Wooden Doll Makeover

Back over the summer when we put together the cardboard dollhouse, we also made a little wooden family to live in it. Well over the past few months, the family (as well as the house, actually) have begun to look a bit unkempt. So I decided to give the whole family a much needed make over. They originally had fabric scraps for clothes. It was very cute when they were first completed, but months of my girls playing with them...well, let's just say that they looked unloved. I figured painting clothes for them would be much more durable in the long run. You can see a few pictures of what the family used to look like in their home here. We will do some house and furniture touch ups some other day.


I love the little old fashion butt flap on the back on the triplets' pajamas (not that my kids have any idea what those are).

A VERY short Grandma and Grandpa (or a very tall Mom and Dad). I told them that sometimes we shrink as we get older (tee hee).

Special Delivery

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Ohdeedoh? I always find cool DIY projects and inspiration over there and I'm always introduced to some amazing blogs. A few days ago I came across this project and knew that it would be on our to do list.

The girl made their mailboxes today. Instead of paper, we used lightweight cardboard and covered it with torn tissue paper. I think it will be a bit more sturdy this way (my girls are not delicate flowers). The two oldest have been bickering a lot lately and I decided that they needed to remind themselves of what they enjoy about one another. So every Friday they have to write a note to one another telling what they enjoyed about each other over that past week. Now, the note can be stuck into her sister's mailbox! Maybe we will start using fancy stationary too.

Natural Tie Dye

Yesterday the girls and I took an impromptu trip to Strawberry Plains out in Holly Springs, MS. We had a really great time watching all the different species of birds that feed there, touring the huge great house, crunching snow beneath our feet (we didn't get any snow in Oxford) and attempting to identify animal tracks left in the snow. While tracking the prints of one animal or another the girls found themselves beneath a huge black walnut tree. We gathered some empty shells and some hulls (?) to bring home to make dye. We boiled the hulls for several minutes in some salted water. The concoction looked a lot like black coffee and smelled like strong tea.



We used some pieces from old t-shirts that we had. I think they turned out pretty good. Next time, maybe we will use some red onion skins (to make purple), yellow onion skins (to make yellow) and some beets too (to make red) for multicolored fabric.

Wordless Wednesday...Ashni

She's walking

The littlest David has found her legs! Unfortunately, after weeks of bribery and coercion, she found them while I was away from home. So, I missed it....BUT, she's moving about more bravely now than ever before (and without having to be bribed). Her sisters were a buzz of excitement and that was all that they could talk about (until I pulled out the latest installment of The Sisters Grimm that I'd picked up at the library for them. Then THAT was all they could talk about!) Last night she pulled up at the dining room table and walked over to me, just because she wanted to. It's another one of those bittersweet moments. The ones that I wait anxiously for and then remember that it is the last time that I will have that excitement... sigh.

New project for spring

After seeing this post over at Ohdeedoh and popping over to sweetest littles to check it out further, I just couldn't get the idea of a lightweight, collapsible playhouse out of my mind. I've been planning to build a teepee with the girls, but this is SO much more awesome! So my plan for spring is to build a playhouse for the girls using PVC. Unlike their playhouse, ours will be built for outdoors. The fame will be PVC and the plan for the walls will be either second hand sheets or some other large inexpensive fabric. I plan to use vinyl shower curtains for the roofing (to at least give them time to pack up their stuff and head inside if it starts to rain) and probably tulle for window screens to keep the mosquito out. I like the idea of a fabric playhouse because it is portable (we rent our house and are planning to move in a couple of years) and washable. I found some indoor/outdoor carpet at Home Depot that resembles astro-turf and the girls loved it, so that will more than likely end up as the flooring. I will post pictures of our progress once construction is underway (but first I have to get artwork done for this exhibit in 3 weeks before I can think of anything else).

Zion's first big girl shoes

Up until now I've been making all of Zion's shoes. I really don't think non-walkers need hard shoes and I just really like making baby shoes. Anything that tiny is incredibly cute to me. But, my baby is moving on to bigger and better things and will hopefully be taking her first wobbly steps soon. Actually they would be her second wobbly steps since she actually took her first three steps last week. She took three steps and decided that walking is not for her. She hasn't made an attempt since. Despite her lack of enthusiasm for walking, I decided I should probably get her some shoes anyway and I lucked up on a cute pair of t-strap sneakers on my latest trek through our local Goodwill. There must be something written in the stars for inexpensive shoes this week. This pair set me back a whopping $2.99. And once again, I had to fresh them up with a mama-made paint job. We are into robots around here lately, so Zion's go with her big sister's new sneakers. They will be very cute on her whenever she decides to walk. Hopefully they won't be too small by then...

That's right! $2.99!