Our Family Project

Before I get to the cuteness of all that encompasses Adam .... the giveaway winner is: #11: Kristina! I'm really kind of excited because I saw a pattern in a catalog and immediately thought of you ... so you'll get a little surprise something (but, I will tell you this ... I'll probably need some Eva to make it ... that fabric is okay, right?). Now on to the adorable Adam story: One day Adam decided to be a train. So, he put this basket on his head and started to shuffle into the living room (where I was sitting) making the "chuga-chuga" sounds. This child is so creative, it kills me! And, I'm so grateful for his creativity ... really helps me to lighten up when I'm stressed or frustrated. Oh, and the band-aid on his chin? He sustained a cut chin and a bitten-through tongue when he executed a jump off a kitchen chair. I still can't figure out if he was trying to jump to the adjacent chair, or the floor. Either way, he missed his target. That was a fun...

Today is my blogiversary! One year ago today I switched my blog over to Blogger. To celebrate, I want to do a little drawing for all my friends and family! I haven't yet decided what the winner will get ... I think it depends on who the winner is (I don't want to send a crayon roll to someone without children, or an apron to my brother, etc.). Rest assured though, that the winner will get something homemade from me, just as a little thank you for being my friend! So, start commenting ... and I'll send the total number of comments I receive by next Wednesday at 11:59 CST through random.org, then announce the winner next Thursday.

Maryanne has officially become proficient at "army crawling." I love how her little legs straighten out and she drags them across the floor toward her goal (in the video it's a little chocolate bar ... I'm getting her trained young to love chocolate). It reminds me of the elementary back stroke: when you straighten out your legs and arms you kind of "shoot" through the water. We're working on the "real" crawling, but there's still plenty of time ... no need to make her faster!

In a few weeks we'll be going on a road trip. And, when I say road trip I mean a LONG road trip. It's even longer than it normally would be because we have children who need to stop to use the bathroom every hour. At least that's what it was like last time. And, at least every 2-4 hours it will be an extended stop while I feed Maryanne. So, our trip that (according to Mapquest ) is supposed to take 18-19 hours will end up taking around 28 or so. Okay, that might be exaggerating , but it will still take a long time. Jon wants to drive straight through. We'll see how that goes. Regardless, I decided each of the children need to have their own bag of goodies for the trip. We took some time this week to paint some backpacks I had left over from Kate's art party. Each child gets to put in some fun travel stuff into their bag, with a few snacks. Stuff like: notepads, crayons, pencils, books, cars, little pet shop pets, (and for Maryanne) rattles, sippy cup, small stuffed...

Last week Jon had the few days before the Fourth off work ... and we didn't do much except hang out. On one of those days, our children and the girls that live adjacent and behind us decided to sell lemonade. And, they were the best salesmen ever! They ended up getting about $20 for homemade lemonade (which was really gross, btw; it was made from lemon juice, sugar and water ... not so good). It was really fun for them and for us. Jon sat out there watching while reading, and the gnats were driving me crazy so I ran inside. (Yes, I'm a whimp.) And, the best part? It was when the girls ran out of the large cups, so they gave some people a "shot" of lemonade using the bathroom cups I gave them for their own drinks. "Hmm, may I have a shot of lemonade, please?"

A couple of aprons I made for my friend and her little girl. She picked out the fabric ... isn't it gorgeous?

For one of Kate's nights she chose to play with shaving cream on the table. While we were drawing and sculpting with the shaving cream we played "Truth, Dare, Double Dare, Promise, or Repeat." Kate dared me to put my face in the shaving cream. I promptly put my cheek on the table in my shaving cream. Then she dared Jon to put his face in the shaving cream. Ironically, for a man who puts shaving cream on his face daily, he was extremely hesitant to put his face in the shaving cream and wouldn't do it. So, I started to put the shaving cream on his cheek for him. Eventually he gave in and put the shaving cream on his face, making his little beard. And, of course, Kate had to follow suit as well!