Sticker Love

Lil'S loves stickers! 

So does N!

This is from a month ago, when Lil'S decided to reward himself with his potty training Cars stickers. 

We've Moved!

States, not blogs. Thus the lack of posts, despite the hundreds of things I've wanted to post about.

We now have . . . .

a house under contract...yippee!!!!
- an apartment in Stockbridge, GA
- a swimming pool!!!
- a van
- a tablet (our computer died while Seth was in NC :( )
- a super cozy lay-z-boy (thanks M and A!!! it's made H such a happy girl! and me too!)
- a new haircut (not one pictured above)
- a new blog picture (5th anniversary...went backward in time...prev was 3 yrs ago...ah, well. It was better than the bedragled one H took of me while Seth was out of town. ;) )
- a new LDS congregation
- a new family to play with every couple weeks (kids aged 6, 4, 2, 2wks)
- a new elementary school
- an awesome 2nd grade teacher for H,
- and H successfully falling asleep WITHOUT melatonin!!!!!

I'm feeling really spoiled, which is good, because we could still use....

- a washer and dryer (EEK!)
- a keyboard for my tablet
- an unpacked apartment

- a husband available to help unpack and declutter (just teasing here, I know that isn't happening)
two potty trained boys (scary)
a housekeeper/mommy's helper so that someday the two above items might actually occur
vinyl in apt's eating area so we can allow our kids outside our tiny kitchen
kitchen table and chairs
a toddler who doesn't scream hysterically when we try to put him in his car seat because he wants to sit in his brother's forward-facing seat...or his sister's....when his head is so huge that it can't possibly be safe to let him sit forward-facing until he's like 10.
a mother who goes to bed before 12 or 3 a.m.
drs, dentists, pediatric versions of the same, and a speech therapist
and last but not least, a health screening/form that will allow H to go to school Monday....hoping to get that tomorrow!!!!

H's Art Portfolio

This and the next two pictures are from a card H made for her cousin who was getting baptized.

She'll often scribble on the brown bags we occasionally send her lunch in.

She made me a ring out of paper and tape!

I loved it!

summer time color exploration

Noise maker

Although the wad of paper did eventually stick to the tape she used inside. ;)

This makes me laugh, so I just had to include it.  

It's from an All About Me poster her teacher had her and her classmates do.  

Look at all those kids! 

She did this one day during the summer with ink, paper, and scotch tape.

Several months later, H made this (scotch tape, foam sheets, and pencil) while S and I talked to the ADHD Clinic people.  There is a disagreement in the ADHD world as to whether ADHDers can focus intently on something without that focus being in a scattered way.  This and the earlier figure obviously required sustained attention, although as I wasn't there, I don't know if she took breaks from it and was redirected to it by her chaperone or not.  Her companion did say that it was completely H's idea and that she didn't help H with a bit of it.

By the end of kindergarten, her teachers usually had her coloring a background and a foreground as well, so I thought picture I stumbled across I thought was unfinished, but H now informs me she was done with it.  Note the movement lines for the butterfly's wings.  That--and the insect's curly antennea--is what drew my attention to this crayon drawing.

This and below are her birthday card to me.  

She asked me what my favorite colors were--pink and blue--before she got started.  I loved it!

This is a self-portrait made at school.  All the kids pictures looked much like this, so they must have received some kind of guidance about drawing it.  I love the hearts on each side at the bottom and the wisp of hair on her forehead.

This was a teacher lead art project as part of their cultures lesson during the holidays.  I think it's a cute idea.

She's made up her own cursive, and was thus gifted a handwriting book from her OT so she could learn correct technique, and since then has added this decorative script to her repertoire.

Apron Pockets

I have finally learned the true purpose of apron pockets: 

hiding the pick-me-ups that get a woman though rough evenings!
he, he, he!

BYU-I Baby

ta-da!!!

Complete with the famously stationary Elder Bednar hair.

It's H!!

Merida, from Pixar's newest movie Brave

That hair?  Yeah, that's definitely her.

Now, don't think that just because our daughter looks exactly like Merida that we're going to take her to see Brave. We're NOT. 

Why???

1)  PIXAR DOESN'T MAKE THESE MOVIES FOR KIDS.

  They say so themselves!  I don't know why people think that just because a movie's animated means that it's created for and appropriate for children--and especially young children.

2)  My H is so sensitive to anything "dark" that she bursts into tears at the sight or sound of it.  Seriously.  I got a phone call from Ms. L, her teacher's assistant, today saying she'd turned on Babe: Pig in the City as part of their "Friday Fun Day", and H started to cry.  Admittedly, that movie is freakish if you ask me.  Ms. L thought so too and turned it off after about 15 min.

DISNEY does NOT make movies for kids.  

They make movies that they want to see, just as many creative people do.  If it just happens to be child-appropriate, lucky them.

However, just because we're not going to take H to see Brave, doesn't mean that S and I won't go see it. ;) In fact, we're looking forward to it, especially since we have a daughter who looks so much like the main character!

Check out this fantastic vid on Disney princesses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFnVLz6tffQ

Apparently there's another H look-a-like out there.  

See what she posted on her blog:

http://waltdisneyconfessions.tumblr.com/post/17767546389/merida-is-the-first-disney-character-that-really

DIY - Ta Da!!!

someday we'll paint a jungle mural in the panels

How do you eat a whole elephant?  

One bite at a time.

DIY Photos

Day 3

First a tour of our sad-looking bathroom, thanks to our photo-taking cell phone.  Our camera was MIA.

cute shower hooks I used for color inspiration

the fated cabinet

trashy looking wall previously decorated with lotion by a certain unnamed child (the cheap paint absorbs everything and comes off the wall if you try to clean it)

close-up of nasty, previous paint job and rusty, old electric heater

sad-looking vanity area and the hanging storage that I love my husband for hanging up for me at the start of this project!

ugly but functional closet

cute little H taping the wall where we hang our towels

love the house...not exactly what I was looking for, but had to keep it ;)

She's very proud of that house, as am I. 

After work comes play!

ok, so it wasn't much work, but, ya know . . .

newest game: tug-of-war!

Day 4

we're done!!!

with coat #1 of blue paint, that is. . . .

;)

S took over for me when N needed to eat, and I sent H in with the cell phone to take pictures :)

after the kids were in bed I painted the final layers

sorry, no picts of me

someday I'll post the "after" picts!

;)