Diapers

I have two in diapers again! Not two babies though. Our twelve year old mini poodle is now wearing diapers. He is having accidents everywhere, all of the sudden. Yes, I know my husband is a veterinarian and should be able to fix this, but right now he is not in a clinic (he's doing a pathology residency,) and since we just moved here he doesn't know vets who will let him come in and run some tests. So we are working on this dilemma, but until we figure it out Murray has to wear doggy diapers and a onesie to keep them on. His dignity is lost. Poor guy!

That is one of Isaac's newborn onesies! Ha ha!

Sir Topham Hat

Isaac is big into pretending now, which I love. Last week he yelled at imaginary monsters, "Go 'way, monsters, and never ever see you again!" He really likes books with monsters or dragons in it. He has a book that we read every single day at least one time called Thomas and Percy and the Dragon. My mom has a lot of those monster in your closet or under your bed kind of books by Mercer Mayer and we read them a million times while we were there. Don't know what the attraction is exactly.

Last week he also pretended to be Sir Topham Hat (from Thomas the Train, for those of you who don't know.) When he was pretending to be Sir Topham Hat, he first told me who he was and then ran off pushing a stroller. (He has sisters, you know!) He came back around and said, "Hi, Mommy!" I responded with a "Hi, Isaac!" That is when he said very dramatically, as if I should have known, "No, Mommy! I am Sir Topham Hat!" We went through this scenario a few times, because I kept giving an automatic response since I was distracted. When is Mommy ever going to get it?

Slowly, but surely...

We are getting back on track. The homeschooling room is getting closer to being ready for our school year to start on September 6th. Here is my homeschooling closet.

Montessori Trays

Curricula

Here are the children working on a craft in the homeschooling room.

Isaac even learned the color black while painting and color mixing.

Here he is another day coloring his Cars coloring book on the kitchen floor since the big girls took up the whole table. What a good sport!

Slacker?

I know I haven't been my usual blogging self. I suppose I can't truly call my self a slacker, just a blogging slacker since I certainly have been busy. I have been torn between getting to know the area, organizing the house, planning for the fast approaching homeschooling year to start, grocery shopping, and all the other regular chores like cooking and cleaning. Oh yeah, and taking care of these cute children of mine. So, blogging has been forced off my list of to do's. And sadly, I have missed so many precious things that I wish I could have remembered at the end of each day to record it. Here is one thing I caught on video though. Genna and Isaac were playing with his Thomas trains. Genna has been sucked into the Thomas frenzy a bit. This is before his Aunt's gifts arrived and he got all the extensions to the track. Isaac talks about Thomas 24/7. When they play, they even use the sayings from the books and TV shows, like "Bust my buffers" or "Running out of steam." I think it is cute.

Oh, one thing I do remember from this week is that Isaac finally sat on the potty. Of course, he didn't do anything but sit on it, but this is huge since he has been deathly afraid to even sit on it. So I was proud. I've got pictures, but not for public viewing. Sorry, you all have to miss out on the cuteness of my little boy trying to use the potty!

Plus, more news! He finally knows all of the colors we have been working on all summer long. He knows red, blue, yellow, green, pink, and white, but not orange, black, brown, or purple because I haven't focused on those at all. I don't know why I left those out exactly, but I know purple was probably because there are not any purple Thomas engines in any of our books. Everything is about Thomas, like I said. That's how I plan to teach him his numbers too.

Singing in the rain

Or doing a little Tai Chi in the rain?

These pictures capture the spirit that I love so dearly in my Genevieve.

I think she could have stayed out there all day just dancing with her umbrella.

When we got home from Mass they were dying to try out their new umbrellas that Nanna got them. Hannah, as you may know, doesn't like to get wet unless she is in her bathing suit, so she pooped out early. Isaac was just too hungry after going to the 10:45am Mass to last long out there. He had fun, but nothing gets in between this boy and his three square meals a day. By the time I thought to run and get the camera, only my Genevieve was still singing in the rain.

The Thomas Birthday Party

This party was truly thrown together since my main concern was getting the house presentable for the guests and getting my little boy his coveted Thomas cake. Speaking of which, here it is...

