Quilts, quilts, quilts!

Yesterday, Maddie and I had a quiltastic day. We went to the Amherst Museum Quilt Guild's biennial show to see Maddie's Grandma and her work.



Not every almost-three-year-old can see her quilt on display! This is my Mom and Maddie in front of the quilt Mom made for when Maddie gets a big kid bed. Pretty cool, huh?

In honor of the quilt show, we did a little quilt-making of our own. This project allowed Maddie to play with scissors and glue, two of her favorite things.




Maddie cut up strips of paper (before deciding it was easier to delegate the cutting part to Mommy). Then she put glue on the back (and front and table).

I thought the big fun part would be gluing on cotton balls to look like batting, but turns out Maddie doesn't like getting glue on her fingers.



Here she is showing off her quilt. Wonder if it'll get Best in Show!

Today I think we'll put on the backing and get to the actual quilting part. We shall see!


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Spring Cleaning

I know, I know. I promised to blog again. And I should be blogging, because it motivates me to do stuff. But I've been busy doing spring cleaning... for the first time in my entire life. Yup, you read that right. I've definitely been feeling the urge to spring clean, long before spring actually started. With Maddie into so many messy activities lately, it sometimes seems that we've outgrown this apartment. It's definitely not just Maddie, but just a general disorganization that has been stewing for the three years we've lived here. I've been putting away things in cabinets and they're so overloaded that the contents just topple back out on me. I made a huge list, but that seemed to stagnate. Then I saw this idea on Finely Ground that suggests a daily task list. With spring break lasting a whopping week and a half, I was able to tackle a ton! I tackled one room a day with the bigger mess zones broken down into a few days each. Apparently I did a good job because the day I cleaned Maddie's room, she walked in and said, "Wow. Thank you, Mama!" Impressive huh? I still have a few more areas to tackle, but for the most part I'm ready for winter -- which is slated to start tomorrow.

Easter Eggs

I took a vacation from my blog. Did you notice? It wasn't really intentional at first. My husband had mentioned recently that maybe I am so busy taking photos of things for my blog that I don't really take the time to enjoy them. Now the truth is, I blog about activities and Maddie-related things because it's a good way for me to record and plan for things. It's motivation to get up off the couch and get active. Because let's face facts, Sesame Street is only educational to a point. And that point is when your daughter is using it to scout musical talent.

So here's what happened while I was gone:

I dragged my Mom along to Niagara Falls to the Conservatory again because we jumped the gun earlier in the season and missed out on the Easter flowers. Luckily we got to see chicks and bunnies too!








We also headed to Kelly's Country Story to see the Easter Bunny (sadly all my pictures are fuzzy). As it turns out, Maddie likes the Easter Bunny a whole lot more than she likes Santa. Not only did she not cry hysterically, she sat next to the bunny and shook his hand. Maybe it's because he leaves her candy. Also no pictures of Maddie when she wakes up from her nap saying, "Mom, I NEED some CAAAAAANNNNDDDDYYY!"


Easter was lovely! We enjoyed some nice sunny weather and Maddie got to wear my old dress and coat from when I was little. And we tortured her by making her look into the sun while standing in the dirt by the flowers just like my mom did to me when I was little. That's what I call a happy Easter.

An ocean in a bottle

I was really surprised the other day when Maddie walked up to me and said she wanted to swim in the ocean. I mean, it's not like we live anywhere near an ocean. She's certainly never seen one and I don't think I've ever really said that word to her.

But I had just seen this science experiment for little ones about an ocean in a bottle and it seemed a perfect moment.


You put water in a bottle, add food coloring to make it the color of the ocean (Maddie was a big fan of this this part!) Maddie had a great time showing her daddy all about it.



She showed him how the oil just sits on top.

And how if you make lots of waves, the oil and water still don't mix. So ultimately, we learned about the Exxon Valdez oil spill. But it was a pretty fun project.

Playing with Paints and Stencils

A long time ago I had seen a recipe for homemade finger paints on Pinterest. It looked so easy and perfect that I thought I would give that a try and do a little Easter painting.

So Maddie and I made the paints. Then I made some quicky little Easter stencils for her to paint in.


Only one problem, the paint turned out to be almost completely solid (maybe I cooked it too long?). I added a little water so that I could stir in the colors and ended up with a nice soupy mess that was pretty much like painting with jello.


No surprise, Maddie loved it. She made quick work of all the paint and then switched to dropping blobs of paint into a bowl of water. Essentially, she did the dishes for me.


She seems pretty content to just play with water and nine times out of ten, that's what happens with our projects.



In the end, Maddie decided that the best thing to do with these paints was just to dump them and the artwork in a big bowl of water. Well, at least she had fun!
Hmmm, maybe I should try paper maiche next?

Easter Bunnies

I really don't think there is a more lovely word in the English language than "bunnies". Say it while sounding miserable, I dare you!

Growing up, my mom had a family of pom-pom bunnies that were brought out every Easter and I really wanted some of my own. So I gave it a go:

I made seven baby bunnies of various patterns and one big fluffy Mama bunny, who seems to sag just a bit. (Wouldn't you if you had seven babies?)

They're super easy to make. Just two homemade pom-poms glued together. Two small store bought pom-poms for feet and one for a tale. Then a couple of little pieces strategically super glued for ears and a nose. You could add googly eyes but I was a little afraid they would be a choking hazard.

And yesterday my mom found the pattern from when she made them. Um, could have used that last year!


But still I think they're pretty darn cute.