Updates

I finally got some pictures from the summer and recently uploaded to my computer. Here's a little sneak peak of what been keeping me so busy lately...

Kian's at THAT age. And he's finally reached the point where he can climb everywhere! The kitchen and bathroom counter is no problem. He's figured out that the drawers act as nice steps. He can even climb on our counter height chairs and get onto the table. At least his mischievousness is balanced out that cute innocent smile :)

Happy Easter!

We made this video today for grandparents but I thought we'd share it with all. Happy Easter everybody!

Gardening

I think the warm is finally here to stay! We've been busy expanding our garden (I really wanted some add some raspberries into the mix and they needed their own box. Soooo I convinced Cam to build me another box, and while he was at it 2 more :) I'm actually pretty proud of myself because I got to use the power tools and help put them together. Haha.

With our first box we got untreated reg wood (I wasn't into the idea of chemically treated wood leaking chemicals in the soil then being soaked up by the plants and into our food).  After 3 years it's starting to rot out pretty good. So this time we were smarter and opted for cedar. But we found a really cheap source for it so I think we'll replace the bigger box too next year. I like to garden so I'm writing too much...but anyway, here's pictures.

Before

Progress

After!

Yummy strawberries are coming! If you can see in the pic we have a 16 x 4 space dedicated to strawberries because we love fruit! I can hardly wait!

Here's what we're growing this year.

Strawberries
Raspberries
Snow Peas
Snap Peas
Broccoli
Carrots
Tomatoes
Peppers
Basil
Parsley
Bush beans
Zucchini
Yellow Squash

Hooray! Hope the bugs don't eat it all before we do!

New Painting

If you haven't been to my art blog lately, head on over for a visit! I finally updated it with a new painting. www.beckyporter.com

Spray Paint Magic

Over the winter, our neighbors were about to throw away some of their outdoor porch chairs because they were really stained. I thought for sure I could get the stains out, so I happily took them off their hands. So one day when it was warmer, I scrubbed with everything from bleach to borax and no luck! They were still dirty looking and stained. I decided to try spray painting them. After I picked up the paint, I was so excited, I forgot to take a "before" picture. Luckily I had a few from our snow fort building, they are the green and white chairs...not really my style anyway.

So I picked up some Rustoleum spray paint in glossy black. And Ta-da!!

Not bad for $14!

Snowman Maker

I was doing the dishes today and turned around to find Cruz had taken a whole thing of red yarn and wrapped it all around the house. Was I oblivious? No, I did see him doing it. But I didn't realize the extent until I told him to start cleaning it up. Ha!  The whole time he kept saying, "I'm a snowman maker!"And I was thinking, what in the world is he talking about!? He's crazy! Then finally I realized we used that string to make some candy bar snowmen for Christmas.  Duh. Cruz has a way better memory than I do. Anyway, I snapped a few pictures.

Cruz's Scripture for Primary

Inspired by his cousin Parley, when we found out Cruz had to say a scripture for primary we decided to teach him to memorize it. So for the past few weeks, every night before bed, we practiced. He had it down about a week ago and this week we just perfected it. So today in primary, Cam came to help (I was teaching my class so I didn't get to see). They both went up to the podium and it just so happened the microphone was out. Cam discovered Cruz's way to deal with the nervousness and having lots of kids looking at him was to whisper. So he said his scripture but unfortunately Cam was the only one who could hear him. So in lieu of that and for family we are posting a video of him saying it at home. Enjoy!

Snow Fort

One of my favorite things to do as a kid when it snowed was to build forts. So I set out this morning determined to build one with Cruz. We got dressed in our snow gear and on the way out I mentioned to Cam that he was welcome to come out too. I started over in the corner of the house where the snow seemed pretty high already. After about 15 shovel fulls, I was getting pretty tired. [Enter Cameron, to save the day!!!] Cam helped me out a little....er uh... maybe a lot.  And Cruz well, he got tired too and pretty much watched us work.

Watching all the action :)

The finished product

I laughed when I saw this one of Kian.

Every time I dress Kian in this suit it reminds me of the movie "A Christmas Story"

Nothing like Hot Cocoa and marshmallows to finish off a fun day of playing in the snow.

Snow Days...

We had our first snow day in Arkansas a week ago. While sledding with the young men, some of the guys didn't think Cameron could snowboard as good as everybody was saying. Well he had to erase their doubts...



First time on the snowboard in 3 years, he's still got it!

A picture from the first snow storm:

And then today, we woke up to a welcome surprise, 14 inches of snow!

Cruz started to walk in it then realized how deep it was and came back!

Cam helping Cruz over to the already shoveled driveway

 Happy Winter!

DJ

So for those who don't know, Cruz has an obsession with Disney's Cars the movie and the actual little replica cars as well. For Christmas, Santa brought him 4 shiny new Cars. The next day, he decided he wanted one more car, "DJ", from Santa (yeah right!!). After a talk about how Santa already came and only comes once a year, Cam and I decided to take advantage of this and have Cruz earn the money for DJ. Every time Cruz helped around the house he earned a quarter towards his car. To illustrate how many quarters he needed, Cam crafted up this genius paper.

I did not know how much a 3 yr old could help around the house before this. Our favorite chore to do together was unload the dishwasher. A little scary at first, considering all the breakables but he got the hang of it.

I set the silver ware tray down on the dishwasher and he actually liked separating forks, knives, and spoons.

Next he takes out the bowls and stacks them by size. Then gives them to me. Same with plates. Wow.


Needless to say, after he earned all his quarters, DJ found a new home.