Monday, December 14, 2009

Quilting Kitty

Over the past few weeks, there has been a flurry of sewing activity around here! We have had two sewing machines set up in the homeschool room (thanks Linda!!) Eme, Abby, and myself have all been quilting up some special projects. I am so proud of my girls - they are making some cool things for Christmas!


I made a quilt top for my MIL back when Abby was a baby (8 years ago!) I gave it to her for Christmas - just the top - and promised her I'd finish it soon! She took it and used just the top for awhile and gave it back to me this past year. So this Christmas, she received it again, this time, finished! Unfortuntely I was so excited to see her open it that I forgot to take a photo!! (much like another quilt that I made and gifted this year! - I've got to get better about that!)


As I was quilting it, I had a surprise visitor!That's Eme's hand - I started taking photos :)


Can you see her curled up next to the sewing machine on the table? She snuggled right up to it all the while I was sewing - even putting her paw on my hand as I guided the fabric through - too cute!!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Mount Everest

Down the road a little ways is a development, err , an almost-development. I'm not sure what happened, but there are only 2 houses in this development, and then a long windy road, a mulch hill, lots of trees, wheat and nature-beauty. And it's a great place to take the kids and the dog and go. So we have been.

The kids ride their bikes, Daniel rides in his stroller, and Rocky pulls us along. (just kidding - he's getting better at walking beside us!) The kids (and Garr and I too!) are loving the mulch pile. The girls have nicknamed it "Mount Everest." And it is rather fun to climb and race up. Until you can't breathe anymore ... lol. Then we walk/ride around the circle while Rocky is let loose to run through the woods and chase whatever moves. We finish the walk out by checking on our vultures. Yes it even has a Disney-es tree with 3 vultures (quite fitting because we just finished learning about "decomposers" in school last week!) So we make it a point to wave and show them we are very much alive on our way out of their development.

A good time, I tell you! Here are some photos as proof! (And please excuse my messy hair and sweats - we roll our of bed and take these walks you know!) (And those of you who really know me know that's how I look all day haha!)














Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Wordless Wednesday


Daniel turns 2!

Daniel's 2nd birthday was on Mon, Nov 30. We had a great day. Garr was home with us and we spent the day hanging out as a family. We took the kids for a walk in the morning and climbed a mulch hill. The rest of the day was spent hanging out and I had to run a couple errands.

Daniel surprised us by climbing out of his crib at naptime. I walked by his door to hear him calling "Mama!" I realized he sounded a lot closer to the door than he should and opened the door to have him walk out "Mama!" Garr was able to get him back down a little while later. We had a repeat performance the next morning - Daniel knocking on his bedroom door for someone to let him out. Then again at naptime, he got the door open on his own and just came waltzing out. What a funny kid! We've since moved the changing table (which he was climbing onto and then onto Eme's bed and down) so I'm hoping that will discourage future break-outs!

We had a family party for Daniel that evening. It was a lot of fun. I made ziti, Italian bread, and salad. We had chocolate cake and ice cream too! I bought root beer for Daniel - he loves it! He totally hammed it up at his party and had lots of fun opening gifts! I'm sure he had no idea why he was getting so spoiled, but he's a good sport and went along with it! LOL! All day long, he showed everyone his new sneakers - we gave them to him in the morning before our walk (Rocky chewed up his other pair!) When it was time to get changed later, I asked him what he wanted to wear and he picked up his sneaker and said "this! this!" Too cute.

He had his 2 yr well visit yesterday. He's doing great physically! 30 lbs and 33 inches. They are referring him to a speech therapist for analysis. He isn't saying more than 10-15 words (most are expressions "Whoa! Wow! Oooh! Yay!" etc. He says "Mama, Daddy, Abby, No, Bye, Go, Hi, Mine, Ow" and a few other words that I can't think of now. Even though his speech is limited, he has no trouble communicating! He uses sign language, gestures, and certain noises so we can understand him. And he understands everything we say to him. The dr said it's a difficult case because his communication is so good despite his speech. So the question is if he just doesn't want to talk and isn't or if he is really having trouble making the words in his head into the correct sounds. I'm partial to the idea that he just doesn't feel like it! lol But we'll see!

Here are some photos from his day!
Our 2 year old boy!

The mobile on the ceiling is all Thomas the Train! Mom found it for us.

Getting ready for dinner
Showing everyone Thomas on the mobile!
How old are you Daniel? ummm, not quite, bud!
"WOW" play food for the kitchen
Thomas trains - a favorite!
Love reading Thomas books
Justin and Liv in their conductor hats
The big kids :)
Blowing out the candles

Awww is he not the cutest thing ever???