An Activity Mat

One of our favorite toys is still the barn from FarFar and FarMor, it is played with a lot. I am always trying to think of new ways to keep it fresh and fun so we made a "circus blanket" the other day inspired by this rad dad's "zoo blanket". He has so many fun ideas, I am sure I will try and keep up with his blog to see the different things he creates. I used a flour sack (which is a story in itself - who knew flour sacks were not actually sacks?!! More on that next Christmas when I finish the project I had planned with them...) and felt pieces to make the shapes. AnaSofia wanted LOTS of different shapes so it took awhile to sew but really was just an hour project.

The girl approves!

Kasper is really into words and says "juice" "momma" "uh oh" and sounds for other things - it is pretty adorable.

Early morning cozy time is the best! Just too early!

Hope everyone is staying warm and cozy on what are some unseasonably warm days in Maine (40s again! We are playing with chalk on the deck if you can believe it!).

The $3 Pouf

Poufs have been all the rage in my world lately, I have seen them everywhere online, one of my favorite tutorials is here, a great site for knitting ideas. I love the way the stool looks like a sea urchin and thought it would be really easy to make one - essentially a big scarf tied together. But then I realized buying 18 balls and knitting with three threads for something that the kids would wrestle and eat on might not be the best investment, so behold... the $3 pouf! We love it!

I found an crocheted blanket at a thrift store and used two old down pillows of ours to make it. It looks more like a jellyfish than a sea urchin due to the ends of the blanket I left tucked underneath - I couldn't bear to cut it up! But the kids love to roll and play "frog and toad" stool on it. Kasper's room is a fun winter place to play anyways with the mattress on the floor (you can see AnaSofia hopping away). We also love the gentle giraffe next to the pouf that both kids fight over, it was a Christmas gift to Kasper from Faster Karen, Sten and Markus Alexander - Kasper gives giraffe lots of love daily and it reminds us that we have family in Africa that we miss very much!

Kasper's room is a reading space too, he is really into first word books right now which is fantastic because big sister can "read" to him. I love it! Kasper is wearing a one of his wonderful knitted sweaters by his lovely Danish grandmother - thank you FarMor! He always gets lots of compliments wearing it around town!

Enjoying the Maine winter

"In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." Albert Camus (author and 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature)
I love this quote and often think of it on the cold winter days in Maine. You cannot live here and not embrace winter. Whether you want to curl up by the fire and wait until the weather is warm or get outside and enjoy the thrill of the cold air in your lungs - winter in Maine is a true test for the soul. We enjoyed the really warm days (40 degrees!) the first week of January and are now pushing through the colder days - sledding, making a trail on the wetland or doing crafts inside. AnaSofia and I had a lot of fun making salt dough ornaments the other day (1 c salt, 1 c water and 2 c flour. make and bake - we baked them for 10 minutes at 300 and then let them dry out by the woodstove for a day).

AnaSofia painted some very Maine ornaments.

I was inspired by hearts!

We took Kasper sledding on a big hill in Orono yesterday and he was giggling the whole way down the hill - he is definitely a winter babe!

We made a snowman to keep our lady robot happy.