Adventure 8

The Gift.

Gifting adventure. YES! a gifting adventure. My nephew turns 10 today. 10! 10! 10! it seems like he was just born. I can't believe that he is in the double digits. One thing about my nephew that i love is that he loves "little things"

he has since he was tiny and it has stuck with him. i love that about him. he doesn't care what other boys are doing or are into he just loves his little things and his pockets are always filled with some.

i saw Ashley Ann from Under the Sycamore post something on instagram about this super awesome site and came across this cool tiny/little photo books.

that was the main item that i wanted to give him but added the cute little squidlets (as they are called by the shop owner) you can check out her cute crochet animals at her shop here, the mine craft mystery box and the tiny dinosaur.

check out these tiny books.

are they not just the cutest thing that you have ever seen. i made one of just him. pictures of him doing things that he likes to do. one of all the people in his life, family, that loves him so much and then one of different things that he likes, baseball, legos, minecraft, the space and rocket center, four wheeling.

i mean seriously! are they not cute. Barbie even loves them. and i wish that i had done the one other cool thing they do. they have a magnet in each one and can stick to the fridge. super cool.

here is one of the tiny plush octopus things that we gave him.

i made sure that everything was wrapped up in tiny boxes of course and than tagged it with a tag that said. We love every "little thing" about you!

his birthday was at the stake rink. it has been for the past couple of years and it is the only time that we ever go and it always brings back memories of the skate rink that i used to go to when i was a kid. there are lots of fun and fond memories tied to the skate rink. 

this year was slightly difficult because Golden boy was in a wheel chair. read more about why he is in a wheel chair here.

we explained that he couldn't skate before leaving for the party but there was still lots of tears once we got there because he still wanted to skate. they said that it was fine for him to get out there in his wheel chair but it just took him a while to work through it all and he was out being pushed by his cousin, the birthday boy, who he loves dearly and enjoying himself.

 

little girl also had a great time. she had to use this walker thing (which i think is genius) but she really didn't want to use it. she wanted to try so badly to skate on her own but kept falling and i didn't need another broken/fractured bone in the family.

 

adventures in skating once a year is always fun times. maybe next year i will actually get out there and skate.

Adventure 7 and 7.5

"never a dull moment" should be writing in our home somewhere. why? because it is so very true. on Friday night Golden Boy went to a friends birthday party at a local trampoline place. the jump time was an hour and a half. I think the he and the other boys spent pretty much all of their time in the dodge ball arena. it was fun to watch. when their time was up they called them all off the floor. Golden boy took the trampolines across the floor one by one and halfway across came down wrong on his foot and sprained it. neither the hubby or I saw it but we were told he was hurt and raced to get him off the floor. the next morning we took him to the orthopedic and got xrays  

and we were told that he would need to wear a boot. he has had a good bit of rest and some ice and elevation and the boot for compression but he still can't put any pressure on it. I am hopeful that tomorrow he will try. so that is our adventure 6.5

this adventure was just too good not to share it.

I wish it was good like we bought an rv but it is good like we went to the rv show and it was great because it helped us to narrow down what we want and don't want in a first camper trailer.

this would our first family rv show (when I was a little girl my parents took me and my sister to rv shows a good bit, so I was pretty excited to take my kiddo's the their first one)

this shot of little girls is in an R-Pod RV and it had bunk beds (which I think is a must for what we want) but the other bed was just a table bed. I wish I would have got a picture of the full rv thought because it was precious. so our list of wants for a camper

small (a lite)

bunk beds

at least a toiled (a shower would be nice but not a necessity)

a small kitchen

a table

a bed for the hubby and I

the rvs that we looked at that I drooled over were 5th wheels. I never really knew that to expect with a 5th wheel. I just knew that you would need a big truck to tow it and we didn't have a big truck so that wasn't really something that we were looking at.

but oh my the awesome-ness of some of the 5th wheels that we looked at.

let me say just how much I love this picture. Golden boy has loved him some ninja turtles but I am thrilled that little girl not only got in the picture but stood right between with for the picture and smiled her big beautiful smile with very little hesitation

this right here.........can i have it. it won't fit all four of us but my sweet hubby assured me that we can have one when we retire. i mean look at that arched door way.

it pretty much has a tabl/bed, a tiny kitchen and a bathroom (toilet only)

i die........look at the greatness of this little guy. i am drooling.

this......outside kitchen

i saw these in so many rvs and it is something that i never considered before but would totally love.

finally after the RV show......we parked close to a train track and Golden boy is quite taken with anything that has to do with trains so a walk (well he was carried) across the tracks was a must.

Valentine's

Pinterest is just swarming with cute ideas for valentine's day.

I posted earlier about what little girl and I did for her classmates.

below are some ideas that I came across for teachers and for golden boy's class mates.

lets start with the teachers

 

I came across this pin that my sister actually pinned to make for her hubby. (he is a robot and building stuff kind of guy, it is pretty awesome)

I loved it so much and remembered that I still had some small nuts from my sister's baby shower.

the pin is actually a compilation of valentine goodies that links you to the original source. kind of what I am doing there. so here is the original link for the "I'm 'NUTS' about you" pin. I just loved the way they came out. they are for golden boys teacher and his hearing and speech specialists/therapists.

