A Hodgepodge of DIY Projects

Because I don't have time to post every day or separate my posts by topic, here's a hodgepodge of our latest DIY projects to share...

1. Homemade Imitation Frappuccino
I got the recipe off Pinterest and made some this morning. I CAN'T WAIT to have some more tomorrow am!
10 cups strong coffee, brewed
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup French Vanilla creamer
Mix together! YUM!

2. Finishing up Levi's Room
Since Jackson's all moved into his new room (the old guest room), we've been able to reorganize Jackson's old room into Levi's new room! Whew! Was that confusing? It's been a pretty easy process since we're leaving most of the decor the same. Mom did such a good job sewing stuff for Jackson's nursery that I just had to use it again for Levi. So really all we had to do was get out all the baby parafernalia. AND we added some new wall decor for Levi.

 

I made the LEVI sign with burlap, scraps of material, twine, and hot glue. Mom made the animal prints - they match the quilt she made that hangs on the opposite wall. I'm very happy with the outcome.

3. Message Boards
In our kitchen we have a dry erase board where I keep my weekday menus, ongoing grocery lists, phone messages, and special reminders. It's in plain view and is pretty hard to miss. Jacin and I wanted to start writing a Bible verse there for each week, but there just wasn't room! My solution? Create a dry erase board out of an old frame and scrapbook paper.

We hung our new board under the existing message board in our kitchen so it's easy to see. We've enjoyed it so far - and this week we're all working on memorizing Psalm 9:10. I also made another dry erase board for Bird's room, and he loves it! Jacin writes him notes on it at night, and Bird wakes up each morning asking "What's that say, Mommy?"

Elect Jesus?

I have to take a moment to vent:

In my opinion, it can be dangerous for a church to have a marquee sign, especially if it's used to be catchy and cute. Too often, biblical and theological soundness are thrown aside for the sake of catchy and cute. Not good. One of my favorite "catchy & cute" sign sayings that immediately comes to mind reads "sign broken. come inside for message." Cute and memorable, but totally incorrect. The marquee sign was never meant to herald the gospel - that's the church's job. Furthermore, people should not have to walk into a church building to hear the message. The church (meaning the followers of Jesus) should be going OUT and sharing the message.

Recently, one of our local churches has displayed the quote "elect Jesus as Lord of your life" on their church marquee. Now I realize that the purpose of this message is to grab attention using the "election" theme. But really, there are some major problems here. First of all, in Calhoun, the offices currently open for election are local offices such as sheriff, clerk of court, magistrate judge, etc. While these are important offices, do we really want to put Jesus on the same level? Secondly, Jesus does not need to be elected, and he's not waiting on my vote. The office of Lord of Lords is already filled, regardless of any poll results. Jesus is already Lord, whether I elect (choose) Him or not. Now, I can decide whether or not to recognize his Lordship in my life, but that choice doesn't affect the reality of His pre-existant Lordship. He's already Lord, whether I "elect" him or not. And really, if we dare to take it a step further, it's Jesus/God/Holy Spirit who does the electing and choosing... but that's a can of worms for another day. :)

So... regardless of this year's election results, one day...
at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 
Philippians 2:10-11


Okay. Venting session over. And if you think I'm being ridiculous, you're not the only one. When I shared these thoughts with Jacin tonight, he begged me not to blog about it. "You're just thinking way too much!" was his critique. Maybe so. But I'm an English major with a seminary masters. This issue combines theology with semantics - right up my alley!!! :)

All Rashy

Bird has always had sensitive skin - like his Momma. In the winter it's dry, and in the summer it gets red in the sun. His face especially tends to break out from the combination of sunscreen, sun, wind, and water. Poor guy.

But this weekend when he got red cheeks, I was puzzled. He hadn't really been out in the sun or had sunscreen put on his face. As the days went by, the rash got worse and eventually spread to his arms, where it was red and lacy. Here are some pics:

 

The diagnosis? Fifths Disease. As the doctor explained, "Fifth disease, which is especially common in kids, usually produces a distinctive red rash on the face that makes a child appear to have a "slapped cheek." The rash then spreads to the trunk, arms, and legs. It's a viral infection that can take one to three weeks to run its course. The child is contagious before the rash appears."

