...chocolate air...

talking turkey.

I hope you are all enjoying a lovely holiday weekend with your families. This post pretty much sums it up for me. Beautiful.

We are enjoying a few weeks of celebration, as we have a lot of family to celebrate with. Last weekend was spent with my side of the family. So fun. Here's Zach, playing some kind of game, in his new shirt he made. Pretty self-explanatory... t-shirt, acrylic paint, basic handprint turkey, happy kid.

 

I did some crafting with one of my sisters, creating garlands and placecards for the dinner. We cut the leaves out from these templates, and then folded them down the middle, and then again back the other way to create the other veins. We added some scrolls for the placecards, some string for the garland, and voila!

 

 

 

And yes... we really do have three Mikes. On my side alone.

Lastly, here's a fun shot of our hosts for the weekend, my sister and her husband, "Babylegs" Beasley.

maniac.

I know a boy; his name is Zach.

He loves to fit; he loves to stack.

Yes, construction is his knack.

He's Zach, the lego maniac.

He builds in the window;

He's off the wall.

He builds 'em big, he builds 'em small.

In Legoland he'll rock 'n roll.

He's lego-wild out of control!

Zach, Zach... he's a lego maniac.

Zach, Zach... he's a lego maniac!

 

That boy does love him some legos... which is great, because they were Mike's favorite thing through his whole childhood. So now he gets to play with them again, in a socially-accepted way.

Zach built all the creations in the photo above. Clever boy.

(You're humming the song now, right?)

hey, mom...

"I need this to be my horn. Can I have some tape?"

 

   

proud.

 

To some of you this may seem like small potatoes, but to a non-seamstress like me, it's a Big. Honkin'. Deal.

I made a tote bag! It's even lined, which makes it reversible, although I prefer the pattern on the outside. And although the pictures don't do it justice, it's not even all wonky and distorted, as is typical with even the easiest of my sewing projects. This bag is the perfect size to fit in everything I need to take to church every week, so I'm really pleased with it.

 

Another reason to be proud of myself this week? I was honest with my son under the toughest of circumstances. Zach pulled a box of Girl Scout cookies out of the freezer and said in a hopeful way, "Um, Mom, can they give some of these to boys, too, or are they just for girls?"

And I did not say, "Oh, sorry, son... I guess these are all mine. You'll have to wait until the boy scouts come around selling cookies."

Now that's restraint, people.

little ones.

 

We had our annual Primary Presentation this past Sunday, meaning that the children in our church present the Sunday service through scriptures, music, and talks they wrote themselves. Always a sweet experience... and yes, funny too. Zach read a scripture and did very well all on his own. There were a lot of pauses where he tried to find his place, because he had to look up at the congregation to say every word and phrase, and his tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth the whole time... but he pulled it off without major incident. And I'll call that a success.

The theme this year was "I Am a Child of God", so I created a silhouette for each child to take home, talking about how each profile was unique, even though it's just a basic outline. It's supposed to remind them that they are each a beloved child of a Heavenly Father who has a plan for each of our lives. I don't know that they'll ever think of that when they see their silhouette, but they did love receiving theirs.

Funny thing... The three of us were making donuts last week, and there turned out to be a crazy lot of them. Mike says, "Now why are we making this many?" And I replied, "Apparently we're a family of gluttons." And Zach quickly and seriously pipes up, "No, we're not! We're a family of Heavenly Father!" Yup.

In other news... some of you have requested pictures of little Rose. Yes... another friend, another baby. Bring 'em on. Especially if they're all as sweet as this one.

 

 

beans. everywhere.

I thought I'd share the results of a cute little project that, quite honestly, I've been putting off for some time. And while, yes, I'm still sweeping up beans a week later, it was worth it.

I was remembering these turkeys we used to make every November in grade school, the ones that we glued beans all over to make the feathers. Anyone else remember those? Anyhow, I thought we could use the same method to make any kind of art we chose. So Zach drew a picture on cardboard, we filled in different areas with glue, and then he went to town gluing on one color at a time. I love how his rocket turned out. We may have to make some turkeys, after all.

 

We had a little friend with us that day, as her sister was having surgery (and doing well, from what I hear). She created with us, but went with something a little more abstract.

 

And, you know, after spending the day looking into this face, I am more sure than ever...

 

Man, I need a little girl.

punkin.

Pardon me while I try to recap my entire October, or at least anything mildly Halloweenish.

 

A few weeks back, Mike and I decided to surprise Zach with breakfast in bed... a whole pumpkin pie and a can of whipped cream. He was pretty excited about that once he woke up enough to enjoy it. He saved most of the pie, and had bites of it at every breakfast for a week.

 

That same week, we went apple-picking twice at a local farm, and we chose pumpkins for our fall decorating, and one to carve into a jack o'lantern. (Zach's design... he was going for a very scary face.) The animals at the farm were a huge hit with Zachary, as was filling bag after bag with fruit he won't even eat...

 

What? Don't you consider a blue mohawk to be standard apple orchard attire?! Huh. Maybe my son just has more style than you do.

And speaking of style... I present to you... the costume.

 

For those of you keen on the details... I shredded a pair of old jeans, hung a chain around his waist, applied a fake tattoo, and painted his face. The hair was done with a thick blue gel, and twisted into spikes that could poke somebody's eye out when they dried. (Yes, we were just practicing the hairdo on the day of the apple orchard.) The dog collar and wrist cuff were both cut from a $2 studded belt I picked up at a thrift store. I cut out a freezer-paper stencil for the shirt (yes, really, it took a few hours), ironed it onto one of Zach's undershirts, and spray-painted the rest of the shirt unevenly to give it a grunge look.

The boy was in seventh heaven, I tell you.

 

I love that little punk.