Cabin Fever and Sesame's Stitchery!

So.  I broke out the sewing machine this afternoon.  :)  It's been awhile.  I scoured the internet searching for a pattern that could be cut out and completed in one afternoon nap time.  Dana at Made did not disappoint. :)  She has a tutorial for how to make your own pattern from you child's existing clothes which I then used to make Sesame a pair of leggings.  Guess what?!  I made them in an hour and a half!  Moi, me the girl who cuts out fifty billion patterns and never, ever actually completes ANY of them!  Seriously kids, if I can do this, so can you!  :)  AND the cost is AWESOME-TASTIC

Old pale pink Gap Stretch t-shirt from high school:  Free

Elastic from an old pair of sweat pants:  Free

Hearing husband giggle at my comments to myself while doing project:  Free and fun!

See.

Awesome.

Tastic.

And look:

They didn't turn out too badly!  :)  I'm going to try them on her when she wakes from her nap.  I'll let you know if I find any complications then.  :)

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So last Thursday we had a a bit of snow here in the midwest.  Just a tad.  :)  While I heart snow, it does tend to produce a bit of cabin fever in the house. I cried out to facebook asking for ideas to entertain a two year old.  The internet did not disappoint.

Exhibit A:

Out modified version of MckMama's Winter Suncatcher.  Too fun!  The cupcake tray made awesome sun catchers with four small versions of various colors.  We played with water and food coloring to maker ours.  Hence the brownish, purple one.  That was Sesame's creation.  :)

Another favorite (from MckMama again) was rice on a cookie sheet.  :)

We got a good solid hour of play time out of this one!  We even put our alphabet magnets on the tray, covered them with rice and went on a "treasure hunt" for them.  I might have had more fun than Sesame.  I also might have started talking in a pirate voice and scowling whilst on our treasure hunt.  And, I  might have frightened her to saying: "Momma, why you scare me??"  and "No, silly talk.  Scae-wee."

We also played in cabinets.  Because, why not really!  :)  Oh, and at this point in our play time I noticed something.

See that star.  Can you see what's in it???  No??  Let me zoom in a bit.

Blue food coloring.  On her little toe.  Now, I ask you, how does one manage to squish blue food coloring between their little and ring toe???  It's not on top of her toe, just in the crease between them.  My daughter is turning into a smurf.

But a very happy, hobbit like smurf!  :)

The Marker and the Eggs.

Wouldn't that be a fabulous title for a Children's book???  I even have an illustration in mind...  Moving on...

Over the long weekend Sesame reared her curly-mopped head and showed us exactly what two means.  There were no tantrums or hitting or screaming, but there were exercises in independence and curiosity--to put it nicely.  :)

On Saturday morning I ran to the grocery store and to complete some errands.  I asked Husband to keep an eye on Sesame to which he replied.  "sure."  He's not a morning person.  'Sure.' from him in the AM is the equivalent to my "Yeah, that sounds great!  Come on Sesame let's make Cupcakes!"  I left did my errands and returned about 45 minutes later.  As I trekked upstairs I noticed a black smudge above our light switch.  "Hmm...I thought...that's odd."  Then I noticed another.  And another with three tiny streaks - oddly the size of a Sesame hand.  As I arrived in the office I found a pile of papers with black magic marker covering their notes.  "HUSBAND!"  I yelled.  "What?"  he replied.  "WHAT HAPPENED?!  DID YOU KNOW SHE DID THIS?! THERE'S MARKER EVERYWHERE!?"  "Oh."  He replied.  I then gave him the Mom look, even though I'm his wife.  "I though I got it all"  he said.

The story he recounted goes something like this:  Husband falls asleep on the couch shortly after wife leaves.  Sesame finds a black magic marker.  Sesame decorates Momma's papers with said marker.  Sesame realizes her hands are dirty and wants them clean.  Sesame scoots down the stairs spreading small traces of finger prints along the stairwell wall.  Sesame wakes Daddy up and says: "Daddy, hands yucky.  Clean, please."  At least she was polite.  : )

Husband and I have a conversation about what it means to watch a two year old -- and sleeping is not on the list.  : )

Monday comes.  Husband has the day off (insert happy dance here!) and we have a grand time playing as a family.  I find my cell phone (I NEVER know where it is and when I find it it's usually not charged!) and discover I missed an important phone call.  "Husband,"  I say, "Can you keep and eye on Sesame for me?"  "Yes." He says.  I'm on the phone in our room chatting away, when Sesame walks in.  "Momma!" she exclaims, grinning from ear to ear, "Help in kitchen!"  I think, 'Oh how cute is she, wanting me to play in the kitchen with her.'  Then I realize she is holding not pretend eggs, but real eggs.  Like the kind chickens lay--you know--the ones you buy at the store and put in cake.  Not only is she holding them, but one is cracked open and running down her arm.  "I HAVE TO GO!"  I scream into the phone.  "HUSBAND!"  I yell!  "What?"  he says calmly. "SHEHASREALEGGS!HOWDIDSHEGETINTOTHEREFRIGERATOR?!WHATAREYOUDOING!?"

