Hang time

Two weekends ago we headed to Kokotown for Lucas' bud Ethan's birthday. The party was held at a gymnastic place which the kids had a blast.

Here is Lucas, Lilly and the Birthday boy in the foam cube pit...which kinda turned into a mosh pit of 1-4 year olds.
Lilly and Aly climb across one of the "circuits"

And here is Lucas swinging from the monkey bars. Good upper strength- need to get both of them into some sort of tumbling class or karate or something. What do your kids enjoy?

Taking each day as it comes...

Seems to be my response as of late when someone asks how I/we are doing. Nothing has really changed, kids still seem to be fighting off ear infections and we end up at the doctor about every two weeks (can't wait till those bills start rolling in). Lilly got a second round of shots today for her double ear infection and if those don't work the next step is tubes, which I am fine with as long as it actually works.

She is getting to be such a big girl. She has really been loving on her babies lately and dressing them and wanting things "just a certain way" (have no idea where she gets that from). She is DEFINITELY a two year old and everything is MINE. She adores her older brother, doesn't like kisses from the dog, loves to "dance" with daddy whenever she can, and is content just to be sitting in your lap. She is doing good in her big girl bed...but we have found her playing in her room in the middle of the night (probably due to waking up with the ear infections), and once at nap time I heard a noise after I thought she was already asleep. I open the door and she was trying to reach the wipes on her dresser. I ask what she is doing and she turns around and says "wipe eye" and it is then that I realize her face and hair are covered in Vaseline...nice. If you don't remember this pb incident, Lilly LOVES anything that is like lotion and I had obviously screwed up and left the vaseline within reach. Not really as messy as pb, since vaseline is actually made to absorb into your skin, but needless to say her hair was kinda greasy for a few days. So the next step was the Paci, but it is hard to take that away when she is not feeling well. So we thought we would jump on the potty train...but the girl does just not seem to get it. Underwear, pull-ups, naked. She just doesn't seem to understand that she just peed, care that she is wet, or even bother to tell us after the fact. If you ask her if she just peed she replies with "I am fine"...well that is funny b/c you are sitting in a puddle of urine. So needless to say she has sat on the potty 30 times in the last few weeks and not a single drop has made it in. We will keep trying though, one day it will have to click...right?

Lucas is supposedly on the mend, his double turned to a single and he just finished antibiotics for that one and the doc peeked in his ear yesterday and thought it looked good so far...we will keep our fingers crossed. We are still doing breathing treatments once a day until "flu season" is over. Below is a picture of Lucas having his dino get a breathing treatment, similar to this pic with santa, but kind of ironic since he is in dino pj's and his dino is in robot pjs...for some reason I just think that is funny.

He is your typical four year old boy (from what I can tell). Definitely testing his limits and boundaries (every second). Wanting to eat all the time...but only things he likes of course. Asking ALOT more questions than ever before, about how something works, why something is the way it is or why that particular person in the movie did it this way or that way. No more quiet movie watching for us! This was our conversation a few weeks ago while we were driving:

"Mom, when are we going to cut all the trees down?"

"What? What do you mean? Why would we cut the trees down?"

"Well, I figure we need to cut them all down to fix them."

"Why, what's wrong with them?"
"They are broke. If we cut them down then we can tape all of the leaves back on them."

(Well...that is on way to do it, I thought...and I went into the explanation of the seasons, reminding him of fall and spring and all that jazz). I guess when spring hits I will have to make sure we watch all the tiny buds starting to grow on the trees. So fun.

Another conversation I did not really think I would have with a four year old (but why not?) was at the dinner table. In between trying to get him to sit still and actually eat some applesauce he says, "Mom, why is Jesus hanging up there?"

I turned to look where he was looking (wondering if Jesus was standing on the deck), then I saw the crucifix hanging next to the sliding door. So I began to tell the story about why Jesus died on the cross for us (interupted by alot of WHY's?) and that we keep that cross hanging there to remind us of how thankful we should be that our sins are forgiven b/c he loved us so much. He seemed content with my answer at the end of the conversation and I realized how amazing and open such little minds are. And of course I was reminded how Jesus is everywhere and always watching over us no matter what, and if it wasn't for that I am not quite sure where I would be.

