Lullaby and Goodnight

Happy Mother's Day!

2013-05-12T17:18:00.001-04:00

p.s. The "baby clean game" Tillie likes is on Huggies' facebook page. I had to play it to get a wipes coupon.

Mother's Day 2013

2013-05-12T17:04:00.002-04:00

Hello, this is Tim writing. In honor of Mother's Day and Amber, I present:

My Mom

By Tillie Leugs

I really love it when my mom plays the baby clean game on her computer.

My mom likes to wear dresses.

My mom always tells me, “Tillie, time for bed!”

The best thing she does is eat.

It makes her happy when I play with Teddy.

My mom loves to relax in the sunshine.

I like it when she makes puzzles with me!

The best thing she cooks is spaghetti.

When my mom shops she likes to buy Cheese-its.

My mom’s favorite household chore is cleaning the floor.

My mom’s favorite TV show is grown-up shows like house and food shows.

If she could go on a trip, she would go to school with me.

I love my mom because her hair is brown!

I disagree with some of these, but hey, there's truth. Brown hair surely is lovable.

Happy Mother's Day, Amber! Love you!

Tim

Before, During, After

2013-05-11T15:27:00.000-04:00

Hi!
It's Amber. An online message board that I'm part of had kind of a "challenge" to post a picture of you in the morning, right when you got up and compare it to your "ready" self. I thought it was kind of interesting, so you're in luck. I'm sharing the pictures here too. I have some pretty awesome bedhead going on, but really, this isn't bad for 7am.

This is me mid-getting ready. I've combed my hair(I wash it every other day, this was an other day.) and gotten dressed. But looking at this picture, it's better than I think I look sans make-up. Although, I'm realized this sweater doesn't fit me very well.

Freshly make-uped and hair straightened.

Just for kicks, here's the side by side comparison. This is making me feel confident in my choice to sleep and extra 10 minutes at Camp and going to breakfast with just fresh clothes and a ponytail.

4 Years Old

2013-05-07T15:13:00.000-04:00

1. What is your favorite color? Red [This was a surprise to me; I would have guessed pink or yellow. That does explain the red star shirt she picked though!]
2. What is your favorite toy? Legos!
3. What is your favorite fruit? Apple
4. What is your favorite tv show? Lalaloopsy
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Oranges[She must mean Mandarin Oranges.]
6. What is your favorite outfit? Bunny Dress [This one.]
7. What is your favorite game? Candyland
8. What is your favorite snack? Fruit Snacks
9. What is your favorite animal? Parrots
10. What is your favorite song? Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
11. What is your favorite book? Pantone: Colors [This one.]
12. Who is your best friend? Mama
13. What is your favorite cereal? Cap'n Crunch
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Drive my pink car!
15. What is your favorite drink? Milk
16. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Aggie. And 'Pink' and 'Brown'. [Pink and Brown are her two blankets. This is Aggie.]
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cereal!
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Spaghetti and Broccoli. And cupcakes!
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Maybe a nurse.

So Much To Do, But Not Yet

2013-05-06T15:56:00.001-04:00

The first week of June is going to be crazy busy for our family.

It's Tim's last week of school. He has a half day on Thursday the 6th. He still has to report for grades, cleaning, etc on the 7th.
My cousin Leah is getting married on Friday the 7th. The wedding is in Grand Haven.
Saturday is Camp's 100th Anniversary. Tim is on the committee(he actually told them no twice because he knew I was already stressed out about this week 6 months ago.) and I'm helping out at one event.
Somewhere in there, we have to move to Camp. In the past we've moved in on that Saturday. Obviously that won't be an option this year.

So, Tim has a lot of things to do for the last week of school, but a lot of it I can't help with and can't really be done before school ends. He will get it all done though, because if you haven't realized it, my husband is awesome. I'd feel better about it all if Wednesday was the last half-day of school though. Too bad I don't get to make the schedule. (There wouldn't be Parent/Teacher Conferences on Valentine's Day, that's for sure!)

Leah's wedding is going to be awesome and fun. It's not great timing, but she got the date to me first, so she wins. ;) I love weddings, I love the beach and I love Leah and James. Win-win. I've had a babysitter booked for month. Date night!

The Anniversary will be fun, but it's a freaking ton of work(for everyone, not just my family). Hopefully the weather will cooperate and a ton of people come. It's the grand opening of the new rope swing!

