Billy Buttons

The other day, I was REALLY needing some incentive to get some work done around the apartment.

There's nothing novel about feeling unmotivated to clean sometimes, but being in this apartment, it can be even more difficult at times. In our own home - in a place that feels like home - there is a great measure of satisfaction that can come with working hard and putting everything in its place. Here, it's been more of a challenge.

So last week I decided to make myself a good ol' fashion chore list and then work hard until it was done. As a reward for being a responsible adult, I would find something that I've pinned on Pinterest and actually follow through with making it. (I think I get feeling a little depressed sometimes and have to remind myself that I like to have fun. :)

I decided on making some Billy Buttons via Design Sponge. I've stumbled upon a fun little store here in town that sells wool roving, so this was a pretty simple project to complete in an afternoon.

There are a few things that I'd like to adjust about the finished product, but I think it turned out pretty fun. Later, I'll probably replace the wire with a lighter green wire (like in the original) and I'll find a different vase, but this works for now.

Photoverload

Over a year ago, Nels bought me a new camera. One week past the warranty expiration date, Elsie dropped it straight onto its eyeball on our ceramic tile. 

There was a boring series of replacements and returns to follow, but in the end, I was without a camera of my own and have remained that way until this Christmas when I finally broke down and bought another.

I hope to once again return my blog to an overload of pictures of my beautiful children and random exploits.  

Here is how we've been entertaining ourselves in January 2012.

Watercolors from Santa

Laughing with Dad

Actually, Clara doesn't really laugh much yet. She mostly just squeals! :) Just like Violet at her age. So cute.

Pizza party!

Baths are always a perfect way to cure grumpiness.

Clara has the most expressive little eyebrows. Love it.

She does not love the FLASH! :)

When I get really sick of cleaning up the same room over and over again, 

I just turn on "Felicity" and play with my kids' toys.

Elsie gets so bored without her older sisters throughout the day. They are required to read 20 minutes everyday when they get home from school and often Elsie will follow them into their room during "reading time" and Hazel will read to her . . . or put her down for a nap. :)

Learning to sit. 

I don't purposefully let the kids play with my pins. It's just not safe, you know? But Violet is funny. She just moves them from one pincushion to the other.

This immediately took me back five years.
To when Lilie was this age.

I never thought I'd say it, but directly after taking this picture, I texted Nels,

"God bless Frank Vandersloot."

Sol-U-Mel is the greatest invention of all time. Got that orange Sharpie right off her little body.

Man alive. I love my kids. They are so wonderful! I love being a mom!

Clara is so fun and we all are completely enamored with her.

She weighs in somewhere around 14.5 lbs. and is really long. She rolls over both ways and has discovered the wonder of her hands and feet the past couple weeks. When I leave her on the floor, she rolls and pushes herself all over the place.

She is smiley and pleasant and perfect. She brings such a sweet spirit into our home.

Dyer Circumstances

One of the enormous perks of living in Northern Idaho is that it is considerably closer to my dear cousin, Amber and her family!

Two weekends ago, Nels got a Friday off and the girls +Nels had Monday off for MLKJ Day, so we decided to jump on a perfect opportunity to head over to Monroe to visit the Dyers. -- Not to mention, I think if we'd all been cooped up in this apartment for four days straight, we may not have been feeling so lovey by Tuesday. :) -- Thank you, Amber for letting us crash your long weekend!

Hooray for snow! This was their first snow and all those Dyers were so excited. :) I'm just glad that we brought our snow clothes. The kids had SUCH a wonderful time playing in the snow together.

This was my personally favorite trick! :) Riding the sled down the slide. :)

Sweet Hannah

 

LOVE kids in diapers and boots! :)

The night before we left, Clara was running a bit of a fever. I just passed it off, sure that it would pass. Alas, Saturday came along and she STILL was warm and getting more and more fussy so we finally took her into the Urgent Care down the street. Poor little baby had an ear infection. After some antibiotics, she cheered up quite a bit, but she was not in top shape the entire time we were there. I felt bad that everyone didn't get to see her generally smily and pleasant self. Amber's girls were SO in love with her and wanted to hold Clara every chance they got, but because she wasn't feeling well, she wouldn't let anyone but her mommy or daddy hold her for very long. Luckily, next time probably won't be too far off. :)

We took a few minutes before going sledding on Monday to take a quick family picture for Amber.
They all turned out SO cute!

