More Matthew

Matthew giving his big smile!

Samuel is thinking that Matthew is cute but too heavy!

Matthew found the Ezra fingers!

Hi I'm Matthew!

I love my brother!

Valentines Pictures

Here are the kids eating the heart suckers that they were given for Valentines day. Simi loved his! Can you tell? It's a good thing we stripped him first. He was covered in red slobber by the time he was finished.

Lizzie all covered in sticky stuff all over the face. This picture makes her cheeks look so huge!

Here is everyone (but Papa). We all look so alert and excited don't we?

Matthew Oliveira Luz

wo is me! Proud Parents!

Proud Grandma!

Fingers are so yummy!

mmmmmm fingers!

Monday Feb 22nd 2010

8lbs 12oz

20 1/2 inches
9pm on the dot

More Matthew

Here are some more pictures that Mom took of Matthew with her phone today.

Matthew Oliveira Luz is Here!

Well, Matthew Oliveira Luz arrived yesterday (22 Feb 2010, 9:00pm exactly). He was 20 1/2 inches and 8 pounds 12 ounces.Here is Matthew and his Mom.

Here are three generations. Loving grandma, mom and Matthew.


Here is Matthew with his proud (hopefully not prideful) grandpa.

New fun stuff

I love to look online for craft ideas, and found something fun to make for the kids. The easel I saw online at Target.com and bought the supplies at Lowes, and the aprons I saw at a blog called MADE http://www.dana-made-it.com

Sariah colors so much better than this. I'm not really sure why she was scribbling.

Lizzie is learning to love coloring also. The boards are adjustable, but she still has to reach for the paper. I think I'll have to add some extra holes to make it lower for her.
I really like these aprons, and they are easy to make! One dishtowel and some bias tape. You actually don't even need the bias tape, but that makes the project go faster. Oh, and Bekah is dressed! She's just being a ballerina for now. :) I guess the apron makes a good mini skirt in the front.

Our ward had a rummage sale to raise funds for a shelter in town. It was a huge success, and we ended up raising over $1000. We found this fun electric track while we were there. The kids love it, but they can't figure out how to go slow enough to keep the cars on the track. They just want it to go as fast as it can. Rebekah gets it, but isn't really that interested in cars. Oh well, Joseph will figure it out eventually. Simi just wants to sit on the track or take it apart. Oh, and Nettie I found a pink wool sweater to make a diaper cover for you to try with Naomi! That's our fun stuff for this weekend.

More Snow Pictures

Here is Simeon taking a break from playing outside.

Sariah made a giant snowball and it got too big for her to carry. Crazy girl kept going out without gloves since she didn't like the feel of wet gloves on her hands after a few minutes.

Here is the snowman that Rebekah, Jacob and I made. Rebekah was so excited to make it. Sariah found a plastic carrot for his nose and a plastic doughnut and drumstick for his eyes. At least he was original! It had rained all night the night before so the ground was pure mush under all the snow.

Our backyard

The next morning looking down the backyard. It was beautiful to see the snow still there when we woke up.

It was tons of fun to have snow for a day. The kids had a blast, and so did we. Now the weather is warm enough that the kids are wearing shorts and t-shirts during the middle of the day. Crazy Alabama weather! It may seem like we really have four seasons here, but we really don't. We have wet, hot and then mildly cold. We don't really have fall here, and snow doesn't usually fall here. It's been fun though while it lasted. Now on to summer and stifling humidity!

Snow in Alabama

It snowed here last week, and everyone was very shocked. If it does snow here, it doesn't stick, and we managed to get several inches that lasted until the next day. Rebekah and Simeon loved it the most. Rebekah stayed outside most of the day, and Simeon would scream when we would make him come in. We don't have clothes that are good for the snow, so we had to keep throwing gloves, hats, shoes and socks in the dryer and then they would put them on and go back out again. Simeon had on three jackets because we just don't have clothes for him for the cold. I'm sure that will change with our next duty station. We put in for all cold places. Something new! Just finding gloves for everyone was a challenge. I bought the stretchy kind at the beginning of winter, but we just haven't used them, so it was hard to find enough for everyone. Same thing with the hats. It was fun though! All these pictures are from the beginning of the snow fall. I'll post next what it looked like when it was all done.

