Afton-isms

To herself this morning in the bathroom:
"Afton Leigh Crawford Monkeyshine. That's my whoooole name."

Later:
"Tiggeriffic! Pooh-a-riffic. Darby-a-riffic. Busteriffic." Repeated twice.

A Blessing and A Birthday

This is a story about a family's special days. On Sunday, this cute boy was blessed by his father, with his grandfather, great-grandfather, Uncle John, Bishop Walton, and his family's hometeacher standing in the circle:

It was a beautiful, spiritually sweet blessing.
He stayed quiet during the whole blessing and yawned when his daddy held him up afterwards for the congregation's admiration. They "awwwed" obligingly.


His Omay provided the blessing outfit. She couldn't be there, but we were very grateful for her contribution.

On Monday, this was discovered on Nana's kitchen table. Notice the number of candles:

Nana provided some fire, the rest of the family provided some singing, and the cute girl in the blue shirt looked on the proceedings with restrained amusement.

Then, in the space of two deep breaths, she blew out all six of those candles and made it official:
Annika turned six years old.
SIX.
She's taller, stronger, wiser than she was before, and she has a loose tooth on the bottom.
Her poor parents are beginning to feel quite old. Was it really six years ago that she was born? Where has the time gone?
(The cliched lament of all parents, but it's very applicable.)

The birthday girl and her sister consented to dress up in their Christmas dresses to be admired by one and all. And to have several pictures taken.
I love their identical expressions in this picture.

The Primary requested a picture of the family. We tried to pawn off our Christmas picture on them, but they wouldn't have it--it was oriented the wrong way. So we took advantage of the children's dressiness and took a picture the right way.

Merry Christmas again, from our family to you, with love.

Christmas Letter 2009

For regular blog readers, the letter below might be a bit redundant, but I'm going to share it anyway!

Dear Family and Friends—

It’s that time of year again—time to account for the months we’ve spent since the last letter we sent out, to show that we’ve moved forward and done something noteworthy with the talents and resources we’ve been given, to mention the blessings that have graced our lives.

March brought change into our lives as Mat started work with Dallas Metrocare, working with children and teens with mental illnesses. It’s not Mat’s dream job, but does allow him to earn hours towards his professional counseling license. As of last week, Mat has approximately 2100 of his 3000 hours earned. At this rate, he should have his full license by the end of next summer, an event we both look forward to, as it means greater career opportunities for Mat.

With Mat’s job came the ability to live on our own and so we moved to an acceptable apartment in Euless, Texas. The ward is a mix of cultures, with a heavy dose of Tongans, and has been a pleasure to live in. Mat started as a Sunday School teacher to the 12-14 year olds, but soon found himself called as second counselor in the Elders Quorum. I would have had a calling earlier, but in April I came down with a serious case of morning sickness. When I recovered myself, I received the calling of Relief Society pianist. It’s not my favorite calling, as I tend to experience performance anxiety, but the chorister and I have worked it out and we’re in a comfortable place.

Annika has made fantastic progress with her homeschooling. During the beginning of the year she continued her interest in Greek myths, combining with some Norse myths. After I got sick, we moved to reading from the Magic Tree House series. That is, Annika is doing the reading on her own, quickly and happily. She’s also making progress with her math and art skills. She still loves the color blue, butterflies, fairies, and the movie Atlantis, among other things. She has a persistent quality about her that pushes her to move forward in her reading, but also gets her in trouble at times. She’s a bright light in our lives.

Afton caused us the most anxiety this year, but she makes up for it with her humor and exuberance. In June she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Living with diabetes was difficult at first, but it’s become a normal part of our lives, and Afton’s gotten as used to receiving insulin shots as Mat and I have gotten used to giving them. She’s doing very well now and is learning to read, to tell her right shoe from her left, and improving her art skills as long as I let her exercise them. We still have yet to come to an understanding on the walls not being her personal canvas. She still loves the color yellow, but claims to like blue and all the other colors of the rainbow. She also loves playing board games and dancing and singing to us whenever the mood strikes. Afton is a wonderful part of the heart of our family.

