A Picturey Post

So I haven't blogged since Christmas.  School and Life have been very busy and there hasn't been a lot of time for extras like blogging.  Sam is still very busy finishing his police field training and I am still teaching away trying to educate the masses in the wonder of mathematics.

In January, we took Robbie out bowling for the first time.  He had so much fun!  Sam and I bowled pretty good games thanks to the bumpers being up.  The saddest part for Robbie was his disappointment that he had to give his "new shoes" back. Poor kiddo.

We took another trip to the Children's museum recently.  I love how the museum changes its exhibits and yet still keeps the good old faithfuls that Robbie loves.  Barbie is gone, but Legos are here.

 Love those dinos!

 Digging in DOW Scienceworks never gets old!

Easter Sunday Sam's schedule got changed and he had to go into work, so Robbie and I were off to church on our own.  It is very difficult to get him to sit still to get a good picture, but I did my best.

 After his nap on Easter, Robbie said he wanted to "Play Pirates."  We created a pirate ship out of our loveseat and a few kitchen chairs and put some "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" on the TV.  I drug a few costume things out of our collection and drew on some piratey whiskers.  A wrapping paper tube telescope completed the outfit.

 Be careful!  He will lure you in with his irresistible cuteness.

ARRRRRR!  Ahoy Mateys!

So maybe some more things to come.  Only 36 school days left until summer break!  Until then, goodnight!

I spy with my little eyes

I wanted Robbie to be able to give a gift to all his little buddies at daycare, but didn't really want to spend a lot of money.  When I saw the idea for making your own 'I Spy' bottles on the Meet the Dubiens blog, I decided to try this out.  I'm so pleased with the results.  My bottles don't look nearly as professional as hers, but I don't think Robbie's toddler friends will care.  

Step 1:  Collect stuff

Fortunately for me, my mother is a collector and was able to send me lots of little goodies to use.  Make sure your stuff will actually fit through the top of the container you are going to fill.

Step 2:  Fill bottle

I used an empty Fiji water bottle because it was a nice size and shape.  I looked all over for containers that would work.  Voss water bottles would have been great, but difficult to locate in my area.  I filled with the items above, miscellaneous "sprinkles" of sequins and confetti, and dry rice.  Be sure to leave room at the top to allow for shaking.

Step 3: Seal and Finish
We super-glued the cap of the bottle.  For added security I wrapped some electrical tape around the cap as well.  I'm less concerned with Robbie's friends ingesting the bottle contents and more concerned about them spilling the contents... 'cause y'know little kids WILL FIND A WAY to make a huge mess given the opportunity.  I took a picture of the contents of each bottle and then laminated the picture and a message together.  This was tied to each bottle.

This craft was super easy to do.  Now that I've made a few, I will be on the lookout for interesting little items for bottles and also for other containers that might work.  Merry Christmas!

The Season

I love the Christmas season.  I love decorating the tree.  I love singing Christmas carols.  

I love baking and sharing goodies with family and friends.  

This was the first year Robbie was able to help us decorate our tree.  He had so much fun and we had a blast watching him be adorable.

 A few years ago I made these beaded candy canes.  I normally spread them equally about the tree.  Robbie decided they all should go in a cluster about a foot from the bottom.  Perfect! 

 I keep thinking that some day I will think back to our tree and that cluster of candy canes and remember these as the best times of our lives.  I love our little guy so much.

Another great thing about the season are the opportunities to give.  I am so grateful for my blessings.  I am thankful that I always have had food on the table and presents under the tree.  Even when money is "tight", it is always enough.  I think that it is incredibly important that we stop and say, "I am grateful.  I am blessed.  I want to share what I have with someone else."  Our church has been encouraging congregation members to make this a year round philosophy and not just a holiday event, but has participated in several holiday specific giving opportunities.

 One of these was "Christmas Dinner in a Bag"

We were given a shopping list for some grocery staples and returned them to the church.  Needy families are given the sack of groceries and also a turkey to have a nice holiday dinner.  This year I heard we provided dinner to nearly 100 families in our community.

Another opportunity was "Operation Christmas Child"

We filled two shoe boxes with gifts, toys, and toiletries.  We filled one for a little boy age 2-4 and one for a little girl age 2-4.  We went to the Samaritan's Purse website and printed a tracking label so we could follow our box.  It turned out that the boxes went to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

So does it really make a difference?

Do our gifts and food make a difference in the life our neighbors or in the lives of children halfway across the world? Maybe?  Maybe not.  I hope so.  I really really hope so.  But I can tell you 100% that it does make a difference to me... because I have to do something.  There is a line in "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss that I read to Robbie that says, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."  Giving a little time, a little money, and a whole lot of prayer is such a simple thing to do and it reminds me to be grateful for the things I do have.  I have a good life.  I am grateful.

Merry Christmas!

October Recap

OCTOBER RECAP

We were busy.  We had family drama.  We didn't blog.

So here goes.

Sam graduates from the Brownsburg Reserve Police Officer Academy.

He begins his field training soon after.

Graduation Day

So proud of my sweet husband!

Officer Leahy

Robbie's cousin Emma Wood turns three!

Birthday girl

Mommy's superhero

This child has no fear

Robbie (and Mommy) attend G.A.G. Night (Great Alternative Gig), a fall carnival, at church.

