Felt Hopscotch!

Hughes has been working A LOT. Ugh. Lily and I were hanging out on Sunday.. I was kinda in a funk, scrolling through Pinterest, feeling TOTALLY inadequate but simultaneously inspired, like only Pinterest can do to you, when I spotted a HOPSCOTCH!!!!!!

Me: LILY!!!!! (frantic, breathing hard) COME HERE! Do you want to make this?!?!

Lily: (running through the house) I coming Mama! (breathless)

Me: Lily, should we make a hopscotch?!?

Lily: Yeah!!!!

Me: Get on your shoes. Let's go to JoAnn's.

So we did.

I hate that there is a shadow, but still..how cute is our finished product?!? The Pinterest one was made of canvas and all different colors, but we (she) opted for only pink.

I just showed the blog link on my phone to my friend, Jessica at JoAnn's (we run LOTS of errands, so we have pals every where), and she directed me to canvas material, because that is what the Pinterest one used. BUT, then, Lily spotted the pink FELT...and I asked about felt instead, because it was $4.99/yd instead of $10.99/yd. Jess said felt would actually be better, as long as it was inside hopscotch, because it would fold easier and be much cheaper. Plus, the shades of pink were better. ;0

I bought 2 yards of EACH shade of pink felt. When I laid out the light pink one, it was the perfect length, with NO cutting. *Somehow, I got all of my fabric for $8 total. Hmmm...I DID have a coupon, but I am not sure why it was so cheap. Maybe it pays to be nice to people? Or, maybe probably it was a pity discount, since Lily spent most of the JoAnn's army crawling/rolling on the dirty floor and mopping it with her shirt. ("Mom! I just cleaning here.") The nightmarish meltdown over the Mickey Easter basket on the way to check out was just another fun part of our Hopscotch adventure.

But look how excited this girl was!!

We also bought some of those 25 cent felt squares, and we traced the size onto the dark pink felt. We cut out 10 squares. You could just buy the felt squares and use those if you want a variety of colors.

Then, I printed out numbers (Impact font, size 450), cut them, and traced them BACKWARD onto each square. The hard part is making sure to NOT cut the square to get to the number. You have to kinda pinch the fabric and get the cut started ON the number, instead of just cutting a straight line to the number. Does that make sense? *Also, try to keep your numbers intact.*

Then, let your 2 year old arrange the squares and hot glue them onto the felt.

This took us almost 2 hours to make, since she really was trying to help. I had to keep reminding myself this was for HER and not for me, because I was definitely trying to take over and seriously mentally debated turning on the TV at some point. It was REALLY fun, though, and we both got in "the craft zone".

Because I am an over-acheiver/hate being wasteful, we did some stuff on the back the next day. The original one from Pinterest had older kids, so I made this Lily-friendly.

We made BEAN BAGS and and a number square game! The numbers were the same ones cut out from the hopscotch side. We had leftover dark pink felt, so I cut it into 20 squares, hot glued 3 sides and made a "bag"...

and Lily put dry Pinto beans into the bags. Then, I hot glued them closed. You guys, I made bean bags! It was such an accomplishment and SOOOOOO easy/cheap. We will be making bean bags more often.

I burned my hand a little. "Mama, I kiss it."

Say a number and try to throw your bean bag on it!! Fun times.

On the bottom half of the back (it's folded under), we added even more, because there were STILL scraps left over. Apparently I am on a quest to pass along my ADD to Lily? Hmmm...

Random shapes= like the number bean bag game

Tic-Tac-Toe= I think Lily can figure this game out.... plus, I hot glued some dark pink felt and made a little pocket for the x's and os' (bottom left)

Cupcakes= Felt is magical and sticks to itself pretty well. Lily is REALLY into birthdays, and we play "birthday" a million different ways every day. So, I cut out lots of cupcake wrappers, tops, sprinkles, and candles. I stuffed them all in the other pocket I hot glued (bottom right)

It folds up SUPER great, too.

I only spent about $12 total, and it gave us 2 days of quality time to make it. We have a long (runner?) bathroom rug upstairs* that has squares and Lily always tries to hopscotch on it, so this will be fun.

*Our tiny bathroom can barely fit a normal size bath mat, so the long one is IN the hallway. Haha. We are skilled decorators.*

Reading with the LilyPad.

The girl loves to read. (I mean, 2 year old "read"- she isn't really reading!)

(I mean, she still loves TV more, don't get me wrong, but at least books are a semi-close second).

I feel like Good Night Gorilla, which has probably been the overall favorite for her entire life, deserves a shout out. Dolly Parton (and your Imagination Library), I love you.

