Evan's special day

Yesterday was a very special day for a 7 year old around here... Evan made his First Holy Communion!!!  We are so proud of the great job he did. He looked so very handsome in his suit & tie!  Evan was up bright & early, so excited about the day ahead.  I had to keep telling him to wait to get his suit on, but quickly got himself ready as soon as I gave the green light. Evan was grinning from ear to ear most all the day & loved the fact that Dan & I gave him a gift of a St. Christopher medal {his middle name} & a Cross tie tack to wear to mass.  He did a wonderful job doing his reading at mass & was so very excited to receive Communion for the very first time. When mass was over we all couldn't wait to get back home to welcome our family to celebrate along with us!  We had a great dinner & a relaxing afternoon with everyone.  Another highlight to his afternoon came when Fr. Beckman came to visit, have a piece of pie & blessed all his special gifts that he had received.  What a great day!!! Congratulations Evan... We love you!

 

Congratulations everyone!!!
    

  

a little more sunshine in my days...

 

 

 

well, obviously it's been far too long since I've blogged, but with good reason {I think}. We've had lots of changes going on around here over the past few weeks. Dan & I decided after a little shake up at Lydia's babysitter, that we'd try keeping her at home with me. It wasn't so much a hard decision as it was trying to make sure we could make it all work out. With my full time design job at home, I have plenty of work to accomplish for sure, but I've spent the last week & a half trying to work it out. I love having Lydia at home.  My days are now inter-mixed with design work, blowing bubbles, swinging, puzzles & such. Hearing her chatter, extra hugs & kisses through the day & just having someone here with me is a welcome change.  Getting some time away from the computer throughout the day really helps me feel a little more fresh!!! I think it's even made me better at time management:)  I was a stay at home mom with both of the boys, although then I didn't hold a full time position besides... so I know you definitely have to use your "free" time wisely!  I've figured out times of the day that work best for uninterrupted work time & times that I need to take a break to play, read, or just cuddle.  It's such a wonderful thing to watch & listen to her growing & learning new things everyday.  When I have a meeting or an appointment or just because Grandma Mary has been delighted to spend time with her as well. I'm taking all the time I can to soak it all in & enjoy this opportunity. Although some days I might not get done everything I want to accomplish I'm reminding myself to take a deep breath & remember it's nothing I can't work on when Dan gets home or when the kids go to sleep. I love you Lydia & yes you definitely are MY SUNSHINE :)
   

 

ideas for the little lady

Lydia started last May with great success in the potty training department. It's seemed rather effortless for us {at least compared to her brothers} & have gone through this last year happy with her progress & lack of accidents. Unfortunately, it seems that we've also gone though the past year without really realizing we were just happily taking her to & from the bathroom without much thought. Well, she's been giving some trouble to the babysitter as of late as far as the potty game goes, so Dan & I are trying to devise some things to prod her along to be more independent, which we are hoping in turn helps with those troubles.  We're hoping this will progress quickly as most things we've tried with her...but alas, our little lady is quite stubborn.  The above is just one idea, a chart that she could color in every time she does "it" by herself.  After filling the chart, we're thinking the reward would be something like a new dvd... which she loves.  Another idea was a similar chart, but she gets to place a sticker in each square.  It may take a little tweaking, but hopefully we'll have success soon!!! Wish us luck :)

  

playing around

I did a real quick layout this morning while I was sending some new product off to the printer :)  It's a mix of my unwritten line & some stuff I just got in the happy box from Studio Calico.  I loved how some of the things I had gotten from Studio Calico coordinated so well with unwritten!!! 

 

Easter memories

There was a lot of anticipation for this little lady about some bunny coming & leaving some eggs & candy.  We started with our local egg hunt on Saturday... she decided that she would search out all the plastic eggs & skip over all the other candy.

as for Evan, he just went for it all!!! But he was polite enough to throw some of it back for some kids who got there late & share some with Collin & Lydia as well.  

 

Easter Sunday we started with an early mass & then hosted a brunch with my family.  The big kids hid the eggs... I'm guess Alec thought they needed a challenge!

ready... set... GO!!!! 

cousins :) They just crack me up when they get together.
 

Collin found his 6 eggs first, so he got the bonus egg with $2 in it! There favorite eggs are the ones with money in them...

 

Evan checking his loot.

EXCITED!!! 

 

listening for money... I think the kids re-hid Lydia's eggs 3 more times. She LOVES hunting eggs! She also wanted to call the Easter bunny to see if he could bring her some more candy. We were continually looking in the yard to see if more had appeared :)
 

all in all, it was a perfect day with our family.