Merry Christmas from Our Home to Yours

Four Year Old Imagination

Took the littles over to my Mom and Dad's today for a visit.  While we were there, we went outside for a few minutes.   It was a perfect fall day, brisk and cool, but DRY.  Peanut wandered off by herself and a short time later came running back to my Mom and I telling us there was "Rild Doughnuts" in the yard.

My mom and I exchanged a look that clearly spoke between the two of us, "Um, okay."

But of course this was never spoken aloud.


Turns out the Rild Doughnuts were some ginormous mushrooms that had started growing in the grass.




 

Fall Happenings

I love fall. As if you couldn't tell already.  Like 75% of my previous posts have been about all things fall related.  Today was just another photo op--Daddy and Peanut out raking our leaves.  Our "little" tree out front has gotten a LOT bigger since our last fall three years ago.

Enter in lots more raking to do.  I even helped start the raking on Monday, when Hubs was at work.

Yes, I did some yard work.  If you can call it that.  

I pretty much raked the leaves into three big piles.  That was as far as I got.  Because a) I didn't have anything to put the leaves in (we didn't have any big black bags) and let's face it, I didn't want to get dirty and then b) I was trying to keep track of two littles and c) in keeping track of the two littles, Little Brother lasted about all of twenty minutes in his seat and that was just as far as I got. 

But I tried. 

So they are out finishing up today. 

And just another photo of our little guy.  Peanut does a great job of entertaining him while I am making dinner.  She sings to him (Peanut originals--our little singer song-writer--Nashville will love her), dances for him, generally keeps him distracted while I make dinner.  And he is just absolutely enthralled with all things Big Sister.  Pretty precious if you ask me. 

Anyhow, while I was busy getting dinner ready the other night, I look up and our sweet little boy is now a sous chef. 

But he has to start somewhere, right?  



 

Happy Halloween!

All the credit goes to my mom. It was all her idea. And I LOVED it, so she got the go ahead from me to make the costumes.

Yes, I am blessed.  She made the costumes.  So stinkin' cute!  

I am not too thrilled with the pictures though--but that is all on me, the amateur.  

We didn't have a beautiful back drop to take the pictures at like last year and the year before.  Such is living on the wet side of the state now.  So inside it is, using a sheet as a backdrop and opening all the curtains as wide as possible--allowing in as much natural light that can be obtained on these gray dreary days.  That said though, I can't complain--'cause this is home.  And I love home.  I really do.

That and then our little guy isn't sitting up just yet either, so it's called draping a sheet over Daddy's arms to hold Little Brother upright.  Little Brother is just a bit too wiggly and girthy at this point, so the Peanut can't quite handle him on her own.  But we made do.

So here they are in all their glory....

 And let's be perfectly honest...most pictures were like this:

The little brother being none too thrilled in his circumstances.  We even had a casualty in the process--a piece fringe was dismantled in all the commotion.  And Dorothy?  Well, we are still working on looking at the camera.  Not just facing the camera--but looking at it.  I always have way more pictures than not where her eyes are darting somewhere else--anywhere else--besides the camera. 

It's a work in progress.

Now onto the church carnival!

4 Months and a Pinterest Success!

I can't believe my sweet little boy is 4 months old today!  Where have these last three and half months gone?!?!  He is still nursing like a champ.  I don't know exactly how much he weighs at this point (his check up is next Tuesday), but I am guessing he is around 20 pounds.  He was just over 17 at his last appointment and that was about 5 weeks ago, so that is my best guestimate of where he is at currently.  He has started rolling over (front to back) and his index and middle fingers are his favorite to munch on.  Both hands.  At once.  Cutest little chubby fisted boy if I ever did say so myself! 

And my girl....she has become quite the writer.  When she started school early last month, asking her to write her name brought on melt downs of gargantuan proportions.  Now?  No big deal--like she's been doing it for years. 

I found the artwork idea on Pinterest.  Where else, right?  With our Peanut in school now, I knew I wanted to get that done as soon as possible.  And who am I kidding?  Have Hubs do it as soon as possible.  And the best part about it?--aside from the fact that I LOVE LOVE LOVE it? 

It was free. 

Had the frames, had the paint--just took some time to actually get it done.  But I am so glad I Hubs did it. 

But it was my idea.  ;)

A Week {or so} in Pictures

Just a few of my favorites from the last few days weeks....

