This and That

I've been meaning to post some of these for a while. The little free time I get I either spend on the computer blogging or sewing. I have about 10 outfits going right now and so my free time has gone to sewing. :-)

But here are some from our wonderful Easter with Robert's family. There are 6 grandchildren with another on the way in a few weeks!!!

We hunted easter eggs at a park near Roberts parent's house and the just hung out all weekend. It was awesome. The kids played and played with their cousins and we ate some good food. Some much needed family time! Can't wait to do it again!



Landon, Brandon, Lillian, Mimi, Kenzie, Abbey, and Olivia (Addison is due April 23rd)


I mean, there is no hope of getting a great shot of 6 kids 10 and under is there?





At least no one was scared this year. I'm sure next year, Lillian won't like it.

I was a little scared of this easter bunny - my what big teeth, mouth, and eyes you have....

What Are The Odds....SERIOUSLY!!!!!!

I know I haven't had a post in a while. I guess not much was happening over this way. Either my kids were being especially well behaved OR they were saving up for something especially shocking and special. Let's just say it's the latter of the two.

So, I'm just going to throw some things out there first. What do you think the odds of a 3 year old figuring out how to drive a golf cart? Ok, maybe not too high for some.

What do you think the odds are of a 3 year old driving a golf cart into a parked car. Again, may not be that high with some kids (depending on their personality), but still higher than the last odds.

Switching gears. What do you think the odds are of you ever seeing an Aston Martin ($185,000 car) just sittin' around? I've never seen one before in real life...ever.

Now, what do you think the odds are of a 3 year old almost driving a golf cart into the first Aston Martin you've ever seen? I'm just going to guess - shockingly high.

And then I'd say, Landon officially conquered those odds. I've never seen my husband look so scared to death in his life than after he physically grabbed the golf car and manhandled it away from a car that cost more than our house and two cars combined!

After church on Sunday, we had a lovely lunch with my family - sister and brother in law included! The kids ate well and didn't get into too much trouble. (I should have known thing things were eerily weird). We go outside and while the valet was bringing my parent's car up, we let Landon and Olivia sit in one of the golf carts parked near the porticache - of course, completely supervised by Robert and Mac (my brother in law). Totally unaware that the key was in the cart and the golf cart was on, Robert and Mac were chatting and heard the brake "clunk" off. Before they even knew it, they were stopping the cart however they could - i.e. throwing their bodies between the goft cart and car. (note: they are in coat and tie)

I was more scared about my kids getting thrown off of the golf cart and into the road than any parked cars. That is until we realized what kind of car it was!!! When I told Robert that I was more worried about them getting hurt, his response was, "I have insurance on them - I don't have insurance on a 3 year old driving a golf cart into an Aston Martin!"

Robert said on our way home that the look in Landon's eyes was priceless. He also had a look of shock and awe. Like, he knew that wasn't supposed to happen - and he wasn't trying to make it happen either.

Thanks goodness it wasn't Lacey and I standing there in our Sunday dresses! And that it was Mac and Robert who were physically strong enough to stop the runaway golf cart with my precious cargo in it.

Oh, and if you're wondering what an Aston Martin looks like, I was able to snap a picture.


Luckily, no one (or car) was injured in this freak accident/event.

Shameless Plug

Just plugging my hubby again! :-)

The Southern Fried Accountant

He's a great writer and has promised to blog more! :-) YAY

Mmmm.....YUM

Even without teeth...this girl likes to eat!


Yes, that's RAW mushrooms she's chowin' down on. And actually seemed to like.



Again, here is RAW pasta. Mmmm...........crunchy.

Guess They Forgot One

I just happened to open this drawer in my room today - my makeup junk drawer. Glad I did - can you spot the problem??


Remember how I said Landon had a sports-themed easter egg pack? Can you spot the football easter egg. I almost didn't. Can you imagine how that would have smelled when we got back from out of town????? Ew. Guess when they were playing 'easter bunny' they forgot where they hid one. I hope there aren't anymore out there!!!

Thanks Carrie!!

