13!

I've been inspired by a blog I read to take at least one photo a month of the kids. I've decided to do the 13th of every month and blog about it. I can't promise the blog will come on the 13th... um it's the 15th right? and I can't promise I'll remember on the 13th to even take the picture (I took these on the 14th, oops) But it's an attempt I'm going to make. I chose the 13th because both kids were born on the 13th. Unlucky for some, it's the best day for me! I'll also include a list of 13 things about the kids or our family life. I couldn't choose one picture so here's 7...

 Eyeballing his food

 Both smiling (but a little blurry)

 sharing his supper

 Out take

 two peas in a pod

 they love each other, they really do

 Sibling Love

1. Penny is 7 months old and Max is 32 months old

2. Penny loves to sit up and actively play now.

3. That also means she gets bored. Very bored. Very easily.

4. Max's favorite thing (according to him) is play toys. 

5. Penny is eating everything she can get her hands on... seriously. Anything. Her favorite thing to eat is paper.

6. Max's favorite thing to eat (according to him) is noodles.

7. Penny also gets mad now when you leave the room... Ugh.

8. Max is doing so well potty training- I guess I was under the delusion that it was a cut and dry process for every kid. That is so not true.

9. Our favorite thing to do when we are having a bad day, it have a dance party in the living room.

10. Yesterday Max saw me knitting and asked me for a new hat. He just got a new hat at Christmas. But he even went upstairs and picked out the yarn... How can I say no?

11. Penny is now a blankie girl and requires no less than two blankies at bedtime to snuggle and rub her face on to fall asleep. One flannel and one fluffy. She holds them on either side of her face all night.

12. Today Adam is on a retreat all day and so we are having a fun day. Mama's not cooking and we are watching movies and meeting friends for lunch and all taking really long naps this afternoon (hopeful!)

13. We have some bad days, but the good days are so awesome I can't even remember why the bad days are bad!

Giveaway Winner!

I've decided to go ahead and choose two winners for the giveaway! I entered all 12 names of the commenters here on the blog and on Facebook into the List Randomizer on Random.org and out came two lovely ladies!
First is Amy, an old college roomie in OH
And second was Amber, a wonderful friend from seminary in KS
I was going to let let the winner choose and then send the other item to the second, but I decided to choose for you ladies based on how I know your personailities (I hope you aren't offended by that!)

So Amy- Here's your's:

Pattern: Waffel Hat (ravelry.com link)

And Amber- Here's your's:

Pattern: My own design!

Thanks for playing friends :)

An Update- 31 things before 30 and a giveaway

I haven't checked in yet on the list of 30 things before 30 so I thought I would share on those today. It's been almost 6 months since I turned 28 and I'm surprised at how often I think of this list. I thought I would make it and forget it, but I really do think of it at least once a week. Mostly in the shower, when I have 2.5 seconds of peace and the water is loud enough that it almost seems quiet.