Alternate Title: Why I Don't Do Photo "Sessions" On My Own Anymore

My Two Little Pumpkins

I won't even share how many were taken to get this one.  But I'm glad I got it!

Baby Gum Smiles

Can't we just freeze time?

 

How Long Will It Take?

My friend's mom (Hub's and my matchmaker) tells a story of my friend and her two little brothers--when they were all much younger  My dear sweet friend had her younger playmates brothers at her complete disposal, until of course, when (as her mom jokes) they turned about six years old and they figured out they didn't have to do what their older sister said any longer.

Fast forward twenty five years and my friend has two children--an older girl and younger boy.  Our matchmaker further jokes that it only took her grandson about 18 months to figure out that he didn't have to do what his older sister said.

I wonder how long it will take our Little Guy?


  

My Mom is Awesome

When we announced "we" were pregnant last fall, I asked my mom to be on the lookout for some furniture for the baby's room.  She is a thrift shop junkie and has made turning trash into treasure an art form.

I do mean that in the utmost complimentary way.  Because I am not that talented. But I trust my mom completely because she has vision like you couldn't believe and she, well, to put it simply....

she ROCKS. 

Now, when I made this request to her, knowing we were going to be moving home and living with them for several months, she told me she would definitely be on the look out for some furniture, but she probably wasn't going to get anything just yet, because we had about another 8 months to find some stuff and she didn't want to deal with storing it. 

Fair enough. 

She called me about two weeks later and said she had found two dressers and a desk for a total of $30 and brought them home. 

Now, what was that about not wanting to store them?   I totally get it though.....in terms of getting second hand things, you have to strike while the iron is hot.  And she did. 

We still have to find a replacement handle on this one, but other than that, it looks amazing.  And it's a great height for a changing table.  At least for Hubs and I.  He's definitely tall and I am on the taller side as well, so it's perfect for the both of us. 

Well, I saved the best for last.  Because you think the changing table turned out good? 

Take a look at this transformation:

My aunt, who went shopping with my mom for these treasures, told me just this last weekend, that she simply did not see it.  She is a visionary as well, but she thought this piece was hopeless.  It was missing it's back and was scratched and dented to heck.  Plus, the finish needed to be completely redone.  My mom was intending to paint this piece, but after sanding it down and removing all the finish, she realized that the wood was actually really nice {we think it's cherry}.

Knobs refinished courtesy of  RustOleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint. 

Amazing don't you think? 

Don't ya'all wish you had a mom like mine?


  

Fall is Falling

Fall is finally starting to settle in around these here parts.  I absolutely love summer and I am sad to see it go, but I am ready for boots and sweaters, soups, and catching up on fall TV.  Speaking of boots, I think my feet grew with my last pregnancy.  Because the swelling is all gone now and most of my shoes are a smidge tight now.  Kinda stinks. 

Anywho.

My mom sent me home the other day with a bag of fall colored card stock and said it was for the Peanut.  So in my efforts in trying to be a "fun" mom, we made a fall leaf um, swag, for lack of a better term.

You can find the patterns for the leaves here, in case you want to be a fun mom too.  

We still have lots of paper left over, so we just might be doing a Halloween and/or Thanksgiving countdown paper chain too. 

I even made her some orange and green play dough.  You know, to make pumpkins and stuff. 

I KNOW. 

I can't hardly believe it myself. 

We also took a walk the other day and I brought along the camera to record this fall deliciousness for my sister.  She absolutely adores fall and let's face it.  You don't really get "fall" living in the high desert. 

So here you go, Big Sister.  In all it's glory:

Finally, some of the kidlets....do you know how hard it is to get both a 3 month old and a four year old to look AT the camera and smile?  Just. doesn't. happen. 

I think I statistically have a better chance of being struck by lightning twice {in the same spot!} before that would occur.  

Peanut's Birthday Weekend

We had a REALLY big weekend last weekend.  We had a big family barbecue last Friday night, party preparations and a fantasy football draft on Saturday and a big 'ol carnival birthday on Sunday.  SO three fun filled days (long but fast somehow) and nearly 1000 photos later, I am finally getting a chance to sit down and get this post done.

Over a week later.  Ahem. 

So last Friday.  We had some extended family come into town and our little Peanut was so excited to meet their little baby girl.  Peanut had webcammed with my aunt more than once with them and Peanut was SO excited to meet her in the flesh..  So excited that those were literally the first words out of her mouth that morning.  "Is today the day we get to meet Baby S_____?"  Yes, yes it is.

