Nine Divine Months (already)

This little one is such an exuberant little ham that it's hard to choose a picture to post. It worked out okay, considering she also loves to be in my lap so much that it was hard to take very many.


Also, this is a few days late. We have had some nasty little bug making the rounds at our house, so it took a few extra days for her to be back to her sweet and camera-grabbing self. Also, her hair is starting to come in curly so if I don't put a headband or something in it, it goes all over the place. Plus I'm using headbands to try getting her ready for when I want to do all kinds of cute hairdos on her.







Likes: grabbing, making funny noises and having mom repeat them back, tongues (specifically when they're being stuck out), being pulled up to standing, crawling, getting into things she shouldn't get into, her monkey book, ladybugs, stuffed animals, any manner of food, pulling her socks off, putting her toes into her mouth, playing patty-cake and peekaboo, any manner of being flipped or turned or tossed, playing with door stops, sneezing, sucking her thumb

Dislikes: sitting still, being left alone or put down, her carseat, loud noises, pacifiers, the changing spots in public restrooms

Mad Magnet Making Skills

So a friend of mine came over and braved craft night with Mason and I. She also has a daughter who is just a couple months younger than Mason, so they mostly played while moms crafted. Really, we picked the craft with their abilities and interests in mind. Don't tell Alan, but Mason loves to stamp and he's actually pretty good at it.

Gotta love the face-pulling adorable little maniac in the background!

This was a pretty dirt cheap way to make some cute little refrigerator magnets. We've got to have something to hold up the paper mountain Mason is coloring at school. So we combined my Valentines scrapbooking supplies with that need and started out on these. Props to my mother-in-law who allowed me to borrow her circle cutter. It made this project much, much easier. Plus, she introduced me to this crafting idea a few years ago.

What you'll need:

-flat-bottomed half marbles (Roberts is the only place I've found them, this is the closest I can find on their website. They are about 2" in diameter and over with a lot of the mosaic marbles. These are the same marbles a lot of people use in floral arrangements/decorating, etc.)
-sturdy cardstock
-stamps, stamp pads, etc. to embellish as desired. Use only flat things for this: stickers, glitter, etc. Stay away from bows, brads, buttons and the like.
-scissors and/or a circle paper punch that will cut circles approximately the same size as your marbles
- a glue stick
-medium sized magnets
-hot glue gun


1. Stamp desired images on your paper. We used Valentines themed sorts of things. With the "crystal clear" marbles, the pinks seemed to work the best for some reason, but really the sky is the limit with this part. We've done them with names, words, patterned paper, small stamped images... whatever suits your purposes. I happen to have a lot of scrapbooking supplies on hand, so this didn't cost anything. Just make sure whatever you do will fit in the circle you're going to cut. I also recommend staying on the outside borders of the page, or cutting it down so it will fit in the circle punch.

2. Line up and cut your image out.

Sorry, the light reflected off the marbles and made the stamp a lot harder to see than in real life

3. Coat the image side of the circle with a glue stick. Make sure the marble is free of fingerprints on the flat side. Press hard and let the glue dry. Really, it's dry by the time I walk across the room to the hot glue gun that I didn't show the four year old we had. That step alone made my life much easier.


4. Hot glue magnets to the back of your marble/paper combo. It was easier for me to put the glue on the back of the marble thing than on the magnet. I'm not the best with a hot glue gun, so I was trying to make as little direct contact with the hot glue as possible. Use a somewhat liberal amount so the heavy little magnet will hold.

5. Attach to fridge. Clean up. You're done.

One bag of the marbles, two packs of magnets, and we made 16 magnets. Because all we needed to buy were the marbles and the magnets, this craft cost about $5. The kids were busy stamping for an hour; the craft itself probably only took about 15 minutes. They helped and were interested in everything right up to the hot gluing. We put newspaper down on the table where the kids were stamping and cutting, so clean up was as fast as bundling up the newspaper and tossing the whole lot in the recycle bin.

Maiden Voyage(s)

We took a much-needed family walk today. It was so nice to get out of the house. For all the delightful things about winter (hot chocolate, snuggling up with a movie or book on a snowy day, shoveling until the shovel breaks, your four year old completely mocking the snowman you built), we all get a little cagey by the time it's winding down. So out came the sun and out came the family! Claire loves, loves, loves being outside and was cooing up a storm the whole time. I think it's safe to say we all commiserated.

Claire (and dad) made her first trip ever down a slide. I wasn't fast enough to catch the first one. This is the second one. I think she enjoyed herself, though. She was looking around in amazement. She kind of does this wide-eyed glance sometimes and you know if she could verbalize it, she would be saying "Holy crap! What was that?!"

Mason took his scooter out for its first real spin. This is one of the major drawbacks of having your birthday and Christmas back-to-back and in the winter. His "big" presents from mom and dad or Santa are often outdoorsy things that he has to bottle up the excitement to use until warm weather hits. He's been dying to take this bad boy around the block for some time. He only had one fall, and he brushed it off after a bit of coddling. He also insisted that his scooter could not go through puddles and carried it over them.

We also had the bonus of seeing some neighbors along the way. It's kind of entertaining how everyone's kids grow up in the winter when we are all hibernating. Everyone on our block is bigger, with more hair, etc. The little kids are desperately wanting to keep up with the big kids. I think Mason has reached the ranks of the "big kids" and that is hard for me to accept on so many levels.

