today so far

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I thought I'd do a report on my day today. Sienna is napping and I don't feel like doing the dishes yet, so... :) Sienna is still sick so we've had a mellow day cuddling and playing. We built a really tall tower and then a big castle with blocks. Then we took out all the train stuff and added a zoo to it as usual. The little people were playing soccer with a little ball. In between playing, Sienna watched Dora for a bit. She ate some apple and now I'm waiting to see if it'll stay in. So hard to see your little one being sick. Atleast she's still ok enough to play. I had one of those "I love being a mom" moments when I cuddled her before she went for a nap. She is such a joy to me and Jay. Sometimes I still can't believe that I'm a mommy. *tears*

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Now that I have a moment to myself my mind started wandering as usual. I should be cleaning the house but I'm not feeling 100% either. I haven't got totally sick but feel nauseated and have been drinking Ginger Ale. So far so good... Housework just isn't very inviting when you're not feeling too well. I'll try to get to it though once I'm finished with this blog entry. I promise. :)
I started to think about snow and how fun it is to go out with Sienna. Not that we have been able to go out much. It's either been too cold or one of us has been sick. But snow IS fun and you can do all kinds of fun stuff with it. I mentioned before that our snow is usually light and fluffy. I look forward to some wetter snow so Sienna can experience things like snowballs, snowmen etc. for the first time. So here I was, snow on my mind... I thought of how in Finland people make snowball lanterns. That's what the above picture is. They're simple to make (just keep piling snowballs on top of each other and put a candle inside) and so pretty. When we were kids we of course made snowforts. We also made a big round circle in the snow with footprints and then lines through the circle and played "catch". You could only run on the lines. The middle was a safe haven. The more snow there was, the more fun it was. (en muuten muista miksi tuota leikkia sanottiin... muistaako joku?) Another fun idea is to put food coloring and water in a squirt gun (or a spray bottel) and "draw" in the snow. Please feel free to leave a comment and share some of your "fun with snow" ideas.
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From snow my mind wandered to Calvin & Hobbes. Calvin always builds the most creative things with snow. This is just a quick sample of his snow creations.
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Then I remembered the cute snowball caterpillar in one of my Martha Stewart KIDS magazines. You don't always have to build snowmen. Let your imagination go wild and see what you can come up with. Your kids can be little Calvins and do all sorts of fun things.
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The rest of the time until now I have spent admiring my Martha Stewart KIDS magazines and sooooooo wishing they'd still publish them! I guess I need to start writing begging letters to MSL so they'd realize I NEED these magazines. NEEEEEEED!! :) Sure love them. The rest of the pictures are just few of the many wonderful ideas in those magazines. Enjoy!
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This is one of my very favorite Martha Stewart Christmas trees. So simple. So beautiful! I love how they use a big metallic tub to hide the trunk. I've been meaning to find one for our tree.
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They glued blue glitter on paper snowflakes and made a garland with them. Again - so simple yet so beautiful! You can also make a little snowflake wreath on the wall or frame one.
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Another cool tree. Ornaments are made out of candy!! Kids would love to make the ornaments but you might find your tree bare by the time Christmas comes. :) Notice the candy stick bucket cover. Perfection at it's best.
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I still remember how excited I was when I saw this article on ginger bread kids. So original and soooooo cute!! Who knew that a garlic press can make hair for your ginger bread kiddies...
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I love these calendars! I LOVE kids' art!
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I actually made some of these mice and when I saw this picture I realized I haven't put all our Christmas decor out yet. :) Kids could make these as gifts for their friends.
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The magazines always had one of these pullout booklets in them. Lots of fun stuff in them. This one featured reindeers...
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"Reindeer shed their velvet at summer's end. Thier antlers get itchy, so they rub them against trees and stones until the velvet falls off. The antlers beneath are smooth, white, and hard - like bone. The leader of a herd of reindeer is always the one with the biggest antlers!"
I loved learning about various animals from each pullout. *sigh*
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Can't forget about the jokes and riddles in each pullout. Click on the picture and you'll be able to read them in this picture.
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*big sigh*
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Well, that's been my day so far. It's 2.40pm now. I guess I'd better tackle the dishes now and see what other organizing/cleaning I'll get done before Sienna wakes up.
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ps. Almost forgot!! One of my friends called as well and told me her water broke. Pretty soon they'll welcome their fourth child into the world. How exciting!! My friend also told me about their little one finding some of her grandpa's medicine and eating it. She had to spend the night at the hospital with her. Make sure medicines are out of reach from your little ones! I need to go put Robin's medicine somewhere else. It has a child proof lid but kids nowadays are so smart. Who knows what they can open. Have a safe Christmas season!
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