Conversations With Shane & Adalyn

Tuesday evening as we were eating dinner. Adalyn was sitting next to me and she leaned over and said this to me in a whisper:

Adalyn: Thank you Mommy for putting up the decorations while I was napping.

She was talking about the Christmas decorations that Shane and I put up, so when we return from our trip early December we'll be all ready to celebrate Christmas.

She just melted my heart and I want to remember that sweet little moment forever.
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Adalyn: Me loves you, Mommy and Daddy and Shane. I want to give you a great big hug. 

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Yesterday early afternoon, after Shane had returned home from AM Kindergarten, I had this conversation with him.

Me: At some point today you'll be able to play outside while the sun is shining.

Shane: NO, I don't want to go outside.

Me: The Doctor said you need to play outside every day that you can. Since it's nice and sunny out today is the perfect day for that.

Shane: Did she call and tell you that?

Me: No, I just know this. It's healthy for your body to be outside.

Shane: No, I don't want to go outside.

Ten minutes later....

Shane: I'm going outside now.

Looks like maybe the Doctor needs to be giving out more directions around the house. I like the results.

Third Birthday Party {Indoor Obstacle Course}

We celebrated Adalyn's 3rd birthday over the weekend. It was a small casual affair. Having a birthday in the Pacific Northwest during the fall months means it has to be an indoor event. I think having a birthday party is an important thing to do, but that doesn't mean we have tons of money in the budget  to spend on expensive venues or hefty gift bags.

So I went crafty...or to be more specific I went start to Pinterest. I had a friend host an indoor obstacle course play date recently. We weren't able to attend, but that was where my idea sparked from. Then Pinterest filled my head with more ideas. It was just what I was looking for. Something that the older 6 year old siblings could do, as well as the birthday girl and her 3 year old set of friends.

The night before the party, Kenny and I headed downstairs to get it all set up. I was surprised by how fast it all came together. I was also delighted by how much fun the kids had doing it. They spend between 30-45 minutes running through the obstacle course. Towards the end, the big kids started to revamp it, but hey, if they are happy, I'm happy.

All she wanted to do for her birthday is eat cake. She said she had to have a cake with white frosting and blue trim. So that was what Mommy made her. 

 

The food spread was all of things that Adalyn loved. It actually was a lot of fun to do the food that way. Maybe a bit random, but a still a hit.

 

 The obstacle course started with them each sitting in the little rocking chair.

Then climbing over the mini couch.

Arli having a blast.

Dahlia helping out little sister Opal. 

Next it was onto the trampoline, where you had to try and make a basket. 

 

Then it was off through the tunnel.

 A big hit was the "car wash".

Which lead into the streamer maze. 

Followed by a round of golf. 

The course ended with another crawl through a tunnel and back into the rocking chair. 

 Arli watching all the happenings.

The crazy party goers -- Dahlia, Opal, Noah, Adalyn, Shane and Arli (minus Mazzy).

Eating a snack. 

Finally she got to eat her cake! 

Time for present opening. 

A big thank you to everyone for making Adalyn's 3rd birthday special. 

Awesome Things Tuesday

It's Tuesday again and what does that mean? Time to link up your awesome crafts, tips and recipes here at our Awesome Things Tuesday link up party.

These cool projects and recipes are the features from last week. I can't wait to make some Apple Nachos! Plus, a shout out to my friend Jayma over at Playing with Paper. Swing by her blog and see what other great projects she has going on.

1. Krystal's pick - Nursery Decor by Playing with Paper

2. Victoria's pick - Nail String Art by Delineate Your Dwelling
3. Randi's pick - Sock Snow People by Tiny Bitz of Me
4. Jessica's pick - Apple Nachos by Life as Mrs. Larson
5. Ashley's pick - So Thankful Book Banner by Delineate Your Dwelling

Randi Sowders - Sowdering About in Seattle / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter

Jessica Booth - Preserving Life's Moments / Pinterest

Ashley Emmett - My Craftily Ever After / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter
Victoria Schilke - My Little Birds / Facebook / Pinterest

Krystal McGarvey - My Life of Travels and Adventures / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter

When you link up or if you were featured this week make sure to grab a button. 

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Happy 3rd Birthday, Adalyn Makenna!

 

Our baby girl turned 3 today. It's weird, 'cause I have kinda thought of her as 3 for a long time now.

She is pretty darn awesome. Yep, she can throw a tantrum like a pro, she has a strong opinion on many things in life and doesn't always want to share things, or smile in a picture. Yet, she is so internally kind and loving. Her general personality is so even keel and positive with a touch of silliness and humor.

Adalyn’s 3rd Birthday Interview

What is your favorite color?  

Blue

          

What is your favorite food?  

Apples           

Who is your best friend? 

Avery and Carson             

What is your favorite show to watch on T.V.?

Dora

What is your favorite book?        

Ummm…..My books.     

What does Mommy do the best?     

Make dinner  

What does Daddy do the best?       

Tickle

What is your favorite kind of animal?    

Butterflies            

What do you like to do with Mommy and Daddy?         

Eat cereal

What do you want to be when you grow up?                  

