8 months old in action

jori standing up proud

loving the jumper

the other night jori was such a ham, she was "talking" and clapping and doing SO big over and over. here she is in all her glory.

jori 8 months old

yep got it in right before the end of the month.... really, it cant possibly be the end of the month, but it is!

jori turned 8 months old on march 20th. so much has happened in the last month. she is really changing and growing SO fast. way faster than i would like. i LOVE babies. i wish they stayed babies longer.

she is crawling everywhere! so fast now. if she can hear the big kids somewhere, that is where she is headed. she just loves to be near them.
she is now pulling up and standing all the time too. it was a good thing we lowered her crib last month b/c just a day later we found her standing up in her crib, quite proud of herself too.
-she loves to play big kid toys and could really care less about her own

-she is eating more and more table food like small pieces of chicken, soft veggies and fruits and bread

-she is making lots of new sounds... she clicks her tongue, says, ba ba ba, da da da, and now just since last night says ma ma ma. garret loves that she says ba ba. he thinks she is saying it for brother. it is so cute. we have never called garret "bu bu" so he came up with it all himself and is also quite proud that she says it :)

-she loves to bounce in the johnny jump up

-we have had to make a blockade to keep her confined and we do so by lining up the kitchen stools across the couches

-we moved her into the bigger carseat so she now rides in the shopping cart like a big girl and sits in a high chair at a restaurant

-i think she looks so much like garret. and is becoming more and more like he was as a baby as well. now that she is mobile she is much less content to be held. she wants to be down and on the go.
-she also does "so big" and claps her hands now. see it was a busy month! you can see the blur in the above picture.... thats how i feel right now. that her first year is going by like a blur.

slow down sweet girl!

how could i forget

oh how could i forget this great moment last week. rae had been wanting earrings ever since brenna got hers in october. she had asked again the night before gram and kenzie got here and i thought it might be fun to do while they were here. so tuesday morning that is what we did. they didnt have two ladies there at the same time to do both ears at the same time like we did brennas, but thought that rae would be able to handle doing it one at a time. i told her it would hurt some but that she would have to be brave and still do the other one. she said she was brave and could it.... and SHE WAS and SHE DID IT. her eyes filled up with tears but never made a peep.

that night as she went to bed she said "having earrings is so much fun."

cheers

last week in review:

sunday: dave left to head to florida to help dad work on renovations on their house.

monday: mom and kenzie arrived in tennessee at 12:30

tuesday: grocery shopping with all the girls

wednesday: took mom and kenzie shopping to a few stores they dont have in fl. hit a used furniture store and found a great chair to redo for our bedroom. i know i still have not posted pics of the upstairs yet. i have a hard time taking a photo of it if it not completely done, which it is not.

thursday: rae woke up with fever, she stayed in jammies, the rest of us wore green. garret received a great report card so we celebrated with root beer floats in green cups and topped with whipped cream and green sprinkles. oh my the root beet floats were SOOO good.

friday: took rae to doc, says its viral has to work itself out. garret comes home with fever and is now going through the same yucky stuff as rae. just totally whipped out.

saturday: mom and i work on chair redo a little and then get ready to head to airport with a bunch of sick kids.

even though the kids have been sick and out of it, mom and i had a great time together. kenzie was an awesome help and even held the fort down a couple of time while mom and i ran out. thanks for coming girls. loved having you here. hope you dont bring our germs home with you.

while you were out 2011

the first week in march i celebrated my 31 birthday! it feels good actually. when i first got married and then had garret everyone always said "you're so young!". now 4 kids and 10 1/2 years later it feels good to say i'm 31. friday was a busy day. i had MOPS in the morning, then a friend was coming into town, then garrets class had a little play at 1:00 and then it was time to go pick up kids again. i had a few minutes in between MOPS and the play so i came home really quick and walked into my mudroom to see this!!!!! a huge surprise. a great, wonderful, beautiful surprise.

well it wasnt exactly like this, because it hadnt been painted yet. but it was still amazing.
dave is such an amazing builder. he had been working on these cabinets little by little the week before and then finished them up and brought them in the house on my birthday.
we decided to paint them a dark grayish blue and then i put a stain over top trying to make it a little antiqued looking. i found some hooks at lowes and i just LOVE the way it turned out. we still need to find some baskets for the top cubbies and also for the shoe cubbies. not sure if i want wire baskets or some other kind.
i want to do something a little different with the wall that has the frame on it. not sure yet, but some kind of bulletin board maybe.
i also wanted to share the new globe i got when heather and i went out antique shopping. yes JUST heather and i. no kids attached :) it was a very lovely few hours.

