Monday, January 31, 2011

quiet weekend







      We actually had a pretty quiet weekend around here, so I thought I'd share some more pictures from our adventures in the Realm of No-lectricity, which can actually be a pretty cool place.  That one picture of Eve pulling up on her daddy is likely to be one of the only shots I get of her for a while.  She is not content to crawl around, but immediately moved into the pull-up on things stage.  Said stage leaves me to dash around behind her and live in a constant stage of readiness-for-catching-baby which is not compatible for taking pictures! 
  Hope you had a nice weekend too!

Friday, January 28, 2011

this week's moment

A special moment to be remembered...

Thursday, January 27, 2011

home


     This is just a sampling of the testosterone in my home.  (Of course one of the men is playing the role of Dorothy, magic slippers and all.  Ahem...)  Anyways, if you know anything about my childhood, you will know that I'm perfectly at home, even when you spell out the 2 : 9 odds. 

     Now, of course, if there were that much estrogen here, I would be pulling out my hair... just saying...

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

new game

      We are starting a new game around here, The Great Fuzzbunny Hunt (sounds a bit like some picture book with crazy drawings, doesn't it?). Perhaps in effort to train people to pick up the dust-bunnies, rather than hop over them or run away screaming... har, har, har...

Update:  It has been maybe half an hour since I posted this, and I'm now losing miserably.  (Which makes me the winner)

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

grrrr!!!

     I finished Micah's slippers! He insisted that I make him monster slippers, and so I picked the pattern I wanted, and then accessorized. Details on Ravelry, here.






     Upon giving them to their proud owner, I immediately recieved two more orders for the knit-list...

Monday, January 24, 2011

in (and out of) the crib...


     While changing the crib sheets the other day, I found the following note:

To do:
1.  Learn to crawl.
2.  Learn to sit.
3.  Turn 6 months old. 

     She must have gotten Levi to write it out for her.  I hope.

Friday, January 21, 2011

this moment

this moment: a special snap from this week that I want to be sure to savor


     Little Miss-Don't-All-5-Months-Old-Crawl was very motivated when I put the camera on the floor....




Thursday, January 20, 2011

outside

     Sorry I missed visiting this space yesterday. It was one of those days... you know the kind, where nothing gets done (blog included). The babe has a cold, and she is happiest in my arms. But there was a wonderful upswing in the temperature today, and the sun was shining, so we all pulled on an extra layer and went outside for some running in the sunshine.







     Look at that face.  What mama wouldn't be willing to drop dishes and vaccuums to hold that when it felt icky?

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

resting

  I made some pajama bags for the boys, out of some Snoopy material scraps we had stashed.  I even put on a pocket for socks.  They turned out nice, and the boys are getting into the habit of stashing their things in there, which is kind of nice, especially with all the extra resting going on around here right now...







     ...there's just a bit of icky-ness in air.  Thankfully, I'm still feeling pretty good!

Monday, January 17, 2011

knitted

     Thought I'd share some of my finished projects. I finished the coat back when I was still preggy with Eve, but just put the buttons on the other day (I had wanted to see where they would fit best). I love that coat: it's Elizabeth Zimmermann's Tomten pattern, and it was really fun to do (sorry about the color: it was really early in the morning, but the snow on the porch made quite a glare). The legwarmers I'd made long ago as well, but her legs finally have enough baby chub to keep them on!






      The mittens are Levi's. I made the pattern up and felted them, because he loves to pick up snow, and I wanted to keep his hands warm and dry.

  
     And what am I working on right now?  Well, Micah loves to walk around the house in one sock.  Just one.  He thinks it's funny (it is).  He would love to walk around in shoes, because he thinks mud is funny too, but we don't wear them in the house (because it most definately is not funny).  I mentioned to him the concept of slippers, and after setting down the firm rule that slippers are not worn outside the home, but he could wear them inside all he wanted, he promptly decided that I was going to make him some.  Of course.

     So we hit up the many, many pages of Ravelry, and he decided on exactly what he needed, and we picked some yarn and that gave him a reason to check the mail every day.

     It came very quickly, just before rest time Friday.  We opened the box, to inspect his yarn, and then Micah started off to bed, but not before he said:  "I wanna watch you knit.  Mama, will you knit when I get up?"

     Well twist my arm, of course I will!  And of course I'll share his slippers when they're done!

Friday, January 14, 2011

this moment

Just one quick snapshot, from the week, that I want to be sure to savor and remember...