Torin Jacob decided to join our family two weeks earlier than predicted, and was my smallest baby as a result, weighing in at only 7 pounds 12 ounces. (Both girls were over 9 pounds.)Through a ferocious bout of eating, he has caught up to his sisters and as of last week weighed 9 pounds 10 ounces. TJ is a mellow baby except for when he’s getting a diaper change, a bath, or not getting fed fast enough. He takes the multiple kisses he receives from his adoring family very well, and sometimes he consents to sleep at night. He has Mat’s coloring—reddish blond hair—and a face very similar to Afton’s infant face. It will be interesting to see how he develops. We love him greatly.

So there’s our account, our blessings, our progress. We know that all of it comes from our loving Heavenly Father and we’re grateful to Him—even for the trials. This Christmas season brings a wonderful Spirit and we pray that it will touch your lives as we celebrate the birth of the Savior.

With all our love,

Mat and Karie, Annika, Afton, and TJ

Testing, Testing...

Caught you looking!

Appeasing the Masses

I know you're all dying with curiosity, eager to see my latest craft project. It was a little one, but solved a problem that had been driving me nuts--Mat needed a place to hang loose but important papers. He'd been tacking them DIRECTLY to the wall above his dresser, which bugged me. And when something bugs me, I fix it. Enter Hobby Lobby, a 40% off coupon, a corkboard, and some acrylic paint:

How could any BYU fan resist hanging this above his or her dresser? Not Mat! And I am grateful that he loves the handmade look. (My first gratitude post of the year! Oh wait--that was the last post.)

Speaking of the cuteness that dwells in the last post, here are some more recent pictures:

Silly sisters in the background. I like this one.

So there you go--one cute son/grandson/great-grandson/nephew/great-nephew/cousin/friend's baby. Enjoy!

In Other News...

We've had some interesting things happen in our family this month. One of the first was this:

I woke up one morning to find Annika on the couch, quietly reading a book. How awesome is that?

A few days later, Mat and I encountered this:
A certain princess (and eventually, her princess sister) REQUESTED to vacuum the couch. Do you think Cinderella cleaned the castle voluntarily after she married the prince? Maybe she did.


But the most time-consuming, labor-intensive (ha!) event began on November 6th with some labor pains. After three days of it, I went to my regular OB appointment. Active labor in the waiting room landed me here shortly after my appointment:

A few hours later, I was tired enough to think that an epidural might be helpful, so then I ended up here:

The epidural didn't fully take--I could feel some pretty intense pain on my right side with every contraction, but it was endurable. After 40 minutes of pushing, in which a certain little boy thought it would be fun to play jack-in-the-box, we ended up with this:



The happy sisters:

The daddy who is relieved not to be the ONLY male in the house anymore:

The obligatory post-clean up picture:

Sisterly love:



Love from a besotted Nana:

And a dang cute TJ:

Vital statistics:
Torin Jacob
(to be called TJ)
Born November 9th
(during his cousin's 5th birthday party)
7:50pm
7 lbs, 12 oz.
(my smallest baby yet, by far!)
21 inches long
(this is more like it)

So there you go. For those who are keeping track, TJ did show up exactly two weeks early. Why? Don't know, don't care (I'm guessing some miscalculation of dates on my part or the OB's).
I'm just glad he's here!

Halloween 2009--Pumpkin Utopia

I promised on Facebook that I would upload photos of my award-winning trunk from the Trunk or Treat. Here it is!


I think my cowgirl and my Tinkerbell were the best accessories. After gathering a modest haul for themselves, they were best entertained by handing out candy to the other kids. And they have already absconded with my award--a black and orange Slinky.



My costume this year was "What do I have in my costume collection that will fit over my huge belly?" The hat fits anytime, of course. Do you like the pom-poms on Annika's shoes? Costume-wise, that was all I had to make this year. Bliss.


These were the strange people in the van next to us, also known as the Blue Van Horn family, if you ask Afton. They might also be related to us. Maybe. If they choose to claim us, that is.

