Yesterday, we had the front entry painted. Nothing fancy, just repainted the same color in a more durable paint. I was still happy with the color, we just mainly needed to take care of the wall going up the stair case. For some reason my children have still not figured out what a handrail is for, despite my many attempts to explain this to them. We could have just repainted that wall, but after the floors were put in over a year ago, the tile removal involved lots of tile shards flying and nicking many of the other walls. That, plus five years of wear and tear, it was just time to freshen up. Our painter we have used in the past called looking for a job and I told him we could use an estimate because we needed to do the front entry sometime soon. I had put it off, knowing full well that the greasy fingerprints and nicks from toys "accidentally" falling down the stairs would magically reappear sooner than later. He gave us a great deal considering we have four big walls that go up two stories, and one being the curved staircase. Barry said he could do it, but it sure would be a stupid way to die. So, we pulled the trigger and had it done(by the painter, not the killing Barry part. Whew! Glad I cleared that up!).

Besides nap time, I contained the kids to the living room and kitchen area. I blocked it off so XS had a place to crawl around. By the end of the day when Barry got home he found this...


...and said, "So this is what it would be like to contain Tasmanian devils to one room."

My sister-in-law pointed me towards a blog called Dana-Made-It, because her month of February was a full month dedicated to all things boys. Perfect for me, huh! I saw it and just fell in love with a lot of her fun projects. My favorite thing on the blog was the 90 minute shirts that she makes. I couldn't wait to make one. So, I got all the ribbed knit supplies, dug through old knit shirts, found those I was willing to refashion and got to work with the help of her great tutorial.

I was inspired with trying to get a shirt made for XS's birthday. He's a St. Patty's baby as you know, so at least with his first year we went with that theme. I thought about doing a freezer paper stencil like she makes on her site, but opted with doing a reverse applique instead. I used the same ribbed knit that I used on the cuffs and neckline. The hardest part was getting my pattern the way I liked it. I used some very old scrap t-shirts to do a quick sew up before doing the real deal. I'm pleased with how it came out, and can't wait to make more.

XS is one! I can't believe how time has flown by. Our blog has taken a hit these last 12 months, but it has certainly been worth it. I hope to go back and add in a few things here and there, but I wanted to get a quick blog post in of our sweet XS. All of our babies have been happy, smiley babies, but he seems to be the most by far. Here he is sporting his sweet smile.


We enjoyed a fun St. Patty's day with family celebrating XS's first year. We had lots of good food and of course a green shamrock birthday cake for dessert.



Brothers and friends(more like cousins) gathered around watching the birthday boy open presents.

S and M liked helping XS open his gifts, maybe even a bit too much. Good thing Small's birthday is right around the corner.





He got lots of fun stuff. Some cute clothes, fun toys, and Uncle G and Aunt G mailed a Dr. Seuss book called the Lorax, complete with the stuffed Lorax to go with it. He seemed very interested in the book, I think M can't wait to read it to him. Here is a sweet pic of Grandma with XS and the cute stuffed toolbox set she got him.


Right after gifts we did cake. He just beamed while everyone sang Happy Birthday to him. I think he was loving all the attention. I made him his very own personal green cake thinking he would just dig in and have a blast. Well, that didn't happen. I think it got too late and he just picked at the icing and then laid his head down. Birthdays are exhausting!





Here is a good pic of him in his special shamrock birthday shirt I made him for the occasion. It's called the 90 minute shirt. I made it from a maternity shirt that I loved, but it had gotten a few little stains on it(well, that and I don't wear maternity anymore), so it got refashioned. I'll blog about that another time.


Happy Birthday little man! Your whole family loves you very much and we look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you. I look forward to watching you grow and pray you will grow into a strong Christian man. For now though, I will enjoy you being little and will do my best to provide the kindling in the hopes that some day God may light your heart on fire for Him.

Love you with all my heart,
Mama