Stitching it Back Together

BB was beside himself, because his new stuffed dinosaur from Christmas tore a little at one of the legs.  I'm fairly sure it's from some serious rough housing with his younger brother, but he came to me in tears asking me to sew it back together.  I also happened to have an ever growing pile of stuffed animals on my shelf that needed repairs, so I took some time this morning and sewed all of them up.  Mom to the rescue!  It even included reattaching Pikachu's tail.  The kiddos were pretty excited.  It was like Christmas all over again, and I cleared off my shelf, so it was a win - win for everyone.

New Year - New Goals

 The kiddos evaluated their goals and updated them with the start of a new year.  Little Man decided he wants to improve his singing voice, so I started teaching him voice lessons.  He has the sweetest voice.  I'm pretty thrilled that maybe I'll be able to record him singing before his voice changes.  The rest of the kiddos were all intrigued with his first lesson, so they even brought the kitties to watch through the door.  There's definitely no privacy in this house.

Little Lady has added a few new things she would like to learn how to cook.  One of them is Cheesy Chicken.  It's her first real attempt at cutting and working with raw chicken.  She's doing a great job so far.  

BB turns 8 this year, so it's his first time coming up with goals in the four categories: Intellectual, Spiritual, Social, and Physical.  I'm very curious to see what he wants to work on. 

Kitty Shenanigans

The kittens continue to provide loads of entertainment.  Little Lady has virtual cello lessons in the front of the computer.  It's the only day her case is out where the cats have access.  Without fail every week Stella takes a nap in the open cello case during Little Lady's lesson. Sometimes she even brings a toy.

BB likes to give them his blanket for their afternoon cat naps.

For some reason they always look like they're on the verge of something nefarious while giving you such innocents looks.

Luna has started hiding under the rugs in our home.  Sometimes Stella likes to join her.  The bump is Luna.  

Stella's preference is snuggling under bed covers.  Little Man's bed will randomly have a big lump in it on any given day.

For some reason they also really seem to enjoy pulling stuffed animals out of the bin and dragging them throughout the house.  One day Stella was even taking a nap in front of the entrance to the house with a stuffed animal on top of her.  We're not even sure how she managed the arrangement.  

They turned 6 months old this past week and there's never a dull moment around here with them.

Long Weekend

The kiddos had a 4-day weekend.  I was feeling stir crazy on Friday.  I seriously considered going out and visiting a museum or something.  The weather protested and dropped enough snow to keep us at home.  The kiddos each chose a game with surprisingly few complaints, and then the spent the afternoon in the snow.  

There was enough time that I even chose a game.  

BB also finished reading the 6th book of Harry Potter this weekend, so Monday night we had a popcorn party watching the 6th movie.  They all love it, and are now begging him to read the 7th book.  Little Guy went to bed early before it got too scary, and he was pretty put out that we finished it without him, but I promised him that one day he would get to watch all of it. 

Alas, their long weekend came to an end and they headed back to school today.

I is for Ice

This week in preschool Little Man explored the Letter I in class.  They focused on Ice (including ice cream which made him extremely happy).

He's such a ham.  Meanwhile, he kept trying to convince me that his teachers "wanted" him to eat the marshmallows off the igloo.  Eh - there's just as much glue as marshmallow on the paper, so that was a hard pass.  He still managed to sneak a few before I could throw it away. 

Receiving Blanket

 I made a quick this gift for a new momma.  I always enjoy making receiving blankets, because it's a good use of cute flannel, and it's also one of the few times I actually use an interesting stitch.  

I set the length of the stitch the longest it would go, because I was curious what it would look like.  I think I prefer a tighter wave, but the rolling waves are still lovely. 

Missing

 What is it about being an adult and not wanting our picture taken?  I don't ever remember caring as a child, but for some reason now I'd rather be behind the camera any day than be in the picture.  Are we looking for some elusive perfection before the picture is snapped?  It's funny, because when I go through pictures of family gatherings I always have a ton of pictures of the children.  The cousin pictures are voluminous, but I usually have very few of the adults.  It's a shame really, because one day the only thing my kiddos will have of the older generations will be memories and pictures.  I only have a few pictures with my grandparents, and I treasure them.  I'm positive they didn't want to take those pictures, but now they're priceless.  It really is silly that I'm opposed to pictures so much, because my kids don't care if I thought my hair looked bad that day.  They'll just see the person they love when they look at the picture.  I'm making it a goal that the next time we're with aunts and uncles and grandparents I'm going to do my best to make sure they're in the pictures.  I may even get in a picture or two myself.  Haha.  No one should be missing.  

These are just a couple of pictures doing normal things like studying scriptures and playing a game, but they're the kind of things the kids will want to remember when they're older.  

One Last Project

 Before we ring in the new year I wanted to get one last project under way.  I still had the blocks from September to piece together.  It was my month for Do.Good Stitches.  The blocks were still trickling in close to November, so I finally have all of them.  I like how it turned out.