The quilts

When Andrew was in preschool (yes, 2 years ago) he started to rip the knees out of his jeans. Sometimes he would rip them on the playground at school, but many of them would get ripped when he would slide on his knees down our hallway- because I guess that is fun? The real problem was the fact that he wouldn't wear the jeans after they had holes in the knees. I tried and tried to get him to wear them but he wouldn't. As the jeans piled up I thought about what I could do with them. I didn't think that even Goodwill would even want jeans with ripped out knees. So, I have been storing them, along with many other pairs over the past two years, in the garage. As I was getting the bins of baby clothes out of the garage for Grant I saw the pile of jeans again. I finally decided to make a quilt for Andrew out of the fabric. This should be quick and easy right? Well, it probably would have been quick if I hadn't decided to start the week before the baby was born. And it wasn't really hard except for some technical difficulties as well as trying to complete the quilt while sleep deprived.

The project started out with a large pile of jeans like these with ripped knees. My mom was the one who helped me cut out out all of the squares of fabric from the pants. We cut around some of the back pockets on the jeans so that Andrew would know that the fabric was actually from his pants.

After all the squares were cut out and laid out, I determined that there were actually enough squares to make two quilts, so I decided to make one for Claire as well. My mom also convinced me to add fabric borders around the edges for a more finished feel. The week before Grant was born I took Andrew and Claire to the fabric store to pick out fleece for the back of the quilt.

Here I am trimming the excess fleece fabric after completing the top. I actually finished the top of Claire's quilt as I was in labor with Grant! Note Claire has scissors in her hands here. She really has a scissor obsession and I really have to watch her. I have been doing all of this sewing on our kitchen table, so scissors and other supplies were left out. She was constantly grabbing the scissors asking to cut things up - mostly paper, but I didn't want her have another impromptu haircut.

Here Andrew and Claire decided to use the excess fleece fabric for scarves. It was really cute until they figured out that they can also use the fabric as weapons. Yes, anything can be used as a weapon, in this case as a whip. Ugghhhh.

Here are the finished products, front and back. They are intended to be used as lap quilts while watching TV. Hopefully they will be something that they both keep for a long time. In all it took about 6 weeks to complete the project. I'm glad I stuck with it because the kids love them. The cat also quite likes the fleece side. Everytime the kids leave them on the sofa you will find Hannah asleep on them moments later. Maybe I should make her a quilt too???

Grant's announcement

A Cappella Blue Birth Announcement

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Grant's first month

Our baby boy is 1 month old! It is hard to believe that the time passed so quickly some days and ever so slowly during some really long nights. I wish I could say that he has some brilliant tricks, but he doesn't so far. He went for his one month checkup last week and he weighed 9 lbs, 10 oz. He is doing really well, except for some thrush that he shared with me - not so fun. Here are some pictures from his first month:

I was taking some pictures of Grant and Claire really wanted me to take some pictures of her, so I told her that we should get some together and I got this sweet picture. She is so concerned about her baby brother ALL of the time. If I am not holding him she wants to know exactly where he is and why I put him down. She keeps telling me that I have to hold him all the time. That would be fine if she wasn't also asking for a snack, a show, a book, a game, etc.

Content after some milk.

The ever so fun first bath. That is Claire's head on the left hand side - she really wanted to help which was fine until she put a handful of soap on his face.

This picture is from the weekend of his blessing. This is my dad with Grant and his cousin Mackenzie who was born in June.

In a page from Lisa's book, I am going to try to take a picture of him every month with a sign. Check out his long skinny legs. Andrew and Claire both had chunky legs. So far he is a pretty good sleeper - much better than Andrew. He really doesn't like getting put in his car seat, unfortunately he is in it at least twice a day to take and pickup Andrew from school. He really likes our ceiling fan and the overhead lights in the family room. I can't wait for his first smile.

Preschool field trip

Last Thursday Claire's preschool class went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch. She was SOOO excited about this field trip and kept asking how many more days. Well the day arrived and we got the pumpkin patch and she all of a sudden became incredibly clingy. She was permanently attached to my leg! Her teacher said that she never acts like this in class and was really surprised.

I was actually able to get her on the train which was no small feat. She wanted me to go, but the car is only large enough for small children.

I tried to get some pictures of her, but that is hard when she wouldn't move more than 3 inches from me. Believe it or not, this was the best picture.

Most of the pictures are like this one and she kept asking when it was time to go. Part of the issue may have been the fact that it was like 80 degrees at 10:00 in the morning.

Claire and Ava are choosing their pumpkin to take home.

She had a hard time narrowing it down. When we brought the pumpkin home she immediately wanted me to make pumpkin pie out of it. First of all, I don't know how to make it starting with an actual pumpkin - just the can. I assume that is possible, but it seems like a lot of work. Plus the pumpkin is tiny, and would probably only be enough to make two cookies. She was very excited to show Danny her pumpkin when he got home, but there seems to be no reason for the sudden shyness.

Family pictures and Grant's blessing

We planned to have Grant's baby blessing at church on October 10th. Probably a bit soon to try to fit in some nice clothes, but it was the best possible date with everyone's schedule. Unfortunately, Ryan and Mandy weren't able to make it. Ryan and Landon both came down with pneumonia just days before they were supposed to come. Andrew was so disappointed that Landon wasn't coming and we certainly missed everyone else. We thought that with the change that my mom wouldn't insist on some informal family pictures, but no such luck. No one should have to take any sort of photo 3 weeks after having a baby. We gathered at Natalie's house and took some pictures, but the kids were more interested in running around than taking pictures.

Danny blessed Grant at church on the 10th in the same outfit that Andrew wore - it seems impossible that 6 years have passed since that time. We had a nice family dinner at my mom's house afterwards. Claire was able to spend a lot of time with Taylor which she loved. Claire even gave Taylor some church shoes that didn't fit and keeps reminding me about it. She was so excited that Taylor would be able to wear them. We had a great weekend hanging out with everyone and hope to see Ryan and Mandy at Christmas.

Soccer Season

Andrew started his second season of soccer at the end of August. This year Danny volunteered to be the assistant coach this year. We requested to be with the same coach that Andrew had last year. Danny is experiencing what it is like to try to teach a group of 6 and 7 year olds how to play soccer. They don't always listen or understand, but they still have fun.

Here is Andrew before the start of his first game. He says that his favorite position this season is mid-field, but they all rotate through the positions.

Coach Danny and Coach Jef.

Andrew at practice with his friends. Danny and Andrew have been riding their bikes to and from the games and practice. It is nice that the field is around the corner from our house.

This season, the under 8 group gets to have goalies. Andrew was very excited to bring home the special goalie jersey. My mom gave him a colored mohawk. His friend Anthony did his hair like this last season and Andrew keeps asking to have one. He was very excited to have his hair done, but I did have to remind him that he would have to wash it out before church the next day.