Just one more Paige on the Internet

My Miss Priss Boutique: 2nd giveaway is this......

2012-02-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

My Miss Priss Boutique: 2nd giveaway is this......: Aqua lace romper ! NB-4T

Miss Priss has some cute prissy things...I'm just getting ahead of myself thinking about fun photo ops with FOUR little girls! ...maybe I shouldn't count my chickens before they hatch.

Prego Update

2012-02-02T15:00:00.000-08:00

Here are some things I've learned in the past week or so (or things that lots of people are asking):

Are the babies Identical or Fraternal Twins?
Identical. There seems to be only one placenta, which is the indicator that they are identical. They have a thin dividing line between them, so they do have their own amniotic sacs. (so I think the tech term is that they are Mono/Di twins).

Identical twins are more risky than fraternal-- just because they are sharing more. I'm trying to not borrow trouble by thinking too much about it.

Only 1/3 of all twins are identical.

Do Twins Run in your Family?
Well, sort of, but it's back a ways, and I think it's on my Dad's side (I've heard that twins really only transfer through the maternal line, but I haven't looked into it much).

BUT Identical twins are not thought to have anything to do with genetics. Or Fertility treatments (which I wasn't doing anyhow), or maternal age (so it is NOT because I'm getting OLD). It's just a fluke. A totally random case of the egg deciding to split.

I had planned to stop at four, so maybe Heavenly Father wanted to sneak in that extra one. I'll take that as a vote of confidence that he thinks I can handle it : )

Why was I bleeding?
I have a low-lying placenta. So right now I'm on "pelvic rest" until we know more.

A low-lying placenta could become problematic later in the pregnancy. HOWEVER seeing it at this stage is not a big deal. In fact, there's a 99% chance that as the uterus gets bigger the placenta will rise higher.

I haven't bled since the day of the ultrasound, and it's another hypothesis of mine that Heavenly Father wanted to give me an early heads up that there were two...since I don't usually get ultrasounds and I had no reason to believe that there were twins. We might not have known for a while.

How am I doing?
I'm exhausted, but I always am for the first trimester. Hopefully it'll pass in the next week or two. I get insomnia during pregnancy, so that doesn't help. But I try to take a nap each day.

I've also been having a lot of cramping--most likely due to the low placenta. But my midwife suggested taking magnesium, which has helped tremendously.

I am a little bit of a worry-wart, so I'm trying to focus on the positive aspects.
The ultrasound showed two active, equally sized peanuts.
At my midwife appt we heard two healthy heartbeats.
I haven't gained any weight yet....

I think I'm still in shock a lot of the time. I keep expecting someone to say, "nevermind, we made a mistake...there's just one baby after all."

Will we find out the gender?

Yes! We never have before, because we like the surprise, and also because we don't do ultrasounds unless medically necessary (which was only once at 6 weeks to find out a duedate). This time there is more preparation, less freetime after they arrive, and already plenty of surprise! The more that I can know for sure, the better. And besides, we'll be getting a lot of ultrasounds, so it'll probably be obvious at some point.

The next midwife appt is in two weeks, and the next ultrasound will be in three weeks...at 15 wks, too early to find out yet probably.......

Will we have a home birth?
No. My midwife doesn't deliver twins, to begin with. We'll see her for most of our routine checkups. She's suggested a very twin-savvy Certified Nurse Midwife for the hospital birth. I hope that the births can still be vaginal, but I'm not really going into this with preconceived expectations...whatever it takes to have everyone make it out healthy. I know that things will already be drastically different in a hospital, and I'm a little sad to not get to have another wonderful birth at home...but at least I got three of them. I could find another midwife who would deliver twins at home, but I'm not comfortable with that. (and if the placenta doesn't move, then it's an automatic c-section anyhow).

Am I excited?
Sort of. I was excited to be pregnant, and since this is my last time I was excited to go through this last one appreciating it (I actually like to be pregnant for the most part). Then this happened, and it's suddenly not a "last time" experience but a "first time" one. I feel like a total newbie, and I have extra risks...so I hope to enjoy it, but I mostly am hoping that I will be healthy and have two healthy babies at the end of it all.

I can't even get far enough ahead to think a lot about having two babies! It'll be total chaos and I'll likely never leave the house : ) But I do love babies, so when I can wrap my head around the idea, then I like it.

It's been easiest to focus on the concrete details: names are in the process of being picked, dinners are starting to be stashed in the freezer, and I've found some fun things on pinterest etc. Some of my favorites are:

funny onesies--

and baby cocoons! (and I know how to Knifty Knit now!)

Guess that's all that I have to say about that.

The Sweetness at the bottom of the pie

2012-01-29T19:09:00.000-08:00

I just totally *lifted* my post title from the title of a book that I haven't even read...but I do like the title and I do think it applies to my day yesterday. I didn't actually have any pie, mind you, but I did have a lot of sweetness.
The sweetness started at 5:30 a.m. when I got to wake up and have my lovely pregnancy insomnia at a more reasonable hour and with the company of my husband. We watched a show together on the laptop, and then I went back to sleep for a few minutes while he got up and took care of the kids.

The sweetness reached maximum sweet when it was time for me to wake up and Chick came in to talk to me. She told me how many days until her birthday, and that she knew I was tired and that the babies needed breakfast, so she was going to bring me breakfast in bed.
Monkey helped her. Breakfast consisted of: orange juice, peanuts, blueberries, crackers, and wheat chex. All but the o.j. was served dry on a plate, atop a bed tray. The girls stayed and talked to me the whole time that I ate-- explaining how they decided on each type of food, why it was healthy for me and the babies, etc. Monkey kept touching it. I suspect the presentation and content of breakfasts in bed will get better as the years progress, but the sentiment and effort will never be beat. I sure love those girls.

During breakfast in bed I was informed that when I got up I was going to make them pancakes and Daddy was going to make bacon. Pancakes weren't really in my hurried morning plan, but I didn't want to mess up their plans, so I made time for it.

After breakfast, dressing, and getting a salad tossed together, I ran the kids to my aunt's place for a few hours. Then I was off to a Relief Society function "Demo, Dine, & Design" where I saw how to do several things, ate a DELICIOUS lunch, visited with great sistas, got a lot of good twin advice from a mom of twins, and learned how to Nifty Knit. (Since then I've finished two baby hats...pretty quick and easy!) It really was fantastic and relaxing.

Then I went to the thrift store to take a quick look at their maternity clothing (I got all of mine out, and though there are a few pieces of which I will never tire, I mostly felt uninspired by the wardrobe in general). I was pleasantly pleased with the selection that I found at the thrift store. I walked away with two new shirts, black yoga-style pants (which I intend to live in), a new dress that will fit a REALLY BIG belly (I think), black slip-on flats, and a baby layette pattern that I doubt I'll have time to sew, but it was so precious that I couldn't resist. (http://images.patternreview.com/sewing/patterns/newlook/6310/6310.jpg)

Then I picked up the kids. They had a great time, and my aunt was still alive, so it was a win-win-win for all of us.

We hurried home to make homemade pizza and take baths, and when we got home I was greeted with a working HH who... (drum roll please)...was working on the living room ceiling!!!!! Hooray!!!

And that is my day. It was really great, and such a nice way to round out a very eventful week. Though the week had some hard things, it really turned out well.

The eventful week continued

2012-01-27T20:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a monumental day too.

It was our first trip to the ER!

Moose fell when coming into the house, and got a nice little gash in his forehead.

We headed over to the hospital that, thankfully, is just around the corner from us. The girls were excited because they are always asking to go inside!

Here's a before picture--cleaned up, but before they'd glued it shut.

Here's the after picture, when he was finally getting the juice box that he'd been asking for through the whole ordeal. Isn't he cute? He's a real stinker, but I'm pretty smitten with him anyhow.

The kids had fun looking at the fish tank, and they each got to pick out a beanie baby. And the front desk ladies were pretty excited for us when Chick told them that there were TWO babies in Mama's tummy : )

He left the bandaid on and was good about it for the rest of the day.

That evening I left to do a few errands, and when I came back the kids were all in their room for bed, but no one was asleep yet. Moose was calling for me, so I went to say goodnight to him.

I opened the door to find this sad little bloody face (HE wasn't sad, he was actually quite happy, but his FACE was sad). He'd taken the bandaid off before bed, and then must have been picking at the glue when he went to bed. It was all over his pillow and face.

We ended up cutting some bandaids into strips to use as butterflies, and then I put gauze and medical tape on his HAND, as a decoy. It must have worked, because when he woke up in the morning his hand was bandage-free, but the butterflies were still on his forehead : )

My Crazy Roller Coaster Day

2012-01-24T19:47:00.000-08:00

When I think about things that happened this morning, it's hard to believe that it was today...so much has happened today.

Well, first of all, let me tell you that I am expecting! I'm 11 weeks along, and have known since week 4, so I've known for a while now.

This morning I was having some cramping, and then at lunchtime I started bleeding. More than spotting (which I don't do anyhow).

Of course I freaked out, cried, called my Mom, my Husband, my Midwife.

My midwife set up an ultrasound, I took the kids to a friend's house, and off I went.

And I sat. In the radiologist's office for two hours. waiting. Trying not to think about what was probably happening (I didn't want to cry in the waiting room, you know?!!)

Finally it was my turn.
"Let there be a heartbeat!" I though as I lay down on the table.
And then the picture appeared on the screen.

Beating hearts. Two of them!
Two active, kicking, wiggly babies!

All I could say was, "Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness, are you serious?! Really?!!"

I'm excited, and terrified.
I can't keep up with three kids, let alone five.
We'll need to get a mini-van.
It'll be my first hospital birth (but hopefully not my first c-section).
We had D names picked out, but now we need E names as well.

Crazy realizations keep popping to mind.

