Michelle's path

A few weeks ago I looked up on the internet some ideas for toddler crafts and I came across these 2 ideas that I already had the materials for.
Sensory Bottles!

The blue one pictures above is called a "Lava Bottle". The materials needed: plastic soda bottle, hot glue and hot glue gun, water, food coloring, baby oil.
Fill bottle half way with water and drop in a few drops of food coloring. Fill bottle the rest of the way with baby oil, but leave enough room in the bottle for liquids to slosh around. Hot glue lid closed tightly.

The other one is a 'Snow Globe." Fill half with water and half with corn syrup and add glitter. Hot glue lid closed. And viola!

Some other ideas are:
Instead of glitter use sand and sea shells. Along with or instead of glitter add paper clips, small beads, rice, dice...whatever you can think of that you think your child will enjoy looking at.

A couple weeks ago I went searching online for craft ideas for toddlers. ( If you have any ideas please throw them this way) I came up with this:


And Kayla had a blast. All you need is a glass jar, some glue and some tissue paper.

Put glue on tissue paper. Place on glass jar, apply glue to top of tissue paper. Let dry. And viola.

I plan on using this jar as a gift to our Birth Mother in one of her care packages.

But what do we put in it? We already have done the sand and seashells. What else can I put in there?

As for the new recipe.

Go here:

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

A couple days ago Kayla and I made home made edible play dough. She had a blast. She more had a blast with eating it rather than playing with it, but it was fun. Not too messy either. If you have a toddler, I high recommend making this. It was so simple to do and created about a good 30 minutes of play time.

Mix 1c. of PB, 1/2c. honey, and 2c. powdered sugar the dough should be soft and pliable. It is not the healthiest craft, but it is not bad for a fun evening once in a while. Also you can do another one. It does not taste as good, but healthier.
1 part flour, 2 parts oatmeal, and 1 part water. after formed and dry you can paint them.

Kayla's quilt is all finished and she can't get enough of it. When I get it out she gets so excited. She just LOVES Mickey Mouse!

I'm coming right along with Kayla's quilt. I'm taking a few days off from it and working on another project. I'm making a kitchen apron for a friend. Her kitchen theme is chili's and she had leftover fabric from her bar stools and curtains. It's coming along really nicely.

Kayla's quilt will be half way finished in no time once I'm done with the apron. I have half of all the rows of squares all sewn together. It's been a challenge. Sewing onesie fabric has not been easy at all. It stretches really easy and bunches up really easy under the dewing machine. I wont work with onesies again to make a quilt, thats for sure. I think it requires more of an advanced sewer and tools than what I am and what I have, to make it work.

Don't get me wrong, Kayla's quilt is going to be gorgeous, but not perfect. The squares aren't even close to being perfectly evened up with each other. And, I messed up on the 2nd row of squares I sewed together. I accidentally sewed the 2nd row on upside down. But even still, it looks quite nice. Just looks a little more 'homemade' which actually might be even cooler than if it were perfect.

Here are some pictures. Im much further in the process than what these pictures show but I haven taken anymore recent pictures.

I'm hoping to have it totally done and completed by the end of May. Which is totally possible.

This is my view from my sewing area.

My sewing area on the kitchen counter. Its not easy but its do-able.

So now I have 1 BDU quilt, 1 DCU quilt and Kayla's quilt to make. I am determined to finish all 3 of these before Nick returns home.

Here is Kayla's quilt I am working on now. It sure is different trying to do such a time consuming project as a Mommy. Kayla is great though. She will sit and play for very long periods of time. She will help herself to her room when she desires and lets me know when she is ready for her nap. But the quilting process is taking me much longer than usual. I am on day 3 now and I am ironing all the squares before sewing them together. Pre-Kayla, I would do all the ironing, cutting and ironing again in only 1 day. But this is not a complaint. Just a lovely reminder that I am a Mommy and these things will take longer to accomplish versus before being a Mommy.

Here are a few pictures.

from painting that is. I painted all day yesterday in our dining room. Project Living Room is now Project Living Room and Dining Room. Im happy with the color. The picture I took doesnt show the true color. It was with only 1 coat and its wet. Now that its dry and has 2 coats its darker, and Im much happier with it. I have 1 more small wall in the dining room and then 1 big wall in the living room.

But Im taking a break from painting today. I dont want to push myself and get tired of painting. Today Im going to go grocery shopping and make a ton of waffles. Im going to load up my freezer and make some for a few friends too. Strawberry Banana is my favorite, so that it will be.

BUT, I MUST get back to the paint tomorrow at the latest BEFORE Kayla realized she can crawl.

BEFORE:



DURING:


AFTER 1 COAT OF WET PAINT:


Also, yesterday we got a package from Aunt Kim and it had tons of My Little Pony's in it. Kayla had a ball even though she was way over do for a nap and without much energy.

