Homemade Bird Feeder

Spring is in the air. Outside Kate discover the pretty song of a bird and asked me if I knew the name of the bird that was singing. So I looked up and sure enough it was what I thought, a Red Cardinal. We were able to take some neat pictures of it. I then explain that it was a boy bird, and that the reason he is so colorful, is that he was trying to get the girl birds attention. Sure enough as you look across the tree branch you saw the female bird singing her song back. This reminded me off my Grandpa Spafford and his love of birds and helping him put the bird feed out in the early morning. Good memories! It then gave me the idea of the time I made bird feeders out of pine cones and peanut butter in grade school. We have huge pine trees here with really large pine cones just freshly fallen off the trees. We collected them one day on one of our walks. Kate and Caleb really enjoyed making the bird feeders, I put the peanut butter on and Kate rolled it in the bird feed. Let just say all Caleb wanted to do is eat the peanut butter, that was his favorite part. I had to get him his own special spoon and scoop it out of the peanut butter we actually eat. Let just say when I was busy with Kate and I missed Caleb dipping his spoon in for more in the wrong jar of Peanut butter. I guess a little bird food hasn't hurt any one right, it was just a tiny amount so I wasn't too worried. It was a good little project to do with the kids, quick and simple and so much fun. It was neat to see the birds actually using the feeder. Kate is always looking out the window to see the birds eating, she is always excited to point it out to me," look at the birds mommy" I was a great time, and the kids love it.

Kate's Teddy Bear Tea Party

Kate had a fun month of talking about the three bears at school. At the end of the month the teacher set up a little tea party (lemonade was used), and each student got to bring there Teddy Bears and dress up in any kind of dress they wanted to. The boys didn't have to of course. It was super fun for me to help her pick out what dress she wanted to wear. We did her hair all pretty in a nice sparkly head band I usually pull her hair back so it's out of her face, but we left it down for the special occasion. All the girls in her class looked so cute all dressed up. Kate said she had a great time. I have find it hard to be the one outside the classroom. I have missed teaching. I never really understood what it was like to have my own child in class and me just hear about whats going on verse me being the teacher being involved in all the activities. It some times is hard to be on the outside looking in. I wish I could at least be a fly on the wall to see all the fun Kate is having. I miss teaching, but I know I am still teaching just in a different form, as a mother now. That is the best teaching opportunity in the world to me. I would not change this stage I am in my life right now,I love it, it is hard some days but I love it!

Jane Elizabeth's Blessing

Sorry I am a little behind in my blogging it's been busy around here lately. Jane had a wonderful blessing On Sunday March 7, 2010. She looks so beautiful in her dress and she did really well, not one cry. It was a beautiful blessing given by her Daddy. He did a great job. It was so nice to be able to have Family come and join us for this special occasion. It was nice to have Jerry's sister family come visit one more time before they moved back to Utah. Along with his sister, Jerry's parents came out to visit as well. It was nice to have Grandpa and Grandma there too.We has so much fun miniature golfing and playing at the local park together. We unfortunately had a stomach virus being passed around to everyone, so I didn't get any pictures of me and Jane together that day. I was able to barely get myself and the kids dressed, hear the blessing and then run out to the bathroom, then my son Caleb threw up all over himself shortly after, so we went home early. I was glad I was able to hear and see my sweet baby blessed, for that I am grateful. I had my brother in-law take some pictures on that day of her and then I took some few days later after I felt better. I just really wanted to take a few more to capture how she look at this age, in her dress. It's always such a nice day to be able to have you children blessed and to feel and have that little spirit in your home. Jane is such a blessing in our lives and we are so glad she is part of our family.

Happy St Patricks Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!

Love my Kids

Earlier today I placed Jane in Caleb's bed while I was hanging my new picture frame of Caleb. I stepped out to get the hammer and this is what I found.... All three of my babies in the bed together watching the bird mobile projected on the ceiling. Why couldn't I get a picture this easy the other day when I was taking pictures. They were all so cute, thry were giggling and smiling and having a great time together. It's moments like these that remind me to take time to enjoy the journey, and enjoy each moment.

***(Side note: Caleb grabbed his binky as soon as he got in his bed, because he knows that is the only place he can have it. He was not about to let me take it out for the picture)

Jane is 3 months

Wow, Jane is three months already, I swear time goes by faster the more kids you have. I wish I had more time to savor each moment with Jane like I did with Kate and Caleb. I am trying really hard to enjoy every stage with her and try to savor it as much as I can. Having the three kids makes it hard to sit and soak up the moments sometimes when your so busy. Jane is doing really well. She is really smiling at you and giggling. She love to give you a smile when you say her name. She is able to follow voices in the room. She is holding her head up really well, and she is attempting to roll over, she is turning to her side. She is nursing really well, she is my fat and sassy girl, I love her little baby rolls. She is now reaching for toys in her little baby gym and loves to listen to music. Jane enjoys it when her sister and brother give her kisses and want to hold her. Jane is now down to one to two feedings at night, which is a relief for me, I can get a few more hours of precious sleep. She is awake more and alert more during the day time hours. Jane is a very easy going baby, she has such a sweet temperament, she loves to smile so much now, you can't help but smile when she smile at you. She is also saying a lot more baby talk, cooing and giggling. We sure do love having Jane, she is a sweet little girl!

