Projects, projects, projects!

Another love of mine....projects!  I love projects.  I always love starting them, but I don't always love completing them.  I get so many ideas in my head, but have so little time to actually act on them and when I do, I find that most of my projects take more time than I anticipated (yes, yes, I know what you're thinking as you read this Evan) which some times makes it a little less fun.  But in the end I love my finished projects, especially those of recent.

I have had this idea in my head for quite some time, but hadn't hunted down the shirts I needed for it.  Now I made the time to do it and of course I couldn't find exactly what I wanted so I had to compromise with long sleeves.  Maybe if I have enough ambition and really want them short I turn them into short sleeves, but I'm not seeing that ambition!  So enough of the babbling...I made the kids Minnesota Twins shirts.  This project did turn out to be harder than I thought it would be, but it was a good stretch for me.  (I learned I have lots of work on my sewing skills even though this didn't require much sewing!)

All of my supplies

(sorry blogger thinks the picture needs to be turned for some reason)

And the finished projects.  Sorry...I haven't tried them on the kids yet.

I know a picture of the kids in it would be better.

Makenna's bow situation is getting a little out of hand....but a girl can never have enough bows or flowers!!  We ran out of room on our original hanger for the bows/flowers so I decided it was time to take on my next project.  A board with ribbon to hold all of her bows/flowers.  I love it and am so glad I did it as now I can easily find what I want, see them all at once, and I don't have to squeeze them all on to have some left off!

Sorry, no supply picture.  I forgot because I was so excited to start my project!  I was worried I wouldn't find material that I would like and that would match her room, but I was very happy with what I found!

I'm sure this will completely scare my husband off, but I've been thinking about opening an Etsy shop.  I've contemplated this many times, but I'm started to consider it even more.  If anyone has any advice on this topic I'd LOVE to hear it!  (For those of you who don't know what Etsy is its a website where people have their own "stores" where they sell things they made. www.etsy.com/.  I am thinking about doing hooter hiders, hooded towels, bow/flower boards, maybe some shirts kind of like I made the kids, and who knows what else.)

I love "firsts"!

I have to say, I just love "firsts".  It is so much fun watching my kids learn things and do things for the "first" time.  Its amazing how they learn so much in such a short amount of time.  My little peanut completed another first today and I have to shout it out to the world because I'm soooo proud of her!  Makenna went "stinky" on the potty chair today!  She has gone potty on the potty chair one other time (the beginning of August), but not really knowingly.  Today she said "uh-oh" to me at the table and looked suspicious like she had to go.  She usually says "stinky" before or after she goes; I think because I always tell her she's stinky when she does go.  I picked her up, sat her on the potty chair and Denver and I sat there in anticpation.  Denver likes to go in private so all of a sudden he decided we better leave the room.  I told him I better stay, but he could leave and so he would leave and come running back to see if there had been any progress.  Then he decided he needed to go and he ended up doing a little bit on the big toilet while Makenna did on the potty chair!

Now I'm going to have to decide if I'm ready for this little girl to be going on the potty chair.  I'm not so sure I have the energy for this so we may just encourage it at times and see where we go from there.  She was so proud of herself afterwards and kept going back to sit on the potty chair.

On a side note Denver hadn't had an accident for quite some time until last Saturday when we were at some friends house.  We'll chalk it up to being too busy playing to take time to go to the bathroom.  That seems to be the only time he has accidents anymore!  Before we know it we'll have a diaperless house!

2010 Waltner Family Camping Trip

The beginning of August we were once again able to go camping with my dad's side of the family. This is always an anticipated event in summer as we all have so much fun and don't get to see each other much during the year.  We have been going Sunday thur Tuesday in the past as its easier to get all our campsites by each other and its not so busy so we have more of the lake to ourselves (and the campground!).  I had to work Friday night, but got up early to go have lunch at my mom and dad's with my mom's side of the family.  On our way there Evan started wanting to leave for our camping trip right then and there.  Turned out they had a campsite available so after spending time with our family we flew like crazy to get ready (NONE of the packing had been done, this was quite a task to do).  We arrived late Saturday evening, had supper as our little family and then we went and had a fire with my dad's twin brother's family and his wife's family (as they had been camping with them over the weekend prior to our family's arrival).

Getting ready for bed.

Goodnight!

Playing in the gravel...what could be more fun?!

Bouncing on the tube.

They usually play so nice together!

Cooling off in the camper during a thunderstorm.

...and snuggling up her baby!

