Mr. Scared

Andrew turned 8 this year.  This meant he was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The weeks coming up to the baptism were a little stressful -- not because of big preparations or something, but because Andrew was not very excited about the attention he would be getting.  

But on the day of the baptism he was in good spirits.  This was probably due somewhat to the kindness of family members and friends who were so excited for him.  At the baptism he was a bouncing ball of energy.  But he was still nervous -- telling a few people, "You can just call me Mr. Scared."  It was pretty cute.

Three quilts

I just got back from the quilter's -- I picked up 3 quilts.  My 2-year-old has been carrying around our camera, and now I can't find it. (Smart of me to let him carry it around, I know.) So I took these pics with our video camera -- they aren't that great.  But I'm posting them anyway.

The first one, my BOM quilt that I did at a local quilting shop.  I was most excited to see this one, but also worried because I had a plan for how I wanted it quilted, but at a suggestion of the quilter I changed my mind.  Not her fault, but I should have gone with my first instinct.  Turns out -- I don't love it.  Bummer.  I hate having spent all that time and money and not loving it.  Anyway, here it is:

The second is a pendant quilt -- my first time doing applique.

 And the third is a baby girl quilt for which I got the material for a few years ago, in hopes that the baby I was carrying would be a girl.  Turns out, it was another boy.  But I eventually finished it -- maybe I'll just call it a really small spring quilt.  I should have cropped it so my bedspread wasn't showing.  (:

Andrew's quilt

I just finished a quilt for Andrew's birthday (shhhh....he doesn't know about the quilt yet.)  My boys have asked me for quilts before, which makes me happy.  This is the first I've made.  I've always struggled to come up with something that I think they'll like....and like for a while.  For example, a couple years ago Andrew would have loved anything Superhero.  Today he would be embarrassed to have a Superhero quilt.  I couldn't convince myself to spend time and $$$ on a quilt that they might hide away in a year.

So the conclusion I came to was to
1- make a simple quilt that wouldn't take me a lot of time and
2- choose one fabric that they'd love and find coordinated pieces to go with it.

Turns out, I love how it turned out.  I chose "Star Wars" hoping it'll have a little more staying power.  (We all know adults who still love Star Wars.)  I just did 5 wide strips of fabric, added a reverse applique "A", and had it quilted in swirls and diamonds.  I love the diamonds, particularly on the corduroy section.

Anyway, that's a lot of talk for such a simple quilt -- but here it is:

Tanner Communicates

I mentioned in a previous post that Tanner isn't talking much.  He's 2 1/2 and has been communicating through gestures, facial expressions, yells, and grunts.  We currently have him in Speech Therapy, and it's too early to tell if it'll help much.  Anyway....Tanner and I had a funny "conversation" yesterday:  

I was trying to convince him to read a book with me and then take a nap.  As we sat in the chair he was no settling down, so I started humming a lullaby, hoping it would convince him to sit still.  

As soon as I started humming he must have recognized that I was trying to lull him into nap time.  So for a brief second he started to shake his head and yell.  Then he suddenly stopped, looked at me, held his finger to his lips, and very seriously said "SHHHH."

It was so cute -- and even though I wish he could have said "Stop humming, Mom," the fact that he used a common gesture and sound, made me happy.  He's so funny.  

Too much candy

I've had a tooth ache for several days, and this afternoon I'll finally be going to the dentist -- along with the rest of my family as they have check-ups.  I'm nervous to see how many cavities (and possibly a root canal for me) will be necessary.  ):  We don't have the greatest teeth.  Well, Brian has great teeth, but so far the rest of us don't.

So yesterday in the car I complained about my achy tooth to Eric.  This was his response:

Eric:  Maybe you eat too much candy.
Me:  Maybe.
Eric:  I don't eat too much candy.  (side note -- he LOVES candy.)
Me:  You don't??
Eric:  Mom, I go to school for 3 hours every day!  I don't eat candy the whole time!
Me:  Oh, right.
Eric:  Andrew goes to school 6 hours without candy!
Me:  Wow.
Eric:  Maybe you should get a job so you don't eat so much candy.

Sadly, I thought, getting a job wouldn't stop me from eating candy.  

Grandma's Doily

Is that how you spell doily?  Not a word I see in print very often!  Anyway, I just wanted to share a picture of my living room wall because I finally filled the empty space in the middle!  My grandma  made this doily years ago.  A few weeks ago I finally took it in to get it framed.  It turned out just how I hoped.

Grandma lived across from the street from us when I was growing up.  She died when I was on my mission 17 years ago (SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO!  Wow!)  Anyway, I'm grateful to have this wonderful reminder of a good, strong, and kind grandmother.

Eventually I hope to have a larger TV hung on the wall just below the doily.  Then perhaps we'll move the piano and instead put a console table there.  Then we'll have a really great looking picture wall.  (:  

Mimicry

The other day the boys were watching "Wild Kratts" and they taught about mimicry (one animal mimicking another animal).  Well Andrew and Eric have a little mimic of their own -- Tanner.

First, mimicking "the look" -- often when the boys get ready for school, Tanner does too.  Here he is in Eric's coat, with a backpack and hat.  If Eric had gloves on, Tanner would have also.

The other thing Tanner has been doing is wearing the boys clothes -- he's even been known to where their (clean) underwear on top of his diaper.  Almost every night he wears their pajamas.  The picture doesn't quite capture the fact that he's wearing Size 7 pajamas here.  It's a tripping hazard for sure.

