Promised Pajama Pants

I've been promising my kids pants for weeks. I've told them since Novemeber of 2008 that I would make them PJ pants out of Halloween fabric that I picked up for 25 cents a yard. (By the way if you ever see fabric for 25 cents a yard...buy it.) I don't care if you even like it...use it for stuff that doesn't matter, or in my case for prototypes. It saves you from having to use good fabric on not-good projects. I bought yards and yards of these fabrics...and now it was time to pay the piper. I made Laurel's first and she didn't like them. Not for any special reason, she just felt like being cranky. So then I put eyes on them and magically she loved them.

Honestly, I liked them a lot better at that point too.

Three Dates

It's hard to imagine that my youngest siblings are old enough to date...and yet...here they all are. Three dates, three kids...one weekend. While Co and I are floating somewhere between thirty and forty...and Erik at 21 is floating around China...my youngest three siblings still seem like children to me. But alas, it doesn't last forever. Cody had homecoming, Hallie had a father/daughter dance (ok so there are a few more years yet to wait for her...but she doesn't look like it here!), and Abigail had a non-date date (meaning she and a boy had plans to go to this thing together...but neither is allowed to call it a date) Here they are...growing up faster than I can keep up.




Incidentally Jon and I went on a date last week to see You Again, and realized at our current entertainment budget we can no longer afford to go to the movies at full price. (Not that we've ever gone often...maybe 3 times a year) But this was a wake up call...tickets for 2 $23. One shared soda $5. Then there was the candy we snuck in ($2) and the coffee and snack we had after the movie ($10). Forty bucks and we didn't even get a meal!

Baby Boy and Little Man

This was a totally unplanned outing...Jon's friend called us up and invited us. We immediately said yes, and then realized this wasn't a free (or cheap) thing. At $7 per person to get in, $20 for 20 tickets and more money for other rides, food, games, etc...this wasn't our typical Sunday afternoon. But...it made us realize that sometimes you need to spend some money to have some fun. (I stress sometimes...it's easy to go crazy and then go into debt!) But, in that afternoon I watched my kids get older before my eyes...though thankfully my baby boy still showed he was a little bit of a baby. (though not for long)

First was the petting zoo...turkey, zebra, camel, goats...the kids loved that. Then came the first ride. Bumblebees that spin around in a circle and go up and down. Laurel and Ellie went together, then Luke threw a fit. So I said he could go with Jon...but suddenly I turn around and Luke is strapped into the bee with the girls. I started to panic...I know...ME...she who never panics. (not never, but it is rare) I started to snap at Jon...then the feeling went out of my legs...and all I could do was watch and think about trauma statistics as my children went spinning by. Then the ride stopped...the kids were happy...the feeling came back to my legs. And Luke was relegated to younger rides. Whew. (In retrospect this ride was pretty slow...but if you had asked me while it was spinning I would have told you it was a death trap) After that the big girls headed for the kiddie roller coaster and the "big" boy went with daddy to the kiddie motorcycle ride. (which he LOVED)

Then came the shark slide. This was an additional $1 a piece...such a rip off...but the kids wanted to slide. So we paid our $2 and sent them up. We asked Laurel to climb up behind Luke to help him out, but somewhere along the way she got distracted. Down came Laurel...no Luke. We waited and waited. No Luke. We paid another dollar for Laurel to go back up. Down came Laurel but no Luke. I asked her why she didn't get her brother...she said she was showing him how to slide. (I guess I should have been more specific) Thankfully the man didn't make Jon pay a dollar, and up he went. Suddenly down came Luke, backwards on his belly. I assumed Jon had convinced him...but no Jon came down the slide. Hmmm. Finally Jon came, and it turns out that in standing there all by himself my frightened little baby (who never cried) mustered up the courage to go down that slide. He's my little baby and little man all rolled into one right now. It's amazing to watch him grow. He never mentioned that he was scared...I guess maybe he was just figuring it all out. And Jon said the climb up was insane, he couldn't imagine how his little legs made it.


