Off the Blog Map

Here is Chase, waiting for his brothers to get dropped off from the bus.
He's standing everywhere and pulling up on even unsteady surfaces.Sadie is a content and stable little girl. She still has afternoon naps and actually gets really excited about naps because she knows it means she can stay up "late."

A couple days every week, she misses her nap. She does become more sensitive but nothing too huge. Until this, the perfect example of her first estrogen moment where she introduced some mellow drama.

Then there is our little trouper. We've been watching Chase and his teeth rather carefully. This particular day he had blisters on his gums!!! Poor little buddy as he is teething. (Sorry for the view of the crusty nose. It's complimentary to the teething mouth).

Here's our season wrap up of Basketball. Will enjoys running lay-ups and is quite successful executing them.

There he goes!

Colby and Quinten are beaming with the pride of a completed season.

On one particular evening Colby was not having good luck. Basketball in the eye and then 5 minutes later an elbow.

We should be hired as the half time performance.

Our up and coming All Star Athelete. The youngest to hit the court.

We have always planned visits to Great Grandma's house but this visit had a fun new twist. I drove to her place, picked her up and brought her back to ours. A new phenomenon has occurred. She said she really enjoyed herself more as she wasn't fussing in the kitchen. Instead, I was so she could spend more quality time playing with the kids. On this particular day, Will assured her he was going to win in a mean game of War.

Now, I've committed to a number of projects which have caused a need for blog catch-up. Hence why I've fallen off the blog map.

First, I collected desserts for a funeral. I was SO touched by the overwhelming support (*tears in my eyes overwhelmed).

I always want photo albumns in the house for the kids to look through. But the age of digital printing has created a new dynamic that I'm learning to work with. I decided when Costco had their next sale on printing pictures I would go through every year (my digital camera has caputred) and send to print. SO I spent a week staring at my computer and organizing photos. I lost track of the count after 2000 pictures had printed. AND like any project I start; there's always more to do. *Until the next sale.

I'm tired of being a nag. So I created a magnetic Chore Chart. The clear tiles are the daily expectations and the blue tiles are the "big responsibility." I'm thinking they will have to complete 2 per week. They include, empty dishwasher, set the table, dust and clean windows, take out the garbage, etc. The last step will be to create cute Vinyl lettering for the chart titles.

If their list is complete then they earn their weekly allowance. I track it daily on a calendar.

I rearranged bedrooms which has been super fun creating a content space for each child.

I forgot to grab a picture of Chase's set-up. I love that he can nap in a room where Sadie doesn't disturb him. Sadie was funny though because she told me that she doesn't want to share a room with Chase because "he" wakes her up. (he totally does not).

The most awkward situation was having Logan move into a pink room. SO, I created a masculine side to the room. That was fun! and then I've taken it one step further and sewn a dividing curtain for the room. Now the two kids are in somewhat of a dorm room feel. When I take a picture I will post it. The rod that hangs the curtain is worthy of a blog post all it's own.

And with every successful project always comes a certain mishap. In the last moments of painting Chase had woken from his nap and was crawling around at my feet. He knocked over the grey paint can perfectly so it missed the drop cloth and poured onto the carpet. Dinner was burnt that evening as I turned the priority to getting paint out of the carpet.

Another note: it may have been easier to move Logan to the basement bedroom. But I'm grateful that he wasn't ready. I know once he does, he will have grown up to being more independant and teenager-like. That is coming all too soon. For now, this will do. I snuck into their room at night and grabbed a picture to share with a friend.

Boys out adventuring in wide open spaces. If all stars align, then we will avoid the move to the basement bedroom and just build a bedroom for every child in the country. Until then, we love where we are, and are happy to stay.

The next project: Our Loft. I hate this space. So, it's time to make it pretty. 5 years after living here I will finally make it into a space that will be fun to escape to. (I can say that confidently because I've already started! Just not finished yet).