if you want to see the "while you were out" surprise dave did for me on my 29th birthday you can see it here.

pinewood derby 2011

yesterday was garrets first pinewood derby with his cub scout pack. it was a great day at the races :) there were about 33 cars racing this year so it took quite a while. each boy got to race his car 8 times. 4 times in lane 1 and 4 times in lane 2. this is all quite technical. much more than i would have thought. it was all run by a computer program that made sure each boy got the same amount of turns. it randomly picked who you would be racing. it calculated the scores and showed your speed after each race. it was pretty cool.

the boys all arrived early in the morning and had to weigh their cars in. they were allowed to add weights up to certain amount and they were allowed to add graphite to the wheels to make them go faster. however, once you placed your car in the pits you were not allowed to tweak it all for the rest of the day.

garret had a good time drawing out the shape of his car, cutting it out with the saw, sanding it and painting it. he did all the designing and painting by himself.

never doing the races before we had no idea what to expect. would his car be fast or slow? we were just kind of holding our breath to see.

well we soon found out that garret had one of the fastest cars there. i dont think he even knew how fast it was but dave and i couldnt believe it. dave was a very proud daddy. i could see the sparkle in his eye.... i also have to add in here that this year was the most cars they have ever had race and part of that has to do with dave and his dad and his nephew who brought three saws and sanders out to one of garrets pack meetings to help the boys who didnt have access to tools to cut out and sand their cars. i was always under the impression that they would do all that together with the pack, but they boys were supposed to do all the cutting and sanding at home with their dads. only a few boys had the resources to do so at home so dave stepped up and helped out. so proud to be married to him! big thanks to george (grandpa) and hunter (garrets cousin).

after hours of racing, great sportsmanship from all the boys and lots of fast cars, the computers averaged out the fastest scores and we waited to hear the results.... garret got an award for the most artistic car (i was a proud momma too) AND came in SECOND place and received a trophy and will be heading to the regional races on april 9th!!! WE ARE PROUD OF YOU GARRET. WAY TO GO. even though you look just like a Widmaier, i think you might have some Poirier racing blood in you as well :)

the photos of him with his trophy are on daves phone. i will have to post those later. for now here is a little video clip of garrets final race. garrets car is in the right lane.

answered prayers

so picture the silly victory dance a football player does when he gets a touch down..... that is me right now.

i have not written about garrets struggles with second grade on the blog yet, but today i am thankfully writing about his awesome day and the past few awesome weeks.

i'll start with a quick recap. when garret started second grade, within the first week we knew it was going to be a tough year. he would come home every day with at least 2 marks. marks were her way of discipline. if they got more than 20 marks in 9 weeks they would get a unsatisfactory in conduct and not be able to go on the end of the year special trip. at the rate he was going he was getting "U's" on every report card.

when we saw this was happening we really got on garret and were upset with him and punishing him when he got home. things werent getting any better. we thought maybe it was the transition of having the new baby in the house. we would ask him why he got the marks an some days he wouldnt even know. we were really struggling on how to handle the situation. within the first 9 days of school we had already requested a meeting with his teacher. we talked and seemed to not really get anywhere with her.

after more and more weeks of hard days at school, dave and i came to the conclusion that we needed to lay off garret at home because he was getting in trouble for things like not sitting up straight and playing with his pencil.

then things started falling apart with this grades, he wasnt failing, but i know it wasnt as good as he could do. he was not finishing class work so he would have lots of homework to do. we would fight an cry (both of us) almost every night trying to get the work done. his reading scores were dropping so we talked with the principal an vice principal and they were going to get him some extra reading help during the day. however his teacher was only occasionally sending him to do this and then sending him while the rest of the kids were outside playing! so sad.

ok trying to shorten this up a little.... dave and i had talked and prayed and cried over this situation then christmas break came. we had prayed that things we be better when he got back, maybe his teacher and him got a little refreshed after the break.... things were worse. i got a call from his teacher one day saying that she thought he needed to be held back and repeat second grade. while dave and i had been weighing all our options that was one of them. he is the youngest in his class, but this had never been a problem before. anyway, i called dave crying and he went right over to the school to speak with the principal and vice principal again. they have been completely supportive of us and garret through this entire process.

