Monday Funday

This week daycare was closed from Wednesday until tomorrow.  So Clay spent time with Edna and Arabella, Daddy, and Mommy!  Here are some photos from his adventures...

"I helped Daddy do laundry and clean.  I also got to play with my friend.  She is really fun to watch!"

"I love playing in my room!" 

"...And skyping with Auntie Taylor"

Sunday morning I woke up to a delicious and beautiful breakfast of eggs and bacon.  So for lunch I made homemade mac n' cheese.  It turned out pretty great. 

After church we had our churches first 'Sunday Funday'.  I helped Lynne put this one together.  We taught about angels.  We did crafts, decorated angel cutout cookies, and acted as God's messengers by writing letters to deployed soldiers.  It was a ton of work, but it was certainly worth it.  I think the families all had a great time.  Here are some photos from the event: 

 

Clayton had too much fun and took a nap in the kids room. 

Well, as you can see, life has been a little crazy.  We are trying not to let life pass us by too quick.  

This next weekend is our church cluster assembly in Wrangell.  I am one of our representatives so I will be spending all weekend at church.  We are also housing Sue and Bill for the weekend.  They are the kind folks who let us stay at their house while we waited for Clay to arrive.  

Then on Monday the middle school basketball season begins.  I have stepped up to the head coach position this year, so that should be interesting.  I hope I can handle it... when all else fails make them run, dribble, and shoot, right?! 

Tonight we officially booked our tickets home for Christmas.  We will be arriving in MN on the 19th of December and departing on the 2nd of January.  How and where we will spend all the days in between are yet to be determined.  We are just so excited to be able to make it home for the holidays.

Well, I must go to sleep now so Clayton can wake me up in a few hours.  ;o)  Goodnight. 

Sunday Funday

I have been super busy and have a bunch to write about.  For this moment I will post the art I made for Clay's room.  They are being printed on 16x20 canvases.  I cannot wait to get them up on the wall!

Sorry we've been so disconnected from everyone lately.  There's just been so much going on and I don't foresee it slowing down until Thanksgiving! However, I will make a strong effort to post again today about our week.  

Fruits of our Labor

Are you ready for some football!?

We sure are. 

It seems like each week has just flown by and so much has been happening.  Check it out...

Last weekend, Edna invited us over for dinner and surprised me with this delicious cake.  Arabella insisted that it was her birthday too.  So we blew the candles out together! 

Don't worry, I did share the cake, but it sure made for a great picture to act like I ate it all myself! 

Here are some more of Clay's six month photos: 

We think he looks like AJ in quite a few of them.

Blowing Raspberries

Belly Laughs

Clay got to share his book for the children's sermon. 

All ready for "school".

Sharing his toys. 

Our garden has been producing plenty of basil, chard, and kale.  Today we got to harvest some tomatoes and carrots.  Also we have some peppers (green and jalapeno) growing too!  The weather has turned to fall in Wrangell and we were afraid we'd lose our plants soon (and all the baby tomatoes and pepper), so we moved all the plants into the house.  It looks like a jungle in here!

Grape tomatoes.

(Shorty) Carrots.

We love you and miss you all!

Birthday Week

This birthday, the big 2-7, was an enlightening one for me.  A couple comments really stick out in my mind and I am looking forward to the year to come now that I know a little bit more about myself.

1) From the floor of the laundry room, I yelled to Ryan, who was busy making dinner, that I wanted to get an extra birthday day because my weekend was so busy.  I noted that I never slowed down and that was the opposite of how I had envisioned my birthday weekend.  I planned to cuddle my loves under a fuzzy blanket and watch romantic comedies the entire time.  Anyhow, Ryan's response to my request of extra birthday days was what really sticks out for me... He said, "Sure, but you like to be busy".

2) I finally got a crib for Clayton and I spent some time putting it together.  So I sent Mom a picture with the caption, "TaDa!"  She replied, "That's exciting, it must be his birthday.  You have transitioned to it being all about Clay.  Welcome aboard."

So as strange as it is, I guess this is the first year I feel like a big kid on my birthday.  It isn't all about the cake and presents anymore.  Now it's all about being a busy Mommy!

My birthday was a beautiful day so I also photographed Clayton to capture him at six months!  Here is a little preview...

