This just makes me smile. :)

Here’s Matea our little goofball with Eli’s Cars hat on. She couldn’t see but insisted on wearing it and walking around, bumping into everything and laughing.  :)

Like brother like sister.

Pretty much anything that Eli is doing Matea needs to be right there doing along with him. Sometimes that annoys Eli, but most of the time he’s alright with that and even has fun with Matea. Eli got on a kick last week about wearing his Lightning McQueen backpack, so of course Matea NEEDED his backpack too. I tried substituting one of her little purses (I’ll post about that another time), but she knew that they were different and wanted no part of it. Then I remembered a little Lightning McQueen backpack that I had gotten on clearance at Target last year and Eli had used to carry cars for a while. I found it (a miracle!) and dug it out of the closet for Matea. At first she still wanted Eli’s, but after Eli helped her find things to put in her pack (including pacifiers, cars, and pretzels) she was happy with hers. I think the pacifiers sealed the deal. :) It was adorable to see them playing together with their matching packs!

Get this thing off of me!

Eli helps put pacifiers and other goodies in Mata’s backpack.

Now I like my backpack! It’s my own pacifier transportation!

Eli needs things in his pack too!

Following Eli up the stairs to search for more things for our packs. We’re having fun adventures together!

An engineer’s mind?

It wouldn’t surprise me if Eli has an engineer’s mind, just like his two Grandpa’s. Last Sunday after church, Eli decided that he wanted to figure out a way to get both of the “power” tools on his workbench (the drill press and the saw) going at the same time on their own. After lots of trial and error he came up with a design that worked! He was so proud of himself, and we were too! He figured out how to make it work. And I thought his designs were pretty clever as well!

I DID IT!! They’re both on (and making LOTS of noise!).

For the drill press, Eli went with a double tower design, then a piece of “wood” for a bridge and more blocks to weigh down the lever on the drill and keep it going. He needed two towers for “stability.” And yes, that is the word he used when I asked him about it.

Eli went through several complicated designs to push down the saw, but then stuck with this one because, “it’s simple and easy.”  Again, his words! The wood blocks are between the workbench and the saw and are holding the saw down just enough that the motor sound goes.

The markers strike again . . .

but this time she did it to herself! Anytime Matea gets a marker in her hot little hands she wants to draw all over herself and her face. She keeps me hoppin’ this one does!

I just wanted to put some makeup on like you do, Mommy!

Eli’s Bus!

Eli needed a cardboard box vehicle for drive-in movie day at school. After discussing and discarding many options (him, not me) he finally decided that he wanted a bus. I thought that it would be a good idea – less cutting for me I thought. That didn’t quite pan out like I hoped, as this bus has taken over my life for the last two weeks. However, it was really fun (and really time consuming to make). Eli helped with the design but couldn’t do any of the construction or spray painting of course. He gave lots of input on what he wanted on the bus though, and did help with putting the reflectors and wheels on. After so much time and effort it was fun to hear him tell me last night, after it was finally completely completely finished, that it was “totally sweet dude!”

I’d contemplate hiding the bus away to use for Matea in a few years, but I already know that she’d having nothing to do with that idea, so the kids are going to have lots of fun with it and play until the bus gives out!

Playing in the finished product!

Back of the bus! Eli did all the reflectors, and insisted that it say “Eli’s Bus” on the back! And it’s number “45” because Eli is 4 but is going to be 5.

Eli and (part of) Mommy on the bus!

We’ve picked up a new passenger. A little fireball named Matea!

I LOVE MY BUS!!!

Easter Crafts!

I love crafts. Love love LOVE them. And the nice weather and approaching Easter holiday called for an Easter craft day I thought. So last Saturday we spent a wonderful afternoon making crafts with Eli, Lexi, Tori, Lori, and Grandma (and we even got Noah to do a few)!  After last year’s debacle of making tiny animals out of beads (seriously, I could barely do them even though Family Fun had them listed as a 4 year old and up craft) I wanted to make sure the kids could actually DO the craft. We ended up with some winners this year and had so much fun!

