Baby Shower Hand-made Gifts By Me!

So! We had my sister's baby shower last weekend and even though not many people showed as I had hoped, enough did that my sister got a lot of great stuff! Some of that stuff was from my Mother and I! Of course! And I have PICTURES!!!! Ha ha!

FIRST! This is my first quilt ever and I was so proud of it! Obviously!!! LOL I had to post all the photos of it that I had so that you could see all the neat details! The materials I got to make this blanket were all fat squares, so I got them for a great deal! There was Blue, Orange, Green and Yellow for the solid colors and then I found some assorted fat squares that just so happened to match! They had alphabet letters and gators and helicopters on them but they were all different! This was also made when we weren't sure if the baby was a boy or girl and I am glad that it worked out that the quilt looked slightly more boy. The backing is a minky style backing that I still have some left over to make a Mombo cover with and some extra material as well. I also have extra after that I can make other things with! (If my sister makes me a pattern for her nursing pillow I will be using some of it to make a cover for her as well, she has a different nursing pillow) And then I got silky binding for the edging. I absolutely love this quilt and I now have enough material (Thank You to my Cousin) to make more quilts! And a super Thank You to my Mother who was there helping me create this quilt for my sister (pouring her sweat and blood into it, blood literally as she randomly started bleeding after being poked by a pin) and bringing me wisdom from her Mother and Grandmother that without her help I would never have! I hope everyone enjoys the photos... There are several! My 4 year old even made it into one!

NEXT, there is the "wet bag" I made for my sister! I figured that I know how it is to have to run out the door with a baby and be going fast and not want to forget anything. So, I made her this bag to hang by her door with a couple cloth diapers and wipes plus any other things she sees fit inside of it. (I also made cloth wipes for her, 20 of them, I hope to show those here too! LOL) 

To make this bag I took 2 different types of yarn and began to make them on my largest knitting loom. The base color was a pale yellow (6 weight) and the other yarn was a multiple baby color (2 weight) yarn. I simply used them at the same time to create this beauty. Once I got the bag to the length I felt it needed to be I ended it and closed one end and turned it inside out. The second picture shows that it was "supposed" to look like, but I liked the other side better. Then, I took my smallest loom and created a " double pocket" just smaller than the bag itself, in height, and attached it to the front. (I actually attached it at a slant at first so I had to detach it and then had my Mother pin it in place and reattached it.) After the pocket was on there my Mother attached the strap and the lining (she did those with her new sewing machine we had to get because her old one broke mid project on the 4th of July!) and then all I had to do was fill it with baby goodies! My sister really seemed to like this gift. It was the first one she wanted to look at again after the shower was over! He he he... I am really glad I was able to get this finished (with lots of help from my mom) in time for the shower. It was the first gift started, but the last thing finished! Eek! 

Outside of bag, still on the knitting loom!

Inside the bag!

Interior of the finished bag! I love it!

Finished Bag with PUL liner,
strap and pocket both attached!

THIRD, we have the cloth diaper wipes I made for her and baby. This was a really neat idea from a website I will provide the link to at the end of the post. On the site you are supposed to use chenille, but that stuff costs $15-20 a yard!!!! Yuck! So I chose to use terry cloth instead, only $9 per yard and I think they are extra cute! I fell in love with these other 2 materials as soon as I found them in the store too! In any case, I took my 4 materials (white terry cloth, green terry cloth, green with owls and blue with barn yard animals) and cut them into 8"x8" squares each and ended up with 10 of each. Next up was putting them together with the printed material on the inside of the project. My Mother was nice enough to pin all the squares in place so that all I had to do was sew them together with leaving a 1" or so gap so I could turn then inside out and have the print on the outside so it could be all cute! Once I had them sewn together, the corners cut to avoid bulking and flipped right side out my Mother was kind enough to go around the edge using various different stitches (this would be what we were working on when the old machine decided to stop working properly so we had to drive to town and buy a new sewing machine!) to make them flat (and cuter! LOL) I then placed them into a new "wipe container" (the cute decorative kind that HUGGIES now sells and that I "stole" the disposable wipes out of for my little guy so I could have the container for this project!). My sister has this Make Your Own wipe solution that she is making for her baby (we have some that I need to use on the baby, I just keep forgetting it is here) and I figured she could soak the cloth wipes I made her in that and be good to go! I was super tempted to keep some of these to use on my little guy, but I wised up and gave all 20 of them to my sister! I ended up having some in almost every gift I gave her. In the bag above was also a travel wipes container (funny thing is that it is also a HUGGIES container) and inside of it there was, I believe, 2 of each design.  I was so happy to have been able to make something for her that I am 98.8% sure she will use! I have 2 extra small ones here that I plan to use on my guy once I relocate them! (they were my first 2 and they ended up being half the size of the ones she got and I plan on using them as face wipes at the table with meals!)