So here's the list with some commentary if you are following along-
1. Run at least a half marathon if not a full one
Well I'm not there yet. In fact as most people I didn't hardly do anything over the holiday season-
2. Clean out my closet to things that I only actually wear (not wish I could wear or might wear someday)
Actually DONE! It was liberating and I'm still pulling a few pieces out here and there. I'm amazed at what I had t had that I didn't wear ever, at all, and didn't even like.
3. See the pacific ocean
4. Decide whether or not (and have if we are) any more children
We're done for now and it's up for renegotiation in 2015 so that takes care of the before 30 part.
5. Weekend in Chicago (this was on my list last night as I was thinking of things, and that's what my gift from Adam is for my birthday! He must have read my mind)
We had a great time! And it was awesome- I've already been again for a day with friends and I'm planning another day trip in February to visit some friends. I'm such a city girl.
6. Learn to quilt
7. Complete another full sized afghan (either knit or crochet)
8. Decide on a career
9. Join a CSA for a summer
10. Get Adam to eat the veggies from the CSA
11. Take Max and Penny to a real live farm to see animals and/or harvest
We went to go see the harvest and Max and Adam rode the combine
12. Visit the PNW
13. Find a little black dress I actually like
14. Finish reading the whole Bible (I've started this one so many times, but always go back to my favorites instead of reading it all)
15. knit myself a sweater
This is one of my knitting goals for this year. I just have to decide on a pattern
16. Feel comfortable in my own skin, no matter what it looks like, or who I'm with
17. Clean out everything we collect and make it into everything we use/need/love
I started with my closet and I'm working through the house. I'm ending with the garage. Which will then lead to #30
18. Catch up on Max and Penny's scrapbooks
I've actually done a page or two of Max's and printed a billion pictures
19. Have a "handmade Christmas" where everything I give has been handmade by myself or someone I know
I did pretty well this year, but I'd like to do better next year. If not I'm pretty satisfied with how well I did this year.
20. Vacation without the kids (I think the overnight in Chicago might count for this one too...)
I'm totally counting it.
21. Go to Disneyland
22. Learn to use our camera in manual mode a little better
I have but I'm still not great. I'd like to be better.
23. Have professional (really professional) family pictures taken
We tried. The kids were awful that morning. It's like they KNEW I wanted a nice picture. We'll have to try again.
24. Visit Dallas again
25. Spend some time alone on a beach and just read a book or magazine or knit
26. See MOPS (or any other ministry I might be involved in) flourish
MOPS has been awesome! I love the friends I've made and am continuing to make- it's thriving and living and moving- just awesome
27. Play my cello again
28. Read all the books I've bought and never read
I've at least resisted the urge to buy more books
29. Use trifle dish that I bought years ago but have only used to hold ice
I used it for fruit salad- I was also reminded that I totally have used it already- December 2008- 
30. Have a garage sale
31. So I've been wanting to do something for a while I've never had the courage to do. It's something kinda silly, and I was thinking I was too old to, but I realized I'm not and I've been hemming and hawing about it for a few weeks now. So mystery item number 31 is going on the list and will be revealed when I do it.

I know I have a few readers so I'm looking for some feed back- What's something you've always wanted to do (something big or something small) but just have never had the courage to do? Answer in the comments and I'll totally pick a random commenter to receive something Cara-made-

I'm no good at making resolutions. It's like I'm setting myself up for failure when I don't complete them or stick with them. But I do like to make lists and my "beginning of the year" list included a LOT of things. One thing was to blog more and continue to stay away from a whole lot of Facebook. One week in I've succeeded. Here's a blog-

I wanted to talk a bit about the kids because approximately a million times a day I try to commit to memory something hilarious that Max has said or a wonderful noise or face that Penny makes.
I'm not very good at that.

Here are some recent things I've said that I never would have imagined saying:
Please don't use your spoon as a tail-
No you may not have poop candy out of the bucket until you poop in the potty.
Mommy's glad it's a school day too, son, but your teachers aren't there yet.

Max was helping Penny in the bath...

Max is just hilarious! Today while getting our hair cut (and I got my first color to color gray- not just for the fun of coloring! EEP!) He turned around while getting his hair cut and laughed and pointed and told me I looked funny... (I had the dye in my hair) Thanks kid.

One of his favorite things is to have a dance party. We turn up the music station on the tv or the radio and dance our little hearts out. It often turns bad days right around and Penny thinks it's the funniest things she's ever seen (it probably is pretty funny)

He adores social activities- every morning without fail he'll check with me and see if it's a school day, or MOPS day, or if someone is coming over to play.

He also remembers everything. We have to be careful about what we tell him because he WILL remember. And will tell other people. :) Today he recounted accurately something someone told me in front of him weeks ago that hasn't been mentioned since.

