These are a few of my favorite things...

Every year Aaron asks me how this song became a Christmas song?  Just mentioning sleigh rides and silver, white winters does not a Christmas song make.   Luckily I like it anyway no matter time of year it's sung.  And it inspired me to write out a few of our favorite things at the moment.  I hope to make this a series :) and do a post on each of us.  We'll see what happens.

Jonah Byron....
1. As mentioned in previous posts, the boy loves to go nakers.  If not completely down to his diaper, then it's shirtless day in and day out.  Hey, I do less laundry, it's easier to change diapers, & faster to get him into the "tatub" which he loves to bathe in everyday.  Win-win.

2. JB loves books, especially "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go."   It's read everyday and he's learning all the names of his favorite cars, like the Bananamobile, the Pickle Truck and the Broomcycle.  Plus he l.o.v.e.s. all things trains, fire engines & construction equipment.  What is it about boys and their vehicles?  My parents got him a battery powered riding Thomas the Tank engine for his birthday at the end of the month and this kid is going to have heart attack!  Can't wait to see his face. 
(Uncle Brant, you'll always be the endearing "woodchuck in a hurry" to us :)




3. Jonah loves to climb, get into things, explore and experiment.  For a while he loved to push a chair up to the counter, climb up to find the "brownies" for himself.  Aren't I a neglectful mother?... That I would allow our son to keep believing that those stale, cinnamon cookies were actual brownies?   And that he doesn't know the sweet nectar he is missing out on?  No worries, it has been recitfied since this picture was taken.  Oh, and I am better at keeping him off the counter now too.

4. This kid loves the outdoors and loves sticks, swords, lightsabors, spatulas and anything he can turn into a battle implement.  Again, it's a boy thing.  He loves to chase Lucas around and scream his head off until Lucas turns around to chase him back.   Then he squeals and runs to me for safety. Why do I always get to be base? 

5. JB loves his brother.  He follows Lucas around, does everything he does.  JB jumps on top of him to wrestle any chance he gets and turns to him when he's hurt.  Lucas is usually great with the kid unless he's getting into his Legos.

Jonah turns 2 years old on the 30th.  My baby.   I've loved the quiet cuddles and tenderness of the baby stage and I am ready for the independant craziness of toddlerhood.   It's all fun.

1 out 2 ain't bad

My Christmas goal this year was to make new stockings and a new advent calendar.  I finally finished up the last stocking  this afternoon and I am calling it quits for my Christmas projects for the year.  Is anyone surprised I didn't get around to the advent calendar?  I always have high expectations and I fall short every time.  But I am teaching myself to be glad with what I accomplish and not what I don't.   So, I am glad about our cute stockings.  Every year Aaron comments our current stockings are too small. :)   I made them almost 8 years ago when we were poor students out of $.25 felt pieces, painted wooden shapes and embroidery floss.  So I definitely made up for lack of size this time around. I also made them super simple. Plain white with green pom-poms. I ran to my local craft guru V. who has an amazing computerized machine that does lettering. And 30 minutes later we had our names. Cute, huh?

It's going to take a little more for Santa to fill these puppies.  I want to put in my order for See's chocolate now that a good size box would fit.  Nothing else. Just See's chocolate...

We'll see if he reads my blog.

Love Affair with a Penguin

I almost didn't pull this out of the decorations box. I am not one for obnoxious musical toys. But then I thought maybe Jonah would get a kick out of it...

He kissed it.  Danced with it.  Cuddled with it.  And the wonderful & patient parents that we are, we let him listen to the song AT LEAST 35 times in a row before we had to pry it out of his claws to get ready for bed. It was the first thing he asked for this morning.

The Saggy Diaper is a popular ensemble around here lately. He always wants his clothes off even when his feet and hands turn into human popsicles.  The boy likes what the boy likes.

"Punkin Chunkin 2010"

This Mythbuster Thanksgiving Special, that Lucas and our nephew Jack love, took on new meaning for me this year.  It all started the Saturday before we were supposed to leave for Arizona to enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with lots of family, sun and food. About mid-morning on Saturday, Jonah got sick.  Nothing too serious, just throwing up every few hours.  He would eat a little and then throw up, repeat.   It continued through Sunday, though again he didn't act miserable. He would play, eat a little and just before it all came back up, he gratefully would emit a high pitched scream to warn & prepare us of the oncoming mess.  He reminded me of the Fire Swamp in The Princess Bride.  It wasn't so bad now that we knew what to look for, like the popping sounds before the ground spewed fire.

