Making Snowmen

The other night, I found an awesome foam snowman making kit at Target on clearance for $3.75. Wednesday morning Jacob had some time off, so he and Lily made snowmen together.

 Lily had so much fun with the foam stickers. I'm going to have to get some more to do other projects.

 She kept sticking and then re-sticking. So funny!

 Sweet girl!

 Lots of concentration!

Lily did have some guidance with the sticker placement! Ha!

The finished product! We stuck magnets on their backs so our refrigerator is their new home.

Lily is going to help me make some for me and Levi so our snowman family is complete. The kit came with enough stuff to make 20 snowmen! We shared some with my nephew and we have enough to make more next year.

Busy Week

 Last week was such a crazy busy week for us! We spent most of the days inside since it was pretty cold and rainy a lot of the week. Monday night I took the kids to my youngest brother's basketball game. His team did a great job and won by a few points. Lily and Levi were good, but it was such a blessing to have the help of my sweet family! Lily sat with my Mom for the first half of the game, and my sister and brother-in-law played with Levi when I had to take Lily to the potty.

I need to do an update on Levi's eyes since he's been doing the patch and wearing his glasses. I'll try to do that this week!

Lily played dress-up in some way-too-big-for-mommy maternity clothes. Ha!

Putting a diaper on her doll.

On Tuesday night, the adult orchestra Jacob conducts had their concert, so the kids and I packed up and went to it. Jacob had youth orchestra rehearsal before the concert, so the kids and I just played together and walked around. The concert started at Lily and Levi's bedtime - they were troopers, but we ended up playing in the nursery at the church. I was able to hear some of the songs, so that was nice! There was a reception afterwards, and everyone enjoyed seeing Lily and Levi. We finally got home around 10:30! The kids did a great job and even slept in a little bit the next morning!

We got our Christmas tree last Saturday, but we didn't get it decorated until this past Friday night! We were hoping to find a time where we could decorate it all together, but Jacob has been sooo busy, it just wasn't working out. Lily and I started putting the lights on on Thursday, then then half the lights didn't work...of course! Friday night we finally got some more and we were able to finish decorating it.

Jacob got to help Lily put on the first ornament right as he was walking out the door to go to the 5th performance of The Nutcracker. My poor husband has hardly been at home the last week or so. We are thankful for all the Christmas gigs, but it is definitely wearing on our family. Just to give you an idea of what I mean... from Wednesday night to Sunday afternoon, He played in 8 performances of The Nutcracker on top of several other rehearsals/Christmas programs. Yesterday he was gone from home for 13 hours, and today he was gone 9!  Christmas season for a musician = Craziness!! We are all counting the days to when he's done for the year!

Thursday night the kids and I met my sister and her family at the mall to walk. It was fun, although slightly crazy trying to maneuver two strollers through the crowd of people moving along at a very slow pace. Myra took Ridley and Lily on the carousel when we finished. So fun!

Ripping up a magazine kept Levi occupied for 20 minutes on Saturday!

Lily and I made sugar cookies on Saturday afternoon. It was so much fun! I hope to make this a Christmas tradition.

Of course she enjoyed licking her fingers and snitching cookie dough. Silly girl!

Sweet girl ready to head to church.

We had dinner with Jacob's family and then came home for naps before going back to church. What a crazy week! I'm thankful that it's over, but I love the sweet memories with my children!

Hope y'all had a good week!

27 weeks

27 weeks with Baby Boy #2

• I had a midwife appointment this week and the heartbeat was good and my blood pressure was good. 
• I'm measuring 24 weeks, but I've measured small with all my babies. 
• Gained 10 lbs so far. 
• Feeling good, and sleeping really well!
• Exercising everyday - like walking, prenatal aerobics dvd, prenatal pilates dvd, or my own little exercise routine made up from parts of each dvd as well as squats and hula hooping.
• I can still wear some regular clothes, just a size bigger than normal (outfit pictured is a regular skirt and a regular shirt I just got at Old Navy for $8!). I did order several maternity shirts from Kohls - can't wait to get them! Hopefully they'll fit! Ha.
• Little Man moves all the time! He's definitely more active than Lily or Levi were.
• He still has no name and we haven't really talked about names recently. He may just be named once we see him.
• We found out last week that my hubby's cousin and his wife are having a baby boy just 7 weeks after us! It'll be neat to have little boys so close. I hope they will be best friends!

Giving Thanks...a week late

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing.

Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.

Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good: His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.

23 months

Wow! We almost have a 2 year old!

• Lately Lily has been developing more into a little girl. She's understanding more and figuring out things about life. 
• Sometimes her stubbornness and wanting to do things her own way gets her hurt or needing discipline.
• She loves reading and gets so excited when we go to the library!
• When I'm doing my hair and make up, she sits on the bathroom counter and pretends to hers. It's so funny to watch her do everything I do.

 

• Every morning for about 30 minutes during Levi's nap, Lily has quiet time in her bed. She plays with dolls or reads books, or just rests.
• She loves talking on the phone to Jacob (or anyone who will talk to her).
• She's talking in long sentences.
• She is such a Daddy's girl - loves going places with him, being outside with him, doing whatever he's doing. So sweet!

• She's a climber - I'm constantly finding her on the arm or back of the couch, standing on our kitchen stools or table, on the kitchen counter, etc. She can climb into her crib, but hasn't tried climbing out yet. Yes, she climbed into the high chair to eat her snack. She is such a mess!

What a spunky girl! I'm so thankful God added her to our home. 

11 months

Sweet Levi is 11 months old today! Where has the time gone?

• He is such a busy, busy, busy boy these days!
• He crawls, scoots, and walks along the wall/furniture/cabinets.
• He's sleeping from about 7:30pm - 7:00am! I can't tell you what a blessing it is for this mama to get some sleep too!

• He tries to get whatever Lily is playing with.
• He l.o.v.e.s. his sister and gives her the biggest smiles when she pays attention to him.
• He naps from about an hour in the morning and 1 1/2 - 2 hours in the afternoon.
• He wears 6-12 month clothes, 6-9 fit him best.

• Like I said, he gets into EVERYTHING! Ha!
• He loves exploring.
• He's just started liking to snuggle.
• He weighs about 17lbs.

• He loves books, but he rips up regular books, so we have to make sure he has the board books.
• He still takes 2 or 3 - 4oz bottles and a 8oz bottle at bedtime.
• He's doing great with his patch and we can already tell improvement in his eyes! Praise the Lord!
• He eats mostly table food and enjoys feeding himself, although he makes a huge mess!

Can't believe I've got to start thinking about his first birthday! So thankful God blessed our family with this sweet boy!

HUGE Sale in my Shop!

Just wanted to let y'all know that there is a HUGE sale going on in my Etsy shop! I've decided that it's best for me to close my shop indefinitely so I can be completely focused on being Mama to my nearly three little ones.

So...I'm trying to clear out my remaining inventory. There are a bunch of random hair clips and pins and a couple headbands left. Everything is $5.00 or less and you can use the code BLACKFRIDAY2011 to get an extra 25% off your order. Click here to check it out.

Thanks for bearing with this little plug! :-)