2 months

sweet august, our big little boy. you're only two months old, but my how you've grown! You are tipping the scales at 15lbs. 11oz. and are 25in. long. no wonder you've outgrown all of your 3 month clothes. my arms are becoming quite muscular lugging you around.

you love to talk and you're a smiling fool, especially in the morning. [i couldn't get you to smile for your pictures because you were sleepy] it's so hard to be grumpy at 5am  when you give me those big smiles and tell me all about your dreams. you like to be heard and tend to yell at us from time to time. i guess you're practicing for the future because being the baby in a family full of talking know-it-alls won't be easy.

you are busy, busy. when i put you on the floor or on my knee you never stop wiggling. if you could sit on a tricycle, i bet you could give lance armstrong a run for his money.

you are working so hard to get your thumb in your mouth and keep it there. controlling those little arms is tough stuff, but we love watching you try. you slowly bring your little fist to the top of your forehead, drag it down the tip of your nose and into your mouth, if only for a few seconds. this morning you were trying to get your brother's shirt. i know you're concentrating because you get really quiet and still.

you bring us so much joy, august.

my heart wells up every time i look at you.

xo 

mommy

Costumes of Halloween's past

I've been racking my brain trying to come up with Halloween costume ideas for the kids. I've never actually bought a costume. It started with me making a fairy costume for Audrie's first Halloween, and since then I just haven't been able to bring myself to purchase anything off the rack. I know my kids see those ready made costumes and sometimes wish I'd shell out the money for them, but maybe one day they'll appreciate their imperfect homemade counterparts, or at least the effort I put into them. Here are my past efforts:

My absolute favorite costume, I'll have to post later. It was Audrie's 2nd Halloween, and it was taken with one of those old cameras where you actually had to print out the pictures, so I have to do some digging.

I loved our Adventure Time costumes last year, and I've been trying to come up with something equally awesome, but I'm at a loss. We've got an extra character this year, so any ideas for a family of five?

And by the way, you might have noticed that I'm stalling here. I haven't done our Crafty Friday, so I was trying to distract you with lots of pictures.

xo

nessa dee

Brothers

The boys. My sweet boys. I'm looking forward to seeing how their relationship blossoms. Finn can't wait until August is old enough to play with him. He tells me just about everyday of something new he wants to teach his brother.

Finn sure does love his brother.

And I sure do love my boys.

xo

nessa dee

From my sketchbook...

I walked away for a moment, and when I came back, I found a party pig amid my characters. Made me smile.

xo

nessa dee

Hello, Monday!

I decided that I didn't want a spooky castle to be our only fall decor, so I dragged out the autumn decorations, today. We'll see how it goes.

And I've already had a little help with the decorating...

Happy Monday!

xo

nessa dee

Crafty Friday: Spooky Castle

Today's Crafty Friday was going to be a tricked out repeat of a castle we made 3 years ago, that is, until my kids had another idea. With Halloween just around the corner, and Hotel Transylvania about to come out in theaters, my kids wanted to make Dracula's castle. So my idea of a fanciful medieval castle with climbing roses and a princess tower was replaced with dark stones, Gothic windows and bats. But I have to admit, the castle looks pretty awesome. 

Here's what you need:

We decided to go with spray pint to cover all of our boxes and cans because it's quick, but craft paint will work just as well as will cover the pieces with construction paper like we did with our old castle.

Once you've painted your pieces, start arranging them how you want. Once you've got a design you like, glue it together with hot glue [parent's, of course]. 

Then, you can start embellishing the castle. We added tissue paper brick, and silhouette windows. For instructions on how to make the tops of the spires refer to the old castle post here.

 As a finishing touch, Audrie added bats strung on fishing line, a weather vane, and spooky trees.

With that we have our spooky castle, and I can say that I've officially started [and probably finished] decorating for the season. 

xo

nessa dee

Finnanigans

It's been a while since I've posted some Finnanigans. If you're not familiar with Finnanigans, it's the funny little things Finn says in our everyday life. Finn gives me at least one a day, but if I don't write them down right away, they fly out of my sleep deprived brain. Luckily, I've managed to remember a few to share with you today.

:: Mom, I remember things in my brain locker. It's like a high school locker, but it's in my mind.

:: pointing to his eyelids, " Mom, my eye covers hurt!"

:: Mom, August has green eye lint.

:: referring to a container full of replacement pencil lead, "If you need some rock ink, here it is."

:: After finding a tick on our dog [I know, gross] Audrie was trying to pick it off with a handful of paper towels to which Finn assured, "It's okay, Audrie. When Mom was little she had ticks all over her, and they weren't diseasey." [pronounced disease-ee] And just for the record, I didn't walk around with ticks all over me when I was little. I'm not sure what kind of hillbilly life my son thinks I lived.

Okay, I thought I had more, but at the moment, my baby is crying and my brain locker's empty.

xo

nessa dee