February 19, 2014

My Crafting Corner


When we moved into our apartment, I had grand schemes of a beautifully organized craft storage area. My fabric would be stored in such a way that I would know at a glance what I had. My glue gun would be placed just so next to the bag of glue sticks. My scrapbook materials would be in easy reach (and my boys' baby scrapbooks would be up to date).  That didn't happen at all! The craft shelves became a catch all with random craft supplies that are on my to do list.  So, to help me organize my closet, I've decided to actually finish my crafts this year!  I'm putting this list up as a motivational/accountability factor.

Craft To Do List

February - Make Storage Boxes, Mend Tim's baby hat, Make Infinity Nursing Scarf
March - Make Emergency candles out of the old wax I have. Put up picture frames for the boys artwork.
April - Real Hope Blankets
May - Picnic quilt
June - Up date / Start Baby scrapbooks
July - Work on my quilt for Elijah
August - Make a braided Rug

Extras -
Learn to Crochet,
Fix my Yellow baby quilt,
Make a quilt for Evie out of the fabric she gave me for this project


February 17, 2014

Pinterest Fail!

I admit, I am a Pinterest junkie. It's such a nice way to keep recipes organized in the way that I want it to be organized. It has some great homeschooling ideas and endless craft ideas that I have neither the time or money to do (but I must pin them to my crafting to do board!). I recently found this idea for a sofa fort and thought, "That's awesome! The boys will love it!"


So, I tried it out the other day when I wanted to vacuum and not have them running around me while screaming  like banshees.  They first started to comment about how dark it is. Easy Peasy fix. Here's a flashlight, boys.  Then came the "I can't breathe, Mama!" Umm...

Then came the monumental crashing of the fort.  This was definitely not a fun fort. It was a death trap. Bad Pinterest! You've failed.

The boys were still wanting to have a fort, so I pulled out the over the table blanket fort that my sister gave to me to remake into quilts for the kids at the Real Hope Center (but haven't done anything with yet *ahem*) and let the boys eat their lunch in it.

They also took their naps/rest time in the fort too (Yeah, no resting actually occurred, just whispers and laughter).

February 15, 2014

A Little Over Two Months

  In the past couple of months, Isaac has rapidly grown.  He weighed in at his 2 month well child exam at a whopping 14 lbs 4 oz. That is almost twice his birth weight. 

Issac has some pretty entertaining big brothers.

He wants so badly to get in there and play with them that laying on the floor is not ok anymore! He must sit up any way possible. 

He is becoming a pro at raising his head up off the floor. He is just about to the point of pretending to be an airplane.

He is also learning that feet are fun to lift in the air and kick around.

One of the best feats he is learning is sleeping through the night. I am now only waking up around 5 am to feed Isaac and then we are back to sleep until 8. It is so wonderful!

A Weekend Snowpocolypse!

This past weekend, the Pacific NW was hit with freezing temperatures and snow. Schools were closed. Roads got icy and jammed up with accidents and slow moving vehicles. Tim got a 3 1/2 day weekend. But as the temperatures dipped, we enjoyed some relaxing family time in our warm apartment.  So, Tim (with the "help" of Beniah and Elijah) took the time to put together Isaac's exersaucer since Isaac just isn't happy laying on the floor or even sitting in his chair. He has to stand even if he is too little and can't properly hold himself upright yet. 
 

 The next morning, I bundled the older two boys up and we headed outside to play in the almost 4" of snow that accumulated in our back patio.
 
 

Isaac stayed warm inside with the cat (and Tim who was working from home).

Being the Pintrest junkie that I am, I decided to try out an outdoor winter activity that I saw pinned and I let the boys blow bubbles just to see what would happen when they froze.
 
 Although frozen bubbles look kind of cool, they're a bit anticlimactic.

Then it was off to explore the great white world of our neighborhood and to see if the US mail really does deliver in all sorts of weather. *We did have mail, but it could have been there for a few days since I always forget to check the mail.*



The roads were still too hazardous for us to venture out to church on Sunday, so we stayed home, got online, and watched my sister and brother in law talk about their ministry to the tribal regions of Southern India. The boys were excited to see their Aunt and Uncle on tv and slightly confused when their names were mentioned on tv in a shout out by my sister.