We had Sesame clean up the eggs, and help put away the trash, after which we talked about NOT opening the refrigerator.  Goodness gracious.  If I would have known my eggs were in danger, I would have put them on the top shelf!

Beware: We Have A 2 Year Old Amongst Us.

This post is not as menacing as the title leads to believe!  :)  I'm merely here to share a piece of our lives from the past week.  Sesame turned two last Wednesday.  TWO!  I can hardly believe my little girl has gone from this:

to this:

In two years!  Goodness gracious.  She is so much fun!  :)  The Lord has truly blessed our family with Sesame's vivacious personality.  I can not wait to see who she grows into!  :)

We had her 2nd birthday party on the 15th.  A small gathering at our house with family and honorary Aunts and Uncles.  : )  No need for a ginormous celebration at age two - family was overwhelming enough for her!

I saw this awesome rainbow cake on Make-and-Love-It and knew it would be perfect for Sesame.  I gave a talented young lady a call to see if she would help out with the cake and away we went!  Jane (note: she is 12 years old...TWELVE...and an awesome baker!) and I were up until 1 am making this fabulous cake.  We had so much fun and Sesame loved it!

How awesome is that?!  It tasted fabulous too!  : )  We ended up with half the cake left - so we fed it to the Middle School kids at church.  : ) They are so reliable to eat up the sweets we have leftover!  : )

Sesame was in rare form - so excited about the presents she could hardly contain herself.

Related much?  I think so...

Loving her cake.  : )  She is soooooooooo my daughter!

I heart this photo for so many reasons.  First of all, it contains all of my grandparents - a very rare photo op.  :)  Secondly, they are all reading one of the books Sesame received for her birthday.  Remember the "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Little Miss Naughty" books?  My George gifted them to Sesame.  Love.  :)  Yes, well, my awesome grandparents are reading those books.  :)  It makes me smile.  :)

This photo is great because it shows:  The girls I nannied for playing ring-around-the-rosy with my daughter.  Yes, I baby sat for them.  I'm playing my old card here.  Not only do I think of them as sisters, but my daughter ADORES them.  I"m pretty certain, if given the option, she would live with them forever. Afterall, when you build tents and pretend to be in a battle zone taking cover under the kitchen table, how could a 2 year old not love you.  :)

Awesome day.  Awesome food.  Awesome family.  I heart birthdays and can't wait for more memories!  :)

Sesame Overload.

I typed that title and then thought to myself, "I'm not in Sesame overload...it's quite the opposite..."  I just meant that this post will be a Sesame story overload.  It's been a big week here at our house.  The last week of being one has brought about some fun times.  Such as this:

Oh yes.  That is blue all over her mouth.  Momma and I were have a fabulous little conversation when Sesame went on an excursion in Mommy and Daddy's room.  I hopped up to reign her in.  As I grabbed her arm and turned her around, I discovered a lovely little blue moustache and goatee.  "Sesame!" I gasped "What have you been playing with."  Being the diligent little rule follower she is, she marched me right over to her coloring table and did this:

That's right, she fully admitted to rubbing blue crayon all over her face and even reenacted the monumental occasion for Yia Yia and Me.  She promptly proclaimed, "Sesame no, no" to the aqua crayon and handed it over.

Gotta love this kid.  :)

Another rite of passage was achieved in our home this week as well.  Sesame and Husband dismantled the crib and assembled the "big girl bed."

She was a fabulous little helper and has made the transition beautifully.  I, on the other hand, bawled like a newborn when I arrived home to find her crib in the garage.  I, perhaps, most of these moments are harder on Momma than child.  : )

She's showing us how to sleep in a big girl bed.  Homer is almost as excited as Sesame.  I'm fairly certain the two will never part again.  He's slept in her bed with her for at least two naps that I'm away of.  It's really quite adorable!  : )

Her accompanying sound effect sounded something like a snorting/dying pig followed by a quick giggle = Sesame version of a snore.  She even instructed, "Ike dis, Momma!"

Happy Face Picture!

Sad Face Picture!

While I miss the close, snuggly rocking Sesame to sleep, this new season is bringing such joy.  Laying in bed, reading books and singing reminds me of some of my first memories.  I love how methodical Sesame is about bed time.  We must have Amos and his lovey as well as blankie and Num Num.  We simply must read a book (right now she's stuck on Clifford's Christmas Presents).  We never close our eyes without being "cuh-vah-d up."  But most of all, I'm loving that she won't even consider sleeping unless we've said our prayers.  Her sweet, dulcet voice makes small requests at prayer time for people, inanimate objects, even some stranger we saw at the grocery store.  Her little personality is blooming into a person who knows Jesus is important.  As a stay-at-home Momma, that is the single biggest pay check I could ever as for.  I am, by no means, rushing this little life along, but I can not wait to see what the Lord does with my little Sesame.  : )