My new Creative Outlet...

So, I have started a little hobby that is both fun, creative, and even green! Maybe this will go somewhere and maybe not, but right now it is the perfect outlet for me to use my God given ability and have fun at the same time. I have so many ideas in my head and hope to get even more detailed and intricate since really what I have done so far is pretty simple. I have wanted to post a blog, but wanted to be able to get a few under my belt so you can see a variety of what is available (so you can think about what you are wanting next of course!)

Below is the 1776 American flag which I did for a client of mine.

The reason this art can be considered "Green" and Environment friendly is because I am taking old vinyl wallcovering samples that would have normally been thrown away and instead am placing them into art. So you not only get an amazing custom art piece with great pattern, texture, and color but you are also helping the environment! The canvas' can either be painted, or completely wrapped in wallcovering and if you want to go really green, we can even use cardboard instead!

So below are some pictures of the pieces I have done so far. I will do a bit of explination of each one and how it came about. Most of the pieces have been inspired from different images found in many different places.

I had this idea of this type of art in my head since last fall and really just needed something simple to get it started. When I saw my nephews new bedding for his room, I thought this would be a perfect way to see if my idea could work. Then for Christmas I did a coordinating truck as well.

This was for my brother-in-laws bathroom and I took the giraffe image off of their new jungle themed shower curtain.

The elephants are an image I saw in a PB Kids Catalog, I actually embellished the ears and bird's wing with beads, but that final pic is on my other camera.

This was my first "commissioned" piece by a friend of mine. It is now hanging in her dining room and looks amazing. She found a picture online that she liked and we took that concept and converted it to three painted canvases. Then using multiple nuetral patterns, and a touch of flair out came a very simple and organic art piece.Here is a close up so you can see the different patterns and how they compliment each other.

This is the first original original from MDH (meaning I just made it up). It is more of a modern piece that I did for a friend of mine who actually is a product rep for the wallcovering and has given me lots of discontinued samples to play with. Thanks Misty!

And this one is actually for her boss. He hasn't seen it yet, so don't ruin the suprise! I wanted to do something for his new office and since I know he loves both wallcovering and golf- how can you get any better than this right?

Honestly, the pictures really don't do these pieces justice because there is always a glare and the details just do now show up. But I would love to get your opinions. It is alot more fun creating different things for different people, working with the colors they are wanting or colors they have existing in a room. I love to hear their ideas for what they are looking for and then trying to figure out how I can help them create something they will love. Let me know if you have a blank spot on your wall you need filled!

Our Snowman...

Well, thank God I did find my camera yesterday (not in the snow, but under the bed?) So thought I would share the pics of snow play especially for those of you who are in warmer climates but are seriously missing the snow (I know deep down you miss it just a little). It is melting pretty quickly here the last few days but maybe we can play in whats left of it once more today.

Yes, that is a mouthful of snow.

hiding behind the "snow fort" from daddy's snowballs...too funny.

The beginning of the snowman...which Lucas seemed to enjoy climbing and kicking more than helping to build.

The finished product, Lilly thought it was pretty cool to "dress him up". Right now there is not much left of him, and I think next time we will build a little snowman family.

interesting find

I was planning on showing some snowman/snowball pics but can't seem to find my camera...which is a little worriesome considering that the last time i used it was outside....in the snow. hmmm. So I was using our old camera today and found some pics that Lucas had taken over the last few months and thought since I hadn't posted any "Infamous Lucas pics" in awhile I might as well blog about something!

Of course you have the "toy" pictures...they were tons more but I will spare you a picture of each of his different cars.
I thought this pic was great b/c it captures what Lilly's hair looks like 70% of the time. It's called fine 1/2 curly hair that is always in knots...is there a name for that?

and this was a great close up of why I don't typically let Lilly wear white clothes...

there are always funny shots of daddy when Lucas is doing his photog, he is so photogenic isn't he?

and this was my favorite this time around. a little dark, but such great detail! Gotta love a 4 year olds mind at work! There are a few more I will save for another day. And please say a prayer that I can find my other camera...not in the snow.