Making Granola

A happy, messy granola face

Earlier this week I was faced with an early nap wakeup and a lllooonnnggg afternoon. My solution? Have Liam help me make granola. It surprisingly went very smoothly, minus some oil dumped on my kitchen rug, but the rug needed washed anyway.

I simply put the bowl down on the floor (don't worry, none of the granola we ate actually got on the floor) and had Liam help dump things in the bowl. He also was a champ at helping to stir with a big spoon. The most fun part for any kid is licking the bowl and spoon when everything is over and Liam was no exception. At first he wasn't too sure about touching the squishy granola in the bowl, but once he put the spoon in his mouth and discovered it was sweet, he was all over it. He must have carried the spoon around for half an hour after we were finished.

He wasn't as keen on the finished product -- I let it get a little too crunchy in the oven -- but he then discovered the chocolate chips I added (I know, we're very healthy around here!) and that won him over.

Getting down to the good stuff

"Hey, this stuff is good mama!"

Yum!

In the Trenches with Bugs

*Disclaimer on this post - no, we do not have lice or other bugs. The bug reference is to a kid's CD I'm recommending. That's all.

Christmas is a distant memory already, but the gifts keep on giving. Two things we received for Christmas deserve recommendation, so here goes.

This book, Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches, by Rachel Jankovic came highly recommended to me by several friends. I bought it for a few friends for Christmas and then bought myself a copy too. It's one of those books that is so honest and funny and convicting that you can't really put it down and you want to be friends with the author. How convenient too that it's about motherhood. The good and funny and hard parts of motherhood. Rachel has five kids under the age of five(!) -- one set of twins in there -- so the book is divided into really short chapters (she doesn't have a lot of time to write books I'm sure) about things like training emotions in your kids, dealing with conflict while keeping fellowship with one another, reasonable expectations, "me" time for moms, etc., etc. I didn't even make it through the first chapter without stopping to seriously chew on some things she was saying. It is clear that she is a very godly woman with a deep understanding of the Bible and how God's truth must define how we raise our kids. It's also clear that she loves her kids tremendously and has a lot of fun with them.

If you're a young mom, if you know a young mom, if you're a grandmother who has lots of daughters and daughter-in-laws and granddaughters (hi Jan!) you will want to get a copy of this book. Read it and pass it along. Or keep it and read it again, which is what I'm planning to do.

The second thing I want to talk about is bugs. Technically, Slugs, Bugs and Lullabies, which is a kids CD we asked for for Christmas. The kids music we had previously listened to was deplorable, but with Liam getting older and the radio (even Christian radio) not being any better, we wanted to get something that we might all enjoy. We're not the kind of people who listen to a wide range of music and are always looking find the next "cool" artist. We just needed something we could listen to driving around town and not want to jump out of the car while it was moving. Enter Slugs, Bugs and Lullabies by Andrew Peterson and Randall Goodgame. I hadn't heard of them before, but my friend introduced me to this song by Andrew and I was hooked. I know, super sappy, but sweet too.

The best part of Slugs, Bugs and Lullabies is that we honestly enjoy listening to it. The songs are original, clever and catchy. And actually, I don't mind having them stuck in my head, which is a lot more than I can say for most kids music. Even better, Liam really likes it too and gets excited when the Tractor Tractor song comes on.

If you want to check it out more, here it is on Amazon. Now they have a second volume and one for Christmas too.

So there you go -- some new things for a dreary January day. Oh and bonus to my dreary January day? My dad sent me spring flowers! They are beautiful. I should blog about things I want more often. :)

**I was not compensated in any way for the recommendations here. These people have no idea who I am. Just passing along things I enjoy.

Today was one of those days...

Today was one of those days when:

I showered, but didn't wash my hair so I felt like a greasy schlump all day.

I have two zits the size of Texas and California currently residing on my face.

Liam woke up an hour earlier than normal.

I looked at the clock at 8:19 am and thought, "wow, is it really only 8:19?"

I drank a lot of chai tea until I ran out of half and half.

I decided to put Liam down for an early nap (because of aforementioned early wake-up), but didn't feed him lunch before nap (it was only 11:00).

He slept for 45 minutes. And woke up crying. And probably hungry

I calmly ate a chocolate and let him cry in his bed for half an hour. It was not time to wake up and I wanted a nap!

