These make me happy

Our new patio roof. Josh took these photos last night. The guy is out there right now putting on the gutter and downpipe and whatever finishing touches are needed.

Finding a wooden train set at a price I like after a few weeks of looking in preparation for Nate's birthday.

The boy in boots and overalls.
He loves those boots so much he wears them every day all day. Even takes his naps with them on. He'd sleep with them on at night but I won't let him. =)

Girl #3 in a brand new Grammy made outfit

Girl #2 in a new Grammy made shirt and a new Grandma made skirt

Girl #1 (in a new Grammy made shirt as well) reading as usual. (Nate was laying down beside her looking at the book but got up just as I took the photo. of course)

a clean school room floor

This corner of my front room especially with the new big fluffy cushions I made with the pillowcases that came with the sheet I'm using as a cover for the futon, my new bookshelf and my new winterscape on the mirror.

tooting my own horn =)

I'm just taking a moment here because I'm very proud of myself. Our car seat cover has been through 4 babies and the backing was completely disintegrating. Here you can kinda see what the front looked like.
Anyhoo, I bought $15 worth of heavy cute polka dot material and read the tutorial by Ashley on Make It and Love It. Then Josh took the car seat out one day after Nate spilled or spewed or something and washed it all. I grabbed the cover with the intention of re-doing it that day. Well, several weeks passed and Nate has been using a bigger booster seat. But he will be much more comfortable on our trip up north (not to mention safer) in his other car seat. So yesterday I bit the bullet and cut that cover apart. Of course I neglected to pay attention to what Ashley said and didn't take any photos. So then I was worried that I wouldn't be able to put it back together. But I found some thick iron-on pellon in my craft room and just started sewing it all together. And it worked!!! I'm so happy! It's so much cuter now. And not shedding all over my car. I somehow made a mistake in cutting out one piece and didn't realize until after I had sewn it together but it was an easy fix as it was cut too big and I hadn't hemmed/put the binding on it yet. So, without further ado~the new and improved car seat!!

Friends

The Challacombe's came over for lunch on Sunday. Nate and Jim were having a great time out on the trampoline all by themselves.

Warm

On these chilly winter mornings Catie can normally be found in the warmest spot in the house. In the front window soaking in the sun and reading a book.

Cute

Beautiful

*photos by Gwen/Grandma

Can you guess...

who did this?

or what this is going to be??

dot points of randomness

• our washing machine broke.
  
• the guy came out today and had to replace the motor capacitor.
  
• Not bad considering we've had the machine for 10 years and have only had to replace a belt and the capacitor. Go Maytag!!
• Nathan is talking more. If only we could understand him! His "1,2,3!" sounds more like "uh, tuh, TUH!"
• He loves to sing.
  
• We found out that the baby is a girl! Have I mentioned that already? can't remember
• I went through the baby clothes the other day. I started sorting them to wash the tiny stuff but then realized that I should probably wait a few more months. =)
• Some friends had a little boy Wednesday. We went to see him on Thursday. I just love holding newborns. And they smell so yummy!
• The girls are doing well with their schoolwork.
• Catie prefers reading to anything else including schoolwork. =)
• Emma like Math and Astronomy.
• She has also taken it upon herself to start writing in cursive. Guess I should work on teaching her the proper way.
  
• Beka continues along in her Prep/Kindgergarten work.
  
• She really enjoys the books we've gotten from the Mennonites.
  
• And she has a third and hopefully final hearing test next week. I guess they want to make sure that the one she passed wasn't a fluke.
• Further to yesterday's clever post I wanted to mention that except for the backing on the bookshelves every single step to go from live tree to awesome bookshelves was done by Mark!
• And they even have some of the distressing with a hammer that's really popular in blogland right now thanks to a little helper. It's like the signature on a great piece of art. =)
  
• We are headed to Atherton in a couple of weeks. That's where Floyd and Gwen spend most of their time. So we thought we'd check it out.
• It's a 20 hour drive at least. ugghhh! But we'll be there for two weeks or so.
• Gwen has been home for the last 6 weeks or so. It's been so nice to have her home. The girls love spending time with her and Nathan really warmed up to her too. Which is awesome!!
• She's planning to watch the kids for us in September.
• Josh and I are heading to Montville for 4 days in September to celebrate 10 years of marriage! Yay for us!
  
• I believe there needs to be more focusing on and celebrating of marriages/anniversaries.
• I'm sure there's more to say but that's enough for now.
• In case you didn't know, but I'm sure you did, that's an ultrasound picture of #5 up the top.
  

my little secret....sssshhhhh.....

I'm gonna let you in on my little secret to seeming clever and creative. Surround yourself with creative and clever people. Like Josh, he built a bench for the side of the table that is up against the wall so that the chairs quit scraping the wall. And it fits 3 people easily. He also built a stand for the Berkey filter so that it doesn't have to be right on my sink and take up so much space. Clever!!



Or like my mom, who makes beautiful clothes for my children so I don't have to. (They have heaps of clothes she has made but these were the easiest pictures to find) Clever!!

Or like Mark, who takes my idea and Josh's scribble on a piece of paper and turns them into beautiful, just what I envisioned, perfect bookshelves. Clever!!

Nate likes Daddy's hat

This is the type of picture I get with Nathan about 50% of the time. =)

I know I've only been putting photos up lately but it seems like everything else is just the same old, same old. Everything's normal and a bit boring. HA! as boring as it gets with an 8 yr old, 7 yr old, 5.5 yr old and a 21 month old. =)

Catie, Nathan and Daddy on The Big Wheel