Missing my babies

When I was tucking Jas in bed tonight, he said "Can I be your baby, Mommy?" (I was telling him earlier that I wanted him to stay my baby forever.) So I explained to my 2 1/2 yr old how babies talk ("mama"), and how they love to be rocked. He wanted me to sing him baby songs, and he wouldn't let go of me. For about 15 minutes, we cuddled and I pretended that he was still my baby. I want to freeze that moment forever--how is it possible that my babies have gotten so big so fast? I think knowing Jas is my last one makes every new thing he learns seem bittersweet. He's doing great being potty trained, which I'm thrilled about. I really don't think I'll miss changing diapers at all, but the loss of having a baby is still a little sad. Today he learned to ride his first bike, with training wheels. He is so not a little toddler anymore. I find myself staring at him so often, just amazed at how he went from baby to big kid in a flash. These kids are such a source of joy to me--I cannot imagine life without their noise and messes and excitement for life. I spent a couple hours tonight looking through old pictures, just reminiscing about when they were smaller. Many are not the best pictures, but I love them. So many great memories. Here's Robbie with Levi on the day he was born. I love this pic of Rob reading his Bible, enjoying having his new little baby in his arms. The hat head is hilarious, but I love it, none the less.
Levi at 6 months--playing at his cousin Elena's 1st birthday. This was always one of my favorites of him. His eyes are so beautiful!
I think my friend Heather took this one--she must have been babysitting and watering her grass, letting Levi play at the same time.
My friend Jeff took this years ago--it looks so artsy to me--I love how big his feet look.

Thinking he's the Hulk.

And here's Miss Sarah. She's totally a daddy's girl.



Love those pigtails and that happy face.
Here she is at an Easter egg hunt with her friend Roe. Adorable.
In Colorado for Spring Break--we've spent lots of fun weeks here.
...forgot to pack boots for her, so we got creative and used plastic sacks.

This was also taken by Jeff Moore--have always loved it.


The kids found a baby rabbit in our window well and Daddy rescued it. Notice Sarah's cheesy, excited smile. They were sooo sad it ran away, and thought of it as their "first pet".


Right after Jason was born. Amazing day.

Levi was/is so in love with him. Here he is cuddling up for a nap with him in our bed.


2 weeks old--another Jeff Moore pic.
Gotta love the laundry basket entertainment!






I'm going to bed so incredibly thankful for my 3 amazing children! Oh, but I really hope they sleep till 7--I enjoy them so much more after that magic time!

Sarah's online tutorial

Sarah's so excited about what she learned in preschool today! She's practiced a million times, and really wants Jason to learn.

Circus

The circus was in town, and we surprised the kids and took them there this evening. The acrobats were amazingly talented, and the kids loved it. None of the indoor pictures turned out, but here are a couple of them enjoying their snow cones.

What I saw when I got Jason up from his nap

...and yes, it's permanent!

Carnival

Levi's school carnival was Friday night, and the kids spent some of their tickets on hair dyeing and face painting. They were soo proud and didn't want to wash it off for a couple days. Their pillows were filthy the next morning!

Levi messed with his too much, so it's mostly worn off in this picture, but look how proud his friend Micah is of his! I love this picture! These kids have been best buddies since they were tiny, and they're now getting old enough that they can walk/ride over to the other one's house--they live about a block away from each other. Their 2 favorite things to do together are playing basketball and reading--they have a "reading club" with several other boys in the neighborhood and get so excited about it! Right now they're reading the same book at the same time--they even try to read the same page, chapter and word at the same time. Sure love these kiddos!

Playdate with Sarah

Sarah and I had about an hour at the Sonic park tonight before Robbie and the boys joined us for her Kindergarten Roundup. I don't remember the last time I went somewhere just to play with her (without the other kids). I had such a great time watching her play, and she loved being the center of my attention! I would be so happy if she and I were as close when she's grown up as I am to my mom. I know it may sound strange, but I seriously talk to my mom almost every day--just to check in, see what she's up to, ask her about a recipe, get her advice on something that's going on with my kids,... She's one of my best friends. Hope I'm not warping my little princess too much in her younger years and that someday she'll look at me like that.

This is the 2nd "men's shirt to girl's dress", by the way. I'm adding on these last 2 pictures for my mom to see. Gotta love the big red bow!

My very proud 2 yr old

...is being potty trained! He loves to sit on the potty--he'll stay on there for 30 minutes sometimes--my most productive time of the day!

Gigglebox

This is a glimpse of a 44 minute long phone conversation between my kids and their cousins Hope, Grace and Ryan. They seriously never ran out of things to say, and Levi was giggling the whole time! Our kids have such great cousins--I couldn't be more thankful!

