Naptime!

Some days I live for naptime. I so look forward to the peace and calm. No one is moving, or talking, asking for something. It is a much needed break in my day. It is also a time I use to get some things done like cleaning, emailing, crafting, blogging, exercising, browsing Pinterest, and sometimes rest. Chase goes to school at noon, so I usually come home and put the other 2 down soon after we get home. Maggie just lays down in her crib with a blanket and I shut the door. I usually read books to Parker and lay him down and leave. This was our routine since Chase started school. Then things changed about 2 months ago.
He started to fight naptime. He would get up and open the door. He would bang on the wall. He would take clothes out of the dresser. He would throw stuffed animals around. Get up to use the bathroom multiple times. This would go on for about an hour. Finally I would just give up. I feared he was trying to give up naps altogether. It was so discouraging and not restful at all for me. This started when he was about 2.5. I think that is too young to give up naps, and his attitude and behavior proved I was correct. He was tired and needed a nap.
We all got very sick about a month ago. Chase was home for a week with the flu, and then he had 2 weeks off for Spring Break. The kids napped every single day. They were tired! I would read some books, and then Chase would lay down and fall right asleep. I laid down with Parker and we both would fall asleep. I learned that if I laid with him for about 5 minutes he would fall right asleep. He loves to lay on my arm, prop his little “feets” on my legs, and snuggle down into the covers. He would smack his little lips, and his eyes got very drowsy. He would fall into a deep sleep.
I learned to slow down, enjoy my kid, and take a break from my to-do list. He needs me to snuggle him to sleep, and I am ok with it! I don’t think I will ever regret my naptime snuggles.

An Affordable and Memorable Gift Idea

Years ago I remember helping my Grandpa get ready for the 4th of July. He was getting his American Flag out of the garage, and I commented on the great quality of his flag. He mentioned that the flag was flown over the US Capitol on his and my grandma’s 40th wedding anniversary.

Well, fast forward about 7 or 8 years and Abe and I were getting ready to get married. I remembered my grandpa’s flag and thought it would be neat to have a flag flown on our wedding day. I placed my order, and our flag came about 6 weeks later. It sat in a box for a long time, but I found a way to display it our home. Our flag plus a window from my parents’ house equals and extremely special wall hanging in our home!

 

The great thing about these flags is that they are extremely affordable to order. It is only $17.30 for a 3’x5’ cotton flag or $28.05 for a 5’x8’ flag. We have the smaller one, and it is plenty big. They are GREAT quality flags. We have 2 couples in our church getting married in the next 2 months. I am going to order them a flag for their gifts. My friend who used to work at the US Capitol mentioned that they order them for each of their children for the date of their birth. I think it could be an awesome shower gift. Just fill out the form, attach a check, and put the form in a card for the parents to mail in once the baby is born and the birthday is known. It could also be good for a special anniversary, milestone birthday, graduation, etc.

Here is how you go about ordering your flag:

1. Find your US Senator or Representative here or here. We live in California, and I just chose a Senator (these women are not my choice for Senators, but I have not control over that…blech!)

2. Go to their website.

3. Find the order form. Now this part might vary by the member. You might have to do some searching around. You can always send them an e-mail or give them a call if you can’t find the form. I went to “Constituent Services” and the link to the form was found there.

I scrolled down to find and clicked “read more”:

4. Complete the instructions to order the flag. One thing to mention is that the orders can only be placed 6 weeks in advance. Make sure you don’t send in the forms too early.

The order form:

I am going to complete the forms and send them off. Their flags will come in the mail to them a few weeks after the wedding. I hope the new couples will enjoy their flags as much as I enjoy ours. If anything they will be ready for the 4th of July

Long time no blog…

We were sick for about 3 weeks. We had the flu, colds, injured neck/back and all sort of fun things. It was no fun, and I hope sickness stays far from us for a while.

Chase is on Spring Break right now for two weeks. We have had a blast! It will be sad to see him go back to school. We enjoy having an open schedule and him home with us. I have some blogging to do about Maggie’s 1st birthday, her 12 months update, updates about the boys, and some crafting stuff.

