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We also had our first go at spaghetti this week.  I must say, she stayed cleaner than some of my kiddos at school when she ate it.

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Sunday marked Mikayla’s 10 month birthday.  Hard to believe 10 months have already passed.  Check out this, this and this post for past giraffe growth pictures.  Here she is at 10 months (note it is getting harder and harder to get her to lay still long enough to snap the photos).

She is now standing for long periods and scooting along furniture.  She has even gone from sitting to standing a couple of times.  We fear walking is in our near future!  "Talking" up a storm too.  And even dancing a little, if you could call it that!  Here are a couple more videos of my Little Munchkin!

Sorry, this post got longer than I had intended.  Hope you enjoyed!

Unfortunately, I was unable to blow out 27 candles in one fail swoop.  Pathetic.  Judge for yourself!

First, we made an Olympic ring snack.  We took butter cookies, icing and sprinkles and turned them into the Olympic rings.  Here is what the end result looked like (not the best lighting, but you get the idea):

Then at recess we had the kids train and warm up for the big events.  We began the day with Opening Ceremonies.  The kids had each made a flag that represented their country and we played the Olympic theme song while they paraded around the gym.  They were so proud and excited.  Then we moved on to the main events!  We had eight events set up around the school.

1.  Speed skating – We had the kids skate around the gym in their sock feet.  They were so cute, and they all pretended to be Apollo Anton Ohno.

2.  Ski jumping – They ran and jumped from a piece of tape to see who could go the farthest.

3.  Hockey – They took turns shooting a hockey puck between cones. 

4.  Snowball toss – Not a real event, but we were running out of ideas.  They tossed marshmallows into Olympic rings.

5.  Bobsled – The coaches pulled kids around a course on a plastic sled.

6.  Luge – By far the favorite event.  We used an old plastic square scooter  and let the kids race down the main hallway in our school.  It is a ramp, so they had a lot of fun.  Here is a picture of one of the coaches racing along.  There were more wrecks with the adults than there were with the kids.

7.  Wii Figure skating

8.  Wii Snowboarding – Complete with a photo-op on a real snow board.

We completed the day with a medal ceremony where each child earned a bronze medal, silver medal and gold medal.  It was a great day. 

Here are some videos of the teachers having a little fun! 

I think the teachers enjoyed themselves more than the kiddos!  There were a few more videos of adults, but I did not post because I didn’t want to embarrass anyone!  It was a great day with lots of laughs and giggles, and I think the kids learned a little too!

Speaking of my cuties, sometimes they just like to sit and play together.  Here they are having a staring contest (please note the red shirt on Ben and not black).

Goofy grins.

Cute smiles.

Acting silly with daddy, doesn’t get much cuter than this!

"Look Mom, I can scrunch Daddy’s face!"

Mikayla exploring the fact that they both have mouths.

"What’s in there daddy?"

Sweet kisses from daddy.

I am pretty sure she is held in the air and upside down more than any other baby in the world!

Here is a quick shot of me and Mikayla after her play time with daddy.

Like I do with most recipes, I changed this one a bit.  I added some sautéed peppers and onions with garlic to the filling.  I also added in a few jalapeno slices to kick it up a notch!  I also used some homemade salsa in the filling.  I served with guacamole and white cheese sauce.  I ended up making the filling the night before and then creating the Chimichangas the next.  This worked really well with a 9.5 month old crawling around.  These were yummy fresh and straight from the freezer.  It made like fifteen, so there were plenty for future meals.  I am becoming a huge fan of freezer cooking!

We had them for dinner tonight with Mexican rice, black beans with corn, and white cheese dip.  Delicious!  Top it off with a little Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia and you have a near perfect meal!  Since I made this in stages I forgot to take pictures, but when you go check out the recipe you will see some.

I could say that Mikayla woke up, was fussy and needed her mom.  I don’t think Ben would go for that one though.

Maybe I could blame it on the Olympics.  I mean they only come on once every four years (ok 2 if you count summer and winter, but who’s counting?).  Don’t think he will buy that one either.

I could say that I traded doing this dishes with Shiloh for letting her sleep in the bed tonight.  Ben would be really unhappy with this one seeing as how Shiloh likes to sleep on his side of the bed!

I could blame it on Etsy, I do get sucked in there quite often.

Alas, no excuse is good enough.  I must venture to the kitchen to do the dishes.  Just so you know, I am not happy about it!

Dishes…blah!

…will compete in a competition tomorrow night for Funniest Kid Around.  I have always known he was funny, but now the whole world (or at least the people at the show) will know just how funny he really is!  This kiddo (don’t let him know I called him a kiddo though, he might deny it) holds a special place in our hearts (all of us Kickert’s, even Shiloh).  He has been in our lives since my first year of teaching.  We have seen him grow, mature (at least a little), learn, laugh, play ball, learn to read and write, and much more.  He is an all star in my eyes!  He is so special to us we had him complete an art project for MLK’s nursery.  I think it turned out great!

