FFF: Big Boy Carseat

Enoch was just about to outgrow his convertible carseat (due to his seated height, not weight), so we went ahead and got him a new one and shifted Karis into his previous one.  We drove to the nearest baby store (about an hour away) to shop and measure (literally) the options, in order to see which one might keep Enoch in a 5-point harness longest.  (For some reason, most carseat manufacturers don't divulge any information about the maximum seated height for their seats, so we needed to go and measure in person.)  Thankfully, we found one that gives him about 4-5 more inches and then can convert into a booster seat.  It also fit comfortably into the car, so that was a bonus!  (The nice man at Toys-R-Us moved it into almost every seating option in our van, just to be sure.) 

Here it is in our van with both kiddos in their new seats.  

Enoch is still learning how to be gentle with Karis (he can easily reach over and harass her if he so desires), and the mirrors help me monitor that.  Karis absolutely loves having him so close to her, and she often leans forward to watch him, having to look past the edge of her carseat to see what he is doing. I think both kids are pleased with their promotions to larger seats, and especially of being able to sit so close together.  :) 


Here's a link to our older convertible carseat that we've loved (the one Karis is in).
And here's a link to our new one that we are also loving so far (the one Enoch is in, which can become a booster seat).  It is on the pricey side, but it was one of the only ones that would work in our van (because of the "click-tight" technology), and it was exceptionally taller than the other options (2-4" taller than some at ~19" seated height, by my measurements). 

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Karis Playing with Daddy (videos)

Here are two videos of Hugh playing with Karis.  She just loves playing these days, especially when Daddy gets home from work!  If you watch closely, you'll notice her throw her hands up and down in excitement a few times... that's her "yay!!!!" expression right now.  :)

Karis giving hugs & getting tickled:


Karis playing "Where's Karis?"

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FFF: A week (or two) of photos

 The kids often sit in the hallway and play together these days while I make lunch or clean the kitchen.  Though I have to keep a pretty close eye on them, they are really getting better at playing sweetly together (and I'll just note that even though Enoch used to be the rowdy instigator, Karis has now assumed that role as well.  If he gets within her reach, she'll basically attack him..  ha!)

Creating some Mr. Potato Head masterpieces (while Daddy painted, hence the drop cloths).  

Borrowing a Mr. Potato Head hat that matched her outfit.

Enoch loves to take care of his bear these days... including putting him down for approximately 20 naps per day... According to Enoch, bear is almost always "tired, tired."  ;)

Climbing up on the bunk bed to "nap" with bear.

Playing independently in the sand box like a big boy... a big  boy who also loves machines.  :)

Karis loves to nab a carrot to teethe on these days when I let her help me cut and peel them.  

Watching some machines re-surface a parking lot... we didn't stay and watch long because it was HOT, but it was pretty neat to see them work.  (Somehow this crew was able to resurface an entire Lowe's parking lot in 2 days, which seems incredibly fast to me, and gives you an idea about how fast they were moving!)

Since when did my baby girl have such long, shaggy, cute hair and such irresistible smiles?  

  

And our first chicken egg!  We finally got our hens a bigger coop set up with nest boxes they've begun using now (though only one of them is laying at this point).  Hopefully more eggs are in our near future!

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Transformation Tuesday: The family room

 I am so excited to say that we finally found the time and money to fix our family room!  Since we moved in over a year ago, it has been on our list of things to do (It was unsightly, but nothing was unsafe and it was pretty functional, so it got bumped down the list a time or two in comparison to other projects/rooms in the house). 

Hugh and I are so thankful to have it done and off the radar now, that I thought I'd share some photos with you!  Of course, we don't have any legitimate "before" photos because we are terrible at remembering to take those.  :(  But here are a few photos that show the water damage on the ceiling and walls.  Also, in the bottom photo, behind that big blue map there were hundreds of holes in the wall from a dart board (previous owners).  And the wobbly ceiling fan haphazardly hung down from the ceiling a few more inches than I was comfortable with, not to mention its broken glass globes. 

Here are a few in-progress shots.  Hugh painted the ceiling and did all of the puttying and wall painting after our handy-man replaced the damaged sections of the panelling.   

 (the white parts are new, the tan parts are original)

And here is our finished product!  We chose a light robin's egg blue color for the walls, and we also replaced the sketch old ceiling fan.  It looks so much cleaner and brighter and more welcoming now!  Our handyman also made a frame to go around our large mirror, so now it looks more finished (though it's still waiting for a coat of paint). 

We are so pleased with the results, especially since we spend a lot of time in this room playing and entertaining guests... now I just need to get around to hanging a few things on the walls and finding some nice curtains.  :)

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FFF: Karis Knocking Down Block Towers

These days Karis just loves knocking down block towers!  I grabbed a video of her block-knocking action a few weeks ago when Granny & Granddad were visiting.  As you can see in the video, she thinks it's pretty funny to knock down Granny's towers.  ;)

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