Happy Father's Day

I don't say it often enough publicly, but I love my husband.

Our history would make a compelling and potentially popular and profitable Young Adult novel, which Johnny would never read because he hates them.  But it could also be a biography, which he might be induced to read.

Let's face it, even though there weren't exactly suitors knocking down my door in college (luckily), I still didn't have to say yes to his proposal.  But the truth is, he's my favorite friend, he's my longest friend, and I always want him in my life.  I stand by what I said the day we decided to get married when he asked me if I could love him forever--I know I love him today, I know I'll love him tomorrow, and next week, and a year from now, so eternity will take care of itself.  I didn't realize at the time that I'd love him more and more the closer we got.

I feel very lucky to have him, and I think genetics agree with me.  He made some pretty cute babies.

Happy Father's Day, Johnny!

Crawling

Here are some videos of Joy crawling.  She actually started crawling before I posted the pre-crawling picture series, so it's been a few weeks and she's getting pretty good at it, and a lot speedier too.

She's also pulling up on things and opening bottom drawers.  Just when I thought it was finally safe to start putting things back in them . . .

Another Joy note, I have further nicknamed her Crusader of Chaos because she zealously seeks to destroy any semblance of order she can find.  I am making a rug for her room that I saw on Pinterest, of course, and it requires thousands of 1"x2" fabric strips.  I've been cutting up old shirts and all the leftovers and unusable bits were in the garbage.  In about 1 minute flat an unattended Joy had not only emptied the garbage, but effectively distributed it in pure entropic fashion about the room.  I'm not sure she's ever been happier.

Crafts!

So I randomly got a parenting magazine in the mail the other day.  I haven't gotten one in a year.  They sent it to the address we used when we first moved here two years ago, despite the fact that they have my current address on their website.  I am very confused by this, but I read it anyway.  

I'm not a big fan of parenting magazines.  I feel like their just a venue for advertisements and paranoia-inducing articles instead of actual tips and advice.  But I read it anyway.  And I actually found some cute craft ideas.  So I made one. . . with a little help, of course.  

It's rock labels for my herb garden.

1) pick some large-ish flat rocks.  We hunted them out of the stream bed.  I left the baby at the top of the stream bed, at a safe distance, on a blanket, and someone called the cops because they couldn't see me hunting rocks below the road.  Silly people.  Luckily, it wasn't hard to explain.  

2) Paint the rocks black.  Or any color.

3) cut out some fabric to fit the tops of the rocks
4) Write the names of the plants on the fabric.

5) glue the fabric on the rocks

6) spray the rock with clear veneer and place them in your garden.

As you can see, I already have plenty of rocks in my garden.  This is because when these beds were made, the owners laid down gravel and then dirt, so when we tilled everything, it all mixed together.  Yuck.  But anyway, now I don't have to rely on those silly little paper tabs to tell me what is growing where.  And I discovered that the cutest words The Captain can say are "wibbly wobbly".

Visitors!!!

In the middle of May, my beautiful sister and her family came to visit. 

We were very excited to have visitors (and if your own travels take you to anywhere round these parts, we'd love to have you), and we tried to show them a good time.  

I tried to be on my best behavior.  The house was mostly clean.  I actually planned meals so we ate lots of yummy food.  We played games.  And we did our best to keep three little boys and 2 babies entertained.   While I can't recommend having 5 children 3 and under, I will say it is much easier with 2 Mommies around. When the husbands joined us we were almost evenly matched.  And if you take mobility into account, we were definitely outnumbering the runners.  It was nice to have a few extra hands around, and hopefully my sister felt the same.

Here's some of the things we did.

Made cookies for Grandma who just had surgery.

Notice the flour on the face.

We may have also eaten some dough . . . 

We played laser tag for FHE.

Here's me taking cheap shots at the little guys.

It's okay because Johnny, who was supposed to be fixing the computer issues and taking pictures, was actually also taking cheap shots at all of us, too.

Unfortunately, it was rainy and cold almost the whole time they were here.  So, the boys played in the mud (notice the middle one's hair, which had not been washed at all when this picture was taken), and got cleaned up afterwards.   

Now you may know from reading this blog that The Captain does not like taking baths.  My most recent trick has been to do "rub-a-dub-dub two kids in the tub", which is where both kiddos take a bath at the same time.  It is much faster and easier for me, and because it's not called "Bath time" The Captain loves it.  So you can imagine his delight at "rub-a-dub-dub three kids in the tub"  although I think it got a little crowded in there.  

I mentioned the rain, so I was a little worried that we wouldn't have anything fun to do Monday and Tuesday.  My sister, unlike myself, does not like to stay at home all day, and with this many wiggle-worms, I couldn't blame her.  So thanks to Johnny, we were reminded of Chuck E. Cheese and it seemed like a perfect idea.  It took us awhile to find, and when we did it looked like it was closed and under construction. Luckily, I found a sign that suggested they were still operational and we found the entrance.  Sure enough, they were open and we practically had the place to ourselves.  It was amazing.  But I forgot to bring the camera.  

Tuesday was better weather, but we had so much fun on Monday that we decided to give the boys a choice:  the zoo, or Chuck E. Cheese again.  This is a pretty good representation of their response--

So we went to Chuck E. Cheese two days in a row.  And this time I remembered the camera.  But we forgot one of the baby carriers, so it got a little complicated.  Also it was much more crowded because of a few summer bible school groups that were already there.  So not as much fun for us the second day, but it was worth it for the pictures, right?

