DIY Crazy!

I'm not sure if it counts as nesting yet, I'm only 26 weeks along after all, but I have been on a DIY kick lately that cannot be rivaled! My husband can attest to the fact that I spend WAY too much time on Pinterest, to which I would say at least I'm doing some of the things I pin. And anyone who pins things on Pinterest would applaud that! Two of my recent projects were to make my own laundry soap and to re-do a free play table that I got from a friend of my sister's. I tackled the laundry soap first- the hardest part was finding all the ingredients, the funnest parts were crafting my container and mixing all the awesome-smelling soap in a garbage bag! Here is the finished product!

I love it sooooo much! I think it works 100% better than the super cheap soap I was buying. They tell me it will last a year but I'm doubtful. Even if it makes it 6 months that will be a lovely cost savings and how nice not to be running out of detergent once every 2 weeks!

My next project was to re-do a play table we've had for at least a year or two. It came to us covered in marbled contact paper which the boys and I pulled off one day about 3 months ago because I just couldn't stand the ugliness anymore. It was plain white underneath- not awful but not play room fun! I decided to spray it with chalkboard pain and add some of my own fun (but removable) vinyl stickers. It took me a total of 2 days to get it all finished. It awaits someone with muscle to help me put it back in my basement from my garage- I try not to do too much heavy lifting :) Here it is all done!

Eli loves tic-tac-toe so I thought on the chalkboard surface that would be a fun thing to play! I'm always surprised when my projects turn out how I picture them- probably because of my usual high failure rate. So with these two under my belt I'm off to newer, better projects! I'm going to tackle some closet dividers for the baby out of old CDs, maybe some painted curtains for my living room, and if I'm feeling really ambitious I'll make homemade soap to put in some cute molds my sister found! The possibilities are absolutely endless- or will be till I bring home another busy little body!

The Littles Head to School!

Henry and Daniel were both very excited for their first day at preschool! Hopefully Henry is just as excited tomorrow when he has to go it alone and be "mommy free" for an hour :)

iPhone Expirementation

So the last two posts were handily using photos from my iPhone. So convenient! Why has it take me so long to realize I can blog with pictures off my phone? Probably from lack of computer savvy :) I really need my brother Tim and my sister Cammie to live with me and help me navigate this world of iPhones. So I've now decided to try to upload a short video that I took earlier in the summer of Eli learning to skateboard.....

I'll trial post this and see if it works! If not I'll try, try again :)

The Big Brothers

Here are two pictures of my soon to be big brothers! They are both very excited for the baby, although Henry has less of an idea of what to expect than Eli. Eli is certain we are having a girl, as is his cousin Eva. Henry says boy more than girl but has picked a name for each. He's chosen Snaps for a boy and Apple for a girl.... Mommy hasn't signed off on those, although Snaps Welch has a nice ring to it!

Our Next Project!

A friend (Sarah Murphy) once said that you can tell if someone is expecting a new baby because they stop blogging :) Now, that has not always been true in my case, it's usually just good, old-fashioned laziness on my part. But not this time! So here is the first picture (of many I hope) that I'll post of our newest Wee Welch addition!

We don't know what kind of baby we'll be getting this time. Dylan opted for the surprise option! We'll find out come December!

The last few months have flown by!

Henry in his big bed for the first night- we're on the verge of moving him into Eli's room now, the boys are excited to share a room!

Fall isn't complete without a trip to the pumpkin patch! We went with Uncle Eric, Papa and Grandma Jackie and had an awesome time!

Searching for the perfect pumpkin...

Here is Eli after the first night with no Mimi, his comfort item from birth. He's really growing up! He hardly ever asks for them anymore!

The cousins enjoying the fall weather at our swing set cafe- what a crew!

Pumpkin carving the night we came home from our Disney trip. It was a good thing we had Halloween to look forward to when our visit with Mickey was over!

Birthday hugs for Daddy on Halloween!

Getting ready to trick-or-treat! Henry was a dragon.....

....and Eli was Darth Vader! Everyone had fun, maybe Daddy most of all!

This is my little gamer, he settled in to play his DS under the play mat and I couldn't resist a picture!

Camera Clean-Off

I recently cleaned off my camera (earlier today) and it was fun to look at the span of pictures that were there! I thought I would post some of the highlights, starting with October 2011....

I went on my very first girls-only trip to Las Vegas with my 2 best gals in October- it was beyond fun!!

Here are my sweet boys, this is in November 2011.

 Here is Eli modeling an outfit of his own design in January 2012.

 Here is Eli in one of the first and only snows we had last winter in January- not much to play in but it made him smile!

 Here are the brothers again, buddies then and buddies today! This was also in early January 2012.

 Here is my big birthday boy in February 2012, he's reading his card first like a good present opener!

 Here is Mr. Henry on Eli's birthday playing in his room. It must have been a lazy day because this was an 'Eli' photo and he also took a lot of me in my pj's talking on my phone (didn't feel those needed to be included!)

Here is a picture of Eli post-leg break. We were doing a little kitchen dancing, he danced from his wheelchair!

 Eli's view from his chair of me and my dancing partner Henry- look at that long baby hair!

 Eli's view of himself from his chair, this was after he had to have extra cast material added, his choice was green of course!

 

And finally, here is a picture of our Eli all recovered and playing in his first soccer game on Saturday. Check out that action shot! 

My heart is all warm and fuzzy because looking back over these pictures makes me feel like my boys haven't changed THAT much and for that I am grateful! They are both at ages that if I could I'd keep them at because they are so much fun and together have a great time playing!