Winter Cabin Fever

Though this winter has been extremely mild we still seem to have caught a bit of the "Cabin Fever" bug.  It's too cold to play outside and there is no snow to play in...so here we sit...stuck inside with toys the boys are tired of playing with and our own creativity to entertain us. 

So here is what we have been up to...

 It was "Animal Week" at PAT (Parents As Teachers) which is a local playgroup we attend.  So the boys had spent the morning playing with all the animals in water at playgroup.  It continued at home when the boys had not gotten their fill of being "WET" for the day.

 So I filled up a few LARGE mixing bowls and put all of their rubber/plastic animals in the bowls for them to play in.

 As you can see...that is where is started, but by the end they had stripped down and put on their swim trunks and were "swimming" in the kitchen WITH the animals.

They had a ball and must have been entertained for over an hour.  Nothing a few (10 towels) couldn't clean up!

Eli got a whole Playdough kit from Santa this year for Christmas!  It has been so fun to play with during these last few months.  It has reminded me of my Playdough days when I was young.  This is ONE of the few things that entertains the boys for more than a few short minutes.  I can at least get about 20-30 minutes out of this activity.

 They love SQUEEZING the dough through this contraption...if only they could figure out how to share it and take turns!

 "Mom...look at my mustache!"

 Eli insisted we turn his "snake" into a necklace!

 We have fun with it, but the aftermath and crumbly mess of dried playdough is not always "fun" to clean up.

Anyone who know our boys also knows how much they love when Daddy comes home!  Chris usually gets home a little before 6pm and sometimes around 7pm (depending on his schedule).  And the boys can hardly wait to see their dad!

 Then the "rough-housing", tickling, bear rides begin.

Here is the backside of this bear:)  We are all so glad when Daddy comes home! 

We cannot complain to loudly this winter, it has been very nice!  But coming up with new activities for these two busy boys is always tricky.  But worth it!

Day in the Life...

 Does the scab on this lip tell you what goes on at the Edwards's household?  Lots and lots of boy craziness including rough housing, messes (and lots of them), shooting with anything that can be imagined to be a gun and of course fabric sorting!  I just wanted to fill you in on the happenings of this week which included some of each of these!  (Since I am trying to do better at blogging).

We have been on an organizing/goals kick around here.  This usually happens every january, but it has been very successful this year!  We have gotten much done including in the fabric room.  I sorted all of my patterns and put them in an organized binder where I can find them.  I organized my thread and notions including way too much piping and bias tape.  We even sorted and listed many fabrics this week.  Chris and I spent an evening just him and I on a date night between MANY bolts of fabric.  We were checking and double checking our inventory to make sure it was all up for sale on our site and available for purchase.  It was a long night but very successful!  The fabric business is going very well and keeping us busy.

 Between me being ill for months at a time, my busy season for HBC orders, the holidays and family in town for a few months the boys have watched way too much TV.  Carter especially!  No one is to blame, but me as it was easy when I was puking my guts out and feeling so sick to just turn on the TV to entertain the boys.  Or for me to just finish this one last order.  Well, with my sweet Carter's imagination I have found that he turns into whatever character he is watching on TV.  He becomes a dinosaur, super hero, peter pan, or whomever it may be and he gets very excited and starts acting out when he has spent too much time there.  So...this week we are back into the groove (finally) and we have limited TV to 30-60 min per day and NOT the first thing of the day.  Plus No iPad all week.  What an improvement in everything!  He has found other things to do and things that he has come to love! 

 Playing Playdough has become one of our favorite things to do.  We have made snakes, fish, and even a few necklaces and Mustaches!  The boys love it!

 Oh and the messes that we can make with it! 

 I don't know how many times I have swept up playdough crumbs that have dried on the floor this week!  It was funny, just yesterday Carter sat down on the floor and said, "Ouch...I just hurt my foot!" I said, on what" as there was no object capable to hurting his foot from what I could tell!  Then he pointed to a dried up, crist and now sharp piece of blue playdough I had somehow missed on the floor..."Mom I steped on the playdough and it cut me!"  It didn't cut but yes it was sharp and hurt.

 Eli has been asking his brother to take him to the potty this week. Which I am just fine with!  I love the extra hands.  However, Eli was gone and quiet a little too long Friday afternoon.  I walked into the bathroom only to find this...

 Hard to tell, but he was taking the cup form his small potty chair and taking cups of water from the actual toilet and dumping them onto he floor of the bathroom!  He was in this picture standing in about a 1/2" deep of water!  Toilet water at that!!!  Yuck....i disinfected right after that!

 When Daddy comes home the boys love to play with Dad!  Riding horse is just one of the many Dad plays with them.  They also like going on "Bug Hunts" where they take the fly swatters and flash lights and hunt for bugs in the dark with dad! 

 These boys (all three) are the lights of my life...boy BOY do they wear me out!!!  Constant chaos over here at our house...so if you happen to just stop by...please don't be surprised if one is wearing nothing but undies and the other is in a super hero costume!  Just another day in the life of a mom with 2 wonderfully BUSY boys!  I love it!

