What a Day!

I really wish I would have taken my camera to the beach today. This morning we went to Costco and I told the kids if they were really good we would stop at the park on the way home. Well, I stopped at the park and they had all fallen asleep and weren't interested in waking up, so we came home and had lunch. After lunch we headed over to where Erik is working (right on the beach, next to a beach access path) and went down and played. The weather was gorgeous. The sand was warm enough (not just "not cold" but slightly warm) to walk barefoot! There was no wind. The kids stayed near and played nicely with each other and by themselves. Quincy played fetch and actually listened to me when I called him. It was an amazing day at the beach, almost a day that should belong to April or May and here it is at the end of January. I loved it.
We got home, the kiddos took a bath and Clayton didn't cry at all. Clayton and Quincy are now taking naps. Hannah and Ivan are playing nicely with each other (even though they are suppose to be cleaning the living room, I'm not complaining). And I know what I'm making for dinner. It's been a really good day today!

FaceBook

I've done it, I've joined the league of Facebookers. All my fears that it would be addicting are justified though it is fun to talk to people I haven't talked to in years. I didn't realize I had so many "friends" out there. Makes you feel loved at least. Oh, and here's our family picture though I think most of you have seen it.

Only a Mother would post this...

"What did you say?" This has been Hannah's most common question lately, so we decided to look in her ears. Somewhat as a joke and somewhat to see if there was anything blocking her hearing. Turns out there was. A humongous ball of ear wax. I know it sounds gross but it was almost amazing how much came out of her ear. We softened it up with some hydrogen peroxide and (only because we could see it) we gently coaxed it out with the curved end of a bobby pin. Wow. No wonder she couldn't hear!
The things that come out of kids bodies...like when they have so many huge boogers you're not sure how they breathe...and now ear wax...
Is it weird that I find these things fascinating, or just that I admit it and blog about it?

My Littlest Explorer

Yesterday Erik only worked a half day at work so he worked on our shed a little in the afternoon. I sent all the kiddos outside to "help" and Hannah and Ivan lasted about 10 -15 minutes. Clayton spent about 40 minutes wandering around the backyard, every corner he could get too. This picture is him trying to get back in the house (after falling down the stairs once). He's been doing really well playing during the day without his arm-bands on. Praise the Lord for miracles.

It's Done!

My chair is done. It's definitely an "Emily" chair....meaning I had to fudge a couple places cause I didn't allow myself enough fabric but I really like the way it turned out and it's way comfortable. I'm particularly proud of the seat cushion. It has a zipper and everything. I've always been afraid of zippers in upholstery, it was fear of the unknown; I always thought it would be really difficult. Turns out it's not and it saves you from any hand-stitching on a really overstuffed cushion. I forgot to get a "before" or "during" picture but I did get a picture of the fabric that was on it. I also attached the back cushion instead of having it loose. Good thing too, I only have a few scraps of fabric left.
In other news, it's been so warm the last few days that I have daffodils starting to push up through the soil... craziness.

Overstuffed Chair & 1/2

I've started re-covering the overstuffed arm chair I found for my living room. I did find one. It's like a chair and a half, it's quite large. I found it on craigslist. It isn't the one I blogged about earlier...the people selling that one didn't e-mail me back for about 4 days, I'm sorry, if you want to sell something make sure you check your e-mail regularly or post a phone number so people can get a hold of you!
So... after our basic handgun safety class on Sunday Erik and I drove out to this house outside of McMinnville to look at (and pick up) this chair. This house was crazy! It was in a housing development where all the lots are about 5 acres and I had to call when I was on the road leading to the house so the guy could open the gate. This house looked like a castle...it was completely encased in stone, had a tower and the front door was a huge rustic wood door that arched at the top and had iron work on the front resembling huge hinges etc. The yard (what we could see in the headlights) was landscaped with enormous boulders creating a huge rock wall and then the grass looked as if it had never seen a weed or rock. Erik being the carpenter that he is now, wryly stated that he'd like to see the finish work and I happened to notice that for all the show, the laundry "room" was still in the garage. But about the chair. I got it for $25 less than advertised and it fit in the suburban. It is now naked and waiting to be re-clothed in the gorgeous fabric from Jessie. I started trying to figure it out last night and eventually went to bed because my brain wasn't working anymore. I'm not putting it back together the way it was, I'm altering it so that I like it better and so that I have enough fabric. This is difficult being that I am a very visual person and need to see how it goes together to actually get it, trying to work it out in my head is a little more difficult. I didn't get a before picture but I'll try to get a during and after to share with you.

American Idol part 2

I found this morning that I could watch last night's episode (minus the commercials) in parts on youtube. Well, I could watch most of it... I watched most of it and had two parts left (about 15 minutes total) when I was told the video I wanted was no longer available. Apparently Fox found it and had it deleted because of copyright laws. I wasn't quite fast enough watching it. Maybe I'll go check and see if it got re-posted. Some people will do anything for American Idol : )