Figuring Life Out - One Thousand Gifts

I st arted reading the book, One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp this weekend.  So far I am loving it.  I really was inspired by the You Tube video promoting the book and wanted to share it here.  Watch it and I hope you all go out and enjoy this beautiful Sunday.  I am so thankful to have such a beautiful day at home with my boys!  Live in the moment and enjoy!

The Reasons I Do It

  God Gave Us You.....

I spend a lot of time taking pictures of our family, scrapbooking and even journaling.  It has always been important to me.  I recently found two wonderful videos that not only inspire but explain why documenting our lives is so important.  I hope they inspire you as much as they did me.  The first one is from Paper Coterie is a recent interview they had with one of my favorite authors Kelly Corrigan.  The second is from Becky Higgins promoting her product, Project Life.

http://www.papercoterie.com/pages/beginanywheremonth/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a75xtRoxBZM&feature=player_embedded

Girl's Weekend Art-A Dream Getaway!

I would love to attend the Art on the Farm at Na-Da Farm Life.  A great weekend of relaxing with a group of artsty girls, including one of my favorites, Jeanne Oliver.  It would require a plan ride but doesn't it look lovely! http://nadafarmlife.blogspot.com/.

He

He is now 15 months.
He weighs 25 lbs.
He eats mostly table food now and only occassional  baby food.
He was into playing with the Fisher Price doll house and toys a few weeks ago.  Now he mostly just climbs on it.
He enjoys coloring and has discovered stickers.  He spends lots of time pulling stickers out of his sticker book and placing them on other pages.
He also likes to play with the wooden puzzles.
He loves to sort and stack things, laundry, magazines, just about anything.
He loves to watch the Baby Enstein Farm Video, especially before he goes to bed.
He helps feed the pets every night.  It is so cute to see him carry out the dog's food and dump it into the food bowl.
He likes the Sprout  Channel on TV, the Wiggles, and Sesame Street.  When he is watching Sprout at night, he smiles as if the host, Nina, is talking just to him.  He cries when she says "Good night."
He dances.
He climbs on everything and everybody.
He high-fives, blows kisses and says "Hi" to people when we are out and about.
He is growning so fast.  He continues to bring joy to our home and brighten every day!

Doing the Laundry

Doing the laundry was never so much fun!  Kyle helped me take these pictures of Kaleb this past week.  Kaleb had so much fun playing with the clothes pins!  Hoping to get some of these printed out soon.  Looking forward to the next month or so as outdoor scenery will hopefully be great for taking some more photos!

Being A Mother

Being a mother is the hardest job I have ever had, the most rewarding and the one I want to be remembered for. 
Yesterday we moved Jessica to her new dorm room at college.  I am so excited for her and the new adventure she is now on.  I know it is time for her to be on her own and know we are both ready but boy kids sure grown up fast.  I worry sometimes people might think I take too many pictures of my kids, especially Kaleb, but I want to remember and cherish everything about them at what ever stage in life they are at.  It all goes so fast.   They keep me busy and sometimes I feel overwhelmed but I couldn't imagine what it would be like without them.   

He

 He is now 14 months old.
 He is wearing size 12-18 months clothes and size 5-6 shoes. 
 He is running everywhere and climbing everything.
 He is talking more and more everyday.  His vocabulary now includes: Daddy, Mommy, Hi, and garden on a regular bases.  Other words he has occasionally said have been: hat, done, duck, goin' get you, and that.
He loves animals and makes animals sounds for a cow, chicken and pig.  Cows are his favorite.
He is really into reading story books right now and his favorite is a lift the flap animal book.
He loves tractors both the toy ones and the real ones.  He loves to ride in them.
His favorite foods right now are macaroni and cheese, cottage cheese, cheetos, basically anything cheesey!
He dances.

 He gives kisses now and makes the noise"mmmm" to go with the kiss.
He decided in the last two weeks that he won't sit in the baby bath tub.

He loves to color with his sidewalk chalk and he and Mommy have started leaving messages on the sidewalk for everyone, like " Don't worry" and "You are special".
He pretends he is changing the channels with the remote.
He loves to play in his tent with his stuffed animals.

Kenton helped me get these pictures of Kaleb the other night.  I hope to get some more of the kids this weekend before Jess is off to college.  Time is moving by so quickly.  Babies are growing up!