On to the Holidays

Last week was all about Melisa and Scott getting married. Oh it was so much fun! Those Scheys sure know how to party! Liesl did very well at the wedding and all of the festivities surrounding it. However, I did have to bribe her a few times with Barbies to get her to sleep on important days. On the day of the rehearsal, I let her know she could pick out a Barbie out of the "potty treat cabinet" and she informed me that she would sleep for 2 Barbies! Well she did... and she got them! She was very excited to be walking down the aisle for Aunt Melisa and did very well practicing. At the rehearsal dinner she made friends with Amanda (Melisa's cousin) because she is Liesl's living Barbie. It was very funny. The day afterward, we practiced and practiced what she would do on the day of the wedding using her Wedding Barbies and Kens as props. Each of the Kens had a Tux and the Barbies were dressed all in pink. Liesl knows which one of each of the Barbies represents the real person in the wedding party (needless to say Jeremy, Scott, John and Eric are now a Ken doll, Barbie accessories some might say).  On the day of the wedding Liesl did take her nap and was well rested for the ceremony.Momma picked up the tuxes from target for 2 more Ken dolls so they didn't have to attend in their bathing suits. She got to practice lots with her Barbies and Kens prior to the ceremony again and got her hair made up by momma (I was quite worried about her hair and the tiara too and it turned out perfect). She wouldnt let me take out her Tiara and hairdo out until she fell asleep! Liesl walked down the aisle perfectly with momma and was reasonably good in the front row with Oma, only demanding to go to Momma a few times which was ok. Little girl was so excited to run around freely in the hall and visit everyone. She danced all night and got to stay up until midnight which we have been paying for ever since! What a wonderful wedding. She was a perfect little flower girl for a perfect fairytale wedding. When Liesl sees her pictures from that evening she says "that princess Liesl". I dont think it is one night she will forget!

Santa!

Friday night, Liesl visited Santa in the Rochester outdoor mall. I never thought she would be so excited to see him! She was talking up a storm about what she was going to ask for (Barbies and Kens she said). When she got into the gazebo she waved and said Hi Santa and went over and started talking to him. held his hand and all. we didnt get very good pictures though so Oma Ronnie took her to Sommerset to get some done there where it was warm. She did very well with him and they managed to get quite a few shots. She even sat in his lap too. How exciting! Oma said that she was a lot happier and the photographer didnt catch all of the smiles she had for him.  She has been talking about him since Friday and learning all about him. Saturday she worked on a Santa lantern in paper mache with tissue paper and balloons and glue. We made it so Santa can find us on Christmas Eve. She was excited. Sunday we visited my friend Kiki and her 3 kids Autumn, Jonah and Sydney (Sydney is about 6 mo younger than her and they look and sound so much alike it was funny. We couldnt tell who was talking. She had a blast with them all and she even pet thier chickens and ducks which is more than she has done in the past. she is usually more tentative with all animals. She actually got down and pet them, I think because Autumn was holding them and she is more her size, a little younger than Aly.

Organization in Liesl's area

This weekend Liesl and I sorted out all of her toys by type, use etc in big plastic boxes. Ex, she has all of her Barbies in a box, her plastic animals in a box, her farm ctr, her crayons and coloring books, etc, etc. I figured out that she would create less of a bomb and get less bored while she was playing and she would learn to put things away better. OMG it worked. She was putting them back when she was done with them within the evening. She wasnt getting bored and she was using all of her toys that had gotten mixed up and "lost". There was actually a puzzle book that she re-discovered because 3/4 of the pieces were missing until I re-organized. We are all really loving the organization and calm play that she has been having. Like her own little Barbie Zen garden.

Then... today I found this blog....through another blog that I absolutely love.

http://holisticmum.blogspot.com/2009/10/learning-spaces.html

Totally agrees with me. I guess I had to come up with the theory first myself to implement my scheme.

I am looking forward to doing some of these crafts with Liesl this weekend. I have fallen in love with this woman's blog in the past couple of days and I yearn to stay home with my little punkin and play with our art supplies and garden all day. But alas, I will have to wait for the weekend....for now.

http://themagiconions.blogspot.com

Check it out. She has some awesome ideas and a super wonderful imagination. My kind of girl!

Pictures from Halloween

I Can't believe the amount of leaves we raked this weekend!

 Friday was Pumpkin carving at Oma's. Liesl had a great time playing with all the kids (Aly, Chloe and Gavin). I couldnt even get her to go to the potty when she said she had to go because "I wanna go play with my friends". I managed to carve a few more pumpkins for our front window which was nice. I am loving having a big window to put stuff like that there.

Saturday morning Liesl and I helped Dennis finish making his costume. Good thing I worked on it through the week because "crazy big" means crazy lot of sewing! I am thinking about making a quilt this winter. i have a few of Floyd's bandana's I saved and I would like to include those in there. Liesl took a nice long nap in the afternoon. In the evening we picked up Oma and Grandad and visited Tillson St in Romeo for the Halloween festivities that they put on. Liesl loves scary things and she especially loved the 2 pirate ships out on to adjacent lawns. It was so packed there though. Wish they didnt allow people to drive down there during the evening hours because of all of the people.

Liesl and I raked a lot of leaves this weekend. Sunday morning the 2 of us visited grandad and Oma and helped rake all of her leaves. Liesl had a lot of fun rolling around in them on the front lawn. We stayed and had lunch then went home for her nap. Then raked our leaves and I swear that all of the leaves from the whole block were in our backyard. There sure were more than our trees could have produced. I still have piles all over the yard waiting for the yard waste bin to be empty enough to fit more in. Jim made some chili to die for for our Halloween festivities. It was much better than some I have made but really hot. Oma, Grandad and Ota came by to go trick or treating in our sub. Ota manned the door and handed out candy (I think the 1st time ever) and Grandad supervised Ota. Daddy and Oma, Liesl and I went out trick or treating. We did wait a little til it got dark and Liesl was ready to go since the siren went off! She was yelling trick or treat to the kids and helping hand out candy and "trick or treating" with her bucket with our candy. We took her out in the wagon with a bunch of fleece blankets and her punkin lantern on the handle so people could see us. She siad trick or treat and thank you to most people except when there was a dog because it was either making her nervous or distracting her. When she got home she was calling all of her candy her "booty". Daddy and I allowed her a pack of M&M's and some Ritz bits crackers.

Pictures from Halloween to come soon. Need to unload my camera.