How I Am Spending My Free Time

A beautiful thing has happened...I have free time!  After nearly six years working full-time on weekends and taking care of children during the week, this is really a new and beautiful thing.  I feel so fortunate to have had that time with the boys, but it sure is nice to drop them off in capable hands at school for a couple of hours! I recently cut back my hours at work to part-time, so I am just working Saturdays & Sundays for now.   This new schedule has motivated me to tackle some projects at home.  First off was cleaning out the three junk drawers in our kitchen and the overflowing cabinets below.  It was out of control. I wish I had some "before" pics to show you.  Here's how it looks now:

 The boys have enjoyed having all of the craft supplies on their level.  I'm not so sure it's working that well for me to have sparkle paints available all the time...I see some child-proof locks in our future.  

Food Fun

Carter requested paw print design with waffles and pancakes for breakfast today and Davis wanted his picture with Mom's carb creation.  Ah, the simple pleasures of being a kid!

 This was just too funny to ignore.  Davis has been wearing my old "going out" boots and Sean's snowboarding helmet as part of this crime-fighting get up that he invented.  He says he's "Invisible" when he wears it to fight the bad guys.  I captured him today eating chocolate pudding while taking a break from defending the universe.  Love the mustache!

Having Fun Staying Warm

January has proven to be VERY cold so far...too cold to play outside most days, so we have been trying to stay busy inside.  One of our favorite indoor activities is craft time!  We made a trip to our local Hobby Lobby and loaded up on some fun new projects.  First up: painting plaster vehicles-what could be better?!

 Davis put so much paint on his that I thought it would never dry. But, we learned a valuable lesson...if you put all the colors together, you get black.  Carter was very bothered by the fact that Davis kept mixing the colors.  To each his own...

 We also bought a bunch of these biodegradable foam pieces that you can stick together.  The boys had fun constructing letters, butterflies and even flowers for Mom!  They honestly can be very sweet sometimes.  I love those moments.  It makes me feel like I'm not totally failing them in the charm department.  

This week, we had our favorite girls over for lunch & the boys had fun entertaining baby Alina.  She is a sweet girl & I could just snuggle her all day.  

 Crafting with the girls!

Megan getting big smiles from Alina.  So precious!

 After a big day of crafting, it was time to chillax on the couch for some Leap Pad game time.  Carter has enjoyed helping Davis figure out the games and Davis loves getting to play on his very own Leap Pad!