Thanks to Tabolt...

I have had a sewing machine for years, as I think I mentioned in an earlier blog. Amanda finally taught me at least how to thread it and make it work...I don't know how to make it work well, as I constantly get the strings tangled in the machine and unthreaded, but I have made one good thing that makes me feel like my house feels a bit more country antiquey...farm house'ish. I made this pillow as my 3rd project, the first was a pin cushion, the second a small pillow for Cailen's doll and this was my 3rd. My pillow for Cailen's rocking chair. I am a bit proud of it, so I thought I'd share. I wish I had more time away from my little girls to try to make some other cool stuff. My sewing creativity is on hold for now.

Riley in the swing of things...

Riley loves when I do arm curls to bring her up to my face and kiss her over and over again. She thinks it's hysterical. I think it's funny that she thinks it's funny. She also finds goofy things that Cailen does pretty funny, which I love. She's finally warming up to the swing which is a nice alternative to the bouncer which I feel she is already getting tired of...well, at times anyway. She loves to munch her hands, her toys, her sleeves, her bib...whatever she can munch. She can roll from her back to her belly practically the instant I lay her on her back and then she gets SO mad that she's laying on her belly. Kinda funny. I'm mostly tracking milestones in this note, just for my own records...sorry if this was boring. Oh, and Riley also loves to hold my hand or play with my fingers, I love it.

"Daddy" and "Choo Choo"

Finding Nemo is currently the top of Cailen's list of movies...I have seen it waaaaaay too many times. Because the majority of the movie is Nemo's dad trying to find Nemo she calls the movie "Daddy"...she calls "Dori" - "Mommy."

Reality of the beginning of the movie is that Nemo's parents get a new "house" the anemone and have a few hundred eggs...The wife Coral leaves the anemone (I think this is when this happens) and is faced with a huge vicious fish. She freezes in fear and looks down at her eggs, frozen, looks down, she hurries to try to save her babies, the fish gets her, "Daddy" is knocked unconscious, when he comes to he starts to cry out "Coral!? Coral!?" He can't find his wife because the fish ate her and all the eggs except one. Then he finds his only living family member NEMO as a little round, red, clear egg with a huge eye ball staring out.

Cailen's Story Line: Daddy comes to and starts to call out for Coral; Cailen starts saying "where'd ya go Cor-La? where'd ya go Cor-La?" when the Daddy finds the little egg with Nemo and his big eye ball shining through, Cailen says with confidence and resolution for the situation: "CorLa! A baby -ah ball. Corla." Soooooo, I guess she thinks Nemo as an egg is Coral that the Daddy was calling out/looking for...Woops.

I guess it's better she thinks that for now so she doesn't have to dwell on the fact that the Mommy is gone with the rest of her babies. I just thought Cailen's take on it was cute...and so innocent.

The other movie Cailen's taken a liking to is Cars. Currently she calls most moving vehicles "choo choo" as she does the train that she can see going by in our kitchen window. So when she requests this movie it's "Ah Choo Choo?"

Yesterday I took her to McD's for lunch because we were supposed to be showing the house (they didn't show up.) We never go there so she's not familiar with the model train they have circling overhead there and all the train decorations they have. I pointed out to her the "choo choo" overhead as it was leaving for the other section of the restaurant and she quickly signed please and said "geezhj, choo choo? gheezhj?" that g-word is my attempt to spell how he tries to say please. Every time the train went by she'd sign please and ask for it again. Everytime. It was cute. It was also fun to be not just out of the house but somewhere! I wish I had a car during the day.

The supposed house showing was during naptime so after McD's we came home, played on the porch, played in the back threw some dirt in her hair, took a bath and watched "Choo Choo" and she fell asleep on the couch. Hence the pictures....

Fall already....winter is on it's way!!

Well, it seems fall is here. The time of the year I love to soak in. Every color and flavor, every scent and texture, every spice and every flower, the crunch of leaves and the crispness in the air... I've bought mums for my porch. I've been brewing coffee instead of making instant iced coffee...I've been wearing socks and sweaters...I've wished that I, like the babies, had a nice warm pair of footed jammies (at least to snuggle up on the couch with). I've been contemplating baking but not wanting to eat it all myself...so I refrain. We already have the space heater out. We intend on buying a few more or at least a couple more space heaters. The goal this fall is NOT to turn on the house heat for as long as possible because I can't stomach the OIL bill that will come. Last year we turned it on low in October because it was cold and well, we had a baby...this year we are going to leave it off as long as possible because well, we have two babies...so we will try to maintain a warm environment other ways if necessary.

We put this house on the market almost a year ago and unless we have a miracle this fall, we will inevitably be here for another winter. I have to be creative with the ways we will keep this huge, drafty old oil heated house warm enough to live without having the cost overtake us. I also have to have faith. God has provided for us so many times in the past for so many things. I need to remember HIS promises and believe that HE will again come through for us. Regardless of the stock market. Regardless of the economy. Regardless of the price of OIL. My faith is in HIM, not in my credit card...my credit card may have helped pay the oil last year but it's still following me around asking for me to pay it back...God's love and provision doesn't charge interest and have late fees. He just wants us. He wants our love and commitment to HIM. I will find peace in HIM not in my credit card this winter. He will make a way for us and for you.

My little one is 3 1/2 months old....

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It's amazing to see Riley have a sense of humor already. The other day Kris and Cailen were carrying on, laughing just to laugh and have fun watching each other laugh...dramatically...and while I was nursing Riley she was so distracted by their laughter she kept looking up at me laughing...She could not focus on nursing while Kris and Cailen were laughing. It was so cute to see that though she was doing her own thing and wasn't even watching them, Riley was taken by their laughter and had to join in. As long as they laughed, so did she. My job of nursing the hungry baby was put on hold... So silly. What gets me is that Riley really JUST started laughing much at all this week, and she already knows the context in which is belongs...

I've never been one to say "Oh my gosh your dimples are SO cute!" I never really understood the big deal. Now that I have a baby with chubby cheeks that are dimpled, even when I can't see her mouth, if I see that dimple appear I KNOW she is smiling at me. I love my baby's dimples. I get it now.

Lately, when we drive home at night Cailen has a mission to find the moon everywhere we go...She says "Where'd ya go moon?" while bobbing the appropriate "where did it go" hand gesture up and down..She searches, she finds, then she exclaims "there you go moon!" until the car turns and she has to find it again. Last night she was done with that little mission when she threw her hands over her eyes and said "Cayhnah?... Where'd you go Cayhnah?...." Then she took her hands off of her eyes and said "Cayhnah!" (She hasn't mastered the pronunciation of Cailen yet.) We clapped for her. She repeated the game of peek-a-boo but added one step to it..clapping for herself too....She melts me sometimes, she's so stinkin' cute.