I don't feel like I've really had a chance to process it, and I'm sure the coming months will be quite an adventure (for that matter, the coming YEARS are likely to be an adventure!).

But there you have it. My roller coaster day. And my big news. times two.

The Freaky Friday Birthday

2012-01-21T11:16:00.000-08:00

My Mother was born on Friday the 13th. Obviously, she's never considered that a bad thing. So on the years that her birthday falls on Friday it's an extra special birthday.

Like this year.

My sister cooked up the idea to have a Freaky Friday dinner out.

We all were to dress up like my Mom.

Judy, Mom, Aunt Diana, Me, and Marlene.

My brother, Mike, deserves extra points, because he went with a vintage Halloween costume look that not only took lots of guts but also lots of planning and preparation.

Me and my Dad.

Some people gave Freaky gifts to go with the theme, but I had already decided what I wanted to give to her. I made her this bag. Each branch on the tree represents one of her children. The leaves are the grandkids, and the grass squares at the bottom are great-grandchildren. Each sibling has a different fabric for their kids/leaves.

My machine quilting leaves a lot to be desired, but I think the sloppy look works this time?

Anyhow, the evening was a huge success and we all had a really great time.

Mike prepared a quiz game, and another novelty game. He gave each of us a slip of paper with a crazy sentence on it. We had to then use the sentence in conversation without anyone calling us out on it.

My sentence was, "I am a space cowboy."

My brother Evan had, "Pigs lead a luxurious life."

My aunt's was "I sometimes wear my underwear backwards."

I don't remember the others. But all three of those were used successfully. I had to work mine into an elaborate story about teaching preschool. My aunt thought it was funny that she could say hers without it seeming at all odd.

Field Trip: Burke Museum

2012-01-15T16:16:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Burke Museum at the UW for a preschool field trip. It was a pretty cool museum, seen at the warp speed of 4 year olds. They had a fun time dressing up and playing instruments in the Carnival area.

Cute little first-borns who have a love-hate relationship sometimes because they each know their own minds : )

Our preschool class: Hyrum, Colin, Chick, and Claire.

At one point I noticed that I hadn't seen Monkey for a while (yeah, mother of the year right here), and went to find her. She was sitting on this little chair cutting out a mask. Concentrating very hard. She really likes to cut things.

The reason that we went to that museum was the Native American items, because they'd recently learned about Native Americans (though Chick had still gotten confused about Indians being from India.... At least she's in good company; Columbus had the same problem).

This carving came with a story from Heidi (one of the other moms/teachers). It was funny-- kids running chaotically around until she started talking and then they were mesmerized for the duration of the story. After we'd gotten home, Chick said that was her favorite part of the museum. She remembered all of the story. {You can read it HERE}

On our way out, Monkey wanted to sit on the bench, so I put Moose there too, and they posed themselves. I totally love this picture. Chick is not pictured, because she was busy running ahead and consequently getting in trouble.

A Party for Monkey

2012-01-09T23:16:00.000-08:00

Monkey's birthday was at the end of November, and due to holidays, the party was scheduled for the start of December.

Then we *thought* we had the chicken pox, but it turned out to be a contagious fever paired with rashes from a new detergent. But at any rate, due to illness we postponed the party to the start of January.

Last weekend I finally got to do Monkey's Madeline party!! Here's the rundown:

As each girl arrived she got a capelet and hairbow from the Boutique.

Once dressed they sat down to color pictures to put in the Louvre Museum, while we waited for the other girls to arrive. The pictures were an assortment of Madeline images and famous paintings (with the emphasis on french, or that are on display at the Louvre).

Once they'd all arrived and gotten dressed we lined up in "two straight lines"
(Miss Clavel must have really had those girls TRAINED, because straight lines are NOT easy)
and walked to the "museum" and admired the artwork that they'd done.

Then we all settled down and I (dressed as Miss Clavel, btw) read "Madeline" to them at the "bookstore."

After we'd read the book we went to the Eiffle Tower and they each got to take a turn playing mini-golf. I didn't get any pictures of them playing, but it was a hit : )
Here's a picture of the Eiffle tower that I made.

Next we went to the Flower Shop. Marie, the flower shop lady, helped them assemble their bouquets. They were so cute! I'd made a simple striped awning, and we used twinkle lights, and silk flowers in mason jars. The girls got to pick a few flowers, and we taped them with colored electrical tape.

After they had made their bouquets we played musical chairs...set to the Madeline soundtrack.

Monkey had her meltdown moment when she was eliminated. She'd been pretty clingy at times during the party, and I think it was all just too overwhelming for her.
Thankfully my SIL took Monkey and calmed her down while I got out the food.

Then we dined at the "Patisserie." We served Chicken salad on Croissants (as well as croissants with just butter), grapes, cheese, and lemonade with strawberry ice cubes.

(table decor on the card table)

And then cake and ice cream, of course.

I'm really happy with how the cake turned out. I had taken an actual picture from the book, covered it with a sheet of wax paper and traced the outlines with black gel writer icing stuff. Then I transferred the image to a solid green frosted cake, and colored in the picture with the appropriate colors. In retrospect, the picture was so simple that I could have freehanded it easier (the wax paper stuck to the green icing a bit)...but it was fun to try a new process.

After they'd all eaten we went to the "Toy Shop" and Monkey opened her presents. She got really nice presents, and we've had fun playing with them in the last couple of days : )

And then I turned on a Madeline video,
which they sat and watched while we waited for the parents to arrive.

Only a few moms stayed for the duration of the party, and they were very appreciated. However, the girls were all SO well behaved, that it all went great and it was fine that there weren't many adults! I had been nervous about having "12 little girls" (though with the postponed date, one little girl couldn't make it...so I put a wig on Moose and he became our "12th girl"...I foresee therapy in the future!!)

The girls were polite and sweet and calm, and appreciated everything.
The timing worked out perfectly, too. It really was a dream party.
When I was making things for it I kept thinking how it would be wasted on such a young crowd (mostly 3 yr olds) but a lot of them love Madeline like we do, and in the end I didn't regret any of the prepwork and effort.

Anyhow, the girls got to take home the capes, hairbows, bouquets, and a set of Madeline blocks that HH & I made.

I can honestly say that I couldn't have done it without the help of these two wonderful women: my Aunt and my Mom. My Aunt played the part of the flowershop lady. My Mom came the day before the party and helped with last minute prep & childcare, spent the night, and helped with everything (food prep, Moose, etc) before and during the party. THANK YOU to both of you!!!!

Compliments

2012-01-06T10:28:00.000-08:00

I don't have time for a proper post today, so I'll just share what was probably the highlight of my day yesterday:

I had made Chili soup for dinner. I made it at lunchtime, because we were going to the museum after lunch. Then HH and I swapped car and kid duty so that I could make a thrift store run to use my 30% off card before it expired. When I got home, everyone was eating.

Then the compliments came: Chick had thirds (and wanted 4ths but I told her no), HH put his emptied bowl on the stove (so that he could have more later) rather than in the sink to be washed, and Moose finished his second bowl and then drank the few drops that were left. (Monkey ate hers without incident).

Nice compliments to acknowledge my efforts to make dinner!!

(I'd share the recipe, but I'd taken the leftovers from taco salad the night before [but not the lettuce] and threw them in the stock pot and then added the regular soup ingredients to that. Sadly, I'll never be able to recreate it exactly.)

Now I need to get busy: tomorrow is Monkey's Madeline birthday party!! And I also have layout to be working on this weekend. Thankfully my Mom is coming to help this afternoon and will spend the night and help with the party. Thanks, Mom!!! It makes it all seem possible knowing that I'll have help.

Glorious Christmastime

2011-12-31T14:21:00.000-08:00

Despite all of the pre-Christmas crafting, I tried to keep the perspective that my kids will probably have more memories of the Christmas SEASON than of the actual day & gifts. I tried to keep things fun and not stressy. Here are some pre-Christmas memories from this year.

Santa hats. Bought at Michaels as a bribe...that is THE WORST store to take my kids to. I'm not sure what makes it so much worse than other stores. Anyhow, the Santa hats worked pretty well for that trip.

After we decorated the Christmas tree (or put "decorations on the decoration tree" as Monkey puts it) the kids wanted me to take their picture...while wrapped in blankets. Don't ask me, they do their own styling.

By the way, when the tree was first decorated 75% of the ornaments were in a line at Monkey's eye level : ) Thankfully the tree kept getting rearranged over the next week or two, and the ornaments were more evenly dispersed by the big day!

Christmas morning before the chaos. I got the idea to hang the Christmas cards on a strand of lights from Pinterest, and LOVED it. L.O.V.E. Next year I want to mod podge some christmas deco papers onto clothespins to hang them, but for this year I just taped them up and called it good enough.
(The good news about this picture is that I'm reasonably happy with how my home looks. except for the ceiling. Will it ever get done??!!!)

This picture is pretty terrible, I know, but I haven't installed photoshop on my new computer yet. But there are three fun things here: 1. My new table runner (I also bought a second one to give as an exchange game gift) that I got for 90% off of the Bed Bath & Beyond retail price : ) And I needed a table runner for that table, and I LOVE this runner. 2. What looks like a haphazard collection of toys and such is actually very careful staging done by Chick. Arranged just so, for Santa who was coming that night. And 3. is even more obscure: the three duplo blocks in the center of the table? It's "Singing in the Rain." boy, girl, boy, like on the cover of Singing in the Rain. Kids are so random. Whenever we have two of one thing and one of another, it gets arranged "boy, girl, boy" and it becomes "Singing in the Rain." I'm sure Santa picked up on the nuance, though. He's very in gamba*.

*Sorry for the probably obscure use of Italian, but it's ridiculous-- I've been home from my mission for over 10 years, and still some words or phrases in Italian work better than those in English. "In gamba" means "on the ball." Somehow Santa is more "in gamba" than he is "on the ball."