This sweet little girl is about 7 months old and Peanut was enthralled with her and every little thing she did.  Now I know that Peanut must secretly think that her little brother is just boring, because she was just beside. herself. with everything this sweet little girl did.  Whether it was smile or crawl or stand (assisted of course!), Peanut was SO excited.  I can't imagine what she'll do when Baby Brother rolls over!

Saturday was Peanut's actual birthday, but it was the day of the Hubs and my Dad's Fantasy Football Draft as well.  I know, like that really should make any difference, right??????  Peanut's birthday should supersede that, but somehow it didn't and I had to make sure we did something extra special that morning since the guys would be otherwise occupied later on that day.

We opted for breakfast with my parents and sister and brother-in-law (who were in from out of town!) bright and early that morning at our house, complete with balloons and streamers and presents after breakfast.  I was totally stressed (are you surprised?) about making sure I made it special for our girl and Hubs kept telling me not to worry.  He was right.

Imagine that.

Every morning when Peanut gets up the very first thing she does is come and visit us in our room.  She has to pass by our dining room to get to our bedroom and we had decorated the dining room with balloons and crepe paper the night before.  First thing that she says to me was, "Those are the best decorations ever, Mommy.  You did a great job!"

Be still, my heart.

Just some balloons and crepe paper and our girl was thrilled.  We hadn't even set out her gifts yet (not that there was a lot from us, because there wasn't)--but she was ecstatic over the simple gesture of birthday decorations.

We are blessed.

So after breakfast and her gift opening, she went with Daddy and Grandpa to Costco to pick up her cake (I opted for a store bought cake the day of the draft, so she wouldn't be without a cake on the day of her actual birthday.  Plus, with all the football guys there, they would help eat it up. We certainly didn't need any left over, as I was baking both cupcakes and a birthday cake for her party the day after.)  

I decided to do the baking over at my mom and dad's because I didn't want to deal with transporting cupcakes and a cake--plus that also gave me extra sets of hands for Peanut watching and Baby Brother holding.

One of my mom's gifts for Peanut were new aprons--complete with matching aprons for Mommy and Bitty Dolly.  Thanks Mom!

So I got the cupcakes and cake both baked and decorated on Saturday and finished up some last minute things for her party while we waited for Hubs draft to be over.  Then it was home to bed so we could get up and get ready for the big carnival party the next day.

As I mentioned, I didn't get a lot of those extra details done this year like I have in years past.  I wanted to make cupcake toppers and set the tables all festive, but I simply didn't have the time.  I am still finding my footing with this two children thing.  I consider it a good day when I get a shower before noon and have dinner on the table at a decent hour.  Needless to say, cupcake toppers are not my first priority right now.  I have to remind myself, Peanut still had a great time--even without cupcake toppers.

My mom helped a ton and gathered up lots of carnival details like peanuts (no pun intended!), caramel corn, and animal cookies for the table and found these really cool vintage-y mason jar lids to use with fun straws and pint size jars for the beverages.

For the "booths" we had face painting, a photo booth, and a balloon artist.

The face painting was done by my husband's sweet and talented cousins:

They did SUCH a wonderful job!  I told anybody that would listen that day, I would have been thrilled with the kids getting stars and hearts on their cheeks.   That's what I remember getting done with face paint when I was a kid.  No, they were so much better.  We had three exotic butterflies, a tiger, a kitty, a pink and purple lady bug, a college emblem and even a superhero (on his arm--he didn't want his face painted.  But I know they would have if he wanted it!).

 

And the balloon artist?  Well, he was entertaining for both the kids and the adults.  We had considered having a clown show up--but clowns are kinda' creepy if you ask me.  My mom then suggested a balloon artist and I knew just the guy! We saw this guy several years ago when we went out to dinner one night--and Peanut's carnival themed birthday was a great opportunity to have him come out. 

He did not disappoint one bit!

Last, the photo booth.  We set the streamer backdrop up in front of my parents garage door.  Of course with the garage being in the front of the house and the party being in the back yard (on the opposite side of the house), the photo booth was sort of forgotten about until the end of the party.  But I have to say, I think it was the funnest part.  At least for the adults.....but I'll let the pictures tell the rest.


It was a fun day.  And even though I know better {because cooperativeness is at an all time low post-big-event}, we even squeezed in some family shots when most of the guests had went home after the party. 

Why yes, this WAS the best family shot we got.  

Is she really four years old already?