thimbly things

As the summer is drawing to a close (fingers crossed), I thought it might be nice to reflect on summer adventures of old. This has been a fairly uneventful one for us, especially since we have two little ones. It’s truly difficult to get out and have adventures. Thank you, Dear Internet, for giving us a window to the outside world. ;)

First, let’s look at a typical college summer for us:

Pretty ridiculous, huh? I’m the one at the bottom of the pic, and I’m just not even going to try to explain this. Evan was there somewhere, but I doubt there are any pictures of us together from that particular summer. And that’s another story that deserves its own blog entry. Anyway, this was the summer of 2001.

Continuing with the theme of self-deprecation, here’s what I was doing in the almost-summer (actually it’s dated for spring, but it was hot, I was at the beach, and this is a pretty good indication of my life at the time) of 2004. You can find me on your own if you so desire. ;) There’s no Evan in the picture because he and I were a no-go at the time. And he was in Panama.

Two summers ago, Evan and I joined his family for vacation in England. Here we are with Paddington Bear in, of course, Paddington Station. I was 20 weeks pregnant (which is halfway) with Emily.

And our little family last summer:

This summer, the family is one larger. Evan and I are all grown up… no longer dressing like hooligans and traipsing about Myrtle Beach without a care. We’re focused on our little creative worlds and our babies. We may not be able to travel to Europe or even to the beach this year, but our lives are good. We are content to be in this exciting new season of our lives, teaching our children, writing, drawing, changing diapers, baking granola, staying cool, and loving one another.

Here’s my entry for the Summer Fun Photo Contest at 5 Minutes for Mom. This is Emily keeping cool at Tulsa’s Riverwalk.

Thanks, Kristi, for the heads-up!

EDIT: Thanks, everyone, for your kind words!  I wasn’t a finalist, but with around 400 fabulous entries, I’m not surprised.  Please check out the finalists and vote for your favorite.  What a bunch of wonderful photographers and beautiful babies!

I really wasn’t kidding yesterday when I said I’m addicted to Picniking on Flickr.  (And you may be learning that I mean it when I say I’m addicted to something… at least for a day or two!)  I tinkered with these watercolor flowers I painted for Evan’s Mom until I thought they might make a cool postcard.  Now does anyone know how to go about printing postcards? :)

And here’s a crazy before & after of Emily spinning in the kitchen:

And now my favorites (I tried to choose just one and couldn’t decide!):

This seems to have become an “On My Desk” blog.  I apologize.  There’s much more going on around here than me arranging stuff on flat surfaces.  But anyway.  On my desk today is a bowl full of various trims and scraps, small yarn balls, embroidery floss, and an unwieldy stack of fabric.  I can’t tell you yet what all this business is for, but I promise to keep you updated.  Lord willing, that is.

In today’s quest to procrastinate from the aforementioned secret project, I fiddled with Flickr’s Picnik tool.  Which I suppose is akin to Photoshop.

Yeah.  This is kinda addictive…  Especially when one has Hundreds of pictures of sweet babies.

Sorry I went missing for so long! I haven’t been on the computer much this week. In fact, I imagine that my RSS feed is up to 700 posts by now. Yikes! I’ll probably just clean the slate and start afresh.

The main reason I have neglected my blog is that I’ve been busy learning what to do with my toddler. She’s changing. And that’s good. But I don’t know how to change with her. Thus, I am learning–reading a lot and trying new tactics.

This week I found a pamphlet entitled Creative Family Times: Practical Activities for Building Character in your Preschooler amongst the books that Ruthanne sent me. Though my parenting style doesn’t match all the suggestions given by the book (it can be a little rigid), it had a great idea about making “mommy & daddy tapes” for your toddler. In fact, Evan and I are trying to figure out how to record audio on our home computer so we can make her a CD.

Here are some of the ideas in the book:

• Bible verses
• Songs
• Alphabet
• Godly character definitions
• Numbers
• Days of the week
• Months of the year
• Child’s name, address, and phone number
• Manners

It even has a sample script. I think it will be fun to gear this toward Emily and her many and varied interests. And I think it will be more constructive than even the best children’s television programs.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this and any other ideas you have for keeping toddlers busy, challenged, and on track. Please! :)

Also up for discussion: How do you create “more hours in your day?”

[EDIT: Jacob turned 3 months yesterday!  Happy quarter-birthday to him!]

But you’re all welcome to enjoy.  Emily asks to get in the “rock-king chair” all the time now.   She’s such a sweetie.

Sorry to go away for so long. We’ve been under the weather for a few days. Anyway, I’m glad several of you enjoyed Polyvore. If you join, let me know. I’d love to see your creations!

I’ve been feeling the burden of ‘thank you’ cards. Do you ever feel that burden? I hate to call it that. Indeed, I am grateful for what others do for us. My problem is that when Jacob arrived, I stopped writing those lovely little notes. I wrote several beforehand (which I have yet to distribute), and then it all came to a screeching halt. There’s much irony in the situation. Much. But anyway, I’m confessing to you, Dear Reader, that I am slack and need to get to it. (Here’s something to help. And to remind me that I’m not alone. Thank you, Amanda Soule, you awesome fellow Bloglandian.)

As a ‘thank you’ for visiting–

And here’s a bit more catch-up–

We went to the Riverwalk here in Tulsa a couple Saturdays ago, and Emily had just about the best time ever. As a side note, she’s wearing the dress her Bibi made her. Isn’t it cute? Thanks, Bibi!!!

She played with sticks. She made a friend. She played in the water. She cried when it was over.

Though Emily’s not accustomed to showing affection toward her peers, her new friend taught her a lesson or two. Very cute.

Then we let Emily loose in the fountain. She slowly built up her courage and was eventually running (yikes!) through the geysers of water. Many thanks to our friend Heather for helping with this exciting activity so I could photograph it.

That would be Heather in the cool black & white dress showing Emily how to present her best spirit-fingers to the waterspout.

Here is something I’m pretty sure you’ll love if you’re female and have babies.  And if neither of those things are true of you, you still might enjoy it.  But no guarantee.

We got a package in the mail today.  Yes.  Another.  Because we have so many kind and generous people in our lives.  Evan’s parents are packing up their home and moving, so a few neat items were passed on to us in the process.  Mom D also made Emily a dress, but I have to do a little something to it before it’s finished.  Then I’ll share.

Aren’t these plaques adorable though?  The first one reminds me of Emily and Jacob.  The second reminds me of my niece, D’Lorah.  I never see her, but I imagine she looks something like this.

I found a similar plaque at the QTS a while back.  These two were made by Mom D.  And the potholder was made by her grandmother.  It’s destined to go on the wall too.  But I might frame it first.  Hmm.

Welcome to our home, sweet little sentimental things.

(The “Sugar” and “Coffee” needlepoints were thrifted from the Salvation Army a few months ago.  I just never got around to sharing.)

Yesterday was Jacob’s 2 month birthday.   This is the best picture I could get of him almost-smiling.  He can roll from his tummy to his back and can turn 180 degrees in his bassinet.  And I think he sees us all pretty well now.  We love him.

We had a cookout in the park with friends, went to the zoo, had a chocolate cream pie milkshake from Sonic, and ate at Daddy’s favorite local restaurant.  We also got all caught up on Battlestar Galactica.  What wonderful things did you guys do to celebrate your daddies?