Barn yard and white terry cloth

Owl and green terry cloth

Semi finished owl cloth

Total of 10 Owl clothes/wipes

Total of 10 Barn yard clothes/wipes

My Mother sewing the edging of one of the wipes

Folded wipes in container
(with matching dots on the side)

For the fourth project I am posting here we have the Travel and Home bathroom totes I made for her. You use a hand towel or a wash cloth for the main part of it. I chose the green color because she is thinking of doing greens and browns in her little man's bedroom. Then you need the rick rack and ribbon (2 types if you want it the way I did, I have a decor ribbon and the tying ribbon) and thread to match the main part (towel or cloth). 

First things first, attach the ribbon and rick rack to the cloth so that it goes down just one end. then you want to pin the cloth in place so that you can sew pockets to hold all the goodies inside of it. I actually put all the stuff on top and pinned on either side and then sewed where I had pins. Then I sew in one last piece of ribbon (about 16" folded in half to make two 8" pieces, do not cut it, that will make this harder on you!) at the last closing pocket stitch. Now you can load it up, roll it up, tie it and you are good to go! I did the 2 different ones because I wanted my sister to have both. I also ended up putting snaps on the smaller one to ensure that all of its smaller goodies stayed inside of it.

All the supplies!

Ribbon side 1

Ribbon side 2

White Rick Rack

1 wash cloth and 1 hand towel

Rick Rack and ribbon attached and folded and pinned in place

Finished and rolled up and tied in place!

Finished and unrolled to see all the goodies inside!
(See some of the wipes made it in there too...)

Lastly, here are the gifts all wrapped and set out for the party along with the "Jar O Gifts" that was not only a huge gift, but it was a party game as well! My Mother and I had a ton of extra stuff we had made and put it all into this giant glass jar that we had and went everyone came into the shower they got to guess how many items they thought were in there. Everyone was shocked to find out that there was only 49 items in the and not the 100s they were guessing! LOL. It was a fun day and I enjoyed seeing my sister get all her gifts and I also enjoyed seeing some family. 

And here is that LOVELY site I got so many great ideas from and some I am still looking at making. Not only for my little nephew but also for my little guy too! Go here! And enjoy your own crafting!

~TTFN!

Preparing for the big baby shower!

With getting ready for my sister's baby shower on Saturday, I have been sort of scrambling around trying to get projects done so that she gets more than one gift from me (which is all I have 100% completed). I was finally able to finish one project the other day, which was a no sew project so it was finished rather quickly. I then started another that I have been working on and all that is left now is the sewing part. Yippee!!!

I wish I could share photos of the things I am working on, but how much fun would that be if my sister were to read this and see the photos... Not much! Not much fun at all. So... Until after Saturday, y'all gotta wait! Sorry! But I promise, I will share with every one what I made for my sister and her baby. My Mother is helping a lot with finishing touches on all these things too. There is one thing I am slightly panicked about, but I am sure that if I do not have it done for the shower, she will get it before the baby gets here.

My oldest son is with my sister now and when I spoke to him on the phone the other day, he was super excited! He always gets his birthday gifts from his Aunt and Uncle early. He spends the time around the 4th of July with them every year (this could be his last year with them though) since they moved up to Washington(5ish years ago). Last year they gave him his own laptop computer (he has been on computers since he was about 4 months old!!!) and he has had a blast with it. One of his favorite things to do while at their house is to play World of Warcraft on their computers. Well, that is what they got him, on his computer, for his birthday this year! Apparently he had been spending all his time on his Aunts computer playing from there but now that they got it up and running on his computer, he is even happier! LOL His words to me were: "Mom! I am playing WOW on MY computer!!! It is sooo cool!" It was great to hear him so excited! Of course, I seem to remember that he had the same sort of response last year when he got the computer! Still, it is cute how excited he gets!

My 6 year old is working on his behavior while his brother is gone, and this is working out well too! My Mother and I discussed giving him 1 Quarter for each full hour he is good during the day. This means that he does everything he is told and does not back talk and is not rude and we do not have to remind him of his manners more than once, if that! He loved the idea! And as a bonus, for each 8 hours straight that he doesn't lose any Quarters, he gets one extra Quarter! The most he has made in one day I believe is 13 Quarters and this has only been going on for 3 days! LOL and we told him we would keep up this earning money thing for the entire time his older brother was out of town and that he is not allowed to spend any of his money until we go to Portland for the Baby Shower! The reason we went with 8 hours is because that was about how long he was away from home and working on his behavior while in school. From the time he left home, until he came back home each day. He has been doing great. Most of the time all we have to do is remind him that he will lose the Quarter if he acts up and that snaps him back into good behavior real fast. He wants to earn the money and he truly wants to be a good kiddo! He has had his moments, he lost 2 quarters ion a row tonight. So, see, no kid is perfect! Ha ha! He also did not enjoy his second week of camp as much as his first. He said his Dinosaur class was boring. And I would have to agree. The dinosaur teacher did not seem as enthused as the twisty tales teacher did. And this kiddo has decided that he wants to be a Paleontologist when he grows up and I think that is AWESOME!!! But oh well, win some and lose some! Not all teachers can be #1, that would defeat the purpose! LOL!

