shoppausta... plaah...

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I noticed that they sell similar things to this at Michael's. Neat idea. I'll wait when Sienna is a bit older...

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Gotta love people who dare to be different. :)

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I think both of these kids' rooms are adorable even though they're so different from each other. I think I'd go with the bottom one though as I feel kids need to have color around them. Pictures from Decor8 blog.

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These pictures are from Decor8 blog as well. Someone should have used a nicer looking branch though...

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Orange slices are easy to dry in your oven. Put a single layer on baking sheet. Use very low heat and let the slices dry for hours.

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Found this kids book at the Velocity web site. I need to check it out. It looks too cute to pass.

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www.ylighting.com

Jostain syysta nama kukka-aiheiset lamput kiehtoo mua nykyaan.

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Shoppausta vaan kuuluu meille. Viimeisia joululahjoja. Olisipa ihana kun nama ostokset olisi saatu aikaiseksi jo marraskuussa. Nyt saisi vaan leivoskella ja nauttia kotona olosta. Tanaan pitaa vieda Robin laakarille. Sen public guardian tarvii laakarintodistuksen ja siina samassa voivat tsekata silman kun tulehdus ei millaan meinaa lahtea tipoilla (on se jo 10 kertaa paremman nakoinen mut silti). Sitten viela etsimaan niita mustia kenkia Siennalle. Jos ennattaisi myos kayda uusimassa ajokortin. Lahjojakin voisi jo alkaa paketoimaan. Zellaisda ei mitaan ihmeellista siis meille.

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Did you know... that a two-foot (60cm) square of snow 10 inches (25cm) deep contains about a million snowflakes?

Now you do. :)
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ps. Unohdin kertoa etta ostin "elamani ekan pipon". No ei se tietty eka ole mutten muista olenko koskaan ostanut itselleni pipoa. Enka edes muista milloin olen viimeksi pipoa/hattua pitanyt. Mulla on aina talvitakissa huppu ja niin oon parjannyt vuositolkulla. Mutta nyt olen pitanyt sita yhta mun lempitakkia (wool jacket) paljon ja siina ei ole huppua. Mietin etta ihan hyvahan se on jopa olla pipo olemassa. Kun mennaan pulkkamakeen sun muuta. Ostin sellaisen simppelin Peru tyylisen hatun jossa on lettinuorat. Tosi outoa nahda itseni pipo paassa. :)

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joulumuistoja

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Virkatut lumihiutaleet... Arvasitte oikein - vanhasta Martha Stewart joululehdesta.

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Piti ihan napata kuva Gap liikkeen taman vuoden nayteikkunoista. Ihanat pallot paallystetty langalla. Kaulaliina garlandit. Meinasin tehda ensi vuodeksi meille valkoisia lumipalloja kuuseen mutta askartelupallot ovatkin aivan alyn kalliita. Hoh.

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Eli kaytiin eilen Southgate ostarilla. Etsittiin kuumeisesti Siennalle mustia pikkukenkia muttei onnistunut. Joulupukki lahti tauolle ja silla aikaa ennatettiin kayda valokuvakopissa. Meidan traditio joka joulu ja joskus muinakin juhlapaivina.

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Siina vaiheessa kun Sienna sitten paasi joulupukkia tapaamaan oli jo melko vasy ja nalkainen. Tahan mennessa oltiin oltu niin hyvalla tuulella ja harjoiteltu "cheese" hymya mutta sitten Sienna vasahti ja taisi jopa vahan ujostella tata ihme ukkoa. Joulupukin avustaja oli tosi outo. Yritti saada Siennaa hymyilemaan ja silla oli koirakasinukke jolla "puri joulupukin katta". Siis ei todellakaan sellaista puuhaa jolla saa lapsen nauramaan. Hyva ettei itkut tullut siina vaiheessa Siennalle. Tama on varmaan ainoa kerta kun mennaan joulupukin kuvaan. Ei jotenkin mun tapainen juttu. Mutta pitaahan sita nyt ainakin yksi kuva olla muistona. Taalla kun pukki ei tule kotiinkaan niin pitaa kayda ostarilla hanta tapaamassa.

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Sienna was all excited to see Santa but by the time she actually got to see him (Santa went for an hour break just when we got there), she was tired and hungry. All the practised "cheese" smiles vanished, especially because the photographer kept biting Santa's hand with a dog puppet (that was supposed to make her smile!). We had tried to find her black shoes to go with the dress but couldn't find a pair we liked so her winter boots had to do. We'll keep looking. She has another cute Christmas dress and black shoes are a must.