Mommy

Where is your favorite place to go?  

Stores…grocery stores….lots of grocery stores

How old are you?              

8…7… 8…. 7…. (with some prompting about what comes after 2)....3!

(taken on November 13, 2013)

I know Shane and I answered the questions for her last year, but I can't find the interview any where. I'm going to keep looking. I'm bummed I can't find it. 

Adalyn's 2nd Birthday 

Gratitude {Week 1 & 2)

Each day this month our family has been writing down what we are thankful or grateful for. I love hearing what comes out of the wee one's mouths.

11/1
Shane: nature
Adalyn: Lucky the Goat
Mom: our warm house
Dad: Sadie and Dodger

11/2
Shane: for God, Jesus and church to learn about God
Adalyn: God
Mom: my family
Dad: my job

11/3
Shane: a warm nice house with dogs, family and friends in our cul-de-sac
Adalyn: playing at somebodies house
Mom: food and our grocery store
Dad: everyone's health

11/4
Shane: our food and our grocery store
Adalyn: going to the grocery store and getting more food for us
Mom: our dogs
Dad: our upcoming vacation

11/5
Shane: our dogs are surviving and we have two dogs
Adalyn: Mariah (our neighborhood horse)
Mom: new carpet
Dad: being done with big house projects

11/6
Shane: we are still surviving in our life
Adalyn: that Lucky died
Mom: Miss Charlotte and how hard Shane is working in his Coping Cats class
Dad: new carpet

11/7
Shane: school and recess
Adalyn: for playing with my friends
Mom: Brittany and our child care swap
Dad: yummy food for dinner

11/9
Shane: that Mommy gets to see Penny Grandma and drop the cards off
Adalyn: I loves Mommy and Daddy
Mom: for Daddy staying home with the kids while I go to work
Dad: a productive day

11/10
Shane: a fun time at church and learning about God
Adalyn: going to church
Mom: my trip to see Grandma
Dad: Jessica getting to see Penny Grandma

11/11
Shane: my friends coming over to play
Adalyn: going to bed
Mom: the sunshine
Dad: thankful that Jessica survived her day today

11/12
Shane: friends coming over
Adalyn: friends coming over
Mom: an accomplished day
Dad: that Mommy survived her day with the new change in schedules

Close To My Heart {Christmas Shopping}

Do you have any crafty people on your Christmas list this year? If you do I have just the perfect place for you to go shopping for them!

Check out my Close To My Heart website. You'll find items for all kinds of crafters from card makers, sewers, scrapbooks, jewelry makers, or even that young girl in your life looking to express her inner self.

A few items to think about:

• Micro Tip Scissors ($9.95) are the bomb! Any body and every body should own a pair of these babies.  

• CTMH has a whole new line DIY jewelry items. Perfect for a teen, tween or jewelry maker in your family. 

• The Designed Decor Colonial White Frame ($26.95) is beautiful! It's ready to go to be hung on your favorite person's wall. Add a few pictures and a master piece is born. Easy peasy. 

• Workshop on the Go Kits ($24.95- $29.95) have everything a crafty person or a wanna-be crafty person needs to make cards or scrapbook pages. 

• Do you know someone who owns a Cricut? That's a fancy cutting machine. If you do, then they need one of our fabulous Cricut Collection Cartridges ($99). 

• Maybe you want to create a special gift for some one in your life. My Crush ($12.95) albums are an easy way to show someone you love them with pictures of you and your family. It will be a book treasured for years to come. 

These are just a few of the fun things Close To My Heart has to offer. Need more ideas or help shopping for someone? Maybe you want to see someone to buy you some CTMH products this year? Drop me a line and I'm happy to help.

Check out our Idea Books and our 2013 Holiday Gift Guide for more ideas.

Happy Shopping!

Christmas Card Workshop {CTMH}

Today is my 5th annual Christmas card workshop. This year we'll be making these beauties.

I have one open spot this evening at 7pm. 6 cards for $15. Contact me for more details.

All supplies used are from Close To My Heart.

Wanna make these from the comfort of you home?

You can by purchasing this kit.

Wordless Wednesday {The Kids}

Awesome Things Tuesday

Halloween has come and gone. Thursday's Trick or Treat link up party has come to an end, but it was so much fun, now you can join the Awesome Things Tuesday link up party.

This is the perfect place for you to link up any crafts, tips, recipes or other interesting things you have going on at your blog. 

My fellow hostess' are...

Randi Sowders - Sowdering About in Seattle / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter

Jessica Booth - Preserving Life's Moments / Pinterest

Ashley Emmett - My Craftily Ever After / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter
Victoria Schilke - My Little Birds / Facebook / Pinterest

Krystal McGarvey - My Life of Travels and Adventures / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter

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Please read and follow the rules before adding your link.
1. You may link up as many projects as you would like. They need to be YOUR creations and projects.
2. Link directly to your post and NOT to your main blog.
3. Please no giveaways, promotions, items for sale, roundups, or posts that do not belong to you.
4. Please make sure to click and check out the other projects linked up!