This monster truck was a big hit with the boys.

And all three could ride at once.  

But it wasn't the favorite.  The favorite ride was this one.  It's like a simulator for kids.  You buckle in and then it moves up and down and vibrates with whatever is going on on the screen.  This guy loved it so much, he mooched rides off of strangers.

The best part for us was the screen on top of the ride that showed you their sweet expressions while they are rocking and vibrating and watching the show. 

We always saved one last token to use on this ride for all three boys right before we left.  

But it wasn't all fun and games.  My sister also got to witness the black hole sleep phenomenon which occurs at our house, where for some reason our location sucks the ability to sleep out of any children.  Because I was on my best behavior, I tried to counteract this by instigating "pajama parties", where everyone would get into their pajamas as fast as they could and meet in the kitchen for a treat.  It seemed to work.

I was worried that The Captain would be disappointed that we weren't going to Chuck E. Cheese every day from now on.  

But he has only asked about going a few times, and only recently.  What he really wants are pajama parties every night.  I think it might be a small sacrifice for a little sleep around here. 

May's Wreath

I used to think yarn was for old ladies to make into blankets and tissue box covers and lumpy sweaters.  I have made my fair share of these things --okay, not the tissue box cover-- but I love a lot of things in the "old lady" category.  I assumed it was just because I'm an old soul, but really, yarn is cool.  

Don't believe me?  Check it out.

I made the two on the left.

It can be funky, stylish, even chic.  Who knew, right?

I am totally addicted to yarn wreaths.  So even though we made one in March, we made another in May.  Actually, I made two.  Luckily, I have two doors.  To be honest, I'll probably make another one.  And I'll probably try to convince the Relief Society to do this for their Christmas craft.  

Why do I love yarn wreaths so much?  Because they're fun to make, and super cheap.  Plus, they go great with felt, another love of mine.  

Supplies

• straw wreath 2@ $3
• yarn $3 for gray, white was free
• felt $3 for 12 squares good for future projects
• pearls $3

Total for 2 wreaths = $15

Step 1: wrap the yarn around the wreath.  I must say, it is infinitely faster and easier to do if the yarn is in a ball rather than a skein.

For those who care, it take a little less than 1/2 skein to wrap a 12" straw wreath

This is the other wreath, the yarn does not change color once it's wrapped.

Step 2: cut out felt diamonds.

I probably made this step much harder than it needed to be.  First I measured the circumference of the wreath, divided by two and determined how many squares I would need.  It came out to be 10 4" squares.  Then I made them all with paper to see how they'd fit.  I cut squares and had to keep modifying them.  So, just cut diamonds to begin with.  It will be easier.

Step 4: place the felt around the wreath and hot glue the corners.

Step 5: wrap the brown yarn around to finish the argyle pattern.

Step 6: Hot glue ribbon to the back and hang on the door.

For the other variation:

Step 1: wrap the yarn around the wreath

Step 2: Cut out a circle of felt.  Cut the circle into a long strip leaving a circle in the center.  Roll the strip of felt to create a rose and glue the rose to the center circle.  (Or make any felt/fabric flowers)

Step 3: Hot glue bands of ribbon, lace, and pearls to the wreath.

Step 4: Hot glue flowers to wreath

Step 5: Hot glue or wrap ribbon around wreath and hang on door.

And here are some other creative variations:

Almost Crawling: A Picture Series by Joy

I'm not sure why learning new things makes Joy so sad, but it does.  Evidenced here.

Up-to Update

May was a busy month, just not for blogging.  Sorry.  I'll be honest, since I started taking pictures in camera raw my blogging has suffered because it takes a little more effort to get them web-ready.  I'll try not to make that an excuse.  But I guess that leads me to the first update:

1. I am officially a photographer.  Because I say so, and I have a website.  I'm still working on it and updating it.  The same goes for my facebook page, but I'm always up for some feedback (or a shoot).  I was planning on waiting until next year to get everything set up, but I had an opportunity in April to do an Arts & Crafts show and just decided to go for it.  It doesn't really change anything, but it doesn't hurt to be official earlier rather than later.  (This was the business that kept me from blogging in April, by the way.)
2. Both kiddos had checkups this month.  Joy is doing great.  She's gained some weight and is back on track for her growth.  I guess feeding her avocados paid off.  Anyway, she's still small, 16.4 lbs. but she's always been around the 20% mark.  The Captain had some fun tests at his 3 year appointment, including eyes and ears.  He was really happy to not get any shots.  He is a square now, 37 lbs., 37 inches.  89%, same old, same old.  

They play much better together now.  

3.   We got visitors!!  But that gets its own post.

4. Seminary is over.  Man, it's been a tough year.  And all those projects that I've stuck on the back burner have started to fight for position on the stove.  It is bottlenecking right now, and I hope that I don't get overwhelmed my them now.  I'm sure some of them have gone bad with time, while some of them have probably gotten better.  I've started two, finished one.  More posts to come, of course.  

Oh, and I've finally add labels to posts.  Well, one so far, crafts, because it's hard to search for anything on here.  And though I'm sometimes quite creative with my titles, they aren't very descriptive.  So I've up for any other labels you want, just comment.

This doesn't have an update associated with it, except that The Captain may be talented.  He took this picture.  I just white balance adjusted, no other edits.