Puppets

The puppet theater is one of those things you have to do at least once, just for the experience of it. It’s a small theater that’s been here forever so it has a lot of charm. Your “tickets” are stick puppets that you get to color and decorate before the show. You also have access to TONS of hand puppets, stick puppets and marionettes to play with.

This month we got to see the African Tales with Anansi the Spider. We actually got to see it twice – once when Brian and Ann were in town, and then again with Jessica and her girls.

The show is ok but I would’ve rather seen something else the second time.

We thought it was kind of ironic that the lady doing the puppet show seemed like she didn’t really like kids. She stopped the show three times because she thought the kids were being too loud. Lily didn’t really want anything to do with it and of course was part of the problem. At one point there is a lion in the show and she said “Maybe the lion should eat the noisy kids!” At that point I promptly took Lily out.

I promise Lily was there. She was way too busy to let me take a picture of her.

Birthday Rag Quilt

I’ve been working on this quilt for a few months and was able to finish it in time for Lily’s birthday. I love the fabrics and how cozy it is with all the frayed edges.

 

Frozen Pipes and Piggie Tails

We’ve had some REALLY cold weather in the middle of January. One of the nights it got down in the single digits and we noticed that the sink in the upstairs bathroom was full of water. We suspected that the drain was frozen so we drained out the sink and ran hot water down the drain. We went to bed thinking that was the end of it.

The next morning we were in the laundry room and could hear running water but knew nothing was supposed to be running. Then we noticed the bubbling paint along the walls and ceiling and knew we needed to call the landlord. Sure enough one of the pipes in the upstairs bathroom had broken under the pressure of the frozen water and as soon as the weather warmed up a bit the pipe broke.

 

There was water dripping from the ceiling by the time we got the main water turned off. A few hours later the landlord was able to get someone to come look at it and found out it was the heating system that had frozen. We have all radiant heat that runs throughout the house, which means we have a boiler in the basement that heats the water and then it goes through the radiators upstairs.

 

Luckily this was a lot easier to deal with since the landlord decided to take the radiator in the bathroom totally out and replace it with an electric one. So we had our water turned back on in the afternoon and didn’t have to stay somewhere else for the night.

So the new heater is in but we still have a gaping hole in our laundry room that will hopefully be fixed by next week(our landlord is doing all the work himself which makes the job last 10 times longer).

So, in lighter news, Lily’s hair is now long enough and thick enough to be put in pig tails. I’m in heaven.

I’ve always dreamed of the day when I would be able to do my little girl’s hair. It’s so fun to pick out her accessories to go with her outfit, but now I realize that all her flowers and bows for her headbands are singles. So I need to make some double flowers and bows to go with her outfits.

Blues Clues and Baby Signing Time are my life saver. I’m not sure how I would get her to hold still otherwise.

It’s not quite as pretty post-nap. We usually have to redo it for the evening.

I’m really enjoying this new phase!

A project worth mentioning

Even if it did take me nearly 2 weeks AFTER Christmas to finish it. I made this tree skirt and I’m really happy with how well it turned out. The circles weren’t the easiest to work with but the cute buttons made up for it.

10 months

This little sweetie pie was sick right after our visitors left so I don’t have any “official” 10 month pictures so we’ll have to settle for random ones instead.

Lily, at 10 months:

• you love to play peek-a-boo and will even pull the blanket over your face

• you get so excited when Daddy comes home from work (and Daddy loves it too)
• Daddy’s favorite thing to do with you is throw you up in the air or hold you upside down
• you love your time with Daddy and giggle the whole time
• you are still a “jabber gums” and tell us “stories” all day long

• we’ve been trying to teach you signs but we’re still not sure if you’re getting it. We’re hoping you get it soon because the little tantrums you throw when you don’t get more of something aren’t much fun.
• we think you understand these signs – food/eat, milk, more, drink, fish, book, and sleep. But we have yet to see you use them without us helping you

   

• you love eating and will eat pretty much anything
• you LOVE your binkie lately, we think you might be getting some more teeth soon
• the towel drawer is your favorite place in the kitchen, you empty it multiple times a day  

Lily, you’re our little mess-making tornado but we love that you’re curious and having fun. We love you so much and can’t believe you’re getting so big!

New Year’s Bash

Because of the big snowstorm that hit Denver the week after Christmas, our visitors decided to extend their stay with us through New Year’s. We had lots of yummy food.

Everyone looked fantastic in their hats we made using my new cricut machine. Each person chose their character. Lily had a little help choosing hers.

We rang in the new year around 9pm, the kids didn’t know any different.  Fun times were had by all!

Visitors!

We came back from Utah with a few more people than we went with. Ann and Brian (and the girls) came to stay with us because Ann and Brian had some dental work to get done. Do you see a pattern starting? Apparently dental work is better done in Colorado ;)

While Brian and Ann were at the dental office the rest of us got to hang out.

 

Safety First Woody!

Elise was so excited for her cousins to come play with her. She helped me gather paper, markers, and stickers and put some of each at each seat telling me which person wanted to use which stickers and markers. It was pretty cute. The girls had fun drawing pictures until lunch.

 

Right after lunch we piled everyone into Jessica’s van and headed to the mall to play.

The kids were all worn out by the time we got back in the van.

Our magnet boards got lots of use while they were here. This was a picture Elise made of her family. I LOVE little kids’ drawings of people. Especially at this stage where people don’t have bodies, just heads and legs. They crack me up!

The next morning Ann and Brian used our Christmas gift to them and went to the cute little café for breakfast while I watched Melody (Elise got to have a sleep-over with her cousins – lucky girl!)

That night we ate at Pasquini’s. They are very family-friendly and even give the kids pizza dough to play with while we’re waiting for our food to cook.

We had to show them the Tim Tam Slam experience. You look silly slurping your hot chocolate through the Tim Tam cookie. But after you taste the melted deliciousness, you won’t care about sticking your face in a mug.