Eight Great Months

Claire celebrated the beginning of her eighth month last Sunday. This little one is getting so big so fast it is almost hard to believe, even though it's happening right before our eyes. She is a proficient crawler (as of just before Christmas), can easily maneuver from laying to sitting to standing and back again, and appears to be on to the next milestone: walking. She can pull herself up to stand, but is at a bit of a loss to go from crawling to standing yet. She often crawls around with her feet flat on the ground, her legs straight, and her butt in the air. I refer to it as a "teepee crawl". On the whole, she is a loveable, happy little chatterbox who only really cries if she's tired. She is known to shriek her displeasure, though; she is no sort of a silent sufferer. She loves any kind of food she's tried so far, too.



Likes: being swung, being tickled, clapping her hands or toys together, cruising, giving random kisses, eating, her brother (and getting into his toys), snuggling under blankets, the bathtub, her monkey book, the plush ladybug pictures in her room, singing and being rocked

Dislikes: being alone, her carseat, holding still for a diaper change, being tired (she will fight bedtime with all her might until she's actually in her bed)

Dear Mason, today you are four years old...

...and after all the frustration and battles in the last year, it feels a little bit like a victory. It's been a year of firsts for you, and you have come out on top.

It was about this time last year that we tackled potty training. We learned how disciplined your focus can really be. The bad news is that your focus was on everything else, not on avoiding accidents. It has been a year of laundry and trying again for you. As you always seem to do, though, you have it figured out now. We only get occasional reminders now that "poop happens". Thanks for those, by the way. Your cheekiness is refreshing and hilarious.

You got to experience life as a brother, and you have done so well with that from the very beginning. Your sister loves you; I think you're one of her favorite people in the world. One of your most common daily activities is helping us with her, and that's all by your choice.


Speaking of it, lending a helping hand is one of your very best intentions. You are always willing to help, and only sometimes frustrated when you are unable. You love helping so much that you asked for it to be a reward on the job chart we recently did together. You and mom, making treats: a day well spent.


(Mason as a puppy dog, building a fence to keep himself in the yard)

When you aren't helping us with a project or making treats, you are exercising that busy imagination of yours. I hope this imagination will serve you well throughout your life. You are always finding ways to help your toys fit into the world you create, and I hope this innovation will serve you well when it comes to more grown-up realities. You keep telling us you can't wait to be a grown up, but I hope you take your time and exercise your imagination now so it will be there when you need it later.

You have proven to us that you love the outdoors -- in whatever manner they come. Swimming lessons were a good chunk of your summer and you took to the water like a fish. In fact, you've learned about days of the week, seasons, and months of the year through this. Ever since Christmas, you've been telling us that your swimming lessons will start tomorrow. We've patiently explained time to you until you now recite the whole thing to us. "My swimming lessons don't start tomorrow because tomorrow will still be winter." I'm excited to take you back this year and watch you learn some more. Your excitement and exuberance for activity makes your dad and me very, very happy. We enjoy activities with you because you so enjoy them. Here's to another year of swimming, camping, fishing, four-wheeling, snowmobiling, and exploring everything at warp speed.

You started school this fall, and though it took some time to accept the authortative structure, you are now doing very well. You are such a smart child that we have to figure out how to handle all that intelligence, wit, and energy. Sometimes it's exhausting, but if we remain consistent, you meet our demands with a smile and you exceed our wildest expectations. You're teacher is now one of your biggest fans, and you love her as well. Because of her, you are trying to put together letters into words. You're starting to do very basic math. You love to do mazes and puzzles, and anything else with a logical ending. I have a feeling there are lots of games in our future.

Mason, you are a sweet child who demands the best from those around you. You are constantly learning, changing, growing, and exploring. You love to have company, so you always keep us along for the ride. We celebrated your birthday last night, and surrounded you with those who love you most. We have worked hard to help you build a good foundation. Use any of those people as resources to help you. This year will not be as full of surprises and change as the last one was. It will be a year of exploring the boundaries that are already in place, and a year of continuation. I look forward to sharing this year with you and hope we can have more fun playing trains and race track and games than ever before. This is the good stuff. You're growing up so fast, buddy. I hope this year we can continue to enjoy your childhood before we are looking back on it and wondering where it all went.

Love,

Mama

Happy (late) Birthday, Alan!

(with Mason on our recent snowmobiling trip -- blog about that forthcoming)

I tease Alan about his age because it's fun. He's only 5 months older than me, but it's fun to tease him nonetheless.

We had been trying to ensure that Alan's birthday wasn't overshadowed by Mason's birthday this year, for the first time in four years. Well, so far so good on that front. The bad news? We have the unfortunate honor to attend two police officer funerals. Alan attended one on his actual birthday, and we'll most likely be attending one on Saturday -- the day of Mason's birthday party. The world is going crazy, and unfortunately it's a part of our world where they nuts-ery is occuring.



Alan also received a promotion at work (yay for our hard-workin' daddy, we're so proud of him and all the hard work he put in to earn this!), and his schedule has been a little bit up in the air. It all got "officially" ironed out yesterday, so it meant he logged lots of phone time and basically ignored his birthday.



Well, in the end, we get date night to a yummy dinner and I made one of his favorite meals to celebrate last night. We got him a modest gift and will be putting some money towards an equipment upgrade for him. Hopefully those things will remind him how much the kids and I love and appreciate him for his hard work and his strong goal-reaching example. We very obviously couldn't lead the lives we do without him and his work, harrassment, and his presence. Happy Birthday, Old Man, we love you!