Last night we decided to hang at the in-laws and avoid answering our own door. The girls sat at the front door for about an hour and a half, eagerly watching for trick or treaters and dumping handsfuls of candy into everyone's bag. They had a grand time.

Patio Contest

We didn't win. After driving around the parking lot and seeing what other patios looked like, we were fine with it. Not only were we missing the requisite spider webbing, but we didn't create our own graveyard outside the fence or replicate our favorite haunted house. Nor did we have a giant inflatable witch-kitten cuddling a pumpkin. Really, how were we to compete?

But we did get a "Thanks for participating" bag with an already-activated glow stick, a pencil with candy corn printed on it, and some generic candy in it. So, you know, it all works out.

Things We've Been Up To Lately

As Halloween and TJ's birth roll nearer, we're finding ourselves up to our necks in creativity around here. I'm allowing my nesting instinct nearly free reign and the kids have really enjoyed our Art Project Fridays--so much so that they cheer when I tell them it's Friday. Which reminds me--I need to get some prep work done for this Friday, which means cleaning up my "creativity corner", a.k.a. my overflowing sewing/crafting area. I have GOT to find a solution for that corner's organization. But that's another post for another day.


Anyway, I was whining in the Wishing for Beauty post that I didn't have any artwork on my walls. So I fixed it.

The brown poster is a quote from Enya's "Only Time"--made it last week--and the posters below it I made a few years ago. They actually coordinate pretty well and I like how they hang in my sewing area. Clutter Corner. Whatever I decide to call it.

This is a collage I put together a few months back. I had these fall tree prints that I liked, but didn't *love*, so I recombined them into something I liked, then added my favorite J. Kirk Richards print. Someday I'm going to have a large print of that painting to hang over my fireplace, but for now this will do. I love how the colors worked out. I know the flowers block it, but it says "eden" in the upper left corner.

Also, I've been growing a human. Here's a picture from a couple of weeks ago:

Here's a picture from last Sunday. My mother-in-law swears I look much bigger. Perhaps. I did pass the 36-week (9 month) mark on Monday:
All I know is that I'm getting continually pummeled from the inside and weigh about four more pounds. Mid-November needs to come a little more quickly. Maybe.




Back to Halloween fun! Our porch decorations are a combination of last night's family home evening efforts and my desire to get everything up in time for a contest today:
We did the fake jack o'lanterns last night, but it was too humid for the spray paint to be very effective, so I gave them a second coat this morning. There's Tinkerbell on the left--Annika's lantern--and Ariel on the right--Afton's lantern. Mine are in the middle and spell BOO. We'll be putting fake candles in them tonight and hopefully the effect will be spooktacular. Ha ha ha. The kids were excited, though the adults decided that perhaps next year we'll carve artificial pumpkins for a better result.

Why no real pumpkins? They rot, they have slimy innards, and this year they cost more than the milk jugs and the spray paint put together. I think I'll call the theme of the porch "Simplify and Recycle." The only thing I purchased for the decor was one more leaf garland and the orange spray paint. Everything else I had on hand. Of course, that says more about how many fall/Halloween decorations I have than anything else.

The patio decorating contest should be judged today and the prizes are $300, $200, and $100 off rent. Otherwise, I don't think I would have gone to quite so much effort. I am nine months pregnant, you know!




Last Friday's art project was a cop-out--I let the girls color a lot of printed Halloween coloring pages with my colored pencils. They had fun anyway, of course. Two weeks ago, however, we made bat garlands with googly eyes. They thought the eyes were the best part. Here's Afton hard at work, gluing eyes on or threading the yarn through her bat (I can't tell):

Here's Afton's garland:
Notice how the bats and the grandparents are guarding the closet door:

And here's a section of Annika's bat garland:
They enjoyed the project and it was fairly simple to put together, so it was a win-win situation all around.




Finally, for your consideration, we have Afton's favorite face to make:

I'll let you know how we did in the contest (I don't expect to win, really, since I don't have any spider webbing up and the other decorated patios seem to think that's a necessary element) and I'll post pictures of our trunk after Friday. Yep, there's a Trunk or Treat on Friday. Yay! I love Trunk or Treats. Halloween's just not the same without them.

