Ballerinas

Our girls have started ballet! It's so fun to have them dress up in their dance clothes and dainty slippers. I'll add more pictures when I take them during their classes (hovering around the mommy-window while they try not to look at you while dancing).

Matching cousins

My brother Cory, wifey Krysta, and their 4 cute kids came over today for a quick visit. (I should have taken more pictures, so let's get together again soon!)  Sarah and I notice that sweety Maliya has the same shoes as Sarah, only way tinier. So Sarah put on her shoes, and here they are together. Great mommy minds think alike, eh?

She looks clean, right?

When I got home this evening from Allie's choir practice, Lizzy had been hanging out with Daddy and chewing on a biter biscuit, a big graham cracker/cookie thing for babies to chew on. She was all sticky with soggy biscuit, so I took a wet paper towel and cleaned the mush off her face.

 "Yep, all clean"... and then I shift her to my other arm....

...and look what I find tucked behind her ear!

(Here's the rest)

pink and happy

Isn't summer great? It's the only time of year babies get to wear outfits like this one. (the sandals are big sis') It's already gotten too cold for the likes of a sundress now... Hm...unless I add a sweater and leggings...

Finishing old projects

This is "finishing old projects week so I can move on to new projects with a clean conscience"

This is a little baby quilt I started when I was expecting Sarah, yes almost five years ago! It is made of little quilted squares sewn together, with the raw edges all on one side, clipped and frayed and kind of ruffly.

back of tummy time floor blanket

Front of tummy time floor blanket. I just added a layer of muslin between each yard of coordinating fabric, sewed it all together an inch from the edge, with raw edges out and clipped to make ruffly tabs around the perimeter.

And here is the blanket in action! Yes, Ben is climbing ON Lizzy. She didn't seem to mind, poor kid.

deer in the headlights...too innocent to know she's being wrestled by her big brother

Craftiness

I recently dusted off and oiled up the old sewing machine, broke out the knitting stash, and visited the craft store, multiple times. I've rediscovered crafts as a way to have a life outside of mommying (unless, of course, I do crafts with the kids). I'll post finished projects and maybe a few tutorials. (but no scrapbooking...)

Retrospective

Since I have soo much history I'd like to post from months and years past I am making a "retrospective" label, so even on a slow news day I can at least find tons of content to catch up on.

Not much sleep

Why is it that when I stay up late (after 1am) that Ben decides to get
up an hour early, at 6am? He wants "brepast." But the strangest thing
happened after we eat some pb&j for brepast (his request.) I go to
nurse the baby and he goes back in his room and shuts the door and is
quiet. He put himself back to bed! (for how long I'm not sure anymore) Then I was tempted to go back to bed, so I did. Which means Allie was too "distracted" to get catch the bus. oops!

retrospective 1

Doll Stroller: A few months ago we put our newest addition in a doll stroller. Not a bad fit! This was Lizzy's first time outdoors for longer than a few seconds. She seemed to love it. Babies are sometimes the best toys.

Bathtime!

We had a new sink put in last fall and we thought "Why do you need a divided sink anyway?" so we got a huge, deep, one pot sink. So this is bath central. And who doesn't love a chubby baby lovin' her bath?

And here Lizzy lounges, enjoying the moment. I love how her juicy thighs cover her parts. Which leads me to ask the age old question: Why is it so cute for a baby to be fat and not so much an adult? We may never know.

Bleachin' Shirts

I get crafty at night. So instead of going to bed, I pulled out the bleach! I have a pile of old t-shirts that I haven't worn since before this last baby and dug out a few I was willing to sacrifice if this project was a flop. I put some bleach in a little spray bottle (an old blue glass one that used to have good smelling water so it made the bleach smell kinda good). You can also have fun with a bleach pen (but make sure it's not old or the bleach will have lost its gumption).

This shirt was done by placing a fake daisy on the shirt, then spraying the bleach over and around it.

Up close. Looks like daisy shadows on the Milky Way.

Here is the back of the same shirt. I originally had some bleach bleed through. (If you don't want this to happen, put cardboard or something in between the layers!)...But then it gave me an opportunity to camouflage. So I sprayed and splashed the back. It's a party from all angles.

This shirt turned out cool. I placed a huge necklace just below the neckline and sprayed it with bleach.  A little bleach dripped down and made splotches, but I like it crazy like that! Now I have a built in necklace.

Here's the detail of another shirt. I cut out a flower and dot shapes from thin cardboard and laid them on the shirt and sprayed bleach over them.

 

And this purple shirt had great contrast, turning all shades of pink.


I was getting bored of all my plain jane shirts. Now they have a little spice to em!

(I did not picture the bleachy-green practice shirt which turned out ug-ly, but hey, you gotta start somewhere!)

Button/Ribbon Bookmarks and Flowers

Don't you always need a great bookmark to make reading more fun? I found this cute idea from Family Fun Magazine. These bookmarks are fast, easy, cute and incredibly useful (if you read a lot).

First gather materials: trusty $3 glue gun and glue sticks.

Buttons (mixed bag from Michael's) and ribbon, wide and skinny both work. And scissors.

Cut the ribbon 12 to 15 inches (I've found I like it when the ribbon has a few inches on either side of the ends of the book. A little long is better than too short.) Cut a triangular shape out on both ends of the ribbon so you get nice angled points; it really helps with unraveling and with cuteness. Pick buttons you like for both ends of your ribbon. Add some glue to your button, ( I like to glue around the outer edge of the button so the glue doesn't goop up through the holes too much) stick it on. Add buttons to both ends. Ta-Da! 

