Making Stuff

Even though I made these things a little while ago, I never had the time to blog about it and figured that it was worth bragging about anyhow. Since I've been struggling to get anything done these days, I needed that moment to encouragement in seeing something that I, in fact, accomplished.

Little T-shirts for Ian. Super easy appliques that I made with some fabric, iron on adhesive, and a little creativity.

Strawberry Nutella Mini Muffins. I can't take full credit for coming up with these, because I saw them on Studio 5. I made them and posted this picture on the Facebook page and was mentioned on the show in a transition to their cooking segment along with a comment on how they love to hear from viewers! (It only took the host 2 tries to get my last name right.)

Family Pictures

So, this is what we're going with this year for our family photo for Christmas cards! Ha ha. Just kidding!

Seriously though, this is our "Mummy Family" that Brooke and I made out of mason jars, some cheap white fabric, a couple of glue on eyes from the dollar store, and a little bit of ribbon. She helped a lot and even decided what eyes went on who. (Yes, some of them are not the same size.) I LOVE that she made Eryn look totally crazy! It really was a nice insight into what she thinks of her sister.

I put the orange ribbon on the "Mommy Mummy" and then Brooke wanted hers to look like mommy. Then when I went to make a ribbon for "Eryn" Brooke demanded that I make it pink and BIGGER because Eryn really likes pink.

Ian's Blessing Day

Although Mike threatened to change his name for his blessing to Jimmer, Ian Maximus remained his name and will be forever! Ian was blessed on Sunday the 25th by his father Michael. Along with his Grandpa McCorristin and all of the Uncles on that side of the family who include- Sam, Jeremy, Ryan, Chance and Jeremy McKay. Through in Bishop Johnson, Andy Skelton and Ryan Murphy and that completes the bunch.

Even though it wasn't very cold he drug around this white blanket that my Grandma (mother's mother) had made. Each of the kids had it with them on their blessing day.

We had our family lunch at a park and Josh took over pushing everyone on the swings! The girls had him sweating as they screamed and begged him to push each of them higher and higher. It was so adorable. At the same time, it really reminded me how much I miss Andrew (on his mission still) because he would have been right over there pushing them too.

This is probably my favorite picture of the day. Ian just has the cutest almost embarrassed looking smile because Grandma is kissing him!

It was really nice to have everyone there at church with us. Our family now fills up 3 of the big benches at church and it will only keep growing at more grandchildren join the family.

Having so many friends and Mike's family so close by has been nice, but I still miss my own parents and brothers! Yes, brothers plural. I even miss John. Ha ha. We realized that "Ian" is Gaelic for "John" awhile ago. No, Ian is not named after my brother, but I thought that was kind of a funny coincidence.

Val's Mental Health

So, since I've been going slightly crazy with being the mother of 3 now and everything that entails, I've been trying to maintain my mental health.

That's lead to an addiction to http://pinterest.com/ It's a site that you can browse through a bunch of pictures with ideas for things and all sorts of different types of things and collect what interests you. It's like cutting out the pages of magazines for things you want when you were a little kid. Kind of fun and full of great inspirations and ideas for projects that I will start and never finish. Ha ha! Seriously though, it's more fun than I thought it would be and I am really enjoying wasting a little time letting my mind wander over the possibility of one day having some of the neat things I've come across.

On another mental health note... I'm getting ready to dig into Fall picture taking with includes lots of family pictures! Friends and friends of friends it's time to call me up, text me, e-mail me, Facebook me, etc. so that we can get together! I NEED the distraction and the time behind the camera for my own sanity. You can just benefit from my creative need. : )

1st Day of School

One of my favorite commercials ever was one back in the 90s for Staples or Office Depot (I can't remember which). It played the Christmas song that says, "It's the most wonderful time of the year." While these 2 kids are walking in the store with their heads down while their Dad is happily throwing school supplies in the cart and dancing around them.

Well, I've been happily throwing supplies and clothes in carts lately and now that most wonderful time of the year is finally here! Eryn had her first day of school yesterday!!!!!!!!!!

The night before school started we picked out what clothes she was going to wear and how she wanted to do her hair and then went over to the school. I knew she wouldn't work with me to take a few cute pictures with all of the distractions of everyone else, so we went alone and got a couple great ones! She's finally starting to turn into a ham. (Honestly, I couldn't be happier!)

She was up early and ready to go far too early. We spent hours locked in the epic questioning battle of, "Can we go now?" I was excited she was finally THAT excited to go to school, but just the tiniest bit annoyed too. We finally went and she was super excited to realized that a girl from church she all ready knows was in her class.

Eryn was so focused on holding onto the rope to stand in line and go in that she wouldn't even hardly look at me. It made me that much more glad we had taken the time to take a few pictures the night before. She walked in like a trooper and was sporting the biggest fake smile I've ever seen. I knew she was excited, but a little terrified at the same time.

Once I left her and went back to the van, Brooke was screaming like crazy. "Where's Eryn? No with Daddy. No with Mommy. No with Brooke. Erynnnnnnnn..." She was super confused that we'd basically abandoned Eryn and were now driving away without her. I really didn't see that reaction coming from her and was totally shocked. It was good to see that even though those two fight most of the time that Brooke really does love her big sister. (Even if she calls her "Air-e" and not Eryn.)

When it was time to pick her up they brought the class out and she ran right to me and gave me a BIG hug! When asked that infamous question, "How was school today?" She answered with, "All the other kid were sad or naughty, but NOT Eryn!" Then she told me about singing the ABC's, playing dress up, and having lunchtime with the other kids.

Ian's Picture Nightmare

Like every other guy in the world, Ian is NOT a fan of having his picture taken and seems to either sleep, scream, or beg for a pacifier every time he sees the camera. (Oh and yes Grandma McCorristin, we have lost the pacifier and if you took it...)

Ian does lots of sleeping like most babies.

He can communicate with animals. For some strange reason instead of making cute baby noises he sounds more like a monkey or a squeaky little puppy.

My favorite actual posed newborn picture of him. There really were many in the few times we tried that worked. (This was probably more frustrating to me than most Moms as I was the photographer and the Mom and doubly irked that he couldn't cooperate not matter what I tried!)

He has this adorable little pirate shirt on and wouldn't put his arms down so you could see it and couldn't live without the pacifier stuck in his mouth. Ugh.

He's adorable and I'm really looking forward to life with him in our family. Ian brings a whole different everything with him than his sisters. I just need to learn to not expect everything (or anything sometimes) to go as planned.

On a totally different note, Eryn is starting school next week!!!!!!!!!!