100 days...

celebrating "100 days" is new to me.

it came about after my time in elementary school.

i think i recall vaguely it being a part of my heard girls school

but it's fuzzy...

anyway!

there will be a school party!

and a project!

so today we tackled the project.

and it was really, really fun.

i saw some perseverance where before there would have been tears

and an abrupt end to any 'fun'

we started with a little sorting.

thank goodness for cheerios!

i thought i happened to have 2 bags 

of pompoms, 50 in each bag.

but, for some reason, when i opened one before,

i carefully resealed it. so much so, i fooled myself!

only after i asked giles to count 'to be sure' we had 100, 

did i realize that we did not, in fact, have 100 as i was certain we did!

so we had to add 18 cheerios to the mix :)

 giles had a big time sorting all of the colors

and counting how many of each color there were.

and when there wasn't a full tray,

we did some quick assessing to see just how many there were.

 i know it is simple math, but his little brain was working!

and it was nothing but pure joy to watch.

 i did some sneaky question asking too...

and he was quick!

made me so proud...

 i had him use tweezers to pick up the cheerios & dip in glue.

he did a good job with that, which was tricky & again, i was proud :)

{oh, and please pardon the attire. it was super bowl, so of course we had 

to wear the football helmet. and then alllllll of his & crawford's clean 

laundry was in the nursery where crawford was sleeping!

so it was pj top & an apron until we found a random pair of pj pants a little later}

 he placed them all by himself!

and he also painted in the red by himself. 

i drew it and painted the top & outlined in red where he needed to paint.

but he did a good job not getting it all over the place!

i made the little place where a gumball would roll out

& i put the .25 on there.

giles noticed that i forgot to put a slot for the money!

i thought that was pretty good :)

and while it is hard to see,

i let HIM draw in the money slot.

OF COURSE i drew it on a scrap piece of paper first...

 in hopes he wouldn't "mess up" the gumball machine.

isn't that SAD???

but, proud of myself here, i let him do it

and even though it is more square 

and going in completely the opposite direction of how i drew my 'sample'

i got over it :)

and was so proud of him for wanting to do it

and trying hard to make it look nice. and it does :)

so there is the finished product.

we had a big time with this.

and even though i wasn't as patient as i should have been 

at times, especially when he got silly with the sorting...

in the end, he was PLEASED and he said he had so much FUN!!!

 i couldn't ask for it to have turned out any better than that.

thanks for letting me brag on my little fella.

he makes me so happy :)

so much, so fast...

 happy 7 months my sweet baby boy!!!

daddy was kind enough to step in & photo this month...

i think the late hour of the day

and the 'help' of his pre-schooler sidekick

left a little to be desired in the photography department...

but he normally knows his way around a camera pretty well! ;)

{thanks mikey...}

giles is working on getting used to being in a one-cat house...

tucker {in head lock, above...} says it is going to take him... a little longer.

 

we were so sad to lose our sweet iris earlier this month...

we live on a street that sees enough traffic that in some ways

we felt pretty fortunate that she never had any issues before now.

she somehow got in the street & sadly didn't make it across.

it was strange in that we were all around the front of the house

because mikey and giles were heading out with the dogs

to the park to exercise with the dogs.

no car ever attracted our attention, or stopped,

and we had just interacted with iris very shortly before.

sadly, giles was right in the midst of it all 

but he handled it so well. he helped mikey have a little memorial

& short little prayer service in a special little place at the park. 

 she was the sister in the 

roger & iris duo... 

she was 14 years old... loved to find a comfy spot in the nursery

and have herself a little nap...

in looking for this picture, i came across one of roger...

he was so cute! i had forgotten just how sweet he was...

he was a little more snuggly than iris...

and definitely more curious... and you know what they say about curiosity...

  roger learned that the hard way :(((

this was sweet roger back in april 2007... 

so now we are a one cat, two dog family...

all rescues. all nuts in one way or another. all perfect for our little family :)

 crawford has enjoyed starting to go for walks

sitting facing forward in the BOB... he gets all cozy in his fleecy suit

and he is ready to roll!

he doesn't even nap!

giles used to conk out... they are a little different in their sleep habits.

both are awesome sleepers, but giles really loved to sneak in a nap.

crawford will take one, but he has to be 'prepped' a little more :)

i can't wait to see all the differences and similarities come to light...

but just not too soon... time passes way too quickly as it is!

