Nap time

One day last week we picked up the kids early to go to my work picnic for the afternoon. It was naptime and both Meghan and Jase were sleeping. It was so cute to see the kids sleeping, especially Meghan sleeping on the cot. I'm hoping to have her teacher take a picture for me so I can a copy...

Here is a pic of Meghan and her daddy during naptime Saturday.

Thanks!

Over the last few weeks I've gotten lots of compliments on how much I'm able to get done, what with working at Purdue full-time, having the kids in daycare, Joe in school, and having 2 demanding church callings.

I've really needed to hear that I'm doing well, because I feel like I'm struggling to keep things afloat in pretty much all areas of life (you see I like to do everything, so it's hard when I can't). So thanks for giving me an outside perspective and letting me know that I'm doing ok...

Meat eater

Have I mentioned lately how much Meghan loves to eat? I mean she really loves to eat. anything. We were out and about Saturday running errands and it was lunch time, so we got some burgers from Sonic (the best fast food burger place in the Midwest - In & Out beats it though if I'm ever in CA again). Anyways, we got home and gave Meghan her burger and she picked at it, pulled it apart, and then ate over half of it. She was giving some great smiles with half a mangled burger patty hanging out her mouth. This was the best photo I could get...

School (aka daycare)

So I've been meaning to remember to take the camera with me when I drop the young'uns off at school, but so far I've always forgotten...

Meghan is starting to be somewhat clingy in the mornings when I drop her off, so we snuggle and play for a bit. She loves her teachers and gets to have tons of fun (playing on the playground), finger painting, sponge painting, eating her food at breakfast and lunch (and everyone else), reading, and snuggling. She likes to change clothes, as is evident by her going through at least one change of clothes a day (the most has been 3 - she drug a toddler chair over to the toddler sink and climbed in - had they not been automatic, she would not have gotten wet...)

Jase is doing well. Each morning he says he doesn't want to go, but when we get there, he runs to his class and is super excited to play with the toys, play on the playground, paint, draw, learn letters, etc. We have a fridge covered in artwork and have more that won't fit - usually 2-3 new things per day. Jase is trying to get potty trained and has been successful a couple times when taken. He is excited to go at school, but refuses to go at home. His teachers and Joe and I think he will be trained by Christmas - that is our goal.

Jase acts really well in the classroom, but outside at the playground he has had some instances of making bad choices. One day last week he and another boy got into a scratch "fight" because one of the boys wouldn't let the other one have a turn sitting on the stairs. Here is what Jase looked like:
I don't know what the other boy looked like, but it hasn't happened since.

Etsy, oh how I love Etsy

The possibilities with Etsy are endless - both for buying and selling. When I get a little more free time, I hope to get my Etsy shop up and running.

And, if I had no money worries (aka millionaire), I would buy so much wonderful stuff from Etsy. You can seriously find anything on Etsy. Like this tote, these cards, or these adorable necklace pendants at Jesse Jane's shop. These are the three pendants that I have (I love them all and wish I hadn't bought them as gifts, but rather all for myself - hehehe...)

The Italian Butterfly II scrabble tile pendant

The Purple Haze bamboo pendant

The Red Floral bamboo pendant


Right now Jesse Jane's shop is having a terrific deal: buy 2 pendants, get 1 free. And shipping is really fast and inexpensive... Plus, she does custom pendants if you can't find what you're looking for.

Now to decide on who gets which pendant and when...

Cleaning beans

We got about 3 pounds of beans from our CSA share last week. Since we've been getting tons of fresh veggies from our CSA and our garden, we decided to freeze most of these. Jase was so excited to help clean the beans. He has been wanting to help out more around the house lately, which is nice and appreciated.


He really liker snapping the ends off, even if it ended up being almost half the bean at times...

Messy but happy eater

Meghan loves to feed herself, so tonight with the lasagna she went to town. She is really teething, so the watermelon and lime jello was especially enjoyable. Jase didn't really want to eat when we ate, but about 1 hour later he ate all his dinner.

Life

We've been so busy the past week, that I seriously don't know where the time has went. And we have very few pictures too...

Day care started last week. Both Meghan and Jase love their school. More on this in an upcoming post...

Joseph is finalizing some details and house projects before classes start at Purdue in one week.

I've been busy at work, with several projects and software and equipment development. Being at an University the fall brings change with new people arriving and some people leaving. There are several people that I have come to know over the past 2 years that are moving on in their careers. I have now made quite the network of people and have even received some employment offers.

We have worked on perfecting our morning routine...so far so good...

Millions of peaches, peaches for free

Well, not for free...
Last week Joe and the munchkins went and got us 1 bushel of peaches from Annie's Orchard. Yum. the 1 bushel of peaches ended up covering more than 4 cookie sheets.
Here are two sheets:

So over the course of 5 days we made: 2 fresh peach pies, one batch of jam, peach cobbler, and 35 cups of frozen peaches (all ready for cobbler, smoothies, and more jam). Here is one pie and the jam (I forgot to get a picture of the cobbler, but it was the best we've had.

Brought to you by the Letter M

Here is another letter...

The funny thing is when I finish one letter, Jase immediately wants another...silly boy!
Go check out I Made It Myself hosted by Christy.