Seriously. I cannot recommend Highlights magazine enough. I can vividly remember reading our Highlights magazines when we were kids ( Crafts, Hidden Pictures, Poems, Stories, Timbertoes, Goofus and Gallant, etc... I remember an article about peanuts growing on the ground- in vines- and I think about it every time I eat peanut butter), and I seriously give some credit to Highlights for making me love reading. I still hunt down the Highlights if I am in a waiting room.

Before Christmas, I found out that they have a version for little kids! High Five! It is for ages 3-6, I think. It IS pricey, and the cheapest deal I could find was $30 for 12 issues (one year). Ouch. BUT, I didn't hesitate, because that is how much I believe in this magazine. Lily LOVES it!! We read our magazine (we have 3 issues so far) DAILY. They have the same basic parts each month- a fable, a poem, a story about Tex and Indi, hidden pictures, an action poem, etc... And, each month, on the back is a "bonus" that you tear out, like a matching game or a little book.

I mainly love it, because it is an EASY thing to "do" with Lily. It is different than a regular book, because it is so interactive and full of a variety of literature. We read them over and over and over. I do NOT spend $30 on many things, but this has already been worth it. I am pretty sure my Mom saved ours for years, too, because we kept going back and reading them over and over (right, Mom?). They are made really well and aren't super thin or flimsy. Love, love, love.

I found a random Barnes and Noble credit, so I got Lily this Ariel book and CD! It was only like $6, I think. We just got it, but she has already followed along in the car a few times. Fun.

She spent 15 minutes being "the teacher" and reading her book to me.

It was pretty cute.

She is animated. Of course.

MeeMaw and Granddaddy got her a Jingle puppy and books for Christmas. They are from Hallmark, and when you read the Jingle books, he barks and rings his bell. Adorable. She loves Jingle.

Busy Bags...AWESOME toddler activities.

In October, one of my (clearly amazing) new friends initiated a Busy-Bag swap. One of her friends did it before (see her link below), so Meg decided it would be super fun for us to do, too. And, it turned out to be so AWESOME. I can't remember how many of us did it, but I think Lily got 16 bags total. Some people, like me- couldn't let Anderson not have a set!- made 2, because they had 2 kids, or a nephew. :) Each person made 16 total bags of the same thing and then we just swapped. The details and pictures/instructions are on my friend's friend's blog. :)

LINK: Busy Bags. CHECK THIS OUT.

Snow! And some other things.

We FINALLY saw some snow! I live in a state with NORTH in the title, and it is hardly colder than Alabama. But, I am thrilled we got at least one day!

At first, as soon as I peeked out the window, and I was squealing with delight shaking Lily up and down by the window, she was totally unimpressed with the snow "Mama. I don't want to play in that." But, of course, she loved it once we got out and played.

Our awesome, precious neighbors were sledding, so Lily and I joined in. She even wanted to go by herself! It lasted exactly one time, because she lost a mitten in the mud and turned out the drama.

"And a button nose..."

She spent the entire 20 minutes that we were building this "snowman" singing "Frosty the Snowman". Precious.

We clearly had very little snow, and she was disappointed that our snowman was so small, but our hands were freezing, so we weren't too sad to give up on him.

She loves to find things with her "noculars." "Mama, I find it for you."

(Don't panic- this picture was taken IN our driveway, not while driving).

I LOVE this focused look she gets. It is her signature look.

Our Getting-Dressed-Drama is weird and inconsistent. I mean, it IS consistent in the fact that it is AWFUL every day since summer. She screams, kicks, throws, punches, runs, tears at her clothes, etc... I LITERALLY have to sit on top of her and fight to get on each article of clothing. Tights are my worst enemy. I actually can't pinpoint what it is, and I have tried talking to her about it every day. She just says (screams), "I don't want to get dressed!" One day, she wants to keep on her jammies, so I let her, and then she freaks out in the car because she wants "daytime clothes!"Some days, she ONLY wants to wear the pink Lily butterfly dress. I am always exhausted, frustrated, and angry by the end. It is ridiculous. I have tried rewards, choices, consequences, talking, reasoning, guilt, etc, etc, etc...

Whatever. BUT, this week, ONE day she wore an Aunt Manda outfit that she requested! One day, she picked out her own outfit (see above: Aunt Manda, you would DIE if you saw this in person. Ice cream shirt, purple pants, watermelon socks, light up shoes, hair-do courtesy of hairballs), and today, she calmly informed me that she was "Bigger and not little," and she let me get her dressed. Without a fight or word or punch. I literally held my breath the entire time and then almost started crying. I am serious. This getting dressed thing has really worn on me. This is what she told me: "Mama, I'm bigger. I'm not little. You're little. Bigger girls don't cry."

