{ Summer Recap }

Summer is over - here's a few pictures...

Blake played soccer for the first time this year - we used the word played real loosely. :)
They basically just had practices and almost every practice either Eric or I had to be out on the field with him.  I'm so excited though - he got his first team shirt and I'm planning on saving them all and making a quilt for each of the boys when they're older!!

We did lots of camping - these are pictures of Carter & Blake at Lake Chelan.  I would recommend any/everyone to go up to Lake Chelan - it's AMAZING.  I would like to go back next year, but we might plan a trip every other year - it's about a 7 1/2 hour drive so with the little ones it's a bit of a struggle.  (The travel fairy stopped the night before we left though and gave the boys baskets of different games/toys to play with on the drive and it worked out wonderfully!!)

For the Fourth of July, Eric & Blake drove Great Grandpa Swede's tractor in the Mt. Angel parade again (I think it's the 3rd year they've done it)! Carter loved having a strawberry snack waiting for the parade to start!

 We had lots of outside play time - the boys love being outside and playing in the water!

Another camping trip...this was the church camp-out at Detroit Lake - the boys had a blast this year playing in the water.

I love this picture - maybe it's because I don't have a lot of pics of the 4 of us together.  Our friends rented a boat (on yet another camping trip for the OGWA camp-out) and we had a blast tooting along the water.  We'd stop every now and then and some would jump in for a swim. :)

Kristen & Matt got married this summer too, but I don't have any pics of it - the wedding was amazing.  We had soo much fun!  I'll have to post some pics later - the boys were both in it along with Colin and the three boys wore black pants, white shirts with a purple tie & suspenders and black Converse shoes - soooo stinking cute!

It was such a busy summer, but it was a great one!  I hate to even say this, but I am ready for fall now though (I've already got my Fall/Halloween decorations up)!!

Sunshine Box

I'm Back...I'm making myself keep up with this journal because too many of the small things are passing by and as much as I think I'll remember them I know there is a large chance I won't.

Right now Carter -
 - Carter is making car noises all the time
 - He can say several words and seems to be adding more vocabulary every day (I picked him up from daycare today and he had said 2 new words!)
 - He loves to do everything that Blake does - Monkey see, Monkey do! :)
 - He can spend hours (literally) playing on the play-set.  He doesn't want help though; he can climb up and go crawl around and then go down the slide by himself.
 - If he hears Eric on the lawn mower outside he tries to put on his shoes and stands at the back door making vroom vroom noises. :)

Right now Blake -
 - Is loving preschool - he often will start to get a little teary when I leave, but as soon as I leave he's fine and then I have a hard time getting him to leave when I pick him up.
 - He is really starting to get into the little tiny Legos - he's constantly showing me new things he's built (lately he's built an airplane, scarecrow and a camel)
 - Blake wants to be a combine for Halloween - he has been set on it for about a month so this Momma is going to start trying to make one of of a box and various cardboard pieces...wish me luck.
 - He's very into schedules - he's constantly asking what are plans are for the next several days to week (I think part of it is because our schedules have such a mixture.
 - Every time I give Blake a kiss he wipes it off - I honestly think that he doesn't even think about it now, it's become second-nature.  He will let me give him a kiss in the mouth - he opens his mouth as wide as it will go and then I can give him a kiss in his mouth (I can't touch lips or anything though).  I know it sounds wierd, but this Momma is giving or taking any kiss she can. :)

Right now this Momma -
 - Is in the middle of making a mini-album for our church auction and I'm having a blast with it.
 - Is taking a sewing class at Jo-Ann's with my Mom & sister (which reminds me I should be doing my homework because our last class is tomorrow)
 - Just made a Pottery Barn knock-off growth chart with a board and loved it - so I'm making another for the church auction as well - I tease Eric that I'm quite the woodworker now.  :)
 - Is getting really anxious for the basement family room/playroom to be done - I've got lots of decorating ideas
 - Is really needing to start exercising/eating better - Eric & I are going to Hawaii in a little over 3 months and I need to be ready to wear a swimsuit Eeeekkkk!

Right now Eric -
 - Has gotten really into fishing - he's been going almost every weekend - I do have to say that fresh Salmon tastes soooo good!
 - Falls asleep every night in the chair with Carter :)
 - He got the Jeep out this past weekend and we took it to O-fest each day - I forgot how much he loved that thing! :)
 - Is thoroughly excited about buying another boat - that's right another - apparently it's a 'really good deal' and there are different boats that are good for lake fishing vs river fishing (talking to a wall here with me).

Anyway...
My Aunt has been in the hospital for a little while and I saw this idea on Pinterest and I thought it was such a great idea that I had to send her my little version.

The Box of Sunshine was my inspiration - she has some great printables too.  I used one of them, but forgot to take a picture of it.
Here's a pic of the one I created - it was fun putting it together.

I included:
 - Box of Dots Candy
 - Nail file in yellow case
 - Lotion
 - Crystal Light Lemonade mix
 - Juicy Fruit gum
 - Peanut M & M's
 - Hand Soap
 - 2 Yankee floating candles
 - Yellow nailpolish
 - Lemon Drop Candies
 - Small bar of soap

I cut out some stars from yellow paper & added a small get-well note. The Studio Calico boxes that the kits come in each month work great for sending them in the mail!

