A Boy's Best Friend

Meet Karma:


She arrived with the broken arm from Uncle Brian and soon-to-be Aunt Jodi who are both vets. I added the band-aid when I was trying to teach Ian that they are not things to be scared of- didn't work. Ian names his dogs after the real dogs in the family, so this one is named after Jodi's dog because they're both white. He also has a Jinx and Ace. Karma is Ian's baby, and does everything Ian does.

The day usually starts off with breakfast. Sometimes Ian requests a bowl for Karma to eat out of as well.

After that, it's time for toys. Karma likes to play Play-Doh (Ian's turning Karma and telling her to say, "Cheese") and building car washes with the help of Fire Puppy (no one in the family has a Dalmatian...). Things I forgot to snap pictures of are wagon rides and reading books.

Occasionally, like Ian, Karma does get into trouble and has to go into a time-out chair. She can't come out until she says, "Sorry." According to Ian, she was in time-out for hitting in the face.

After lunch, Karma was getting tired, and it was time for a nap.

After naptime, it's time for a snack. Karma was thirsty, so she drank from a bottle.
What goes in, must come out, so Karma had to use the potty.


And it just continues like this throughout the day. Some days everything he does must involve Karma, and others he's content to leave her in bed. It's just neat to wake up and experience the day with him. I'm so thankful I have the summer off and am able to experience all the crazy, cute things he does all day long. I'm also thankful he has Karma to occupy him, so that I can get things crossed off my to-do list. Only one row left to sew on and I'll have the center for Shadow Play all together!

Bust a Move

Here's another video of Ian. He starts off dancing (if you listen REALLY closely, you'll hear music coming from my laptop) and then he shows off his jumping and counting skills.

What a Catch!

We shot some video of Ian this weekend. In this one, he's playing catch with Darrin.

Before and After

Before my wall looked like this:


Yes, since the beginning of April, that has been up. But now:
My first UFO has taken it's place!

Ian's Capabilities

This is my living room at 1:00 today, right before Ian and I cleaned it up for naptime. He began playing this morning at 8:00, and we even left home to run errands for 2 hours. He just floats from playing with one thing to another, so even if we cleaned it up, we'd have to get it back out 5 minutes later...

This morning we made car washes and towers out of blocks, built Lego towers, hauled Karma (Ian's puppy) in the wagon, took the animals on a trip from the barn in the tractor (the animals are now getting clean at the car wash with his cars), dumped out the plastic zoo animals to find pairs, lined up the dominoes to build a track for the choo-choo, played with the playdoh, and rocked out on the guitar. Plus there was book reading going on, too.

I'm more exhausted playing with him than I was working all day at school, but I wouldn't trade my summer vacation for anything!

My UFO List

That's Unfinished Fabric Object, for those of you who read my blog and aren't into quilting. My online group of quilt friends, the Prolific Online Quilters, is having a Finish-It-Up contest this summer. They're keeping track of all of us participating at the Waun-A-Quilt blog.

Here's my list. I've included everything I have bought fabric for, even if I haven't started it (otherwise my list is actually pretty short).

1. Shadow Play: currently piecing into rows
2. June wall-hanging: haven't started
3. Runaround bag: need to buy zipper before I begin
4. Wonder Wallet: don't have fabric, but if you could see my current wallet, this should be the first thing I complete...
5. December wall-hanging: haven't started
6. January wall-hanging: haven't started
7. May wall-hanging: quilt and bind
8. Pledge Allegiance wall-hanging: haven't started
9. Rachel's Reel: hand applique down reels
10. Ian's last block: find missing pieces...
11. Fold-over bag: haven't started
12. Witch wall-hanging: haven't started
13. Tree skirt: need a few more fabrics
14. Let it snow: finish piecing/applique
15. Guild BOM: figure out what to do with finished blocks
16. Advent calendar: figure out how it works
17. Pink and Brown quilt: haven't started
18. Miss Rosie's: need more fabric


I think that's it, though I may find more as I dig through my quilt area (and hopefully clean it in the process). I don't see myself finishing most of the big quilts (I usually get one big quilt done a year), but hopefully this will encourage me to get the small things finished up.

The Rest of the Weekend

Sunday was another fun-filled day for us. We went to Alexa's first birthday party, and spent the rest of the evening playing outside. Ian tried out his Cars kite. He needed more of a sustainable wind to keep it in the air, but it was fun for the brief seconds it was up.

Then Darrin and Ian began chasing each other around the yard, and for whatever reason, Darrin climbed up into the tree. Well, monkey see, monkey do, and Ian had to climb into the tree, too. It's a good thing Darrin's tall and could just set him up there and be within arm's reach if needed. I'm surprised how well Ian did. He didn't want to get down he was enjoying himself up there.

He made sure to wander over to the puppies and say "Hi" too.
Monday was a pretty uneventful day, but Ian did do something that made me chuckle and love having a 2-year-old. As we were picking up toys for nap time, he flipped his cars and trucks, which were all on their wheels in a straight line, over. He said, "Cars go night-night, too." He is just too darn cute!