I used a rectangular cake pan and made my typical chocolate cake with butter-cream icing. I had no pattern so it is a free hand cake. I just looked at a picture of Thomas and drew it with black icing. The most time-consuming part was all the color mixing. But it was all worth it when Isaac got to see it and blow out his two candles

...and eat it, of course.

Everyone had blue teeth leaving the party!

Happy birthday, Isaac!

High-Five Friday

To follow The Simmons Family, I am going to try out "High-Five Fridays" to celebrate our little accomplishments each week. This week was all about getting the house set up, of course.

1. A few corners are settled and cozy making our new house feel more like our home.

2. My kitchen is set up and running now. At first, it seemed as though it wasn't going to hold everything, but with a little planning and a for sale box nearby it all came together nicely. I even have a few empty spots to fill which is amazing if you knew how many kitchen gadgets and appliances I have. My favorite thing about it is that I set it up so that the girls can get everything they need for breakfast (and once we get that down, lunch too). All they need help with is pouring the milk. They have even been rinsing and loading their own dishes with the handy blue stool. So helpful!


3. Our dinning room is looking good despite the red wall that is probably going to be painted over in the future. The attached formal sitting room is crisp and toy-free. I am working on setting up the altar in there so it can be our prayer room.


4. Our living room has hidden toy storage! I am tired of looking at toys all the time. This way I can hide them at the end of the day at least!

Now you see them!

Now you don't!

5. Our guest bathroom is ready for company, elegant and kid-friendly.

These are the moments I'll remember all my life...

Brian was setting up our dining room table when Isaac walks up. He squats down and asks, "What ya doing, Daddy?" Daddy replies, "I am putting the table together with tools." Naturally, Isaac then asks, "Can I watch?" Brian at this point gets excited about his interest in guy stuff and starts telling him the name of tools and narrating each step. From the kitchen, I kept hearing Isaac repeating names of tools, like "Wench" (AKA wrench) and it was just too cute!

I could not ask for more.

Happy birthday, Buddy!

Two days after we arrived was our little guy's birthday! I had his gift, but couldn't find the wrapping paper yet, so I wrapped it in packing paper since we, obviously, had plenty of that. I quickly decorated it with a Thomas train and he was none the wiser.

When daddy got home we went to dinner, and he got a little slice of cake with some candles in it. He successfully blew out those candles in one blow which I don't think the girls could do on their second birthday. He told everyone at the restaurant that it was his birthday and he was "two years older." He is still really looking forward to his Thomas cake and party which is scheduled for Saturday with some old friends.

It is hard to believe that he was this small when we brought him home from the hospital two years ago, and we didn't even think he was small.


And today on his second birthday, he's a talking, walking, independent big boy. Sigh. I love babies. Why do they have to grow up? Terrible Twos, here we come!

We love Isaac so much and couldn't imagine our family without him. He brings comedy and cuddles to my life daily. One of the funniest things he does right now is get to talking too fast when he is explaining something urgent to us and we catch maybe one or two words out of the whole monologue. It is adorable! And so is he!

We're here!

I unpacked my very last box today (Aug 13th) and our computer is fixed. So as a reward to myself I am back posting!

Our first day (Friday) of travel was wonderfully smooth! The children were as good as I could have hoped for. Seriously, my dream car trip. And we made an eleven hour trip in exactly twelve hours. Woo hoo! It was probably due to my lap desks that I made them for the trip. (The magnet games were a hit too.)

It couldn't possibly be due to the DVD players I bought at Sam's for the trip...

Then we stayed with our wonderful friends (from our time in upstate New York) in Huntsville, Alabama for two nights and one day. We had a great time! I was too busy enjoying the company to bother with many pictures, but here are a few.

The second and final day (Saturday) was also supposed to be an eleven hour trip and we made it in thirteen hours. We had a rougher time, but still not too bad. We lost most of our time due to poorly planned gas stops and potty breaks being optional and not forced. I should know better by now. When one goes, we all have to go! Anyway, we had a few tears this day, probably due to being overly tired after playing too hard with their old friends. I was out of patience by the time we rolled into our new driveway and met my sweet husband who had so lovingly dug out sheets and made beds for everyone. Sunday, after Mass, my mom and I got straight to unpacking. You just can't live with boxes all over and the kids were dying to find their long missed toys that, and I quote, "took a long long time on the ship" to get here. We got the girls' room and Isaac's room all set up that day so they would feel more comfortable and be entertained while we continued in the unpacking fest.

