Silly Kids

Millie was being goofy today playing in my shoes and her hats. The hat she is wearing has lights in the bill if you could not tell. Reed is getting pretty strong, rolling over all the time and holding his head up for minutes at a time. Millie's new thing today was telling me what letter each of her trains start with, and she was not looking at the bottom which has the name printed. She would say James and then make the J sound several times and then say "He starts with the letter J". She did that with Gorden, Percy, Henry, Thomas and Toby. She had trouble with Molly and Lady but she will get it soon. All day long she will ask, what letter does that start with? She also gets a kick out of telling time and watching the clock switch. Just digital for now but she is getting the hang of it.

2 Month Birthday and No Nap

Well, our little guy is not so little anymore, today is his 2 month birthday. I took his picture today next to the giraffe, as you can see here, he is growing up fast. He is getting close to the 8 hour mark at night so that is nice. Unfortunately for me though, if he wakes up later than 4, I have to start getting up. Rick has been getting up with him the first round and then I get the next one. But, Rick gets up at 4 to workout and then go to work so probably in another week, Rick will luck out and not have to get up with him anymore. Bummer...

Millie has been really fighting her naps the past week or so. She has always been a great napper, she will lay right down and sleep for nearly 3 hours. Well, naps have turned into flipping and flopping on the couch for 2 hours before she finally falls asleep but she would eventually always fall asleep. Well, not today. We are on hour 5 right now and she is still not sleeping. Don't worry, I am not torturing her, I told her she could get up about 2 hours ago but I said if she did not take a nap,she could not ride her bike with dad tonight. So, she is still laying on the couch saying "Mom, I am taking a nap, can I ride my bike?" Um, no.

Here is a picture of our little speed racer I took last night.

Reed Update

This weekend Reed finally started being happy for a short time while he is awake, before that, if he was awake and you weren't walking with him he was crying. Now, after he eats, for about 1/2 hour he will lay on your lap looking at you and try to make sounds. It is really cute because he gets this really serious look on his face like he is really thinking about it. Then he smiles when he successfully makes a sound. His night sleeping is getting better, he goes from about 8pm when he goes to bed 'till about 2:30 and then right back to sleep until about 7am. Oh, and his favorite song is the alphabet song, he loves it. We have tried the Bumbo chair a few times and although he can sit in it just fine, he is not a big fan yet. He has his 2 month check up next week on the 18th.

Mr. Alligator

I have been a little video crazy lately. Millie came home from school today with a new song. All she told me was that it was about an Alligator but would not sing it for me. When Rick got home, she was more than happy to sing it for him. I think it goes like this...

5 Little Monkeys swinging in the tree
Sneaky Mr. Alligator can't catch me
Along comes Mr. Alligator, quiet as can be
and snatched that Monkey right out of that tree.

Bike Riding Update

Millie has gotten pretty comfortable on her bike now. She zips all around without us even having to be close to her. We do still have to help her start but she is able to stop by herself pretty well. Here is a little new footage of her. This was taken early in the morning but by the time we went out in the evening, we did not have to run along beside her. I tried to upload that video but it was taken with a different camera and would not load.

Dad, You're Out

It was past Millie's bed time, after 9pm, and I had just come in from helping mulch the front area of our subdivision. Which, by the way, is hard to do when it is dark but we ran out and had to go get more. Anyway, I came in as Millie was getting in bed and she looks at Rick and says "Dad, you're out, Mom, you're in." And basically kicked Rick out. We both thought is was pretty funny.

Millie's New Songs

Millie came home from school today singing 3 new songs. Here are videos of 2 of them. The first one is a rap sort of hip hop version of Singing In the Rain the best I can tell. The other is something about killing a Bumble Bee. If someone can tell me how to rotate them, that would be great.

Birthdays and Baptisms

This has been a crazy weekend but it was a blast. We had Millie's 3rd Birthday Party this weekend followed by Reed's Baptism. The best part was we had 13 family members drive all the way from Indiana to join us on this very special and busy weekend. Saturday morning started off with Millie's party and it was the first big event where we got to use our new deck and screen porch Rick built for us (thanks sweetie). I think the biggest hit of the party was the watermelon that my dad brought down from his farm followed closely by Ann's wonderful ladybug cupcakes she made for Millie. If you are in the Knoxville area you have to try her baking, she's great!

After all the jumping, playing, eating and presents, it was a quick clean up and then to church followed by Reed's Baptism. All three kids (Millie, Reed and my nephew Jacob) did great during church considering 2 of the 3 were high on sugar and had no nap. Reed only whined a little during his first sacrament and all went well. He even practiced a little preaching for when he becomes a Priest?

Then, back to our house to enjoy another one of Ann's wonderful desserts. It was a great weekend and I am so fortunate that so many of our family could share it with us.

A Bunch of Random News

I just have a few little random stories to share today. First, Millie has started sleeping on our bedroom floor. She started coming in our room after Reed was born and wanting us to put her back in bed. I wrote about it a little here. Well, last weekend I had had enough and told her we were not going to take her back to bed, she was a big girl and she could do it herself. Well, she stood by our bed forever and finally I told her she was just going to have to sleep on the floor because I wasn't getting up and she was not coming in our bed. Well, she plopped right down and went to sleep. She has now been coming in our room around 3am every night, asks to sleep on the floor and lays down. I am really not sure how to handle this situation, I guess I will just let it go, I don't have to get up and she seems happy so I guess it is not that big of deal, right?

Next, Millie has the funnest idea in her head that Mammy, my mom, is coming today on a Camel. While my mom is coming today to stay until her birthday party on Saturday, she is NOT riding a camel. It took me a while to figure out why Millie thought she was riding a camel and I finally figured it out. Last week on Millie's birthday, which was a Tuesday, she rode the camel at the zoo, whose name was Tuesday, see here. Well, we told Millie that "Mammy is coming on Tuesday to see you". Well, she took that to mean Mammy is riding on Tuesday, not as we intended it meaning Mammy will be arriving on Tuesday, the day of the week. It was kind of the "Who's on First" routine!

Last, I have to brag on myself a little. I entered one of my cards in a contest and it was chosen as a weekly winner and will be entered in the final contest in a few weeks. Here is a link to the winners for this week, I am pmb1121 and I have some major competition! I am just so excited that it was chosen. Please help me out and vote for my card. I am not sure when voting will start, I will let you all know! Here is the card I entered.

A New Project

I am branching out from my cards and doing a little tile stamping. These were my first 3 attempts. I learned one thing, I really don't like acrylic stamps from a certain company that will remain nameless. I wish I had not purchased 4 sets from them last year but I loved the images so much, I jumped right in, I won't do that again. I would be referring to the Bethlehem image. I just have had no luck with these stamps no matter what kind of ink I use, how much or how little pressure I use and no matter what I am stamping on, they just don't work. My next problem is getting a good image of my projects. I tried photos of my cards when I first started with no luck, so then I got a scanner and that does ok if I make a flat card but when it has raised embellishments on it, the scanner does not do well either. Kelly, if only you lived close to me (check out her blog, she is great). Now, I am back to trying to photograph them. So, when I feel like I finally get a good shot, I will put them on the official Paula's Handmade Memories blog but until then, they will hang out here. Oh, and if you are wondering, I will put felt on the back of these and they will be coasters. I found a process of putting a picture on a coaster so when I do one of those, I will post it so you can see it.