The Apple Doesn't Fall Far

Just The Way He Likes It

A  little cold has the best of us right now....but I also see some teeth coming in!!!  Here's to it being fast and painless!!!

We Were Fancy!

I think the Good Lord above knew I couldn't handle 2 children's birthday parties in 18 hours. Because he sent a "snow storm" that forced us to postpone Landon's party!

Olivia's birthday morning was BEAUTIFUL! Blue, sunny skies with snow still scattered about....it made for a enjoyable drive to my mom's house. Who graciously let me use her space for Olivia's guests!

The table was set! Silver and all!




We got fancy. I donned a floral sequin dress (see a pattern here?!), diamond earrings, and a sequin headband!



We had enough "fancy" to go around!


The guests arrived and had their makeup done by non other than my professional make-up doer, my sis Lacey! She even got fancy too!


Nothing but the best of the best...Bare Escentuals and Sally Hansen!



The girls dined on petite chicken salad sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches cutout like crowns and presents, fresh fruit, cheese cubes, and cheesey chex mix. Then had a fancy drink with an umbrella as decoration!


After singing a couple of versions of "Happy Birthday" to the birthday girl, we downed some jewel crowned cupcakes!


I then read to them the book "Fancy Nancy" by Jane O'Connor.


They were PERFECT listeners! And knew ALL the fancy words!


Then Olivia opened presents. You could tell she felt so loved and special! It was impossible to get her girlfriends to back off of her...they couldn't get close enough! But I think Olivia loved it. :-)




We struck a "fancy pose" and then called it a day!



Her party went so well! Having that many little girls together (with only about 2 moms around) was much easier than I expected. They were all so incredibly well behaved and polite!

I wish had more pics but I pretty much played cook, hostess, and photographer the whole time.

I will say that I absolutely COULD NOT have pulled this off without my sister and mom!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for helping me!!!

Oh, and I took a 2.5 hour nap when I got home that day! Wore.Me.Out. :-)

10 Reasons

Why I love my Valentine.


1. He loves the Lord with all his heart.

2. He loves me. Even when I'm stubborn and selfish!

3. He purposefully takes time with each of our children to develop his relationship with them....teaching them about our Heavenly Father, while working to instill in them good character, integrity, and honesty.

4. He's funny....like real funny. I laugh A LOT around him.

5. He's cute. Ok...good looking. Ok....Like...REALLY HOT! I'll stop now. :-)

6. His work ethic. Wow. There aren't enough words. Disciplined. Determined. Hard-working. Dependable. Valuable. Insightful. Faithful. Honorable. Responsible....

just a few that come to mind.

7. Positive and respectful! Always has a smile on his face!

8. Clean - and I say this coming from a wife that isn't so neat and clean. I really appreciate how he can "neaten" up a room. Seriously, it's an art!

9. Patient. Ok, so he would probably disagree with me here. But I have to give him props. Knowing him for the past 9 years (or so), yes, his patience has triple-folded.
And what a GREAT character trait to possess.


10. And, we make some pretty cute kids together. That I thoroughly enjoy raising!!

I LOVE YOU ROBERT!!!

WILL YOU BE MY VALENTINE!?!

Well Whatta Ya Know

They got it right. The weathermen. On the ONE day, I really didn't want snow, it snowed.

We had to postpone Landon's birthday celebration. It didn't phase him a bit. (Another boy/girl difference - Olivia would have had a meltdown.)

But we got a few inches and braved the "cold" for a little bit to enjoy the rarity of this wintry bliss. (yeah right...that's why I live down south!)









It was only fittin' I put on my nicest fur vest (faux of course), yoga pants, and cowboy boots and go photograph the winter wonderland.




Snow angels!!!






Landon nailing Olivia with a snowball!




Robert nailing me with a snowball!!!




Notice huge blurry snowball in bottom right corner!


Ahh...VICTORY! He wouldn't have it any other way. :-)




And now, for a nice foot soak.




Wusses. If they only knew I was born in Minnesota. Well, if only I remembered being born in Minnesota! :-)

This Little Thumb

Is doing MUCH MUCH MUCH better!

When I tell you it was one of the most painful places to be hurt as a mom (or anyone for that matter), please take my word for it and don't test it yourselves.



I'm at 15 days post accident and if you think this looks bad, well, just be glad I didn't post any pics from a couple weeks ago.

Though I've lost of lot of skin off the top (I have to keep trimming it), I think one day...fingers crossed, it'll look normal again.


I've been "trying to not use my thumb" for so long now that I'm having to purposefully incorporate small tasks, such as cleaning out my left ear, buttoning kids coats, and channel surfing, to remind my thumb of the job it used to have. Other things like texting, buttoning snaps, and nose picking (just kidding) still hurt. But I see the light at the end of the tunnel - the new pink skin is coming in.



There is not much skin top sensation at the tip. Which is strange. It feels like a fake rubber tip. And I can press it and the whole tip just puts pressure on my whole finger. But it has stopped bleeding (which took forever) and is a WHOLE LOT less sensitive.


I'm just hoping it'll even out and be a round-tipped thumb again. Because right now, it's lopsided. :-(

Again, you never appreciate a part of your body until you are unable to use it!!

Thank you Lord for thumbs!! I use them ALLLLLLL the time!

Busy With Preps

Whew...where does time go!

Since my last sling post (which I find myself wearing whether Rhodes is in it or not) I got sick, celebrated the days my two oldest children were born and began preparing for TWO back-to-back birthdays. That will take place within 18 hours of each other.