One of my friends Carrie saw I was sewing and suggested a new pattern for Lillian! I had some patterns but she's just do darn tiny they were too big for her. So I ran out and got the Taylor pattern by Children's Corner that she told me about and it's PERFECT!! Thanks so much Carrie for suggesting it - it was SO easy and exactly what I was looking for! I even whipped one up today with scrap fabric. But it turned out so cute I just might have to keep it and monogram it! :-)



I think what is so funny about this story is that Carrie is a newlywed (and no kids yet) and is taking a sewing class to learn how to make kids clothes!! Awesome! She will be very happy with what she learned when she has kids! :-)

Easter Egg Fun

Wednesday we did nothing but hang out at the house. We even stayed in our pjs all day. It was glorious. We dyed easter eggs too!









Landon had a sports themed pack and Olivia's was glitter eggs. By the way, I don't recommend - the glitter is everywhere! It also ended up all over Lillian too...hmmmmm.

They did great! It kept them occupied for quite a while. Landon thought the little tablets were candy and had a little taste. For a second I thought I was going to have to call poison control again. BUT, the smart people as PAAS created food based, non-toxic colored tabs! :-) He just had a blue mouth all day.

HAPPY EASTER!

For My Girls

I'm not sure if it's the spring weather or the fact that I can even find time to sew again. It could also be because my good friend Morningsong started a sewing blog Pulling Thread.

But I am just itchin' to sew!!! I've been cruisin' the fabric stores but haven't purchased anything. I get so overwhelmed. I think because I don't want to make a poor decision in fabrics!! I'm not the best at putting together fabrics but you just have to get out there and try.

But I had some time "alone" - meaning one child or less - and I got to hit up Hancock Fabrics with sweet Lillian!!! I love all the spring fabrics. The bright colors and patterns - I could literally sew clothes for my girls all day and be happy!!

Horrible picture - the yellow and blue are small polka dots. And the stripes are a pique fabric. Oh well - I'll get a picture when they're done. :-)



So, like my friend's blog Pulling Thread, I bought fabric and have the first step over with.

My goal is to make a reversible dress for Olivia and a reversible bubble for Lillian. I haven't decided on trim or monogramming yet (thinking about pom-poms on Olivia's dress and eyelet on Lillian's bubble at the bottom, with rick rack trim up top). One step at a time. But I can't wait to match them! Next step is to find something that coordinates the three kiddos. It's hard to find gender neutral fabrics in my opinion. Plus girls clothes are SO much more fun to make, partly because I think they enjoy it as well. Olivia loves to see what fabric I've picked out for her. She also adores to match Lillian.

Stay tuned!!!

1-800-292-6678

Poison control is officially in my speed dial! Had a little scare Monday. I was at my parent's house (first excuse) and I put Lillian on the ground to go look out the front of the house for Olivia's ride to church. Apparently cleaning supplies were sitting on her ground that I didn't see (second excuse). Two seconds later (isn't that how it always is) I came back to see her with Comet in her hands. She had tried to turn it up like a cup and there was a little powder on her bottom lip.

I immediately scoop her up and proceed to practically drown her in the kitchen sink and rinse her mouth out. Then I ran upstairs to ask 'registered nurse' mother if she thinks I should call poison control. I knew she hadn't ingested A TON of it but still, you can't be too careful.

We called and they asked a few questions then said she'd probably be fine. Just give her some water and watch her, etc.

I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with them. They take your name and number and call you back in an hour to check on the baby!! They were extremely helpful.

I was trying to think if I'd ever called poison control before and I don't think I have. I want to say I recall Olivia eating Desitin before - but I think I called the number on the back of the tube. Can't quite remember.

But I have the number now!! I probably should plug in Children's Hospital number as well. Just in case. :-) Being totally outnumber and only having 2 eyes for 3 kids, something is bound to happen! Guess I'll step up my prayers of protection over my family too. :-)

Finished In No Time

I finally got around to cutting out and sewing Landon's shorts Sunday afternoon. I finished 3 pairs start to finish (well almost) in probably about an hour!! Like I said, these are ridiculously easy to sew.


All I have to do is put elastic in two of them - which requires pretty much no sewing! Then I just need some cute t-shirts to go with them. And some bigger red keds!!! :-)

Now if I could only get him to let me take a picture of him in them..............

Are We Nuts???

I think this beautiful weather has gotten to our heads! We've been outside SO much it has forced us to come up with creative ways to entertain ourselves in nature - or at least in our driveway.

