Move over Billy Joel.

There is a new Piano (little) Man in town.

Learning from the big brothers.

As the children are growing up they interact a lot more with each other, especially John and Grace.
He loves to teach her new things and she loves to learn; monkey see monkey do.
For some reason she learns a lot more from him than she does from me. No matter how many times I try to have her learn a new word, she won't say it. John, however says something once and she repeats it right away. I am actually very happy about them playing together but John is 31/2 which means that the new vocabulary that he teaches Grace is far from what I want her to learn.
So, as I am writing this post,  it absolutely fills my heart to listen to them cracking up together, and if you are a parent you know exactly what I am talking about. There is nothing better than seeing your kids having fun together and getting along. 
Unfortunately,  I (and everybody else around) has to hear Grace saying (very proudly) her new word all day: "poopyhead! poopyhead!"
Thank you John!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

No, I do not have too much time on my hands!!!

 

Personalized heart shaped pendants/pins.

These pendants will make a great gift for Valentine's day. 

Here is what you will need:

 

• Tacky glue
• Wax paper
• Mod Podge
• Wooden hearts
• Super glue
• Y bails
• Fine grit sanding block
• Mod Podge Dimensional Magic
• Cute pictures of your kids

Before you make these, I suggest you make a practice one.

Trace the heart shape over the part of the picture that you want to use, cut it using a pair of scissors or a utility knife and glue it to the wooden heart.

Allow plenty of time to dry, a half hour should do it.

Slowly and carefully sand the edges with the fine grit sanding block so the edges of the photo will match the wooden heart perfectly.

Seal the picture to the heart by applying a thin coat of Mod Podge all around the edge with a small paint brush. When working with Mod Podge I like to work on a sheet of wax paper. It will not stick to it.

Make sure to let it dry thoroughly.

You can now apply the Dimensional Magic.

The first dot very often has a bubble so I make it on the wax paper. Apply the Dimensional  Magic starting around the edges and working your way toward the center of the picture. 
Let it dry for at least three hours.
Once they are dry sand the edges one last time to remove any excess glue or Dimensional Magic.
Use the super glue to stick the bail to the heart.

Now that mine are done, I know that Eileen will want to wear the three at the same time so I will make them into pins instead of pendants. You can easily do so by gluing a pin to the back of the heart instead of using a bail.
She is going to love them.

Valentine clay pot.

This is a very easy craft for beginners or to do with the kids.

I used an old flower pot that was collecting dust in the shed. I washed it and once dry I painted it. I had some leftover white and red paint. I did the body of the pot in white and the top in red. 

On my last trip to ACMoore I had bought a 500 valentine sticker book on sale for $0.75. Once the paint was dry, we decorated the pot with the stickers.

Then John and I applied three coats of Mod Podge leaving plenty of time for each coat to dry.

We will fill it up with plenty of home made goodies.

This coming Monday the kids are going to finger paint on a t-shirt, we are also going to make some Valentine chocolates etc...

So stay tune for more Valentine theme crafts.

Date night.

As for most married couples with children and two totally opposite schedules, our date nights are very few and far between, and they are usually spent at the restaurant, speeding through our dinner talking about the kids. So our New Year's resolution is to make our date nights more fun. It could have been losing weight but where is the fun in that?!
So when unfortunately my Father-in-law could not make it to go see Tom Chapin play at The turning Point Cafe with Eileen who had bought the tickets as his Christmas gift, we made it our January date night. Just made the deadline!

So after dropping the little cherubs at Grandma and Grandpa's house we were on our way to the quaint little town of Piermont and to our first date night of 2011.
We spent a couple of hours listening to some great songs in an intimate setting and had a very good time. We capped the evening chowing down our burgers talking mostly about...the kids.
I didn't know anything about Tom Chapin so I had no expectations but I have to say that he made a fan out of me and the good thing about a lot of his songs is that they are family and kid oriented like "the family tree".
You can hear it by clicking here .

Before the days of jello
Lived a prehistoric fellow,
Who loved a maid and courted her beneath the banyan tree.
And they had lots of children.
Their children all had children.
They kept on having children until
One of them had me!

We're a family and we're a tree. Our roots go deep down in history
From my great great grand-daddy reaching up to me,
We're a green and growing family tree.

My grandpa came from Russia.
My grandma came from Prussia.
They met in Nova Scotia, had my dad in Tennessee.
Then they moved to Yokahama
Where Daddy met my mama.
Her dad's from Alabama and her mom's part Cherokee.

One fine day I may go
To Tierra Del Fuego.
Perhaps I'll meet my wife there and we'll move to Timbuktu.
Our kid will be bilingual,
And though she may stay single,
She could, of course, comingle with the
King of Kahtmandu.

The folks in Madagascar
Aren't the same as in Alaskar.
They have different moods, different foods and
Different colored skin.
You may have a different name,
But underneath we're much the same;
You're probably my cousin and the whole world is our kin.

We're a family and we're a tree. Our roots go deep down in history
From my great great grandmother reaching up to me,
We're a green and growing family tree.