We're Still Here

I know I haven't been posting much lately. It's been too hot. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. :-) Anyway, there hasn't been much going on. Maddie had her nine month check up. She's doing great. Caleb has learned where the nurses at the clinic keep their stickers... which means he's doing great. On a totally different note, Josh entered a couple of those pictures I posted in the Kutest Kidz contest that channel 5 and Bedford's is doing. Wish us luck. The grand prize is a new camera... which we could really use. Anyway, I'll try to get my camera out today and get you some new kid pictures posted on here.

The Craft Addiction Continues...

This is my new bag. I knew the moment I found the pattern that I wanted to make one. Or a hundred... you know... whatever. It's a great size. It's either a large purse or a small tote bag. Either way, it's perfect for me. It is also a good size for the awkward time where I don't need a full diaper bag anymore, but I still need a few things. When I get to that point I might make me another one.... or seven... whatever.
Have a crafty day!

Madeline

Caleb

I know I'm incredibly biased, but I have the cutest little boy on earth. Nobody ever gets to see him in pictures because he normally runs from the camera, but Pennie managed to get some good shots the other day. Check back in the next few days for some pics of Maddie.

Lightning

Okay... so it's been interesting around here. We had a rather brief thunderstorm yesterday morning. It contained lightning. It just happened to hit our house or close enough to it that we lost a few things. It fried Josh's computer, the tv in our bedroom, the modem, the router (or at least the power cord), and the garage door opener... of all things. Luckily, the garage door guys came out that same day, so I wasn't stuck trying to manually open and close the door. Josh has the internet up again (hallelujah!). I'm not sure what I ever did before I had the internet. Unfortunately the tv is beyond repair. A moment of silence please. Okay. I'm better now.

On a totally different note... I recently took Maddie's crib bumpers out. She's working on learning how to pull up on things, and I didn't want her to suddenly learn to climb in the middle of the night, use the bumpers as a step, fall out of her crib, and traumatize me for life. I know. I can be a bit neurotic. I've accepted that. One of the immediate (and kinda funny) consequences was her getting her little legs stuck through the bars. She's never really moved around her crib much before, but she's kinda doing the half-crawl baby push-up thing. The first couple of times it happened she screamed until I came in and freed her. This time she was so tired that she just fell asleep where she was stuck. Don't worry. I straightened her out as soon as I snapped a picture. But you have to ask yourself what kind of mommy I am that I immediately thought, "take a picture of this for the blog before you fix her!" I put the bumpers back in place today.

Caleb had an awesome surprise today. He got a card in the mail from his Aunt Sandra and Uncle Nathan. Not only did his card have cars all over it, it had stickers inside. He's still talking about it. He's very interested in mail these days, so to have "mails" of his own was just the best thing ever.

Notice the stickers already on his shirt? Well, guess where the rest of them are as I type? Yup, they're already stuck down his legs. He keeps running in to show them to me. He's so proud.

Simple pleasures. :-)

This And That

Check out my cutie in her little Pebbles hairdo. :-) What's even sweeter is that Caleb actually asked to be in the photo! He usually runs from the camera. They're getting so big.
This morning while I was getting ready I noticed Caleb making trips back and forth from my closet to my bedroom where I had Madeline in the pack-n-play. I had a bunch of extra kiddie sized hangers down on the lower bar where Caleb could reach them. He was systematically taking them in and giving them to Maddie one color group at a time. She thought it was hilarious, but he wasn't so pleased when she wouldn't hand them back to him.

And on a totally different note... If you know me at all you've realized by now that I use crafty stuff as my creative outlet. In fact, I have CADD (craft attention deficit disorder). It's very hard to stop myself from trying my hand at every type of crafting imaginable. Lately I've been doing a lot of sewing. It's fun. It's therapeutic. It's a great way to avoid scrubbing floors! Here's my latest project. It's a small tote bag with a fabric flower pin attached. It's so small because I had just made....

this apron and that's all of the material I had left over. It was just enough fabric to sit there and mock me. Who wants to waste that much material? I thought this was a good use for it. It's like a gift bag that the recipient can reuse. :-) I know this isn't a good picture of the apron, but it's the flower material on the top and stripes on the back (fully reversible) with the white pleated trim. So cute. Although I did end up taking the flower off and putting it on the bag. It's a pin. It can migrate if it wants to. All of that being said... I thought it was a cute little gift set. I haven't made a tote bag in a while and I'd forgotten how easy it really is.

Have a crafty day!

Oh How I Love My Munchkins

Caleb is so funny. He needs everything lined up just so. He spent a long time getting all of his cars where he wanted. Unfortunately, every time one fell off the chair he screamed. He doesn't like it when things don't go his way. :-) Maddie cracks me up. She's so sweet and lovable.... but let me tell you this girl has a temper! She changes moods so fast you can barely keep up sometimes. I don't even want to think about her teenage years.
Just look at that face.

Have a Munchkin-tastic day!

Take Me Out To The Ball Game...

We had a great time today. We took the kids to see an Arkansas Naturals baseball game. It was their first game. We went with some of Josh's work buddies, but I didn't actually get any pictures of anyone. Just do me a favor and pretend I did. Thanks. Here's Caleb's first baseball game hot dog. I think it's some kind of requirement to have a hot dog at a ballgame. One of the guys had some peanuts, but we declined. All that was missing was a box of Crackerjacks!
Unfortunately, it was 100 degrees outside (plus the heat index) so we decided to leave early and visit Uncle Bobby. Pretend that I remembered to take a picture. Just imagine it's here. Thanks. Then we went to Red Robin. It's our favorite burger joint. I wish we had one closer.... but maybe it's a good thing we don't. :-)

Ahh the air conditioning. Mmm... the yummy deliciousness!

It was a long, hot afternoon.

But we had fun!

I've Created A Monster

Mmm.. I love Candy Craze. I go for one main reason: the wall of Jelly Belly jelly beans. I can't help myself. They're yummy delicious. It's only natural that my main munchkin would eventually wonder what was in Mommy's "special bag." Now he's hooked. We go through that place like we're in some kind of wonder land. He picks colors and I sprinkle them into the bag. I have to be very careful. It takes a lot of restraint to get such small amounts.
We always taste one as soon as we leave the store.

The rest never make it very long. We go home and pig out until our bags are empty.

Mmm. Have a Yummy Delicious Day!

Stickers

The greatest thing has happened lately. It was a slow development, so I can't tell you exactly when... but Caleb has learned to pull stickers off the page for himself. Hallelujah! For the longest time he wouldn't even try. Then he could do it, but not if they were the small ones. Now he's a sticker expert. This doesn't sound like it would be a big deal, but he loves stickers. Considering their quiet, unassuming nature I love stickers too! They have the magical ability to keep him quiet for minutes on end!

To celebrate his new skill, Caleb has decorated his legs, body, and clothes with stickers each day for four days now. He shows no signs of stopping. He'll sit quietly somewhere and methodically cover himself. Then he waddles in... saying OUCH the whole way... to tell me he has stickers. BUT DON'T TRY TO TAKE THEM OFF! This is very important. He says they hurt, but DON'T TRY TO TAKE THEM OFF! Any sticker removal is entirely up to him. If you remember this, you'll be okay. And here's a completely unrelated picture of him sleeping. He doesn't always nap anymore, so I usually become suspicious if he gets too quiet. I went in to check on him and this is what I found. Hehehe. Too cute.

Have a sticker-tastic day!