Homemade Christmas

2011-12-28T16:38:00.000-08:00

I made (or helped the kids make) lots of presents this year.

Now that the holiday is over, I'll show you what I did.

I saw a Living Social or Groupon deal for framed artwork of letters found in nature. I couldn't really see spending as much as they charged, but figured that I could make my own. So I did. It was fun going on a hunt in my yard looking for letters. (sorry, the picture isn't very good...)

I found a boxed "build a birdfeeder" kit at the thrift store for $1-$2, and let the girls build it for HH. Then all three kids painted it (I helped). I love how it turned out : )

Dave brought home some scrap cuts of wood, so I painted them in a rainbow of shades and put numbers on one side and dots on the other for Moose.

Rainbow hairclip for Chickadee. (idea from pinterest)

Chick's preschool made these felt bird ornaments as gifts for their Mama. They are scented with peppermint stuffing, and each child drew on the side and then stitched up the edges. I was actually the teacher that time, but Chick just told me not to look while she was working on it : )

I found a big bag of these wooden beads, and my aunt was getting rid of the storage container, so I just designed some sequence cards and laminated them for a simple sequence kit for Chick. I don't know how she likes it...we haven't had a chance to play with it yet. She likes that kind of activity, though, so I think it'll be fun.....

Another thing I saw on pinterest was a button necklace. I tweaked it a little (added extra buttons on jump rings between the stitched ones), and used it as one of our exchange gifts for the big family exchange game at my brother's Christmas Eve party.

More buttons. more pinterest ideas. We did a monogrammed button D for my aunt.

She hung it above her sewing area and it looks really cute : )

Peg family for my SIL's family.

My awesome visiting teachers have an annual craft night for the December visiting teaching.

This year we made cute sock snowmen. (the order of them is: Chick, Moose, Me, HH, and Monkey)

Something that I saw on a blog somewhere or other, was a build-a-fort kit.

I loved the idea, and figured that since we had a family with 4 boys for the Christmas exchange gift it was a perfect time to make one.

My favorite touches: the ribbon in the centers of the sheets says "experience the adventure," and I like the custom-designed label for the outside of the bag.

I was going to do a freezer paper stencil for it, but was running out of time, so instead I printed the outlines onto the fabric and then hand painted inside the lines.

Also included in the gift was headlamps for each boy.

I told my other SIL about it, who also has lots of boys & whose name we have for next year's exchange, and she requested the same gift. Chick will be getting a kit for her birthday, as well.

(notice that our peg family is a work in process).

I did also make a bracelet for Monkey, but she left it in the car, and it's cold and rainy, so maybe I'll take a picture some other time.

Also I made flannel jammie pants for Moose and HH. They're matching, and my guys look super handsome and comfy in them : ) I was going to do nightgowns for the girls too, but ran out of time...maybe for Easter.

I think that's it. I was super productive in the last few weeks.

This week I am a slug, but at least I'm starting to blog again!!

Family Photos

2011-12-27T22:18:00.001-08:00

A while back, my awesome friend Heidi took our family pictures at a nearby park.

I'm thrilled with how they turned out. Thanks, Heidi!

I think we do a pretty good job of not looking cold and wet, despite the horrible weather. Heidi's family was supposed to be there that day too, and we were going to play photographer for each others' family...but they chickened out : ) And to add to the fun, Monkey had an accident in the car while waiting for us to get things set up in the second location...she was SUPER whiny and clingy after that. I don't blame her-- it was cold enough without being soaked from the waist down! But sometimes you have to grin and bear it, and I wanted my family pictures!! We went home and had hot cocoa to recouperate.

OK, true confessions time: the top photo is pretty much as it was taken. The bottom photo is HEAVILY photoshopped. HEAVILY as in Moose and Chick's entire bodies were taken from other photos, and Monkey's head is from a different (yep, that IS the best picture there was of her!), and then of course the usual cropping and lighting changes.

Letters to Santa

2011-12-19T00:14:00.000-08:00

Wow, I've been MIA from the blogging world for almost two months now! I have so much to catch up on! I'll start with something short (because I need to get to bed).

It was looking like we wouldn't see Santa, so I suggested writing letters instead. Chick opted for emailing them.

She didn't want any help on hers, but I did end up adding spaces between the words. Here's hers:

dder sca cloz,
i want sam papez and dogz and ristacats
Chick

(translation: "Dear Santa Clause, I want some puppies and dogs and Aristocats.") I think she could have spelled Santa more closely, but I think she got distracted while she was typing it. And what she's asking for is stuffed 101 Dalmations and Aristocats.

When I asked Monkey if she wanted to write Santa a letter, she said, "Yes, I want to write the letter B, because I start with B." So she typed that, but was having fun pressing buttons, so she wrote lots of other things too. Lots of 8's because for her they're B's as well.

b- kol0048b8888b8b8b8b--*9847411210
bnn fffffffddddddsa

ioo0o65o0,,.jo

It's ok that Santa won't know what she's asking for--she just wanted a candy cane, and I think that's pretty standard fare from Santa.

I've been...

2011-10-20T01:07:00.000-07:00

...making covered composition books using Annalia's tutorial. I did one for each of the kids in Chick's preschool, as well as for a couple of the younger siblings for when preschool was held in their home (Monkey was one of them).

(They aren't perfect, but they're still pretty darn cute. Plus I enjoyed getting to make something for each of the kids in preparation for preschool. And I think they like having their own special book. Whenever Monkey sees a scrap of any of these papers she tells me, "That's Hyrum's paper" or "That's Bella's" ...those papers will forever be associated with the kids in preschool)

...Making smocks for preschool. I made up my own smock design using a men's oxford. They're a little funny in the back, but the kids don't seem to mind. The girls got matching headscarfs, because we don't want their hair to get paint on it...and because I didn't want to waste the good details of the buttons and button holes : ) {you'll see more smock pictures when I blog actual preschool pictures}

...making picture pebble magnets. I did 5 large ones, and 4 small ones. I love them. The large ones are on my fridge, and the small ones are on my lockers.

(and speaking of my lockers)

...organizing my fabric stash into my previously-pretty-waste-of-space lockers.

{left: Chick quilt fabric / Multi-color and holiday / Purple / Blue / Green}

{center: Gear / Red / Pink / White, neutral, yellow}

{right: Felt / Fancy and specialty / Black, b&w / Kid}

(someday I'll need to fill that in, but in the meantime I didn't have the heart to take that space away)

...making hair accessories. My niece (in-law) told me how to make the petaled fabric flowers, and they were so easy (aside from the long time that it took me to pick out the buttons for the centers) that I did a bunch. The small dk green ones are to go with a oxford-refashioned shirt dress that I'm making for Monkey. I still need to do the waistband, so no pics yet.

My favorite is the blue and white floral with the polka dot center. That blue floral fabric is from when I was a flower girl at my sister's wedding...when I was three-years-old!

...practicing butterfly face painting. Not very good. I blame that partly on the inferior paints that I was using (I'm definitely upgrading before my next practice session), and partly on the girls who both were crying just as I was about to take the picture. Monkey was even putting her face on her hands and laying on the ground, so she really got smeary. Anyhow, it's just a starting point...I'll keep practicing. If I get good enough by January then there will be butterfly facepainting at Chick's birthday party.

...making a shaved-crayon jack-o-lantern with my girls. (Moose just wanted to eat the crayons).

...thrift store shopping. Honestly, there will be thrift stores in heaven.
Anyhow, here's the whole haul from my most recent shopping trip. A lot of it is gear for making gifts. A lot of the ideas for the gifts came from the hours and hours that I've spent looking at things on pinterest. I have a love/hate relationship with pinterest. Love everything about it, hate that it has monopolized my time.

{$57. A little more than I usually spend. That was with several things on sale for $1, and everything else 20% off. 1 sheet and 2 duvet covers, box of 1000 popsicle sticks, wax, spool of candlewick, 2 spools ribbon, 2 photo albums, 2 pairs of pants for Chick, new Gymboree tights for Monkey, tie for Moose, like new Espirit shoes for Chick, 2 kids books, clutch purse for me, shirt and bodyshaper for me, matchbox cars for Moose (for Christmas), Melissa & Doug tool box &a tool belt (+ extra tools) for Moose (for his birthday), duffle bag, build-a-birdfeeder kit, and a Haba Pic-pac set.}

The highlights of all of that:

red, white, & blue ribbon that will be perfect for Monkey's upcoming Madeline in Paris birthday party!!!!

The clutch for me. It's green. I love green. I don't like to carry a purse. I've been using a really cute little pouch that Lia made for me, but it's starting to look a little worn out. Hopefully I'll come to love this clutch as I've loved the pouch.

The Pic-Pac. I don't know what Pic-Pac means. I assume that's all in German. But I do know that at $1.60 and almost unused, all pieces included, it was a GREAT find on the night before teaching about construction workers. In fact, I think this was everyone's favorite part of preschool that day. Who doesn't like to hammer things?!

The tool box set. Pretty cute, and looks quite complete.

(would have also been good to use for construction day at preschool, but I resisted)

This yellow Ikea duvet cover. I don't think you can really see the wonderfulness of it in this picture, but it really is wonderful. And it'll be PERFECT for the intended project...but I can't say what it is because I'm also doing the same project for someone who probably reads this blog.

...planning birthday parties. Monkey's is next month, and Chick's is in January. Madeline, and Rainbows & Butterflies. Super fun. I think party planning is one of the perks of motherhood.

I WON!

2011-10-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

I don't get on facebook so very much. Imagine my surprise when I got onto Facebook for just a minute today and found this:

It was a close race, but after tallying up the votes from Facebook and our UDMA ...shows, this year's Design Your Dream WINNER is Paige from Reflections School of Dance! Her costume will be in our 2013 catalog and Reflections will get a class worth of the design for free! Congratulations Paige and Reflections School of Dance!

