2 Weeks

How is it that it's only been 2 weeks, yet I had over three hundred pictures to choose from?  We've been rather busy, I guess.

We went to visit my mom in South Carolina to celebrate a big birthday for her on April 1.  While we were there we went over to a state park and enjoyed some time on a playground.

This totally captures her personality!

Arthur had fun too!

My boy

Arthur got to spend some time with his cousin, Micah.  They enjoyed holding hands.

(Micah is one day older than Arthur.)

Inspecting Micah

My favorite caption, from my sister:

"That's nothing, I had to ride in the car seat all the way from Florida!"

Buela and Papa Bob with 3 precious babies

Easter Egg Hunt #2

(I forgot my camera for hunt #1)

We hide eggs in palm trees in Florida

Sibling time in the pool

Arthur turned 6 months old!

18 lb 15 oz, 27.25"...though I swear he's already grown taller since then

75th percentile for weight and height

Child labor

Egg Hunt #3 - she was quite the pro by then!

"That sign says 'NO RABBITS ALLOWED!'"

Cute of Arthur

Minor miracle!  They're both looking at the camera!  (Sort of)

Arthur loved his Easter eggs

(Shh, don't tell him they were in Eleanor's basket 2 years ago)

Dipping our Rice Krispies eggs in chocolate with sprinkles

(Believe it or not, she did NOT get any on the dress!  Not sure what I was thinking but I got lucky.)

This boy takes his food VERY seriously.  He is pretty much always a happy baby, but he will throw tantrums - and I do mean tantrums - if he wants food and isn't getting it.  I learned the hard way when we went out for breakfast that if people are eating food he will DEMAND to be eating food too.  I don't mean that he wants to nurse; he wants what we are all eating.  I was holding him on my lap and turned my attention away for one second, and he dived into my plate and grabbed a piece of bacon.  So now I will always be prepared with food for him!

Those are pears, (very cooked) carrots, and green beans.  He ate them like a pro!  Well, except for the other half that ended up on the floor and in his chair...

Don't mess with this hungry boy.

Arthur has graduated up to the big tub!

And now for some videos!

Arthur loves his Jumperoo!  And his sister!

This one is actually from February, but I just got around to editing it.  (It was over 6 minutes long!)  This is Eleanor "reading" her very favorite story, the Tale of Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter.  Can you tell we've read it to her a thousand times??

Craft nook

I've been working on reorganizing my little craft area for several months, and it's finally done!  Pretty much every organizational idea here came from Pinterest, so I thought I'd pass along what I came up with in case anybody else is looking for inspiration.

 

I've claimed this little area at the top of the stairs for myself.  It's not as big as a whole room or anything, but I figured out that by going UP on the wall I can get a lot more use out of the space.

The built-in desk is really designed for a desktop computer, but it works pretty well for my sewing machine too.  I love having our (giant) printer right there too for when I print out patterns for appliques and stuff.

This craft cabinet came from Home Decorators.  It wasn't cheap, but it was worth it to me since it's so functional.  It's the perfect height for cutting fabric on top, and I also have a little makeshift ironing board next to the cutting mat.  Right now it's just made out of an old towel, but one of these days I'll get around to making a cute one with some scrap fabric.  It is SUPER convenient, especially when I do appliques and have to go back and forth between ironing and sewing.  In the cabinet door I have all of my glues and paints, and then inside are my laminating machine and paper supplies.  The drawers are full of scrapbook supplies. 

I used a kitchen utensil tray to organize my sewing supplies.  When I'm sewing at the machine I can just keep this open to get to everything. 

I love my pegboard!!!  I got it from Home Depot and spray painted it.  The pegboard was originally 4'x2' but I had them cut it at the store to make it 3'x2'.  The frame is a poster frame, also 3'x2'.  You can definitely still have the pegboard without the frame, but it gives it a nicer finished look if it's going to be somewhere like your family room.  The metal cups are also from IKEA - they were like 59 or 79 cents each and my handy husband drilled holes in them for me.  I read somewhere that if you can't see your supplies you won't use them, and I think this is true.  I love that I can now see and easily access my staple gun, glue gun, x-acto knife, etc.  Plus, all of the sharp stuff is UP on the wall and out of reach of little hands.

