Magpie Art

Little chocolate bunny, welcome to our house.

2010-04-05T19:48:00.004-05:00

Leo recently met this cute little chocolate bunny.

He was so delighted he fed him some cinnamon roll.

Alas, the friendship couldn't last.

At least he was a yummy little bunny.

And greatly enjoyed.

Off to get a bath!

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Happy Days

2010-03-28T19:45:00.002-05:00

I love my boys!

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Germs, germs, go away!

2010-03-11T12:51:00.003-06:00

The boys and I have been sick the past week and I am ready for the germs to all go away!! Jesse is mostly recovered now. A few days he actually fell asleep on the couch, we know something is wrong when he falls asleep during the day!

Leo's fever has finally gone away so he will hopefully be feeling better soon too. Yesterday I took this picture of him. I got him up from his nap early because he was coughing so much that he made himself sick. He was due for more medicine and was running a fever too. Poor little guy! He didn't look like this for too long. Soon he was up running around and playing. It takes a lot to keep my boys down.

By the way that is a double stuffed diaper for nap time. His diapers are not usually that bulky! Kinda looks like that's what has him down! :)

Here is Leo before the illness. He loves pretending to sleep.

It's getting warmer!!!

The first flowers in my yard.

I'm ready for spring!

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February Fun

2010-02-15T09:42:00.002-06:00

Time to clean up and put the kids away. :)

We woke up to more pretty snow this morning.

Stay warm!

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Crochet projects

2010-02-09T10:55:00.002-06:00

Here's some stuff I've been making lately. I really enjoy crocheting! The large ripple blanket is for me :) It has been put on hold for quite awhile and I need to get back to it. The little yellow dishcloths were fun because it was a new pattern for me. I found them here.

This is going to be a dish towel. I bought a couple things of sock yarn, but I can't find a pattern for crochet socks that appeals to me. Socks are too complicated! I think I could do one custom without a pattern, but I would never be able to do a matching pair :)

The main thing I'm having trouble with is that all my things curl. It seems to happen mainly when I do single crochets. Is this normal? What can I do? One tip I came across recommended using a larger hook for the foundation chain so I will try that next time. I'd love some advice!

Here are my two sweet little boys. Jesse wakes up in the middle of the night every night ready to start his day. We got tired of trying to get him back to bed so when he comes into our room and asks us if he can go into the living room we say sure (I think it's cute that he always asks permission). He started his morning at 4:30 or earlier today. I'm not sure exactly when. He wakes me up at least once nearly every night, sometimes he crawls in bed with us and sometimes, rarely, he goes back to bed. Occasionally he will fall asleep in the living room. His bedtime is 8:00 and he doesn't take any naps, I don't understand why he doesn't sleep longer at night. This morning while the rest of his family was sleeping he got out some construction paper and his scissors and had some craft time. He never gets into any trouble during his unsupervised playtime thankfully!

Leo has hit the terrible twos. Lots and lots of tantrums where he throws himself to the floor crying. But in between the fits he is always happy happy :) He only gets upset if he is not allowed to do something that he wants to do. Silly kids!!

Also I wanted to say to any family who might happen to read my blog, you all are welcome to leave me comments on here too! ;)

Take care!

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Snow time!

2010-02-03T09:09:00.003-06:00

The snow is melting away now, but the boys have enjoyed it while it lasted. I didn't take the camera out, but I did get these shots of them bundled up.

Hope everyone is staying warm!

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Randomness and Cute Boys

2010-01-24T10:18:00.004-06:00

Hi! It's been awhile again. I guess I just haven't had much to say lately! The boys are doing terrific. Leo loves the Wiggles these days. He has all the dances memorized, it's very cute! He is talking more and more all the time. He is crazy about Kelli, his speech therapist. He only gets to see her for one hour each week, but I know it is the highlight of his week :)

Leo has always liked letters a lot, he knew E and O before he knew more than a dozen words. He really likes to hear me sing the alphabet and tries to sing along. I think he knows about half of the letters now. I think it is kind of funny because when he was a baby I spent a lot of time rocking him to sleep in the rocking chair and I would always sing the alphabet over and over. There are a couple of reasons why I did this. First of all, Jesse was two at the time and when he was a baby I always sang Rock a Bye Baby and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to him. I don't know if it was bad memories or what, but Jesse would get very upset if I sang those songs to Leo so I had to come up with something else. I honestly don't know hardly any songs and I can't sing at all. I also thought it would be helpful for Jesse to hear the ABC's over and over, so that's what I sang.

Anyway, I don't know why I'm rambling about all of this. Jesse is doing really good with his behavior lately. He rarely has tantrums and when he does it is really obvious to me how my own temper determines his and how long the tantrum lasts. I think it is so interesting how different kids all are. I was reading on a blog yesterday a big discussion/argument that a group of moms were having about discipline and following certain parenting philosophies. It seemed odd to me that you could pick a certain discipline method and think it would work for all kids if it was just followed correctly.