we knew garret did not want to be in that class anymore and for a long time dave and i didnt want him in that class anymore either but we were trying our best to make it work. so when we got this phone call we asked that he be moved to another class. the vice principal said she thought that it was time as well and would be moving him. just like that. no fight, just a peaceful answer to prayer.

we couldnt request a teacher (there are 5 second grade teachers) they would just put him in the class with the least amount of students. dave and i really wanted him to be with Mrs. Marshall. Garret did too although we never told him that changing classes was an option. he just always said he wanted to be in her class.

that afternoon the vice principal came out to the car in pick up line and told me he would be in Mrs. Marshalls class! i just started crying. tears of joy and relief and even some tears of fear. i was afraid that things might not change. that his behavior would still be unsatisfactory and that he might not be ready for third grade. i prayed so hard that i would be open to this other teachers opinion and do what was best for garret.

garret has been in Mrs Marshalls class now since the middle of January. he has done AMAZING! he LOVES going to school, where before he would cry at night not wanting to go the next morning. he has all A's and one B on his last report card and has had NO marks.

when he was in the first teachers class i would pray that she would just love garret and than i thought, ok well its not her job to love garret, but it is her job to help him to love to learn. well that wasnt happening either. Mrs. Marshall loves my son and is creating a love for learning in him as well. we can not be more happy with the transition.

so this afternoon garret came running to the car with a huge grin on his face. fridays are test day and they have 5 tests in one day. spelling, vocab, grammar, reading, and TCAP. it is a long day of testing i am sure. well garret ran up to the window and showed me a note that mrs. marshall had written for me. he couldnt even wait to get in the car. he got 100% on all of his tests today!!!

again i am crying as i write this. he was so proud, we are so proud and mrs. marshall was so proud....... and GOD IS SO GOOD!

this has been one of the hardest things i have had to deal with. seeing your child struggle is so hard. i really dont like confrontation so dealing with all this has really stretched me. i have grown a lot in this process. i know things happen for a reason and i know my god is with me every step of the way.

well the pic is a little blurry but i have to share this as well. mrs marshall is a huge UT fan. her entire room is decorated in UT orange with VOLS stuff all over it. grandma kay had bought this shirt for garret over a year ago. he NEVER wore it. not sure why but he said he didnt like it. now i cant keep in clean. he wears it at least once a week. he wants to make her proud, and that makes my heart a very happy momma heart.

connections

i know i have said this before but blogging is such a bitter/sweet thing for me. sometimes i feel so overwhelmed by it and what i feel like i need to post, who is reading it? will they leave a comment? is anyone even remotely interested in "our little life in the big ol' world".

then there are other things i really love about it. that i can share with family that dont live close by what we have been up. that i can keep in touch with friends through their blogs almost like we lived next door. that i can get some creative juices flowing and even sometimes just veg out in front of the computer screen.

but the biggest reason right now is that i can peer into the lives of other christian moms that are in the same boat as i, trying to raise their families and love their husbands as God intended.i feel i have a connection with them.

recently i have come across more and more blogs of christian moms doing their best juggling all that moms have going on and even finding a little time for themselves. they have been such an encouragement to me. i am going to try to add some of them to my sidebar so you can check them out as well but i wanted to share this one post specifically with you.

this is just a part of her post here. she is talking about how sometimes we as moms will belittle the things we do that we enjoy like, blogging, sewing, crafting, reading, whatever it is and try to make it seem like it is meaningless. i really like her perspective on how those things are God given desires HE puts in our hearts and when we follow those desires we can do those things for his glory. her words are better then mine.... read on....

What I really wish everyone knew is that....if you are using your talents, gifts and abilities for the Lord and sharing Him through it...

You ARE saving lives.

Did you know that? Can you even comprehend that?

Who knows who YOU will touch by taking photos, painting on a canvas, applying makeup, giving someone a new hair-do, delivering meals to the elderly, writing poetry, running a marathon, painting a chair, sewing some tote bags or sharing a recipe.

God can use anything to reach people for Him.

We just need to notice and live out our passions, rather than hide them or allow them to make us feel vulnerable.

There are no entry points that are too small for the Lord to use.

Strap on some confidence and go be used today.

Who needs to go to 8 years of medical school to save some lives?

