I can be crafty!

Mrs. Heidi has been our Kindermusik teacher since Ben was 4 months old so it was only fitting that as she prepares to have her 4th boy, our class wanted to throw her an impromptu "shower". There wasn't much time to have a big to-do but we thought she at least needed a cake and some toys for the new baby.  I had seen diaper cakes before and thought that I could easily whip one out that would work.  Here is what I came up with:

Not too bad for a first-timer...and it only took me about an hour and a half!  I would be happy to do this again!



A new family tradition

Two weekends ago, we decided to make the trek to Kansas City to watch our Cats play in the Big 12 basketball tournament.  It was meant to be a fun-filled weekend; basketball, family time as we were staying with my brother and his wife, and alone time for Matt and me (along with thousands of other basketball fans at the Power and Light district).

As usual, our boys decided to throw a bit of a wrench in things!  We started by making it just in time to watch the Cats play in the first round.

 They won so we were pretty excited for the next round!  The plan was to hopefully leave the boys with my dad and stepmom or possibly with my brother and his wife.  No such luck!  Both boys ended up with quite the stomach bug the next day so while my husband had a nice "date" with everyone at the P&L, I was cleaning up...well, you can imagine.

Luckily it hit 80 degrees that day because this is how Cooper spent most of Friday evening - poor kid!  I was just trying to imagine what people were thinking if they happened to walk by my brother's house and Cooper was standing at the front door in his (almost) birthday suit!



Saturday was a much better day for everyone so we gave bowling a try.  It was surprisingly not busy so we had a great time letting the boys get out of the house for awhile!  Excuse the shot of Ben in front of the bar area, apparently it's the only picture I was able to get of him that day!

Overall it was a pretty good weekend - just not one I want to replicate anytime soon!  I am hoping to make the Big 12 tournament a new family tradition however because both boys had a great time watching for Willie and doing their KSU cheer for everyone around!



A Little Busy

We've been pretty busy around these parts again!  Between preschool, Kindermusik, playgroup, MOPS, drop-in daycare days, teaching Sunday school and keeping an extra little guy on Thursdays, it is getting to that overwhelming time of year.  That time of year when I know everything is getting closer to an end, but that end still seems a little ways off!  And my boys aren't even in elementary school yet!

It's the time of year when I look at all the commitments I have made throughout the school year and start trying to figure out which ones I want to keep, which ones I need to cut back on, and which ones I need to step back from all together.  I don't feel as though I'm being the best mom I can be when I find myself rushing the boys out the door each morning, onto the next event that is meant to socialize them when all they really want to do is stay and play with their cars!  This is something at which I need to be better. Luckily, our schedule usually calls for Wednesdays and Fridays to be "PJ days" where I allow the boys to stay in their pajamas until lunch (or maybe later) and we spend the morning hanging around the house, spending time together without the usual hurry of other mornings.

Making homemade vanilla ice cream in a bag

And because I sometimes feel as though my time to my other commitments takes over the time for my family, I've been having to make a conscience effort to find ways to involve them in everyday activities that I would usually just do to get done! Cooper, for example, LOVES helping me put clothes over into the dryer.  Would it be MUCH faster for me to do it on my own...yes!  Does he feel a complete sense of accomplishment helping me put one sock at a time in...you bet! And while I usually find myself trying to hurry him along so I can move onto cleaning the bathroom, I should be savoring the one-on-one time with him as I know one day, I'll be washing his stinky socks alone!

One of the commitments I have tried to keep with which keeps getting pushed back is my quiet, alone time in the morning to read my Bible and spend some much needed time in prayer. I am no longer the morning person I was when I was teaching and getting up at 5am. Now those extra minutes in bed in the morning are much coveted ones of quiet and sleep.  However, the days in which I do get up and have this time seem to be the better ones.  They are the ones where I don't get as frustrated when I am filling a sippy cup for the fourth time, or when a glass of spilled milk is definitely not something to be cried over...just cleaned up!

So I guess all of this is just to say that I realize I need to reprioritize and I hope that by putting it down in words, someone will help keep me accountable!