A Crafty Day

Still dark outside...Chris at work...babies in bed...coffee hot! A fabulous start to a busy day!

I thought I would share a few gems from our crafty day at home yesterday. We generally go to the library every Thursday for storytime. I wasn't really feeling it yesterday, but I didn't want to let the boys down. So I gave them the choice...library or a day in their pjs. Here's how the conversation went...

Me: "Boys, would y'all rather go to the library or stay home today in your pajamas?"

Philip: "I don't know. Daniel, what do you want to do?"

Daniel: "Um, Pullup, stay home in my jamas. What do you want to do, Pullup?"

Philip: "Stay home in our pajamas."

Love how they consulted each other. Some mornings I wake up and know the karma isn't there. I can tell the boys are going to fuss at each other most of the day. Those days call for some getting out of the house time. Yesterday, though, I could tell they would get along.

We started with some housework. While I changed sheets and started laundry, the boys played Legos. Have you read about our obsession with these??

While William napped, we made cookie dough and then worked on some crafts projects...

We began with cutting practice. I learned this trick from the COGS atrium...draw vertical and horizontal lines on a sheet of paper.

Give a beginning cutter one strip with small lines. Help them hold the scissors in place over each small line and teach them..."open, close". I did this with Daniel...

With Philip, I simply give him a block with horizontal and vertical lines and have him cut. The point is he can cut like us...successive open and close. Those first learning should do one snip at a time.



Then we used the scraps to make some Valentine's hearts for someone special...(you may notice the scraps are actually Mardi Gras colors, not Valentines...more on that in another post!)

About the time we finished up, William was awake and the boys were in desperate need of this...

After naps, we headed back to the kitchen to decorate (and eat) our cookies...



William did not like that he didn't get a cookie. I tried giving him some puffs for a treat, but he decided to go for the sprinkles instead.

When I took the sprinkles away, Daniel, who is always so willing to share, broke off a bite of his cookie and gave it to William. Although he's only nine months old, I couldn't take it away when his sweet brother gave it to him!

and we finished up our birthday card for someone special (hope you're not reading, Aunt Elizabeth)...

The cookies have been eaten and delivered to grandparents and aunts and uncles!

The day was fun but truly wore me out! When Chris got home, I was on the verge of meltdown until I saw he brought me this...


The man knows the way to my heart! Busy weekend ahead...a Mardi Gras post coming soon!

Another Week Gone By....

In The Religious Potential of the Child, Sophia Cavaletti writes "it is a fact that children know things that no one has told them." I read this book this summer in between my weeks of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd training. Cavaletti is the founder of this religious instruction program. The book was a fascinating read for a mother of three young children.

I experienced this the other day...well, to some extent. On Monday, I sat with Daniel in Dr. Robert's office waiting for her to come and remove his stitches. I held a book with a drawing of the nativity scene on the cover. I asked Daniel who he thought that baby was...."baby Jesus" he replied. I asked if he knew Jesus' mother's name..."Mawee" he answered. I pointed to Joseph and asked if he knew Jesus' father's name...here's where he got me. "Well, God but that's Joseph." Wow...big stuff for a 2 1/2 year old.

Don't get me wrong....we do talk about Jesus and God quite a bit around here. We listen to the catechesis music a lot, read lots of Biblical storybooks, etc., but I don't think I have ever sat the boys down and explained the Trinity to them.

Cavaletti goes on to write, "It is a fact that the child seems capable of seeing the Invisible, almost as if it were more tangible and real than the immediate reality." That Daniel could know and understand a concept as complicated as the Trinity brings Cavaletti's writings to life for me. Children are truly more religious beings...its adulthood that makes us question and fills us with doubt. My prayer for myself is to learn to believe and have faith like my young children do!

In other news, we have had a good week here. Our weekend was good...fairly uneventful. On Saturday, we did a little antiqueing! Daniel's clothes has been living out of a small TV stand from our Capstone days, so we upgraded him to a new dresser. He has invited everyone who has visited this week to see his "new dresser".

I also bought a beautiful Bible stand for our atrium (wish I took a picture before I took it to the church)...we had been using a pillow...and got a copy of One of a Kind, Junior League of Mobile's second cookbook that is out of print. Even Mom didn't have a copy, so I was happy to snatch one up!

This week has been filled with church committments for both Chris and me. I have finished my last capital campaign presentation and now Chris is in full swing Junior Warden mode. Hope that slows down.

