Just the 5 of Us: April 2012

I wanted to do this post right after my family reunion last June. Then I found out I was pregnant, then my mom died, then I was sick for 20 weeks, etc. So, now I'm posting it!

When I was pregnant with Aurora (yes, that long ago), my sister-in-law, Cathi, asked if I wanted to make a quiet book with her. She found this blog, www.quietbook.blogspot.com, that outlined ideas and instructions for a quiet book. We thought it was a great idea and decided to start over Christmas. The idea is that if you make it together, it is faster and easier. Once you learn how to make one page, it is easy to make duplicates of that page. We both decided to make one for a friend, so we each chose 12 pages and made 4 copies of that page. When we finished, we swapped and everyone had 12 different pages. Well, we started over Christmas but quickly realized this was a lot more work than we thought. Cathi managed to finish her pages right before Aurora was born (just 6 months later). Unfortunately, I took 9 months after Aurora was born (15 months after we started) to finish the pages for her. I finished my friend's book quickly, but mine took an additional 3 months and I finished it right before Aurora turned 1. In reality, it probably took about 4-6 months of working on it 3-4 times a week. I wouldn't blame Cathi if she never asked me to do a craft with her again.

But now, it's so worth it. Since Greg is in the bishopric (there is a bishop and two counselors leading each Mormon congregation-Greg is a counselor), he doesn't sit with us in church. Trying to keep a toddler quiet and occupied while tending to a new baby is interesting, and this book helps so much. Aurora is only allowed to have it at church, on airplanes, and in doctor's offices. So, she doesn't get it often and therefore doesn't get bored. I also don't have all the pages in there right now because a few are too advanced for her skill level. As she and Derek grow, I'll alternate which pages are in there so there's always a couple "new" pages when they tire of the others. I'll also probably make a few additional pages as the years go on because there are just so many cute ideas out there!

All of my pages (4 copies of 12 different pages), laid out:

My Mom suggested dark denim for the covers, then graciously let us use her sewing/embroidery machine to embroider the stars and our name.

Flowers, also teaches buttoning and colors. I made this page.

Traffic light/road page. The poem on the traffic light page says ""Red on top, green below. Red says 'Stop!' Green says 'Go!' Yellow says 'Wait!' Even if you're late!" The road page has a toy car (Greg wanted it to be a Prius, like our real car), a school, a church, a temple, and three houses. And a garage to house the car. Teaches traffic light meaning, pretend play, colors, velcro (traffic light) and snapping (garage). I made both these pages.

Closet and play people. I'm particularly proud of the men's dress shirts, football, basketball, scriptures, and the Y (BYU) shirt. Teaches pretend play, zippering (closet). The girl's hair can also be braided. I made both these pages.

Shoe/telephone pages. Teaches tying the shoe, numbers, and snapping (phone). Cathi made the shoe and I made the phone.

Letter/Mailbox page. Teaches writing, pretend play. Also a really good place to store extra paper/pencil. I made both these pages.

Noah's Ark/Teepee page. The animals in the ark are IKEA finger puppets, but I couldn't find a Noah and his wife figurine anywhere, so I made some. Teaches zippering (ark and teepee), learning animals, pretend play, using a compass. I made the ark and altered a store-bought compass, Cathi made the teepee page.

Letters. Teaches....letters and spelling. Big surprise, huh? I'm missing the J. There are multiples of certain letters so we can spell names. Cathi made both these pages.

Oven/cupcake pages. Aren't these just super cute? Teaches baking, counting, pockets, pretend play, colors. Cathi made both these pages.

Numbers. Teaches...numbers. I know, shocker. Teaches numbers, colors, velcro. Aurora can already match all the numbers. Cathi made both these pages.

Picnic/blanket. Teaches table setting, velcro, weaving, over/under concept. I'm missing the spoon. Cathi made the picnic page and I made the blanket page.

Fishing/bear. The sign says "Help Peter catch some fish." (As in the apostle Peter). Teaches buttoning, pockets, colors, tying. I made the fishing page and Cathi made the bear.

Shapes/baseball mitt. Teaches shapes, matching, snapping, velcro (baseball), pretend play, pocket (your hand can go in the mitt). Aurora can already match all the shapes. I made the shapes and Cathi made the baseball mitt.

Apple tree. Teaches snapping, pockets. Aurora loves apples and therefore loves this page. Cathi made this page.

Since my mom wasn't here to help with a new baby this time, my sister-in-law, LaDonna (she married my oldest brother), offered to fly out to help me for a few days. Her kids are both in school this year and my brother works from home, so I had no hesitation in accepting her offer. My sister, Erin, had her baby just three weeks after Derek was born, so LaDonna came out to help me first, then went down to St. George to help my sister before flying home. We're very grateful to her family for letting us have her! Derek really prefers to be held to sleep well, so her help was great. She held Derek, cleaned, cooked, held Derek, entertained Aurora, took Aurora outside to play every day, did my dishes a LOT, gave baths, read books, and generally helped me keep my sanity. And on her last day here, she helped us get family pictures done thanks to my other sister-in-law, Cori (she married Greg's brother, Jeff). Aurora was hilarious because she would copy whatever position Greg was in, but then she just started moving around on the bed like she knew exactly what a model is supposed to do in a photo shoot. So thank you, LaDonna, for coming to help and for the awesome tie for Derek. And thank you, Cori, for the awesome pictures.