He will probably never read this, but….GOOD LUCK!  WE WILL BE THERE ROOTING FOR YOU!

(Photo courtesy of Dallas Gilliam)

…with this Baby girl…

…and with everything involved with this symbol…

That’s right ladies and gentlemen, I am in love with the Olympics, both winter and summer.  I love everything about it.  The competition.  The history.  The stories.  The excitement.  The events.  The opening ceremonies.  The athletes.  The crowds.  I love it all.  I have been asked before which are my favorite, Winter or Summer Olympics.  It is a hard choice for me.  I love events from both equally.  The Summer Olympic events are familiar, but the Winter Olympic events are dangerous, fast paced and excitingly unknown (to me at least)!  It is just too hard to choose.  Which is your favorite?

I love the Olympics so much that I am going to be spending the next two weeks teaching my students about the Olympics.  We will learn about the different sports, the history, chart medal winnings, watch short clips of events, and culminate with an Olympic day next Friday complete with our very own Kindergarten Olympics.  It is going to be crazy fun!

So, if you go looking for me in the next two weeks and you can’t find me, you might try looking in my living room on the couch.  You will more than likely find me glued to the TV screen at night watching the athletes in what some would say as their ultimate lifelong goal…striving to achieve an Olympic gold.  Yay for Olympics!

What supplies will I need?

To get started you will need the following supplies:

1. Hair clips – alligator or snap clips
2. Ribbon – Various sizes will do depending on the type of clip you are wanting to make.
3. Glue – I have used both hot glue and a crafting glue called E600.  However, I have found it is easier to make the clips with the hot glue (low heat) than the other.  E600 has a very strong odor and gave me a really bad headache every time.  Just remember, that a little glue goes a long way…Just a dot, not a lot!
4. Crafting supplies – Any kind will do…flower petals, jewels, beads, brads, and buttons to name a few.  Pick your poison or mix them all around!  I have even started using felt embellishments.

Where can I get supplies for hair clips?

I have gotten most of my supplies at Hobby Lobby (a crafting store).  If you have a Michaels nearby you might check there.  Other places to look are dollar stores (Mighty Dollar has some great selections), the Target dollar aisle (I have found brads and ribbon here), and any other place that sells scrapbooking supplies. 

How do I make a hair clip?

Start by measuring and cutting the ribbon to desired length.  Use a lighter to lightly singe the edges of the ribbon.  Then glue the ribbon on the clip of your choice, being careful not to glue the clip shut.  If you are using E600 you will want to have a dowel rod or something along those lines to keep clips open while drying.  Once dry, add the embellishment of your choice.  Scrapbooking flowers fastened with brads make cute clips.  As do, unique buttons.  Really, hair clips can be as simple or as in depth as you desire.  If you are handy with a crocheting needle, crocheted flowers make cute snap clips.  One important thing to keep in mind is the direction the clip will be placed in individuals hair.  If you are using something like a bird then the direction will matter. 

I am not crafty, so I can’t make these…

Trust me, if you can find some cute crafty supplies and use a glue gun, you can make hair clips.  It is really a lot easier than it looks!

Happy clip making!

  After careful inspection (and a few conversations) with the mom, and some encouragement from a fellow teacher (who also braved the world of clip making) I decided to give clip making a try.  It might look intimidating, but it is actually quite simple.  After making my first clip I vowed to never again by a clip I could make.  Here are what my first few looked like.  Nothing too hard, simple ribbon glued on a clip with a button or two for some added glam!

This was fun for awhile, but then I decided I wanted to elaborate some.  I got some flower petals and put them together with brads to make some bows.  I don’t have pictures, but they look similar to the clips the parent made for MLK (pictured above).  After making these clips for awhile, scouring multiple Etsy sites for ideas, and a quick sewing session with my dear friend Dacia I decided to venture into the world of felt.  All you ladies (or gentlemen) out there toying with the idea of making felt creations I encourage you to do so.  Once you get the blanket stitch down it is a piece of cake!  Here are some of my favorite creations thus far.

My team teacher and I have decided to team up and host a table at a Spring Craft Bazaar hosted by our school (if anyone is interested tables are $25 and you get to keep all the money you make).  Hopefully these little clippies will make us some money!  Oh, and just for fun, I have coined my clip "shop", Sugar Mamma’s Shop.  It is not a real shop anywhere, but I would love to sell some clips if you know anyone that might be interested!

I have made some other crafts lately, but I will save that for a later post.  I have also been busy playing in all our fun snow with this little bundle of joy (and her daddy and Shiloh too)!