Happy Birthday Brian

Are you looking at this thinking, "Did I read that right?  Happy Birthday Brian?"  I know, his birthday isn't until May, but we went shopping a little bit early.  This year for his birthday (maybe Father's Day too) he got a semi-automatic shotgun.  I do know that it is a Saiga, but I don't know anything else.  I guess you will have to call and talk to him about it.  I am sure he would love to hear from him.  I know that he is really happy about it.  But really, what man wouldn't be happy about getting a "toy" for his birthday!

Emeric at 18 Months

 

September 19, 2009.  That sounds like such a long time ago, but in the life of Emeric, it feels like a blink of an eye.  He is now 18 months old!  He walks, he talks, he runs and causes trouble.  He is no longer my little baby, but he is now turning into my little boy.  He weights in at 23.2 pounds and 31.5 inches long.  He is still taking two naps per day although the morning nap is happening less often.  Even though we are loosing one nap the afternoon one does not seem to be getting any longer.  That means he is often Mr. Grumpy later into the evening.  We have been pushing his bedtime up to 6:30/6:40 PM to help compensate and it seems to be working.  He will sleep from then until 7:00/7:30 AM.  Not too bad considering I have a friend with a daughter his age who is still getting up two to four times per night.  He loves the library story time.  He really enjoys doing the songs with actions and participating in the magic wall.  He likes to sit and read books and help DJ with the radio.  When the stereo comes on he will run for me saying up and then hold his hand out for mine so that we can dance.  He is a hearty eater although his weight does show him on the lighter side of norm.  He has a lot of fun following Angela and Connor.  He likes to play with Angela's DS which causes all sorts of trouble.  He will chase after Connor and his friends which makes them lock him out of the areas they are playing in.  All in all it is a good sibling vibe.  All winter he has pretty well be cooped up inside due to the cold.  This past week has been nicer and he has gotten to walk around the yard which has been great fun for him.  I think he will be much like Connor and really enjoy the outdoors.  He is now constantly bringing us his shoes so that we can put them on him and he can go outside.  He is not too happy when we don't let him out to play.  He is wearing Connor's Batman and Superman capes up above.  He is into mimicking all of us (working with tools like dad, cooking like mom, playing like Angela and Connor).  He has been as much as a frustration as a blessing as he has grown.  Yesterday he stood on his ride-on truck.  I took him down and said no.  He did it again.  I was not quite fast enough and it slipped out from under him and he fell.  If the dining room chairs are left out, he will climb up and play on the table.  If any cupboard is left open or unlocked he is into it faster than you can imaging.  I guess he is the adventurous inquisitive type.  That is Emeric for you.  Regardless of what he is doing, he is always ready with a smile and a hug and kiss.  We love him so much!

Sunday March 20th

Sundays tend to be pretty lazy at our houses.  We go to church, but other than that we usually try not to make plans.  We try to keep it as a family day. 

Sunday March 20th started like just about any other Sunday.  We slept in a little then slowly got the kids up and started to figure out breakfast.  I was making corned beef and cabbage for dinner so I got the meat cooking in the crock pot.  I did not want to make a big breakfast that day so it was cereal for the kids.  Emeric had been a little sick lately and so Brian stayed home from Church with him.  Angela and Connor went to Sunday School and then they and I went to church.  Connor's class sang that morning and he did a very good job (too bad I forgot the camera).  We came home and had left over lunch.  It is something we do every Sunday because it is quick and easy after church.  I like it because it cleans out the fridge.  Angela doesn't really like it because she doesn't want left overs.  Oh well, you can't please them all.  We put Emeric to bed and had a quiet afternoon (Angela and Connor playing - Brian and Emeric napping - Laci baking). 

Here comes the slight difference from a normal Sunday.  After nap time, all three kids were upstairs.  Connor yells down, "Dad, my lip is bleeding!"  Connor is still taking his speech classes and he is getting better, but Brian couldn't understand him.  After I translated he goes walking upstairs to find out what is going on.  It seems that Emeric got into the bathroom cupboard and he and Connor each had a disposable razor.  Fortunately, Emeric was fine, but not Connor.  He decided to shave his mustache, and cut his upper lip.  Well of course Brian cleaned him up and we secured the razors - disaster avoided, right?  Wrong!  About 30 minutes later Brian has pulled the corned beef out of the pot and cut it up for dinner.  I was quickly looking up something on the computer and Brian was calling Angela and Connor to come down for dinner.  That is when simultaneously we heard a really weird sound and Connor making a weird screaming/yelling sound.  Brian looks at Connor on the stairs.  Connor is sitting on the stairs with his legs spread wide and he is quickly trying to back up the stairs and away from Emeric.  Emeric is holding an 8" slicing knife (like the photo)

psycho style and he is heading up the stairs with it.  At each step he is swinging it down and poking it into the stairs almost as if he were using it to steady himself as he is climbing up.  Connor is trying to save his feet from getting stabbed by the knife.  With a half a second of panic (from me) Brian takes the knife from him and puts it away.  Thankfully no one was hurt.  Now we know that Emeric can reach the counters and things will need to be kept towards the back of the counters so we all stay safe.

