cari (ng) mommy

12 12s in 2012

2012-01-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

My 6 year old when she was itty-bitty modeling the first scarf I knit

I'm totally stealing this from my good friend Amanda over at HippieMommy. :) It's a list of 12 sets of 12 to accomplish in 2012. I loved the idea because I thought it would be easy to break down my list into monthly chunks and then it wouldn't feel so overwhelming. I was also hoping it would keep me on track with a few goals for myself in the New Year. So without further ado...

1. Start and finish 12 knitting projects.
I love to knit. I started knitting a few years ago (after much eye-rolling and scoffing at other knitters over the years) and fell in love with the craft. I'm a very slow knitter and get bogged down when I face something new. I end up putting off projects and not doing as much as I'd like. So start and finish 12 projects. Maybe my kids will finally get the hats they've been begging me for.

2. Use 12 skeins of yarn from my stash.
I don't buy a ton of yarn, but I'm starting to accumulate a bit of a stash. Sometimes I forget to check my stash before buying something new. 12 skeins used up would make room for lots of new yarn for sure!

3. Work on 12 crochet projects.
I just started learning to crochet. I'm pretty sure I'll always be a knitter who knows a little crochet. But, I think the best way to get better is to practice. And judging from my first dishcloth that is unintentionally not square, I need a lot of practice.

4. Complete 12 sewing projects.
I also love to sew. Actually, I'm kind of an ADD crafter. LOL I like to do lots of different things. But, I'd love to see 12 sewing projects started and finished. Maybe I'll finally tackle making myself a new purse. It's been on my to-do list for quite awhile.

5. Read 12 classics.
I need to get back into the habit of reading more than just Facebook status updates.

6. Read 12 non-fiction books.
Again, back in the habit of reading...

7. Get rid of 12 garbage bags full of stuff.
We have way too much stuff in our house (and shed and garage) right now. I've embraced the ideals of simple living but am having a hard time putting them into practice. I think the biggest obstacle right now is our clutter. We are planning on moving in the next couple of months, so this really needs to happen quickly. But, I'm hoping to keep up the decluttering after we move as well.

8. 12 Green Smoothies a month.
After the gluttony of the last month, I'm ready to turn things around again. The kids and I love green smoothies. I use baby spinach, a banana, some frozen fruit and a little water. It's about the only way to get greens into my kids. The problem is that usually they drink it all and I don't get any. So, for the new year I will drink them with the kids.

9. 12 Vegan Dinners.
I'm not planning on going vegan anytime soon. There is so much conflicting evidence on the benefits (or not) of eating different diets. I'm pretty happy with where we are headed as a family - more whole foods, less junk, less sugar (well, except for the last month). However, I love the idea of the almighty vegetable taking center stage for a meal. I think limiting myself to an only vegan dinner at least once a month will help me think try a few new things.

10. 12 hikes with the kids and maybe even the obnoxious pup.
I've always wanted to be the kind of family that hikes together. It just hasn't happened as of yet. So, at least one hike a month and I don't care if it's super easy. We just need to get outside!

11. Help the kids with 12 art or craft projects.
They seriously bug me ALL THE TIME to do crafts. Well, not the oldest so much anymore, but definitely my 6 year old and 8 year old. And although I hate to admit it, I don't often facilitate it for them. So, at least one new craft or art project a month.

12. 12 fun mail packages just because.
I saw over on the GiversLog the fun packages she has put together all under 13 oz. If they are under 13 oz., they can be mailed first class postage which makes it really inexpensive. And who doesn't love to get stuff in the mail? I think this will be a super fun project and hopefully cheer up some friends and family. (I'm also thinking of using several of GiversLog's ideas as gifts for my nieces' and nephews' birthdays.)

Yay! I love this. I really love that I can break it down monthly to keep on track. So that's 1 knitting project, 1 skein of yarn, 1 crochet project, 1 sewing project, 1 classic, 1 non-fiction book, 1 bag of stuff donated, 12 green smoothies, 1 vegan dinner, 1 hike, 1 kid's craft project and 1 fun mail package a month. Totally doable. Happy 2012!

Christmas Crafting 2011

2011-12-25T14:20:00.002-07:00

I didn't do much crafting this year because we have a lot on our plate right now. My hubby took a job away from us and I'm having to solo-parent most of the time now. That along with trying to pack to get ready to join him have made it impossible to get all the fun projects done that I had planned. But, I did have some things I made a little while ago and never sent along with a couple of new projects. Here are links to the projects we did and a couple of crappy pictures too. ;-)

Here's a cute stuffed dog I made for my niece. No link for this one. The pattern came out of a wonderful Waldorf craft pattern book lent to me by a friend.

For my other niece and my 6 year old daughter, I made pencil and drawing paper holders. I love this tutorial! I've made it several times now. As you can see, I've changed it a little. I like to use a contrast fabric on the front and a velcro closure. I love that Target pads of paper fit perfectly too.

For my nephews and my boys, I made these miniature marshmallow guns. Seriously fun! So fun that my daughter insisted on having one too! I wish that all the boys lived closer because I'm sure it would have made for a fun and crazy Christmas day activity. We haven't made the goggles yet but plan on trying to make them soon.

We also included in the cousins' box some homemade gingerbread play dough. It smelled so good! We kept half here to play with too.

Every year I try to make sure the kids have a new Christmas tree ornament. At first I bought them ornaments. But, a couple of years ago we switched to making them ourselves. This year we made model magic snowflakes. Here's the post that inspired us. It was the first time we've used Crayola Model Magic and the kids had a lot of fun with it.

I also made the Eleventh Hour Scarf from Purl Bee for one of my sisters. I used Wool-ease Thick and Quick yarn in an off-white color. I wish I had taken a picture. I liked how it turned out so much that I almost kept it for myself!

I also knit a scarf for my mom. It was a light-weight lace pattern called Falling Water. I used a pretty blue bamboo blend yarn.

My dad got a Classic World War II Watch Cap made out of wool in black and red. My oldest kept trying to take this hat since it's been hanging around the house waiting to be finished for awhile. I think I'm going to have to knit him one soon too!

I put together a little gift package for my sister-in-law that had an earwarmer, coffee cup cozy and fun porcelein travel mug. I used this pattern - Blue Leaf Headband. I also made my daughter one out of a lighter weight yarn and smaller needles. It still needs a button but also came out cute. The coffee cup cozy started life as these fingerless mittens. I loved the pattern but I wasn't happy with the yarn so I frogged it down to coffee cup cozy size.

There was also a failed attempt at homemade Almond Roca. But, I don't really want to talk about it. It makes me too sad... :P There was success for Christmas Eve dinner though with a Snowman Pizza. I think we have a new Christmas Eve tradition.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday filled with love and laughter!

Recipe : Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

2011-12-05T09:56:00.001-07:00

I know I'm posting two recipes in a row (with lots of days in between), but I need to write down our version of pumpkin muffins. I started with this recipe (which is great on it's own.) I don't even remember how I found it. I think I was googling whole wheat pumpkin muffins and needed one without white sugar. Then I kept tweaking it until it was perfect for us. It's now at a point where it pleases everyone including my non-whole-wheat-eating hubby. I wanted it to have a little more umph so I substitute almond meal for part of the flour. I use my own pureed pumpkin that I freeze in 2 cup portions so I switched out that and reduced the other liquid. I use milk instead of buttermilk since that's what I usually have on hand. (Yes, I know I can make buttermilk easily. I'm just super lazy in the morning.) I generally use high quality butter or coconut oil for fat so I replaced that (either will work in this recipe.) My kids love chocolate chips in their muffins so out with the cranberries. Also I doubled the recipe. I make 24 and freeze half for another morning. Here's the final version:

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
adapted from Eating Clean Recipes

makes 24 standard size muffins

2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup Almond Meal
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
5 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice (Here's the recipe I use to make up my own)
1 teaspoon Salt
2 Eggs beaten
2 cups Pureed Pumpkin
1 cup Turbinado Raw Sugar
1 cup Milk
6 Tablespoons Coconut Oil (make sure it's liquefied)
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1 1/2 cups Chocolate Chips (I use the Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Bittersweet chips)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin tins.

Whisk together flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt.

In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, pumpkin sugar, milk, coconut oil and vanilla. Add wet mixture to the dry and stir to combine. Fold in chocolate chips. Divide batter into muffin cups. I use an ice cream scoop to make it easier.

Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in muffin comes out clean (well except for melted chocolate.) Cool in pans for a few minutes before removing to wire rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy!

Recipe : PB & J Waffles

2011-09-12T08:35:00.004-06:00

We have a little bit of an obsession with waffles in our house. I have one kid who is very particular about what he eats. Breakfast can be tough since he doesn't like eggs, oatmeal or most cold cereal. But, he loves waffles. So, we tend to have waffles at least once or twice a week. I could never eat just waffles or pancakes and syrup for breakfast without feeling kind of crummy for the rest of the day. It was always too much sugar first thing in the morning. When my kids were little, I started putting peanut butter on their waffles (then it was frozen waffles) to give them a little boost of protein.

A little while ago, I came across a recipe in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine for peanut butter waffles. I thought that was brilliant! I'd never thought about mixing the peanut butter into the waffle batter. We tried that recipe first and it was delicious but not quite peanut-buttery enough for us. I started to tweak our standard waffle recipe with added peanut butter. It was super yummy. One day we were out of maple syrup, so the kids used strawberry jam and PB & J waffles were born.

PB & J Waffles

2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

2 Tablespoons Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Salt

2 cups Milk

1/4 cup Oil
2 large Eggs

1/2 cup Peanut Butter

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Directions:

Whisk together Flour, Baking Powder, Sugar and Salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together Milk, Oil, Eggs, Peanut Butter and Vanilla. This will take a couple of minutes to get the peanut butter completely incorporated. It will still be in tiny clumps. That's ok. Just make sure it's mixed evenly throughout.

Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix until combined. Spoon into a heated and lightly greased waffle maker. My waffle maker uses about 1/3 cup of batter per waffle and I ended up with 12 waffles with this recipe.

Jam Syrup

3/4 cup Strawberry Jam

1-2 Tablespoons Water

Mix together Jam and Water. Heat either on the stove or in microwave for 1 minute. Stir and serve.

These waffles also taste great with maple syrup or bananas and a drizzle of honey!

A Few Amazing Photos I Found on My Camera

2011-09-08T22:49:00.000-06:00

Recently, my eight year old has decided that he wants to be a photographer when he grows up. So, I've been letting him take my camera from me when we are out and about. I haven't taught him anything really about taking pictures (since I don't know much myself LOL), but figured he'd have fun playing around with my camera. I was a little surprised to find these photos tonight when I was uploading pictures onto my computer. I haven't done any photo editing on any of them. I just love them!

ONE : Sea Creatures Birthday Party

2011-07-31T20:41:00.003-06:00

I'm ONE!

Our littlest one turned ONE! So hard to believe that a year has passed since her birth. I have been looking forward to this birthday all year! I knew that when it came, we would hopefully be past the hardest struggles of having a preemie. And we are! She is still slightly delayed in her gross motor development, but has come such a long way! She is crawling and pulling up now and all the weight issues of her first several months are a thing of the past. She's still a petite little thing, but not far off from where her sister was at the same age.

To celebrate her birthday, we had a joint celebration with a very good friend of mine whose son also turned one in July. The first pictures of them together are so funny. I think we took them at around 6 weeks old and Baby V looks like his doll. Now she's still smaller, but the difference isn't quite so dramatic.

It was fun throwing a birthday party with a friend. It meant that I didn't have to do all the work. LOL She handled all the food and I did the cakes and favors. We chose the theme "sea creatures." I thought it would be a fun summertime theme and perfect for a birthday party celebrating both a little girl's and boy's first birthday. My friend made yummy cream cheese and turkey or ham on tortilla sandwiches cut in the shape of fish. My husband has asked me to make these at home (minus the fish cookie cutter.) ;) Of course, we had to have goldfish crackers too. Along with that some fruit, chips for the grown ups and flavored lemonade. We had the party at a park so we tried to keep everything finger foods.

I made the cakes and cupcakes. I used this tutorial on Hungry Happenings to make marshmallow sea creatures from the sand toys I bought to give as favors. These went onto two different 6 inch round cakes frosted blue like the sea. I made vanilla wafer crumbs to resemble sand and sprinkled it around the base of the cakes. My dear friend Tina, card-maker extraordinaire, made two mini pennants with each baby's name for the top of the cakes. I think they came out pretty cute if I do say so myself.

I didn't get a good picture of the cupcakes I made for everyone else. I used these instructions on Family Fun's website. Super easy and cute! I made not only orange but also blue, yellow and green fishies.

We kept the party really low-key. We had sand pails and sand toys for the kids. I also set up a baby pool with sea creature squirters in it. Overall, it was a fun party to put together. We kept the guest list small which made it manageable, but I wished that I could have invited all the families who have been such a help to us this past year!

Yum!

Our Story (7) : Birth Day

2011-07-19T21:19:00.000-06:00

Our sweet baby - 2 days old

It's so hard to believe that this was a year ago! In some ways it seems like a very long time ago and in other ways not long at all. I was only in the hospital 6 days when I was rudely woken up in the middle of the night to be told that my liver function numbers were not looking good and that I would need to have a c-section first thing in the morning. That was a really horrific night. I sobbed to myself for hours. I wanted so badly to call my hubby. He is my biggest comfort. But, I knew that if we were having this baby 9 weeks early, he would need the sleep. So I just cried to myself in the dark in my hospital room. I called him at 6 am. He made it to the hospital by 7. At around 7:30 my OB/GYN called me to find out what was going on. She said she'd stop by on the way to her office to check on everything. She told me that I still had a say in whether or not I wanted a c-section right now. Even though my situation gave me very little choice, she always made me feel like I had a say in my care. I seriously lucked out having her as my doctor. Then my favorite hospital doctor came to my room. He explained that my levels were not looking good, but if they didn't get any worse, he didn't think that I needed to rush into a c-section. Yay!!

I decided to eat breakfast and wait it out through another round of blood tests. I still was feeling good and not having any of the scary symptoms of pre-eclampsia (well except for extremely high blood pressure.) My good friend stopped by to chat. Everything seemed fine. I told her I was going to try to hold out for another day or so. It seemed completely doable.

This is the picture my husband took so I could see our little girl for the first time

Here is when I tell you that all the crazy precautions that I hated (like being in the hospital) probably saved my life. Right after my friend left, I started to have incredibly intense right upper quadrant pain. Pain right under the right side of my ribcage. It came on so suddenly that it took me by surprise. I had what is called HELLP syndrome. My liver decided that it wanted to stop working. It was so painful that I even asked for pain meds. I was rushed over to the labor and delivery side of the hospital so they could start prepping for an emergency c-section. My doctor was called and she rearranged her afternoon schedule to come over to the hospital and do my surgery. My favorite hospital doctor was there too. Within two hours everyone was there and ready for surgery. The c-section was not a big deal. I'd had three others so I knew what to expect. My doctor told me that I could have had a vbac for sure after she did the incision and saw that the scar tissue from the previous c-sections wasn't bad at all. Well, if I hadn't had pre-eclampsia and HELLP. I know I should have felt vindicated a little for fighting for a vbac, but since I was in the middle of another c-section, it just made me feel sad.

Having a baby this early meant that I didn't get to even see her before she was whisked away to the NICU doctors. I heard her cry. That was it. Gah, it's making me cry thinking about it. Then I was taken to the recovery room. The NICU doctor came in to tell me that my baby was doing really well. She said that she was more worried about me than she was about my daughter. I guess I didn't look so great. They tried to wheel me past her bed in the NICU before taking me back to my hospital room. They were in the process of trying to get her IV in and it wasn't going well, so I still didn't get a glimpse of her. I was told that she weighed 3 lbs 13 oz and was 17.5 inches long. But I didn't get to see her much less touch her and tell her how much I loved her already.

