Stormy Night

Whoazers (as Jack would say)! That was some storm last night. It sounded like it could be a tornado but apparently it was a derecho storm. I have never seen anything like it but we are so thankful for God's protection.  The kids slept right through it even with their fans turning off during the power outage. They are kind of awesome like that of course, Ella still wakes up in the night and woke up after it was all said and done...not so awesome. 

On a good note, my baby sister (not so much a baby anymore) graduated yesterday after enduring 8 weeks of boot camp in the Coast Guard!  From what I hear she did an amazing job while juggling leadership roles and being a mentor to those around her.  So many people were praying for her and I know she grew during this experience.  Soon, she will be based near the sea and serving our country. I'm so proud of her!  I love you, Megan!

Here are the kiddos during a normal baby/toddler interaction...

Wow! Both kids smiling at the same time for a photo.

Jack wanted to shares some "cuddles" with Ella.

Ella retaliated by trying to eat her brother...

 She was shocked when Jack didn't appreciate her attention.  He got up and ran away soon after. :-)

Life with littles is never boring!

Bits and Pieces

Here are some of the things we have been up to the past few weeks...

Jack has transitioned to a big boy bed!

We had a little bit of a hang up when we discovered that there aren't very many bed rails that are compatible with bunk beds.  I researched a little bit and found bed bolsters which got my wheels turning as to why I couldn't just use large pool noodles.  Sure enough, Google was full of people who have successfully done just that and we have been happy with them too!

For Father's Day we got Seth his favorite chocolate and a variety pack of Boylan's soda.

I also traced the kid's hands (it wasn't easy!) and made a little love note from them.

We celebrated Father's Day on Saturday with a trip to the park for a picnic.

Jack travels with his shovel so he won't miss out on any digging opportunities!  His other shovel had an unfortunate meeting with a car wheel but thankfully, Target's $1 bin had the perfect orange (his favorite color) ice scoop to take it's place!

He flashed us a one wink grin! He cracks me up. 

We checked out the wildlife in the river.

Again with the winking...seriously, so cute!

Sweet Ella has become even more vocal and is now chanting "da-da".  She also is shaking her head from side to side which has become a fun game for all of us!

We visited our local library and signed up for the kid's summer reading program.  Jack has already read around his board and has collected 5 prizes (things like a free ice cream cone and passes to a baseball game and the county fair) and he is doing it all over again.  Ella has reached 4 prizes but I think someone else will be eating her ice cream!

By the way, thanks for all the great book suggestions last month.  We already own (and love) quite a few of them and we have checked out some while putting the rest on our list.  Of course, his favorites were the tractor and truck ones that we checked out and he still talks about them and wonders where they went.  I think we might need to check them out again!

We have been enjoying our summer so far!

How about you?

6 Months!

Ella turned 6 months this week!

"Whoa, when did that happen?!"

"I'm not sure how I feel about this."

"Hey Mom, can we talk about this..."
Meanwhile, Jack ran circles around us!
When we went inside his hair was sticking up everywhere from all the sweat!

We already had huckleberries and I didn't really like them.
Jack, of course, thought they were amazing.
I am looking forward to the blackberries being ready.

He was desperately trying to find a black one.
Pretty soon, buddy!

Happy 1/2 year birthday Ella Bear!
We love you!

New Wheels

We have been needing a bigger vehicle for a while now.  Our Toyota Corolla has been an awesome car.  It is 10 years old, has over 100,000 miles and has never needed anything major done to it but it was just too small.  The whole backseat was full of kids.  The whole trunk was full of a stroller.  It was time.

On Tuesday, we took a family day trip to go look at some vans.  We had 3 different ones we wanted to look at so we mapped out our route and away we went. It was a LONG rainy day but the kids did great and we found a perfect van at the end.  God just directed our steps and gave very clear direction and we are very happy with our choice.

 We got a pearl white 2004 Toyota Sienna.  The features on this van are amazing...it practically drove us home!  I'm not kidding.  When it is in cruise control, it has sensors that will slow down the van if it is getting too close to another vehicle and then get back up to speed when the coast is clear! It was a little scary the first time it was happening because Seth was like "I am not doing that" and I thought maybe we had purchased some sort of robot car! It also will beep if you are too close to a wall so, hopefully I won't bang the mirror at the bank drive-thru like I did with my employer's vehicle.  It was a suburban, give me a break!

We are so thankful for a bigger car.  The neighbors are even happy for us.  One just loves the pearlized "color", haha.  I spent a good portion of the day giving her a needed scrub and organizing all of our necessities.  There was plenty of space and who knows why we need 15 cup holders but at least I won't have to do contortions in the front seat to change a baby's diaper anymore!

Here she is!

The kids and I did a lot of sitting in the car while Seth test drove the vans. We stayed busy playing.  P.S.  All of these pictures were taken while the car was parked!

Ella liked sitting in Jack's car seat to play.

 Jack pretended to drive.  

Remember this!  We had some fun times in our little car.

He ate apples.

He played with the iPad.

This little girl is a very good traveler.

Jack likes the new big van.  I think he thinks that it is an extension to our house.

"Can we go play in the van?!"

This Moment- All Lined Up

Jack came running in to the kitchen smiling and telling me I needed to come see his airplanes.

I knew from my nanny days that boys like to line up their vehicles so, I was just waiting for the day...he did not disappoint!

Tales of a Seam Ripper

So, last weekend I decided to make the new patio chair cushions.  I actually found some outdoor fabric at the Walmarts.  There was no selection.  Just one choice so, moss colored cushions it shall be.  The bad news is that I didn't get enough fabric the first time and I had to go back again for more, ugh.  The really bad news is that I had an extreme case of mental block and had to rip out my seam twice before getting the strings put on the right way.  I thought I had it it all figured by the time I got to the last cushion 2 days later...nope, I did it again!  It only happened once this time so, I was getting slightly smarter.  I really don't know what my issues are.

This kind of fabric isn't very forgiving especially on a circle but, they are much better than they were.

The previous cushions lasted almost 10 years so, hopefully these ones will have a nice long life too.

Since, I was knocking out projects I decided to make a new ironing board cover also.  This has been needing to be done for a loooong time.  Sometimes you stand back and look at a finished project and just wonder, "What took me so long to do this?".  Oh well.  It is nice to have one that doesn't shift around while I iron now.  I also have a slight bit of satisfaction that the patio set and the ironing board came from Walmart and I didn't have to purchase pre-made replacements from there. Makes me smile. :-)

Before

Gross, disgusting, embarrassing and slightly disturbing
Really?  Ironing boards and washing machines...was this the best pattern out of all of them?!

After

Ahhh, much better!

Here is the new board in action...Ella was swinging and Jack was intent on the vacuum.  He likes to pretend he is cutting grass.  I don't even know why we buy him toys.

"Um mom, you aren't going to make me play with a vacuum too, right?"

She was happy when I told her no, of course not. :-)

This kid has no time for pictures.  He really has a lot of grass to mow.

What is up next on my sewing agenda?  Well, this little pair of pj pants didn't make it.  

 Apparently, I didn't take into consideration the extreme movement of a toddler in non-stretch pants.

I took the elastic out of these and will use it in a new pair...cotton jersey this time!