And the picture below is one I took back in July -- cracked me up when I walked in the room and saw him perched on the table just like Andrew.  My favorite lately is when the boys put their hands in their pockets because it's cold -- he stops and puts his in his pant pockets too.  It's really cute.

Now if he would only start mimicking their speech.  He's great at mimicking noises and even voice fluctuation.  But when it comes to actual words -- he's got a language of his own.  We started speech therapy this year, and I'm hoping it'll help.  We both get frustrated when I can't understand him.   And then if we specifically ask him to repeat something, he won't -- even if I'm asking him to repeat a word/sound that he knows.  Hopefully this will all improve  soon!

2012 Glimpse

So I'm writing my semi-annual post.  I'm not sure why I keep trying -- I think I'll be like my bro and sis-in-law who have a great blog and then print it off at the end of the year into a huge book.  I don't keep a journal, and so once in a while I think it would be so great to do something like them!  But then I think "where do I start" and "I'm not that interesting."  But since I only have 3 "followers", I guess I shouldn't care too much.  (:

So here's a little review of the last half of the year:

 1.  We had a great time at the cabin with cousins.  There was a little grandpa/dad/sons fishing trip -- I was told that Tanner LOVED the mud, water, and just being out there in by the water.  I'm not surprised.  Eric just walked by and saw this picture and sadly said "Oh.  That's when I got a leech."

I love this picture of some of my beautiful nieces hanging out at the dock. 

2.  Brian's mother passed away in June.  She had endured a lot in the last few years, so mingled with the sadness and loss was a bit of relief.  It's hard to watch someone go through Alzheimers, surgeries, strokes, and loneliness.  Brian's dad died several years ago, so we all happily think of them together again.  Almost every night Eric says "Please bless that the people who have died (Grandma and Grandpa) will remember us.....and we will remember them."  I'm not even sure where he got the idea to include that in his prayer, but it does make us pause and smile.

One great thing about this time was the chance to see our Cox cousins who live on the other side of the country.  They were so nice to our boys!

3.  Halloween --  Here we have Spiderman (or as Tanner says "Bawgubas"  Not sure where he got that!)  He was quite the trooper trick-or-treating.  Brian said he just kept on following the big boys up to each porch, outlasting even Eric.  He does love candy!  Andrew was a zombie -- he was very good at acting the part.  When we went to see him in the school halloween parade, he came by looking quite dead, with his limp arms and dragging foot.  Eric was a ninja again this year.  I love it when I can reuse a costume!

4.  We had some great snow storms earlier this year.  The boys had a great time building giant snow balls and we did make a pretty good snowman this year.

5.  Brian is a big classic rock fan, and so when he read that Styx was coming to town we got 2 tickets to attend the sold-out concert.  It was a small arena (400 people or so, I think.)  It was a lot of fun and I actually recognized many of the songs -- thanks to my older sister Marie's music listening in high school and also the "musak" station at Taco Time.

 6.  I turned 37 this year.  The boys were very excited about my birthday -- Brian was going to make the cake, but after he and Eric picked out the cake mix, he asked Brian if he had ever made a cake.  When Brian answered in the negative, Eric said "Maybe we should just have mom make it."  (:  We didn't have many candles, so there are 3 candles on one side, and a big 7 on the other -- 37.  Fancy!

7.  Christmas has come and gone but here are a few pictures we took at a family party.  Ho. Ho. Ho.

Our obsessions

I've been a bit obsessed with quilting these days.  After reading about this "emerald" mosaic contest, I thought I'd enter it.  Chances are slim....but given that I've been contemplating a "MineCraft" quilt for my boys, green has been on my mind.  How could minecraft not be on all of our minds around here...  The boys talk about it A LOT!  So.....I have to put the mosaic somewhere online, so here it is:

Tell me that doesn't say Minecraft Creeper to you?

Hopefully I'll post something more interesting later...an update on our life.  

Memorial Day '12

For Memorial Day we went on a little hike -- it was very crowded, but nice anyway.  1/4 mile hike to a tall waterfall.  Eric said "This is the best day ever!" several times on the hike.  Tanner wanted to walk the entire way, but it was too rocky, so although he enjoyed it he was pretty mad when we carried him.  Andrew wanted to take lots of pictures to remember the hike. Here are some great ones:

After working in our ridiculous yard (seriously, it's pretty much just dirt and tree roots and weeds.  It's going to be a lot of work and time.....)  Anyway, after working in the yard, we went to the old city cemetery to show the boys the graves of some relatives.  Andrew was happy to find several "Squires" headstones (his middle name) so Eric had to find some "John" headstones too.  Luckily, in addition to "John Squires",  Pres. John Taylor was very nearby.  (:  It was a nice evening, despite Eric's complaining of a stomach ache, which I thought was just complaining....but the next morning he started throwing up the next morning.  Poor guy has been sick ever since.  He's so sad to still be sick.  He just cries every time he needs to throw up again.  

And below is a picture of our finally finished master bath -- I painted the light oak vanity a dark brown, added hardware, and put up some shelves to help with the fact that we have no linen closet.  Sounds like it could be done in a day -- but for me it took weeks.  Literally.  I pretend to be a "do-it-yourself-er" but really, I'm just learning so everything takes me so long!  Argh.