Happy Weekend

This weekend was a good one! The last few days were quite cold, dreary and wet and was starting to put a damper on our moods. Well, nothing lifts our spirits like cozying around the fire. So Saturday morning when the skies were still grey and the temperature was still quite cold, that is exactly what we did! We have been slowly working on our valentine crafting and I thought what better time than this to finger knit our garland chains.

concentrating hard!
silly boy!

Parker had other ideas for his yarn ;-)

Later, more crafting was done to prepare for the pinewood derby car race next weekend. Here, the boys are painting their cars after lots of sanding.

We ended the weekend on a beautiful note...the sun was out and the air felt warm. Just a hint of spring to help us through yet another round of dreary weather to come.

springtime really is on its way!
I found this shoots popping up through the leaves in several areas of the backyard. We are all curious to see what they will become.

There was plenty of climbing (notice the sheath tied around his waste...we are in the thick of a Peter Pan phase).

twisty swinging

tree hugging

sliding

watching big brothers

and more sliding

the weekend ended with a clear sky and just a sliver of moon shining (a fingernail as I used to call it).

This week will be a relaxing week with not much planned other than school and home life. Oh and lots more valentine crafting! Then on to a certain soon-to-be 9 year old's birthday preparations. Lots of mama and daddy made gifts are in the works.

And while not related to this post, I wanted to share just a bit of what our little girl has been up to. Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds and new words are popping up everyday. She no longer calls the boys "brodders", but by their names "blay", "jaytee", and "parpar"...so cute. She has also started asking to sit on the potty and has gone a couple of times so we are going to start potty learning. This seems like such a big growth step and I wasn't quite ready for it yet. It is just another reminder that my "baby" is growing up way too quickly. And just like her brothers, she has a strong love for "tweets". We have bird feeders set up in the backyard and the front porch by the school room window. We all enjoy seeing who will visit us next and can easily spend 10 minutes or more just watching our little friends!

The Birthday Girl

I can still call myself girl, right? On the 15th, I celebrated my 33rd birthday. To be honest, I never really like celebrating my birthday. It's not the aging aspect that bothers me. Its a bit hard to put into words, actually, but I think it has to do more with several past birthdays being nothing more than disappointing to say the least. So year after year, my expectations are low and I would really just like to get through the day. Oh, but with children, that just isn't possible! As the boys are getting older and really, really loving celebrating, it was almost as exciting for them as their own birthdays! There was some whispering throughout the week and a little bit of sneaky crafting going on. How these sweet boys make me smile!

So I woke up to lots of hugs and kisses and "happy birthdays". Gifts and cards were given to me before I even left the bed!
suncatcher made by Jakey bug

from Blake

from Parker

from MaKenna (with help from Daddy)

and a beautiful bead necklace made by my Jakey. It is just lovely, don't you think? (I had to include this picture with Kenna and her marker face...something that happens almost daily now).

I must say this birthday was great. My family made me feel loved and appreciated. They were indeed very happy that I was born and I am so blessed to have them in my life! As I tucked in the boys and gave them their goodnight kisses, Parker said to me "I hope you had a good birthday! And I hope tomorrow is a good birthday too" Love that cutie!

Friends and the woods

After a break for the holidays, we were finally able to meet up with some of our co-op buddies at the nature preserve. It was a pretty chilly day, so we took advantage of the nature center to help thaw us out a bit. They have a really nice natural play area just outside the nature center that the kids love to play at.

This winter has been the coldest winter since our move from Florida. I must admit, I am quite ready for spring now. It seems that no matter how many layers, warm drinks and blankets I use, I just can't get warm! The kids even seem to be a bit less tolerant of the weather this year, wanting to spend more time indoors than out (which is very abnormal for them!). So lets hope for an early (and warm!) spring.

