Baby Gifts

My best friend Meghan is having her third little boy very soon...weeks soon! And I made some little goodies for the babe.

Little shoes... got this pattern here via made by rae. She always has great stuff! They were a little tricky but the tutorial from Stardust Shoes (above link) is very good. And then I made this little onsie...

And this hat...

...made with Blue Sky Alpacas organic cotton (bone color) was so fun to knit. I had never made a hat before- hopefully it isn't that obvious in the finished product. I actually made this hat using 2 circular knitting needles. It was actually a very easy way to knit such a small hat- much easier than double pointed needles.

Working on...

Here is a sneak peak at this yummy quilt I am working on using Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks. I just LOVE this fabric- all her fabric really. It is just so happy and full of life! If I ever live somewhere where I don't see the sun for awhile I know that I can just pull out this beauty and have a sunny day. I'm in such a 'stitchy' mood lately I couldn't help myself and embroidered a sweet little birdie on one of the squares. Now I can't decide if I need more- it's an addiction I tell you! Stay tuned... hopefully I will have a finished product to share soon.

4 3/4 Interview

So I've been wanting to do this for a while...

These are kind of random questions... I got them here . They are a good jumping off point, but need to be re-worked condensed and organized. These are all direct quotes from Jack my comments are in the parenthesis. Some of the answers are sweet and some are... well... so Jack.

I feel happy when...I hug people I love.

I feel sad when... you are mad at me even when you are frustrated.

I like to... do the dishes with mama- but I don't really like to do it that much.

My daddy is... my best daddy in the whole wide world.

My mama is... my favorite mama in the world and I love you so much... to the moon and back.

I love to...read books and watch movies but only one... or maybe 2, or 3, or 4 but not not like a big long number 'cause you would NEVER let me do that. (for the record never 4 movies in a day- I cannot dispute any other claims).

My favorite color is... orange.

I like to eat... pancakes...eggs, cookies, best of all french fries and hamburgers. (I promise I make food besides diner foods)

I like to play... with my friends at the park.

My favorite toy is... train tracks.

It makes me happy when... when I give my mom X's and O's.

It makes me sad when... I hurt my brother.(hmmm)

I feel frustrated when... I do something wrong that I don't want to happen.

I really like it when... I go to the beach and drink chocolate milk.

The best thing I do is... clean up... well not very much... but I am today!!!

I'm excited about... when I get babysitted.

I love me because... because I love my hair- 'cause it's red! And I am very kissy and huggy. (oh my...)

I like to go... to my Gammy's house for a sleep over and my Grandma's house and school.

I don't like to... clean up--but i do... because it is important.

My favorite things to do are... play with my brother and play games and... (yeah things are disintegrating about now)

The best thing about my birthday party was...the carnival music (that Papa put together), and the bean bag toss.

My favorite song is... Chickadee, Chickadee (Little Bird, LIttle Bird)

My favorite school activity is... this is hard one... the work with the red chopsticks (home-school), making pin holes in the ship (pre-school)

My favorite art activity is... painting the sign for you when you came home from your trip.

The best part about being 4 years old is... my birthdays are awesome-bo-bosome.

Do you love taking naps? Ummm...NO. This is kind of a dumb question mom. (charming right? we had quite a discussion about other vocabulary words we might use- kind of embarrassed to type this one).

My favorite book is... Bunny Follows His Nose- or whatever that one is called.

This kid is definitely a character.

Good Habits Chart

I made this chart for Jack a few months ago and as much as I hate to admit it has not been used as often as it should. Oh yes, I have excuses... so does he, but I won't bore you with them.

A bit about the chart: The chart is made out of some scrap plywood that I painted and screwed hooks into. I found a little box at Michaels which I cut down to size and covered in paper. The "good habit" cards are laminated and hole punched at the top.

