Snow Day!

Oh how I love mornings when I wake up and the view out my front window looks like this (at least when I don’t have plans to leave the house). And this is enough snow to get school canceled around here which is what happens when you live in an area loaded with hills and black ice.  Snow days, snow days, I love snow days.  (At least one at a time so the kids don’t get sick of each other.)

Days when I can take pictures like this right from the back door.  Beeee-autiful.

And thanks to one of Gabe’s birthday gifts we had a perfect indoor activity. We built paper airplanes and they flew them off the landing on the stairs.

Then they can go outside to play (and I love the I am not required to go with them).

And even though Gideon wasn’t entirely thrilled that I made him put on a hat and gloves he actually seemed appreciative after a moment and kept them on the whole time he was outside.  And I love blessing thi kids with hot cocoa when they come inside. Especially when they remember to take off their snow laden clothes off on the rug by the back door and don’t track it all over the house.

And I love that we have a fireplace so that everything can be tossed in front of it to dry.  THAT is going to be one wet glove in a minute or two!

And I love sudden inspirations for meals that the kids will eat.  I loaded up a muffin tin with tidbits of this and that and let the kids load up their own plates.  They showed surprising restraint in the presence of marshmallows.

And I love that I finally got a photo of one of Elias’ favorite activities (though I think it would be good to get it on video too) which is to put the spoon in his mouth, let go and then bob it up and down.  It’s really, really funny.

So, yes, I love snow days and even though I’m really looking forward to Spring I’m very happy that we got another snow this year and that we got to have another snow day.

Overheard

The scene: Zion and Gideon sitting on the couch watching The Last Mimzy.  Gideon is in one of his rampages where everything that is on something (the couch especially) must be thrown to the floor.  He throws a pillow to the floor (I don’t think this is why they are called throw pillows, however) but wants it back.

Gideon, gesturing wildly at the pillow, to Zion: Go get that!

Zion: silence, continues to watch the movie

Gideon, gesturing wildly at the pillow, to Zion: Go get that!

Zion: silence, continues to watch the movie

Gideon, gesturing wildly at the pillow, to Zion: Go get that!

Zion: silence, continues to watch the movie

Gideon: OK.  I go get that.

Happy Birthday!

Seven years ago today Gabe was born.  But not until 11:55PM.  And after a three day induction.  I remember that it took a very long time for them to check him over after he finally emerged and a very long time for them to stitch me back together (and I did not have a c-section).  When they finally placed him wrapped in a blanket near my head I had two thoughts “Aw, I’m not pregnant anymore.” (no, really, I honestly thought that) and “Can I go to sleep now.”

With the exclusion of a daily afternoon screaming jag that lasted any where from 20 minutes to 3 hours he was what most people consider a “good baby”.  He ate well, he slept well and after he recovered from jaundice he was healthy.  He was also so very serious.  It was pretty hard to get much more than a grin out of him.  We knew from the start he was going to be a smarty.  He studied everything.  Everything.  So very closely.  There was never a single thing he put eyes on that he wasn’t immediately trying to figure out.

We were right in that regard.  He is super smart.  And sweet. And artistic and creative and it is much easier to make him laugh.

Yesterday we celebrated his birth with friends and family.  Rob and I already gave him his present from us but I managed to knit up a hat for him anyway.  I was so excited to give it to him I almost couldn’t sleep the night I finished.   I reminded myself of those Disney Land commercials.  “I’m too excited to sleep!” 

I made cupcakes instead of a cake this year.  Peanut butter cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  We also had a “peanut butter sandwich bar” for the kids.  They got to choose from marshmallow fluff, Nutella, jam, honey and bananas – or a combo of those, to go on their peanut butter sandwich.  It was a big hit!

Jamie, Jamae and Jessa came and naturally the kids had to climb all over them for a time.  Zion and Gideon were laughing hysterically at the app on Jamae’s phone. 

Time for presents.  I’ve seen the uBuild Mousetrap game at two birthday parties in a row now.  Gabe and Zion played it after church today, looked like fun.

He got a paper airplane kit.  (I’m super excited about that one.  Perhaps I should take up origami.)

From my sister and family he got a flying saucer and Mario Kart swim trunks.

Now we just have to remember to get them signed back up for swim classes.

