Pillow Case Painting Project

The girls and I volunteered to be guinea pigs for testing out the best way for a toddler to paint pillowcases.  The idea was to get the preschoolers involved in a service project.  Pillow cases were collected and the preschoolers painted them in order to send to the children's wing at the local hospitals.  First things first...the best way to paint a pillow case...Hays' style:

First we tried plain 'ol finger painting, which was pretty messy and my girls laid it on pretty thick!  When they got tired of finger painting they took their shoes off and used their toes.  They really had a wonderful time painting this way!  The bathtub that night was full of paint flecks - it was very colorful!

 We decided that that was a bit messy and time consuming to do if we didn't have a lot of help - so we flipped the pillow cases over and tried again.  We watered down the paint and made our own spray paint...the girls absolutely loved this!  I did too because the amount of paint on the girls was pretty much nothing!

And even though Carli saturated the pillow case, it didn't get too hard/caked on paint when it dried which was awesome!

Intense concentration - check out the tongue.

We even tried "brining" the cases to see if it would soften up the fabric a bit. Maybe that works better on tshirts, it didn't do much for our paint coated cases.  We enjoyed testing out methods of painting and when it came time to get the crew together to paint over 25 pillow cases, fun was had by all!

After the paint cured, we took the cases home and ran them through the wash.  Then with the girls help, we got them folded and put into baggies.  Carli and I did up a little note to include with each pillowcase.  I think the last time we did a rainbow card, it was to say Thank You to someone special.  Anyway, we had a lot of fun doing these as well!

 

The girls really enjoyed this little project.  We look forward to doing another one soon!

 

Carli's Birthday Day

Carli's actual birthday fell on a Monday.  She woke up that morning and we told her Happy Birthday!  To which she responded...again?!  Ha!  Naggy and Pappy had to go home that day but before they left they treated Carli to breakfast at the donut shop. 

Carli picked out her favorite two donuts, white with sprinkles and pink icing.  She ate them both and drank part of her pink Milk and all of Ava's orange juice. Can you say hyper?

Ava sat in between Naggy and Pappy.  She had a sprinkle donut as well.  Naggy generously let Ava use her white shirt as a napkin...or maybe Ava just did and forgot to ask.  :)

 

After Naggy and Pappy headed home, the girls and I went to Kindermusik class.  After class we met Keith at the toy store for Carli to spend some of her birthday money on some necessities for her new doll house.

 

 

Carli was a big girl, four years old after all, so she pushed the buggy, Ava and all!

Shopping is hard work, she takes after her Momma.  :)  Birthday girls lunch of choice was Taco Bueno...yum!

 

 

After we got home and while Ava was napping, Carli and I went out to the garage to uncover it.  The garage inherited most of the "overflow" from the party, including a wet bouncer.  We pulled it out in the yard and aired it up under the pretense to let it dry out.  It dried out well and got lots of use from Carli and eventually Ava as well as our neighbor friends.  :)

That evening Carli helped me bake some purple and pink cupcakes to take to school in celebration of her birthday.  Her official job was licking the bowls.

 

Ava's official job was licking the beaters.

 

We made enough cupcakes for both Carli and Ava to take to school and share with their friends.  I sent them all and told the teachers to please not send any home!  :)

We enjoyed our "me" day on Carli's birthday!  It was a great weekend all the way around!

Family Pics from Carli's Birthday

Carli was very blessed to have lots of her friends come to her party.  She also got to enjoy getting to see lots of family who came to celebrate with her as well!  I was bummed that we did not get a picture with Uncle Andy, Aunt Chelle and Logan.  I didn't think to get family pics until the end of the night and they had already left.  I have a new mission....

My Great Aunt Olene and Great Uncle Cloyce came from Lufkin to Carli's party.  This would be Carli's great-great aunt and uncle.  How awesome is that?  They had to leave early in order to get home before it got too late so I missed that picture too.  I was very honored that they were able to come and help us celebrate Carli's birthday. 

Here are some pictures of Carli's family that I did remember to take!

Cousin Isabella is actually Carli's second cousin.  Her mom is Keith's cousin.  Her Grandma, is Naggy's sister.  Isabella lives near Rockwall and came to Carli's party with her Grandma and Grandpa (Crazy Aunt Sarah and Uncle Robert.)  The girls had a lot of fun playing with Isabella!  Carli keeps saying, "I like this Isabella, she is a lot nicer than the Isabel at school!"

Uncle Robert, Aunt Sarah and the girls.



 

Carli really wanted Grandma to come to her party.  We owe lots of thanks to Aunt Betty, Uncle Cleaon, Uncle Tone, Grammy and Pa for all the driving they did in order to get Grandma to the party.  Carli was so happy Grandma was there.  The girls do love their Grandma so much!!

 

Kisses for Grandma

 



Uncle Tone got to come to Carli's party too!  The past two years Uncle Tone wasn't able to come b/c of law school, but now he is done with law school and back home so we are being spoiled to get to see him a whole lot more!  This is pretty much what the girls do to Uncle Tone every time they see him...they climb!

