B is for Bee

Ryan and I have started working (more intentionally) on our alphabet and numbers. I finally decided on a weekly "plan" to help me keep on track. The goal as of now is to do one letter a week, and two numbers a week. We did 'A' a few weeks ago then had to take a week off due to the fact that I ran out of printer paper to print off half his projects. This week was the letter 'B'. I had a friend lead me to this website which has TONS of creative ideas to use for your kids. I downloaded the Alphabet Craft book to use. My goal is to also head to the library once a week, preferably on Mondays, and pick out books that have the letter of the week in the title. It couldn't have worked out more perfectly this week! The craft for this week was a bee and one of the books we picked up was Brilliant Bees by Linda Glaser. So after we made our Bees Ryan wanted to head outside to find some flowers for his honeybee so they could make some honey. And then he also chased me with it and "stung" me and informed me that then his bee died. So not only did he learn a new letter, but he learned about bees! How cool is that?! Colin also made a bee (with mom's help) and he was flying his around making buzzing noises. I'm so proud of my boys! Here are a few pics of the bee searching for a flower.

Pool Play Date!

For this upcoming year I have volunteered to be on the Steering Team for our MOPS group. Our mentor for the year, Ms. Melanie, has been kind enough to open up her home on Friday mornings for the remainder of the summer to let us come over and take advantage of her pool. The boys had a great time and we were excited that some of our other friends showed up too.
Caleb enjoying the safety of the floaty.

Ryan playing with Ms. Melanie.

Ms. Angie and Kade

Kade and Colin enjoying some time in the swing after swimming.

Getting to feed the donkey..I forgot his name.

Homemade Cards

Let me start by saying I am no "stamper". I have seen cards far more intricate than mine. Tim's Grandma is an expert card maker and we always enjoy getting something from her on holidays and birthdays. I don't always make cards for birthdays, showers, etc, but there are a few reasons I got started. First, I was bored. I needed a project. A creative outlet. Second, I switched to digital scrapbooking and I have TONS of paper left over. Thirdly, why spend the money on buying birthday cards, when I have tons of paper to make my own? So this is my latest batch. I added a few things to some of them after the pic was taken. The hardest part for me is trying to figure out what to write on them. So most of them are still blank.

Aprons

One of my first projects I wanted to do after I was gifted my sewing machine was to make myself and the boys some aprons for the kitchen. I'm not a huge cook, but I do like to bake on occasions and I tend to get messy. And of course if you've ever attempted to cook/bake with a little one the flour and sugar tends to fly! I really like how the boys' aprons turned out. I orignally only bought one yard of fabric but then decided that they would probably be stronger/cuter if I doubled it. So I got these really cute two sided aprons...

I didn't get a picture of mine yet. I'm not quite fond of it at the moment. It turned out fine, don't get me wrong. But I chose a vertical stripped pattern for one side and with my current "belly" it's just not that becoming. Maybe I can get a model. (Tim should be very thankful he's not around right now. Haha.)

Owl Teethers

I think there has been an owl craze lately for anything baby. But who can blame them? They are super cute! I've even been tempted to go with an owl theme for Blaine's room, but the Guitar Rock-star won out. I first saw these on my friend's blog here and they were one of the first things on my list to make after my husband bought me my sewing machine. (Which by the way, my husband buying me a sewing machine can very much be attributed to Krystle's blog. I only talked about it everyday a new project was posted claiming, "I could make that!" So thank you Krystle!) When I make some more I think I'm going to try to elongate the body a tad more. Mine kind of seem short and stubby. Although I'm sure no baby will really mind.



The owl in the middle has already been re-homed. The one on the left is for Blaine and the one on the right has yet to find a home. It won't be long though, since I currently know five other pregnant ladies!

Hanging Crib Bag

So I saw this idea here. I love the idea of baby having something within reach to play with when he/she wakes up without mom having to rush in and entertain right away. I had a baby shower to attend and I wanted to give this a try. I didn't attempt making my own bag this time, so I just grabbed this canvas bag from Hobby Lobby for $3.00. I also picked up some little iron-on sport that were on sale since baby's room had a sports theme. The iron on letters were a little more expensive, but I have plenty left to use for another project. I really had to dig the tip of my iron into the men/letters to get them to stick well. I took out the stitch for the handle on the front of the bag, removed the handle, and restitched the top. Then I cut the handle on the back side in half. I sewed across each side to keep it from unwraveling. The original blog says to use snaps, but I wasn't really sure if I needed an extra tool for those so I went with velcrow instead. Sewed it on and wa-la! We piled the bag full of books and toys and hung it on our crib for a trial run. It held up just fine with the velcrow. I will definitely be making one of these for my next one! (Sorry it's not the best picture.)

A Box From Grandma!

We got a box in the mail last week from Grandma w/3 dogs. (This is how Ryan distingushes one Grandma to the other..by the number of dogs they own.) We got some construction paper, books, tissue paper, and two sets of 3D chalk! Grandma is good to us!




I'm still not sure what makes the 3D chalk so special besides the fancy glasses you put on. The color is a little richer than regular chalk, but still planning on trying out the regular chalk to see if it will work.

Our First Pool!

A few weeks ago I decided to buy the boys a pool for the back yard. We got home, got it out of the box and I realized I had no way to blow it up. I don't always think things thru completely. So I found a cheap air pump online and ordered it right away. All the time Ryan asking me every five minutes "can we swim now?". I was semi-saved by the weather for about the next week and a-half. The rain I mentioned previously was just starting to start. A few days after we got the pump in the mail the rain stopped and the sun was shinning! So we picked a spot in the backyard and set it up.