Seriously, I am so surprised. The facebook votes were almost 100 down below the first place person, and I didn't like pestering people for votes, so I'd given up. I hadn't taken into account that there would be voting at the UDMA show...where people who are actually looking to buy costumes would be voting...and who have no affiliation with a specific studio or contestant.

So exciting. Thanks, if you voted. Stay tuned next June, when you see pictures of my design dancing in the recital!!

Photobooth

2011-10-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

Another wedding reception this weekend...another nephew married to a great girl.

The reception was very elegant, and I liked the layout of the food table, but what I want to share from it is: the photobooth. So incredible. A real photobooth, and you could do it unlimited times, and then you can see the pictures online afterwards (in addition to the strips that they give you after you do the booth).

So here are some of my favorites. Some because they're hilarious, and some because I love the people in them (and some that are great for both reasons).

Awww, so cute.
They're getting married next month : )

parents of the groom

No relation...just funny

Sisters (and sister-in-law, if we're technical)

He said that Moose was uncooperative.
I'd never have known.

The newlyweds from last month : )

I definitely wish that I'd done more. If you are planning to get married soon and will have a photobooth at the reception, please invite me!

reception recap

2011-10-02T23:11:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures from my nephew's recent wedding reception...I totally LOVED the decor and wanted to document & share : )

They used goblets in different styles and colors, and cloth napkins in all different patterns, so each place setting was unique, but created a gorgeous effect.

Love the polka dot ties

Goldfish as centerpieces. Brilliant.

Simple mason jars with candles mixed well with all of the hodge podge glassware

This picture shows how all of the tables look together--lots of color and whimsy : )

(And that's my Dad in the middle of it all)

Post-party napkins

My sister (Mother of the groom). Don't drink the fish, Jude!

And of course, the cute couple (being toasted by her brother)

Handsome.

2011-09-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

Handsome. That's all there is to it.

Design Your Dream Costume Contest: The Finals

2011-09-24T16:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, folks. Voting is up for the final three. My design doesn't look quite like I designed it, but I honestly do like it better than the other two final designs...so I think that I should win : )

As of this posting, I'm firmly in the middle of the voting.

Please vote for me so that this:

is not the winner (I just don't even understand it....)

Vote here on facebook.

Retro Style

2011-09-23T23:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, you all know that I love having excuses to dress in costumes and/or dress my kids in costumes/coordinating outfits. I'm sure you can imagine my elation when I was invited to my future niece-in-law's bridal shower and it was

50's Retro Themed!! Costumes encouraged!

Well, I immediately started putting costumes together, of course!

Chick was the poodleskirt teeny-bopper.

Monkey was the 50's glamour girl.

I was the 50's housewife.

Chick's costume:

ponytail with ribbon tied on it, white t-shirt & socks, chiffon fabric tied as neck scarf, cats eye sunglasses (thrift store, $2), Pink Ladies jacket (thrift store, $4? I don't remember the price....), Poodleskirt (thrift store, Grandma found it and bought it).

Monkey's costume:

clip-on earrings & necklace (thrift store, $2), vintage hat - gloves - purse (from my costume trunk), dress: refashioned from a women's skirt (thrift store, $1) with chiffon fabric as a sash. Pettiskirts underneath.

My costume:

hairnet and ribbon, pearl earrings & necklace, gloves, 3/4 sleeve sweater, crinoline (all of which I had already), skirt (thrifted, $1), apron (homemade). I made up my own pattern for the apron, but it didn't turn out quite the way that I'd hoped, so I'll have to make another...someday.

My friend, Tamie, is a theater gal, and helped me know how to style my hair and makeup.

I think it was a success.

Anyhow, it was fun to see how other people dressed, and it was fun to play themed games! Some showers don't do games, and sometimes that's fun, but I love me a well-planned theme.

(I also love the circles on the doors, windows, & fireplace. Great job, Maren!)

(Maren, the Hostess)

My girls really liked the mother of the bride-to-be, and hung out with her most of the evening.

The bride-to-be, Emily, with her friend who made the ribbon hat.

Mother of the groom-to-be, my sister.

In keeping with the theme, the prize bags were vintage as well.

My Mom did a great job of putting these together.

SO FUN.

And it provided us a photo op with the soda bottles : )

Branching Out

2011-09-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

Last month's Relief Society monthly meeting was "Branching Out: A Garden Party"

It was held in a sister's yard, and we reused some of my decor items from the party that I threw for my sister a few months ago. Plus we added some new items...cards with quotes on them, burlap table runners, and cute little twig pencils with little notecards as a take-home gift.

I think it turned out beautifully, and provided a good opportunity for sisters to get together and get to know each other better.

The presidency: Me, Erin, Tamie, and Megan.

I am lucky to get to serve with such fantastic women!

Emily (on the left) spoke to us about her experiences with other cultures and the concept of branching out.

We had cream cheese chicken with rice as the main course, and everyone was invited to bring a salad, fruit, or veggie. For dessert we had Whole Wheat Chocolate Blueberry cake and apple crisp.

This time I used REAL moss from the greenbelt behind our fence.

Gorgeous and lush, and afterwards I was able to put it back, so I can use it again next time I have a mossy table.

{These fabulous ladies worked tirelessly getting the desserts out}

{This close-up of the choc blueberry cake is from the first time that I made it --for a self-reliance class about cooking with wheat. mmmm. It makes my mouth water just thinking of it!}

{As a side note, I made this little cake stand out of a thrifted candlestick and an old plate.

I like how it turned out.}

Family Fun (from July)

2011-09-18T00:10:00.000-07:00

The end of July was jam-packed full of fun with family!

First we went camping (at Cascade Park, of course) with some of HH's family. It was a great time, until we locked our keys in the car and had to pay a tow truck to come break into the car for us. Boo. But we loved seeing some of the Arizona family, as well as the locals that we (shamefully) get together with too infrequently.

Seven cousins went camping with us...all boys.

Uncle K is finishing his studies to become an architect.

Glad he could put all of that schooling to good use ; )

My favorite part of hammock camping? The view when I first wake up.

Then the next week we got to do several fun things with HH's sister Katie, who was visiting from Hong Kong (as well as with the locals again). We went to a bouncy house, the beach, a family picnic, and a Kangaroo farm.

The kids all got to feed the kangaroo, as well as several other animals

This one had a joey...see it peeking out?

We went with my ward's playgroup, so there were a TON of people in our group
(which I wouldn't advise--it took so long for us to get to get close enough to see the animals,

and then the tour director was yelling at us to hurry up because it was time to move on.

In small groups I bet it would be more fun. As it was, still a very cool outing)

but anyhow, here is a picture of our family members that went

(minus one boy cousin who wasn't cooperating).

They had Lemurs, which were very entertaining.

They also had a cool gnarly old tree with moss, so I took some pictures of the rascals.

the days of taking normal pictures of this one might be over....

And they had this awesome swing that was attached sooooo high in the tree that you could really swing big...

though Monkey didn't want to go very high.

Luckily, the Kangaroo farm was just down the road from my friend Nikko's parent's house, and she was up visiting from Texas! So we got to see her and her cute boys!

Lots of little blondies! Her older two were in playing video games.

Lastly, to finish up a super busy week, we went to a housewarming party at my sister's new place, where we also celebrated my Dad's birthday.

Almost everyone. This was just after we sang to my Dad.

Isn't that an awesome table? It's the biggest round table I've ever seen in a private residence.
Of course, it looked better before someone spilled a drink and messed up the tablecloth....

I had to be sneaky-sneak to get this picture of HH with an honest-to-goodness smile.

He sure is a stinker, but I do really love that man.

The next week, which was actually August (hope you will indulge my lax blogging), the girls had an overnight at Grandma & Grandpa's while I was doing layout. The girls had a great time, and though I think Moose missed them, he certainly hid his grief well : )

No one to fight over toys with....

Happy 4th of July!!

2011-09-04T22:39:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm just two months behind on my blog.

We did have a nice holiday, though.

For those requesting a picture of my hair: this was a few days after I got the perm. It's a body wave, so not super super curly (and I'd not done my hair that morning, other than to stick a headband in), but it does indeed give it a lot more body.

Breakfast & a kids bike "parade" (read: free-for-all biking in the parking lot) at church...

and an early dinner barbeque potluck with family at my parents' house.

HH and Moose went to bed pretty early, but the girls and I camped out at the edge of our yard and watched the neighbors light fireworks for quite a while.

I'm not big on fireworks, unless it's a professionally done show...but any holiday that accomodates theme dressing is OK in my book. God bless America.

A shout out

2011-09-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

Just after my anniversary trip I did something that I've been wanting to do (but wasn't sure if it was a good idea) for at least a year.

I got a perm.

My SIL's friend and stylist gave me a haircut, and I mentioned that I was considering it, and she thought it was a good idea. She's the third stylist that I'd mentioned it to, and she was the first to be enthusiastic. I'm so glad that I listened to her.

For days afterwards I'd walk past a mirror and think, "I'm never going without permed hair again!"

After looking at the anniversary pictures (when I'd actually spent some time on my hair) it's confirmed.

And do you know what's even better? NO ONE has said, "did you get a perm?" I've gotten lots of compliments, but people seem genuinely surprised if I mention that it's permed.

Kristie did a GREAT job, and it looks very natural. It looks like my hair on my best "scrunched it up and spent lots of time on it" day. But it doesn't go kinda flat after a couple of hours. And I don't have to spend lots of time on it. And it still feels healthy.

And it was enjoyable getting it done because Kristie is a great gal. She didn't even act like I was weird to not use shampoo. And she must have a good aura, because Monkey took to her RIGHT AWAY and was telling her life story and touching her earrings and just being BFFs from the very start. Which NEVER happens.

