Acorn Tops and Felt Glittered Ornaments

Lylah and I have been taking walks and collecting all kinds of fall goodies. My favorites are the acorns and acorn tops. Hers are crab apples, but they don't last very long after they are picked. On our last visit to the park we gathered about 25 acorn tops. She was overjoyed to find them. So was I. We stuffed our pockets full and I made up my mind to make something from them.
Lylah is doing every tradition for the first time this year ( as she does not remember doing it in years past because she was too young to know). So all things Christmas are VERY exciting. I bought her a little tensile tree and we needed decorations that would not break or be dangerous in her room. Enter the acorn tops. I made felt bottoms for the acorn tops and she shook them in clear plastic and silver glitter. Here is my attempt at a tutorial for making the sweet acorns.


1. Gather the acorn tops ( and pine cones too).

2. Have someone who knows how to use power tools drill a small hole in the top of the cap. Yeah, that's my 2 year old pushing the trigger. It's safe...Dad is there. He worked on following directions and red light green light. She was a pro. See the look of determination on her face?!

3. Thread a length of string through the hole and tie a knot. I used some cording because it was sturdy and white and would go with the silver tree.


4. Trace a circle in the circumference you think works best onto the felt pieces.

5. Sew a running stitch around the edge of the felt circle.
6. Stuff the circle and draw up the thread tightly to make a small closed pouch.
7. Hot glue the acorn cap and string to the felt pouch.


8. It should look like this.


9. Use school glue and brush to apply glue to all the surface of the acorn.


10. Drop the acorn into a zip top bag with glitter in it and SHAKE like the dickens. I used clear plastic glitter and silver glitter mixed.

11. When you are done it should look like this.

My willing assistant looked like this.

The tree looked like this. Lylah drew in a breath and exclaimed, " Beautiful and Lovely. Oh Merry Christmas, right?! It's my best ever, EVER, ever, ever, ever!"

Um, No thank you , Mommy...

I figured it out! I wrote last about the doll I am making for Christmas and how Lylah saw the head and was not impressed. She asked if it was an octopus. I thought when she said it that "octopus" was a strange thing to say since there were no legs ( the really octopus-ish thing about octopuses ). But then it hit me. She has recently seen Toy Story for the first 50 times. She loves it. But there is the part where Buzz and Woody are trapped in Sid's room, the bad kid next door. His room is full of toys that he has put together in a Frankenstein's Monster kind of way. One of the toys is a doll's head with spider-like erector set legs. She calls it an Octopus.

Here is my doll head...




Here is the "Octopus"...


I guess you can see why she is not too exited about the doll yet. Poor thing. When she saw it I even had a needle sticking out of the top of the head. CREEPY!! No wonder she told me not to ever leave it out ever, ever, ever.

Just Hear those Sleigh Bells Jingling...

I have no pictures to post because my camera is MIA again. I know where it is, but it is not accessible today. Oh well.
I am in full craft mode. I am working on Lylah's stocking and her various Christas gifts. I am currently making her a Waldorf inspired doll. I love it. Right now it i just a head without a body. Lalah saw it to day and said "uh, no thank you Mommy...." and "is that and Octopus" and later when she saw the disembodied head sitting on the coffee table, " Here yo go Mommy. don't EVER ever , ever leave this out again. Not ever." I admit the "doll" is a smidgen on the creepy side now, but I believe it will be so sweet when it is done. I am planning on giving it hair in Lylah's color. There are lots of pretty yarns to choose from now a days. So I am excited about completion. If I like this doll, then I will make more and use more to shelf materials like the REAL Waldorf dolls are made with. For this one I am using knit fabric and polyfill to stuff it rather than the all wool and no synthetic materials that the philosophy would suggest. You will have to look them up to see what I am talking about with the dolls. I love them and think they are cute. ( Depends on the doll-maker though . ) They are deliberately made without a whole lot of expression in the face so hat the child can pretend more completely. I cannot wait to finish the doll and make her a few clothes. When I get the camera back I will take a picture of the work in progress for you to see.

I never knew...

