The First One

I tried valiantly to get the picture of JUST the baby dress... but then decided the beer-gut was appropriate as it IS the first completely project for baby girl.

This sweet little dress is NEWBORN size and look at how wide it is. I used a vintage reprint from the 1950's. Were babies in the 1950's just fatter? I need to call my grandmother and ask her.

But I love how it turned out, and I loved making it. Every stitch. And every stitch removed as well. I finally got it all done today (it took me a week!). The only major mistake? I melted the lace on the back ironing it. Apparently, the fabric is cotton, but the LACE that is on the fabric is synthetic. Super NOT cool. Luckily it was salvageable. But not before I had a minor panic attack.

Anyway, won't she look pretty at her blessing?

The Change-Up

Children grow.

The weather changes.

The result?

Little boys wearing ripped up, too short pants and long sleeves in 80 degree weather.

It's pretty awesome.

So, thus has begun the GREAT CLOTHES CHANGE UP OF 2012.

Ezra: OUT of 12 month winter, INTO 18 month summer.

Oliver: OUT of 2t winter clothes, INTO 3t summer clothes.

Spencer: OUT of 4t winter clothes, INTO 4t summer clothes.

Henry: OUT of size 6 winter clothes, INTO his underwear.

No really.

He was DEEPLY offended that I didn't have any clothes for HIM to pull out of boxes.

Sorry dude. You're first. I gotz to buy yours.

And now, the clothes are washing. And I'm sorting out the old.

And why WHY, when I put clean clothes into the boxes, do they seem so UNWASHED a year later when I pull them out again for the next kid. WHY?  Either way, they smell like they've been in a rubbermaid tub for a year?

It's weird.

It's also insanely nostalgic. There are SOME things that have managed to survive since our very first to now. So, as I pull them out I remember who wore it when. It's stupid, but I remember some in my bones.

Some are SO hammered, but I still keep them. I don't have anyone wear them, but I remember.

Oh babies. I know you're designed to grow. But, goodness. I'm surprised how much it surprises me when you do.

So, now I'll spend the week sorting and repacking the WINTER ones away while the kids glory in picking between the Hulk t-shirt or the Batman one.

Except for Henry, who has no clothes. TOMORROW!

 I promise.

Because I needed ONE MORE THING

From February 2012

Yes, folks, I'm taking up knitting. 

And by "taking up" I mean, I bought all the stuff, and I have YouTube. 

It's going AWESOME. I've gotten as far as what is referred to as "casting on." This is different than casting I have done in the theater. This involves string and a pointy stick. Just one. 

But that part is done and now I'm supposed to use TWO needles. I don't QUITE understand the YouTube on this point, so if I could ever EVER convince Ez that bedtime is HAPPY time, maybe just maybe I could figure it out? 

And did you know there is "English" knitting and "Continental" knitting? What the heck? 

I just want to do cute things with yarn! 

Sewing is wonderful, I really do enjoy it. But it's not a "pick it for a 5 minutes" type of hobby. It takes great prep and time, and resources. I feel like knitting could be something I just pick up, knit (OR PURL????) a row, lay it down, and come back later, ya know? Sort of a hobby on the go. My current hobby on the go is checking the Facebook on my phone.... not terribly fulfilling ifyouknowwhatImean. 

So, wish me luck, friends, I'm off to knit (OR PURL?)! 

Octobrrrrr

Oh October! I love you!

Today we prepared for the frost. (Dear Frost, see you tomorrow!)

From October 2011

We ate delicious soup and delicious (OHMYGOSH) bread twists. (OH MY GOSH!)

We carved our pumpkins and danced to spooky music. Henry kept turning off more lights. "IT NEEDS TO BE MORE SPOOKY!"

From October 2011

From October 2011

From October 2011

From October 2011

From October 2011

From October 2011

Our dancing of course inevitably turned silly and became a wrestling match/chase. Our new house is a circle on the main floor, thus facilitating such activities.

"Mom!" asked Spencer, "What kind of monster eats brains?" he called as he chased Henry.

"A zombie!" I said with great authority.

"NO!" he replied on another lap around the house. "Zombies drink blood! Henry! I'm going to eat your brains!" he said as he looped.

"Nope, vampires drink blood. Zombies eat brains" I quipped on lap three.

Boys. I mean, really?

Tomorrow, it will be COLD and I'm planning on unpacking some boxes, chopping some firewood and doing school around the fireplace. And more soup. OF COURSE more soup!

Doesn't that sound perfect?

