Fun days with Nate

Nate really loves to lie under his play mat and watch his toys swinging!  Today we had lots of fun looking at the toys and smiling!  he is the sweetest little baby.  Everything about him is just so sweet :)

 

 Here's little Nate in one of his onesies from Tracy :)  and his buddy Sock Monkey from M&M&G!  He just started sleeping in his crib because he outgrew his little bassinet.  So before he spent the night, we did a lot of playing in there to get him used to his new digs.  He slept well (but I will miss the little bassinet!).

More crib playing in his fuzzy argyle jammies...

 And of course babies like to be nakey!

Yesterday was very mild, so we had to take advantage of it and take our very first walk!  Don't worry, he's very snug and warm and bundled in there :)

Peeking out before he fell asleep...

Fly Like an Eagle...

I wish I could say I took these pictures, or that Christopher took these pictures, but it was Brother B. from our ward. This weekend Chris took Maxwell with him on a boy scout trip to see eagles in the wild!  They had a great time. Maxwell was looking forward to it all week, and it did not disappoint.  They saw lots of eagles!  It isn't far from us, so Pa said he's going to make a reservation for all of us to go soon.  

My Own Corners...

My little angel baby had a very sleepy day.  So I had lots of time to get many of the thing done that I've been itching to do: laundry folded and put away, sweeping under the bed, tidying this and that.  As things came together I started to notice my own little corners, modest as they are. (Here are the corners that started it all).  I always feel best when the house is clean and organized. That may seem funny to those closest since it seems that my house so rarely is... but I do love a good, clean house.  I was able to get a lot done while I was pregnant (at least up until the last month). A lot of STUFF went out, and a lot of organizing got done.  Now that my little guy is here, much is getting neglected again.  At least I was able to give us a good foundation for the chaos that comes with a babe!  Over the years, months, and even days, I've gathered together a small arsenal of tools that help me keep (or get) my home cozy and neat and spic and span! Here are some of my trade secrets...

We always pin our socks together before we throw them in the wash.  Otherwise, it's a truly hopeless sock situation for all.

I have a personal rule: Do what you hate first. So when I have to tackle the kitchen, I wash the pots and put them away before tackling anything else. Boy do I hate washing pots. And I hate putting them away, trying to stack and fit them in my little kitchen cabinets. Oy.  I just hate washing anything big: pots, baking sheets, stuff like that. If I don't do it first, it just sits there looming. If I do it first, then the night work is so much more pleasant. 

A rule for Mama's sanity: At the end of the night, no toys allowed in the living room. Please bring them in during the day and play! But at bedtime, they have to go home. To make this successful, I need to remember to call attention to it at least an hour before bedtime. Otherwise I get a lot of whining and not a lot of helping.

Plan the week's menu and the week's grocery shopping. I find that when I do this, there is so much less stress. It's not a hard and fast plan because sometimes things come up. The weekend usually stays pretty loose. But during the week, it's so much easier to know what's happening and what I need to get together and prep. I plan the week by first checking out the kids' hot lunch choices (so they don't have chicken for lunch, chicken for dinner, etc.), checking out what I have in the house, and figuring out what I need to get at the store.  It's amazing how hard it is to come up with a meal idea at 3:00 on a Tuesday with a little baby on your lap. So much easier to do the thinking in advance.

I have a small drawer set aside for Nate's snug items. When he's getting a little big for something, I put it in that drawer. That way they don't get mixed into the other larger drawers. If he doesn't wear it again, it stays put, and when the drawer fills up, out they go. For the older kids, it's a laundry basket tucked in the closets.

Make the bed within 20 minutes of waking up.

So as I was cleaning up and enjoying a very peaceful afternoon, I snapped some of my own little humble corners....

 Top of the dresser... Mimi gave me that little glass "Mother" poem in the pink plastic frame for Christmas. She bought it at her school Christmas fair, and I LOVE it!  The painting on the left was done by Mimi this summer at a children's art studio in town.  The right was a gift from a family at church. That lovely box was a Christmas present from my mom. What did she tuck away inside it?...

 Lots and Lots of BUBBLES!!!!

Going down the stairs you'll see some painted Maxwell pumpkins. Also a painting of the Seine that I found at a consignment store, signed and numbered: Score! The front door has the kids' school schedules, calenders, and notices held up with magnets. Our bedroom door has more M&M art :)

 A bookcase downstairs is also a nook for Blythe!

 THIS is one reason why I must at least try to keep up appearances, for when we have a special guest drop by unannounced, like Miss Ashlee, who came calling on Lady Mimi today to play Pollies :)

The boys had their own plans :)

This Moment AND some links!!!

A moment from our week...

And...
I want to try creating links. So here it goes. THIS is one of my favorite blogs.  I super love this blog.  I sure do wish this gal would let us have a peek more often.  Another favorite is this one.  I hope these work!  

FINALLY!!!

Finally that tooth came out and it was with much dramatic flair, in keeping with the personality of its owner. We were at Big G's for dinner. Max, Mimi and Gianna turned off all the lights and started playing a game they call "Ghost", which is basically running and wrestling in the pitch dark.  After just a few minutes Mimi finds me and whispers in a teary voice, Mommy, my tooth flew out of my mouth and it's lost!!!!  So the game came to a screeching halt and the lights went back on, flashlights were passed out, and we all got down on our  hands and knees looking for this long-awaited missing tooth.  I couldn't find it, Gianna couldn't find it, Mary couldn't find it. I knew if anyone was going to find it, it was Maxwell and his uncanny ability to find and see all things.  And just as I thought, Maxwell didn't give up until he found that tooth underneath the rug.  They couldn't have planned it better, because afterwards Mimi went around collecting dollars from everyone there,  and Max ALSO got some dollars as reward money for the tooth rescue, and of course no one could slight Gianna's gallant effort either. So all three of them went home much richer, not to mention the cash Mimi made off the tooth fairy the next morning.  No wonder we get such a big, beautiful smile!!!

Here's the Handsome Homeworker series:

And some after dinner dancing:

What's Nate been up to?

Mimi made me very comfy in this couch bed that she set up for me one snowy evening.

Today everyone is gone. It's just me and my mommy!
Mommy says I seem a little more sleepy than usual today, and maybe a tiny bit more fussy.

I'm trying to get comfy, but nothing seems quite right...
I'm not hungry or feeling like snuggling or doing my bed exercises or looking at toys or taking a     walking/singing tour of the house...

 The only thing left to do at times like that is to swing...

But this is always what ends up happening after 3 minutes!

I think I'll feel better after my swing nap!  

What a difference a year makes!

My Mimi is turning 6 tomorrow...
Look where we were last year on her birthday...
A year that was certainly short, but look at the change!

Here's little Mimi on her 5th birthday...

This was such a great day. I picked her up from Tender Years and we went to McDonald's for her birthday lunch, just the two of us, and she was being super cute the whole time.  Then we came home and played dolls until everyone arrived for her party! I love that nursery school age :)

And here's grown-up Mimi turning 6!

Home from school with her tooth in a box!  She really wanted to lose it at school so she could go to the nurse and get one of those little tooth box necklaces. She managed to wiggle it out five minutes before school ended before Christmas vacation!  Now the other front tooth is hanging by a thread, but she's babying it so that she can pull it out on her birthday. I never thought she'd get it to last that long, but then again, this is Mimi we're talking about and it looks like she's going to manage to pull it off (no pun intended).

I'm also noticing that in a year I haven't managed to tidy up the house much...  I'll work on that in 2013 ;)