Texas to Maryland

We are now in route to our new home. I received the sad news that our somewhat new computer was damaged in the move, so I am not sure how long it will be before I get back to blogging again. It is probably a blessing in disguise since I need to be unpacking and setting up shop for our very first year of homeschooling. I'll have my mom and Brian's mom there to help me the first week, so I need to get down to business.

"Two Year Oder"

That's how my big boy says he's going to be two years old. Here's an interview with him. He knows his name, but whenever I ask him, What is your name?" he says, "Two year oder."

Magnetic Trays

This is going to double as a car toy for the long drive and then as a Montessori tray for our home school room which will be it's final destination. The trays are just cheap cookie sheets that came in a set of three at Walmart. The first one has pom poms hot glued to magnets (I used a magnetic strip and cut it up to fit the pom poms.) Certainly not the most exciting craft I have ever done, but, hopefully, it will be enjoyable to the kids. They can sort by color or make shapes, designs, pictures and use their imagination.

I found this magnetic paper doll set at a local store and decided that they didn't stick as strong to the background scene as to the cookie sheet. I taped the background onto the other cookie sheet so the girls could play on one tray and then store the dolls and clothes on the other.

My plan is to add other magnet sets to trade out. One idea is to print out and have the girls color Thomas trains or construction trucks, laminate them, and glue on magnets. And then, of course, we have multiple fridge magnet sets of letters and numbers to add.

Strap Cozy

I know, I know. Not on my list again! But Hannah complains on long trips about the strap bothering her since moving to a booster, so, in light of our upcoming treck to Maryland, I threw this together with the left over fabric for her lap desk. I have to admit that I have a little more fabric left over and am secretly racking my brain for more car accessories that I could make with it, but don't tell anyone. I will try to fight the urge.

It is just a little padded square (and a few stitches to help it fold nicer) with velcro to close it. And I just realized that the owls are upside down. (In my pathetic Scottish accent) I'll have to remedy that.

It's our Swagger Wagon...

...and, apparently, my elbow. Sorry guys, I am a little turned around today. You can ask my brother who had to ride around with me today and help me take the kids swimming at my uncle's.

FINALLY! Isaac's stocking...check!

It took me nearly the whole summer, but I finally finished it! It's hard to see the details in my pitiful photo, but there are tons of sequins and detail. Remind me next time to pick a simpler pattern! I made a few mistakes, but none that are noticable enought to fix. This guy sure won't mind, especially come Saint Nicholas' Day when it is filled with goodies!

Isaac kind of overshadows my summer project with those smiling cheeks, doesn't he? Thats just fine with me. He was a much BIGGER project just two summer's ago!

Birthday Bags

I made these totes out of clothes I got at a thrift store. They were inspired by the pillowcase totes on The Sewing Dork, but I had no luck finding cool pillowcases. Soooo...

This one is for my sister-in-law. She loves polka dots and so I grabbed some satin polka dotted PJs and a coordinating brown linen skirt and turned it into this...

This one is for my sister. I used an XL white tank and an XL red and white floral skirt to make this...

I added fabric flowers to the top to cover the stitch up form when I sewed the straps together.

Happy birthday, Leah and Kristen!

Another thing off my summer list checked off! I am moving right along. Isaac's stocking is moments away from being finished...finally!

Snow Cones

I have racked my brain and can not recall my kids ever having a snow cone before! Really! I guess when you live in colder climates, they just aren't a big thing. Ice cream is everywhere in Europe, but I don't recall seeing snow cones even at carnivals and festivals. So unless my husband has a revelation or someone else we know and remembers a time when they had them, this past Thursday was their first snow cones ever.

I know you are all screaming at the computer right now, "What flavors did they pick?!" Well, that was the most fun part if you ask me! I had no idea that all those goofy, nondescript names could bring children such joy. Hannah settled on Hannah Montana flavor which was really cherry-flavored wedding cake. She really barely knows who Hannah Montana is. People call her that and a friend at German school talked about her all the time. I digress. Genna chose wedding cake flavor since she wants to be a "marrying girl" someday. Isaac chose Tiger's Blood because he liked the name I guess. His was the best actually.

Some runner-up flavors were Cotton Candy, Shirley Temple, and Bubble Gum. I love summer!