Penny is growing way too fast- she's officially sitting up on her own (not for ever, but she can for a while) and she's now taking tastes of anything she can get her hands on (with Max I remember being very diligent and cautious about foods.... Penny is eating doughnuts but hasn't even had anything green yet.... oops). She has a very friendly personality and loves to watch people. She's not overly loud or expressive, but will smile at anyone who pays attention to her. She's also more cuddly than Max ever was.

 In Mama's Christmas dress circa 1982

 Hey!

Sweet girl- Just today

It's so fun to already see the two kids build a relationship together. They already love each other. Max will climb into Penny's crib to cuddle with her (with us around, not just any time) and Penny thinks Max is the best entertainment ever. It really makes my heart full.

Adam is doing well and fighting a cold we've all been passing around. I realize I don't talk about him at all on here. He's awesome and loves his kids and does awesome work with our church and blah blah blah, He's awesome. We just started watching the seasons of Madmen and I'm super hooked already and so is he.

I've been tossing around the idea of opening an Etsy shop to sell the things I make and think that I should have something to offer by March if things continue as they are. I'm pretty excited about it and have been getting a number of requests lately for things, so I'm getting an idea of what would be feasible for me to sell and what would be practical for me to make.

my new hair color

Visiting with Grammy and Pop Pop

December 2010

(This is a slide show of the highlights of our December. I wish I had enough time to write about each one. Each one has a wonderful story.)

This year is almost coming to a close and I've been a bad blogger. I'd like to blame it on the baby but really I can't. It's the combo of the two kids and also Facebook's fault. I can just pop a picture or two on there, or a funny story and it's done. Lately we've just been busy with life and all the things our schedules hold and really blogging hasn't held much interest. But I've recently realized what a TIME SUCK Facebook really is and have tried to resist the urge to KILL HOURS of my day stalking people and knowing about people's lives without actually being involved with them. Instead I've been trying to make intentional efforts to BE INVOLVED in people's lives. You know actually call them on the phone, or at the very least email them, or even, (GASP!) write a letter or card or two.
Don't get me wrong, I love Facebook... you see I'm a people watcher- I have missed many a conversation at my own table at a restaurant because I've been paying attention to the people the next table over. But I also realized that I was letting Max watch an extra show on Disney in the morning just so Mama could read her news on Facebook and that made me a little sad. So starting with out little trip to Ohio at Thanksgiving I've made an intentional effort to unplug for a good part of the day. I'm still obsessed with my email, the blogs I read, and a few forums on Ravelry, but I'm feeling pretty good about not knowing ever minute detail of the lives of people I went to high school with. I didn't care too much then, I shouldn't care too much now.
Plus, I know that anything too important that happens on Facebook warrents a call from my bestie Melissa, and she'll keep me informed.
And you wouldn't believe how many more dishes get done around here. And how many more yarn projects get done. That's super exciting to me. I'll have to share all the Christmas goodness that flew off the needles and hooks another time... especially since some aren't ahem, done, yet. But this one came in my inbox today and I have to share it- My niece Ella in my go-to awesome kids hat pattern (I've made 11 now).

She's calling it her Rapunzel hat... LOVE!

An early Christmas Present

Like you I keep waiting for Cara to get around to updating her blog, I like to read it too. It's been more than a month, but in her defense, we've been busy busy busy. So to hold you over I snuck onto her blog to give you a glimpse into whats been keeping us busy. Enjoy.

Can you tell that we got a little handy can? We broke it in with the obligatory "Tell me your name" video

Max and Penny are great and love each other very much

As if we didn't have enough to do during the Christmas season, we decided to tackle potty training, but at least we get to dance while we do it.

Maybe I should have just written a book...

It's like the longer I go between blog posts the harder it is to jump back in because I feel like I need to update EVERYTHING that happened between here and there. But I know I don't, and I really can't, because too much has happened. I guess it's a good thing I've got too much to share- we have been having so much fun together and living life is always a lot more fun than talking about it.

There are a few things I want to share and record in semi-bullet form with pictures.

Halloween was super fun with the kids- Max totally understood the concept of Trick or Treating but still doesn't know that we steal his candy while he's sleeping. Best of both worlds I say.

