Pattern Crafts for Spring!

We do quite a few crafts at our house so I thought I would start sharing some. I am always looking for ways to reuse things and incorporate a lesson as well. Yesterday we had some fun painting and working with patterns. Em is really enjoys patterns! I found some spring foam stickers at Michael's and have been waiting for an opportunity to use them. For the eggs I just drew and cut out the shape and let them paint it how they wanted and once they dried I helped them put the stickers in color patterns. Super simple and they loved it!

For the caterpillars I just cut an egg carton bottom in half and let them each pick two paint colors. I put a color dot on top of each section so they knew what color to paint to make a pattern. For the head I used pipe cleaner antennae, hot glued googly eyes on and drew a mouth. They loved both projects and when the little girls mom came to pick her up she was proud to show her mom the "tattern."

Six Months Old!

Emilee hiking up Kootenai Creek. She was like a little mountain goat and loved it!

Ethan hamming it up for his mommy. Six months old 3/16

It has been somewhat of a busy month around here and the time just keeps on flying. We are finally getting a break in the gray weather and it seems to make the days busier but it is so nice not being trapped inside the house.

My dad seems to be doing much better although his heart did go back out of rhythm after they got it back on track. they did a procedure where they stop his heart and then restart it and hopefully it gets back into normal rhythm. To me it sounds scary but it was an in and out procedure and it just made him tired for a day or so. Hopefully now his heart doesn't give him anymore trouble. He says he is feeling much better now except his shoulder is still hurting pretty bad. Hopefully it is just still healing.

Jimmy is enjoying the nicer weather and has decided to redo our bedroom. The popcorn ceiling is gone and the walls are now a nice light blue. He is replacing all the trim with nice new white trim. It is going to look really great in there and be light, crisp and clean. I can't wait. We have been camping out in the front room which is not bad except for the mattress taking up half of the room plus Ethan's room is a wreck. It is making me decide what we really need and what we can get rid. Can you say SPRING CLEANING!?!

Ethan is doing great. He had his six month appointment today and just over 15 pounds and 26 inches. He is in the 10-25% for weight and 50% for height. He seems so small compared to Em at his age but she was such a chunky monkey. She was always in the 75-90% for weight and at six months weighed just over 17 pounds. He is starting to enjoy baby food and still loves his cereal. I love feeding him because he gets so excited and its fun to watch. He is really sitting up well and reaching for everything as well as getting ready to crawl. When he is on his tummy he looks like he is trying to swim and gets his little arms and legs moving and if you put him on his hands knees he will rock for a little bit before going to his belly. It won't be long now!

Emilee is doing great. We are working on potty training and she does really well when she is willing to stop what she is doing long enough to go. She is just so busy all the time and "doesn't have time" for this silly potty business. She is becoming quite the social butterfly too. I subbed at the pre school one day and she came with and had a blast. She made a bunch of new friends and enjoyed having someone to play with other than Mom. She also has a couple neighborhood friends and can't wait to play with them at every opportunity. I love watching her interact with other kids and see her having fun.

As for me, I'm just doing the mommy thing and enjoying being with my kids. Babysitting has switched to Mondays and Tuesdays and starting next month will be going to four days a week. It is nice making money and I am saving my earnings for a trip to California this June. I am still keeping up with my Photo blog although some days its more of catching up with it. I am also still running with my friend three days a week. We are up to running two miles and within the next couple of weeks hope to make it to three. Next month we are thinking about running a race in Missoula so we need to keep training.

This next month should be exciting. Jamie and Justin will hopefully get to find our if they are having a boy or girl and Shawnee, Luke and Austin will be here on the first. Dad and Marsha also will celebrate their 25 year anniversary. Looks like it is going to be busy busy busy!

2/17

It has been a little while since I have posted anything on here but not too much has been going on. Jimmy is back from Canada though and that is exciting. We have had some decent weather finally, I have been slacking on working out, Ethan turned five months old yesterday and Emilee is still her silly self.
Jimmy enjoyed working in Canada but missed his family. I think he worked more hours this time than he has before and they were still not ready to open the store when he left. This was the third time he has gone to Canada to help open a new store in the last year and he always welcomes the change of pace. He came home two days before the start of the Olympics and brought me home a pair of the red mittens that everyone is sporting right now. I love them! We really missed him while he was gone and are very happy to have him home. He is talking about going back the end of June for another store and hoping for a little more responsibility in an area other than receiving. I know he looks forward to that.
We have finally caught a break in the cold dreary weather lately. Yesterday we were actually able to go out in the yard in play with out getting our feet stuck in mud. The temps are getting into the 40s and we are looking forward to them getting warm enough to go without heavy coats, hats and mittens. I can already see that Em is going to be a total outdoor kid this summer. Yay for fresh air and no TV. I have not been doing to well on my workouts but I think I am just burnt out on indoor workouts and looking forward to getting exercise outside. We have been getting some walks in which is nice. I did get up this morning and weigh and have lost a couple pounds so I am 15 pounds from my goal. Yay! I am still keeping up with my 365 days of photo blog so click on over and take a look at what we do from day to day. http://rossfamilyproject365.blogspot.com/
Ethan turned five months old yesterday and is learning new things everyday. He is currently amazed with his tongue and likes to move it around and make razzing sounds with it. Very cute! He is also into reaching for EVERYTHING! It makes it hard to do anything while holding him. He is very much enjoying his cereal and I know he is going to love baby food in about a month. I can't believe how time flies! I love that he is learning and growing but I am going to miss him being my snuggle baby.
Emilee is getting ready for pre school next year. We are working on cutting on lines, tracing letters, the states, mixing colors and patterns right now. She is getting really good at tracing her name but has a little problem with the M and staying focused until the end. We got her a map of the states and are going to put pictures of family members in the different states they live in. We also are participating in a sticker exchange and put a sticker on the state where they come from. My knowledge on geography is horrible so I am hoping I learn right alongside her. This week we are also learning about the color orange. We are talking about how to make orange and I have some fun activities planned for her. It is so much fun to teach her and she always loves learning. We keep talking about school starting next year and how she can't wear diapers to school so hopefully we get her potty trained soon.
Well it has been a fun and great new year so far and I count our blessings everyday.

