Heart-felt Wreath

While perusing the interwebs (as Jason calls it), I came across a tutorial at The Idea Room for this adorable Valentine's wreath, and decided right away that it was the perfect nap-time project for Norah and me.  (I've been trying to be more deliberate about using Eli's nap time to do things with Norah, at least on the days that she doesn't nap...she still takes one about every 2-3 days)

We had so much fun! The Idea Room's tutorial does a great job explaining it, but basically all you need is a styrofoam heart base (I bought ours for half-price at JoAnn's, so it was about $4), a box of pins, and 3/4 yard of felt. 

I used one of our drinking glasses to trace circles on the felt, and cut them all out. (There were a lot...but the time went by fast, visiting with Norah and laughing together) Meanwhile, as I would cut, she would fold each circle in half, and then half again (so you end up with a "pizza slice"-like shape), and pin it into the styrofoam. Eventually,

I ran out of circles to cut, so we finished assembling the wreath together, and literally, put the last pin in as Eli was walking up the hall, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.  Such a fun project.  We looped a ribbon through the invert at the top of the heart, and hung it proudly from the front door.  (Where N has happily pointed it out to anyone who has stopped in to visit, in the weeks since)

I'm so thankful that N loves crafting/sewing like I do.  I can see us bonding over many more projects in the years to come, and pray that it will help us keep our lines of communications open, and stay close as she continues to grow up (too fast!) before my eyes.  And don't worry...I haven't forgotten about Eli.  I am getting all geared up for some serious mother/son time next year while N is off spreading the wings of her independence in Kindergarten.  It's gonna be a big time! 

Norah's 5th Birthday/Party

Norah's 5th birthday started off with our traditional birthday pancakes.  This year she requested "Butterfly pancakes", complete with a brown m&m body, whipped cream wings, dotted with sprinkles and cherries.  Yeah, we're all about kicking off the day with a healthy breakfast around here.  (On a side note, I wonder how many years before she'll die of embarrassment of my posting genuine "bed head" photos...)

Next, we headed over to U-Paint it, to pick up the plate that Norah had painted the week prior.  (It is a self portrait, and includes her 5 year old signature at the bottom...I will love it forever!) I am secretly hoping that we'll end up with one for every member of our family...wouldn't that make a cute set?

Next we headed over to McDonald's for a play date with Grandma, Grandmother, and Aunt Paige. N requested I take a photo of the birthday shirt I made for her (the hand on the front is traced from her actual handprint...I thought it would be fun to capture it's size and memorialize it on the shirt)  Too bad I cut off her head...it would have been a cute photo!  I love how she is thrusting out her chest, about to explode with all her 5-year-old pride.

Later that week, N helped me bake and decorate cupcakes for her party.  (She requested strawberry butterfly cupcakes)

Some of the finished products...(I piped the butterfly wings onto wax paper, covered them with white sprinkles, and held them together with a chocolate icing body)

They were a big hit at her party...and so much easier to serve than cake!

Speaking of the party...this year, we had her birthday party Michael's (yes, as in the arts and crafts store).  They have a classroom off to the left of the store, that was just the right size for a birthday party.  I LOVED the freedom of being able to do a semi-messy craft, and not have to worry about my carpet!  As soon as her guests arrived, I got them started painting wooden tiles in the color of their choice. 

The week before the party, I whipped up some art smocks for each child, using checkered tablecloth fabric, of all things...the kind with the vinyl surface that wipes clean, and embroidered their names on them, so they could take them home and hopefully reuse them) Even the little guys got in on the action!

I was amazed at how well everyone stayed on task....maybe they were just shocked we were letting them do such a potentially messy project?  But really, even with all that paint, there wasn't much to clean up at the end of the day.

Michael's put brown craft paper down on all of the tables, which made cleaning up a piece of cake.

After all of the painting was done, the kids modge podged scrap book paper to the other side of their wooden tiles, making sure to do a pair of each design.

Which left them with their own, personally crafted Memory tile game.

...Complete with a nifty carrying bag!

Norah was excessively spoiled by her generous friends and family, including a pair of "Twinkle Toes" and a "Unicorn Pillow Pet" (who has been dubbed "Cornelia"), both which she had been BEGGING for for a couple of months prior to her birthday, and an assortment of other fantastical gifts.

