Meet the authors

I was trying to get some one-on-one time with the little boys, now that Levi has stopped napping, and the best way I could think of to do so peaceably was to have one do ipad time and the other work with me. I also wanted to work with them on reading and writing, since both of them are right on the verge of reading and are showing a lot of interest. After doing a math worksheet with Archer, we started writing these books (he drew pictures, I wrote the words), and it was so perfect! Levi even quit games early to come join us, and we've been working on them for an hour now. Some days this would definitely NOT happen as smoothly, but today we needed it!

Crafty Christmas: Collared Aprons

I saw some of these collared aprons on pinterest, and thought they would be cute and fairly simple to make. Originally I was going to make everyone a different kind of apron and found all kinds of cute patterns, but then the reality of making a gazillion Christmas gifts hit me and I decided to just do one type of apron for the girls and one for the boys.



These aprons are awesome. Super easy and really cheap - especially if you already have a few men's shirts lying around. I used 2 of my husband's and one of my grandpa's, and I ended up mismatching parts of each shirt onto all the aprons, so everybody got a little of Grandpa's shirt in their apron (he died last year).

I just used one of my old aprons as a pattern and cut a roughly similar shape out of the front of the shirt. One of them (the one with pockets) turned out really well, but the other two I cut too narrow at the top, so it felt awkward to wear, so I pieced in a strip of fabric on the sides. Then I used long, wide strips from the backs or sleeves of the shirts for the ties, hemmed up any exposed edges, and was done!

Think time

Free, alone think time. It's a rare commodity around here. I feel like during the day my thoughts are jumping from one necessity to the next while trying to be engaged with the little ones clamoring for my attention. Then at night after the boys are asleep, I always think I'll have some, but then the list pops up of things to prepare for, things already on my "to-think-about" list (I'm pretty sure I actually have one of those on my Google Task Lists). This morning Jimmy didn't have classes and he blocked it off in the calendar as family time. What a gift! He took Archer with him to get his safety and emissions done and was gone for a couple hours, while Levi napped. I decided to clean the kitchen. Without kids around, cleaning is so fun! You know, at least more fun. I put on some music, planning to sing and dance while I worked, but instead I just thought.

I thought about politics. I thought about social problems. I thought about issues my kids may run into. I thought about women's rights. I thought about my place in this wide world. It was really valuable, quality-thought think time. Afterwards I realized I was truly refreshed and felt like a real person. Taking a shower and actually getting ready for the day might have helped, too. They say meditation is important to your spiritual and emotional well-being. I couldn't agree more! Even if you're mopping at the same time.

Raking time

Well, it snowed last week, which means the trees have been dropping their leaves in buckets. Well, I wish it were in buckets. As it was, I raked the yard with the boys in the afternoon, and when Jimmy got home, he cleaned up the last bit and towed the can to the driveway. We'll have to rake again in another couple of weeks, but it was a nice day, and it should cut the work next time in half. Henry was a super helper - he stayed outside after I went in to keep going!

Every day is Halloween

I realized today as I was posting about Halloween, that you wouldn't be able to tell which pictures of ours were from Halloween and which were from any other day. These boys are always in some get-up or another. Here are some of my favorites.

 

 

  

  

Brotherly love

 Boys are physical. At least ours are. Especially one of them. Archer has always been our little bulldozer. He'll run at you for a hug and just plow straight through you. He tackles his brothers - both of them - whether or not his brothers enjoy it. I'll let the pictures take it from here.

Notice how it often transitions from sweet(ish) Archer to "Okay, Arch, that's enough!" Luckily, it would seem that in another year or so, Archer will have some competition. Or a playmate. If Archer's lying on the floor in front of Levi, Levi will dive bomb him, open-mouthed. Watch out, Arch!

Halloween 2012

Every day the boys wanted to be something else for Halloween. At first I thought that would be problematic, but then I realized the beauty in it - I could pick any one of the things they mentioned, and they're young enough to still get excited about it! Ultimately we stuck with Henry's astronaut idea. Jimmy and I were Mars and Venus (we had a couples party to go to, so we had to do something that would work as a pair!). 

 We've been on a space kick lately, talking about space shuttles, the Mars rover Curiosity, planets, etc, so this was kind of fun. I followed a lot of the tutorial here, but used yard sale football helmets we had. For the planets, I just painted some cardboard circles.

As a fortunate misfortune, I didn't have any red paint (it was all dried up), so I used some homemade puffy paint from Train Up a Child and dyed it red. It turned out awesome! You can kind of see the texture in this picture - raised and rough, and it even sparkled a little because of the salt!

For Levi, we used water bottles instead of the 2 liter bottles.