I felt sorry for him and got him up. He did not nap again today.

I think Liam is getting his pointy teeth. What are those called? I can never remember. Poor kid -- big pointy teeth poking up through your gums. I felt bad for letting him cry.

It was 30 degrees and cloudy and freezing so we couldn't even walk for the mail.

We went the grocery store instead. With all the other billion people buying milk and eggs before the "storm" comes. Weather.com says we're getting 0 inches of precipitation people.

Kroger "discontinued" carrying chorizo. Aldi does, but they were out today.

I ate two shortbread cookies from the freezer leftover from Christmas. It was truly a low point as they did not taste like shortbread, but like mint cookies that had been in the same container, but are long gone. I ate them anyway.

I stooped to new lows and put in a Baby Mozart video for Liam this afternoon.

I wished someone would buy me spring flowers. It's January. How does Kroger have spring flowers already? I don't care - I want them.

Today was also a day when:

I had a warm bed and a hot shower.

We have a roof over our heads in 30 degree and freezing weather.

I have a healthy baby who really is (most moments of every day) a joy to me.

I had money to buy food at the grocery store to make meals for our family and guests.

I have a baby who, even though a video was playing, brought me books to read him instead. (You would be proud mom -- it's was Mr. Gumpy's Outing :)

I have the opportunity to help our family again by doing more free-lance work, which really is God's provision to us in a time of need.

I have a husband who came home from school early and stopped to buy me a funny and sweet card on his way home.

I have a baby who, when he heard me muttering to myself about getting oil on my shirt while making dinner when I wasn't wearing an apron, went to the drawer and brought me my apron. Melted my heart.

I have a God who is a good provider, a faithful friend and is trustworthy.

I was reminded today in the midst of my grumbling and complaining that it's ok to say that being a stay-at-home mom is hard. It is the hardest job in the world, hands down. However, it is not ok to continue in a sinful attitude that is full of self-pity and complaint. It is much better to stop that attitude in its tracks, repent and be thankful. The good things, the sweet things, far outweigh the troublesome, annoying and cranky things.

Were you cranky today? I would encourage you to stop and be thankful, even for the smallest things. It really does help!

New Skills

This week has seen the advent of some of Liam's new toddler skills, some of which I was able to capture on camera.

1. Sharing. Liam is starting to move past the "parallel play" stage and into understanding more about sharing toys with friends. I was encouraged this week when after taking a toy away from a 6-month-old friend and being disciplined for it, he went back and gave Caleb multiple other toys and didn't try to take those away. Progress people.

Playing (and sharing) with baby Caleb

2. Playing the piano. We don't have a piano, but while visiting two different friends this week Liam got to "play" their pianos. Both friends said he did a great job (I wasn't there) being gentle with the keys, but having fun hearing and making music. We hope Liam does develop a love for music!

Bethany snagged this shot of the cheeser piano player

3. Climbing. As he's gotten taller, Liam has been much more interested in climbing on things. I totally understand now why preschools and daycares have so many jungle gyms and things to climb on! Kids really do love to climb. Today he figured out how to climb up on one of our dining room chairs. After one small bonk on the table, he went back at it and figured out how to climb safely. I'm of the mindset that kids, especially boys, need to learn how to take calculated risks like climbing and not be scared or foolish. Too bad though right now it is winter because parks are ideal for climbing, energetic little boys!

"Is this ok mama?"

This picture cracks me up. He was sitting looking at pictures on my computer and listening to music. Amazingly he stayed this way (still!) for a few minutes.

"Uh, ok, how to I get down from here?" (Don't worry, we working on turning around and coming down backwards, just like stairs)

First Snow

We got about an inch or less of snow today, so I thought it would be fun to try out Liam's new snow suit and see what he thought of snow.

As I was getting him ready, I felt like the classic mom who works so hard to bundle her kids up and then they have to go to the bathroom. Snow suits are great in theory (and in practicality I understand) but getting a squirming 15-month-old into one is not an easy task. Not only is the snow suit hard, then there is the big coat, the boots, the mittens and the hat. Liam thankfully didn't fill his diaper as soon as I got him into his ensemble, but of course he saw his cup and wanted a drink. While wearing his mittens with no thumbs or fingers. This makes it very difficult to hold a cup...

