Thursday Thirteen #7

We had a two week vacation in Alabama with my parents.  David joined us for the first weekend we were there and we went to a place called The Great Pumpkin Patch.  (I always want to say “Charlie Brown” after that.)  We did at least 13 fun things there.

  

1.  We went on a hayride together.  (Kenneth loved the hay.)

 

2.  They each picked out a pumpkin.  The pumpkins now adorn our front porch.

3.  They played in a small hay maze.  We played “hide and seek.”

  

4.  They rode ponies.

5.  They looked at tractors and wagons.

 

6.  They each did the bungy jump!  Yes you heard me.

7.  We all went down a giant slide.

8.  We climbed into an alligator.

9.  The kids enjoyed bouncing in a big pumpkin.

10.  They saw turkeys, chickens, a horse, a llama, and goats in the petting zoo.

11.  They shared a really tall lemonade. (Sorry, no picture.)

12.  We saw rows and rows of sunflowers.

13.  We had a great time being together.

 

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Thursday Thirteen #6

13 things my 4-year-old daughter had to bring with her on our family vacation.

1. Her stuffed lamb
2. Carebears blanket
3. My size 8 silver shoes that she wears
4. a black coin purse
5. a pink princess purse
6. her microphone headset so she can pretend to be a singer
7. snow white dress
8. snow white tiara & shoes
9. a purple plastic ring
10. a homemade flower crown
11. crayons & a cinderella coloring book
12. a new outfit from her grandma
13. pink slippers

Her list is far more interesting (and colorful) than mine.

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Thursday Thirteen #5

Here are 13 things on my arts and crafts to do list.

1. Finish our New Year banner.  We have a banner that I update every year by sewing small charms, stickers, or embellishments onto it.  I hope it will be a treasured keepsake in the years to come.
2. Finish our Jesse Tree ornaments.  We hang the ornaments on the small tree during Advent.  I stumbled upon this website a few years ago, and I’ve been slowly making the ornaments.  This year, I really want to have them done, so my kids can particpate this year.
3. Finish Kenneth’s baby scrapbook.  I have about 3 months left of his first year to do.  I’m really happy with how it has turned out so far.
4. Start Elisa’s dress-up album.  I have gathered all of the supplies that I need to start this scrapbook.  She loves everything about dressing up and costumes.  I have so many cute pictures of her, so I thought a special scrapbook would be fun for both her and me to work on together.
5. Finish a shadowbox for Kenneth.  I bought a shadowbox a year ago for Kenneth’s baby items.  I have a lock of hair, his hospital bracelet, some newborn pictures, and his going-home outfit.
6. Same as #5 for Elisa.
7. Speaking of shadowboxes.  I have two large ones that I bought for the foyer.  I want to put our photos and mementoes of our many overseas adventures in them.  It will be a fun walk down memory lane.
8. I have two lampshades that my mom recovered for me in a beautiful black toile for the half bathroom downstairs.  All I need to do is hot glue the material and add some decorative ribbon.  Alas, I can’t find my glue gun.  I’m going to have to borrow one.
9. Finish Kenneth’s wall art.  I bought wood letters of each letter in his name.  I spray painted them red.  I need to sand them and put a final coat of red on them, and then I need to stamp them with a crown stamp with gold ink.  (His room is a castle and knight theme.)
10. Finish my grandmother’s mini book.  My grandmother’s 90th birthday is this year, so I’ve created a little book entitled “90 Birthday Blessings.”  I need to finish writing the 90 things that I love about her.
11. Do a wedding scrapbook.  If you can believe it (which most of you can), after almost 16 years of marriage I don’t have a wedding album.  I’ve gathered some scrapbook items over the years so I can do one, but I’ve never gotten around to it.  Now is the time though.  Hoping to tackle this project soon.
12. A tile project.  I have some broken tiles that I have saved to do a tile project in my kitchen.  It sounds more like a home improvement project, but I don’t count it as such because it is going to be wall art.  I just need to get down to the garage to start it (and finish it).
13. Photo Christmas presents.  I’ve finally decided what I’m going to make for Christmas presents for my family.  I’m going to decoupage large light switch covers and use them as frames for photos of my kids.  I did it a few years ago with a friend, and my family really like them.  It’s time to do it again especially since I have another child now.

I guess you have surmised by now that I enjoy starting projects, but I don’t really finish them.  Wish me luck.