Floating on the tube with Great Aunt Peg

...and she floated in the water with mommy and got a diaper full of water which was great for bouncing around in the boat!

Hangin' with cousin Angie

Jacob

Visiting

Playing games

and of course a camp fire!

And then my camera died! :(

Once again it was a wonderful time to fellowiship as a family with great food!  We look forward to next summer's camping trip and hope that Angie's willing to brave the highly allergic camp ground again for us!

My Lil Artists

We had a finger painting session at home today.  The kids had a blast and I had fun watching and laughing at them!

Not real far in to this endeavor, but notice the little girl is already covered!

She was more into painting her body than anything else.

Denver's trying his hardest to stay clean!

I got you brother!  Now you have turquoise hair!

Then I'll get you back lil sis!

Time for a hose down and a bath!

Grass!

One evening the kids were following around Evan as he mowed while I picked up from supper.  When I went out to check on them I saw Denver holding Makenna's hand so I quickly grabbed the camera.  Little did I know what I'd find when I saw them closer!

Poor Makenna had fallen in the wet backyard in the freshly mowed grass that Evan wasn't bagging.

She hates grass...

....but I'm sure this was worse than usual!

It took several washes before all the grass stains came out!

Forts

Denver is big into making forts these days.  Since this fort the forts have been moved downstairs to under a folding table as they like to run in and out and around them and a chair got knocked down on one of them so I decided that would be a little safer.  A favorite snack in their fort is an apple!

An Evening Outdoors

We love being outdoors as a family.  Almost every night we eat supper out on the deck; not just because we like to be outside, but its also a lot easier to clean up after 2 messy kids when you can hose the floor down when you're done! :)  Trust me, we do it!  Here are some pictures from an evening of us enjoying the outdoors after supper.  (I believe its oreo on Makenna's face!)

They sat here by themselves...that's what prompted me to get the camera

Denver didn't want his picture taken so instead we got some of Makenna's many faces....

Drawing pictures with rocks...

A washer of some sort as a bracelet...

Fifteen Months

Our beautiful baby girl is now more of a toddler than a baby.  Some how 15 months has gone by since she was born!!  She was 21lbs 6oz (30%) and her length (from what I can tell on her growth chart since I didn't write it down or have them print it out) 30.8 inches (70%).  Like always Dr. McKercher was pleased with what he saw and what we told him.  She and Denver both got 2 shots at this appointment as Denver had gotten behind on some vaccinations due to them being out at his 2 year appointment.  Makenna of course only cried til I picked her up and Denver threw a big fit, but later in the day Makenna was the crabby one and Denver was the one telling everyone he got shots, he cried, but now he was better!

As I was trying to come up with a list of things Makenna does it became apparent to me it may be easier to list what she doesn't do!  This little girl does every thing she can to keep up with her brother.  Her vocabulary in my book is outstanding.  There are very few words this little girl doesn't say.  One that she does NOT say is "love"....can't wait until she says "I love you!".  Currently her favorite words are probably "no" and "mommy".  She is definitely a mommy's girl.  She also puts words together and I believe she'll put up to 3 words together.  She isn't always the clearest, but mommy usually can decipher the words if others cannot.  My little girl is extermely busy (like her brother) and once she has her mind made up there is little you can do to change it.  She knows what she wants!  For the most part Makenna is a happy little girl, other than when she's teething!  She used to be my best little teether, but tooth 7 and 8 and probably the molars that I'm guessing she's now working on have put the good little teether to an end.  Makenna now gets diarrhea, a bad butt, a low grade temp, and really cranky when a tooth is bothering her.  Thankfully motrin does seem to help her attitude along with a good nap if she's not in too much pain that she can sleep!

Makenna loves to play with her babies and stuffed animals.  She also likes to play along side her brother with his cars and tractors.  Makenna knows almost all of her animal sounds and makes them while they play.  Denver and Makenna are the best of friends!  Its so fun watching them find some thing to do together while I'm busy cooking supper, doing laundry, etc.  I've also noticed she seems to like "big" girls.  She seems to take to them and want to play with them any chance she gets.  We spent the day at the lake not too long ago and she sat and tried to play with some girls on the beach for quite some time.  I don't think they were too impressed, but she wasn't causing any harm so I let her be! (This post to come)

Here are some pictures from my last photo shoot ever from my camera as it seems to have died and from what I've been told it lasted a long life (I beg to differ...7 years isn't that old!).  The savings begins so I can have another photo shoot of my beautiful babies soon!  Til then enjoy my beautiful, big girl!