JD came to visit!

We had lots of fun this last week when Andrew's sister Jessica came out for a visit.  It was sooo nice to have conversations with an adult all week instead of just talking about lalaloopsies and hot dogs with my 3 year old.  And she also kept the kids busy and would watch them so I could sneak out and run errands by myself (aaahhh).  I think that one week is way to short, it went to fast.  But we had lots of fun.  We went on the "Walking Tour of Winnemucca" (in the car) which I didn't even know we had,
had tin foil dinners up Water Canyon,

went out to Unionville,

and that creepy house thing in Imlay (Thunder Mountain Indian Monument).

We tried to convince her to just miss her flight and stay another week, but that didn't work.  She went home yesterday and Olivia is already bored this morning.  But now that it's nice weather hopefully we will get our garden started and be at the park a lot more.

Epiphany

Lightin' struck my brain this morning.  Mason loves yogurt and he is in this the stage where he wants to do things on his own, like eating yogurt with a spoon or holding his Gogurt by himself...but it just makes such a HUGE mess!  So this morning I thought "I have that leaky Take-n-Toss sippy, why not just cut the top off and then he can "drink" his yogurt".  So I chopped off the part of the sippy that restricted the water flow, but left enough of the mouth part so he could suck his yogurt down.  I added a little splash of milk because I used Gogurt and thats a little thicker than other yogurt.  It worked GREAT!!!  Less mess than if I were to feed him because he grabs the spoon and then gets yogurt everywhere.  Why did I not think of this before with Olivia? 

Yogurt + chopped sippy = Happy independent little man

Catch Up

Well since the last post there has been quiet alot going on.  All 4 of us have had birthdays!  Mason on Oct 3rd, Brooke Oct 6, Andrew Dec 5, and Olivia Dec 29th.  We are having her Jungle Birthday Party tomorrow morning. 

In October Andrew and I ran the 5k Tiger Dash out at the Safe Haven rescue zoo.  Wow that was the hardest 3 miles I have ever run!  You ran 1.5 miles straight up the canyon and then ran back down.  Then we got a tour of the rescue zoo and saw all of the tigers, lions, and other animals.  We won a night tour, so that will be fun when we decide to use it. 

For Halloween Olivia was a purple dinosaur and Mason was a caveman.  Olivia really liked the idea of going to all the houses and getting candy, but she also learned that diareah is no fun, she kept telling people that she needed to go potty haha. 

We went into Utah for Thanksgiving and had a fun time seeing family, including Adam and Teresa and some of their kids.

On Dec 14th Mason had eye muscle surgery to straighten out his eyes.  Now he doesn't go cross-eyed, or have one eye turn in.  It took me about a week to not look at him and think, who is that kid?  It was amazing how different it made him look.  I'm still not totally used to it, I liked his crazy eyes : ) 

This was my first Christmas away from home.  We decided to stay in Winnemucca this year and go into Utah for New Years.  I was a little worried that it would be a lame Christmas without alot of family around, but we had a ton of fun!  The night before we made cookies for Santa and put them by the tree.  Olivia spread her Reindeer food she made at preschool all over our driveway and Andrew put out the luminaries.  Then we went for a drive to look at Christmas lights and so the kids would fall asleep : )  Christmas morning the kids woke up and Olivia was sooo excited!  She loved opening the presents and "helping" Mason open some of his presents.  They had a bunch of presents, mostly given to them by other family members.  But the favorite toy of theirs was this cruddy old Fisher Price school bus that was $1.50 at the thrift store that Olivia had asked if she could get when Andrew and I were spending $10 on each other so we could have something to open.  I wrapped up the bus just so it would be one more thing to open on Christmas and that has been the toy they have played with the most.  Just goes to show you don't have to spend a fortune at Christmas.  After opening presents and skyping with family we drove out to Paradise Valley and started to head up to Hinkey Summit to find a place to go sledding with our new sled.  We found a spot after getting stuck in our fabulous snow vehical...the van.  The kids had a blast out sledding.  I think Mason liked it more than Olivia.  We would get to the top of the hill and he would get mad if you didn't instantly place him on top of the sled.  Then he would yell if he had to wait for Olivia to get up the hill to ride with him.  When we left Winnemucca there was barely any snow, mostly just little patches here and there.  After we got back from sledding it was dumping down snow!  The next day I measured and we had 9 inches of snow and it is still here and I don't think it is leaving anytime soon.  This is the most snow I have seen in Winnemucca, and usually when we get snow it melts the same day...but not this time.  It has been awesome! 