The 4 year old has been sort of being his normal crazy and wacky self! But that is him! He has decided that he does not like our bigger pool again this year and that he does not want to get into it. I wish I could get him to realize how much fun it is and keep him calm. I almost had him there the other day but he just kept yelling in my face to let him out of the pool, so I did. Other than the pool thing yesterday he has been good and taking all his medicines and he even stays on top of it! I guess the kid likes to feel well rather than sick all the time. Go figure! Since his most recent doctor visit, he has had less of an issue with his allergies. Of course, he has a mommy who gives him allergy medicines and his inhaler like they are his life support! Which is how it should be, because they are. And this kid is the easiest as far as taking his medicine. He sits there and breaths in on his puffer machine for his inhaler and then picks up the allergy medicine and takes it and then puts his head back and is ready for his eye drops, they go into his eyes and his blinks away the extra stuff and he is good to go!

The baby, he is still low on the growth charts, but someone has to be there! Last doctor appointment he had they said he was still below the 10th percentile for weight but he was shooting up there on his head and length! I know that my son is healthy and happy. He does not have to be a chunky baby... I know a fat baby is a happy baby, but this kid just does not put on the weight like other kids do! I do not know why, he just doesn't. A lot of people have been asking me in stores lately how old he is and when I say 7 months they say things like "There is no way!" or "Is he ill?".... No, he is not ill and Yes, he is 7 months old! Another lady asked his age and after her reaction of "no way!" I told her he was 9 pounds at birth and her reply was the best I have heard ever..... "What is he now, 10?!?!?!" LMBO!!!! Too funny! I seriously laughed out loud at her for saying that. He is creeping up on the 20 pound mark, but not too fast! He is just a happy little baby!

As far as the diet goes, I am stuck on my same weight for a while now. My Mother and I have discussed doing sit ups to lose more belly fat and I think that is a great idea! I also need to start getting up, eating breakfast and then going for a walk with the kiddos (at least the ones who want to join, depending on the day I may go before they get up or Daddy might be home to take care of those boys not wanting to go for a walk with Mama)! I also need to make sure I am tracking my food intake somehow and also need to ensure I am eating 3 full meals and at least 2 small snacks a day! Does any one have any ideas on how I could get going with this diet better? It is basically a low carbohydrate, Atkins-like diet.

Oh, I also found that I am super into the second book in my 2 book series for my BzzCampaign! Being a BzzAgent is Awesome! I just wish I could get on more campaigns! I am only on my second one! I will be posting a review here on both my Kindle Books, The Hangman's Daughter and The Dark Monk, A Hangman's Daughter Tale. I was not too into The Hangman's Daughter from page one. The Dark Monk is another story though, only a few pages into it, but I LOVE it! I am struggling with the fact that I still need to read my most recent Sookie Stackhouse Novel, But I will get to it after the Baby Shower and After my BzzCampaign!

So much for typing up a quick and short blog tonight LOL.... For now, I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and families! I will try my hardest to post some of the pictures of gifts after the shower so that everyone can see my craftier side! He he he! But, like I said, for now... The suspense wont hurt you too bad! Or all least I hope it wont! Until another day....

Baby in his newest on sale Ross Dress for Less outfit!
$2.99 and it has a frog on his rear!
Plus came with the super cute hat!

~TTFN!

Summer Time in Central Oregon! Woo hoo!

All 4 boys Chillin' on the couch, watchin' TV!

Summer is here and my boys are finally out of the Brick and Mortar School system! They "retired"(as I like to call it) from school at the same time as my Oldest Son's Teacher! She was an awesome Teacher, She was My First and Second Grade Teacher and now she also taught my oldest child Second Grade! I was so Happy that he was going to have her as a Teacher this last year. She did a great job Teaching me and I knew that he would have just as much fun with her, and he did! That boy is so much like me when it comes to some schooling things it is actually funny! We can both do Math like it was a Sixth Sense. It is sad to see her go, but at least she taught my son before leaving. And I got to see her again. I was/am very close to my Elementary School Teachers. It was very Hard for me to call her by her first name. When she would call to discuss my Son and would say her First Name instead of Mrs. ....... I had to take a minute and go, "Oh, Yeah, You!" to myself! LOL. On the other hand, it was perfect timing for her to retire at the same time that I decided to take my kids out of the "traditional" school system. However, it had me wondering at the same time, How many Teachers can my oldest son get to retire?! LOL. Granted, as far as I know, His Kindergarten Teacher is still working. But, his First Grade Teacher AND Second Grade Teacher BOTH retired after Teaching him! What does that say about my child? LOL I say, it says he had "old" Teachers! He he. Either way, she was a great Teacher for well over 20 years and now she can enjoy her retirement!

