{capture the moment}

Three

So now we have three.  It is so different from two, even if it is just adding one more.  Owen & Hannah are doting little siblings.  They love to cuddle with him.  Watching their interaction with each other is both facinating and heartwarming.  I can’t help but think about what their relationships will be like when they are grown.  Will Owen and Hannah remain close because of their similarity in age?  Or will Owen and Ethan have a tighter bond because they are brothers?  When they have moved away from home, will they have long phone conversations about the latest, or will those talks just wait for when they are back home for the holidays?  My wish for them is that they will all be close and have special bonds with each other. Bonds that will play important roles in their lives.  So they always have a someone to talk to, a shoulder to cry on, someone to share laughs with.  Relationships that go further than just friendships because they know everything there is to know about each other.  Relationships that one can have only with a sibling.  Time will tell what the future holds. 

Childhood Memories

I started taking a fantastic online scrapbooking class through Big Picture Scrapbooking.  It is about preserving your childhood memories and I have really enjoyed it!  The instructor gave us a list of great "memory trigger" words, one of which was neighbors.  Through that trigger word I recalled memories of a "fort" that we created with the neighbors.  I have duplicated the journaling below, and you can also click on the piciture for a better view.  Since I had no photos for this page, I created a "blueprint" with a white gel pen and ruler.  I had such a wonderful childhood I am looking forward to documenting as much of it as I can.  I think it will be amazing for my children and grandchildren to look back on and see what life was like way back when! 

Journaling: "Growing up in Canaan, our neighbors were the Stinson family.  They had three children, Sean & Melissa (the twins) and Megan.  The twins were older and played the role of babysitter for my siblings and I.  Yet Megan was Jenny's age, so the three of us would play together often.  One of my fondest memories was of "The Fort".  We created it in the trees along the main road, crossing the property line between our houses.  Each of the three "rooms" were outlined with trees, most of which were saplings, followed by piles of dried leaves to add more definition to the rooms.  The kitchen featured a large boulder that jutted out of the ground which served as our countertop.  It had a small indentation that worked well as a sink when it filled with water after a rain storm.  Sometimes the three of us would sit in the den and play card games, like Old Maid and Go Fish.  Snacks were a premium in The Fort.  One of my favorites was cinnamon graham crackers.  We had so much fun playing make believe and cleaning house in the spring.  It is amazing where our imaginations could take us as such a young age."

Beautiful Morning

Today is one of those mornings that you wake up just happy to be alive.  The sun is shining.  Everything is green.  Flowers are in full bloom.  And it is the beginning of a nice long weekend.  David is actually off for the entire holiday so the anticipation of family time adds to the joy.  After breakfast, a bicycle race began trickling by our house.  Owen and Hannah were very excited to sit out on the porch and watch.  To add to their excitement, sometimes the bicyclists wave or say hi to them.  Meanwhile, Ethan is taking his morning “swing nap”.  He has a particular way he likes to be tucked in, with his special teddy bear from Tracey, classical music in the background.  Everything is calm and peaceful, at least for the moment!

Last night Owen & Hannah decided to draw on the floor of the garage with their sidewalk chalk.  To our excitement, Owen surprised us and wrote his name all by himself.  It is almost perfect, except for a little creative reworking he did with the “W”.  We have been struggling with Owen the entire school year to write his name.  We figure the problem was a combination of being stubborn & his insistence on perfectionism.  We’ll keep our fingers crossed that he has decided to put those characteristics aside and continue to perfect writing his own name.  After we showed him our enthusiasm, Hannah got a little jealous.  So we worked on her name as well, which she completed, with just a little help.

A new book by Paper Crafts magazine has just hit the market.  It is entitled "Stacy and Friends: 40 Techniques for Making Cards".  I have eleven projects published in it on the following pages for those of you who want to check it out: 21, 31, 43, 51, 54, 76, 82, 116, 143, 147, and 165.  The book is really well done and I was happy to be a part of it.

Just to see you smile

Ethan has now crossed a major milestone!  His first smile.  And he's been doing it all the time ever since.  No, he isn't smiling in this photo, do you actually think I would be lucky enough to catch it on film?  I don't think there has been anything he has done up to this point that could make my heart melt more than to see his face light up with a smile.  Whenever I go in to get him from his crib I am greeted with one.  It almost makes it worthwhile to get up 4 times a night!

MiSchiEf

I thought I would dedicate today to sharing the stories of Owen & Hannah's mischief through the years.  Now keep in mind that only a small fraction of incidents have been captured on film, so basically, there's more where this came from believe it or not.  I also want provide a disclaimer that I am not responsible for other children getting any ideas from the photos you are about to see. So grab a tissue and be prepared to laugh until you cry.

{the flour incident: 2004} Hannah got a bag of flour out of the pantry and decided to shake it all over a chair in the living room.  There was a picture of a cake on the package and she thought there  would be one inside if she looked hard enough.  When I came back into the room she was just sitting in the mess watching cartoons like nothing happened!

{the infamous paint fiasco: 2004} Two toddlers, one gallon of white latex paint, two paintbrushes, alone for five minutes equals disaster.  Need I say more? (Note: photo is out of focus because I was shaking so badly while I was taking it!)

{the pantry disaster:2004} Apparently they wanted a snack.  To make matters worse, they ripped all the labels from the canned goods...

{the sparkler dismantlement: 2003}  Can you say "Thank goodness for washable slipcovers?"

{the hair pomade mess: 2005} An ENTIRE jar of hair pomade was smeared all through Hannah's hair.  It took several different methods to finally get most of it out. The residue lasted for weeks.

So I hope you've had a little chuckle for the day.  We're keeping our fingers crossed that Ethan manages to stay out of trouble, at least for a little while!