Coming Soon...

soulemamma mentioned a "ruffler" on her blog... I was thinking about it all day yesterday as I gathered... and gathered... and gathered... layers of skirts and dresses. This morning I looked at Bernina.com and found a little foot that will change my life. Now I just have to wait till our local Bernina dealer opens and make my way with my gang to the store...
We made the cutest skirts and now we need to embelish Wal-Mart shirts to match the skirts... here are our ideas. Grey found these cute lamp shades at PBTeen (see above)... cute shirts?!
And, Cally at calico made her little one these cute embroidered shirts (see below)... I need to stop at Wal-Mart to get some cute lace trim, ric-rak and shirts... I think I'm going to let my girls stitch a shirt for themselves to go with one of their play skirts... so fun, so fun!

this is the BEST website

yeah- these will be my girls... tomorrow. I downloaded these two patterns and I have about 5 more patterns that I want to download. You know the saying, my eyes are bigger than my stomach... my eyes are bigger than my wallet and the hours in the day. :)

OK- you know that i'm one who obsesses... I have an idea and I want to do it NOW, I hate having to wait. SO, I'm so excited!! I found the BEST website-- it has all kinds of pattern that you can download. I downloaded two and they are exactly what I wanted. NOT TOO HARD, just like a blog with pictures and a few pattern pieces to show me how to make the clothes that I probably could have figured out on my own but was too scared.

http://www.youcanmakethis.com/

Yeah, I'm excited... Can I really wait till tomorrow to start these projects???!!!

girl clothes i'm making... tomorrow

seriously... i got my other obsessive friend Grey to meet me at the store and we bought funky fabric and... tomorrow we create... i can just taste it

love fabric!!

These are the cute clothes that I want to make from the cute fabric I found... I'm so scared of clothes because I really don't know how to sew-- quilting, not scarey cause it's straight lines... clothes... scarey... LOOK HOW CUTE!!

mmm... I just found this cute site to buy Japanesse fabric http://www.superbuzzy.com/ I love it! I want to finish all the quilts I've started and find an adorable pattern and buy cute fabric online from Japan... mmm... I love fabric!

Little Quilts Projects I Love...

Cute huh!? The bottom two quilts are from one of my favorite quilt designers, Cherie Saffiote-Payne, she's published by Indygo Junction. If I had no children at home I think I'd quilt all day long. With kids at home, I quilt all night (and listen to Georgette Heyer books on tape). :)

Books-- I Hate Them and Love Them

Some days I'm grateful that I'm obsessive... I get a lot done.

Some days I hate it. Like today. I spent the morning with the kids, laid Leah down for a nap, and then spend the rest of the day finishing the book I got at the Library yesterday. It's not even an enjoyable, relaxing read. It's obsession... I have to resolve the conflict.

This book was about a girl who got raped, a mother who was having an affair, and an unhappy father who had an altogether hidden background identity. I like Jodi Picoult because she is intellectual. I can't guess the plot lines. But this book. I HATED!! When I was done reading it I yelled at my kids, ate chocolate and reminded myself what a boring life I had. Then I realized that I wasn't really depressed, I was just in a book funk. I HATE SAD ENDINGS!! I am banking on a happily ever after. It is such an ingrained part of who I am... difficult children, bad days, times of trial... I live my life knowing that in the end "All these things will work together for my good." I don't want to think about people with crappy lives who make crappy decisions and live crappily ever after... no matter how well the book is written.

Anyway, I do have a good Georgette Heyer book on tape that I'm going to listen to while I quilt tonight. Even though I can tell you the plot of everyone of her books (Rich Rascal falls in love with Poor Ravishing Beauty, he marries her despite her whit and lack of noble heritage). Good always wins out, women with a mind of their own are cherished, and of course there is that breathtaking kiss on the last page that makes me want to roll over and make out with my own dashing husband. And we all live HAPPILY EVER AFTER...

Swimming, swimming...

OK, so we live in Texas, and we have a nice pool. Outside it is 103*, you would think it would be a perfect day at the pool. NO!! There is this wind- the west wind- it shakes your house and makes waves in the water. The kids are in and out of the pool in shorter time than it took me to get them all ready to swim in the first place. And, my baby is a beast. She has NO FEAR!! She'll dive into the water, drown, and then jump in again. I have never believed in life vests (I think they give kids a false sense of safety in the water). Leah is my first child that wears one, seriously, she would die without it. Well, maybe not die- but I will tell you that I am one amazing pregnant mother to actually enter into that freezing cold water and supervise while the kids jump and splash all around me. I have to hold on to her without her knowing because she wants complete independence, until she gets flipped around and then "MOM! MAAAAHM!" Maybe my next baby will be shy and afraid. :)

Dirty Doorknobs...