By Monday we took him to the doctor who diagnosed a viral stomach problem but that he should be fine.   All afternoon and night, JB was just peachy.  Then Lucas woke us up in the middle of the night by throwing up in our doorway.  We seriously talked about not going to Arizona and risk spreading this to the whole family.  But by Tuesday morning when we were to leave for Arizona, all was better.  Lucas felt good, Jonah was happy and hungry, and Aaron and I felt like the worst was behind us.  I know.  Dumb, dumb, dumb.

We all did great until standing in line on the jet way waiting to get on the plane. Jonah, who had been running around as happy as could be just moments before, started to let out a high pitched scream.  Aaron and I looked at each other, No. No! NO!  But yes, Jonah erupted all over Aaron and the jet way.  People were kind but appalled and gave us many pitying looks.  We cleaned up as best we could and went to the far back reaches of the plane to get away from anyone who saw the first explosion.  The plane ride did not go well.  Without going into details, let's just say that by the end of the flight he had lost it twice more, Aaron and I were both completely soaked, Jonah was naked and we all stank to high heaven.  Yes, it was bad.  Both Aaron and I were on the verge of losing it ourselves, so nauseated with no were to go.  My dad and Jack picked us up at the airport and we somehow made it to Prescott with no further incident until...

Our brother-in-law just a few hours later joined in the sickness.  But his was different. This was an awful, violent, we-thought-he-had-food-poisoning kind of sick.  Alas, he didn't.  People started dropping like flies.  First my dad, then our baby nephew Pax, then our niece, then my sister, then my mom, then my other sister.   Dad completely missed Thanksgiving, we all missed the family reunion and we missed our cousin's wedding. 

Now I want everyone to know I am NOT taking the fall for the violent stomach strain.  Ours was very mild where JB was the only one who threw up more than 3 times and Aaron and I only just felt like it for a day and nothing more.  I lay this Thanksgiving debacle completely at the feet of my brother-in-law Geoff.  It must of been some kind of mutant policeman flu he picked up from one of his druggie arrests.  :)

And I don't even know who started the strain of strep throat 9 out of 15 of us brought home with them once the stomach bug ran its course. (Yes, 9 people now have strep too. It's ALMOST funny.)

But amid the great disappointment of the missed events, we still managed to play cards, eat too much (those who could) and have some wonderful time just talking and visiting.   Family makes me smile and I love being with them, sick and all.  So if I had to be stuck in a house with sickies for an entire week, I wouldn't want those sickies to be anyone else.

Jonah just minutes before the doomed plane ride.  His eyes look tired but nothing else gave away the misery he was planning.

Lucas in happier times, playing in the AMAZING sand table my dad and Uncle Lloyd made for the backyard.  Many happy hours were spent building dams and drudging rivers.

More to come.  My goal is to get completely caught up with blogging before we leave for Utah and Christmas.  That only leaves two weeks!

Recycled Mirror

I bought this mirror 4 years ago at DI for $15. It was originally brown and was SUPER heavy, but I needed a large mirror for our dining room and I couldn't beat $15!  I painted it black, distressed it just a bit and the mirror worked well for the dining room, even after the makeover.

Well, 2 weeks ago we had to take it down because we were renovating our master bath. With the hammering and knocking down of the opposite wall, we were worried this monster would come crashing down. So with it leaning against the wall for 2 weeks, I started to get ideas...

Aaron really helped me with this one and we decided to take out the extra heavy glass mirror. (Those are Jonah's handprints above. Go figure.)  The backing was a thick, smooth backer board, so Aaron cut it down to size to fit in the frame and I painted it with a couple coats of chalk board paint. I painted the frame white, of course, the same white as our kitchen cabinets. And up it went on the kitchen wall.

I love mirrors, especially in this house ,because it brings in more light and gives the illusion of more space.  I did find another fabulous DI mirror for $10 that I refinished but I like it best on the mantel.  I'll get pictures of that as soon as I figure out all the do-da's that will go with it.

I'll be rearranging a few mirrors from other walls because the bare one in the dining room is really missing something. But I love this one as a chalkboard better.   What do you think?

Whitewash

I've been doing a lot of projects lately. Spray paint has been flying & sewing machines whirling. And I've found my go-to color is white, almost every time. I know, lots of people think white=boring. But my house has been filled with dark colors and now I find I just want light. There's some color thrown in for accents here and there but I'm really liking the white.


Here's one project I am happy to be finished with. It took a lot longer than I thought it would but turned out 100x better than I could have imagined. I'd get frustrated and walk away for day, then get re inspired and I would take it on again. I found instructions online but basically you fit the fabric to your furniture, pin, cut and sew. Some seams don't match up and it hangs funny in some places but I was going for that shabby chic look, right?
My parents bought us this wonderful rocker for us years ago and it's been a favorite of mine. So comfy and perfect for rocking babies. But it was time for a makeover. I could not find a slip cover that fit its dimensions anywhere and I didn't want to take on recovering the whole thing. I don't know if the slip cover was easier but since it's white, I can remove it and wash it easily. A definite plus.









