Growing up and hand me downs

I know I recently posted about the boys getting bigger but I had another one of those moments last night when it hit me hard. Chris got the boys changed into pj's without me and sent Zachary back to the living room first. When he came out he was wearing some pj's that he'd never worn before. They were Alex's old ones that he's outgrown and they're still a little big on Zachary. Now Zachary's worn some of Alex's outgrown shirts before but it didn't hit me the same. These jammies were ones we bought for Alex when he first got home and for some reason it made me cry to see Zach in them. Zachary really likes them though and keeps saying "dinosaurs everywhere!".


This was Zachary last night.


Here is Alex in December 07.I'm such a sap. (I inherited that from my mom.)

We're getting a deck!

I'm really excited. We've talked about wanting/needing a deck since before the house was finished. Our back porch is probably 4-5 feet off the ground making it more like a balcony than a porch. The builder put a temporary rail around it to keep the boys from falling off but there are no stairs so you can't walk out to the back yard. We picked a company and signed a contract. The materials should be delivered this afternoon or tomorrow and the work will start tomorrow. The best part? The whole thing should take less than a week to finish. Yea! I can't wait to sit out on our beautiful deck watching the boys play (on the deck too of course since we don't have a yard yet!).

Slim Down Sunday

O.K. so I'm starting something new. I am a little heavier than I would like to be. I'm not a big exerciser and I pretty much eat what I want (not too, too bad). I am not going on a diet. I've done it before and although I did lose weight it was hard and that was before I had kids. I want to be able to eat with my family and not munch on lettuce leaves while they eat a lasagna or something. I'm starting on a smaller scale (no pun intended). Here are my three main goals for now.

1) Cut out sodas - I drink one or two every single day. I love Coke but I know it's not good for me. I'm going to cut out as much as I can but I'm not going to sweat it if I have one every once in awhile.

2) To get moving - Remember the not exercising thing? I'm not saying I'm going to hit the gym or anything but I'm going to try to get out and take a couple of walks during the week. I think all my yard work is good for me too but I need cardio.

3) Cut back on snacks - I honestly don't snack all the time but I do think I snack more than I should. So, when I have to have a snack I'm going to try a cup of coffee or a piece of fruit instead.

That's it. Again, I'm not going on a diet and I'm not going to say that I'm never going to eat a cookie again but I am going to try to make some small changes and I'm going to chronicle it here. I weighed myself today and I will every Sunday. I'm not going to tell you how much I weigh (did you really think I would?) but I will post if I lose any weight, how that week went, and how I feel. Feel free to join me if you'd like.

Unfinished projects

While unpacking I've run across several projects that I've started over the years and not finished. This one is probably the oldest. It's quilted Christmas place mats that I made in a quilting class I took somewhere around 2002-2003 while we were stationed in Ft. Rucker, Alabama. It only needs the edges. Although I didn't find it for a picture there is also a crib sized quilt I made in this class that still needs the edges too.

This was a baby quilt I started for my now 4 year old niece. Since this was the 2nd girl in the family they were already overwhelmed with pink so I chose other colors. The blue print has little flowers on it so I probably can't use it for my boys. I love it though and really want to finish it.

I let my sister pick this needle point out and told her I would do it for her. Now that I think about it this could have been before the baby quilt. What I didn't realize when I bought this needle point was this huge size of it. It's very detailed and while it has not seen the light of day for at least a year it takes a long time to make any progress.

This is another project for that same sister. It will eventually be a t-shirt quilt from all of her many many college t-shirts. The shirts are all cut apart but only 6 of them are made into prepared & backed quilt squares.

This last one could stay the way it is and nobody would have to know. I'm guess that maybe two years ago I started this one. This was an ugly old dresser that I painted white and changed the hardware on. It looks so much cuter now. The unfinished part is that I never bothered to paint and hang the mirror on top.

I don't know when I'll ever find time again for any of these. I've got so much house stuff, especially yard work to do. Not to mention certain little boys running around the house. Am I the only one with this many started & stopped projects?

Growing like weeds

The boys are growing so fast that I can hardly keep up. I bought Alex 4-5 new pairs of size 3 pants in the fall and they are now too short. All but maybe one are high waters. Couldn't he have at least made it through the winter without changing sizes? He now owns one pair of size 4 pants and needs more.

*I have a little complaint here.* Why is there such a big length difference from a size 3 to a 4? While the 3's are too short the 4's have to be rolled up. I guess we'll get a little more use out of them at least.

Zachary is a hard one. He's outgrown (in length at least) his 12 month pants finally. But....although the 18 months fit him in length they are still, mostly, too big in the waist. Sigh.

I decided to measure the boys and sure enough Alex has grown 2 inches since September and Zachary has grown 1 1/2 inches. Alex is almost 42 inches tall at 3 years old and Zach is 34 1/2 inches at 2 1/2. Where did my babies go?

Fun at the river park

Chris got home from work a little early today so we decided to finally go to our neighborhood park. Our subdivision is large and spans two sides of a "big" road. The opposite side from us backs up to a river and we have a nice park there for residents. The water is really low right now but in the summer this river will be filled with people on inner tubes! We got to walk on all the rocks that are probably covered with water in the summer (or at least partially covered). The boys had fun throwing rocks in and just looking at the neat stuff.

Superbowl watching

Chris decided that we needed to eat finger foods for dinner and forget about the dining room table. He wanted optimum T.V. watching seating for the Superbowl. The boys thought it was pretty fun to not be at the table. They also enjoyed watching football for a little bit and would bring in a stuffed football pillow to throw back and forth with us.