Back in my hospital room, I couldn't move. I was put on magnesium sulfate which is standard procedure for anyone with pre-eclampsia. Let me tell you - that stuff is nasty. I was doing ok at first and then I started to feel worse and worse. I have recovered from a c-section before and while it's no fun, it was nothing like this. I had started pumping to try to get my milk to come in, but I couldn't do it anymore. That's how bad I felt. I was throwing up. I think it was a reaction to the pain meds. I even told the nurses that I didn't want anyone but my husband in my room. It was a miserable 24 hours.

24 hours after her birth, I was taken off the mag and wheeled over to the NICU. I got to hold my precious itty-bitty baby for the first time. I cried and cried. I cried because she looked so helpless with all those cords attached to her. I cried because she had spent her first 24 hours in this world (2 months before she was supposed to) away from her mama. (For the record, she did have her daddy.) And I cried because the whole thing was just so disappointing to me. Yes, I was thankful that she was doing so well for being so early, but it was still stressful and scary. I had wanted so much more for her and for me.

Happy 4th!!

2011-07-04T19:49:00.000-06:00

Here's the yummy dessert that I made this evening. I used this strawberry shortcake recipe. It came out delicious! But I tend to like anything with strawberries.

Yum yum!

We will be celebrating Independence Day by not lighting our own fireworks. The kids are a little bummed, but the state of New Mexico is having serious wildfires so we decided not to purchase any fireworks this year. Instead, we're going to find a fun place to park the car and watch the city fireworks. Hope you are all enjoying the holiday!

LEGO Soap

2011-06-28T11:22:00.000-06:00

We had a birthday to go to for a wonderful friend turning 9 years old. We weren't sure what kind of gift we could make and then remembered that he is crazy about LEGOs just like my boys. I had a LEGO ice cube tray I bought a few years ago for a LEGO themed birthday party. Since then I have been collecting silicone ice cube trays in fun shapes whenever I see them for my soap making. I hadn't tried making soaps in that mold yet, but thought they would come out super cute. This project was something that all the kids could help with too. We used a melt and pour soap base that I melted in the microwave. Then the kids added food coloring and a scent of their choice before we poured it in the mold. The result was a colorful assortment of yummy smelling mini soaps! I especially loved that the kids all got to be a part of the crafting this time.

I had to show off this awesome pop-up card my oldest made for the birthday boy. He used this tutorial. I thought he did great!

Our Week : 6.25.11

2011-06-25T20:23:00.009-06:00

This week was pretty low-key. We kept up our studies with Lesson Pathways. I'm still trying to get into a good rhythm with homeschooling, but we're not quite there yet. We have made progress though. I saw an idea on funschooling that I thought might work for us. She uses a private blog to record assignments for the day. We tried that this week and it really seemed to work well. It was easy to fill in each morning, and I just edited the previous day to reflect what actually got done. We will continue with this for this next week and hopefully it will continue to work for us.

Here are some highlights from this week. Boog has been reviewing multiplication facts. We've never played Timez Attack before although I've seen it mentioned on other homeschooling sites in the past. It's been great for multiplication practice. He also built a mini solar cooker out of a Pringles chip can. He cooked himself a hot dog that tasted pretty good (he said.) It did take about 2 1/2 hours though.

Here it is with marshmallows. Why? I have no idea. I forgot to get a pic of it in action.

Roni read Mercy Watson to the Rescue this week and wrote his own animal story. It's the first time he's ever tried any kind of creative writing. He's my "facts only" kid. At the library, we can usually find him in the non-fiction section. This was a stretch for him. It's short but cute!

The Rat Problem

One day a cat named Elwood and his brother named Jack lived in New York. They had a problem. RATS!!! They had to think fast or the rats would take over the world. Jack had an idea. He thought about using rat repellant, but Elwood had another idea. He wanted to scare the rats away. The brothers agreed to use both ideas. First they scared the rats. Then they used rat repellant. And it worked! Then they lived happily ever after.

He also studied the Indus River Valley civilization. Is it ok to admit that I don't remember anything about this civilization? I feel a bit embarrassed. I think I enjoyed learning the history as much as he did. He even made some cool mandala art and Pixie got in on that project too.

Pixie and I read lots of books this week. She had gotten a bit behind her brothers on the library reading program so we went to town on a bunch of books this week. One of our favorite books from the library was Fairy Houses. We made plans to build our own fairy house very soon. We thought it might be fun to build one down by the river so we need to plan a day to go down there. She also practiced writing her numbers. She is very businesslike about her schoolwork. It's pretty fun to watch. She's definitely the one I have to break my no-worksheets rule for. She loves them.

Our Story (6) : The Hospital

2011-06-24T21:45:00.005-06:00

Within a couple of weeks of getting my prescription for blood pressure meds, they stopped working. My blood pressure was all over the place. I emailed my doctor about it. She told me that she was at the hospital that day and I needed to come in. Again, everyone flipped out when I got there. They admitted me to monitor me while they did another 24 hour urine test. I would not accept the possibility that I might have to bring this baby into the world so early. I was only 29 weeks pregnant. I believed that this was merely a medication issue. I just needed to find the right combination of meds to get me to the end. They sent in a NICU nurse to talk to me about what would need to happen for Baby at 29 weeks gestation. I thanked him kindly for his time but told him that I wasn't there to have this baby - only as a precaution. I fought with nearly everyone who came in mostly about the vbac issue. It seemed that all the residents and doctors wanted to convince me that I was wrong. I again reassured them that if I needed to have an emergency delivery then I would probably opt for a repeat c-section but that I still believed I could go full-term and have a safe vbac. It was a miserable 24 hours. I really hate hospitals. We finally got back the results from the 24 hour test and it showed an increase in protein levels. Thankfully, at that point, my levels indicated mild pre-eclampsia. One doctor in particular tried to convince me to stay in the hospital. I refused. I wanted to go home.

I was home on bed rest for less than a week. That weekend we celebrated Fourth of July and my sister came for a visit. She had been planning the trip for awhile to help me get ready for baby #4. The day after she arrived, she drove me to my doctor for an appointment. It wasn't good. My doctor came in and sat next to the exam table. I was lying on my side to try and bring my blood pressure down. She said I needed to go back to the hospital. I asked if I had time to go home and pack a bag. "No," she said, "You need to go straight there." My husband and I had spent the weekend talking about whether or not to have the steroid shot to prepare the baby's lungs in case she needed to come early. I was hesitant, but after researching it and talking to one of the doctors at the hospital, I felt like it was the best choice for our situation. But, we hadn't had the shot yet. I knew that would be the first thing to do once at the hospital.

My sister drove me back to the hospital and waited with me until my husband could get there. What did I freak out about as I was waiting to be admitted? The fact that I hadn't knit a purple hat out of cotton yarn for the baby to wear when she was born. I was giving her instructions on where to go and what to get for me. I had to at least have a homemade hat for her. I'm sure I sounded a bit crazy. It was easier to freak out about a silly hat than face the realities of what was going on with my body.

Ahh, teaching hospitals. For the most part, we had a really good experience. But, there was one resident that drove me insane. He talked to me like I was a complete idiot. He sat down next to me while admitting me and said in a very syrupy voice, "So, Mrs. B, you have what we call high blood pressure." No sh-- sherlock. I wish I could remember his name, because even that was annoying, and he looked like he was 17 years old too. Anyway, it became a joke because this person kept showing up. Every time he would walk into my hospital room, my husband would start chuckling to himself. He thought it was funny especially because he annoyed me so much. The flip side was another doctor there that I really came to trust. He knew first hand the stress of having a baby premature. I trusted his opinion because he "got" that I wasn't in this to just save myself. I was determined to give my baby the best possible chance which meant I needed her to stay safe in my womb for as long as possible. He explained things to my husband and I (like the steroids) with respect and real data about risks and benefits. He was never condescending. Thank God for him. Truly.

I knew I was stuck in the hospital until Baby arrived. Everything I was trying to avoid - extra tests etc., I was now having ten-fold. Two non-stress tests a day, ultrasounds, medications, blood pressure checks all the time...the whole works. I felt like I was defeated. My hope for a natural birth was completely destroyed. And I felt like I couldn't be sad about it because this was what was going to keep Baby and me alive. I did my best to focus on staying pregnant. We were past 30 weeks which was better than 29 but I really wanted to get to 35 weeks. My awesome friends kept my spirits up. They all came bearing gifts of snack foods (the hospital food was getting to me) and nail polish. They gave me a pedicure and chocolate. What more could a girl want? I passed the 31 week mark. Another week down. I just kept thinking that every day I was still pregnant was a good day. So far I was maintaining all my levels and the tests showed that Baby was doing fine. But, how long would it last?

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T22:23:00.000-06:00

We've had a low-key day today. The kids and I made cake pops for Brad (or maybe mostly for us???) to celebrate Father's Day. They weren't as pretty as the ones by Bakerella in her cool Cake Pop cookbook I checked out from the library, but they sure tasted yummy! We told him the orange was for the Harley's he loves. He didn't get the carefree day I think he was hoping for, but I hope he knows how much we appreciate him. He's an amazing daddy and husband, the rock of our family. Love you sweetie!

Our Week : 6.18.11

2011-06-18T22:29:00.002-06:00

Homeschooling mama is back! I'm sure everyone could hear the weeping and groaning from my house this week. No more lazy days of Netflix and Roblox. I'm kidding. The reality is that this past year has been incredibly stressful for my kids too. They've had to become very self-sufficient and learned a ton of life skills. They all help me so much and help take care of their baby sister. Thankfully, as I've gotten stronger, they've had to do less but that means it's time to get back to our studies.

I just learned about a free curriculum site, Lesson Pathways, from a new friend. I am such a huge fan of Charlotte Mason style homeschooling and this is not CM at all. But, we need something a bit different right now. So, we're giving it a try and so far are really enjoying it. It's so nice to have a bunch of links to information on the internet all together in one place. We made it to the library this week so I did get some books to supplement the online information as well.

We also squeezed in some craft time. My two middle kids have been begging to sew something on my sewing machine. We opted for some pillows for their first project. They traced a square washcloth onto their choice of fabric. Then they sewed and stuffed.

They came out great, funny faces and all!

And the littlest one has been hard at work too. She has learned to clap this week. This is significant because it's one of the milestones that we haven't been able to check off the list. I wasn't worried because she was using both hands and passing toys back and forth, but it's good to see her figure it out. We still can't convince her to try crawling though. Here she is mid roll. That's her preferred form of transport right now.

And I thought I'd share the poem that Boog wrote this week. He was supposed to make a list of things that bother him and he turned it into a poem. It made me chuckle just a little...

The Things that Bother Me
My brother’s a nuisance
My sister’s a pain
My dog’s a nut-brain
And dishes are just LAME!
Bees i dislike
Whining i just hate
Spiders make me sick
And headaches make me shake.
All of these thing fill me with rage
I just wish i could make them go away!

Hello My Friend

2011-06-14T09:14:00.000-06:00

I actually dragged out my long lost friend, my sewing machine, this past weekend. It felt good to do something crafty even if it was something so simple. One tea towel apron for a special friend of my daughter who had a very fun horse themed party. I had a heck of a time finding little cooking utensils to go with the gift. I ended up finding these cuties at Bed, Bath and Beyond but that was my 4th or 5th stop. I'm going to have to keep a look out for kid's cooking utensils. I know I've seen them at Michaels and Target before. Next time, I think I'll stock up so we always have a few extra. These aprons are so quick to put together, and I know my daughter and niece use their aprons all the time. I've made this apron and this one before as well as a few that never made it on this blog.

Dear 39,

2011-06-03T21:34:00.000-06:00

Ate half a doughnut...what a treat!

I had a great first day, 39. We had treats, my favorite dinner, new shoes and a trip to the library. I had lots of birthday wishes that made me feel very loved. It was my kind of perfect day.

My New Vibram Five Fingers

I really have high hopes for you, 39. You see there were several doctors that thought I wouldn't make it to 39. They told my family to say goodbye...even my young kids. I don't remember that part because I was pretty out of it, but it was traumatic for the whole family. And now, here I am celebrating another year. Is it selfish to hope that 39 is better than 38? You know that 38 was not that kind to me with all the medical issues. I mean I'm incredibly grateful for my beautiful family, my kids and husband. I'm especially grateful for the birth of my sweet baby. I'm so thankful for her health and her happy demeanor. But, seriously, it was the day after 38 came into my life that all of my medical issues started - my first trip to the hospital. And those hospital trips just kept coming and the stays got longer each time.

I still have healing to do, but I feel so much stronger than a few months ago. I'm home being "mom" again. That's really all I want out of life. It seems so silly. I was so ambitious when I was younger - fancy college, fancy job. Now? The fanciest job I could ever ask for is at home with my kids.

Library Trip

I really wish I could see into the future. I really want to see if I'll get a different kind of year this year. I want a year of good health, peace and maybe even some room for me to get a little entrepreneurial. I don't want to worry about pain and sickness. I want to focus on wellness.

So 39, I'm counting on you taking me out of my thirties on a high note. I want to be able to look back at 38 and say that it was incredibly difficult but we made it through. 39, I want you to be the year that I can look back on and smile. I really like smiling. :)

Sincerely yours,

Cari

Pac-Man Cake

2011-06-01T21:52:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated Roni's 8th birthday. He loves homemade cakes. Well, home-decorated cakes...I still usually end up using a cake mix. I am by no means "good" at cake decorating. My mom is amazing. She hasn't done much recently, but when I was a kid she made amazing cakes. I should make her dig up a few pictures for me...hey, mom?! Anyway, my cake decorating is purely for fun and not professional at all. In the past he has had a dinosaur cake, space shuttle, a horse and a cute little teddy bear for his first birthday. This year he wanted Pac-Man which totally cracked me up because it seems so eighties. Because of our crazy year, I wasn't sure I could get it done. But, somehow we managed. It was the first time I've ever used fondant. I used this marshmallow fondant recipe. It actually didn't even taste too bad. I just made two round cakes and didn't trim the top but left the top kind of rounded. I cut out the mouth and covered it in the yellow fondant. Then I used a cup to cut two dots from the cake I had cut from Pac-Man's mouth. I covered those with white fondant. Hopefully, I can try using marshmallow fondant again. I can see where I could have cleaned it up a bit, but overall I was really pleased with the results. And my-now-8-year-old was pleased too which is what's important!

Our Story (5) : Specialists and Arguments

2011-05-31T10:34:00.000-06:00

The week following my first trip to the hospital, I had an appointment with a Maternal Fetal Specialist that my doctor had recommended. She had been suggesting I see him for some time, but I had put it off because, as much as I liked her, I didn't trust that another doctor would be as supportive of my choices. I had finally decided to see him because of her recommendation thinking that perhaps one more person in my corner might help especially since I was now "high risk." I thought maybe he might have some additional ideas about ways to keep my blood pressure down. Thankfully, the medication I had just started taking was working at this point and my blood pressure was ok that day. But, that meant that we didn't spend much time discussing what was important to me, keeping me healthy, and instead focused on my request for a vbac. He came at me guns blazing telling me all the reasons why I shouldn't try for a vbac. I was so shocked. I had come in to discuss hypertension not vbac. I had read A LOT on vaginal birth after multiple c-sections. This was something that was extremely important to me...something I had discussed at length with my own doctor. I knew that most doctors and some states won't allow a woman to try for a vbac if they've never had a vaginal birth and more than one c-section. But, the research just doesn't support that kind of restrictions. In fact, the problem with vbamc (vaginal birth after multiple c-sections) is that there isn't much research on it at all. Here was my standard answer to anyone questioning my decision,

I've read up on the stats as much as I can. I feel strongly that my risk is with any kind of birth after having three c-sections. Whether I choose vbac or repeat c-section, I'm at a higher risk. Because of that, I'd rather go the natural route especially since I know that I have healed well from my other c-sections based on the assessment done by my doctor during my last Cesarean. I will have the highest chance of success with the least amount of interventions. If I need interventions, I'll have to weigh the pros and cons of continuing with a vbac.