I think it is great that there are all these different methods out there to try when you are needing some new ideas. I just think it is very important to remember that kids are all very different and not all methods will work and not to make yourself crazy trying to make a discipline method work just because you think it should. I really thought time-outs were the best discipline technique and I definitely made myself crazy trying to make it work for Jesse. I'm glad that for the time being we have found a good way

of dealing with behavior issues and the results are clear. Things are going very nice right now, I hope the next parenting hurdle is a ways off!! :)

Okay, now that I have rambled for long enough here a some pictures of these cute little kiddos.

I guess Jesse didn't want to get a kiss back. He doesn't like "Leo slobber" hehe.

So far these two get along 90% of the time- pretty amazing I think!

Take care!!

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2009-12-18T08:57:00.003-06:00

Thanks to Librivox I have finally finished the two crochet blankets that I've been working on forever. It feels very good to have them done! Just in time to give to two little boys for x-mas :)

The green and blue one is for Jesse. He has been watching me work on this and knows that it's a present for him. He hasn't seen it all done and I know he will be happy to get it on Christmas morning. I think it's so sweet how much he likes it when I make him things!

This blanket is for Leo and it is very soft and fuzzy. Leo likes texture a lot more than Jesse ever did. I do expect him to open this up on Christmas morning and toss it aside with the appreciation for a blanket that most 2 year olds would have.

I'm trying to keep gifts very simple this year. I know my boys are pretty easy to please at this age and they don't need a ton of new toys and I very much want to leave a smaller footprint on our planet.

Happy Holidays!

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Too much reading

2009-12-10T11:57:00.002-06:00

I said I was going to stop reading when I finished my last pile of books, but I just have no will power. However, I am too lazy to go to the library and too poor to buy more books. So I have discovered two fun online options. Readprint.com and librivox.org are two of my new favorites.

Readprint has over 8,000 online books to read and librivox contains audio recordings of books in the public domain (according to their site this is generally things published before 1923). Librivox is a really cool idea, anyone can volunteer to do recordings and it adds to the fun of listening in my opinion. The books I've listened to are broken into chapters read by different people all done well and some very well. I really enjoy different people's accents ;) So if you are in the mood for some classics, here are some free easy options!

So I decided to read Jane Austen since I had only read Pride and Prejudice and Emma before. I started with Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park and lastly, Northanger Abbey. For some parts I sat way too long in front of my computer reading and other parts I listened to audio recordings while I crocheted.

Northanger Abbey really surprised me, I had no idea that it would be so different from her other books. It was by far my favorite. I was laughing out loud the whole way through and Jacob thought I was nuts. It is kind of a parody of the Gothic novels- horror stories that were popular at the time which I am not at all familiar with. The main character is really into these books and it influences the way she sees things. Nearly every line in the book is funny!

Hmm.. what to read next? Enjoy some classics with me!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-24T11:02:00.003-06:00

I'm back! It's been awhile since I've posted anything new, I've just been taking a bit of a break from the computer lately. That should mean that I've accomplished all kinds of wonderful things, but of course that's not so. :)

I've been playing a lot with these two sweetie pies of course. They are doing good by the way. Leo has to go for his booster (regular) flu shot this afternoon. Right in the middle of nap time naturally! I can't believe how many shots these poor kiddos have had this fall, and they are both still due for their booster swine flu shot in a couple weeks. Ughh!

Jesse has been sick the past few days with a fever. Today he seems to be doing much much better so I'm hopeful that we will still make it up to my parents' for Thanksgiving, we'll see.

This is what I've really been doing lately. Reading way too much! I love to read except that I just get so sucked in and I can't put the book down and I get nothing else done. So I'm done with my little pile of books and I'm done reading for awhile.

So here are my book reviews :)

I've read quite a few books by Nicholas Sparks and usually enjoy them, but The Choice disappointed me. I liked the falling in love story that most of the book is about, but I had a hard time appreciating the conflict of sorts that it built up to. I guess I didn't like his 'choice'.

The Lovely Bones was really good. I'm not very into horror/crime/murder mystery kinda stuff and I was skeptical this book would be along those lines. It is after all a story of a dead girl after she dies. This is a really beautiful story though more about the lasting effects her passing had on the people around her.

And lastly the Twilight Saga. Yeah this one is kinda embarrassing, but I enjoyed them so much that I'll own up to reading them ;) I was searching for anything decent from the grocery store book selection and saw Twilight. I really had no idea what it was, I thought it was a TV show. Anyway these books really pulled me in and I could barely wait to run out and get the next one. The books reminded me a little of the romance between Buffy and Angel in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer show (yes, I liked that show ;) The idea is similar, Bella is a high school girl and Edward is a vampire- although in her eyes he is more of an angel. It is of course very silly, but such a fun story. There is a lot of humor in this very powerful love story along with the vampires, werewolves and supernatural.

I made one big mistake and rented the first twilight movie after finishing the books. The trailer looked awful, but I held out hope. It was so terrible I had to go back and re-read half of the last book just to reset the characters in my head. Don't judge these books by the movies.

