Friday's Favourites: Faces Game

It's Friday!!  Here I will share with you something that was our favourite thing this week.

For the past two weeks TJ has been coming up to me randomly during the day and asking me to play our faces game.  I taught him how different emotions look on your face to help him express himself.  TJ is a very intense and sensitive child.  He feels things very strongly and expresses himself usually with a scream, although all his screams sound alike so we never know if he is hurt or happy.  Now TJ knows some faces to uses along with words to describe how he feels.

Here is how we play:

TJ: Mommy lets play faces.
Me: Okay show me a mad face

 TJ: Mommy you show me a sad face

 Me: Great! How about a happy face (he is working on smiling)

 TJ: Here is my sleeping face

Well you get the idea.  You can do all sorts of emotion.  We are also practicing our sign language so we try to sign to go with our face when we can.

Thursday: Playing Outside!

On Thursdays I'd like to share with you what we have been doing as a family during the week.

This week we have been at home a lot.  We did some babysitting on Monday and Tuesday, then Tuesday night MJ was up all night teething and crying, so we stayed home on Wednesday too.  I usually like to get out once a day and go to places like the library, the Ontario Early Years Centre, grocery shopping, or visiting friends.  We have managed to get outside a bit this week.  I'd like to share some ideas with you.

Playing outside with young ones is difficult so we often go out during nap time.

Dress warm (that includes you too moms)!  I found some great leg warmers at the dollar store near us.  TJ likes to wear them over his pants and on his arms.  This keeps him warm under his snow suit without the extra bulk of sweaters.  MJ wears leg warmers every time we go out to cover the gap between his pants and shoes.  I took the time to invest in some good boots, hat and mitts for myself because I usually get cold before the kids.  Keeping warm can be tricky.  We take usually take a break and come inside to warm up.  I use this time to check on the baby if he is sleeping.

Sleds are a wonderful way to entertain a young one.  I usually just pull MJ around the yard while TJ is digging and playing.  We live near a forrest and take walks often.  Our sled saves me from taking the stroller in the snow.

Sand toys can be great to use throughout the year.  We love to make snow castles.
Spray bottles can be filled with colourful water to make fun designs in the snow.

Snow shovels for children can be found at the dollar store or other places and keep your older ones occupied and sometimes helpful too.

Have fun out there!

Wednesday: Upcycled Skirts

Welcome to Wednesday.  Today I'd like to share some of the crafty things I've been up to.  Many people who know me have noticed that I rarely wear pants anymore.  While I'm not going into why here, it does explain my need to make these simple skirts.  During the winter I have found it almost impossible to find long skirts of any kind in the stores.  I was able to pick up a few at Value Village and Good Will, but it takes a long time to search.  I came across the idea of up-cycling and fell in love.  The idea is that you take an object and repurpose it.  Basically recycling.  I found this idea and discovered how easy it is to make, so lets get started....  I'm sorry I don't have pictures of the whole process.  I'll do better with other crafty posts.

Take a pair of pants that you don't need any more (It really helps if they fit you, or the person you are making it for).  I used a pair of old jeans, a pair of old cords, and a pair of the boys old jeans.

Cut the legs to your desired length.  I kept mine long for the winter and because I already own a knee length denim skirt.  For my niece I cut the legs right off and only kept the very top of the jeans.

Cut (or use a seam ripper) up the leg inseams to the crotch.

Cut two triangle shapes out of another piece of material.  You could use the legs of your pants if you didn't need them.  I chose to use some spare material I had from other craft projects.  It is entirely your choice how wide to make the triangle piece.  The wider the base, the fuller your skirt will be.  I like to have room to move around to I made mine pretty big.

Sew the triangles between the legs in the front and back.  BEWARE: the top of your triangle will be the weakest part and susceptible to ripping.  Be sure to reinforce that area when your sew.

Next it is time to hem the bottom of the skirt and enjoy!

Please note: for the skirt I made for my niece I simply took some material (I chose the leg of my husbands old jeans) and sewed it around the bottom of the skirt.  You can try to add frills and decorative items too. Be creative and have fun.

Happy sewing.  I'll try to be more detailed in my future craft posts.

Monday Missions: Mommy Missions Website

Welcome to a new week on my new blog.  Every Monday I hope to share with you how God is working in our lives.  So lets get started...

Over the last two weeks I followed a Blog hop hosted by Heat of the Matter.  One of the blogs I read about was Mommy Missions.  Although I haven't subscribed to her website yet, I do love her blog.  I was gently reminded through this website and God's word that I don't need to go on any far away mission trip, that my mission field is right here at home.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.  Deuteronomy 6: 4-9

When I try to focus on putting the LORD first in our day, then anything else I happen to accomplish is a bonus.  I'll be the first to admit that some days I feel like everything (including the kids) are preventing me from getting things done.  The "things" I want to do are often just cleaning, or crafts and aren't really all that important.  I need to be in the Word daily to refocus my priorities.  I'm always working on this area in my life, and with two young boys it isn't easy, but I'll keep pressing on.