My kids and I are in a race to see who can get our jammies on first... on my way into my bathroom (where my closet is) I grasped the doorknob and thought once again- I have got to clean this. Then I thought about it... how on earth do you get a dirty doorknob to a master bathroom? I envisioned a day when I may have set Leah in her highchair with a PB&J and went to get some alone time on the toilet with a book. Perhaps one chapter turned into two and my sweet four year old rescued Leah from her highchair- without washing her hands. I can hear my sweet Ellie talking in her baby voice to Leah, "Come on Wee-Ahhh yets go find our mommy," and Leah in her not so baby voice yelling, "MOM! MAAAAHHHHMMMM!" As she tries to open the door with her sticky fingers. There will be a day when my doorknobs are no longer sticky. I think I'll miss it. We just got back from music lessons- Anna has violin and Drew and Jakob have Piano. When I got to the studio I realized that Drew had on one sandal and one sneaker (He hurt one of his toes and said he had to have a sandal on it, I'm still not sure why he didn't choose two sandals). Jakob went to a friend's house last Thursday and played in the pool all day without sunscreen. He is fried and will not put on a shirt, but he's embarrassed. So, it took me 15 minutes to coax him out of the car. I always do Leah's hair before we leave, which means it is always sticking straight up in the air when we arrive and the little elastic bands I use are nowhere to be found. While we wait for lessons I read to Ellie for the 100th time, Barbie and Swan Lake. I think to myself, who takes the time to pose the dolls for these stupid pictures. Anna decides she will share her practicing treat with everyone except Ellie, because Ellie was whining. Which of course, makes Ellie whine more. And I think... I'm going to miss this. Life is hard, but so fun. I'm grateful for my dirty doorknob moments.

MMMM Mango

OK- I'll admit it, I'm from the North East and I have no idea how to eat a mango. We have managed to eat one before, but it was a mess. So, today I got a couple nice, ripe mangos from the store and I looked on You Tube for directions. This is my favorite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvLdPjpELyU

I love to eat Avacados now that I know how to slice them in half and scoop them out with a spoon. Mangos are my new favorite. I completely felt like a chef flipping them inside out. Sometime I'm going to invite friends over and serve them a mango flower appetizer.

Mmmm.... Mango

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue...

Roses are Red,

Violets are Blue

Please Flush the Toilet

When you are Through.

Today my kids memorized poems and practiced dramatic readings that I can video tape. Of course they liked the funny ones the best. We had a lot of fun with this website...

http://www.gigglepoetry.com/

Little Boy Blue, Please Cover Your Nose by Darren Sardelli Little Boy Blue,

Please cover your nose.

You sneezed on Miss Muffet

And ruined her clothes.

You sprayed Mother Hubbard,

And now she is sick.

You put out the fire

On Jack’s candlestick.

Your sneeze is the reason

Why Humpty fell down.

You drenched Yankee Doodle

When he came to town.

The blind mice are angry!

The sheep are upset!

From now on use tissues

So no one gets wet!

Nippy Nips the Dust

Nippy lived a short but happy life in our Tadpole aquarium. She was actually the first of our three tadpoles to grow legs and arms. Her tail was almost gone. We are afraid that she may have been poisoned... an overdose of tadpole food. But, the case is still under investigation.
We are comforted by the fact that her spirit is currently swimming in tadpole Heaven and that someday she will be resurrected. She was greatly loved and will be remembered hourly. Especially by Ellie who keeps reminding us, "Remember, Nippy died."
(Todd picked the burial spot- right under our bedroom window. He did explain to the kids that "Rest in Peace" means NO ONE CAN DIG HER UP!! Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts. I think next week our Family Home Evening will be on decomposing.) Another day in the life...

Happy Birthday to Drew!!

Our second child reaches age 8!!

Drew picked all three meals for his birthday, and because I'm such a good mother I indulged him.