Life returned to normal on Monday when the warmer rains came and the roads cleared up so Tim could get back to work. But I had a nice view for a little while as I worked in the kitchen.

February 14, 2014

Family Fun

 A couple of weeks ago, we took a quick weekend trip to Roseburg to celebrate my nephew's birthday. Since Tim now works in South Portland and has a 30-90 minute commute on the way home, we decided that I should pack the boys and our stuff up and pick Tim up after he got off of work. To help keep the boys on track, I wrote up a To Do List. This kind of backfired on me since the boys decided that they wanted lunch at 10:30 so we could pick Daddy up sooner. Sorry Tim's boss, but our 5 year old and 3 year old are demanding Daddy's early release.
Why yes, pooping is on the list

After a very long trip, we arrived at my parents house in time for bed. (Rush hour + An accident up ahead + potty breaks + feeding the baby = oh my goodness, when are we going to get there!) 

The next morning, we convened at a local pizza parlor and ate pizza with 17 other kids and their parents. 
 
 
 Although, some just cuddled with Grandma.

Then it was off to the archade room with their bouncy house, racing games, and Pac-Man (which was Elijah's favorite much to Tim's pleasure).
 

There is something about Grandma's arms that puts babies to sleep.

Then came the cake with the obligatory jokes about eating the whole thing.
 Why, yes, that is Beniah's fake laugh smile. I get it all the time!

With cake comes singing...

..and a slightly embarrassed, but thoroughly happy birthday boy.
 Happy birthday Jeshu! I can hardly believe that you are six!


Of course, everyone must gather as close to the birthday boy as they can so they can be the first to see his present.



After the party, we headed back to our respective houses for naps (although Beniah headed back with the Kumars so that he could spend some coveted cousin time with Jeshu). Then it was time for a family dinner and Grandpa wrestling time.

Before the night was over, Isaac was held by one and all.
Isaac is Janasa's "favorite cousin because he's so cute!".


 


After church on Sunday, we headed over to the Kumar's house for lunch and last minute cousin playtime. Isaac bonded with his Auntie Evie and thoroughly loved bouncing on her.


 Meanwhile, the boys were hard at work assembling Jeshu's birthday lego haul. It took awhile to drag Beniah away from the fun, but we had to get home.

Beniah has now been asking me when Jeshu's last day of school is because he wants to spend the night at Jeshu's again. Something tells me that sleepovers are going to be an every visit occurrence.

February 13, 2014

And Time Flies By!

This evening as the boys and I were getting ready to head out to our Bible study, Beniah looked at me and said, "Mama, you know the group that meets at church tonight? (Do you mean the youth group?) Yeah. I want to go to youth group."   I am a little humored by this because I remember feeling like it was going to take forever for winter to be over, for summer to come, to turn 13, etc.  Now, I am noticing how quickly life is flying by (although, I do still find myself thinking "when will diapers end!")  This past month and a half has been very busy.

Elijah turned 3 and had two parties.
The first one was with the Luse family at Pietro's Pizza in Salem. The kids had a blast eating at their own table and playing all sorts of arcade games.

 




 Grandma had a blast cuddling the baby while the rest of us followed the older kids around.


The second party was the next day on Elijah's birthday. The Whittakers came over to play, eat some pizza and cupcakes, give some gifts, and (of course) play Mario Kart.
 He has is own sense of style!








 Isaac just slept through the whole party.


 But with the ending of the birthday parties, came the leaving of the cousins.
 
 

 And time marches on and with it comes new firsts.

Fist time that Isaac slept in the cradle that his Mama, Grandpa, and (I believe) his Great Grandpa slept in.



Isaac's first smile captured by my camera (there was one taken a couple days before this one, but it was on his Grandma's camera).

First recreation of a Daddy's baby picture.
 
 He looks amazingly like Tim did at this age.

First walk.


We also traveled and had fun in the snow, but those are stories for another post (especially since it is past my bedtime and the middle of the night feedings will be here before I know it). Just know that month was filled with love.

Lots and lots of love.

 


 And with a dash of charm and cuteness!