Thursday, January 13, 2011

January's Habit



      I've never been much of a resolution kinda gal. They have a way of getting dropped or forgotten, or else they become just too overwhelming and you ditch them. I'm much more of a habit kinda gal (perhaps that's why dear Miss Mason and I get along so well?). So I decided that if I could really and truly create some positive health habits around here, one a month, then by the end of the year (and at the end of each month, actually), I'd be able to point to some real specific stuff and say: YES! Look what we learned!

     Our first new habit? Starting the day right by having fruit for/with breakfast. Daddy took Micah to the grocery store and they loaded the cart with fruits: standard apples, bananas, and grapes for the boys, and some slightly more exciting stuff for those of us feeling a bit more adventurous. And get this: I made a poster, hung it up, and showed it to the boys.  Levi read it out loud, Micah named all the fruits on it. 


     That was it. And just like that, our boys actually come flying out in the morning, asking for their fruit and accepting it just as though they've done that everyday for the duration of their lives. Unbelievable.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

our tree

     I decided to move our tree out to the porch and fill it with some bird-friendly ornaments, so me and the boys rolled our pinecones in peanut butter and then in seed, and we hung them on the tree.  Eve rolled her little four-wheeler over to the window and watched the snow come down on it...





     It made me want to plant a bunch of Christmas trees!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

how to fill a belly and save a bundle...

     As I mentioned in my last post, Eve has started nibbling on "real" food, much to her brothers' delight and entertainment.  When our first started eating baby food, I was dismayed to watch him take the typical beginner bite or two out of that expensive little jar, and then frustrated as we added yet another container to the bin.
     When we had Micah, I thought of that baby food aisle at the store and thought, "How hard can it be?"  A quick trip to google, and I had my answer, courtesy of wholesomebabyfood.com 




     Lets just say that on average you save nearly a quarter per ounce!  Per ounce people, per ounce!  Using stuff you already have (like a blender or food processor and an ice tray).  No preservatives.  No sugar.  No guessing. 
     Cook.  Puree.  Spoon into ice cube tray.  Freeze.  Dump in a bag and store in freezer.  I tend to do mine with other food that we're having (like I just roast an extra sweet potato or two), and it all keeps in the freezer for 1 to 3 months.  Whatever baby doesn't eat can get dumped into your cooking (pumpkin cookies anyone?).
     This time I found out that you can even do your own cereals.  Really.  You toss some brown rice or old fashioned oats in a processor or coffee bean grinder, and voila!  Fluffy powder that you just get a little scoop and dump in a pot with some water for 10 minutes.  You keep your flours in the fridge, so they'll stay fresh.  Easy peasy.
     So, if your family is on a budget (or if you've just seen Wall*E enough times to feel guilty over another empty jar), then give it a try.  So far Eve's had avocado, banana, rice cereal, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes, and she totally approves.

Monday, January 10, 2011

play that funky music

     Here's Micah showing off an invention that his Mama doesn't really need.  If you know me really well, you know that I seem to have a built-in music player hard-wired into my brain somewhere.  My hubby will occasionally notice me bouncing around, and then he likes to ask me, "what's on your play-list right now?"

     Course, no one needs to ask me lately, as everyone knows that I've had "play that funky music..." rolling predominantly through my head since before Christmas.  Even Levi and Micah have started singing it.  Rediculous thing is, that I didn't even have to hear the song for it to start playing, I just had a random thought that reminded me of a movie that has it in it, and well, there it is... 










     Anyways... we had a healthy start to our new year.  Lots of laughter, lots of geocaching & hiking, some short stints on the treadmill for the boys, and Eve's first spoonfuls into the adventurous world of solid food. 
     All to the tune of some really funky music.

Friday, January 7, 2011

christmas day...



So on Christmas day I passed the camera over to my hubby and relaxed.  He snapped away, and we got tons of pics for our family photo albums, but I'll just share a few here, and then get back to posting regular stuff!   

Levi could barely contain his excitement as I opened his gift - a Wizard of Oz game (he's reading the original book to me right now, so that's really special to us).  Included in my gift: The priveledge to go first every time we play it!










A complete and total surprise to Mama (though I'm pretty sure just about everyone else was in on it)... a new machine! 







































There were so many, many nice things.  And we got to chill out and relax together with people I love and cherish.  It was a wonderful Christmas...  Have a great weekend!