Summer's Coming To An End!

It's Labor Day weekend and that means, my husband goes back to school, my son goes back to school, and we get back to a routine.  I love Fall!  I love the crisp clean air, the cool nights, the fun fall things that we do, but I love having my husband home during the summer!

This summer we have had a pretty quiet, but fun summer.  Overall, the weather was really nice.  We had some days that were uncomfortable hot, but for the most part, the days were enjoyable!

Enjoy some pictures from our summer fun!

We celebrated 5 years of marriage

waiting for fireworks

waiting for fireworks

waiting for fireworks

me and my hubby

playing at the beach 4th of July

learning to swim

Ran our first 5K

playing at the park

playing in the sandbox

amaranth from our garden grown from seed

blueberry picking

Hanging in Newburyport

Museum of Science

The Basin Franconia Notch New Hampshire

Making soap

North Conway Railway

Family Portrait at The Basin

Flying airplanes

York Beach

The Park

Michael's granny square afghan

Poppy cat for Michael

Poppy cat for Michael

doll bed, quilt, mattress, pillow, and quilt, as well as a rag rug for Eva Rose's Doll

Rag quilt for Thomas and Eva Rose

We didn't do crazy things this summer, but we had a blast.  I loved being able to share time with our children and  not feeling like what we did had to be some crazy commercialized summer.  I love being able to look back at our pictures and remembering the fun times that we had.  We may not have a ton of money to do crazy expense  things, but we are able to spend good quality time and create loving lasting memories for our children.  I am so thankful that my husband is able to spend time with us.  I love being able to spend time creating things for my children and creating memories for our family!  As happy as I am to be getting back to a routine, I will miss our summer fun and lazy family days.  Here'd to next summer!

Amy

July Pictures

Swimming

Castle Island

Castle Island

Waiting for the fireworks

Eva Rose petting the baby chick at Tendercrop Farm

Michael petting the baby chick at Tendercrop Farm

Thomas petting the baby chick at Tendercrop Farm

Homemade crockpot soap

Our first 5K finish

Crafty projects; doll bed, mattress, pillow, quilt, and rag rug

Spending Saturdays at the farmer's market in town

cucumbers from our garden

Our garden!

Just a couple of pictures from our days during July!

Amy

Makes My Monday: Play Date and Kids Crafting

Today we met with some friends for a play date and the kids did a St Patrick's Day craft.  The kids had fun and the moms got to talk.  Play dates and crafting certainly make my Monday!

Eva Rose was the only one who stayed at the table while I got my camera, along with our friends

All the shamrocks we made

Update on my mom:  She goes tomorrow for her lymph node biopsy.  One we have the results from that she can then make a decision regarding treatment.  She will either get to choose between chemo and radiation or just radiation if lymph nodes are not involved, and if they are then she will have chemo and radiation for sure.  What we do know is that it was a small but invasive tumor that is semi aggressive.  We can certainly use any all all prayers!

Amy

Makes My Monday: Play Date and Mommy's Crafting

Even though it was absolutely frigid, I took the kids on a planned play date with another friend who has twins.  The kids got to play together and the mom's got to be a little creative for the girls!  Next time we get together, we are going to try a craft for the boys!  I love the little tutu that we made!  Quick and easy and no sew and the kids were around playing with each other!

Getting out of the house on a frigid winter day, getting the kids to play with other kids, and getting so,me crafting with another twin mom totally makes my Monday!

Amy!

Sleep and Christmas

Hopefully by writing this, I am not jinxing myself.  Michael has had almost 1 week of sleeping through the night (with a little of going in and rubbing the head or the back but only 1 out of the bed nights).  The only night that he woke and was uinable to be quieted in his bed was the only night that I didn't go in and check on him.  In the past he has always fought having a blanket on so I haven't been putting it on him figuring he's like his dad and tends to like to sleep on the cooler side.  He has since started letting me put the blanket on him and it seems to make a huge difference.  Yeah, I know, bad mom.  I should have figured this out sooner, except like I said he would always kick the blanket off almost immediately.  I have to admit that the one night that I had to take him out of his room, not only did I have an upset stomach, but he sounded like he was going to get sick also (we've also been fighting sickness in our house as well as a lot of stomach things going around).  Let's hope that this continues and we all get some good much needed rest.

