7 Fri-er-Saturday Quick Takes

My thanks to Jen at Conversion Diary for hosting!

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I am new to the 7 Quick Takes community, and am therefore a day late and a dollar short. Sorry, folks. I'm glad to be joining you all, though!

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N has started using his words while crying for me at naptime. Let me be clear. He always cried for me at nap time, but now it's things like, "Mommy don't leave me! Mommy I'm lonely! I can't wanna sleep, Mommy! I'm not tired! Please I wanna hug you, Mommy!" Anything and everything to stall nap/get up. There is very little that I have experienced which wrenches my heart quite the way my 2 1/2 year old crying for hugs and that he's lonely does.

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Learning to recognize when my emotions are damaging my relationship with God. For various reasons this morning, I found myself angry at D. It started to brew and then fizzed out with the distractions of the household while he slept in (not actually why I was mad at him, for the record). During a moment of peace, and with both boys secured in high chairs, I made my way upstairs to hug & kiss him good morning, but on the way, found that anger resurfacing as resentment. Funny, though, it hit me as I was walking that the resentment was a trick of Satan's. So, I offered up a quick prayer for grace, and found myself happily embracing my husband soon thereafter. Funny how evil works in our lives, carving out little pits of emotion and dwelling & digging in....

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Filed our taxes. Woo-hoo! :) Yes, I know it's a silly thing to celebrate.

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N's sweater now has a body piece, an arm, and the beginning of a second arm. I have intended to knit it for over a year now. I did not follow directions perfectly but I don't care because I think it looks great, aside from the fact that my tension leaves much to be desired.

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Though I advocate thanking God for every day, strong dislike is a mild expression of how I feel about the phrase "TGIF"... Friday is my first or second workday. It usually signifies the start of a lot of running on empty for me.

-7-

Fruit smoothies are the new fad in our household. It strikes me as odd that I hadn't thought more about making the little ones a smoothie on occasion. I just use frozen fruit, 100% juice, and yogurt. No sweetener necessary, because the fruits they love the most are blueberries, bananas, and strawberries. It is an easy, mindless breakfast beverage that I can make while chomping on a quick breakfasty food like cereal or toast, and then I can worry about getting them some protein or grains as they suck down the drinks.

Learning to Fall

My darling husband believes it is extremely important for young children to learn how gravity works on their bodies and how to fall.

That's the fancy way that he usually uses to explain why he loves tossing N in the air every which way till Sunday.

I kid you not, D throws him up by his hips, feet, waist, etc, always catching him (so far*fingers crossed*) and always eliciting squeals of joy, giggles, and insistent pleas for more.

Sometimes, I swear, it looks as though he's abusing our 20-month-old son... except for the smile and laughter.

Now, I know... I know ... that D is always in control and never performs these tricks over hard surfaces. Still, I cringe a little every time he starts up, and I've given him grief before about the claim to need to know how to fall being complete bunk.

Well, never again will I assert that knowing how to fall comes naturally and needn't be taught, nor will I argue the unimportance of parents teaching such a trait.

Yesterday, when he tripped on pavement, my 20-month-old son briskly caught himself with his hands, allowed his weight to continue down, and managed to fall without a single scratch. Zero bleeding. A few tears, admittedly, but far better than I've done even recently when tripping.

And his face hit that pavement. Not hard, because he knew how to fall with it. But I picked him up and I know that the little face hit pavement.

Poor guy, I felt so bad for him.

Lest you argue that I should have been more alert, I was standing next to him and holding his brother when it happened. He simply caught his foot and tripped in the blink of an eye. And he was in my arms the moment he reacted.

Yes, my darling dearest husband, I cede to your wisdom in this matter of falls and tumbles. Teach away, oh wise one. ;)

Tonight, I'm working on

My first-ever officially paid cakes. 2 cakes for a joint birthday party, one is Transformers and one is Star Wars.

It's for a friend, and I'm doing it at cost because of the opportunity to gain exposure.

Still, I'm super-excited!

Wish me luck!

Brotherly Love

They were just being cute and I had to share! :) Now for a walk...

Knitting Adventures

In a recent attempt to be more productive with my time, I started knitting... and when I say started, I mean started. I used my good friend youtube.com to teach me how to knit, purl, increase, decrease, bind off, and after some time, what k2togtbl (or p2togtbl) means and how to do it... I am amateur at best, but I have 2 finished projects (rather, 2 of the same finished project) under my belt.

The first one I did wrong. Rather than moving the yarn in front of the needle each time I did a knit stitch, I moved the yarn behind the needle each time. This, it turns out, makes all the difference.

So here's N in my *first* finished project:

Having successfully (if incorrectly) completed my first ever knitted project, I started on another sweater vest, same style, for my 3 yo godson, KC. After researching why N's sweater vest came out so thick and bulky, I came up with this for KC:

So there it is! My second-ever knitted project! Looks a little lumpy in the left photo only because it's sitting funny, by the way.

Next on the agenda is this handsome sweater ... if I can actually figure out knitting on circular knitting needles and/or in the round. I have the tools, I have the ambition, do I have the skills? We'll find out, I guess!

Baby T Talking & Smiling

Love from The Hastings Home!

Sharing a giveaway

 Oh, I almost don't want to share this with you...

...but I'm sure there are others out there who would value this gorgeous painting as much as I.

The giveaway is here, and while you're there, please check out Melanie's blog.

Artwork Splurge

A while back, D and I decided that our house needed a little more wall decoration. As luck would have it, our timing couldn't have been better. There was a convention called, "The Starving Artists Sale" in town.

A number of local artists were selling reproductions of a number of famous paintings for a very reasonable cost.

We went, and were so thrilled by our purchases!

We actually got three reproductions, but one we gifted.

Aren't they perty?

Cooking with Little Ones

I remember as a kid loving to be a part of just about everything that went on in the kitchen.

Of course, I stopped showing an interest in dishes when I realized they were work...

But I still love cooking.

And can hardly wait to involve N in dinner/dessert preparations!

Apparently I'm Not..

...to do any more paperwork today.

Jack says. Sorry.

Park Days!

We at the Hastings home love our park days! With such b.e.a.utiful weather in the Pacific Northwest lately, it's hard for us to stay inside!

 

...So we didn't!

As you can see, T didn't much like stopping to take a picture... 

...And N is, of course, wearing Daddy's hat. At his insistence.

N's favorite playground activity?

 

Swings!

He practically touched the sky!

I love that I have such an energetic and happy little guy! He just loves seeing other kids, and playing on the swings and slides, and just generally being out of the house!

He jabbered away to me all the way there and all the way home, telling me in his own little language about the trees and flowers and cars and grass.... and who knows what else, really?

 

I guess all that activity took all of his energy right out of him, though, because, poor fellow, he couldn't quite finish his sandwich...

I wish I could have gotten a good photo of him as I laid him down for nap, but laying him down happy is a delicate balance and cameras just don't factor in!

Now it's off to clean and prepare for the second wave of energy... ;)

Mommy's Little Helper

Apparently, I waited a little too long to put away the diapers.

 

He took them out of the box for me. What a good boy! ;)