Reindeer Noses

I saw this idea and thought it would be perfect for little fingers. I got the idea from this blog.

This is the face Duane would make every time I told him to smile. He's such a ham.

One Happy Day

It was one happy day that we had on Avan's birthday! He ate the attention up!

Duane helped us decorate while Avan was taking a nap.



Avan spent a great deal of the party in his room, doing what he loves best!

This is how the kids broke the pinata. I was reluctant to bring out the bat indoors.


As you can see, he was VERY excited about his cake.

Duane claimed one of Avan's presents. Avan is a good brother and shared.




I'm so glad we have a sweet little Avan in our home. He's such a wonderful and happy boy.

Ideas

Last year we decorated our tree with a few of those little feather birds you find at craft stores. Duane really loved them and wanted to hold them all the time. He still finds them and carries them around for a few days. (I'm not very good at hiding things).

This year, I thought it would be a fun idea to decorate our tree with a theme. The theme, of course, being birds. Since the idea came to me, I've been scouring the internet (ahem, pinterest) for ideas to make ornaments. I've already collected some fallen walnuts for the kids to paint with glue and decorate with glitter. I wanted to do the same with some pine cones, but haven't found any.

Owls. I would make them with Christmas colored fabric and I would make them smaller. You know, ornament sized. :D

Stringy Ornaments. I thought they could symbolize nests.

Glittered Birds The link shows glittered deer, but you get the idea. Simply find birds instead of deer. I love that the kids could do this one.

Button Wreath It isn't really a bird thing, but the kids could make them.

Hand Print Ornaments Again, no birds, but something the kids could do.

Butterfly Leaf Lantern Vase

I made some cute leaf lantern vases! They are really pretty when lit with a proper candle, but I don't have one on hand right now. I will try to add pics if ever I remember when I have a candle that fits nicely.

These are the things I used. I've been collecting leaves every day on our walks and pressed them between the pages of heavy book with more heavy books piled on top. I actually ended up NOT using the ribbon. I thought the vases looked better without it. Here is the finished product:
















I just used the mod podge to glue the leavs to the glass. Next time I will probably get a flat vase instead of a rounded one, it was a little tricky getting all the leaves to lay flush against the glass. I also just painted the bottom of the leaves first, then added a layer over the top when the leaves had set.

Turkey Window clings

I saw this idea for snowflake window clings made from fabric paint and thought it would be way fun to do turkey hands. The snowflake version says to use wax paper. I gave up on the wax paper and used a plastic freezer bag taped over a tracing of the turkey hand instead.

Happy Halloween!!

The boys had so much fun trick-or-treating! Duane was the cutest little pirate and Avan was adorable in his dragon costume. Avan was more or less aware of what was going on. At one point he gave up and got in the stroller, awaiting his candy from his little moving throne. :D Duane was more thrilled by the spookiness than scared. I was a little nervous he would be a little afraid. I love Halloween and hope yours was as much fun as ours!

What I Dream Of

I think the biggest dream I ever had was to get married and become a mom. I always knew I wanted kids and love living my dream every day.

There are things outside of being a mom and wife that I dream of too. For example, I dream of publishing a book. I want to become a writer and work toward this dream every day. It's actually very difficult for me NOT to work on it because there is always a story churning in my head. It's almost like a disease. If you ever look at me and I seem dazed it's because I'm daydreaming about the next bit of the book I'm working on.

Another example of my dreams is one that very few understand and that is to own a goat farm. I love goats. I love the way they will come up to you and put their head in your stomach so you will scratch their heads. I love the way they nibble your skin. My father owned two dairy goats when I was a Junior in high school. I milked one of them every morning and every night until I left. I miss having goats and wish for a farm of them!

Speaking of farms, that's another thing I dream of. I wouldn't only raise goats, but produce as well. I dream of the day when the only things we need at the grocery store are lightbulbs, batteries and toilet paper. I know I'm exaggerating a tad, but you get the idea. I love to farm and hope we can one day have enough property to do so.

I guess I'm a little old fashioned. I enjoy making pumpkin pie from fresh pumpkins, not the canned kind. I like making my own jam and canning and growing my own food. I dream of sharing this love with my kids.

Pumpkin Patch

Fall is so fun with kids! Duane is old enough to know what's going on this year and it's been a blast! We picked out some pumpkins from a local farmer's market and the boys loved them.


Avan is very difficult to capture on camera. He wiggles too much!

Here he is picking out a pumpkin.

Duane has gotten to be a little ham. He was protesting pictures two seconds before this was snapped.



Again, Avan wiggles out of the picture faster than we can put him in it! We usually get his frantic efforts to get away from whatever it is we want him to do.


From left to right: Pastor's pumpkin (that I carved), my pumpkin, Jessica's pumpkin, the boy's pumpkin (that I carved).

Thank goodness my friend Jessica came over to help and to carve her pumpkin. The boys love her so much!

Silly Hat

For whatever reason, Avan wanted to wear an envelope on his head. It was made all the cuter by Duane following him around and saying, "Happy Birthday Avan!" Because he thought it was a birthday hat.

"I Want To Show Daddy!"

Watching Pastor hunt for flies is a great source of entertainment for Duane. This is a result of his own huntings. Pastor was at work and Duane exclaimed, "I want to show daddy!" After he'd collected the thing for disposal. I quickly took a picture and told him to go wash his hands! Ick . . .

Feeling Crafty

I want to make something. There are so many great ideas out there. I just learned about freezer paper. I've seen a million homemade cute costumes for little boys. I've seen a few wreaths I want to make, but have a favorite. This crafty bug hits me every so often, but MORE often when I'm expecting. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of funds for such things, nor do I have a car to search out good deals in local stores.

So what do I do instead? I make stuff out of construction paper:


I love making stuff with the kids, even if they are a little young. Duane loved these until Avan sat on them. :) They were made from toilet paper rolls and tiny boxes of cereal.

Carl's Jr.

Carl's Jr. Last week we went to Carl's Jr. for lunch. The place we ate had one of those little indoor playgrounds and I was bound not to let Duane play there because of how many older kids were already there. We sat in the main section of the place, but could see the play area through a large glass window. When our food came, Duane began insisting that he wanted to play. We told him to eat his food and we'd think about it. (Let's face it, that always means no). Duane insisted and, finally, I told him. "You go play, but we're staying here to eat." I fully expected Duane to give in. Never, in a million years, would I have believed that he'd go on his own. He's the kind of kid that needs someone to sit and watch him play. After I'd said that, he jumped off the booth and went, by himself, to play on the indoor playground. I was torn with pride and nostalgic longing. Here was my baby, deciding he didn't need his mom to go and play where big kids were. He wasn't intimidated and played happily for awhile before coming back and taking bite of his cheeseburger only to run back in. Pastor and I were nervous parents and watched his every move. My plan backfired completely and I was reminded of how fleeting childhood/babyhood really is.