And she's reasonably priced, and she'll come TO YOUR HOME!

Sooo, long story short, I love my hair. If you want to love your hair too, then you should contact Kristie. She's on Facebook (Kristie's Color Garden), or you can contact me and I'll give you her phone or email.

Eight Years already?!

2011-08-27T23:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm getting so behind on telling you about all of the fun stuff that we've done this summer! So here's a catch-up post.

For our 8th anniversary HH and I had an overnight date in Seattle. Grandma N came and stayed with the kids. Everyone survived (I was worried for Grandma).

It was a short date-- HH isn't one to take time off work, and we wanted to do it ON our anniversary, so we headed down after he got home. After we checked in at The Camlin, we walked around. Seriously fun. We people watched, and window shopped, and I flirted, and we got samples in the food court at Westlake Center.

I tried sushi for the first time. A picture just after this one would have been better--when I was struggling to not throw everything back up!

HH got a crepe (from an Asian man....) with blueberries, strawberries, chocolate sauce (I think) and ice cream. He shared with me : )

People asked us where were from. When we told them, I'm sure they were thinking, "wow, you guys don't get out much, do you?!" no, indeed.

We walked down to Pikes Place Market. It was already closed, but was still interesting. We saw a man get tackled by the police, and we were asked where a restaurant was when we were standing RIGHT UNDER the sign (but didn't know it, so we said we didn't know where it was).

Then I got hungry, but HH wasn't, so I had to decide on where to eat. I wanted "something light" like a salad. We went to Von's, based on good reviews. The salad that I ended up getting was about as heavy as it comes, but still good. Unfortunately I'd mentioned wanting the small one, and he brought me the large one, and I didn't realize it, and then we paid more for it than I wanted. I was kinda miffed about that. We ate out on the street, which provided more good people-watching, and it also provided a good reflective window for me to take a photo!

Walking home we admired the local art. Incredible graffiti and a decorated car.

Here are a lot of pictures of the car, because it was A-MAZ-ING. Honestly. There were a couple of other people admiring it when we were there, and I think they put money in the "gas money" bag (there was already some money in it, too).

Then HH made fun of me for taking all of the pictures, and started pointing to mundane things and saying, "oh, look, take a picture of that electrical box." And then he pointed to a sprinkler and said, take a picture of that sprinkler...it has a leak."

And that, friends, is something that I love about the man. He knows so many things--I don't know how he knew that the sprinkler was leaky (maybe some of you can tell too?), but he's full of interesting things and you never know it until one day it just comes out. Makes me wonder what else is in his head. He's also good about noticing things like a bad crown molding job, or uneven posts. Which is funny, because he's not aesthetic AT ALL, but he is a carpenter, so I guess that's that.

Anyhow, the Camlin was neat. It's been renovated, but a lot of old details were kept. Here are a couple of pictures, but my battery died at that point.

HH left early the next morning, and I went down to the gym, got cleaned up, and walked back down to Pike's Place to get goodies for the kids and flowers for my Mom. I should have taken a picture of the bouquet, it was so so so gorgeous. All white, with peonies and some other bell-shaped flowers that looked like paper. And if you don't already know, there is nothing that can make you feel better than walking around with a bouquet. Even if you are carrying around a duffle bag and are riding a public bus because your husband took the jeep to work. People will stop to tell you how gorgeous it is, and it's really just a lift to the spirits. I felt very elegant. The bus ride was fun too. Uneventful.

It was possibly our most fun anniversary, and I loved getting to spend one-on-one time with my man. So glad I married him! (and a special thank you to Grandma N, for making it all possible! Wouldn't have been the same with three kids in tow!).

A few more Zoo pictures

2011-08-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

Zoo.

2011-08-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to the zoo with some of my family. We had fun. The highlights were: the company, seeing Ocelots in person (we've been doing a little bit of studying about them), playful Meercats and Otters, and the Snow Leopard (who was quite frankly a bit of a show off).

The zoo is having a photo contest for their calendar-- the winning picture will be featured on the cover of the calendar, and the winner will get $50 zoobucks and a year membership. I don't have a membership and would LOVE to win, but there were some really impressive looking cameras & tripods, and photographers who didn't have kids hanging on them or hurrying them on to the next exhibit. {sigh}

But it doesn't hurt to enter, so here are my best pictures from yesterday. Please tell me which you'd pick if you were to submit one of these. I find it helpful to hear other opinions. If there's a "why" behind your answer that would be helpful too.

These other pictures are just other pictures from the day.

Other random tidbits from the day:

Monkey's hairclip fell into a turtle pond...she's still telling me that she wants her purple hairclip back. {sigh, again}.

Moose liked the snakes. He liked everything that he was able to see, but he took a nap and was in the stroller for a lot of the time. It's fun that he's getting old enough to experience it with us, though.

Thanks, J and M for taking us!

Wedding Reception turned Photo Session

2011-08-20T00:14:00.000-07:00

My neice, Emily, got married in June. Thankfully she had a very pretty location for the reception, and I ended up taking a million photos (not much of an exaggeration) of my girls. Here are some:

Doesn't Em look lovely?!

Her husband is rather a hottie too {can I say that?},

so their pictures look like they came from the store in the frame & no one put in an actual picture)

Sugar and Spice. Oh, how I love them.

Bonjour, Butterfly!

2011-08-18T23:09:00.000-07:00

Earlier this summer we got some butterfly larvae and got to watch them grow. It was really fascinating. If you haven't ever done it, then you should. I look forward to the next time.

This first picture is after four of them had become chrysalides, and the fifth (far left) was hanging in place but hadn't shed his caterpillar skin yet. That fifth guy was funny-- he was about a day behind the others, and he just kept crawling around them and bumping into them (trying to eat them? who knows) and then they'd shake shake shake to try to get him away. I'm pretty sure they were cursing him inside their chrysalides.

Here is a link to a really great video of the changing process. It's FASCINATING. I watched it happen a couple of times, and HH got to watch once. I woke the girls up to let them see the last one (they'd missed the others), but they could barely keep their eyes open so I sent them off to bed again. 20 minutes later I noticed Monkey asleep in the hallway.

I got to see two emerge as butterflies, and this time the girls got to see it happen (but I think HH missed them all). I lucked out to get to see both processes, maybe, since each occurance takes just a couple of minutes.

(Here's an interesting video of the entire process in time lapse)

Anyhow, after all of the butterflies were out we had a "Butterfly Release" Party. We read the hungry caterpillar book, and had butterfly english muffin pizzas with a few friends.

Everyone got a chance to hold one before it flew away. Sorry, little man H, didn't get a picture of you holding it.

As Fancy Nancy says, "Bonjour, Butterfly!"

fun little pretty things

2011-08-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you already know that I'm all about thrift stores. I do like to shop, but I don't like to spend lots of money, and I usually have buyer's remorse if I buy something expensive. But this time I actually bought some things NEW! Once in a while it's nice to "splurge." And I used a Living Social deal on this, so really it wasn't bad.

Anyhow, my new pretties: a butter crock, and a honey pot! The butter crock is pretty handy, but the honey pot has stolen my heart. so cute.{They don't sit next to each other in real life}
And Le Creuset has a whole line of other yellow things that I ~~need~~ want.
Now for a new countertop.....

Where are this poor child's parents?!!

2011-08-08T23:59:00.000-07:00

Design Your Dream Costume Contest

2011-07-25T15:59:00.000-07:00

If you are friends with me on Facebook, then you've already heard about this.

BUT I entered a costume design contest and I'm a semifinalist and need your vote!

Voting is on Facebook (here). "Like" Revolution Dancewear, and then "Like" my design (pictured below). Easy as that!

If I make the top three, then my design will be made into an actual costume and professionally photographed. Then more voting, and the grand prize winner's STUDIO will get up to 30 costumes in the winning design. So nothing for me, exactly, but it'd be an honor to see it made into a costume, as well as seeing it on stage at next year's recital. So Go. Vote for "Fern" : )

screaming mad

2011-07-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

What do Chick and Monkey say when they are yelling at their mama?
(oh yes they DO!)

"Oh, just pinch your nose and swallow!"

Well what do you say to that?
(All I could do was say, "No, YOU just pinch YOUR nose and swallow!"
Then put them in a speedy timeout so that I could go in the hall to laugh.)

Just another thing they learned from the Molly movie.

{They were mad because I'd told them to clean up their room and they didn't so I was bagging up everything from the floor to put in timeout. The doll in the bag was the final straw. }

Dancing Chickadee

2011-07-18T17:16:00.000-07:00

As you know, Chick has been taking ballet classes. Her recital was in June. She wasn't nervous, and didn't mind being on stage at all. In fact, she seemed to really enjoy being there...not surprising, since she often will dance and sing to get people to pay attention to her.

Anyhow, here are a couple of pictures from the other performances:

Hilarious. As soon as the lights came on and the girl on the left saw the audience she jumped up and ran over to the edge and REFUSED to do ANYTHING. She refused to even leave the stage at the end...I suspect they had to carry her off.

My favorite Chick-related parts:

She curtsied at the end {twice} even though she wasn't ever told or taught to curtsy. (She said she learned it from the "Molly" movie).

They danced to Jason Castro's version of
Over the Rainbow

These are the instructors.
The amazing Miss Laurie is the one with the hat. She was so great.

We were sitting in the very back row of the auditorium, and behind us was a little staircase and some walking space. Chick danced along with the other performances from back there for half of the show (it was a two-hour recital). This isn't a very great video, but it's a little snippet of her dancing in the back.

I couldn't take a video of the actual performance, but Chick did great. It was a really fun experience for us, and she's been dancing around ever since!

The Very Hungry Moose

2011-07-17T23:41:00.000-07:00

I'm so backlogged. June was a great, busy month...which means that I have lots to blog about, but didn't have time to do any of the blogging. So you can expect to see several new posts from me this week.

