My Hobby

I like to quilt.  A year and a half ago my friend taught me how to cut pieces and sew them back together again and even match corners.  Since then, I have pieced two quilts for the boys' beds, one for a ward secret santa project last year, one half finished jean quilt in pieces under my bed, and a baby quilt for a friend of mine.  I like to quilt, but only get to do it once in a while.  In fact, I started the boys' quilts a year and a half ago before I got pregnant with Olivia.  That really slowed me down, but they will be finished!  My friend is machine quilting them for me and I should get them back the first weekend in November!  The only thing left will be to sew on the bindings and that could take another year and a half - but I hope not.

So here are pictures of the baby quilt I made last week for a friend of mine.  Now where did I find time to sew?  You guessed it - I have a lot of cleaning this week to make up for what I didn't do last week.  :)  It was really nice to take a break from the usual jobs around the house and sew the baby quilt.  I had a lot of fun.  I just had to post some pictures because I thought it turned out really cute.

This is the whole quilt.  It is made from all flannel fabrics.  The big blocks are 8" squares, and the small blocks are 4" squares.  I think the yellow border was 1 1/2  inches wide before I sewed on the binding.  I used warm and natural cotton batting and it turned out really soft and warm.  To quilt it, I first assembled the back, batting, and top and used pins to hold the layers in place.  Then, I just fed it through my sewing machine.

Here is a close-up of the quilt.  You will have to click on the picture to see it big.  I just loved the dog print and had to find colors to go with it.  The light blue print has puppy paw prints.  The blue and green just seemed to fit because they matched the colors on the back.

Here is a shot of the back of the quilt.  It has narrow stripes of yellow, blue, and green.

Making this quilt makes me excited to find some more fabric and make another.  This quilt was really easy since it was all squares.  The next one will need some triangles.  :)

This morning I read, Daughters of God, an April 2008 conference talk by Elder Ballard.  My favorite quote from his talk helps me not feel so guilty for ignoring my house for a week.  

"...sisters, find some time for yourself to cultivate your gifts and interests. Pick one or two things that you would like to learn or do that will enrich your life, and make time for them. Water cannot be drawn from an empty well, and if you are not setting aside a little time for what replenishes you, you will have less and less to give to others, even to your children."

I get overwhelmed all the time with all I do at home with my kids.  It's nice to have a hobby I can do to replenish my well.  Whether it is reading a book, quilting, or just taking an out-of-the-house-by- myself break, it really helps me love my kids (or housework) more when I'm done.

I love rice cereal

Olivia is ready for rice cereal.  She is in her high chair, bib on, and has no idea what is about to happen to her.  Until now she has been on a milk diet and it's her first time trying solids.  As usual, she is her smiley self.  That's my hand on her side holding her up so she doesn't fall over.

Rice is a big hit.  Olivia was anxious to eat more and more.  Her cute tongue tried to push it back out a lot, but for first time mush eating she did great.

Still smiling!  I think her brothers and sisters were behind me making faces at Olivia while she ate.

I had to put this one in.  Adam is so excited to watch Olivia eat from a spoon.  He really got her kicking and smiling during feeding time.  Can you see me trying to show Olivia how to open her mouth?  

Well, Olivia loves rice.  She has all week.  I love rice because it lets me sleep longer when Olivia does. Next week we might try oatmeal.

It's Joshua's 2nd birthday!

Joshua turned 2 on October 3rd.  I can't believe it's been two years.  (But I say that everytime one of my kids has a birthday.)

Joshua was a little timid when it was time to open gifts.  He stayed right by Michael and was hesitant to even open his gifts.  (yes, wrapped in leftover Christmas paper)

Miriam could't stand the suspense.  She showed Joshua where to tear the paper, and tried to help with each gift.  He just wasn't moving fast enough for her.  Miriam reminds me of myself as a child.

Joshua couldn't figure out why we lit candles and pushed the cake closer to him.  All afternoon I had been telling him, "no touch."  

When we started singing "Happy Birthday" to Joshua, and everyone looked at him, Joshua hid his head until we were done singing.

Now comes the part where the birthday boy blows out his candles, right?

Not this birthday boy.  He held this pose for 2 minutes while we all tried to tell him to blow out candles, and show him how.  After all, doesn't every 2-year old already know to blow out candles?  :)  Finally, Michael and Adam helped Joshua by blowing the candles out for him.

Joshua might have been a little more reserved than usual during his birthday celebration because we had company!  My sisters, Jenny, and Jamie, and Jamie's husband, Pat, came for cake and ice cream.  We had a great visit, and I had to laugh when both my sisters wore red too.  We didn't even plan it.