Doesn't that sound cozy? You're welcome to drop by!

Art, Reframed

Kids (all kids, I think) love to display the things they create. Heck, so do grown-ups! When the boys create something "artsy" they want to show it off. Our walls/fridge have served us well the past year of home schooling, but um, I realized we needed to make different arrangements when Spencer stapled (23 times) to the wall a piece of paper with a tiny bit of art on it.

Don't believe me? Think I'm exaggerating?

Exhibit A:

From August 2011

Overkill much?

So, I started combing the interwebz for options for "kids art displays" many featured frames and clothes pins and other lovely homey type things.

Then the thrift store came to my rescue. What's that? A giant, glass-less frame for 10 dollars? Don't mind if I do! Excuse me? Krylon spray paint? Oh, yes please! Clothes pins? I'll just rob ma clothes line! Wire? Home Depot, you got my back!

And thus the "kid art picture frame" was born. I just painted it, sanded it to make it look less, erm, nice. Cuz really, "nice" doesn't stand a chance around here. And then I attached a picture frame hanging kit three times to the back. It's pretty, and messed up a bit and uneven, and well, exactly as it should be.

Not too shabby. Just shabby enough to fit in around here. I had the boys draw me some stuff to put up for picture taking. They came through... kind of. "This is you when you're angry, Mom," says Henry.

Hmm.

Alas, can't win them all.

Here it is folks: $15 dollars.

From August 2011

Love the shadow-y phone pics. Sigh, my SD card for my camera is MIA.

But, regardless of craptastic photography, I am in LOVE with it. LOVE. 

So, there. Yup, I have no conclusion to this post. 

How to Make Your Boot Stand Up Straight

So, I had this pair of knee high black leather boots when I was 18. They were the ONE thing I had wanted for my birthday, and my sweet parents obliged. I got a lot of dates when I wore those bad boys to church...

ANYWAY! I owned those beauties until my darn feet grew a size after three babies, and then they went to Goodwill. Sad day.

Recently, they have been replaced with a new pair, albeit brown, loves of my life.

From May 2011

I am striving to make sure they last a good long time to justify the PRICE of said boots.

And dontcha hate it when your boots bend at the ankle, effectively putting permanent creases in your leather?

Me too.

I read this tip in some magazine like 10 years ago and have been a fan every since.

Ready? You will need: Boots and 2 magazines.

Roll up the magazines.

From May 2011

Stick them inside your boots.

From May 2011

Viola.

From May 2011

Less storage space taken up AND your boots stay pretty for longer.

From May 2011

You're welcome.

The Day That Won't End

From May 2011

My poor sick baby! He's got his first cold, Ezra does, and this results in making my life, erm, I mean HIS life miserable. No lie you guys, last night, well, I suppose it was this morning, we were both up watching "Friends" on DVD from 3-5 am. Not my favorite, but at least "Friends" is funny. And now, here we are at 9:14pm and he waffles from happy and playful to coughing like a chain smoker, to crying because darn it all he's tired. But he is fighting it, and nursing and making me NUTS!

Oh but I love him.

From May 2011

Today during a fussy, sick moment, I sat down at the piano with him and banged out a tuneless minuet. He seemed to enjoy that. Until he cried.

From May 2011

He's just sad.

And you guys, could you send some prayers to my house? Not just for the sick baby, but general happy "good" prayer-thoughts? We need them.

Dontcha love it when bloggers are VAGUE and don't give you any details?

Sorry about that.

In other news tonight I told the kids we could paint only to discover our paint brushes had gone missing. No matter.

From May 2011

Pipe cleaners sufficed just fine. 

Commence praying. 

Cheap Frame Redo

I bought these GORGEOUS prints and needed something simple and um, basically cheap or free way to frame them. So, I measured 'em up real nice and took my handy tape measure to the DI (Mormon-land's version of "Goodwill" and found some frames that were close in size.

Then I made them MINE! 

From May 2011

(Don't be JEALOUS of the artwork. YES those are ground hogs hugging and YES that is one of those RAD velvet marker posters...)

First: Take the darn thing apart, remove the HIDEOUS artwork and do what you want with it. Keep the cardboard backing. You're going to need it. 

From May 2011

Sand the frame. Use a light grit because really, these are cheap little frames and they can't handle a rough grit. Just enough to keep the paint sticking.

From May 2011

Paint it. I went with black due to the artwork I have and well, I had it. I used regular old craft paint. Again, it's what I had. I used a little foam brush. It was very easy.

From May 2011

Lay the frame to dry. 