Finally he got to the hat.  He thought it was a penguin.  Drat! To my, and his, credit he didn’t immediately see the chain.  Rob sent him to the bathroom to look in the mirror.  Then he got excited and almost hasn’t taken it off since.  Score one for mama!  (That is a Chain Chomp, not a penguin.  A Chain Chomp is a character from the Mario games.)

Then the boys got to settle down and play Wii some.

 

Elias got dressed up by little Sarah.

And the kids got to fly the flying saucer.  Look at those faces!  They could be a magazine ad. 

Happy Birthday, Gabe!

Look!

Just check out what I’m learning how to do:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

OK, so I have a ton to learn still.  I’ve just scrapped the tip of the ice berg but I’m excited.

Avoiding Boredom

Yeah.  As if I EVER have the opportunity to be bored.  But I do love learning and I love taking photographs and I’d love to learn how to make my photographs better.  So I’m taking a free online eCourse on Photoshop Elements.  The class started yesterday and today I did my first homework assignment.  Our task was to open a photograph in elements, crop it and add text (among other things).  Here’s my offering:

I’m super impressed by the class so far.  I had to idea what to expect and wasn’t sure what I was going to get but the videos are clear and well-paced, not too fast, and explain things really well.  Well enough for my poor, drained brain.  If you’re interested in joining up check out Kim Klassen’s Skinny Mini eCourse.

If you don’t have Photoshop Elements but want to try it out you can download a free trial.  Kim has been kind enough to supply a link so just check out the link.  I, on the other hand, hear Gideon who has likely kicked his blankets off but for some reason can’t manage to put them back on himself.  Instead he cries for me to do it.  I’m off…

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

Hoo, it’s been a week!  I thought Elias was going to escape the sickness but, alas, no.  Mark this as his first illness (unless I’m forgetting something).  And the poor guy is miserable!  He’s congested and feverish and coughing and not sleeping much at all.  Of course it was Rob’s Reserves weekend so I’m not sleeping much at all either.  No one to split late night duty with.  Today was a bit better all the way around for all the kids.  There was even a time today when they weren’t all lying around in their jammies.  Of course they were playing in nothing but their undies (or in Gideon’s case, a diaper) but hey, at least they got out of their jammies for this first time in five days.   Except for Gideon who has become obsessed with playing at the kitchen sink and therefore at least got new jammies about once or twice a day.

I did get some time behind the camera today.  This morning Zion pointed out that Eva was lounging on the back of the couch and she looked “so cute”.  So I grabbed my camera and came over.  She did look so cute:

Awww.  Isn’t she purty?

And later Elias was hanging out in his favorite spot, his jumper.  He wasn’t quite as snotty today and seemed a little less feverish but still kind of a mellow guy.  He gave me this look:

Hoh, Lord, there goes my heart.  Melted.

I still had a heck of a time deciding which would be my picture of the day for My 365 though.  I don’t often get such good pictures of the animals.  But still.  Melted.  That one won out.

The kids even gave me a time when they all napped today (except Gabe who was permitted to play a zoo game on my laptop) so I got to knit a little.  I had one of those hankerings to knit something up real quick that I might actually have a chance to finish today so I knit this:

A cup cozy in about half the time it took me to watch a movie (Twister in fact.  Sometimes you just need a good natural disaster movie).  I’ll keep it in the van for those special occasions in which I treat myself to a coffee.  Now I don’t have to use on of those cup sleeves.  Just looking out for the environment and stuff, ya know?  It will look so much better on an actual coffee cup too, not that obnoxious orange thing that I’m pretty sure is left over from a pumpkin carving party we had about 5 years ago and has been hanging out in the pantry ever since.  But I needed a model and couldn’t run out to get an actual coffee so leftover orange thing it was.

Rob came home from his Reserves weekend and cooked dinner and made me brownies.  That can go a long ways in making up for what turned out to be a really hard weekend for my stamina (and sanity).

I also made some progress in the hat I’m knitting for Gabe’s birthday gift.  The last two weeks have not been spent planning a birthday party so it’ll be a big cram session on that this week.  Something to look forward to next weekend celebrating a wonderful boy turning 7.

Photo Update

Pictures from our life over the last few days. 

Tuesday my friend Jennifer passed along an invitation to join her and her son Trevor at a local Parks and Rec for their Mini-Gym.  We went and it was so fun for the kids.  Not that it wasn’t for me but I was too big for the roller coaster car.