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gotta love learning

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www.elfyourself.com

www.elfyourself.com/?id=1128673520 (see us dance!)

(In case some of you missed this previously.)

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Guess what? Jay did NOT do the 12 days of Christmas. Turns out Robin got the ornament and the teddy from his day program and without telling anyone just put them where we found them. Mystery solved. :)

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I'm excited as I learned something today. I'm sure the rest of you know all about this but today I discovered the PrnScn button on my keyboard. I always knew there must be a way to print out/save what's on your computer screen as I've seen it done. I just never even thought about how to do it. Well, my favorite photographer (Alicia Bock, her website link is in my favorite artists list) had elfed her family and had put a picture like this on her blog. I asked her how she did it and voila! (Thanks Alicia in case you ever happen to visit my blog.) Now I'm a technical genius and know how to do that. Well, maybe not a genius yet (obviously) but atleast an apprentice. :D

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Sienna had 90% normal stuff in her diaper today. Jei! Bye, bye stomach bug! Don't come back for a long time! Ha! :D Not that this was that bad this time. She was actually quite energetic and ok. She's sipping on a smoothie as we speak. Her appetite is back. Hopefully the rest of December will be illness free...

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Jay went to our store #3 this morning to be interviewed by our local newspaper. I hope the article will be in the paper before Christmas. Good advertising. I'm yet to visit our newest store, can you believe it. Everyone say it's nice. Jay has the afternoon off. So nice. I need to find black shoes for Sienna to go with the Christmas dress I bought her. I've been looking a bit but haven't found the perfect pair yet. Might have to settle for whatever is available. I'm not the kind of person who will keep looking and looking. I just don't enjoy shoppoing that much!

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i'm on to him

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Lately I've been dreaming about a vacation to Shanghai, China. But I get to travel via Internet or TV which is not that bad - no food poisoning or jet lag this way. :) So many interesting places in this world.

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We ended up going to the gift exchange. I was vetoed by Jay and his mom. Sienna seemed so energetic and ok as well. I didn't want her to miss any time with her grandparents and cousins. All she had yesterday was one pout of diarrhea and rest of the time she seemed fine. One of Jay's brothers wasn't there with his family. Many of them were sick. We ended up going to their place with the rest of the family. Showed up at their door singing Jingle Bells and dropped of some goodies. Visited for about 15 minutes. Just to let them know we cared and missed them. It was such a nice thing to do.

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Weird things are happening in our house... Yesterday Sienna found a silver star ornament in our tree that had the word LOVE on it. Today there was a santa teddy bear on the tv room floor. It only took me two days but I figured it out: Jay is doing the 12 days of Christmas!! Surprising us with something every day. Do I have an awesome husband or what to think of such a fun thing to do? He sure is a good at keeping secrets though. I kept asking him yesterday if he got the ornament and he so assured me that he had nothing to do with it. I believed him. He's so good... :) But now that I'm on to him maybe I should pretend I don't have a clue about what's going on... :) I'm not very good at keeping a straight face though. Like some other people I know... :)

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To have an extra $30,000 and surprise Jay with a trip to China to go get a babysister for Sienna... *sigh*

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viela sairastellaan

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www.anneclairepetit.nl

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Sienna is still sick. Has energy to be up and about though which is good. I'm just bummed because we were supposed to go to a "white elephant" gift exchange thingy at Jay's parents' place in couple of hours. I thought Sienna was all better as she had started to eat again and seemed better. Rejoiced a bit too early I guess.

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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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for da kids

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Super WHY! is a fun tv show for kids. It teaches kids about letters and how to read words.

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Word World is another fun kids' show that includes letters and reading.

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www.pbskids.org

If you go to the Word World part of this web site you'll find recommended activities for each of the show's episodes.

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Sienna is sick today (stomach bug) hence the multiple blog entries. I have had time to sit on the computer while Sienna is resting. She has just wanted to watch tv and do quiet play. She actually hasn't thrown up today yet (yesterday she threw up twice). She has no appetite though and you can tell she's not 100% still. Quiet day at home today and yesterday. Lotsa cuddling. The one good thing about your little one being sick. I don't know what's going on in our family. Lots of sick days lately. But by the sounds of it, we're not the only ones being sick. It's that time of the year, I guess.

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