I have worked the "bigger" card all day long. We'll see how long it lasts.

My hair the other day. I literally walked around the Children's Museum for two hours like this before I saw a mirror.

I organized Lily's crafty stuff into cute bins! Michaels has really good boxes (like the white one) for less than $2. They are photo boxes, I think, and they are really sturdy. I want to organize some of Lily's other toys, soon. I used cute foam stickers to label.

Sometimes I cannot figure out my kid. I am almost 99% sure it is because she is 2.

I bought this pink pancake mix on Valentines clearance, because Lily loves pink and pancakes and a clearance. BUT, I am a veteran 2-year old Mama, and I am learning. I was prepared for her to not be excited and actually ready for her to hate it. Which she did. I made a huge production out of showing her the mix one morning....and, she started crying angrily and ran to get the "brown pancake mix" from the pantry. She finally warmed up to the idea of the pink pancakes (which was disappointing because they were gross), but the meltdown did NOT ruin my morning. Because I have learned to take away all expectation with two year olds. They are crazy.

Books I have read recently.

I LOVE being able to check out library books on my Kindle (and the Kindle App, which is free!).

A few years ago, I could not have imagined NOT owning the book and holding it and keeping it on a bookshelf. I love being surrounded by my friends/books and having them with me always. UNTIL I moved and left half of my stuff in storage and will be moving AGAIN in July...

So the Kindle is the way to go. Um, PLUS, I can download FREE book loans from the library without even leaving my house. Win-win. ALL of the ones below were borrowed from the library on my Kindle app.

Without further ado...

Kelly from The Office! This book was awesome- funny, self-depreciating, interesting, genuine, smart, witty, etc... My only complaint is that I wish it were LONGER. It felt very short (I think I maybe read it in one night), and I would have been sad if I had paid $15 for it or something.

My favorite parts:

On how Amy Poehler (whom I also love) is "pals" with her husband, Will Arnett, and Mindy wants her future hubs to be her pal:

" 'Amy: Hey guys. Have you seen Arnett? I can't find him.'

I had never heard a woman call her husband by his last name, like she was a player on the same sports team Will was on. You could tell from that small moment that Will and Amy are totally pals.

Exactly. It was worth reading the book for that one part. Most people just think I'm weird that I call my husband, Hughes. Thanks for getting us, Mindy.

Same page:

"I want to hear that...one got the other hooked on Breaking Bad"

Have YOU watched Breaking Bad?? People, this is SERIOUS. Hughes DID in fact suggest/encourage/force/bully me into watching Breaking Bad, and I am so grateful to him not giving up on me. It looked so weird (a chemistry teacher learns he has terminal cancer, so he begins making and selling Meth to take care of his family) and so un-like me. It is. But, it is also addicting, powerful, entertaining, scary, bold, awesome... It's on NetFlix. Watch it.

Don't read it. It is awful. Gag. And, I usually like all books.

Loved the title and the cover picture. Haha. ("Don't judge a book by its cover" bothers me. Books are made to be sold. SELL me with your cover! Not judging people by their covers is good. Especially since I look homeless quite often). I was expecting more chick-lit style with funny stories about stupid boys and fashion mistakes. Instead, this is about a mature, smart writer trying to make it in New York. Funny, dry, sarcastic, subtle humor. It's a series of essays by an author who is my age, so I could relate to some of her stories (except she is single rich, travels the world, and is kinda weird in an almost hippie way or something). It IS pretty good, but I think this is a book on English major-y people will like. Nothing really happens in the book, so you have to REALLY like words. I read it a few weeks ago and have basically already forgotten everything about it, but I did enjoy it while it was happening.

She does write about Girl Talk:

"To its credit, Girl Talk was downright empowering compared to Mall Madness, a game of fiscal responsibility that encouraged girls to buy everything in sight until they found a boy to do it."

and

"For all its many flaws- and there were many- at Girl Talk's core was the single lesson that prepared me for truth-or-dare. Which prepared me for "I Never."

LOVED those games! I can still picture both of the boxes and boards. In retrospect, they are pretty terrible. But, as a middle schooler sitting on Anna's bed, they were magical and amazing. And the idea of the games building on each other and culminating in "I Never" is so true. Terrifyingly true.

It was fun, simple, light, easy. I liked it. It was full of things that are common sense but were backed with LOADS of research. It was nice to be reminded of a few keys to happiness: sleep, keep peace, cultivate friendships, don't be around unpleasant odors (seriously), cherish animals, watch less television, accomplish something every day, de-clutter, etc... The author even gives you little, realistic ways to practice each one. It is a perfect mix or practical, refreshing, and realistic.

