Bits and Pieces

Since there isn't enough here for individual posts, here is one big post about what has been going on at our house lately. Feel free to chime in at the bottom!

• Today Beefy informed me: "You're not a grown-up. You're a mommy!"
• We've been having a couple of behavior issues here recently. Buggy has become a tattle-tale extraordinaire, and Beefy has been biting (I know, right?). What's even worst though, is that Buggy has realized that he can tattle on Beefy for biting, and he (Buggy) won't get in trouble. Beefy will. He's exploited Beefy with this situation a few times now. I'm at a total loss...
• Baby Sister is still just seconds away from crawling, in fact-she's doing everything but. I guess I shouldn't get too worked up, she's still younger than both of her brothers were when they crawled.
• The big hit of the Christmas gift world at our house was the ipod touch. Through some gift cards my husband got from work, and a few other deals, we were able to get a steal on a 32g itouch. I gotta say, it's pretty cool. Unfortunately, between my techie geek husband and my kids who have to have their hands in on everything, I haven't got to spend a huge amount of time playing with it. It's probably all for the best.
• School starts again next week - Horray! Two weeks is a long time to go without any structure. My husband has been home all of this week too, which means lots of lounging, and only the bare minimum of housework getting done. It's been nice, but I'm ready to be busy again.
• And speaking of busy (putting in a little plug for myself here) - after a 3 1/2 year hiatus, I've decided to start teaching music again. I'm just going to be doing piano lessons from my home, but I'm kind of excited to be getting back into that again. So for any of my local friends....I still have some openings (sorry about the using of my blog for some shameful advertising). : ) Call me!
• I'm pretty sure that my son (Buggy) is on his way to becoming a lawyer. He has mastered the art of arguing over everything, and when asked to do something he can come up with a hilarious, mile-long list of excuses as to why the assigned task cannot be accomplished. Needless to say, it's kind of driving me nuts.
• Beefy has finally shown some slight interest in the potty lately. Mostly because he sees everyone else getting to go into the bathroom when we are out, and he doesn't get too (I know, weird). So, once the vacation is over and things settle down a bit again we are going to try hitting that task hard and heavy,,, Again. Yay! (sarcastically)
• It never ceases to amaze me how we can feed the kids a huge breakfast before church and yet the instant we sit down in Sacrament Meeting they are suddenly starving. It is getting a little ridiculous, and with a change in church time coming up (1:00, yuck), I'm hoping to be able to start phasing out the snacks at church.
• The other big hits of the Christmas gift world have been the Ice Cream Ball that my brother and his wife (and family) gave us, and the deep fryer that my husband got from some of our friends. We have already used both quite a bit, and although my waistline is complaining, my taste buds are not. It doesn't hurt that we have a pretty good ice cream recipe, and lots of good "fried things" recipies too. Thanks "S" and "G", and "J" and "M"
  

I think that about sums it all up. Overall we've been doing pretty well. I hope you all are enjoying the "Holiday Break" and that you have a safe and happy New Year.

Happy Boxing Day...

...or really just a belated MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I hope everyone's day was fabulous. Our was. And today, we're doing as little as we can possibly get away with. Just some relaxing, playing and eating (and this one little blog post). Don't worry though, I'll be back soon with more to post about. Have a wonderful day!

Thankful - Part 5

• 12/20 - Beautiful Music
• 12/19 - Good Friends.
• 12/18 - A Loving Family.
• 12/17 - An afternoon nap.
• 12/16 - Health insurance.
• 12/15 - Quiet. Blissful Quiet.
• 12/14 - My bestfriendfromforever Lisa. Today is her birthday.
• 12/13 - The added strength I get when I have to teach.
• 12/12 - Breakfast food.
• 12/11 - Living in a really great ward.

Buggy

So, I'm going to use my blog as a forum to brag about my son for a minute. Because really, if I can't brag about my kids here, then where can I.

I've been meaning to write about Buggy and school for a while, but haven't been able to put it into words.