 

next we have the valentine's for little girls teachers. she has two teachers in her class.

I stumbled upon this pin and just loved the idea.

Wal-Mart had a double pack of the original burt's bees so I grabbed that.

the link opens you up to a free printable to make this and instructions on how to go about it all.

I don't have a colored printer so I improvised. I had the letter stamps that I got in Targets $1-$3 section last year, sharpies, card stock, ink pads and washi tape. after writing and stamping and taping the card stock, I had my daughter finger print some little yellow thumbs on the card and then we turned them into cute bees. I wrote Happy Valentine's Day! on the bottom and presto! they are completed.

this last one for golden boy's classmates is a compilation of two different pins that I found.

this one  and this one

I found the air heads in the dollar section of Target. I got two bags of them and they were just the right amount for all of his classmates and for he and little girl to each have one too.

I took the idea of the cut out heart from the first one (but instead of printing "Love is in the Air" on the hearts) I had wrote them and then took the idea from the second one, covering up the 'Head' word on air head with some paper and tape and then writing "Love is in the...." and the word Air from the "Air Head" is there. he addressed the back of them with to: and from:

there were other air head ideas like this one and this one.

in the end I love the way they came out and I think that he does too.

 

Adventure #6

I am going to be a little honest here. first let me say that I am an introvert for those who may or may not have know. here comes the honesty part.......Older people scare me and make me nervous. not like scare me, like i have bad dreams, just scare me like, i don't really know what to say, or do, or how to act. I know that is silly but it has just about always been that way. blame it on the social awkwardness of an introvert or just me, I don't know.

now i will clarify that "my old people" don't scare me. my two grandparents are wonderful and they are mine and i love them and they love me and they don't scare me. and then there was by great aunt, who is now with Jesus, but before that, when i was around her she was far from scary. she was sweet and loving and not scary at all. now that i have shared that strange fact about me tonight our small group got together, including kids, to decorate valentine cards for a local nursing home.

they guys were even right in there making cards. I don't really know what the count is on how many they made.

this will be the third year that we have done this and while, like i said the elderly make me nervous (and the day we hand them out I am sure I will be nervous all over again) i enjoy getting together with friends, loving on people that God loves, and stepping out of my comfort zone and into the lives of others. it helps to have friends close by too. i admire people who love and are comfortable around the elderly. they make me want to be brave, step out and share love with them.

check out Lily's Blog to link up with your adventures.

here we are in 2013
I am not really sure where out 2014 one was. I know that we have one but I have yet to locate one
it will for sure be posted though when in find it, along with this years. we are just that kind of group, picture taking people.
 

Adventure #5

let me start off by saying that I usually do not re-read a book. with the exceptions of a handful and of course children's books that I read to my kiddo's. those I have read and re-read in the 100s I am sure. Smelly socks (thank you aunt Traci for that one) and Swimmy (I believe that one if from your family too trac, love them both)

This adventure is taking me on a re-read through a book that I originally read in the beginning to middle part of 2013. (not that long ago.) books alone are a huge adventure for me. I could probably write about one every month (or week the way this one is going) I thought I would be skimming the book with is being the second time around but I'm not. I am soaking in every single word. sometimes re-read a paragraph to understand it all. so many stories, so much detail, so many new places to visit. I love reading (in case you did not know that about me)

last year some ladies in our Sunday school class started a book club. the 1 year birthday of the club is coming up (tomorrow, actually) I was able to attend one of the book club meetings last year and I read another one of the books but missed the meeting. in December I was suppose to host but asked if it could be postponed. my month to host is march and that will be another adventure for another time. (next month)

i never imagined when I first read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern that I would re-read it, (even though it was more than fabulous, dreamy, as if I could have walked right from this world on to the pages of the story.) the characters are wonderful and mysterious, likeable, endearing, entertaining, captivating. A friend who I recommended the book to two years ago and who started the book clubs said....."I can't wait to see if it is as magical as I remember."

I am here to say that "yes!" it truly has been. i just got my copy in the mail on Monday and i am already on page 240 (about halfway through the book) I have enjoyed knowing how the story goes and focusing this time around on some of the details. the moves the characters make and the way they are connected. I have been paying attention to the food being eaten and some of the details of the tents. I think I would do these things regardless but my hope is to create somewhat of a magical experience at book club next month. I have been pinning things on pinterest like crazy and am so completely excited to be able to attempt to make this book come alive. stay tunes for that adventure.

for now I am navigating my way through this intriguing book and enjoying the adventure very, very much.
                                                  The Circus is coming...........

if you want to participate in 52 weeks of adventuring and hop on over to Lily's Blog to link up or just go to her blog and read some of her great posts. she writes beautifully and she is quite funny.  my most recent favorite of hers is this post, because there is so much of it that I can totally relate too.