For our Summer fun we have a lot of different things planned. For one, My Sister's Baby Shower is July 7th, we will be going to Vancouver to stay in the same Hotel as my Sister and her other Half so that he can watch the 2 middle boys in the Hotel while we go to our Cousins house for the Shower. At the end of the last week of June my oldest Son will be going to stay with my sister in Spokane until the Shower when he will come home with us. He gets to attend my sister's second gender scan for her baby. The one last week was inconclusive. They caught a quick look at what the tech thought to be "boy parts"! I feel bad for that. I know, a baby is a baby and we are all thrilled for my Sister and her other half because they have wanted a baby for awhile now. But this would be boy 5 for our side and boy2 for her other half's side. Either way, Their little bundle will some day be in the outfit you see on my little guy! It is, what we are calling, the Lumber Jack (or Jill) outfit! The "onsie" is a long sleeved button up plaid shirt, much like what you can find for grown men! The pants are corduroy, and a funky olive green, but cute! And it is a full out onsie style shirt, size 6 months! We figured, put some sort of flowery something or pink in "her" hair and it could look girly! This coming from the Mother of 4 boys who insisted on wearing over-all's for the longest time after about 2 years old! LOL. I think that if I had had any girls, they'd end up tom boys! LOL But, we shall never know now! Any who, back to the "Summer Fun"...

I took on the Pool Cleaning this year and so far, I kinda want to scream! We seriously need to get a cover over that thing so that we (the me part of that) don't have to keep on scooping bugs (gnats) out of the pool, 15 times a day! But, hopefully with using the pool vacuum and a few other added "cleaning tools" I can keep the pool clean and warm and comfy all Summer long! And the kiddos all love to swim, so that will help with some of their being "occupied" this Summer. A few other things "in the works" are, a driving trip to visit some of the "local" dams. Also, we intend to go to Lake Billy Chinook or more importantly, The Cove Palisades (for more info on The Cove, follow the link)!!! My Mom used to take my Sister and I there all the time when I was a baby! I have only been back there a handful of times since I "grew up". That trip will be one of those, get the kids to bed super duper early and then be ready to leave the house at 6 AM to get there around 7:30-8 in the morning and spend all day, packing Breakfast and Lunch as well as snacks and then coming home for Dinner that night! I am extra excited about that one, if you can't tell by the details! LOL Another option in to "travel" the Cascade Lakes Highway again, do some Hiking, picnic by the lake, swim. All that fun stuff! Some of the Lake trips I hope my Hubby will be able to attend. It sorta feels like he will be missing out this Summer as far as "Adventures" with our boys go. We also talked about going to Smith Rock Park, that is a steep climb if I remember correctly. My Mother said she did it with me strapped to her back, so I guess I will be able to do it too, if we go! That is one of my least favorite trip ideas, I never really had a ton of fun there as a kid. One of my favorite places to go hiking is Benham Falls (the link actually takes you to a site for the Falls themselves, but you get the jest. LOL, you can hike to the falls too from Lava Lands Visitors Center at the base of Lava Butte) I took my 2 oldest there with my Hubby and a Friend and we hiked for awhile! I was pregnant with #3 and the other 2 were 2 and 3.5(almost 4) and they had a blast! Of course, we were hot and had some water with us and ended up getting a few scraps and cuts from tumbling over roots and such, but it was a fun experience with my boys! But those are just a few of our "Nature Adventures" I think we can look forward to this Summer. Otherwise, we will be home by the pool(s) (The big 48" tall pool and the tiny waiting pool for the kiddos that we got last year).

The only thing I said was: 

"Let me get a Picture of you 3." 

And do you see the looks I got? LOL

My kiddos continue to keep "hamming it up" any time they are out and about and know that I am wanting to snap some cute photos. For the most part, except for a few days here and there, we picked up the 2 oldest boys from school for the last few weeks of their "stay". One of those days we walked up the hill from the dentist's office to the school with the baby and he was enjoying us being early! His cute little "Tot Goggles" are what I think makes this photo extra neat! He looks so laid back and relaxed in his stylish shades, but then he is sticking his tongue out which makes it look like "Hey, get that thing out my face Mom!" or... "Yum, Phone, eat!" LOL I swear, each time he sees my phone, the tongue comes out and the hands fly up! I partially blame this on the guy at the Doctor's office who was talking to the other woman at the counter while I made another appointment and he handed over his phone while saying, "It's ok, I have kids and Grandkids, He can't hurt it any more than they do!" OH MY GOODNESS!!! This was no cheap phone either! This guy willingly handed over his expensive smart phone and basically said "Go for it! Break it! I don't care!" to a 6 month old! YIKES! Mr. Not Very Bright Award has been taken for the year! LOL. In any case, since I had to literally RIP the phone out of his hands to get him to give it back to Mr. Not Very Bright so that I could help Mr. Gimpy out to the car (LOL this was when my oldest was on crutches, he had gone to my appointment with me too), the baby almost attacks phones now. It is almost frightening how fast he lunges for a cell phone!