Next take fabric of your choice and lay it under the cardboard backing. Cut the fabric to be about an inch or two larger than the cardboard all the way around. 

From May 2011

Tape the fabric tautly once on each side. I used masking tape. It works.

From May 2011

Hot glue the entire piece of fabric all the way around, pull it taut as you go. Make sure it's nice and smooth, and tight as you go. NO wrinkles!

From May 2011

Next, center the art work on the front side and tape it down with masking tape. Don't glue it! What if you change your mind later? This is re-doable for Heaven's sake! 

From May 2011

Wash the glass, and put the frames back together. 

Hang and enjoy.

From May 2011

This entire project cost me $6.00, plus the cost of the art. 

Nice, huh? 

So, before you think you need to spend bazillion of dollars on expensive framing, try the DIY repurpose way. If you hated spending marginal amounts of money for a nice project, then goodness, go and get it professionally done! You have my permission. 

In My Garden

I have been back and forth and back and forth on this whole gardening thing. For the first thing, it's a lot of work. My yard is a DISASTER! It's obvious there's been a garden back there at some point, but I think it's been years.

On the other hand, ya'll, I freaking LOVE GARDENING! LIKE a lot.

So, today, the weather, oh it was beautiful, and the babies woke up happy from their naps, and I discovered you can buy hand tillers, to turn the ground over.

An $80 trip to Lowe's and some serious sweat and work from me AND my three handy helpers and this is where we are at tonight:

From May 2011

Three strawberry plants and two tomato plants in very cracked, dry soil that we turned to  mud with some organic plant food mixed in. 

The plot is TINY. I have plans to fill it with carrots and maybe beans. Then I want to turn over another little spot in a different spot of the yard for peas and peppers. 

Oh how I love it! We were muddy, and dirty and sweaty and we went to Mickey D's for dinner to celebrate our triumph. I did have to clarify that we are NOT going to McDonald's every single time we work in the garden. This was a ONE TIME DEAL. 

They were cool with that. :) 

I love gardening. I love the soil and the toil. I love literally reaping the benefits of sweet tomatoes and crisp sugar peas. I love it all. It's hard work, and often it's hot, but it's so worth it. Besides what a great teaching and learning opportunity it is! Today we talked about bugs and worms and how some are good for gardens and some are bad.  It was a blast. 

Last summer, great with child, many MANY mornings, Spencer and I would slip out to the garden before anyone else was up and gather the things that had ripened in the sun the day before. It was so special, and I cherished that time. In the early evenings Henry and I would water everything and Oliver would "help." Derek would wash produce within an inch of it's life to assure quality and that it was bug free. It was perfect. 

 This summer, I'm hoping that something grows and even more memories in my garden with my boys.

P.S. Ezra is five months old today. 5 months on 5-5. Cool. :)  

How to Get Organized--Papers Edition

Okay, so I have this...erm...problem. See, when papers come into our home, I tend to just stash them somewhere "out of the way", be that the top of the fridge, behind the bread box, in a pile on top of the entertainment center... you get the idea.

In fact, I asked Derek the other day, "Don't you just love that my current organizational system is 'stick it up high somewhere so no one can get to it?'" And indeed, he said he did love it.

I do not, however. It was starting to make me crazy. So, over the course of two days, (yes because it takes me two days to do anything lately) I collected all my stashes of paper and  other office-type items in a box.

From January 2011

Then I bought a big binder and a three-hole-punch (I really thought we had one... but my organizational skills... well, you get the idea.)

And VIOLA! An organized office space. It's GREAT! See?

From January 2011

From January 2011

The tabs are:

Home/House

Bills

Insurance

Taxes

School

Derek

Morgan 

Kids

Church

And now when a paper comes in, if it's important, it goes STRAIGHT in the binder. This is especially important because we are collecting W2s this time of year. SEVEN W2s to be exact. RIDICULOUS. 

Now, I feel all organized and happy. I know where important papers are, rather than having to call places and ask for NEW phone bills (which I have totally had to do before!). 

I am quite proud of my little binder. The key, I think is going to be MAINTAINING it. 

Sigh. 

In other news, Oliver has taken to calling "pineapples" "bubble-pines." HAHAHAHAH!

Fun with Crafting

(I'm at MMB today sharing a lovely and embarrassing story!)

From January 2011

Why is my back door wide open on a cold January day?

Same reason every surface of my kitchen is covered in this "dust."

From January 2011

Derek works Saturdays. It's kind of a bummer, but at the same time, he gets Mondays "off" (he still works from home) so it all evens out. But when the whole rest of the world is enjoying Saturdays as a weekend day, it's hard to not get depressed.

