Family Update

My my, it has been far too long since I updated!

In October, we soaked up the last of the sunshine we'd be seeing for a few months, had a lot of fun on Halloween, and also enjoyed our first kid-free night in almost 4 years.

In November, we enjoyed a little dusting of snow...

and Brooklyn got her first "hair cut".

December brought a special day for me.  I got to be present for the labor of a dear friend (although ultimately not the actual birth because it ended in c-section).  It deepened my desire to become a doula someday, and it was such an honor to be there to greet a new, beautiful life. 

Later, December brought a sprained ankle for Hubby, a broken Suburban, and the loss of his job.

But of course it also brought Christmas, wonderful times with family, and a phone call announcing a new, much better job that is supposed to begin in January (but we don't get have an exact starting date, so it's still a tad stressful).

Charlotte and Brooklyn each got new bikes, and look forward to the warmer, dryer days when they will get more use out of them!

Another favorite gift was a double-sided pink easel and a plethora of art supplies.  The girls just LOVE to draw and paint!

On New Year's Day, we made a trip into the mountains with my mom, 4 our of 5 of my brothers, and their families, to play in the snow.

It was Charlotte's first time seeing REAL snow, not just the little bits that we get down in the valley.  She LOVED it.

Brooklyn did too, of course!  We made snow angels...

went sledding...

made a snowman...

enjoyed a fire...

and watched the valley begin to glow orange...

and then pink as the sun began to set.

We wrapped up the day at my brother Jason's house...

where we met a very friendly and fluffy little friend.

Then my mom whooped everyone's butt at air hockey...

and showed the girls how it is done.

Brooklyn gets extremely enthusiastic about winning...

AND losing, lol!!!

Today, we ended our winter break from home school, to Brooklyn's great relief!  She'd never have a day off if it were up to her, lol!  Brooklyn has been learning American Sign Language, using Signing Time as our primary resource.  Although my mother is an interpreter and fluent in ASL, she just doesn't have the time to teach the kids.  However, she has seen the Signing Time videos and says they are absolutely perfect.  I've got to agree, because the kids find them endlessly entertaining, and have been learning heaps.  Charlotte is even picking up on it too, and it's thrilling to see them learning and loving a 2nd language.

I've been staying extra busy with babysitting our neighbor's 7 year old daughter for the past 3 months.  She is approved to get state assistance with her child care costs, but that process takes a long time and I haven't gotten my first payment yet.  We're hoping that happens soon, since Forrest's been out of work for 3+ weeks now and still hasn't gotten unemployment or a start date for his new job.  That is currently a heavy weight on our shoulders and the waiting game is getting tiresome.  Other than the financial stress, everything is going wonderful, and we're all doing fairly well (aside from Forrest's ankle, but it does seem to be on the mend).

I hope you're doing well, and stay tuned for more :-)

Bargains, Co-Sleeping, and Nakey Art

Yesterday was a bit of a special day because the girls got bunkbeds!  

My best friend, the queen of bargains, found them at a garage sale for only $50, and was even kind enough to haul them and help me set them up since I was watching 3 kids in addition to my own that day.  My mom found the comforters marked half off just because the company came out with new packaging for them and they had to get rid of the ones with the old packaging.  Heck yes!  I ended up saving 4 or 5 hundred dollars thanks to those great finds.  The beds are in great condition.  I might paint them white just because I prefer it.  Other than that, we only need to anchor the bottom of the ladder so it's more stable (that's a belt you see there as a temporary fix, lol).  

I thought about getting a rail for Charlotte on the bottom bunk, and then I realized she's been sleeping on a bed without rails for her entire life, lol.  It's never been an issue, so I think she'll do great.  It's a tad bittersweet, as she seems as if she may transition easily to her own bed after 2 and a half years of co-sleeping.  Which, by the way, is something I'd like to clear up.  Yes, we only have 2 bedrooms, but we didn't choose to bed-share because we "had to".  If we really wanted to, we could have put a crib in our room or even Brooklyn's.  The reality is that safe co-sleeping is a parenting choice with benefits that I've read about for several years and believe in for our family.  No, I don't feel like "oh, she's *finally* going to be out of our bed!", and neither does my husband for that matter.  I get a surprising amount of questions and comments about that, so let me just clear that up now, lol.  Yes, we still have plenty of sex (probably more than you, lol) despite co-sleeping (believe it or not, MOM!), and if you can't figure that out, then maybe you're not creative enough :-P   (Why yes, I AM fond of parentheses!)  And no, we're not going to force the bed transition, any more than we would try to force a child to walk or talk.  When they're ready, they're ready, so we're just going to see where Charlotte goes with this.


(For more, see: Benefits of Co-Sleeping, Medical and Developmental)

Today, we made woven paper place mats.  It's a fun little craft that is good for fine motor development.  Later we also made macaroni art with noodles that I dyed, which Charlotte insisted upon doing naked (surprise, surprise). 

Weaving Paper Place Mats

Materials:
two pieces of colored construction paper
scissors
tape
clear contact paper (optional)

Fold one piece of construction paper in half and draw cutting lines one inch apart, starting at the fold. (The lines should not go all the way to the edge of the paper but should stop an inch inside.) Then help your student cut along these lines. Next have him cut out strips one inch wide from the other piece of colored paper.

Unfold and display the first piece of paper. Demonstrate how to weave by taking a strip and carefully passing it over and under the cut piece. Then have him try, but do not expect perfect results! You may need to assist. (If he wants to make the place mat permanent, cover the mat with clear contact paper.)