We went into Utah for New Years.  On New Years Eve Andrew and I were able to go to Snowbird for a full day.  I rode my snowboard for the first time since I think before I was pregnant with Olivia.  I have skied a couple of time for free ski, but it felt fabulous to be back on my board!  Andrew was on his skis and Dani and Russel went with us.  It was so much fun!  And my body was definetly feeling the full day when we got home haha!  We had a family party at my parents house.  Olivia made it until 12, but I don't think she really understood what was going on. 

Mason is now a walker.  He took his first step 10/28/12.  He has started talking a little bit too.  His first word was a while ago, he would yell "MAH!" for more when he was sitting in his high chair and wanted more food.  His word he uses alot is "Herego".  If he is giving you something he will say here go, or if you have something he wants he will just say herego herego herego until you give him what he wants.  He also says go.  If we are going to go somewhere he says go.  Or if Olivia is bugging him he will push her away and angerly say "GO!"  He plays peek-a-boo all the time and is a dancing fool anytime there is music on.  His absolute favorite song is "Sail" by Awolnation.  Not a kid song at all but anytime he is mad and screaming, you turn that song on and he instantly starts dancing and smiling. 

Olivia is 3!  I can't believe it has been 3 years since she was born.  She is getting so big.  Her favorite color is purple and everything has to be purple (bowls, spoons, cups, clothes, crayons, just about everything).  She will tell random people in the store, "my name is Olivia and my favorite color is purple".  She has almost no stranger danger!  She loves to talk to anyone and everything.  One time we were out to lunch with a bunch of people.  The kids were all at a table and then the adults were at another table.  Liv told me she didn't want to sit with her friends, she wanted to talk to the ladies.  She is such a funny kid.  She is also a night owl!  It is so frustrating because Andrew and I are definetly not night owls.  Last night we went to bed and she was still awake in her bed reading books and doing her imaginations talking to herself.  That happens quiet often where she is still awake when we go to bed.  This age has been teaching me more patience.  One minute I can be so frustrated with her and wanting to just go drop her off somewhere and drive away, and then the next minute she has me rolling on the floor laughing.

Well now I am caught up and hopefully will be a little more on top of this blog/journal thing : )

The Lost Shoe

I had a lesson in patience while on our drive back from Washington.  I was driving with my friend and her 3 kids and with my 2 kids.  The drive was going pretty good and we stopped at a park in Pendleton, OR for lunch.  The kids had a good time running around and getting some wiggles out.  So we started packing up and I told Olivia to go and get in the car.  She decided she wasn't done playing yet and ran back to the playground.  I was a little frustrated because if anyone knows me, when driving I don't really like to stop, I just want to get to my destination as fast as possible.  So I ran after Olivia and told her to get in the car.  She started crying and freaking out because there was sand in her shoe (and I thought, well if you listened to me the first time this wouldn't have happened).  I told her to deal with it and go to the car.  She started freaking out more so I ripped her shoes off and told her to walk barefoot in the grass.  Then she started crying more so I threw her over my shoulder and carried her to the car with her screaming the whole way.  I chucked her shoes in the car, put Olivia in her carseat and she fought me the whole time I was trying to buckle her.  At this point I was so done with her!  I jumped in the car and drove away.  When we reached Parma, ID to get gas I looked for Olivia's super cute Keen sandals...but only one was found.  I looked all through the car, the other shoe was nowhere to be found.  Then I remembered that at the last stop I chucked her shoes in the car not paying attention to if both of them were in the car when we left.  I realized that I had been stupid and silly.  It was naptime, she didn't want to get back in the car, and she had sand in her shoe.  Why had I been so impatient with her.  Why hadn't I just calmly picked her up, taken off her shoes, dumped out the sand, placed her shoes back on her feet, and walked with her back to the car.  It would have added a minute, tops, to our drive and I would still have those adorable little shoes.  So now I keep the one shoe that I have on a shelf in my house to remind me to be more patient, and it has worked.  When Olivia starts throwing a fit and I start getting frustrated with her, I see the shoe and I calm down and try to see the "crisis" through her eyes and stay calm.

DIY Kids Puzzle

I was playing with the puzzles with Olivia one day and thought to myself, "You know, these wouldn't be that hard to make."  And I was right!  It might be a little hard if you don't have tools, but I do : )  So if you are a little handy, here's how I did it.

