We Put Her To Work

One recent afternoon, while Short Round was taking a nap, we opened up some of the windows so we could hear him if he cried and we went out to the garden to do some work. The garden does not really get too much attention these day, and the tomatoes had gotten out of control. The cages that my brother and I made did a great job keeping the birds out, but the plants were now trying to grow out of it. The plants were having a hard time standing up, because the tomato cages just could not support the weight of the plants anymore.

We got in there, and got it all cleaned up with the help of Miss O and her Lion. We decided that we could use some stakes to prop the tomato plants back up. Miss O saw her daddy hammering the wood into the ground and she decided to do the same. She found a brick and started hammering away. (so cute!) Then I am not sure what made her think this was a good idea, but she started using lion's head as a hammer, poor lion.

This afternoon in the garden was tons of fun and it melted my heart. There are many reason to grow your own food, but the time spent with family, and the effort and love put in by everyone just makes it special. Miss O has been a big help in the garden through out this entire season, and we hope that her love for being involved continues as she gets older.

A Visit From Paw Paw

Even though we don't get to see all of them very much, my kiddos are blessed with three sets of grandparents. Recently we had one of those grandparents come out for a visit all the way from Kentucky. My dad or Paw Paw as he is called, has not been out to visit in about two years. He was pretty eager to see those grandbabies. The kiddos warmed right up to him, and it was nice to have an extra set of hands around for a few days. I told him to make sure not so much time passes between his next visit. Two years is too long.

It's Fall Time!!

I know, I know, the first day of Fall was a couple of days ago, but we were having some technical difficulties and I was not able to use the computer.

Miss O has been in such a great mood lately, and I thought she would like do something fun and different. I found these foam pumpkins and leaves at Target in the dollar bins, and thought she would love to decorate them. Miss O is always excited at the idea of using markers and stickers, so she really loved this. We got lucky and Short Round was content to just hang out while we decorated.

I had plans to string these pumpkins and use them as part of our Halloween decorations, but Miss O loves to play with them so they are now spread out in different places through out the house.

Now I am going to have to come up with some other Fall craft projects for us. Please fell free to leave a comment if you have any favorite toddler Fall craft activities!

Just A Weekeend Trip To The Crand Canyon Part 2

 I can't even began to tell you what a wonderful time we had on this family adventure. We all got to spend time together in a beautiful natural environment. We also learned so much about our children during just a short period of time. We learned that Miss O can count to 10, and that she is now concerned with monsters. We also learned that Levi is a really good traveler when it comes to riding in the car for long periods of time. It was not only a fun trip, but it helped to make our family closer.

 

Levi, as you can tell from the pictures, spent most of his time snoozing or hanging out in the baby carrier, but Miss O was a busy girl. We have been blessed with a little girl who loves to be outside and get dirty. We took her on hikes, and she had a blast. There was also lots of big wildlife that she is not used to seeing, so every time she saw a deer or an elk she would want to sit down at the closest rock to watch it for a while. We also managed to make it through the weekend with minimal meltdowns, and lots of wonderful behavior.

 

This was a trip that I was very nervous about taking, but all of the issues we had we not big enough to have made it worth staying at home and missing this opportunity.

So This Is 30

Well this is it, I have been on this earth for three decades now! I am not sad about turning 30, in fact, I find it more bizarre than anything else. Even thought I have a husband, 2 kids, and a house, I still feel like I am at the age between teenager and adult. Getting older is just a number, and how I feel and act is a more accurate indication of my true age. When my attitude finally catches up with my age, then I will be sad.

Just A Weekend Trip To The Grand Canyon Part 1

Us on the way to the see the Grand Canyon

Daddy's are so much fun!

The best picture of the three of us that I could get

When Miss O was a baby we never really took her any place, besides going home to visit family. The idea of dealing with a baby on a road trip stressed us out. She did not ride well, she is a creature of habit, and likes to sleep in her bed only. However, with Short Round we are trying to be more adventurous. Miss O is at a fun age, and we want to take her places so she can explore, have fun, and burn off a butt load of energy. We are hoping that these weekend trip Short Round is going on now will make him a better traveler in the future.

