Author Archives: Jess

announcing…

something new!

Can you see what I’m looking at there on my fancy schmancy new iPad?  It’s the sleep pod pattern!  That’s what all of my computer time has gone toward this week while Barry was home for Christmas vacation.  Want a closer look?

the SweetPod sleep pod pattern is here!

You can read my product description over here on my pattern page and buy a copy from my shop if you’re so inclined.

The really sad thing is that Eva has outgrown hers.  Just this week it has turned into the diaper basket.  It does make a good cloth diaper basket and I’m sure it will hold all of her stuffed animals and dolls in years to come.  I can’t bare to just hide it away in the basement.

(And I must add that my iPad is super cool and a completely unexpected surprise.  It was so fun to Skype with on Christmas day so grandparents could see the kids open presents, I’ve got my current knitting pattern on it so I don’t have to keep reprinting it out because I lose it, and best of all I’ve been using it to do yoga every morning in my room first thing.  It truly is a marvel!)

a Christmas adventure

I know I am way behind on posts.  Christmas came and went and I haven’t even told you about our Thanksgiving trip yet.  Oh well.  I’ll get to it soon I hope.  Today, though, I feel like making a Christmasy post.

Every year my Grumpy sends us Christmas money to get the kids something from him.  We try to use it to create fun memories or DO something we normally wouldn’t get to do instead of just adding more stuff to our home.  This year we decided to do something we could only do in Colorado.  We took a Christmas train ride up in the mountains on the historic Georgetown Railroad.

at the georgetowne railroad

We all bundled up.  It was beautiful and snowy and very Christmasy.

brrr

here comes our train!

the engine

and Santa was on it!

Santa found our little guys even before we got on the train.

hunter and santa

out the window

Because of the snowy tracks the train just goes back and forth on its route around the mountain so it doesn’t ever have to switch tracks.  We sat in the very back of the train in the cattle car because that’s where it would be easiest to keep our herd together.  That’s where the most windows were too, so we got a really good view of the winter wonderland.

smiley dad

listening to the conductor
 lights out the window

Santa's visit

Santa came through the train to see all the kids and he gave them each a special Christmas bell

have gave out bells

Santa and the 11 year old

visiting the boys

candy canes

and candy canes.

at the end

the night lights

It was a fun adventure– creating just the kind of memories we had hoped.

Thanks Grumpy!

4 months

Our little princess is another month older.  Her new favorite thing to do is hang out in the jumper.  It’s so much of a favorite that she will jump for over an hour at a time.  That is a  l o n g  time when you’re just 4 months old.  We loaded her up today and Logan wanted to be the photographer.

4 months in the jumper

Most of his photos turned  out like this:

movin'

which gives you an idea of the vigorous hand flapping and bouncing that was going on.   (The rest of the photos I took.)

This jumper was mine when I was a baby, then used by my 4 brothers, and now all 6 of my babies (and a nephew too).  It is THE favorite baby toy of all the babies I know who’ve tried it.  The amazing thing is that they are so quick to figure out just how it works and are jumping and flapping away in no time.

just the cutest thing ever

This baby of mine is such a cutie.  She’s a big rolly-polly cutie.  At 3 months she was 15 1/2 lbs, so I’m guessing now she’s probably about 17.  That’s about the same as all 4 of my boys at this age too.

love those chubby arms and hands

I brought out the tub of size 6-9 month clothes today.   It’s fun to have new things to dress her up in– and much easier to get bigger sleepers zipped.  Just look at those rolly-polly arms.

4 months today

boing

getting with it

the letter

Last year we didn’t get a Christmas letter written or a single card sent.  I was newly pregnant and oh, so tired and nauseous, with in-laws in town.  That was my excuse.  There’s always an excuse though, isn’t there?  Now I have a new baby and on top of that pink eye ravaged through our family these last couple of weeks so I couldn’t take a good Christmas picture for our card.

I faced those would-be excuses head on, went through our photos and found one of each kid that was cute, enlisted the help of my husband to make them fit right, and placed my order at Costco.  The bummer– we didn’t notice Hunter’s name was misspelled until we had 100 HunDers in our hands.  Oh well, done imperfectly is better that not done at all.  Right?

team effort

Getting them out the door was a team effort.  One big kid did address labels, another return addresses, and the third did stamps.

lots of envelopes

The little kids obviously couldn’t be left out, so they had stickers and envelopes of their own.

his own stickers

look

The littlest supervised while doing her favorite new activity– sucking her finger.

the supervisor

just for me

There were even a couple addressed to me :)