O Sweet Sadie

That great craft show I went to last December has set their dates for their spring show! O Sweet Sadie will be held:

April 17th & 18th in Draper
April 24th & 25th in South Jordan

Mark your calendars to go take a look-see. It's worth a trip and so fun to take a look around for ideas or make a purchase.

Baby Laugh

This was on my latest babycenter.com email update. It made me laugh a lot, so I thought I'd share it. Violet knows all of these signs! Especially the point and grunt, except she does more of the variation, point and squawk.


Your baby can learn sign language!

Here's how to say:

• "Please change my diaper": Turn beet red and make straining expression, then smile.
• "I'd like something to eat, please": Cram fist in mouth and suck wildly.
• "I'm tired": Make a series of weeping gestures before closing eyes and lolling head backward.
• "Please pass me that thing up there that I can't reach": Point and grunt, then continue pointing and open mouth into screaming position.
• "No thank you. I think I've had enough": Throw food or object to floor with exaggerated grin.

Running Out of Carpet Cleaner....

aka, Potty Training Cora.

No actually, we had a hard day yesterday, but Saturday and Sunday went well, and today is off to a good start!

On the recommendation of many friends, I read this book (as well as some internet research) and we've followed this technique.


What I liked about it:
-Using a doll to show the child what is going to happen with potty training.
-After an accident, the child practices getting to the bathroom and on the toilet from different points in the house to help solidify the routine.
-Rewards are given for dry pants, not for going potty (except at first).

We'll see how it goes! I'm hoping she'll be pretty secure by the end of the week but who knows? I'm a little anxious about our first errand running trip to Salt Lake post-training, that'll be an adventure. Cora is excited about swimming in the pool at Kissie and Pata's condo for a reward... hopefully that will be a good motivator for her to be all the way trained.

SWEETS

Cora, Violet, and I joined playgroup again this week to tour the Sweets candy factory in Salt Lake. It was great! They do lots of tours every day, so they were totally set up and well-organized. We donned the requisite paper hats (even Violet! and boy, she did NOT want that thing on her head!) saw how they make salt water taffy, orange sticks, cinnamon bears, jelly beans, and much more! That coupled with all the samples, the kids were in heaven. Plus we got some candy at the factory store on our way out so Kevin didn't miss out. They don't allow cameras on the tour, so we got a picture outside the building afterwards.

8 Random Things

Heather tagged me on her blog, I have trouble thinking of things for these sometimes, but here it goes. (Lists are in no particular order!)

8 Favorite t.v. shows:

1. NCIS
2. Law and Order
3. Wheel of Fortune
4. 24
5. ER, it's trash, I know, but I wanted to see the last season.
6. Numb3rs
7. The Today Show
8. Design Star

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. Getting 8 hours of sleep uninterrupted... maybe in 5 years!
2. Fresh batch of cookies
3. Family gatherings
4. Getting the mail
5. Finishing projects
6. Our house selling! ... to be out of limbo-land
7. Trip to England in the fall
8. Cora being potty-trained

4 Things on My Wishlist (8 was just too many)
1. Someday, Disney World vacation with kids old enough to love it
2. A nice beach/scuba vacation
3. A house that is fully organized and clean... all of it at the same time!
4. A long, unhurried, productive shopping trip with unlimited funds.

8 People I Tag:
Any one who wants to...

Happy Valentines Day!

We've kind of been doing Valentine's celebrations all week, but Saturday was the big day! We had an afternoon family V-day party complete with fancy cookies made by Kevin, Valentines presents, popcorn, balloons, Madagascar 2, and Cora got to eat as many little candy hearts as her big heart desired. Kevin and I gave each other The Big Brain Academy Wii game (yes, we got a Wii for Christmas and we love it!) and had a relaxing evening. Cora was so excited about having a party, it was a great day.

And Kevin installed the toilet in the basement and it works! Doubly good day!

Bow Holders

I've been in the process of making these for several months now... now they are finally done! Here's Emeline's (shhh, for her birthday!!)
And Cora's, in her room, all full of bows. I love having the bows out of the drawer and organized, and to spice up Cora's bedroom walls a bit. We were going to decorate her room, but decided to hold off when we put our house up for sale.
I actually have an extra one... is anyone interested? Email me, I just need to figure out how much the materials cost...

Macey's Field Trip

We tagged along with our old ward's playgroup last week to a field trip to Macey's grocery store. It was so much fun! I wasn't sure how Cora would do, she's a little on the young side for something like this, but she listened with rapt attention and followed the other kids and had a great time. I was very impressed with the tour.... the kids saw behind the deli area, the bakery, watched the decorators decorate a small cake, had a cookie, saw the bread slicing machine and had a slice of bread, saw the recycling compactor, the huge fridge and freezer, and fruit area, got a balloon and a treat pack, as well as a coupon for a free icecream and donut on a future visit, and much more.
A quick run into the freezer...
You can see the back of Cora on the left in pink...
The kids had to put on hairnets to go behind the deli and in the bakery... pretty cute!
Watching the decorating demo...
Thanks for the invite Katrina and Timmerie! We're looking forward to the candy factory tour in a few weeks!

Pay It Forward

I found this on Shad and Jen's blog and it sounds like a fun little game, so let me explain the rules...

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me -- I'll try to be creative.

2. Winners must post this challenge on their own blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it! If you are not one of the first three to comment on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! SO, REMEMBER...Pay it forward!

Who couldn't use a little surprise in the mail on a boring mail day??? Make a comment and I'll see what I can come up with.

Last Week

All about pink.... Cora picked out her own outfit for church.
Violet's new crib protesting position... she even does it in the middle of the night while she's waiting for us to come get her. Hopefully she won't get stuck!

Valentines Week--Crafts

Here's the girls in their new v-day pj's from Kissie and Pata. So cute!
We had friends over to decorate foam hearts and Cora got to share the v-day cookies we made the day before.
We made valentines to mail with a potato heart stamp and glitter glue.
I've been trying to do more crafts with Cora because she loves making stuff and loves also the variety it adds to our day. I've also gathered a basket of toys that we play with only when Violet is asleep (those that are messy, small pieces, magnets, etc) and she's been enjoying that. This frog was pretty fun for us to make, although Cora could really only help choose the paper and glue it together.
She did like doing this polar bear-- just a printout that we spread glue on with a q-tip, and sprinkled rice on (you can also use coconut... rice is cheaper!).

Here, here, and here are blogs I follow to get good preschool age craft ideas and learning activities.

Cora's First Show

On Saturday I took Cora to see the Playhouse Disney Live show. She had a lot of fun! We saw The Little Einsteins, Tigger and Pooh, Handy Manny, and Mickey Mouse and friends all dance and sing and do a little show. I think she was a little overwhelmed, she sat on my lap just staring at the stage with a very concentrated look on her face, but she was laughing and clapping along in no time. In fact, it was hard to get a picture, there was so much going on, she wanted to lok everywhere except at the camera. Cora was especially excited to pick out a baton like Leo's (Little Einsteins character) and the last couple of days asks "Where's my 'ton'?" when it's out of sight. It was a fun afternoon, and she keeps asking about seeing more shows with Mickey. Maybe next year we'll try Disney on Ice!