There actually was one recent study that showed that the risks of a vbac after three or more c-sections was the same as someone with only one c-section or with the risks of having a repeat c-section. (I emailed this to the doctor after my visit.) Anyway, this doctor visit was incredibly frustrating especially since it ended up being about something I wasn't expecting. He even left me in the exam room to go get the head of the department to try to convince me I shouldn't vbac. (This was in a state with very low c-section rates.) I think his intentions were good, but his method was everything I hated about the western medicine model of care. Thankfully, the head of the department was a pretty mellow guy and saw that I wasn't budging on this issue. Through the whole pregnancy, I said that if I needed interventions, I would reconsider vbac. But, I wasn't signing up for a repeat c-section unless it became obvious that I needed one. I was actually nervous about going back to my doctor, but again she was wonderful. She was not happy about how I described the appointment and reassured me that it was my right at anytime to refuse a c-section. The ironic thing about the visit with the specialist was that it shouldn't have been about vbac or hypertension. It should have been about pre-eclampsia. The lab had messed up my 24 hour urine test so we didn't have the results at the time of the appointment. Had we had the results (which I found out a couple of weeks later), it would have shown that my protein levels were increasing. Pre-eclampsia was probably going to rule out the possibility of vbac for me. Maybe it was a good thing that I didn't know yet. Maybe just talking it over with me gave some doctors a different perspective? Doubtful, but I still hope so.

Our Story (4) : Hypertension

2011-05-28T20:30:00.002-06:00

Ugh. This is a tough topic for me. It's one of the areas of my life that I've tried to ignore over the last ten years. Not a good thing to ignore. I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was in college. It is one of those conditions that make life frustrating - weight gain, infertility, and a host of things like Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol that I'm now at an increased risk to develop. I stayed fairly healthy but gained weight after getting married. When I was pregnant with Boog, I had my first high blood pressure reading. It continued to rise while I was pregnant, and I was diagnosed with chronic hypertension brought on by pregnancy. I never showed any signs of pre-eclampsia - just really high blood pressure. Well, after he was born it did go back down. But when I got pregnant with Roni, the high blood pressure returned and never went away again. For that pregnancy, I was immediately put on medication. It did marginally well in controlling my blood pressure but I felt like a zombie. When pregnant with Pixie, my ob/gyn suggested we try a different med, something stronger that she liked. She made me feel a bit silly questioning it. A quick google search of Atenolol and pregnancy will show how dangerous this drug really is to developing babies. I have very strong regrets about allowing her to be exposed to this drug. My pediatrician at the time even asked me to switch to something else while breastfeeding. Thank God I listened. Since she hadn't nursed in quite awhile and we weren't planning any other children, I had just switched to yet another medication to try and control my blood pressure. I felt like it was my dirty little secret -- allopathic drugs for hypertension. I had tried some natural ways to treat it in the past but never had much luck.

We had the news that I was pregnant and I knew the medication I was taking at that time was not safe for pregnancy. I immediately stopped taking it. There was enough medicine in my body that it took several weeks before I started to see it rising again. Here's the decision I most question about how I approached this pregnancy. I don't question my motives at all, but I wonder if the outcome would have been different if I had made different choices. I read up on blood pressure drugs and decided that I wanted to avoid them as long as possible. I knew that I would probably need them eventually, but my goal was 6 months. My blood pressure was already going up at 6 weeks though. First I tried herbs to control it. I think they would have worked, but I couldn't keep them down. I typically don't have bad morning sickness, but this tincture made me vomit. Then I tried supplements, specifically magnesium, and exercise, walking. This did a pretty good job keeping it below stroke levels, but it was by no means "good." Generally it hung in the 140/95 range. My blood pressure monitor and I became buds. I took my pressure all the time keeping a meticulous record to show my doctor. I needed it because every time I went in for an appointment, it was high. Really high. But she believed my record and let me make the choice to stay off the meds. Right around 6 months, I started feeling awful. I got some really high readings and I tried to get a hold of my doctor but she was out of town and it was a Friday. I wish I could remember the exact reading. I think it was like. 160/110. The staff told me that I had to go down to the hospital to get it checked. Grr. I was so mad. I'd been through this before. I just needed a prescription for the drug that my doctor and I had decided on and that was it. It was hypertension NOT pre-eclampsia.

The doctors and residents freaked out a bit when I came in. But, my blood pressure did start to come down a little after I'd been there for a couple of hours. I finally got a doctor to give me my prescription but also made me do a 24 hour urine test. This was really the beginning of the end. I just couldn't see it at the time. I was heading into the medical monster called "high risk pregnancy." Heading straight for everything I wanted to avoid and my head was still firmly planted in the sand regarding pre-eclampsia.

Favorite Things :: 6 year old Prayers

2011-05-26T22:00:00.001-06:00

I've decided to start a new feature (not sure what to call it) on my blog called Favorite Things. It will be something fun or funny that's making me happy right now. I thought about making it Friday Favorite Things, but I know that if I do that, I'll rebel against myself at having to post something on a specific day. LOL It's bad when you like to be a rebel against yourself...you should see the drama surrounding my menu plans. :P Anyway, today I start with something sweet...

Every time my 6 year old says her bedtime prayers, this phrase is tucked in there somewhere.

"...and help all the people in the hospital, especially those with babies, so they can go home soon..."

Bye to My Baby

2011-05-25T15:49:00.004-06:00

Ok, so he gets really mad at me when I call him my baby, but you know it's a mother's prerogative. My 10 year old left for a week long adventure with his best buddy in the world. He is going to have so much fun. It culminates in a solo airplane flight home at the end of the week. Mom, Dad and his 6 year old sister really miss him. I bet his brother does too, but he's too cool at 8 years old to admit it. ;)

Our Story (3) : Bittersweet Beginnings

2011-05-25T15:21:00.006-06:00

I was pregnant. So what did I do for the first month? I hate to admit this, but I cried. It was hitting hard that we were going back to sleepless nights, changing diapers and a crying baby. Thank God that I have the most level-headed husband. He calmly reassured me every time that this really wasn't such a bad thing. We knew how to love a baby...all the rest wasn't a big deal. Of course he was right. Then I started bleeding. A lot and frequently. I thought for sure I was losing this baby. I felt so guilty for all of my complaining and fit-throwing. I really did want this baby. I had a miscarriage before becoming pregnant with my oldest. I knew how heartbreaking it is to go through that. I tried to tell myself that I couldn't care about this baby because there was no way we could avoid what I thought was surely a miscarriage. But then I would stop bleeding and think that everything was ok and then it would start again. What a roller coaster of emotion! It went on for most of the first trimester.

In the midst of the crazy emotional ups and downs, I started talking to the one midwife I thought might take me (and was covered by our insurance.) But, I had major obstacles. I have struggled with hypertension since my first pregnancy. Because of the hypertension and the type of care I was receiving at the time, I had had c-sections with all three of my children. Over the past ten years, I became more and more drawn to a more natural way of living, a more holistic model of care. I became more and more frustrated looking back at those births because I felt cheated out of something so powerful for me and more gentle and natural for my babies. My dream was a home birth, but I knew that would be a tough sell with my history. I had to try. New Mexico has such a wonderful home birth community. If there was ever a chance of my dream coming true, it would be here. I started to plead my case. The midwife was wonderful and encouraged me to pursue a natural birth, but I could feel her apprehension regarding a home birth for me. She asked me to contact an ob/gyn to discuss the possibility of a natural birth in the hospital. I was so scared. I still felt like doctors were bullies and I didn't want to be bullied anymore. I brought Brad with me to have my back. We sat in the exam room and waited to meet the doctor. I had just started Hypnobabies meditations so I put myself in my "bubble of peace." ;) In walked the doctor in jeans and a sweater with long straight hair. She introduced herself by her first name. And we talked. I swear she sounded more like a midwife than a doctor. I could feel that she wanted me to have a voice in my care. She wanted me to choose the kind of birth I wanted. The only thing she brought up was the possibility of pre-eclampsia. She said that if I showed signs of it, she would need to talk about a repeat c-section. That wasn't a problem for me. I told her I was a reasonable person and would of course be interested in discussing a different approach if any serious condition arose. Honestly, I wasn't worried about pre-eclampsia. I had three full term births all with hypertension. I just didn't think it was a risk for me. I knew it would be the first question anyone would ask because of my risk factors and my previous hypertension issues. My head was really in the sand on this illness. But, I left her office encouraged that I might actually get a chance at a natural birth. It wouldn't be at home like I wanted, but I guessed it would be the best I could get. As Brad said to me after we left, "You didn't even need me there. She's perfect for us!" I thought maybe he was right.

Our Story (2) : New Year's Surprises

2011-05-23T19:21:00.008-06:00

I was thinking about where to start this story and I felt really strongly that I had to start it at the beginning -- when the news that Baby #4 was on the way rocked our world. We had just returned from Colorado after spending the 2009 holidays with my husband's family. We went to a New Year's Eve party at my wonderful friend's house to welcome 2010. It was one of those parties that just makes you happy. Good friends, good margaritas, good food and happy kids running around the house. Over the last year or so, I had been heard saying (several times actually) that I really wish we had had just one more child. But, with job loss and our three kids getting older and easier, Brad and I had pretty much decided that we were done. I remember thinking that maybe it didn't matter when I stopped having kids...I'd always wish we had just one more.

At that party my friend shocked me. She told me that she saw us with another child and when she did our numerology for the coming year, it foretold a possible child. Well, I thought that there might be a possibility that I was pregnant. But, I had tested a few days before and it was negative. (Thus the heavy consumption of margaritas.) You can imagine that that freaked me out a little. How did she know?! I continue to tease her that she scares me just a little with her psychic abilities. On January 2nd, I took another pregnancy test to make sure and it was positive. I was floored. It really wasn't probable that I could have been pregnant, if you know what I mean. I have said that this baby had to work really hard to come into this world. I was really shocked and unsure about having four kids. I mean, who has four kids??? We would be one step away from denim jumpers! But, as much as I was freaked out, I was also really excited. A new baby...my fourth. The one that I could finally bring into this world the way I wanted. We were finally confident about how we wanted to parent. So many hopes and dreams for this little one.

ETA: I just wanted to say that we have friends with 4 (or more) kids that have amazing families. I've never even thought twice about the size of their families. It was when we were faced with the reality of four kids that I took on what I believe is the prevalent attitude in our culture which is that that's too many. I think even my friends with one child would agree that there is this attitude that two children is best. Three is ok especially if your first two are the same gender. But only one or four or more? Not so accepted. I actually had a dentist say to me after finding out I was pregnant with number four, "Where I come from, we call that a litter." I didn't respond then so here's what I wanted to say, "Where I come from we learned not to say rude things to people." Ahh, that feels better. I've been holding that in for a year. :P

Our Story (1) : I'm Back!

2011-05-22T18:38:00.004-06:00

I had kind of written off this blog. I didn't feel like I had the energy or material to keep it up. It's still up because I was too lazy to actually discontinue it. ;) But, the other day I was thinking about everything we've been through in the last year and a half and thought that maybe it would be cathartic to tell our story. Those of you who know me personally, know that it's been an incredibly difficult time for us. And quite a bit of it, I wasn't ready to talk about until recently. The other night when I couldn't sleep, I was writing blog posts in my mind and I realized that perhaps it was time. I thought about just journaling it, but then I thought that maybe someday, maybe someone might stumble on this little blog and find some comfort if they need it. Maybe they could see themselves in the struggles we've had and might be encouraged to keep going and not give up. So, I've decided to tell our story. But, I think I'll start tomorrow....

But there is one thing I wanted to announce since the last blog post was about the daughter we were expecting. She was born last July and is a complete joy to our family...but that's part of the story too so more on that later. She's now 10 months old! I can't believe it! Here's a picture I took this past Easter. She's such a cutie!

First Baby Project Done

2010-05-08T21:07:00.002-06:00

I finished my first knitting project for the new baby. We found out last week that we're having another GIRL!!! After we found out, I wanted to get started on a project. I had some yarn left that I had dyed last year using kool-aid. It wasn't really enough for a big project, but there was plenty for a baby hat. I chose a pattern called vine lace baby hat that is available for free on the Interweave Knitting Daily site. It was a little tricky, but I think it's just because of my foggy pregnancy brain. I think it needs some matching tiny newborn socks to go with it, but I've never tried knitting socks and they scare me just a little. We'll see if I can muster up the courage to try.

Hello Again!

2010-04-27T12:12:00.003-06:00

I unintentionally took a very long break from this blog. Things just got really crazy here and before I knew it, several months had gone by. After prodding from friends and family, I think I'm going to try again. Our big news (and the main reason I haven't wanted to sit at the computer lately) is

Yep, that's a positive pregnancy test. Looks like baby #4 will be joining our family at the end of summer. We are all very excited! I'm sure that there will be some crafty sorts of projects happening soon to get ready for the wee one.

Goldilocks Finger Puppet

2009-11-04T17:26:00.005-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine asked if I could knit her a Goldilocks finger puppet. She had a bunch of knit animal puppets that included bears, but wanted a Goldilocks to go with them. We found this free pattern for a farmer, and I thought that it wouldn't be too hard to turn Old MacDonald into Goldilocks.

I didn't have to make very many changes. First instead of 15 stitches, I cast on 30 stitches and used a very girly pink yarn (Lamb's Pride Worsted Strawberry Smoothie.) Then for the second row, I knit 2 together across the entire row. I was trying to make a little bit of a ruffle to look like a skirt. Then I forgot to switch to stockinette and continued with garter stitch for the next 2 rows. Uh oh. But, it ended up making a nice edge for the skirt. After that, I switched to stockinette and followed the pattern for the increases and decreases. I didn't have to switch yarn color to make overalls, so that ended up being easier. I followed the pattern for the arms and face, but gave her yellow braids instead of farmer hair. I think she came out pretty darn cute!

ETA: So, my sweet husband told me that she reminded him of the Joker. What?! It was bugging me that her hair was too far back on her head anyway, so I went ahead and added some more hair to her head. I think (hopefully) that she looks less like the Joker and more like Goldilocks now. I posted a new photo with her new hairdo.

Christmas is coming!

2009-11-01T14:23:00.003-07:00

Here's a sneak peek at one of the Christmas projects I'm working on right now. It's my first time making a doll and I can't wait to see it finished. Bet you can't guess who it's for. ;) This month will be a busy month of Christmas crafting. We are trying to do mostly handmade gifts this year so I really need to get to work!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T21:34:00.003-06:00

...from three jack-o'-lanterns...

...Robin Hood, a black kitty and a ninja!

Introducing Maximus...

2009-10-17T21:11:00.004-06:00

This sweet boy joined our family last Saturday. He's a 1 1/2 year old Rottweiler. Our two Rotties that we loved so much and raised from puppyhood passed away about 4 years ago. My husband and kids have been yearning to get another dog. I mean I was getting major pressure from all of them! The circumstances just weren't right yet. After Brad started his new job, the discussions started again. We weren't sure what we were going to do. We knew we wanted another Rott, but thought that we would go with a pup from a reputable breeder. After emailing the local Rottie AKC club, we found out that there probably wouldn't be any pups in the area for some time. In the midst of emailing back and forth, the idea of going through a Rottie rescue organization came up. After the first attempt at a rescue adoption fell through, I thought that we weren't going to pursue the issue for awhile. I didn't know that my hubby was searching all of the shelters in not only New Mexico but Colorado as well.

