Days 158 &159

Yesterday was an exciting day in our world.  Mike and his work friends ran something call National Challenge here in Cleveland, there were 300+ teams and over 1300 people running.  The top 25 teams get invited to the final race in Vegas in November, Mike's team came in 19th!  How exciting is that?!  If you know of any unique landmarks/statues/etc in Vegas, let me know, we are amassing a list of places and their locations for the Finals race!

Back to craft now.  We did Sculpy clay for the first time.  Iris LOVED it.  She started out making a person, then it got a "boo-boo" so it needed a band-aid.  The band-aid kept growing and growing.  Now it has a bandage on the back and front, and the top bandage has a belly button... don't ask me!  I made a rose that I am pretty darn proud of :)

So, that brings us to today, and of course, that also brings us to another side story... Fish died on Monday morning :(  It was a sad day in our house, but the kids took it very well.  They are still talking about us flushing fish lol.  Well, tuesday, we cleaned the tank really well, cleaned Fish's buddy (a cement turtle) off and put him on the memorial shelf with all our animals ashes, and threw away a few of the older plants.  Yesterday,  and Iris and I got the water tested to make sure that it was safe to add a new fish to and today, we went to pick out a new fish:

He is currently named "Fish 2", he got TWO new "friends": a pineapple hideaway and an ambulance, new red/orange/yellow rocks, and an orange/yellow plant.  He is SOOO active compared to Fish 1.  He is ALL over the tank up and down, side to side, he NEVER stops!  I guess that is the difference between a 5 year old fish and a young fish!!

And, now back to Craft again:  Iris and Penny wanted to make dolls.  I had no idea how to make a doll for craft, and mike decided to make felt cut-out dolls.  So, while Penny napped, Mike and I sat at the table for an hour and cut out two dolls, pants, shirts, skirts, dresses, shoes, shorts, a bathing suit, hair, etc etc etc... Iris even made a few "accessories" while we worked.  Then, Mike hot glued little pieces of velcroe to clothes.  The girls then got the "dress" them...and this is what was left!

Day 150: Play food- part 1

Tonight, I decided to begin the process of making play food with the kids.  I have been stock piling felt for just such an occasion, I have grand plans of making hamburgers, Buns, cheese, etc with them, but we started with 2 very simple foods: Ravioli and Eggs.

The process is really very simple.  All i did was take a rotary cutter and make cloud like shapes of white and then circles of yellow for over easy eggs.  Then I took a pair of pinking sheers and cut squares of tanish colored felt for ravioli.  The girls helped me roll balls of batting to stuff the eggs with, then they put glue around the edges and sealed the yolks onto the eggs.  I added straight pins to give it some extra sticking power while the glue is drying.  We did the same process with the raviolis too.  They are still drying, so you can see the pins in every thing.

Honestly, Iris was really into it.  She enjoyed gluing, and sticking and helping me hold the felt together so i could pin it in place.  I think she is at the right age for these type of projects, Penny is just a little young.  This will be a multi step process, and it will probably span the course of many months, but hey, it is a start!