beach days

Building sand castles

Fox loves to move sand from one place to another

Panda getting some water from the ocean

Lilith is the only one of the littles that can actually build something that looks a bit like a castle. The other two tend to build big volcano piles of sand and seaweed 

Fox showing off his sandy toes.

Chalk on our tiny balcony

Scooters!!!

The littles got scooters this past weekend. Our apartment isn't a great place for keeping a bulky bicycle (or five!) so we decided that scooters would be a better choice for now. They are lightweight, fold up small enough to fit in the storage closet, and are easy to take with us in a car. The children took them out for a spin and had so much fun and a few scuffed knees. I have a feeling they will be getting a lot of use this summer. 

Fox enjoyed his 3 wheeled scooter and his mohawk helmet. "I go scootering!"

Panda has a pink scooter with streamers and a bell.

Having a scooter means instant friends at the park.

Fox getting a little help from Daddy.

Panda is very confident that she will be "fast enough to win races!" with some practice.

Lilith zips around on her razor easily.

A map of fabric and thread

Fox loves maps. He likes to scribble all over a piece of paper to make his own maps. For one of his gifts this Yule I made him a map that would be a little more durable than notebook paper. A map embroidered on a square of fabric. Since I have never done something like this before, I used this idea to teach myself how to embroider. I used a small bit of an old dress shirt as my fabric. After sketching out some map ideas and looking up basic embroidery techniques, I just jumped right into it. It was fun to see how many different stitches I could fit into this tiny map. In the end I have a very colorful map that looks like I was doodling with thread on fabric. I really like how it turned out and Fox loves it. 

My pirate map!

I tried to include all the things that a good pirates map has. Skulls, lakes, whales, trees, mountains, ships, treasure, and of course a path leading to the "X" and a treasure. 

French knots for gold by the big "X"

Little pirate ship

After I finished the embroidery,   I sewed a second square of fabric to the back and added a decorative border to help keep the edges flat. 

Building

Decorating with paper

I try to make our home a cheery place. Since we have limited funds to throw at decorating the apartment, we make do with what we have. Many times a couple of hours with paper and tape will turn into spots of colorful happiness. 

We made our fridge into a snowman last December. The children love it so much that we still have him up and smiling in our kitchen. 

The littles were jellyfish for Halloween this last year. Once the trick-or-treating was over, I removed the eyes and curly ribbon tentacles from the umbrellas and gave them a new home as permanent wall jellies. I then freehand cut out a couple of hundred stars and stuck them to the wall around them. I think they turned out super cute. 

Lovingly hand crafted toys

My children have a lot of hand crafted toys. Most of the littles playthings are homemade. Their toy box is filled with a very uniquely personalized collection because of this. I love to make things that are useful and loved.

Fox hanging out with his favorite little buddy. Button eyed Mario gets to spend all day with Fox and sleep in his bed at night. He is one well loved doll. 

Mario is the most loved toy that Fox got for yule. You can tell by his dirt rubbed nose that he gets carried around everywhere. Fox loves his little Super Mario :)

This is Lambykins. She is a very soft and very fuzzy little lamb that I made for Panda this yule. She is one of my favorite things that I have ever knit. I am kinda in love with her tiny little cardigan too.

Ripple blankets for new beds

The littles just got their very own big beds. They look so small sleeping in a twin sized bed all alone. Of course they needed new blankets to make them feel at home. I decided that I would go with a nice easy ripple pattern in the colors they wanted. Fox wanted blue and Panda chose pink. How very gender appropriate of them- giggle. I have one done and am working as fast as I can on the other. They really add personality to the room. 

Fox hanging out on his ocean blue ripples.

ripple ripple ripple

Panda still has a bit of a wait before I finish her blanket. I love the rich pink tones. They remind me of the inside of a raspberry truffle. yummy.

I have a camera again!

My new camera just arrived tonight. I took a few pictures to get a feel for it and really like it so far! I so missed having a camera :) I am expecting to hop on this blog much more often now. Happy happy happy.

New year update

Not having a camera makes it hard to sit down and write blog posts. I get all mopey and grumpy about all the things I am missing without a way to capture them. Hopefully I will be getting a camera again in the next few months. Until then I may not be posting very much. I miss recording our day to day in pictures.

Much of the same repetition for everyday life right now. The weather is just cool enough that we need to snuggle up a bit when we go outside, and just warm enough that investing in winter clothes seems silly. We spent Christmas morning on the beach, drinking hot chocolate and splashing in the water. It has gotten a bit cooler since then and we layer up with extra blankets at night to avoid turning on the heater. I have been reassured that we will be swimming in the ocean again in just a handful of weeks. I hope so. I miss the lazy beach days.

My littlest guy has started to speak his mind. Fox went from a few disjointed words to full blown sentences and long stories of make believe and pretend. Mostly though, he wraps his hands in the fabric of my skirt and drags me to the kitchen demanding all sorts of treats that I need to make for him. "Get cooking some ice-cream please. I no want the carrots. Cookies and ice-cream are yummy!" Silly little dude. Fox loves books and babies and maps and most of all, he loves Super Mario. I crafted him a little Mario doll for Christmas and he has been carrying it around everywhere ever since.

Panda is working on her reading and writing skills. She is learning to read using the old-school "Dick and Jane" book collection that her Nana and Grampapa gave to her. We are about a third of the way though it, with her being able to independently read about 10 different stories. She also love to play with numbers and is very interested in how they can be added together to make bigger numbers. One of her favorite thing to do is to write out a math problem and then have us tell her the answer so she can fill it in. Panda also loves to draw and create art. She loves pretty lace and ruffles and dresses and the most girly things ever.

Lilith spends most of her time reading. She goes through 2-4 books a week. She also loves to play video games, work on the book she is writing, crochet, and she is now dabbling in embroidery. We sometimes play card and broad games after the littles go to bed, and it is fun to have some uninterrupted time with her. I'm sure that will happen more often as the littler ones become more independent.

So anyway, I promise to start posting more as soon as I can get my hands on a camera. I have so much I want to share...