Face Painting - he picked a heart.

hmm... which duck will win me the most candy?

This candy is sticky!

 PUMPKIN CARVING

Ewwww! Slimy stuff!

 HALLOWEEN!

Spooktacular party at Brianna & Andrew's
Sam as Travis Junior from Reno 911.
I was going for Gypsy... ended up kinda piratey... oh well.

Robbie "Sir Hatestonap" trick-or-treating with cousins Jesse & Luke

He is risen!

Hope everyone had a great Easter Sunday. Robbie was super excited about his Easter basket and refused to eat breakfast. So of course by the time we got to church he was starving! We ducked into the fellowship hall before dropping him off in the 2 year-old's room for a nutrigrain bar. The preschool Sunday school theme this month is "Jesus wants to be my friend forever." Aren't you glad Jesus wants to be your friend forever, too? Happy Easter! He is risen, indeed!

{Insert Egg Pun Here}

I hate hard boiled eggs. I think they are gross. Slimy bland outside, chalking dry eggy inside. {blech}. So while it is rotten that Robbie is allergic to eggs, it really doesn't hinder our life too much as we are not big egg eaters. If he eats eggs, he gets hives. Too many "egg ingredient" meals in one week causes him to get rough rashy patches on his legs and torso.

But! I LOVE TRADITIONS. And darn it, if the Easter holiday calls for egg decorating, by golly, we are going to to do it. Enter the salt dough ornament. We made salt-dough ornaments at Christmas and gave them away. Robbie had a blast, so I thought we'd do it again. I used a different recipe this time, which I ended up not liking as well. Next time, I'll go back to the one I used at Christmas.

Salt dough: 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1.5 cups warm water. Mix/knead to form a smooth dough. Add more flour if dough is sticky. Roll onto floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters. Bake 300 degrees for an hour or until 'dry'.

Enter the biggest problem. I only roll and cut cookies at Christmas. So, what to I do for an Easter shape? I have circles, hearts, stars, stockings, trees, men, etc. I have other holidays like a turkey, a four leaf clover, a palm tree, etc, but no oval or egg. I have a cross... but I am weird about food being "religious" which is a whole other blog entry. So hunting through my cabinets, I found this:
This is a tool used for chopping nuts like pecans or walnuts. Egg shape! Awesome. So we rolled the dough. We cut out the eggs and we used a straw to poke holes in the top for hanging. (The straw poking was Robbie's favorite part.)

Into the oven with you, my little eggys.

Once they had cooked dry (about 45 min) and cooled, I mixed up some of my acrylic paints, adding white to lighten the shades and make them more "Eastery." I find that the ice cub tray is a handy little paint tool for my budding artist. I like to leave several cubes empty so he can mix his own colors.

Big concentration.

Every artist should blend, blend, blend!

At the end, everything was sort of multicolored and splotchy.

Perfect!

Adding a sprinkle of glitter makes for a shiny springtime.

Robbie was a bit heavy handed with the glitter, but hey, it was his first time and a kid's gotta learn somehow!

After the paint dried and Robbie went to bed, I pulled out the trusty clear polyurethane varnish and gave the eggs a coating. This dough doesn't last long if you don't seal it. If there is moisture in the air, they sort of swell and crumble. (creepy) Tomorrow after the varnish is dry, we will decorate them with ribbons maybe and hang them around the house. We may also mail a few out to relatives... the recipe made 16 eggs... that's a lot of eggs. Hoppy Easter! (Almost made it through without a single pun!)

Halloween! Giddy-up!

Mommy's Little Cowboy

For the most part, we had a fabulous Halloween this year.
Robbie was supercute in his cowboy costume. He called this his "bouncy" horse. You may be able to tell from the pictures that he was the back two legs of the horse, so the bouncing all came from him.

A few days ago, I realized that we didn't have a cowboy hat for him, so we went to find one. He insisted on the white hat, confirming my theory that Robbie is a good guy. A bandana and a jean jacket added with the sheriff's badge mom and dad brought back from their trip out west completed the look! He was so excited!

Hello? Hello? Cheeeese!

The Leahy clan had a fun and fabulous Christmas. Robbie ended up with quite a loot. I have no idea what we are going to do with all these new toys (and all the old toys!). So after several days of "Christmas-ing" we are trying to get back into some simblance of a routine. I took Rob to daycare today so I could get a few things done for work next week and take a nap. Tomorrow we have plans with the Wood's and the Strunk's and their kiddos. Should be fun!

Above is Rob in his adorable Christmas outfit from my Mom. The little T-shirt in the back is from Sam's sister and says "I was born a colts fan!"

Below is our little family at my brother Jim's house just before we got back in the car to go home. Robbie was pj'ed up in hopes he would sleep in the car. Robbie learned to say "Cheese" tonight and we got this cute little smile out of him.

While at Jim & Amy's, Robbie found this little toy cell phone and went nuts for it. He kept walking around saying, "Hello? PawPaw? Hello? PawPaw?" It cracked us up. Below, Sam and Robbie bond over cell phones and juice.

This morning as we were getting ready and moving, Robbie picked up something -- a remote I think -- and put it up to his ear. He started walking around with it up to his ear and saying, "Hello? Hello? Cheeeeeese." What a cutie pie!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas! Happy New Year!