The boys loved it! Well worth the wait! Then we sat down to one of our favorite dinners...pizza! You can even see Colin was cheering for it!

My Little Painters

A few weeks ago we had almost two weeks straight of rain. Good for the grass, bad for entertaining two boys. The boys love to paint anything I let them. So we picked up a few helicopters during one of our trips to Hobby Lobby. Colin did a great job at creating a very colorful helicopter.



Ryan was very intentional about which part he painted which color.



The finished product. Of course, within a few days, both helicopters had lost their propellers, and one has lost a "leg" (not sure what it's really called). It was fun while it lasted. At least the boys thought so.

My, Not-So-Secret, Summer Love Affair...

I LOVE watermelon. I CRAVE watermelon. This would be the 5th watermelon that I've eaten in the last (approx) two months. ALL BY MYSELF. I haven't been able to get the boys to eat it. Although I'm sure once they tried it they would love it. I used to have a real hard time "picking" a good one. Then last summer I heard this tip on the radio. They said to look at the side where it's been laying on the ground and you want the one that has the richest yellow, butter color. So far it's worked everytime for me. Maybe it's just coincidence, but I'm going to keep using the tip. Not sure what I'm going to do when summer is over. I'm sure I'll have withdrawal symptoms. I guess I'll just have to dream about my summer love and look forward to next year!

Am I Master of the List or is the List Master of Me?

I LOVE lists. I have/make grocery lists, packing lists, meal lists, do to lists, dream lists, project lists. Lists help me to remember the things I need/want to do without having to stress about remembering what it was I needed/want to do. What I love more than lists though is crossing things OFF the list! I guess it gives me the feeling of accomplishment; like I'm actually getting somewhere/doing something. I don't like stopping in the middle of a project either.

Sometimes though I can become overcome by the calling of the list and the desire to complete everything on it as quickly as possible. I won't be able to stop thinking about the list until I can be done with everything on it. I can push my way through a day, or two, or three and neglect my other duties. I found myself in the middle of this situation a few days ago. I stopped and looked around and my house was trashed! Most of the mess was mine. More importantly than that I know my boys didn't get the full attention they needed and my quiet time w/Him was neglected. I had let my desire to cross things off the list rule over what was really needing to be done.

Father God, teach me to keep my priorities in the proper order. To always keep my time with you my first priority. To learn to spread things out. To not stress when something is only half-way done. To learn to make a stopping point when needed to spend more time with my boys doing something they want to do. To keep my lists in their proper place.

Freedom Fest

I'm going to back track just a tad. Last Sunday was July 4th. The boys and I stayed at church for lunch but I wasn't really sure what we were going to do for the rest of the day. (Besides naps of course!) I knew they had the big firework show/carnival on post. But I also knew it was the only thing around and it was open to the public so it was going to be CRAZY! I wasn't really "feeling it", but I made myself do it. Both the boys took really good naps, so there's no reason I shouldn't. The alternative plan was sitting around the house. We packed up a bag with some drinks, snacks, toys, books, bubbles and a blanket. Ran thru BK for some burgers and headed to post. We probably left the house around 6:30, by the time I decided on a parking spot (all of which were about a mile or more away), and then found a nice grassy area to spread out, it was close to 7:30. Since the parking was so far away and I was by myself I decided not to walk all the way in to the field. So we just found another area about two blocks from our van. About fifteen minutes after we get situated I start getting a little nervous. (I had to pee! Pregnant.) I originally planned on going to the field and I figured they'd have port-a-potties there. Which I'm still not sure how I thought I was going to get two boys into a port-a-potty with me. Anyway. I knew I couldn't hold it for another two/three hours. Then I spotted hope. There was a pool about a block away. I saw two doors on the outside of the pool that looked like bathroom signs. Thankfully they were open! If not, we probably would have packed up and left and missed out on a great time. All in all, I'm SO glad I decided to take the boys. I know they had a great time. I look forward to next year when hopefully Tim will be back to join us.

Inadequate

I've been thinking about starting a blog for a bit now. There are a few things that have held me back.

First, what exactly was I going to use it for? In my life, things have to have a purpose. If there is no purpose then there is no use for them. Don't get me wrong I love pretty things, but I also like functional. I like dual/multi-purpose! Answer..use it for daily ramblings, photos, current projects, stories of my boys, etc. Just about anything.

Second, I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep up with it AND everything else. Only time will tell. My hope though is that it will help to simplfy some things by having it all in one place. Again...only time will tell.

Thirdly, where do I start? There is so much that I want to put on here from past days, weeks, years. I can't possibly catch up! So my goal is to start with today. One thing at a time. At times I might go back for a walk down memory lane.

Last, inadequacy. I love to read other people's blogs. I love their personal stories of laughter, rough days, their own mission to conquer something other than meals and changing diapers. Somedays it has been my only link to other human life above the age of five. With reading other's blogs though it has made me feel inadequate at times to have my own. I can't write like she does. I'm not as crafty as she is. She has much better insight. She has a stronger love for the Lord. Her pictures are beautiful. (I have a weakness for comparing.) I know that comparing myself to others is not what God wants me to do. He wants me to be satisfied with who he made me. He made me with loving hands; no mistakes.

So for now, I will blog. Or atleast attempt to. Not stressing over it being "perfect", but enjoying the opportunity to record moments of my life.