He's A Big Boy Now!

Ok, so it took me a long long LONG time to be ready to potty train Logan.  It's one of my absolute least favorite things to do - I'd honestly rather change a diaper than scrape poop out of underpants and off the floor...but I guess the boy has to grow up sometime...

Kyle had a week off, so we started together and Logan had a pretty good week with very few accidents.  Then Kyle went back to work and Logan and I had a couple of very rough weeks where I'm pretty sure a lot of his "accidents" were not so accidental.  

However, for the past 3 days now he has gone without a mess the whole day and last night even asked if he could wear underpants to bed instead of a pull-ups.  I told him he had to stop wetting at night and go first thing in the morning, so this morning he got up at 7 a.m. and hollered, "I need to go potty!!" and he made it!  

I am so proud of my little man.  He has the biggest imagination and the silliest sense of humor.  He is extremely stubborn... but he loves to play and dance and eat and run and sing and shoot his toy guns and make all kinds of noises all the time!  It's hard to believe how fast he is growing up. 

Meggers has been thriving at school...she loves learning to read and has made so many good friends.  This month her class had all sorts of fun reading and having activities every week.  She really liked dressing up with her friends.



P.S. - just after I posted this entry I walked into the living room to find Logan soaking wet with poop in his pants...sigh...well, we're getting there...

Happy Birthday Grandpa Baird!

Keeping Busy...

So February was cold...still...but busy.  Megan and her Daddy made use of all this snow we've had and built a snowman and a little igloo.  They had a lot of fun together.  

Logan had his first dentist visit this month and he did great! He was so excited to get a Transformers toothbrush.  

Kyle was working a pediatrics rotation and loved working with the kids.  

I did our taxes and we got an awesome return, which meant we could make a "grown-up" purchase - at least, it's the first major purchase we've ever made because we had the money and wanted to and not because something broke or we had to pay for it with a credit card.  

It all arrived TODAY!  We're so excited to finally have a comfy sectional with an ottoman and a nice rug on the cold hard wood to tie it all together.  We've still got a few things to arrange in the living room but I'm so excited to have company over and have everyone be able to have a comfortable seat.

I'm Going to Kill That Groundhog!!

I've had a hard enough time with this Michigan winter and all the snow and now that dumb groundhog is saying six more weeks??  Ugh!  The weeks of -20 degree temps and wind chills have left us feeling like we're having a heat wave when it is 33 degrees.  

I love our new house...but...we have an extremely long driveway which doubles in width at our 2-car garage.  I LOVE having a 2-car garage... I HATE the long driveway that we've had to dig ourselves out of lately.  I'm ordering a snowblower online because every store in MI is sold out.  Yesterday it took me about 6 hours to clear the driveway - take a look at my handiwork...

"I'm So Crafty I Sweat Glitter..."

A few months ago I was asked to clean up and fix the bulletin board in the hallway for the Primary.

I did a lot of looking on-line to see if I could find ideas about what to put on it because I'd never done this exact sort of thing before, but I didn't have a whole lot of luck finding what I was looking for.  I pulled something together though and was proud of it.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of it.

That led to fixing up the other Primary bulletin board in the other hallway.  All that really took was taping the tattered old world map back together, putting a paper border around it, and putting the missionaries' pictures back on.  It's amazing what a little yellow border can do...honestly, it looked a million times better and I really didn't do anything fancy or special to it.

Then the new year began and we have a new theme, so I was asked to re-do not only the first hallway bulletin board but also the two large bulletin boards in the Primary room.  Ok.  Our Primary President found some fun border paper with the theme on it and I bought a TON of bulletin board cover paper at Joann's (with coupons, of course!).  So far, because she is going to add some things too, all they have is a black background and the border around them...but they look nice and clean that way for now.

  

In December the Relief Society President came up to me and asked if I would be willing to re-do the 2 RS room bulletin boards and the large RS board in the hall.  One was supposed to be dedicated to Joseph Fielding Smith, since he is who they are studying this year (I really wouldn't know much about it because I've been in Primary for years now).  The other two boards she said were up to me and I could pretty much come up with whatever I wanted, which had it's ups and downs.  

I asked if they had a theme or goal or something for the year and she said the goal/theme for our ward RS this year is "Just Do It...NOW!"  Meaning if you have a prompting or if you're supposed to be doing something good, don't hesitate.  That was more helpful...so, this is what I came up with - enjoy, and please feel free to "pin it" so other people who are in my boat can find and have ideas too! :)

Because the RS General Presidency has recently been changed, I decided to include a picture and quotes from them with their names so we can get to know them and remember them better.  I figured that was fitting for the RS room.  I did the above and below boards using bulletin board paper from Joann's and a paper stack I got there too called "the Blue Citrus stack".  I sliced up a couple of sheets from the stack for the borders so they'd match.