It's a nice addition to our family room.
I know the pictures aren't great due to lack of natural light but I guess I take what I can get.

One great thing about daddies...

 ...their handlebars.

Jonah sure lo-o-ves his daddy.

Trombone Territory

Yep, we decided to go there. Since band or orchestra is basically part of the 5th grade curriculum and Lucas was beyond excited, we thought, Why not?  Let's see how the year goes. 

And he loves it.

If only Jonah didn't love it so much as well, practicing would be a lot simpler.

Here's a "Grandparent Video," a video only grandparents would appreciate. Then again, maybe even they wouldn't.   But it's Lucas truly rockin' his first song on the trombone.  Oooh, yeah.

Lucas has his own sense of style and picked out, and paid for most of, that hat himself.  He wears it almost everyday and specifically wanted it because it was different.  I love it on him and loves that he has his own style.

Of course Aaron couldn't be outdone and had to show his prowess on the great instrument. :)

Yes. I know. My boys can rock.

Why we joined the "Y"

Its child care & horsey-free workout.

Resigned

I've been denying it for weeks but I guess fall is here to stay.  And even though I have resigned myself to the cold and rain, I will probably continue to whine about it until next June when the sun comes out again  Sorry.   

I am trying to list all the wonderful things about fall, like the holidays, fires in the fireplace, hot chocolate (even if I drink that year round), black boots and cozy scarves.  And in reality I do love fall, it's the winter grey & rain for months on end I don't really enjoy.  Yes, I live in Seattle. Get over it already.

So to help ring in the new season, we went to Remlinger farms for the first time ever and The Farm out in Snohomish that we have gone to every year since Lucas was Jonah's age.

One Friday Lukey had school off, so Aaron took the afternoon from work and we drove out to Carnation.  We rode on the train where JB sat with his head over the side like a dog with his face in the wind the whole time.  This kid LOVES trains.

 

We played in the tree house, ran around in the hay maze rode all the carnival rides and had a picnic lunch.


Here's where my pride almost made me lose my lunch. Lucas convinced me to go as fast as we could, and to be The Cool Mom I decided to go all out. Which was super fun for the first 60 seconds, but then the whole rest of the ride I yelled at Lucas to stop because I was 3 spins away from losing it all over him. Yeah, he was not impressed.

I love The Farm.   Hay mazes, petting zoo, tractor rides, etc.  All you would want in a pumpkin farm.  We got to go with some friends and the kids enjoyed playing together.

Picking out his own pumpkin.

Plus they get a Popsicle before they go home.

So fun and a perfect way to welcome, although begrudgingy, the Fall.

Happy Halloween!

I decided to go ahead and post Halloween. At my rate if I tried to catch up, I wouldn't be posting Halloween until New Years. So here we go...

Lucas and Kyle (one of his best friends)wanted to dress up together but had a difficult time agreeing on the same look at the same time. It went from mimes to hippies to hobos and back around again a few times before we found these hats that led to The Blues Brothers. Neither of them know who the Blues Brothers are but as soon as they saw the hats and found out they could wear sunglasses and black ties, they were hooked.


And our little garden gnome....



Happy Halloween!

But oh, those summer nights...

It's the eve of Halloween but part of me still wishes for summer. Seattle gypped us of a hot, sunny summer this year and even though October tried to make up for it a bit, all I say is too little, too late. Maybe if I finally post about our summer trips I can be ready to move on and deal with the upcoming holiday season. Plus the boys have super cute Halloween costumes and I cannot post about them until I finally finish summer. Right?

So amist this rain and cold and pumpkins and fall, I want to write about Lake Chelan 2010. I won't dwell on what didn't go right that week, like Aaron getting a 3rd degree sunburn the first day we were there, or Lucas scratching his eye so he couldn't see for 2 days, or me getting my very first bee sting ever or pinching a nerve is my back so I could hardly move or Jonah throwing up all over himself and the carseat on the way home. No, I don't think about those things. Instead I think about...

Early morning walks on the docks...


Reading books by the water...


Eating ice cream cones from the corner store...


Watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers....


Looking cool on the boat...


Eating licorice under the BBQ....(?!)


Wrestling with Papa...


Touring the Aplets & Cotlets factory...


Cuddling with the cutie...


Riding jet skis...


Playing with cousins...


Tubing on the beautiful water...


And hanging out with our crazy, wonderful, lovely family.