I've been helping out in his classroom a little bit during the last couple of months, and every time I go in his teacher makes a point to tell me how well he is doing, and go on about what a good kid he is, and how he is one of the smartest kids in the class. He is also one of only two kids in his class that are in the schools AR program (accelerated reading). Kindergarten students don't usually participate in this program, but his teacher fought for him to be able to be in it.

As a parent this is always nice to hear. Especially because I never know if I am being blinded by my bias towards him. Because I am his mom, so of course I think he is a genius.

It is also good to hear things like this about him so that I can remember them on the days when he is driving me absolutely crazy.

I was pretty scared to have him start school, and it makes me feel good to see how well he has adjusted, and that so far, he is thriving in the classroom environment.

So Buggy, if you are ever reading this - know that I love you, and that I am very proud of you. - Love Mom

Thankful - Part 4

• 12/10 - Girl's Night Out.
• 12/9 - My fun YW girls. Their energy is contagious and I love being around them.
• 12/8 - Ibuprofin
• 12/7 - The fact that I am able to stay home with my kids.
• 12/6 - Good friends who offer service, just to be nice.
• 12/5 - The Temple.
• 12/4 - Lunch at Red Robin - it was yummy, and I didn't have to cook.
• 12/3 - Playdates
• 12/2 - The Aggie win over BYU that left my husband in a really good mood.
• 12/1 - Pretty Christmas lights.

We Have a Mouse.

I think that there is a mouse at my house.


It's a pretty cute, 20 pound mouse - with 6 teeth...But yep, definitely a mouse.

I guess my boxes aren't safe anymore.

"Quiet! I'm paying the bills."

Holy Cow!

My husband showed me this tonight:

http://www.fanlands.com/

Apparently you send these people money (quite a bit of money) and they will send you a "deed" for 1 square yard of your favorite NCAA team's football field.

Seriously.

They actually have the field marked off into little squares and depending on if it is a "premium" square, it might actually cost even more money than other squares (premium is determined by the fact that a famous play might have taken place there).

Seriously.

You can get your "deed" framed even, and your info goes onto a little profile on their website that tells everyone that you "own" that square yard of turf.

Seriously.

Why can't I come up with money-making schemes like this, I mean - really - these guys are probably rolling in it.

Seriously.

New Pictures

A few weeks ago we took new family pics, and 8 month pictures for Baby Sister. Here is a preview. Enjoy!

Christmas Crafty

You might recall that I am trying for a home-made Christmas this year. Well, I have been spending many hours working on projects and then not getting pictures posted like I had planned. So, here in one fell swoop, you now get a small sampling of what I've been working on.

Cute seasonal word blocks - tutorial can be found here.

Crayon rolls (still need to add the crayons) - found here.


Aprons and Chef's hats: These are way cute, photos just can't even do them justice, I've made quite a few of these, and will post more pictures of them as I get more taken. Tutorials here and here (note - I modified my aprons quite a bit from the tutorial, but it is a great place to start).


Dollies: Another favorite project, aren't they too cute! I'm not sure the source of the pattern, (I made them with a friend of mine) but I will post it as soon as I find out. These were actually easier than they look too.


Embellished Onsies:

and a onsie/headband combo.

And stockings: I made these for my family (me, husband, kids) the year Buggy was born, and then a few years ago my mom asked me to help her make them for all of my extended family (siblings, spouses, kids, etc.). Well, with a family as large as mine is, there is always bound to be a few new babies to make them for, so I included a couple of examples.



I should be done, technically I am. But, I am already stewing around a few new ideas that I might try out before Christmas, I'll let you know as I get them done.