Monday after Joshua's birthday, a box arrived from my family in Wyoming.  Inside were books, snacks, art supplies, and cards.  (did I miss something?)  Joshua's favorite item from the box was the hoops and yoyo card (http://www.hoopsandyoyo.com) from my sister, Michele.  Everytime you open the card, it chants, "we want ice cream, we want ice cream..."  Joshua just sat and grinned ear to ear.  He played with that card all night, the next day, and still today.

Happy Birthday Joshua - We sure love you!

Our Denver Trip

The last week of September our family took a road trip to Denver. Michael needed to go for work. He is changing careers and teaching seminars instead of hiding in the basement on the computer. The kids and I played. We didn't see much of Michael except in the evenings, so most of our pictures are of what we did while he was busy all day.
One of the places we visited was the Children's Museum of Denver.  http://www.cmdenver.org  The kids had so much fun. The exhibits are best described as interactive playscapes. It was amazing to see each different area and the many adventures my kids could have as they played with everything.
At the Museum, Emily loved the Market area where she could push her own shopping cart around the room and fill it with a variety of plastic food. She also loved the Assembly Plant where she could use real tools to construct items out of recycled materials. The basketball court, and magnetic board with tons of letters, words, and picture magnets to line up also kept her attention. Miriam loved the Market and Assembly Plant too. While Emily was busy elsewhere, Miriam put on a smock and painted two huge pictures with acrylic paints. We had to wait for them to dry, but it felt like no time at all because there were plenty of things to see and do. Miriam also enjoyed climbing up on the real fire engine. Adam really loved the train room. There were hundreds of track pieces and train cars to assemble and rearrange.  Adam also liked the Market, and had fun pretending to be a veterinarian. It took a while, but we finally convinced Adam to climb up into the fire engine. Once there, we couldn't drag him out. Joshua loved doing what everyone else was doing. He pushed shopping carts, he lined up letters, he threw basketballs, and stole Adam's trains. He had a lot of fun and we wore him out. It was a really good thing Grandma Griffith went with us. In fact, she came with us on all of our adventures all week. I am so grateful for her help with my 5 small kids!

Another fun place we saw was the Littleton Historical Museum  

http://www.littletongov.org/museum/default.asp  At the Historical Museum, we toured an 1860's farm, and an 1890's farm.  The kids saw farm animals (horses, cow, pigs, sheep, chickens), houses of each time period, one-room school house, blacksmith's shop, and gardens.  They couldn't find bathrooms in the houses, and were shocked people used to use outhouses.  The kids didn't like the geese that roamed free, but loved the animals behind fences.  In fact, the kids loved it so much, we spent 2 mornings there.  They wanted to go back.

One afternoon, Irene (Grandma Griffith) and I took the kids to a park.  Next to the park is a small creek with lots and lots of sand brought in for a nice bank.  It reminded meof the day we roasted hotdogs in the mountains when my 4 oldest kids ran towards the water and started throwing handfulls of sand into the water.  I guess they couldn't find any large rocks.
Of course, the kids loved playing with their Griffith, Cook, and Farmer cousins.  We kept busy all week and it was a nice break from the normal routine.  



See more of our fun pictures on the slideshow:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I shouldn't put this in, but mothers of little boys might get a big laugh.  The night before we were coming home, Michael and I were busy talking to Michael's parents.  The kids were all playing nicely - or so we thought.  Evidently, the last girl to have a bath didn't let all the water out of the tub.  My little boys climbed in the tub - clothes and all -  and took the toilet brush in with them.  The thought is still so discusting!  So we got them out of the tub, and out of their wet clothes (Joshua's diaper soaked up about 40 lb. of water), and Grandma cleaned the tub while I kept the boys from running away.  (she also got the picture)  When she was done cleaning, I bent down to rinse out the last of the bubbles, and start the real bath water.  While I wasn't looking - you guessed it! - Joshua peed on my socks!

Picnic in the Mountains

We thought it would be fun to take the kids up the canyon for a picnic in the mountains.  It is only our 2nd trip ever.  Last time we did it, Adam was the 4-month old baby.  So it's been 3 years.  Yes, that shows how often this Mom really thinks about driving up in the mountains and building a campfire (and trying to convince the kids to use the outhouse).  :)  Well, we did it.  We packed food for hotdogs, chips, and smores.  When the girls got out of school, we drove to a picnic area in the canyon next to the river, which was Michael's requirement, and unloaded our stuff.  First things first, Joshua had to roll in the dirt.  He wasn't used to non-flat terrain and couldn't stay on his feet.  He was adorable walking up the side of the mountain, and even funnier as he sat on his bum and scooted back down.  He couldn't quite figure out how to walk downhill.  While Joshua was treating the mountainside as a slide, the oldest three ran all over gathering sticks for the fire.  We brought logs, but needed smaller stuff to get the fire going.  Michael got the job of building the fire, and I found sticks to roast hot dogs and marshmallows.  

