"We kiss the sweetest of Snickerdoodles, and teach the fragile Butterflies how to fly..."

"We kiss the sweetest of Snickerdoodles, and teach the fragile Butterflies how to fly..."

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

We're Off, to Down the Road!

Mommy is trying a more structured day today, and one of our activities, was a walk to the mailboxes down the driveway a ways to send some mail, then to go feed Jason and Tyler's favorite horse and mule, by Mama Mamie's house! We had lots of fun, as you'll see....
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Micah getting ready to venture out
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Tyler with Micah, by the wellhouse
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My three excited boys, with mail in hand
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We're off!!!
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And there they go...
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I held up Jason to throw the letter in
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Jason got ahead of us, so we called him to stop and wait for us before he got to the pasture
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Jason calling the mule over (she loves him)
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And even the belgian can't resist a treat!
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Jason and Tyler. Thank GOODNESS the electric fence was turned off today, lol! (ZAP! OUCH!)
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"I...can...almost...reach it...."
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Tyler was beaming and laughing the WHOLE Time, by the way!
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Close ups...
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They are huge animals anyway because of their breed...but imagine being down here at the boys' level!
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Jason had a good day today

Monday, January 25, 2010

Pictures of Micah today


Sorry that they are such bad quality ya'll, but I figure something is better than nothing! LOL! :) He is getting SO big, and I believe he is about 17 1/2 lbs now! Big boy Micah!





Saturday, January 23, 2010

Little Boys Update

JASON:

Well, Jason is doing pretty well these days, although he sometimes seems like his almost 30 with his intellect and attitude :)
He knows the alphabet, but is still working on getting the right letter with its shape. He is excellent at shapes, colors, and numbers. He can count up to 12, and knows addition with lower numbers. We also have a "Brain Quest" kindergarten flashcard pack, and he understands most of the basic concepts in that (such as opposites, missing items, misplaced items, pictured emotions, etc.), as well as its mathematics that I mentioned above.

He is really helpful to me when I need him, as far as fetching diapers, clothes for Micah, sippy cups, ingredients while we bake, etc. Its really nice to have a little helper :)

Unfortunately, he is MAJORLY dealing with the policeman/big brother syndrome, and we are trying to teach him to come get us instead of always taking things into his own hands. He occasionally does something quirky and mean to Micah just because he is hyper...but usually his victim is Tyler, lol! ;) It helps to have him go outside with the guys to burn off some energy, and feel older...but has a bad habit of losing daddy's tools lately.

TYLER:

Well, school is pretty much nonexistent with Tyler-Beans, as we call him :) He has started singing little ditties (like, Happy Birthday, Twinkle-Twinkle, and ABC's), but doesn't always get them right.
He talks up a STORM though! His voice is so squeaky, its so adorable! He pretty much never said a word before Micah was born, so I didn't really know what his "voice" would sound like...which I am always curious about with every child that is born (even ones not my own). Its just so incredible how different children have different tones, pitch, and lisps.

Tyler likes to antagonize Jason (as all little brothers do), but usually is a cry-baby when it comes to taking what he gives.
He has officially been weaned off his bottle...which if anyone knew him, they'd know his bottle was a permanent accessory just mere few weeks ago. Unfortunately, three things happened in this order: 1) Got a bad cold 2) Got a Bacterial infection around his mouth, so couldn't have a pacifier or bottle or anything, that would re-infect or cause irritation around his mouth 3) Mommy boiled nipples of bottles so they would be ready for when the infection was gone.....and accidentally let the water boil out. SO! He was weaned out of necessity, lol! :)

Tyler doesn't enjoy the outdoors much though...pretty much the only thing he likes is puddles, but nothing else remotely holds any interest (little jobs, climbing things, tools, yard work, etc). So, he goes outside with Jason, jumps in a few puddles, then comes inside. He would MUCH rather play in his room with his little plastic animal set, or hotwheels, or Thomas and Percy (toy trains)...which all 3 he could do for hours at a time. He is a social bug sometimes, but when it comes to play, he could be by himself forever and not even know a minute had passed.

He is starting to not take naps all the time now, but is moody when he doesn't, so we like his "on" days MUCH better than his "off nap" days. Also, he has STARTED being interested in potty training, but we don't want to push him like we did Jason, so we will just let him set the learning pace.