The boys are all excited to be on Summer Vacation now. I even have my ^ year old set up to do "Summer Camp" through his online school for next year. He was super excited when I told him he had the opportunity to do it. Starting Monday at 9 AM he will be on the computer, Monday through Friday, for 1 hour in his Summer Camp Class. He is starting with the Twisty Tales Camp! I think he will really enjoy it. The "camps" are split by grade level and allow the kids to sort of pick the "class" they want. He picked Twisty Tales, Dinosaurs and Science Explorers for his Summer Camp Classes! They are different each week and in the middle of it all he will be taking 2 weeks off from it, thankfully we have the baby shower in the middle of the 2 weeks off! LOL. The first Camp starts at 9 AM and another is at 10 AM, Depending on the Camp and the week, the time changes as well. My oldest has decided NOT to take part in the Summer Camp thing this year. Which is fine, he would have to skip one of the weeks anyways so that he could go to his Aunt's house and not have to worry too much about anything but helping out his Aunt and spending time with her and his Uncle for what may be the last time, for a while at least. I am not so sure she is going to want my rug-rats running around and having to take care of them as well as her own new little one. He may change his mind once his little brother does it a few times, we shall see. He has different camp choices and at different times for his grade though. He could do Water Safety, Dinosaurs or Boys Book Club. But he said he doesn't want to read this Summer, odd! He loves to read! Silly Kid! Only time will tell. He might see his brother having fun next week and decide that he too wants in on the experience. When they all start to get older I may look more into other actual Summer Camp options. But for now, online works awesome!

Showing off his top 2 teeth in a giggle!
(came in third and fourth)

Showing off his bottom 2 teeth!
(came in first and second)

If I haven't mentioned it before, the baby has been cutting teeth and drooling like a super leaky faucet! I do not remember my other boys "leaking" this much! His pillow he sleeps on his soaking by the time we get to his "middle of the night feeding" and during any day time naps. I almost feel like I need to wring the thing out! He is constantly drooling! It is insane! I am sure they did the drooling thing, maybe I just wasn't as observant! LOL. This IS the first time I have been home with my baby at this age and wasn't so tired from working that I just wanted to sleep. I have always had to go back to work and do the whole working full time thing to support my kiddos before now. Hubby has that end covered now. (The working thing)

At the park on 6/14/12

Maybe it is just me but I think he is growing up so fast! Granted, he is "small for his age" according to the doctor's office, but he is advancing and is always so alert, when awake of course. He has even started to sit up, instead of lean forward. See him showing off in the photo taken at the park? He was enjoying the grass. He soon after this decided he wanted to plunge forward and EAT the grass, which caused him to roll over to his belly. Either way, he was actually enjoying the grass, this was a first. He normally cringes away from the grass.

Now that I have basically filled your minds with my life and my boys' lives, I shall say Good Night! Or Good Morning, depending on when you are reading! I feel tomorrow will be another pool cleaning and outside day. After my 7 year old decided to vomit in the car today (thankfully most of it was caught by blankets and such on the floor of the back seat) I finally made it to the store to buy Sunscreen for the boys so that they will be able to play outside and not get sun burnt as the 7 year old did the other day when we played outside for the majority of the day so that Dad could sleep. Hopefully I can get more color on my legs! LOL We shall see! They may be underwater in the pool! I will update... Hopefully sooner, rather than later!

~TTFN!

Food! And more...

"Egg Noodle" Mac & Cheese!

 Starting out today.... Some of my favorite meals! Yippee! The first is a Low-Carb "Egg noodle" Mac & cheese. Great, not so quick, meal that my entire family LOVES!  We have actually had these about 1-2 times each week for the passed month... It really is that big of a hit for us. Basically, it is eggs, cheese, Lil' Smokies and cream. Plus a few dashes of nutmeg and a few more dashes of chili powder! Yum! Makes it oh so delicious! Even my kids gobble this meal down. It used to be that if we said Mac & Cheese, it meant the stuff out of the blue box... Yeah, you know the kind I meal! My oldest was so bad about it that he would not eat any type of Mac & Cheese unless it was "Character shaped" and out of a blue box! Until "we" (my sister) got him to eat "Spokane Noodles" (or Elbow Macaroni, because that is all they make in Spokane, WA. Or so he was told! LOL) . From then on it was OK to eat "Spokane Noodles" but only when he picked them out at the store because we FINALLY got some delivered to our store! Essentially, I stopped buying the special kinda because it was all they would eat and I would like for my kids to develop taste buds at some point! Now, as the oldest gets, well, older, he has started to try new things and in turn, his brothers follow in his foot steps! He tried this meal first (loved it) and then the 6 year old tried it (loved it) followed by the 4 year old who still has the jury out! The last time we had this meal (last night) I got my 4 year old to try just a few small bites, to decide if tonight was the night he was going to start liking it. Nope! He ate a hot dog and a hot dog bun (separately) and that was dinner (Dessert was Grape Jell-o). What got me started on not really giving the kiddos a chance to "pick" the meal for the evening was when my 7 year old asked if he could have some of Grandma's "Chicken" (it was pork, but we told him it was chicken). This was amazing to me. This child has only wanted to eat boxed Mac & Cheese, cottage cheese, cheese, boxed Salisbury Steak and a few other random things. He tried it, and loved it! Since then, not a meal has gone by where he didn't eat exactly what we did. And he didn't complain.