The drive home Monday night was quite snowy over the pass coming out of Seattle. Luckily our van is a beast in the snow and zips right along with nary a slip.

It was such a great weekend. I'm so thankful for Amber and the wonderful friend that she's been for me my whole life. It was so great to see our children developing sweet cousin friendships as well. It made my heart happy. They all had so much fun and got along so well. Being at their home was also good therapy for me. It felt like home.

Thank you, Dyers! We can't wait until next time!

About Bees

A friend of mine asked me the other day where this video was. I then spent about an hour searching through my blog, because I was sure that I'd posted it on here, but to no avail.

So if I did, I'm going to repost it and if I didn't, shame on me. Because I still think this is my favorite family video that we have.

Two and a half years ago my dramatic little Lilie got stung by a bee. It was traumatic.



Post edit: I found it. But I'm still reposting this anyway. Because it makes me laugh. Hard.

Home Bodies

 
Life just keeps on ticking right away. 

It is so strange.

I just spent a little bit of time searching through my blog - quickly scanning and scrolling through the years. Turn by turn watching the lives of my children roll past.

Bam! Clara's not there.

Bam! Violet's not there.

Wham-o! and I'm looking at the sweet face of my baby Elsie who is just learning to sit by herself. My itty bitty Hazie with a pretty pink leotard and ballet slippers on and tiny Lilie's got my lipstick smeared across her lips and up to her ears.

We just bought our home. I walk through the pages and see all our hard work. All the love put into it and all the love felt within its walls.

I am overwhelmed.

I looked into the face of my darling baby Clara tonight. I kissed her little cheeks and blew raspberries on her busy little legs. She is just learning to squeal and laugh. Nels and I laugh with her. She is adorable. So often lately as I am holding her I snuggle her up just a little bit tighter and try to burn that moment so deeply into my memory that it won't ever leave. Because I know that this moment will pass. She will grow. So slowly that I won't notice, but so quickly that I'll hardly remember what happened in between. And I know I won't remember. There are vague glimpses in my mind of my other girls being so tiny, but they are not vivid. They are not clear. Just shadows.

And it hurts my heart just a little bit that I can't have it all -- all the time before me. To feel that past and to love the present. I want it all and it's not fair that I can't.

I watched my children tonight.

Hazel - right on the cusp of shooting into her "tweens" (such a stupid word, but it classifies those children that are no longer 'little'), stirring a pan of stroganoff on the stovetop. Dancing for a moment with her Daddy. She's getting so tall and so beautiful and amazes me daily with her goodness and willingness to help.

Lilie - sitting at the table folding bits of paper into swans for her younger sister. She is so meticulous. The handwriting papers that she brings home from school are so precise and clean. She finishes her math in no time flat. She laughs loud and makes up silly names for the crazy meal that Nels made the other night - "Stroganator" is my favorite.

Elsie lay on the couch her head propped on the armrest with the glow of the iPod illuminating her darling face, playing some silly bowling game. Sitting so quietly and happily. I tell her that she's so little and she laughs. I tell her that I love her and I'll love her even when she's big. She laughs again and says she loves me, too. "Elsie, can you stay little forever? Please?" Laughing, "No." Me, "Why not?" Giggling, "Because I want to grow big and be a mom."

Nels calls me from the kitchen, "Rachel, you'd better see this." He is standing at the foot of the couch. I walk over and see Elsie is still there, but Violet has crawled up next to her, laid down beside her - with their heads touching, she watches Elsie's game. She has the softest and sweetest little toddler body. Laying there in her diaper, snuggled next to her sister. I could kiss and cuddle that girl all day. She is what every toddler should be.

Why can't I have it all? Why can't I live in this moment and all the others, too? It's not fair.

I read through my words from yesteryear and can remember who I was then. I am amazed at how funny I am sometimes. Ha! I was so clever and it feels so effortless. Ha ha! Who is that girl? Where did she go? Will I ever see her again?

I miss Home.

I miss Idaho Falls. I miss my family and friends. But it's not really that. In most ways, I'm coming past that kind of "homesick" feeling. What I miss is HOME. This apartment isn't home. I am a home.maker. I want Home. It makes me feel lost and not quite certain what to do with myself without it.

I just hope that when I get to the end of whatever process we're in right now, I can also find the rest of me there waiting to be reunited.

I know that this post is all over the place. Somehow everything that I've written is connected, I'm just not sure where.

