Rainy Day Fun

I has been raining the last couple of days, and we are so excited and grateful for the rain.  There has been lots of conversations with Rachel about leaving her mittens out so she can be ready for Tahoe and the snow (she has been asking to go sledding for the last month) and how the plants need the water to grow but not too much or they might drown.

We have mostly been staying inside these last couple days.  Rachel has been into pretending to go camping lately, so I thought it would be fun to bring out the play doghouse.  We all crowded in Rachel's "tent" to go camping.  She kept us safe from bears which all turned out to be nice, so we fed them.  Joel even got to play the role of "Joel Bear" one day, but he was not such a nice bear.  He had to stay out of the tent until he cried to be picked up.

This afternoon Rachel begged to go outside and play in the rain, so I let her go outside of a little while.  Really so what if she gets a little wet.  She will dry and can always change her clothes if they get soaked.  Rachel had quite the ensemble on to brave the cold and wet: snow boots, snow jacket, dress, and capris.  She looked so cute and happy I had to take a picture.  Joel and I stayed inside and watched the fun from the window.

A Completed Project (wow!)

Last weekend and this weekend during the kids' nap time I worked on putting in a new shelf on the wall of our garage to hold my tool boxes and my drill press. This was my first under slung shelf that I've put up and it seems to be pretty sturdy.  This evening I finished it and I think it turned out really well.  It's a little over 24" deep.  I would have made it exactly 24", but I already had a piece cut that was a bit more than that, and it seemed a shame to waste a few inches of expensive ply wood so I just made the shelf extra large.

Joel came out to check it out this afternoon.

Now it's all done, and the lawn mower fits underneath the shelf!

More Work Bench Progress

I took a whole bunch of days off work over the break and Rebekah worked really hard to get me an hour or two most days we were home to work on my work bench. It's coming along nicely!  In fact, I was able to get the out feed table portion of the work bench complete.  And it's 5 feet from the end of the blade, to the end of the out feed table so I can run an 8 foot piece of plywood through the table saw and it will only over hang 3 feet so it doesn't fall off. This is very nice.  Anyway, here are the pictures.

Work Bench Progress

The first stage of the work bench is to get the frame together and put a smooth board on top to make it work as an out feed table for my table saw.  Over the Thanks Giving break I was able to put quite a few more hours into it.  The next step is to glue and screw the verticals into the top horizontal frame which is just clamped on right now. Here is my progress.

What the Kiddos Are Up To

Rachel:

Rachel is still my fiercely independent, energetic, sweet preschooler.  She is intelligent and loves learning.  We are probably homeschooling her for a couple years and then will reevaluate.  We started this year with preschool so that I could get us both in the habit and establish a routine.  She loves school and learning.  She is one smart cookie, picks up concepts very quickly, and is quite articulate.  When I gave her her preschool pretest earlier this year I was surprised how much she already knew.  This year we are using ABC Jesus Loves Me.  It is a bible based curriculum that includes pretty much everything I need.  I like that I don't have to pull together materials from multiple sources. 

She loves to dress herself and I am learning to let her even when things get a little crazy for my taste.  My style tends to not stand out.  I wear a lot of darker solid colors and tend to accessorize very little.  Rachel loves bright colors, especially pink, mixing prints, and hats/crowns.  We do talk about how to match clothes in terms of colors and patterns and there are some rules like clothes must be weather and venue appropriate.  For example I was raised you dress up for church, and so Rachel follows the same rule.  Dresses/Skirts for church.  You do it because you love and respect God.  You bring him your best.

Rachel just finished up a six week gymnastic session.  She loved it, and we will continue the class in January after the holidays are over.  She does a great job trying to do everything and listening to her teacher.  We figured gymnastics would be a good fit for her because she is high energy, loves bouncing, somersaulting, going upside down, swinging, twirling, running...

Joel: 

Joel is just about 5 months.  He is improving his muscle tone and is now able to lift up to his hands on his tummy and hold himself upright with minimal slouching when being carried.  At his last well baby we found out he is pretty weak in his upper back/shoulder muscles.  He has been working out with extra tummy time.  We got the jumper down for Joel, and he loves it.  Within the last couple days he has figured out how to jump in it.  The toys are also fun to spin. 

Joel is a social guy.  He loves people and hates being alone.  He has learned the crib means he will be left alone to nap and now if I put him in it for a minute or so to say wash my hands after a diaper change he almost immediately screams.  Needless to say nap time is still challenging.  Other than the whole nap and crib thing he is pretty happy and mellow.  It is still easy to make him smile and laugh.  Sometimes all we have to do is look at him and we are rewarded with a big grin or a little giggle.

Well, that is what the kiddos are up to.  I hope you enjoyed the update.

Life at 4 Months

 Life at 4 months is pretty fun for Joel.  He loves to suck on his fingers, put toys in his mouth, grab anything and everything within reach, and play and hang with his family.  He sleeps 11 hours straight at night but naps are another story.  He gets lonely and wakes up sad after about 30 minutes at best in his crib.  When we go in to pop his binkie back in his mouth he grabs our hands as tight as he can, closes his eyes, and drifts back to sleep for another short while.  Some days I count going up and down the stairs multiple times over two or three naps my exercise.

Joel's Stats:
Size 3-6 month clothes
Size 2 diapers
Weighs 15lbs 7.7oz (48%)
2 feet 1 inch tall (70%)

Yes, life at 4 months is pretty great and exhausting.

Apple and Pumpkin Picking

We headed up to Apple Ridge Farms and Denver Dans in Apple Hill again this year.  Rachel got brave this year and petted the goats and donkeys.  She even asked to feed the goats.  She loves to talk to the animals, telling them what she is up to and that they should come over to the fence and see her.  I think if we let her she would spend all day with the animals. 

After taking some pictures in the cutouts and seeing the animals at Apple Ridge Farms.  We headed over to their pumpkin patch.  Yes, the pumpkins are a little bit more money than at the grocery store, but we decided we were paying for the experience and made sure to get our moneys worth making Rachel walk through the whole little patch to find the perfect pumpkin.  To her the perfect pumpkin is the current one she has found, so Brian helped to pick out the final pumpkin. 

After pumpkin picking we went to pick apples at Denver Dans.  The apples were a little sparse this year making apple picking a treasure hunt.  We managed to find enough apples to make apple butter and have some just to eat.  Brian lucked out this year because the Granny Smiths were ripe, and Granny Smiths are his favorite.  It was a day full of fun and we all enjoyed a good nap when we got home.