Saturday

Saydee's first soccer game was cancelled due to this... And despite my pessimistic attitude toward this very thing, the girls' enthusiasm was contagious. It was the perfect packing snow for snowball fights and snowmen.

Elli's Yearly Eval

I mentioned before how Elli is part of a study group for craniosynostosis. This year we took along Saydee in hopes the girls would entertain eachother during the down time. Lucky for us there wasn't much of that this year. We were in and out in 3 1/2 hrs.
Much to the girls delight the study group hired clown doctors to entertain all the children in our waiting room.

Elli was tested for hearing, speech, psych and seen by the craniofacial doc and a nurse. The dentist and eye dr weren't in which was too bad. We saw our wonderful Pediatrician yesterday who was concerned about Elli's left eye. So we're hoping to see a specialist in the next week or two.

Apparently there are correlations with craniosynostosis, even after correction, and possible learning disabilities, speech, hearing and/or some behavioral problems. However their findings are a little inaccurate due to so many uncontrolled variables. Thus, this new study going on nationwide. So if we move we'll join another group.

So far Elli hasn't suffered delays in any of these areas. Her hearing test came back borderline normal because of her chronic ear infections. In fact she just had one last week but its the first in 5 months. So we might consider tubes if she gets any more. And her left eye may be lazy, also consistent with craniosynostosis patients. Last year a specialist told us she had a pseudo-lazy eye, meaning it just appears lazy because of her eye shape. Our pediatrician is very skeptical, so we'll go in for a second opinion.

Other than that Elli is doing great. In fact her speech doctors said she is really advanced for her age. And the cranial doctor said her head looks great. And as for behavioral problems, well she's a normal sweet two yr old, with the usual 2 yr old symptoms ;) But even for 2 she is very even tempered.

So not too many worries then with little Elliana. And some of specialists tested Saydee right along with Elli to make her feel equally special. So for 31/2 hrs in a hospital, both girls were great, much credit due to those doctor clowns. Yep, we're blessed with three happy healthy little kids.

Another consuming post on weather...

Today was gorgeous and we enjoyed every moment basking in its warmth. However I'm losing my optimism. The cold always seems more bitter after a few days of teasing perfection. I'm slowly learning to roll with these climatic punches.

No... that's a lie. If it freezes again I'll cry.

But here's for today. Beautiful St. Patrick's Day (that I completely forgot about). Bummer. But we did enjoy every bit of you, even without a stitch of green, or yummy green pancakes cut into clovers....

To be a kid...

Is this not the most adorable outdoor playhouse ever? Love this fantasy picture from Cookiehouse. If their fantasy ever met my reality: the rabbits living under our shed would definitely upgrade. How Do they keep little critters out? Still, so lovely.

Anyhow, nothing new over here. The usual. The girls have been a little crankier with colds the last few days. But still they can make me laugh and smile faster than anything.

Yesterday Saydee and Elli came out of their room dressed to the nines and with quite a bit of sass, said, "Momma, I'm a RockStar!" and Elli says "Yeah, we're a RockStar!"

Heath and I chuckled (always inward) and complimented their beauty and style.
Then I asked "What is a RockStar?"

Her answer: "Well they wear a lots of jewels and necklaces. And they wear a tutu and have some rocks."

We, of coarse did not correct her, and basked in this moment that our little girls are still little girls.

randomness

We've played outside with beautiful warm weather all week. Today we thought we'd take a nice Sunday drive out to Carlyle lake we've heard so much about. By the time we got there it was pretty windy and the girls tired and a bit onery. We got out for maybe 10 min to enjoy the views before heading back home. Couldn't even talk Saydee into walking along the beach. Still not over her aversion to sand. It sure was pretty though from outside our windows and made me long for summer.

For Valentines day the girls made these little heart monster guys.

We're still patiently waiting for them to be retired and finding their little monster body parts littered throughout the house.

We just ended a session of gymnastics. The supervisor over aquatics, my boss, is also the supervisor for gymnastics. Sweet lady, she let Elli squeak into the class underage. They love it.

Breaking it down...

The girl's room. Here's what we did and approximate cost. We were so lucky to have our big ticket items donated. Biggest cost was paint at about $65 for paint and supplies. But in some ways it was the biggest bang for the buck. That yellow had to go.

Shelf - Lumber and paint for $8 (easiest project ever)

Metal Star - $3.50 (50% off Hobby Lobby)

Temple Picture - Frame was .10 cents at Rummage sale (spray painted white). Temple print $1.50

Letters - $1 each (50% off at Hobby Lobby)

My sister-in-law Jennie inspired these book slings which she had made for her girls. They were so adorable. And they'd bring more color and texture into the room. Plus, I was so sick of picking up and rearranging bookshelves. These are much easier for little hands to maintain order. We did a smaller sling for small books and standard one for the big ones. About 25 bucks a piece. Here's a little howto link: http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/book-sling-919473/.

We were able to use some leftover scraps, so for lumber and paint all four chairs and the table came to about $35. We chose this set because the chairs are stackable and of coarse lumber super affordable.

I backed the bookcase with scrap book paper and Modgepodge $4.

pink pails - $3.50 a pail (50% off at Hobby Lobby)

Unfortunately these storage bins don't fit our very shallow bookcase. Sometime this year we're hoping to find or build a more functional one to fit the bins. We need storage in here.

Chinese lanterns - $4 for both.

Curtain rods $7.50 for two. (scored these about a year ago, 75% off at Target)

White sheers - $18 for all four at Target. Keeps the room light and airy.

Bed was handed down to us. Took about $40 worth of white spray paint and a protectant spray for bed and trundle. Totally worth the expensive Rustolem's spray paint. Sprays on so nice with no brush strokes.

Bedspread - $17 at Target, not even on sale. I love quilts, but this print was perfect and the price unbeatable. It was Saydee's birthday present.

Trundle - Salvaged old slats from a broken twin frame. Lumber came to $25.

Mirror - snagged for .10 cents at a rummage sale, spray painted white. Pegboard was a piece of scrap wood that we drilled some pegs into. Sill need to finish with either pink felt flowers or silky ruffles. We'll see when that happens.

Failed. I was so excited about these oversized pictures adhered to some foamboard. Then about 2 weeks in they started to warp and bend. Its bad. We wanted foamboard because its super cheap and light-weight. And being situated above Saydee's bed, if by some freak accident they fell down she wouldn't get hurt.

I found the best price for these pics at Sam's Club. $9 dollars for a Poster sized print.

I'll probably just reprint them and hang them as posters. Any other suggestions???

So that's about it. It was fun but we're so glad the room is finally functional and done. The grand total coming to about $300. Our wood projects were all done with a circular saw. Heath got real sick of that. The cuts aren't always very accurate. On the chairs we made quite a few mistakes. Lucky we had lots of scraps and we spent alot of time sanding. All of our projects have many indearing imperfections.

Muffin Tin Monday...or whenever we like.

I'd seen this idea of muffin tin Monday all over the place. You've probably seen it too. I love it. So on and off I've been searching for these tins. Strangely enough I hadn't come across any and then I'd forget I was looking. Well, last week in Target I saw these cute little things in the 1$ section. The girls were immediately loving them as well. Sparkly purple silicone tins. A little flimsier than tin but they'll never rust and despite my skepticism, you can still bake with them. I don't know, but they certainly serve our purposes.

The girls eat so much better this way. Smaller portions and more variety. Or maybe its just different and fun. Wished all my meals looked this well balanced.

And lest you think I would dare waste the best part of a grilled cheese sandwich, you best think again my friend. Everyone wins.