Camping



Cole went on his first Father-Son (and Papa) camping and fishing trip!  Two whole nights with Daddy and Papa, fishing, camping, and doing all sorts of fun boy wilderness things!

He went fishing for the first time:

 

Chase and I drove up for a few hours on Saturday so we could hop on the boat and go fishing too!

 

 

 

 Reeling in his first fish - he was SO excited!

 

 

 

 

Eating s'mores for the first time:

He even slept in the RV!

 

I absolutely love that Cole, Chris, and Papa can make some fantastic camping memories together!

 

 

Easter Party!

We had a fantastic Easter Party this year with some of our closest friends.  The highlight was undoubtedly the color coordinated Easter Egg hunt (each child had an assigned color of egg to find, so everyone got the same number and we could change up the hiding difficulty!):

 

 

 Dean had an awesome time finding the eggs!

 

 Cole was so excited :)

 Even the babies joined in on the action!

 

 

 

 

 Baby Grant thought throwing the eggs with excellent pitcher's arm was the way to go!

 

 This girl?  I want to adopt her.  She's one of the most amazing young ladies I've ever met.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After the eggs were all found, they took turns pushing each other on the swing Chris put up a few weeks ago:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 All the kiddos, minus Chase!  (What you didn't see was the hilarious antics of ALL THE PARENTS behind me, trying to get all the kids to look at the camera and/or smile!)

 Sweet Sara was so happy just holding Chase - and he was so happy to be held!

 

A wonderful time with a fantastic group of people!

Happy Easter!

Happy (Belated) Easter!

We had a lovely, relaxing day with our little family!  Here's hoping yours was just as lovely!

Quotes from Cole

A few absolutely adorable and hysterical things Cole has said lately:

1.  Cole: "THERE'S THE MOON IN THE SKY, MOM! I SEE THE MOON!"
     Chris: "What are some other things up in the sky, Cole?"
     Cole: "THE ATMOSPHERE IS IN THE SKY."
     Chris: "...um, yes, yes it is..." (then to me): "I was expecting something more along the lines of clouds or sun, but ok?!"

2.  As he was "helping" me go through a large tub of baby clothes for Chase:
     "MAMA! I'M RIFFLING THROUGH THE CLOTHES!" And he totally was.  I'm actually not sure how he knew that word - correct pronunciation and use, too!

3.   Me: Cole, please be quiet when you are upstairs.  Chase is sleeping.
      Cole: (Shouting as loud as humanely possible while right outside Chase's door) OK MAMA! I WILL! I WILL BE QUIET SO CHASE CAN SLEEP!
     Me: ::face palm::

4.    Cole, while we're in the car driving: MOM, WHAT'S DOWN?
        Me: Like up and down?
        Cole: NO, I'M TALKING ABOUT LIKE SOFT DOWN.  LIKE IN THE BOOK WITH THE TOMTEN WHO TAKES THE EGGS? HER BABIES 'FLUFFED THEIR SOFT DOWN'?"
        Me: Ohh, I see.  Well, down is like a kind of very soft and short feather. 
        Cole: OH. OK.

5.   While perusing the amazing home décor section of Target, I spied an ampersand (the & symbol) and picked it up to examine it.
      Cole: "THAT'S AN AMPERSAND, MAMA!  DO THEY HAVE AN EXCLAMATION POINT? THOSE ARE MY FAVORITE!"

The Ugly Chair

I had three big projects I wanted to accomplish before Chase arrived: do the nursery, do our guest room, and redo my ugly chair.

Our nursery turned out perfectly, the guest room is exactly right (pictures to come soon), and I ALMOST finished the ugly chair before Chase made his debut.

So ok. The ugly chair.

Last summer while yard saleing, I found this chair.  SO ugly.  But SO awesome.  It was in amazing condition, sturdy and incredibly comfortable.  and the best part - it was FREE.  I couldn't believe it.  I also knew that bringing it home meant a strong possibility that I might be spending the night on the couch... but I couldn't resist.  I'd always wanted to try my hand at reupholstering, and what better project than a free chair?

(It has a removable seat cushion, which I forgot to include when I took the "before" pics)

Aren't those lines gorgeous?  I saw so much possibility!

Well, then we moved. And then I got pregnant. And... well, I was about seven months pregnant before I finally tackled it.

And ohmygosh.  Lessons upon lessons learned from this chair.

My original plan was to reupholster.  But I needed five yards of fabric, plus piping, to redo it - and I just couldn't seem to find anything I loved in my budget.  So I started to explore other options.

First, I tried painting - yes, painting - the chair.  Well, actually, I tried the cushion first.  I followed this tutorial to give it a try - and, while it was a great idea in theory, it didn't work well on my chair.  That lovely Golden Harvest yellow just wouldn't be covered by any shade of paint!

Next, I tried dyeing the chair, using Rit dye in a spray bottle.  Also a good idea in theory, but the only color that would cover it was black.  I just wasn't sure I wanted the chair to be black, and I was also slightly concerned that the dye would rub off onto clothing.

So then I tried two different kinds of fabric spray paint, seen here and here.  Honestly, the black Tulip spray paint was great.  It covered really well (even on the velvet-like fabric), it wasn't ridiculously expensive, and it was an easy one-step-and-done kind of deal.  The other kind of spray paint was a little expensive - BUT... again with the black.  Black was seriously the only color I could get to cover it!  I just thought it would be too dark... so, full circle, I came back to reupholstering the chair.

After scoping out some sales and coupons, I found some perfect fabric at Joann's that I loved, but I needed to wait for it to go on sale... only to return to find that it was all sold out!  I was so bummed, but I wasn't sure if they would order it again, so I just chose some plain gray upholstery fabric and a white and gray piping.  I still wish I had done a patterned fabric, but it looks fine.

My mom volunteered to make the cushion cover :)

So, I'm extraordinarily proud of it, but I have to say I won't be doing any more reupholstering projects any time soon.  This was a leetle bit more complicated project than I expected!

But the best part?  When the chair was all done and Cole came down to see it and said: "MAMA, YOUR UGLY CHAIR ISN'T UGLY ANYMORE!"

Ok, it was worth it just for that! :)

Father

Oh, this man of mine.

I love him more than anything.

There's not a single day that goes by that I'm not incredibly grateful that this the kind of man my sons will grow up to be.

And oh, how he loves his boys.

Every morning, he and Cole share a gummy vitamin.  A simple, silly routine that they've done for years.  Occasionally, Chris leaves for work before Cole gets up for the day... and he always, always leaves a little bit of a gummy vitamin on a plate for him at his seat.  Always.  No matter how much of a hurry he is in, he spares a few moments to think of his son and make sure Cole has a smile to start his day.

Yup, he's all of our favorite.