Let the rain in…

When I was in high school, I went to a conference for the yearbook.  I was the photography editor and responsible for all the photos in the yearbook.  One of the points I remember them saying was, “let the rain in.”  I have remembered that quote my entire life….one of those things you don’t forget……you remember like it was yesterday.

I try to remember to let the rain…..but sometimes I forget.  The rain is a good thing…..something necessary for all living things…and you gotta let it in….because when you do…you realize how wonderful it is….

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It ends tonight!

Routine….

Routines…..children crave routine.  One of my favorite routines with River is our nighttime routine.  To encourage her “joy of brushing,” she has a million different toothbrushes and toothpastes.  Normally, she isn’t allowed to put the toothpaste on the toothbrush.  Because when she does, it ends up all over..and way too much of it all over!  But last night, I decided to let her put her own toothpaste on the brush.  Wow, you would have thought I told her she could have as much ice cream as she wanted!  Her eyes lit up and she got so excited…she then got very serious and tried her hardest to get just the right amount of toothpaste on the toothbrush…….I had to take some photos……

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I’m giving away a $25.00 gift certificate to my Etsy shop!!!

Upcycling……

I’ve spent this past week taking all of Tuesday’s old clothes, that don’t fit her any longer and upcycling them into clothes for River.  I found this adorable pattern at MADE.  Dana’s blog is incredible!  It is filled with all kinds of great things…I especially love her patterns…and this one was free!  It turned out so cute.  I made it from an old tshirt.

The image on it is from Geninne’s Art Blog…..awhile back she had a free image download and I have been wanting to use it on something.  I thought this seemed the perfect thing!  The image is simply elegant!

The next dress I made was also from an old tshirt…I found the idea for this design at Happy Together….I loved the little flowers and they were so simple to make!

This dress was also easy and quick to make….and River loves it (please ignore the cracker goo on River’s face)!

I love taking something and creating it into something else!  I also liked the ruffles idea from the Happy Together site and used them for the shirt….(this shirt was originally going to be a dress..but it ended up being too short).  This shirt was mailed to me from an organization and I knew I would never wear it.  It had a large logo on the left hand corner, so I had to cut that out.  I made the sleeves a little puffy to add some feminine detail!  What things have you upcycled recently?

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I’m giving away a $25.00 gift certificate to my Etsy shop!!!

Painting….

Pretty much EVERY day River paints.   She either paints on her easel or she paints on her desk.  She usually paints for about ten minutes.  It takes about five minutes to get everything set up and it takes about twenty minutes for me to clean up….somehow, I think something is off here…..

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I’m giving away a $25.00 gift certificate to my Etsy shop!!!

Mailboxes and letters…..

One of the River’s favorite things to do is to send and receive letters and items!  We have two mailboxes that we got from the dollar store….one is hers and one is for the family.  They have been decorated over and over again.  She loves to put little notes, drawings and items in the mailbox for the family, put the flag up and wait……until she receives something in return!  The other day, she wrote a little note to her daddy and put it in the family mailbox.  The next day she received a lollipop in her mailbox!  So, she promptly wrote her daddy MANY little notes…..hoping for you know what!

Now, normally she doesn’t receive candy in the mailbox, normally it is just little pictures, notes or stickers.  She loves sitting down and thinking about who she is going to send something to……and the anticipation of waiting for them to receive it and send something in return is just too exciting!

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Gifts for Gram…..

River’s grandmother is blind, so we are always trying to come up with neat little gifts to make that are appropriate.  Whenever River draws a picture for Gram, I go over it with glue or puffy paint.  Sometimes she just draws directly with either one.  Sometimes she glues buttons, pom poms and other objects onto paper.  Today, Gram is in the hospital, so River wanted to do something extra special.  We gave it some thought and came up with the idea of a little stuffed animal.

River decided she wanted to make a bunny stuffed animal.  So, she drew the design on a piece of paper.  Then I cut it out.

Then River picked out some felt and we cut that out together.

Then River picked out some button eyes and helped sew them on!  When she realized that she was actually doing it, she got so excited!

River picked out some fringe that she wanted to add as hair and then she helped cut out some ear shapes.

Because we like to get as many senses as possible involved in the project, River thought it would be fun to add some “crinkle” stuff to the inside.  So we searched around for something that crinkled and found an old plastic table cloth that I had saved as a drop cloth.  We cut it into some small pieces and River stuffed it in.

Then, she closed her eyes to see how the stuffed bunny would “feel” to Gram.  She decided that is had lots of great “stuff” to feel…so we called it done!  She was so proud of what she had made..and she couldn’t wait to give it to her Gram…and her Gram loved it!

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Small transformations…..

River had her old crib still in her room….I had changed it into a day bed….it was mostly a stuffed animal bed!  I had been contemplating taking it down for awhile. …but couldn’t figure out if I wanted to or not….then I saw that ALL Simplicity cribs had been recalled, all makes and all models….and we had a Simplicity crib….it said that all cribs should be returned to the store where you purchased it…..so that made the decision easy for me!  She loves dress up and we needed a place to put all her dress up stuff….so we dragged an old chest out of the basement…..

And of course it needed a coat of paint!  And of course River had to help paint it!

Which of course, made things a bit more interesting…she wanted it painted then and there…and was very upset we didn’t have any pink paint…she had to settle for baby blue.  I promised her that during the summer we would paint a beautiful pink design over the baby blue…..

By today, the chest was dry…so we took down the crib and moved in the chest….of course, we had to rearrange a few other things…and read some books in between and play with Barbies here and there…and get out all the stuffed animals….vacuum out the cobwebs……you know how it is…..

But finally things were all back together…and River seemed pretty happy with her room…..

Handmade pull-ups…….

River is completely toilet trained, therefore she wears underwear during the day..but at night she needs something a little more….so I’m trying to perfect my overnight underwear…so far, I’ve made two pairs.  One is a bit too small and this pair is a bit too big…I need to find the in-between.  The important thing is that she loves them and is excited to wear them!

Watercolor Sandwiches….

River loves going to art class, but during art class she is supposed to eat lunch.  Sometimes she is so excited about the class, that she forgets that it is important to eat the lunch.  And then she gets hungry…..and grumpy..which isn’t good.  So, I try to do whatever I can to make her excited about her lunch.  She loves the concept of eating her lunch at the class, but actually eating it, is another thing!

So, to make her sandwich extra exciting..we make it into a watercolor sandwich!  We make her sandwich and then River picks out a cookie cutter design.  This time she chose a butterfly!  Then, I take a glass bowl and add a few drops of food coloring and add a few drops of water.   I have a special paint brush that is used only for food coloring.   Sometimes I paint the design for her and sometimes she wants to do it herself!

If she is doing it herself, I have to make sure she doesn’t use too much “paint” or the sandwich may become a bit soggy! If it does get a little soggy, I just leave it out for a bit and it dries quickly.   It is a simple thing that just takes a little bit of extra time.  And it involves River in making and getting her lunch together and packed, which I always think is important….and a good motivator!

School….sort of…

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For awhile now, River has been going to Art School.  Every Friday, we pick out a “special” outfit, make a “special” lunch and wait and wait and wait.  School doesn’t start until 12:15!  You can imagine how long the wait is…..

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River never really cares what her hair looks like, unless it is a “school” day.   Then she has to have her hair done just right and her nails painted…because everyone, of course, will notice.

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She loves the art school.  I think her favorite part is getting to eat lunch with all the other children.  I know she will miss it once summer comes.