MICAH:

Micah Steven is a pretty good baby, although as I speak, he is currently in the midst of a HORRIBLE cold, that has his throat so sore, and him puking up phlegm almost every time he starts coughing and gags on it. SO, because of his misery, we have been spoiling him terribly, and I know its gonna take some work to unspoil him in a couple days when the sickness is gone :( Poor baby!

He is scooting forward now (finally), doing the army crawl. He loves being on all fours, but still isn't quite sure how to crawl using his back legs. He sits up really well by himself, and has been since Christmastime, although out of paranoia I had the boppy around him always until last week. He can go from sitting to crawling position, which is fun to watch. I still can't believe how fast they change at this stage!
He has an obsession with the cat, which is funny! She will wander aimlessly around the kitchen, and he just spins in circles trying to watch her, lol! His lower teeth are almost broken through...they have been huge bumpy swollen things for about 2 weeks now, so I think they keep on going back down, or whatever it is that people say they do. Soon they'll be here though, I'm sure.
We have been giving him mostly rice cereal, but experimenting with other baby foods. So far, his favorite is sweet potatoes (real shocker there..), but unfortunately since being sick, he has stopped eating anything, so we are exclusively nursing again. He still has a binky, but unfortunately we have lost 3 of his favorites, and mommy purchased a lousy brand binky 2 days ago, so he is pretty unhappy with his pacifier choices at the moment. Maybe we'll just have to wean him from those as we did Tyler! Maybe sicknesses are good for our family: The are an end to any infant addictions :)

Micah ADORES his older brothers, and will just watch and follow them around, until they acknowledge him, and then he gives them the BIGGEST grin and starts babbling to them. Tyler always plays with the plastics cupboard, and Micah will crawl over to him, and play with the lids and containers too, while watching Tyler play. Its really precious.

I still Cloth Diaper, using Fuzzi Bunz diapers, which are "pocket" diapers, with snaps on them for closure. They are really sturdy, and since switching to tide for my detergent, they have been working beautifully, and smelling so clean and fresh when they are done washing! PRAISE THE LORD, no more line-drying in the house! Jon went and got me a propane tank and a regulator, so we finally have a dryer, YAY! Now, washing and drying the diapers is so much easier, and I have learned to be more than usually grateful for a common appliance.

So there you have it! A nice LONG update on the kiddos :)

More Camera Troubles

Well...there was a couple problems with my Christmas camera, so we had to return it (poor Jonny!).

First of all, we couldn't get the CD-Rom that came with it to work on our computer. It kept trying to open itself with deleted files that used to have malware on them, so we gave up.

Second of all, it decided that it was only going to upload photos 1/15 times that we plugged it in. And it wasn't because it needed the CD-Rom....because on occasion it DID work! So, it was just wonky.

Thirdly, it was supposed to be HD, but the quality of pictures were almost always worse than my old camera (not HD). So, poo on that.

Fourthly, whenever you turned on the camera, it wouldn't be on the setting "auto" for flash or anything else. The flash was on "off", and it was on some weird "outdoor" setting. So, indoor pictures were horrid! No matter what setting we tried, it didn't work. As soon as you took a picture and viewed it, it would reset itself back too. Frustrating! Not the kinda of thing you want to hassle with when you are ALREADY worried about the timing you have to get that super cute picture of your child doing something rare or adorable. I want to just hit the power button, point, and shoot...not fiddle with settings every picture.

Fifthly (and the straw that broke the camel's back...), it bragged about having "video" capabilities. Oh, it took video alright! Without sound. We contacted their techs online TWICE and received the same answer "You purchase a digital camera, not a video camera. We are sorry that you might be disappointed, but our product contains no microphone, so sound recording is unavailable...just video". WHAT!??? So...it takes video, but not sound? What was so funny, is that the camera DID have those little microphone holes...that's why we contacted them twice, wondering if there was some mistake. NOPE! That model doesn't record sound.

BACK TO THE STORE with you, then.

I felt SO bad for Jonathan! He was so excited to get me a camera, and I know it frustrated him to feel like he didn't do a good job :) Sweet Jonny-Jon.

