Homemade Stickers (again)

A couple of weeks ago, Madigan and I made another batch of homemade stickers. I have a couple of large hole punches for shapes, but she's happy with any shape you cut out. She paints the mix on and then Mom cuts. When it's time to use them, Madigan gives them a lick and sticks em on some paper--and that's it! There's a recipe below- not sure it's the exact one I made but they're all generally the same.

Sticker Adhesive

1 packet (1/4 ounce) unflavored gelatin
1 tablespoon cold water
3 tablespoons boiling water
1/2 teaspoon sugar or corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (or flavor of choice)

Sprinkle gelatin into cold water and soften for 5 minutes. Pour boiling water into gelatin mixture, stirring until dissolved. Add corn syrup or sugar and extract. Mix well.

Using a paint brush, thinly apply a layer of adhesive to the back of the sticker sheet. Allow to dry completely. Page will curl.

Any leftover adhesive will gel overnight. Store these leftovers in a glass container with tight fitting lid. To return to original state, place container in a pan of hot water until the glue becomes usable again. Unused adhesive can be refrigerated for several months.

To use stickers, moisten with a damp cloth (or lick).

Legwarmies

I knit our new niece, Kassidy, a set of these legwarmies. Actually this pair is Kassidy's, but I had to have a photo for my Ravelry page and to remember. The pattern is so easy I can take my knitting everywhere and they are so cute. Oh and the bonus is they fit from 3 months to 3 years!

Swap-a-roo

We needed a sitter for Parent's Night at Madigan's new school last week, and Paige needed a sitter for the same thing this week--hence a swap-a-roo. The girls are really starting to love their play dates together and since they are the exact same age (give a day), they're on the same page with almost everything...Couldn't be 2 more different personalities, but that must make it work, huh?
We usually try to get together with Paige and her Mommy during the day during the week, but sometimes it doesn't happen. We're going to continue to do these little dates since we're all home anyway and the girls really love it. Paige almost seems like part of the family some days.

Art Everywhere

While I was making dinner the other night, Madigan set up art shop outside without me even knowing. She uses her little art table in her corner every day multiple times a day. She's got plenty to glue and draw. I'll post an updated photo: I bought a plastic drawer set and we hung a magnetic strip. So, now she can access things and also put things away when she's done.

Last Camping Trip....?

Last weekend, we joined the Nelson family again and headed over to the Pioneer Scenic Byway. Yes, we already went there, but it's a great place with lots of different stuff to do.

Madigan likes to read "older" books. She carries around Charlotte's Web and Frog and Toad quite a bit. Here's she reading and singing Frog and Toad:

Breakfast burritos are a hit with all ages:

The Nelson family calls us the Mocksters. Here's all 3 kids helping dry dishes. out of the blue, Beckett raised his hand and said "Go Mocksters!"
And then Madigan did it too:We usually don't bring many toys camping wit us, but this time I loaded a few farm animals that Madigan plays with EVERY day. It was fun to find things to make homes/cages with:
And of course we went to Crystal Park again and dug up some crystals:

We also checked out Coolidge (a ghost town). There really was nothing left, but we got a nice walk in and everyone was happy to be out in the sunshine:


We're not sure if this will be our last camping trip of the season or not. We'd all like to get out at least one more time. In Madigan's case she would go everyday if she could.

Introducing....

the new Baby Mock, aka "Madigan's baby". The ultrasound was much quicker then with Madigan's and we only got these 2 pictures below.... I feel kind of jipped since we got tons of photos of Madigan (so starts the life of the second child). However, the baby looked healthy and everything seemed to look good. The baby was moving around quite a bit and the ultrasound tech has to "chase" it a bit for some of the measurements and pictures. The heartbeat was 133, it weighs 14 ounces and we're measuring 20 weeks, 4 days (should be 20 weeks, 2 days).

First Day of Preschool

These top two pictures are from this morning-Madigan's first official day of preschool. We gave a couple quick hugs and kisses and they she went to see her classroom turtle eat a worm. It was all so quick, just as I had hoped, but oh so sad as I left without her. She's really going to love and thrive at school. I'm so excited for her and am so glad we're doing the Montessori thing.
This is yesterday, her orientation day. We both had orientation, in separate rooms. The goodbye was very sad as Madigan have me 6 or 7 hugs and then started to tear up. I think she did just fine after some warm up time and she knew I was still in the school too. She didn't want to talk about school very much last night, but that may be because she had a play date with Paulina in the afternoon which was way more fun!