10 Months

I can't believe that our little man is already 10 months old! He is changing so quickly nowadays and becoming my little toddler instead of that tiny (okay never tiny) bundle of joy. He has finally gotten the full crawl down instead of his normal army crawl. For the longest time he could do both, but he knew if he wanted to get somewhere fast he could do it much faster on his elbows with an army crawl. It seems that the very same day he got the crawling down he began to pull up to his knees around the coffee table. He also had realized that crawling means freedoms and discovering his world. He has also began being our mini "vaccum cleaner" by picking up and eating whatever he can get his hands on form the floor or such. I would hate to know how much he really swallows with me having no idea. Oh well, the other 3 lived doing it. Little Man has also began eating a more normal diet this month with trying lots of new gluten free foods. Becasue he has 2 sisters with gluten problems, we have decided to keep him gluten free as well for at least the first 12 months to see how he reacts when we slowly introduce it. Some recent new foods were: pancakes, scrambled eggs, gluten free bread, frozen peas, spaghetti with homemade sauce, dry cereal, and thanks to Uncle Carl a bit of coffe on his lid. He also learned to FINALLY say Mom! Yeah! Each of the kids has learned to say "Dad" first, but he has been the slowest at saying that second word of "Mom." He also is becoming so much more playful and wanting to interact with other people. The girls just love playing with their baby brother and he and Dad have begun playing catch with a rubber baseball. He can't throw it yet but he will hand it back to you. It's way too cute! I just can't believe that we will soon be planning a 1st birthday party for him. How does the 1st year always go by sooooo fast....but then that the 2nd-3rd years with potty training go so much slower??? Or maybe the potty training jsut makes it seem to drag on??

Busy Fall....and a Funny Farm!

We have crazy busy this Fall and I'm not really sure how it happened to end up that way but it did. We literally have some event every weekend and most of them are pretty big items. So here's a brief look for all those out there who's like where on Earth is Mandi and why is she majorly slacking on posts lately??

Oct 10 - Emma's Tea and Family coming in to say for the weekend

Oct15-19 Annual Family Campout (froze our pattoties off!)

Oct 23-25 Penn to host Emily's Bridal Shower

Oct 26-Nov 1 Getting ready for Craft show and Nathan TN for part of that

Nov 2-7 San Antonio

Nov 13 Maddelyn's tonsils out

Nov 14 Lexington Craft Show

Nov 18-22 Jeremiah and Emily's wedding

Nov 26 Hosting Thanksgiving in our house for close to 40 people

Dec 5 Ontario Craft Show

Dec 6 Elijah's 1st b-day party??

Whew...can I take a breath yet???? Just typing all of that makes my feel tired! So basically every week has to be assigned to a certain topic and I have to focus on that topic ONLY that week. This upcoming week is BOWS BOWS BOWS for the upcoming craft shows and packing Eli and I for TX (girls will be in PA.) Of course this is on top of the normal homeschool lessons, dr appts (since there seems to be at least 1 sick person in our hose from mid Sept to mid April), unpacking from the previous weeks events and trying to get it washed and hung back up before it gets packed in another suitcase for the next week, and the day to day running of living with 4 small kids. Oh and did I mention Nathan is r-e-a-l-l-y wanting a puppy???? Yep just sign the papers now and go ahead and commit me to the funny farm. I know it's only a matter of time! HA! Just thought you all might get a good laugh out of our calendar for the next couple of months. I'm just glad I am a organized/planner kinda person. See...God knew my life would be a tornado of chaos so He made me a super planner/list maker/clean freak! HAHA! I'm not OCD....I'm equipped. That's my quote of the week. I'll be back tomorrow night with more pics of camping, Elijah's 10 months, and the bridal shower but that's it for tonight.

Fancy Nancy Party

So I am finally taking a few minutes of out a crazy month to update my blog. Yes...I am also finally posting our Fancy Nancy pictures since I have had so many people asking to see them...who have probably by now given up on me! HA! We did have a wonderful time at Emma's 5th Birthday Fancy Nancy Tea Party. We had 12 little Fancy Nancy's attend our tea and I think each one of them had quiet a memorable experience. As each guest arrived in their most Fancy Like Nancy outfits, they received a necklace, ring, feather boa, fan, and a tutu puff hair bow to add to their ensembles. We then had the girls sit around and read one of the Fancy Nancy books, just in case any of our little party guests was not familiar with her and her special way of making life fancy. After this we discussed different secret messages that we could say by using our fans and practiced each one. The girls also each had a turn at trying to walk with high heels and a book on their heads. After this they were all seated at our Fancy Tea Table for their big girl tea party. We served them finger foods such as pink candied popcorn, apples and caramel dip, cookies, tea pot shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cupcakes and of course hot tea (and lemonade for those who preferred it.) We also had a parfait making parlor to match where Fancy Nancy went to have parfaits ( a fancy word for ice cream Sunday's.) Each girl was given a cute dessert bow filled with ice cream and she could pick her own toppings to fancy it up! After opening all her presents ( I had no idea there were so many Fancy Nancy items out there in the stores) the girls played upstairs in the playroom for a bit before their parents arrived to take them home. I twas a wonderful tea party and a great way to celebrate that our sweetie is no longer out little toddler, but has officially begun her time as a little girl. Oh my! Two tea parties down and so sad to say that before we know it we will be doing the 5th birthday tea for Miss Caroline as well. This just happens way too fast!

