A Valentine's present for the birdies

Today we made an early Valentine's present for the little birds in our neighborhood.

We began by cutting hearts out of old cereal boxes.

Then we punched a hole in the top and ran some string through.

Faith watched patiently while Grace worked away.

After that, we spread peanut butter on both sides.  And sampled the peanut butter, too.

Next, we smushed birdseed onto the peanut butter covered hearts.

And voila!  Homemade bird feeders!

The girls loved making them.

And we hung them on our lemon tree with the opes that the little birdies will enjoy them.

Finished bow holders

We finally finished our new bow holders.

This is Faith's.  Please excuse the dirty walls.  My children are artists in the making and sometimes they use their walls as a canvas.  Or as napkins.  I have cleaned the walls since these pictures were taken.  I promise.

And this is Grace's.  And yes I hung it crooked.  Grace has already pointed that out to me.  And eventually I'll get around to straightening it up.  Just remember it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful...

Making hairbow holders

Faith's hair is constantly in her eyes and I can never find something to hold her hair out of her face.  Mainly due to the fact that she hates wearing bows.  But that's another issue.  So today I decided to make hairbow holders for both girls so I can keep up with a growing supply of hairbows.

First I let the girls pick out any color they wanted.  They both wanted hot pick, of course.

Then I let them each paint a wooden letter for their first names.

This was another very messy adventure that probably should have been done outdoors.

Grace is a bit more meticulous than her little sister.

After the letters were covered in paint we added hot pink glitter.  My girls like pink and sparkles.

Here is Faith's "F."

And Grace's "G."

Do you see my countertops?

They were covered in paint, too.

So was the floor.

But I have good helpers and they helped me clean up our mess until everything was as good as new.  Now all we have to do is glue some ribbon to the letters and hang them on the wall.  We'll have to wait until they dry first, of course.

Feet painting

Today the girls and I decided to get a little creative.

So we painted with our, I mean their, feet!  Can you tell that Faith didn't like her feet covered in paint?

This was a very messy adventure.

But fun nonetheless.

We turned their feet prints into butterflies.

And then I let the girls paint with their hands.

Grace, however, wanted to continue using her feet.

This is Faith's finished masterpiece.

And this is Grace's.

Handprint Christmas ornaments

Today the girls made homemade Christmas ornaments.

Grace started by painting her hand white.

Then she put her handprint on a Christmas ball.

Next, Faith had her turn.

With my help, of course.

After the handprints dried, we turned them into snowmen!  Faith's had green scarves.

And Grace's had purple.  We made a set for us and for grandparents, too.  This is something that we'll have to do again next year so we can see how much Grace and Faith's hands grow over the next year.

Making a gingerbread village

This year we decided to make a gingerbread village instead of just one house.

I thought that both my girls would enjoy decorating their own little house.

But Faith was much more interested in eating the decorations that putting them on her house.

So Grace took over and iced all the tiny houses.

And Faith covered all the houses with the candy she didn't like - those itty bitty hard ball candy.

I think they're supposed to be sprinkles, but they were as hard as rocks.

The girls did an excellent job.

And David and I admired Faith and Grace's hard work before letting the kids dig in and enjoy.  As a side note, in my and David's opinion, store-bought gingerbread houses do not taste that great.  And the icing tastes like glue.  But Faith and Grace both seemed to love it. 

Making Christmas ornaments

Today Grace made some new Christmas ornaments for our tree

She painstakingly put colored beads in her tiny gingerbread man and Faith's little penguin.

And then I put them in the oven and jarred all the beads out of place.  So Grace and I spent another twenty minutes putting all the beads back in place so we could bake them.  These have been the hardest ornaments we've ever made together, but we'll always cherish them.

Murphy closet

While David was in Omaha this week, the girls and I completely transformed this room.

Until now this room has doubled as a guest bedroom and playroom with a king bed taking up most of the floorspace.

Now it is primarily a playroom with the king bed hidden away behind what I'm calling our "Murphy Closet."  In just a couple of hours I built this tall armoire-type-cabinet that now houses the king bed, box springs, and all the pillows and linens for it.  When company comes to visit, I just open the doors, pull the bed down, and put the linens on.  Every other day, the bed stays hidden behind the cabinet and the girls can play, play, play in the room.  Of course having more floor space meant rearranging the entire room.

Now the toy box wall is located beside the door with the wall of mirrors above.

By hiding the bed, we now have floor space for the girl's picnic table.

I moved Grace's fingerpaintings to other side of the room.

And put the Dora vanity in front of one window beside our Murphy Closet.

I was even able to bring in both the single and double rocking chairs that had been sitting in the garage unused.  I went ahead and made pillow cushions for the seats while I was at it.

Here's a closer look at our newly construction Murphy Closet.  It's pretty big.  8 feet tall big.  This picture doesn't accurately portay its height.  It's the same height as the windows, but just looks taller from this angle.  It's the same viewpoint my girls have. 

I used leftover green glass knobs from a previous project transforming a garage sale dresser.

And I forgot to mention that I painted the doors with hot pink chalkboard paint.

So our Murphy Closet not only hides our king guest bed, it also became an art station.

And wouldn't you know that both girls absolutly love their new playroom.

In fact, the playroom is now the first room Grace and Faith run to in the mornings and afternoons.  In fact, we spend most of our day in there playing, and pretending, coloring, drawing, and using our imaginations. 

All in all, I'm wishing I had thought of this project much sooner.  It only took a few hours of hard work.  I just brought a list of measurements to Home Depot and the kind men there cut my wood to size for me at no charge.  Home Depot is one of my new favorite places to shop.  After bringing all the lumber home, all I had left to do was assemble it.  It only took about an hour to get it put together.  Minus the doors.  I'll admit it took me close to an hour to hang those monstrous doors by myself.  Of course the cabinet is 8 feet tall - a good 2 1/2 feet taller than I am.  After I finished putting it together (with Grace's help -s he handed me all the screws) Grace and I painted it.  It was a lot of fun working together with Grace.  She loves to help and I love having her as my little assistant. 

When David came home "shocked" is an understatement.  Of course, he didn't notice it until he'd been home for a full day.  But his reaction was quite amusing.  I think he was just glad he wasn't here during all the construction and he didn't have to help.  And I think he might be a little worried about the next time he has to travel.  Who knows what he'll come home to then...