How to ...

 ... keep the Ls apart.

Many complain about not being able to keep the Ls apart, which is totally easy!!!

So for all of you who have issues with telling my kids apart (apart front he age and the looks :P,
here is how to!

Little L ...

Little horsy!

Big L ...

BIG horse.

And yes folks, she does sleep with this monster of a pink horse with wings EVERY night and sometimes can't even be found until you lift this monstrosity of a toy and find her, all curled up, underneath.

Nothing is SMALL with BIG L, nothing!!!

Oh and I am sure she would like me to mention that this is THE ONLY pink item in her room. Just in case you were wondering. As you can see her headboard is lined with Darth Vador figures and her new treasure is her Light Saber Night Light :)

How to make ...

... a  Hula Hoop

It seems that we have switched stores. 

We used to run to the Craft Store every 5 minutes or so to stock up on things or get new items for new projects. 

But lately it seems we are spending more and more time at the hardware store instead.

I guess we are "evolving".  Thats a big word!

We have been reading the book "Big words for little people" By Jamie Lee Curtis and we are really into big words now :) 

One of our projects today was to find "big words", write them on a card and then go through newspapers and find the letters to recreate that word. 

The Ls LOVE it!!!

Anyhow, back to the hardware store. 

When I saw Elizabeth Mitchell was guest blogging on Soule Mama's blog I was so excited. 

We have loved her since the day we found her first CD after L was just born. 

The CD is called "You are my sunshine" ... thats what we used to call L when she was itty, our sunshine. 

The first year of her life she hardly heard her real name, just sunshine :)

So we fell in love with Elizabeth Mitchell and her wonderful music and yesterday she was guest blogging on my favorite bog ... awesome!!!

As soon as we saw her project, we packed up, raced to Osh to gather the materials and today, after the Summer Scholar school work was done ...

... we went to work to make our own

Hola Hoops!!!

All you need is:

poly piping, 

connectors, 

colorful tape 

and lots of little hands to help with the assembly ...

we softened the poly by dunking it into super hot water to insert the connectors easily

tape for decorating and to give it more grip ...

et voila ...

Two hola hops and TONS of fun!!!

LOVE the way Lulu shakes her none-exsisting bum!!!
And my half naked hubby walking through the pic .... it was 100F here today. Blazing heat!!!

Clearly we need more practice BUT we found some great tips on YouTube and will practice every day until we can keep these holas going and going ...

How to ... Make a Rainbow

Step 1

Color your rainbow with markers on paper towel

Step 2

Spray water ALL OVER it

Step 3

Let it dry 

et voila

enjoy your rainbow

Now we just have to figure out what to do with all of these pretty rainbows.

How to ... I-Spy-Rice-Bags

The Ls are not the best co-pilots, to say the least.

L usually asks us "are we there yet?!!!" when we reach the end of our street.
In order to make the "LONG" drive to the grocery store (about 5 minutes) a wee bit more pleasant I decided to make two I-Spy-Rice-Bags with a laminated picture of the treasures hidden in the rice, to mark off as we find them. To be honest, the laminated picture has not been completed. Our printer is out of ink but tomorrow we shall have this small detail fixed, na-course :) I found the tutorial here. Easy and fast, 1 hour later ...

et voila - I-Spy-Rice-Bags

backside with pocket for the laminated picture and the dry erase marker

the hidden treasures

The Ls were quite happy with their little baggies, they are sleeping with them right now.
All was well until Lulu wanted to get her toys back.

Lulu: "I found them all, now can we cut it open and get our toys back out?"
Mama : "NOOOOO!!! They stay in there Love."
Lulu: "But Mama, I NEED them. I really, really need them!!!"
Mama: " What do you need?"
Lulu: "The brush. That is my favorite brush in the world!"
Mama: "That little brush?"
Lulu" "Yes, it feels really good on my head."
Mama: ... shaking my head and walking away!

Can you spy the brush?

Yes, she REALLY, REALLY needs that brush, for sure! 

Thats her most favorite in the world. 

Don't you know ... :)

How to ... Find Love

I got the idea from one of my favorite blogs (here) and LOVED it right away.

I made one for us that evening and the Ls AND us grown-ups have had a blast with it so far.