He found this boy up in a shelter in Colorado. He asked his aunt to go take a look at him and let him know what she thought. She called us last Friday from the shelter and told us she thought he would be a great dog for our family. I still wasn't on board. It seemed crazy to me to drive 4 hours each way to adopt a dog. But then she said that he reminded her of Zeb, one of our previous Rotts that I loved so much. Totally unfair, right? So on Saturday we all hopped in the car and drove up to meet him. When we got there, he was getting a bath, because the staff knew we were coming up. They let Brad go in the back and see how well he tolerated being washed up. The rest of us waited in anticipation to meet him. We all fell instantly in love with him. He went to each of the kids and nuzzled and kissed them. Then he came over and tried to climb in my lap. He was coming home with us.

We decided to keep his name and not change it. We're mostly calling him "Max." He needs to gain about 20 lbs, but other than that seems pretty healthy. He has such a calm and loving personality. Well, except around the cat. We're having to work on that. He loves to have his belly rubbed and gives us the cutest puppy grins when we get home from being out and about. The best part is that he loves all the hugs and kisses from the kids. We love being his new pack and it feels really good to give him a second chance at a good life!

Fun Weekend!

2009-10-05T14:24:00.004-06:00

My sister came to visit from California for the weekend and we had so much fun! (Well, except for the saying goodbye part when she left Sunday evening.) Saturday was filled with carting kids to activities. Try as we might, we couldn't figure out a way to see both ballet class and Boog's flag football since they were at the exact same time. That was kind of a bummer. And I missed Boog's first catch during a game. But, he was very gracious about it. That afternoon, my sister and I went to the Balloon Glow at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. We got there early and walked around the vendors. We watched as the gas balloons prepared for takeoff for the gas balloon race. Then, we got the disappointing news that the balloon events would be canceled for the evening because of wind. So, instead we went out for dinner and catching up which wasn't probably as cool as glowing balloons but still a treat.

The next morning we all got up really early for Mass Ascension at the Balloon Fiesta - all except for my husband who is not nearly so excited about hot air balloons as I am. We weren't sure if the weather would be ok. It wasn't great, lots of dark clouds, but a good number of balloons still launched. Here the kids are still looking a bit sleepy.

These two kissing bees are two of my favorites. Unfortunately, they didn't actually lift off because of the weather, but they still inflated them for all of us there.

The dead cat balloon (one of my kids favorites) also didn't launch. Here it is just after it deflated.

In the kid's area, NASA had a tent full of all kinds of neat stuff. Before, we headed home, we took the kids there to see it. There were lots of fun posters that they got to take home, a small wind tunnel (that's what the kids are looking at here), a cockpit the kids could climb into and a station where they took the kids' pictures and superimposed them in space suits for them. They came in a "passport" with lots of fun activities.

Our only really big disappointment was that once again we missed the Darth Vader balloon. It's become almost comical. My kids are huge Star Wars fans and they have been wanting to see the Darth Vader balloon up close. The first year we went to Balloon Fiesta, the Darth Vader balloon had caught on fire earlier in the week and had to go home. Then last year, we missed it because the weekend we planned on going ended up being rained out. And this year....the Darth Vader balloon is stuck in China. According to the news today, I saw that it is supposed to be officially out of China, but still not here yet. So, I've promised the boys that if it gets here and is at the Balloon Fiesta, we will try to go again later in the week. So keep your fingers crossed for me. I don't think I could bear another year of complaining that they still haven't seen the Darth Vader balloon! ;)

I'm Dyeing

2009-09-18T22:15:00.007-06:00

I wasn't going to post a pic since this yarn is supposed to be for a Christmas present. But, I just had to because I'm so thrilled with how it looks! This is the very first time I've tried dyeing my own yarn. I used Knitpicks Bare Merino Wool in fingering weight that I got as a gift from my mom. I dyed it with good old Kool-Aid. Here's the directions I followed. I used Black Cherry, Orange and Lemonade that I put into squirt bottles and just randomly applied to the yarn. I was actually hoping for a darker red, but am loving the pinkish coral color. I wish I could post a picture showing how it's knitting up, but that will give too much away. After Christmas...(Unless of course I absolutely can't part with it, which is a huge possibility right now. Then I'll post a pic when I'm done.) ;)

Major Accomplishments

2009-09-16T20:40:00.006-06:00

We've been so incredibly busy over the last couple of weeks! I had every intention of starting our new term for homeschool at the beginning of September. Well, it looks like we're going to have to start next week. We've been doing some book work, but it's been mostly math and reading practice as well as finishing up a couple of books from last term. But, we've been busy doing some pretty cool things. I thought I'd post a couple of pictures that I hadn't had a chance to post yet.

First, I can't believe that I haven't posted about this huge event in our family! We no longer have anyone using training wheels! My daughter decided that it was time (at barely 4 1/2 years old) to get rid of those pesky training wheels. And when she decides to do something, nothing is going to stand in her way. She spent quite a bit of the day figuring out how to ride. It was a little rough in the beginning. I think she expected it to be a bit easier than it was. She didn't want any help. In fact, she told us to leave her alone so she could do it herself. But, by the end of the day, she was sailing done the hill into our cul-de-sac like a pro.

Yikes! Boog is waaayy up high! He's in the yellow t-shirt. He was so thrilled to get to join our Roots & Shoots group while they tackled the high ropes course at UNM. It's not the typical activity for our group. Normally, they stick to service projects, but this was a special opportunity for the kids to work on teamwork and to build confidence in themselves.

Boog said this was the most difficult part of the course. The two kids had to balance by leaning against each other and working together to move across the ropes. There were a few shrieks and some yells from mom to keep breathing, but they made it. I was so proud of all of the kids (and the moms) who did the course. It was a real accomplishment. I loved seeing the smiles as they came off the course. It didn't matter if they did every challenge or not. They all pushed themselves farther than they thought they would be able to go. It was really inspiring.

And here's what my other two kids did while they were waiting for their big brother. They were just a little too young to go on the course, so they occupied themselves by playing in the rocks with the other too-young siblings.

Take me out to the ballgame...

2009-09-01T17:30:00.008-06:00

We had so much fun this past weekend when we got to go to a local triple A baseball game. In the three years we've lived here, we have never made it to a game. I can't believe that! We love baseball, although we are big Rockies fans.

Only in New Mexico, would you find a road runner, running around outside the stadium. I'm a little obsessed with road runners. I can admit it. I hear they are good luck...

We had wonderful seats thanks to some great friends. They had a bunch of tickets and were incredibly generous to share with their friends. It made it even more special that we got to hang out with people we like during the game!

Batter up! I was feeling a bit nostalgic for the Dodgers while watching the game. The Isotopes are now a feeder team for the Dodgers, and I used to be a big Dodgers fan before my husband converted me to a Colorado fan.

This totally cracked me up. Only in New Mexico would two chile peppers race a taco and a bottle of salsa. And the red chile pepper makes it to the finish line first!

To top it all off, there was a great fireworks show after the game. And a big congrats to the Isotopes. They clinched their division with a win that night. Fun!

Our New Friend and a Rainbow

2009-08-27T19:43:00.002-06:00

How's that for a blog post title? So here's our little friend that lives on our patio. She comes down to hangout by the grass and flowers every evening around the same time. I don't know much about spiders but think this is an orb weaver. As long as she's catching those pesky flies and keeping to herself, she's welcome to share our space. The kids have forgotten about the web a couple of times and accidentally ran through it. They felt so bad. But, she repaired it, and they are trying to remember now. Spider web all over your body is not really a pleasant feeling either!

And here's an especially vibrant rainbow we saw tonight. The kids saw it when they went out to play in our backyard and yelled for me to come and take a picture. There's something so beautiful and hopeful about a rainbow!

We're FINALLY ready for the Tooth Fairy...

2009-08-26T10:56:00.005-06:00

Ok, so I'm only about 2 or 3 years late. My oldest has now lost 8 teeth and has been using plastic ziploc baggies to put his tooth under his pillow. Pathetic, I know. So, when I saw this cute Tooth Fairy bag on the Purl Bee, I thought that maybe I had a chance to redeem myself. Maybe.

The instructions call for wool felt and I would have loved to use wool felt. But, the closest fabric store only carries real wool felt in the ugliest of colors. I even asked the manager if she had any plans for carrying more wool felt, and she said that she doesn't sell very much so probably not. Of course, me with my big mouth replied that maybe if they didn't carry ugly colors, it might sell better. Oops, that probably wasn't very nice. I went ahead and got the plastic felt so that my kids could pick out their favorite colors.

I loved that this project was so simple. It took me so little time to finish them, although I did learn that I need to work a little on my hand stitching. Three Tooth Fairy bags completed! My younger two haven't lost any teeth yet, so at least I'm ready for them.

Homeschool Planning 2009/2010

2009-08-17T22:42:00.004-06:00

I'm finally starting to figure out our plan for this coming school year. As I mentioned before, we've been going along fine with AmblesideOnline, but I felt like I needed to make some adjustments for our family. One of the things that I feel isn't really working very well for us is the history component of Ambleside. It really bothered Boog that we started kind of in the middle of history. It didn't help that I haven't been very good about making sure that we are doing timeline work to make that more understandable. So, I've decided that we are going to put more emphasis on history this year. Since we already own A Child's History of the World by Hillyer, we are going to start at the beginning and work our way through the book together as a family. I'm going to add in supplemental readings from the Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History book as well as from books that I check out from the library. I also found this site that had great suggestions for activities and supplemental reading. For now, I'm going to put the history that AmblesideOnline has scheduled on hold. I want to give my ideas a try and see if it works any better for us. I'm also excited to start with prehistory because my 1st grader loves dinosaurs. I think this will be a great way to draw him into school this year.

I've decided to keep almost everything else as-is and go forward with the AmblesideOnline curriculum. So far, we've really loved the classic literature that is scheduled. My oldest said his very favorite book from last year was The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood and he even wants to dress up as Robin Hood for Halloween. That makes my geeky heart proud. heehee We're still going to use MEP for math and since we never got to Real Science 4 Kids Pre-Level Chemistry last year, we're going to do that in the coming weeks. After I get it down on paper and have a few weeks to settle into our new routine, I'll post how it's going.

Handmade Birthday Gift : Dishtowel Apron + Cookie Decorating Kit

2009-08-10T15:06:00.003-06:00

One of my daughter's good friends, had a very special birthday last week - 5 years old! I really wanted to do something special for her. I knew her mom said she didn't have an apron, so that seemed like a good gift. But, I wanted to include something else with the apron. I thought about some cooking utensils or maybe a mix. Then I started thinking, what's every kids favorite part of making cookies? The decorating! So I decided to include some homemade sugar cookies and frosting along with pink and purple sprinkles!

Although the apron is very similar to the apron I made before, I did change a few things. Instead of using bias tape along the sides and for the straps, I turned over the seam and used a very long ribbon for the straps. I had to make the neck wider to accommodate the bigger seam. Instead of 6 inches, I made the neck 9 inches wide centered. I turned down a 1/4 inch seam, pressed it and then turned it about 1 inch to sew the casing. I threaded the ribbon through the casing and it was done!

My daughter was even able to help me with the apron this time. I added beads to the end of the ribbon to try to keep it from pulling out of the casing when putting it on. She painted these wooden beads especially for her friend. It was so much fun to work together on a project!

Homeschooling Update

2009-07-31T13:39:00.008-06:00

working together to create a go-kart out of a cardboard box

It's that time of year again...when I look over what we accomplished last year and sigh. Somehow we never seem to make it through all my crazy lists - goals, books, projects. So looking over the past 12 months, we did accomplish a ton, just not what was on my list. I realized that we had so many extra things scheduled that we really struggled to get our "book work" done. Not that that was a bad thing, just that that's what happened. Also, the stress of Brad's layoff really did affect us as a family. I wasn't as focused on school as maybe I should have been and adjusting to having Daddy home all day every day maybe did affect us. After a couple of months, we did get into the groove and he was great working with the kids too. It's just that it interrupted our rhythm a bit.

found him reading in his bed today

But, for all that we missed, we gained so much. My oldest may not have read all the books I wanted him to read, but he did jump the hurdle to advanced reader. In fact, he's in the middle of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy now. I think that's a pretty amazing thing. My middle guy and I have made a lot of progress towards figuring out how best to work with each other. He's on his way to being a reader too. And my girl is chomping at the bit to start preschool this year. I think we are on track (whatever that means) and I'm not disappointed by our progress. Over the weekend, I plan on coming up with a plan for next year. I have some ideas for things I want to change to better meet our family's needs. I love AmblesideOnline and it will still play a huge role in our home learning, but I've had this nagging feeling over the last couple of months that I need to make some adjustments to make it a better fit for us. Hmm, I need to think about this some more. I'll post my plan soon!

Excitement in the Neighborhood

2009-07-14T21:54:00.002-06:00

This charred bush caught on fire this evening. This area is behind our house next to the arroyo (or drainage ditch if you're not from New Mexico) and bike path. We saw it when it was really on fire, but I didn't get a picture. Thankfully, it wasn't spreading quickly to the other bushes and weeds around it.

The fire truck arrived via the bike path. For some reason this was especially funny for my kids.

The firefighters got the hose out and everything. My kids sat on our fence and watched the whole thing. They were so excited to see an actual fire and then watch the firefighters in action. They were thrilled when the firefighters honked and waved at them as they left. Thankfully, the whole thing wasn't serious. But, it did provide us with some excitement this evening.

Handmade Birthday Gift : Pencil and Paper Case

2009-07-09T14:18:00.006-06:00

The flame version was my first attempt at a paper and pencil case. I made a few of these about a year ago for my boys and for a couple of gifts. I thought they came out pretty cute, but they had some major design flaws. First, the ribbon to tie it together was frustrating for my guys that couldn't tie bows at the time (not to mention the bow is just a little bit feminine looking.) Also, there was nothing to keep the pencils and pad of paper from falling out if the case was ever tipped over. And, at least with my kids, they had a difficult time keeping it in the upright position at all times. The last frustration was that the pad of paper had to be taken out of the case to draw. In the car, that meant juggling the pencils still in the case (but constantly falling out) with the pad of paper separately. In the end, these were tossed to the side because they just weren't very functional.

As I was searching for ideas for a birthday gift last week I stumbled on this paper and pencil holder at the Skip to My Lou website and blog. The blog is really wonderful! It's full of all kinds of ideas including a great list of handmade gift ideas. Since her design solved all of my design flaws, I decided to give it a try. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I used an old pair of jeans for the denim in the inside as well as a short section of the jean waistband for the closure. I used some scrap floral and lavender material for the cover and pencil pocket. Instead of a snap or button, I used iron-on velcro. I think the velcro will make it really easy to open and close. This one was obviously a gift for a girl, but I think it could very easily be made very boyish with different fabric. I'm really excited about that, because I sometimes struggle with handmade gift ideas for little boys. All three of my kids have already requested them too!

Happy Fireworks Day!!!

2009-07-04T23:07:00.003-06:00

That's the greeting Brad and I woke up to this morning, "Happy Fireworks Day!" The kids were so excited. We had a fun night chatting with neighbors while watching all the little fireworks, the kids with sparklers and the big illegal ones being set off all around our neighborhood. We had quite the show!

Santa Fe Trip

2009-06-29T17:41:00.004-06:00

Gosh, this summer is flying by! We have been so busy even with nothing special planned. We've been busy meeting friends at parks, the pool and for fun day trips. This past Saturday some of my friends and I took our kids up to Santa Fe for the day.