Pa and Grammy!  Carli is very lucky to have her Grammy and Pa get to be an active part of her life!

Uncle Kevin and Aunt Megan with the girls.  A HUGE thanks to Uncle Kevin for his help in getting the bouncer for the girls.  They were so excited to see Uncle Kevin and Aunt Megan when they walked through the door!

 

The girls with Naggy and Pappy.  We love technology because it allows us to not only get to talk to Naggy and Pappy but we get to see them a lot!  Yes, that would be two sets of grandparents that are actively involved in Carli's little life...huge blessing!

 

 

A very rare family picture before church!

 

 

 

Carli's Party

We had Carli's Fourth Birthday Party last Saturday.  Keith and I don't get to watch TV much, especially not the news.  The week before Carli's party we spent frantically trying to finish the dollhouse we were fixing up as well as get things together for her party.  So when Naggy and Pappy came on Friday and we heard a snippet of the weather forecast that it would be raining all weekend, we had to go to Plan B...which we didn't have so we winged it.  :)

Originally we were going to have an outside party.  We had bought a bouncer off Craigslist that Uncle Kevin had jumped through hoops to get for us in time and then we had the swing set and lots of room to run around and wear a lot of little kids out!  But with the forecast of rain all day Saturday we had to rethink.  So we moved most of the furniture out of the living room - had an impromptu "fall cleaning" and found all sorts of lost balls and toys under the couch - and pushed what seating we had left against the walls.  We brought in a small climbing cube from outside, fresh from a good washing by the rain and hoped the kiddos would have fun playing in the playroom.  Uncle Kevin brought the bouncer and we sit it up out on the porch.  We survived.  :)

For decorations we made balloon towers to put in front of the mantel, to hide that we haven't finished it yet.  :) Then we made a punch board and put numbered cookies in each hole.  Thanks to our friend Sarah for making and decorating the cookies for us!  On the invitations we asked the kids to bring a wrapped book for a book swap instead of a present.  This was one of my favorite parts of the party!  We put a number on each book as it was brought in.  Then each kid would pick a hole to punch out, the number on the cookie inside was the number on the book they got to unwrap.  I think everyone enjoyed getting to take something home with them.

In all we had at least 17 kids at the party.  We had no ice cream or brownies left and only five cupcakes.  The kids just sat on the floor and ate their food - there wasn't much they could do to my rug that it hadn't already suffered.  But there were no major spills or accidents, to which I was surprised and happy about! 

Carli did have some presents to open.  Her gift from Keith and I was the dollhouse that was mine as a kid.  My Grandfather had built it for me when I was five.  Keith and I redid it.  It now has new wallpaper, some tile, wood and carpet floors and the outside has a really neat paint job on it.  More on that in a later post.

Logan was so excited to give Carli his gift.  They are so cute together.  Logan gave her a new Barbie and Aunt Chelle and Uncle Andy gave Carli some cute new clothes (for which her Momma is very thankful for!).  These two are so cute together!!

Her Grammy and Pa gave Carli a handmade rug for her new dollhouse as well as some new dolls and a car to play with her dollhouse.  Naggy and Pappy gave Carli some school clothes, a puzzle book and some kitchen gear for the dollhouse.  Aunt Megan and Uncle Kevin gave Carli a new Nike warm up suit and some color wander markers and coloring sheets.  They did not want to leave Ava out, so she got a matching Nike suit too!  They are pretty stinkin' cute!

Carli had some friends that couldn't not give her a gift on her birthday which was okay.  :)  Her friend Kenzie gave her a neat little beautician doll thing.  Not sure what else to call it, but the girls have really enjoyed fixing the hair on the doll!  Her friend Lizzie brought Carli a new Brave book, just for Carli.  :)

Two of Carli's good friends, Allie and Kenzie

We had a great time at the party.  I think everyone else did too.  Carli was so happy to have all her friends come.  We didn't sing Happy Birthday to her, because she asked us not too.  She did  let us sing her Happy Birthday on her actual birthday though. 

I had to include this picture, because Uncle Kevin is a lot like Keith when it comes to the girls.  He pretty much does whatever they ask him to do.  When it comes to coloring, they all take this task very seriously!  :)

Thank you to all who were able to come out and make Carli's birthday celebration a success.  She is very blessed to have some many friends and family! 

Happy 4th Birthday Carli!

Carli -

I am not sure I will ever quit being amazed at how quickly a year passes and how much you change in that year.  Four years old.  I have a four year old.  Wow.  I am so proud and humbled to be your Momma.  You are one amazing little girl.  With each year, you teach me so much, I can only pray that I am doing the same for you!

This past January you started preschool at Oak Tree Academy.  Honestly I was not ready for you to start.  I secretly hoped you would not like it and I could keep you at home.  :)  But you surprised us all by walking in on your first day, giving me a hug and telling me to have a good day.  I was proud and kind of sad.  You went from my toddler to a preschooler right before my eyes!  Ava got lots of cuddles that day!  I sure did miss you at home.  I did eventually adjust and you loved learning at school.  Your teacher was Ms. Kristal and you adored her.  You made lots of new friends: Shiloh, Payton, Matthew and Constantine to name a few.  Every day you would come home excited to share with Ava what you had learned.

