An Afternoon of Accidents

I know it has been a full week since I have written. And I have lots I want to share. But it has just been one of the days. I don't think I have it in me. Seriously, as the day wore on, accidents just kept happening, and I think it is time to go to bed before we add another one to the list.

Carter had 2 faceplants in the dirt this afternoon. First he was driving a toy truck around outside that he had filled up with dirt and he must have tripped and ended up with his face in the dirt. All in his mouth and eyes. Not a happy camper.

Fifteen minutes later he fell down a small set of stairs off of our back porch and again landed face first in the dirt. More tears. And this time we was shirtless because we had just taken the first dirt covered shirt off. So he ended up with some scratches on his face and his tummy. Poor guy.

Then, he was using the potty before dinner and the toilet seat landed on his fingers. Ouch.

Not done yet.

Next, he was eating dinner at his stool in the kitchen. He has at least one meal a day here, sometimes two, so he is very comfortable on this stool. I was standing right beside him and had just helped put a spoon full of corn in his mouth when he somehow lost his balance and fell face first on the floor. More tears.

Remarkably, I think all of these accidents scared him more than they hurt him because he was fine after just a couple of minutes.

Plus, after the second dirt bath I decided he needed bath time early and we had a really big bubble bath which cheered him up.

But still, can you believe all of that happened in just a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon? Is this just typical life with an almost 3 year old boy?

I am battling a really strong head cold. And as I type Adam is trying to catch up on all of the work that he put off this weekend so he could spend time with his family.

I usually don't want Sundays to end because it means 5 more days until the weekend, but I think today I am ready to say goodnight and start fresh tomorrow morning.

But, before I do, just a couple accident free, happy pictures.

Dedication Day

Today was Ben's dedication at church.

We walked into the sanctuary and shortly after we took our places on the steps, Carter spots my mom and says pretty loudly, "Hi Gram!" Then he got really bashful and snuggled with Adam.

Ben was all smiles and even made some sweet gurgles for the congregation to hear. Our pastor charged us with raising Ben in a Christian home and teaching him about Jesus and he asked the congregation to help raise Ben as well. Thankfully, they agreed, as did we.

We got to pick a life verse for Ben that was shared this morning:

The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17

Here is a picture from after the service:


My mom enjoyed a front row seat for the service, but the rest of Ben's grandparents were able to watch the service on the web. Pretty cool, huh?

What a special day. We are so thankful for both of our boys and so thankful to be able to raise them in such a loving church family.

Crayon Hearts & Preschool Party

One last Valentine craft...

Materials Needed:

Box of 64 Crayons
Heart shaped muffin/cupcake molds

Step 1: Remove all of the paper from the crayons. This is by far the most tedious and time consuming part of the process. I enjoyed some mindless reality tv while peeling away.



Step 2: Break crayons into smaller pieces.

Carter helped me sort the crayons into different stacks by color.



Step 3: Arrange pieces of crayons in muffin mold. We did approximately 2 layers of crayons in each mold.



Step 4: Bake. I experimented with a couple of different options. For the first round, I heated oven to 350 then turned the oven off as soon as I put the crayons in the oven. I waited and waited but the crayons didn't seem to be melting enough, so I turned the oven back on to 250.



The second time around I just started at 250 and kept setting the timer for 2 minutes at a time to check the progress. That is my best advice, just stay close and watch. You will know when they are done.

Step 5: Pull out of the oven and set to cool. Do this very carefully. The more you shake the pan the more the colors will blend together and become an ugly brownish/grey hodgepodge.

I used a toothpick and swirled some of the colors together before they completely cooled.



Step 6: Give them to your kids and let them color away!



We gave these as part of Carter's Valentines for his preschool party. Here are a few pictures from the party.



I got there just a few minutes late, and Carter had already devoured his cupcake and was drinking his juice superfast. He loves party days at school!

And he LOVES his teachers...





Happy Valentines!

Chocolate Covered Cherries

A few weeks ago I was at Sam's loading up on all of our nonperishable stuff when I saw this giant jar of cherries. I threw them in the cart and thought it would be a fun and simple Valentine treat to cover them in chocolate.

Once I started looking at recipes, I realized it wasn't going to be as easy as I thought, but they did turn out tasty. Here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients
60 maraschino cherries with stems
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3 tablespoons corn syrup
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 pound chocolate confectioners' coating

Directions
1.Drain cherries and set on paper towels to dry.
2.In a medium bowl, combine butter and corn syrup until smooth. Stir in confectioners' sugar and knead to form a dough. Chill to stiffen if necessary. Wrap each cherry in about 1 teaspoon of dough. Chill until firm.
3.Melt confectioners' coating in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Dip each cherry in by its stem, and place on waxed paper lined sheets. Chill until completely set. Store in an airtight container in a cool place. Best after 1 or 2 weeks.

I didn't know that you had to coat the cherries in dough before the chocolate would stick well, but now I know. And it was a time consuming process. Here are a few pictures from the process and a few things I learned along the way.

I had a wonderful assistant. This is key. He tested my cherries for me and gave me the ok to use them.



