Small crafting

The trim on a new curtain for our front door. 

March 15th

Today, I'm having a hard time managing my mental "to do" list.  But so far we have:

1. made apple pancakes
2. gotten dressed/showered
3. drank market spice tea while looking for a good online story about St. Patrick's Day (no luck)
4. printed out shamrock coloring pages
5. caught up on dishes/let Hazel watch an old Winnie the Pooh cartoon while I did said dishes and Klaas "napped"
   
6. catching up on laundry that was neglected during our move a week and a half ago
7. thought more about curtain-making 
8. played legos with Klaas
9. read part of Charlotte's Web and an Olivia book with Hazel
10. sword/spoon fought with the kids
11. surfed for knit dress patterns to make Hazel a St. Patrick's Day dress out of some orange polka dot jersey I found at the thrift store (yes, orange.  I am honoring my grandmother who was very stubborn and clear that one should wear orange on St. Patrick's Day since one is Protestant, not Catholic)
12. remembered that I also want to make Klaas an Irish flag shirt
13. thought about the menu for our feast on Saturday and maybe making a fun appetizer and the fact I need to find a recipe for Guinness frosting for our Guinness brownies
    
14. started thinking that we're having someone else over for dinner Friday and I need to clean more today and unpack more boxes
15. listened to the kids play hide and seek in their closet
16. thought that maybe we should all watch Darby O'Gill and the Little People this week
17. let the kids paint some pictures
18. disciplined for throwing things/saying no/having attitude
19. It's only 12:37pm.

(It should be noted that a lot of these activities were being worked on at the same time as other ones.)

 

 

The new place

We've had a busy past couple of weeks.  We've moved to our new place, up at the top of a hill, near a water tower, which is very exciting to Hazel.  We really love it and we've only been here a week so far.  Our new place is a little larger and has wonderful light.  And our own backyard with more space to garden this summer. 

Nothing is set up right now, but once I get things together I'll post some pictures of the interior.  But here are a few snapshots from the past week.  And today was a wonderful day: 65 degrees!  In March!  In Idaho!  So we spent most of the day outside and the kids are still sacked out at 5:30 in the afternoon.

So more to come in the next week hopefully...

Babymoon

I started following a really wonderful blog recently, Dee*Construction.  She lives in New Zealand, which of course makes it wonderful this time of year to see her family on their summer vacation since it's a bit chilly up here in the northwest.  I also would love to have her collection of vintage linens.  And she seems like a wonderful person.  I think we'd be good friends.

She just did a post on making your home ready for a new baby (she's due any day with baby #5).  It's part of a series she's been doing talking about birth.  I enjoyed reading it and getting fresh ideas of what to have on hand so we can relax as much as possible after our baby makes his debut.

Photo credit: dee*construction blog.                                 

Oh yes, the baby is a boy!  We're excited.

Flu

We now know who the barometer of sickness is in our family: Klaas.  He definitely has a weaker stomach than Hazel; he was a major spitter-upper as a baby and has thrown up several times in his 18 months of life.  Klaas came down with the flu on Tuesday.  Now Hazel and Jason are weathering the storm.  I feel mostly fine, slightly queasy, but hoping that nothing worse happens. 

So that's our week.  Jason, by the way, was such a good dad on Tuesday night with Klaas (not meaning he is normally not a good dad, but you know what I mean).  He slept with Klaas in the hallway so Klaas would be closer to the bathroom and not wake Hazel up every few hours to run the sick kiddo to the toilet.  Sacrificial love to sleep on the floor with the baby.

Our Tuesday

Today was one of those days, but we were able to bounce back.

Hazel had a screaming fit at the co-op this morning (always wonderful), so we had to take a break in our errands to go home and have a chat before continuing.  Then we had to go to about six different places around town including our insurance agent's office, the library, the post office, and the grocery store. 

Hazel asked in a funny voice every time we got back in the car, "Now where are we going?"

Klaas fell asleep in the car and I just laid him down in the grocery cart and he slept the whole time in the store. 

At the checkout, I realized I had forgotten my cash, so we had to leave, drive home, grab the moola, and go back to the store.  Hazel just couldn't understand what would necessitate two trips to the store in one morning.

It was actually a mostly funny morning (minus the screaming fit), especially the Klaas asleep in the cart time.

Extended Family

 Here are some of the family pictures we had taken down in California with Jason's family.  

Grandma Julie and Grandpa Clarence with all of their grandkids and great-grandkids.

First in the birth order, Aunt Cheryl, and her family.

Next in line, Sharon and her family.

Then, Shelia's family (minus Shelia and Ron).

Jason's mom, Shellie, and her family. Us, Jason's sister Liz, her husband Jay, and their two boys, Mason and Micah.  Then Jason's youngest sister,Sara, husband Mark, and their two boys, Kenny and Isaac.

And then the baby, Shar, with her family.

 All of the great-grandbabies.  Though one isn't a baby anymore (at the wise age of 6) and there are 2 more babies due this year.

Hazel and one of her favorite puppies.

 

Hazel and her great-grandpa.

 

You'll notice that there is a theme here.  Basically the easiest way to get Hazel to cooperate and smile was to let her hold the puppies during pictures.

Menu-ing

I'm trying to get back in the habit of planning out our meals, at least dinners (since we usually just eat pb & j and leftovers for lunch), and doing most of the shopping all at once.

This week, this is what we'll be having. Some of the recipes are new, so we'll see what they turn out like!

• French Onion Soup and salad - I'm making beef stock this afternoon from beef bones I have.  
• Chicken Salad with Peppers and Pears and veg