Jacob and I are working on painting the kitchen, I will put up pictures when It's done. And this old toy box belonged to Jacob and his mom before him. I just got a new coat of paint and I still need to do the lid, but it's already getting used. I really like this color. It reminds me of the walls of my ancient elementary school.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

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Adventures in Thumb Sucking: My Novel

2009-10-26T08:49:00.005-05:00

If you have seen Jesse over the past few weeks you may have noticed his little thumbnails have been painted. I'm pretty sure our little experiment has worked, so I'm ready to tell about it. Jesse has sucked his thumb for the past four years. One time I took him to the after hours clinic because I though he might have an ear infection. For some reason I was always paranoid about this but neither of my boys have ever had one, thankfully. Anyway, while we were there Jesse who was only one was of course sucking his thumb. The nurse felt the need to share the great advice she had received from the doctor that helped her son stop sucking his thumb.

This was his advice. First you tell your child that if they don't stop sucking their thumb that it will turn black and then fall off. Yes you heard me right. So then you sneak into their room at night and color their thumb with a magic marker. So they wake up and are too scared to suck their thumb again. As she let me in on this marvelous idea, I'm pretty sure I was speechless. I probably managed to say "Oh wow, thanks. My son is only one, so I'm not too worried about it now." Of course then the nurse left and the doctor came in and saw Jesse sucking his thumb and began telling me his wonderful advice that always works...

At the boys last dentist appointment the dentist told me that the thumb sucking was beginning to effect Jesse's teeth. He asked me if I wanted to know about a way to help him quit. I said of course, but not if it was really mean. He said "Oh it's mean, but it will work." He wrote down the name of a product to buy called Mavala Stop. It goes on like clear fingernail polish and tastes terrible. I had been telling Jesse for quite awhile that eventually he would need to stop his thumb sucking habit, and that I would help him. I wanted to wait till after he had settled into preschool and after his birthday.

We discussed thumb sucking and how it is bad for your teeth when kids get bigger. I started telling him that when kids suck their thumbs, after awhile they begin to taste yucky. I felt bad lying to him, so sometimes I mentioned that we would put something on his thumb to make it taste bad to help him quit the habit. He would tell me that he liked to suck his thumb and would keep doing it. I proposed that we try it for a few days and then after that if he wanted to suck his thumb he could. He liked this compromise.

Finally one evening I told him it was time and got the Mavala Stop out. He changed his mind and didn't want to do it ;) So I put some on my thumb and tasted it and told him it was a little yucky but look how shiny and sparkly it is! He agreed to have some on his non-sucking thumb. Then, as he was admiring that I offered to put some colored polish on his sucking thumb. His eyes lit up and I put a dot of color on and then a dab of Mavala Stop and told him it would taste bad. He agreed to keep it out of his mouth and happily admired his pretty thumbs.

Jesse understood what was going on and why and that it was all just temporary. He never threw any fits about it. A few times he would come to me on the verge of tears because he had forgot and sucked his thumb. I would get him a drink of water and he was all better. I was really amazed at how well he did with this. Every couple days I put a new dot of color for him and added a dot of Mavala Stop with out telling him. I did this for 2 weeks. I haven't talked much to Jesse about it since then because I don't want to encourage him to start the habit again. It has been 3 weeks of no thumb sucking! Oh, and his ear flipping habit is gone too:)

I am so happy that I was able to help him do this before it became a problem, and that we were able to do it in such a positive and understanding way. So now I just need to figure out how to deal with Leo's pacifier habit :) He only uses it in his crib and I think I should probably just take it away and he would get over it after a night or two. I just haven't had the nerve to do it! Maybe today is the day, I'll let you know.

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Silliness

2009-10-22T19:23:00.003-05:00

Last weekend we went up to my parents house and on the way back we stopped at the covered bridge festival in Mansfield. It was the last day and I think the nicest weather they had all week. We found the perfect guitar for Leo. He loves guitars, it was one of his first words. It's super cheap and junky and perfect for a 2 year old!

Although I am not looking forward to winter, I do really love nice fall weather. We're getting in the mood for Halloween.

Jesse and I carved our pumpkin early. This is the first pumpkin I have carved in many years and the first time using a kit. Jesse picked out the design and kept close track of my mistakes. He kept telling me to let him know if I messed up because he wanted to see.

This is my latest project. I have way too many ongoing and forgotten projects in this house.

I think it takes me about an hour to do a square and I want to make a blanket. I don't know if I will be able to stick with it long enough.

Other random weirdness in my house.

Quesadillas with cake decorating pens. It is usually hard to get Jesse to eat, but he has always enjoyed eating things that don't want to be eaten. He finds this idea extremely amusing. Especially if his food is saying "no, no please don't eat me Jess..mmphh..." while entering his mouth. Leo loves to laugh with Jesse but doesn't seem interested in eating food with faces. So anyway, this is what I've been up to. You know you were curious ;)

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Happy 2nd Birthday Leo!

2009-10-12T18:47:00.003-05:00

My sweet little Leo turned 2 on Saturday. We had a fun time celebrating with our family and Leo enjoyed his big day. It was fun seeing him excited about opening presents.

My friend Veronica made the perfect cake for Leo! He was very excited when he saw it and kept saying "woo woo!" Thanks Veronica!! It was very yummy and I still have a train car in my freezer :)

I didn't get very many pictures, but both boys loved having their family come to party with us. I was happy both of my sisters were here. This is Auntie Sarah checking out Leo's new drum machine. (Thanks Grandma!)