Pork and Asparagus (Yum!)

My son keeps telling me that he wants to try more and more new things because I really can cook (to his surprise!) Most of the time he prefers my Mother and I's "diet" food to the food he is eating. For example, we were having breakfast for dinner and I had made a low carb Dutch Baby Pancake(oven baked pancake) for my mother and I to eat and the kiddos and my Hubby were having regular old fashioned pancakes. Well, he wanted part of the Dutch Baby and after trying both decided that he really didn't like the "normal" pancakes. We also no longer buy "sugared" maple syrup anymore. There really is no point in having 2 different kinds of syrup in the house when it doesn't hurt the boys to have just a little less sugar for breakfast! This kiddo just never stops amazing me and I am sure that the end of that is nowhere in sight. He is a very bright boy. He even has requested that he get $2 extra on Tuesdays at school so that he can get a second helping of tacos at lunch time. Since there are only a few weeks left of school, why not! This is their last year at a "Brick & Mortar" School. Might as well let them make the best of it, right?


In other news for me...

We bought a printer to go with our nifty Internet capabilities! Woo-hoo! This is actually helpful because now I can just print my sister's Baby Shower invitations from home, rather than drive into town and pay to print at Kinko's! We also ended up picking up a really neat printer too! It has wireless printing, or eprint, so that we do not have to be hardwired into it to print from it. Another cool part to that is that we can email information from our phones (such as photos) to the printer! Well, the rest of my family can, my phone is pretty lame and doesn't send the picture all the way through! (Bummer!)

I tried to get a photo of the printer to load so that I could show everyone, but it doesn't seem to want to show up! So, it is an HP Officejet 4622 series if you want to see what it looks like! (for those who don't know or don't live here! LOL)

I managed today to purchase my outfit for my Sister's Baby Shower. I am very pleased with it. Since the shower isn't until July, I feel accomplished in having one more thing done! Also, I will be able to nurse the baby easily an still look good while doing so! I tried on 2 of the same thing but the green, yellow and blue just looked best on me. I also picked up a new tank that looks great on me! I never would have thought to try on anything with horizontal stripes because normally they make the person wearing them look 20x their regular size, but both the outfit I got AND my new shirt have horizontal stripes and they look great on me.

I also picked up a couple more pieces of material today for a couple more projects. Along with yet another ball of yarn! I have been crocheting something for awhile now and had been debating on how to do the trim. I could have used something that I already had at home, but this just about jumped off the shelf and screamed, "Use me for that! Use me!" So, I bought it! The fabric I found is my new favorite! It has Owls all over it! I keep gravitating towards the Owl water-proof material used to make cloth diapers too. I have no idea what it is about Owls and baby print that has me so obsessed, but I love it! If I could get my hands on many different kinds of Owl printed fabrics, I'd be a Mama/Auntie in heaven! I would seriously dress my 6 month old is all Owl clothing if I thought I could actually afford to buy all the material from the craft store! This stuff is so cute, I can hardly stand it! Now, if I could only win the lotto, I could buy the fabrics and then maybe grow a craftier side and make a bunch of Owl baby gear! LOL! For now, I stick to what I got! I have a few small projects to complete before my Sister finds out the baby's gender in 2 weeks. And then it is all out "gender specific" projects! Some of the things I am making for her and her baby I will be making the "testers" for myself and my baby!

Little Man is 6 months old now!

Speaking of my Little Man! He has decided that this week should be the week to cut 2 more new teeth! His top 2 front teeth started to break through this week and with that comes drool and both him and I have head colds as well! I notice this time around, that when he was cutting his bottom 2 teeth, him and I both got sick then too. Same type of thing, feels and sounds like a head cold. Stuffed up nose and sore throat with a tiny cough to go with it. Hopefully, his teeth will come fast and him and I will both get better. This type of cold is the type that causes you to e extra tired and with 4 little boys, that is an issue!

In addition to everything else today and this week, my Hubby started mowing the lawn! Yippee! I say started, because our ride on mower was broken until yesterday when our neighbor fixed it and got it running again. He was unable to finish because the belt for the mower blades broke! Literally shredded and came off in chunks! Yuck! Not a pretty picture. So, my Mother stopped in at Baxter's Auto Parts in town while we were in that area. They said they would have the part in 1 hour. So, we went shopping. Came back in 1.5 hours and still no part. Left, and went to another store, this time across town. And when we came back, still no part. Found our way to another store and then back to Baxter's and 4 hours later, part was ready! When we got home I took the boys to play at a friends house so that they could swim and jump on the trampoline and I could visit with their Mommy. Also so Hubby could finish mowing the lawn. Well, the part we were in town so long waiting for... Too long... Can't be used! Gotta get a new one! So, Lawn... Not mowed all the way! (sigh) Hopefully tomorrow it can get finished. We will have to wait and see.