Asking for a drink while all bundled up

After getting a drink we went out into the backyard and Liam wandered around for oh, maybe a minute? Then he fell down. And got snow on his mittens. And probably got cold. And had wind in his face. And maybe his boots hurt. And that was the end of our snow time.

Still ok with this whole snow thing

No thank you. The end. You are a terrible mother for taking a picture of me in this position. Rescue me!

Here's to trying again next time!

Liam | 15 Months

It's been awhile since I've updated Liam's stats, but since we had his fifteen month appointment this morning, it seemed fitting to blog about.

He is definitely a toddler now with a host of words and capabilities. His favorite words are "ball" (he knows various kinds too -- soccer ball sounds different than basketball), "cracker", "cheese", "vacuum", "hi", "choo-choo" (for the train we can hear from our house), "doggie" and many more I can't think of right now. Interestingly, the only animal sound he can make is a crow - "caw caw caw" because we have them everywhere outside our house this winter (gross). This morning all the blinds were drawn and he heard a crow outside and was able to make the sound. It constantly amazes us how much he can understand, even though he can't repeat it back. He also knows when he is being disobedient and obedient too. He can do a lot of "chores" around the house including helping to take the laundry in and out of the washer and dryer, put his toys away, pick up things he pulled out of a cabinet and help set the table.

He is still a wanderer around the house, but he is getting better at sitting down and playing with toys. He loves tractors, school buses, trucks, trains and especially the garbage truck when it goes by. That is a big deal to watch out the window. He loves to sit and look at books and have me read to him too so that is fun to do. Our mornings are much longer now that he is only taking one nap right after lunch. He still isn't the best napper, so a good nap for him is an hour and a half. But he sleeps usually 11 and a half to 12 hours straight at night so I can't complain about that! It was definitely more of an adjustment for me dropping the morning nap than for Liam. I do miss having a little more quiet time in the day.

At the doctor today he got an A+ so that is always encouraging. He only weighs 22.8 lb, but he is 32 inches tall. He has consistently been in the 25 percentile for weight and 75 percentile for height for about a year now so the doctor is not concerned at all about his weight. He does eat a lot, but he is busy, busy, busy and has a tall papa so I think this is just how he is going to be.

He is such a joy to us and we do have a lot of fun. We are certainly in a time of him pushing boundaries with us and us needing to be firm and loving in disciplining him. It is good to see him responding to discipline though and growing into a little boy. We continue to pray for wisdom as we raise him and teach him in the Lord.

Here are some fun photos I took the other day. One of his favorite things to do is climb up on this chair (there's an ottoman he can climb on) and sit there. He talks and laughs and squirms and then climbs down and back up again. I was making funny faces at him from behind the camera and he thought it was hilarious.

Christmas Crafts

Forgive the throwback to Christmas, but I obviously couldn't post anything I was making during Christmas. I did want to share some of the crafts I made and give a shout-out to my creative family too.

It all started with two things: One - we were trying to save a bit of money over Christmas by making some things for family and friends, and two - my brother Ben and sister-in-law Logan are amazingly talented and are definitely raising the bar for creative gift-giving. We've all decided that now every Christmas some of our gifts to each other should be upcycled, recycled or handmade somehow.

I started with some very simple fabric flowers from this tutorial. I really admire the work Emily does on her blog (and no, I don't know her at all) but she posts great stuff. I enlisted my friend Bethany to help me and ended up making enough flowers for some girlfriends, my two sister-in-laws, my mom, myself and two darling little headbands for the daughters of above mentioned girlfriends. I plan on making more of these in the future.

A close-up of the fabric flowers

All the flowers I made. I put pin backs on all of them except the two little headbands which received elastic.

Next, Rob and I undertook an enormous project that I had the crazy idea to even attempt. Back story -- my brother Luke has shot two deer and both of them have gotten away. It's very discouraging as a hunter I'm sure. So, to remedy that, Rob and I (ok, me) decided to make him a paper mache deer head. Friends of ours have one in their house and I've seen them all over blogs so I thought it would be fun to try. Plus, I thought Luke and Logan were artsy enough to go for it and possibly hang it in their house.

Well, needless to say the deer got a little out of hand. It worked great and we spent many hours working together on it, but it got wayyy bigger than we meant it to. I'll just let the pictures and captions tell the rest of the story...