 *By submitting your link you are authorizing me to post your projects and pictures as a feature and on various social media websites along with links to your post. I have the right to delete links that do not adhere to the rules.

Menu Monday

A big thank you to all those veterans out there and to the brave men and women currently serving our country, as well as their families. Shane told me yesterday he wants to just call them all "army guys". Works for me.

A friend of mine in San Diego has a Husband in the Navy. He is currently at sea until late April or early May. I can't even imagine how they do it, but they do and they do it with a smile. Big hugs and love to the Hackley family on this Veterans Day.

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I'm breaking out the cookbooks this week. I need some new dinner inspiration.

Monday -- Tastefully Simple Potato and Broccoli Soup with Beer Bread. 

Tuesday -- leftovers

Wednesday -- Beef and Orange Stir-Fry via my Everyday Food cookbook

Thursday -- leftovers

Friday -- Roasted Salmon with Lentils

Saturday -- leftovers

Sunday -- Breakfast for dinner

Dog + Chair

Sadie is an outside dog. Not because we make her spend the day outside, but because she wants to be out there. From the day we adopted her (8 years ago at the age of 1) and in every house we've lived in, her favorite spot is laying outside in front of the slider.

Back in the spring we acquired some patio chairs with cushions on them that sit near her patio perch. We joked around wondering if she would ever help herself up into one. Months passed and she never did.

Until last week. Maybe it was the chill of fall or the old bones at age 9. What ever it was, one afternoon I looked outside and saw her all curled up on the patio chair.

The moment she saw me looking at her I got this look... 

...this is her squinty eyed "I'm in trouble" look. 

She then tried to jump down really fast, but I told her it was okay and she could stay there.

Now she occupies the chair daily.

There are two chairs out there, but only this one will do. 

The armrest is also good for a pillow.

And from her cozy spot she can still see the happenings in her backyard. 

No squirrel or bird left unwatched.

But in the end it's just perfect for a nap on a chilly, wet day.

Real Life Friday

Adalyn has been potty trained since the end of summer. She trained pretty quickly and easily. She had a few problems when she was outside playing and would just go, but then it got cold and we haven't really been out in the backyard playing, so that problem just took care of itself.

Recently she has been peeing in her carseat. It happened for the first time a couple weeks ago and I blamed myself for not having her go before we got in the car. Then it happened again a week later. I thought it was odd, but such is life. The hardest part of the whole thing was washing the darn carseat cover!

Then she did it over the weekend while we had been in the car for only just a few minutes. She walked around Lowe's with wet pants and rode back home in a cold wet carseat. That should teach her, right?

Monday she peed, yet again. WHAT the heck!?! This time I used a new technique of kindness and truth telling. If you tell Mommy the truth that you need to go potty that makes me happy. I won't get upset if we need to stop and go potty.

Wednesday we were driving and she told me she needed to go potty. Yay! We stopped off (we have a whole go potty outside routine...we do this a lot). She said telling Mommy the truth makes you happy. Yes, yes it does! Phew, she was over the peeing in her car seat thing.

On the way home on Wednesday I smelled a little something. Did you fart, Adalyn, I ask jokingly. She denied any such doing. Adalyn do you need to go potty? No, she says. We arrive home and I go to unbuckle her and I see she is wet. Uh Oh, I say. You peed in your car seat. I then quickly realize she didn't just peed....she pooped, too! Really!

I was frazzled with this whole situation! What is going on. I quickly dug into my The Incredible Years training and decided she needed some major rewarding and positive reinforcement when she didn't pee in her car seat. Now every time she gets out of the car dry I give her a mini M&M. Two days into this plan so far she hasn't gone again.

Now I just need to figure out how to get the icky pee small out of the seat of my car. Welcome to my real life.

The Tooth Fairy

On Halloween evening Shane lost his first tooth.

That tooth, along with one other one had been holding on for dear life for a couple months. His big teeth had already started to come through behind his little baby teeth. He was a classic case of "shark mouth". The thought of losing his teeth frightened him on many levels. He was anxious about the possibility of blood, the thought of any pain and uncomfortableness (even though he expressed how painful it was to eat with them so loose) and the whole idea of change/transition from baby teeth to big teeth.

Halloween day I said to him. That tooth has to come out today. It was laying sideways. I told him how cool would it be to remember that your first tooth came out on Halloween.

As we ate dinner at Jimmy Johns after trick or treating in downtown Kirkland, Shane took a bite of his sandwich. Kenny noticed it first, as he spit his bite out and started looking for his tooth. Then a bit of blood came and Shane lost it.

 

Happy and sad all at once.

The baby tooth.

Because he was having such a hard time getting his teeth out. He was told that the Tooth Fairy leaves an extra special surprise for your first lost tooth. That night he received a lego set and $1 from her. He was so excited and couldn't believe that she knew he liked legos.

When I encouraged him to pulled his second loose tooth out and the Tooth Fairy would return. He told me, but she'll only leave me $1 this time. Ah, kids!

Here he is before he lost both teeth.

Here he is with both teeth out. He doesn't even have any holes since his big teeth are already at least half way in.

Wordless Wednesday {Adorable Helper}