I never knew pumpkin pie had a bone until I made one and gave it to my two year old. The other day Lylah asked me to make pie. She has been listening to me sing "three little kittens" who get to have pie. She has recently seen a new Beatrix Potter movie of animated books where a dog and cat eat pie together. And it is Thanksgiving time. Pie talk is in the air. So anywho... She helped me make a pie on Friday and surprised Daddy with it. Glen never eats the crust and the crust he got had a little dark spot where the pumpkin sloshed a bit going in the oven. So he set his plate down on the table in front of Lylah who looked at it an said, " Daddy, is that the bone?" we laughed and laughed. The things she comes up with!

Scout's Honor?!!!!!

Well... I have been duped I tell you! Several weeks back I was caught off guard by a very savvy salesman named Kyle. He, this curly, fire engine red-haired boy with a slight weight problem and freckles, came to me and used a genius sales pitch. He said to me, " aren't you the lady who wanted to buy some popcorn from me?" I said "No, but I might just take a look." Of course I did not want to buy popcorn. I mean, i know it's for a good cause, but I am into being thrifty. I am not above a straight donation to a worthy cause, but when I make a PURCHASE I like to get a value for the product. I knew that I would over pay...but I ordered from the kid. He got me with his freckles and curles and his big puppy dog eyes. I looked through the order form and chose the cheapest thing I could. It was a $10 tub of carmel corn.


I envisioned a giant tub of popcorn that a person could munch on for quite while, perhaps with several movies or chapters of a good book.



What I got was this:




a "Country Crock" sized TUB of of popcorn. It is shown here with Lylah's sippy to put things in perspective. I seriously had to laugh at the amazing job that was done on the brochure that enticed me and fooled me into believing that I was going to receive a normal sized container of popcorn. But I opened it and ate it. It was OK and Lylah liked it a lot. She has no frame of reference to base her judgement upon---toddler!!


Dear Boy Scouts of America,
You got me. Kudos on your keen advertising and well placed "all American" sales force! I will eat my popcorn, enjoying all 50 kernels in my itty bitty "tub." You won't fool ME again. No red-haired agent of pop corn robbery will pull one over on me again. I will have my turn down speech ready. I will be strong. Your trick was not honorable, Boy Scouts. You now join the rank of the "charge more for a smaller box of cookies", Girl Scouts. I don't care f the Thin Mints are awesome right out of the freezer or if the toasted coconut and caramel and chocolate cookies (whose name I never remember) are the best cookies ever in the world. I will not partake in the scam any longer.
Sincerely,
Mrs Jones ( fooled for the last time)
PS I am going to stand up to the 3rd grade candle pusher too. I'm not as sweet as I look, boys!

Sharing the favorite chair

Lylah and Henry are here sharing the favored chair in the house. She was a little put out the he was in her chair to start, but she quickly changed her mind. She said, "oh well...I will sit with you, Henry? OK?" When he said nothing, she sat down. When she got a little too loving he had to vacate. She said to me today that Henry was "Just so cute." She tries to give him things all the time and help him to be "cozily" with the addition of blankets and pillows. Poor Lylah...he just gets up slowly and walks away while she follows after him saying,"But it's 'por' you, Henry, to be cozy."
Tonight I made the mistake of giving Lylah a couple of marshmallows before bedtime. Crazy!!! Who gives their kid sugar and then says it's time to sleep. She has been really excited about camping and having flashlights, tents, and marshmallows. She has read a few camping books from the library and has seen a camping episode of Kipper the Dog. So she was really into having a marshmallow. I gave her the bedtime sugar and you should have seen her. She was dancing and singing and imitating a buffalo ( have to see it to really do it justice---It involves finger horns and ramming into things.) She sang all the songs she knows and was so silly. We were in stitches and trying to get her to calm down too. do you remember the SNL skit with Mike Myers and Nicole Kidman where MM was the "Hyper-Hypo" Kid ? Hyper-active and hypo-glycmic. He totally spazzed out and uprooted a whole thing of playground equipment. Lylah was the hyper-hypo tonight. we laughed and laughed. She was quite the performer for us in her sugar-induced frenzy. I have learned my lesson. She did crash pretty hard pretty quickly after hitting the bed. Last I looked she was totally nude as were all the previously dressed dolls or stuffed animals in her bed. I suppose she was having a hot flash again.
No pictures of the event, but we took Lylah on a carousel for the first time. She smiled the whole ride. It was so sweet. She woke up from a nap the next day and said she was riding a fast horse and Mommy was holding on to the horse and it went really fast, fast, fast. Although she has been telling us she has good dreams when she wakes up, this it the first real dream she has been able to retell upon wake up. Obviously a fun time she needed to relive. I wish you could have seen her shining face going around the ride. It was so sweet. I will hold the memory of giving her the experience forever. She called to Daddy every time we passed him and said, "oh Daddy, Daddy, Look at this" "I'm riding!!!!" She told me this was her "best ever EVER ever ever ever eeever" Precious.