All of that is going to work out. It's the moving to Camp that I'm most stressed out about. It's been so warm lately(finally!) that it seems like I should be packing for Camp, but I can't do that yet because we still need everything this coming month. The weather's just tricking me. We're actually living in the same apartment this year -- the first time we'll live in the same place twice at Camp. I'm very happy about that. I like the location(quiet, away from Campers), amenities(bathtub, internet, three bedrooms) and general feeling(newish -- no mold!). With all the craziness of that week in June we'd actually decided to move to Camp before school ended this year. Then we found out that our apartment actually won't be available until June 1. My mom is a HUGE help when we move in. She does the most of the cleaning, if I'm completely honest. We had planned on doing the cleaning the last week in May when Tillie was done with school. So, now we'll do it on June 1 -- except my mom has plans that day and I submitted Tillie to be in a local designer's photo shoot on that day. (It's a pretty slim chance on that photo shoot, but I once won a "trash the dress" session that I couldn't do because of work so going forward I'm going to keep dates like that open.) Tim says he'll clean the apartment instead of the nature center that day.

It will all get done. It will be okay. I've been anxious about this weekend since the anniversary date was announced. I think it's just that I can't do anything about it at this point. I have to wait for the busyness to start.

I mostly just needed to type this out so I could see it. I don't know that it helped. It still feels a little overwhelming. ;)

Here's a picture of my cute kids, just because. These are the kinds of outfits I have to wear now because they don't work so well at Camp.

"Backpack"

2013-04-29T08:45:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning I dug in Teddy's closet to find a new pair of shoes for him. As I did that his suitcase was left in the middle of his room. Immediately after seeing it he pointed and yelled, "Backpack!" He proceeded to drag it all over the house.

When I said was time for church he continued on to the door, got it down the steps into the breezeway and was ready to take it out the door.

Tillie asked me why Teddy was ready for vacation.

Macaroni Patterns

2013-04-28T14:27:00.000-04:00

You may have seen that Tillie and I took a necklace making class at Dreamspun during Spring Break. It was geared towards younger(but older than Tillie) girls and focused on patterns at knot tying. I did most of the work when we were there.

Today when I picked Tillie up from TLC at church she was wearing a pasta necklace. She excitedly told me something right away, but I didn't really listen because I was trying to get her to say thank you and give her the star cookie I picked for her. When we got to Tim he noticed the necklace and admired it. I said, it looks pretty good, you can kind of see a pattern even. To which Tillie replied, "I did make a pattern Mom!"

Sure enough. She did. An ABCC pattern, which wasn't even one we practiced. You can see where her supplies must have run out of the colors she needed so she started a new one.

This makes me so happy.

Semi-Famous

2013-04-26T22:01:00.000-04:00

(Dale G. Young / The Detroit News)

On Monday when we went downtown a photographer stopped us to ask our names as they took our picture. I had been checking mlive.com for it, but it turns out they weren't from the Grand Rapids Press, but the Detroit News. I'm even quoted. Read the article, here.

A '100 Year Flood'

2013-04-22T16:41:00.003-04:00

I'm not going to lie, I don't 100% know what that means. I do know it means that the Grand River is crazy high and a lot of people are having MAJOR flooding issues. Our house is just fine. I took the kids downtown today to see the flooding there. It crested yesterday, so it's already receded a bit. It just seemed like they should have pictures to "prove" they lived through it, like the pictures my parents have shown me from the blizzard of '78.

For kicks, here I am on the river path(It's in between the river bank and light posts.) with Tillie during ArtPrize.

Ruffle Shorties

2013-04-14T18:48:00.002-04:00

Tillie has a few dresses-turned-tunics that I'd like her to be able to wear this summer. It can be too hot for capris or jeans and shorts just aren't always cute enough. Enter the Ruffle Shortie!

Companies like Matilda Jane and Georgia Grace sell them for $30+, that is if you can get them. Depending on the brand they can sell out nearly instantly. I saw a tutorial online on how to make them out of Target leggings. I took that one step further and bought pink polka dotted leggings at the thrift store -- on half off day. So yeah, I paid 50¢ for these, plus about 30 minutes of time. That's more my style lately.

Are they well made? No, not really. But they should last her the summer. This week I found some co-ops where you can order some for under $10, but I hate how long co-ops take. I'm certainly tempted though! I'll probably just end up making her two more pairs in navy and red to complete some other outfits I have in mind.

Tillie loves them, so they're definitely a win. (Please excuse my daughter's blindingly white legs. It's been winter for the past 10 months or so.)

Growth

2013-04-11T20:58:00.000-04:00

Teddy's 18 month check-up was on Monday. He currently weighs 22lbs 5.5oz which is the 25th percentile. That's up from 10% at 15 months! He weighs pretty much what Tillie did at 15 months. He was measured at 30.75 inches, but he was fighting it so much that I think he's actually taller. His pants are more than half an inch shorter on him than three months ago. Anyway, his height is in the 5-15th percentile. His big ole head is 19.25 inches, which is the 85th percentile.

18 Months

2013-04-03T23:30:00.000-04:00

Happy year and a half, little man!

