a crib and a fireplace

I can't believe it has been over a week without a blog update! Such a long time for me and basically just because I have not been creative or done anything fun the past week really :-) Also, there has been a lot of walking outside and playing in the backyard because the weather is nicer and that makes it hard for me to want to be indoors in front of the computer. So, here are a few pics and a quick video to sum up our simple lives.

One thing Kinley LOVES to do that I can't believe I have never taken a picture of yet is climb in the fireplace. We have never actually made a fire in there so it is totally clean but it is still so funny that she likes to climb in there. She puts her baby in there and then goes in and gets her. She loves to open and close the doors on the fireplace screen ...who knows why we have a screen since we haven't ever made a fire...for Kinley's enjoyment I am sure. One thing you should know...when the screen doors are closed, you cannot see her. Only when she opens the doors and says 'Boo' can you see her. My D-group girls love to watch her do this and Abbe grabbed my phone last night to take some pics because she thought it was hilarious. Then, because she literally does this everyday...I took some more pics with the camera today.

P.S. - You can't see her.

We have also been playing outside a lot! We dig in the flower beds, play with rocks, slide on the slide, climb on the patio furniture. Anything we can do really to stay busy.

So much hair blowing in the wind!

And another one of Kinley's favorite places to play is her bed. Sounds weird, but it is the only place that we let her have her paci during the day. So, sometimes she just wants to go in there and lay down and suck on her paci. I usually go and sit down next to her crib and talk to her and try to coax her out without a paci. Today we laughed and "sang" the itsy bitsy spider. I say "sang" in jest because Kinley really only does the hand motions. Enjoy!

homemade playdough and j-e-l-l-o

Last week during the pre-valentine, stuck in the house, snow days...I was just trying to think of some fun activities for Kinley and I to do that were not just sitting around bored of the same old toys and stuck watching TV. So, my first thought was homemade playdough! It sounded so great. So, I found a recipe for "Nature's Playdough" online. (There are SO many playdough recipes out there but, I thought with this one I might have everything I needed in my pantry without having to leave the house!)

Nature's Playdough

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1 cup water

2 tablespoons oil

2 tablespoons cream of tartar

beet, spinach, and carrot juice

Mix flour, salt and oil, and slowly add the water. Cook over medium heat, stirring until dough becomes stiff. Turn out onto wax paper and let cool. Knead the playdough with your hands until of proper consistency. Use as is, or divide into balls and add a few drops of the vegetable juices to make green, pink, and orange.

Well, I quickly nixed the tartar, beet, spinach and carrot juice idea and went straight for the non-natural purple food coloring. Then, I noticed I was running out of salt...so, I substituted about half the salt with Lawry's seasoned salt. The color turned out terrible because my playdough hardened much too quickly for the food coloring to set in. But, the most noticeable characteristic of this playdough was how terribly your hands smelled like Lawry's as soon as you touched it. Pretty much made me gag. So, in retrospect, I definitely recommend the playdough recipe...just NOT the Lawry's as a substitute. Kinley was not a hug fan either...she tried to use some cookie cutters on it...but, was not impressed for very long.

So, to redeem myself...I decided to make some Jello jigglers! Who doesn't LOVE those!?! I thought about cute little heart jello jigglers for Kinley's class would be cute! So, we started in on those. However, very quickly I learned this idea would 1) be a HUGE hit with Kinley and 2) NEVER actually be made into Jello jigglers. The pics are pretty cute though :-)

Heartbreaker Valentines

Today was Kinley's Valentine's Day party at school. I think it is so cute when they have theme-day parties. I just don't believe she is old enough to have those! But, from the moment she woke up she was SO EXCITED to go to school for her party. During the snow days this week Kinley and I made her valentines to take to school. I had remembered these Heartbreaker Valentines from MADE from last year and was so excited to make them this year! Well, best friends must think totally alike because Allison made them too and we both didn't even talk about it or know the other was making these. So fun!

Kinley's favorite part was putting the M&M's inside. Of course, she would sneak a bite or two. She is really learning all her colors now and it was fun to see her group the M&M's and match them with the right heart.

I hope her class enjoyed them as much as she did!

Roomie Reunion (& Baby Bibs)

Last weekend Kristen and I had the most fun weekend visiting our sweet college roomie, Lindsay Barry. We get to talk to Linds on the phone some and keep up with her life that way...but, we never get to see her! Right now she lives in West Lafayette, Indiana where her super-smart hubby is a professor at Purdue. For Linds' birthday Feb 3 her fantastic hubby Adam flew Kristen and I in town to surprise Linds. She can be very sneaky in trying to uncover surprises so, we were all thrilled when we walked off the plane and she had NO idea it would be us! It was a super relaxing, snowed-in weekend where we just sat and talked. One day we literally sat on the couch from 10 - 3:30 and just talked the whole time.

I just adore Lindsay and just being around her for one weekend made me miss her terribly. She is so easy to talk to and so relatable and it felt like it had been minutes since we lived together...not years. I miss her already! We did not take any pictures while we were there..so finally at the airport on the way home, we finally got one of the three of us and her and Adam and Linds' baby belly!

Lindsay is having a girl in June and we talked all weekend about possible names and nursery options and just what being a mama is like. It was so much fun. Kris and I decided we wanted to make Lindsay some stuff to bring her so, Kristen made her some adorable crochet baby hats and leg warmers (kind of like these) and I, of course, I made her a circle scarf..white and pink for having a girl! Then, I decided to make her some bibs. My favorite bibs Kinley ever got were these cute cloth bibs with chenille fabric on the back. They are soft and washable and adorable. So, I decided to make a pattern after those and make Linds some bibs. I picked lots of different patterns because I didn't know if Linds like bright or soft colors...and since you never wear them all together, they could be all different.

Kinley wanted to model one.

It was so much fun visiting Linds and we can't WAIT for baby girl Barry to get here!!!!