Hope everyone had a great last day of summer - it's on to fall now!
Jackie

Blake's Birthday Party

I know everyone says that time goes by so fast, but it truly does. How is Blake already 3?

He had his 3-year check-up today and is in the 97% for height (40 inches) and 50% for weight (33 lbs). His birthday party of choice was of course...John Deere.

I didn't get a pic of all the decorations, but here are a few:

I saw the idea on Pinterest and loved the balloon wreath.

Saw this idea on Pinterest as well - it worked out great to add to the dessert table and now it goes perfectly in Blake's room.

I think Blake liked his cake - I just used a box cake mix, but I baked it in a tractor mold, frosted it and used M&M's to decorate it. (The boy loves his M&M's). :)



We had a great party with family last weekend and then on his actual birthday we took him to Bullwinkle's Family Fun Center for dinner and playtime. He loved their Kidopolis playland - he keeps asking to go back. :)




We recently went on our first camping trip in the snow (don't worry we had our trailer) with the snowmobile. We had a blast. I got this picture of Carter and I love it!

Blake loved the snowmobile - he had fun playing in the snow too.

I'm hooked on snowmobiling - the landscape is so beautiful and I love trail riding. :)

Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Normally I love the month of February. I love getting all the Valentine's decorations out, but this year I've been a little behind.

Carter had his 9 month check-up today and he's slowed down on his weight gain...he's not in the 85% for height/weight & 98% head size :)

He has this big vein that sticks out behind one of his ears and I was asking the doctor about it and she said it's just a predominent vein - she said "some people have them on their forehead and he just has his behind his ear" - I kind of chuckled because Eric gives me a bad time for the huge vein I have on my forehead. :)

Here's the card I made for Eric for Valentine's Day - not too exciting, but at least I got one made right?

I've also been working on a quilt that I bought as a kit quite awhile ago (I'm not willing to admit it online how long ago it really was). I absolutely love the kit Camp Fun Time by Vicki Stratton for Hoffman California Fabrics. I love it - I'm making it to keep in our camping trailer for curling up in while we're camping.

It has five panels like this and each panel has 11 of these trees - 55 trees to blanket stitch around and I have a whopping 6 trees completed. :) Slowly, but surely I'll get there. I'm thinking it might be a good project to work on during my lunch at work.

I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day filled with loved ones!!

Where does the time go...

It's finally starting to slow down after the holidays around here. :)
The boys are growing like crazy! Carter wants to walk so badly - he uses the walker and walks up & down the hallway and he can stand for a little bit on his own - he's ready to go.

And we are working on potty training Blake - it's quite a task! He does pretty good most days at home, but does not like to go other places. :)

I love this picture from the other day of the boys in the bath - they are growing up so fast!

I was able to scrap last weekend briefly - I finished one page. :)
And then I switched modes and started on a quilt kit I bought awhile ago. I'm making it for the camping trailer and decided I wanted to try and finish it before our first camping trip this year.
I also took down the pictures on one wall in the hallway to redo with new frames - thanks to Pinterest. :)

Christmas Mantel

Here are some pics of our Christmas Mantel. I think my favorite thing this year is my new stockings. Since Carter was born we needed new stockings right so we all had matching ones? :)

**Do you love the can of pledge sitting in the window sill? :)**

I really wanted burlap stockings and thought I would have time to make some, but decided that I probably didn't and then I found these ones on Etsy and I absolutely loved them! Here is a close-up of each one - they are all a little different and I love it. You can also see the little tags I made for each one...I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. :)

I ordered the stockings from Turnbow Designs - I love them!

Linking up to Home Stories A to Z, Southern Hospitality and Ten June.

December...

I can't believe we are already full swing in December. Yesterday we took the boys on the Polar Express train ride. It was a lot of fun. The train went up to the North Pole and then Santa came on board and each kid was able to sit on Santa's lap. Blake asked Santa for a big tractor and a little tractor. Santa told him that he liked giving tractors to good little boys so Blake needed to be sure and be good. :) Too cute!

Last night I was able to work on my December Daily album a little bit. I have a pretty good start on my base pages, but I still hadn't done the album cover - it was kind of intimidating me and I'm not sure why...
So I finally just started tackling it. I painted it white and then embossed some silver snowflakes which didn't turn out the best, but they work. I made some fringe flowers from red paper and used some Christmas brads for the centers. I had a lot of fun working on it once I got going. :)

I'm not sure how Carter is getting so big, but it's happening. He's almost 7 months old and is in 12 month size clothes now and on the verge of crawling - he scoots all over.

Pretty handsome little guy if I do say so myself. :)
On a side note, I did make a batch of the laundry soap awhile ago and am loving it. I've given over 1/2 the batch away to people that wanted to try it so I'll probably be making more sometime in the next couple of months, but it's working great and soooo much cheaper!

Have a great Monday!