You are a funny, silly guy. You love animals, trucks and books. I thought you were going to jump out of my arms when you saw an excavator knocking down a building in the Nordstrom Rack parking lot this morning.

You started walking last week and every day you walk more. I think you may have walked today more than you scooted. You use a lot of words including up, dinosaur, thank you, please, more, all done, truck, dog, cheese, happy and bye bye.

Your favorite toys are Tillie's Little People dollhouse, balls, tractors and Legos. Your favorite foods are bananas, fruit snacks, marshmallows and smoothies. You dance around whenever you hear music.

Your sister has finally realized that you're fun to play with. She tells me she doesn't want you to take a nap so you can stay with her. You steal her water bottle whenever yours is empty. She does the same thing with yours.

We love you little Ted! I can't wait to see what the next 6 months hold for you.

Easter "Family" Photos

2013-03-31T21:27:00.000-04:00

With mom.

With Dad.

And as an added bonus, my favorite picture of the day. It's my kids with my cousins Renee and Rachael's babies. They're pretty much exactly a year younger than Teddy.

Dia - Tillie - Teddy - Soren

My Baby Walks!

2013-03-27T18:55:00.002-04:00

After a handful of times "making" him walk, yesterday night he randomly started taking steps across the room. On his own. free. will. And was grinning about it.

He's still cautious, but he walks quite a bit during the day. At least at his 18 month check up in two weeks I can say he's walking now!

Harmonica Dance Party

2013-03-26T20:56:00.002-04:00

Since Teddy actually took steps today (multiple times!) on his own free will, I thought I should quickly post this video of his "dancing" skills from last night. I'm assuming that as soon as he really gets going with walking I won't see these awesome moves as much anymore.

Yes, that's my daughter on the harmonica. She already has an agent. Please no calls. ;)

Easter Eggs

2013-03-24T22:11:00.000-04:00

About 2 weeks ago Tillie asked me if we could make Easter Eggs. I told her no because we didn't have the supplies. Thus every day she would ask me, "Did you get the eggsupplies yet?" It kind of sounded like extra surprise and I had no idea what she was talking about for the first few days. Finally we saw a PAAS commercial together and I figured it out. I tried to play it off because I never remember dying eggs to be a good experience. Plus, I don't like large cups of clothes staining liquid around my kids clothes.

But, then we were at Target with my mom last week and I happened upon the Easter section. The Egg dye cups came home with us. Finally today I said ,"yes." She may have been a little excited.

When I asked her what her favorite color was she pointed to each of them individually.

She had Tim write an 'M' on an egg for her that she wanted to go in the pink dye. As I was writing an 'A' on my egg she pointed, touched, and tipped over the purple dye(in a green cup) down the side of the cupboard.

Oh, and it also landed on her brother who was still wearing his church clothes from this morning

After a big clean-up session we finished the eggs. Tim declared that egg decorating with the kids would be his job. I said I'd rather blow out the yolks and paint them. We'll see what we actually do next year.

Still No Walking

2013-03-21T21:06:00.001-04:00

The thing is? He totally could. He stands without holding onto things to play all. the. time.

He actually took 5 steps to me yesterday, but I don't think he realized he did it because he was crying and wanted me to pick him up. Here's more proof: Have you every tried one of these strollers? They're more unstable than a Maclaren with a diaper bag on the bag. Yet he walks behind it no problem.

I recently bought him squeaky sandals from ThredUp for $4.50. (ThredUp is pretty sweet online consignment shop, use this link for $10 off your first purchase.) He does seem to really like hearing the squeak, so hopefully those help motivate him. (At home. I won't put other people through that squeak noise.)

Not Spring

2013-03-18T20:19:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was the day I told Tillie it would be almost spring. There was less snow than a week ago.

However, it is currently snowing again. *sigh* I was okay with winter until now. Now I'm ready for a little bit warmer weather. I'm sick of boots and pants.

So is Tillie. It's why while Teddy was wearing a thermal with long pants, she was wearing a short sleeved dress. (We didn't go anywhere today, so I just went with it.) We put a tent up in the living room. At least we could pretend that we were outside.

Teddy's Room - Sneak Peek

2013-03-11T11:03:00.002-04:00

All of a sudden last week I decided Teddy's room needed an update. All we did after Tillie moved out was to put his name on the wall and take the pink lamp out. Her picture was even still in the frame until last Friday.

Here's a sneak peek of what I've been working on.

So far we've spent $11 -- 2 sets of sheets and "lighting". Most of the items have been repurposed from other spaces in the house. One of the things I need to complete the room is from Ikea(which is also the priciest addition to the room), so I don't know when it will be finished. Teddy LOVES the paper garland. We put it up yesterday and he smiles and points at it whenever we walk into his room.

