Melt my heart...

Are there things that happen with your kids that just simply melt your heart?  For this momma it was just before bedtime:


Me: "Baby where does Jesus live?"

Little man: "Heaben!" (pointing with both fingers to the sky)

Me: "That's right, where else does He live?"

Little man: "Heart!" (pointing to his heart)


Hearing those precious little words come from his lips, it's a little hard to maintain composer.  I love that my sweet little man is learning about Jesus at such a young age.  Somehow exchanges like this one make me feel like we're doing something right.

Blessings!

In a word...

This week our little one has moved into sentence mode!  I have to admit, as hard as it is to hear him sound so grown up, it is stinkin' adorable.  Here are just a few of the things he has been saying:

• "Where mommy/daddy go?"
• "Thank you mommy/daddy"
• "Milk please mommy"
• "Daddy/Mommy go bye bye"
• "Please have it" or "Please have some"
• "Go bye bye, cool car" (when he wants to go for a ride in the car)
• "Daddy/Mommy read book"
• "I you-ya no much" (I love you so much. For some reason it is "no much" instead of "so much")
• "Via-min time please" (vitamin time, he loves his vitamins!)
• "Go pee-pee/poo-poo on the potty" (we are working on potty training)
• "Go down-ner, puwa wif it" (down there and play with it are ADORABLE! going to miss those)
• "Ro-sy go ni-night" (when we leave and Roxy "Ro-sy" goes in her box)

I keep forgetting to write down what he says as he says it, somehow I think I will just magically remember but I never do :(.  I am sad to say several of the cute little words he would say in his own language are now forming into the proper pronunciation:

• Don-on is now Donna
• Durama is now Grandma
• Basidas is slowly becoming basketball
• Bees-bow is now baseball

But even with these changes "I you-ya"(I love you) still remains the same and I LOVE IT!  We are frequently told that our little one has a huge vocabulary (not even joking, at least 10 strangers made remarks about it just this week) but to be completely honest we don't know any different.  To us he is just a growing little man who talks alot!  We have been asked what we have done and I have absolutely no idea, it is truly just the way God designed him.  We read ALOT of books and have always made it a point to have conversations with him, but does that make the difference?  Like I said we have no idea, he is our first so we have nothing to compare him to.  To this mommy and daddy he is just our little boy, growing up WAY to fast and amazing us every step of the way!

Blessings!

In a word...

These days it seems our precious little man just talks non stop!  He is saying so many words and seems to be right on the verge of full sentences.  Since many of his cute little words are changing from baby j language (as we call it) to the actual word, I thought it would be a good idea to document them before I forget them.  So here we go with the first installment of "In a word..."

• I lu ya = I Love You (:) by FAR my favorite!)
• Bas-i-das or Bas-i-dar = Basketball
• Bees-ball geemes = Baseball (for some reason he doesn't ever just say bees-ball, it's always bees-ball games)
• Foot-bar = Football
• Shwibee or Shrizbee = Frisbee
• Sotter-bar = Soccerball
• Bob build it = Bob the Builder
• Boos Boos = Blues Clues
• Bible Book = Bible stories collection
• Einstein or Baby Bach = Baby Einstein videos
• Durama = Grandma
• Rossi = Roxy (our dog)
• Fuend = Friend
• Cool dude = ANY drummer
• Dwums = Drums
• Cool-tar = Guitar
• Bees = Bass
• Hold You = Hold me
• Whoa Mam = No mam

He is a funny little man too!  He exclaims "FOUR" every time he hits the golf ball and proceeds to say "Oh gosh" if he misses it.  He loves music and is very taken with the "Arky Arky" song.  It's not long after getting in the car that we hear "Noah Noah, Arky Arky" coming from a little voice in the back seat :).  He also LOVES "Oh Happy Day" by Fee, he exclaims "Happy Day! Happy Day!" whenever he hears the intro, not even the lyrics!  He is a very smart little man. 

I feel like there is so much more he says that I am missing, these are just the most memorable/common things he says.  I love the way he talks and all the little things he says, time just needs to slow down a bit!

Blessings!

   

Chair war, croup and a few changes...

Well if your wondering where I have been, let's just say it's been a month! And it's not even half over!

First off the projects haven't stopped, OH NO, I am deep in the throws of an all out WAR with one wingback chair.  Let's just say I WILL NOT be upholstering the second one and a post is coming on the reality of upholstering furniture.  It has not been pretty ladies and gents, it has not been fun, but it is almost done (after 2 weeks!).  If you haven't caught my disdain for this project, just wait!

Unfortunately our poor little love came down with croup!  For the love of Peet, could we just be well for once!  Sick baby/mommy after a while just simply wears you down.  I am so grateful he is such a happy baby all the time, even when he doesn't feel well.  Thankfully it has been a mild case of croup and we caught it early.  When your hubby's job is ministering to a large group of youth, these things are bound to happen.

