Projects and mess

Wow - it's been over a month since I posted last. Once the year gets going, I just hang on tight for the ride.

I can't say I'm keeping up or being awesome, but we're pretty functional and getting enough done. (At least someone is getting something done at any given moment around here.)

And everybody loves the baby so they're happy (unless someone else is hogging the baby. New rule: No fighting over the baby!) At least half the photos in this post include Gideon. Can you tell he's the main attraction around here? :)

Sept 19th was "Talk like a pirate day" and the kids had "Dress like a pirate day" at their school for fun. (No weapons - including fake ones). Eye patches (made with scraps and a hot glue gun the night before) was a moment of my max awesomeness these days.

Sunshades in cars? Worthless. My hack works better.

 Rob's been getting crafty lately though. He rigged up this DIY version of a lathe:

He found the idea online. It's not enough to do really amazing work with great precision, but he's been learning a lot in using this to test. A lathe is now on his (very expensive) wish list!

Here's one of his first tests:

He's continued to try more pawns with various types of wood:

(I believe this one was a branch he found?)

Left to right: pine, oak, poplar (the only one "kiln dried" and likely not to crack with time)

Also in the Rob project department is a chair. He wanted a straight back chair (think: wing back bank chair), but that's not popular or affordable (assuming you can find it), so he built one.

My mom found a cute print to cover the cushions, so once I get that ordered and the cushions covered, he'll stain it. Most call it his king chair. (Rob's mom was in town celebrating her birthday and tried out being the birthday queen in his new chair.)

I think we need to reenact Goldilocks and the 3 bears in our living room now!

 

Gideon and I take a few walks each week. He likes the stroller, and is strong enough to sit in it without the car seat part. (Because we all know how he feels about the car seat!)

I found an idea online to make banana bread muffins in mason jars. (My mom had a recipe when I was younger making apple cake in mason jars. It was supposed to last really long in shelf life. These made no such claim, but it was fun to have them on the counter and the kids could eat them whenever they wanted....usually with a spoon. They did stay same-day-fresh several days later. I just used my regular recipe and doubled it so that instead of 24 muffins I got about 14 half pint jars.)

Despite my attempts to keep up with life (exercise, fun treats to eat, and the occasional glue gun project)...let's face it - most days go more like this:

It is what it is! (I wrote that in the van waiting on whomever was running behind that morning, probably Carolyn. And Alee's teacher didn't even care that she wore flip flops to school against school dress code.)

This mess was intentional! Rob continues in his project-driven state...

We emptied out the store room. (It's technically a downstairs laundry room, but we only own one set of laundry machines, so we use this as a large pantry/storeroom for food storage.)

First he built shelves for things that don't fit in cabinets (or are seasonal). Then he built a smaller shelf for cans and condiments and such. We got those loaded...

And then he started on the rest of the small room (under the stairs).

I've loaded up the cans on the bottom (deep shelf), the 72 hour kits line up nicely (and accessible!) under that shelf. The next shelf up (empty in that picture) has breakfast and baking. Starches (rice and pasta) and other stuff (dressings, pickles, broth, etc) will go up higher on the next shelf put in later. (And then disposables at the very top. At least that's the plan. But we have a busy weekend ahead, so the next shelves will have to wait until the last weekend of the month.

Despite all the crazy that projects and school and 6 kids bring on, we have time to cuddle a cute chubby baby that everyone loves, even Alee.

 Sometimes he's an angel, and sometimes he's a little disgruntled.

The kids are all doing pretty well this school year.

Except they rarely can all cooperate for a picture!

They're enjoying learning things:
Cooking skills

 Music Skills

 Yes, that's an organ!

 Decorating Fun

(I'm glad Grammy came and did that craft project and had everything cleaned up before I got back home. Painting with kids is a mess!)

 They helped re-pack 72 hour kits. (We rotate every 6 months.)

And they love helping take care of the baby. (I think he's reached the stage where he looks at our food like it's something interesting to have.)

Everyone wants to help with bath time. They like to see him kick in the bathtub.

 He's so cute napping and I can usually get him to take at least one nap a day that's not in my arms. Usually it's on the couch while I'm doing something else in the room.

 At night he likes to fall asleep lying next to me or holding a finger. (Most of the time I can transfer him, but not every time.)

 He seems to be getting so long!

 For short shopping trips, we use the little pouch sling. He didn't like it when I first made it, but now that he can sit up in it, he loves it. He'll smile at people that stop to talk to him, and he just sits and looks around (as long as he's on me he's happy).

I had a Halloween-bug experience on the back porch while I was trying to paint some things. I had tried the day before to get as much painting done as possible. (The weekly email included Gideon's intrusion into my attempted project.) So the next morning, I was trying to finish up what I hadn't finished the day before while he was still asleep from morning drop off. I did finish, but something else interrupted me that morning. After I finished the shelf and got over the trauma, I sent this text to Rob:

"Oh! something rather large and scary was on the back porch with me this morning while I was trying to finish up painting the shelves. So I attacked it with stain treater spray (the closest toxic thing I could find) and when it showed its powers by reviving multiple times and relocating to escape the fumes, I bravely covered it with a cup and the empty paint can for weight. It awaits its execution this afternoon when you arrive home."

He left it there a few days until he assumed it was dead and then dealt with it. He even admitted it was huge!

I'm not sure when this happened or who took this picture, but I found it when I was adding photos to the blog this morning. Ha! (Rob is wearing Alee's yarn hair the girls helped me braid for Alee's Halloween costume.)

Kids' Halloween costumes are underway. They of course pick things that are not in the cheap aisle at the store and most need to be crafted. There is very little sewing involved this year though. Most of their ideas just need normal clothes and then extra accessories or colors to finish out the idea. Sometimes I think it's easier just to sew a princess dress than have to find specific outfit items! 

I'll post about that fun near the end of the month!