Fourth of July Craft

Last year we made some flags and another type of fireworks, you can see here.





I haven't had as much structured craft time with the kids as I'd like lately, but Annette did help me make some more firework art to get us ready for the upcoming holiday. It's becoming a crafting tradition.

I cut out a simple rectangle 'stencil' with construction paper. If I'd used a paper plate or card stock it would have been more sturdy. But we were only using this for 3 fireworks, so being sturdy didn't really matter much. 

I held down the stencil and she used Dot Markers to fill in the shape, but paint or even crayons would get the same point across.

There is something everyone seems to like about peeling off a stencil. Instant gratification of sorts.

We needed some sparkle/explosion part for the top of our fireworks. Annette suggested glitter of course.

Yet, in the big move, I can't find our collection of glitter. So, we improvised with sprinkles. Annette did not miss the glitter. She happily ate the ones that fell off her paper. Non-toxic glue remnants and all :)

We are sooo ready for the 4th now  ;)

Looking forward to watching some real fireworks next week.

~morgan

Less Words Wednesday: A race, Tubes, and other Smatterings

Race to Remember.

Supporting all the teams, but especially Team Henry Lewis

Visiting the zoo. Again. It's one of our favorite spots lately.

Someone wanted to switch strollers with Set.

This cute sweaty face is just as noteworthy as the cute baby ape we watched for a half hour.

More of my little heart throb. At the pool.... another favorite summer spot.

We've also been visiting different libraries and enjoying their free summer entertainment.

And Set got his tubes. Thankfully it was uneventful and simple and so so quick. No IV needed. They just use gas. We were only apart from him for 9 minutes. I only had time to log on to the Children's internet server deal, realize that Pinterest is blocked by their firewall (!!), and then they called us back.

Just a couple of stitches and a couple of tubes later, we drove him home by 9:30 am. 

Up and playing in about 2 hours.

You can sort of see his little stitches.

Family game night. Pretty Pretty Princess. 

Such a good sport, our Dad.

Other random moments from the past week...

Pajama Fashion Show. They walk out. I emcee. We laugh and laugh. 

Blackberries from the Westover Farmer's Market up the road.

She ate them til she had a purple forehead.

Working on summing up month 2 of our house renovations. It will be fun to document.

~ morgan

Tubes for Set and Other 6 Month Smatterings

My baby is 6 months old!!

Some days it feels like I've had him forever and some days I feel like he has just arrived. Either way, Set makes me feel extremely happy and blessed.

He is one of the most easy going babies I have ever been around. He doesn't cry often, but when he does, it doesn't even sound that mad or loud. Nothing like the high pitched, ear piercing cry my first baby had.

And with 6 ear infections in the last 3 months, you'd think the poor thing would be crying a lot more. 

 Today we went to Children's for an ENT visit. As we suspected, he needs tubes. He will go in some time this coming Tuesday for the quick procedure. My other two had no trouble with their ears, so this is new mom territory for me. I've been given lots of advice on the topic from lots of people..... Different opinions abound. Tubes vs no tubes... But we are confident tubes are a good option for Set. My gut is good with this decision. Which is very important to me. He has a little skin tag on his ear that will be removed at the same time. Two birds with one stone as the saying goes. 

And by the way, Children's Hospital was even cooler than I expected. There was an art cart and volunteers helping kids make truly exciting/creative art right in the waiting room. The sign in stuff is all on these fancy electronic screens. Friendly staff was everywhere, even lining the halls. I see what all the fuss is about now. 

Half way to a year is a pretty big milestone so I better document some other current Set smatterings. 

He weighed 18 lbs. I don't keep up with height anymore... Way too much room for error IMO. 

He is sitting up with no support. For about 2-3 minutes without falling over :) Boppy gets used a lot these days to catch his tip-overs. 

I haven't even tried to get him on a schedule yet. He eats when he's hungry and/or when we aren't in the car and/or  the other kids are somewhat occupied. 

He eats once or twice in the night. Usually around 1:30. I don't even notice the lack of sleep anymore. Charlie started sleeping thru the night at about 10 months, so that's probably what I'm expecting again. 

I gave him cereal a couple weeks ago and he wasn't too interested. I tried pears last week and he seems to like them. So I've been giving him those once a day. He's still figuring out how to eat off a spoon. He grabs at the spoon almost the entire time which makes for an even bigger mess. Makes me want to tie his hands behind his back or something. Kidding!! But I bet they have some type of contraption in one of those kid product magazines for that exact tendency/mom-problem. 

He likes to put everything in his mouth these days. No teeth yet, but I'm sure he's working on some. Other two kids had teeth at about 8 months. Maybe it will be the same with this lil guy too. 

He laughs and coos, but not much babbling yet. I think his ear being basically under water for the last 3 months hasn't helped him out in the language development area. No doctor has said that, but as his mama, I get to use my intuition to come up with my own philosophies. :)

Mornings with this guy are pretty sweet. He wakes up anywhere from 6:30 to 7:30 on most mornings. Usually just about 20 minutes or so before the Crazies wake up. 

So very, very thankful for our little Set.

~morgan

My 31st

My friend Sarah and I have birthdays just a day apart. So when she threw out an idea to have a joint pedicure party with some friends, I was like YES! 

I felt a little bit like the tween girls you see having a spa party. And it was wonderful. 

I talked my friends' ears off as we were all kidless and off our feet relaxing. 

We went to ciao baci afterwards where I ate the most delicious birthday burger. 

On Saturday, Isaac took me to one of my favorite restaurants, So in Hillcrest, for my actual birthday. They had this amazing zucchini soup and Seabass as specials.  Mmmmmm. 

I was outright spoiled this birthday. 

We also celebrated Fathers Day this weekend. 

I'm so very grateful for my own Dad, and my baby Daddy.