Hello Blog World again!

Well, it's so good to be back; I've missed this.  And to my family scattered all about from Florida to South Carolina, all the way to Brendan kickin' in down in Mexico, I'm sorry for the lack of cuteness in pics and crazy stories that you haven't been able to read about for a few months.

I didn't want to stop blogging; like so many things, it just happened, as the free time I did have kept dwindling.  I'm going to blame it on my two-year-old who never, ever stops eating.  Yes, it's his fault - I never have time to blog because I'm always making food for Connor  :)

Or I could blame it on Lucy and the many, many talks and "dishing-out-punishment" discussions we've had every time she's earned an "X" in kindergarten this year (lots of discussions, in case you didn't know) :).    I can't blog because I have to spend all my time disciplining her and working hard to "train her up in the way she should go." 

Or perhaps Jack, sweet Jack.  Maybe it's his fault because I have to keep refereeing the ludicrous tattle-telling he has been doing lately.  Yep, that's it, I can't blog because I spend too much time listening to his whining about how a friend just "called him a muffin!"  (Yep, that one happened a few days ago.  A little boy called him a "muffin" and I had to hear about it.  My eyes were simply not big enough for the eye-rolling that could have no way been prevented in the face of such a stupid statement!  I suggested just calling the other kid a croissant :)

I jest; there's certainly no blame.  Truth is, it really was just free time slipping away.  It's a wonderful, wonderful blessing, as I LOVE all my little students who come for tutoring, but I currently tutor every day - including Saturdays - for 2 to 3 hours each day after school.  So, free time during the day is quickly spent up with lesson planning and all the other responsibilities I have just keeping things movin' along :)  And I'm still teaching aerobics classes many mornings a week; love it!  And I love Tuesday mornings volunteering at Owens Cross Roads Elementary.  Connor thinks he's a movie star, for when we go visit and read with the kids (who use Ipads), they excitedly shout out his name from all directions of the classroom, as they push icons snapping his photo, most of the time catching him just sucking on and drooling from his large lollipop that he's been given as that's how we make it through our time together.  Connor is quiet because the giant Blow Pop takes up the entirety of his tiny mouth.  :)  And in the evenings, when Jason's home, I like to listen to all the intellectual and strategic issues he has going on with his two jobs.   Jason and I lead a Cgroup through which we've met some awesome new friends, and  I love my weekly bible study; precious, precious rejuvenating time with the Lord and some really amazing women .  Then it's a True Blood episode before bed, and the day is done!  :)  It can feel a busy life at times, but it's one I cherish and find so much joy in. 

But, I miss this, and like all things we consider important or fun... we make time for it.

I have this story/question for y'all.  Has anyone ever had their child french kiss their cheek?  This happened to me last night.  It was bedtime, and as I went to embrace Lucy she just went all ape on my cheek. Startled, I broke away, looked at her and asked her just what the heck was she doing to me.  And she answered, giggling - I really should not be surprised - "That's how grown-ups kiss! (hehe)"  Good gracious!  I am beginning to seriously wonder if my friends with boys her age will at some point stop being friends with me because they fear Lucy's influence on their precious, innocent little boys.  I just hope she saw it on tv somewhere and does not know this first-hand!  :)  I mean, I was fourteen before I had my first kiss, so this is just a bit much for me!  :)

And this as we were coming up with her list of kids she'd like to invite to her 6th birthday party happening in a few weeks...Four of the first five names she gave me were all boys.  If you receive an invitation, I promise it's not a "spin the bottle" party.  Very G rated...and there will be supervision at all times!  :)

I'll post a few pics, favorite ones from the past few month to give you a jist, and coming up in blogs later this week, I'll cover other stuff going on to get you caught up...let's see, so a recap of all my heart and knee drama from that's taken four months to be resolved, our super fun ski trip that we'll not soon forget, news with Jason's Arch Patent company, lots more pics, and just the regular stuff from our regular life!  Hopefully, there will be a new member of our family soon (No, I'm not pregnant :), but we're looking forward to having a dog once again.  Keep coming back!