Tag

Wow! I haven't been tagged in a while, should be fun - here goes:

Five North American Cities I Would Seriously Consider Living:

1. Seattle WA
2. Denver CO
3. Logan UT
4. Tuscon AZ
5. Charleston SC

Five Songs To Which I Know All The Words:
1. Yesterday - Beatles
2. I will Survive - Cake (edited of course)
3. Road Movie to Berlin - They Might be Giants
4. And So It Goes - Billy Joel
5. Grow Old With You - Adam Sandler

Five Foods I'd Wish To Have In Unlimited Quantities On A Deserted Island:
1. Ice Cream
2. Mexican Food
3. Frozen Twix Bars
4. Good Bread with Oil/Vinegar
5. Steak

Five Chores I Should Be Doing Right Now Instead of Blogging:
1. Sleeping
2. Folding Laundry
3. Working Out
4. Scrubbing Toilets
5. Taking out the Garbage

Five Childhood Friends I Would Love To See Again: (Sorry, my mind went blank with this one.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Five Friends To Tag:
1. Melissa
2. Stephanie
3. Lindsey
4. Leanne
5. Kelly

Thanksgiving and Such

So obviously I haven't been blogging lately. I have been busy though, not just in one of my usual ruts - in fact I have a list of about 10 things that I've been wanting to blog about so that I don't forget about them. Now if I can just get them all done I'll be doing good. Anyway, on to Thanksgiving.

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving. We did. On the day of we had 27 people, 2 Turkeys, 9 pies and a whole mess of other food. It was great. We had to move all the furniture to the garage, and it was a little crowded, but still great.

This was our 4th Thanksgiving in Washington, away from family, and the first time that family has come to us for the holiday. My parents, aunt and uncle, sister, brother-in-law, 2 nieces and 2 nephews came to visit. My house is way to small for that many extra people, so they obligingly stayed at a hotel (with a pool - much to my kids delight). It was great to visit with them all.

Having my mom here is always nice, because she is really good at helping me finish projects (which we did a lot of) and going shopping (which we did some of too). I got all of the Christmas presents that I had started finished (coming in a later post), we canned a bunch of applesauce, and she bought me some sorely needed new clothes for my upcoming birthday (jeans 2 sizes smaller than the last time I bought jeans - go me!)

Anyway, overall a pretty good weekend, but it definitely went by too quickly. I can't believe that Christmas is already showing up on my calendar. AAAAHHH!

Thankful - Part 3

• 11/30 - My boys (who informed me this morning that they are thankful for burping), and a "girls day out".
• 11/29 - Audiobooks/podcasts that allow me to listen to what I want to be reading, and still do what I need to around the house.
• 11/28 - Peace and quiet (although we loved having so much company). Doughnuts.
• 11/27 - Sleeping in. Access to a hotel with a swimming pool.
• 11/26 - A wonderful family and good friends to spend the day with. Stellar food (thanks Babe - you rock). And a full house for the holiday.
• 11/25 - Laughter
• 11/24 - My sewing machine, and a list of finished projects.
• 11/23 - The ability to go grocery shopping.
• 11/22 - A warm home.
• 11/21 - My Husband. I love him lots, even when he drives me crazy.

Thankful - Part 2

• 11/20 - My sweet baby girl.
• 11/19 - Being able to relax.
• 11/18 - Coming home to 3 sleeping Kids. Thanks Babe!
• 11/17 - Cold Stone Ice Cream.
• 11/16 - Nights when I don't have to make dinner, and fun FHE activities.
• 11/15 - My testimony.
• 11/14 - Beefy telling me: "need candy to feel me better". It made me smile, and I am very thankful for things that make me smile.
• 11/13 - Date Night!
• 11/12 - Little moments of "Happy" with the kiddos.
• 11/11 - A positive hearing test visit.

New Take on a Classic

Songs overheard at our house lately:

First - Fun to Do.
"Burping is fun to do, fun to do, to do, to do. Burping is fun to do, to do, to do, to do."

-Yes, I live with boys. Those of you who do also-understand this one.

Second - Follow the Prophet

"Follow the Prophet, follow the Prophet - you will be happy".

-All of the primary kids were asked to sing this song at Stake Conference a while back and Buggy was trying to teach it to Beefy. This is Beefy's interpretation. Not quite the right words, but it definitely gets the message across. And it is super cute in his little 3-year-old voice.