It's Fancy Nancy Time!

So this past weekend at the Twin Sale in Columbus I picked up this Johnny Jumper for Elijah. We had always wanted one for the girls but never lived in a house that had door frames that could support one. Well now with this big old Victorian we have plenty of wood work to hold a Johnny Jumper. I wasn't sure if he would like it or was on the edge of being too old for it, but he has taken right to it. The first couple of times he was in it he kinda just acted like he was in a walker or seat of some kind. I'm not sure how he figured out he can bounce with it, but now he is a bouncing machine. The past couple of days we have literally just sat in the floor watching him and laughing (yeah the entertainment of parents) because he really gets into it. He is Tigger-type bouncing in it and gets way down before he pounces again and of course giggles. I'm really thinking now that I totally missed out on this for the first three!

This past weekend the girls and I did a bit of projects in the kitchen for school. Okay those who know me are know picking themselves back up off the floor at Mandi doing anything semi creative in the kitchen. Don't worry the house stayed intact...they were both box kits with EASY directions. I had wanted to do caramel apples with the girls this fall so we picked up these neat caramel sheets that you simply wrap around the apples and then back for a few minutes to get them to melt. When we picked up the caramel sheets in the produce aisle Maddelyn saw the chocolate banana kits thought they just had to try them out so we did. They too were simple by just warming the bag of chocolate in a bowl of water and then pouring it into a cup and dipping the bananas. We decided they needed a bit more so we added some sprinkles. I was frustrated thought at how long they were taking to dry to they got wrapped in plastic wrap and went into the freezer before being totally dry to they don't look quite as nice as the ice cream shop ones do.

I also wanted to share our latest Muffin Tin Monday lunch. We didn't do a theme lunch this week since we are working on our Little House in the Big Woods unit and I want to wait to do a Muffin Tin Monday when we can have the girls try out some of the Little House recipes and include some of those in the tins. this week was just too crazy to try any of them. In these tins we have: Honey rice cakes covered in peanut butter, cheese cubes, out frozen bananas, apple slices, some gluten free snack?, and grapes. I guess it was good because all the trays were empty when they came back from the table.

So Emma got her first present today from my parents and grandparents. My mom had picked up for her the prized "Fancy Nancy Doll" as well as a few outfits and she figured since Emma is having her Fancy Nancy Tea Party this weekend that it would be nice to let her have it early. Emma while opening it said...I hope it's a doll, an American Girl. Well by the time the box was open there were no thoughts of any 18 inch $95.00 dolls. You can see by the light in her eyes that this was exactly what she wanted. You can also tell by the fact that it is sitting in her nightstand now as she sleeps...of course in her Fancy Nancy Bath Robe! Silly me forgot to get a picture of the actual doll so here it is at Target. What's hilarious is that my mom had purchased both the doll and one outfit even though I was like $55 for a doll and one outfit is silly for a 5 year old. Well she said she knows what it's like to be a 2nd child and wanted her to have something special of her own so she got it. So this weekend at the twin sale I am digging through the toys on a hunt for a second Dumbo for Caroline (always nice to have a back-up of a lovey just in case one needs a spin in the washer) and stumbled upon a like new Fancy Nancy doll with 3 outfits for only $20.00. I was like uh.... she's 5 and will have no clue it's from a garage sale if it's in a pretty wrapped box! This frugal momma is not ashamed! So as I had thought pulling her out of a shiny wrapped box today left her no second thoughts on if she had a previous owner or not and now it left room for more Fancy Nancy accessories in the budget! I'm so excited to see what she does with all the other Fancy Nancy items that I've heard other family memebers are picking up for her as well.

I'm really hoping that this weekend will be a special memory for Emma. We started with Maddelyn the tradition of doing a 5th birthday tea for each (girl) child and making it a big deal. It's kinda like their rite of passage into being a little girl instead of a toddler. Emma chose to add the theme of Fancy Nancy (a book series that might as well have been written about my daughter Emma and how she lives to be fancy!) I of course will be posting pictures of the party later on but after starting to decorate tonight we have place settings for 17 little girls (10 of them family), boas and tutu hair bows on each chair, 17 real tea settings, paper fans, beads and rings for everyone, and of course a chandelier draped in boas, beads, and pink paper lanterns. Hey even if that light does prove to be a 1900's Tiffany light...even it can use a bit of being "Fancy like Nancy???" We also have planned having etiquette lessons on fan communications, curtsy lessons, and trying to walk in both high heals and with a book on their heads. We also will be having an ice cream parfaits (because as Fancy Nancy says that the fancy way of saying ice cream Sunday.) I guess it might seem a bit much for 1 of 4 children, but I figure they are only a little girl for such a short time...why not treasure it and make them feel like a true princess for that one day.