So quit acting like a two year old already...

I have reflected on how much I am like my two year old in my spiritual life over the past few days. Here are a few examples. The other day Lylah was sitting in her car seat all strapped in and wearing a snowman purse that my mom gave her for Christmas last year. She loves to have a purse to fill with rocks, acorns, and other valuables. In this case, she was wearing the purse and decided to try to get it off as I was driving. She was tugging with all she strength to get the thing off, turning red in the face, and getting so frustrated. I saw what she was doing and told her that we would be at our destination when we turned the next corner and that I could easily get it off for her. I knew that it was a really simple solution and that she was trying to get the thing off in such a way that the only way she would have success would be if her head could detach first. She, however, in her "Do it Myself" stage, was determined and never stopped trying until I helped her, quickly and easily, when we turned the corner. I thought then that I am so much that way. I want what I want in exactly the way I want it and in exactly the time frame I want. And God is right there saying to me, in the same words I was using to my little girl, " I can fix this in just a minute, sweetie. Just let me get to the place we need to stop and I will fix it for you. You can't do it that way. You will just hurt yourself and still not get it. I promise I can fix it. Just wait just a minute." And I, like my own girl, continue to struggle and pull and turn red in the face so I can do it in my own strength, even though I don't know how to fix it. I hope, however, that I will always respond as she did by saying, "oh 'tank' you, Mommy," as soon as she was out of the bind.
The other example happened today in preschool. Poor Lylah had to be woken up to go to school today so she was not in the best of moods in the morning for class. She had been sitting in a chair and had gotten up to do something else. When she got up, another child took her chair. She came back and wanted it again but was denied. She tossed herself on the ground, fully extended and face in the ground, and cried bitterly. It was very, very dramatic and pathetic. A therapist had come in the room to work with a child and tried to speak to Lylah. She responded by saying, "Please don't talk to me right now because I am trying to cry about it." Again, so me and Jesus. I can't seem to get over myself long enough to move on or allow Jesus to console me or give me exactly what I want but in a little different form. Oh, the things our little ones show us about lives and ourselves!
I did have a good laugh about the "fit" and her heartfelt expressions, though. How could I not!? It reminded me of what she said a couple of weeks ago. I was trying to give her cream of wheat for breakfast and she said, " I'm sorry, Mommy, but my mouth is closed." I am sure I could draw some symbolic or metaphoric analogy to this saying too. I mean, I didn't start college as and English major for nothing (or end it as a psyc major, for that matter.) But I won't make any more analogies tonight. I will only say this: I am glad God has patience, and goodness, and mercy, and kindness, and so forth. He needs it for the likes of me and my stubborn ways. I am so blessed daily that he has not brushed me off or tossed me aside as a hopeless cause. Oh,"Tank" You, Jesus!

Baby likes Butter

The other night I gave Lylah a bath right after dinner. She was squeaky clean and lotioned and ready for PJs. I thought I had left them in the living room so I carried her into the room (wrapped like a baby in her towel-just the way she loves it). But I forgot that I had left the PJs in her room so I went to get them. I returned about 30 seconds later to this:

She saw me coming and tried to shove as much butter in her mouth as she could. See the cramming look on her face?! We had eaten dinner and I left the butter dish on the dining table where she found it and (literally) dug right in. Look how the 1/2 stick is practically demolished! I always have to keep the dish high up and away because she will drag a chair to the counter top for a butter snack if she sees the opportunity. It is not uncommon for me to open the dish, turn around, and turn back to find a finger scoop missing. Often when I am cooking she will ask for, "Just ONE bite of butter please Mommy." I will agree that butter makes it better but I don't go this far.

Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'

The leaves were trickling down onto a carpet of gold and rubies. The sun was sparkling perfectly through the leaves. And my sweet girlie was a picture of cuteness all ready for school in her new fleece jacket, sweater, jeans and pig tails. Her hair looks just like mine did when I was little. She is in constant motion now a days. All my pictures are of her moving one way or another. I love her running through the leaves on the sidewalk in front of our house here. She loves the Fall too. She squeals with delight to find acorns or a pretty leaf or a crab apple. I love that! Fall, leaves, and a precious girl...How could I ask for more?!

Big Girl at the Table

We got Lylah a booster seat. She still fits in her high chair seat very well. It is meant to be a booster after it is done being a high chair. But the silly thing has high arms that will not come off so it will not fit under the table as a booster. So the whole concept that we bought into when we got the high chair that would "grow" with her has become unhelpful. So now she is big and she sits at the mostly-stripped table (remember the post where it was getting done as an un-pregnant project) eating dinner like a big kid. Where did my 7 lb 4 oz baby go? She turned into a 29 lb preschooler who comes up with the most hilarious ideas and plans all on her own. She has turned into a song writer and a game maker. She has turned into a running, jumping, squealing, and giggling silly girl who loves going to school with her friends and to the library and the park. She has turned into a helper in the kitchen and a "mother hen" who rubs the backs of her friends at school when they are sad. She has turned into a strong-willed child who tests her limits by the minute, seems oblivious to punishment a lot of the time, and then can be so helpful and obedient the next moment. She has turned into a loving and polite and gentile sweetheart who asks Mommy every day to hold her like a baby and Daddy to snuggle up with her. She has turned into our sweet Lylah Grace whom we have loved from the moment we knew she was coming and cannot imagine a second without.

Sweet Cause and Effect

Cold nose and itchy eyes. I imagine we will always have Halloween pictures of Lylah with"Seasonal Allergy" face. Pretty cute pumpkin teeth smile, though.

Sitting with someone's Fall display and perhapse touching a light.
She had the whole concept of the "ask and you shall receive' down pat by the second house. Her first house she was not so sure. The idea of cause and effect sunk in quickly, though, because by the second house forward, she was in it to win it. She was running up the walkway and saying trick-or-treat and thank you and then saying to me, "I go to the next one , Mommy? Go to 'anovey' one?" When she came back to the sidewalk where Glen was waiting she said, "Look, Daddy! I got some candy! I got some 5 candy!" 5 is a lot in her book. If she wants more of something then she wants 5 of it. So she was pretty happy to get some 5 candy! Success! She wants to trick-or-treat every day now. This morning she said she would like some candy about 2 seconds after she woke up. We give her one, maybe 2, pieces a day. But apparently candy is all the rage if you ask her. She told me today at lunch that she would have "No broccoli and No meatloaf and No Fruit...Just Candy and then No nap" Keep dreamin' kid!

Happy, Happy! Joy, Joy!

She was not a fan of waking up from a nap to go and HAVE FUN. Complete with drool and snot, she was a sight to behold. Her face was red for a solid 45 minutes after this happy little outburst. We tried to take her to a Halloween carnival at a down town church after this sad display. It was crowded and she was not into it at all. We snicker at these photos and our carnival shot. We were not worked up over her not having fun, we kind of laughed it off and had fun despite her sadness. Sadistic parents I guess.See how much fun she's having at the photo booth. We left after about 15 minutes of sadness. But she got a balloon and she was happy for that. We left to do some door to door trick-or-treating and she liked that MUCH better.

First Trick-or-Treating Ever

We had to use the "Kitty Um-boo-ruvva" to get to school this day because the day of our field trip it rained all day. Sadly, the rain made many of my precious fall leaves fall prematurely. But it was wonderful and chilly and a perfect day for a book reading or a nap or a FIRST EVER TRICK-OR-TREATING AND FIELD TRIP!!