The boys also LOVED having Sarah's dog, Brownie, come to visit them!

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To Leo

2009-10-11T09:24:00.004-05:00

Leo Wesley

October 10, 2007

7 lb, 7 oz

I love you :)

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Random Stuff

2009-10-06T09:49:00.003-05:00

First of all I just wanted to say that on my last post I went on about how difficult it is to attach snaps to the front of Bumgenius diapers. Well I realized (after about 4 diapers) that once you get the snap pieces in place you can just clamp the pliers around all the layers of fabric there. Easy peasy.

I do realize that only about five people read this blog and none of them cloth diaper ;) But to continue on this topic anyway... If my last post was enough to turn someone away from ordering their first diapers, I would highly recommend FuzziBunz one size diapers. They are wonderful and have snaps!

Okay, on to new stuff. I've been doing a bit of crocheting. First I made this odd pumpkin with a very lopsided face. I wasn't going to give it to Jesse, but as soon as I finished it he snatched it and hugged it as though it were a long lost child. So now the 'puckin' is his.

Then I made him a snake which I was calling snakey. Jesse helped pick the pattern and kept calling him a pattern snake. Leo loves kissing this snake and making it kiss everyone else. Jesse told me very seriously "Mom, I'm going to name him... *very long thoughtful pause* Snake!" He looked really pleased with himself for coming up with such a great name!

I like this picture :)

Finally, I made this little spider who I think will be allowed to go to a new home. We'll see.

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Converting Bumgenius to snaps

2009-09-30T13:48:00.004-05:00

Yes, I'm writing another post about cloth diapers. Yes, I'm still in love with them. :)

So, originally I bought 6 Bumgenius one size diapers (from Kelly's Closet). I think when I was choosing my first diapers I was a little unsure about snaps. I thought the closer to disposables, the better they would work. So I chose velcro. Because I only had 6 diapers I washed them every day and it was winter so I dried them in the dryer. After a few months the velcro was looking worn and it wasn't long before the velcro was just falling apart. As I added more diapers to my stash I set these aside to repair some day. Well that day had finally come for these lucky diapers!

I found instructions here on how to convert Bumgenius to snaps. I got snap pliers and 200 snaps from KAMsnaps.com for about $30. If you want them to look really nice, after you remove all the velcro you can use a sweater shaver to get rid of all the pilling and snags that the velcro caused. I know I'm nuts.

The tutorial shows how to make a little template to mark where to put the snaps. I didn't do that, I just laid my ruler over the diaper like in the picture above (after the velcro has been removed). I could center it really nicely this way and marked about 1 inch down every inch across.

Putting the snaps on the tabs is pretty easy with the pliers, but the snaps on the front are much harder. You can get to the snaps by starting at the pocket opening in the back and feeding all of the liner fabric into the pliers. This is definitely pushing the limit on how much fabric can fit into the pliers and it gets hard to maneuver the pliers and the snap pieces, but it is doable.

Update: You don't really have to feed all that fabric into the pliers, just get the snap pieces into place and clamp the pliers around all of it! Super easy, it just took me a few diapers to realize it!!

The end result is a great diaper that Leo can once again wear. I just hope that's a washable crayon ;)

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Octodogs

2009-09-23T11:52:00.005-05:00

We had octodogs for lunch today! I first learned about these on Lunch in a Box (a very fun site) and Jesse always enjoys it when I make them. Both boys have been grumpy today so I thought this would make them smile. Jesse temporarily cheered up, Leo threw his on the floor.

You cut the hot dogs in half, then slice little legs and boil them.

These guys got little seaweed faces :)

Jesse's ocotdogs enjoyed some fun little theater before being eaten.

Leo usually loves hot dogs and has eaten these in the past, but I think he must have forgotten. Anyway, for once, Jesse ate more than Leo.

Have a great day!

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To Jesse

2009-09-20T17:48:00.004-05:00

Jesse Owen

September 23, 2005

8 lb, 6 oz

Happy 4th Birthday

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Happy Birthday Jesse!

2009-09-20T16:32:00.002-05:00

Jesse's 4th birthday is on Wednesday! We had a fun family celebration on Saturday. In the morning I fixed the boys pancakes with syrup (which they've both had many times) and they both got a little red break out on their cheeks?! Leo gets little rashes from many things that I haven't identified yet, but Jesse never does. They didn't seem bothered, so on to opening presents!

Jesse loves Geotrax!

My friend Veronica made this awesome cake and the little sidekick cake from the extras!

It was as delicious as it was cool!!

Jesse said he doesn't like wishes so he got straight to blowing out the candles.

I think he was just very eager to "clean" off the cars so he could play with them.

Jesse enjoyed the cake and ice cream, but he is fairly neat and reserved. You know, as far as kids and cake go. :)

Leo, on the other hand, never hesitates to dig in!

I know what this little cutie wants for his birthday next month!

