F-O-U-R. 4!

birthday fun

My baby turned 4, today. Wahooo! You may remember how he was born on the sidewalk. I will never NOT plug that birth story on his birthday.

He’s such a sweetie and thanked me profusely every single time I told him “happy birthday!” He was so happy and that made me happy. These two weeks are full of birthdays–him, his brother (6/2), his Poppie, his uncle–so we had a tiny little birthday par-tay at grandma’s house, on Saturday night. Today, we took it easy, and in early June we’ll have a double-fun-super-awesome-birthday-spectacular for both boys.

Here are some of my favorite photos from Andrew’s third year.

post-park face

175.365: the dreamboat

diptych: little bits

epitome of silly

ohhhh, shiny!

365-efftheheat2

260.365: the pillow hog

back lit baby

287.365: the blanket kid diptych

dapper profile

i-03

the boy with the hat

little tumbleweeds

"1, 2, 3, CLICK!"

A Month of Craft Photos: Day 3

mr. roboto

just swing

the last

happy

the attitude


cheeser-dip

I hope you enjoyed this little retrospective of photos. I must admit–I’m going to be a little bummed when my favorite photo subject goes to school in August. Sigh.

these tumbleweeds

my tumbleweeds

Did you know that last Friday was Tumbleweeds’ birthday? Well, it was! I didn’t get a chance to get online to wish them a happy birthday, but I’m here now to share a few shots I got of my boys on Mother’s Day. It was a beautifully sunny day. Nathan wore Jason’s glasses for most of it. He’s getting his own pair for his birthday. I had to hide them after they came in the mail, because if I stared at them everyday I would FOR SURE not be able to resist giving handing them over. Less than 3 weeks til he turns 7! The little one turns FOUR (4!) this Sunday. Let’s not talk about it.

zg1

zg2

zg3

zg4

tumbleweeds3

the dad

j4-

j5

j2

Obviously, we had a pretty fun game of hide-and-seeks going on. Jason wins best hiding spot…every time. The boys win least creative, as they kept going back to the same place!

I hope everyone had a beautiful weekend! Mine was pretty darn nice.

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Wrap It for Mom

mom-title-

Mother’s Day is this Sunday! I’m going to plant a rose bush (or 3) for my mom, but every year I also get the grandmas a photo book (standard 8″x11″ from Snapfish) filled with photos of their grandsons. Because who do moms love more than their own kids? Their GRANDKIDS. It’s true.

Anyway, I’ve had the books for a few days and I’ve been trying to think of how to wrap them. I’ve done wrapping paper, decorated kraft paper, and even scrap fabric in the past. This year, I went with vintage silk scarves. I had two sizes. One was a big 36″x36″ square and the other (this one!) was a bit smaller, at 21″x21″. Here’s how I wrapped it:

mom-steps

1. Place the book face down on the scarf with the edges of the book facing the corners of the scarf. Tie a knot with the 2 corners on the short side of the book.
2. Flip the whole thing over and a tie a knot with the adjacent corners. This is the “front.” Optionally, you can tuck in the little flaps on the back knot. If your scarf is little, like mine, you’ll be able to see some of the book poking through, like this. I rather like the texturing coming through from the linen book cover.

wrapped for mom

Finish it off with a pretty tag. I wrote out the word mom on a piece of cardstock, poked holes with my embroidery needle, then used two strands of floss to trace my letters. It took 10 minutes tops!

Are you doing anything special for your mom or mom-like figure in your life this weekend?

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A Haircut & a Fracture

the last

swoony hair

Those are the last photos of that beautiful long hair. After almost two years of no haircuts, the little one finally got one. He was bribed with a bubble mower (oh he loves it) and talked about the cut for a few days before we took him on Friday. Honestly, I was a little sad about it. I kept finding myself staring at him through Friday evening. I’m warming up to it, though. He’s still pretty darn cute. It will grow back.

Here’s what he looks like now:

happy

point

Saturday was a busy day and it ended with us grilling for dinner. Except not. That wasn’t really the end. See, as I was preparing to serve and my husband was bringing in food, my other son spent a few minutes trying to do some tricks on a soccer ball. ON. THE. BALL. He tried to balance on it and fell. We thought it was sprained, so he got a cold rice pack to hold on it while he ate dinner. He looked pretty pale, so I knew it was really hurting. I gave him some acetaminophen and he said he wanted to go to bed around 8:15.

Fast forward two hours and he yells for us to help him out of bed. His arm hurts so bad he can’t roll out to go to the bathroom. We notice it’s a bit swollen and he can’t extend his arm. Most of the pain is in the elbow, so we make the decision to take him to the ER. A few hours later, we get the official diagnosis of a fractured humerus. Sigh. He’s got his arm in a splint and we have orders to visit an orthopedist this week. It’s a small fracture, but he still might end up in a cast. The worst part is it’s his left arm and he’s a lefty, soooo….time to practice handwriting again. He’s pretty ambidextrous when it comes to sports (throwing lefty, hitting right, etc), so I’m hoping he can pick up at least legible penmanship with his non-dominant hand.

Does anyone have a kid that’s fractured their humerus? Apparently, it’s one of the more common arm fractures for children. They tend to land on their elbows for falls during sports and whatnot. Any advice?? Thanks in advance!

the first fracture

When he saw the splint– “Oh boy, I’m glad I didn’t hurt my Angry Birds arm…”

Small Style: hand-me-downs

just swing

You know what I heard this week? I heard someone say they wouldn’t put their kid in hand-me-downs. Forrrreal. My brain does not compute. WHAT?! WHYYY? I just don’t get it.

Hand-me-downs are the best! THE BEST! When my oldest was a baby/toddler, we spent almost every weekend at various thrift stores. He would get a crap-ton of clothes at birthdays and Christmas (~6 months apart!), so we never splurged between. We looked for used items that fit his MY aesthetic. He didn’t give one single darn.

I’m happy to report my toddler is the same way. I saved a lot of Nathan’s old clothes and now Andrew gets to love them. Some of the items have got be twice or thrice handed down. No problemo!

A Month of Craft Photos: Day 23

06

little & big

08

swooony hair

The little guy’s shirt & pants were both handed down from his brother. The shirt was thrifted and has always been one of my favorites. His boots are from Marshall’s. We bought them a size too big and so they’ve lasted MONTHS (chunky socks in the winter) and have that sweet worn look, now.

He is still adamant about not cutting his hair. I’m still holding back. I foresee a disaster if I try to force him.

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