My latest project

I found this online tutorial for how to convert a man's button-down shirt into a little girl's dress. I decided to raid Robbie's closet for some shirts that he could part with. Here's one:



...and what it became. It's got lots of flaws, but it was lots of fun, and I have another one I'm in the middle of for the 4th of July. I'm discovering that I really love sewing!

I can't believe I let my 2 year old do this

This has recently become a favorite activity for Sarah and Jason. I remember the youngest Stew Crew boy flying down the neighbor's driveway at a very young age and being amazed at how brave he was. Still kinda freaks me out, but they love it, and they have to wear helmets, so hopefully it's okay. Please don't chew me out, Mom! (Love you!) Sorry you have to look at it sideways--don't know how to turn videos.




...and here's a little love Daddy received when he got home tonight. I had the camera nearby and just wanted to capture the moment. He is SOO loved! (And check out those muscular arms! Hubba Hubba!)

This makes me so happy!

So I've been meaning to/wanting to start recycling for several years now. After Levi's lesson in school last year, teaching them to "reduce, recycle, and reuse", I almost made the leap, but for some reason getting started seemed so daunting to me. I kept thinking it'd be a big expense to get all the organizers that I needed, or that it would be too much of a pain, or that we had no space to store it, or insert numerous other excuses here. My friend Jen had me take a look in her garage, and to my great surprise, any random storage box in the house is suitable for storing the recyclable items! (Must not have thought that one through too much.) Anyway, this is our first load that's getting close to full. Maybe it's the honeymoon stage, but I can't help but smile when I see how much stuff I'm not sending to the landfill. This family's turning just a little bit green!

Easter fun

Most of my family got together this past weekend at my parents' home--we weren't able to go, so I tried to still make it fun for the kids. Here are some pictures of us dyeing eggs with our Chinese neighbor. The kids think she's wonderful, and she even watched my kids as they slept later that evening so I could go hear my hubby teach at Challenge.



Robbie using the Res*rrection Eggs to tell the Easter story to the kids. If you don't have any, they're pretty great--there are 12 colored eggs, each telling a part of the story of Christ's death and resurrection. The kids are sooo excited each year for who will get the empty egg, representing the empty tomb.


My friend Leslie had a post last week about these ruffled skirts. She was wanting to teach a class for people who want to learn to sew, but since she lives 2 hrs away, I decided to look for the online tutorial she wrote about. Here's what I made. They're not perfect, but Miss Sarah loves them, and had so much fun helping me pick out the fabrics for them.

This is one way that she thought of to wear them--she's quite the creative dresser!


Here's one of Levi's bugs that he made when he was being babysat by another friend. He's got 4 or 5 of them hanging from his (now Sarah's) loft. Notice Sarah dressing up as a bride and looking in the mirror behind him. One day my full length mirror in our bedroom dissappeared, and since she uses it so much more than I did, I guess she can keep it!


And here are the adorable Easter baskets the kids made this year. Levi made his in school and taught the kids how to make their own. I love them--don't know how well they'll hold up in the years to come, but maybe we can come up with another idea next year. They made them similar to how you would a pinata. You blow up a balloon to the size you want, make a line across it where you want the fabric to stop, and start dipping fabric pieces in watered down glue and placing them on the balloon. We only did one or two fabric pieces thick, then let them dry and pop the balloon. Punch out holes for the ribbon with a hole punch, tie the ribbon on and you're done. Simple and sweet.

Breakfast

This is what my kids decided to fix themselves for breakfast the other morning when they were up before Robbie and me. Not sure if you can tell just how big these containers are, but they're massive--the biggest ones I have. They must have used about 8 cups of cereal and just as much milk. It was so hard for me to throw it all down the drain! Silly kids.

A fun Saturday

So Saturday morning Rob and I watched the StewCrew kids while their mom and dad were getting their first aid class done. (Side note--at the same time, some other friends were surprising them by painting their soon-to-be little girl's room. Beautiful!!!) We took the 6 kids to H*me Depot for a very fun kid's construction time. They each got their own apron and a kit to make a bird house. My dad and Rob's grandma would have loved it--(they're the bird nuts of the family). It got a little crazy with all of them wanting our help at the same time--thankfully our friends Kristy and Justin were there to save the day and helped several of the kids with their project. They of course took them home and decorated them and are soo proud of their efforts!



Here's a video of Jason building--he didn't move from his designated spot in the hour or so we were there--he is such a tool guy! Makes his daddy proud!




We also are now proud owners of a basketball goal! Here's Levi and his buddy helping dad level the ground for it to be placed. Levi is sooo pumped--our circle's gonna be hopping with little dribblers!