Maybe my blog is my way of finding all those different parts of myself, so I can see them and bring them all together eventually. Maybe it's my way of being able to have the past and the present. To be able to live in all these memories. for just a moment. And that's why I need to record them.

How to Train You Children . . .

. . . to Ask for Impossible Christmas Gifts

Something I really love for Christmas is to have homemade gifts. I love to make stuff, so what could be better than making stuff for my own children?

Besides, there's just something about the personalization that I'm really, really drawn toward. If I had the time, I would honestly make gifts for everyone I love. I just love things to be personal.

Last year, I was finishing up the last of my Christmas shopping with Lilie at Walmart and for funzies, we walked down the toy aisle. There, on the end of one shelf, there was a display of stuffed "How to Train Your" dragons. About 8 inches tall and sorta cute, I guess.

Lilie has been IN LOVE with the movie since it came out. She already had a soft place in her heart for dragons (my older girls - especially - are a little unusual like that, if you hadn't noticed), so this movie just blew it into full-fledged obsession. Because I seem to be unable to control my mouth, I pointed them out to her - thinking that it would be really fun to find a little Toothless for her stocking or something. She was definitely interested and instantly asked if she could get one. I told her maybe Santa Claus could bring her one. As I looked through them, they had about every dragon BUT Toothless (of course) but I figured that one of the other many stores in town would have one --- or at the very least, I'd be able to find one online with plenty of time to get it by Christmas.  From then on, that was Lilie's one Christmas request. A stuffed Toothless. I'm so S.M.R.T.

Over the next couple days, I looked in every store. They were totally sold out of Toothless. I looked online. I love online Christmas shopping. But wouldn't you know it, this $10.00 toy from Walmart - made of cheap fabric and substandard stitching, not to mention kind of ugly design - was not to be found online for anything less than SIXTY DOLLARS. Plus shipping! Supply and demand, people. Ridiculous. There was just no way that I could pay 6 times as much for this kind of ugly little toy that would probably fall apart within a few weeks anyway.

However, as I was searching the internet for a "plush Toothless" I came across an interesting website. Some brilliantly talented and geeky person out there had been so in love with this movie that they actually designed and made their very own Toothless and then was generous enough to take the time to share their pattern with others. Bless those sweet little weirdy people out there who love cartoons.

I couldn't help myself. I just had to make one for my Lilie. (Now who's weirdy, right?)

Little did I know the hours and hours of work that this endeavor would entail. Not terribly difficult and incredibly inexpensive to make, but definitely time consuming. As I was cutting and sewing and sculpting and manipulating and stuffing and stitching, I kept wondering in the back of my mind if there were any way that I would consider making these to sell. After seeing the outrageous price for that laughably cheap little dragon from Walmart, one could imagine that you could turn quite a profit on these babies.

However. All things considered, there is no way I would make one of these for anything except love. It's just too detailed and time consuming that it would be difficult to make it worth your time for anything except the pure love of the one you're making it for.

That being said, it was worth every painstakingly tedious moment for this look on my daughter's face.

And truthfully, I like tedious little things. Especially when they're appreciated. :)

And boy has this guy been appreciated!

This toy has been hands down the absolute most played with toy we have ever had in our house. He has been played with every single day for over a year.

So, you see? Each and every single one of those painstaking stitches was worth it. (And have held up! Hooray!!!)

The last year has done nothing to diminish the obsession with cute cuddly dragons in our home. With a house full of girls, it's still surprising to me how much they love them, but they do and they come up with all sorts of fun stories and games with them. When they draw, they often draw dragons. When they play with Legos, they make little Lego dragons.

They've even created new, favorite dragons for each child. Hazel has invented a dragon named Clover and they invented one for Elsie named Purpleberry. :) I honestly don't think that Elsie would be naturally inclined to love these creatures as much if it weren't for Hazel and Lilie, but I'm glad that they have a fun game they all enjoy playing together.

So when I was thinking through Christmas gifts for this year, I decided that even though it would be an enormous undertaking, I was going to make some more dragons for my girls. While I wasn't going to make a new big one for Lilie (as she still loves the original Toothless) I was able to find a smaller and slightly simpler pattern on the same website and decided to make a baby dragon for her.

I think they are just so cute with their little clay eyes. Sculpey is fun stuff.

Purpleberry

Clover

Razzleberry

A year later, this little guy is a little pilly (which sorta ticks me off - as I was careful to buy anti-pill fleece) and has a chipped eye, but is still so loved.

Thanks little dragons for being my girls' buddies.