Gideon

Have I mentioned lately how cute this kid is.  I know he’s mine and all but he nearly explodes my heart a dozen times a day with his cuteness.  His mannerisms, the things he says even just his voice.  It’s all just so darn cute.

I ask if he’s poopie.  He says “No, Mama, I pretty good.”

Today I asked and he said “Yes (and he holds up his finger) I be back in minute.” and he dashes off to find the box of batteries to fix his train first.

As I’m typing this I peer over and see him up on a stool attempting to sprinkle fish food in the betta tank.  He loves chores. 

He calls his vitamins “vitacines” (vitamins + medicine no doubt).  “Mommy, Viiii-taCINes” he sings.

I told him it was naughty to get into the medicine (he rubbed Menthol Camphor on his face, he thinks it’s Aquaphor) and he said “I did dat, sorry ‘bout dat.”

He answers every question very confidently and without hesitation no matter who I’m talking to, most often NOT him.  It’s like having a living Magic 8 ball following me around.

Right now his favorite movie is “Spickle Me” (Despicable Me) and he tries to copy the littlest girl when she makes the annoying noise and tries to dance like the people at the end of the movie.  Two-year old + disco = hilarious.

Today he was the subject of most of my photos and my pic of the day (the one on the left).

He followed me outside when I went out to watch Gabe walk home from the school bus stop so I grabbed my camera and shot some pictures while we waited.  I thought it was especially cute that he was wearing overalls today which was his choice so I had him sit on the milk box (we get milk delivery – best milk EVER).  But mostly because I would like to live a lot more rural than we do so sometimes I pretend that we are living on 21 acres instead of .21 acre and overalls and milk boxes help me do that.  Gotta keep my delusions, I mean dreams, alive.

AHHHHH!

On a day like today when I found lovely fresh cut flowers at the grocery store AND had a chance to take a lot of photos of them AND got to be outside to take EVEN MORE photos, how do I choose just ONE photo to be my photo of the day?  How can it be done?!  It’s torture I tell you!

And that’s only a fraction of what I took today.  Those and this:

It was totally happenstance that I caught Gabe’s gaze in this photo.  He was helping me by holding up the white paper I was using as a backdrop.  I moved and didn’t realize that he was there but I can hardly call this an “oops” when it makes me smile so much.

I suppose having a hard time deciding is a happy problem to have.  I’ll just have to learn to live with it. 

(p.s. Don’t steal my photos.  If you want a copy I might give you one if you ask REEEEEEEEE-ally nicely though.)

Lovin’ It

I’m just loving learning how to make my pictures prettier.  I’m so pleased with this I just can’t even say.  Pride is bad but it’s OK to be pleased, right?  Tell me it is ‘cause I’ll be really disappointed if I’m not supposed to be pleased when something like the above happens.  I almost can’t believe that’s my photo.  But that’s my pot and that’s my cactus and that’s my cactus’ flower and take that photo I did.

I’m so glad God created a plant that blooms with neglect.  If it weren’t the case I wouldn’t have gotten this picture of my Christmas Cactus that I just noticed yesterday had bloomed despite my forgetting to water it in ages.  And that would be why I only have cacti left (it is cacti, right? not cactuses, I’m so confused).

So, in general this week has been going better.  I’m feeling a lot better after being so sick last week.  We had a fun weekend and got to spend a lot of time with my sister while Rob was away and we’ve actually been able to get out of the house and attend our normal activities.  Then Gideon lost his lovie.  I searched the house for that little black dog and couldn’t find him ANYWHERE!  I don’t know how we got any sleep that night.  I thought for sure he’d cry himself to sleep but apparently his blanky was comfort enough.  Or he was just that tired.  The next afternoon Zion and I were on the floor doing a puzzle and Gideon asked to watch a “foofie” (movie) so he opened the DVD cupboard and suddenly let out such a shout “WOOF!” and oh, the hug that dog received.  Such a joyful reunion. 

And you’re wondering why the heck am I relaying this story right now in this post.  It’s because, despite how beautiful that cactus flower photo turned out, my photo of the day yesterday was Gideon and his dog.  That which was lost has been found.  Can’t beat that.