Jack turned 4 in Dec:

Christmas home in Huntsville was wonderful!

My fun Bunco group at our Ugly Sweater Holiday gathering:

Right before the end of the year, Jack announced he wanted his training wheels taken off.  He seriously loves riding his bike!

Jason built some awesome, awesome, beautiful furniture for our home.  This farmhouse table for the kitchen.

 

and this beautiful sideboard to go with

we've enjoyed family visits

 Lucy and Grandpa


This one is still as spirited as ever; love her!

She loves school, everything about it.  She's learning to read and making steady progress.  Super independent and self-reliable.  Wakes up to her own alarm clock, comes downstairs ready for the day, and is a huge help watching out for her little brothers.  Loves to help!  She even changes Connor's diapers by herself.  She can get him up on the diaper changing table (they climb up on chairs) and then she stands on the chair to take care of business.  I'm very proud of her!  I don't advocate this as a regular thing, but hey sometimes on Sunday morning, when trying to get out the door to church, it sure comes in handy!

 Connor turned 2 in Feb.

He's emotional, fierce, talkative, and super snuggly!  Precious!

And he can sleep anywhere!

Love hanging out with friends...

 

Lucy still loves dolls.  Thanks, Baba, for the matching pj's and doll clothes :)

 

 Jack's best friend, Sam.  Sweet kids :)

We throw rocks in the creek a lot:

Easter!

Jack had a hard time with the whole egg hunt thing.  While he's definitely the heart and soul of the family, he tends to be a little overly sensitive at times.  :(

And more eating...this is how Connor tackles soup :)

 Happy, happy kiddo!

From Christmas:  we loved having Brendan visit!

 and Uncle Ryan!

   Grammy T came to see us from Buffalo

Ice skating!!!

happy-go-lucky

 Papa 'n Lady

Lucy's main squeeze at school.  Her teacher's son :)

Taking time to enjoy life!

jack and Jason went to the monster truck show!

Just last weekend for Easter

My Happy Place

I have the best husband in the world, really.  He made my craft room vision become a reality :)

Now that Connor is in his big boy bed, I got to start on making Connor's old room a new craft room for me.  At first, I got busy pinning things and looking on blogs of women that had created their dream craft room.  Of course I fell in love with lots of ideas, but THIS furniture at $1,500 - while A-FREAKING-MAZING - is just more than I'd ever spend.  Plus, I have the handiest husband around; he can build anything!

Plus, I had lots of specific things I wanted in my new craft room.  (Shocker, I know :)  For instance, I wanted a sewing table that was tall, and very deep.  Cutting fabric on the floor sucks.  But, I wanted a separate desk for doing crafts and making cards.  Also, I wanted the sewing part to lift up so I could store things inside.  (Away from little hands.)  Oh, yeah, and, just one more thing, could you do it, like yesterday?  :) 

Armed with a new project - and excited about our mutual understanding that this falls in the category of "I-get-to-buy-a-new-tool-project" (an air compressor for painting the large desks evenly and quickly), Jason got right on it.  He drew up his own building plans and spent an entire weekend building me some awesome, awesome tables!  He even painted it bubble gum pink for me!  :) 

Take a look:

So, the yellow cubbies on the wall were on the facebook yard sale sight I love to peruse.  They needed SEVERAL coats of paint, but since I was painting them bright yellow, I didn't mind :)


And speaking of color, this was my palette.  I had made these pillow covers back when we lived in the house before this one.  While it would have been fun to scrap everything, and start with a new color scheme (I LOVE black, white, grey, and yellow), I do like this fabric and all its bright colors.  No need to be wasteful...

Lighting is an issue in this room because there's only one window, and although the fan/light fixture is nice looking, it provides terrible light.  Well, not terrible, it's lovely ambiance light, but not craft-room light.  So, Jason installed three wall lights from Ikea.  (Thanks so much Mom for picking up my Ikea items!)

