I {heart} this face!

I really do! This is a layout featuring my youngest when he was 3. He would make the funniest faces and keep us laughing all the time!

I had hoped this would be a class but this paper is no longer available to order. I had a lot of fun doing this layout. The swirl borders on the right side were cut out of one of the sheets of Mamarazzi paper. The rosette flower was also made from Mamarazzi paper. The heart is canvas sprayed with Denim Glimmer Mist.

Here are a few close-up shots.

Hope you do something crafty today!

The tale of a Tin Can Robot

Jeff's sister and brother-in-law always give the boys very unique gifts for Christmas. This year was no exception. They gave Gabe a Tin Can Robot Kit. So about a week after Christmas, Jeff happened to have a can of Coke - so here was Gabe's chance to build his very first robot! (With the ever-present, very holey "blankie" around his neck!)

It only took Gabe and Dad about 2 hours to build and Dad commented several times about how well Gabe did using the tools and working with all the pieces. It turned out so cute! And it walks!

Let me introduce to you, Tin Can Robot!

Singing and Santa and snow!

What a busy couple of weeks it has been! Gabe had a 2nd Grade Christmas production at his school on the 19th. All the second graders did a wonderful job and were so cute. We saw our friends there and their daughter Madison sat with "her Drew" for a few minutes.

How cute is she!!!

The lighting is terrible in the school gym so my pictures didn't turn out too well but you can see that Gabe was happy to be there. They had worked so hard for weeks on their songs and we were so proud of them.

Another night, just as we were putting Gabe to bed the doorbell rang. Jeff opened the door and look who was standing there with candy canes for everyone!

That was such a special treat! (Don't tell Gabe but it was Wayne, our neighbor from a few doors down! He had been playing Santa at his church and thought he would surprise the boys!) He came in and handed out his candy canes and even took Gabe's letter that we hadn't mailed yet. Gabe wasn't sure what to think of it all but he was so excited.

Then the boys got out of school for Christmas break. And then Gabe got the flu. Poor guy. He has to take meds that he can't stand. Can hardly get them down. He's finally getting better but he's been so pitiful.

And then it was Christmas Eve! The boys made Christmas cookies so they could leave some for Santa. Gabe got his own bowls of icing since he was sick.

After they finished making cookies, Drew and I went to my sister's house for dinner and exchanged gifts with family. Since Jeff and Gabe couldn't go, we Skyped them and opened gifts together. It was fun. The boys got a cool "Nerf"-type shot gun that cracks open and ejects the shells just like a real shot gun. Even Jeff has had fun playing with that one! We had a wonderful dinner of ham, mashed potatoes and lima beans. And of course the traditional birthday cake for Jesus for dessert!

Then everyone finally got to bed for the night only to get up at 6:00am to see what Santa brought.

Drew got an Ipod Touch! He thought he was getting a new Ipod Nano but Santa had other plans. His best friend got one too so they can use "Facetime" and watch movies.

Gabe got lots of Iron Man stuff including both movies.

Here was the Christmas aftermath.

And we got a white Christmas! Sorta. It started snowing late Christmas Day and this is what we woke up to on Sunday.

 We measured about 4 1/2 inches on the deck. The boys didn't play in it. They had gotten money and gift cards for Christmas that were burning a hole in their pockets (this includes Jeff!). Once we knew the roads were okay, we made our way to the mall and Lowe's Home Improvement. The little boys got new Lego sets at half off. And the big boy got a new set of drills with a free battery.

Here are me and the little boys putting together lots of Star Wars Lego sets.

I hope your Christmas has been all you wanted it to be and more.

The Big July 4th Guided Fishing Trip!

Wendy's husband, David had a wonderful idea. Since we were going to be at their house on the New River the weekend of July 4th, he wanted to take Drew on a guided fishing tour. This is where you drive to Tangent Outfitters, get on one of their boats with a fishing guide, and he takes you out on the river so you can fish. They know the best places to fish and provide tips and assistance if needed. It's an all day adventure.

Drew was very excited about this idea. They left the house at 7:30am. Wendy and I didn't hear from them all day. And it about drove us crazy! We couldn't wait to find out how it went! Well, finally they returned at 6:30pm. Drew had so much fun! He caught 16 fish, the longest being around 15 inches. I asked David if he thought Drew got bored at any point. He said that Drew was casting his line until they pulled the boat out of the water. And he's ready to do it again!