64

I’m a sick, sick person.  And when I say that I mean it literally.  I’ve got a head cold that is kicking my butt.  I’m starting to wonder if it may be a sinus infection.  Blech.  Somehow, despite feeling SO bad and not stepping foot out of the house, I managed to take 64 pictures yesterday.  It was seriously difficult to choose just one for my picture of the day.  Here are some of my runner-ups (along with the Chain Chomp hat photos I’m saving for another post):

Zion is concentrating super hard on drawing a picture for her AWANA homework, a picture of Jesus teaching.

Elias and those eyes of his.  He’s munching on a banana in a mesh feeder.  He makes the funniest slurping noises.

Elias has figured out how to pull up on to his knees.  His dismount needs a little work though so be looking for some bruises in future photos. 

We had super high winds and heavy rain yesterday.  The rain was blown against our sliding glass door so the tree in our backyard looked like it was melting.  Make note that this photo is in full color, not black and white.  I love a gray day.

But upstairs in the new room it wasn’t gray at all.  Zion was having a blast goofing off on her new bed.  She’s been on a ballet kick lately (may need to start pricing dance lessons around here) and this is one of her favorite poses.

And while I was in love with all of those photos and these were initially the only ones I was considering at the last minute a different one caught my eye.  Can’t exactly say why but there was just something about this photo of my girl, my photo of the day just had to be this one:

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.

Today

Gideon still has a low fever. I’m happy that 100.6 is all I got when I checked this morning. Much better than 103.6 like the other day.

I took out the video camera to capture Elias as he gets more and more mobile. Every day he’s better at getting around than the day before. He already tries to pull himself up on things. I wonder if he will be one of those 10-month old walkers. Zion and Gideon both had a go with the video camera (Gideon with some help from me). I still have to look at the videos, will try to post them.

Gideon felt well enough to tell me I should pick a movie today. A big deal for him since he’s our movie king. No movie played in this house goes without comment from this boy. That goes for the van too for that matter. He told me “Mama, you pick movie?” almost like a question. Then he opened the cupboard for me and showed me all I could choose from and said again, more certain “Mama, you pick movie”.

I immediately picked Bedknobs and Broomsticks which we checked out from the library. He said “No, not that one.” OK.

So much for letting ME pick the movie. Two or three choices later he finally said yes when I suggested Chicken Little (AKA Chicken Yittle). At least it he approved of one that I really do enjoy. Chicken Little cracks me up.

Zion was in rare form today as well. She kept me on my toes with all of these little acts of disobedience. At one point she got a swat on her bum for one particular incident and then for lying about it. I told her that I have been very busy with her sick brothers the last few days and would she like some Mommy Time. Oh yeah! That lit her up. So I painted her nails. She enjoyed it but I still had to address a few minor infractions throughout the day. Sometimes she has days like this where if I don’t schedule an activity for her every waking minute she does things she knows she’s not supposed to (like taking some of my scrapbook stickers and decorating the legs of my office chair).

Still, she’s such a precious soul and loves to help with Elias. She insisted on feeding him his breakfast and later wanted to give him his pre-nap bottle. She dashes to and fro helping with the bigger boys too. When Gabe was sick this week she got him his breakfast and served it to him on the couch.

This photo ended up being My 365 today. So while I feel like I’m going stir crazy stuck in this house with sick kids for so long (almost non-stop since mid-December) I’m glad I have the My 365 project to give me something to do that uses up some creative energy. That could be my thin thread of sanity at this point.

ETA: when Zion was feeding Elias we'd already taken Gabe to the school bus stop. It's often easier to get Elias his "solid" food after the rush of that task.

Photoshoot

Sunday Rob taught Sunday School so he and Gabe took off before the rest of us were up and going.  That is to say, they were gone before I realized Gideon had a fever and the rest of us would have to stay home from church.  So it was a PJ day which the kids love.  I may be a weirdo this way but if we don’t have to go somewhere most of the time I’ll let the kids hang out in their jammies.  Less work for me, more fun for them and less laundry for Rob (yeah, my hubby does the laundry, it was his idea and who am I to argue?).  Anyway, back on track.  Zion for some reason got the bug in her to dress up.  Really dress up.  Fancy dress AND tights (I usually can’t get her to wear tights outside of bribery) but not to stray too far from character she put on her pink sneakers.   So she got to be the subject of an impromptu photo shoot in search of my 365 photo for that day.  These were her idea as far as poses and activities.  I love the ones of her with her wand because it is clear she wasn’t sure what to do to begin with but as soon as Eva entered the scene everything changed.  These pictures are best viewed as the series and I put them on in order.  The photo that I ended up choosing is the last one, the close up of her twinkle toes.