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Try a New Thing No More

Well, I’ve abandoned trying a new thing every day.  My mind has shifted to scrapbooking again, so in one way I’m doing new things.  I create a new page in Kenneth’s baby album every day.  I’ve created a few cards for people, and I’m excited about tackling Elisa’s new dress-up album.  I’ll be posting some new scrapbooking photos soon.

Ugh.

Trying new things has not gone well in the last couple of days.  I was ready for adventure, but I injured my knee and had to stay off of it all day Thursday.  I decided we should do a music night instead only to find out that Kenneth had put coins in the piano, so many of the keys are stuck, and we had forgotten that he broke a guitar string a while back.  Late Thursday night I decided to give myself a manicure and pedicure.  It had definitely been a while since I’d done that. 

Now for yesterday, I worked really hard on a project for my new thing and it turned out really bad.  At least I tried. 

Oh well.  Today, I had great success.  We all went to an ice cream social, which means free ice cream.  The kids played at the park, rode a little train, and jumped in a bounce machine.  It was our first time to an ice cream social, and it was great.  The kids loved it.  We will definitely do it again next year.

Flashlight Fun

Tonight we turned off the lights and had fun with the flashlight.  We talked and joked and laughed.  We talked about what we like about each other and how well we knew each other.  It was really great.  I highly recommend it.

Let’s Dance

We had a fun dance party this afternoon.  We popped in a CD with classic toddler songs, and we did a lot of marching and dancing.  Kenneth was a little upset at the beginning because he thought it was going to be a movie.  After a few minutes he was dancing with us and we were all smiling and laughing.  It was good for the soul.  Thanks to my friend for the suggestion.

A very bad bike ride

Well, I had high hopes of riding to the local Walgreens with the kids in the bike trailer that I borrowed from a dear friend.  Unfortunately, I only went one way.  I knew I was in trouble when I had to sit down on the pavement and Elisa said, “Mommy you don’t look very good.  Your nose is very red.”  I think it was more than just my nose.  My whole face was red.  I had to call David to come and rescue me.  Thankfully he did.  The only thing that was successful about the bike ride was that I tried something new today.  (Hopefully, tomorrow’s won’t be so difficult.)

Bearing my soul

Well, my something new today is writing some posts in the next few weeks, months, years, etc. about something private.  I have been feeling lately that I want to write about infertility, endometriosis, adoption, and motherhood.  In the Old Testament, people would build an altar to remind them of what God had done for them and how mightily he had worked in their lives.  I guess in a sense these posts will be building an altar, so that when I reread them or when someone passes by my site, there will be a testimony of what God has done.  I imagine that several of the posts will not have a clear spiritual value, but I feel like the whole of my experiences has marked my adult life for the good and bad.  I really want to have a documentation of most of it, and some of it will be public.

I’ve been working on Kenneth’s baby album, and it has been so much fun and poignant and painful at times.  Many people don’t know this, but several days after he was born, we almost lost him.  We had a meeting with his birthparents, and we were told prior to our lunch that they could easily change their minds about the placement.  I actually packed a bag for him in case this happened.  I tenderly and quietly placed diapers, wipes, bottles, formula, clothing, and other things in a diaper bag for him.  We cried so much before leaving for lunch, but we had walked this road before, and we knew what it entailed.  The difference was it had happened in a few short hours, and we didn’t have an army of people surrounding us.  Surprisingly, it felt the same though – lonely and hopeless, but I knew what I would learn from it.  The great lesson is that my children are not my own, but they are God’s.  He has a plan for them apart from my plan for them.  He is the author of their lives, and I am not.  He has them in the palm of His hand no matter what happens in their lives.  He is the taker and giver of life.  He is the Almighty who has chosen me to be their mom.  I am so grateful and amazed that He did so.  They have been the greatest joys of my life.  The fact that I am their mother is an altar that I will happily build – daily.

My son, the prodigy

Last night my son got a shot at playing the drums, and once he started he wouldn’t stop.  Apparently, he has a natural talent for it.  (Probably most toddlers are proficient with banging on things and making a lot of noise.)  Anyway, he played on them for over an hour, and I’ve been told that he had really good rhythm.  Luckily, his Uncle Joe is a professional drummer, so we have someone in the family who can give him some pointers.  I’m not sure if this is the thing I want to encourage, but it’s so hard to deny him something that he might have so much fun doing, even though I know it will drive me crazier than I already am. ;)  Against my better judgment, we are in the market for a child’s drum set and are looking forward to seeing our son become a rock star at the young age of 22 months.  Rock on, Kenny-boy.