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More Carpet Gone :)

2009-09-14T10:11:00.004-05:00

Well, I'm posting these out of order. Before we tackled the boys' room, we did ours. I don't have a before picture. Just imagine the same ugly carpet and red walls. And a giant mess! Again, I love wood floors!! We moved their book case into our room. I thought it would have better chances of getting straightened up regularly.

The bed on the floor is really nice for having the kids in our room. This makes a nice area for reading, already the kids have been more interested! I like that I don't have to be so worried about Leo's safety in here. The headboard and foot board were too large for this space and made it hard to arrange nicely with the windows. They also had sharp edges for little heads. Before we put the house up for sale, we will probably raise the bed up on a frame.

Apparently Jesse has the tongue rolling gene :)

And we also have new blinds for the windows that will get put up someday!

We have quite a large art collection in our basement, so it's fun when we re-decorate to select new art for the walls. I love that these pictures work in this room because they are watercolor paintings by my grandpa, Jene Burns. He passed away a couple years ago, and it makes me happy to look at these pictures :)

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Good Bye Carpet!

2009-09-14T09:42:00.004-05:00

I guess I haven't been much in the mood for blogging lately. I have been in the mood for re-decorating! In the boys room we removed the old carpet. It's amazing what that can do! Our goal here is to get our house ready to sell. I am trying to eliminate a lot of clutter and spruce things up. Here is the before picture.

We did not paint this room, I'm afraid it will bother the boys to paint over the tree. I will paint the trim, Jesse went through a paint peeling phase that I never fixed :)

If it will help sell the house, I will happily paint over the mural right before we put it up for sale. What do you think? I know it is not a critique of my work, just a matter of selling a house. I will not be offended!!

I really like their room set up this way and love getting rid of the carpet!

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A post about nothing!

2009-08-20T07:45:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted anything new in a while, so I was feeling like I should. We went up to my parents' last weekend and had a great time. Other than that I haven't been up to much of anything. I haven't made anything for a while. I daydream about what I would like to do too much!

In case you're curious I would really like to do small oil paintings of abstract flowers I like to doodle, large mono prints from nature photos I (will) take, and large wood block prints of historic buildings. Also would like to figure out what to do with drawing other than portraits that I would enjoy and be more 'fine art like'. On a completely unrelated note, I'm realizing that I'm a big fan of run-on sentences! ;)

So here are a bunch of random photos!

Jacob with his hair chopped!

Crazy wild children!

I like the blue icing with his blue cookie monster shirt. This is Leo's pose for the camera which my mom pointed out, was him imitating the camera person. So cute!

Have a great day!

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There's a Fungus Among Us

2009-08-06T12:41:00.004-05:00

This giant mushroom popped up in our yard the other day. Jesse and I went out to inspect it today. Jesse noted how it differed in appearance from the Mario Kart mushrooms.

This thing is very large.

Have a great day!

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Super Easy Bean Bag Craft

2009-08-06T11:57:00.003-05:00

This is a little craft Jesse and I did several weeks ago. He was just beginning to draw faces, very cute! I had him draw faces on craft felt squares with a sharpie. Then I sewed them into little bean bags that we filled with beans. He made the brown one for himself and the blue one for Leo :)

Jesse really enjoys making things and I really enjoy finding fun projects for him.

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Latest Pencil Portrait and Art by Jesse

2009-08-03T07:30:00.002-05:00

I LOVE this drawing by Jesse. I asked him to draw some happy people on this little card and this is what he drew. He told me just what to write for the caption. This is what it says "A sad person with a vitamin on the side of his head next to his ear with two really long fingers."

And here is my most recent portrait drawing. I promise I really am going to have a way to order on this blog soon!

Have a great week!

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Random Photos

2009-07-27T16:51:00.004-05:00

This is a cicada killer wasp. Jesse and I saw one last week fall from the tree in the front yard a few feet from us. It was holding its paralyzed cicada victim. We watched it carry the cicada back to the tree and up about 6 feet. We lost track of it then but apparently they glide off to their burrow in the ground to feed their babies (the cicada is too heavy for them to fly from the ground with). I saw this one on the tree yesterday and got a picture.

This little critter I found in the dining room devouring a juicy apple. He likes to rub apple juice in his hair to make it sweet and crunchy. I think he just likes to make himself sweeter so I will gobble him up even more often.

I think Jesse was turning into a robot, I'm not sure.

I can't believe I got this picture of Leo sleeping in his crib. So peaceful. Doesn't he look delicious?

This little doll was made for a sweet girl's 3rd birthday party on Saturday. Jesse told me that he does not want any dolls and he was extra happy to give this one as a gift so it would not stay around our house.

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Discipline for a 3 year old.

2009-07-14T19:11:00.004-05:00

My friend Karen has inspired me to write about what has been working for me in the discipline department lately. First I will tell you just how bad it was. Jesse had been throwing more and more fits recently. I was trying to do time outs, but they were just getting harder and harder.

This is basically what was happening: Jesse would do something like take a toy from Leo and I would say no and take it away and he would start huffing and puffing. He would start growling and just act as angry as he possibly could and I would tell him to settle down and stop behaving like that or he would have a time out. He would start screaming and running from me so I would grab him and try to make him stay in one spot for time out. This was getting more and more impossible. If I put him in his room he would not stay or he would try to destroy things. If I took a favorite toy away he would completely flip out. It was so hard not to get angry and when I did I would sometimes spank him. Although I don't think this is a terrible thing, I know it's not good and I know it never helped the situation.