Guilty!

Yep.  That’s me.  Guilty as charged.  I got all gung-ho about blogging with my new 365 project and then once I switched it to update automatically I haven’t blogged since.   That was an unfortunate result of my trying to be efficient.  I’ll do better.

I have been getting some extra knitting done, though.  Yay!

I also got to go on the Yarn Train event again last Saturday.  This year more than 200 knitters from the PNW signed up to go, the majority being from Seattle.  This year my friend Jennifer and I caught the train in Tacoma and her mother-in-law, Kerrie, joined us there and my friend Jessy hopped on in Lacey.  Oh.  My.  Word.  It was so much fun!  And very wet.

It rained.  A TON! 

Pictures to come.

I’ve also been tending to a sick Gideon again this week.  Seriously, when will it end?  One would think I’d be getting more done being home and pretty much having to cancel all my out of home activities.  Ha!  I laugh again.  Ha!

I have lots of fun pictures to post soon.  Right now I have to finish knitting a gift for a baby shower.  I started it today.  The baby shower is Saturday.  Yikes! 

Also, just a little reminder that you can still see ALL of My 365 photos just by clicking on the current photo that is up in the corner.  It’s a link that will take you to my whole calendar.  Adios!

Future My 365 Photos

I have added an element on the sidebar that will automatically put up my most recent My 365 photo so that I don’t have to keep posting the picture in multiple places. How handy! So please just look slightly to your right to see the most recent photo AND you can click on it and it will take you to the website with all of my pictures. Thanks!

My 365–January 6 and 7

I DID get my project done for the last couples of days, I SWEAR! I just didn’t get them up here yet. One of the reasons being is that I’m trying to add an element to the side bar where the photo of the day will automatically post straight from ShutterCal. I’m having a problem with a width issue though that I’m hoping to get some help on. Anyway, without further ado…

My entry for the 6th:

“Someone” found a color-tinted Burt’s Bees of mine and decided to apply it to his face in the same fashion that I put on his Aquaphor when his cheeks are chapped. I “wonder” who that “someone” is?

My entry for the 7th:

Most of the ladies who were at my house last night for Knit Night. Jennifer, Nora, Julie M, Jessy and Bethany. It was SO much fun!

My 365–January 5

I had the hardest time deciding on a picture for today’s My 365.  I finished Zion’s elephant today and wanted some pics.  Zion was being a perfect model.  I couldn’t complain about the elephant either.  Here’s the elephant alone.

And then one of the ones I loved so much of Zion.

But this is the one I finally settled on.  The second picture I took.  I have to say, she IS pretty darn cute.  And I can’t complain about the elephant either.

My 365–January 4

Today is the day we’re taking down Christmas. Throughout the day I’m collecting things from here and there and gathering them in one spot so that we might have an easier time boxing things up later. This is my January 4, 2011.

Though we also made peanut butter (Sunbutter for Gideon) and honey English Muffins for lunch today at Zion’s request. I showed her how to use the toaster oven all the while hoping I won’t end up regretting it later. Zion also insisted on spreading her own peanut butter and putting on her own honey. I try to love that she loves to help in the kitchen so much.

Even though it takes longer.

And is usually much messier.

My 365–January 3

My silly monkey.  A whole six months and nine days old today and such a bright spot in our lives.

My 365–January 2

(Hey, I’m 2 for 2, sweet!)

Sick day (skipped church) with Gideon. Playing Hungry, Hungry Hippos while Rob has the other kids out for a visit with his Uncle Duane. This kid has mad skills, he can handle TWO hippos at once!

My 365–January 1, 2011

Have you guys heard of My 365?  Very basically it is when people take a picture every day and post it somewhere to share.  There is a My 365 group going on Ravelry and since it’s something that kind of peeked my interest when I first heard of it a while back AND I was reminded of it on January 1st (though I know at the time of this writing that it is actually the 2nd), I thought I’d give it a go.  Here’s my first entry:

Ringing in the new year with Chicken Pox.