Craft Day

We've been sequestered from our friends since Russell is sick :( Not bad - just a little cold - but I'm sure no one else wants it!

So what do you do when you've read every book (several times), been to the park, run every errand, played with every toy...and it's only 3 pm?

Why, you try some crafts!

I've never really done any crafts with Russell before, so this was an experiment.

Craft #1: Stickers

Maybe it would be fun to put some stickers on a piece of paper and call it art?

Here's Russell trying desperately to get a sticker off of his hand:



And about a minute later, he shows me what he thinks of the whole thing by throwing Fuzzy over it:



Well, that took up a whole 3 minutes.

Craft #2:

Homemade play-doh. I knew this was risky since he puts everything in his mouth, which is why we did the homemade kind (safe to eat). Flour, salt, vegetable oil, and food coloring = not appetizing, but not toxic either.



He stuck his hand in the bowl and squished it for a minute - a good start, I thought! But before I could stop him, a BIG handful went straight in the mouth - and then, this face:



Still makes me laugh every time I look at it!

Needless to say, that was the end of play-doh play time. Also the end of crafts for the day. Woo-hoo, 15 minutes down...3 hours to go until Daddy gets home.


We did, however, find something else to do:

--took up over 1 hour of our time

--he was smiling, laughing, and talking the whole time

--free!

--got us out of the house

I will post about that soon ;)

Deck-warming Party

We went to a housewarming party this evening.

But with the gorgeous weather, we all pretty much just warmed the deck instead of the house ;)

Correction: the babies' second choice of activity was being outside - their first, of course, was chasing the dog (of whom I did not get a picture).



Beth prepared some great food for us,



which her hubby Brian grilled - Jason always calls Brian the "grillmaster" and per usual, his burgers lived up to that name!

the grass is always greener on the other side of the glass door (or something like that)

Lucky Russell got to stay up a little later tonight; lucky parents got to enjoy fun company. A perfect summer Saturday!

Can minivans ever be cool?

Recently, Jason and I have been talking about getting a minivan (not in the next couple months, more like in the next couple years). They have everything going for them, except for the obvious fact that they are so uncool.

But then again, this video is hilarious - maybe we can be like this?

Of course, we're probably kidding ourselves by thinking we're still cool anyway - but I guess that's another post. Funny video.

Wordless Wednesday

Daddy's Business Trip

Normally, I am not very excited when Jason has a business trip. I'm not really a fan of sleeping by myself, in the dark, in our humongous bed. Not to mention the general sense that something's missing when my husband's not around.

So we jumped at the chance to join him on his trip this time!

Even better, we got to stay with Paw Paw and Kacki!

Thankfully, it wasn't all-work-no-play for Jason, as he, Kacki, Russell, and I got some quality time at the local park:

And this trip was made so much sweeter by the opportunity to get together with Uncle Jon and Aunt Kelly...

...and Great-Aunt Nancy and Great-Uncle Bart. They all just adore Russell and it shows.







God knew what He was doing when he gave us these zany, fun-loving, sweet people for our family. We could not be more blessed.

Lily's Birthday Party!

This is the last of our string of parties - for now, anyway. Russell has a very busy social calendar!

Lily is such a special friend to Russell. They met at 1 and 2 days old in the hospital, since they were born just 12 hours apart (on different days).

Sweet butterfly cake...



...which Lily was none too sure about.



Sure, good daddies capture the moment, but Justin's skills impressed us all!



My two handsome guys enjoying the party:



I may have more pictures of Eliza than I do of my own child. Can't resist that gorgeous red hair.



A silly, happy, newly-one-year-old Lily:



Celebrating toddlerhood in style! Thanks for the fun time, Lily, Justin, and Sarah!

Through the Months

Oh, how he's grown!

One month old:



Two months old:



Three months old:



Four months old:



Five months old:



Six months old:



Seven months old:



Eight months old:



Nine months old:



Ten months old:



Eleven months old:



One year!