The boys had Mary and Annie over to play on Tuesday. We had a great time...inside and outside. We all enjoyed a picnic lunch too!

I loved watching Annie and William interact. Although Annie is several months ahead of William, they will be in the same grade as they get older! We look forward to many years of playdates with the Weekleys!

Wednesday brought a trip to Dr. Robert's (again!) for William's nine month checkup. He weighed 17 pounds and was 27 inches long. Dr. Robert's is wonderful, but different from Dad. Dad never asked developmental questions because 1. he just isn't that type of pediatrician and 2. he spent enough time watching Philip and Daniel outside of the office that he knew what they could and couldn't do. Anyways, I was happy to report to Dr. Robert's that William has just begun crawling. Here's where I found him after putting him on the center of his rug and then me taking a shower....

William's really coming into his own these days. Crawling, sitting himself up, babbling up a storm. He watches Philip and Daniel intensely and gets upset when they take things away from him...even if it is for his safety. He is starting to get a few little curls on the back of his neck...about the same time Philip's showed up. Can't wait to see how that is going to turn out!

Mom and Daniel went along with us to the doctor and then we all had another picnic at the playground before picking up Philip. All in all, a good week. Precious time spent with these little boys that are growing up entirely too fast!

Remember this...

Remember Daniel's spill here, well we had another today.

The morning started out uneventful. The boys' had breakfast in their new glow-in-the-dark pajamas.

We played outside, built forts inside,

and waited for Katie to get here to take William's pictures.

Katie got here, I dressed William, and started to go upstairs to show Katie some pictures of the older boys that I wanted her to see. Daniel wanted me to hold him...I told him to wait...he ran after me with tears in his eyes...my house isn't clean...he tripped over something...split his chin right open...we ended up with this...

four stitches. Ouch!! Poor thing. He took it well...well, not really. He screamed his head off while Dr. Robert's stitched him up but was fine when it was over. Thankfully, GranGran was home so I dropped Philip and William off with her. No pictures for William...will reschedule. Hope the rest of the week isn't as exciting!

Thanks, MD!

Many thanks to my sister, Mary Dawson, who gave me the fabric to make these outfits. MD, I'm sorry that you weren't able to put it to use, but I love the boys' new outfits. Philip and Daniel have been wearing theirs to church since this fall, but I just finished William's this weekend. I loved seeing them in it this Sunday!

We had a good weekend. Chris took Daniel on his first over night trip to the hunting camp. He had a ball. He's quick to tell you that he saw "pive deer." That's five if you don't speak two year old.

Philip took it well. On Friday, he played for at least two hours with both sets of neighbor boys. About 5:30, he came to me and said "let's go inside and go to bed!"

Chris took Monday off and we all ventured to the outlets to do a little shopping. We capped off the morning with lunch at LuLu's. The boys love eating there because of the large "sandbox" to play in.

Busy week ahead. My Junior League placement begins, my presentations for the capital campaign continues, and I am hosting one of the capital campaign meetings at the house on Thursday. It should be interesting!! I have 23 confirmed guests and have heard that the bishop may be coming too. Lots to do before then!

Random Musing on a Wednesday night...

First, to borrow a blog title from a friend...If a picture is worth a thousand words...

then this explains my life right now. Yes, it is January 13th and I just tonight took down the scarecrow from my front door. Downright embarrassing!! We're backdoor people here, so I guess I just forgot about it. I promised my neighbor that I'd have it down by Valentine's Day!

I'm hosting about 20 people next week for the kick-off of my church's Capital Campaign, and I'm guessing that those people will use the front door. Didn't think the scarecrow should be the first to greet them.

Maybe I ought to fix this too??

Hate for people to get stuck here. Chris says that I don't open the door "correctly" so the knob keeps coming off. I turn, I pull. I wonder...how do you open your door?

I digress...I want to know...Won't you be my neighbor??

This house next door is for sale. Since I only have about three blog readers (four counting Chris...but I don't want him to be my neighbor...I prefer he stay here!), I want to know if you will be my neighbor?

Caroline...we'd have a ball. We could sew and watch the kids run and play. It's on a double lot, so Frank could lead all the boys in a great game of football. Chris and I would love to come over for dinner on the weekends since y'all are always graciously entertaining your friends and their families. Plus, your kids would be close to their new cousin this spring. Think about it, okay?

