Toddler Sewing

Found a set of lacing cards at the Disney outlet store and had to have them. 
 
I thought the girls might find them interesting, and that it might encourage their interest in crafting (and hanging out with grandma). 
  
Oh yeah, want to guess what became Leanne's absolute favorite toy the minute she saw them? Leia thinks the cards are OK but five minutes of sewing on these and she's done. 

I showed Leanne the basics - place string in hole, pull through, repeat - and she was off.
  
She's a creative stitcher, using multiple colors,
 
unique stitching paths,
  
and joining cards in creative ways.
 
And once all the cords are used up? It's time for Grandma to un-sew so she can start all over again. I think my plan is working!  

More Treasure

Did you know Rachel has chickens?? Blog post is here!

I was sidetracked from the craft room decluttering, but in a very good way. 
 
The kitchen pantry needed to be cleaned out since hubby is ready to install the new pantry he custom built (he's so talented. And cute too.) (The left side above is the bottom and the piece on top is the broom closet),
 
Guess who got the clean out job?? Actually, I volunteered - I'm enjoying this 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge a lot more than I expected.
 
See that big space at the top of the pantry? Want to see what was in there, besides empty grocery bags?
 
Candle Central! Can you tell we like candles? Some of these will go in our emergency supply containers; the partially used or damaged ones are in the trash; and the rest - including glassware - will be used or donated. No more storing them for a "special day".

Today's treasure #1 was my mother's punch bowl. I remember her using this for parties from the time I was fairly little. The ladle and cups are gone (maybe another sister has them?) but the bowl itself is in great shape.
 
And find #2?
 
The champagne glasses hubby and I used at our wedding 40 years ago (this September). I think they're in better shape than we are! (kidding!)

Treasure Hunt

Today's 40 Bags in 40 Days decluttering turned into a treasure hunt when I found an old jewelry box I've had since before high school. Most of the items were what you'd expect - old charm bracelets, 2 bars of scented soap (Leia happily claimed one of them), and a small strand of fake pearls.

But there was hidden treasure - my mother's high school choir pin; a bracelet from my father to my mother,
 
dated the year I was born;
 
a Lady Elgin watch, probably from the 40's, that I'm hoping hubby can fix up for me; 
 
and this - 
 
an old locket with a picture of my Granny Toe* and Granddaddy Jack. 
 
The photo is old and small, grainy and out-of-focus, but oh how I treasured it growing up. I adored Granny Toe - such a cheerful, talkative, perfectly made-up force-of-nature. So many happy memories from one little photo.



*Her name was Florence and she was my mom's step-mother. She wanted to be called "Aunt Flo" - since, as she said, she was much too young to be a grandmother - but I, as the first grandchild, couldn't say "Flo" and my mother objected to "Aunt", so she was always our Granny Toe. 

Harbor Time

Leia spent the night Wednesday, so to celebrate we headed down to the harbor for hubby's and my favorite thing - sea bass fish and chips from Andria's.

Leia's favorite thing, the arcade and carousel,

was closed for the night,

so we had to make do with her second favorite thing -

having her picture taken with these fishy props.

Greetings from Leia and Ventura Harbor!

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Camera Ready

Hubby and I have both been hit by the organizing bug. I'm doing the '40 Bags in 40 Days' challenge in an attempt to get my craft room under control (you can follow my progress here).
 
Hubby's project is more fun - he's photographing and cataloging his vintage watch collection.
  
He set up in the front window today,

 

after building this cool "stage",

  

using the camera and adorable rugged Gorilla tripod I got him for Christmas with just this project in mind.  

  

He's planning to enter info on each individual piece, along with pictures, in a database I started for him.

  

Since he has about as many watches as I have balls of yarn - especially if you count all the parts and repair pieces - it's going to take him awhile to finish this up. Want to take bets on which of us is further along 40 days from now?

Milestone Birthday

Hard to believe Miss Naia is 13 already. 
 
She had plans on Friday, her actual birthday, so we got together Monday afternoon. First up was an afternoon of pottery painting at a new place in Oxnard (fun but very expensive. Don't think we'll be going back, except for very special occasions.) 
  
Leia chose a unicorn (no surprise there),
 
while Naia picked a pig from Angry Birds.

She opened her very first savings account on her birthday, so I think $$ - and the saving of it - is on her mind.
 
The finished pieces will be done in a week or so. The girls were a little disappointed they couldn't take their masterpieces home with them, but they got over it pretty quick with the promise of dinner and dessert.

Naia's main gift from us was the crocheted unicorn I've been working on since before Christmas. 
 
She had said she wanted one, but I wasn't sure what her reaction would be to both the colorway and a stuffed toy. 
 
I need not have worried. She loved it. Georgette Flower Pony never left Naia's side the entire night. Couldn't have asked for a better reaction!
 

Kindergarten

I'm amazed at how much kindergarteners are expected to learn in their first year of school. When Leia started in August, she had to already know her alphabet, recognize upper and lower case letters, and be able to count to 100.

The first month, her teacher started the class working on word recognition - sight words - and Leia has soaked it up like a little sponge. And she loves, loves, LOVES recognizing words around her ("hey, that's my word!") and expressing herself in writing.
Last week, she handed me this little note, done without any adult help.

Then, over the weekend, I found these when I opened the curtains in the living room. ("I like my flower balloon dog." "Flower balloon dog.")

And tonight? This was on the door of my nightstand, down low enough that I didn't notice it until I went to put something away.

Leia doesn't think these are any big deal, but I love them. This kindergarten learning thing is pretty great for grandmas too.

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Colorado, Day 1

On our first full day of vacation, we relaxed,

played with Tucker, the grand-dog,

made Rachel a birthday cake (our non-traditional, family-tradition chocolate chip cake)

painted Addy's nails with almost every color polish we could find

(we agreed that 3 shades of blue was a bit much, so we saved 2 for next time.)

watched Addy be fascinated by the lobster tank at Red Lobster,

and drink her first strawberry margarita (virgin, of course.)

All in all, a very good day.

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