I hope we don't have another Sunday like that!   

For the past three to four years I have wanted to get some chickens. I don’t know that I particularly like them. I might actually be a little bit afraid of them. The chicks are cute, but when they are grown, I don’t know, what if they peck me. I really want them for the eggs. I think it would be so fun to gather your own eggs. Maybe this is a silly “city girl” fantasy, but I have it just the same. I bake a lot, especially pies; I can just imagine my business card saying pies made from scratch with fresh eggs. Well this swap just sounded like fun – Chicken Lovin’ Hot Mama’s. Of course I would want to join it.

I have been watching Val’s swaps for a while now just waiting to be brave enough to make an apron to give away. I don’t know that I was quite brave enough this time, but I sure had fun. Before I talk about all the fun I had with my end of things lets just skip to the best part - Opening my package.

I love getting mail! I just about have the mailman timed to the minute of when he will be at my house. I don’t know why, usually it is just bills, but I am like Steve and Blue from Blue’s Clues. ♪♫“Here’s the mail, it never fails, it makes me want to wag my talk, when it comes I want to wail –MAIL!”♫♪ Recently my mailman has thrown me all out of sorts. He is now delivering my mail about 4 ½ hours earlier. Yesterday, my son had an appointment and then we were going to be heading to the big city to do some shopping at the fabric store (of course). But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go from the appointment straight out of town. I had to swing by the house first just in case my package was they. Now you guessed it – it was there! I was super excited. I don’t know how some people can have the control to take a picture of the box, then a picture of it first opened, then a picture of the first layer, then a picture of…, then a picture of …, etc. I just ripped into it and started touch and feeling and ohhing and ahhing. (It wasn’t until today that I took my pictures).

Thank you Amy!

She sent me a stack of recipes, it might take me weeks to try them all; a neat wooden pen and key chain; some cute spring band aids, which will come in handy with my two sons and my daughter who plays like a boy; a fun bundle of fabric, which I can not wait to use; some fun hand made cards with little chicks on the border; two pot holders, that beautifully match my apron; and my apron ...

It is a purple base with tags all over it that have the names of spices on them (thyme, lavender, caraway, chives and sage). It has yellow gingham pockets and neck straps. Amy said she was having a hard time finding chicken fabric that she liked so she embroidered some chickens in a nest with eggs and the words “farm fresh” on both of the pockets. Purple happens to be my favorite color and my kitchen is all pale yellow. The apron couldn’t have fit me better. Did I mention I am super jealous of her embroidery machine? That is on my wish list for the future.

The apron flares out on the bottom which may be perfect for collecting eggs in someday? (Now I hope you are not looking too closely – yes, that is me in my jammies this morning) What a fun package to open.

I really enjoyed getting her package together too. She posted about it here, but I wanted to add a few other photos.

Since it was a "Chicken Lovin'"Swap there needed to be chickens on her apron.  I decided to make her a half apron with lots of fun colors plus the chickens.  I made it frilly because sometimes as moms we don't feel as pretty or girly and I hoped this would help her out.

This was my fist time making bias tape and it made a lot more than I expected. The first time took me almost an hour and a half with a ½ yard of fabric. The second time may have been just as long, but I broke it up into two different times.

I put in some quilted pot holders. I have never quilted before and when the directions said to quilt it about an inch or so bigger than the final size I thought, that is a waste of extra fabric. Well now I understand why, it shifts, shrinks and moves while quilting. (I hope that Amy didn’t notice that they were a little bit off)

Then I added in some snack sacks, some where for her three kids and the other were for another present. My kids love them and Emeric was really upset that they were empty. I hope that she loved getting it as much as I loved putting it together.

Until next time!

February - Photos of Kids

Another edition of Jamison children photos:

Angela:

Connor was trying out his photography skills.  Doesn't Angela make a good model?

Playing in the snow with her brother(s).

Connor:

Just finished helping to shovel off the deck and the back walkway.

He must not have been feeling too well since he fell asleep during the middle of the day.

Emeric:

Princess Emeric.

The first time I just let him out to play in the snow.

Wearing Brian's FR gator.