Ok, so Moose turned one at the start of June.

I threw him a Very Hungry Caterpillar party, because he's a Very Hungry Moose most of the time.

We read the book, found "food" for the caterpillar in the yard (we'd hidden little cardboard circles with food drawn on -from the Hungry Caterpillar board game- around our yard), and then "fed the caterpillar" in a bean bag toss.

(He wasn't there when we were throwing the bean bags)

Then Moose opened his presents. He did better at opening presents than either of his sisters had done at one year...he really liked ripping paper. It helps that he got really cool presents : )

It was fun having some of our local family here to celebrate with us.

Then we ate. We had all of the food from the book-- fruit skewers, meat/pickle/cheese/lettuce skewers, mini cherry "pies" and chocolate cake (brownies). Lollipops for part of the take-home, and of course cupcakes and ice cream. (And yes, I know the head should be red, but I COULD.NOT feed a baby that much red food coloring).

Anyhow, it was a fun party for a fun little guy. He's all boy. One of his nicknames is Stinky Pete, because he's often stinky. And he kisses with his mouth so wide open that I don't even know how to kiss him back (but he insists on mouth-to-mouth kisses so I just aim for some part of his lips and hope for the best). He makes funny faces, and is tolerant of his older sisters and their "mothering." He cleans things up well & likes to throw things in the garbage can (for better or worse). He loves bananas and food in general. He can be VERY LOUD, but generally he's a quiet guy...but he gets really chatty right before he falls asleep. He loves to swing and be outside. His hugs are tremendous, and he's always been a good cuddler. Honestly, I can't believe that I am fortunate enough to have such a sweet little boy, and I love having him in our family.

And to think I wanted a third girl!

Bastyr

2011-06-19T00:07:00.000-07:00

My oldest sister is studying nutrition at Bastyr, and stays with us some nights (because our home is closer to Bastyr than her home). It's been very fun having her-- she often comes home and tells me things that she's learned, which is fascinating (more often than not).

Anyhow, she invited my Mom and me to the annual Herb & Food Fair recently. I thought I'd write down a few of the things that I found most helpful/interesting...most of it pertaining to feeding children.

They had a booth with some activities for kids--one of the activities was making trail mix. They had bowls of various trail mix items, and each child was given a baggy to fill. I thought that was a brilliant idea. Lately we've been out and about more, and would often need to eat while we were out. To avoid fast food, I was resorting too much to bars (like Kashi, etc), so I love this idea of letting them make their own trail mix.

There was a lot of discussion in one of the classes about introducing new foods to kids, and how to be more successful at it. I commented about peer pressure: having one child like something seems to make it easier for the other kids to like it. I have a funny video of Moose making funny faces as he kept eating brussel sprouts. Clearly he didn't like them, but his sisters were happily eating theirs, so he just kept trying it.
Other ideas were to make it fun and appealing. One thing that I wrote down was to get a nice washable tablecloth for the kitchen table--our nicer tablecloths fit the dining table, not the kitchen, and ANY tablecloth will be dirty in minutes. I think that's something that will make the meal more enjoyable for all of us, though.
other ideas:

muffin tin Mondays, or bento boxes, or anything that "markets" the food for you
let kids help select food at the store
let kids help prepare the food
honor mealtimes (keep to the schedule, and all sit down together at least for some meals)
provide choices (but make sure they're all good ones)
have a "what's served is what's served" policy-- no short order cooking
include a winner with every meal (so if they like nothing else, at least they won't starve!)
refrain from bribing, punishing, or rewarding with food

One of the highlights of the day was hearing from Cynthia Lair, one of the keynote speakers. You should check out her site http://www.cookusinterruptus.com/ which has wonderful, wonderful videos.

She talked about the importance of stopping eating in the evening so that your body has time to get hungry by breakfast. Breakfast like a king, lunch like a duke, dinner like a pauper.

Anyhow, it was a really fun day, and gave me some girl time without my kids, but it also gave me so many good ideas on how to better nourish my children. Thanks for the fun outing, L!

Catching Up: Summary of May

2011-06-14T16:02:00.000-07:00

As a Relief Society Presidency we made chocolate covered strawberries for all of the sisters in the ward as a Mother's Day treat...

We had a couple of days of sunshine here and there.

We had a picnic dinner at the temple.

I got a membership at a local gym, and we went there quite a bit. I started having one-on-one swim "dates" with the girls, to get them comfortable in the water. The membership has been great so far--I can exercise without someone hanging on my leg or crying at me, and everyone is happy in their respective rooms. No weight lost yet, but it's felt great to have some "ME" time as well as to get a little bit of exercise!

We went thrift store shopping. Chick made her first purchase with her own money! It's this necklace.

Shopping must have worn Monkey out.

(On a side note, I have pictures of myself at this age sleeping in weird places/outfits/etc. Chick NEVER falls asleep on accident, so it's fun that Monkey does it!)

When Monkey realized that Chick got to buy a necklace, she wanted to use money from her piggy bank and buy a necklace too. Then when we went back to the thrift store to buy one, she decided that she needed a purse instead. A hot pink sequined one. Pretty cute stuff, really.

Moose started walking.

My kids were cute : )

Just struck me as pretty.

2011-05-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

Celebrating the new Marriage!

2011-04-29T13:17:00.000-07:00

The party for my sister and her new husband was this past weekend. Here are a million pictures from it.

The theme was woodland/eco-chic. The decor consisted of moss, rocks, and tree branches, mostly.

Mini moss balls and branches in the chandelier

branches and candles in the fireplace (I know, you can't really see it in this picture)

branches (and little lovey birds) in the money tree

moss balls and ripped fabric "streamers" on the ceiling

moss and fern-wrapped votives

rocks and moss mounds with candles

burlap and moss on the food table

Everyone pitched in for the food, and it was delicious! We had compostable dishes to eat on. There were stuffed mushrooms, roll-ups, cream cheese and sprouts on bread, a chocolate fountain with various things to dip, birdnest cupcakes, devilled eggs, water with a decorative ice ring, and spinach dip with bread. Mmmm, thanks to all who contributed!

We did two games: the newlywed game, featuring the bride and groom and we all bet on how they'd do (they did badly, but really, who doesn't?!).

This was taken during the pre-Newlywed game questionaire.
It looks like it's about to come to blows
but to the best of my knowledge it did NOT.

and "A to Z" with Melinda & Robert/wedding/love themed topics. The winning token was on "Y Honeymoon location: Yemin." Because we all want to go to Yemin on our honeymoons.

The game prizes were plants in burlap bags.

Everyone seemed to have a good time.

Everyone had feet.

It was even fun when Moose threw up on my nephew Jake (who was a good sport about it). (Moose also threw up on Grandma during the party set-up. And on Daddy the next morning. He's the one that got the ball rolling...we've had vomit ever since, but lets focus on the party, shall we?).

Special thanks to my friends: Heidi for the AtoZ game, Rachel for the chocolate fountain, and Denise for the branches!

Eating a Rainbow

2011-04-28T12:32:00.000-07:00

The other day I thought it would be fun to add a bit of artistry to our smoothies.

We made a rainbow
(though we didn't exactly have B.I.V. because I only had blueberries and grapes for that end of the spectrum).

The girls loved it.

Of course, when all blended together it was brown,
because that's what you get when you mix all of your watercolor paints together, right?

Tasted good though.

HI!

2011-04-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

I only have a minute, but I miss blogging : (

I mentioned in my last post that I was working on the downstairs. Still no "after pictures," but today I did some of the color painting. It's a light avocado color (I don't think the swatch shown is green enough, but maybe it's just my computer?). It'll be paired with a robins egg blue. The actual color names are: Greentree and Wintergreen Ash. Whatever. Anyhow, most of the room is a creamy white, but there are accents in these colors. I'm pretty excited.

I knew in my head that I wanted a blue-green-(slight)yellow palatte (I like the peaceful analogous combination--it reminds me of an impressionist pastoral painting). I found fabric for the curtains, but hesitated. Now the fabric is nowhere to be found. I bought solid fabric and am going to paint the stripes on. Wish me luck. Seriously. I'm nervous.

The party for my sister...oh, I haven't mentioned that. My sister recently got married and isn't having a reception. So I volunteered to throw a family party for her. I didn't want it here, but for lack of a better space.... Anyhow, that's what started all of the work downstairs-- if we can fix it up down there then we'll double our party space. Anyhow, here's the invitation that I designed for it:

Ok, so the party, is in less than a week and a half. eeeeee. I'm excited, but have much to do before then. I'm actually considering hiring a cleaning lady for a few hours.

I haven't started teaching the kids Italian yet, but I have exposed them to more Italian than before, and it's been fun to hear some Italian "jibberish" being spoken.

I found a compromise for the recliner. I'm replacing the missing spring, and I ordered a slipcover today. Cross your fingers. I hope HH appreciates my efforts : ) Stay tuned for "after" pictures of that too.

Since it wouldn't be a proper post without pictures of my kids:
Monkey stuck a bobby pin into an electrical outlet and burned her fingers (& a spot of the carpet). I'm really glad that that's all that got damaged and that she's fine otherwise. Scary. We now have the annoying plug covers on all accessible outlets.

Speaking of bobby pins: Chick was holding a bobby pin and said that she was going to pretend that it was a "smoke stick." She said the girl on "The Trouble with Angels" had a smoke stick. At another point in the day she said, "I'm going to kill myself." Turns out it was a quote from that same movie. The movie is now banned.

I'm just waiting for Moose to choke on a bobby pin, and then I will ban those too.

The kids had a tent and fort set up while I did my monthly layout. I always think their play is cutest when I'm supposed to be working.

To redeem the above stories about Chick: she gave her first talk in primary on Sunday and did a fabulous job. She's a good public speaker.

