Just a little sad

You know what, I didn't really think that Illinois would beat USC, but I'd hoped that we'd do a little better than this. Still, this season was WAY more than any Illini fan could have hoped for. They should be very proud of their season and really looking forward to 2008!

I'm even sorrier that the CCAA seems to have only matched through 12/19/05 - this was actually worse than the RQ horrid case. Ugh. My current guesstimate for Nora's referral is now - gulp - August. Or later, if they really do stop referrals from May - August due to the Olympics.

Baby girl, I really hope that you're here for Thanksgiving and Christmas - you have lots of people waiting to meet you!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone! Rob and I are very excited for 2008 -- this will be the year that Nora joins our family!

I'm also hopeful that this is the year that Illinois wins the Rose Bowl! We're 2TD underdogs against USC, though -- so go put on your orange and blue and get ready to cheer your hardest for the Fighting Illini in Pasadena!

Click on the console bar above for the Illinois War Chant. I know it's not so politically correct, but it always gets me in the spirit of the game!

Puppet play

A while back, I read in Bright From the Start that puppet play is a good attention builder for young children. Since then, I've been looking for a puppet for Nora.

We've seen a few, but none seemed soft enough, cute enough, expressive enough ... until today at Borders where I found a Folkmanis baby dutch rabbit puppet. Rob and I named her "Dutch" because she's a dutch rabbit. Yes, I know "Dutch" is a boy's name, but the rabbit looks like a girl and we thought "Duchess" would be too hard to say, so "Dutch" it is.

Maddie really likes her. I think she thinks Dutch is a puppy or something because Maddie sniffed her, then nuzzled her, then gave her kisses. Rob thought that Dutch might look a little too much like a dog toy, though, so now she lives in Nora's room, three shelves up and well out of Maddie's reach.

I've got mail!

Actually, Nora's got mail, but I got to open it! Our Jan DTC secret pal sent the coolest activity books and picture frames for photos of the pets. I can hardly wait until Nora is ready to color. There is nothing in the world like the smell of a fresh box of Crayolas - heaven!

Thank you so much, SP! I'm going to have to get cracking on the coloring tote I've been meaning to make - especially now that we've got stuff to put in it!

Busy busy busy...

Happy belated 4th of July! I'm sorry to have been away from the computer for so long. We've been having a great time with our house guests (five members of Rob's immediate family). We did a bunch of fun stuff - carnival, canoe trip, zoo, birthday party.

The pinata was fun - j and H helped decorate and our neighbor M came over to help break it open. Here's the finished product - the passenger is one of those moose gift card holders from Caribou. He was a perfect fit.
Maddie was also a great sport at the birthday cookout. Not only was she very sweet with j and the neighbor kids, but she also donned an official family canoe expedition bandanna and gamely modeled some of the birthday headgear. I love this dog. It was a very fun weekend, but the house is seeming very empty this evening!

I want to be the fun mom

My mom was (and still is) the fun mom and I want to be able to give our kids that kind of experience as they grow up. Life is quite nice when your mom is a happy, fun-loving person.

Anyway, we are expecting a young house guest, j, in a couple of weeks. j told her mom that she wants to host a birthday party while they're here, so I've been thinking about how we can do that. The one thing that I always wanted at my birthday party as a kid (and never got - there's a lesson, even the kid of the fun mom doesn't get everything she wants*) was a piñata. So, I decided that we would make a piñata.

I don't think that I've done papier-mâché since the 3rd grade, so I went to the internet looking for a recipe and perhaps some instructions for a piñata. If you haven't already discovered it, Family Fun magazine has a terrific website with all kinds of great ideas, including instructions for a hot air balloon piñata. I decided to do the papier-mâché part before j gets here and then hand it over to her for decoration, which turned out to be a good idea since it needs three coats of papier-mâché and needs to dry for a full day between coats. I also had a little mishap with the first balloon and needed to start over.

Here's a photo of the work in progress. Pretty cool, huh?

The paste recipe is also way better than what I remember using in grade school and it's super-easy.

Papier-Mâché Paste (from Family Fun magazine)

1. Combine 1/2 cup all-purpose flour and 2 cups cold water in a bowl.
2. Add this mixture to a saucepan of 2 cups boiling water and bring it to a boil again.
3. Remove from the heat and stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar.
4. Let it cool; it will thicken as it cools. Once it does, it's ready to use.

My learning: be sure to let the paste cool all the way before you use it, otherwise it causes the air in the balloon to expand when the papier-mâché is applied and contract as it cools. It will mess up your project. What I do now is cook up the paste in the evening, let it cool uncovered until bedtime then cover with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter until morning. If I get an early enough start I can get a coat on before work. It seems to take about 45-60 minutes per coat and I'm using a fairly large punch ball instead of a regular balloon.

I think I might have to subscribe to Family Fun.

* I also did not get a dog, imo a mistake on the part of my parents. Every kid should have a dog. Obviously I am making up for that in adulthood.

Dec Secret Pal - Revealed!

...it's Kim B! Thank you so much for all the cool gifts and kind words of encouragement. We have really looked forward to opening the box each month - Rob tries to be stoic, but I know he secretly loves all the baby things.