Drew got to sit in the front of the boat so the guide could help him.

Casting his line out. David bought him a nice fishing pole and his own fishing hat.

Here is the "master fisherman" with one of his prized catches! (Notice he won't touch it!)

And here is his Uncle David with his own catch of the day. All total, they caught around 43 fish. A great day!

We finished out our day with a ride in the Man Buggy down to the neighbor's house. They were having a huge party with lots of family and friends. We stayed to watch the fireworks and the boys got to play with sparklers. Drew even got to set off several Roman Candles. That scared me just a bit! Everyone had fun and are now safely tucked into bed. I hope you had a fabulous 4th, too!

Oh yes I did!

I don't like fish. That's not news to most of you. I don't like to eat fish or even the smell of fish. But when your oldest is off on a special fishing trip with his Uncle David and your youngest wants to go fishing too, what are you supposed to do?

"Don't go out too far, Gabe."

 

"But I need to go out to those rocks! Mom, I got my line twisted!" So out I go to fix his line.

Just a few short minutes later: "Wow! Gabe, you caught a fish!"

(in my head: ewww! ewww! ewww!) 

"EWWW! ACK! I can't believe I just did that!"

Seriously we had so much fun! Gabe even showed me how to use his fishing rod and I tried it out for a while. I didn't catch anything but it was fun. Gabe is really enjoying fishing but he also had fun just climbing around on the rocks and playing with his boats. Drew and Uncle David are on their way home now. I can't wait to find out how their big trip went. I'll post (hopefully with pics) soon!

3 Fish!!

Happy 3rd of July! Today we went to the Harrisburg 4th of July Parade. We had a wonderful time. It's always a great parade. The kids came away with lots of candy and goodies. More pics to follow.

As soon as the parade was over we hit the road and came to Wendy's house at the New River. Almost right away the boys wanted to go fishing. David took them down to the river and had to remind them how to use their rods.

Then they headed out into the river. It was a little deeper in some places so David had to carry Gabe.

But Gabe caught 3 fish! And he was the only one to catch anything. The first one got away and they released the other two. He was so excited!

Drew is getting pretty good at casting. Tomorrow, David is taking him to Pembroke where they will take a guided fishing trip on the New River. He's so excited. He should catch lots of fish then.

The Tooth Fairy goes on vacation!

Gabe had another loose tooth. Now, this is cause for major trauma and drama in our house. He won't play with it or wiggle it or anything. He's too afraid it will hurt and bleed. Especially the bleeding part. Major trauma! Now, it's not that he's afraid of blood or can't stand the sight of it. He loves to see anyone else's blood. Just not his own.

So we were about to go to the beach for the week. I did NOT want to spend my vacation suffering through his loose tooth. He'll let it go on until it falls out of his mouth completely on it's own. And in the mean time, he won't talk correctly or eat or anything. NOT - repeat - NOT spending my vacation that way!

It just so happened that I had a follow up dentist appointment on the Friday before we left. So I made Gabe go with me and the dentist pulled out the loose tooth. It was so ready. He fought her but she persevered and out came the tooth. I fought with him for 45 minutes two nights before but no luck.

Yay! Tooth is out and we can enjoy our trip! Saturday comes and we drive 4 hours to the beach. We are there all of an hour and Gabe starts complaining about another loose tooth. I told him it's no big deal, don't worry about it. Ten minutes later he's about to freak out because it's so loose. I looked closer this time and sure enough, it's ready to come out. Great. I tried so hard not to have this worry during my vacation! So I march him to his room and tell him that we are not leaving his room until that tooth is out! He wanted to go back to the dentist. What?! The dentist is 4 hours away! Think again, Little Man!

About 15 minutes later that tooth was out! YAY!! He didn't like it but I got him to sit still long enough and out it came. The tooth fairy managed to find him at the beach and leave him $1. He was very happy. So was I! And now he is even cuter than ever. Let me introduce you to Snaggle-Tooth!

He says this is his scary face:

I don't care what he says, he's a cutie-patootie!