Tammy also sent us a nice little care package with the cutest T-shirt for Kayla which she will be wearing today and I will get pictures. THANK YOU TAMMY AND MARK!

Tomorrow Kayla has a St. Patrick's Day and Easter photo shoot! I'm very excited!!





Also, got to talk to Nick yesterday for a few minutes. It had been the first time I heard from him in 3 or 4 days. It was a relief. He said they had been out in the field training for days. They get up early, and don't get back in until late at night, so he doesn't have time to check emails or make phone calls. It was so good to hear him. I cant believe its only been a little over a week since I have seen him. It feels so much longer. I sure hope time starts going faster. But then again, I don't want to rush Kayla into growing into a toddler too fast. I just want my husband back.


Also, TODAY.. 7 years ago Nick and I got engaged! My where has time gone? He had just left Pennsylvania from leave. He was TDY to the Pentagon and since it was so close to home he took some leave to spend time at home. Although that time spent at home was mostly spent with me. We spent everyday together for nearly 2 weeks. Before that we hadnt seen each other in over 2 years. It was like we were never apart from instant we saw each other. I had no idea he was even coming home. One night I heard a knock at the door. I almost didnt get it because I dont like answering the door after dark. My dad and sister were asleep so it was just me. I answered the door and THERE HE STOOD on the other side. This was something I ONLY DREAMED of happening, and there he was. I had to nearly pinch myself. During the time together the word marraige did pop up, but heck...I just turned 18 a month ago, still had to graduate and Nick had to much to look forward to in his military career. After spending the nearly 2 weeks together, he had to leave to go back to Germany where he was stationed. Once he got back he got a very short notice deployment. He was to leave in a week. It was his very first deployment. A few nights later he called me. He asked if I would marry him. I said of course. And from there he deployed and I planned a wedding. We set a date for June 7th 2002. It was the day my Great Grandparents got married. But Nick was held longer in Kuwait. He volunteered. (little did I know my whole life would be filled with him volunteering for things like this) So, I changed the date for August 24th 2002. We got married. Again, this was something that I could ONLY DREAM of. This ONLY happened in my DREAMS. I nearly had to pinch myself the whole time I was planning this wedding and during the wedding. It was and still is unbelievable.
It at times is so unbelievable that after all this time together, we are still happy together and wouldn't have it any other way. This marriage is worth every second of the sacrifice I have to make to be in it. I wouldn't change a thing.

Ok...maybe I would change his eating habits.

So, Im going to cheat and instead of typing Im going to copy and paste some of the email I sent my Mom in Law this morning.

I showed Kayla the video Nick left us this morning, and again she got really excited. Him being away may not be affecting her all that much, but I just hurt for her. I look at her smile at the video and I hurt. Our poor girl. Ok, enough about that before I start crying. hehe.

Last night was nice. I only got away with crying 2 times yesterday! The day went fairly fast. In the morning I went to the commissary for a few things to make my soup, and to pick up stuff to make something for a bbq today. Then we came home, took a power nap and chatted with Malissa (My sister) on messenger and I made my soup for lunch while Kayla played in the living room for hours.

At 1:30 she fell asleep and I put her to bed where she napped until 4 pm! As soon as she woke, I skipped her bath (shame on me! hehe) and packed her up to go to a friends house where we stayed until 9 pm.

Today should go quick too. I plan to get a shower as soon Im done chatting with Nick. Then Im going to go to Home Depot. I have an idea in my head that I am now calling "Project: Living Room"

Before Nick left, he told me he wanted me to do something with the living room. To paint it. So I have this brilliant idea. I want to paint 1 wall the color of couch. A caramel color. ( Im also considering painting the dining room wall this color and doing something in there, but dont have any ideas yet) I also am searching for wooden letters that I can paint black and hang on the wall. The letter for FAMILY. Then I want to hang pictures around the wood letters. I have the pictures already. I ordered them from snapfish. I just need to find frames. You wouldnt believe how hard it is to find things on this island. Things as simple as picture frames. So I need to look for all the above things at Home Depot. I checked Ben Franklin and they only had the odd letters, like Z, and Y and W, and X. No help there.

I did find the letters on Ebay this morning, but want to check Home Depot before I buy them from Ebay. And the ones from Ebay are already painted black. I wanted to paint them so they had more meaning. But, if its what I must do, then I will do it. Hopefully I have luck today.

On the adjacent white wall in the living room, I would like to find a big black or caramel framed mirror. Which I know Home Depot will have, but will be very expensive, so I dont know.

So that is my idea for Project Living Room. lol. I will take pictures during the process so you can see what Im doing. It will definatly give me something to do besides my scrap booking. Which I am really enjoying lately. Im getting caught up and soon have to order more pictures!