Clean Refrigerator

Before:

 After:

 The only problem with a cleaned out refrigerator is that it makes it look like it's grocery shopping time!

Sick Josiah & Sweet Caleb

Josiah has been a little puny this week, and the other day I found that the boys had crawled in here all by themselves.  Josiah is in a sad little ball, and Caleb is just keeping him company.  They stayed in here for an hour!

Couch!

Our couches are the only furniture that we've bought new over the course of our many years of marriage, so we were disappointed when they started looking a little old.  Downright disgusting is more like it.  That's the third hole that's appeared in this cushion in the last month.  And those stains are mostly dribbles of watery apple juice.  Who knew they could look so yucky?  Anyways, we'd about given up on these old couches. 

 But today Jennifer and I decided to take action.  We took off the covers and I sewed the hole shut from the inside.

 Then washed with Oxi-Clean.

 To be honest, Jenn didn't do a lick of work except look cute for the camera and keep me entertained.  But I'm glad she was spending her snow-afternoon with us! 

 Finished product!

Christmas Gifts

 Instead of Christmas cards this year, we did Christmas candy for all our friends at church.

We have these nifty mailboxes there and it was fun to stuff them in the boxes. 

But it was a little sad to see the lid pop off one as a lady took it out of her box and Altoids scattered everywhere! 

I painted baby food jar lids red and filled them with pink, white, and green layers of Altoids left over from Chris's Ampoids business.  If you ever have a need for an Altoid, let us know!

Christmas Haircut

Before

 After

Rice Writing

We tried a fun new activity today.  I saw this idea using rice or flour, but we went with rice because it seemed a bit easier to clean up at the end!  Josiah is not much for coloring or drawing, but he loved this, and he was great at making letters.  He used both hands and multiple fingers for writing.  Caleb sat in my lap and ate raw rice. 

Christmas Memories

 Josiah and Caleb are loving this drum!  Their favorite way to play is to wear it upside down on their heads like a space helmet.

 Here are my Grandmother & Grandaddy dancing after all the presents were opened.  How cute are they!

And here's Caleb, wearing both the boys' new hats.

Blue Jean Makeover

 A while ago, a friend mentioned the idea of dying some blue jeans.  I thought that sounded a little silly, actually, but I ended up looking it up on the internet to see if it's actually done, and it is!  I grabbed some dark blue dye at the store a few weeks ago, and today I tried it out for myself.

 I decided to try it on an old pair of jeans of mine that fit fine, but I didn't love because they have these strange stripes on them (they're subtle in this picture) and jeans and shorts that I picked up for the boys yesterday from the give-away table at Moms4Moms. 

 I used the in-the-sink method and had a pretty fun time.  I kept running around the house, looking for more things to throw in.  My jeans looked good from the time I threw them in the sink, but the boys' things had a rather lavender tint to them.

 I loved how mine turned out, but the boys' turned out with an almost purple tint.  I read on one site on the internet that you can mix black and dark blue dye for a darker color, but that sounds dangerous to me.  I think mine worked better than the boys' because they started out darker.

 And one more exciting note.  I thought that the yellow stitching would all turn blue, too, but "good news," as Josiah would say - they stayed yellow!  So, try it for yourself!  But only on a pair of jeans that you wouldn't be too sad to see turn lavender if things go wrong.

Sweet Nativity Finger Puppets

Here it is, the puppets you've all been waiting for!  These guys were easy to make and so much fun!  Basically, you cut these simple shapes out of felt and then stick them together with craft glue.  Josiah is clinging to my arm right now saying, "You should sew eyes on them and mouths on them," but I think they look pretty cute just like they are.  Uncle Joel made the green wise man.  I think these would be fun Christmas presents to make! 

2010: A Year in Review

I had some amazing finger puppets to share with you today, but unfortunately, when I hid them from Josiah yesterday so they would stay looking nice for a photo, I hid them too well.  Maybe I'll find them for tomorrow!

So, instead, I bring to you, 2010:  A Year in Review

January 2010

Caleb was 2 months old.

February 2010

Josiah was 29 months old.  So cute playing in the snow.  Look at Caleb's poor face.  This might have been the same snow that Joel & Jennifer got engaged in.  What do you think, Jenny?


March 2010

Caleb was still bald and beautiful!


April 2010

 

Happy Easter!


May 2010

At Gwamma's pool.


June 2010

Josiah playing in the creek with a camp friend.

July 2010

Camping with Caleb.

August 2010

September 2010

 

Josiah turns 3!

October 2010

November 2010

 

On a fun camp retreat hike.

December 2010

 Chris's gift - a side tent for the Sweet Pea!

 
The brothers at their Great-grandparents' house.


And there you have it, folks!  A year in review!

And good news - I've found the finger puppets!  They'll be coming soon to a blog near you!