I played with stacking buttons or making little collages with tiny buttons (they look like jewels). These make great little gifts. Cheep, easy, cute, fast: what could be better? And seeing one sticking out of a book makes me want to read the book some more!

(While making these I came to identify with the phrase 

"Cute as a button." 

Those things are stinkin' cute, and I think I'm going to look for more crafts using buttons just so I can dig through the button jar some more.)

So here are all the bookmarks I made one night. I plan on keeping a few and giving a bunch away to friends. But notice the orange flowers?

That brings me to my next little button/ribbon craft:

Ribbon flowers with button centers

Take a little bit of quilters thread and needle. Double the thread and tie a knot.

 Run a gathering stitch all along one edge of a long piece (25 inches or so) of wide ribbon, about a quarter inch from the edge. I used the same cheap orange ribbon I used for the bookmarks.

I didn't take a picture of the process, but pull the thread almost all the way tight. I liked it a little loose though so the flower laid flat. Tie a strong knot. Quilting thread won't break. Shape the ribbon flower till it lays how you like it. Glue on a button. Glue the ends of the ribbon together if you want, so they stay hidden in the folds. I glued hair clips to the back so the girls can wear them in their hair.

These look a little like a ribbon you would win at the fair, without the tails, so it seems a look more suited to a kid. I'll have to try lace and see what it looks like though. Or maybe thinner ribbon would make a cute smaller flower.

***I got the idea to do this gathering technique from a little kit I bought at the local quilt store, Quilter's Haven. You can make a cute flower out of gathered jelly roll fabric (that's a piece of fabric 2 and 1/2 inches wide, 45 inches long, cut with pinking shears, often they come ready cut in coordinating colors, rolled up at the fabric store). You take a half jelly roll strip (22 1/2 inches or so) then fold it in half lengthwise, so it's long and skinny. Sew a running stitch along the folded edge, pull tight, tie a knot and glue on a button to cover the gathered center.

Here's the one I made with fabric: cute, yes? I like this one better than the orange ribbon ones.... If I bought a jelly roll of coordinating fabrics and made a bunch of these it would be fun to cover a pillow with them. Hm...I feel another craft coming on.

today's video store moment

We've been watching more videos recently, my attempt at stress relief and something to entertain children. So we went to the video store today to switch out the old batch for a new pile. Ben was still in his jammies with crazy hair, Lizzie halfway hungry, Sarah is dressed (mismatched...dressed herself), and I thankfully got a shower. Simple errand right? So here we go: I pull up, answer a phone call, while on phone look for Curious George case, open all doors, Ben gets out and wanders around car, find case in a far corner of mini-van. Gather videos, keys, purse. Leave one door open, leave baby in car seat and walk to video store ten steps away. Drop videos all over floor, pick em up and put in slot. Sarah and Ben run in and out and drop fishy crackers on floor. Still on phone. Go back and get baby out of car seat, go into video store. Sarah wants water, Ben wants candy. Hang up phone. Give Sarah a dollar to buy water. I blink, Ben eats a Rolo. Ben gets a dollar to buy Rolo. drops slivers of foil wrappers all over floor. I pick up wrappers while holding purse, baby, wallet, phone, dollar, Rolos and wipes because baby spit up on herself and me. Ben takes the change, puts penny in mouth instead of candy. I put money in pocket. Sarah takes a quarter and sticks it in toy machine, wants me to turn it for her. She shoves the plastic bubble in my purse. I talk to a neighbor (who had a hard night), look for videos (Backyardigans, Care Bears, Bob the Builder). Is neighbor talking to me through video racks? I reply: oops she's on the phone with someone else. I eat most of melting Rolos. Lizzy grabs paper wrapper and shoves in mouth. I walk to other end of video store to look for more videos. Sarah yells for me. I come back. Ben wanders back to candy stand, unwraps and eats a banana dum-dum, drops wrapper on floor. I pick up. Sarah wants candy too cause Ben got some. I fish for credit card, check out and pay for videos, dum-dum, and Sarah's ring pop and somehow Ben got a Baby Bottle Pop too. Lizzy has melting chocolate on face, I use barfy wipe to clean off. Ben drops dum-dum on floor. I pick up.  Lizzy sees it in front of her and licks it. I throw away candy wrappers, banana dum-dum, barfy-chocolaty wipe. We get videos and leave. Pile in car.

Sarah convinces me to go to Arctic Circle for lunch. Then I won't have to make it right? All the high schoolers come streaming in just as we arrive. great. Ben SCREAMS and CRIES and YELLS the entire time, wants to be held, wants to see the tractor next door, won't eat anything, throws food all over the floor and fights Sarah for her lemonade. Lizzy crumples and licks a paper hamburger wrapper. We did NOT go back for courtesy cones.

When I get home I realize "The Secret of Pirate Island" didn't make it into its dvd case, which means I will drive down to the video store again today to return it before 7pm. I will not be bringing the kids. But such is a moment among many.

Pretty girls

Allie and Lizzy having a post-church dance. Allie is getting to be such a big girl: third grade, braces, helping with younger siblings. I can't believe she's already 8!

This is a special dress

Lizzy is wearing a dress worn by me when I was a baby. Cool huh! That makes this dress 30 years old and now "vintage." Allie and Sarah also wore this dress when they were tiny. It's getting a little fragile though, and Lizzy is growing like a sprout, so this may be the last time she wears it. I wanted to get a good picture. Maybe this dress explains why turquoise is my favorite color!

 Isn't this the cutest expression?

Handsome little man

My boy with the big blue eyes, mile long eyelashes, and juicy lips. I love the rolled up sleeves and sweater. Coolest two year old I know.

Exhibit #1

Here's my Sarah. Smile for the camera!

Let the Adventure Begin!