It looks bad, but Bird doesn't even know it's there. The rash doesn't seem to itch or hurt, which I'm thankful for. And now ya know. If you see my boy around town this week, I promise he hasn't been slapped around!

Jackson's New Room

It's been a process, but we've finally finished converting our guest room into Bird's new room. My parents painted it, and Meme made the curtains, quilt, bodypillow case, and bed skirt. It has a John Deere tractor theme, and Bird LOVES it. He's even sleeping in the full-sized bed like a big boy! He gets a sticker every morning and after every nap when he successfully stays in his bed, and so far he's doing great!

Here are a few pics:
This is the view when you walk in the door. Jacin made the shelf that hangs over the bed.

Meme made the curtains. I bought the frames (Dollar General), Jacin spray-painted them, and I used them to display various pics I printed off our computer.

The decals over the bed are super cool. They're vinyl and are removable! Bird points to them and tells me about them every day when he crawls in the bed for his nap.

The dresser was donated and spiffed up by Meme & Ray Ray. On the dresser is a little message board I made with a picture frame and scrapbook paper. Jacin likes to write Bird little notes on there, and Bird constantly asks, "What that say, Mommy? It from Daddy!"

And perhaps the most important part of the room - the toy storage - was made from blocks Aunt Laney once used in her college dorm.

In case you've missed it, we could not have done this room without my parents' help! They supplied most of the furniture and decor and helped Jacin tremendously with the hard work of putting it all together. Thanks, Meme & Ray Ray!

The next step is to get Jackson's old room ready for Baby Levi! There's not much to do since we're just using the farm-themed nursery stuff Mom made for Jackson. It's just too cute to not use again. But we are re-doing the wall area over Levi's crib. I'll post pics of that project when it's done. For now, I'm just happy to have one more thing crossed off the To-Do List.

Random Events

Just a few normal yet notable things that have happened at our house lately:

Don't Drink the Water
Daddy is in charge of bath time. Here's a bathtub conversation I overheard yesterday:
Daddy: Jackson, don't drink that bathwater. It's yucky.
Bird: I wike (like) it, Daddy.
Daddy: No, it's yucky. Your butt's in that water!
Bird: Butt water!! Yuck! (spitting sounds)
........... and once he's out of the bath with his towel on, it's Mommy's job to catch him!

The Wet Towel Bandit.

Ceramic Pitcher Casualty
I was cleaning up lunch today when I heard a boom followed by Bird screaming. I took a few steps and found him face down on the floor with a broken ceramic vase in his hands. I picked him up and blood was everywhere - all over both hands - and then he started smearing it on his face and on my arms. It took me a while to figure out that the source of the blood was his pinky finger - his nail was sliced cleanly down the middle. It's amazing how much blood can come from one little cut! I washed both of us off, made Bird hold his hurt hand way above his head to stop the bleeding, and put a band aid on his finger. Bird looked down at the band aid, sniffed, and said, "It ok, Mommy. I tough as nails." And that was that! We left and went to swim lessons. And he has thoroughly enjoyed showing everyone his "mand aid" and telling the story... "I fall down and I cwy (cry). I break Mommy's bowl. It ok. I tough as nails."

Zillions of little pieces not pictured.

A Sad Farewell
We had an emotional start to the week in the Burns' household. Jacin sold his truck. It had to happen - he can't fit 2 car seats (not to mention his wife) in the front of a single-cab truck, so he has been working on selling it to get a larger, double-cab truck. But the day it finally sold, Jacin was close to tears.
"It's ok, Baby. It's just a truck!" I told him, trying to be supportive while wondering why in the world he was having so much difficulty letting go of a large piece of metal on wheels.
"Ok, Hailey, but it's not just a truck. It's worth way more to me. I know what I have to do. It's just hard to do it." He responded. "I'm going to take Jackson on one last ride in it."
As he walked away to get Bird for the last ride, I wondered is he going to war or selling his truck?

Jacin insisted I take one last pic of the boys with the cherished truck.

