Drawing with Chalk

It is going to get busy around here.
Remember when I said we are getting a house? As of now, the dude at the bank says we could have a closing date in early July. Also as of now, we are going downstate for a vacation in early July. That means I have notverymuchtime to get us packed for vacation and packed for a move. Since we don't actually have a closing date yet I don't feel like I actually need to get things packed up. We certainly aren't acting like it either. Jeff is taking Adrian fishing tonight with my cousin, Tom, and today the boys and I did this:

Chalk disappears fast when you're making roads. And the grocery store, and the beach, and of course, Border Grill. :) I'm sure we'll be doing more of this at our house on the cement sidewalk that leads to the garage. Our House. Aaah! Super exciting!

When You're 3

The words, "when you're 3" have been heard a lot in this household. Like, when Adrian is throwing a fit because he can't build his puzzles we tell him, "When you're 3, I bet you'll know how to do it all by yourself!" Or when he says he can't pull his own pants up, "When you're 3 you will have to do it by yourself." Or at the playground when he can't quite climb the ladder-thing, "When you're 3 you can do it." Certain times I catch myself because, when at the playground for instance, he says he can't do it because he's too little. I'd hate to be the one to hold him back. Anyways, he's had these puzzles since Christmas and we have always had to help him with Every. Single. Piece. Until a few days ago. He wanted to build puzzles again and he practically built them by himself. Today, as Uncle Matt and Uncle Wade were visiting on their way up north, he put together a different puzzle completely on his own that I swear he couldn't do yesterday. Then he told me, "I'm 3!"

 Looks like I missed the party.

Chubby Baby Legs

I've been trying to spend more time away from the computer lately and I've been partially succeeding as you can see from my lack of posting. It's summer, the most wonderful time of year in the U.P., we need to enjoy it while it's here!

Isaac is having an exciting week. On Tuesday, he rolled over. On Wednesday, he laughed. Today, he turned 3 months. What will tomorrow bring?

He is the best. Each night around 10ish, he gets restless and tired and I lay him in his crib and he goes right to sleep.

Remember way back in January when I painted that shirt? It felt like forever, but it finally fits! And I'm sure he'll grow out of it before I blink my eyes.

People are so attracted to babies. Everywhere I go, they ask "how old is he?" and without fail exclaim "wow, he's big for ___ months!" To which I always (rather proudly) add, well he started out at 10 lbs! Which may or may not be followed by "you had a 10 lb baby?!" Adrian was the same way but look at him now. Gotta love on the chub while I can. ;)

St. John's Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend in the Keweenaw for our church's annual St. John's Services--judging by my stats over the weekend, that's where most of you were too. I think this was the shortest St. John's weekend ever for us. Jeff was scheduled to work this weekend but was able to get Saturday and Sunday off so we went up Friday night after work and came home after evening church on Sunday. I was supposed to drive home but Jeff said he probably wouldn't be able to sleep anyways so by the time we were halfway home I was asking him random questions to keep him awake. I think I nodded off during all of his answers. Good thing I didn't drive. We were home around midnight and he was up before 5 Monday morning.

 I was hoping to make it to the Bridgefest parade for Adrian's sake but we arrived just as we should have been finding a viewing spot so it didn't work out. I hadn't told him about it so he didn't know the difference. It was so awesome to have cousins for him to play with for a couple days. He's been really trying my patience at home lately so that was a nice break! Not that he and Kendall played perfectly all weekend or anything.

We lucked out and were able to stay at my grandma and grandpa's, they usually have a houseful for the weekend. My aunt and uncle live right down the road and Jeff has been itching to get over there to check out my uncle's bees. (He wants to raise bees next year.) I hear that he has an observation hive inside his house but I have yet to see it for myself. Jeff and Grandpa went to see the bees and I stayed back to visit with Grandma. I've realized lately that they won't be here forever so I really need to take advantage of our time with them.

I didn't take nearly enough pictures (as usual) but I did manage to snag these before we left their house on Sunday afternoon. (Grandpa was at the meeting and by the time he came back we were packed up and saying our "good-bye's.")

Poor Adrian had a few noseeum bites behind his right ear so it was all swollen. I think it finally looks normal again.

Isaac taught me a lesson during morning church. I'm so unprepared for a mess since we haven't had a blow-out away from home. Until Sunday that is. And while wearing the brand-new sweater handmade by my mom. Of course. (Don't worry, it all washed out and it's looking good as new.) Anyways, Katie saved the day. (Thanks again! I still have your clothes, I'll plan on mailing them to you as soon as I get the chance.) I swear, I spent more time in the cry room/nursery than in the pew, I should have just planned to sit there. I'm blaming it on the fact that I cheated on my usual diet (wheat-free, dairy-free) so he was a little fussier than usual. Either that or he was over-stimulated which may have been the case considering he slept most of the day on Monday.

Now we're back home, Adrian is still asking to go to Kendall's and Mumuu and Vaari's (my grandparent's) house. Jeff is back to work and I'm enjoying the gloomy days we've been having since it lets me get stuff done around here. According to the bank, we could be moving in 3-4 weeks and one of those weeks will be spent downstate. Since it's still too early to pack our things, I'm listing everything else on Craigslist. I just lost my sewing desk yesterday. So glad to have that heavy thing gone since I didn't like the style anyways but now I have nowhere to sew and I just got a small sewing project from a friend that needs to be done in the next few days. Ah, well at we won't have to move the desk.