This summer you had Ms. Laura as your teacher and enjoyed getting to share your school with Logan for a little bit.  After we took the month of August off, you took Ava's hand and led her into her first day of school.  It was awesome to watch you be such a good big sister telling Ava what was what and making sure she knew where you would be while she was in her classroom.  Your new teacher this year is Ms. Donna.  Both Ava's teacher and Ms. Donna love to tell us that you and Ava find each other on the playground and have a little chat before going to play with your friends.  It makes me smile to hear them praising what an awesome sister you are to Ava!

We started working on memory verses with you and you did so well!  We got all the way from A to G before Momma fell off the wagon!  You enjoyed learning so much, which I think is why you adjusted so well to school.  You may look like your Daddy but you are quite eager to please when it comes to school. 

This past year we were blessed to have Uncle Andy, Aunt Chelle and Logan move to Tyler.  You have enjoyed getting to see Logan so much more.  We got to pick Logan up from school a lot!  It is a joy to get to see you guys play together.  We have been blessed even more to go to church with them and Grammy and Pa on Wednesday nights.  Aunt Chelle and Grammy teach your Wednesday night class.  It is very special to know that you and Ava are being taught by two women who have taught me so much!

 

There is no more special relationship for a child to have than the one with their Grandparents.  Carli, you are blessed beyond measure to have four grandparents who love you so very much.  On top of that, you get to spend lots of time with each of them!  This summer, you got to spend at least two days a week with Grammy while she was out of school for the summer.  And Pa officially retired this summer, so we are getting to see lots more of Pa too when we go to Momma's office in Alto!  Naggy and Pappy came to visit a lot and we even made a couple of trip out to Amarillo.  No words can be said for the number of blessed memories you are making with your Grandparents.  I pray that you never take them for granted.  That you always hold them dear to your little heart.  That you love them, respect them and pray for them.  Not every little girl is so lucky to have such amazing Grandparents.  And certainly not every little girl is so lucky to have four Grandparents who are so actively involved in their lives.  God has given you an awesome gift, I pray that you treasure them with all your heart!

Grandma has always held a special place in your life from the day you were born.  You, Grandma and Pawpaw made quite the trio!  It has been two years yesterday since Pawpaw went to heaven.  Grandma has started staying more with Aunt Carolyn and Aunt Betty so we aren't getting to see her every single week like we had been.  We were spoiled!  So when I asked you who you wanted to come to your birthday party, you immediately told me that Grandma needed to come.  That Grandma couldn't come to one of your parties b/c she was taking Pawpaw to heaven, but Pawpaw was okay now and Grandma needed to come to your party.  So, with the help of Uncle Tone, Aunt Betty, Uncle Cleaon, Pa and Grammy and lots of driving by all - Grandma was at your party.  You were so proud that she was there.  You kept going over to make sure she saw what present you had opened and to talk to her.  What a special relationship you two have!

Aunt Chelle is the first to point out that you must have received a strong dose of the recessive pink gene.  When we found out we were having a girl, I was determined that your nursery would not be pink and I did my best not to have a ton of pink clothes, etc.  If we looked into your closet today, it is pretty much all pink.  Your LOVE pink.  You picked out a bicycle helmet that was so bright pink, even Logan tried to talk you into getting something a little more subdued!  We have eaten pink pancakes, you love pink ice cream and every day you try your best to wear your pink crocs.  Your Momma on the other hand could do without pink.  :) 

We have talked about taking you to get your hair trimmed as it has gotten quite long and has never been cut.  When we asked you about getting it cut, you quickly informed us that princesses must have long hair and you could not have your hair cut.  That ended that discussion.

Carli, with each new year you have taught your Daddy and I more about patience, love, honesty, and forgiveness.  With each new challenge we all face together (having to wear tennis shoes and not crocs to school *gasp*), we face it together and we have survived!  My prayer for you is that when you look at us you see the light of God reflected in our lives and actions.  We may not always have the right answers or respond in the right way because we are not perfect - if we would have figured out how in the world to get you to eat all your veggies, to take naps when asked and maybe not whine so much, we would be the perfect parent!  :)  Just kidding.  We love you just the way you are and we are so very proud to call you ours. 

I pray the next year goes by a little slower, to give us a little more time to soak up more of our four year old princess before she decides to turn five on us!  Give me a little more time to hold you when you are upset, to cuddle with you when the monsters are hiding in your room and to make cookie dough just to eat.  I love you sweet princess Carli!  Happy 4th Birthday!

With lots of love,

Momma

Just a short list of what you have accomplished in the coarse of a year:

• Started preschool
• Learned to write some ABCs
• Love to color in the lines
• Started gymnastics
• Learn to ride your tricycle and even a bike with training wheels
• Learned memory verses for the first time
• Can write your name
• Knows most of the sounds that the letters make
• Have learned to play with Ava, and share (a little)
• Can put together 25-35 piece puzzles with no help
• Started role playing more with your dolls