That is all for now. Hopefully I can make it back in here to fill everyone in on more "Me Details" sooner than I did from the last post. I will try to start posting a little something even if it is literally a little something! For now... Enjoy your week! 10.5 more days of school left for the little ones! Yikes!

~TTFN

Recent Funny Moments! (Long)

To start things off... We bought the baby a new (to us) high chair. I was browsing Craig's List and found this high chair for $10! Awesome deal! Specially since all we had for Little Man was a bouncy chair and a Bumbo. Now, the Bumbo works great and I love, love, love the tray with it. But you are only supposed to use it at ground level and on a flat surface. Well, that is a long way down to the floor to sit and feed a baby at! So, High Chair time it was! And I am super happy with it. However, the little booger does not like to sit in it for long enough to get to eat in it. He wont even sit in it for Dad and I to eat dinner! He is spoiled I think!

Beware of this post... I feel it is going to be "picture heavy" since my last one was "picture lacking"! LOL

So first off this week. I was driving into town and off the side of the road I noticed something rather crazy. I had to do a double take because this is something I have never seen in my entire life growing up in Central Oregon. I looked out the window to look at this thing that caught my eye and I was in shock! It was a Wild Turkey! Live, wild turkey. Just walking down the highway! It was the funniest thing I have seen, at random, on that highway in a long time! So, that was funny #1!

Tanner, just after getting his hair cut! Yippee!

Funny #2: I am sure that my 3rd son is going to be completely angry with me when he gets older for sharing this, but it is going to happen. I was sitting on my bed in the late hours of the night nursing the baby the other night when my 4 year old gets out of bed and asks to go potty. Of course, I say yes and he walks out of the bedroom. Well, he turned to the right (our bathroom is to the left of our room) and just as I was getting ready to say something, he comes walking back down the hall. So I kept my mouth shut! Bad move mama... Bad move! He stopped just before the bedroom door and started peeing on the wall! The sound of him peeing was met with me yelling at the top of my lungs "OH! NO NO NO! TANNER WHAT ARE YOU DOING???!!!" He pops his head around the corner and says "What?" So I repeated again... Calmer this time... "What are you doing? Go to the bathroom." His 4 year old fashioned come back... "I am!"... LMAO... The entire encounter had my Husband and Mother both in the hall trying to find out why I was yelling at the 4 year old when everyone else was trying to go to sleep. My Mother took Tanner to the bathroom to finish going potty while my Husband cleaned up the puddle that was forming in the hall and I calmed the baby back to sleep/nursing (I managed to startle him awake by yelling almost in his ear. Poor baby). My Mother brought Tanner back to bed and he was out within seconds of his head hitting the pillow again. That was, by far, one of the funniest moments I have had with any of  my kids! The next morning, he did not remember any of what had happened.

6 year old after his hair cut! (Little brother in the background)

On to my 6 year old...

He has been on a behavior card since February at school. He was acting out and the teacher was having a really hard time gaining control of him during the day. So, we agreed to do this card. It worked great for my oldest last year at school so I had high hopes it would do the same for the 6 year old. Well, he did good for awhile and then went back to a lot of the old "naughty" behavior. It is now getting closer to the end of the school year and field trips are starting up. He really wants to go! But, he had been bringing home some really bad reports with 3-4 negative marks per day! Terrible reports. So, I told him that I was not going to send him on any of the trips if he could not act correctly during the day before the trips. This coming Friday he gets to go to see baby chickens and all sorts of other things on a farm! And he is super excited for that because of his Aunts chickens. He is officially the chicken whiz due to his Aunt having 3 chickens. (I don't know where kids get some of this stuff sometimes) In any case, he has been informed that he has to act better at school in order to be allowed to go. He has had 3 days at school so far and.... drum roll please...... he has only brought home ONE negative mark for the entire 3 days and even that wasn't such a terrible thing! Monday and Tuesday he had terrific days! All "smiles" all day, both days! (the reports are designed so that he is either graded, per half hour, by a smiling, a straight mouthed or a frowning face, depending on his behavior) But today he brought home one single frown on his report. I was able to hear from his teacher that she had talked to him and that he says he is not going to let it happen again. So, as long as he brings home one more good report, he gets to go on Friday to the farm! And then at the beginning of June the class is going to the new swimming pool and they are walking there... Yuck! and Yikes! This is a Kindergarten class... walking over a mile, maybe 2, to a swimming pool and then back to school... not my boy! LOL. I spoke to his teacher about this as well and for every one's safety I am going to drive him to the pool and drop him off with his teacher. This way he also knows that I can come back and pick him up if he gets out of line as well. This may not be as easy as it sounds since I am dropping him off at the pool at 9 and then the baby has a doctor appointment at 9:50! But, his teacher has my phone number and she knows where I will be. All in all... He is turning things around for himself! I am so proud of him. Sadly, he will only be in that school for about 5 more weeks and then it wont really matter as much.

