Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's 50th birthday. We wanted to do something special for her, especially since most of us can't be there to share it with her. We made one of these books for my dad two years ago, and now my mom has one too :) Here's the book:

50 Things We Love About Mom! by Love, your family | Make Your Own Book

Pink Popcorn Popping

The tree in front of our house finally burst into bloom a few weeks ago!  I tried to stare at it every day and will it to bloom, and it eventually got the message :) We made pink popcorn to celebrate.  I love looking out the window every day because it just feels so springy.  We didn't live in this neighborhood last spring, so I didn't realize just how beautiful and flowery it is here!

Jungle Party

The thing that Miles wanted most for his birthday this year was a birthday party.  Any time I tried to get a present suggestion, he would say "I know!  A party!"  So, a party it was :)  We talked about some themes, and he was most excited about a jungle party.  He picked out a cake online, and then talked about his party for about a month straight.  "Mom, all of my friends will come!  We will have a jungle party with a monkey cake!  Is it my birthday yet?"

We sent out these invitations:

It was definitely a family event.  I worked on invitations, cake, and games.  Gerrit did the decorating so it would look like a jungle (per Miles's request.)  My sister Emily very thankfully came so that I would not be on my own with six 3-to-5-year-olds while Gerrit watched Molly.

The jungle.

Making our adventure vests.

Reading a jungle story.

We also played "Tarzan Says" and "Monkey Monkey Zebra".  You haven't lived until you have seen preschoolers playing some sort of Duck Duck Goose game.  Everyone would just get up and start chasing each other.  It was awesome!

Pin the tail on the lion.

Our safari hunt for plastic animals.  I drew pictures of the different animals, and then Gerrit hid them in the family room while we were outside playing other games.

Opening presents was funny, too.  All of the kids were so excited about the presents that they brought that they helped Miles open them.  I was worried that Miles might be upset, but he just so excited about the presents that he didn't care.

And here's his monkey cake!  Miles insisted on a banana cake because "monkeys love bananas!"

Everyone took home a goody bag with the animals they found during the safari hunt, a puzzle, stickers, a bouncy ball, animal crackers, and jungle fruit snacks.

After an hour, all of his friends went home, and Gerrit, Emily, and I collapsed with some cake and ice cream :)  Miles and Molly were enthralled by his presents, particularly this crocodile bubble blower.

Miracles

It was a Friday morning a few weeks ago.  We needed to run to the store for a few things, so I got the kids all ready, grabbed my purse, and started heading out the door.  Suddenly, I realized that my purse felt really light.  I looked inside and realized my wallet wasn't there.  As you will notice from the picture above, my wallet is big and orange.  If you can't see it in the purse, it isn't in there.  I searched through the house for about 30 minutes, and then I called Gerrit.

At first, Gerrit was certain that it was somewhere in plan sight.  After another hour of searching, he and I came to the same conclusion:  it must have fallen into the cart at Target somewhere between the checkout line and when I got to the car.  We headed to Target to check with the lost and found and in the carts and parking lot, but it wasn't there.  I left them my phone number and we headed home.

This was not great timing for a lost wallet.  Doesn't chaos always strike during your busiest weeks?  The first week of the semester was starting that Monday.  I would not just be starting teaching, but also my new position as a teaching group leader.  My parents were coming to visit for several days.  Gerrit's grandmother was coming to visit right after they left.  It would be Miles's birthday, and I was throwing him his very first party with friends.  Needless to say, I was already a little stressed, and this took my stress level up a lot higher!

By Monday morning, I was really upset.  I had already cancelled most of the cards, but I would still need to get a new driver's license, cancel a few more things with our bank, fix anything set up to auto-pay, call all of the various insurance companies, and see about their immunization records.  I just didn't feel like I had time for all of that!

I dropped off Gerrit for work and just started praying fervently in the car.  I prayed that I could find my wallet (which had now been missing for 4 days), and if I wouldn't be able to find my wallet, that I would be able to get through all of these tasks with a minimum of hassle.  I knew that I could not do this on my own.

I had only been in the house for 3 or 4 minutes when my phone rang.  It was Target, and they had found my wallet!  As an even bigger blessing, everything was still in there.  The wallet would have been a big enough blessing, but the tender mercies just kept coming :)  I had some phone conversations that day that brought my stress level down a lot.  I took the kids to the grocery store and it was full of samples.  Miles LOVES samples, so he and Molly were happy and excited instead of grumpy.  The tasks that I still had to do didn't end up being much of a hassle at all.

 I don't really recommend losing your wallet, but the overall experience ended up being a powerful reminder of God's love for me.  He knows all of us individually and he knows the best way to comfort us, from the big things like a found wallet to the little things like a tiny sample donut for a 4-year-old.   

Five Minutes with Molly

Gerrit decided that we need more videos of Molly.  I agree.  Now, you can enjoy a very random, very long video of Molly.  If you aren't in the market for a 5-minute video (and really, I don't expect many people who don't answer to "Grandma" to watch it), then here's a few highlights:

*You can see how much she loves to read, and she especially loves this Alice in Wonderland colors book.
*You can hear her favorite word, "Wow!"  I just love that she has such a happy word!
*That sweet little sunshine smile.
*You can get a great sense for how much chaos she can cause in a short time.  We took this video right before bedtime, and I had cleaned her room completely only a few hours earlier.