For now I will leave you with a new recipe (found on Pinterest) I tried tonight. It was super easy and turned out great!

Here is the blog where the recipe is found. I altered the recipe and substituted non-fat Greek yogurt for the mayo. I added a little lemon juice, garlic powder, and a little salt. After baking for 20 minutes, I broiled the dish for 2 minutes to brown the bread crumbs.

Tennis Racquet Printable

 

We are the middle of redecorating our Master bedroom. I found some really fun fabric with grey and lime flowers to use as an accent. It so bright and refreshing. The walls are pretty bare, so I am making some things to fill up the open spaces.

My hubby and I love tennis. We love to play and watch tennis. We played quite a bit before we were married. Unfortunately, we do more watching than playing these days because of our busy family life. We hope to have some tennis dates as the weather warms up.

I thought it would be kind of fun to include this hobby in our bedroom décor. I used a graphic from The Graphics Fairy. She has awesome graphics that you can download for free.

Here is what I came up with:

I am sending this off to MPIX to have it printed today. Can’t wait to hang it up!

Here is the link to download the picture!

Fairytale Town

We went to a fun birthday party at Fairytale Town on Saturday. We took Chase when he was about 1.5, but we haven’t been back with Parker or Maggie. It was fun to watch the boys enjoy this special little place. It feels like you have walked back in time about 5o years. It is very simple, and I found it to be very calming.

When we entered the gates on Saturday, I noticed that they had memberships. I mentioned this to my mom, and we decided that Bridget and our kids would enjoy going throughout the year. We hopped in the car, picked up Chase from school, and headed over to buy the membership.

We went late in the afternoon, and there were about 4 other families. The kids were able to run and play on anything they wanted. It was nice to just let them go. They were safe and couldn’t hurt much or be hurt. It was so very enjoyable. Can’t wait to go back when the rain lets up!

Here are some pictures from that afternoon:

 

In the Tee Pee (sp?)

Had to get Mags in the picture.

At the top of the owl slide.

Bridgie!

 

Chase!

Mr. Parker

Maggie is THRILLED to be out of the stroller!

Trying to get all these kids looking in the right direction and smiling=close to impossible!

Grandma and Maggie

Boys MUST climb EVERYTHING. The great thing is that they are free to climb

Parker was driving the train away from lava! Love the imagination.

Maggie is trying to walk. She took 4 steps in a row later on that night.

Parker doing his ninja moves. Chase climbing again!

He got his dance moves from his mom and dad…poor guy! LOL!!

Sherwood Forest

Wordless Wednesday

The Boys!

Chase and Parker are about 2.5 years apart. They just started really playing together within the last 3-4 months. They would play along side each other but not really together. It has been such a blessing to watch them enjoy one another. Don’t get me wrong. Most days they fight more than they play, but their friendship seems to be getting stronger.

Parker is so imaginative. He will pretend that a piece of wood is a cell phone or a book is an iPad. He will turn anything into a sword or a gun. He loves to dress up. This is so different than Chase. He is very literal and has never been into pretend play. However, he is learning from Parker. It is so neat to see Parker teaching him.

They are very interested in superheroes (Star Wars, Transformers, Captain America, The Incredibles, etc.). They often have battles. I love hearing the conversations that are setting the stage for the battle, gun noises, cries of agony as they are “stabbed” or “shot.”  Sometimes they are too rough and they end up hurt or in an argument. However, I love that they are pretending and enjoying each other.

Here is a picture of them playing with Parker’s new carseat and the box that it came in. They told me that Parker was Captain America that he was “getting strengthened.”

We are giving Maggie the kitchen set for her first birthday because we knew that the boys would be able to enjoy it as well. They will play with her and teach her how to pretend as well.

It really bothered me that Chase had no interest in pretend play. I felt like we ruined him with too much TV and computer/phone games. Growing up, my brother and I would play with our toys for hours. I would play with dolls and he would play with Playmobil and his cowboy dress up toys all the time. I am so grateful that this part of Parker has shown through!