Mess Maker's Heaven

MICA Maker Day was our latest field trip. We drove down to Okemos, MI  on Thursday (1/30) so my kids could be crafty. I'm glad we went because they did things we will NEVER do. I forgot my real camera and didn't think about my iPod until halfway through the event. Unfortunately, it only has one camera so it was a little tricky getting the shots to look right. Anyway, the kids had a great time and made lots of fun things.

 

The messiest station was the shaving cream, dye and paper station. You put shaving cream in a pan, then sprayed dye, then swirled it. Then you put a piece of paper on top, pulled it off and went to the other table to scrape the shaving cream off. It left behind a really neat marbled pattern. Coolest thing ever, but I'm not sure I will ever do it on my own - what a mess, and our hands came home stained.

They all enjoyed embossing and making cards. All I could see was a huge mess with the glitter. (You can see Kemiah's stained hands from the shaving cream craft.) Anyone who knows me really well knows that I truly detest glitter of any type. I controlled myself and the kids had a great time watching the magic of melting the glitter to their paper.

The girls learned to sewing with metallic thread so that they could light up a light bulb. It was fun to see them get so excited when the light lit up.

Poor Harmonie spent most of her time tied in the stroller, but I did sit by her and fed her and even gave her water (which she spilled down the front of her twice). And I changed her diaper, too!

 

Camdilyn spent most of her time in the stroller or being fed. Lucky baby. She was awake a lot of the time but did take a nap at least once. I even changed her diaper a couple times!

What a sweetie!

There were several other stations that I didn't get pictures of: paper bracelet, decorating a notebook cover, daily planner sort of thing, finger crocheting, and making a picture of a robot that used a battery and a light bulb and electric paint to connect it. Ben is the only one who did the robot one and it didn't work very well. Anyway, it was fun for the kids to be around other kids and some of their teachers and to be messy and creative all at the same time. Domonique isn't in any of the pictures but she was there, sticking by me most of the time but eventually she was brave enough to wander around to see what the guys were doing. She made her way over to a teacher who was doing a type of glue/glitter tattoo and she ended up with four of them on her arms. She was delighted to take part in some small way. We didn't have any accidents, outbursts, or vomiting so I figure it was a total success!

Totally beside myself

The first of our kids' birthday has come and gone. Only 7 more to go. I'm not sure I thought about this when we kept having kids, because it's not really a big deal. I am really out of ideas for presents. The next birthday is in a couple weeks and I don't know what to get a two year old... that we don't already have. Even if we don't have the exact item, we probably have one like it. Musical dog and piggy bank, doll house, alphabet things can't even be numbered, baby dolls, stuffed animals, Legos, tinker toys, music making pianos, marble track, play kitchen and food, and the list could go on for quite some time. You tend to accumulate toys when you have so many kids. I love having the kids but birthdays sure are getting harder. Any ideas?

Third One

Almost 2 years ago, I took Kemiah to the eye doctor because Kevin said she was having crosssing issues with her left eye. The doctor said there wasn't anything to be concerned with. Jump ahead to a month ago, after family prayer she says her left eye is cloudy. That was a little alarming. Kevin took her to a different eye doctor and now she has glasses. Hypothetically, the glasses will correct the laziness of her left eye so hopefully she won't need the glasses forever. She sure is cute.

Before...

 After...

Miracle and blessing

Back on the 21st of this month, I put Camdilyn down for a nap, in her crib, on her back. She has slept in her swing seat most of her life (at least half of it) so I was sure we'd have some time of adjustments. The nap went fine, so that same night, I put her to bed on her back, fully expecting her not to sleep through the night. I was delighted to be wrong. She has transitioned perfectly and sleeps just fine on her back. She has even woken up when I put her down and she puts herself back to sleep. What an angel baby!

I left the swing in the crib just in case I need to transfer her to it if she didn't sleep well on her back. It has since been removed because she doesn't need it.

Xiomara turned 8!



We actually had her party last night, because Kevin got home later tonight. She was very excited. Grandma and Grandpa Nichols brought an ice cream cake that was supposed to look like a baptismal font. (She asked for a surprise cake.)

 

 

Kemiah made her lots of presents. I thought it was so sweet.

Harmonie kept pointing to the presents and saying, "mine!" (until I pointed the camera at her)

She received four books (A to Z Mysteries and Magic Tree House), 2 movies (Open Season 1 and 2), two games (Electronic Chess and Merchants of Europe), a cross stitch project, clay tools, headbands, and a huge art set from Grandpa and Grandma Nichols. I think she enjoyed the party.

For her birthday day, we had ice cream and pancakes for breakfast. Because we slept in, we were really late so we just swirled some colors rather than our creative designs. We hauled two loads of wood on the trailer into the basement. She helped me make crepes and the lemon-lime sauce. We had showers and did the nightly routine early so that when Dad got home, we could watch one of her movies. No, I did not take any pictures. Strange, right? Oh well. We sure do love our Xiomara!

Static Electricity

It's crazy hair around here.

3 months old and she found it!

Camdilyn is definitely one of mine. She has found her thumb. I'm not sure this perfect little baby could be any more perfect but the thumb is helpful for self soothing. I love that she uses her other hand to keep the thumb in her mouth - at least that's what it looks like.

This is how she has been sleeping in her big girl crib. She has been "sick" with stuffy nose and congestion since she was born so I put the swing seat in the crib to help her sleep sitting up. Now that she has found the thumb, and as soon as she gets over the newest cold, then we'll try to see if she can sleep like a normal baby.

Just to show that it wasn't a once time occurrence... here she is sucking the right thumb on the couch.

Showing off a bit

This is what my hard workers did over Christmas break. We had emptied this stack on the north side of our driveway and it looked really strange. Now it looks normal and we are happy to have a supply of wood to keep us warm next winter.

This was also collected, but couldn't be split because the splitter stopped working. Kevin figured out that it was the hydraulic pump. He bought a new one, replaced the old one and it works like new! Now Kevin just needs to find the time to split the wood - and go get more!

Now that it's not so cold outside



The kids have enjoyed playing outside. We needed to clear off the wood pile area and so they decided to build caves into the drift of snow. It was so fun to watch them working and playing together outside. I even left the house to work with them for a while, but took the pictured from inside (that's why they are bit a "cloudy" looking).

 

 

Little Domonique was SO excited to go outside and shovel! She kept telling me she could do it with the big guys. She had so much fun!

They all came in totally wet - because it has warmed up and everything was a bit sloshy. Some of the kids couldn't stay out of the puddles. Fortunately, things will dry so it's not a big deal.