Then there was the crown jewel in the festival. The pink dolphin. Laurel has talked about Jessie's pink dolphin for YEARS, and asked for it for every holiday. But where do you get an inflatable pink dolphin? The Country Fair. Thankfully they don't actually make you win it (though she thinks she did...so that's cool). You pay your money, the kid plays and they get the prize of their choice. Luke got a Scooby Doo and Laurel got the famous-inflatable-Jessie-pink-dolphin. Both kids tucked them in last night. Sometimes it's ok to spend a little money. (look at those smiles!)

Fall Festival

With the fall season in full swing, it seems everyone has a fall festival. On Friday we decided to go to the one at Abby's school...though frankly I didn't want to. It was touted as a hoe-down (is that how you spell that?) and when we got there there were cloggers. I can't say I'm much for country music, line dancing or clogging. And this had all of the above...doesn't sound like I'm in for a lot of fun. Boy was I wrong. It was the best deal in town with free admission, hayrides and facepainting. The only things that cost money were food (50 cents a piece), the cake walk (also 50 cents) and the strip of pictures (50 cents too!).


This worked out particularly well since Laurel won a cake! I have never seen her eyes look so big or so happy as when she realized that she was the one on the number 5 and SHE won the cake! She told that story for 24 hours straight...though it changed to how much mommy wished her to win and so she did it...she stepped on the number 5 and won the cake.

The kids are getting so big, they rode the hayride without me (once we got there I was chopped liver compared to Abby's friends).

Home Sweet Home

After weeks of searching...we found our new temporary home. Until the house is ready to move in...we'll be living outside of it in our new/used camper. The kids are ecstatic of course, they each get their own bunk. And I'm happy because it's spacious enough, and it gives us a chance to simplify our lives a bit. It seems like everyone always talks about wanting to simplify their lives, I know I do. But still no one does it. We try of course. We clean out our garages and closets (at least I hear that's what people do, I rarely get that far). But we have garage sales and we take walks with the family. But by the end of the week, most of us are back on the couch watching TV, ordering pizza and dealing with the day to day upkeep of a much-too-big and much-too-filled-with-stuff home. (That describes us, sans the pizza which isn't in the budget)


That isn't the reason we're doing this...it's a side effect. We're doing this so that we can work on the house every day. We realized at our current pace of working on the new house one day a week we'd be done in about 20 years. Thus the camper plan was born. And the benefits grew and grew. Winter may not be the most awesome time to do this...but either way the point is the camper will be used for sleeping and hanging out when it's too dark to be outside...otherwise we'll be out in the world working and playing. There will be no need for me to clean for hours...the camper just isn't that big. I'll do laundry once a week. The rest of the time I want to be building the house or playing with the kids. I plan to explore all the local parks and libraries. And bike and hike and learn what it's like not to have a house weighing you down.

Of course when it's all done we'll move into the house...but hopefully we'll remember the lessons we learned from living in the camper for so long. (and hopefully we won't kill eachother before that all happens)

Sewing Just for Fun

I am planning on reopening the ETSY shop soon, but it seems I just can't decide on what to make first. So mostly I've been thinking and sketching. But last night I decided to drag my booty into the sewing room and just start sewing. Everything was free-cut and free-sewn. No thought, no planning...all fun. This is what we ended up with...

a tiny impromptu quilt (really tiny ~4" x 8") I was playing around with piecing curves, and free-hand machine embroidery.



Plus these little practice coasters...again messing around with freehand machine drawing...not easy. I need to get an embroidery foot to try out.



I've also been playing around with hand embroidery, which other than cross stitching as a child, I've never done. I like hand embroidery because it's something you can do while sitting down and talking to someone, or watching (sort of watching) TV or a movie. When you sew on a machine, that's really all you can focus on...which is fine. But sometimes wouldn't it be nice to pick up that sewing and move it to the back porch? Or the park? Or wherever? I think so.

Lazy Fall Sunday

I can't believe I posted pictures of myself. It's shocking. But I wanted the world to know that I do actually exist...ok, not true...I just loved the picture of my boy giving his mom his love so freely. In case that doesn't last forever (though it should) I now have evidence. Ha!