It is always helpful to be reminded of a few keys to parenting. A few reminders I took away:

*She deserves my unconditional love and acceptance. (I read this in December when Lily's lack of sleep was threatening to do me in. It was good to remember that I have to love her for WHO she IS).

*Convey fair and clear expectations

*Set firm limits

*Listen to her with my full presence

*If Lily watched me all day long, what would she learn? (Oh. To be crazy? MUST tone it down)

*The best gift I can give her is my time

*Tailor my mothering to LILY. (So true. Kids are NOT one-size-fits-all)

*What 3 values do I want her to have above all else? Focus on these. (Not sure, yet...definitely compassion, because I can cheat and assume that respect, gratitude, honesty, and kindness will come from it. Also assertiveness, I think. I don't want her bossy, but I want her to be strong, independent, confident. And...fun. Definitely fun).

It is all TOO much. Too sad. Too REAL. Too much to trudge through. It reminded me of The Book Thief (not nearly as good or nearly as sad, though). The narration (from the perspective of Oskar, a 9 year old boy) is believable and impacting. At times, especially for the first half, if is confusing and unconnected at parts. It was not a quick read for me (well, 5 days or so), because it drags at times. It IS beautifully written and is a book that will stay with me, but it was depressing. 9/11 really DID happen, and 9 year old boys really DID lose their dads. The style was the best- and the worst- part of the book, because it was just so REAL. Connected and sweet and tragic all at once. Worth reading.

Good. Worth reading, since it was a free Kindle library book. It kept my attention, and the writing, while not the most beautifully stylistic book ever, was poetic enough. I am partial to 1st person books, though. At the very beginning, you find out the main character (Ronnie, a 12 year old girl) had two little sisters murdered by a crazy man. So, there's that, which sucks. Obviously, the entire book is about life after the murders, and it IS depressing but also enlightening and even interesting. Happy things do occur, but I am already too much of a worrier and need to stay away from books like this one. It felt like a Jodi Picoult book, honestly: not a change-your-life book but definitely not a waste of time, either.

If you are still reading, then you are a nerd, too, so you will appreciate these books. I started a Book Journal a few years ago, mainly because I read so many books that I would find myself halfway through a book and realize I had ALREADY read it! It was usually with Grisham or a Young Adult novel. So, I started jotting down thoughts about each book after I finished it. I am about to start my 3rd one. I love them, because sometimes I write pages if a book really impacted me. Or, sometimes, I just write: "No thank you" or "Love". Sometimes I add in a magazine article about a book I read or something extra cool, like my WRISTBAND from one of the HARRY POTTER midnight waits. It is fun to go back and look at what I thought about a book or when/where/why I read it. It is depressing to see how MANY books I read pre-Lily and how few books I read in 2009 and 2010. I am trying to make up for lost time. I am just a happier person when I am reading a book.

haha. I flipped through my older Book Journal and saw part of my blurb about Twilight (from 7 years ago!) well before it was ever popular at all: The cover is definitely enticing- old adages aside; it DID make me interested in the book...It has all of the things I usually enjoy: well developed plot, attention to details (grilled cheese sandwiches), 1st person, creative, magic, etc... I DID enjoy this book, but I just don't know about it. I can't put my finger on it...something about the style (lack of?) or how quickly she fell in love...I don't know. It was just okayish to me. BUT, I will do a Book Talk with my kids on Monday. They will definitely want to read this one.

I know people LOVE Twilight, possibly even close to how I love my Harry, BUT the books just weren't that captivating to me. I see the appeal of it, I guess, but the series is just not my favorite thing, ever. Sorry.

I need new titles...send suggestions.

Melissa... I need to borrow your Unbroken, by the way.

Funny Lily comments

*Me: Are you a princess?

Lily: No! I'm Dora the Estorer!

* I had on a white face mask ( a free sample from Sephora), and Lily took one look at me and burst out laughing, "Mama! Stop trying to be Ursula. Ursula is a optopus."

* Lily to Daddy at dinner: "Daddy, did you play doctor all day at work?"

*After we leave the Gym, I usually remind Lily to tell the workers thank you. Today, unprompted, she turned and yelled VERY LOUDLY to the entire childcare area: "You're Welcome, Gym!"

* Lily and I were eating dinner, and to mix it up, I suggested we have a toast. We didn't have drinks, so I said, "Let's toast with our strawberries, Lily" and showed her what to do. She looked at me strangely for a few seconds and finally said, "Mama, that isn't toast. It's strawberries."

