Brrrr

This December, we have been having temperatures that are more typical for January.  Today we are slated for a high of -3.  Yes, negative three.  The windchill puts us around -30.  I made the executive decision that we will not be leaving the house today.  Luckily, Brian's down in Indiana for work, so he hasn't been having to commute in this the past few days.

I am finally done shopping for christmas and as soon as my last two packages decide to show up, I can finish my wrapping too.  We decided that there was way too much commercialism and stress going on and we would not be doing presents for adults this year.  We still got harassed so there are a couple things coming to grandparents.

Everett is in a love/hate relationship with preschool.  He loves being there but insists that he hates it.  He's always happily playing when Callum and I show up to get him at 3pm.  He has lots of friends there but still has to always be with his best buddy, Kenleigh.
He's recently discovered a love for Harry Potter.  I got a bunch of the DVDs for $2 each on Black Friday at Walmart so we've watched the first two and he wants to watch the third, but I can't remember at what movie they start getting rather scary.  I will have to do a little review reading today to see if 3 is ok or if we'll have to rewatch 1.
He had a great birthday party at splashland this year.  He invited 5 of his friends (and their siblings) and had pizza, cake, and lots of water sliding.  He even got to play in the arcade afterward and discovered air hockey and I managed to win him a packers teddy bear from the claw machine.

Callum is a fiesty, loving little bug.  Well, not really little at all, actually.  He talks all the time, is still obsessed with tractors, and loves wrestling his brother at every opportunity.  He is really attached to daddy right now and whenever he's home, Callum's on his leg or lap.  He wanders around the house at his leisure, bringing toys downstairs, reading books, and watching Mighty Machines.

Boy #3 is wiggly and makes me eat way too much chocolate.  I think he's going to be a pretty easy-going guy.  At both ultrasounds we've had, he's just chilling with his arms behind his head.  Relish it while it lasts, kid.  You're quickly running out of stretching room.

Here's the belly on Monday at 22w2d

Biggest Blog Break Ever

*peeks in from corner* Hi.
I'm back.  At least for now.  That was quite possibly the longest blog break ever, but I just lost all motivation.  It was a long, busy summer and fall with a lot going on.  I'm not even going to try and recap.  ha.

But here's what's up now.

- Everett turns 5 years old in 8 days.  8. Days.
- Our house is still on the market.  Over a year after first putting it up for sale.  Yes, it sucks.
- I'm pregnant.  Ya know.  Almost 20 weeks.

- I became obsessed with Doctor Who.
- Everett started preschool and goes two full days/week.
- I've killed my third laptop charger.  A new one should be arriving tomorrow. lol
- I made the boys some minions hats that might possibly be the biggest knitting hit I've ever had.

- Sidenote: the boys have gotten huge.  Like, they're monsters.
- Callum talks non-stop (mostly about tractors) and sings songs.
- We took a week-long vacation to California this fall and the boys are obsessed with the Golden Gate Bridge.
- Brian went to Portland and caused an avalanche.  Just a baby one.
- I just remembered I need to order christmas cards...

Modern Silhouettes Using Photoshop

Craft win today!

I have long admired projects involving children's silhouettes and decided this week that I was going to make something to fit my new grey and yellow bedroom decor.  I am beyond thrilled with the way these came out so I have to share my process.

Step 1: Take a profile picture of your child.  I found it worked better against a plain wall than against a window.

Step 2: Open picture in photoshop (I have CS2).

Step 3: Follow this tutorial to outline the profile and create the silhouette with a transparent background.

Once I had the silhouettes made, I saved them as psd files just in case I wanted to use them again later.

   - Side note: I also flipped Callum's profile horizontally since I had them both facing the same way for the pictures and did not want them so in the final product.

Step 4: Find a nice background.  I simply did a google image search for yellow chevron and found a site that had background for cell phones.  The resolution was plenty for a 5x7 print.  Since I'm only creating these for personal use, I have no problem just using a background off google.
Create a new project in your desired size (I did 5x7s) and paste the background onto it.

Step 5: Move the profile outline onto project with the background.  Save as a new jpeg and you're done!  I just printed the projects on regular paper, but I think it would turn out even better on photo paper.

End result:

Don't worry, I'll be hanging them on the wall as soon as Callum's done napping and I can hammer without terrible consequences.

Reorganized Toys for May

Thank goodness I agreed to link up to this "Play Shelves in May" bloghop.  It forced me to go through toys again, throw some up in the attic, and reorganize.  I always feel much better when I do and it really does work to get the boys interested in old toys again.

Here's what I started with.  Yes, it's a disorganized mess.  For the most part, I let them do what they will with the toys as long as they're not all over the floor.  Oh, and sorry for the smudge I didn't notice until I uploaded all the pictures...

This is our living room toy shelf.  Next to it, you will see an overflowing box of random stuff they bring down from the playroom and I shove in there until I bring it all back upstairs again.

Top shelf: Lincoln Logs, Imaginext Pirate Ship and Space Shuttle

Middle: M&D shape sorter, my homemade color matching activity, stacking blocks, M&D clock, 2 puzzles

Bottom: M&D cutting food plus some extras, tinker toys, tea set (in green bag), blocks (in red bag)

Messy train table

Yeah.....

Upstairs playroom:

Ever since I got a new Ikea shelving unit, this has been sadly empty.

M&D dollhouse, chalkboard/easel, reading corner

The new unit

Ikea bead track, puzzle, MORE toy food..., animals and people, dress up stuff, vehicles

Tools, puzzles

Ok.  Sorry you had to see all that.  I threw a lot of stuff into the attic and feel much better now.  Here's our current May set-up.

Removed puzzle, added M&D cutting food up here.  Put doctor kit and some buckets on top.

Put the tea set and more food from the attic in the firsst box, added some animals and took some away, added a couple vehicles from the attic

I removed some of the trays for use downstairs and now the toy organizer doesn't look so sad anymore.  Brought massive annoying tractors a friend "gave us" up here.

I always feel better with a neat train table. LOL

The parking lot (and the empty box for the inevitable migrating toys)

I don't remove all the toys because they're still really enjoying some or I still want to work with some.

Top shelf: Tonka race track, Pirate ship and space shuttle

Middle: M&D shape sorter and clock, Combine, Jungle Junction bus (which was in the mess on the floor before)

Bottom: Mr Potato Head, random tractors (minor obsession of C's), roll around balls and light up spiky balls, xylophone

Here's awesome Nicole's post and amazing Jayne's (they started this whole shebang).

Comparisons by Age v.2.0

A long while ago, I posted pictures comparing Everett to both Brian and me.  Today, a friend mentioned that she thought a baby picture I posted of myself on facebook looked just like Callum and I realized that I never did any sort of comparison pictures with the younger offspring.

So without further ado, the updated comparisons:

6 Months
Brian -- Everett -- Beth -- Callum

8 Months
Brian -- Everett -- Beth -- Callum

1 Year
Brian -- Everett -- Beth -- Callum

2 Years
Everett -- Brian -- Beth -- Callum

 What do you think?  I can now definitely see the resemblance between Callum and me even though I wouldn't have said so without looking at the pictures.  I think Everett looked identical to Brian until around a year and then started getting his own look.
Fun, eh?