Oldest son after his hair cut!

My oldest, he finally let me cut his hair! (gasp!) He kept telling me that he wanted to grow his hair out so that he could put it into a ponytail like the guy on his video game does. So, I let him since it was cooler weather anyways so it didn't much matter to me. Weather warmed up though and we used our normal "ploy" to get him to cut his hair, "If you don't let Mom do it, Aunt Marcy will shave you bald when you see her next!" And he is in the hair cutting chair and ready for a cut! LOL I even told him he would feel much better having shorter hair since the sun was coming out more. He now tells me I was correct. (Gee, ya think?)  It was rather interesting to cut all 3 of the older boys' hair and my Husbands (no picture of his hair cut since he hates pictures of him... but scroll down and see the one I was able to sneak in... he he he...) all of their hair has a slightly different coloring to it. There is a dirty dishwater blonde, a light pale brown and a light brown for the kids and Hubby has about the shade of hair that would be the two brownish colors mixed together. (The baby has mama's dark brown hair, for now) We did the hair cuts outside and left the hair for the birds and they have so far made off with most of it!

We skipped our day trip, Nature Adventure, this last weekend because Daddy was home and off work. So, I opted for the kids to spend some time with their Dad. That seems to have helped them since they have all been missing him. This coming weekend/Monday (Holiday, no school) my Mother and I are planning on taking the kids out and about for the day. It should be fun... although, I do not have anything specific planned yet. I will have to update on that at another time.

I got my BzzKit on Monday and wore my Dr. Scholl's For Her High Heels Insoles for the first time ever on Tuesday! They KILLED the balls of my feet, but the arch support was great! I have a bunch of coupons if anyone is interested. I may try them again in the future but right now they are not for me. I think once I lose more weight it will be easier to get around in heels but for now... ouch! I also feel that if you are going to wear them you should have smaller feet than I do! I am a size 10 and the insoles hit my feet funny so that I was constantly walking on the part where insert meets shoe and it it was I think made my feet hurt more. It could have been the heels I picked to wear as well, but either way, not a comfy foot day for me. I may have a better review for them in the future, but as of right now, 3-4 stars out of 5!

I picked up the photos of the baby last week as well and I am hoping to be able to put together a few different things with the disk pictures for a few different family members. However, I have to finish all my Baby Shower gifts for my sister before that happens and I really did not help myself by finding a new site online that had a bunch of "fast to create" patterns on it. Now I have about 15 more things I really want to make for my sister and her baby. It is now to the point that I need to decide what to finish now and what to wait to finish to give to her after her shower and when the little one is born and there is also Christmas and other "events" after the baby is here where a gift from Auntie would be great!

In my hunt for free and/or cheap cloth diapers I found The Honest Company. They have a "Free Trial" on their diapers for $4.95 (the cost of shipping). Below you can see photos of what I got in my package. They allow you to choose boy, girl or mixed prints when selecting your package (I chose boy, duh) and then you could also choose to get the "essentials" package as well. This included Hand soap, body wash & shampoo and some other "soap like" products 5 in all. Although I have no issues with Jessica Alba, I feel she doesn't have the best product as far as "bang for the buck" goes. I will be posting pictures of the baby in these diapers this summer since I got them the size above what he is in now and the fact that they are printed makes me want to have them on him in "diaper only" weather!

For all who may be interested, The Mom, The Wife, The Low-Carber and The Learning Coach now has a Facebook page as well! Check it out and tap the "LIKE" button if you feel up to it, here! I set up the Facebook page in hopes of getting more people interested in my blog here. I like to see people caring about what I have to say. Plus, when 500 people have hit that like button I can get myself entered to win some really nice and some really useful cloth diapers! I really think I could do the cloth diaper thing for my last baby. We need to save money and what better way to do that than to not have to buy diapers? The contest I was going to enter before seeing the "500 likes minimum" would have given me a variety of 30 cloth diapers, cloth wipes, a wet bag and a few other things that would be great when cloth diapering! Sadly, no likes, no Facebook page, it kind of put a damper on things! Now, Facebook page and 5 likes, as of today at least! LOL.

The picture of Hubby I mentioned above!
Little Man was craving Daddy time and was not
into anyone else trying to get in on it! See the look?

Now I need to get off my computer and head on to crocheting some more so that I can maybe have one more thing for my sister completed in time! Knitting and sewing are also still on my To Do List as well. But they will have to wait for a time I feel more awake! The thing I am crocheting at the moment, I could do in my sleep! Not that I will try that. I also have a few other things I would like to type out on here but I am starting to feel my eyes slam shut and my fingers slow down! As always, Thank you for reading and taking the time out of your life to read about mine!


~TTFN