And The Winner Is. . .

Mollie! (Thanks to the random number generator, because I was too lazy to write 11 numbers on scraps of paper and let my kids pick, who happen to both be asleep anyway.) I'll get in touch with you for the specifics!

Actually, the real winner is me, because both of the kids are asleep at 4:15 on a Friday afternoon and have been for almost 2 hours, and thus the incessant whining and fighting and bursting into tears has been silenced. It has been a really busy couple of weeks, compacted by a lot of late nights and early-ish mornings. And we have another late one tonight as we're heading out to see the Charlotte Symphony's patriotic salute and firework show tonight. I'm so glad that we all got to sleep today.

500!

I can't believe that this is my 500th post, but here we are, just a couple weeks short of the 3 year anniversary of the start of this blog!

And what better way of celebrating it than a long overdue crafty post. I haven't been doing much in the crafty realm lately, but in the spring, we did take on a few projects that I've been meaning to post.

First was our adventure with paper mache while Uncle D. was here. There is no way I would have been brave enough to try this on my own, but the kids had a good time getting messy (and we learned after the first day to do this in the driveway, rather than the kitchen.)And the finished product turned out so cute! This was supposed to be our pinata for Cinco de Mayo/Uncle D's birthday, but Bean couldn't stand the thought of smashing him to peices, so he's still hanging around. She keeps saying maybe for July 4th, but I have a feeling I should just find him a permanent home hanging from a ceiling somewhere.

And to follow the monkey theme, I made the kids breakfast placemats.These were supposed to inspire them to get themselves ready without so much interference by me, but inspite of the cute song Bugaboo made up to help him remember the list, I haven't seen much change. The fastest way to get them dressed is to hand them their swimsuits and tell them we're going to the pool. Too bad we don't usually do that until after naptime. And finally, I'd decided that I wanted to get better about our daily scripture reading. We'd originally started out our "school year" with a little morning devotional but that only lasted a few weeks. I recently heard a fun idea to get the whole family involved at whatever their level of reading and studying, so I made the kids and I each a Scripture Notebook (I just covered notebooks or for Bugaboo, a pad of drawing paper).

Now we try to read a story each morning, and Bean and I record the date, scripture reference and then a summary of what we read, or something we learned. She and Buggy can each draw a picture to go along with the story. It's been great reading practice for Bean (and she's learning to recognize some less than common words, like "goeth" and "thy", LOL ) and also makes sure we get in a little writing every day, no matter what else we do. And its good practice with the calendar. My goal is to get a good space set up in the playroom where we can do this near their wall calendar so it can all tie together better.

And what would a milestone be without a giveaway? So one random commenter will get a personalized notebook of your choice and a colored pencil roll (my new favorite writing storage--but I forgot to take a picture of the one I made the other day.) I'll contact you after for color preferences and notebook type. Just leave a comment by July 1st! I love writing, but of course its more fun when I know who's reading.

PS (For my foriegn readers, I love you, too, and will send it wherever :))

And the Lucky Person . . .

I just cut up scraps of paper with numbers 1-18 (the comments from the last 2 posts, and sorry Emily, I decided to just stick with one comment per person ;) ) and then let Bean draw a paper out. And the winner is Katie! Give me a few days to put the things together and then I'll send it your way :)

Thanks, everyone for the new ideas. I love finding new things I want to try, although in answer to SRM's question about how I find time, I really don't feel like I spend much time doing crafts lately. More time gathering ideas and making lists of all the things I'd like to make and do, but I still have projects left over from Utah that I haven't finished up, I haven't touched my scrapbooks since we moved into this house, and my sewing machine seems to only get dragged out when I need to make a present.

But I got my new desk the other day for our newly appointed craft room and am feeling a little more inspired. Just a few more things to finish with the room itself (and I'll post some pics of it in its midway stage soon--I want to build some shelves, but that may take months so we'll go with what I have when I finish these last couple things.) And with Bean at home with us this next year, we're going to have to have regular art time to satisfy her needs, so I hope I can sneak in my own projects while the kids are working on their own messes.

Last Chance to Enter!

Today's the last day for the giveaway (although I can't say that I will actually be up to close the comments at 10 pm, so you probably really have until some time on Tuesday, depending on when I manage to get on the computer. Go leave your comment!

I've been loving everyone's crafty ideas. I really haven't been doing much, and I'm getting excited to get back into using my hands to make messes :)

Crafty Give-Away!

I'm finally getting around to my two year bloggiversary giveaway! And in honor of the revitilization of my crafting space I am trying to finish by fall, I think I will do a fall theme basket, but I'm going to leave the contents a little open so I can tailor it to whoever wins--I do a lot of kid crafts, but if you don't have kids, I will come up with other things to go in. It will probably include cards of some type, some crafting supplies and project idea, recipes, and maybe some other type of goodies. And if you are one of my few readers from down under, I'll make it a spring basket instead so you don't have to wait 6 months to enjoy :)

So leave a comment on this post, and if there is something specific you'd like to see, then mention that in your comment, especially if you are a reader I don't know all that well, and I will try to include it if you win. Otherwise, just tell me what type of fun things you've been making or doing lately. I'm always looking for new ideas.