So, after a lot of thinking and talking about all this and some tears for the way I had been acting, I came up with a new approach.

When an incident occurs, taking a toy or whatever, I intervene of course and briefly explain why whatever is not allowed. I do this calmly without emotion! If they can't stop fighting over something I will take it away if that is the only solution. Then the incident is over. If Jesse throws a fit that's his business. I tell him calmly that when he wants to talk or play nicely to let me know and then I go about my business.

The first few days he really threw some impressive fits and tried his hardest to engage me in it. He would try to get me to talk/argue with him. I didn't want to just be completely ignoring him so after a while I would answer him briefly and calmly and tell him that was my answer and I was not going to talk about it anymore. And again tell him to let me know when he wanted to calm down and talk or play nicely. Then I went back to whatever I was doing. If he wanted to push or pull at me I would tell him not to and go walk around, cleaning seemed like a good thing to do because I clearly had something I was doing not simply trying to get away from him :)

His first couple tantrums went on long enough that we went through this routine a few times. It didn't take long for him to see that he got nothing from it and the quicker he settled down, the quicker we could do something fun again. This has been so amazing for both of us and of course makes the house more pleasant for everyone.

Whew, that was a long post.

Sorry!

I tried getting a picture of Jesse and I being happy together before he went to bed and this was the best I got. At least one of us was happy ;)

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More cute kids pencil portrait

2009-07-06T16:55:00.003-05:00

My latest pencil portrait. This one took a week. I took last night off and will start the next one tonight.

I think this is such a sweet picture!

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Yummy!

2009-07-05T20:18:00.002-05:00

Mmmm, this is what I made today and it is delicious! My first ever trifle. It was in the spirit of Independence Day, just a day late. That's not too bad for me!

It looked so pretty, Jacob made me take a picture before we dug in.

It is just cake, pudding, cool whip, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.

I think this is a dessert for a large gathering, not our little family, but I suppose we will just have to make do.

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Good times

2009-07-05T19:03:00.002-05:00

I'm just getting around to posting some pictures from last weekend at my parents house. The boys always have a great time there. Here is Jesse and my mom.

My brother and his adorable niece played with Jesse in the big gravel pile. The boys will miss this pile whenever it goes away!

Leo likes having more space to run around.

They both enjoy the chickens. Jesse likes to help feed them.

Leo was calling them birds.

Here are the boys back in our little fenced in yard this week. I like this picture. Aren't they just the cutest little boys? They gave each other a high five when Leo went to bed tonight.

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Cute kids pencil portrait

2009-06-24T15:08:00.002-05:00

This drawing has taken me quite awhile, but it is done and I'm happy with it!

I never know what to do about clothing. Do I draw it just as it is or do I simplify it? Is this some favorite shirt that the customer wants to remember forever, or was it an unfortunate wardrobe choice? From now on I will draw clothing as it is unless otherwise requested. Whew, decision made ;)

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Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T15:31:00.004-05:00

Here are Jacob's first days as a dad.

With Jesse,

And Leo,

You are amazing and we love you!!

Leo's first haircut

2009-06-15T07:55:00.004-05:00

I miss his little curls, but he's so cute! This will be much easier to wash the banana's out of!

Leo kept scooping rocks out of the driveway with his ice cream and then trying to eat it.

Jesse decided his lost its appeal.

He was very excited about this little flag.

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Savana's pencil portrait.

2009-06-15T07:41:00.003-05:00

This is my beautiful niece Savana. I'm not sure how I feel about this drawing. The photo I had to work with was very low resolution so I didn't make her face larger on the paper. This left me with a big black sweat shirt to draw, not fun. Clothing is never my favorite thing to draw or large dark areas.

This drawing is for my mom, but I will happily do another drawing of Savana when I get a better picture to draw from!

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Happy Saturday!

2009-06-13T21:59:00.003-05:00

While I was cooking dinner I looked out the window and saw this. My boys are so sweet!

Leo was looking pretty sleepy. I love those dirty round feet!

Earlier today Leo was taking it easy and enjoying an apple while Jesse rolled around next to him and gobbled his feet.

Yes, my kids are usually half dressed at best.

Awww

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Backyard Adventures

2009-06-06T19:32:00.003-05:00

The boys enjoyed their new slip-n-slide Friday. They loved running back and forth on it and yes there was definitely a lot of slipping and sliding!

I was checking out the close-up capabilities of my camera.

Jesse has decided that he likes having his picture taken with the new camera.

And this is Edgar, he lives on our patio. I really like him, he reminds me of Where the Wild Things Are.

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New Camera!

2009-06-03T13:28:00.003-05:00

We got a new camera and I love it! Thanks Mom and Dad for an amazing anniversary gift! We chose a Canon Digital Rebel XS. I just tried it out today and have a lot to learn. I'm looking forward to trying out the manual setting and seeing if I remember anything from high school photography class!

