I am Such a Copycat!

Another day, and another activity I snagged from Fiona.  I love that Ingrid likes to color, but those damn crayons get EVERYWHERE!!  I'm constantly picking them up, piece by piece since I step on them and break them all the time.  So, when I saw Fiona's post on melting broken bits together to make big crazy crayons, I knew we'd eventually try it.  Today was that day!

First we peeled the crayons, which is harder than it sounds.  My hand cramped up quite a bit, but we managed to get them all peeled. 

Then of course Ingrid dumped all the wrappers and rolled in them.  They stuck to the drool on her chin...

Then we broke the crayons into pieces small enough for the muffin tins.  We lined the tins, put the colors in, and put them in the oven. 

I did 225 degrees for about 15 minutes.  We took them out just before Ingrid's nap and by the time she woke up they were cooled and ready to use.

Ingrid thought they were pretty cool!  They are huge and make cool multi-colored squiggles.  And an added bonus for me:  there are only eight of them to find!  For now, I'm sure they will break and then I'll be right back to square one...But for now, eight huge crayons are much easier to keep track of than 24 little ones.

Messy Messy Morning

Today we had a yelly kind of morning.  Ingrid was up from 11pm-1am unable to sleep either in her bed or ours, so I layed down with her kicking me in the stomach for two hours, just begging her to stop talking about the cats and just go to sleep.  She slept from 1-6am, then was up chatting again.  So, up we got, to make coffee and waffles.  But instead of being happy to be up, Ingrid decided to cry and whine for the first twenty minutes of the morning.  Which brought me to my yelly mommy spot.  I don't know why she doesn't understand that if she doesn't let me sleep she HAS to let me get my coffee...

It was just irritating that I was up with her while Brendan slept on the couch, then he got to sleep in, and when I went to see if he'd watch Ingrid while I showered, he was ready to jump in the shower.  Why is it he doesn't have to ask me to take a shower but I have to ask him??  (Love you, honey, but you drive me nuts sometimes!)  Anyway, all this made for a crabby, yelly kind of morning.  And I decided I didn't want it to be that way.  I don't have a car today so we're stuck here and Ingrid has been watching a lot of TV lately, which I'm not totally happy with.  I want today to be happy and filled with fun, not a crabby mama and a whiny kid.

Fiona had this post awhile ago and I loved the idea.  We only have tile in our kitchen so that is where we set up the bowl of rice and lentils.  I gave Ingrid a wooden spoon and some measuring cups and she went to town.  She immediately began tossing the rice around and giggling, so I knew it was going to be a fun activity for her!  Our kitchen is tiny and I managed to make two quiches and four mini pumpkin breads all while Ingrid threw rice and lentils all over the floor--even rolling out homemade crusts! 

This kept Ingrid busy for almost an hour, long enough for me to get what I wanted done in the kitchen and time to clean up.  And I am happy and not yelling and now it's naptime and I'm ready to go back to bed. 

New Stockings

I finished our stockings today!  I really didn't need to make them but I wanted to.  We have stockings from before we had Ingrid, and she has two other stockings people have given us.  But one says Baby's First Christmas, which it isn't anymore, and the other one isn't actually finished.  My aunt cross stitched one for her and it's gorgeous, but unfinished and I know I won't make it by this Christmas.  Maybe next year!

Christmas Card Outtakes

We took pictures for our Christmas cards this morning.  Here are some that didn't make it but are way cute anyway :)  Can you believe it's December already???  I can't.

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving this year was amazing.  We drove the six hours to Milwaukee and had a great weekend!  Dinner with the family, Ingrid slept the whole night through, all THREE nights!  And we got to see friends we haven't seen in months.  Made me homesick (see here) but we only have a few months left in Michigan and then we'll be off to the next adventure.

We had Christmas with Brendan's family since we'll be celebrating with my family this year.  Ingrid loved to help open presents.  She got some cute wooden toys and some money for her college account.  Or her traveling account, whichever she decides to use the money for :)

Ingrid had so much fun playing with the dogs.  Brendan's parents have three, two really old ones that didn't really care for Ingrid (that's Oreo down there, unable to get up and run away from Ingrid...) and an 8 month old 100 lb puppy, Bear.  He loved Ingrid, they played together very well. 

We also went to Fuel to see our preggo friend Katie!  I can't wait for April to meet baby girl Johnson.

And we went to Madison to FINALLY meet Camryn, who is about two weeks younger than Ingrid.  They had a blast playing together!

Thank You, Switzerland!

Fiona over at Living in the Land of Chocolate and her two girls sent us this adorable cow.  It is the cutest thing, both Ingrid and I oohed and aahhed over it when we opened the envelope!  I love the little wooden udder, and of course the bell around the neck, which Fiona says is very truly Swiss.  Ingrid has played with this little "moo cow" nonstop and even had to hold onto it during dinner.  Funny kid.