We decided to take the kids on the Railrunner, our commuter train. Here are a few of them watching out the window on our way up to Santa Fe. It was 4 moms with 9 children 8 years old and younger. I think everyone near us on the train thought we were a bit crazy. Haha, maybe we were. The train ride would have been wonderful except that I found out that I haven't outgrown the motion sickness I had as a kid. Man, I was feeling pretty blech. But, I made it. I think it will be awhile before I willingly take a train again.

Once there, we walked to a restaurant for lunch. We ate at the Cowgirl BBQ. It was delicious, the kids all liked it and the Mangorita (a mango margarita concoction) I had with lunch hit the spot. We even were complimented on how well-behaved our kids were. After lunch, we walked to the new New Mexico History Museum. My friend scored some free tickets and was so generous to share with us. I thought the museum was well done, but not very kid-friendly. There weren't any hands-on areas for the kids which was really too bad. I think it's somewhere we will have to go back to during the week when it isn't so crowded to explore some more. The thing my boys were most excited about was the R2D2 mailbox there on the plaza. They remembered it from when we went to the Art Museum a year or so ago. They had to have their picture taken with it. Such goofballs!

Two Book Recommendations

2009-06-17T15:50:00.000-06:00

Here are two books that really need to be returned to the library. It's easy to tell which books that I especially enjoy, because I have such a hard time taking them back. So, even though I've already read them, I just keep renewing them. Then I feel bad because I want other people to have a chance to read them too, so I eventually, with much sadness, drop them in the book return. Thanks Amanda for recommending them to me!

The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule - The tag line on this book is "How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections." I loved it! I read the book cover to cover, which is not something I usually do for crafty type books. But, this book is more than just instructions for different crafts, it's more of an idea book on making your life one that encourages creativity in every area for all the members of the family. It was definitely inspirational. I think this is one that I'll want to purchase for our home library. I know that in August she'll have a new book out called Handmade Home. I can't wait. Her blog is pretty inspirational, too - SouleMama.

Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood by Sandra Steingraber - This book was fascinating. It follows the author's own pregnancy month by month, her birth and her daughter's time breastfeeding. Interwoven into the story are discussions on the environmental toxins that can affect pregnancy and infant development. I can't decide if I would have wanted to read this book prior to having children. I think I would have, because knowledge is a good thing. I know that had I read this book first, I probably would have made some different decisions throughout my pregnancies. I think the hard part is that so many of the toxins that are affecting our children are things completely out of our individual control. The topics that she discusses are all things that I've thought about and wondered about, but never knew where to get real information. It's heavy on the science, but totally accessible for the science illiterate (me). And since the science is in the context of the story of her pregnancy, it kept my attention more than other non-fiction books.

My Little Monkey Girl

2009-06-15T16:45:00.004-06:00

I know I've posted pics before of the kids climbing the tree in our backyard. But they usually would only climb the first couple of branches and stop to hang out. Not today. My sweet little girl decided that today she would climb to the top. Can you find her?

This was particularly appealing to her because her two older brothers had never attempted the climb to the top before. She would be the first. She loves to "one-up" them when she gets the chance.

So, while she scared me a little (ok maybe more than a little), I completely admire her determination. I started to say fearlessness, but I don't think that she's fearless. I think that she just doesn't let fear get in her way when she's decided that something is worth pursuing. While I'm proud of her accomplishment, I think I'll encourage her to stay closer to the ground at least for another couple of weeks. That's when the new health insurance kicks in. ;)

Soap

2009-06-10T20:34:00.005-06:00

Awhile ago, I bought a fun melt and pour sampler kit from Brambleberry. I used most of it already, but still had some hemp soap and white soap left along with lots of fragrances to use. We were out of all of our homemade soap, so I thought today would be a good day to make some new fun soaps.

Melt and pour soaps are insanely easy. I don't even know why I put off using what I had left until now. Just melt the soap, add in the fragrance or essential oil you want, add color if you want and pour into a mold. My playgroup mama friends taught me how to do this a couple of years ago when we all got together to make Christmas gifts for our families. We made soap, lotion bars, bath salts, lip balms. It was so much fun!

I decided to use a lavender fragrance that I had in my sampler pack from Brambleberry. It seemed like a good choice for summer. Since the hemp soap already had a greenish tint, I decided not to add any color this time. I have a silicone mold made by Wilton that I love to use as a soap mold. The soaps come out so easily from the silicone. I've also found silicone ice cube trays that I've used for smaller fun shapes too. I couldn't find my spray bottle for rubbing alcohol to spray the soaps after pouring them into the molds. That helps to get rid of the bubbles. These ones aren't gifts, they're just for us. I didn't bother searching too hard.

Here they are out of the molds. I can't wait to try the hemp soap. I promised the kids we could use the white soap for some fun fish and summer shapes. I'm going to let them help with those and I'm sure it will involve some fun colors.

The next step is to try cold process soap. I've been nervous about trying it. But, the more I've read, the more I want to give it a go. Here's a great website for recipes and instructions for soaps and lotions - TeachSoap.com.

Proof that Fairies are REAL!

2009-06-10T18:03:00.004-06:00

The kids had a mission last night - to prove whether or not fairies are real. They figured out a way to set up a trap of sorts. Of course they didn't ask us grown ups. What do we know about fairies? I had an old bookshelf on the back patio that was destined for the trash. They put a ring of sandy dirt around some flower petals on the two shelves left. Their hope was that the fairies would have to walk through the sand to get to the flowers and leave footprints in the sand.

Lots of excitement this morning when all over the sand were tiny little footprints. They couldn't believe that they had in one night proved that fairies were indeed real! They made me come out and take pictures and asked me to post it on my blog. They decided that fairies must wear shoes based on the footprints. Also, somehow they came to the conclusion that fairies only come out at night and in the summer. I think maybe the fairies were trying to get out of the rain that we had early this morning.

It's My Birthday!

2009-06-08T22:43:00.003-06:00

Last week I celebrated my birthday and had such an incredible day. I usually don't care about my birthday that much. The only thing I insist on every year is that Brad buy me a Mud Pie from Baskin Robbins. There have been a few years that he got a little mixed up and got me a cake by mistake. But, the cake isn't nearly as good as the pie. This year he got it right and even had them write "Happy Birthday" on it. That alone would have made my day, but I had so many surprises. I think what made the surprises so special was that they were so unexpected. I got gift cards to Target, Starbucks and even a fancy restaurant for a date with my husband complete with babysitting. I got a whole box of new clothes from my sis and a beautiful pair of earrings from my parents. We got an unexpected invitation to dinner at a friend's house that night. So fun! I really do have such incredible friends and family. I feel very loved.

But here's the best birthday present - Brad has a JOB!!!! And we don't have to move! You should have heard the sigh of relief from the kids and I once the decision was made to accept the offer. Six months of being unemployed. Wow. It has been a tough six months. I'm so proud of him. Through it all he continually kept working so hard on finding a position. Every day he worked at it. He had so many interviews and prospects. And so many disappointments when other jobs fell through. In the end, he was a top candidate for two positions, one here and one across the country. He chose to accept the offer here even though the other job offered a lot of tempting benefits. And I'm so glad!

It's Raining in the Desert

2009-05-23T09:16:00.003-06:00

She just couldn't resist the raindrops this morning. We've actually had a couple of cloudy rainy days here. I'm sure the sunshine will be back soon, so we're enjoying the clouds while they are here.

Brad is on his way home from Colorado right now. He had another interview there yesterday. We're hoping that we get some good news soon. He's had enough interviews over the last couple of weeks and I think a couple of more phone interviews next week. We are praying hard that he gets an offer soon.

Handmade Birthday Gift : Drawstring Backpack

2009-05-21T17:13:00.003-06:00

Here's another birthday gift I made recently. Unfortunately, we missed our friend's birthday party because it was in the middle of all of us having the flu. Hopefully, we'll catch up with our friends soon so that we can deliver this gift.

I found this adorable fabric on the clearance table at JoAnn Fabrics. I really should not go into that store! I went in for some lace trim for the apron I made and walked out with a couple of yards of fabric. I just love the strawberries. I thought it would work great for a drawstring backpack. I used these instructions.

Since this backpack was for a little girl turning 3 years old, I thought I'd make it a bit smaller. I used an 8.5 x 11 piece of cardstock I had as my template. I think that size is going to be fine this time since she's so young. But, if I make it again, I'm definitely going to make it a bit bigger. It was a little too small even for my 4 year old. Next time, I think I'll try making it 10 x 14 inches and maybe even bigger for an older child. The instructions call for 13 x 17 inches.

We filled the backpack with some sidewalk chalk and some fun colored pencils.

I just love the red and yellow! I'm really happy with the finished product. I'm trying to decide now what to do with the rest of the fabric. I definitely think some kind of clothing set for my daughter. I'm a little nervous about sewing clothes. I have no idea why. I just feel more comfortable with crafts. I think it's time to get over that!

8 Year Old Guest Blogger

2009-05-19T06:55:00.003-06:00

Boog finally got to go out to Galloping Grace yesterday. He wrote a little about his first time back and Michelle over at GG posted it on her awesome blog - Galloping Grace Youth Ranch. In his first draft, he wrote that his first time back was "wicked." I asked if there was anyway to come up with a different adjective. He chose "cool" instead. Oh well, I tried. ;) Other than that, they were his words with only my help with some spelling choices. Thanks Michelle for using it. You definitely made his day!

A Wild West Birthday!

2009-05-17T16:52:00.003-06:00

Roni had very few requests for his party. He wanted a "western" theme with hot dogs, cake with ice cream and a pinata. Thankfully, I could make that happen. I used a lot of ideas from the Family Fun website like the instructions for the horse cake. The games and activities I had planned were a total bust. Oh well, you win some and you lose some. We had paper bag vests for the kids to color as well as some sheriff badges I found online. I had a game where you try to knock down cups with a squirt gun. But, the squirt gun was so pathetic that it couldn't even knock them down from about an inch away.

But, the food was good! Grilled hot dogs with yummy salads and watermelon that my friends all brought to share. We really have the greatest friends here. One of my friends even brought goodies to stick in the pinata.

And here is my son's happiness. This kid really believes that the only way to have a party is with a pinata. We found this pinata at Party City and thought it was too cute to pass up. All the kids went home with a bandanna and some goodies from the pinata. It really was a fun party! To make the day even better, Roni received his cards from his grandparents in the mail. He's out with Dad right now spending his birthday money. Wow, I can't believe he is six years old!

Still Hanging Out

2009-05-14T19:49:00.003-06:00

A month ago, I posted a picture of my kids climbing our little tree in our backyard. The tree was just starting to bud. Here they are again climbing our same little tree only this time I could barely find them through the leaves. What a difference a month makes!

Finally Feeling Better and New Nicknames

2009-05-13T20:47:00.003-06:00

I'm so glad to finally be feeling a bit better. That flu bug seriously kicked my butt. I can't remember the last time that I was sick with the flu for SEVEN days. Ugh. I'm still coughing and gunky, but feeling so much better. I actually did some laundry and dishes today. No more writhing on the couch in feverish pain. I can't tell if the kids are glad or not. I mean, I know they're glad that I'm feeling better, but I think they have kind of enjoyed having the run of the house for the last week. One of the days they spent building fences from our Keva planks all over the front room. I wish I had taken a picture, but I wasn't really thinking straight. They ran through the sprinkler in the backyard. My oldest finished the Harry Potter series. My middle guy copied words from a book to make a story and my youngest made a gigantic mess. Well, she was sick for the first couple of days with me. She just recovered much faster than I did. Now, we have to get back on our normal homeschool routine. We might just wait until Monday though.

During the last couple of days, I've been thinking that I would give the kids new nicknames on my blog. I've been using their initials, but I know it's sometimes confusing to read especially "A" since "A" is also a word. So from now on, I'm going to refer to my oldest as "Boog." When he was just a baby, his grandparents gave him the nickname "Boogie." It never really stuck at our house, but he loves it. So that's where I got "Boog." I'm going to call my middle guy "Roni." When he was really little, Brad and I started adding "roni" to the end of his first name kind of like "macaroni." And I have never had a nickname for our daughter. I'm just not very good with coming up with cute nicknames. We watched Tinkerbell a couple of times over the last week (her favorite movie at the moment) and thought I'd call her "Pixie." It seems to fit her and she liked it too. So from now on - Boog, Roni and Pixie.

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T16:49:00.003-06:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas in my life, especially my mom!

I was surprised today with flowers blooming on the patio. I assumed that my petunias had died off last fall. However, two sturdy plants made it through the winter and started producing new green shoots this spring. Today one of the plants started blooming. So fun! Add to that a Starbucks coffee treat from my sweet husband, and I had a great way to start the day. The only bummer has been this awful flu bug I've been fighting since Thursday. It has really sapped all my energy and made me miserable. I have no idea if it's the "H1N1" or not, but whatever it is, it's been awful. Hopefully, I'll start feeling better soon, since we have lots of preparations this week. My middle son is turning six and we have a big party coming up next weekend.

Handmade Birthday Gift : Little Girl's Apron

2009-05-06T17:42:00.005-06:00

We've had a ton of birthday party invites over the last month or so. This week alone, we have 4 different kid's birthdays. We're also on a really tight budget right now. (Can you call it a budget when there's no income?) ;) So, I've had to get creative with gift giving. I like to make handmade gifts anyway, so it's actually been kind of fun. I've made aprons from tea towels before for gifts. They are super simple and fun to make. I'm always on the lookout for inexpensive and cute tea towels to use. These two towels I found at Target on clearance and stashed them away a couple of months ago. I pulled them out this week to make an apron for a friend of my daughter who was turning 4 years old this week.

I used these instructions as my starting point. I cut off the bottom section, 17 to 18 inches from the top. In the past, I've just turned that shorter section around and used it for a pocket. But, this time I wanted to use the coordinating dishtowel as the pocket so I set it aside to use for something else.

Then I cut the top corners off. I measured 6 inches centered on the top and marked the towel. Then I measured 10 inches from the bottom on both sides and marked the towel. Using a straight edge lined up with the two marks, I cut off each corner of the towel.

Next, I cut out the pocket from the second towel. I wanted to use the pattern with the stripes going in the opposite direction so I had to measure out what I needed (plus some extra for the seam on one side) and cut that out. I actually forgot about the seam when I cut it out. Thankfully, I was pretty sloppy and had enough.

I added some lace trim along the edge of the pocket when I finished that edge. Then I sewed the two sides of the pocked to the apron. Then I measured 4 inches in on both sides and marked the towel. I sewed along my markings to divide the big pocket into three smaller pockets.

I used extra wide double fold bias tape to finish the bottom seam. I also used the bias tape to finish the sides and create the straps. I had wanted to use Velcro or a "D" ring for the neck strap, but my Velcro was too wide for the bias tape and the "D" ring was too big. So, I ended up just making straps, about 15-16 inches for the neck straps and 17-18 inches for the back strap.

Voila! Finished Apron! I think it turned out pretty darn cute and for less than $5. I threw in a small whisk and spatula to complete the gift.

Preppy Meets Hippie

2009-05-05T11:39:00.003-06:00

Look what landed on my front porch yesterday! My mom surprised me with a new pair of Birki's. She bought me my first pair of Birkenstocks a year ago for my birthday and I LOVE them. But those were really tame compared to these. These are a pastel plaid with glitter beads. So fun and perfect for summer! I even painted my toenails before I took the pic. Thanks Mom!