How it works: I thought about how I wanted to organize this chart quite a bit. I knew I didn't want it to be a "chore" or "job" chart even though "jobs" and "chores" are part of life. I wanted these basic responsibilities to become habits. I also knew that I didn't want a reward system because I don't think basic family household contribution should require a reward. I thought the action of taking off the card and putting it in the "I did it box" would enhance the feeling of accomplishment. Okay, wow, anyhoo...the board is divided into 4 sections: morning, noon, night and then there is also a manners section (haven't really figured out how that works best yet). All of the habits cards are placed on the category hook and when completed is put into the box that says "I did it". Then either that night after the last habit is accomplished you just put 'em all back- Jack really likes this part. So there you have it! This was fun for me to make and Jack certainly enjoyed coming up with all the different "good habits".

UPDATE: I was flipping through Parents magazine (that we are subscribed to until like...2030-ugh!) and I came across this cute little chore chart- Unfortunately you can't see it- just take my word for it. It is a small binder inverted so it is like a flipchart. Wish I had seen this before I went through the effort. Has the same basic principals working here. You can download the cards and customize the labels. I ended up printing out the cards because we have some of the same and I am not too crazy about my artwork on some of them- and the colors work too.

Jack's Scrap Bracelet

Today Jack found some old scraps of fabric that were sewn together to make ties for a gift and was determined to create a bracelet from them.

He used tape to fasten his bracelet which held for awhile but then fell apart so he asked if I could help... An hour later we had ourselves this cute little bracelet.

It was really fun to see him in the creative 'driver's seat' so to speak. He picked out all the elements, sat in my lap at the machine, and trimmed all the strings. When we had finished it I asked him what he thought and he said, "Oh, I love it! I'm going to wear it forever! Can you believe it? I'm going to have it on for all my days on this earth!" Pretty sweet... but I give it about 3 days.

The Growing

It has been happening... the growing thing. You'd think you would see it coming but you don't. It is so gradual and then there are those days when you think "where have I been?"

I am looking at a tall, lean boy these days, I can hardly believe it. I cannot even see my baby buried there. I got sad yesterday packing up a batch of 4T clothes...4T!!! And I remembered a post I saw somewhere a while back that I LOVED and thought captured these feelings in a more poetic way:

"days when they put on years overnight. it's like a finger pressed to my lips, a voice whispering shhh... don't fight it. change, it comes with the growing."

Luckily I still have Elliott and those baby curls... for now.

Serendipity

Here is a story that just defines serendipity (one of my favorite words)...

About two weeks ago I needed a 'therapy shower'- which is my euphemism for a really long shower where I cry about my dad etc. So I left the boys downstairs watching a movie. When I got out of the shower/bathroom area I heard Jack chatting away with someone and I just assumed he was talking to Elliott or with my mom who might have called while I was in the shower. So I headed down the stairs and Jack was indeed on the phone chatting away. When he saw me he walked the phone right over and said, "Okay, well, you can talk to my mom now."

I glanced at the time running on the phone... 28:15 minutes (okay listen, I was not in the shower all that time... but it was a long shower).

"Hello?" I say.

"Hi there, I've been having the most wonderful conversation with your son Jack" says an unfamiliar voice.

"Excuse me, may I ask who this is?"

"Well, this is Mrs. Barney."

Turns out Jack randomly dialed this woman and engaged her in quite a lengthy conversation. Oh my... am I surprised that my Jack chatted up some random lady for almost 30 minutes? Nope. I am surprised however that he dialed Mrs Barney... an older woman with no grand or great grandchildren close by who just happens to live less than a mile away. She made me promise that I wouldn't scold Jack for making the call because she enjoyed his conversation so much... how cute is that? What a sweet little blessing for all of us. She also told Jack that he could come by and take as many of her children's books as he liked! We are so there Mrs. Barney!

I will update this story later hopefully with a picture of our new friend. We have plans to stop by and drop off some artwork Jack has made for her and perhaps some cookies too. Can't wait to meet this old gal, she sounds terrific!