MD...we'd also have fun watching the kids play and drinking some coffee in the morning, wine in the pm. You could help me chaffure Mom around town. You'd be close to family and friends. We'd also be happy to eat some of Morgan's gourmet Sunday dinners! Think about it okay??

Elizabeth...move back to Mobile...we miss you. The boys and I would entertain Fri and Lily while you are at work. There's a double lot...lots of room for them to run. In return, I'd send the boys over early Saturday morning to help entertain you while I sleep. Guess that isn't an incentive, huh. Oh well, they love playing with you and would love having you so close. Think about it okay???

Since I know none of you will likely pull through, I'll let you know my real first choice for my neighbor. My Aunt Meme. She lives in Tuscaloosa with her husband. We talked tonight. Meme loves my children, loves me, and isn't shy about it. I'll never forget the message she left on my machine one night. Chris and I were entertaining and didn't answer the phone. Meme begins the message by singing "I just called to say I love you." She sang the whole chorus much to the pleasure of our company!

Meme would be great...she teach the boys all sorts of things...Tsali, her lab, and Roxy could play...Neilson and Chris could discuss bank stocks. I think I'll have to work on her. We're all going up to visit them in a month!!

Sorry for the off the wall post. Now Chris is home...time to go to bed!!

January Happenings

All is well here...not a lot happening...and that is okay by me!

We had a great weekend. Cold and quiet. I cooked two fabulous meals...tried out three new recipes that were a hit. It is so great to have time on the weekend to experiment in the kitchen. I cooked a chicken pot pie from Barefoot Contessa's Family Style one night and oven roasted ribs from The Lady and Son's Savannah Country Cookbook along with corn pudding from same Barefoot Contessa cookbook above. All were great!

I've never cooked ribs before...in fact, I don't really like them, but all of my boys (well, William remains to be seen!) love them. This recipe was easy...only four ingredients!!! Philip and Daniel ate three apiece! As you see, Daniel enjoyed his!

Speaking of eating, William has become quite the foodie himself. Around Christmas, I started giving him a little bit of food from the table. Now, he refuses baby food and demands to eat table food. His form cracks us up. He can pick the food up but because they are in such little pieces (we still have no teeth) he has trouble getting it into his mouth. He does pretty good for 8 months though! He loves turkey...having trouble finding a fruit that he likes and can eat without teeth. He refuses bananas, cantalope, and grapes! Here he is at lunch yesterday....

So while I cooked, Chris manned the fireplace. We pretty much had a fire burning all weekend. The boys watched the National Championship game Friday night and Saturday morning with Chris. I think Chris enjoyed watching it again more than Philip and Daniel did!

Chris and my dad also did a little kitchen renovation. Have you ever seen my kitchen....

WARNING: these pictures were taken before we moved in...that's why the clutter is missing!

It needs renovating, right??? Oh well, all I got was this...

At least it doesn't drip like the old one!

All is quiet here. Sweet GranGran has the older boys (to keep her company, she says!) and William is napping. He is fighting a nasty cold that had him up until 1:00 am two nights ago! I'm off to begin planning out Easter outfits for the boys. It's never too early to start!

Happy New Year!

Four years ago, when Philip was not even three months old, some dear friends invited us to spend New Year's at Lake Martin with them.

We had so much fun, we went back the next year...

The lake house belongs to my old friend Caroline's in-laws. It is a beautiful wood cabin...nice and comfortable. Caroline's in-laws are incredible hosts. There's always more food than we can eat! Well, the invitations from the past were nice, but I honestly I thought they were crazy when they invited us back this year.

Six children under the age of five...sounds chaotic, right. Well, it may have been at times but for the most part it was actually calm. The kids had a blast playing with their friends that they just don't get to see often enough.

We watched and played some football....

I was proud of my oldest son. Frank tried hard to get him to wear an Auburn tattoo. He politely declined. Luckily for him, Frank's parents are Alabama fans and an appropriate tattoo was found for him!

We played outside...football, walks in the woods, throwing rocks, croquet....

We napped...William and Chris especially...

But most importantly, we played with friends...

It was a great trip. So much fun to be with old friends...ones that you don't have to impress...ones that understand two year old meltdowns...ones that laugh with you when you forget the kids' pajamas and they subsequently sleep in the clothes they have been in all day.

Caroline and Frank...thank you so much for inviting us. We had a blast and hope to invite y'all to the beach for another reunion this summer!!