Rob starting the cardboard construction for the inside frame of the deer head

Our friends Nate and Katie were about a week overdue with their baby (ie. they had no other plans and nothing better to do) so they came over one night to help us put the deer head together. They are the ones who also have a much smaller, nicer deer head hanging in their house.

Parts of a paper mache deer head: tinfoil, wire clothes hanger (for the antlers), flour and water paste and a phone book for strips of paper mache.

Rob and I putting on the first coat of paper mache.

First coat finished!

Was it creepy having a huge deer head hanging in our dining room for about a week? Yes, yes it was.

Finished! We painted the head a pale gray and the antlers darker gray. We were so proud. (It looks more like a moose, I know)

Luke loved the deer head, but ultimately he and Logan thought it was better to keep it at my parent's house. Mom wasn't too thrilled, but she'll find a place to hang it. And Luke and Logan can visit it on vacation.

Beyond those two main gifts, I also put together some other semi-handmade gifts for Rob's family: a Shutterfly calendar, a dinner date basket for Lauren and her boyfriend, some framed photos and mulled wine.

As for the other Yoder family gifts, those went way beyond what we made for sure. Ben is turning into quite the carpenter/craftsman and Logan dreams up all kinds of cool stuff from somewhere in her brain (and Pintrest :).

By far my favorite gift was our custom countertop Ben made us. When he visited earlier this fall I told him what I was looking for in the space above my front loading washer and dryer which are technically part of my kitchen. I was using the tops of them for counter space, but it would work a lot better with a real counter. He took measurements and asked a lot of questions about what I wanted and then he delivered. It's amazing -- all I ever dreamed of and more! He also made me some storage boxes that are going to hang on the wall above the countertop, but they didn't fit in his car so I have to get them another time.

The counter top on Christmas morning.

Proudly displaying my new countertop in my kitchen. Bonus: space under the counter and on top of the washer and dryer for storing cookie sheets.

From the other angle

I also already mentioned Liam's toolbox Ben made in my last post. He is really starting to learn how to play with it more.

Ben also made ornaments for my mom out of wire and Scrabble letters left from their wedding. And for my dad he made some custom shelves for some pots he wanted to display. Luke and Logan received a vintage door handle turned into a curtain tie-back that I was only a little jealous of.

These are hard to see, but the words match up with a "picture" made out of wire for hanging them.

Finally, Logan made some beautiful, framed wall hangings for Ben and Heidi's new home that I unfortunately don't have pictures of. She will probably put some up on her blog. They were so different than just framing photos. Her "baby" though, was a book page wreath for my mom. Wow. Beautiful! She had made one for her apartment a few months ago and my mom asked for one of her own. It is now proudly hanging over their fireplace.

This is all made from old book pages. So cool.

Overall, Christmas was a little more work for all of us this year as we attempted to raise the bar even higher in our creative gift giving. But it was all worth it and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Testing...1...2...3...I'm back...

Apparently I do have a few readers of this humble blog. Thank you to everyone who asked where I went during all of December. I'm going to try and wrap up the last month and give this whole blogging thing a try again. Thanks for reading and sticking with me through the crazy times of life.

I'm sure our little life will only continue to get crazier, so it's good for me to start realizing now that it is not worth getting worked up about traveling with Liam. Honestly, he does so well when we travel and believe me, I am thankful for that. We have our moments -- this trip it was two fevers and a car throw up -- but overall, we are a portable little family.

Since we spent Thanksgiving with the Bedinghaus family, we spent the larger part of our travels in Pennsylvania with my family. We left in the middle of the afternoon on Tuesday with the goal of driving mostly through the night so Liam would sleep. After a quick stop at Rob's parent's house to drop off their gifts and eat supper, we hit the road again for the rest of the drive to PA. Liam did eventually fall asleep and slept for most of the way with a few brief wake-ups. Rob and I enjoyed using the headphone splitter and listening to podcasts on our iPod (NPR's Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me, This American Life and Pirate Christian Radio's Fighting for the Faith if you're interested in knowing) which surprisingly kept us awake until we got to my parent's house around 1:30 am.

"Hi Grammy! I'm glad to be at your house!"

Wednesday and Thursday we rested and ventured out to join my mom's classroom for their "holiday" party. That was chaos, but Liam enjoyed the kids.