Back at the Ranch

2009-05-04T22:33:00.004-06:00

I know that I've gone on and on about how much we love Galloping Grace Youth Ranch, but well, I just can't help it. I really love that we get to be a part of such a great organization. I love what they are doing for my kids. I love that my kids are getting to experience something I wouldn't have ever been able to give them. (Here's my post about our first time out there.) May is the opening month of the 2009 season. Lucky us, we got to be there today! I only had C and A with me today as B was feeling poorly this morning. Boy, did he miss out!

The kids were so incredibly excited to see Mr. Max, Miss Trish and Miss Steph. Poor C was so excited he couldn't sit still for anything. It didn't take them long to feel comfortable on the horses again. Doesn't C look like a pro? The smile on his face was just priceless. The stress around our house lately has really been affecting him. He's been especially struggling in new situations. I wasn't sure how he would do today since it's been several months since he's been to the ranch. He did so well and he was so happy. That made me happy too.

Before we left the house this morning, A kept talking about how she was going to ride by herself today. Brad and I tried gently to prepare her that she might not be able to since it was their first day back after several months of not riding. No, only a few minutes with Trish and she was riding alongside her brother.

A quick high five between brother and sister. Such a great morning! We can't wait to go out again and bring along big brother too!

End of Soccer

2009-04-29T18:29:00.003-06:00

It's the end at least for this season. The boys each had their last soccer game of the season this past Saturday. They played 8 games last fall and 8 games this spring. Here are some photos from the last games.

Both boys were on such great teams - encouraging, supportive coaches and great kids. They both have made real friendships with kids we want to stay in touch with.

It was the first team sports experience for the boys. B was on some preschool teams when he was really young, but that wasn't the same. They really picked up the game quickly and gave the sport their full energy. Well, most of the time. ;)

It's been so fun to watch them gain confidence and improve their skills.

We're in the process of debating whether or not to sign up for soccer again next year. I think both boys are a bit apprehensive because they loved their teams so much. They aren't sure if they want to play with different kids next year. But, there is one firm decision about next year...the little sister who couldn't play this year is so excited about being on a soccer team next year! She did not like watching from the sidelines. She wanted to be in the game!

(If you click on the picture, you can see C up in a tree on the left side of the photo. You can tell he's really paying attention to his brother's game. LOL)

Classic Cars (a.k.a. My Husband Drooling)

2009-04-25T21:10:00.003-06:00

Today, after our last soccer games of the season, we had a fun outing as a family. At a local park today, there was a classic car show. And it was free!!! Yay! We had so much fun looking at all the cool vintage cars and trucks.

Here's my daughter's favorite. Bet you can't guess why?!

Doesn't C look like he's discussing the merits of this particular engine. Notice the hand in the pocket? I kept saying over and over that we can't touch the cars. So, he just stuck his hands in his pockets and kept them there the whole time. It was pretty cute.

Flames were definitely the best paint jobs in the boys' opinions...well, kids' opinions really. The baby sister likes to be cool like her big brothers. ;)

And here's why my husband was drooling so much. He bought this 1961 Chevy truck last fall hoping he could fix it up, get it running and looking pretty. It's in our garage right now. I think he's hoping to have his truck parked out there next to all the others some day.

Our Babies

2009-04-23T22:38:00.003-06:00

Ok, so not really our babies...but we really do get kind of protective of the little house finches that make their home here. There were 4 babies this time and they seemed to have very good parents. ;) We just love watching the little birds. It's so neat to see the parents making the nest and guarding it from other birds, then watching over the eggs and finally feeding their hungry little ones until they are ready to head out on their own. All four left the nest today. We're going to miss the excited chirping of baby birds getting fed. Last year we had another family move in a little later in spring. We'll have to watch and see if that happens this year too.

Hanging Out

2009-04-20T11:35:00.006-06:00

I just love this picture that I took a couple of weeks ago. Brother and sister hanging out in the little tree in our backyard. C even has a green smoothie moustache leftover from lunch. That tree now has leaves. And our little house finches that make their home in our patio roof have had their babies. We have two robins visiting our little patch of lawn every day and a few new birds we haven't seen before this year. I love spring!

Couple of Projects

2009-04-17T15:35:00.003-06:00

I haven't done much in the way of craft projects lately. But, here are a couple of projects that I worked on last month. Now that my computer is back and working better than ever (Yay!!), I wanted to post some pictures.

These little bags were a super quick last-minute idea. And by super quick, I mean that an hour before a joint first birthday party for three cute 1 year olds, I decided to throw them together. I found the material on the clearance rack at JoAnn's awhile ago. I bought it not having any ideas on how to use it. I cut out 7"x7" squares (roughly) and sewed the outsides together. Then using the star material, sewed the linings together. Put the insides and outsides together, added some ribbon for a handle and had three cute little bags. I even had time to run by Borders for three little farm animal board books to throw in the bags. They definitely weren't perfect, but came out pretty cute for a last-minute idea.

I knit these two baby hats for my friend Cindy who is a photographer. She's been trying to boost her newborn photo sessions and wanted some hats in her kit. (By the way, she's still looking for newborns to photograph and will give anyone with a newborn an incredible deal!!) Both hats were inspired by the book Baby Beanies by Amanda Keeys. The little white hat is knit from some inexpensive acrylic yarn. The striped hat is done with Lamb's Pride worsted wool yarn. Instead of following the stripe pattern in the book, I used this stripe generator to make the pattern. That tool was so helpful! You'd think that making random stripes would be really easy. But, it was so nice to look at the different patterns to see whether I would like it or not before starting.

It's raining here in New Mexico, so I think I'll make myself another cup of tea. Today would be a great day to knit. Hmmm, maybe I should start a new project.

Slugs on Mars

2009-04-08T19:51:00.007-06:00

Since October, my kids have gotten together with a group of homeschool kids once a week to create and rehearse their very own opera. It's a program sponsored by the Santa Fe Opera. They match up a group of kids with two artists-in-residence to create an original work. Here's a press release about the 2009 student produced operas. We were so privileged to be a part of the program this year. Our artists-in-residence were incredible! The husband/wife team that led our group really brought out the best in all our kids!

The theme for this year was "life by the river." All the groups were to start with that theme for inspiration and then create their own story. I believe that all of the other groups were based in schools. We were really lucky to have a group for homeschoolers so close. The kids, through brainstorming exercises ended up with Slugs on Mars. (Yes, all of our kids have great imaginations!)

Here's the basic storyline. Slugs and snakes are happily living by a lake looking for food. (My youngest was one of the snakes. Isn't she cute!!) Aliens swoop down from Mars and suck them into their spaceship. Once back on Mars, the Aliens suck the slime out of them for slug and snake shakes and have a big party. The poor slugs and snakes cry for help. Many of the aliens feel badly for what they have done and seek the help of Mr. Sand.

B was Mr. Sand. The aliens ask him a bunch of questions like "Do you have purple underwear?" That one got quite a laugh from the audience. Then they ask if he can help. He gives them magic water that creates a river to heal the snakes and slugs and take them back to Earth.

Once back on Earth, the slugs and snakes think they're safe. But, the aliens come back looking for them. The aliens can't find the slugs and snakes so they go to Mr. Sand to ask him. Mr. Sand won't talk, so they say "You're fired!" Mr. Sand says "Maybe." And the slugs and snakes peek out from their hiding place and sing, "Maybe not today!!!!" The End!

They did such an incredible job! At the very last moment, my daughter decided she couldn't go on stage. The performance was held in a really large performance hall. It probably sat a couple of hundred?? There were three groups performing their operas on the same night, so it was really full, too. I ran her back to our seats. Once we were seated and the show was about to begin, she started wailing that she wanted to be with her brother. She wanted to be in the show. So, I jumped up and ran her back just in time for her entrance. Once she was on stage, she did great! C chose to sit this activity out. He felt like he would be best suited for the audience. ;) And he was a great supporter. He knew all the songs, but performing just wasn't his idea of a good time. In addition to being Mr. Sand, B also got to add to the music with some sound effects before his part on stage. He worked something that made a ratchet sound effect and something that made a great alien "wocka wocka" sound. It was such a wonderful night and great experience. I love that they saw the creative process through from the very beginning to the end. On the ride home, B was already asking if we can do it again next year!

Quick Update

2009-03-29T15:20:00.002-06:00

Here's just a quick update on everything going on around here. I've been having problems with my computer for a couple of months. I finally took it in to the Apple Store last week, and they have it there now. I'm really hoping it gets fixed soon! Thankfully, it's still under warranty since we bought the extended warranty when we purchased it a couple of years ago. So, that's why I haven't been posting much. It just kept crashing on me. Not good! Last update was that the part it needs has been received and it's in the queue. I should have it back early this week. Yay!!!

Brad is still searching for employment. He seems to have phone calls and interviews nearly every week, but nothing more than that. I'm really proud of how he has stayed persistant with sending out resumes and following up on interviews, etc. It's been incredibly stressful, but we're hanging in there. We've had such generous gifts from friends and from people in our church who we have never even met. It's definitely been a humbling experience.

The kids have been doing well. B has been reading like crazy lately. I plan on posting reviews of some of the books over the next couple of months. I finally had to make a deal with him that he had to read some "school" books every day before his fiction. Right now he's in the middle of The Eldest written by Christopher Paolini (who was homeschooled by the way.) He's finished the first five books in the Harry Potter series, the first two books in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the first two Leven Thumps books, the first three books in the 39 Clues series (all that's out so far) and the first Paolini book, Eragon. All of this over the last couple of months. I've been trying to pre-read the books (he is only 8 years old), but am having a really hard time keeping ahead of him.

Reading and sounding out words is starting to really click with C. I don't really push academics much for Kindergarten, preferring to wait until the First Grade to start formal work. However, we've been working through some phonics teaching and occasionally some math, mostly through games. I was shocked when C went shopping with me a few weeks ago. I was telling him how much I wanted to spend and how much a couple of items cost when he, without hardly even thinking about it, told me how much money I would have in change. I was shocked because I didn't know where in the world he learned how to do that. I knew I didn't teach it to him. ;-)

We have finally convinced A that she is in preschool and doesn't need to keep up with the boys. She loves to have her own school work. She really cracks me up. Lately, she's taken to sitting next to Daddy with one of her workbooks every morning. Apparently, he's much more attentive than I am. Last week, she saw that one of her friends could write her own name without help. She was very put out by that (a little competitive I think.) So I gave her an index card with her name printed on it in Sharpie. She kept practicing her name until the whole family room seemed to be covered in papers with her name on them.

Well, this update sure didn't end up being quick! Hopefully, I can post some photos of a recent knitting project this week. I also want to post how we made the coffee filter butterflies soon too since I think they came out so cute and are perfect for spring. Aaahhh, it all depends on when my Mac is back home. Is it unhealthy to miss a computer???

Beautiful Butterfly Birthday

2009-03-22T22:22:00.010-06:00

My sweet girl turned 4 years old this past week. We celebrated by having a butterfly birthday party at our house for her with all of her friends. We had 10 little girls here plus some siblings and mommies and daddies. It turned out to be quite the party.

I proposed the idea of a butterfly theme birthday about a month ago. I was trying to find a cost effective way to throw a party. I had this cute butterfly cake pan from her first birthday and thought it would be fun (and inexpensive) to use it again. Here's how the conversation went:

Me - "I thought it would be fun to have a butterfly birthday this year!"

A - "Hmm, I was thinking that I want a princess birthday."

Me - "But, you've had princess parties for the last two years. Wouldn't a butterfly birthday be fun?"

A - " Yeah, I was thinking princess..."

I finally convinced her. ;) You know fairies and butterflies both have wings. She ended up loving it and I got to use the cake pan again!

We played a "cocoon" game where the kids wrapped each other up in toilet paper and then broke free from their cocoon. Here's my oldest being wrapped up by his friend who had his birthday just a few days later.

The girls made coffee filter butterflies...

...and decorated foam butterfly wings.

She blew out her candles (with a little help from one of her brothers.)

And she opened up gifts. She received so many great presents from her friends. There's a lot more princess, fairy, craft and butterfly things in our house now!

And she even got a brand new pair of Crocs from Grandma Rose, complete with light-up Fairy Jibbitz. She loves them! I think she had a great birthday! (And thanks Cindy for taking pictures for me!!!)

Poor Leo the Lion

2009-03-11T18:29:00.003-06:00

This made me laugh really hard today. My daughter came in crying that she couldn't get Leo the Lion down from her closet. I assumed that one of her big brothers had thrown the stuffed animal on the shelf in her closet. Instead, one of them (the oldest) decided to get all "Jack Bauer" on the poor lion. LOL He handcuffed the lion's leg to the closet rod. Thankfully, they were play handcuffs and the situation was easily resolved. The lion is now safe. ;)

Tree Planting in the Bosque

2009-02-16T15:11:00.000-07:00

I just love our Roots and Shoots group! Again, the kids and I had an incredible opportunity to do something really good for our community.

Yesterday we participated in planting 100 trees in the Bosque in honor of the 100th year since Aldo Leopold came to New Mexico. Here's a short article in the newspaper about the event.

It was hard work. As I was thinking about it today, I thought that the most inspiring part of the day was that our kids would have been happy to be out there even if there hadn't been news crews and dignitaries.

That's why I love this group so much!

And here's my sweet girlie girl after sliding face first on her belly down this dirt hill just before we were getting ready to leave. While I usually don't mind dirt, that's a lot of dirt!

Heaven Bound Balloon Team

2009-02-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

We had the most amazing experience yesterday morning. Some friends asked if we wanted to go help crew for their friend's hot air balloon. Of course, we said, "Yes!" It was a really early morning especially for a Saturday. We had to be out of the house by 6 am. And it was coooold. But still totally worth it!

The kids all had a chance to get involved and help with getting everything ready for lift off.

It was a mini-festival of sorts. It was called the Friends and Lovers Balloon Rally. I think I heard that there were 80 balloons there that day.

The name of the balloon is "Heaven Bound." This is right before the pilot turned on the burners and got the balloon upright.

And here it is off the ground! My good friend Cindy and her son were the lucky ones who got to take a ride that morning.

We chased the balloon in our car until it landed on this open land.

Here everyone is pitching in to get the balloon back in its bag. What a fun and memorable day! Definitely, worth getting up early on a Saturday morning!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T21:34:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Valentine's Day yesterday by partying with our playgroup friends. The kids had a blast decorating Valentine sugar cookies. We had an incredible day today, but I'll have to post more on that tomorrow!

I Have an 8 Year Old!

2009-02-05T19:36:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week, my oldest had his 8th Birthday! I cannot believe that he is 8 years old. We celebrated his birthday at one of the city's indoor pools. I felt like the cupcakes I made were uninspired this year, but the kids loved them. We tried to stick to a pool/water theme. I just frosted them blue and stuck little gummy sea creatures on them. B invited a bunch of friends from our playgroup, homeschool group and his soccer team. It really is unbelievable how much energy 7 and 8 year old boys have! They got to go down the really cool slide and have squirt gun fights in the pool.

B had received some money from his Colorado grandparents for his birthday gift. He asked if we could stop by Big 5 on the way to the pool to buy some nice goggles. He had some inexpensive ones that he'd been frustrated with during his swim lessons. The new ones are pretty cool! He received so many wonderful gifts from his friends - lots of Lego sets. Although we've been so busy this week that he hasn't had a chance to really sit down and work on them. He was even asking me when we could leave the park today so he could come home. That doesn't happen very often! He also got a new chess set and Star Wars monopoly. I think I know what the family will be doing this weekend!

Finished Baby Mary Janes

2009-02-03T19:19:00.001-07:00

Here's my latest finished knitting project. This is the third time I've made these Mary Jane Baby Booties. The pattern is very simple but I've been so happy with the results every time I've made them. This time they were for a fellow homeschooling mom and friend who is expecting her third girl in a little over a month. I snapped a quick photo as I was frantically trying to wrap them up for her baby shower this past Saturday. (I was running a little late.) The baby shower, hosted by another homeschooling mom and friend, was so much fun!