Another favorite gift was a homemade, blue satin "Princess" (aka--floor length) night gown from Gramps.  She LIVED in this night gown, day and night for at LEAST a week after her birthday.  It was all I could do to get her to change clothes to leave the house.  And she still favors it over all her other pajamas.

The Twinkle Toes shoes (by Sketchers) are officially the first brand-name purchase request that she has made (and made, and made, and made...to be sure we got the point).  Who knew it would start at 5?  We have always been blessed with amazing, quality, hand-me-downs, so I haven't had much experience in shopping for new clothes/shoes (unless you count my semi-annual stock-up at Target/Walmart for $3 play clothes).  I was taken aback at how much these shoes cost (yes, I know, I'm cheap...but it did make me so much more thankful for the bounty of hand-me-down treasures that sweet Jenny has shared with us these past 5 years)....but I am thankful that Norah loves them and wears them almost every day...and that her feet grow at an alarmingly slow rate in comparison to most kids (including your brother, who now wears just one size smaller than you)...so hopefully they'll last a while!

Sweet Norah, at five years of age, you are such a joy.  You have a tender, compassionate heart for everyone around you.  You wear your heart on your sleeve, but this also allows for you to be sensitive to the needs of others. Your sincere prayers for people you encounter throughout our days (sometimes at the grocery store, other times friends and family) are an encouragement and constant reminder for me to keep my eyes open for others who are hurting or in need.

You still love to cuddle.  

You are a precious, sweet sister to your brother.  You love to tell him he's "so cute", and are always happy to play "princesses and cars" with him (Complete with Lighting McQueen waking Sleeping Beauty with a kiss, at times).  Your favorite color is pink.  Always.  

Your favorite food is "Mommy's Pepperoni Pizza" and your favorite drinks are "Blue Poweraid" and "Milk", but "not together".  

You love art of any kind, but painting is your favorite.  Y

ou can't wait to start kindergarten in the fall, and you love telling everyone we meet that you are "a five year-old." 

You are reading some on your own now, but are still happy to be read to (which, makes mommy happy, because I love reading to you).  

This year you learned how to swing all by yourself (Hallelujah!), and surprised us all with your impressive hula hooping skills (no doubt inherited from your mother, who tied for 1st place Hula Hoop Champion of her 3rd Grade class, which, incidentally, your daddy was there to witness).  

You tried gymnastics for the first time, and loved it.  The night Daddy taught you how to do a cartwheel you would run and hug his neck each time you completed what you deemed to be a "good one". You LOVE to perform, and routinely break into spontaneous performances--everything from dance, to songs (both those you've heard on the radio and hilarious originals that you make up as you go along).  You know all the books of the Old and New Testament (and have sung solos of them in Children's Church, Bible class, CBS class, and any other setting where you are given a "stage"), and continue to excel at memorizing scripture.  

You claim to have conquered your long-standing fear of the dark, but still sleep with a small night light (and prefer us to leave the bathroom light on, too).  

You refer to any weed flowers in our yard as your "garden" and take it personally when Daddy runs over them with the lawn mower or weed eater. 

 You are beautiful, through and through, from the inside out, and I am so proud to be your Mommy.  I can't wait to see the great things that God has in store for you as you continue to grow.  Your Daddy and I love you, dearly.

Twas the Night Before Christmas...(and the Sunday after)

In my previous post, I mentioned that, in addition to celebrating Eli's birthday on December 24th, we also tried to keep with a few Christmas Eve traditions.  Such as....

Cookies and milk (and carrots for the reindeer) by the fireplace at bedtime...

Sometimes, little brother tries to sneak a little something sweet...as if all that birthday cake wasn't enough!

Last year I told the kids about how Mommy, AA, and Uncle Johnny used to all sleep in one room on Christmas Eve, and they asked if they could do the same.  Much to my surprise, Norah remembered this year, and asked if we could do it again, so we hauled Eli's mattress into her room and tucked them...or should I say, "nestled" them all snug in their beds.  We read "The Night Before Christmas", and the "REAL" Christmas story, as Norah refers to it :) Then I told them "Lights out, and don't forget, Santa wont visit until everyone is asleep!"

 We didn't hear a peep out either of them, so I  thought I'd better check them about 30 minutes later.  Fast asleep...guess all the events of our busy day finally caught up with them!