A Wedding, Christmas, and Sickness

The boys and I drove to Columbus Ohio to fly out with my sister in law Becca and niece Lillia.  We left Columbus on December 14th with WAY too much luggage and definitely too many funny looks for all the other travelers on our flights.  Picture this....2 women and 3 kids-a 3-1/2 year old boy, a 21 month old girl, and a 9 month old boy, 2 umbroller strollers hooked together, 1 back pack, 2 diaper bags and 1 carseat in a bag.  Yes that was us...making our way from Columbus OH to Omaha NE with a layover in Chicago Midway airport.  All in all the kids were great.  They ate way too much junk food, but they were great!  Eli slept on both flights and Lillia took a long nap on the second leg.  Carter watched movies and was a very pleasant boy.  The men joined us days later.

All of this for my older sister's wedding.  My sister Emily was wed to Jason Mayer on December 18th at 11am.  It was beautiful.  The colors were red and black.  Mom made the little girls dresses and I made red ties for the boys and headbands with rosettes for the girls hair.  It was nice to see Emily and Jason so happy.

We stayed through the Holiday and came home on December 26th.  We Many things happened while in Council Bluffs IA.  Just some highlights...

-We saw the infamous gingerbread display at the Tabernacle.  Carter was thrilled.

-It was COLD...we were chilly sleeping in the basement of Mema's house.
-Ate lots of food and too many leftovers.
-Chris and Jon went shopping with Jamie only to get to the check-out line with EXTRA LARGE women's briefs in their basket.
-Lillia my niece went to the ER and they thought she had the croup but found out later she had Pneumonia.  Poor baby!
-I got the stomach flu, in bed on in the bathroom all day.  Then 36 hours later Jamie had the same thing only WORSE!

-I got a cold sore right before the wedding and unfortunately passed it on to poor Eli right on his forehead right before Christmas.  We ended up seeing a PA on Christmas Eve who gave him antibiotics for his viral infection and "cold sore" on his head.
-Everyone in the house had germs...I think 75% of the house was on antibiotics of some kind.  Merry Christmas.
-Christmas Day went to see "Gulliver's Travels" and took a chance taking Carter.  He did OK till 3/4 of the way through he got ants in his pants and could NOT stay in his seat.  Any time a song came on he danced down the rows. 
-Mema kept calling Carter things like "Cutie", or "Baby Doll" and he didn't like it.  One morning as he walked up the stairs at 7am he confronted her about it.  He said, "Mema, did you know me when I was a Baby?"  She replied, "Yes!"  He said, "Well, I am a BIG BOY now and you CAN'T call me cutie!"
-Carter loved all of his gifts and was so excited that Santa knew what he wanted!  He got the Leapfrog TAG and kept saying, "He knew, He knew this was what I wanted!"(He wrote a letter and hand delivered it at the depot at the beginning of December!!! )

-I LOVED listening to my grandma talk about the days when she was a young mother and how she handled things and what her worries were.  I love listening to all of her stories and her thoughts.  She is and was an amazing woman!
-Celebrated Nikolas' 8th birthday and baptism on December 19th.  He was baptized by my father, confirmed by Jonathan Spooner, and Becca Spooner gave the Baptism talk and Grandma Shirley Acebedo gave the talk on the Holy Ghost while I sang "Teach me to walk in the Light".   We finished up the event with  shark birthday cake and shark sugar cookies.
-Saw old freinds that came for Emily's wedding...Don and Colby Fletcher and Angie Crandell.
-Ate way too many famous sugar cookies and chocolate covered pretzel rods.
-Enjoyed the company of Grandma and Grandpa Spooner along Aunt Luanne.
-Had a small bachelorette party for Emily, getting pedicures and shopping for something special.  So many laughs my cheeks hurt!
-Attending the famous Family Christmas Party with the Pinata....many fond memories from when I was a young girl.

(Carter quickly grabbing his candy!)

-Ate the traditional Tea Ring Christmas morning.
-Looked at my dad's chewed up ear after he had minor surgery for presumed skin cancer...thankfully it was benign.
-Took the kids to the Children's Museum in Omaha!  They loved it...I highly recommend it!
-Watched Mom and Mema beading at the dining room table...listening to them tell me I will be like them one day.
-Way too many gifts received by so many wonderful people.  Thank you everyone!

We had such a wonderful time with family.  We enjoyed it all!  The boys are off schedule and not sure what time-zone they are in, Eli is still getting over his head sore, and we are all sniffling and hacking....BUT it was worth the trip and we loved every minute!  Thanks for the memories!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day to the BEST DAD around!!!  We love you Chris for all you do!

Eli and Carter love you so much!!!!

Chris got an offer....

Chris accepted a job offer on Wednesday.  We are very excited about the things to come!  Carter will miss being at home with his dad and "Daddy Day-Care", but we all will have to adjust.  We will keep you posted, but thanks to all that have kept us in your thoughts and prayers.  The economy has not been great here in Michigan, but the Lord has blessed our family in numerous ways!

We bought a car on Friday and are getting things lined up for our transition.  Fun times for the Edwards family!

We were especially happy today about Michigan State's won over Univesity of Michigan.  Go Spartan's...way to pull it out!