Happy Halloween!

Quick Cuteness

I have other things to blog about, and I will get to them. Tomorrow. But I had to share an exchange with Afton I just had.

Me: Hey Afton! Did I tell you I got a shot at the doctor's office today?
(Afton looks up from playing with Annika.)
Afton: You did?
Me (pulling up my sleeve): Yep, a flu shot, just like you got.
Afton: I want to see your bandaid!
Me: All I have is the boring grown up bandaid.
Afton (touching my arm): Here's a fun grown up bandaid. It's NCIS!
Me: Thanks!

Sweet kid I've got there, huh? Also, I think they know I'm a fan of NCIS. Maybe.

Art Project Friday

Fridays have somehow evolved into an art project day. It works for me, as I usually have my own projects to pursue, and I often find inspiration at oneprettything.com (last week's project came from here--I should read this blog on a regular basis. I find her projects inspiring).

I spent Thursday evening cutting out some spooky silhouettes from black construction paper and putting off answers to the question "Momma, what are you doing?" I like making the project a surprise.

The next day, we painted our paper in sunset colors, then picked out the silhouettes we liked and put them on. Yes, the girls had some help with the arrangement of their silhouettes, but they did all the picking and the majority of the arranging. We'll be hanging our pictures on the back window as part of our patio decorating for Halloween.

The happy artists and their finished works. Mine is in the middle. Afton's still wearing her giant painting shirt, also known as one of my old t-shirts.

Annika is rather pleased with how hers turned out. The lightning striking her "raven" was accidental, but it led to us shouting "Struck by lightning! Struck by lightning!" a few times that afternoon. For the quote's reference, you'll have to read The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Afton insisted on giving me a goofy smile. Goofy kid. She's pretty pleased with her handiwork as well. I love that she chose to put the "raven" on the scarecrow's shoulder--that didn't occur to me.

My personal projects. I've been playing around with watered down acrylic paints and I wanted to see how things worked. I suppose I could just check a book out from the library, but experimenting is so much more fun! I also had some leftover polymer clay, so I decided to make some pendants. The unicorn ones are for the kids, the Celtic knots are for me, and the trees (they're supposed to be oaks--if you squint just right, they are) are for the sisters I visit teach. We really liked a quote from Elder Wirthlin in last month's visiting teaching message about being like oak trees, deeply rooted in the simple principles of the gospel.

This picture is for Abby. I wasn't able to open the boxes you sent right away. We picked them up from the post office right before the first session of Conference and they were immediately taken over by my industrious and insolent children.

I should also mention that I was reading some back entries dealing with Afton's diabetes, etc., and realized that I never let on how my own glucose tests turned out. I passed the three-hour test--went pretty low, as a matter of fact--and they had me re-take the one-hour test at 28 weeks, which is when a pregnant woman is supposed to take it. Passed this time, no problem. So, no solidarity with Afton, but also no gestational diabetes, which is good for me and TJ.


I should be off now to actually pay attention to my children and ponder on the activities I have left for today, like folding and putting away the laundry. And practicing the piano for the hymns that I have to play in Relief Society. You can see why I decided to write a blog entry instead . . . .

Transforming a Plate--Halloween Decorating at My House Begins

So I love Halloween. I love fall in general, really, but I love Halloween. Anyway, the decorations at the top of our homeschooling/Church books/library bookshelves are all right, but the bamboo plate behind the bottle of potpourri was getting lost in the general wall color. So I decided to do something about it. I was inspired by the vintage pumpkin you can see here.

Here's the plate by itself:

We had too much brown paint left over from the fall tree paintings, so I painted a basketweave pattern on the plate, just to give it some color:

After deciding where the colors would go and tracing the image onto the plate and mixing colors and thinning them forEVer, I ended up with a reasonable replica of the cute vintage pumpkin:

Here's the inspiration piece that I printed out for comparison (and a section of my eight-month pregnant belly):

And here's the plate in its new home. I pulled the metal jack o'lantern forward from its hiding place to make the new vintage one feel a little less lonely.

And there you go.
Happy Halloween!