Next weekend I will have to add more of the many photos and videos from this week.  Tonight I must tend to diapers and a cranky baby! 

God's Work, Our Hands

Today our congregation celebrated the 25th year of the ELCA by doing God's work.  We went to the senior apartments and weeded their giant planter out front.  Ryan stayed home today to watch football, but Clay and I worked very hard (Clay mostly slept)!

Intern Pastor, Lynne and I 

Clay and Lorraine (youngest and oldest church members)

Clay is such a big boy now.  Check him out in the cart and high chair!  Tomorrow he will be 6 months old!

"Donald's foot taste great!"

"I'm so tired, but their making me sit up!" 

Ryan and I went on a date last night.  We had dinner and went to the movie to see Despicable Me 2.  Clay went over to his best friends for the evening.  They had a blast!  Griffey even took some interest in Clay.  We are so excited for them to start playing!

Look at the new sounds Clayton is making!  He sure has found his voice.  

Bonus

I had an extremely productive and interesting weekend and I wanted to share. So you get a bonus, midweek post, you lucky dogs.

As I had posted previously I gave myself the task of officially moving us to the upstairs bedroom, clothes and all, and giving Clayton his own room.

I was successful in moving our clothes upstairs to a much smaller closet space. We are both much happier with the way our clothes are put away.  Instead of the cloth hanging shelves, we now each have a shelving unit with doors to hold our folded clothes.  It's like having a mini wardrobe.  I also have a couple extra totes of clothing. One still needs to find a home.  Oops!  But overall it looks great and it is much easier to get dressed! 

I also moved Clay's clothes into his room.  He is using our old hanging shelves and his clothes fit really well in them.  It looks great!  I also started setting up his room.  I have the playing/reading area set up and it is adorable! Now I just need to get a crib and move the extra queen box spring and frame out of that room.  It is really exciting to see it all coming together! 

Over the weekend, Milo ate some chocolate m&m's while I was away. I was really worried about him and still am a little concerned.  The next morning he was so droopy and sad...he wouldn't even eat the treat I gave him.  He has since vomited several times and seems to be in a better mood.  He eventually did go eat that treat.  I did a bunch of research about theobromine poisoning and I think he will be okay, but it is scary.  I can't imagine life without Milo! So say some extra prayers for Milo tonight!  

After I put the the rest of the m&m's up, Clayton decided he wanted to eat them too! Good thing he has no teeth and couldn't get through the wrapper!

Clayton is almost 6 months old. This is a big time for our little man, he is going to get his first taste of food!  So in preparation of his big day (September 9), I made his first dish and froze it in little baby sized portions.  Clayton had to sit on the floor after instead of the counter this fine demonstration.... 

So he was upset about being on the floor and he wanted to help me, so he got a first hand look at cooking.  Maybe he'll be a little chef! 

He will be getting sweet potatoes!  I am really excited to see what he does when the flavor hits his tongue!

Ryan made it home from a successful boys weekend.  He was very smelly.  Everyone was happy to see him.  I was happy after he took a shower!  I was so excited to go upstairs in my nice new bedroom and watch trashy TV for one whole, uninterrupted hour!  I started watching Dance Moms and I just can't get enough!  They are so crazy! 

Later the Nore's came over for dinner. After dinner our nerdy husbands were playing cards...magic cards. Clay wanted to play with the big boys! 

Anyways, I feel like that is a much more sufficient post about my weekend.  I was so tired when I finally sat down that to write the last post that I don't even remember what I wrote!

We have another busy week ahead of us, so we'll see you on Sunday! 

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend has been just me and my little guys (Clayton and Milo).  Ryan is with his friends having a boys weekend.  It took me about 25 minutes to write the title and that previous sentence because Clayton is having a very difficult time going to sleep tonight.  I just brought him back downstairs, nursed him again, and rocked him to sleep before setting him down.  Ryan, when do I get a weekend away?

I made a to-do list a mile long for this weekend.  I have had a chance to get some of it done and plan to continue working hard tomorrow!  I think I literally went up and down the stairs 100 times today.  I was trying to get Ryan and I moved to the room upstairs and give Clayton his own bedroom! Right now my house is torn apart!

I think I need a vacation from my vacation.

That being said, I am really enjoying spending so much time with Clayton.  He is growing up so fast.