Most of this room, I already had. Like with the pillows I had made, the curtains, sofa sleeper, cork board, and pillows were in there when it was Connor's nursery.  All the storage organizers, baskets, and accessories, too, so it was easy to put it all together.  And super fun to find new homes for things that were being stored in my scrapbook suitcase.  In theory, I would have loved to paint the walls turquoise or something, but I was way too impatient to wait for that :)  And the neutral wall was fine to work with.  From Ikea - in addition to the wall lights - I did buy the Bygel rail and colored cups you see in the bottom right-hand corner.  Love these!

Ribbon, fabric, and glitters = one happy me!

  The striped box (and the set of five of them I have in here) were formerly used in Lucy's nursery to hold baby booties and socks :)

Love the storage underneath.  My huge cutting mat even fits in there!

Special artwork:  left to right:  Lucy's ladybug she made in Girl Scouts, Jack's 2's class artwork, and the owl is a little painting I made with my friend Tiffany when I was pregnant with Connor.

My friend Connie came over the other day.  She saw the craft room and asked me, "I mean, do you just come in her, shut the door, and say to yourself, 'I'm so happy'"?

Yes, that's exactly what I do!  :)  Thank you, Jason!  You definitely deserve to be leader of your "people-who-are-awesome" group :)

Jack's Birthday

Jack turned 4 years old Sunday!  We started the day with birthday doughnuts! 

And opening presents from family.  I gave Jack an Angry Birds necklace (Couldn't believe I found one...it was at Claire's and thankfully it was dog-tag style, so tolerable to give to my MALE child :)

Jason gave Jack a Batman Adventure kit :)

And Papa 'n Lady gave Jack  the Spiderman Web Slinger thing :)

I don't have a picture, but Jack plays his Cars game on his Leap Pad that Baba and Grandpa gave him to go with his new Leap Pad.  He plays that game every day!



Later that afternoon, blessed with glorious weather - 72 degrees on Dec. 2! - we headed to Hays Nature Preserve to have Jack's Spiderman birthday party!

This was a great venue for several reasons:  1.  I didn't have to pay any money to rent the place, 2.  Kids love it, 3.  it's five minutes from our house, and 4.  cake can fall all over the ground and I don't have to clean up - and little creatures will thank me :)

This kid in his hat just melts my heart!  So stinkin' cute...

It's my party and I'll pout if I want to...

Each child got a bottle of silly string, and they ran around and sprayed the Spiderman Villians that I set up around the park.  Great fun!

GOTCHA!

Lady and Papa came for the party! 

Take that, villian!

Jack is super into his friends right now, always talking about this friend or that, asking to have playdates, etc.  It's sweet!

Might be my favorite pic from the day - love this one!  Jason and Jack are super adorable in it!  Lucky, lucky me :)

Four-year-old Jack thinks...

This is such a fun tradition in our house, the annual questions as a kid turns a year older.  Here's how Jack sees things:

1.  What's your favorite toy?  "walkie talkies"

2.  What's your favorite thing to do at school?  "play with the toys"

3.  What's something that you like to say?  "please"  (awww, cute :)  he is a very polite child :)

4.  What's your favorite food?  "rice, and chicken nuggets, and candy"

5.  How do you treat your brother and sister?  "saying nice things"  *hummm...wonder if he thought the question was 'how SHOULD you treat your brother and sister?  :)

6.  Who's your best friend?  "sam"  (sam is a classmate who also lives down the street.  sam still naps daily, so jack doesn't get to play with him very often, but he adores him and talks about sam all the time.

7.  Where's your favorite place to play?  "outside at school"

8.  What's your favorite tv show?  callow

9.  What's your favorite book?  "spiderman books"

10.  What's your favorite color?  "green"

11.  Who loves you?  "God"

So, there you have it.  Sweet Jack is 4 years old!