Am I Crazy? Probably. Is it doable? I'll let you know. :-)

I know I didn't do "day of" birthday posts for the kiddos - Olivia and Landon's birthdays are February 5th and 6th, respectively. They turned SEVEN and FIVE.

O.M.G. Seriously, where does that kind of time go!?!?!


So...back to the birthday parties. Is is bad to tell you that this is the first, like, real, birthday party I've thrown for the kids. Scratch that, Olivia did have a 4 year old Chuck-E-Cheese party, but I didn't have to do a thang! But I've NEVER done 2 separate parties.

My plan (in my few short years as a mom), was to keep it small and simple (i.e. just family) until they were old enough to verbally ask to have a big party with friends.

Well, 2010 was the year. They knew what they wanted and were bold enough to ask.


SO.....without further ado, Olivia is having a "Fancy Nancy" party with all of her school girlfriends and then some other special friends. :-)



And Landon is having a camo bonfire party. Where they are cooking hotdogs and s'mores and having an outdoor scavenger hunt!!! :-) (Did you really think I would turn 10 little boys loose in my house.....ba-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!)



Robert dug out a fire pit in our back yard! Oh, and totally saved the grass as to put it back when we are done with The Pit. Can't have our yard all holey.

So, needless to say, it'll be pretty interesting with 10 little 5 year old boys at our house playing with fire.

Don't worry, I've already planned to have the water hose readily available and a fire extinguish at hand. :-)

So we are hoping everything gets off without a hitch!! I'm sure it will. Landon's party is done with planning and prepping. Boys are so easy. Easy peasy to please.

Girls, sheesh, there are so many details....and feelings to worry about.

But I'm excited to put all the thought and planning into make this a special time for my kids!!

Pretty sure I'll be exhausted by Saturday night!!! Exhausted from all the FUN we will be having this weekend!! Can't wait to share pics! If I manage to not be distracted enough to take pics.....

Oh boy...not sure I realize what I'm getting myself into.

Babytime Sewing: Pouch Sling

Rhodes practically lives in my sling. It goes everywhere with me. It's a life saver. I'm not quite sure I could accomplish anything outside of the house without it, actually.

Good thing he loves it too.

I make my own slings. (You know those things run upward of $80!?!?!?! Umm...no thanks.) They are just a piece of fabric sewn together at a curve. No offense to people who pay that kind of $$ for them, I'd just rather find a way to do it myself. :-)

So here is a little tutorial on how to make your own.


First, hire a cute little 2 year old to be your assistant. She's pretending to take pictures using my camera lens cap. Oh, and she verbally requests 2 rubber bands and insists on bows in them by 7:30 every morning. What can I say...she knows what she wants! I like decisiveness!



Ok, seriously, start with 2 pieces of fabric. I used good quality 100% cotton "designer" prints from a boutique down the street. I bought 2 pieces 1 and 5/8 yards of each.

PRE WASH!

Put right sides together and lay it all flat.


Measure the width to be about 24". I like my pouch a wee bit deeper. Most slings are around 22". So somewhere between there is good. My theory is, it can always be taken in, but not let out!


Cut it so you have a piece of fabric (well, 2...right sides together) that is 24" wide by 1 and 5/8 yards long. And cut the excess off. From this you can make some kids slings...or throw it away. Totally up to you!


Then fold it in half width wise, and then fold it in have length wise. So you have a rectangle.

Now you will measure yourself to get the next measurements. I loosely measured from my shoulder to my hip. I added 4 inches for baby and seam allowances.



So my longest measurement was 28" on the fold of the fabric.



Then for the selvages side (edges) Subtract 3-4". I subtracted 4" - and I would say for most, it should be more like 3". I marked it at 24" on the other side.


Then you just cut a curve from one mark to the other. So that when you open it up, you have a smile! ;-)



Next you will unfold the fabrics keeping the right sides together and hem the sides all the way down. Not the curved side...leave that open. Be sure to check your machine and make sure your bobbin is full.... :-)

You will have what looks like an long oval.


Then you will flip the right sides out. And fold in half, matching up the curved edges again.


I press them to have nice, crisp seams.



Now for that curve. Well, remember the French Seam Tutorial I did last summer? Well, you will be making a French Seam along this curve.

Sew through all four layers of fabric exposing the raw edges.


Then flip it on the other side (again I press here to make it easier), to enclose the first hem you just made. You should have no raw edges anymore!


Then you want to pin that flap down with a zig zag stitch to really reinforce the seam.

You ARE carrying precious cargo that you DON'T want falling out.


You gotta put a little elbow grease into this part, because you're fighting the curve while sewing. Just keep pressing the seam down as flat as you can while helping the machine through all these layers by pulling it through a little.


And voila! Fold the sling in half (into itself) and you now have a strong, cute, reversible baby sling!



Then you scoop up your sweet little munchkin and lovingly squish him down in it!

And, oh boy, will he love it!!!

This project should take under an hour (even if it's your first time) once you're fabrics are washed! It is SO easy!


Doesn't he look cute...and sweet...and edible....and squishy....and kissy....and lovey....and snug....yes....

He's as snug as a bug!! And lovin' it!!



I'm hoping to make one for a friend who is expecting a new baby boy and a kids sling for her 2 sweet girls but we keep playin' telephone tag! So, girl...you know who you are! :-) CALL ME!! And we can talk fabrics! :-) I have learned a lot about fabric lately and if you are willing to trust me, I'd love to do it all myself!!! :-) But I know we'll connect soon....I haven't given up yet!!! :-)