Photo Shoot of Kids

My goal for taking these picture was to get just one, just one I say of all my three kids together that looks halfway decent. It's so hard with the ages they are, Caleb is at the point where he won't sit still for a picture, so all his pictures are him on the run or in motion. I got only one that looks some what decent. I am still not able to get all the kids to look in the camera at the same time. I had fun taking pictures of Kate because she is older and she loves to pose. I thinks she had a little to much fun, but that's ok, it's been a while since I just sat down with her to take pictures. I seem to always be taking my monthly pictures of the babies I forget to take more of them when they are older. I am still learning how to take a better picture, it's a work in progress for me. I seem to be able to get more great shots then I did before, so that must mean I have shown some improvement maybe. It's been difficult to take picture because are short lens is broken so I have to use our long lens. I have to stand so far back the kids don't realize I am trying to take their picture. The long lens is great for the shots you want to capture without them noticing you, but when you are trying to take a group shot it really stinks. I want a new short lens bad. It would make life easier at least for taking pictures. I am just grateful the camera at least still works with the long lens. I rather is be a broken lens then a broken camera. So here are my favorites, hope you enjoy!

Hand Print Frames

I wanted to show you my newest creations. I had a great time making these hand print frames for each of the kids. They were really simple to make and the most expensive part was the frame, and I ended up getting a deal on that anyways. It was 40% off at Michael's and an additional 25% coupon in the paper. I wanted to have the kids hand prints and I have been really frustrated with the plaster molds. I did one for Kate and Caleb and they both broke and I was so upset. I needed to find something that would be less likely to break, but still capture their little hands. So I traced Kate's hand on card stock and used that as my pattern to trace on to my fabric of choice. I then when on my computer and printed out the Kids name in a font that I like and made sure to make it big enough for the frames. I trace the letters onto the fabric then cut them out. I also tried to find a little accent object to add to the names, like flowers for Kate, fireflies for Jane and Cars for Caleb. I used fabric glue for the whole project, I ended up gluing a fabric pannel on the back of the frame. As I was making these, I had the idea to add a picture of each child, so you can see what they looked like at the time I made the hand prints. So now I have a picture and their hand print together. I tried to use picture I had take within the week to get a true idea of what they looked like when I did this project, that was important to me. I think they turned out pretty good. It was so nice to have a creative outlet this week something to keep my hands busy and my mind thinking about other things besides house work and Kids. This craft was good for me, sometimes I get discouraged when I try to do something to complicated or over my skill level, but this ended up being fun not frustrating. Oh just a little suggestion for the two smaller children, it was a little more work to get their hand prints. I actually stamped their hands with ink and then traced very closely to the ink and then used that to make my fabric hands. Caleb would let me trace 3 fingers and then move, so I had to get creative about getting his, it ended up working out great. I used a shadow box frame so I could put the accent items on or in case I wanted to add something to the frame. It was a fun little project, just thought I would share my newest creation.

Binky Bandit

Caleb has a new nickname, he is the Binky Bandit. He is doing really well with his Binky, we have limited it to only nap time and bed time. He knows that once he gets out of bed that he has to leave it in his bed. One day he didn't want to got to bed, so I came in to put him back in bed and tell him it was night, night time. Well when I went to pick him up, no sooner did I pick him up he threw his Binky back in the bed and wanted to get up and play. So he knows that he can only have it in his bed. He is transitioning so much better than Kate did, she really struggled to give up her Binky. The reason we call him the Binky Bandit is every once in a while you will catch him siting in front of the TV or walking around with his sister, Jane's Binky. Once you notice him he either smiles and laughs really big because he knows that the Binky is not his or he is running to give it to Jane and put it her mouth. Some times I think he tries to run to give it to Jane because he knows he got caught and is trying to let us know he was only really trying to help sister. We all know he really was trying to use it himself. It's really cute. He tries not to get caught because he know he will be put in his bed if he wants to use a Binky. I was worried he would get worse with is progress on his Binky, having Jane's Binky around,but he has done actually pretty well. I have a hard time with them growing out of the Binky, because it's one of the last baby things they will use other than their diapers. My little man is growing up, I am so proud of him, he is being such a good big boy and good brother to Kate and Jane.