On another note, Christmas is 12 days away.  Can you believe it?  This will be our second Christmas as a family of five.  I think the kids are going to love getting presents this year.  I'm not sure that they are going to get Santa, but gifts should be much more fun.  This year, we are giving them some new toys and some recycled toys that were given to us.  Given that we got so many toys given to us, they are getting a ton of things.  They would not be getting nearly as many things as they are if we had to buy everything.  We are getting them some new toys.  I got 3 Mr. Potato Heads.  Mainly, I got these because I am trying to get gifts that will help with their speech so I was looking at getting things that EI (early intervention used) and also the Potato Heads are from Toy Story, which they love!  I also got them some puppets, some blocks, and a doctors kit.  I am making them some things also.  I had wanted to try to make sure that they got something handmade every year, but this is the first year that I am able to do it.  I have started on some felt food.  So far I have eggs and farfalle pasta.  I want to make a few more things (even though I asked for play food for Christmas).  I also want to make aprons for the kids and maybe even some kid sized scrubs if I can get around to it.  I am trying to have a somewhat handmade Christmas this year.  I am, as usual, last minute susie here, but I know that the things I want to make for everyone, can get done by Christmas.  My friend over at http://firstcametwins.com/ has inspired me to get my butt moving and make things.  I need to stop stting and vegging out at the TV.  I can hand sew things, make my scrapbooks, do my clay, even set up my sewing machine if I have to all while I watch TV.  This way, I can be rpoductive rather than just a lump doing nothing.  Plus, it's way better for my mind!  I never watched TV growing us and here I am as an adult and I am wasting precious time in from of the TV.

Happy Holidays,
Amy

Crafting With The Kids

I am trying to get the kids into crafting.  I know they are a little young, so I am trying to go with their abilities and do simple projects for short periods of time with lots of help from mom!  So far we have some gifts for their cousins and the start of gifts for their godparents.  I still need to figure out what I am going to have them do for their nonna and their papa.  If I can get them interested in crafting, I may be able to amke time for me to craft, and I'll hopefully help to support their imaginations. 

Amy

Spare Time and Teaching Kids About Giving to Others

Not that I have much time, if any, but I really want to start making things to donate.  I am hoping that if I get myself in the habit of donating things more than just my old clothes, as the kids get older, it will become something that they also do.  When the twins were born early, granted it was only five weeks, the hospital had little fleece blankets that the babies were swaddled in and we got to take the blankets home.  The twins still use their blankets, though now they use them as blankets to sleep with not as blankets for warmth.  These blankets mean so much to me and they are just simple fleece material with a simple edging.

Recently, I bought a book with different projects and different potential agencies to donate them to.  I have a few other books like that and have gone on line to find projects to create and donate.  Recently a facebook friend posted pictures of some crocheted prayer shawls that she made.  She talked about how these types of shawls gave her niece comfort when she was dying.  Her nieces mother responded how that shawl is now providing her comfort now that her daughter has passed on.  After reading that, it made me want to donate my projects even more.  With the holidays fast approaching, and my goal of making certain gifts, I don't think that I'll get to start projects to donate til after the holidays are over, but I will start and I will make this a tradition that I will pass on to the kids.

There are so many different agencies out there that can use donations and I know that I for one can't afford to give money, but I have enough crafting supplies that I can make things and donate them.  As much as I know hat agencies need money, I like the idea of donating something that can be directly used.  I know that my kids are way too young to understand what donating things to others means, but again, if I get myself in the habit of making things and donating them, maybe once they are old enough, it will be a tradition that is built into our family, not one that needs to be built into our family.

If there is anyone that is interested in joining in, either by creating and donating to a charity of your choice or by sending me a project to donate, please join in!

Amy