You could be savin' lives today....by simply doing what you love.

click here to read the rest of this great post.

so what do you think? do you agree?

spring, i need you!

oh how i am longing and wishing for spring. the daffodils are popping up so it wont be long, but recently we have had some crazy, rainy, windy and cold days. i had to pick up garret early today do to flooding.

so i changed things up on the blog a little bit, in hopes of spring coming VERY soon. i enjoyed working on it a little and changing a few things. still have some things i want to add so you can be on the look out for more changes. i also changed things around over at my photography site. let me know what you think.

and just a fun picture to remind me what it looks like when the grass is green and the sky is blue.

change 3 things

so lately i have been feeling discouraged and lazy with my cloth diapering, then i came across this new challenge from a good friend abby. i was feeling like using cloth diapers was more of a hassle than it was worth. i was having a tough time with them not being as absorbent as they used to be and i felt like i just couldnt get them to smell clean. so i did a little research and decided i need to strip my diapers.

anyways, after reading this i was encouraged to keep on using the cloth diapers. here is just a small part of the info:

Do my 3 cloth diapers per day really matter?
Yes, it matters! When I get calls from mainstream media, one of the first questions they ask is "how many people use cloth diapers?" This has been true with every major parenting publication and news organization (including Time Magazine) that I've ever spoken with. It's next to impossible to answer that question because we don't know. This not only gives us a way to answer that question but it also gives us a way to measure how many cloth diapers are being used every day. Is it perfect? No, but it's a start.

you can click here to read the rest of the info. very interesting and very doable. i like doable these days :)

ww-puffs

oh a few things i forgot to mention on her 7 month post: jori is also able to get herself into a seated position now, which also means we had to lower her crib mattress. growing.to.fast! and i guess im not wordless anymore. oh well.

mending the soul

found this sign on another crafty blog here..... i feel like i related so much to it. this past week especially. lately my introverted self has been wanting to take over so badly. seriously i would be completely happy to have a week to myself with no one to talk to. life as a mother does not allow much time for my introverted self to get a break and recharge. there are some days i just NEED to craft. paint. sew. just do something with my creative side where i dont have to talk to much and feel like i can get something accomplished and see a finished product in a short amount of time.
i found this great doll pattern on line here and just knew i had to try it out. i have found a few other patterns in the past but this seemed the easiest and i just fell in love with the stitching in the hair.
i did a few things differently, i used fabric for the the face, hair and hands instead of wool felt, and i made it look like they had tights on instead of "skin" on their legs.

i started out making one as a gift for a friend and while i was making it the girls were begging for one of their own. so i let them pick out their own fabrics and these are what they came up with. i just love their choices.
i stitched little letter badges for each of their dolls as well.
they love them and i love that they love them. and after sewing something, i feel as though my soul had a little mending as well.

7 months old

look who's 7 months old! on feb 20th jori turned 7 months old and like i predicted she decided to crawl a week before she turned 7 months. she is everywhere! she loved the big kid toys and could care less about her own. it is crazy to me how she knows the difference. i no longer need to vacuum because she just goes around and scarfs everything down. hey a little dirt dont hurt right?
big blue eyes! sorry about the boo boo gram, crawling also leads to little bumps and bruises.
at 7 months she is playful as ever, still easy going, and full of smiles.

she was a trooper while i was sick and unable to nurse her.

she took a bottle like a champ.

during that time she also started pooping regularly and has no more problems with constipation.

she has been waking up around 6, nurses and goes back to bed. if dave can take garret to school she will sleep til 8, but some days i have to wake her up to take garret. she nurses again around 8, just today started giving her cereal in the morning, then nurses and goes down for a nap around 10. sleeps till 12 eats a fruit or veggie (i have made some of her baby food but not as much as the other kids. i just can beat Big Lots prices on organic baby food. whenever i see it there, i buy in bulk) drink a bottle of formula ( my milk supply really decreased while i was sick and i just havent been able to build it back up) then we play and do the school pick up thing.

she takes another nap around 4 and sleep til about 5 or 5:30. we all eat dinner together at 6. she loves to sit in high chair and eat her baby food with us. if we are having soft veggies i even through a few of those on her tray. she loves her puffs and does a great job feeding herself.

she has two bottom teeth that you can kind of see in the above picture. i have not been able to get any better ones.
i dont have updates on her weight and height. havnt been to doc in awhile. i need to make her well check up appointment soon. just hate to go into the office (even with the well child waiting room) with so much sickness going around.

hoping to post a video soon of our little crawler. any tips from my fellow bloggers. having a hard time getting it to upload.