So, this past Saturday the babies were down for naps (Ezra in his bed! Weird!) and so the bigger boys wanted to do something "fun." Sigh. I pulled out the clay and we made beads and robots and flowers and all sorts of other beautiful creations. My intention was to glue magnets to the back and we'd have a whole slew of kid-made magnets. What could be better, right?

RIGHT!

It was fun indeed.

I set them in the oven to "bake" for five minutes and ran downstairs to check something... probably Facebook, but shall we pretend it was laundry?

I went up after five minutes to find my entire house filled with a lovely black-ish smoke. I ran into the kitchen to find said black smoke billowing from my oven. I looked in and saw our clay creations aflame.

At this point I thought unto myself, "Oh @#$%" and promptly turned off the oven. The fire continued. I considered leaving the door shut and letting the fire burn itself out, but it was GROSS and STINKY and was not stopping any time soon.

So, I got to use my fire extinguisher! Of course that was after I threw FLOUR on the fire. That made it worse. For some reason, I thought "gas" fires were the same as "grease" fires. However it was neither of those. It was a "CLAY" fire and good ole H2O would have worked just fine. But whatever.

Then I couldn't remember WHERE the fire extinguisher was. Give me a break, we've only lived here for two months.

I remembered it was under the sink. The under the sink cupboards were, at this moment in time, completely blocked by my portable dishwasher, which was whirling away happily.

Black smoke continued to fill my house. My throat was burning by this time.

I pulled the hose off the faucet and sent water spraying everywhere and heaved the darn thing out of the way. I dug under the sink and found my extinguisher. I pulled the pin, aimed and pulled the lever.

Nothing happened.

The flames continued to dance happily on the cookie sheet in my oven.

What the heck? I pushed harder on the lever.

NOTHING.

I stopped and decided to read the directions on the extinguisher.

1. Remove pin. CHECK!
2. Aim below flames. CHECK!
3. Push lever downwards. CHECK!

So, I just pushed HARDER!

And nothing.

My throat was really hurting now. Synthetic clay burning fumes is NOT a pleasant smell nor is the smoke it creates.

FINALLY! One more pull and whoosh! The flames were extinguished. GAG! The dust from the extinguisher does not feel good being breathed in either.

One more good WHOOSH to make sure, and the fire was out. For some weird reason, the powder flew EVERYWHERE, all over the kitchen.

I then opened all the doors and got all the fans going. My house was gray, smoky, stinky mess.

Nice, huh?

From January 2011

Oh, the hazards of arts and crafts. It took ALL DAY to clear the smoke, and now, three days later, every time I return home, I can still smell the stench of the fire. GROSS!

Can we take a moment and discuss the serious LACK of smoke detectors in this house? So far I can find ONE and it's in the basement. Yeah, super helpful. Apparently, we need more, because this old house is really just a box of matches waiting for one more craft project to go arye. Right? Right.

Blessed be, my oven still works and nothing was permanently damaged, except my cookie sheet which went to Heaven.

Henry cried when he discovered I had burned up his beloved clay creations. Yeah, sorry 'bout that.

All in all, totally NOT worth it. I think we need cable.

Once More, With Feeling!

From January 2011

Please ignore the bodacious tatas in this picture. There's just no helping it these days...

So, remember my necklace made by Henry? Well, thanks to mastitis (OUCH!) I was totally down and out for the count yesterday. So, since I was "SO SO SO sick!" Henry made me a new one.

And he's improving. He made this one "Long enough to get off, so you don't have to cut it!" and he used a chesnut and he painted it. Then he covered up the paint with duct tape. He was sad about that tidbit. But regardless, his Etsy store is slowly becoming a reality. :)

And thank goodness for 1. Echinacea 2. Vitamin C 3. Sleep and 4. A willing baby to NURSE like it's going out of style, I am feeling 80% better. YAY! But still, I do not recommend the condition, as a rule. After being out of commission for ONE DAY my house looks like a tornado went through it. Luckily, it's a small house.

Happy Weekend ya'll.

Crafting with Kids!

Yesterday we didn't go anywhere. Well, Derek did, but somebody has to bring home the bacon (and a 44 oz Diet Coke!). It was so cold outside, I had zero interest in loading up all those children of mine to go anywhere. Besides, I didn't have anywhere to go.