This last photo was one I took of the kids the day after Christmas, after church.  Oh, how I love these sweet kiddos!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Eli!

For those who don't know, I am the proud mother of a Christmas Eve baby...and proud as I am, I'll be the first to admit that I am still working out the kinks in how to pull off making December 24th feel like a special birthday for Eli, while still keeping with the holiday traditions associated with Christmas eve. 

This year, however, I thought we made a pretty go run at it.  For starters, I awoke at 4am (going to sleep stressed about tomorrow's to-do list occasionally has this effect on me, and I truly believe it is a God-send).  First task at hand was to make a "Yellow cake with orange icing" per Eli's request (I know my Aggie friends are cringing...which is why I had to add some blue accents, in hopes of helping mellow the orange a bit) 

Next order of business: Birthday pancakes.  This year we went with snowmen.  Eli wanted green eyes, Norah requested blue (they have recently become very fascinated with their different eye colors, Norah always makes sure she colors them correctly in her drawings) 

We sang our first "Happy Birthday" of the day, and E blew out the candles on his whipped cream-drenched pancakes (a delicacy, I might add, we reserve only for birthdays).

After breakfast, we met up with our good buddies, The Hindmans, for Eli's (and Isaac's) first movie theater movie, "Tangled" (Disney's take on Rapunzel, which HIGHLY recommend.  Jason and I loved it, as did both kids, and it was squeaky clean). The Hindman's came prepared with blankets and candy to share.  We sandwiched the 4 kids in the middle, flanked by the parents on the outsides, and everyone was extremely well-behaved.  So. Much. Fun.

After the show, we let the kids hang out in the arcade (which, since it was Christmas Eve, was totally deserted) for a while. Eli and Isaac, who share a passion for "Cars" were basically glued to the racing games for the duration of our visit.

Norah and Helen, on the other hand, preferred the motorcycles.

Everyone posed for one last photo op in front of the movie poster, to commemorate the occasion.   We felt so blessed to have such sweet friends, who were willing to take some time out of their Christmas Eve day, to celebrate with Eli.

That night, we hosted all four grandparents, both sets of Great-grandparents, Aunt Paige & Uncle Grant, and the Davidson's (N&E's adoptive "extra" grandparents) for burgers and hot dogs.

Have  I mentioned that the weather had turned nasty?  Sweet Jason fired up his pit as the first drizzles started and managed to get everything into a holding pattern in the oven before the  massive downpour that followed. Everyone enjoyed a nice, dry, warm meal.

Finally, it was time to cut into that big, orange cake.

Happy 3rd Birthday, big boy!  You are a joy to your Daddy and me. You almost always wake up with a smile (and usually come climb in bed with us for your last hour of sleep to cuddle, which I love), and seldom complain the rest of the day.  You dress yourself most mornings (preferably in Cars apparel, which you have no qualms about retrieving from the dirty clothes hamper if Mommy has failed to wash it in what you deem a "timely" manner).   You absolutely LOVE your big sister, and would likely do anything she asked you to do, rational or not, and you pride yourself on being a "gentleman".

You  never cease to make us laugh with your made up words (ex: "Pockaticket", which we've determined is a noun, most commonly associated with someone who is  getting on your nerves), endless supply of Cars quotes, and original song lyrics (sure to be future chart toppers like "Chick's All Over the Place"--in reference to Chick Hicks from Cars, not girls, in case you were wondering, and  "I Don't Wanna Go to the Barbershop").

We love you, sweet, "Snazzy","Eli McElierton", "E-mac","E", Eli. 

Norah's Art

It's been so long since I've updated, and I have TONS of photos to blog, so I figured I'd just jump in with a collection of Norah's sketches from this fall.

A few differences I've noticed in her artwork of late is that she has started thinking more about setting of the pictures (hence the grass under the princesses feet) 

This one is a "ballerina and her teacher" (this one was done after reading a few "Angelina Ballerina" books from the library--Angelina's ballet teacher always wears dresses with tiered ruffles, so I'm guessing the "teacher" in Norah's picture is the one in yellow on the right).  The faint square around them is the "stage".

 Two more ballerinas, again, on-stage.

