Finger Paints

Finger painting is something I always wanted to do with my twins. I knew they would love it.
My only reservation with sharing this messy goodness with them is once they've discovered how enjoyable something is... they do it... all the time... with or without my help or supervision with whatever they can find.
Playing catch... with the tv
Coloring a picture... on the back of the couch
Putting on lotion... with shampoo, conditioner, dish soap, vapor rub, fudge sauce, BBQ sauce, body wash, peanut butter, jam, butter, etc.
Always starting with something fun somehow ending in disaster. Hopefully you get the idea of my hesitation.

I happened upon this glorious idea on Pinterest and couldn't wait to try it out!


It was a success! They thoroughly enjoyed drawing different things as I thoroughly enjoy watching.


2 colors of paint per ziploc freezer bag taped over a piece white paper then taped to the table. Next go round I plan to make the paint myself, a recipe I also found on Pinterest.


And don't worry this summer I plan to introduce them to the real magical messiness of finger painting.
- posted by Angelica from her iPod

Inner Peace

A while ago we started playing karate with the kids, just wrestling and whatnot. Well, I figured out quickly the kids had more energy than me, so I came up with a way to take a break and still have fun: inner peace. I always have fun playing with them and then making silly "young grasshopper" comments and saying "inner peace" and looking like I'm meditating, and the kids follow my actions. Very cute. :)

Here's a video of Eve demonstrating.

- Neil

Daddy daughter date

Neil and Eve went to Radio Shack to get some parts yesterday, and we decided to have a little daddy daughter date at Wendy's on the way back. :)



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Cardboard in Excess

We seem to have a lot of boxes around our house... like a ridiculous amount of boxes and cardboard.

At least once a week something Neil has ordered arrives on our doorstep... Okay maybe not that often but sometimes it is that often.

So I decided to make use of all this cardboard.

A castle for my ladies





Complete with working (at least for now) drawbridge.


It's a hit!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and I'm listening to my kids playing nicely together while Neil plays Christmas hymns on his guitar.

My heart is so full of love and gratitude.

I have three healthy beautiful daughters, and a husband who is hard working and patient. I feel so blessed!

We opened jammies after dinner tonight, and then watched a video of the Christmas Story.

Soon kids will go to bed, Santa will stop by, and Neil and I will watch a movie while doing a puzzle I picked out yesterday.


Eve in her new jammie jams.


Adia showing off her hip pjs.


And Lily in her cute jammies.


Ready and waiting for Christmas morn.
- Angelica Oler

Baby's First Boo Boo

I had the ladder out today hanging lights. Lily love just couldn't help but try to climb after me.


Best I can guess is her hand missed the step and she caught it with her poor little face.


It's seems my kids do this kind of stuff a lot.

Poor Lily Pie :(

- Angelica Oler

Creative Outlet

Finals week is coming up which means this past week was last for classes, projects, and assignments. Makes for a very rough couple of weeks, not only for Neil but for me as well since I get to play "single mom of 3".

Wednesday was just a rough day. By the end of it I was begging Neil to come home early (about 10:30pm).

Being the awesome man the he is he came home, took the sick baby, and played hall monitor while I ran to the store. When I got home the kids were asleep and Neil was watching Hook. I knew I would never get my mind to slow down if I just sat and half watched the movie.

So I watched the movie while I concentrated on cutting out these...


Snow flakes out of double sided wrapping paper. It turned out super cute if I do say so myself. It made me happy when Eve came out of her room and saw them the next day and said "Mom! It's snowing!"

Today was a "reading" day for Neil... really, a Saturday.

I hate when they do that!

So I made these.
I'd been toying with different ideas on how to display the Christmas cards we receive, and I landed on this one.


I really liked the snowflake wreath idea but felt it would end up too cluttered if I did it on all of my higher cupboards. So I used matching ribbon on the other cupboard door to tie it in with plenty of space to clip cards.

I'm pretty excited, I think they both turned out well, and I didn't spend a single penny on any of it. It was all made from stuff I already had on hand *bonus*!
- Angelica Oler