And speaking of our wonderful students, we are approaching the busy season of graduation, grad parties and missions trips.  It keeps us running, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Finally, who doesn't love a little bit of change every now and then :)...

Over the past few months this blog has focused more on DIY projects than on the life of our family.  It seems daily our little love is growing up SO fast, I feel like I forget things he has done or said.  The point of this blog was to have a record of our little loves life that I could print out yearly and have bound into a book.  At this stage in the game that book would have alot of neat DIY projects, but very little of the everyday.  What kid is really jazzed to read about his mom's crazy adventures with stripping furniture or waring with reupholstering a chair. So to help myself out, and give our little one a record of all the fun things we did as he grew up, I have decided to move all DIY projects to a new blog, leaving the content of this blog strictly about our family, our journeys through infertility and our passion for adoption.  Stay tuned I promise to let you know when it's ready.

Now your all caught up, I know it's not the most exciting post, but cheer up and look at some cutie pie pictures of our little man on Mother's Day!

He was very proud, he picked mommy a flower all by himself :)

By far the most blessed mama on the planet!

Check out those eyelashes! 

Love him so stinkin much!!!

Blessings!

Monday Menu Planning

Monday

Dinner with Small Group

Tuesday 

Main: Italian Roasted Chicken / Sides: Couscous and Steamed Veggies

Wednesday

Main: Pork Loin Chops / Sides: Roasted Potatoes and Broccoli

Thursday

Main: Honey Lime Grilled Chicken / Sides: Whole Grain Rice and Green Breans

Friday

Date Night! 

Saturday

Youth Leader Dinner

Main: Bar-b-que Chicken / Sides: Hasselbeck Potatoes, Broccoli Salad and Roasted Corn

Sunday

Main: Left Overs

DIY: Corks-Cork Board

Recently it seems our fridge has turned into a paper catcher for grocery lists, business cards, coupons, schedules, etc.  You name it, it's probably on our refrigerator, and the moment you open the door...down goes the papers!  I finally decided it was time to clear this baby up.  

I had pulled out an old cork board but that seemed to plain, so after searching the craft room I found three bags of corks I had purchased at a local craft thrift store.

 They were so cheap and I knew eventually I would find the perfect project for them.

I pulled together supplies from around my house; an old board I had been using in the pantry, a bottle of wood glue from the garage and I a nice sharp knife to cut to corks in half...

 Important Note: Real corks are VERY hard to cut through.  If I had to do it over again I would purchase a cutting tool from a hardware store.  Synthetic corks do cut very easily, however they do not look as nice as real corks.

 Here are the easy instructions:

1. Cut all your corks in half, this is the hardest part...

2.  Decide on the pattern you want to use on your board.  Lay the pattern out to be sure you have enough corks to cover the space and your design will work.

3.  Once you have your design, measure the center and make a tiny mark.  

 4.  Put a small amount of glue on the back of each cork and place it onto your board.  You will need to push down hard and hold for a minute to be sure the cork half's adhere to the board.

5.  When all your corks have been glued down place a flat heavy object, like a book, on top of the corks and let dry for 24 hours.

5.  Drill your board into the wall and viola, instant cork board!

I love love LOVE how the alternating design on my board turned out...

And how does it work....

Beautifully!  The corks hold nice and tight, it has become quite the conversation piece and is a great addition to our growing family command center.  Since I had everything on hand, this "Cork" board was F-R-E-E!!!  I may just need to make another one for my craft room.

Happy Crafting!

DIY: Easy Vase Makeover

Since our living room color scheme is changing to red and teal, I wanted to add some pops of color.  To save money I decided to head to good will and pick up a few new vases.  I found two that I knew would fit perfectly and with the .25 cent price tag I couldn't beat it.   I rounded out the group with a third vase I had on hand.   

 I picked up a few bottles of acrylic craft paint in teal from Joann's and I used a bottle of red I had on hand.

 The process was very easy (I apologize I didn't get process pics).

Step 1. Clean and dry the vases

Step 2.  Squeeze 3/4 of the bottle of paint into the vase and add about a tablespoon of water to thin it out.

Step 3.  Swirl the paint around in the vase to cover the inside, if the paint is still thick add a small amount of water to continue to thin it out.

Step 4.  Once the paint has covered the vase up to the neck, turn the vase open side down onto a thick rag and allow the excess paint to drain out.  As the paint drains it will cover the inside of the vase to the top.

Step 5.  After about 30 minutes turn the vase over and allow it to dry for 2-3 days.

I love the way they turned out!  In total the three vases cost $1.75, not bad for quick and easy decorations.

Happy Painting!