My Goof Ball

You never really have to grow up and let go of all childish things.  This is one reason I LOVE being a mom, my children are my constant reminder not to sweat the small stuff.  With a plethora of things in this life that stress, worry, and bog us down we often forget to enjoy the little things that make life beautiful and precious.  Lincoln apparently is not too big for the bumbo, or is he...   

Brooklyn 6 Months!

Half way to 1!  Brooklyn continues to grow like a weed and I swear she gets cuter every with every passing day.  She is wearing 9 month clothing and with her improved muscle control she is now more than ever determined to keep up with her brother.  Crawling will be happening any day now as the army crawl has been mastered.  She is at a stand still with her teeth, still only the bottom two.  Only two teeth does not slow this girl down from a meal.  In fact she grunts up a storm if you don't feed her fast enough.  She is not a huge fan of the mixed berry baby food, but loves nearly everything else she has tried.  Sitting up on her own was the big milestone that she hit this month.  I am elated with joy whenever I look at her, she absolutely perfect.  How I was blessed with two amazingly perfect kids is beyond me! ;-)   

I attempted to give Brooklyn a 6th month photo shoot...  I have a lot to learn about how to use my camera on a setting rather than auto, but none the less here they are, my first attempt on the maunal setting. 

Hallie's 9th Birthday

We had a wonderful time today celebrating Hallie's birthday.  She turned nine which is unbelievable!  The party had an ice cream theme and the decore, food, the company, and the cake was perfect.  Hallie is so sweet and I feel like I have a "special" connection with her because for whatever reason she always gets overly excited when she greets me at familly events.  Ryan and Tiffanie got to meet Miss Brookyln for the first time and Lincoln had a blast playing with Corbin in the dirt and on the swing set.

Footprint Stepping Stone

Pinterest is a site that absolutely LOVE!  In fact I have become completely enthralled with it lately.  I think because summer is just around the corner and I will have spare time this summer when I am home with the kids.  I've been using probably three times per week because of all the wonderful recipes I want to try!  Anyway, I had found some cool stepping stone ideas and I remember that my mother in law had been talking about needing to get a plate made with Brooklyn's footprints since I had made her a plate from Painted Plate with Lincoln's footprints on it.  My thought was to make a stepping stone with her footprints on it.  

I started with a concrete stepping stone and some combo adhesive grout that I purchased at Home Depot.  For the decor I used some tile pieces and some marbles.  It would be fun to start collecting unique dishware pieces from garage sales to us in future stepping stones as well.  

The first step was to lay out my design.  It took me a few tries, but eventually I ended up with a pattern I liked.  I placed a thin layer of the grout adhesive directly on the stepping stone and then set my tiles in place.  Brooklyn's footprints were the inspiration around the project so I wanted them to be the central focus.  It was very hard to get a good print with the grout adhesive.  I attempted three times before I ended up with the final.  What seemed to work the best was letting the grout adhesive dry a little before making the print.  For future stepping stones with hand and or footprints I will test some other ideas for the highest quality print.    once the pattern was applied I let it set for 24 hours.  

Next it was time to fill in the space between my tiles.  I found that using an old sock on my hand helped to get the clumps out and smooth the surface as much as possible.  The stepping stone then had to set for another 24 hours.

Once it was dry the last step was to clean up the tile pieces and smooth them out.  I used a putty knife and a warm wet rag.  It took a bit of elbow grease, but really didn't take too long to clean each piece.  I think my mother in law will like it :-)

        

Conrad's Graduation Celebration

Today my cousin Conrad graduated from Tenino High School.  He not only graduated, but he graduated second in his class!  I am so proud of him and the man he has grown into!  He is not only very intelligent, but kind, responsible and caring.  As he ends this chapter in his life with a celebration of family and friends it is also the segue into his next chapter, college...  August 11 he embarks on the journey of college.  He will be attending Washington State University.  We had a great time celebrating with him today and wish him the best of luck (though he doesn't need it.)