Crafting with Lily

 We've been taking this art class at the Hyde Park Art Center, and it has become one of her favorite things we do each week. She asks every day if we're going to art class, and that answer is no every day except for Tuesday. So I've tried to step up our crafting at home to keep her interest going. The skills she's gained in such a short time are incredible. One thing I've learned is that a little bit of prep on my part when Lily's not around makes things go much smoother. We made some Thanksgiving luminarias to give to family members. I cut a circle out of a recycled paper bag from the grocery store, covered it with white tissue paper, cut some red, green and yellow tissue paper into strips, and made a little turkey torso shape from the left over bag parts the night before. Then I gave Lily a glue stick the next day and let her have at it. She had great fun gluing the strips of colored paper in the vicinity of the white circle, then I helped her put the turkey torso on. We filled each bag with a couple of handfuls of clear glass stones (this was probably her favorite part) and dropped in an LED tea light. And voila! Instant holiday decor. Lily kept requesting to turn of the lights so she could look at them and say "Oooh! So pe-ah!" (so pretty). 

We also tried making a festive fall wreath. This was not as much of a success as the candles, but still fun and pretty to make. We had gone of several leaf collecting excursions earlier in the fall and pressed them so they would keep their color and shape. She LOVED picking up leaves from everywhere we went. I also dried some of the flowers that Joe got me for our anniversary. And I had some random silk leaves lying around from last year, I think. I picked up this twig wreath from the Target dollar section and broke out the hot glue gun. Lily stuck the flowers in where she wanted, and pointed to where she wanted me to glue on the silk leaves (the super orange ones) then she was done. She wanted nothing to do with the dried leaves, so I glued them together in a sort of bow-like topper thing. We don't actually have anywhere to hang a wreath, so it's been sitting in the window. 

There are lots of Christmas crafts in the works, most as presents for other people so that post will come later. (We also have back-up present ideas in case the crafting doesn't happen with the arrival of the new one.) Lily is soooo excited about Christmas. Every morning she wakes up and sees the tree all lit up she makes this huge surprised face, covers her mouth, and gasps "So pe-ah!" I love it. 

And she's also really excited about the new baby. Whenever we make anything she asks if it's for the new baby. Or buy something. Or read a book. Or do anything. She loves to make sure we're including the new baby. My favorite is when we ask her what the new baby's name is. She scrunches up her face, taps her finger on her lips, and says "Hmmm.... little boy?" She always makes me laugh. I'm sure there will be lots of adjusting to do, but I'm hoping this excitement carries over when the little boy actually does arrive.