I found the chevron "quote" from President Monson online...it's not exactly a quote as it turns out but it was the point he was making in a talk he gave a few years ago.  I included at the bottom a part of a talk by Dallin H. Oaks about the "Purposes of Revelation" as sort of a "why we're given promptings in the first place" sort of thing.  Then the picture and scripture in the corner about the disciples who "straightway left their nets and followed him".  I hope our RS President likes it...guess I'll find out on Sunday.

This was my JFS board.  It was a very small board and I didn't know if I had a budget or anything yet, so all I used was some paper I had at home and some of the background paper I'd bought for the Primary.  I found the pictures and quotes from the JFS manual, the Ensign, and the Friend.  I thought the quote from him from the JFS manual was very appropriate for the RS room - " I say there is no limit to the good that our sisters can do". 

Here is my hallway board for the primary...I'm quite proud of my little pennant banner with matching border.  I got the idea from someone else who had "pinned" a picture of the bulletin board they made - THANK YOU, whoever you are!!  In the bottom left corner we have a place where we are going to "spotlight" a family in our primary each month.  In the top corners are pictures someone else created online that I very happily copied and pasted and printed (THANK YOU to you wonderful talented strangers who are so willing to share your creations with copiers like me).  The picture on the bottom right corner is from lds.org from the Friend magazine.  The picture in the middle is of the Detroit Temple, which I happened to find in our ward library.

So, this is it for now.  I'll post pictures of the unfinished Primary boards when they are finished and I'll "pin" them too so that other people can get ideas from what I've done and hopefully they'll post pictures of what they do and I can copy them later :) ha ha ha...

Christmas 2013

We had a really fun Christmas this year.  We spent Christmas Eve at the Lund's home eating homemade cheesy potato soup and bread bowls and all kinds of goodies.  Then we opened up pajamas and went home to read a story and get ready for Santa to come.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Baird,  Grandma and Grandpa Robinette, and especially Auntie Linda the kids (and the adults) were very spoiled.  Kyle had the day off and we enjoyed hanging out in our jammies, opening gifts, and just being together.

On the 26th, Logan and I came down with a severe cold - it put me in bed for 2 days! Kyle's mom, dad, and brother came into town on the night of the 27th but we ended up sharing more than just the holiday spirit with them while they were here.  I think everyone but Trevor came down with the cold at some point.  Kyle was on vacation so we just took it really easy - watching movies, sleeping, eating, doing games and puzzles, watching more movies...real exciting stuff.  We were able to make it out of the house to see "the Hobbit" and "Frozen".  Megan and I had the song from Frozen in our heads for days.  

Crafting Up A Storm

My new friend Charidee and I have been getting together for "craft therapy" while our husbands are working long hard hours saving lives and all that.  We've been making all sorts of things together and it's been a ton of fun.  A couple of months ago she met a lady who makes hats and she wanted C to make flowers/bows to put on the hats so she can sell them at craft fairs.  C started making a lot of other things too (baby quilts, headbands, decorative banners, etc.) and then they went in together to rent tables at craft shows in the area.  

C was kind enough to invite me to join them with a few of my things.  I started out with baby diaper clutches and binky clips to go along with the blankets and car-seat covers C makes and then I remembered I could make pretend make-up too and that I still had some headbands and hair bows left over from my days selling them at a salon in Chicago.  So we got a bunch of our things together and made a go of it.

At the first show, after I broke even, I made a profit of a whopping $18...well, I had spent a bit to get started after all but I sold several things and the pretend makeup was a hit!  Today C was signed up for another show; I couldn't go to this one but she generously offered to take some of my things for me to sell for me.  This time I had only spent about $10 or $15 to get myself a few more supplies.  I made more makeup and, in order to use up some of the boy fabric, I made 4 tool belts for little boys which I also filled with some (surprisingly good quality) toy tools I found at our local dollar store.

I got a text from C this morning telling me that all 4 tool belts were sold within the first hour! I was so excited!!  My makeup did well again too, but the diaper clutches and binky clips weren't as popular.  That's ok because I made a profit of $100!!!  I've been on cloud 9 all day.  It just feels so good to know that I tried something and it worked and I discovered I love making all this stuff and that other people like it and are willing to buy it from me...it's pretty cool.  I love that now I have some money in my pocket that I don't feel guilty using to buy myself a little something with and that I can contribute to our family.  I'm so grateful for C and all her hard work and for her being so nice to include me in her adventure of becoming an entrepreneur.

We have one more show in a couple of weeks.  This one I think will be a little different as it will be at M's elementary school and is intended for the school kids to be able to come in and buy gifts for their family members, so I'm not sure what to expect or how much to price things for.  I have made a few bracelets and necklaces, I still have the headbands and hair bows, and I'm going to definitely make more makeup and (if I can find any more of those cute tool sets after I bought all the store had the last time I was there) I'll see if I can make more tool belts too.  Wish me luck!!