paint the town

I found an amazing book: Unplugged Play: No Batteries. No Plugs. Pure Fun. by Bobbi Connor.  Most books with games for kids seem to have all the same ideas, but this one has a huge section with activities for toddlers ages 1-2.  It has really motivated me to do more activities, just for Paisley.  The first idea we tried was to "paint" the sidewalk with water.  And just to make sure we'd have to play in the bathtub afterwards, we played with chalk first.   

happy things

1. Labor day weekend campout

2. Staying up until midnight to can tomatoes with a sweet old lady from church

3. A visit from Nana and Aunt Mikan!

4. A new darning foot for the sewing machine! I'm so excited to try some more doodling with thread.

5. Free upholstery fabric. Yay! What should I make with it?

6. My first homemade chicken noodle soup for curing the sickies

7. Thrift store finds- favorite childhood books

book hunt

Lately I've been pining after vintage children's book illustrations.  Brandon was so sweet to spend a day with me in and out of used book shops, moving sales, yard sales, and antique shops.  This is my favorite image that we found.  Precious, huh? 

hasta luego

Little kitty found a new home.  I couldn't be more thrilled to not be sharing our tiny bathroom with a litter box--and to not be pulling cat food out of Paisley's mouth or the cat out of Paisley's breakfast bowl.  The real deciding factor, though, was that we thought Paisley might be allergic to cat dander.  Maybe she was just sick, but we were secretly relieved.  Maybe one day we'll be ready for a pet . . .

pet advice please

Five little neighbor kids knocked on our door last night to see if we wanted a cat.  I began the conversation with an adamant "no" and ended up with kitty poo poo all over our carpet the next morning.  We agreed on a one day trial period, so I've got to decide by tonight if we want to keep her or not.  I don't really like cats.  But what I didn't share in our last post was that after thinking about getting a dog for 10 minutes, we spent a whole evening musing about a cat.  They're cleaner and easier to take care of.  And Paisley likes them a lot . . .when they don't run away. And this little kitty happens to be pretty friendly and cuddly.  She even seems to like Paisley's attention (except when picked up by the tail).  Will the novelty wear off in a few days or is this a good investment for Paisley's happiness?  Any advice from seasoned pet owners?

Sock Dog

Paisley LOVES dogs.  We thought seriously about getting one, but that only lasted 10 minutes.  Hopefully this little sock dog will appease her obsession for a while.  Isn't he cute?  And he'll always be a puppy.  I found instructions in Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts.  Brandon had the idea of making him always speak Spanish when we're playing with Paisley - a little teaching tool.  So we're trying to come up with a name.  Don Julio?  Risa (laugh)?  Any suggestions?

neverland

Isn't this place unreal? The craziest part is that we just stumbled upon it. We wanted to check out the Virgin River in Arizona and weren't really sure where a good spot would be to get to it. I wish I had a picture of the place where we parked our car. It was 110 degrees, the river was at least 200 feet below us, and all we could see was a small opening through a barbed wire fence. I was pretty skeptical. We were so surprised when a path led us through grape vine tunnels and down to this beautiful secluded area. We felt like we'd just walked into Disneyland. Come visit and we'll take you!

les artistes

Brandon is the most creative grownup I know.  Take for example these lovely fruit creations I frequently find in our fridge.  Impressive, huh?

Here's a little something I made yesterday.  Inspiration: sleepy king plushies

Little Paisley Eden at work:

Her masterpiece:

I think she's pretty talented.  But maybe it's just the environment . . . Here's a link to an adorable video of her painting, drawing, and getting messy.  Enjoy!