We decided to share the joy and made a few for our friends.

Take a peak and if you like, make one yourself ... it's VERY fun ... not just for Valentines Day.

How to ... Find Love

a) make a felt heart bean bag 

Take a peak at the tutorial here, this is a very easy, non-sew project.

I just tried sewing them up to see how it would look.

I haven't played with my Judy in a LONG time and felt quite a bit rusty but the shape is still recognizable ... 

I hope my friends will forgive my un-sewingly craftiness. I promise I'll get better again!

b) make up a little instruction note, 

signed by the Ls na-course 

c) sew a bag out of wax paper

d) add your heart, instructions and a few extra itty ones

et voila ... a nice game of "Find Love"

to hand out to your BFFs and whoever else you think would enjoy this. 

I have found "love" in my sock drawer, I put "love" in Ls shoe, Pat found "love" in bed (ON THE PILLOW ... in form of a bean-bag-heart!!! :) and Lulu will find "love" in her V-Day mail box tomorrow morning.

I am sure we'll find more "love" in many, very unexpected, strange places. 

But that is how love works anyway, you never know when it hits you!

How to ... Play Skyp

We have story time with GP and GM every Sunday evening via skyp so the Ls get to hear GP's soothing voice and GM's silly giggles when they read the Ls their favorite Princess stories.
I posted about that here.

We all snuggle around the computer and listen to GP read about ... whatever.
Even Pat and I find ourselves secretly listening since GP has the BEST story-teller-voice ever.
We both think he should become a Narrator! Even if you have to listen to "Cinderella on her wedding day" for the 206. time this month ... if he reads it you'll end up listening over and over again!

But today we kicked it up a notch!!! BAMMMM (I used to watch Emeril quite a bit ... BC - before children)/ Today Lulu and Jakob had a play-date across several states via skyp. SO FUNNN!!!

We miss the Rudnick's very much! They left a big hole in our hearts when they took off :(
Lulu has been asking about Jakob quite a bit lately. When we skyped today Lulu and Jakob started to chat and color "together". It was pretty need.
Anke and I had left the two alone (via skyp) and they just chatted and played like they were in the same room. Technology is pretty darn amazing these days!!!

Distance makes the heart grow fonder!!!

This is part of their conversation:
"And then ... really ... yes and then ...  I did up-dog, down-dog ... and then the Princess married the Prince ... I went to Gurke ... mit Saba ... yes and the Prince was very nice ... in Chicago ... Do you like Princesses? ... where are the trains? ... and she wore such a pretty dress ... where are the trains??? .... look I colored that for you Jakob. .. THE trains???... do you want another flower sticker? ... I want Muesli. I want lunch. ... which color? Lila? Mama; kann ich bitte Muesli haben?  ... I am hungry too. ... Me too! ... "

BYE!!!! 

See you on the "puter" soon again. 

And thank you Mr.WebCam for inventing this thing so we can do this ... just like that!

How to ... Yarn Basket

Lulu and I have lots of time to get down and messy while big L is at school now. Here is what Lulu created last week (we finally finished it this morning).

Yarn Basket

Items needed:

plastic bowl as a mold

plastic wrap

wool (cut in pieces)

white glue

(if desired Mod Pod - which we added for extra durability)

and here is how it works:

cover your bowl with the plastic wrap

cut your wool

shnip-shnap

pour the glue into a large container

soak your wool strings in the glue

lay string by string across your bowl

criss-cross for better stability

get messy!!!

get more messy!!!

of course in our house nothing is complete without sparkles

 a little more maybe

now we are talking!!!

Whats that on your hands, Lulu?

Glitter and glue!!!

A very sparkle-sticky mess!!!

now add some weights and let dry

After the first 24 hours I removed the books and just let the glue dry completely.
I added another layer of ModPod and let it dry again. The L's will want to use this for their treasures so it better be sturdy. This morning it was finally completely dry.
I trimmed the edges and we added some duct tape to finish off the edge a bit and add some more hold.

This is the final outcome

I knew that this would be used for Princess, I just knew it :)

Et voila, a home made yarn basket by my little Lulu. 

The inspiration came from here . Their tutorial is much more detailed than our little picture show.