Random Pictures

  So this morning I was finishing up some paperwork for Thomas to go to a day camp at the YMCA this next week.  One of the things they requested was "the most recent picture."  So naturally, I got out the camera to take one right then and, of course, I didn’t just stop with Thomas.

Gloria saw the camera and demanded that I take a picture of her.  Since she rarely cooperates, I took two.

Here’s the mug I got the camera out for.  He’s stinkin’ cute, even if he is ornery.

Daniel hammed it up some, too!

He loves his push walker.  He took a couple of unassisted steps by accident the other day and has refused to do so since, but he sure can make that walker go anywhere he wants to.  He’s a better driver than his mother or sister!

My little speed demon!

My favorite of the walker pictures.

Daniel Speaks

So Daniel has been making sounds that sound a lot like words recently.  A couple of weeks ago, he got a-hold of my phone and began pressing buttons.  I heard him, or rather the phone,  from the kitchen and called out, “Daniel, are you calling China?” to which he replied, “Yeah, Mama!”  It was a bit growly, and he probably wasn’t assigning meaning to the words, but that’s how it came out nevertheless.  I thought Michael was going to bust a gut laughing when he heard him.

Later that same week, Thomas offered him a carrot at the dinner table by saying, “Daniel, do you want a carrot?”  And Daniel said, “Carrot.”  Plain as day.  We haven’t heard it since.

This morning though was the sweetest.  All 3 kiddos and myself were snuggling, wiggling, and playing in the bed.  Daniel laid his head down on the bed next to me so I started talking to him.  We’ve been playing a game where I say, “Bye-bye” and wave his hand for him.  It makes him giggle for some reason.  This morning I just waved my own hand and said “Bye-bye” a few times since he was laying on his hands.  He watched me for a bit, then sat himself up, raised his right hand, and clearly said “bye-bye” in a sweet little voice while waving and grinning.  Then he crawled off to play.  It was so obviously on purpose and not an accident.  And it was soooo sweet to see that little hand waving.  He looked right proud of himself, too.

Hopefully, he will get better soon so that he will stop the constant screaming.  He is such an intense little guy that when he wants something he screams at the top of his lungs to get it.  We are working on being quieter at the dinner table, but when he runs out of food on his tray or sees something on the table he wants, he screams until he gets it.  If I look at him and speak softly, he calms down for a few seconds.  I’m trying to encourage him to make a softer sound before I give him what he’s screaming for.  I’m sure he’ll get it eventually.  He’s already gotten better about biting Gloria.  (Poor girl has little bruises where he’s bitten her.)  Now if I see him thinking about it and tell him no, he stops.  Gloria tells him, “Daniel, don’t bite me.”  He backs off then, too.  And for the record, his biting happens when he wants to love on her the way he loves and squishes on his favorite stuffed toys.  He’s not trying to be mean.  He’s just caught up in the intense snuggling so he bites her.

The little guy is just INTENSE!

Paint, Paint, Paint the House

LAST week, while I was feverishly sewing, Aunt Mindy came to visit and paint the family room and our bedroom/bathroom including trim.  It was really nice having her here for pretty much a week.  She came in on the Thursday before Memorial Day, went home Saturday evening, came back Monday morning and then left again Thursday. 

She was amazingly laid back about it and worked around our family schedule very well.  And she was VERY patient with me hemming and hawing over what color to choose.  The first color that I had chosen (and purchased) for the family room looked mint green when it got on the wall.  Mindy had spent about an hour “cutting in” (doing brushwork up close to the trim) before I managed to look at it.  Mindy reminded me that I had originally chosen a darker color but was nervous about putting it on the wall.  She went back to Home Depot for me to have them darken what we had.  Unfortunately, the darker color uses a different base, so adding color to the paint we had just made it darker and more yellow and, well, just as bad but in a different way.  She encouraged me to go get my first choice while she watched the kids.  She didn’t seem the least bit unhappy that she had just spent so much time painting a color I had chosen and then rejected.  Thankfully, that was the ONLY time I changed my mind about it.

She even took Thomas under her wing and taught him better roller technique than I have.  He was in charge of painting everything from the middle of the wall down, and Mindy took care of everything above that.

I’m not sure how well you can tell from the picture, but the walls went from dark beige to leaf green in the family room.  The bedroom/bathroom is similar but a little darker and more sage looking.  The color matches well with the quilt Mom made and is called “restful.”  I didn’t have to change my mind on that one though!  I chose well from the beginning. 

By now the family room is pretty much reassembled and much tidier than it was before.  We are still missing the picture over the mantle, but I’m sure it won’t take but a few minutes to re-hang it once we think about it when we have the time to do so.