Takin' the Bus

2009-01-26T20:50:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun morning today. The kids have been bugging me for awhile to take the bus somewhere, anywhere. But, it just never worked out. Today it finally did! Yay! A friend and I with our kids took the bus down to the university to watch a fantastic performance. I love the shows that the university's theater puts on for kids. The shows are geared towards kids and the audience is filled with kids. It's a great way for me to teach my kids about seeing performances without the pressure of an adult-focused show. Today's show didn't disappoint! The New Shanghai Circus was a show of Chinese acrobatics. The kids loved it although A was getting annoyed with me oohing and ahhing. It was a really fun way to celebrate the Chinese New Year!

After the show, we had to hustle back to the bus stop to catch our ride home. This time the bus was nearly empty. On the way there, the bus had been crowded with people heading to school and work. For $1 each way, it was definitely worth it. I was able to chat with my friend and the kids had their friends too. Even the bus driver came back to find out why we had taken the kids to the university (he thought they were a little too young for college) and tell them the most fun place to sit on the bus - the accordion section in the middle.

Must Clean House

2009-01-25T15:28:00.001-07:00

I hate cleaning and quite frankly, I'm really bad at it. It's an area of my life that I have always struggled with. And I'm not happy about it either. It stresses me out to have a messy, dirty house. The house has gotten worse since Brad has been home. I think mostly because when I get stressed, my safety mode is to hide and do nothing. Well, yesterday I finally forced myself to face reality. I need help. Several years ago, I used FlyLady to help get me on track. I think I'm going to use her website for inspiration, but try to create a system that works for our family. All of the websites that I read last night on household cleaning schedules, kept saying over and over again that you have to create a schedule yourself for it to work. Today, I've been working on the kitchen - mopped the floor and finished washing the dishes so we can start fresh tomorrow. I've also been working on our endless piles of laundry. I don't think I've ever actually been caught up on the laundry. Tonight we're going to have a family meeting so we can come up with morning and evening routines for everyone in the family. Simple steps to help us all start out the day on the right foot. Having a consistent routine was one of the things that helped me so much in the past. Then we're going to use Flylady's zones to help us get started. This coming week's zone is the living room. I think it's going to be a great place to start since it's the first place we see when we walk into the house. And the first place anyone else sees if they knock on the door. Right now my plan is to use her zones to get the house under control and then reevaluate to see if I want to come up with something different for our family. I felt like I needed to post this to help keep me accountable. Sometimes I come up with great plans and then never follow through. So, in one month, I'm committing to posting my progress.

Freezing our Backsides

2009-01-23T09:51:00.001-07:00

I have not been very consistent with posting. Here's my excuse - it's soooo cold in my house! ;) Normally, I post in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed. But, lately after the kids are in bed, Brad and I crawl under the covers to try to warm up. I turned down the thermostat - waaayyy down. Well, I'm sure it's not as far down as some people chose to go, but it's 10 degrees lower than we kept it last year. We have a pellet stove that we use in the early morning and evening to warm up the family room where we spend most of our time. However, we're running low on pellets so we're trying to ration them out to last another month. The exciting, makes me dance around the house, news is that we've cut our per day usage in half from last year at this time!!!! A good move environmentally and it's cut our utility bill by over $100 per month from last January. Woohoo!

No More TV

2009-01-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

I guess it would be more truthful to say no more satellite. We can still turn on the tv, but all we get are our fuzzy local tv channels. The only station that comes in ok is CBS, and there's not anything that we watch on CBS. Instead, there are a few storage boxes parked in front of our tv set right now. Surprisingly, it was a tough decision to cancel our paid channels. We had talked about it before the lay off, but always came up with a reason why we should just keep it. Our biggest reason (excuse maybe) was that we're homebodies. TV was our only real splurge besides eating out. But, since we're faced with trying to make a little last as long as possible, the satellite had to go. At $65 a month, it just wasn't worth it. We had some tears from the kids. B was especially upset because he was going to miss the new Clone Wars episodes. But we told him, we'd find a way to get Clone Wars. The episodes are only $1.99 on iTunes and free with commercials on Cartoon Network. We took the kids to the library and let them each pick out a video to check out. I'm normally a scrooge when it comes to checking out videos. I get irritated that they have to be returned after a week and feel nervous that we're going to scratch them up. But, since it looks like we'll be using the free library a lot in the coming weeks, I decided to ease up a bit. ;) We still have internet, the kids still have the xbox to play video games on, and they can watch dvds. It's not like they're going to be media starved. Even with those other things, our house seems so much more peaceful. It's not the easy fix of just flipping on the tv when we're bored. Now, when the kids watch a video, there is an end to the video - an automatic place to turn it off. When the tv was on, there was always one more thing to watch. I'm really liking the change. I'm guessing that we'll probably turn it back on once we get back on our feet financially. But, I'm not really missing it much and might want to keep it this way for awhile.

Daily Bread

2009-01-06T18:43:00.001-07:00

I'm so excited about this recipe!!! I saw a discussion on one of the message boards I frequent about a Mother Earth News article. The authors of the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day shared their basic recipe in this magazine article. The women discussing the recipe were having a lot of success so I thought I'd try it. I've been wanting to try a no-knead bread recipe but just had never gotten around to it. This is so great because it took only a few minutes to mix the dough together and then after the initial rise, you just stick it in your fridge. When you want a fresh loaf of bread, all you do is pull out a pound of dough, let it rest for 40 minutes and bake it. I tried it yesterday in honor of my husband's birthday and everyone loved it. A 1 lb. loaf is really small, but it was the perfect amount for dinner. I have another loaf cooling now, maybe I'll save it for breakfast tomorrow, and I still have enough dough for two more loaves in the fridge. I don't have a baking stone so I used my pizza pan. It seemed to work fine. I can't wait to try the whole wheat recipe, but I have to wait until I use up this dough so I can get my big bowl back.

After checking out the authors website, I think I'm going to try some of the suggestions for high altitude baking next time I try the recipe. I'm on the holds list for the cookbook at our library. New cookbooks aren't really an approved expenditure at the moment. ;) But, if I like it, I'm definitely going to put it on my wish list. I just love the idea of fresh baked bread whenever we want it!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

I've been reading quite a few blog posts on the New Year - reflections on 2008 and goals or resolutions for 2009. It's been inspiring to read. I feel kind of cemented in place with Brad's unemployment. I'm having a hard time focusing on anything beyond this gigantic challenge we have facing us. It's hard to say that we want to focus on something like "giving" if we don't know for sure where we'll be in a month. But, then I stopped myself. There are things, good things, to reflect on in 2008 and goals I have for 2009.

First my reflections. 2008 was actually a really good year for us. The kids and I deepened friendships, made new friends, experienced new things, read great books. It's just been the last 2 weeks that have tainted the year. I refuse to focus on those last two weeks. Instead I'm going to focus on the rest of the year. Here's a list of a few favorite things in 2008:

Favorite new activity for the kids - We've gotten to do so many wonderful things this year that it makes it hard to choose! I think it was meeting the folks at Galloping Grace Youth Ranch and watching the kids learn to ride horses. This was not something I would have ever sought out on my own. I think that makes it even more special. The kids have learned about hard work, gently communicating with animals many times their size and the exciting self-confidence that comes with accomplishment.

Favorite book I read - Another tough one for me to narrow down. I don't read as much as I used to. Since having kids, I have a much shorter attention span. Plus I don't have the luxury of immersing myself in a book like I like to do, especially with fiction. I mostly have been reading non-fiction lately. Hmmm, I loved The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. We've been trying to be more mindful of our eating choices and how they affect our bodies and the planet, so these were two great reads. The other book that I recently posted about, Jesus for President, was definitely a favorite this year too.

Favorite project completed - I didn't do as much crafting in 2008 as I did in the previous year. Some soap, my Christmas projects, some unfinished sewing projects. But, I think my favorite completed project was my Cari-sized hula hoop. I love it! I haven't used it in the last two months so I'm definitely going to get it back out now! The one A is using is her own that we haven't decorated yet. I can't believe I don't have a picture of mine - mine is white, yellow and orange.

Now on to 2009. Several of my favorite bloggers have chosen a word to focus on for the coming year. I love that idea but have struggled to come up with one as I've thought about it over the last 2 days. Because of our current situation, I keep coming back to things like hope, perseverance, survival. I just don't like those words at all. Then today I thought "sustenance." This seems like a good fit. Here's why. Even without the layoff, my husband and I were hoping to move towards a simpler way of life. With the layoff, instead of a gentle stroll in that direction, we're having a major shove. We have had to reduce our expenses, something we had wanted to do anyway. We've had to cut all the meals out. Again, something we had wanted anyway. And this brings me back to the word "sustenance." Focusing on the simple requirements of living. Whole foods, growing some of my own food, reducing clutter, focusing on more handmade things and depending on God for His provision.

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
Matthew 6:9-11 (King James Version)

Give us this day our bread. Our sustenance. Focusing on this day, I hope, will automatically reduce our waste. And hopefully, after we figure out our finances, can help us look beyond ourselves to other's daily bread. Maybe we can remember what it feels like to wonder about our daily bread and give in a way we haven't given before. That's my hope for 2009

Christmas at Our House

2008-12-25T12:17:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas! Our day yesterday, Christmas Eve, started with Christmas Eve Service at our church. We went to the early service and then over to friends' house for lunch. She and I ran to do some last minute shopping, while our husbands watched the kids.

I remembered that evening after we got home, that I didn't have ornaments for the kids. Each year, I've gotten a different ornament for each child. In the craziness of the last few weeks, I didn't buy anything. Then I remembered that I had bought some craft supplies last year to make snowflake ornaments with the kids that we never used. (Haven't I said before how I sometimes have a hard time finishing projects?) So, I pulled out the supplies and we had fun creating our own snowflakes. At first I tried to give the kids directions, then my oldest reminded me that all snowflakes are different. I let them have at it, and they came out great. A good memory and an ornament all in one!

They opened a few gifts, money from Grandpa and Grandma, more money and gift cards from Aunts and Uncles and their "secret Santa" gift. Very exciting! We watched The Grinch that Stole Christmas and finally got them to bed.

Here's Christmas morning. It was a tough morning for Brad and I. B was so excited that he woke up at 12:30 am and woke up his brother too. Then I heard him up at 5:00 am. I'm afraid I didn't have much Christmas spirit that early in the morning. I told him he had to be quiet and go back to bed for at least another hour. I remember doing that too as a kid. I remember trying to run up and down the bedroom hallway really early in the morning to try and wake everyone up for Christmas. I used to get so excited too.

Once everyone was up and had a chance to go through their stockings, get their "Santa" gifts and get a cup of hot chocolate, we sat down to do our last reading for our Jesse Tree.

Here's A hanging the last Jesse Tree ornament. A star. We talked about why the ornament was a star - A said it was so everyone could find Jesus.

Then it was time to open the last of the gifts - from my parents, my sister and from us. The kids were excited about all their presents. It was a lot smaller than most years, but they still ended up having a ton of toys and fun stuff to play with. I like it smaller. It seemed less overwhelming. It was tough looking at our tree and not seeing the piles of gifts that are usually there. I'll have to get used to that. But, every gift they got, they love. And really they didn't ask for much. B wanted a digital camera, C wanted a Leapster and a stuffed penguin and A wanted a swim baby doll, a Donald Duck cup and a play camera. Between us and our family (and generous friends), we were able to get them everything they wanted. We even got them a couple of things that they wanted but hadn't asked for.

Of course, it was play time after opening gifts! Here's A with her tea set made from recycled milk jugs (a gift from Mommy although I'm sure no one could guess!) ;)

And last but not least, one of B's first photos on his new camera. This is our neighbor's puppy that we're puppy-sitting this week. She's a super sweet 3 month old, 50 lb. Great Dane. We just love her, and are glad she lives next door!

River of Lights

2008-12-22T22:46:00.001-07:00

Tonight we went to River of Lights at our local Botanic Gardens. We went with my awesome photographer friend, Cindy. So, as we were trying to move through the crowd and keep our 6 kids and two husbands all together, she was yelling pointers to me. (Although, I think her husband and my husband would argue that they were trying to keep us with our families and not distracted by photographing the lights.) And, yes, my camera was on manual the whole time. Here are some of my favorites.

C has been anxiously awaiting this outing. He saw the dinosaur during the day a month ago and couldn't wait to go back and see it all lit up.

I love that the kids are all roaring at the dinosaur.

Here's the yellow submarine reflecting in the water. I think this was a one of the new light sculptures this year.

I realize now that I have only one picture of all three of my kids and it's not a very good one. (That's why I didn't post it.) B is giving me the "c'mon mom" look. I was having too much fun trying to figure out the right settings on my camera to take pictures of my kids. ;)

I think that today I'm grateful for Christmas lights. There's nothing like colorful lights to help me get into the spirit of Christmas. Only 2 more days!

Jesse Tree Update

2008-12-21T23:06:00.000-07:00

Here's a little update on how our Jesse Tree is going. We took some branches from our backyard to make the "tree." I decided to buy the e-book by Ann Voskamp called The Glorious Coming. It is very beautifully written, but it honestly hasn't worked very well for our family. We have ended up using the scripture references for each day and skipped the rest. Each day has the scripture for the day and a personal reflection on that particular passage. And again, it's very beautifully done, it just does not seem to work for our small kids. The book came with printable ornaments that I love! We just printed them out on card stock, punched a hole in them and used some ribbon to hang them. It's been such a meaningful experience to sit together as a family each night and watch the story of the Bible unfold. I definitely want to keep this as a Christmas tradition for our family, but I think I'll tweak it a bit next year. I think I'll look at some other sources for the Bible reading list, since they do seem to vary a little and decide what I feel is the best progression through the different Bible stories. I really love the artwork for these ornaments but I would like to make our own at some point. And, it might be nice to tie it in to our advent calendar somehow too. It's been feeling a bit much to have the advent stockings and the Jesse Tree every day in December.

*****

Today I'm grateful that we unearthed our iced tea maker. ;) I forgot that we bought a box of caffeinated tea and it's helping with the caffeine issue. However, since I've turned the thermostat waaayyy down, we probably should be drinking hot tea.

Not Feeling Grateful

2008-12-20T23:17:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling a bit like this snowman...pathetic. I mean, come on, my boys are barefoot. (They really shouldn't have been. It was still pretty cold even though the snow was melting.) There is so much to be grateful for each day. I have amazing people around me. Yesterday, we had a great time laughing with all of our (the kids and my) friends at playgroup. We were given some great hand-me-downs for C and A. The kids played for hours while the mamas chatted and laughed. Totally fun and normal. Today both of my neighbors offered help. One took me to coffee since I told her I was trying to give up caffeine because water was a heck of a lot cheaper to drink. She took pity on me and got me a latte. The other neighbor has insisted on buying the kids some Christmas presents and made me promise to tell them they're from Santa. We don't need any Christmas gifts for the kids. We were already planning on trying to keep it small this year. We even decided against the big present we had thought we might get for them (think cool gaming system). We wanted them to have a part in earning the money to buy it. But this incredible neighbor would not take "no" for an answer. Really, can I have better people around me? I am so incredibly blessed. And yet I'm struggling with being hopeful. I'm frustrated that I don't seem to have real skills to jump back into the job market. I have skills and experience but it's been 8 years since I really did anything. I would rather stay home and homeschool my kids. I feel like that's the calling on my life right now. And yet, I hate to sit by and watch my husband bear all the burden of our financial security. Maybe I just hate not having any control? That's probably most of it. Or maybe I'm just grumpy from trying to cut back on the caffeine. ;) These posts are really helping me look for the good in each day though. That's something to be grateful for...

