been taking left-over one litre milk cartons and painting/decorating them. If anyone has an extra cartons they could share, this would speed up my progress. :)

Several friends have made felt boards for their children. I plan on making one for Grace as well. Here are some photos of felt pieces I am working on. The first is for 5 little speckled frogs and the second is for "Itsy-Bitsy Spider"

The Beginning of a Blog

The beginning of a blog....here goes nothing!