Jesus on the cross (with Mary, his mother, below)

Norah and Eli playing catch (he's been wearing his hair "spiky" a lot lately, so she made sure to give him a few in her drawing)

This is one of my all-time favorites.  It is a jockey and a horse.  I love her attention to details (like the button on the top of the jockey's hat, and the bridle/reins on the horse...granted he's a little stocky, but still...)

She was very proud of this one.  If you can't tell, it is most of the cast from Toy Story 3.  L-R: Jesse, Woody, Bullseye, Barbie, Ken, and Buzz (Again, note the detail--Jesse's cow-print chaps, all of the colored lights and buttons on the front of Buzz's spacesuit, etc).  She worked on it for quite a while, finally dedicating her masterpiece to her Daddy (as you can see in the upper left corner).   As soon as he came home from work, she presented him with her art, and of course he praised it highly, immediately recognizing what/who it was a depiction of.  Not long after that, N was sent to her room (if memory serves, for having a bad attitude at the dinner table.  

After some time passed, I went in to check on her, to find her hard at work on this... While I knew it was done in total defiance, I was slightly amused at the facts that 1) She spelled everything right all by herself, 2) The worst possible "retaliation" she could think of for Jason's sending her to her room was to stop drawing pictures for him.  So funny.  And yet, the parent in me had to focus on the heart of the matter...or should I say the attitude behind it.  The same bad attitude that had gotten her in trouble at the dinner table.  We had a good talk.  And she quickly admitted that she liked drawing pictures for us and didn't really want to stop, and believe me, she hasn't!  

It's Bacon!

So, I had one of my less proud parenting moments today, but it was too hilarious not to chronicle for the purpose of looking back someday.  I doubt it will be nearly as comical to those reading who weren't present...but I hope you'll still enjoy reading it.

For lunch today, I put potatoes in the oven to bake while we were at church.  When we returned home, Jason and I started preparing the "fixings" to trim our potatoes...including Jason's personal favorite, a plate of super thick-sliced bacon (I didn't make that up, that's literally what it said on the package. And, in case you're wondering, it was purchased in response to a certain member of our household's previous complaints that he was dissatisfied with the "flimsy" bacon the fridge had been stocked with).

Half-way through lunch, we realized that Jason's precious bacon had never made it out of the microwave (it seems that thick-sliced bacon takes TRIPLE the time to cook, and after the third re-heat, we forgot all about it).  So, Jason retrieves the bacon and doles out a slice each to his two offspring (both of which have inherited their father's love for fatty, fried pork) who quickly consume their rations.  After a couple more moments, J returns from a second trip to the kitchen with a slice of his own.  Eli (who, you'll recall had already scarfed his bacon down) immediately zeroes in on the Daddy's bacon, and asks Jason for more.  To which Jason (jokingly) replies that he can't have any more, that all of the rest is for Daddy.

At this point, Eli (who took Jason's response quite literally) completely wigs out.  He starts whining in a high pitch voice and crying (real tears) that he "just wants s'more bacon".  If you know Eli, you know he is a happy-go-lucky, laid back kid, who seldom whines...so our response to this uncharacteristic behavior was more amusement (Did he really save up to have a tantrum over a bacon shortage?) than anger/frustration/disappointment.  Then, he abruptly stopped the waterworks, assumed a determined look in his eye,  climbed down from his chair, climbed up into the empty chair beside Jason, stood up, took the bacon out of Jason's hand, smiled a triumphant smile, looked Jason in the eye and literally giggled, "hee-hee", and went back to his chair to enjoy the spoils of his victory.

Like I said, you might have had to be there to fully appreciate it, but we were all in tears from the laughter.

My Daughter, the Flutist

 For dinner Wednesday night, I had planned to make one of the kids favorites (which is why it's a good go-to Wednesday night meal...no time wasted on fussy eaters when we have to rush to get ready for church), "Eggy Pie", aka quiche.

Norah asked if she could help cook, as usual.  But this time, she requested to flute the crust.  I thought to myself, "Sure, why not. It's just for us.  What does it matter if it looks a little funny?"

 Little did I know, my N has been watching very closely all these times we've made eggy pie together...I didn't even have to show her what to do...and she had perfect fluting technique!

 

Her crust edges looked better than mine usually do.  No wonder she was beaming with pride when she finished!  That'll teach me to doubt my four year-old's culinary skills!  Hmmm...I wonder if she would be interested in taking on the turkey this Thanksgiving...