Okay I know this picture of Leo is pretty awful, but I do see this face a lot ;) I think Leo's teeth are so funny because they have all come in such an odd order! I just hope they do all come in eventually.

(On top he has the four center teeth and one molar on each side.)

And finally a picture of my boys standing together. They don't usually agree to this in front of a camera!

I think I'm going to have to cut Leo's hair soon, it's in his eyes. A nurse asked today how old my daughter was. Leo is always mistaken for a girl, he's just too cute! :)

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It's done!

2009-05-29T08:02:00.004-05:00

I finally finished this drawing!

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Aren't they cute!

2009-05-26T13:17:00.002-05:00

Lots of pictures of the boys because really, how could I resist?

Leo loves guitars

Jesse was having fun outside today. We got the tiny pool out yesterday and the boys had a blast!

Leo enjoyed some quiet time inside with a snack.

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Slowly but surely

2009-05-26T13:10:00.003-05:00

Since I still don't have this drawing done I thought I would just show more progress. Fun to see it slowly emerge... very slowly!

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Progress on Jesse's drawing

2009-05-21T22:35:00.002-05:00

I'm finally making some progress on this drawing of Jesse. I need sleep now, but I would really like to finish it tomorrow! Not sure if I can... My drawings are on white Bristol paper they just look dark when I take the pictures.

Okay I really need sleep!

Good night!

Sewing Fluff

2009-05-19T06:37:00.002-05:00

I made this diaper for Leo over the weekend. I think he really likes it! Okay, the truth is I don't think he really cares one bit what's on his bottom. However I still cant get over how adorable he is in his fluffy diapers!

For my first three diapering years cloth never appealed to me. It seemed like way too much work and very yucky too! After some sudden urge to learn more and way too much time researching online, I finally realized how wrong I was. I really didn't like the trash bags full of diapers we were putting in the landfill. So now I get sad when I don't get the diapers washed in time and I have to put a disposable on him, it's just not as fun. Our stash includes 6 Bumgenius, 2 Softbums with 6 liners (this can be 6 diapers if the outer shell stays clean, but usually is only 2 diapers) and now his brand new mommy made diaper. I have 2 more in the works. they are pocket diapers very like the BumGenius and I am using the Softbum liners for the inserts. This is the softest diaper we have!

Well maybe he would look just as cute in anything I put on him!

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Gourd Art

2009-05-18T12:26:00.004-05:00

I have this beautiful gourd in my home until it reaches it's lucky new recipient. This gourd was made by my mother in law, talented artist Barbara Walker.

Click on the pictures to see them larger.

I just love having so many amazing artists in my life!

Yay for crochet!

2009-05-17T17:47:00.013-05:00

I learned to crochet! I'm so excited. I tried teaching myself to knit awhile a go and I just couldn't figure it out, so this feels like quite an accomplishment! I have two scarves in progress, one for me and one for Jesse. I plan on making one for Leo also and matching mittens for the boys.

Figuring out how to make a hat was much more complicated for me, but I managed it and learned a lot. This hat fits Jesse, but a bit too pink and frilly. :) I'm thinking we can find a friend to pass it along to.

And doesn't this box look fun! I've been collecting way too many fat quarters. I just like to look at this bin and think of all the things I could make!

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I love being a mutter!

2009-05-11T09:03:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I had a very nice peaceful Mother's Day. We ended up just spending the day around the house taking it easy. Jesse wished me a "Happy Mutter's Day!" and Leo snuggled and climbed on me. And then Jacob emailed me this card that he made. I love it! (Jesse is really into 'rolly polly bugs' right now.)

Another silly thing. Yesterday Jesse was in the bathroom and fell against the bathtub. He was fine but crying so hard I wasn't sure. Jacob and I rushed in and tried to calm him and make sure he was not injured. While standing there crying he started eyeing an empty water bottle on the back of the toilet and grabs it and put it up to his eye. He was trying to catch his tears. I didn't want him to poke his eye out so I offered to take it and catch a tear off of his cheek for him. He was so delighted when I showed him his tear he forgot all about crying. So then of course he was trying to cry to fill the bottle.

I love my boys!

New Harmony

2009-05-05T16:41:00.002-05:00

Saturday we went to New Harmony and I got some cute pictures of the boys. They loved this fountain. I think Leo really wanted in the water.

I really like this picture of Leo and Jacob.

And here is finally my good shot of Jesse to do a drawing from!!

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Quilt time!

2009-05-05T16:17:00.002-05:00

Yay! I finally finished all my blocks for my quilt. Now I am slowly working on squaring them up. I'm not enjoying this part and I'm afraid I'm taking too much off. Oh well, I'm just making this up as I go, this is my first big quilt project! I think this may be somewhere around a twin size when done. Next will be white sashing between blocks. I think I will make the sashing large to make the quilt bigger... on to the pictures!

(The blocks are about 13 inches)

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Nap time!

2009-05-01T15:41:00.002-05:00

I took the boys to a play date this morning. We all had a great time and I knew Leo would probably fall asleep on the way home. At a stop light (I promise) I glanced back to check on him and saw this! I just had to dig out my camera and get a picture!

Happy Friday!!