 

we did actually get to enjoy some snow already in 2013!

it was beautiful.

it came down in big snowflakes, it started sticking, everything was covered in white

for about 4 hours...

then it was gone! 

the sun came out and the snow melted right up!

 i have NO IDEA what makes schools close in this town, but it ain't much! ;)

we got a snow day out of it! lol...

i loved it because i love having my boys home with me,

but it was hilarious to me that our school was out.

giles was excited about the snow, but he got over that pretty fast.

it was wet, cold & there wasn't enough snow to do anything.

so here was our only real snowbird that day :)

so far january has brought lots of new & changes...

and crawford fits right in there...

this month he has changed the most noticeably to me.

he holds his bottle like it's no big deal.

he feeds himself puffs and graduated to cheerios.

he holds on to his paci and self-inserts as needed.

he intentionally rolls over during a diaper change

and it similar to taming a tiger during that process.

he talks. A LOT.

it's mumbo-jumbo to us,... but he knows exactly what he means!

he jumps forwards and backwards in his johnny jump up! 

straight up and down got boring so he started bouncing

forward and then backward and it is hilarious!

and on jan 15th, his 7 month birthday, 

he cut a tooth during the day.

 see that cute little tooth on the bottom?

isn't it adorable?!??!

some stats

a very cute site

had these on one of the deal sites recently.

when giles came along

i had more time and more $$$ to spend decorating his room

with crawford, 

i just got around the dusting the nursery 

for the second time

and he's 6 months.

nice.

so of course the decor,

save for the curtains,

has suffered a bit.

but we had friends coming over 

for dinner over the holidays

and i used that as motivation to 

spiff up both of the boy's rooms.

but here is a little addition i love

that i just added to the nursery.

i used one of the frames from 

some art that i had had for giles 

when he was in the nursery. 

so it was a very cost efficient

spiffer-upper.

please excuse the terrible lighting. 

i knew if i waited, it would never get taken.

crawford's new thing of late is his ever-changing

sleep routine. so, i guess that is not really a new thing.

sam's club formula has always been just fine for us.

neither child, praise the Lord, has had formula issues.

they actually have done better on sam's formula

than any of the name brands.

so, naturally, sam's picks NOW 

to repackage their formula.

so our store was sold out.

thanks, sam's. 

could you not have scheduled it to have a little overlap

so as not to run out on the shelves

and leave little baby tummies high and dry?

we don't have huge sensitivity issues with formula,

but yank the old reliable out from under them,

there is going to be trouble!

so, maybe it is coincidence.

maybe not.

but unless crawford has some strange 6th sense

that after he goes to bed all kinds of fun things start happening,

then the change in formula has resulted in a

change in sleep routine.

the new thing is when he would normally 

be going down for the night, 

that has now become his 'pre-sleep.'

he now likes to cat nap for 45min to an hour

then get up and be held, HELD, 

not just awake and glad to be around us, no.

he wants human contact

for about a 30-60 minute session.

but, as much as it sounds like i am griping,

i am not.

just noting a noteworthy, to us, change in

the routine of our 6 month old.

because in a few weeks when he changes

it to a different time of day,

i won't even remember this.

and while i would love to go to sleep with my kitchen spotless

and all of the clothes folded and put away,

if i get side-tracked because i cuddled the little lump,

i hope i always remember how wonderful it is!!!

merry christmas!

we wish you a merry christmas!

the actual card did go out without the watermark ;)

but it was 2-up for printing purposes

so the watermarked one is the only one that would work.

we are truly blessed.

i am tired.

it is late.

but i have found if i don't 

'real time' blog it...

it is hard to catch up!

so mostly a picture recap

winston arrived at the beginning of december

 and brought along his new friend wink

 we went with friends to the christmas parade

 we enjoyed breakfast with santa at the zone

and made reindeer food and wrote our christmas list

 sweetest brother turned 6 months old!!!

 decided on a wrapping color scheme for the season

 our elves brought stockings for the whole crew!

 and landed in silly places

 we started off christmas in memphis at mimi janies and didi frank's

 and played with new sets of lincoln logs...

talk about memories!

 success!

 cousin fun was the best!

loved getting more duplos to grow our collection!

 daddy brought back some delicious cookies 

from some of his travels to leave for ol' st nick...

and they were delicious!

i asked giles which one he wanted to try:

double chocoloate,

peanut butter chocolate,

chocolate peppermint,

or ginger.

he replied, "ginger."

well, of course he did. hahaha! 

i tried one and while i have a fondness for chocolate

that goes wayyyy back,

i thought the ginger was very unique and definitely delish!

 sprinkling reindeer food...

 i had to sneak in for a little post-santa shot...

 giles watches hours of marble runs on you tube

so it was a no-brainer for santa to leave

him this nice wooden set, an upgrade from his well-loved

plastic one from last year!

santa just knew little brother would love some jumpy fun 

and he was right! he's enjoyed all the bells, whistles & jumps...

but just don't leave him alone.

he's definitely a most social baby!

i definitely believe i was the most excited about christmas as ever!

today was perfect. we attended a beautiful children's mass at church 

after visiting with tuscaloosa family last night.

so today was just a lazy day- which was great because

it rained all. day. long.

mike set up and played 

trains,

marble runs,

cars,&

dominoes...

as well as manned the house so i could take a 2 hour nap!

we just did a little something for each other...

i got my pizza cutter!

i think i threw my much-beloved one away with a pizza box :(

and mikey got this cool little gadget...

 its called a POP phone

it is just a handset you attach to your cell phone

so retro, right?

but i think it will really be neat and functional too! 

we'll see...

it was only $12.99 on amazon :)

merry christmas to each of you!!! 