Thank you so much Fiona, Sofie, and Emily!  We also really enjoyed the homemade thank you cards with sparkly stickers :) 

And on another thankful note, it's Thanksgiving today and we are off for a six hour drive to see friends and family in Milwaukee.  Yay! 

Our Busy Weekend

Last Thursday Ingrid's friend Allie came over.  They have matching stripey outfits, so of course the mamas had to put them together and take silly pictures of them...

Ingrid had fun dancing.

My mom came over this weekend, allowing Brendan and I to have some date nights.  It was awesome to have help!!  We got to go out to dinner and for drinks TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW!  Yay.  Ingrid loves when Gramma comes over.  They made brownies and when Ingrid was given the empty bowl, she used it as a hat.  Then she smelled like brownies all day until bathtime.  Yum.

We went on a nice autumnal walk and played in the leaves.  It was HILARIOUS when we were sitting near a log that had a grasshopper on it.  We pointed it out to Ingrid, who went to grab it.  She touched it as it was hopping away, which caused her to make the most horrified face and shudder.  It was so funny! 

That sucker was huge!

Kids are Funny

Just some silly stuff Ingrid's been saying/doing lately. 

1. Yesterday I was putting her clothes away when she comes into the room holding out something, saying "pooh pooh."  Sure enough, it was poop...

2. The other day she had two sippy cups.  One dropped and broke, spilling milk all over me.  I (stupidly) yelled "Jesus!"  Ingrid then threw the other sippy and also yelled "Jesus!"

3. This morning we had egg nog.  Ingrid called it ning nong.

4. Ingrid loves mud puddles.  She gets on her tip toes and splashes in one tiny little puddle for ages.  And when it's a huge puddle, she doesn't seem to mind.  Even when it's freezing and she's covered in mud up to her knees.

5. When it's naptime or bedtime, we usually say good night to the dog, the cats, and daddy (when he's home.)  Now Ingrid has taken to saying good night to the kitchen set, her books, her teddy bears, the couch, her blankets, the bathroom, whatever is in her line of sight.  It takes awhile to say good night to a whole house.  I suppose that's what I get for reading Goodnight Moon to her a million times.

6. If I lay on the floor, Ingrid immediately drops whatever she's doing to run over and sit on my head. 

She is 18 months old today, I can't believe how fast time goes!

Hands On Museum

Today Ingrid and I met our friends at the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum.  Brendan and I always wanted to take Ingrid there but never managed to make it on a weekend, so I was excited when Jami wanted to go.  We packed a lunch and set off into the windy cold day.  It was a good day to be inside exploring!

They have a huge Bob the Builder section, but everything made noise and scared Ingrid.  She cried and wanted to be held the first ten minutes or so, until we took the kids to the preschool area.  There she had a blast!  There are things to climb on:

A water table where they get to splash as much as they want:

A firetruck with dress up fireman clothes:

After lunch we checked out some other areas, but a school was there, making it crazy, and Ingrid was ready for her nap.  She had fun, though, as long as she was in the preschool area.  Problem is, it's so expensive, I don't know that I want to pay that much for her to only want to see one tiny area...

Visiting the Fam

Ingrid has been super clingy and whiny, have I mentioned??  Yesterday early in the morning she had already driven me up a wall, so I decided to make an impromptu visit to my sister's house.  She lives 2 1/2 hours away and I feel that is not too far for a day trip.  Brendan thinks I'm crazy but who cares.  Ingrid does relatively well on that car trip, so I packed some bags and the dvd player and off we went.  My sister was having a family gathering for my neice's and her birthdays, and we hadn't thought we would make it, but I'm so glad we did!

Ingrid was asleep when we got there, thus waking her up to a strange place and two eager cousins in her face was a bit much to take.  She cried huge alligator tears for twenty minutes before finally warming up.  But warm up she did.  Her cousins just love her!

She played outside a lot, they have a swingset set in a huge pile of sand.  And I loved it because I could sit inside on the couch and watch from the back porch instead of having to be cold and sit out there with her.  Lazy much? 

When Gramma got there, Ingrid was beside herself, along with all the other cousins, too.  She is a big hit!!

After a few hours of much socializing and sugary foods, Ingrid started to get upset again, waving bye bye to everyone and begging to be held.  She slept most of the way home and then we sang songs and recited books we know by heart the rest of the way.  It was a great day.

Added bonus:  Corie has a ton of kid's toys her kids have outgrown, so Ingrid gets to use them now!  We took home a kitchen set and a bin full of toy dishes and food.  It was going to be a Christmas present, but she was so excited about it, and I was so tired from lack of sleep the past few weeks, that I just let her go to town this morning while I drank coffee.  She loves it!