Now we are doing a bit more research on what the best camera is to get for our money, and for our needs (and video audio is one of them...). So, sorry everyone about no pictures lately. I will give a little update on the kids in my next post, but we won't have pictures for awhile yet I'm afraid :(

Friday, January 15, 2010

Making Things

Well, I know I have flooded my blog with all my little and big "projects" lately, so I apologize. This IS my family blog, so I would like to make sure the center of it all stays that way, yet leave room for my hobbies as well :)

All this to say, I am sure some of you have noticed on the right column of the blog, what I've posted. I have been asked many times lately what all these crafts are, what they do, how much I charge, etc.. But, again, this is still our family blog, and ya'll can still expect the latest pictures and stories, as always...just with a little "WAHM" business on the side (literally! LOL!).

So, please welcome, "Heather's Crafts & Wares", to our Blog! :)

Coupons????

Well, this week I decided to jump in to this whole "coupon" thing. Our neighbors so sweetly bring me the newspaper and ads every week once they are done, and so I can clip all the coupons! Yay! I stayed up all night last week, clipping away, and cross-referencing my finds with another lady's blog that is dedicated to rebates, coupons, and thrifty deals and ideas.

We have been blessed with the opportunity to watch children for a financial class on Sunday nights, so Jonathan has said I can have that money to spend on my hearts desires! Uh...which means food for now, lol!

Also, some friends of ours at the church have blessed us with a couple bags of groceries, and it is SUCH a huge blessing! I have had so much fun creating meals with all the goodies that I might not have bought myself, because of choice OR budget :) Praise the Lord for a wonderful church family, and wonderful friends! We are So so so blessed! (FYI, Jon's job is still going well, but because of economic reasons, their customers can't always pay on-time, which means paychecks get delayed).

BACK TO THE COUPONS......
On Tuesday night, after ladies bible study, I went to try my hand at getting all these "awesome" deals. Supposedly I was gonna hit 4 stores, spend a total of $20, and come home with bags and bags of groceries.

NOPE.
I felt like crying, so I called Andy (my sister, and queen coupon-shopper of late...) so she could tell me what in the WORLD I did wrong! 2 stores were sold out of all the items I was gonna purchase, one store had items that were the wrong amount of oz on sale that coordinated with the MFG coupons, so didn't get anything there. Lowes, I did pretty good, but accidentally miscalculated and spent over my budget, so my shopping ended there. So, out of frustration, I took my $10 walmart giftcard that I worked to earn on mypoints for the past 4 months, and bought milk, bread, and eggs. Pretty sad.

Anyhow, Andy made me feel better, but when I came home I still felt like such a failure. Not only was I out all night chasing phantom deals, but the house was a mess, I had missed dinner, Micah was hungry and cranky, and I had only about 4 bags of groceries and an empty wallet to show for it. Ugh.

IT'S OKAY THOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another week of ads has come...

So, today Jon took me to town to do "real" shopping at Lowes, and I was able (by some miracle) to organize all the coupons and a list of deals, and with *My Grocery Money* (doesn't that sound WONDERFUL!?? :D ), I went shopping. It was perfect, and the kids did really good (Jason had his own little basket alongside me), and I was able to get awesome deals in record time! And I did it! Yay! Coupon things do work!

Total savings on the receipt: $64.11
PLUS, We got $5 fresh rewards coupon(basically like a Lowes certificate), and are just pennies away in our account for another one to print off!!

*Sigh* Today was a good day in Heather's life, to say the least :)

Oh, and there is a link/button in the right column of my blog, to the lady's blog that I got alot of the deals info from, if ya'll wanna check it out!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Our Christmas Day, 2009

Here are the long-awaited pictures from our sweet little Christmas here on the farm.