i am so entirely grateful that my savior was born on this day.

i am challenged to make sure giles understands how much this day

is soooo really not about presents and santa

but it is so hard to feel it is really sinking in.

however, in bed this morning, after giles saw what santa brought

but only briefly as he was heading to our room to get us, 

he said, 'no computers or iphone or ipads today!

today it is allll about jesus and his birth!'

wow! 

i loved hearing that!

at least his heart started in the right place...

about 10 minutes later we were knee deep in everything

that had nothing to do with jesus,

but... that's ok. we did get to enjoy some nice conversation

before we got too sidetracked with presents.

and we ended the day reading

the storybook of the birth of jesus.

thank you jesus, for coming to earth,

to set us free and save us.

merry christmas!!!

i want

to win this camera!

and the kitchen aid stand mixer!

and, heck, the mini ipad too!

but for me to win,

i should share with you!

{a 'real' entry is coming soon ;)}

 Very Jane fun giveaway!

time.

time, 

it has obviously gotten away from me...

i went and cutied up my blog

and then have not blogged!

and tonight is really no exception.

i am far too tired to make much of a post.

i have so many things to catch up on,

especially with all that crawford is doing these days.

it'll come.

sometime.

for now i will put up a few pictures,

and call it a post.

and these are in no particular order!

just all from this month :)

 my adorable giles...

i love this shirt so much i bought it again this year.

and last years still fits!

erg.

the one from last year was not hanging

with all of the other long sleeve tees.

bummER.

 so sweet to see how crawford

lights up when he sees giles...

 just hanging out,

little and big

 boo to you!!!

 for some reason this picture rotated...

it may be hard to tell, 

but daddy made gilesy a pumpkin shaped pancake!

 not the best of luck

baking this pumpkin cake...

definitely not all it's cracked up to be.

ha.

sorry.

 a moment of thought?...

he came up with this on his own

and it cracked me up!

he's playing mechanic...

with his plasma car.

 this is the end of an era for giles.

no more smocked peter pan collared shirts.

i held out as long as i could.

he never once complained.

God love that child!

i only hope to get crawford to wear it half as long!!!

 surely that baby will never tell his mama, 'no'

right??? 

one of many firsts...

first time to roll over.

::weep::

goodnight.

a rainbow of a makeover!

oh my goodness! oh my goodness!

i am beyond excited! 

my bloggy got a fun makeover! 

i love it. i will share with you below a little bit about who made it happen.

life at #13 is busy and business as usual… 

growing boys, busy schedules, laundry that multiplies, 

dishes that have yet to learn to wash themselves, dogs that are dirty, 

dust bunnies that reproduce at rapid-fire pace…..

 nothing new or unusual, well, except my blog :) 

read on about my new friend!

i don’t know if you have had the 

pleasure of meeting anyone online 

that you otherwise would have never met 

if it weren’t for a message board, facebook, pinterest, etsy, etc. 

i have. 

the internet has opened up a whole new world for me. 

gosh, that actually started back in 1998 

when i met my hubby, mike, online! 

and since then it has been so much fun 

finding hidden gems all over the internet! 

I have researched many things 

for business & personal,

i have met friends with similar interests- 

and we joke about how our IRL {that’s in real life} 

friends would probably think we’re crazy if they knew 

people we have never truly met 

are people we consider really good friends. 

it is pretty crazy, but given how hectic life can be, 

the computer is my friend! 

i can utilize its resources at a moment’s notice- 

and often, that is all i have!

recently i was looking at my blog and wanting to update it. 

i contacted my original designer but she could not ‘take the case.’ 

she recommended some designers and i checked out their work.

but, honestly, i knew exactly {for the most part} what i wanted 

and i just felt that i would be paying for more than i needed. 

my budget is so tight it squeaks! 

so, shelling out a lot for a bloggy makeover wasn’t an option.

i started perusing etsy, 

as i had before when i wanted my blog designed originally.  

 i sent out some convos to several people 

and got several replies. 

i narrowed it down to my new friend… 

and soon, you’ll see why.

introducing...

 tara from print smitten

i could stop there because once you click over to her blog, 

you’ll know exactly why it was a very easy decision! 

but, i like to chat, so i won’t.

tara has really neat ideas. 

she is patient, professional, unique, original, 

honest, easy-going, fun to work with 

and very efficient! 

she has a young family, a full time job 

and she is a graphics designer on the side… 

whew! i am tired just thinking of the mental bandwidth that requires. 

i hope you will take a minute or two to visit her facebook page {& like it!} 

and etsy page, as well as her blog. 

i know she would love to spend more time on her blog, 

but in the short time her shop has been open on etsy, 

she is already taking on more design work! 

so hopefully it won’t keep her so busy 

she won’t be able to check in on her blog some, 

i love her sharing!

if you have any design needs, 

i recommend tara with FULL confidence,

she will WoW! you with her work. 

and if you do use her, please let her know i sent you :) 

{there are still one or two little tweaks to be made, 

they are coming soon..}