And my favorite...the fabric shelf.  Ahhhh.  I had no idea that I had that much fabric until I organized it like this.  It's almost embarrassing that I have this much!  I love, love, love being able to see everything.  I just bought foam board from Joann's (on sale, plus coupons) and cut them into eighths.  The shelf is a Besta wall shelf from IKEA.  Most of the jars on top are also from IKEA.  I have a jar on the shelf to store fabric scraps, and the ones on top store ribbon (in those tall spaghetti jars), buttons, snaps, safety pins, etc.

So there it is!  I love having a space where I can work, store everything I need, and still keep an eye on the kids while they play.

Springtime fun

My Easter bunnies

I know it doesn't look like it here, but Eleanor LOVES riding the train at the zoo.

How big is your wingspan?

Sweet boy

Arthur's first time putting his toes in the water

She loves the beach

Building sand castles

Look who helped me make dinner!

We've only had this water table for a few days, but it seems to be one of her favorite toys!

Dying Easter eggs - I love Arthur's expression!

Putting stickers on an egg

Our creations

I guess nobody wants to look at the camera today!

Eleanor's favorite thing to do

Hunter took Eleanor to a local nursery and let her pick out these flowers.  They planted them together and now she gets to water them, probably way more frequently than they need it!

Just some random shots of my sweet babies

March Update

I haven't been as good about posting on here; for some reason, I don't seem to have as much free time as I used to!  ;)  Anyway, here's a little bit of what's going on here.

Eleanor is growing up more and more each day.  She has definitely transformed from a toddler to a preschooler, and I'm not sure when that happened.  She's about 90% potty trained now - just not overnight and of course there's the occasional accident.  She only wears pull-ups overnight now.  Also, I think Eleanor is officially done napping now; it's probably been two weeks since she last napped.  I still put her down for at least 15 minutes/day for a little bit of rest time, but then I let her get back up for some "quiet time" in her room.  She usually stays in her room reading books to herself for about an hour.  As always, she says and does funny new things every day!  The other day she said, "Arthur is as good as a lollipop" and then later, "Arthur is as sweet as a lollipop."  Funny, she mostly ignores him, but then she says sweet things like that about him.  She is also really enjoying school now (2 days/week) and the other day she said, "I can just tell Mama goodbye in the parking lot."  I guess she didn't want her usual kiss at her classroom door!  We registered her for 2 days/week again next year.  This girl is growing up way too fast.  Oh, and her latest obsession is the Three Little Pigs - she absolutely loves that story.  She says she wants a Three Little Pigs birthday party, so we'll see what happens with that.  It's still 4 months away though, of course.

Arthur is really changing every day!  He's turning into such a handsome little man.  We have started solids with him once/day and he loves food!  (I know, I know, he's not 6 months old yet, but he does sit up with just a little support and he was always grabbing for our food.)  No surprise there, huh?  He always tries to grab the spoon away from me and feed himself, and I have let him feed himself some pieces of avocado, banana, and really soft carrots.  Also, he's really on a schedule now, which makes me and my schedule-oriented self very happy.  Now with the time change he gets up around 7:30, naps from 9:30-10:15, 12:30-3:00, and 4:45-5:30.  Of course those times are not exact, but they're usually pretty darn close.  Also, after a very stressful month after his swing broke, he now goes to sleep easily on his own!  I can just cuddle with him for a minute and then put him down with his loveys, and he goes right to sleep with no crying.  It's extremely liberating.  He's in bed for the night around 7:15 and wakes up once around 5 or 6 AM to eat.  That is, unless the Angelcare monitor alarm goes off at 2 AM and wakes us all up like it did last night...  It might be time to turn off the motion sensor part now that he scoots to the edge of the mattress.

And of course, here are some pictures!  It's getting much harder to get pictures of Eleanor because she refuses to look at the camera most of the time these days.

Dr. Eleanor check's Pooh's ears

Arthur is working hard on his Spanish

Eleanor modeling her chickadee shirt I made her.  We've called her our Chickadee since she was just a few months old and she LOVES this shirt.

She cut her lip with a stick and Hunter thought it deserved a picture.  It looked much better by the next day.

Just being cute!  Thanks for the outfit, Buela!

Eleanor having a picnic on the porch...she refused to look at the camera

This tree is the Big Bad Wolf's house, just so you know

Baby in a basket!

Of course, once Arthur got out, Eleanor had to climb in!  She has ALWAYS loved sitting in baskets!

And a few videos...