(Next year Monkey will be a sunbeam, and I'm dreading when she is assigned a talk. There's no way that she'll do anything of the kind.)

Well, I guess I gotta get to bed. Tomorrow is a trial day at the gym, shopping for stuff for the party, making soup and bread, and a blue painting day : )

Things Unblogged

2011-03-14T15:11:00.000-07:00

It has been almost a MONTH since I blogged! I'm sure the one or two people who read my blog have already given up on it, so I'm just sending this post out into the void. But whatever.

The first thing unblogged: I read the Hunger Game books. I enjoyed them. The first two better than the third, though the third was necessary. I sat on my couch and read for 3 days straight. I stayed up too late. I ignored my kids as much as legally possible. I let dirt and dishes and laundry accumulate (more than usual). I had a vague rememberance that I used to be able to sit and read as much as I wanted.

I wish I could say that I've been crafty or have sewn, or at least STARTED Moose's scrapbook. But no. Nothing. The frame to repaint is still on my kitchen counter. The dress pattern got cut out, but not the fabric. It did get washed, though. The scrapbook is still a little nag at the back of my head.

I HAVE been doing something exciting, but I can't tell you what it is yet. It's a surprise. Just a little something that I'm working on that I don't want to blog about until y'all can see it with your own eyes. But it'll be good, so wait with baited breath (but don't hold your breath completely, because I have no idea how long it'll take me).

And that's me. My month in a nutshell.

Thankfully my kids give me ample things to blog about.

Like this one.

He's a big nine-month-old now. He claps, sometimes he waves. He signs "eat" and "more" and likes to do just that (eat more, I mean). He isn't so into walking yet--he likes to have something to hold onto, but he is quite a good cruiser in the meantime. He likes his sisters, though it makes me wonder if he's crazy. He's good at hugs, as well as crying really loud like he's being murdered. I really like him. Oh, and he gives kisses. Big, sloppy, wet, open-mouth kisses.

This one is starting to count and tell us the color of everything that she sees. It's quite a relief, actually, because I was starting to think that she might be color blind. She's also doing pretty well with potty training, but some days she's really not good at all. I don't know why. Kids are complex. She's a super funny little person, and is getting to the stage where she can talk a lot and says really funny things that aren't funny but they're funny because she's little and cute.

She's also the fall guy for her sister. Tonight HH had to explain that Chick would get in trouble not only for getting out of bed herself (which she didn't do) but also for telling her sister to get out of bed (which she did do).

I guess Chick hadn't gotten over wanting to go to McDonalds for lunch and not getting to.
"There's no I in ~~Team~~ McDonalds."

And Chick. She's reading more and more. She's learning about things like earthquakes and counting in Spanish. She gets her sister into trouble, she loves brussell sprouts. She's good at walking on tip-toes and copying her dance teacher. I got to sit in on a class during observation week and it was really fun to watch her. She helps a lot with Moose, and is young enough to feel special for it, rather than underpaid.

By the way, Moose must be old enough that life feels more manageable to me. I say that because there comes a time when I start thinking of things that we can do BEYOND basic survival. It was after 9 months with Monkey, too, so I guess that's the magic number. When your baby is 9 months then life can start to resume. That's just a theory.

Anyhow, some of what I want to resume: working on the house. I'm hosting a party for my sister at the end of April. I didn't want it here, because of the added stress of cleaning and fixing things up...but here it shall be anyhow. Sooo, I've decided to fix up the downstairs. It'll double our party space. But that means that I need to clear things out, paint, carpet, make curtains, and do other general decorating all in 6 weeks. And some of it (getting rid of the ripped and somewhat broken recliner) is against the wishes of my husband, but I really see no compromise available.....

This is probably the last time you'll see the dark panelling....

By the way, this is off the subject (Squirrel!), but I love this house:

I'm a sucker for black shutters.

Ok, other projects: teaching my girls some earth science in preparation for visiting BioSphere 2 (in Tucson) later this year. If there is any upside to the earthquake in Japan, it is that it started discussions about our Earth.

Teaching them Italian. Something that I've always planned to do, but have yet to make it much of a reality. But Chick's window of prime opportunity is narrowing, so I need to get on it. What I'm thinking of doing is one day a week of immersion. That day will be entirely in Italian. Including any books read, movies watched, etc. I probably won't blog those days, because I think the people that read Italian AND that read my blog are scarse indeed (but not non-existent, so who knows?) Anyhow, if you have successfully taught your child a language that is a second language for all in the household, please share your tips with me.

Ok, so do I have other news? I've bought several things on Amazon.com. I daresay that's my favorite place to shop lately. Yesterday the DVD version of A&E's Pride and Prejudice arrived (I've only had the VHS all this time). Also yesterday came a little emergency radio to keep in our 72 hr kits--it cranks up really easily, and has a flashlight, and a solar-power option, and can also charge a cell phone. Here's hoping that I don't ever need it.

One thing that I'm still waiting on is a butterfly garden. I'm pretty excited about that.

Ok, I think that's enough. I wasn't meaning to make this post so long that it would replace the length of a month's worth of posts...but whatever. It just feels so good to be blogging again that I'm swept up in the euphoria. Deal with it.

Love you all. Ciao ciao.

Little Miss Sunshine

2011-02-17T10:23:00.000-08:00

Chick turned four last month.

Her birthday lunch was an informal "muffin tin Monday."

Dinner was chili soup with salad.

The cake was "Mr. Golden Sun." Not my best cake endeavor, but Chick liked it.

She got a new umbrella (which she and Monkey both love), and some new boots (which I love. Wish I could find them in my size....).

Grandma N made her a place setting placemat, which has been really fun.

She loves it.

She used it for breakfast the next day and spent quite a bit of time finding the perfect spoon for the spoon spot...and then I wouldn't let her use it because it was a grapefruit spoon.

Love you, Chickadee!!

showering

2011-02-05T00:06:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I threw a baby shower for a friend. Partly because I like her and she's a friend, but also partly because I needed something fun to beat the "Christmas/birthday/New Year's is over, now what?" Besides, I've never thrown a shower and felt like throwing a party. And Chick didn't get a party this year... so what am I supposed to do, wait until Moose turns one? That's in JUNE, people!

So anyhow, I threw a shower. A blue and green shower. It provided ample crafty-project entertainment and fun for me. Here's the recap:

Tissue paper pom-poms & sewn streamers

We played an elimination game with the cupcake toppers, based on what the babies looked like (ie: "Stay standing if your baby is wearing a blue cap") The last person standing won. Kendra's was the top guy, and part of her present from me was the rest of her peg family.

Sweet Pea Seed Packets as the take-home favors.
The table cloth was a thrifted sheet, and I just serged the edges.

green food.

Be-ribboned & stacked plate sets.

Lots of CUTE presents for the little guy! And doesn't Kendra look great?!

I absolutely LOVE this picture!

It was all really fun to do. Thankfully a few other gals brought food for it, since I'm not a foodie : )

giveaway results

2011-01-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

Grandma J, you are the lucky lady! No guarantees on when I'll get it done (it's a very individualized gift), but when you least suspect it....

My date with Chick {and a giveaway}

2011-01-21T13:22:00.000-08:00

It is Chick's birthday month, and our new tradition is a one on one photoshoot and a treat afterwards.

I MIGHT rethink that tradition after a few more cold and rainy January photoshoots, though.

At any rate, we had a fun time. We ended up going into a leasing office, of all places, and taking pictures in there. It was quite lovely. And no one kicked us out, so that was nice too.

Afterwards we went to Jamba Juice and had hot chocolate and girl talk : )

These are the "outtakes."

Since I like getting comments, this will be just like Monkey's birthday pics: leave a comment telling me your favorite picture (from the numbered pictures), and you'll be entered to win a giveaway. I'll pick the winner next Thursday, January 27th, at noon. The prize will be a surprise, but it's awesome (if I do say so myself).

So THIS is what happens

2011-01-21T11:12:00.000-08:00

when I'm at a meeting and Daddy is in charge : )

{This is a frame taken from a video...but he said their names and I couldn't show it here. Any ideas on how to blank out names from a video?}

Twinkle toes and new apparel.

2011-01-17T01:10:00.000-08:00

Ok, first of all, Chick started dance classes! I'm definitely more excited than she is. One of those "living-vicariously-though-your-children" sort of things. One of those "I'm-destined-to-be-a-stage-mom" things. Anyhow, it's ballet for 3.5 - 5 year olds. As in pre-pre-ballet. But it's so cute, and she did a great job at her first class.

After Dance class the kids and I went up to visit my sister, who had a friend that was liquidating all of her MASSIVE supply of kids clothes. I got so many cute things! I tried to not look at the kids' current sizes, but I did get some things for them to wear now. But it's mostly grow into stuff. Seriously, I think I completely outfitted Moose from 2t-4t (I already had up to 2t). And Chick is set for probably the next 2 years. I got about 5 garbage bags full. Plus some baby food and diapers for Moose. A winter coat for each child, as well as a rain coat for each. Tap shoes, leotards, 18 pairs of shoes & as many pairs of jammies. Thank you Becky!

Here are the girls in some of their new finery. Chick is wearing a new sweater, skirt, and tights. Monkey is wearing a new dress and socks.

And I came home to find that HH had worked on some projects. What a great day!

Salt & Sugar & Moose.

2011-01-17T00:13:00.000-08:00

I've decided that Chick is Salt and Monkey is Sugar.

Chick adds life to whatever she's doing. She's full of it (life, I mean). She is strong-willed sometimes, but she'll be good as new if you give her a hug and tell her that you love her. She's a name rememberer. A "who can I walk with to class" kinda gal. I think she'll be a swing dancer someday. She is always pushing herself to learn new things. She NEVER wants to go home, regardless of where we've been.