We celebrated Adam's birthday and him and I got away to spend the day in Springfield without the kiddos and had a blast doing a Man vs Food challenge which fulfilled one of Adam's life long dreams.

 Trying the firedbrand chili at Joe's Chili

 Defeated by the Firebrand Chili at Joe's Chili

Yum! The ultimate fair food, only without the carnies.

Absolutely delish!

Mrs. Lincoln's sewing table.

The Lincoln's Home

Me picking Abe's nose for him

We had a wonderful horseshoe

We've thoroughly enjoyed this fall weather- in fact I wish the 65 and sunny days would stay all year round.

The kids are awesome- Max is just so funny and weird we love every minute because you just don't know what he'll say or do (which can be totally fun and frustrating in the same moment).

Today he climbed up on top of his desk in his room (which he is not allowed to do) and I guess from what he said he rolled off it and scraped his back ending up with a good 4 inch gash. He was supposed to be napping. After I patched him up he went right to sleep and slept for 2.5 hours.

We were driving through the town square later today and he noticed the Christmas trees in the shop windows and asked when we were going to put up our Christmas tree (we haven't talked about doing this I don't know where he understood the idea of putting up a Christmas tree) and the other day when I wouldn't let him have candy at the store he kinds just shrugged it off and said "Santa will get it for me" and walked away. Hunh! Really? I thought it was so funny he was so sure that Santa was going to get it for him that now "Santa" needs to go back and get the candy filled plastic tractor and bulldozer to stick in his stocking.

I could go on and on with all the awesomely hilarious things he says and does.

 Penny's growing so quickly. It's so funny how quickly this stage comes and goes and a new one takes it's place.

We are practicing sitting up and rolling over (she can do it fine from tummy to back but has yet to do it the other way around) and she's loving all the toys Max will let her play with. She especially has a favorite dolly she loves and is starting to master the exersaucer.

Her absolute favorite thing to do though is watch Max. If he gets close enough she will lunge at him and grab on to him so there's lots of hugging going on at our house.

This afternoon when Penny woke from her nap Max went into her room and I listened to them "talk" to each other for a while over the monitor. Max calls her "Penny girl" "Baby Sister" or "Penny Elizabeth" and every time someone says what a nice "baby" she is he corrects them and tells them her name.

She's started that full on belly laugh (mostly at Max but sometimes I can get her going too) and loves squash and sweet potatoes. I've decided to not do rice cereal for the time being because of some digestive issues she's had along the way and she's on lactose-free formula now and just this week has stopped nursing altogether.

It's so hard to not compare your children but I feel like she's further behind where Max was at this age. But on the other hand I don't mind at all for a number of reasons- She's likely to be our last baby (or last baby for quite a few years), Max was so far ahead of "schedule" that I don't feel like he was a baby at all sometimes, and gosh babies are so much cuter when they aren't mobile (or at least in my own opinion).

I've been on a roll lately with the knitting and crocheting- Lots of holiday stuff to make and since nothing last year was handmade I feel extra pressure to make things this year. Not pressure in the bad way, but a desire and a want.

The kids are still getting their three presents but one of those is handmade this year (Max's pic above is modeling his handmade hat that will be put away for Christmas along with the coordinating scarf).

I've made quite a bit of progress this past week or two, but still a long way to go. I've got a couple more things to get done in the next two weeks (in time for our trip to Ohio)
Here's the low down of fiber yummies since August

August

September

October

November (so far, but actually I've finished two more since I put this together...)

Here are the two weekly updates from the kids to catch you up (minus today's because, um, for the first time since Penny has been born I forgot to take their picture together..... so I'll take it tomorrow and just pretend I did it today.

We have been so crazy ridiculously busy and there's just always something drawing our attention, it's been really hard to focus. God is really stripping down things we thought were good and showing us how to rely more on Him for EVERYTHING in our lives, even those things we thought we could do ourselves.