I’m still pouting.

Outside Gideon immediately found a puddle.  Anything containing more than a few drops of water is a puddle to him and requires much splashing.

Tuesday we bought a car.  *sigh*  I’m still processing that myself.  Rob’s truck is a gas guzzler for sure and was starting to get to that age where keeping up with repairs could potentially suck us dry.  So in the name of saving (tons of) money on gas and (even more tons of) money on repairs he is now driving a new Ford Focus.  I’m hoping my trepidation over having a car payment isn’t squashing all of his joy over having a new toy …er, I mean car.  It also wasn’t much fun to spend so much time in the waiting room at the dealership with the kids while the paperwork was drawn up.  Here’s is Zion having made a “bed” for herself in which to play her DS.  Smart girl.

Earlier this week I experimented with making coloring pages for Zion.  I took a photograph of mine and played with it SEVERELY using Photoshop Elements, saved and then transferred it to a Word document where I used WordArt to add the letters.  Now she has coloring pages that will help her learn her letters that are personal.  This page “F is for friend” has a picture of her and her friend Kaitlyn.  I just thought it would be cool, ya know.

Two night ago I finished this tiny blanky bunny for a friend’s baby.  It is surprisingly easy and a quick knit for those times when you suddenly realize you forgot you have a baby shower the next day (are there any other times).

I heard Elias’ squeal for help.  Much to his chagrin I laughed and got my camera instead.  Can’t you just hear him thinking “Would you just put the camera down and get me out of here – I stuck!”

A little while later he’s all tuckered out from playing and ready for his morning nap.  Awwww…

Wednesday morning Zion woke up coughing and with a fever.  She spent the day nestled on the couch with her princess blanket watching movies and playing DS.  She’s so mellow when she’s sick.  Is it wrong that I like that so much?  Just say no.

Elias had a wet through.  No surprise there, he has one to three of them a day.  They don’t make a diaper that can hold what that boy can put out.  I didn’t have new clothes handy and the sun was coming in the slider so I let him play for a while.  Zion put the blanket on him.  First she covered his head and was waiting to see if he could take it off but I put the kibosh on that.  Even though it was kind of funny.

Elias and I love to play with the ladybug toy.  It’s eyes light up and it makes funny noises.  I also thought it was cool that I could frame his eyes with the antennae.  Looks like specs. 

And that’s the last few days.  Today Zion AND Gabe have slight fevers as do I.  Again.  *sigh*  When will the sickness end?!!!

All I Want Is…

…a coaster. Just one coaster. One coaster that stays on the end table near where I sit so I can have a place to put my tea or my water. Just one coaster that doesn’t disappear to be found later stacked with the building blocks or a bed to a tiny toy animal. I also wanted one that wasn’t stone. I have some of those but the sound of my tea mug scraping the stone gave me the heebie jeebies like fingernails on a chalk board. Also one that didn’t stick to the bottom of my water glass. Don’tcha hate that? I know I do.

So on Friday when I had a rather tough day involving a dead car battery, begging a favor from a neighbor to get Gabe to the bus stop, calling AAA, getting Gideon to the walk-in clinic for his nasty cough and fever, a trip to the pharmacy and spilling his antibiotics once we got home I figured I needed to feel like I accomplished something. While the kids napped I got to work. I found a pattern that was circular and had different color stripes. I wanted the stripes but not the work of changing yarn to get them so I chose a Noro yarn that changed color throughout the skein. I intended only to knit one but I got hooked on the evolving color patterns so I used the whole skein and made five.

They looked like this at first:

All loose and floppy with curly edges. That little blob of yarn on the left is what was left of the skein. I cut it close.

But after felting and de-pilling the looked like this:

A nice, tight fabric that won’t give me the heebie jeebies or stick to my water glass. Yeah! (And to answer a question, yes, they are quite flat although the color changes make them look "lumpy".)

Ooo, pretty.

I started with the one in front, knit from the center out, round and round. The color of the edge of one will be the color in the center of the next one because of this. The first one went from purple to blue, then blue to green, green to brown, brown to pink and finally pink back to purple. I love the tidiness of how that worked out.

And right now, right as we speak my water bottle is resting on the blue/green one. It may be the only one I get too as the kids have already expressed interest in the coasters. For blankies and rugs for their toys of course.