The bedroom is slowly but surely getting back into shape.  We’ve been sleeping with the bed in the center of the room like an island with all of our furniture surrounding it.  It just goes to show how big our bedroom is that we could still get in and out of bed and walk around our island of furniture.   Every day Michael puts one more piece of furniture back where it belongs.  Every morning Gloria comes in and tells us, “Put bed a wall.”  I think that the bed is the last thing that still needs to be moved at this point, but Gloria has been nagging her daddy about it.  She must be practicing for when she gets married.

Mindy is gone now.  I miss having her around.  She’s really a neat person and I wish I had more time to just visit with her and talk.  If you ever need your house painted, I highly recommend hiring her.  She prices fairly and does good work.  She’ll even travel to do it.  Now if only I could pick out a good color for the hall…

This Week’s Projects

So I’ve been working on making things for DANIEL since Gloria has so many little dresses I’ve made.  I took a pattern that was meant to button down the front like a shirt with sleeves and a collar.  I made several modifications and ended up with this:

So that was actually what I did LAST week.

Monday I got busy with some red, white and blue plaid.  I decided to modify the pattern (again) so that it had a "top" and "shorts."  And then I took a A-line dress pattern for Gloria and turned it into a matching dress with a bodice and slightly gathered skirt.

Tuesday, I worked on some seersucker type fabric that Thomas picked out for Daniel.  I decided to try some little "tucks" in the front.  I like the end result, but not so much with this particular fabric.  I think this style would have looked better with a simpler fabric.

And this one is my favorite so far.  I started it on late Wednesday afternoon and then finished it Thursday morning.  I did the little bone and brown square appliqué on the front.  I wasn’t aware that my machine could do such a thing!

I am out of the puppy fabric, but I’m thinking Gloria might need a little dress to match.  I still have enough fabric for 9 more outfits for the little ones so I am going to do my best to get that sewn up first before getting any more.

I’ve also decided that I like the snaps set up so that the back "strap" goes UNDER the front.  It makes it look more like overalls and more boyish.  I may crack the snaps off and redo them that way.  I have lots of blue snaps.  I am also considering doing two on each shoulder to keep the corners from flipping up.

So many ideas!  So much fabric!  So little time!  But so much fun!

I Made Something for Thomas!

We went shopping a couple of weeks ago for fabric and a pattern.  Thomas picked out both and I sewed up this pair of shorts complete with pockets.  Those little pockets took more time than the rest of the garment put together!  But I like them and so does Thomas.  He wore them the very next day after I made them, so they’ve already been washed in this picture.

A close up of one of the pockets that took sooooo long.  Hard to see it on the shorts with this print.

He Read 139 Pages!

And that’s not 139 pages of pictures or words in large print.  That’s normal sized, normal margins, and no pictures my “little” boy is now reading. 

Thomas came home with this REAL book in his bag and managed to read the entire thing over the weekend.  (There was a lot of rain.)   Since he was at his dad’s house, I was a little skeptical, but he gave me a plot summary with no trouble.

I am impressed.  It wasn’t long ago that he was still sounding out words and reading picture books.  Now it’s novels!  Sometimes it’s hard to remember he’s only 7 when he does things like this.

I can sense many library trips are in store for this summer.

Today’s Project: Bib Pants and Scaling the Stairs

  So the laundry’s not done and the floor still needs mopping, but I made DANIEL something today.  Gloria always gets cute little dresses and the like while I cringe at the thought of all the pieces to make a boy’s outfit.  I pulled out my Kwik Sew: Sewing For Toddlers book and got seriously busy with some fabric I had on hand.  It wasn’t quite as difficult as I had feared.  I may even attempt button holes tomorrow.

You’ll have to look past the giant diaper pins I used to secure it to him.  I felt the need to check the size on him before I went to the trouble of buttons or snaps.

First a sweet picture.

This one shows the outfit pretty well.

This one shows it even better, but Daniel doesn’t look too thrilled about modeling it. 

This one is not so much about the outfit though.

This next one made me remember another picture I once took.

The one on the left is Daniel.  The one on the right is Gloria!

Then Daniel decided to scale the stairs for the first time.  All of them!

A quick break at the top and then he was off again!

My babies are just growing up so fast!  I’d better cut out that pattern in the next size up.

Exactly HOW did I manage THIS?

I don’t think I could have PAID someone to put this in better.  At least I know the hiss isn’t my brains leaking out.  Sheesh!

Indiana Jones, er, Thomas’ 7th Birthday!

Today was my handsome guy’s birthday party!  The theme was Indiana Jones and Thomas dressed to play the part of the ruggedly handsome hero-minus the scruffy whiskers.  The shirt is one of Michael’s.  Thomas found the hat in the woods a few weeks ago.  I made the bag-plus one like it for each of the other guests.  We didn’t have any pants dark enough so I dipped some old khaki ones in some coffee, spun them out, and dried them in the drier.  He smelled yummy!

Even though the party started at 10, the guests trickled in slowly.  They spent the first 30 minutes in the front yard with their magnifying glasses (from the bags) looking for “clues.”  In this case, bugs.

