Nap time delight

You know you have the crafting bug bad when the sight of this makes you extremely happy.



Fresh, new thread. Nap time. Heavenly.

School time

Now that Nate is done with school, our days are lazier, slower, more relaxed. But I also remember that Nate loves routine and schedule, knowing what to expect. So I have instituted "school time" each morning around 9:00. (I picked this time because Levi is usually taking his morning nap by then.) We're all usually still in our PJs. So far, we have colored, practiced cutting with scissors, traced letters and numbers (while holding the crayon the proper way), made snowflakes, and learned the names and the pictures of the first 10 presidents (I knew Nate would love those flashcards I picked up in Target's dollar bin). Then, after school time, the three of us play Lincoln Logs together. It has become a fun routine and a great start to the day!

"New" chairs

Jon rescued these chairs from work a long time ago. I sanded and painted one in the same green as our kitchen, but the paint never seemed to dry. It's still sticky. So I made a chair pad and little slipcover for the back, and hey, that tacky paint helps the pad to stay put. :) With the addition of part of our old living room rug, our back porch is turning into an inviting place! (Wouldn't some strings of white Christmas lights, a plant, and a cool chandelier or lantern look great?)

So excited!

Over the weekend, a crazy plan was hashed out and actually came to fruition. . . In 9 days, Levi and I are flying to Florida for two and a half days with my mom and two of her friends! Jon thought that was an awfully long way to travel for just two days of "vacation," but I will only have one child with me. I'm thinking the travel days will almost be a break. :) Three friends are watching Nate and Lucy during the day on the three business days I'll be gone. I'm so excited!

"No no, that's not how goes..."

Lucy doing a rhyme... her own way. (Mama, I do not need your help.)



Some cute words lately:

Helicopter is "hopcopter"
McDonald's is "Miss Donald's"
Napkin is "mackin"
Bulldozer is "Elbow-zer"

My husband

Jon preached a couple of Sundays ago in church and did a great job. I was so proud of how much he studied and how well he presented the message. Here's a link if you want to listen!

Winding down and gearing up

Nate's school year is done tomorrow. I'm glad about this for several reasons, the biggest one being he has not been behaving well at school. He'll have a great few days and then a bad day where he blatantly disobeys his teachers. We are disciplining at home for this, reading lots of Proverbs and Philippians 4:13, but the bad days are still happening. I remember this happening to a much lesser degree last year toward June-July, and then having the whole month of August at home with him really seemed to help get him back on track. I think part of the problem is how his days are split between school and home, teachers and parents. Understandably, his teachers aren't as strict as we are, and they don't have the time/resources to address his poor behavior adequately the first time it happens. So this next month will be a discipline boot camp. :)

I'm also gearing up for a fun-filled month, with lots of pool days and maybe even a few trips to the beach. Nate loves the beach (we go on Sunday evenings during July-August with church), so we'll see if I can brave it by myself with three kids. Three mobile kids. Hmm...maybe not. :) I also would love to check out Adventure City, though considering our experience at the OC Fair last weekend, perhaps only Lucy will ride the rides. :)

And so it begins

Officially mobile. And once again, I look at our messy, small-chokable-toy-infested house with new eyes. :)

Another pattern

I added another pattern to my Etsy shop over the weekend. Lucy wore this outfit to the beach last night and was so cute I could hardly stand it. (I'm allowed to say that about my daughter on my own, private blog, right?) I definitely have patterns on the brain right now; I've been dreaming up several different ideas each day. If only I had more than an hour or so a day to do the work! :)

Test results

I took Lucy last week to get the bloodwork done that would determine whether or not she has celiac disease. The answer, with 95% accuracy anyway, is no! No celiac! That is great news. I'm still going to eliminate gluten from her diet, as it solved the problem of the symptoms she was having, but it's still nice to know that she doesn't have a lifetime disease like celiac.

Some pictures

Funny story about the second picture (Lucy cutting her fruit): Lucy's first night in her big girl bed, she wanted to sleep with a particular piece of her new kitchen. She asked, "Where's my knife?"

Pattern

Over the weekend, I "took the plunge" and created a pattern for one of the shirts I have sewn for Lucy. I listed it for sale in an Etsy shop, so we'll see if I have any success!

Here's my shop (click). I'm still playing around with the banner on the top (and the name), but unfortunately the real "name" of my shop is katievarela. Yes, very original. Back when I joined Etsy, I registed with that name so I could buy things, never thinking I'd end up selling something. Oh well!

Lucy's new toy

Jon and I had a "lightbulb moment" the other day and decided to replace Lucy's crib with a toy we'd been thinking about getting anyway. I talked about it with her for a couple of days, about how we had a new surprise for her but it doesn't fit in her room unless we remove the crib. She was leery but excited about the surprise. Here's the reveal:



She needed one of us in the room with her the first night to fall asleep, but the next day she napped alone and fell asleep at night alone too. Woo hoo! :)

Left out

I took Lucy and Levi to the Ladera water park with some friends yesterday. It was a lot of fun, and Lucy is just the right age to enjoy it for hours. I was talking to a friend there about how we feel bad when we do something really fun with some of our children while the older one is in school and "missing out." I'm sure this is a transition every stay-at-home mom of more than one child goes through (unless they home school). It's just especially hard during the summer when there are lots of extra fun things going on. Nate's last day of the summer session is July 24, so starting July 25, I'll do plenty of fun stuff with all three kids.

Happy 4th

What a difference a year makes. :)

2008 and 2009:





















And a few more from today (I couldn't pick a favorite):

Skirts

I made three skirts for the cousins this week. I started by looking at this tutorial and then made some design changes. I really like how they turned out!

Skirts for Cami (almost 4) and Julia (18 months):



Lucy's skirt:

Bus

Today was Nate's first day taking the bus in the mornings.

Excitement:


Still excited:


A bit worried:


Lucy looking cute after Nate left:


I didn't follow the bus, but I did get the other two kids ready and drove to school to meet the bus there. Nate had wanted me to do this, and I was happy to oblige.

Waiting for Nate:


Getting off the bus:



And a picture of Levi, just because:


Nate was happy to take the bus and still seemed happy when he arrived at school over an hour later. He was the first to be picked up, since we live far-ish from school, so his pick-up time was 7:15! For 8:30 school start time. That's a bit of a long ride, so we'll see after a few more days if we continue.

RockPaperScissors guest giveaway

If you know me, you know I can't pass up cute stationery. :)

RockPaperScissors GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Little jumper

Jon got out the johnny jump-up last week and put Levi in it. It was love at first bounce! Nate used to love this thing too, but Lucy never did.



Those squeals you hear are Levi. :)