The Boy's Room

So, the boy's room needed a major overhaul. We don't vacuum it too much because we don't really have a vacuum. And Travis wants the same kind Rachel & Henry have, so we really need to save up for that!!

Anywho, I usually pick up all the furniture & move it to get underneath it. As you can tell, there ain't much floor when the furniture is left where it's at. I'd always thought of the boy's room as non-changeable. But I was thinking the carpet underneath the boy's mattress needed some air, since it doesn't have a frame.

This first picture is from the outside of the room looking in. I move through the pictures in a clockwise manner.

That's the boy's bed, which used to be in the same direction, but on the wall to the right.

This is Tracker's bed, the crib. It's now where the boy's bed used to be.
This is the toy box, and Tracker's crib was here, and in the next picture.

The crib was against this wall, lengthwise. Just barely making it for the door to close.

Here's the other side of the door.

And again, the boy's bed, where the toy box used to be, under the window. I would have taken a picture of the window up higher, but my camera ran out of batteries.

And I can't access the video recorder because one button is busted! I feel like returning my camera, but not sure if I can.

30 Weeks

So here I am, 30 weeks along. I feel like Naomi has moved down & is making me look not as large. Everyone has been saying to me, "You don't look very big." or "you must not get very big." Ha!! I've still got 2 1/2 months to go, just wait. But maybe this little girl has found a nice little nook in there. That's okay too, I'm still very maneuverable.

I hardly feel pregnant, exept that my lower back was aching yesturday after I moved around the furniture in the boy's room.

Ooh, I should take a picture & let you all see how clean their room is (right now!!).

And to Tiff & Rachel, you guys oughta post a belly picture too! I'd like to see how large you are, or how you're carrying your little one this time around.

Here's the diaper I said I had a goal to make, so I'm letting you all make me accountable. I finished it, it may not work well. But I know better for next time.

And that's my beautiful rug as the back drop. Isn't it beautiful??


Here's Tracker this morning. He decided he was going to type on the computer. It was so cute when I caught him! He wants to be like mom.



Here with the "cheesy Samuel smile".

I'll post the boy's clean room, after I pick up the toys. Hmm, that didn't make sense.

Diaper tutorial

So this one is for Nettie. I put it on here since sending it via e-mail would have been a long download/upload time for both of us.



A few notes:

I use the inside of my foot with the needle in the regular position for my seam allowance guide when I top stitch everything. You can top stitch at any width that you really want to. Just make sure you are going through all the layers so that everything is tacked down so the diaper ends up nice and flat.

For the casing on the elastic I have a mark to the right of my foot that I follow. I'm pretty sure it is the 1/2" mark with the needle in the center position. It's really important that you have the needle in the down position when you re-stretch the elastic on the casing each time. Otherwise the fabric shifts around when you pull on it and your seam won't be straight.

Oh, and the reason I put clips where the ends of my elastic are is because I like to have an easy reference for where to turn to begin and end the casing. You can use pins just as well for this project. I just like the clips because they go on and off quickly, and pins do not go through so much bulk very easily. I usually end up bending the needles. Call me if you have any more questions.

Tracker has Discovered Reading

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted any pictures. You must be wondering if our children are still alive. Unless of course we've talked with you over the phone & you've heard them screaming in the background.

I know, more moose! We can't help it. We live in Alaska.

These moose sneaked up on our porch right by our window, then walked to the back and found this birch tree which had bent over and gave them access to the dead leaves still hanging on it.

Looks like a Mama & baby.

Here's Tracker discovering the joy of books! Just this week he's started looking at the pictures & enjoying them.

He get's this really excited look on his face & picks it up to show me what he's looking at.

I just love this kid, he's so cute, I couldn't help posting this. :)

Love you all, and we'll try & take more pictures in the future for you to enjoy.

Jacob's birthday

Today was Jacob's birthday. He celebrated by going to school, taking a test and flying. Woohoo! I guess his birthday present for today was a 100% on his test. We really celebrated on Saturday since we knew he would be so incredibly busy this week. His route planning for the next day takes about 3 hours each night, and then he still has to study after that, and he gets home at six this week. Fun huh? We surprised him with hamburgers and his favorite chips for dinner, and we made the happy birthday banner to hang. The kids had fun "helping" me make it. I had to make some kind of sewing craft today, and that was it! We love you Jacob. Thanks for being such a wonderful husband and father!