Then we rinsed and set all the cherries out to dry. This was also a good project for my helper.



Don't they look yummy just by themselves? But, trust me, they get better!



I don't have many pictures of the next few steps. But here is what I remember. I made the dough and found that it was helpful to chill it for a couple of hours before using. I used a teaspoon measuring cup and scooped out balls of the dough. Then I used the bottom of a glass cup to flatten each ball. Next I wrapped each cherry in the flattened dough. It took a bit, but it got easier with each cherry. I chilled the wrapped cherries for a few hours before dipping in chocolate.

I used a double boiler for the chocolate and it worked great at keeping the chocolate a nice soft texture the entire time I was dipping.



The finished product:



The recipe said to let these sit a week or two before eating. I made them last Wednesday and have tasted one or two along the way to see the difference in waiting. I must say, the cherry I had last night was the best so far. The inside started to liquify and it all just kind of melted in my mouth. Definitely yummy.

I found these cute miniature gift boxes and Carter helped deliver some yummy Valentines yesterday.



Wish I could share these with all of you!

In the Hoop Crayon Roll

I experimented with my first in-the-hoop embroidery project: crayon rolls.



An in-the-hoop embroidery project means that the entire project is done while in the hoop. Make sense? This project was super easy. The embroidery machine did all of the stitching! All I had to do was lay down the fabric and press start.

I decided to make one of these for Carter for our airplane ride. He loved pulling the crayons out of the pockets and putting them back in just as much as coloring.

This was so easy to make that I decided to make two more for my nephews.



Here they are all rolled up. They stay closed with a piece of velcro that I fused to the ribbon.



My nephews got to put their crayon rolls to use today on their road trip to DISNEY WORLD! So jealous, but Susan is sending lots of fun pictures of Thunder Mountain, the Walt Disney World Railroad, and other fun rides so I can vicariously live through their trip.

Here is Jack coloring away on their long road trip.



My next in-the-hoop project is felt food for Carter's kitchen. Stay tuned. :)

Boys

I got to spend the last several days with these boys.



And it was fantastic.
Exhausting? Yes.
Loud? Yes.
A bit crazy at times? Yes.
But overall, just fantastic.

Robert and Jack LOVED on their new baby cousin Ben. They always wanted to hold him, put his paci in, give him a toy, etc.

Robert and Jack also did a great job playing with Carter. There was lots of tackle hugs. Lots of truck driving. Lots of lound laughing. And lots of quiet book reading in the lap of whatever grandparent happened to be there.

Speaking of which, on Thursday, Carter and Ben saw 5 of their 6 grandparents. (And he saw the 6th on Friday morning) Not too bad, huh? Especially considering they live in 4 different cities and it wasn't even someone's birthday! Many thanks to our wonderful grandparents who took off work and traveled to see these sweet boys.

The trip went better than I could have hoped. It started off a little rocky when Adam set off the security alarms at the airport. Then he tested positive for explosives. But they finally determined he wasn't a threat and let him board the plane. We enjoyed one plane ride with Dada and then said goodbye in Charlotte so he could go to a conference. I traveled the rest of the way solo. Well, not really solo. I still had Carter and Ben. Yikes. But they did great. Ben slept, Carter colored, and then watched a little video once we got high enough for approved electronic devices. Thank goodness DVD players are approved electronic devices.

The trip home went from great to not so great, but we made it. A wonderful security officer helped me through security. Susan packed us a lunch for the airport, which we enjoyed before boarding. Ben slept, Carter enjoyed the little surprises I packed for him in his back pack. Then, about 10 minutes before we landed, I hear "Mama, time to go tee-tee." I explain to him there is not a bathroom on the plane (or at least not one that mama was willing to attempt with a 5 month old and 2 year old) but that he could use his pull-ups and that they would keep him dry. This apparently was not an option for Carter. He kept telling me (and the rest of the plane) over and over again that it was time. Oh boy. Finally, we land, we rush off the plane. Adam is waiting for us at the gate and he takes Carter to the bathroom.

The next hurdle came as I waited for our stroller to come off of the plane. Turns out a cargo door is stuck and maintenance had to come to cut a hole into the cargo area to open from the inside. 45 minutes later we head to our gate. But there wasn't a huge rush because our flight was delayed over an hour. We make it to Richmond with two sleeping boys on the plane only to find out that Ben's carseat didn't arrive with us. Sigh. So we get a loaner. Adam gets it all situated in the car and we drive home. This is the second time we have come home without carseat. Does this happen to anyone else?

But, even though we had a few hiccups, overall the trip was a great success. More pictures and stories to come.

Happy Birthday Dada!

Adam is in Charlotte, and I am in Birmingham with the boys, but we wanted to wish Dada a Happy Happy Birthday!

Carter helped me make some fun cards...



And I caught a great birthday video wish that we spent the last 45 minutes trying to upload. Short story is that technology is surpassing me. Sigh.

UPDATE: It worked!




Anyhow, Adam, we miss you, we love you, we hope you have a WONDERFUL birthday.