I had to take a picture of him covered in dirt, and Dorito cheese.  This was the beginning of our picnic, so he got a lot worse before we went home.  I think I washed his hands at least twice by the time this picture was taken.  It didn't help, they were constantly covered in dirt, food, charcoal, and sticks.  He loved it!  In fact, I found myself washing kids hands over and over the whole time.  

Three of my cute kids sit down for dinner of hotdogs and doritos.  A kid's dream- no veggies! (Although, at home they get to eat one bite of veggies for each year of their age.  It's a rule we started when Emily was about 2, and they all have accepted it.  They don't have to eat their vegetables, but if they don't, they can't have seconds on any other food so they usually end up eating them.)

After hotdogs, the kids explored the area near the river.  Yes, that's 4 active kids who run in separate directions at once.  Emily even brought her bug vacuum.  It's her second one.  Her birthday vacuum broke, so she bought another one with her birthday money.  I had to laugh when she declared, "there are no bugs in the mountains!"  She just didn't look hard enough.  Eventually, she found some and the show-and-tell began.

The kids finally discover the river.  They threw rocks in the water forever.  Even Joshua got down by the edge of the water to throw rocks.  In fact, we couldn't drag him away.  He wanted to stay.  After a really long time for the parents, we finally got the kids back to the fire to roast marshmallows.  Joshua wouldn't come.  He fought Michael, kicking and screaming, all 31 lbs. of himself, back to the picnic table because he wanted to be by the river.  He even tried to run back to the water when Michael put him down, but once he saw the marshmallows his whole attitude changed and he was all for dessert.  Chocolate, graham crackers, marshmallows, he had it all.

Michael was busy cooking lots of hotdogs, 1 or 2 at a time, for 4 hungry kids.  After the kids were full, Michael finally got to make his own hotdog.  

Olivia was all eyes in the mountains.  She soaked in all the new sights and loved sitting up to see even more.  She didn't like the campfire smoke that kept following her around.  

So it was a really fun time.  They kids were so excited to do something different.  I loved seeing them enjoy nature - and I do like nature too.  I love how peaceful it is away from everything.  I love the trees, the sound of the river, and the fresh mountain air.  But having said that, I don't think our family will be taking any overnight camping trips anytime soon.  Another picnic, absolutely.  Just as long as it is over and we are home in time for everyone to have a BATH before bedtime.  ;)  

A short note on Olivia:  At her doctor's appointment on Monday, she was barely 12 lbs., and almost 24" long (23.88" to be exact).  She is in the 12th percentile at 4 months old, and strong and healthy - just petite.

My Wonderful Miriam!

This post is all about Miriam!  The last few have highlighted her siblings so it's time to talk about all the wonderful things Miriam is doing.

Miriam is in 1st grade and loves it.  She has two teachers.  One teaches in the morning and the other teacher comes after lunch.  I like it.  Between the two of them, they should be able to come up with work to keep Miriam from getting bored.  So far, they are still "assessing the students" and Miriam thinks school is boring.  This is because she is an excellent reader and loves to read.  Her favorite books are Junie B. Jones and the Little House on the Prairie series.  I have started reading books by Judy Bloom to her and her sister and they love them too.  As for 1st grade math, "it's boring."  My smart girl has already mastered single number addition, but that's what they are working on right now.  I'm glad she loves doing her homework and gets it done fast when she comes home.  Sometimes I have to talk her into not doing the whole week's worth of math the teacher sends home on Mondays.  She wants to do it all at once instead of one page each night.  So school has it's ups and downs for Miriam.

My favorite time of day with Miriam is picking her up from school.  Ever since she started kindergarten last year, she has greeted me with a great big smile, and charged me to give a big hug.  I love it!  Now as a big 1st grader she still does it.  I just can't forget to brace for the impact.  Miriam can knock me over if I'm not ready for the hug.  :)  It's usually accompanied by multiple expressions of "I love you Mom" and "I missed you all day, Mom."

One of Miriam's favorite jobs at home is washing the pans while doing dishes.  It's fun to fill the sink with lots and lots of water and Tablespoons of dish soap to stir while the pan sits in the bottom.  Sometimes there is more water on the floor and counter than in the sink, but she is a great helper regardless.

Sometimes when the homework is done, dinner is over, and dishes are finished, Miriam likes to play outside in the backyard with her brothers and older sister.  Her favorite place is the dirt pile!  (imagine that!)  No dirt is as fun to look at, as it is to roll in.  Once one kid has found the dirt pile, it's bath night for them all.  Often it includes spraying the dirt out of their hair first before running the bath water.  So if I can keep Miss Miriam out of the dirt, the rest will usually stay away too.

Some other things Miriam is good at are: spelling, drawing, singing, arts and crafts, storytelling, and being a friend.  

She is a very nice and good girl.  (Miriam told me to write that sentence.)

I love my Miriam!

"and I love my Mom" - (Miriam told me to write this too)