Stealing Some Thunder.

We had a lovely visit last weekend with Raph's cousin Sarah, her husband Eric, and her parents George and Bunny. They gave Makili the coolest gift, which to be honest sort of stole my thunder for his hand-made gift (you'll see soon enough) , but how can you compete with cool fruit that you can cut.We had a great little visit as most of the East Coast got hammered with snow. Ann and Larry didn't get any. We probably got 4 inches, thus ending our snow-free period.




Anyway, it was great to see them. (Sarah and Eric, we're keeping our fingers crossed for you.)

Ice Time, Part 3

Raph was on a mission this weekend. He wanted to take me skating on a lake or a pond before they were covered in snow. And he was right. Being able to skate anywhere on a lake is pretty cool. Plus we got a great sunset with some great company.

We were in the news.

http://www.wmtw.com/video/21986600/

Some brotherly loving...Mickey (with the ears)?
a pile of my favorite kids...

Ice Time, Part 2

After a few cold nights, the ice on the nearby pond was frozen enough to skate on (even though it cracked a few times and I, not being from New England, am completely terrified of breaking through the ice!). We went down there with the Mastersons so that we could "teach the kids." Ha! What a joke! The kids ate donuts on the sidelines, while Raph and George got some good ice time. I pushed Remick around the ice in the stroller for a while too.

Six Months Young

I did a little photo shoot of my little guy today since he is SIX MONTHS OLD!!! These are a few of my favorites. I can't believe how fast time has flown with this mini-man in my life. Just yesterday I was big as a house driving stakes into the garden. I can't believe it's December already.

This guy is growing and changing so fast! Yesterday I put him to bed in our bed and was playing trucks with Makili in the other room. I thought I heard him a few times, but he wasn't crying so I figured he was okay. Then I hear a big thud! He crawled/rolled/scooted off the bed! Thankfully we have a low bed now, but seriously I had no idea he could do that! Which of course brings sweeping changes into our little house soon! Makili has to move into a BIG bed so that Remick can have a crib, which means that Raph and I can't sleep on the futon in Makili's room any more because it won't be there, which means we might actually get to sleep in a bed together again without a baby! Here's to hoping anyway!

Remick has been sleeping better recently. We've actually started letting him sleep on his belly which seems to have made a tremendous difference. I mean, we're still up a few times a night, but not every 45 minutes!!! I'm thankful! I can actually stay up past eight getting things done because I can count on a little more sleep!

Remick continues to be a pretty mellow guy. He is so quick to smile and laugh, loves activity, music, and charms people so easily. He puts things in his mouth sometimes, but certainly not like some other babies, though that might be because he hasn't been given any solid food yet. He goes to the doctor next week, but I'm pretty sure he will weigh in on the heavy side again (see thighs above.)

I feel like part of a real family unit lately and feel very blessed to be surrounded by such great guys.

Ice Time, Part 1

We vacationed in winter this weekend! We have NO snow, though it's been plenty cold. So we went to Ann and Larry's for the weekend. They have plenty of snow and ice. Makili went sledding, Raph cut down trees for Larry to burn in 8 inches of snow and then we went ice-skating. Makili test-drove Gabrielle's christmas gift - ice-skates. He wasn't all that interested, but Raph and I had a great time playing hockey together...

We've been spending too much time together!

I've been meaning to write a post about Makili-isms, but they're getting away from me. It's been more than a month now that Raph and I have been laughing about the way he says "No say me no!" anytime we tell him no. But he's taken on some new phrases from my vocabulary, I'm sorry to say.

Today Raph was tickling him while they were playing trucks, and Makili turned and said, "Don't piss me off."

Then later, he got in trouble for throwing bells at the window and I put him in time-out. After wailing for a few moments, he used his whiny sad voice to say, "I need attention."

And yesterday he told me, "I need some water, sweetheart."

There are so many it is hard to keep up.

Cranky!!

HARD work

We made gingerbread houses today. I think I might be a bit over anxious for the "kid" stuff. Makili was all about eating the gingerbread men and candy, but not so into decorating the house. He did some, but as you can see from the pix below, it was all me and my new friend Megan (who is due on Sat!) doing all the work. And let me tell you - it was HARD work. Raph said he's never heard me bitch so much! And since there was a lot of baby talk, Makili had to nurse Dirty Wanda a bit more, which you see him doing above. Still makes me laugh. Oh and by the way, we came home, ate a bit of the gingerbread house and now the whole thing just collapsed...

First Snow!

We had our first snow on Sunday morning (it really came on Sat. night), and it was exciting! It was a perfect first snow - a couple inches, and around 30 degrees to play in it. Makili LOVED it! After I convinced him it was okay to step in it of course. He was in tears laughing when he would wipe snow on me off of the car. Unfortunately the camera got switched into a different mode, and I didn't notice that and couldn't figure out why I couldn't get it to expose the pictures properly, so I didn't capture how absolutely beautiful it was.

The funny thing about the snow was, we've been waiting and expecting and waiting and expecting, and now that it is here it seems like it has been here forever. I always expect this first snow fall to melt before we are really under white for the season, but last year it didn't so who knows??? In any case, winter is officially here and I might not see the ground again until the end of March, but as I learned from Makili yesterday, that doesn't mean you can't play soccer in the snow in the dark. We played soccer last night after dark for 45 minutes. It was pretty fun...

Before I totally move on...

In the last two weeks, I made:

50 quilted cards30 hand-decorated seed-packs


200 hair clips (thanks Becly for the display idea)13 or 14 strings of doily snowflakes


two hand quilted linen lap quilts that I LOVE!
not bad...