What boy...

hates having his hands dirty? We had Ian's birthday party back in Iowa this weekend. I tried my hand at making him a cake:

He loved the fact it was a choo-choo, but when it came to eating it, he wanted nothing to do with it. I cut up the caboose for him, and each time he touched it, he'd immediately rub his hands together and try to clean them. At one point, he attempted to eat it without the use of hands:He just HATES having his hands dirty. Needless to say, we cut up the caboose and gave him a fork.

We had a great time visiting with family and friends who came to the party. Ian got a bunch of gifts, but thankfully most people kept them small- hopefully thinking of the car they would all have to fit it. He got a lot of books, vehicles (including an orange snow plow like the one grandpa drives), t-ball, doctor kit, a wagon full of blocks, and clothes. Both sets of grandparents gave him bikes. One is still in the box so we could get it home, but my dad couldn't wait. He gave him a replica Super H tactor. Ian loved it so much that he had to give it a hug and kiss every time we left.
Another highlight of Ian's birthday weekend was sitting in a real fire truck. Ian's uncle is fire chief of the volunteer force back home and his party was in the building connected to the trucks. We showed him how the lights work, attempted to get a helmet on his head, and let him sit in the seat. He was calling them Ian's fire trucks at the end of the night.

Happy Birthday Ian

I got a call at 5:40 this morning telling me school was cancelled due to snow. I laid back down and had to smile: exactly two years ago I had gotten the same call, and spent that snow day in the hospital giving birth to Ian. At the time, I was hoping for a girl, but I couldn't be more happy or blessed that I came home with Ian. Just watching him play cars right now makes me smile; he finds such joy in the little things. Just like we found true joy the day he was born.

Happy Birthday Ian!

Perfect Day

Today was a perfect day...well... almost. Ian woke us up at 6:30 this morning. When is he going to learn that you sleep in on the weekends? After three bowls of Cheerios for breakfast, he decided to try out my shoes this morning, and he did surprisingly well walking in them.
I left for sewing Saturday at Marlena's, though not before giving Ian a haircut. While I was hard at work on my ocean waves quilt, Ian was soaking up the sun outside with Darrin. Notice that it's February in Nebraska, and we have NO snow. That's thanks to the 50-degree temperatures we've had lately.

Darrin and Ian joined me at Noah and Marlena's for Ian's birthday party. The food was great.

Don't let the picture fool you. We had brats on the grill for supper. That was actually Ian's cake! They baked a cake in a pizza pan, topped it with frosting for sauce, and the rest of the toppings were strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, and white chocolate. Yum!

After the food, it was on to presents. Ian loved his balloons, though he enjoyed hitting them around the room more than he enjoyed having them clipped onto his pants.

He had more fun ripping the paper off of the books, clothes, and Leap Frog fridge magnets he got.

As I was rocking Ian before bed tonight, he kept singing, "Happy Two." I can't believe my little guy is almost two.

Finally Finished

Well, the Dick and Jane quilt is tagged, washed, and ready for delivery. I finally finished it. To quilt it, I just stiched-in-the-ditch around the inner pinwheels and then between each of the rows/columns. I think it turned out great. I don't know why it took forever to get done. I didn't really run into many complications along the way. I just put it to the side once the top was done. My goal for the next quilt- sandwich and quilt as soon as the top is pieced. Otherwise, who knows how long that one will sit there.

I went to the Brad Paisley concert last night with Sara, and it was a blast. We had FANTASTIC seats- 16 rows up and even with the stage front. His opening act was Darrius Rucker. I loved his voice as the front-man for Hootie and the Blowfish, and he sounded just as great singing country songs, and his country songs were GOOD, unlike some other genre artists who have tried to make the switch. After him was Dierks Bentley, who was hilarious. At one point, his next song opened with scenes from his music video for the song, and he sat down on the stage with a bucket of popcorn and some beer. He tried to shush the crowd and act like he was watching, but we were all laughing so hard. Finally Brad came on and played for 90 minutes. He is such a talented guitar player and was really fun to watch. I really enjoyed his show, though not as much as Keith Urban's.

An Addiction

Saturday was quilt day at my house. Sara and Marlena came over and we quilted away the day. I got my block done for the guild block of the month. The colors are really off in the picture; it doesn't show how rich the colors really are.


I got a start on my January wall hanging (yes, I realize January is practically over), and finished after they left. But I hate it, so it's being redone (probably next January...).

Sara left the first two books from the Twilight saga with me. So, after they left, I started reading and I haven't stopped. I am ADDICTED! I have to admit I was slightly hesitant in reading it due to the vampire aspect, but Sara said at its core it's a love story- and I'm a sucker for a good love story. She was right, and I am hooked. I started Twilight after Ian went to bed Saturday night, and finished it on Sunday. As soon as it was done, picked up #2 (New Moon) and had it done by Monday. My co-worker had #3 (Eclipse) waiting in my classroom for me on Tuesday, and I've finished it today. I can't wait to get my hands on #4- but what will I do when it's done... I haven't touched fabric since I started reading, so perhaps I should get back to quilting when I'm done- there's an idea :)

And, because no post for me is complete without some piece of Ian, here's a recent picture of him. He's sitting in the drawer that holds his cars when he picks up his toys at the end of the day. For some reason he likes to sit in it and run his cars on the couch. He's just so darn entertaining. We love watching and listening for what he'll do next.

Ian's Day

Ian had an interesting day today. It began like this:

He wasn't too happy about not getting his way. We saw that face a lot this morning. During one such occasion, when we were getting him from his room, he learned how to turn his light on and off. This is a big feat in our house, because so often he wants a book from his room, but it's dark so we get it for him. Now he'll be able to turn his light on/off and get his own book. Ahhh, independence.

Tonight while I was cooking supper, he came up from the basement to check on the progress. After he saw what I was up to, he went to the top of the basement stairs to call Darrin. But, instead of saying "Daddy" he was shouting, "Darrin!" He shouted it about eight times before we figured out exactly what he was saying. I have no idea where he learned to yell for Darrin from.

He ended the day in a much better mood. He helped me make some pumpkin-chocolate chip muffins for breakfast in the morning, and got to reap the reward for his help.

Stupid Mistake

Right now, I'm supposed to be at Archiver's scrapbooking. As you can probably tell from this post, I'm obviously not. Why- because I stupidly forgot my purse at school. My co-worker picked me up and drove me to school today, so I didn't have my car. Got home and was ready to put my stuff in my car- no keys. Darrin has my spare set, so I'm stuck until he gets home. Luckily, Marlena lives close to my school, so she swung by and picked my purse up for me. Otherwise, how was I going to buy fabulous things at Archiver's?

Wait- there was the garage door. I can go!

I'll post later pictures of my productivity.

Jan. 17- here's a few pictures of my productivity from last night. I worked on a two-page layout of Ian playing in his pool this summer. It took most of the 5 hours I was there (pathetic, I know). I spent probably an hour applying the "bling" (gemstones) and the flowers, but it is one of my top 5 pages ever.