This month's gift was typically wonderful -- a bright rattle, bath squirters and a V-tech ball that will be great for Nora when she's crawling and learning her animals, shapes and colors. Thank you again for everything - you've been a terrific secret pal!

More Family Fun

Do you remember last year when I decided that camping would be a fun family activity? Well, I still think that (I know - who'd have thought? Until last year I thought that vacation involved room service!) . We have a reservation for Memorial Day weekend and will probably do at least one more trip between then and Nora's referral. Our goal will be figuring out what we need for a successful family camping trip with a ~1 year old.

First order of business is a larger tent. Our little three-man dome is barely big enough for Rob, Maddie and me. We are thinking about Kelty Mantra 7, Sierra Designs Moken 6 or North Face Trailhead 6. We'll only be 4 with Nora, but I still think that a 2 (or 3)- room tent would be nice for the separate living/sleeping quaters. We do have a screen room, but that usually goes over the picnic table and it doesn't have a floor.

We're also thinking about getting a *gasp* canoe. Yes, much less cool than the kayaks, but much more family (and dog) friendly. Probably that will be next year.

If anyone has any tips for camping with little kids, please let me know. We've got some time to experiment this Spring.

The mailman needs a calendar

Our mailman is clearly confused. I went out to check the mail this afternoon and there was a box on the front porch. A BOX... on SATURDAY. We never get boxes on Saturdays. Boxes come on Mondays.

Anyway, it was for Nora (of course - all boxes are also for Nora) from our January DTC secret pal. This month's theme was "learning adventure".

Here's the "learning" part - a shape sorter that is also a bucket with a lid that Nora can carry around. This is a great gift - if the smarter child book is right, this is a very good toy for cognitive development.


And here's the "adventure" part - a Crocodile Creek jungle animal placemat. I have to check, but I'm pretty sure we have a bib that matches this! Plus a Good Night, Sweet Butterflies book and a Chinese New Year lift-the-flap book, called Dragon Dance

AND, if that wasn't enough, our pal also sent the cutest pink dinnerware!


Thank you so much, secret pal!!

Cutie Pie

This is Nora's new kitty cat doll, found on Etsy. Her name is Cutie Pie. I first saw her a week or so ago and have been back every day to make sure that no one else has bought her. Today I broke down and ordered her. I hope she's as soft and cuddly as she looks.

Here's the description from Etsy:

Oopsy ... this doll's ears are lopsided, her nose tilts to the right. As I tossed her aside, a little girl saw, she scooped up the doll and hugged her with awe. She said, "Her nose is crooked, but don't toss her away. She is not perfect, and I LOVE her that way!" That is how alli-oopsies were born. They may not be perfect, but never mind, that just lets you know it's one of a kind!

Aww...

A Shopping Coup!

When shopping on the web, always always visit the clearance section. If you don't think it will pay off, check this out!

I found this at Land of Nod. It was originally $249 on sale for $39 and is just the right color for Nora's room! It even fits in with the other bug stuff. I ordered it on Sunday and it was waiting on the porch when we got home today.

To make the day even better, I stopped at Creative Kidstuff on my way home from work and they were having a big sale - I got this great doggy pull toy for 75% off, a musical flower for 60% off and gorgeous building blocks for 50% off!

Mostly, though, I'm thrilled about the rug. I don't think I've ever found such a bargain before!

Dec DTC Secret Pal Gift - July & August

Another mega mail Monday!! I never much liked Mondays, but these swaps and secret pals have changed my outlook! Today was a doubly-good day because we received July and August gifts from our Dec DTC Secret Pal. Thank you so much, Secret Pal, for all the terrific goodies!!

It is taking all my energy not to rip into the mega bloks package and claim the dog/cat as my own. I think that I am going to like this as much as Nora. I've never seen anything like it -- you push the nose on the cat side and it "sings" in meows and on the dog side it "sings" in barks. So much fun! That was July.

For August we got cool bath toys (floating fishes!!), a water thermometer and a sponge. In the note was also a pretty white shell which now has a new home in our summer sand-and-shell kitchen table centerpiece.

Thanks again Secret Pal, you made my Monday!!

Mandarin DVDs!

It was another great mail day at our house! Nora continues to get more (and better) mail than we do! Today she received the Mandarin/English Bear in the Big Blue House DVDs I ordered from yesasia.

I heard about these from Denise in the December 2005 DTC group. We were talking about the lovely name Luna which led to Bear and his friend the Sun (Luna). Denise mentioned these terrific multilingual DVDs. I'm not a big fan of tv for kids, but this is a show I like and it's available in a version that will help Nora learn Mandarin. How great is that?!

As you can see from the photo above, I also ordered a CD of children's music. I haven't listened to it yet, but I'm really curious to hear what kind of Chinese children's music has a little Dutch girl on the package. Hmm.

December DTC - April Secret Pal Gift is Here!

The December DTC Yahoo! group is also doing a Secret Pal Swap. April was the first month and the theme was "Lucky Ladybugs". My secret pal sent a WONDERFUL Brio Ladybug pull toy and some ladybug chocolates (at least I think they are chocolate - I've managed to resist tearing in for their first 15 minutes in the house!).

I love Brio products, they are so well-made. Thank you very much, Secret Pal, for sending such a nice toy for Nora!