Jesse poses for the camera

2009-04-29T10:08:00.003-05:00

So this is what happens when I try to take Jesse's picture. I'm trying to get a good shot that I can make a drawing from...

If he doesn't just run and hide, then he poses for the camera like this:

*Sigh*

Leo's pencil portrait

2009-04-23T07:55:00.000-05:00

I was so happy I got this perfect shot of Leo to do a drawing from!

And here is my drawing! I have a couple more in the works and will hopefully have them done soon.

Everytime we scan in my drawings they get very washed out and I lose all the detail. This time I took a photo instead and I think that worked better. I think you can click on the picture to see it larger and get more detail. Soon I will get up more details on prices and how to order your own portrait drawing!

P.S. Happy Birthday Abby!!!

I love you!

Shower time

2009-04-14T21:35:00.000-05:00

Leo gave himself a shower before bed this evening. I keep looking at these pictures I took so I just had to share. He probably sprayed half a bottle of water in is face and loved it!

I just want to gobble him up!

Off to bed now, good night!

Easter Egg Hunt

2009-04-13T06:44:00.000-05:00

We had a great time yesterday hunting Easter eggs in the back yard. This was the first year we have done this and the boys had a blast! On Saturday Jesse and I had lots of fun decorating eggs.

Leo found one egg and some rocks.

Jesse found the rest of the eggs.

Leo had fun destroying his one egg and rolling it down the slide.

Jesse was very proud of his findings. Can you find Leo?

Jesse sharing some Jelly Beans.

The jelly beans were too flavorful. I think Leo got a red hot flavored one!

Bye!

Crayon roll and Tractor Pillow

2009-04-10T19:56:00.000-05:00

I finally did a couple more sewing projects yesterday. I kept them simple so I would actually complete them in one sitting. First I made this crayon roll for Jesse.

The crayon roll is laying on our light table, I know it makes an odd picture;)

And here is my second project. It's a pillow for Jesse also. I have the same fabric to make one for Leo too, I just need to get more stuffing.

Jesse really liked this. He slept with it last night. It is the perfect size for his little toddler bed!

Well this week I am finally going to start my drawings of the boys plus one of my niece! I finally managed to get a good picture of Jesse :)

I'll post the portraits as I get them done!

Have a Happy Easter!

Weekend visit

2009-04-07T08:42:00.000-05:00

This weekend my parents came to visit and Dad took this cute picture of Leo. Leo was so crazy about his Grandpa, he would get upset whenever they were not in a room together! We all had a good time and Jesse loved playing GeoTrax with Grandma and Grandpa. Jesse is still on his camera strike but I'll get a good picture of him one of these days :)

Sarah's new website!

2009-04-06T16:48:00.000-05:00

Okay everyone check it out. My amazingly talented sister (one of them;) has a new website. Sarah's work is always beautiful and fun!

www.sarahjaneburnsart.com

Pencil Portrait Drawings

2009-03-23T21:27:00.000-05:00

This is the most recent pencil portrait that I have drawn. As the boys get bigger I am able to find more time to do art. I have done several portraits in the past couple years and I would love to start doing more.

My most frequent customer has been my good friend Adrienne and her family and friends.

And here is the photograph.

I really need to do some more drawings of my boys! If I ever get around to it, I will post them :)

If you would like me to draw a portrait for you please email me at

maggie (dot) burns (at) yahoo (dot) com

Two cute boys :)

2009-03-16T08:03:00.000-05:00

My camera batteries need replacing so I thought I would just post this adorable picture of the boys that I took a couple weeks ago. I'm slowly planning a smallish quilt, maybe baby blanket size. I will try to post my progress on it. Have a great day!

For Sarah

2009-03-13T14:40:00.000-05:00

I just thought I would post the gift I made for Sarah's birthday. It's a paintbrush holder!

Bird house

2009-03-13T14:21:00.000-05:00

Jesse picked out this bird house earlier this week and has been having fun painting it. He really likes seeing what different colors mixed together make. This means that all the paint gets piled up in certain areas and I have been trying to encourage him to spread it out! I think it's almost ready to hang outside.

The boys have been fighting over this toy box a lot today, but they finally ended up sharing it! Jesse was really happy, he just didn't want me to take his picture :)

Have a great day!

Spring!

2009-03-10T14:27:00.000-05:00

Here are the first flowers in my yard. It's been so nice to have some warm weather!

They're so pretty!

Cute Leo and dolls

2009-03-06T08:29:00.000-06:00

Here is Leo with sweaty hair right after nap!

Jesse was hiding from the camera.

And this is my first rag doll!

And second and third.

Next I'm going to try some boy versions and maybe even a monkey!

Have a great day!

Place mats and napkins

2009-03-05T08:03:00.000-06:00

I bought a sewing machine a couple months ago and I love it. I've been having so much fun learning to sew. I just made a set of place mats and napkins for my cousin's wedding shower. I hope she likes them, I just love the fabric! I need to make a set of these for myself!

First Post

2009-03-05T07:49:00.000-06:00

This is my first post so I'm not sure where to start. This will just be a place to see what my little family is up to and what projects I'm working on.