crafting

For those of you who know me well you'll understand the irony of the post's title.

Making things + Becky = not always such a good result.

This seemed like a very Becky-able project, so we took it on.

There are generally a bevy of pinecones at a lot of the parks near us.  However, it seemed as though other people had decided to get  crafty as well, because we actually had to hunt for them a bit!

The Little Wickies love doing crafts.  You would never know it from their faces though.

Our little pinecone Christmas trees.

in sew much need of help

This was George, he is still a good little blanket. However, now he looks like this.

And, he is in dire need of some help.

He's developing tiny rips and holes so fast, I don't think he'll make it through another wash at this point.

What should I do?

One friend has recommended running a sewing machine back and forth over the parts that have opened up (we just opened Katie's Hello Kitty sewing machine this weekend, we'll have to get to that in another post).

Another friend recommended possibly patching the areas with material.

Seriously though, my dear friends who sew -- input PLEASE!

ideas please

I'd like to do an advent calendar this year with the girls.

Do you do an advent calendar with your kids? What do you put in there for each day?

I'm certainly not going to be sewing anytime soon, but I'm loving the look of these advent calendars...

Source: sundayinbed.tumblr.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: inmyblessednest.blogspot.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

up next: 1,000 cranes

Miyo made Katie a paper swan last year. Katie's eyes lit up and she has been filled with origami thoughts since.

Later, our friend Lyndsay got Katie some origami books and paper as a gift and Katie was plain giddy.

The problem: I pretty much suck at origami. Katie wanted to make things like an elephant that involved 40+ steps and I was at a loss.

We checked out some new books at the library that looked like they might be more promising for two uber-novices.

I attempted the first project in the "Origami for ages 4 and up" book... and FAILED.

The books sat around until Katie found a DVD in the Trash Origami book (awesome concept by the way).

And, it was like (heavenly) "Ahhhhh!"

I set her up on my computer and she was off to the origami races.

She's actually getting pretty good. Making little envelopes and her new favorite: jumping frogs.

Katie and her fleet of jumping frogs

So, in the end the key was not to get an easier book for mom, it was simply to bypass mom altogether.

april foolio

The Little Wickies fully embraced the April Fool's "holiday" this year.

At first Katie didn't quite grasp what kind of jokes you're supposed to play.

"Mama, how about when Dad's not looking we tickle him?! Wouldn't that be a good joke to do?!"

We ended up changing the contents of his drawers and stuffing his closet full of balloons.

At breakfast I froze their spoons in their cereal bowl.

This actually delighted Katie who loves eating ice.

I also froze Katie's milk.

Dad was also totally on board with the joke-playing that morning. I had sugar in my coffee (yuck).

A total tip-off, Katie asked me all while giggling hysterically, "Mama? Are you going to get dressed now?" I found the contents of my drawers to be switched around.

Rushing everyone out to go to school I hastily grabbed my running shoes to find my laces backwards.

In the afternoon I utilized my little project on them.

I laid it down, called them over and asked sternly, "Girls, what happened here?"

"I didn't do it!" Katie called out immediately.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Chocowate," replied Maddie examining it more closely.

ushering in spring

If you've been to our house the last couple of months, you probably saw our Winter Wreaths.

It was quite the crafting adventure for me and the Little Wickies.

The girls collected pine cones at the park and then I went out and purchased my very first glue gun. I then diligently glued all the pine cones to the wreath.

The next morning I picked it up, and all the blasted pine cones fell off.

I resorted to tying the pine cones down with twine. Then we sprayed it with mass amounts of glue and had at it with glitter and beads.

This week we "Spring-ized" the wreaths by painting the pine cones.

Our wreaths are like the ghetto version of Dana's beautiful acorn wreaths that she painted and then repainted.

procrastination

takes odd forms sometimes.

I'm on deadline this week so, what do I do this afternoon? Try to recreate Jenn's awesome mobile project with Katie and Maddie's artwork of course.

me try sew

That pretty sums up my level of needle-and-thread literacy.

A while back we were lucky to receive some scraps of fabric over at rice babies. She was even so sweet as to include a note offering to sew the pillows together once the girls had colored them.

Apparently my lack of sewing skills has permeated the greater blogosphere.

We had a bit of a slow afternoon so I let the girls have at it with some fabric markers.

Maddie would only color on that left-hand window for some reason. I even tried turning the fabric to face a different direction thinking she was coloring what was closer to her. But alas, she kept coloring the same window.

After, I suggested -- to the girls horror -- that we sacrifice a little-used stuffed animal to finish off our pillows.

In the end I climbed up into my linen cabinet, brought down a vacuum-packed bag and found a pillow that we weren't using.

My finish work on the pillow is -- well, let's just say it's sub-par.

But the Little Wickies don't seem to mind.

quiet time

Mo sleeps in the middle of the day. She is also somewhat of a light sleeper.

This means Katie and I do "quiet" activities during this time. I use quotes because I'm not sure anything a 4-year-old does ever qualifies as quiet.

We generally do a lot of outside activities like gardening, chalk, etc.

I saw this the other day and thought -- perfect.

Self portraits by Mama and Katie.

"The circle in the middle is my belly button... and those other two circles are my nipples."

Nice.

What do you do during "quiet time?"

disgusting the few friends we have

I'm a self-proclaimed DIY-er.

This means I do things myself. It does not mean I do them well.

A couple of weeks ago I gave our ledges a fresh coat of paint.

before

Last week I started spray-painting the shutters black.

I called our friend Ray who is a professional painter to ask a quick question. He immediately started laying into me about how I was doing it all wrong.

He is a very passionate person and I daresay can get a little rilled up at times.

An encapsulated version of our conversation went like this:

"You're what? With spray paint, why?! What kind of spray paint?!"

"Um, the can says wood, metal and more."

"Ugh, I'm getting nauseous hearing about all this."

after

Recently the crest from Katie's cape starting falling off. (Yes, we still have this cape -- and mask I might add).

So I pulled out my pathetic-excuse-for-a-sewing kit and set to work.

Suffice it to say, I am a terrible seamstress.

Hey Miyo, does this make you want to throw up in your mouth a little?

And, no that's not extra thread, that's a knot which I somehow created. If I cut it off, I fear the stitching would probably all come out.

noah's big day

Noah's red egg party was what took us up the Bay Area on our last trip.

Papa and I were pretty excited about heading into Chinatown for some good grub.

Red egg card by Katie

Katie was excited about the other kids that were there. This included her all-time favorite "older" friend Mantha.

Baby Noah must have had 10,000 pictures taken of him. The little man was tuckered out by the end.

Later during quiet time Katie and I commandeered Halmoni's fireplace and built this.

I still have no idea what the giant black "X" is about.

I just loved Katie's pink giraffe.

And, the world's largest turtle who looks like he's scaring the bageezes out of the girl in our sailboat.
Coincidentally you won't find it shocking that we went through an entire ream of construction paper over the course of the weekend.

taking flight

Katie loves making things with construction paper. She figures out how to make something and the next thing we know -- she goes into mass production -- and we have dozens upon dozens of that widget.

Recently she has been making airplanes.

And, she has been unstoppable. They become daily "gifts" to family members and friends. She even put them inside choice valentines this year.

I feel so bad throwing away Katie's art. So last week I surprised her by taking five of my favorite airplanes that complimented her green and purple room and did this.

She was very excited.

This one is my favorite because it has flames coming out the back.

Now at bedtime we lie down and look up, blow some "wind" at the fleet and watch them glide around.