Monkey has always had a special sweetness about her. From birth. Noticeably sweet. She's a peacemaker, a toy sharer, a cuddler. She's shy. She does like to go out if she's with a loved one, but also likes to come home. She likes people, but takes a very long time to warm up and show them that. She is curious and gets into everything. From the time she could walk she was pushing chairs up to the counter so that she could get into things.

The line from the "Sisters" song in White Christmas is them: "there were never such devoted sisters." They love each other. Despite their differences, they are best friends. I hope it continues.

And then there's Moose. I was thinking what ingredient he'd be. For me, he's the flour. One of those ingredients that you rely on. You don't often want to go without it. That's Moose. I'm crazy about him. Three girls in a row would have been really fun, but I can NOT imagine our family without that adorable, happy guy. He's all boy (the gender difference is striking--there's just a different aura or something). He's an eater. He's a lover.

And me? I'm happy to be around them (most of the time). Breaks are needed, of course, but after a little while I'm anxious to get back and find out what adventures they'd had in my absence.

Cute Little People Today

2011-01-06T22:30:00.000-08:00

Cute Chick: watching "Annie" and doing her best to immitate the moves of the Rockettes. (Next time they watch that one I'll have my camera ready and try to get a video of it).

Cute Monkey: she'd pulled all of Chick's dresses and skirts off their hangers. I asked her why and she said, "cause." I looked sternly at her, and she picked one up as if to hang it up and jumped (about 1/2"). The she turned to me, and shaking her head said "Reach it." Then she handed them to me one by one while I hung them up.

Cute Moose: in his exersaucer, and Monkey was sitting on a stool next to him. It looked suspiciously like Monkey was feeding him homemade pizza, and when I told her not to Moose turned and GRINNED at me, as if to say, "Whatever, Mom." That boy has us all eating out of his palm, I'm afraid.

(They weren't quite so cute when Chick and Monkey used Wilton's red and green food coloring as makeup...or when a DVD got broken...or when Moose cried for what must have been an hour and never DID take a nap.... Everyone has their moments, I guess.)

The girls thought it was wildly hilarious to have CHICK sitting on MONKEY's lap, rather than vice versa.

Resolute

2010-12-31T23:35:00.000-08:00

First: Let me give an accounting. My goals for 2010 were:

Have FHE each week
Follow Flylady to the "T"
Remodel the Kitchen
Log onto sparkpeople daily
Save $50/month
Entertain guests once a month
Write & follow a dinner menu

I pretty much sucked at all of them. Except entertaining guests, though the entertaining that I did wasn't what I'd intended when I set the goal. Also, though I didn't follow Flylady all that well, I did get into the habit of cleaning my kitchen every night because of her.

So I guess, between those two things & with the addition of Moose, 2010 was a good year : )

Anyhow, on to 2011!
I've been thinking about what kind of New Years Resolutions I want to make. I can't find it now, but several months ago I read on someone's blog that they were just going to work on the concept of "wholesomeness." I wish I could find the blog...I wonder if they are more wholesome now that the year is over?

At any rate, I like the idea of just working on one thing. So I'm going to copy whoever that person was. 2011 will be my year to work on....

Balance.

My life feels completely unbalanced most of the time.

For instance, there was a while when I spent so much time blog-hopping that I didn't get much else done. Then towards the end of the year I got so busy with other things that I didn't have five minutes of leisure time to check in and see what my friends were doing.

The dictionary defines Balance as:

A state of equilibrium.

Emotional stability.

A harmonious arrangement of proportion of parts.

That's what I want.
Easier said than done, though. I can't exactly set concrete year-long goals, because it's quite possible that focusing on them would CREATE unbalance, should my life situation change. Right?
For instance, I'd love to set a goal to fit into this sweater:

I bought it about 6 years ago at a yard sale. It didn't fit at the time, nor has it ever in the past 6 years. I can't get rid of it, though, because I still totally love it (you can't tell in the picture, but it has cute embroidery and beadwork up near the neckline, and it's a super soft sweater) and I'd love to be able to wear it. It's not unrealistically small--a year of good exercise and will-power would do.
But what if I get pregnant during 2011? It's crazy, but quite possible, and actually expected (but for the last time...lest you think that I'm just going to keep up with this rate!). To keep trying to fit into a smaller size isn't exactly harmonious with the fact that your body does get bigger during pregnancy.

That was a long-winded example. Mostly I just wanted to show the cute sweater, I think.
I'm totally digressing.

I think that what I'll need to do is have certain guidelines--general ideas to help me-- and then I can set short-term goals that will help me based on my circumstances. Right?
Things that I think will help me regardless are:

Being Prayerful.

Exercising Regularly.

Having Leisure time.

Having Work time.

Having an earlier bedtime.

Focusing on good nutrition.

So basic. Those are the general things that I will work on, and I will set specific goals as needed.
And I'm totally open to suggestions: what has helped you to achieve balance in your life?

The Party that E & C Threw

2010-12-31T14:59:00.000-08:00

We had a family dinner party on Christmas Eve.

The kids decorated cookies for quite a long time...

...While the adults played "Minute to Win It."
(I learned that I can move a cookie from my forehead to my mouth and eat it--all without using my hands.
I feel very special now.)

It was fun to watch.

Little Miss K couldn't resist trying it too.

And there was a cute trio of little cousins who posed in their Christmas finery.

I was there too. with Monkey.

Miscellaneous Merriness. or HO HO HO Highlights.

2010-12-29T22:23:00.000-08:00

We saw Santa at our ward party.

Moose was indifferent.

Monkey warmed up once he gave her a candy cane.

Chick asked for a tractor. (That was news to me.)

My favorite wrapping job of the holiday. Nicely done, HH.

Monkey is great at pretend eating. Here she is modelling both a felt sandwich AND the bracelet that Chick made for her! Chick also made a bracelet for me (which I CHERISH and showed off to everyone at church on Sunday) and necklaces for both of her grandmas.

Chick and Monkey helped Moose open his present. He was indifferent.

Moose DOES like eating the pearl strand that was on the Christmas tree, as well as any ornaments that he could reach.
He wisely perfected crawling at the start of December, so that he could get into more things.

As soon as he'd mastered that skill, he got a job as a part-time kitchen floor cleaner.

Fine by me--I didn't want to have to get a dog to clean up the table scraps anyhow.

Moose also uses his mobility to pay social calls on cute little girls
(a practice that I'm sure will continue for quite some time...
though hopefully not just with girl COUSINS.)

These last pictures are of the kitchen that Santa made for the girls. It's red and blue to match their tea set. You might notice that it doesn't have a faucet yet (Chick noticed almost immediately...ahem).

From what I understand the fault lies with Mrs Santa not ordering one in time (I don't know why, since she's been wanting to have Santa build this for quite some time), and then expecting Santa to take out the one that was in the downstairs wetbar (which Santa refused to do because it was all plumbed in.)
Santa is very practical, you know.

But aside from the lack of faucet, I think it's a very cute little kitchen.
One that caused ME no end of stress because SANTA can procrastinate and he's just LUCKY that he's skilled enough to have pulled it all together in time.

The girls have made me many wonderful concoctions, and seriously,

I could watch them play cook all day long.

It was worth the stress : )

The Light of the World

2010-12-28T21:33:00.000-08:00

The first half of December was extremely busy. I had my usual work (kids, monthly design work, housework...you know), but I also had a phone directory to do for work, and I was (more or less) in charge of a Relief Society Dinner. I'm really glad that it's over, but I'm also glad that it went so well! Here's the rundown.

The theme was "The Light of the World."

My contributions (aside from general management & helping with food) were:

all printed materials-- posters, invitations, gift tags, & programs

individual star-shaped butters

centerpieces (some had tree top stars on them, others had hanging star ornaments)

The lighting in the pictures is off, but the room was dim & had white lights overhead.

Each table was "sponsored" by a different sister, so each table had a different china set.

The food was delicious

(turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, rolls, salad, green beans, spiced cider, and cheesecake bites)

The service was excellent: we had a crew of "Daves" who served the meal & helped with everything.

The program (and evening) was beautiful. Really beautiful. It did just what we had hoped for: it brought a spirit of serenity to the hectic holiday season, and focused us more on Jesus Christ.

I felt Christmas

2010-12-28T16:19:00.000-08:00

Ok, I have so much to catch up on, so I'll just jump in and show you my newest craftiness: Felting.

First I did Felted Soap. I did a lot of felted soap. These were my go-to gift. This picture shows the first half. I used different soaps: Dr Bronner's, Kiss My Face, Goat Milk soaps, and one Old Spice for my Dad. They all smelled great.

the Kiss My Face, though, discolored the felting after I was done (Jill, Amy, Sheena, & neighbors--this would be yours. Sorry. They aren't dirty, it's just the color of the olive oil from the soap, I guess).

Anyhow, its a fun, easy process and we may never go back to naked soap ever again!
Here are the labels that I used:

Ok, next was felted balls (approx 4" diameter). These are fun and easy too. I made them for 3 little nieces, and am working on a collection of them for my living room. I thought I took a picture of them, but it's nowhere to be found. I followed instructions on youtube (video by crunchyparent.com)

Lastly, I had my first venture into felt food. HH and I were giving the girls a shopping cart for Christmas, so I made them shopping bags and food.

I'd read on other blogs that people were addicted to making felt food. I can understand that somewhat--it's so cute and fun to make. BUT it takes a fair amount of time. So I won't say that I am addicted, but I will say that I'm not done. I made two slices of bread, a slice of deli meat (ham? bologna? raw turkey?), a leaf of lettuce, two orange wedges, and five carrots. That's all that I had time for.

The shopping bags have custom designed logos that I freezer-paper stencilled. I'm pretty proud of them : )

I had never done any felting, so all of these projects were exciting. It's a forgiving medium.