Snow. A Lot Of It.

2013-03-09T12:13:00.000-05:00

Since Valentine's Day Tillie has been asking when it was going to be spring. I told her we had to wait until Uncle Philip's birthday, the 20th. AKA, the first day of Spring. She's dying to play with her outside toys.

We have countdown to St. Patrick's Day and that happens to be when we're celebrating Philip's birthday. Tillie is convinced that that is when Spring will be here and the snow will be gone.

I just don't think that's going to happen. In fact, I'm pretty sure that some of these snow banks will still be here in April. I've tried to hint that to her, but we'll see if it works.

Rainbows

2013-03-08T13:48:00.001-05:00

I'm in the process of updating a little bit of the decor in Teddy's room so it's less "nursery" and more "Teddy's room." It's nothing major, but I'm excited about a few switches. The only thing we did when he was born was hang his name on the wall. Everything else stayed the same! (Even the baby picture of Tillie on the wall. As of today it's finally Ted.)

I didn't have any big plans for the bookcase, but it just wasn't looking good. Books were tumbling all over and thrown on it willy-nilly. I decided to sort it by color. I know it won't stay this way for more than 3 hours, but it was cute when I did it!

Tillie thought it was great that there was a rainbow that matched her and Aggie's dresses today. She helped me find more books from other rooms in the colors we needed too.

(As soon as I pulled the rainbow dress out for her she said, "Aggie can match me today! And ran to the doll clothes bin to fine Aggie's dress.)

Clothing Storage

2013-03-07T07:39:00.001-05:00

I had a e-mail recently asking me about how I store my kids' clothes. I kind of love organizing clothes. I know it's ridiculous, but I'm super-excited to switch out the closets soon and get everything in it's correct bin.

Teddy's storage is pretty much the same as Tillie's was in this post. Tillie has more clothes and more space to organize it. It's fun. The clothes she wears currently are in her dressers.

The only drawers that are full are the socks(I know, weird, since she doesn't really like socks) and long-sleeved tees(Also weird, since she doesn't like long sleeves and makes me roll them.)

Yeah, her underwear drawer is a little large, but it used to hold pull-ups too. I needed it to be a place where she could get them out, hence the low drawer. The random room storage drawer is things like the extention cord for her Christmas tree and and more drawer liner paper. When/If she and Teddy ever share a room this will be his dresser. It won't be too hard to get all of her clothes into the other dresser.

I do a lot of shopping ahead for my kids via garage sales, after season clearance, goodwill, facebook, etc. I store Tillie's in Rubbermaid bins in her closet.

Her baby box has things like her coming home outfit, baptism gown, baby book, 1st Matilda Jane dress, birthday outfits I've made and birthday cards.

The buy-aheads always start out sorted by season, but by the time they make it in the attic they're just labeled by size because the seasons get mixed up. Her 3t bin from last summer(and a few things added after Christmas) is in the attic. The 3t bin that's in her closet is things that she might wear again this spring/early summer and things that I've pulled for storage(snowmen and penguins).

Before this year her feet grew much faster, so I thought that last summer she would wear size 8 and this past winter she'd wear size 9. That was so wrong. She's just starting to be able to wear size 8, but nearly all of her 7s still fit too. So, we have a surplus of shoes in the sizes to come. I've stopped buying shoes ahead, unless they're Saltwaters on a super-deal.

There's a shelf above her hanging clothes that's mostly under-utilized and is for storing things I don't want her and her brother to get into. There's one smaller bin that matches the others in her closet. I put clothes that are a different size that needs to go into attic storage there. (There's a couple 2t dresses that she re-wore this winter. I want to make sure they go back in the 2t bucket and not stuffed in the 3t one.)

Let me know if you have any questions.

The Things I Find

2013-03-06T07:18:00.000-05:00

I guess Tillie's Little People family homeschools.

Kids in Bed

2013-03-05T15:30:00.003-05:00

I read something(I think on pinterest) about taking pictures of your kids doing everyday things. I make my kids pose for outfits pictures all the time, but it's not their natural state. So, last night I took pictures of putting them to bed. Teddy though it was so funny to have us hanging out in his room.

Teddy Baby is ready for bed, sleepsack on, MAM 'nuk' in his mouth and Aden + Anais blankie tag in hand.

And here's my Tillie-Girl in bed, brown Saranoni blankie on her legs under the covers, pink Saranoni blankie on her head, MAM 'nuk' in her mouth and Emmy tucked in next to her.

When I went to turn her light off before I went to bed I found her like this.

Pierre

2013-03-04T15:55:00.001-05:00

"I just want to take him home for my bed."

It's much harder to tell her no when I kind of wanted to take him home, too.