We love riding toys - especially ones that can be enjoyed outside of the house! :-) We have a few that the kids really enjoy playing on almost daily. I guess after a while, you are impelled to find new ways of enjoying your "old" toys. Leave it up to my choleric/melancholy husband to propose an extremely safe ::please note the sarcasm:: way to spice up the riding toys.

He built a ramp to ride them over. This is what we got.



Yes, that's my grown husband on a tiny children's bike.

And here are some of the other toys they decided to test over the ramp.



I guess it was fun to take anything that had wheels over this homemade ramp!

Oh, and here's a pic of Lillian - can't leave her out! She's a bit too young to participate in these silly activities!!!

Photos 2

I have almost 600 pictures that she gave me....so there are TONS! Here are just a handful!

Mary Margaret, you're great!

Special Photos

A long time friend recently photographed the kids! Her name is Mary Margaret Chambliss. She is awesome - she's a photographer for Southern Living and was so kind to do this in her (little) spare time! Thank you Mary Margaret! I look forward to some more photograph sessions with you - next time with all 5 of us!

She did this as a surprise for Robert. It was so much fun! Hard to keep our mouths shut though! :-) She did a great job at capturing their little personalities!

One More Time

Robert is tryin' again! I think this will be much better blogging approach for him.

Check him out at The Southern Fried Accountant



I just may have to help out his blog layout as well...we'll see if he lets me! :-)

Shake Up

The time has come. No more sympathy. The babe has got to learn to sleep in her crib....all night long. I'm finally ready to make the transition permanently for Olivia and Lillian to share a room. Yes, everything was working fine, but I found myself really missing my mornings alone before everyone's awake.

It started Friday night when Olivia spent the night out. We decided to put Lillian in there since it was vacant. What we realized is that she isn't used to sleeping in there. New room, not as bright, bed she doesn't sleep in much, etc. But the next morning I realized it was so nice to walk into the den knowing I wasn't going to wake anyone up!!!

So...in order for her to get used to it - i.e. have a few nights of "crying it out" - we are putting Landon and Olivia in the same room. Of course, they were thrilled. The excitement made it hard to go to sleep. There was also a consequence for every time either of them got up and walked around. Let's just say, it took Landon a few times to get the picture. But we were consistent and it payed off.

Lillian's night (Friday night) was not as quiet as I'd like. Though, I didn't give in to her. She can be quite a little strong willed thing! Saturday night was a little bit better. Sunday night, I didn't hear a peep out of her - but she may have still woken up. Not sure.

Olivia and Landon are still pretty excited. It takes them a while to settle in. I'm sure it will get old soon. :-)

I hoping that this transition doesn't take long. I know kids share rooms all the time, but do they get all the sleep that they need? Anyway, this is unchartered territory for me. But I'm ready to tackle it head on!

I picked a crazy weekend to start this - with the time change and all! It always takes us a couple of days to get adjusted! Oh well.

Horsey

What To Sew, What To Sew

Last year during the last few months of my pregnancy, all I did was sew sew sew! I loved it. I made Olivia so many cute dresses. The fun part was seeing how cheap I could make them. I even made them several matching outfits - with Landon's being a john john and Olivia's an a-line dress. But this year, I'm not so sure the john john is going to be the best for him. Being potty trained now (yay) he needs to be able get his clothes on and off pretty easily.

So, I thought it would be fun to make him a bunch of cute shorts. Then get some cheap tops from Target or Wallyworld and monogram them or get an applique put on. The cute fabric shops here can quickly run up your credit card. I mean at $14/yard, I can buy the stinkin' shorts!

So...instead of the rather expensive fabrics ($14/yd) like these from a shop here in town: (Which are all extremely cute I might add!!)


I found these.



Each of these cost me $1.50. And I could probably make them for even less. (I think I got too much fabric.) HELLO!? I'm not even sure I could buy cute shorts for $1.50...even if they are on clearance at Walmart! Next, I'll try to find a few colored shirts to mix and match with his name or initials on them! Put some red keds on him and there's my sweet boy! Lord knows he won't let me do this to him much longer. ;-)

Another thing I would love to do is to make the three kids at least one matching outfit. It's very hard, in my opinion, to find gender neutral fabrics. I might just have to find something blue and put frills on the girls outfits! The only thing is Lillian is set for life being Olivia's little sister. She doesn't need a thing.

Watch out sewing machine, here I come. Now, if I can just find my shorts pattern..........