Recycling Machine

Miles has a new favorite hobby:  recycling.  All day long, he asks me "Should I recycle this or throw this away?"  and holds up a piece of paper in my face.  Sometimes, when he has my grocery list, the answer is "Neither," and he isn't very happy about it.  He eagerly awaits the moment when the mail comes, but it gives him a new stack of paper to recycle.  He will even rip up magazines or multi-page ads so he can have more things to recycle.

This is our kitchen recycling bag.  He is always checking with me to see if it is full so he can take it to the garage.

When I can't find Miles, odds are very high that he is in the garage next to his beloved recycling bin.

I'm trying to get him really excited about folding the laundry next.  That, or vacuuming.

Toothy Smiles

Molly has 8 teeth now!  It's been a long month or so while they decided to come in, and they usually came in 2 or 3 at a time.  We've had some late, screaming nights and some grumpy days, but with the magical blessing of teething gel, Molly and I have both made it through :)  You can only see five of the teeth, but the other three are definitely there.  And very sharp.

This is what Molly did when I asked her to show me her teeth.

Getting closer...

Or maybe not...

There we go!

Besides, who can argue with a smile that beautiful?  Molly's smile brings so much sunshine to my life.

Some Recent Sewing Projects

Here's a couple of my latest projects.


First up, the birthday bag for my sister-in-law, Marinda.  She  turns 21 on Saturday (Happy birthday, Marinda!).  She's got a fun sense of style, so I got to have some fun with the fabric choices.  She is also leaving on a mission for the Philippines at the end of the month, so I tried not to have too much fun with the fabric choices.

 This one went a lot faster than the one I made for my mother-in-law, and I didn't even stab myself in the face at all!  I am improving!

Project #2: Miles has been getting taller, so I made him a bunch of new neckties that will actually be long enough.  Gerrit wants me to make him a matching one out of the pixellated fabric on the left.  My favorite is the navy and gold geometric.  The gold on it is metallic and that's pretty fun.  Miles likes the Pac-Man one.

A little project: I even busted out the sewing machine to make a card for my cousin's bridal shower!

My biggest, most time-consuming project has been these roman shades for my living room.  I saw roman shades last year in the Parade of Homes, and I have wanted to do them ever since.  It took me almost a year to work up the courage to actually make them!  They were a very detailed project, and it actually reminded me a lot of when I took bookbinding.  Luckily, I had this tutorial and that helped a lot!

All the way up.

Going down...

down...

all the way to the bottom.

And here's the fabric.

Now I want to make some for the french doors in our family room!

Miles is 4!

My little boy is 4 years old now!  He is at a fun stage in his life, and we love having him in our family.  He got to pick lots of fun things to do on his birthday.  I made him a special breakfast treat.  My parents took him to Arctic Circle, because he loves the little miniature ice cream cones and the playground.  We took him to the XD theater for a 3-D motion ride.  He got to have his very first birthday party with friends (more on that later).  He also got his first tricycle:

 It has a secret compartment, and he thinks this is about the very best thing in the world.

Here is one of the activities that we did together a few weeks ago.  It's a good illustration of life with Miles.

I thought it would be fun to ask Miles about his favorite things.  When I told him that I wanted to talk about his favorites, he immediately said "eating apples and roast beef."  I don't even know.

Here's some of his favorite things at 4, as he told them to me:

Favorite book: Z is for moose, Animals, Animals, his "favorite lemon cookies book" (Which is a Sesame Street cookie cookbook I got at his baby shower)
Favorite things to do: Use your water squirter, blow bubbles, do dot to dots and mazes, type, play PBS Kids, read stories, climbing up stairs
Favorite toy: BoogieBoard (It's an LCD writing tablet....basically a high-tech Magna Doodle).
Favorite food: Apples and bananas, sandwiches, Rice Krispies, Crunchy Raisin Bran, pasta, chicken soup, cake, fruit snacks
Favorite place to go: Playground and Emily and Joel's house
Favorite clothes: Blue and stripes and also pajamas too
Favorite animal: Giraffe and raccoon
Favorite show: Leapfrog videos
Favorite scripture story:Noah's Ark
Favorite thing to play with: Stuffed Animals
Favorite restaurant: Arby's
Favorite song: I am a Child of God
Favorite song on radio: "Radioactive, a cover song".  Also, "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas."
Favorite color: Red and white
Friends: Jane, Berklee, Dax, Benjamin, Max, Nikki, Emma.  He told me everyone in his church class, so I guess he's having a good time there!
Favorite person:  Daddy and Mommy
Favorite sister: Molly.


He had so much fun telling me his favorites that he started to volunteer his own categories:
Favorite thing to do on Sunday: Take the sacrament
Favorite thing I like to do on Monday: Macey's
Favorite thing I like to do on Wednesday: Do activities
Favorite fun place: Seven Peaks Fun Center

Favorite tricycle: Tough Trike
Favorite drink: Milk
Favorite Glue: Glitter glue and glue dots
Favorite thing I like to eat on Sunday: Water and bread
Favorite room:  My bedroom with a really heavy quilt
Favorite thing on computer:  Watch videos and the things on PBS Kids

Favorite bag: My brown bag that has stuff in it but Molly put another thing in it
Favorite pencil: My sparkly one