Daddy's Job
Since we've moved Bird into his new room (more pics to come when it's completely decorated), we've also moved most of his toys from the den to his room. Now one of Bird's favorite things to do is to go back to his new room, dig out some toys, and play on his bed. Lately he's wanted to build things with blocks. He'll come get me by the hand, say "Mon (c'mon) Mommy! Build some'pin gether (together)!"
Yesterday I went back with him and we played together for about an hour.
When it was time to clean up, Bird said, "Mommy not build. I want Daddy."
I agreed with him that Daddy really was much better at building with blocks than Mommy was, and I suggested that maybe Daddy would build with him later after work.
"Yeah," he agreed, "Daddy good to build. Daddy build tractor! Tat Daddy's job!"
And for the last 2 evenings, Bird has met his Daddy at the door to welcome him home, saying "Daddy! Come build! Build a tractor ah (with) Jackson! Tat Daddy's job!"

Tonight's tractor-building session.

"Thank You, God!"

Lately one of Bird's favorite books to read is the storybook version of Noah and the Ark. In this book, you read the words, look at the pictures, and press buttons to make sounds. On one particular page, you press the button to hear Noah say, "Thank you, God!" Jackson laughs and imitates it every time he hears it.

Today, after reading the Noah story several times with Bird, I was cleaning up the kitchen and Jackson was playing in the den. I heard him chasing Rascal, and I rounded the corner just in time to see him pull Rascal's tail. I firmly told him that if he continued to hurt the dog, I would spank him. (This is very common - Bird terrorizes Rascal on a regular basis.) I suggested that instead of hurting Rascal, he should love him. Bird nodded his head, grabbed Rascal around the neck and kissed him.

"Good job, Bird!" I praised him. "We want to love our friends, not hurt them. Thank you for following directions."

"Yep, yep. I wuv my buddy. I kiss him. I not spanking!" Bird replied.

"That's right. When you follow directions and love your friends, you don't get a spanking. Good job." I agreed and then walked back in the kitchen.

As Bird crawled back on the couch I heard him call out, "Thank you, God!"
It made me smile.

Happy 4th of July!

Our 4th of July was pretty laid- back. We spent the weekend at the lake with Meme & RayRay and enjoyed fireworks on the lake Saturday night. Just ask Bird about fireworks. He'll jump up, put his hands in the air and say "Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Jacin was off on Wednesday for the 4th, and we enjoyed just being together as a family. We went to the Nesbitt family cookout at Dude's house for lunch, but only stayed for a little while. It was pretty hot, even in the shade, and I kept feeling like I was going to pass out. Bird had fun, though. Here's a pic:

As you may be able to tell, my face (especially nose & lips), hands, and legs/feet stay a bit swollen these days.  Being pregnant in the summer isn't really super, despite what you may have heard.

After the cookout we came home, took naps, and worked on some projects in Bird's new room. Jacin and I were already a bit tired and frustrated because the we hit a few snags hanging a new ceiling fan, which took 2 hours to install. And all the while Jackson, of course, was talking, climbing the ladder, grabbing Daddy's tools, and crying when we told him he couldn't do something. Whew! Then we made dinner. I tried a new recipe for roasted potatoes and burned them to a crisp. The oven filled with smoke, the kitchen filled with smoke, the smoke detector went off, Rascal cried and turned in circles while Bird ran around saying, "Hear it, Momma? Hear it?!" It was 7:30, and I was ready to just go to bed without dinner. We ended up having a bag of chips to accompany the burgers Jacin cooked on the grill (in the rain).

Once we got Bird to bed, Jacin and I sat down to eat this festive dessert I had made:

Just as I was spooning out the cake into our bowls, Jacin got called in to work. I ate it by myself. Jacin got back in at 5am the next morning and ate his dessert for breakfast.

With all the craziness, the HIGHLIGHT of the day (and really of the past 3 days) is that Bird has settled into his new room and is sleeping in his big boy bed like a champ! The fireworks didn't even wake him last night! Go Bird! Let's hope this round the transition to the big boy bed is permanent. I think it helps that his new sheets and comforter have tractors on them - greatly increases the cool factor. :)