Cub Scout Court of Honor

Both Blake and Jacob have joined Cub Scouts this past fall (late October). They have been having so much fun and look forward to the meetings every week. In fact, Jacob wore his uniform for almost a week straight when he first got it! Two weeks ago, they received awards at the Court of Honor. Both boys earned their Bobcat badge. Jacob also earned two beads, orange and white. The beads are displayed on his Tiger Cub recognition patch and show how far he is on the Tiger Trail (all of the achievements he has earned that count toward his Tiger Cub badge). Blake also received a bead (which works the same as for Tiger Cubs, but only Bears earn less). Blake has almost fulfilled all of the requirements needed to receive his Bear Cub patch...not bad for only being apart of cub scouts for 3 months!

Winter Days

With all the celebrating that encompassed the month of December, we also managed to sneek in some lovely slower paced days. Not all of them managed to get documented by photos, but here are a few to share.

One of my favorite scents of the holiday season- cloves and clementines
Blake designed a happy face pomander

Jakey's was a crazy dude with a mohawk...so very fitting to those of you who know Jacob

The first snow of the season began Christmas evening and continued through most of the following morning. We were left with a beautiful winter wonderland (a rare treat for those of us in the "south")

My kids are obsessed with eating snow. I am not sure if it is a kid thing or just because of the stories mama and daddy told them from their childhood days.

And this was MaKenna's introduction to snow. All decked out in snow gear, my summer baby HATED it! She didn't move from this spot and soon cried to go back inside.

A snowball fight soon ensued between Daddy and Blake

This was the first year we made a gingerbread house. I ended up purchasing a kit from Trader Joe's because I couldn't bear the thought of making one from scratch and then everyone hating it! Well, my intuition was right. While they enjoyed the construction, unfortunately the house found its way to the trash the next morning.

The gingerbread house did provide an opportunity for a quick reinactment of Hansel and Gretel though! That's the witch by the door.

I couldn't resist this picture of MaKenna warming herself by the fire! She is in full blown imitation stage right now which is equally cute (as illustrated above) and frustrating (when she yells "no, no, no" at a request for something she does not want to do). She definitely keeps us all entertained!

We just finished up our first week of school since taking our holiday break. Both the kids and I were craving our daily school rhythm and most of the week went relatively smooth. We even managed to meet up with friends for a nice (but cold!) afternoon in the woods! They are now forcasting more snow for us on Monday (!!!!) so a snow day may be needed :-)

Christmas and Handmade Gifts

This was the first Christmas in a couple of years where it was just our family celebrating. I think after the month's whirlwind of activities, it was just what we needed! And it was so lovely. Just the kind of Christmas you dream of.

The tree all lit up prior to Santa's arrival.
MaKenna checking out her new barn

And the aftermath of gift opening

Name plaques made by Daddy for our football loving boys (aren't the wood burned helmets awesome!)

mama knitted kitty for MaKenna and gnome for Blake-he was the last to get a gnome and now all the boys want "friends" for their gnomes :-) Thankfully, these don't take long to finish.

mama knitted scarves for the boys (top-bottom:Parker, Blake, and Jacob). They all picked out their own colors.

Poppa made barn/stable inspired by Nova Natural's

Poppa did an amazing job! It is so beautiful and made with such love! The kids have played with it everyday since.

Not pictured is a kitchen that Peter is still in the process of making. Hopefully, it will be completed this weekend (ahem) and then I will post pictures of that as well. Peter and I have slowly been incorporating more handmade gifts into the holidays. The boys seem to appreciate those presents more and it is a source of pride for them to say "mama or daddy made it". Of course, this also has meant their wish lists have gotten longer, but that is okay. I already have lots of plans for Blake's birthday and will be pushing myself creatively a bit...I can't wait to get started!

Five Times around the Sun

My Christmas Eve baby turned 5 this year! It doesn't seem possible that five years have gone by already. I still see this baby when I close my eyes or when I see him sleeping!

all 9 lbs 14 oz!
blowing out his birthday candles

so happy!



My parents came to help celebrate and they treated us to a game of bowling. We had such a great time!

MaKenna of course wanted to wear the shoes ;-)

Look at Jakey's form! He looks like a pro.

the birthday boy



afterwards, we headed back home to open gifts

His mama made doll which he named Kennedy. He also received lots of arts and crafts supplies and books from grandma and poppa.

You have grown into such a wonderful, kind, caring little boy and I am so happy that I get to be your mom. We love you so much!