Materials needed:
1/4" wood.  I used a wood panel I found at Home Depot 2'x4' for about $7
spray adhesive
wood glue
Table saw/ Jig saw/ Circular saw - any kind of saw to cut your wood panel into 2 pieces
scroll saw
drill
sandpaper
Mod Podge

Step 1:
Make your photo you want to use and print 2 copies (I did one black&white, why waste colored ink).  I used Paint.net, it's a free program you can download.  Or you can use Photoshop, or if you don't want to mess with editing, you could just use a family photo instead of making a new scene.  (For me this was the longest step, finding the pictures and putting it all together)

Step 2:

Cut your panel to size.  I made an 8"x10.5" photo, and then left about a 3/4" around the edge.  So cut 2 pieces that are the same size.  I used a table saw, but if you don't have one you can use whatever saw you can find to cut your pieces out

Step 3:
Spray the spray adhesive onto the back of your picture, and stick it in the middle of one of your panels.

Step 4:

Using a drill bit that is just bigger than your scroll saw blade, drill a hole next to every puzzle piece you want to cut out

Step 5:

Run your scroll saw blade through the hole, then attach the blade again.  Cut out your puzzle piece.  I just free handed mine, but if you are going for specific shapes, you could trace the shape onto the picture first to give you a line to follow.

Repeat Step 5 until all of the puzzle pieces are cut out.

Step 6: 

Remove any paper that is peeling up, and sand all of the edges

Step 7: 

Here is where I will change what I did for the next puzzle.  With this puzzle, I taped my final photo to the front, flipped it over and using my exacto knife, I cut the paper pieces out, so they could be glued onto the puzzle pieces.  Then I used Mod Podge and to glue the paper to the wood and covered the paper with mod podge to seal the paper on.  But that got the paper a little wet and created air bubbles that ended up making a crease in the paper.  So what I would do differently is stick a little painters tape around the edge of the wood panel, spray more spray adhesive onto the wood panel, then stick my photo on, then cut the piece out.  I didn't have any problems with using the Mod Podge to glue the smaller pieces onto the wood, just with the main puzzle part.  So do it whatever way you feel more comfortable doing it, I think either way would work.

Step 8:
Once everything is all Mod Podged together, get your second piece of paneling.  Using wood glue, glue the 2 pieces together and set something heavy on top of the puzzle.  Make sure your heavy thing covers the whole puzzle or else you might have a gap inbetween the 2 pieces.  Let the glue dry.

Step 9: 

Sand down the edges and round the corners (don't want any accidents with pointy corners).  I used my orbital sander for this, makes it go a little faster : )

Step 10: 

Decorate the edges- you can leave it just wood if you want.  If you do paint the wood, make sure you seal the paint with either more Mod Podge, or some clear spraypaint for sealing crafts.

Step 11:  

Play with the puzzle with your kids!  My daughter has had so much fun playing with her aunts, grandparents, friends, and cousins : )

The Mason Update

We always thought Mason's eyes weren't acting quite right, but just thought he was a new baby and didn't have much control of his eyes. But when we were in Seattle for Christmas we found out he had cataracts. We first thought it was only in one eye, but found out later that he had congenital cataracts in both eyes. We were able to get an appointment at Primary Children's Hospital on Jan. 9th and the doctor told us he needed surgery ASAP because the brain would eventually give up and shut down that part of the brain. His first surgery was on the right eye on the 11th and then the left eye was done on the 20th. Both surgeries went really well. The doctor said that the second one was much more difficult and it took longer, but he said he got it and it turned out perfectly. When we took his patch off after his first surgery we immediately noticed a difference in his eyes. His eyes stopped bouncing and whipping back and forth. In between the surgeries we went into another doctor and had Mason fitted for hard contacts. He HATES his contacts! We will have to slowly get him used to those, and during that time he has a pair of glasses to wear. We were able to get a loaner pair until his real glasses come in. He looks pretty silly in his coke bottle glasses haha. We are just so grateful for the advances in medicine so that our little man can go through life with sight. We are so grateful for everyone keeping him and us in their prayers.

Question when will Brooke update the blog next?

I don't really know how this whole blogging thing works-- but I figured that since Mason was born 2 months ago there has been a steady decline in blogs.

Oh and just to let you know Mr. Blog page thingy, don't feel too bad. At least you are not the chickens which have also been forgotten about. Kinda makes you concerned that if another kid is ever born Olivia might too get forgotten. Olivia if you are reading this you might want to start preparing to fend for yourself. I'll try and keep the pantry stocked with easy Mac; if only the microwave wasn't so high.






Olivia got a nice taste of Snow. She wasn't too sure about the skiing, but did like slidding on her bum.

Also Olivia has finally had success in her ability to jump. Previously she could 'jump' but never actually was able to get off the ground.



Olivia's Aunts have decided that in case she has to start cooking for herself they might as well show her how it's done. She seems to be having some trouble with the difference between baking powder and baking soda.



Oliva has also learned how to decorate her brother.