Weather, Weather

Sweet peppers aren't quite in season locally yet so I'm using frozen peppers in my chili that is smelling oh-so-delicious simmering on the stove.
We're headed to the farmer's market and the park (same place) in a few minutes while we wait for our supper to be ready. We walked to the store to get canned tomatoes this morning and stopped to throw rocks in the lake on the way back. It is a perfect day! Weather-wise that is. Otherwise, my littlest dude is a little under the weather and my middle-sized dude is...being an almost-3-year-old. The park is usually pretty good for taking care of the bad side of that! (How sad is that pot? The handle melted a long time ago and the handle of the lid is broken. I only need to send in the broken lid and they will send me a whole new pot--found that out in November--and I still haven't sent it in.)

I hope it's beautiful where you are, too!

2 1/2 months

Isaac has been the best baby ever. I remember Adrian being a good baby, but I swear Isaac is even better/calmer/happier. He had a few short weeks of evening crabbiness and now he's content all the day long. I realized after chatting with someone about it yesterday that it may have coincided with me quitting wheat and dairy. Honestly, if he wasn't so darn sweet he could probably hang out by himself all day. Instead, I end up snuggling him up and cooing to him all day just to see his precious smiles and hear his sweet little conversations. Anytime we go anywhere I take my wrap and he usually falls right to sleep. Speaking of sleep, he's pretty good at that too. He usually falls asleep by 11 and wakes up around 5 or 6 to eat, goes right back to sleep and is up again around 9. I hate to brag, but it's nice to hear good news too right?

I set him down on the floor to type this and he's just been kicking his legs and staring at me. After about 15 minutes he finally starts to talk in an ever so slightly sad little way. He gives me plenty of warning before he loses patience. ;)

Oh how I love my little chubbers.

A Gluten-free, Dairy-free Recipe

I recently committed to eating wheat-free and dairy-free. We've been eating wheat-free at home since Adrian is intolerant to wheat and we eat very little dairy since he doesn't tolerate a lot of dairy either. (Sorry if I'm repeating myself for the 17th time.) I was already preparing myself to make the switch when I was pregnant thinking that there was a good chance that Isaac would have the same intolerance's. Sure enough, he started getting eczema, just like Adrian, while I was eating wheat and dairy. I cut it out and his skin is clear again. The dairy is much harder than the wheat but we're figuring it out. The key is completely changing the way we cook. I can substitute only so much before it completely changes the taste. So, one day while I was trying to decide what to make for dinner (menu planning? what's that?) I starting throwing something together. Jeff called it Orange Root Soup. I called it delicious. See recipe below.

Today, we are sweating in our apartment dreaming of our hopefully-not-as-sweaty house. That we should be moving into next month!! We are super excited to have found a house and we're in the process of all that needs to be done before we can call it ours. I really know what I'm talking about, huh? I think we're waiting for an appraiser now so that's about where we are if you know anything about buying a house. And I don't. I just know that there are walls that want to be painted. And no wood paneling. And no sun streaming in the windows first thing in the morning making our home a million degrees. And a nice, neat little yard to play in. And a deck with plenty of room for a kiddie pool. Haha! I would jump in there right now if I could.

Anyways, while I try to figure out what to make for tonight's supper (we just had this soup last night) so we can maybe go swimming in the lake before it starts to storm again and since my baby is waking up from his little 3-hour afternoon nap, here is that recipe:

Orange Root Soup

Olive oil
1 onion, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
3 celery stalks, sliced
1/2 tsp rosemary, crushed
1/4 tsp thyme
4 c chicken broth
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cubed
2 c chicken, cooked and cubed or shredded
salt and pepper to taste

Cook onions, carrots, and celery in oil over low heat until onions are caramelized.
Add rosemary and thyme, Cook and stir for one minute.
Stir in chicken broth, chicken, and sweet potatoes. Simmer 10 minutes or until sweet potatoes are soft.
Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Enjoy!

A Picture of a Picture

Guess which of these arrived in the mail today:

I almost forgot about this canvas once again. I love it and can't wait to put it up in our house! (I'll let you know when that happens. The house I mean, not necessarily the hanging of the canvas.)

For a much better version of this, see Emily's (new) blog. I can't remember if I ever linked to these photos. Oh dear, click over and see just how grainy my sad little camera really is...

I can't believe how different Isaac looks now.

"I'm a big helper hey, Mom?"

The boys are resting so I have a little bit of time to kick up my feet uninterrupted. We had a rough morning. The kind that makes me want to run away. For a few minutes anyways. I was out late with the ladies last night to do some crafting. Inspired by this, I used paint chips to make this:

Adrian was up earlier than usual jumping on me and yelling which soon turned to whining and crying and screaming (at me) and it didn't stop till about 11:30. I hope it's over. I think I get even more frustrated with the situation knowing that everything would be fine and dandy if we were outside which would be so much easier to do if we had a yard to step out to. We're still house-hunting, I hope we find something soon! (Then maybe we won't have to deal with that beautiful faux wood paneling.)

Yesterday was a lot better. After grocery shopping Adrian put the groceries away.

I never asked him to, he just started putting them away. If it didn't belong in the fridge, he put it on the counter.

Bananas were on sale, we go through them like crazy since we drink smoothies every morning.
Sorry about the super blurry pictures, I was laughing out loud by this point.

He's a super great kid when he wants to be. We love him either way but I definitely prefer him this way. ;)