Post-Christmas Activities

The day after Christmas, the girls were able to try out their skates for the first time. They were thrilled! Alyx and Larissa did pretty good. Sydney couldn't hold herself up, so in order for her to "skate," we had to basically carry her weight around (Not very good on the back). At first, Larissa had some balance issues, but I gave her a broom to carry around with her. That helped her to keep her balance and figure out how to skate. Here are some pictures of Alyx and Larissa skating around my parents' driveway.





Sydney is not always the most graceful creature on earth. =) She tends to be kind of clumsy, but I guess most kids are. She kept falling and getting all kinds of "boo-boos" which necessitated many band-aids. She took off running outside one day and tripped and fell on the driveway. Granny's colorful band-aids helped to ease the pain. =)


Mom took me out to her "green house" to show me some flowers that survived the winter. Here is one that actually blooms this time of year. It's called a Christmas cactus.



My mom had been working on sewing some blankets for the girls and finished them up the week of New Year's. She used coordinating flannel fabrics to make them two-sided. (Click on the pictures to get a closer view.) Sydney's has frogs on one side and dots and stripes on the other. Larissa's has flowers and butterflies on one side with stripes on the other. Alyx's has flowers on one side and stripes on the other. I may have to borrow hers. It has some of my favorite colors. =)

Pre-Christmas stuff at my parents' house

Alyx decided that she wanted to try to complete one of her crocheting projects to give as a Christmas present. She was only able to finish one for Larissa, but is in the process of finishing one for Sydney. Maybe she'll be able to give it to her in the next month or so. I was just proud of her for being able to do it and for thinking of her sisters in the first place. =)

Here she is working on the pillow that she gave to Larissa. She sewed and stuffed the inner pillow and then finished crocheting the pillow closed.



While we were at Mom and Dad's house, my niece, Kelly, came over to make cookies with the girls. They had a lot of fun helping, and we all enjoyed eating them. =)







One of my main "Christmas goodies" assignment has been to do all the "dipping" of candies/treats in chocolate and white chocolate. We always do waffle pretzels (which is pictured below...Alyx is helping), peanut butter balls (buckeyes/golf balls) and mint patties (like York peppermint patties...soooo good!). Larissa is allergic to peanuts, so we decided to make almond butter balls for her this year, and they turned out really good. She was happy...so I was happy! =) There were so many other things that we fixed (and ate), but I'm not going to list them all, because I don't want you to know just how "sinful" we've been in the last few weeks. =)

Freebies, Samples and other Cool Stuff

Before I start my list of samples, I want to give you some suggestions for these freebies. Some of the samples you come across may not strike YOUR fancy, but have you ever thought that someone else may enjoy them? Have you thought about donating things to the missionary closet at church or even helping out a college student? My sister is doing this for her daughter who is in her 1st year of college. She will request the sample for herself with one email address, and then request a sample for her daughter with a separate email address. I think it's a great idea! I am naturally a hoarder and can't stand the thought of passing up a freebie. If I can't use or don't want something, I will still request the sample and just pass it on to someone who can use it. This is a way to be a blessing to other people (in a small way) without having to spend a penny. =) Now, on with the list...

Mary Kay is offering a sample of mascara here.

Money Saving Mom has compiled a list of 10 feminine product freebies here. These are awesome! You get enough of these, and you won't have to purchase them for a while.

Schick is offering a free razor or trimmer sample here.

I love freebies that help me with homeschooling! Here are some free activities from Creative Teaching Press. There are ideas for a variety of subjects and grade levels. There are even some science experiments included.

Get a free Oatmeal Dark Chocolate cookie from Kashi here. I'm not sure of the ingredients, but if it has something that we can't have, I'll just give it to someone who can. =)

Check out the Storyline Online site for a listing of over 20 books being read by members of the Screen Actors Guild. Obviously, if you don't know anything about the book, you may want to listen to it before you let your kids listen. Each story begins with the actor introducing him/herself. There is an option to view the text as the actor reads, or you could turn it off and just listen. Pictures from the book are shown and even some light sound effects/music are included to give even more interest. Each story also has an activity guide with suggested things to do after reading the story. There is also a list of other books by the same author in case you like their style of writing.

How cool is this??? I love taking photos (as you well know, if you've been looking at my blog for any amount of time), and this would be really neat to try. I love the black & white and sepia effects, but I wonder what it would be like in color.

This Kids' Puppet Show Curtain is adorable and super easy to make! My kids would love it! They are constantly wanting to put on shows, and this would be a great way for them to do that.

I constantly find myself having little balls or scraps of yarn left over from some crocheting project and am never quite sure what I should do with it. It goes against my grain to just toss it out, so it just sits in a bag in a closet somewhere waiting for me to come up with an idea. Well, here it is! This is like making your own funky variegated yarn, and I'm going to have to try it.

Easy, Recycled Sewing Ideas

The last couple of days, I've run across some cute ideas for recycling items of clothing to make into tote bags. I love tote bags, and couldn't resist the thought of making one (or both) of these.

The first tote bag idea comes from Jo-Ann's website and is made from a t-shirt (new or used). Personally, if you're going to go buy a t-shirt, I would just buy a tank top, so you don't have to fool with the cutting and sewing of the sleeves and neckline. Read the Customer Reviews to get more suggestions and ideas for this project. This project would be very simple for kids to do, and they would love the finished product, I'm sure.