But half way through the day, I did decide I needed a new skirt. Really I did! I have a gift card to Joann's too... so of course I spent a solid five minutes trying to decide how bad the snow outside was, and was it worth the four kid circus to go? I decided it was not.

Instead I cut up some second hand bedsheets (I bought them for my bed for after Ezra was born in case anything got... messy... sorry, TMI! Alas, the elastic was shot so they wouldn't stay on the bed...) and turned them into a skirt.

It was bananas, by the way. Please picture: Ezra in the Moby, Spencer putting pins from one pin cushion to another, Henry "sewing" something, and Oliver crying because I won't let him do ANYTHING FUN! Me, inventing a skirt out of a HUGE bedsheet, with no pattern, and truly no idea what size I am anymore, and how long did it really need to be?

From December 2010

(Stupid fuzzy photo!)
INSANE.

But oddly, fun.

In the end, I'm not entirely certain that the skirt is wearable. It's sort of a funny yellow-ish/creamish color, and the hem... oh my word. The hem would make anyone who looks too closely at it cry. It's hideous. The hem is always last, you see, and by then, it was dinner time, I was trying to nurse Ez in the sling WHILE sewing, and well, at that point Oliver had migrated.

See?

From December 2010

And he strongly felt the need to "help." Not my favorite. 

But the skirt fits in the waist. So, perhaps I use it as a PROTOTYPE and go to Joann's today... what do we think?? Yes? I mean, it's not snowing right this minute... Hmmm.....

It's.... MONDAY!

Well. Let me tell you, it is MONDAY! MONDAY! MONDAY! MONDAY!

This is fine and all. Really, the days of the week mean almost nothing other than to help determine which job Derek is at and when for the kids. So, MONDAY!

Monday means grocery shopping though, and has for a while. See, if I can make it til Monday, then I can get everything I need at a NON-busy time because it's MONDAY!

Monday also means school for the boys and family home evening. All beautiful.

Today meant me getting to sleep in a bit thanks to a headache that nearly killed me (I took more drugs than pregnant people are supposed to take, but my gosh, I was dying!) and it's still there, lingering but much better. If I have one real pregnancy complaint, it's headaches. My goodness. But Derek herded the monkeys until I stumbled out, hang-over style at almost 9:00am. That was nice of him considering that they were up at 6:00am. (My kids don't really like me, and act like absolute hooligans first thing in the morning. Didja know that?)

This weekend marked SNOW SNOW SNOW which the boys absolutely love,

From Nov 2010

and I feel a bit conflicted over. I love fall, but winter and I haven't really come to a conclusion yet. I like it, but do I love it? So, the snow is supposed to fall until Wednesday, just in time for Turkey-festivities. That'll be good.

So, see? This week has promise already.

This weekend, Derek decided to do a birth-pool-dry-run since the last time took him longer than he wanted. I came home from a quick store run (I couldn't wait until Monday, we needed milk!). And I found this.

From Nov 2010

Apparently, my cheapo fishy pool is quite comfortable.

We also hosted dinner on Sunday night which was a blast and the boys made their aunt and uncle run around and play hide-and-seek and horsie repeatedly. I love it when OTHERS entertain my children. LOVE! Plus, it was fun for us too. See? See my crazy brother? You wish he was YOUR crazy brother. Hands off though, he's jail-bait.

From Nov 2010

So, if I don't talk to you until after the holiday of Thanks, then be safe, don't eat TOO much and have a good time.

Did you know?

Apparently, I'm "crafty."

Yup, it's true.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm not so good with looking at a pile of "crafting" materials and magically seeing what their potential is. HA! Not at all.

But, I am an awfully good copy cat. If I want something I find on the internets, or wherever, unless it involves power tools (which I don't own), I can figure out a version that is cheaper.

Case and point: These very cute little boy watches. My boys love watches because Daddy has a watch. (Mommy has been through many watches over the years and is now resigned to using the clock on her cell phone.) But I wasn't interested in spending the $8.50 a piece on them.  Plus,I had everything I needed at home.

And while mine are NOT as well done or as cute, they took an hour from start to finish (for 2!) and the boys are in LOVE.

From February 2010

So there, I'm crafty.

It's all in an effort to save money, live more simply and basically. It's a part of our NYR (remember, food vs edible crap?).We're finding that SO much of what we want/need is actually just "edible" crap. Things we CAN use because we have them, but not things we MUST use.

And no, felt watches are not something we NEEDED, but the fact that I was able to thrill my lil' dudes for free is pretty great, in my opinion.

Now, I'm off to craft peanut butter and jelly sandwiches... at least the bread is homemade. :)