The big number 8!

On this day, eight years ago, I became a mother. I was given a happy, energetic, friendly, helpful, funny, caring little boy to teach me and to help me grow to be a better person. My relationship with Evan has really blossomed over the past few months as we've been doing homeschool for the first time. It's been so fun to interact with him in this new way and to get to know him even better.

As my first born, he's stuck with the task of teaching me patience and being my guinea pig. The Lord couldn't have picked a better little boy to shoulder that responsibility. He is such a strong, confident, loving, forgiving little soul. I love that he tries to add humor to any situation. I love how sweet he is with his little sister, and how much he adores babies. I love how enthusiastic he is about things he's interested in. I love how smart he is and how quickly he learns.

I'm so proud to be his mom.

Happy 8th birthday to my little man!






(He said to me, "Mom, you've got to take a picture of this because it's my signature look!")

Update

Ben was giving me a hard time about the fact that I haven't posted on the blog in three weeks, so I figured it was time for an update. We haven't really done anything super exciting (hence the lack of blog posts), but here's a peek at what we've been up to. (Excuse the fuzzy pictures... they're all from my phone.)

Evan started piano lessons and LOVES it. He is picking it up really quickly, too. His teacher has to give him three or four new songs to learn each week in order to keep him busy!



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I helped host a baby shower for a friend and was really proud of the decor...



The banner was my favorite part. :)



I also experimented with a bit of flower arranging for the shower and it didn't turn out too bad.



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Valentine's Day was fun this year. We usually don't do anything, but this year, Ben and I both happened to get each other a present. Not only that, but we both got each other rings! He lost his wedding ring years ago and the cheap replacement he had was irritating his finger, so I got him a new one. The ring he got me fits snugly against my wedding ring and adds just a bit more "bling". :) I also got the kids a few little surprises.



I was inspired by a friend to do Ellie's hair in a festive little heart.



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We've had quite a bit of sunny and warm(ish) weather lately, so we've enjoyed it by running around at the high school track or going to the park.








Yesterday, we went to a park near Lake Washington, so after we were done playing, we went over by the water.



Ellie was super excited about all the birds.



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We've kept ourselves busy on the rainy days, too. On Friday, we went to the bouncy house with some friends and the kids ran and jumped to their hearts' content.





Here's a cute little clip of Ellie (and Asher) jumping around on one of the inflatables. It took her almost the whole time we were there to warm up to the whole thing, but for the last 15 minutes or so, she LOVED it!



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Well, that's about it. We've got lots of stuff coming up, though... with Evan's birthday, baptism, and family coming to visit... so I'm sure there will be more posting soon enough!

The Homeschool Cabinet

Back in August, I was stalking Goodwill for a good cabinet to hold my homeschool books and supplies. It was getting closer and closer to the beginning of school and I wasn't finding anything good. Finally, about a week before school started, I found this one...



It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but I figured that for $30 it would work... especially with a little love. So, I took it home and got to work with the priming and then painting.



I knew from the beginning that I wanted to line the back of the shelves with fabric, but after I got it all painted and put back together, I started using it and the fabric part got put off... and put off... and put off....

Well, last week, I finally ordered fabric and got it done! So now, six months later, here is my pretty homeschool cabinet, all finished.



A nice gray with a pop of color peeking through from the back. :)



I had a really hard time finding the perfect fabric, but I finally settled on this one here.



Before and after:

Museum of Flight!

On Wednesday, we went to visit the Museum of Flight that is located at one of the Boeing facilities near here. Some friends of ours needed more kids to go along with their preschool group in order to get the group rate and we were happy to help out! ;) The boys were in heaven, as you can imagine. They ran around exclaiming over everything the whole time. It was a really cool place and I'm so mad I forgot my camera!! Phone pictures will have to do.

 This one was pretty cool... a car with airplane wings!

 Standing in the hurricane simulator.

Ellie | 18 months

I've been meaning to do an 18 month post for Ellie, but I keep putting it off in the hopes that I'll have a chance to take some 18 month pictures of her. Well, now that she's almost 19 months, I guess I better quit waiting for the pictures (that I just can't seem to get around to) and get on with it!

Ellette Michelle... oh my goodness how I love this little girl. She has more personality than she knows what to do with lately and she sure keeps us on our toes, but she is just so much fun. I am enjoying her at this age so much, it makes me sad that she's going to have to grow up!

She already thinks she's such a big girl. She always wants to do whatever the boys are doing. 



Why won't they let me play (aka: pound on) the keyboard with them? *pout*


She has gotten really good at using a spoon or a fork.


She gets into EVERYTHING now. She can use stools to reach things she wants, climbs all over the place, and empties any drawer, cabinet, or shelf she can get her hands into.


Busted!




Ellie LOVES to be silly. She has a really cute sense of humor and loves to try to be funny.




Her hair is getting so long and I'm having lots of fun doing it cute little hairdos and playing with girly bows and flowers and things. :)


It does get a little wild sometimes, though. ;)



Some more fun facts about Ellie:

*She LOVES music. She walks around singing or humming all day long.... anything from Jingle Bells to The Imperial March from Star Wars. We have to sing a song before she will go to bed and singing will also usually calm her down when she's upset. She really enjoys dancing, too.

*She has 16 teeth and LOVES to brush them.

*Her vocabulary has exploded lately! I can't even keep track of how many words she knows now. One of her favorites is "MINE!" She also enjoys pointing to everyone in the family and saying their names.

*Ellie loves books. She's not patient enough to sit and have one read to her, but she loves to point to the pictures and have someone tell her the words for all the things she sees.

*She loves animals. Her favorite book is one that is nothing but animal pictures. The animals that she gets most excited about are cats and birds. She is also very loving with our cat and does a good job of petting her softly.

*She has started waiving and saying "hi" to everyone she meets, no matter where we are. It's so cute and it always makes people smile.

*Ellie is really good at following directions. If I tell her to do something, she usually will (come here, hold my hand, go put it back, etc...). The boys were NEVER so cooperative at this age, so this is a new and exciting experience for me. We'll see how long it lasts. ;)

*She really loves nursery (and Mom and Dad love that she loves nursery!). Today, I took her in and she turned around, waved to me, and walked off to play.

We're so blessed to have such a sweet little girl in our family. It has been so fun to watch her little personality emerge.