Jo-Ann's website has a large collection of projects. I love looking through the craft projects for kids. My only suggestion is that you read the customer reviews before you purchase all the materials for a certain project. I have noticed on a few projects that customers have complained about the instructions being vague or not complete, so just check it out completely before you get started.

The second tote bag project comes from Instructables.com and is so adorable! The creator of this bag says that she got a skirt from someone that did not fit her, but she fell in love with the floral embroidery detail at the bottom of the skirt. She decided that instead of getting rid of it, she could turn it into a tote bag.

I've got a bunch of skirts that are too big for me, now that I've lost so much weight, so I'm going to have to go digging through my closet for some skirts to turn into tote bags. =) I imagine this could also be a great project for young girls. When they outgrow a favorite skirt (or other do-able outfit), they could just sew it up into a cute little handbag or tote.

The Girls' Special Project

Before I started this school year, I decided that I wanted to incorporate a HomeEc-type course for the girls. They already love to help out with cooking, and Alyx and Larissa have already started crocheting. My idea was to start teaching them some quilting and other basic patternless sewing projects. After thinking it through, I decided to also use my mom to teach the kids how to sew using patterns. I could do it, but Mom is so much better than I am and it gives me an "excuse" to make a trip up there for a week at a time every now and then. =)

Before we started school, Alyx had made the comment that she needed an apron to wear while she was cooking, so I decided to make that the first project. She was thrilled at the idea, and Mom was very excited to be able to teach them. As I said in the post about our Labor Day holiday, I took A LOT of pictures, so please forgive me for the abundance of photos. =) (In case you don't already know this, you can click on any picture to get a larger view, if you so desire.)

Mom gave each of the girls some special notebooks to take notes in during "class time."

She explained all the details of how to get the pattern, choose the fabric, get the notions, choose the size, decide how much fabric you need, etc...

After all the measurements were taken, Mom brought out the fabric choices. She had planned to make the aprons reversible, so she had bought 3 sets of coordinating prints. The girls are usually pretty good about sharing and doing things fairly, so we decided to let them choose their favorites. If there was a duplicate "favorite," then we would have to draw names or something, but they chose them without any trouble. I was so glad! =)

Mom pulled out the directions and pattern pieces and explained it all to the girls.

They each got to take a turn at cutting out the pattern pieces. And yes, Larissa concentrates so much better if she sticks out her tongue. =)

Before going any further, Mom sat the girls down and reviewed with them so that they could take notes in their notebooks.

They each took turns ironing pattern pieces.

Alyx ironed her fabric.

They all enjoyed using Granny's cool rotary cutter! =)

Alyx was so excited, she could not contain herself. She kept jumping up and down and giggling with delight. She would say, "Oh, I can't wait to see it done!" and "Thank you, Granny for teaching me!" She's so sweet! =)

Time to sew...Mom begins by showing Alyx how to thread the machine.

Mom used a scrap piece of fabric to let them practice sewing. Alyx thought it was a lot of fun. =)

Alyx started by sewing the first pocket.

She clipped the excess fabric outside of the stitches...

Pressed it...

And Voila! Her first pocket was complete!

Here she's sewing the pockets to one side of the apron and then shows the completed side.

She pins on the pockets for the other side....

Trims the excess fabric after having sewn it all together...

Turns it right side out...

And is all done!

Thank you, Granny!

Alyx immediately put her apron to work in the kitchen. She's putting some olive oil on some buns to be toasted under the broiler, measuring raisins, oats and walnuts for some oatmeal raisin cookies and has the cookie scoop ready to form the cookies. =)

Larissa was next. She ironed her fabric...

Loved cutting with the rotary cutter.... (and was quite the wild woman with that tool. Granny had to try to keep her under control.) =)

And was just as excited as Alyx was.

She had a chance to practice as well.

She began with her first pocket.

She learned to backstitch.

Here she was clipping the excess fabric and turning the pocket right side out. She is left-handed, but refuses to cut with her left hand. She's an interesting little girl. =) Note the tongue again aiding in her concentration.

She worked on sewing one of the straps.

Here she was showing the pockets she had pinned on.

She sewed on some pockets.

She put it all together to sew up.

It's all done!

Thank you, Granny!

Sydney was so patient to wait for her sisters to finish. Here she is ironing some of her fabric.

Here she was helping Granny with some measurements for a pattern piece.

She wasn't quite strong enough to cut by herself, so Granny helped out. She loved seeing that it actually cut the fabric, though.

Time to sew! Isn't she cute? =)

She got to practice, too, and she really enjoyed operating the presser foot lever.

She was the only one of the three that couldn't reach the pedal on the ground, so we had to set it on top of a dictionary. The pedal kept slipping off, so we had to wrap a towel around it to keep it steady. =)

Here she is working on her first pocket and trimming the excess fabric.

She helped sew on the pockets to one side.

Here she is sewing it all together. She really enjoyed pulling out the pins as they neared the presser foot. =)

All done!

Thank you, Granny!

Mom said that they did a fantastic job, and she's looking forward to teaching them another project. =) All I have to say is, I fear for the day that they each turn 16, because they have lead feet! They all had a "need for speed." =) No, really, they did very good after they got the hang of how much pressure to apply to the pedal and got more comfortable with the machine. I'm very proud of them! =)