Climbing

Meghan takes advantage of anything that she can use to climb up higher (will this be a trait carried on in life). Here she is using the new canning jars I bought (and just brought in the house not 2 minutes earlier) to climb onto the couch. She is fearless, which can be good and bad...

Pancakes

We love pancakes in our house, for breakfast, for dinner, anytime really. The kids love eating blueberry pancakes (well, us parents do too!). Jase likes blueberry pancakes because they get to eat naked.

Here is Jase showing off:

The many messy faces of Meghan eating... (Did you know that I prefer to feed my babies and toddlers so that there isn't a huge mess to clean up).

This is my favorite type of smile that Meghan gives - her teeth clenched together grin with her chunky cheeks - so cute and precious!

A day in the life of Meghan...

These days Meghan has become quite a handful. She is in that strange transitioning from infant to toddler phase where she isn't happy and content for very long. For instance she wants to be held, then 10 seconds later she wants down, 10 seconds later she wants held, and repeat 20 times.

She has also started copying what Jase does. For instance tonight Jase was flopping and crawling around on his small Cars couch and Meghan was doing the same thing right next to him. It was darn cute (I should have got some video, but I was just enjoying the sight of my kids playing well with each other (and tiring themselves out).

Meghan loves Jase's electronic dinosaur. She is so strong and will pick it up while standing in the middle of the room and look at it, play with it, and bang it around.

Done with the dinosaur, now where to?

How about a climb on the treadmill...

Now to the roll of butcher paper - should I tear it or eat it?

Wait Jase! I want to come too!

I wish I could move faster - I just can't keep up.

Faster, faster...

Where are you?

Purdue Fountain

This is one of our favorite places to go to let Jase (and Meghan) play in the water. Today was a great day, not too hot, slightly breezy, and no people! It is a rarity during the summer and on beautiful days, to have the fountain all for your family.

We went for a picnic in the park, but only one other family came, our great friends the South family. We had fun talking, the boys loved playing in the water, and Meghan really wanted to go all the way in to the middle.

Jase loved running all around, and darting back and forth and in between the shoots of water.

I really loved watching Dominic run up to the water, then run away. It took him a bit to get in the water, but then he was loving it, just like the big boys. Meghan loved kicking her feet and legs in the sprays of water. She really loves the water and wanted to do everything the big kids were doing.

Goofing around

When the kids were not feeling well and then Joseph starting not feeling well, we decided it was time to pull out the air mattress for additional lounging space. It became a nightly event to get it out after dinner and play on it. Meghan especially liked bouncing on it.

Reading

We are working on getting settled into our school routine, with the kids starting daycare at Purdue (aka school) and Joseph starting school as well. Each evening we read books and Meghan loves them just as much as Jase (although she likes to eat them too). Meghan can even turn the pages...

Adoption

We have talked about adopting before, but the timing just seemed to never be right. The topic came up again when we were at the county fair a couple of weeks ago (or shall I say it wasn't verbalized until the next day). The Humane Society had several wonderful looking and playful dogs with longing eyes of wanting a family with kids to play with and become a part of. Both Joe and I (unbeknown to each other) were thinking how we would love to add a dog to our family. Jase would love it and has asked for one for about 2 years. Meghan has only been around our friend's dogs, but loves them as well.

Once again the timing just isn't right. With the kids starting daycare, Joe back in school full-time and myself working full-time, we are too busy for walking, bathing, house training, and feeding the lovable four-legged creatures.

But alas, maybe adopting is still in our future.

Can't you just see our family adopting 2 of these great dogs! Check out all the adorable, life-size stuffed dogs here. Then go here if you want to adopt them for your family.

Oh, and if we get picked to adopt these doggies-in-the-window, we will be gifting one to one of our faithful readers (2 kids = 2 dogs) - here's hoping we get picked, so 2 families are blessed!

Overcoming obstacles

There are some things in life that take a long time to figure out. You may remember from a tag a while ago, that I don't swallow pills. I imagine it started when I was about 2 and choked on a Hershey kiss. I just could never swallow a pill - whenever I would try I would just make myself sick.

So, fast forward to 2 years ago when I started taking thyroid medicine every day. It was a little pill, but I could take it with food, so no big deal - I didn't have to swallow it.

About a month ago I had forgot to take it with breakfast, so I decided to try to swallow it. I did it with no problems - it was so easy! Since then I've been swallowing pills left and right (well once a day and sometimes for headaches).

Is there something that you haven't figured out that you want to?

Back to School Giveaway

Back to School Giveaway's at 5 Minutes for Mom - what else is there to say? Go enter and hopefully win!

Anagrams

Anagrams - aren't they fun! Check out this site to make an anagram.

Here are the anagrams for our family:

A Manhandle Wagon Hey
A Hardhat Any Heel Now
A Stalemated Jaw Oh Why
A Dad Jalopy Hived Show

Can you guess which ones go with which person (Joseph, Heather, Jase, and Meghan)?

I Made it Myself - Meghan's Blessing Dress

I just love making baby and kid clothes, specifically girl's things. So it was pretty easy for me to decide to make Meghan's blessing dress. The hard part was figuring out the pattern. I didn't find one pattern that I liked the whole dress of, so I took a bodice that I liked and adapted the pattern for the sleeves and gown.

These are the best pics I have, since I forgot to take some without it being worn (and now it is all packed away).

Click on over to Christy's blog and join in on I Made it Myself!