The comments will be open until Monday, August 3rd at 10 p.m. EDT.

Another Year Older

This blog has now been around for 2 full years. I was looking at the first post and had to post this picture--look how far we've come!

And I'm glad that there are still people out there who like our family enough to keep tabs on what we're doing. I LOVE having this record and love the little bits of contact it gives us with our friends and family who we don't get to see very often.

I'm thinking of doing another giveaway, but it will obviously have to be after I get back. So I thought I'd open this up to your requests, if anyone has any. I've done cards and other paper crafts in the past, but could also do some sewing (crayon rolls seem to be my speciality, although I can also do t-shirt dresses or bags), or even just a themed goody bag. If you have any ideas/requests, let me know in the comments.

Here's to another great year!

And the Winner is. . .

Jenna! Congratulations and thanks for reading along (and for the record, I definately think that you should start a blog--between your girls and your kids at school, I can only imagine the fun stories you would have to tell.) I'll pop the cards in the mail.

I do think its funny that I have to make up my own contest to get me to do something crafty. It's been a lazy summer, craft-wise. If only I could wean myself from my afternoon nap.

Water Fun

Apparently they have a lot of these "spray" parks around the city. This is the first one we explored and the kids did have fun, although it was a little bit much for Bugaboo. That's a lot of water when you're not even 3 feet tall. (BTW, click on the picture above to enlarge it--I LOVE that our new camera can take action shots like this!)

And thanks to everyone for the book recommendations--I need to head over to the library to see what they have in! Tomorrow is the last chance to enter the bloggiversary giveaway so go here to make a comment.

One Year

I just realized today is my "bloggiversary"! I started this blog while we were in Michigan for the summer because I finally felt like I should really keep all our friends and family who we don't live by (which at that moment was EVERYONE) better updated.

One year and 168 posts later, here we are. Once again, nowhere near our loved ones, but I feel so much closer to everyone thanks to this blog, and all the blogs out there that I peruse a little too often.

So, in honor of the blog's birthday, I'm going to send a set of 5 handmade birthday cards to a random commentor :) You can just say hi, or if you'd like, continue with the last post and send me book ideas, either for me or for Bean and I to read to together. I'll pick the winner on Thursday, July 17th.

Thank you to everyone for reading along, commenting, emailing, calling. . . And thanks to all of you who are willing to share your lives through your own blogs--it really makes me happy that I have some idea what is going on in the lives of my friends.

October Update and Contest

Its the first of the month again, and even though I don't have much to update on, I feel like I should do a "state of the family" address or something.

Things are in there normal state of chaos around here. My mom left on Friday after being with us for a month. We kept pretty busy: running errands, sewing, drying fruit, and cooking up a storm. I have a well-stocked freezer which should help us get through the dinner hour for the next month (when she returns--yay for moms!). Now I'm just trying to finish up the projects we didn't get to: more sewing for Halloween and new babies, painting, crafty projects. I love doing it all, but get a little stressed when my list of projects gets so big. Time to start crossing things off!

Daddy-o is crazy busy at school. A lot of people told us last year that we just had to survive the first year and then everything would relax. Well, I'm not sure what we're doing wrong, but this doesn't feel much like relaxing. The added task of finding full-time employment has not helped lighten the load. More about that later.



Bean is just our little dancing queen who keeps trying to grow up on me. She even told me after she helped her brother with something, "I think I'm starting to be like a mama now." She was very interested in all the sewing going on and spent one afternoon doing her own sewing alongside Rara.

She is also just seeming way too grown up to me in so many ways each day. Like when she just marched off down the sidewalk, ready to take a walk by herself (I know, a lot of people have to worry about their kids doing this from the time they can walk, but I've been lucky that despite all the things that she is, Bean is not a runner.) And anyway, it was just something in her walk.

And Bugaboo--spends a lot of his day defending himself from the exhuberence of his sister. He's not quite walking, but has adopted a new method of moving around that I think he sees as walking--he kneels and then shuffles across the room on his knees. It is no where near as efficient as his crawling, but I guess since he can look up at us as he goes, he probably feels very grown up. He also got to try his first popscicle (and that's a first for me as a mom--I don't give my 11 month olds sugar, but I was so tired of telling him he couldn't have everything we were eating that day). He took the whole thing very seriously, but loved it.

Now, about the job search. The interviews are starting, job offers and rejections are beginning to come in. We currently have not a clue where we are going, so I thought it would be fun to start taking bets. Where in the world will the nutty family end up? Post your guess. Closest one will win a prize (and BTW, Stacy, I have your prize from the job description contest--good guessing on almost all of them! I'll send it off this week. And in case anyone else is intested, the answers in order: substitute teacher, lift operator, life guard, lab tech, lab tech & swim instructor, substitute teacher, veternarian assistant).







You'll know as soon as we do. Now just wish us luck that the answer will be coming soon.