Handmade? Yes, Please!

The way to my heart is handmade items.  There is nothing better than knowing someone close to you took the time to make something for you/your children.  I received tons of homemade things when I had Jackson but just a few for Noah.  I am kind of weird when it comes to these things.  They usually go up into the closet un-touched because I absolutely don't want anything to happen to them!  Lately I have been thinking about my thought process on this.  What good is it doing in a closet?  This drives my husband crazy!  He has been wanting to use the quilt that my Grandma Winnie made us for our wedding well since- our wedding!  I say no every time, what if something were to happen to it?!  Well, so what right?  At least I would know that we enjoyed using it right?  I sure hope that I can overcome my fear of using all of our precious handmade things.  I have a few quilts, pillow cases my Grandma made for Noah and Jackson, and even a pack of burp clothes that I had embroidered with Noah's name before he was born!

So I took some time to photograph Noah and Jackson with their "handmade" items and now I feel as if I could let go a little and let the boys make good use of them.  Also, I took some pictures of Noah laying on the quilt that my Grandma Ruth made me when I was little.  Such precious memories in the making.

This is the blanket that my Grandma Winnie made for Noah.  She even in scripted it.

Next up is the blanket from my Aunt Sandy.  It is has crocheted bears on it.

This next one is from my Aunt Dorothy.  It is a patchwork type quilt and in the card my Aunt wrote:

The quilt pattern is from a book called "soft covers for hard times".  The fabrics are 1930's reproductions of the depression era.  Hope you enjoy.  Remember:

"He who sleeps under a homemade quilt sleeps under a blanket of love."

And of course this one was taken for fun.  This quilt was used by me, Jackson, and Noah.  My Grandma Ruth made it for me when I was a baby.

Now that I know I have the memories of the quilts in pictures, I hope that Noah will enjoy using them for many years!

A Day With Grandma

I am a little behind on posting this one, but a couple weeks ago Noah was able to spend the entire day on Tuesday with my Mom all by himself.  Oh, and Grandpa stopped in to play a little between his "hay raking" sessions.  I love the fact that both of my boys are able to have awesome relationship's with my parents.  Some of my fondest memories are the ones in which I spent time with my grandparents.  A few pics from the day below.  I made sure that I left my camera with my Mom so that she was able to take some pictures!



Starting the day off with a little nap.




But not for long, I am already awake!




"Thanks for playing with me Grandpa."



I love the toys at Grandma's, they all make noise and do things.



"I even wore my special tractor pull onsie for Grandpa.  Man, I am exhausted- time for another nap."

Thanks Grandma for a fun day.  I can't wait until next time.

Juggling Act

So as a Mom I know that I take on and have many different roles in life.  Since I have returned to work after having Noah and I am realizing now more than ever how important it is to prioritize and use my time very wisely.  The one thing that I was afraid of about coming back to work is that my baby will be spending almost more time per week with someone else instead of with me.  Noah is at daycare 3 days a week for 8 hours per day, and also with Matt about 12 hours per week when I am not there.  That is 36 hours of time that it being taken away from me and being used by someone else.  I am not sure exactly how I feel about this because I do understand the importance of my working for my family right now, but that sure doesn't make it any easier.  I know that for the next year or so I will need to continue working full-time to reach some of the goals that Matt and I have set for my family.  Now that it is Summer it's a little easier when I come home because we aren't having to take time to do homework, but we still have baseball practices and other events in the evening.  Call me selfish, and I don't know why I am still having such a hard time with this.  I am praying that going forward it will get easier with every day that passes.  I sure don't want to be the one who misses the first word, or step due to the fact that he is in daycare.

Life as a baseball Mom.

We had fabulous, wonderful, excitng, tiring, eventful weekend!  Where to start.  Friday night Matt and I had our first real "date night" since Noah has been born.  Grandma came over and took care of Noah and Jack for the evening while Matt and I went to a concert.  I had bought Matt Mumford & Sons (CAKE was also there) tickets for our anniversary.  The concert was at City Market so we went and so did about 10,000 other people (no joke).  Matt really loved it, which is all that Matters.  For me it made me realize something about my life now.  While 10 years ago going to a concert and being smashed against other people, having to use portable potties, and stand the entire time would have been an absolute blast.  These days?  I would much rather be home snuggling with my babies or watching a movie!  Although I will admit that it was nice getting out of the house with my husband. :)

Saturday started Jackson's baseball tournament.  It was in Oak Grove, Missouri so about 50 minutes from home.  He played 2 games, an 11:00 and a 12:30.  The Bobcats won one and lost one.  They were pretty excited about winning the one game though.  My Mom went with me to help with Noah (God Bless Her) because Matt had to work.  It was about 100 degrees and I am not exaggerating.  Noah and I had to go sit by the concession stands because that was the only place that I could find shade.



Aunt Kat and Noah must have been telling stories to one another.




"Please Mom, no more pictures!  I am hot, tired, and want to go home!"

 Later that evening we went over to a friend's house (a parent on the ball team) and had a bbq.  Matt had to work so he didn't get to come enjoy the party until about 9:30PM.  We had a great time and were so thankful for the hospitality.  Jackson and his ball friends played outside in the sprinkler and filled cups with water and dumped them on one another!  Who needs fancy toys anyway?  I think Noah really like the bbq too because he got so much attention!  Everyone held and played with him, which gave Mommy a small break because it had been a really long day.



"Hmm, who can I pour this cup of water on?"

 Sunday morning comes and we are off again, this time with Matt!  Games were at 11:30 and 1:00.  It was even hotter than the day before.  Matt did make one trip with Noah to sit in the car with the AC on, poor guy was getting a little heat rash.  Thank goodness some of the team parents brought canopies this time!  I really don't know what we would have done without those.  The Bobcats won their first and unfortunately lost their second and were out of the tournament.  They all played fabulous and in my opinion it was a great effort made by everyone for their first machine pitch tournament ever.  After the tournament we all went to Taco Bell as a team to eat some lunch!



Jackson and Adam before the game




Noah loves his sock monkey!



"My monkey is so funny Mom!" - Noah





This is at the end of game 2.  Tired, hot, sweaty, and clothes less!

After the crazy busy weekend we decided to stop by and see Matt's Grandma on the way home!

Grandma Shirley and Noah

 So, after the busy weekend I have come to one conclusion.  I wouldn't trade spots with anyone in the world right now.  I am so very lucky to have my husband and two boys and I will cherish every second I get to spend time with them.  Even if it is 102 degrees out! :)