In case you are wondering....

Hello All,

In case you are wondering, where we are....we are still here, but we are stuck.- I have all kinds of great pictures to share (Leaf got his hair cut, Aurora is crawling (a cross between army crawl and crawling), and we are making lots of good progress on our kitchen- the cabinets are in and being delivered this week!!!!!!- I tried to post 2 weeks ago and I got an error that I have used up all my space. Until I can delete some posts and pictures, I can't post anything else. My plan from the beginning was to turn our blog into a book, so this is motivating me to do it. I bought Creative Memories digital scrapbooking a few years ago (thanks Dawn and Francis for persuading me!). So I am making a digital scrapbook of our blog. But with 3 kids, a kitchen in progress, family visiting, a garden to plant, and the day to day activities of a family of 5, it is taking me a lot longer than I would expect. I only have 7 pages done! At the same time, I am trying to put the new posts into a book before I post them. So it may be a few more weeks before I can post again. I love blogging so I hope you will understand and check back with us in a few weeks.

Love,

The Mentzer Family (Fay, Nathan, Everest, Leaf, and Aurora)

All tuckered out

For some reason, this post never got posted. The first two pictures were taken in the late summer, early Fall of 2009. The last one was taken in December of 2009. They are so beautiful, and peaceful when they sleep. Unfortunately for us, it is a rare occurrence.

Everest is in the process of phasing out nap time. He has been a little crankier than usual, because some days he still needs a nap, (or he needs to sleep in- haha!)

Everest will come home from school some days and sit in the sunroom on the floor and read. The next thing I know, he is zonked.
Asleep in the trailer. They were both so hot, they only slept a few more minutes once we stopped riding.

Asleep at Nonnie and Papa's house in December 2009.

 

Cooking- Kitchen Fun

Wow! This was taken when we first moved into our house in August 2009! Everest looks so little!. He and Leaf still love playing in the kitchen. Everest is getting old enough that he helps in some real cooking. He still loves to be helpful.

He wanted to cook, like me. We had a discussion about ONLY playing like this if 1. he asks and I am right there, 2. the oven is not in use or does not feel warm. He is very good about staying away from the oven when it is warm. Even now, that we have torn the kitchen apart and the oven has been in the middle of the floor so we can do the drywall and windows.

Look how long his hair was. He looks so different now with short hair. He still wears his apron often.

Making sure dinner is done. When Leaf got a kitchen from my parents, I ordered kid size oven mitts. I got them from Montessori Services, kids can really use them for hot things. They are so cute.

I can barely remember the kitchen like this. It has been almost a year since we tore down the walls. I do not miss them AT ALL! I love my new kitchen, even though it is not done yet. We are getting there. Slowly, but we are doing it ourselves. Although we are exhausted from staying up working until 1 or 2 am, we both enjoy doing the work and working together.

Melissa and Doug products

I really like Mellisa and Doug products. They are very colorful, sturdy, and often wooden. All things I like. I have a few issues with them though.

1. They are made in China.

2. They usually come in a wonderful wooden box...WITH NO TOP!

3. For some, Joey for example, there is no imagination. Take a look at Joey.

This is a great toy for kids and a wonderful toy to play in the car or on an airplane. Joey is wooden and comes with a variety of outfits that are magnetic so they so not fall off of him.

The problem is that, you can only make them in their specific outfits.

Everest loves to mix things up. The other day he was a lifeguard fairy, and today he was Aloft (from cars) with his lion costume, swim suit, sunglasses, and backpack. So when he tries to be creative with Joey, this is what happens.....it is hard to tell, but they are overlapping so they do not stay on.

A few can go together, but still do not fit well.

Here is the wonderful wooden box, with organizing compartments...and NO TOP. It is hard to store these and hard for Everest to put them away, he always ends up dumping it. I put them in plastic bags. It keeps the pieces together, but not organized.
What happened to raising creative kids? I love the idea, but hate that there is only 1 right way to put things together.

Cabinet fun

Hmmmmmm....does anyone know where Everest and Leaf might be?????????
I think I see some fingers.....

...and some toes.

There they are.