Hanging out in Grammy's classroom

On Friday we spent the day getting ready to host the Beiler Christmas at my parent's house. My mom's extended family is up to 51 people now and lucky for us (that's not sarcastic!), almost all of them wanted to come to Christmas. Mom cooked up a storm on Friday and we ended up with more than enough food for the 43 people who did come. We are so thankful to have such a warm, close-knit family who truly loves each other and enjoys spending time with each other. The evening passed too quickly, but it was sweet to be together for a short time.

My mom and her oldest sister whipping up the mashed potatoes.

Every year my aunt Millie takes a photo with her nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews. Somehow the great-nephews photo is the only one that ended up on my camera. Probably because Liam is in it! It's fun to look back over the years and see how the family has changed and grown.

Christmas Eve day my dad hosted an open house at his studio so we were in and out of that visiting with people. We also had a great visit with our Bloomington friends Phil and Amy and their boys who are originally from Souderton. We've been close friends with them for over two years, but our paths have never crossed while we're home visiting our families. It was fun to finally make that connection with them.

Liam opening his first present from Grammy -- a John Deere tractor -- on Christmas Eve.

Both my brothers and their wives drove in late Saturday night after having Christmas with their in-laws. This was the first time we've all been together since the boys got married and it was great. Rob and I kept remarking how relaxed and fun they were. No wedding stress, no long distance relationships, etc., really made for a great few days together. We had a slow and relaxed Christmas morning, especially enjoying all the handmade gifts we made for each other (come back for my next post about all the handmade gifts). We played games, Ben and Heidi's Wii, ate tons of food and just enjoyed being together.

Liam opening his gift from Aunt Logan and Uncle Luke -- his first baseball mitt and ball.

And opening his gift from Uncle Ben and Aunt Heidi -- a handmade tool box made by Ben. It came complete with Black and Decker toy tools.

A close-up of the tool box. The other side says "Tools".

It's an original folks.

Liam and Uncle Ben read the personalized board book my mom got for Liam. (www.pintsizeproductions.com) So cute and smart!

My dad, the license plate collector, happily opens one of the only states he still needed to complete his collection.

All the kids, wives and one baby. Love you guys!

We all parted ways again on Tuesday -- Ben and Heidi back to Ohio and work, we went to Cincinnati to Rob's family, and mom and dad and Luke and Logan up to my aunt and uncle's cabin in northern PA. As always, it was hard to say goodbye, but we're already looking forward to our ski weekend in February together.

We journeyed westward and on to a few days with Rob's family. It was a great and relaxing way to round out our trip and spend some time with their family. We had "Christmas morning" with them on Wednesday and enjoyed opening and giving more presents.

Aunt Lauren and "pseudo Uncle Ryan" (he will be a real uncle someday :) starting the Christmas present opening.

Liam got a great dump truck with blocks

Reading a new book with Mimi

After some good family time together, we enjoyed visiting with Rob's cousin Jeff and his family who came from Long Island for a week. Since his wife and daughter had never been to Cincinnati, we gave them the star treatment with trips to Montgomery Inn, Graeter's ice cream and Skyline Chili. Apparently I forgot to take my camera on all these visits which is a bummer because I would have liked to get some pictures with them.

But when Friday came around we were ready to come back home and settle in again. I about had a nervous breakdown when it came time to pack our car and the realization that everything we were bringing home had to go somewhere in our house. It was nuts how much stuff we had!

Poor Liam was all scrunched in the car. Seriously. The stuff. It was crazy. (Oh and notice his favorite Christmas gift - an old remote)

In our parent's defense though, we did have a custom countertop Ben made us in the car (hence the reason the two back seats are down next to Liam) and we made a trip to IKEA in Cincinnati and spent some Christmas money to buy a toy storage shelf and four baskets. So it wasn't all toys and gifts!

We came home and spent most of Saturday and today purging our house of excess. It's amazing to me how such a tiny person (ahem, Liam) can have so much stuff. Thankfully he doesn't really understand what is going on and putting some toys away in his closet for later doesn't bother him.

We still have about a week of break until Rob goes back to school. I'm so spoiled when he is home; grocery shopping by myself? Yes please and thank you. I still have a list of projects to get done, but we're trying to balance having some family downtime and doing stuff too.

Hopefully that doing stuff will include blogging again soon because I'm excited to share with you more handmade Christmas stuff.

So. It's a new year and I hope yours is off to a great start!