Some of our friends waiting at the gate to our room before the trip. I absolutely loved the costumes all the kids had on. The little guy in the red hat is a country rock star complete with cut off sleeves and tattoos and leather pants and wallet chain. Next to him is a sweet elephant with a very erect trunk. Next to him is a fairy waiting for grandpa to bring her wings. Here is Lylah waiting. She is the queen of melodrama. I have NO idea where she gets this dramatic behavior ( cough, cough).We wove our way among a maze of cubicles. There were about 60 children split into 4 groups. we were in a big pack, but we seem to have lost them here in these photos.

The loot! She was pretty proud of her gatherings and that she was holding them herself. I was also holding several bags that were hurting my hands. Let me tell you, these people are so generous to us. They invite us every year and give the kids all kinds of really nice treats including whole coloring books, crayons, juice boxes, Little Debbie treats, candy and toys. It's unbelievable. And after the trick-or-treating the children get to eat milk and sugar cookies in the cafeteria. She sweetly remembered her "tank you" most of the time without a reminder. Makes a Mommy proud! She even got a couple of Trick-or-Treats in too. She was so sweet. I have a hard time sometimes not scooping her up and snuggling her too much. I wish I could hold her all the time.
The aftermath. She was excited to see what all was in her bags. Her favorites were, of course, "Poop Treats" (aka M&Ms) and a plastic yo-yo. Since then she has also loved a cup and straw combo and the suckers.

Creating a Woodland Fairy from existing clothes

I thought I might do this blog in a psudo-tutorial way. But I forgot to take pictures at several key points. Oh well, I got it done! I started with a dress my mom sent Lylah for last fall. It is a bit too short now. She grew so much over the year. To make the dress an acceptable length I made a tulle topped twirl skirt to go under it,like a petty coat. I made a brown skirt first and then added the tulle in layers on top.THUS ENDS THE PICTURE STEP BY STEP PART I then made wings by recovering some other wings I had with panty hose and glitter and such. I made a system to hook the wings on under her dress so that you could not see the attaching place. It hooked through the button hole area in the back. I then made a belt of ribbon and put felt flowers on it. Next came the felt flowered head piece. ( TOOK FOREVER!!!) Lastly, I made the toadstool wand-- Her favorite part by far.
Ta Da! An interpretation of a woodland fairy ( on a $5 budget). Oh how I love this picture. This was the Thursday before Halloween. we were getting ready to go to school for our field trip to Trick-or-Treat around American Family Insurance. I love the cheeks here. I want to kiss them and eat them up. She used her wand as more of a cane or walking stick most of the time she held it.

PENNIES ARE MONEY!!!

Lylah and I have been going up to the attic craft room to "make projects". Lylah has been so excited about the random change she sometimes finds. She has been toting it in a little purse my mom gave her for her first Easter. she transfers it to various places and then back to the purse. The project we made together was a money bank for her pennies. We made it with a plastic Jiff jar because I love the RED. It goes well with her room and it's fun. I put paper around the jar and she colored it with markers. Then I had her help me find the letters I needed to spell her name and the other words. Then we cleaned up the beads about 5 times( because they were scattered about more than once.) Then I glued the beads and ribbon on the jar with Tacky glue. Then Lylah squeezed the glitter glue on the lid and placed the clear stones on top. She also placed the flower sequins on the sides. She was so proud of it!!! Wen Daddy got home she showed him her money bank and demonstrated how to put the money in over and over. She would sleep with it if I did not think that was a bigger hazard than letting a 2 year old have pennies in the first place.
She loves her mommy projects. I would not trade them for the world, even if I DID have to to help her not to destroy my entire work area more than once. It was a good lesson in responsibility and also sorting skills and following the rules. #1rule: When you make a mess, clean it up before you make a new mess. I think I need a little practice on that rule myself.


The finished product. Fun, fun times.
She was wearing a whole suit of soft knit leggings and a long sleeve tee. she had on the cutest pink jeans overalls dress over it and I thought I had a picture of it. Too cute. Her hair is getting long a so sweet too. I love it in the side bow with her "after-play" bangs falling down.