Thankful - Part 1

• 11/10 - My cute kids. Life would be empty and too quiet without them.
• 11/9 - A (mostly) good night's sleep, and the energy that comes with it.
• 11/8 - A husband who cooks.
• 11/7 - Christmas Music.
• 11/6 - One on One time with Beefy.
• 11/5 - Friends and family who put up with my moments of crazy.
• 11/4 - Plastic bumpers on my car.
• 11/3 - Help. And, hearing my 3-year-old's bedtime prayers.
• 11/2 - The satisfaction that comes with a completed "to do" list.
• 11/1 - A clean house at the end of the day - too bad it won't make it through tomorrow.

Jingle/Thanks Instructions

Wow! I'm glad I wasn't just imagining things by thinking that my banner turned out really good. Thanks everyone.

I don't really have a pattern or anything to go by, but it is pretty easy to put together once you know how it works - so I'll try to offer a few tips.

1. To get the pennants (6x6 isosceles triangles):

• On 8.5 x 11 in paper - trim the paper down to 6x9, on the long end mark three inches from the top on one side, and three inches from the bottom on the other end. Then just cut from the corner to the mark, then from the mark to the other mark, and then to the opposite corner again. You will get two pennants this way.
• On 12x12 paper - mark the mid point (6in) on top and bottom sides then go from corners to mid points, finishing by drawing a line across the middle from side to side.

My engineer husband figured out how to do this for me, and it was by far the most complicated part of the process. If these instructions are too confusing, let me know and I'll try to add a diagram. (It took me forever to figure out how it worked.)

2. Putting it all together:

• Create Each letter pennant for both words (with eyelets reinforcing each corner ) before attaching the letters (J to S, I to K, N to N etc.) with dimensional foam.
• Also, make sure that the word on the back is spelled opposite of the word on the front, otherwise it will be backwards when you flip it - a mistake thankfully pointed out to me before I actually made it (although I was about to). (Thanks again Babe! -I am contractually obligated to add this part)
  
• Make sure when you are stringing the pennants together that you put the cord through the eyelets on the front and back of the banner.
  

The rest of it is open to your own creativity. I wanted to do more with this but due to sheer volume (I ended up putting together - with help - 16 kits), lack of time, and the fact that I was making it for 12 and 13 year-old girls - I kept it pretty simple. The letters I used were cut from a Cricut, but could easily be replaced with vinyl, stamps, etc.

Anyway, I hope this helps - and hasn't been more confusing than otherwise. It is a super fun project.

On a side note - the idea for this came from a project found in the December 2009 Crafts 'n Things magazine. It was a similar banner made from canvas. I adapted the concept to paper, and the embellishments, layout, etc. are my own.

Jingle/Thanks

Do you want to see what my Beehive girls are doing for their activity tonight? You know you do....Here it is:

And when you turn it over:

Cute? I'm loving it. I was pretty nervous taking on a project like this for other people, but I am pretty happy with the results.

And I think it probably goes without saying that a new camera is at the top of my letter to Santa this year.

It's That Time of Year Again!

Some of you may remember my "thankful" resolve from last year. If not, your memory can be refreshed here. Anyway, I'm going to do it again, only start from the 1st of November. Each day something new will show up on my sidebar, and then, every 10 days I'll put them in a post. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

The Costumes:




The Pumpkins:

Ours, and the "S" family pumpkins

Baby Sister's (with help from Daddy)

Beefy's

Buggy's

Have a fun (and safe) Halloween!

Soccer

So, it's taken me until the last week of the season to write about Buggy playing soccer this year. Story of my life. Anyway, he loved it. It was really good for him to learn how to be part of a team and I think the social aspects of it helped ease him through the transition to kindergarten.

He was on the "Alligators". I'm pretty sure he was one of the younger kids on the team, but he held his own pretty well. Needless to say, I think there is a lot of soccer in our future. Although, I think next year we are going to find a league that doesn't play in a swamp. Washington rain + grass field in a hole = Muddy Mess!! His once white cleats will never be quite the same.