*Hughes went to San Diego for some course/conference thing (I can't even pronounce the words in the title- echocardiology or something? I should probably know...It was from 7am until 9pm every day. Not fun) for EIGHT DAYS! We missed him, but we kept ourselves super busy. It honestly just felt like an ICU rotation where we never see him anyway. When he came home, of course Lily could NOT handle her excitement, and, of course, he brought her lots of goodies, including a pink stuffed dolphin. The next day, she told me, "Daddy got me a pink dolphin. It's mines. He got it from Diego. He doesn't know Dora, just Diego."

*Someone asked me how I spell Lily (the same weird people who want to put an H in nicHole (gag) want to spell it Lilly (which is NOT even a word).

I said, "Just one L, like the flower."

A little voice from below: "No, Mama- it does have 2 L's."

Me: "No, just one, Lily. Your name just has one L."

Lily: "Mama! It has TWO L's."

It really took me a full minute to figure out what she was talking about. LiLy. Oops.

*Lily to Daddy THE SECOND he walks in the door every day: "DAAADDDDDEEEEEE!!!! Daddy! Daddy! What did you do at the work? We went to the park. Daddy, I threw rocks in the river at the park. I like pink...what do you like? Do you like pink, Daddy? I have a pink dress. It says LILY on it. Mama washed it! "etc...

It is always a variation of this where you can tell she is trying desperately to think of another thing to say and keep his attention. He is used to me following him around, giving him a minute-by-minute play by play of the day, and I know he feels really lucky to have another female in the house who can't/won't shut up.

*****************

Below: Two pictures from play-dates this week. Play-dates save my sanity. Lily has more fun with friends (unless there are toys involved, because toys at play-dates with 2 year olds who can't share= drama, crying, stress, bruises, us leaving early, etc..), and I can only sit alone at the Chick-fil-a booth so many times. Especially since our husbands work a million hours a week, we NEED friends. When your kid almost falls into the play-river-thing at Sci-Works, and you have to grab her foot in the air at the last minute to keep her from getting soaked, it is WAY more fun to have a friend with you to witness it.

The Princesses

It was inevitable. The Princesses have infiltrated our lives.

I REALLY never expected it to happen, because Lily seemed so un-Princess-like, but they have barged their way into our lives, basically overnight.

Like all of Lily's favorite things, it started with TV... Tangled. It is such an adorable movie, and it is even more adorable when Lily will sit for almost the entire movie and watch it on NetFlix. So, I more than encouraged it. Plus, I like that Rapunzel has some spunk, AND I especially like that at the end she loses her blonde hair and ends up "happily ever after" with BROWN hair. No offense to all of my blonde fam/friends, but Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and their blonde hair really monopolized the princess world for a while (Snow White and her black hair are terrible- she literally gets upstaged by seven old men). It is important to me that Lily like and respect the strong princesses. I am sorry, but Cinderella is really such a loser. Sleeping Beauty is worse- waiting for years for some man to come. I know it sounds crazy, but I almost tried to steer her AWAY from The Princesses. It's a ridiculous fear, I know, and I feel a lot better now that some strong Princesses are around, but I cannot have her thinking that the entire point of her life is to brush her hair and wait for some man to come and give her life meaning. Luckily for me, she is steadily pulling out most of her hair, so I don't anticipate the curse of the Princesses affecting her, anyway.

Whew. Sorry about that. I am really not a crazy feminist. THE Princesses are just a BIG thing, if that makes sense.

I threw all of my concerns out the window, though, when I saw this girl's face when ARIEL SENT HER A PICTURE!!!!!!!

*Notice, also, that she is in some Princess jammies from Noni- these are her current favorites*

Belle! And Cinderella! And Jasmine! (you KNOW I like Jasmine with her black hair)!

Lily: Mama! Ariel gave me this letter!? At my house?

Me: Yeah, Baby! Ariel loves you!

Lily: Mama! Ariel is gonna come to my house and play with me. When I wake up.

Me: Oh, remember, Ariel lives in the ocean, so she can't come to our house and play.

Lily: PAUSE...Mama, Ariel just came to bring the letter to Lily's house. So, Ariel CAN leave the oshun and come play with me. (*Literally, I took the above picture as she was tearing apart my reasoning.)

My Aunt Paula (the one who saved Anderson's vision) sent me the address. Lily just wrote a letter (colored and cut a piece of paper) and asked for an Ariel picture. Her postcard, addressed to her!, came 2 weeks later.

Walt Disney World Communications

P.O. Box 10040

Lake Buena Vista, FL

32830-0040

Aunt Manda, of course, is the one who introduced her to Ariel.

Bop made her an Ariel a few weeks ago. And, then she fell asleep in the car. So, clearly The Princesses ARE magical.

Princess stuff from Aunt Manda.