Catching Up!

Last Thursday,  I came down with a sinus infection and all the symptoms that go with one.  I was pretty miserable and to top it all off Seth was leaving for Sniper School Sunday night through Thursday night.  Thankfully, Monday I was starting to feel more like myself so Jack and I were able to get out of the house to do some errands.

I also was able to make some crafts and finish Jack's wooden blocks.  On Tuesday, Jack and I went to the Farmer's Market to pick out some apples for canning applesauce.  Oh how Jack loved having access to that bushel of apples!  Much to his dismay, they had to be removed due to being thrown and eventually made into a snack, ahem.  We canned them on Thursday with my mother-in-law and had a great time.  We look forward to eating all the fruits of our labor :-)  We were happy to see Seth that evening and now everything is back to normal!  Enjoy the pictures from our week!

Jack didn't understand I wasn't feeling up to such wild play!

Here's the wind up...

and the snack!

Paper strip pumpkins and a set to giveaway.

Here are the blocks we made for Jack's 1st Birthday!

I made a beeswax wood polish to protect them.

I used this recipe.

Here is the finished product. 

It was a very nice polish to rub into the wood.  

A great bonus was that my hands were very soft after doing all 109 blocks!

Here they all are after much (much!) sanding and polishing!

I hope he enjoys the blocks as much as we did making them for him!

I still need to make a drawstring bag to store the blocks in.

Jack gave the crank a try.

Even his foot got involved!

The finished (huge) bowl of sauce!

P.S. In case you didn't know already, you can click on any picture to see it larger.
Have a great weekend!

This Moment ~ Rubber Ducky Love

I read a blog that includes this idea as a weekly tradition.  I thought I would join in the fun!

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.   soulemama

10 Months!

10 months!

Wow, we have entered the double digits! Here are some of the ways Jack has changed over the last month...

1. He started to crawl on his hands and knees as opposed to army crawling.  

2. He is trying to pull up on things but is only getting as far as his knees.

3. He says "mama"and "dada" and makes other consonant sounds.

4. He waves!

5. He gets into a lot of mischief!

If this isn't the face of being up to no good!

He heard Dad working with the chop saw.

Sweet boy!

Curious boy!

Big boy!

While Jack napped, we spent the day working on one of Jack's birthday presents.  Here is a clue on what we were making...!

I will share the results later!

Sewing Adventure

The creative juices have been flowing here!  We have been working on some presents for Jack's birthday and Christmas.  All of the inspiring blogs out there have left me saying "Oh, I could do that!" and "That looks easy!" Sometimes that's true and other times well, not so much!

Let's just say that my sewing capability stinks is lacking and needs lots of practice.  I only have myself to blame.  My Mom is a wonderful sewer (seamstress?) but I never showed that much interest.  I do try but I usually end up frustrated at the machine.  Well, today I put Jack down for his afternoon nap and got right to work on a pair of pajama pants for him.  I found a cool tutorial on making baby pants from an old t-shirt.  It really was pretty easy but working with stretchy knit can try one's patience (or at least mine!).  So, my seams are horrible.  No, I'm serious...they are bad... but it was good practice, practically free and they are pajamas.

This is what my shirt looked like after I cut out the pants.

Here is the finished product! 
I found that pj shirt at a garage sale for 50 cents.

At least they look cute on him so, no one
 will be looking at the elastic casing, right?!

Days of Play

Jack has started to "play" more as opposed to eating everything he picks up!  Of course, he still puts most things in his mouth just not all of the time!  He is fascinated by books.  However, I am having a very hard time keeping him away from the non-baby books.  I decided to turn his basket of board books on it's side so he can reach in and grab his books.  He does stay busy for a while investigating all of his books.

While Kari was here we went to a few thrift stores.  I found two fun toys for Jack.  One was a Playhut tunnel for 50 cents!  Kari got the Playhut tent which was also 50 cents!  Playhut makes great toys that can be folded up and put away when you are not using them.  We have been having fun with ours.

The other toy I found was a wooden bead maze.  I used to like these when I was a kid (I still do!) so I was thrilled to find a small one.  He seems to enjoy this also and I think he will like it even more once he gets a little older.

Here he is intently trying to find a mover in our old phone book!  I thought it would make a great book for him to flip through...it didn't last long!  He is all boy and can be very rough.  He began ripping out pages and started to eat them.  So...it is not a toy anymore!

Such busy days of play!

Laughing Boy!

 

I was rolling up the clean beach towels the other day and for some reason he found it very funny!  I told him he was a silly boy and bonked him on the head with one of the towels.  Well, he found that to be hilarious!  He is such a funny baby full of laughter.  I need to get his "other" laugh on video because it is quite contagious! 

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine..."

Proverbs 17:22a

Early Riser

Jack decided that the last half of vacation was for waking up early (much to my dismay)!  We are not sure if it had to do with teething, sleeping in a dark room with no windows, being away from home, or all of the above!  It left us pretty tired by the end of the day but we were able to see beautiful sunrises and take early walks.

  Sun rising over the lake

 Watching the sun rise from our porch swing

Tired guys

Still smiling!

Ocean in the distance

My Dad's coffee was greatly appreciated!

Unfortunately, Jack woke others up also.  Sorry about that guys!

The day we got home Jack was sleeping like a pro again.  You never know what kids are going to do!

Beach Pictures

As I looked through my photos, I realized that I didn't take a single photo inside!  We really enjoyed being outside this year since the weather was so nice.  A lot of mornings my parents stayed at the house while the babies took their nap.  That allowed for Seth and I to go to the beach with Jeff, Kari and Alex.  As long as there were no red flags (riptides) we swam in the ocean, played speedminton and laid in the sun.  It was wonderful!  Jack went to the beach twice and once for an early morning walk.  The first day, let's just say, he wasn't a fan of the ocean!

Here he is testing it out...

"Um, I'm not so sure about this."

"Whoa, that is shocking!"

"Please get me out of here!"

The sound of the waves put him right to sleep!

The next time we went he decided he actually liked splashing in the water...

and eating the sand!

I think we might have a beach boy on our hands!