My Little Superstar

He was thrilled about the trophy. He didn't even want to set it down for the rest of the day.

Hamming it up on the field.

Playing Goalie. It was his favorite spot, and when he was paying attention, he was pretty good at it too.

Monkeys

What do you do when you get a new story book?

Why - learn to draw the characters, of course!

Update

I've long been a supporter of modern medicine (that's not really a secret), but I just have to say how grateful I am for antibiotics and their fast-acting properties. After an injection, and a day and a half on an oral antibiotic - I am feeling much, much better.

If what I felt Wednesday evening was 100% sick (which I'm pretty sure it was) then today I am down to only about 15-20% sick. I'm still a little sore and have a slight headache but the fever, chills, nausea, vomiting and body aches are all but gone. (Hooray!)

My plan is to take it easy today so that we can still go out to the temple tonight. I am SOOOOO glad that it wasn't any worse than it was (it was definitely bad enough) and I am glad to be feeling more like myself again. I hate being sick.

I guess I shouldn't complain though - at least it isn't swine flu!

The Worst

So, I have mastitis. I've never had it before, and I have to say it's the worst. It hit sudden and hard yesterday afternoon. I was out shopping at about 12:30 yesterday, and by 3:00 I could barely move. By 5:30 I was calling my friend to come sit with the kids so I could go to the walk-in, I couln't wait any longer for my husband to get home.

It is without a doubt the sickest I've ever been. I think I would even take my 3 c-sections again over this. I've got some antibiotics now which are supposed to help - they are, a little. I've heard from others that this is bad, but I never realized how bad until I got it myself. And - we were supposed to go out tomorrow night for the first time in like forever. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will be better enough and that we will still be able to. This just SUCKS!!!

Yuck!

I went to the dentist this morning. My appointment was at 7:00 am. I'm usually not up at that hour.

I had two fillings done. It took two rounds of numbing before I was actually numb. I had the gas on me too, for almost an hour and a half. I still felt most of what they were doing.

I've been home for more than 3 1/2 hours now. My cheek is still kind of numb, and the filling has messed up my bite, not to mention the buzz I've had all morning.

I've decided I don't like the dentist anymore.

Christmas

So, I've decided to go home-made for Christmas this year. I already have a few good ideas, and I'm pretty excited. I've even decided that I am going to post the projects as they are finished, just not say who they are for...I do have to keep some mystery to the whole thing. ;) Anyway, stay tuned as I am hoping to get started in the next week or two.

Also, if you have any wonderful/fun/creative/just really cool homemade gift or craft ideas, please share. I am always on the lookout for more.

Canning

I've decided - after spending a summer watching my more "domestically inclined" friends can a bunch of fruit and stuff - that I would like to try my hand at doing it too. I'm planning on doing applesauce; mostly because it is about the only thing I'm not to late for, and I know my family will eat it. (My mom is already doing peaches for me - so I figure I can trade some applesauce for them)

Anyway, I need to "procure" some apples and a food strainer/grinder, so I am looking for advice on the best places to purchase these items. Obviously, I would prefer the source for the apples to be local (I mean we do live in Washington), but I'm all about where ever is cheapest (i.e. local or internet) for the other canning supplies.

Thanks for you help! Comment away!

New Crafty

First, a nursing cover I made for a baby shower I'm going to tonight. This is the second one I've done, but I gave the first one away before I got a picture.

Isn't this fabric awesome? I'm so loving it.
Also - note my oh so cooperative model (sarcasm).


Next - Part of Baby Sister's Halloween outfit. I'm bummed that the colors totally don't work in these pictures (also really hating my camera) it is actually black and orange, not red, and is much cuter in real life. Also, super easy. You will be able to get the full effect when I take some real Halloween pictures.

SQUAGGIES!!!!

I just have to add a quick shout-out to my Aggies for winning yesterday. Yay!