Then we started some music (via the xbox) and Thomas/Indy explained that he was on a search for stolen treasure and passed out the first clue.

The first clue led them to the “Mummy Gallery.”

There they had to wrap each other up in toilet paper to find the next clue, which was skillfully hidden INSIDE the rolls of paper.  They were a little shy about it at first, but they really got going with it.  Even Gloria got in on the wrapping.

The next clue told them to go to the “snake pit!”  This was designed and built by Indy/Thomas himself.  The snakes were also artistically placed by the little man.

The adventurers got busy finding the clues and snake wrestling.

The rolled up clues, under the snakes, told them to go to the “crocodile creek” for their next clue.

I added more leaves and debris between the above pictures and the party.  At first the kids had no clue as to how to go about their task.

Soon enough, they began reaching in to feel around…

…until their fearless leader saved the day and found the first clue!  (He even read most of them since he’s such an awesome reader.)

This clue sent them to “Pankot Palace Banquet”…

where they had to feel around inside some gross food to find the next clue…

…and then assemble the three pieces so they could read it!

Their final clue told them to go to the “airport hanger” where they found the treasure…

…and made short work of stashing it away in their bags.

All of this only took 20 minutes!  Hours and hours of preparation and it only took 20 minutes.  It was sprinkling off and on, so that made things move along faster.  I was still amazed at how quickly they accomplished their mission.  I guess hunting for treasure gets kids motivated.

While Michael grilled the burgers and dogs, the kids made up their own adventures out in the back.

The rain started to pour down and put a damper on that.  Thankfully, the food was almost done by that time.  Michael set up a card table in the kitchen, so we had 12 seats over tile for the messy kids to have lunch! 

Then it was time for THE CAKE. (That I had soooooooooo much fun doing!)

We all sang “Happy Birthday” (much to Gloria’s unhappiness!)

There was NO question about it.  The kids ALL wanted to eat the boulder for some reason, even after I explained that it was cake crumbs smashed into a ball shape.

It got as quiet as it ever was during this adventure after the cake was passed out!

Then the guests all went home and the four Phillips passed out themselves.

Gloria’s 2 Year Check-up

Friday morning, I took Gloria to her 2 year old check-up.  My little princess was NOT happy about it one bit.  First of all her mother put her BROTHER in the stroller that SHE is supposed to ride in.  That got the entire visit off to a bad start.

Then when they called her back into the exam room this strange lady wanted to put this cold measuring tape around her head, lay her on the exam table for a measurement, and tape a urine collection bag to her little girl bits without even saying hello. 

And forget about standing on the scale.  She was NOT going to do that.  However, she did let Mommy hold her and stand on the scale and then sit in a chair while Mommy stood on the scale all by herself.

Then there was the finger prick.  The same lady who had already upset the little princess took her finger, poked it, squeezed it, and then, horror of horrors, put a BANDAGE on it  “Off! Off!” she demanded as she tugged at the offending article and bled all over the place.  Mommy grabbed a couple of tissues and held the finger to stop the mess.  “Mess, Mommy!  Leg!  Mess!”  So Mommy got a wet wipe and began cleaning up as much as she could find.  Gloria got in on the cleaning, too, but was still beside herself about something.

There was a bit of waiting time before the doctor himself came in.  During this time Gloria repeatedly explained that there was something wrong in her diaper and that she wanted it fixed, but she did NOT want Mommy to put her on the exam table to do so.  After much explaining on the part of her mother, Gloria anxiously allowed Mommy to place her on the exam table to get that horrible bag out of her diaper.  After that was gone, she was MUCH happier-and quieter.

By the time the doctor got there she was able to handle things better.  It probably didn’t hurt that she ate a good bit of cereal in order to keep her brother from eating it.  (We have a hard time getting her to eat breakfast these days.)  She was a bit suspicious of him, but was ok with him looking her over and checking her out as long as she was touching Mommy.

Then ANOTHER lady came in and laid her down on the exam table.  Gloria was not terribly upset by this until she felt something happen on her leg that made her eyes open wide with shock.  Something had STUNG her and she was so hurt.  Then she noticed there was ANOTHER evil bandage on her leg! 

Once she calmed down enough, Mommy was able to unwrap her legs from her torso and ask her if she was ready to go home.  “Home!  Yes!  Home now!”  It took less than 2 minutes to get her fully dressed and out the door.  This time her mother wisely put her in the stroller, but didn’t buckle her in, something that greatly offended the princess yet again.

After an hour filled with tears, Gloria came out of the clinic with a clean bill of health (duh), a couple of pokes (ow!), and some interesting yet ultimately meaningless statistics on her present size.  (Height 32.25 inches-11%.  Weight 30 pounds-85% Head circumference 19 inches-69% for those interested.)  Thankfully, we won’t be doing that again for another year.  At least, not with her!

And through it all, her little brother sat peacefully in the stroller eating cereal and only occasionally shedding sympathy tears for his sister.