Miss O was really looking forward to this trip. On the day we were leaving she kept telling me how she wanted to go to the Grand Canyon. I started to load things into the truck, and she stood outside of it with her animals ready to go. It took us a while to get there, and every time we would stop, she would say "We are at the Grand Canyon!" Finally, the last time we stopped she yelled at me "I want to go to the Grand Canyon!!" Her excitement was contagious.

Their First Camping Trip

Recently my parents got a camper. Nothing giant or over the top, just a small camper for weekend get aways with their grandchildren. Miss O has been in love with this camper, and every time we go over to their house, she has to go and play inside of it.

Well this weekend, the camper went on its maiden voyage. It was Miss O and Short Round's ( yes I have nicknamed my son short round) first camping trip. My parents went up on Friday night and got everything set up, and we met them for breakfast the next morning.

It turned out to be a wonderful day! We swam in the lake and cooked over the fire. Miss O loves being outside, and Short Round loves nothing more ( with the exception of eating and snuggling) than the feel of a nice breeze on his face. Around nap time, an afternoon storm came in, and all of us spent a couple of hours in the camper dozing and listening to the rain.

I would like to say that we spent the night there, but about 9:30 Miss O was asking to go home. (She is not used to sleeping in other beds besides her own) It was such a fun day, we will for sure be giving camping another try.

 

Stay Back Bugs

Being from Tennessee means that I grew up in a climate with 4 very distinct season and plenty of rain. When I moved to the desert 6 years ago, it was a huge adjustment. So now every year, I get super excited for the monsoon season. The grass starts to grow, everything turns green, it is humid, and if you use some imagination, you can almost trick yourself into believing you are somewhere other than the desert.

In my opinion there is nothing more comforting than listening to those monsoon rains fall, but the season does have some down sides and one of those is mosquitoes! For some reason these bugs have always been attracted to me. If there is one mosquito in a room, it will find me and bite me. Well, as it turns out they seem to really like Miss O as well. We can hardly go outside with out getting eaten up! I am not a big fan of bug spray, I would rather suffer through the bites than use it, but it breaks my heart to see those bites all over Miss O's legs. SO, I decide to make some that was more natural. I got this recipe from The Rhythm of Family: Discovering a Sense of Wonder Through the Seasons by Amanda Blake Soule and Stephen Soule. It smells nice and only uses witch hazel and essential oils.We will be testing this spray out this weekend when we go on our camping trip to the lake!

A Pretty Potty

 

With the new addition to our family, we have not been working too hard (or at all) to potty training Miss O. I just feel a little too overwhelmed to try and master that at the moment. However, Miss O's best friend is in the process of potty training, and he has a super cute potty that is shaped like a car, and of course Miss O fell in love with it. Now, we had already bought her a potty, and we were not going to spend the money on another one just because it was shaped like a car. Well, lucky for me my dad made the suggestion of putting car stickers on the potty. I found these on clearance in the party section at Target. It worked, and she loves her potty now! Plus, she had so much fun decorating it. As soon as we got all the stickers on, she immediately took off her shorts and diaper so she could use her very own car potty. I am so proud of my little girl!

The down side to this is that she wanted to wear panties the rest of the day, and she does not want to tell you when she needs to go, so I spent the rest of the day cleaning up messes!

Miss O's Elephant

Sorry for the absence on this here blog folks. We have just been adjusting to life with a fourth member of the family, which leaves little time for crafting, cooking, blogging or anything else.

 

I have been working on a knitting project for the last month and a half, and the other night Miss O climbs up on the couch and says "Mommy, make me something". It was so cute, but it kinda made me feel bad, you see back in June I started a knitting project for Miss O. It was a yellow elephant. She was so excited the entire time I was working on it, and she kept trying to play with the pieces I was working on. When I finished knitting the elephant, I was feeling lazy and set all the pieces aside and pretty much forgot about them till Miss O's super cute request. That night after the kiddos were all asleep, I set to work on the completion of that elephant. I had it waiting for her the next morning. She came out of her bedroom, saw it sitting on the footstool and ran up to it, "My elephant" she said "Mommy made it for me" She now takes it most places with her, and brags about how her mommy made it just for her! I have never felt so good about anything I have made before.