Lonely days and sleepless nights...

It has been awhile since I have updated on here so I figured today would be a good time to do it. Our house hold has been a little out of whack this past week with Jimmy gone and the kiddos sick with colds. With that said I have been slacking on my resolutions and need to get back on track. I am hoping this week shapes up to be a better week.
Jimmy is still in Canada until Wednesday opening a new store for Bed Bath and Beyond. It sounds like he is ready to come home. He has been working a lot of hours and when I talk to him he sounds pretty tired. A lot of the guys wanted to try and get off early to watch the super bowl so they have been working 14 hour days however they were still behind and unable to get off early for the game. Jimmy really only likes college football so he was not heartbroken about missing it. He knew they went there to do a job not watch football. We can't wait for him to get home. It was fine for a few days but we have really been missing him since day three. Emilee has sent him a couple video messages by phone and loves it when he sends her one back.
The poor little kiddos have had a cold this past week. They haven't really had fevers but runny noses, cough and congestion. Emilee keeps on trucking but I feel really bad for Ethan who doesn't really understand. I tried to keep Em from him when she first got sick but that is pretty much impossible because she loves him so much and doesn't understand why I didn't want her to play with him and be in his face. So we have been hanging around the humidifier, hanging out in the steamy bathroom and staying inside as much as we can. I am hoping we are over the worst of it. Last night she complained of her ear hurting. She said she hit it on the bed when she went to lay down but if she still complains about it today I am prepared to take her to the doctor. She seems fine right now.
I have been doing good about my 365 photo project until yesterday so today I am going to catch up on that. I also skipped my workout yesterday which I have been sticking to as well. I guess yesterday was just an off day. I have lost 11.5 pounds since January 1 and I hope I can still lose the remaining 16.5 to reach my goal. I only have 2 more weeks of my aerobics class and am going to miss that once it is done. It is nice to get out for a few hours to focus on me. I have started another thing called couch25k. By the end of three months I should be able to fun 3 miles if I stick with the program.
We have been doing quite a few crafts so I will post that in another blog maybe later today with some pictures.

Busy Week...

What a busy and stressful week this has been so far. It seems several things are going on around here and hopefully things start slowing down again.

First, my dad went to the Dr on Monday because he has been not feeling recovered since his shoulder surgery in November. While he was there they noticed that his hear was racing at a dangerously high rate and wanted him to go to the hospital so they admitted him into ICU. It is scary anytime a loved one goes into the hospital especially when it is heart related. They hooked him up to an IV drip with medicine that would hopefully lower his heart rate. Yesterday they put him on a different one and as of last report he seems to be getting better. They aren't really sure what is causing his heart to beat so fast. He is out of ICU and as long as he continues on the right track then he should be coming home sometime tomorrow. THANK GOODNESS!!!

Jimmy leaves Friday morning for Vancouver, Canada. He will be there for two weeks competing in the Olympics. Tee hee just kidding. He will be working for Bed Bath and Beyond to open a new store. He really loves opening stores even though they work a lot of long and hard hours. He actually flies home a couple days before the Olympics start. Tomorrow we have to spend the day getting him ready and I have to babysit so today we played outside in the snow and just kicked back.

Jimmy pulled Emilee and I on the sled for about and hour with the four wheeler. Emilee is such an outside girl and it doesn't matter what the temperature is. Neither one of us can wait until spring so we are no longer cooped up onside this house. It was fun playing in the snow today so hopefully we get some more soon. This picture is one I took today while Jimmy was just pulling Em. I love the expression on her face and Cody running behind her cracks me up.

Recipes!

I recently made some cookies and some peanut butter balls that several people requested the recipe for so I thought I would go ahead and post them.
Banana Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup butter-flavored shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
3 med mashed bananas
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cups chips

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in the bananas, oats and chocolate chips.

2. Drop by rounded teaspoons 2 in apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 min.

We used the peanut butter flavored chips and added a little extra flour to the recipe. The recipe is from my The Taste of Home Baking Cookbook. Everyone in our house loves these yummy cookies and I don't mind having them in the house.

We also made some peanut butter balls for Emilee to take to story time and everyone wanted that recipe. It is different from other recipes because it calls for rice cereal. We will definitely be using this recipe again.

Peanut Butter Crispy Balls

1 cup peanut butter
2 cup powder sugar
1/2 cup butter
1.5 cup rice cereal
1 cup chocolate chips- We used vanilla almond bark

Melt peanut butter and butter in pan over low.
Mix cereal and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter mixture and mix well.
Form 1" balls and put on cookie sheet. Chill until firm. Melt Chocolate and dip the balls in the chocolate. Put back on the sheet and chill again until firm.

Here are two of my favorite pictures of the kids right now. I took the one of Emilee around Christmas time and my good friend took the one of Ethan just last week. I wish I could take portraits like she does. Here is her link http://melissaweissphotography.com/blog/ if you would like to check out some of here other work. She has some of Emilee as well as Ethan's newborn shots featured on her site as well.