Breakfast- Cereal

Lunch- Peanut butter and Honey Sandwiches

Dinner- Hot dogs and Mac N Cheese (from a box)

He got a new bike from Mom and Dad and new scriptures from Grandma and Grandpa Moss...

Drew is a joy, it has been so fun to watch him grow and mature. He has read the Book of Mormon and gained a testimony of it. We are all excited for his baptism day.

We LOVE Crayola Crayons...

Yeah, we made these! Can I tell you how many broken crayons came out of the kids' backpacks? I've always wanted to make Chubby Crayons and today, we did it.
STEP ONE- Peel and break the crayons into small pieces. Add 1/4 teaspoon of vegetable oil to each container.
STEP TWO- Melt for about 8 minutes in the oven on 275*.
STEP THREE- Wait for them to cool and the seriously just POP! right out of the tin. (Don't get nervous... just wait till they are completely cool...)

So Fun!! This was a great hour long project that just made a fun end to our school stuff organization.

A time for order...

OK, I'm ready for Monday... I went to the local teacher store and got this pocket chart for $10. I had to print out my own labels, but it was really fun thanks to microsoft office online clipart. Notice there are no times on my schedule, just an order to the day, except for music lessons. My kids are already excited for Monday to start and I don't think it will be a huge surprise to them that they can't watch TV all day.

These are our summer school work books. I actually went to a few different stores and then ended up buying them for $10 at Amazon. They have cute incentive charts and just one front and back page per day durning the summer.

Lazy, Crazy Summer Daze...

It's finally here!!

Today is the last day of school and I get my kids with me all summer!!

They are already planning the "books" that they are going to write and the plays they are going to perform.

Horray for summer!!

Hope I can enjoy every moment and not worry about my messy house...

Cowboy Up!

These are two baby quilts that my friend Grey Speed and I made.

It's really fun to live in a state that has a theme!

We love Texas!!

Welcome Frogs!

Announcing the arrival of TRIPLETS

(well, not really since two already have legs and one seems younger)

Princess, Cobra and Nippy...

The kids were mesmorized for hours-- it works better than Gameboys (almost).

Oh the joys!

Last week I got a blood transfusion... It's warm outside... Our pool is open... We are done with soccer and almost done with baseball... Life is good!! (Isn't this a cute picture? It's from www.tadpolesandteacups.com )

Getting Ready for SUMMER!!

I'm so excited for the summer! (Kindof...)
We are having a theme summer. "Doing Great Things"

We're starting with a unit on Creation "God Makes Great Things", then we're talking about some Old Testament prophets with a unity on "Men and Women Can do Great things with God's Help." I'm really excited about our unit on America (this July) "God Created a Great Land" and we're ending with a study of inventors with a unit "Many Men and Women Invented Great Things That Changed the World."

Ok, so I have to tell you some of the cool things we're doing. I just got in the mail a DVD set that my sister-in-law, Rebekah, told me about... It's a double collection of 10 DVDs- The Blue Earth (all about the ocean) and The Planet Earth (about the land). Normally each DVD is $20, but the whole set only cost me $45 on Amazon. (I almost bought the set at the bookstore for $90). The DVDs have a temple feel and are so beautiful. Already we watched the first one and I'm SO EXCITED!!

PUSH THIS LINK AND YOU CAN SEE A PREVIEW OF IT!!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/mLPZ40PL7GYCG:m3UIHP0352HUDZ

Planet Earth & The Blue Planet Seas of Life (Special Collector's Edition) by David Attenborough (DVD - Oct 2, 2007)
Buy new: $119.98 $85.99
56 Used & new from $46.82

And, we also ordered tadpoles by mail. I'm so excited! Try http://www.growafrog.com/ we ordered the tadventures kit for $25 on sale for mother's day. I think we'll get 3 little tadpoles that will grow into swimming dwarf frogs by the end of the summer. Someday we'll add them to an aquarium.

And, the boys are really excited to finally grow our crystal kit that we've been saving.

Tomorrow I'm going to the library to check out 20 books that I found in the online catalog about creation. We're going to talk about different religion and culture's ideas about creation.

I can't stand the thought of cleaning the house, doing laundry and fixing 3 meals a day being pregnant with 5 kids at home... I have to think of fun things to do or I'll go crazy. Hopefully, my kids will only remember these fun things and not the fact that they will be eating cereal for breakfast lunch and dinner the next few months. (It's fortified.)