First up we made little chicks out of tennis balls . . . they are the most adorable things ever, and the kids could do all the assembly themselves! (I cut out the feet and the beaks but they did the rest). Each chick had it’s own little personality, which I loved!

Next up we made bunnies out of socks. Again, the kids could do almost everything themselves, and the adults got to be creative as well. You know what they say about rabbits, so pretty soon we had whole bunny families of course. 

From left to right: Mommy (with earrings and a purse), Matea (with a matching hair bow in of course), Elijah (with his chick ribbon he picked out at the craft store), and Daddy (with a goatee and glasses). What a cute family!

And we can’t forget Jeff and Lori’s family! Noah (with mismatched eyes), then two Lexi bunnies (one with a pom pom on her ear), then Lori’s bunny (so cute and round, it’s my favorite I think), then Jeff (with a tie fashioned by Grandma), and then Tori’s bunny!

The last craft of the day was one which had to be done in stages. We made wreaths out of plastic eggs that we painted with puffy paint. We painted the eggs, let them dry, glued on our leaves, then attached the eggs. This craft was more challenging than the rest, and almost not worth the trouble. Except the wreath is so cute hanging in the kitchen now. I love it!

Eli’s wreath has his name, a cross, polka dots, plaid, flowers, a bunny, snakes, and squiggies (as he called the squiggles). So cute, and Eli is so proud that he made it!

At the end of the day we had to pose with our finished products! We had a really fun day of crafting and being together. I can’t wait for the next craft occasion (I’ll think of some excuse soon!). :)

Look out world, here she comes!

Seeing Elijah riding his bike Matea’s been a little jealous, so now she’s trying to find some transportation of her own . . .

Road warrior!

Hmm, I’ll try out a rocket, that might work better.

Blast off! I’m off to explore the neighborhood (as long as my rocket doesn’t touch the snow, because then I get very upset)

What’s that saying about colored snow?

We’ve been playing outside a lot now that the temperatures are going up, and on the first warm day last week the kids and I went outside to color some snow . . . with spray bottles of course. :)

Eli and I worked on getting the colors just right and then headed out to see what we could do with our sprayers. Matea joined us and was content to carry a bottle and stomp on the colors once we sprayed. Eli got pretty creative, and we had several kids from the neighborhood stop to help. What fun!

First things first – a rainbow of course!

Eli’s self-portrait, complete with “belly button” boot print.

And we need a Matea portrait too!

Grandma’s boat!

Matea tries to decide which one she’s going to smoosh next.

Eli puts the finishing touches on the “daddy” snowman in our snowman family on the back deck.

Don’t know which member of the family made Eli mad, but Eli colored this poor snowman for the sole purpose of flinging it off the deck. :)

Another day another fort

It’s well documented how much we love to build forts around our house. I loved building forts as a kid, and with Eli and now Matea we take every opportunity to try and make forts EVERYWHERE.  On this particular day a few weeks ago the where was on Mommy and Daddy’s bed (yes, the Christmas bedspread was still on, we extend the holidays into February around here . . . and even March, but that’s another story).  It took some clever engineering to make it big enough and strong enough with just pillows and a sheet, but we came up with a design that worked. Eli and Matea had a flashlight and a fort and each other, and that was all they needed to have some fun!

All I see is feet . . .

There they are!

Favorite Chair

Eli’s giant football beanbag chair is both Eli and Matea’s favorite seat in the house. They usually don’t share it well, but on this particular afternoon a few weeks ago they did, which made Mommy proud. :)

Snack for one, games on the camera for the other.

Eli even showed Matea his games. What a nice big brother!

This made it a little harder to play, but Eli didn’t complain.

You must be hungry after playing, Eli. Here, I’ll share my snack!