Grateful for the Faith of Others

2008-12-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

I was so touched yesterday by something that happened. I needed to withdraw A from her gymnastics class. It was an expense that we needed to cut out of our budget at the moment. I'm not sure why this was so hard, but it was. I started crying when I told them why we needed to stop coming. The lady who is at the front desk (I'm embarrassed that I don't even know her name) immediately grabbed my hand and started praying for my family. It was so genuine and so heartfelt. That act meant so much to me.

It made me wonder if I would ever do that for someone else. Probably not. I'd be too afraid I'd offend them - I mean what if they weren't a Christian. Then I started thinking that if she hadn't been a Christian but offered a different kind of blessing, I think I would have been equally as touched. Because it wasn't about what she was praying, it was about the heart behind it - the faith that she was offering to me.

Grateful for the Joy of Children

2008-12-17T21:29:00.000-07:00

I'm grateful for the joy I see in my kids. This was actually from yesterday morning. We finally had some snow here. The kids were soooo excited! They got up early to be sure not to miss it. Snow doesn't stay on the ground for very long in New Mexico. These photos were taken before breakfast, around 7:30 a.m. The boys, especially C, were so afraid they were going to miss out on having a big snowball fight. Here's C throwing a snowball...

...at his big brother!

And here's B getting him back with a bucket filled with snow.

I guess his big brother got him good. I just love this picture. This is my guy that I have such a hard time getting a picture of. He hates it when I get out the camera. I feel like I really captured the joy he was feeling. And seeing him joyful helps me to be joyful.

Grateful for Friends

2008-12-16T23:01:00.000-07:00

Today I'm grateful for friends. We really have incredible friends. As soon as my dear friend Cindy found out about what was going on she invited us over for dinner. She, her husband and kids gave us an escape tonight that we really needed. Her husband made us a yummy dinner and then the four adults laughed at ourselves while we played 80's and 90's Trivial Pursuit. I promise that I will never forget "Ben Stein" again! And Ferris Bueller's Day Off is one of my favorite movies. I can't believe I didn't get that one!

Anyone. Anyone. Anyone. That still makes me laugh. Cindy even got me my very favorite - Baskin Robbins Jamoca Almond Fudge Ice Cream Cake. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys really did get our minds off of everything tonight!

I have other friends who've let me cry on the phone to them and have prayed for me. Others who have offered help and support. I'm just overwhelmed. Even people I haven't met in real life but only know through online groups have offered hugs, prayers and support. And here's the thing, I hate asking. I hate it. I want to be the one offering support especially since a lot of these people supported me through the last 2 years. I feel like a broken record. But, I'm choosing to be grateful and I really am grateful for all my friends who have such big hearts.

Heavy Heart

2008-12-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

It's really amazing how quickly life can change in mere minutes. If someone had asked me this morning before 9 am how my life was going, I would have answered, "Great!" After 9 am I'd have to answer, "Tough." My husband was laid off this morning due to financial cutbacks at the company he was working for. And I'm scared. Financial stress is something I don't handle well at all and we seem to have our share of it. Lots of it is from the consequences of our own mistakes. But, some of it lately seems to be really bad luck. Our last 3 years have been real struggles. First a lay off, then a company that had no money (and still owes him back pay), now another lay off. I'm ready for this to end.

How can I choose joy and gratitude this Christmas? I have to for my kids' sake.

Here it goes. I'm going to post everyday something I'm grateful for starting today.

Today I'm grateful for the gorgeous snow that so rarely falls in the desert.

Social Gospel or Real Christianity?

2008-12-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

I know that the criticism for Shane Claiborne's books is that he's preaching a social gospel and not just THE gospel. Whatever he's preaching, I can't stop thinking about it. I first read Jesus for President and then shortly after read Irresistible Revolution. These books have made me question what it means to follow Jesus and pushed me to reread the Sermon on the Mount through new eyes. As someone who has grown up in "the Church," I didn't think it was possible to see something new in the Bible. But I did. Honestly, it has made me fearful of what God is calling us -me- to do.

We are not just called to be candles. Candles make for nice Christmas services and for a nice peace vigil (or a pretty Elton John song). They can remind us that God's light dwells within us and that we are to shine that light in this dark world. But we are not just called to be candles. We are called to be fire. Candles can be snuffed out by the slightest wind or by the smallest child on their birthday. But it's harder to put out a fire. We are to be fire, to weave our lives together so that the Spirit's inferno of love spreads across the earth.
From Irresistible Revolution, Page 352

I was already feeling pretty critical of Christianity in the US and more specifically the whole "seeker-friendly" movement. My husband and I have been pretty frustrated that we can't seem to find a church that's interested in pursuing an intellectual discussion about the Bible. It seems lately that the evangelical churches that we've attended are full of fun, entertaining videos and emotional self-help style messages with a few random scriptures thrown in. Maybe that's a bit harsh, but like I said we've been pretty frustrated. Then we'd find a church that seemed to be on track for deeper discussions but find out that their view of women or child discipline was not in line with our views - two areas that are really important to me. Those areas aren't total deal breakers unless they're being preached from the pulpit or endorsed by leadership. I just couldn't be in a church that I felt like I was always defending my views. So we've been frustrated.

In a lot of ways, I feel like I've been experiencing a crisis of faith. I saw these amazing people who treated others with kindness (even me - a Christian), gave of themselves and their money, cared about animals and the planet, treated their children with so much gentleness. And guess what? They weren't Christians. They were Atheists, Agnostics, Pagans...all of those "evil" things I had grown up learning to be afraid of. And guess what I had found in the church - men demeaning women, parents physically and emotionally hurting children in the name of God, hearing that environmentalism is a sin, money for big screen TVs so we could see the preacher better but token amounts going to the homeless. I know that God isn't his people. What a relief! But, I was feeling pretty confused and discouraged.

If someone asks if we are Christ-followers, can we say, "Tell me what you see"? Is there enough evidence to prove that we are taking after the slaughtered Lamb? What if they ask the poor around us? What if they ask our enemies? Would they say that we love them? Christians haven't always looked like Jesus. Perhaps the greatest barrier to Christ has been Christians who pronounce Jesus so loudly with their lips and deny him so loudly with their lives.
From Jesus For President, Page 230

So I was probably ripe for reading Claiborne's message. Maybe there is hope for Christians. I'm still digesting it all, and still not sure if I agree with all of his views on things. I'm having to go back to the Bible to see if I agree with his interpretation of scriptures. He takes a very anti-war stance. I get what he's saying and in a lot of ways it rings true for me, but I'm having a hard time reconciling it with the "real world." As a parent, it's hard to imagine opening my home to strangers who need help. What does it mean to give to others in such a way that it makes a difference in their lives and yet still take care of my family? Lots of stuff to think about. And I am.

eta: I just wanted to add that I have many wonderful inspiring Christian friends who truly desire to honor God with their lives. Friends that have encouraged me that I wasn't alone in the things I was questioning. I also know of people who are quietly going about their work serving people who are usually forgotten.

What I Always Wanted!

2008-12-12T11:31:00.001-07:00

We've had several packages delivered to our house in the past 2 weeks. Most of them are Christmas gifts for the kids from Grandma or Auntie. It's driving the kids nuts that they don't get to open them now. Yesterday a package came that I figured was for me from my mom. She told B not to let me near it. I think she said that to make him feel better about the packages he couldn't open. I have been kind of teasing them about all the stuff on the top shelf of my closet. Anyway, the box was stashed away somewhere. A little while later, C and A came walking out to the family room holding my new 5 qt. enameled cast iron pot. They were so excited! C exuberantly asked, "Mom, is it what you always wanted?" Apparently, they thought it would be ok if they opened the package for me. LOL I made them pose with my Christmas gift. C is looking goofy as always. It's so hard to get that kid to pose for a picture that I'll take whatever I can get.

We're Enrolling in Hogwarts

2008-12-10T19:29:00.001-07:00

Last week B was bugging Brad to read the first Harry Potter book to him as their bedtime book. Brad, being the wise dad that he is, told him if he wanted to read it, he should read it himself. B is a great reader but had never felt confident to tackle a book of that length by himself. Brad knew how proud B would be of himself if he could finish Harry Potter. So, with a little nudging, B started it. And didn't put it down for three days. I guess he is a lot like me. Once I get into a book, I can't put it down. That's why I haven't been reading much fiction lately. I have a much easier time putting down a non-fiction book. (Except for Shane Claiborne's books - but that's for another post.) Anyway, now we are all about Hogwarts here. Even talk of a possible Hogwarts themed 8th birthday party in a couple of months. I'm even getting a little excited!

Christmas Project Finished!

2008-12-02T15:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's only a couple of days late. ;) We really should have started yesterday morning, but my mini stocking advent calendar is done!

I used the template on Martha Stewart's website for the Mini Stockings. I'm not crazy about the dark red felt. I wish I could have found a brighter red. I think it would have been a little more "christmassy." But, I still like it.

I'm so excited that I got it done! I don't always finish the projects I start so it's such a good feeling to see it done.

All I Want for Chrithmath...

2008-12-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

...is my two front teeth! B lost one of his top teeth a week or so ago. But, the other tooth (which actually was the first one loose) has taken forever to fall out. And he wouldn't let me near it. It finally came out today, just in time for "Chrithmath."

Pumpkin

2008-11-29T21:10:00.001-07:00

I made pumpkin puree from scratch on Thanksgiving! I'm so excited! Here's the pictures to prove it. (Michelle - This is one from the pumpkin stand. :) In case you're missing them.)

Here it goes into the food processor. I had no idea how much puree one pumpkin would make. It's a ton. This is only half.

The first finished product - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. I know they aren't the prettiest cookies, but they taste so good!

Thanksgiving Menu

2008-11-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to make sure I'm ready for Thanksgiving. It's just going to be us so I don't need a bunch of food. I do want to make sure I have all the stuff everyone loves about Thanksgiving. Here's my plan:

Turkey Breast (I bought a small turkey breast instead of a big bird this year.)
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Veggie Mix (I got broccoli, orange cauliflower and carrots in my CSA box this week)
Stuffing (Yikes! I forgot to get the stuff to make this!)
Cranberry Salad (My grandmother's recipe)
Pumpkin Bread

Dessert is Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies and Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies.

Tomorrow I'll make the cookies and cranberry salad. Thursday morning I can make the pumpkin bread. I think that will work. I'm really looking forward to a peaceful holiday with just our family.

Mmmm...Cranberries!

2008-11-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I tried a recipe from Martha Stewart's Everday Food Magazine. My mom treated me to a subscription to this magazine last year and I've found quite a few recipes I like. I found this recipe for Cranberry Bread in the most recent edition. The only change I made to the recipe was using half all purpose flour and half whole wheat pastry flour. (I was almost out of all purpose flour.) I think it is such a pretty bread with the bright cranberries! It looks so festive! I really liked it but the kids didn't at all. The cranberries were just too tart for them. Oh well, more for me! ;)

Music Will Never Be the Same in Our House

2008-11-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today we went on a super fun field trip to the Apple store. One of the moms in one of our homeschool groups organized a class for our kids. It was complete with Apple field trip t-shirts. The kids brought in a favorite song to mix in GarageBand. Since we have a Mac, navigating the program was really easy for B. But, somehow we hadn't played with it at home. A and C were not as impressed with the class as B and I were. A kept asking, "Where are the apples?" LOL

I think B has found his calling. ;) He was the only one brave enough to actually record his own voice singing with his song. The guys working there loved him. My cute little computer geek! :P

When we got home (after stopping at one of mommy's favorite restaurants, California Pizza Kitchen, for lunch), the boys ran to the computer to "upgrade" more songs. B was playing a song that really didn't sound like one of our kid-approved songs. When I went to look, it was Kid Rock. He said he was looking through the list and it was the only one he could find that said "kid." I explained that it was not kid music. He couldn't understand why a guy would pick a name with "kid" in it if it wasn't for kids. Good question! Like I said, I may never hear my favorite songs again. At least without extra drums, sound effects and who knows what else.

First Presentation!

2008-11-07T21:13:00.001-07:00

I am so proud of B today. He gave his very first presentation to one of our favorite homeschool groups. We're part of our local homeschool Roots and Shoots group. Roots and Shoots is part of the Jane Goodall Institute and it's founded on the belief that young people can change the world. They focus on three areas - human community, environment and animals. Everything really is about service and how to make a difference. I really couldn't say enough good things about the organization and our specific group. We have the most amazing leadership. These moms keep challenging the kids and giving them such incredible opportunities to serve. They have started having a day for the kids to give presentations about something that means a lot to them or something they've researched having to do with the Roots and Shoots mission. This time B did a short presentation on Galloping Grace Youth Ranch.

He was a bit nervous to get up in front of everyone. There were about 25 or so parents and kids there today. He wasn't even feeling very good. He woke up congested (probably got my yucky cold.) But, he was determined to go today and share with everyone about the ranch. He talked about their mission and the horses. He passed around some photos I had made into 8x10's of the kids riding at the ranch. We're getting a chance to bring our Roots and Shoots group out to Galloping Grace next week to work, so he shared with them the kinds of projects we'll be doing next week. He did such a great job! Even A got up at the end to tell how to give the horses treats. So cute! (I don't have a picture of that because she needed some mommy help.)

This is what happens when...

2008-11-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

mom has a terrible cold and wants to just hide under her down comforter on the couch.

52 goofy photos in photo booth. At least they weren't fighting. ;)

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T21:47:00.001-06:00

Happy Halloween! Tonight we had friends over for pizza and trick-or-treating. I think there ended up being 7 families altogether. Everyone had so much fun! The only downer was that I tripped and fell right before the party while trying to hang up spider webs outside. I have quite the mangled foot. I took a picture but then thought it was too gross to post. LOL It's nothing serious, probably just really bruised, but I cried like a baby.

Here's A smiling with her jack-o-lantern. She wasn't feeling like pictures in the first one. I didn't get very many pictures of the boys. They were too busy playing with their friends and I was too busy yapping with my friends.

After we got back I told the kids they could eat some candy and I look over and little A has this huge candy bar in her mouth. It was pretty funny. We also had this strange cat follow us all through the neighborhood and come right into our house when we got back. I really don't get spooked by cats on Halloween - we have the perfect "boo kitty." But it was starting to get a little wierd how this cat was following this gang of 3 - 7 year olds around. I guess we'll have to see if it's still hanging around tomorrow. Aahh, now it's time for Mommy and Daddy to scope out the candy to see if there's anything good! j/k Thankfully our kids really do like to share with us.

Pumpkin Carving Time!

2008-10-30T20:24:00.001-06:00

Tonight we carved up our beautiful pumpkins. The kids designed the faces (A had a little help from Daddy) and I was the one who had the honor of carving away. I think they came out great!

I did make them help pull all the guts out. :) Only one day until Halloween!!!

Halloween is Almost Here!

2008-10-28T16:15:00.000-06:00

Here's a preview of this year's costumes. B is Indiana Jones. C is a Texas Ranger. And A is a Flower Fairy. Just before I took the picture she handed me her wings and told me she didn't feel like flying anymore today. ;) We had a Halloween party with our homeschool group today at the park. The kids had fun wearing their costumes and filling up their trick-or-treat buckets. They can't wait for Friday!!!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

2008-10-22T19:45:00.000-06:00

Big changes today. I donated a nice fat 12 inch braid to Locks of Love. I have needed to get my hair cut for a long time, but I just kept putting it off. I'm not sure why. I guess it just wasn't a priority. I finally made an appointment and even had enough to donate. That was pretty exciting. I really was ok getting it cut, but it's nice knowing that it can go to a good cause. Here's the result....

I LOVE IT!!!!