First though, we received a few gifts that I wanted to express thanks for, that might not be pictured:

1) Thanks to Izzy for her CRAZY AWESOME scrapbook of our visit back home in Washington this past September! We Love it so much Iz, and I've already made the apple crisp recipe inside, (for our New Years Eve party)

2) Thanks to the Raymond family, for shipping us that awesome box of goodies, literally! They sent me a beautifully knit shawl with crocheted edges, which I wear or use pretty much every day; Timothy got a flannel dress shirt; Both boys got canned clams and such, bags of beef jerky, and some other goodies; We got a MASSIVE block of Fudge, which I cut up, put in a container in the fridge, and am CLOSELY monitoring the boys (uh..and myself...) to make sure it doesn't disappear TOO fast ;). We are already 3/4 of the way done with it though, but I think I've done a good job making it last this long! Its absolutely divine; a bunch of other snacking foods, like cookies, summer sausage, crackers, and nummies like that. Thank so much Raymond family!

3) Sarah picked Timothy, and I'm sure she'd want to know: HE LOVES IT! Jon and Tim have been watching Hogans Hero's episodes before bed for the past couple days as a "guys thing", and its so wonderful to hear their laughter from the other room :) So, thanks from Timothy, Sarah!

4) Our sweet neighbors asked if they could get the boys a little something for Christmas, as they don't have any young children in their family to get things for. A couple days before Christmas, they showed up at our house with a BUNCH of presents for us!! It was such a blessing to watch them as they watched the boys open their gifts and stockings. I could tell it was a joy for them :) They gave us a Christmas candle, and each little boy got an outfit, and Jason & Tyler each got a puzzle, and a stocking STUFFED with, well, stocking stuffers! Silly putty, candy, glow sticks, glow swords, cars, etc....the boys were in seventh-heaven! Thank you so much Deb and Ralph!

5) Our neighbor, Mama Maimie, gave me a beautiful Red Poinsettia plant. She just turned 96 this year, and she is such a dear heart :)

6) Mom and Dad Mayfield, thank you so much for the card and special gift. We are so blessed by it!

7) Mom Hawkins, the boys LOVED their toothbrushes, and "underwear". We are about to break them though...the noisy things! But at least it encourages good tooth-brushing habits! We know you have a box that was waiting for Christmas crazy-mail to be over too, so thank you so much for the things in the Christmas box, in advance ;)

I am SURE I am forgetting someone or something...but altogether we have been SO blessed this year by our friends and family! The Lord provides when we truly have needs, he is so faithful. We pray that the Lord will pour blessing back on all of you, as you have blessed us :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!


Jonathan Reading the Christmas Story




Timothy and Micah


Jason's Apron (mommy made it!)


"Catch, Timothy"


Heather got a HUGE mixing bowl, an awesome new dish drainer (old one was TINY since we are exclusively hand-washing now), and a black ladle!


Three Little Boys, just enjoying Christmas


Tyler's "BIG" gift: Thomas the tank engine!


The football in the ladle...this is SO Tyler, our little stasher and stuffer! If it will fit on, or in, he'll find a way to get things lost and stuck!


A hand saw for Jon, from the boys


Cereal for Timothy. Do we know how to make him happy or what?


Baby's first Christmas


Jonny got a beanie


Tyler's Apron (mommy made!)


Train Track...on the back of Tyler's "I Spy" quilt


Tyler's "I Spy" quilt (mommy-made!)


Jason's "BIG" Present: A tennis racket and tennis balls!


Jason's "I Spy Bag" (mommy made!)


Tyler Loves Thomas :)


Micah playing with his Christmas toys


Heather's Slippers...our hardwood floors are cold in wintertime!


Jon's Moccasins


Jason's second "BIG" gift: An old fashioned REAL musket! (uh...with caps) This was a hand-me-down from some friends of ours, for Jason. THANKS GUYS!


Heather opening gifts, under Jason's watchful eye :)


Heather's Gift from Elizabeth (Lizzy picked me, and I picked her this year, hee hee!)...a sweet little boy figurine containing fragrance, and the Elizabeth Gaskell trilogy set ~ "Wives and Daughters", "Cranford", and "North & South"
THANKS LIZZY!!!


Jon's gift from Timothy: A rechargable spotlight/floodlight


The boys' gift from some friends of ours (Thanks ya'll!), a big plastic tool set/table!


Tyler playing with some of the tools


Jason playing with the hammer (check out the shadow on the wall, lol!)


Jonathan playing with his new toy......


Timothy's gift from us, a big set of pocket knives for carving


Micah enjoying the cradle


Micah trying to crawl to his new ball


He got it!!


Mommy rolled it too far away...