Maters and House Cup and Children, Oh My!

We have a TON of ripe tomatoes! We'll be canning them this weekend. I'm hoping to have pics up early next week for all of you who commented on our organic tomatoes! We're thinking about just stewing these and not actually making sauce so we can use them in more things throughout the winter. I can't wait!

I've been making GREAT progress on my House Cup work! I've got 5 of 6 classes done. I've completed a pair of mittens for Charlie, Sheldon, a Crochet Counting Fish toy (both also for Charlie), a filet crochet bookmark for me (my first filet crochet!), and a teeny tiny golden snitch pendant to make a necklace for Ari for Yule! Just dyeing more yarn with walnuts and working up my Charlie's hat for his Halloween costume.

The kids are having a blast at school! Melodie seems to have really grown up the last few weeks. We're having a much easier time. Ari will be starting tutoring in the next week or so, so hopefully her spelling and sounds will get better. Her teacher said she'll be contacting speech, also, and voicing my concerns....again. Hopefully this time it will help, because the teacher agrees with me that she's having a hard time with spelling and phonetics because of the way she says things. Atley is just having the time of his life. He plays and is doing SO good! His art work has gotten better. His handwriting is better than Ari's (at least the letters that he does know and can write.) Charlie is still sad and lonely. :0( He's mommy's buddy. (yes Michelle Duggar, I'm quoting you!)

Oh, and I almost forgot....we've had our first tardy! It was really not due to not getting ready on time. I hurt my back yesterday morning. See, it was legitimate! Apparently, my back does not like to do laundry any more than the rest of me. I was lifting laundry out of the dryer, and oh the pain! It wasn't even like it was a heavy load of jeans or towels or a full laundry basket. It was just laundry, and the girls' tank tops and sundresses at that. It weighed all of 2 pounds.

Atley's First Day of School

I know, I'm a horrible mom. Mere hours after the girls bust open their shiny new pencils, I've blogged about their first day of school. My Atley, has yet to have his first day of school blog post. :0( So, without further ado.....Atley's First Day of School!!

He was SO excited to go to school!! Of course with our later start time this year (not one tardy yet, knock on wood!), we have plenty of time to get ready, and he had to wait awhile to leave, which he was very anxious about. He barely said goodbye when he jumped out of the car and ran to the school.
He has been very happy to go everyday now. He's doing pretty good, I think. He even did a good job on his first swimming lesson! (He was not the child who kicked and screamed and ran from the pool!! yay!!!) Luckily, he and Ari seem to have the same swim day, however hers seems to be after lunch, so I don't usually catch hers. :0(

In crafty news, the fall term of the House Cup is well underway! We're about halfway done with the first month. So far, I've completed a Sheldon for DADA, a lace bookmark for Transfiguration (which I still need to block so I can turn in), a pair of mittens for Charlie for Potions, and I'm over halfway done with a counting fish toy for Charlie for Charms. That will leave dyeing some more yarn with walnuts for Herbology, and I think I'm doing a snitch for CoMC. Plus, I've still got to submit for my OWL approval. (I will be doing Muggle Studies to get the toaster badge.) I'm going to knit Ari a Gryffindor House Sweater and Melodie a Fresh Picked Cardigan.

I've also started to fill my Etsy shop!! Yay!!

Oh, and of course we can't forget everyone's favorite recurring theme....Injury Of The Day!!!! Today's Injury of the Day goes to.....Arianna! (I know, a rarity!) Yesterday, we went to the fair. We were sitting on some nice, shady benches eating our yummy fair-food lunch, and Ari decided it was a good idea to stand between them and swing. She took a flying leap.........and cracked her jaw on one! We've got a nice bruise from that one. I swear, my kids. *sigh*

First Day of School Pt. 1

Well, it's official. Summer vacation is finally over. The girls went back to school today!!


They were SO excited. Melodie is in 4th grade this year, and it's her last year in grade school. She'll be a middle-schooler next fall! Ari is in 1st grade and very excited to see her friends again.

Lucky for us, all of the elementary schools are starting at 9:25 this year, so here's hoping no more tardies!! lol

This morning went very smoothly. It was a little surprising how smoothly it went, actually.

Atley goes for his KRA-L assessment test tomorrow. Then, his first day of school will be Thursday. I admit it, I'll probably cry when my sweet little baby boy goes to school. He is completely my little momma's boy, my little poppet, and I'll miss him horribly. Charlie and I are going to have fun together, though!

Yesterday, we canned for the first time! Dan had made some pasta sauce, so we decided to give it a try before our tomato crop comes in and we're swimming in tomatoes without a clue on how to can! It was a success, and we're very proud of ourselves! lol We got a half dozen pints. I think I'm going to need to get some more jars, though. We have ALOT of tomatoes that will be done. This batch was just from cans of tomatoes from the store. Our tomatoes are homegrown organic....I can't wait!

And, I finally finished Ari's snitch socks...better late than never! (ok, actually I finished them a few days ago, but here is the pic.)



I also finally fixed the neck band on Charlie's Imagine Peace Vest last night. I'm hoping to get some pics of him in it with my snowball bush this week.

Some pics

Okay, here are some pics of my last few projects! Here is Charlie, in his new matching get-up (minus missing slipper, which I'm apparently going to have to re-knit.) I will be taking the top button off and sewing up the buttonhole, because there's no way I can button it without choking the poor little guy!


Next, is baby Hermione. Ari likes the sweater vest look, and says she doesn't want sleeves on her. I still need to sew the blanket, though. (It will take all of 5 minutes.)
Ari's birthday was nice. She loved her doll! I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow. Her cake didn't turn out how I wanted it. :0( I just tried to rush it too much. She still loved it, though.

We have another injury of the day! This time, it was poor little Charlie. :0( We had Charlie vs. the Rocking Chair, and the rocking chair won. He now has a nice vertical line in the middle of his forehead. I'm not sure how he got a vertical line from the rocking chair, but that is what the other children reported his head hit. Poor little guy's had a rough last few days!

We went to Cleveland Saturday, to take the little kids to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Melodie is at Disney World with my mom this week! They are having a blast. We initially wanted to take the kids to Memphis Kiddie Park, which is kind of like a fair/carnival kind of rides amusement park, just for little kids. Unfortunately, the "isolated" T-storms turned into an all day long shower, so we went to the museum, and were going to head back to the amusement park if it cleared up. We walked out of the museum, and low and behold, sunny skies were just opening up! We headed back to the amusement park, and it had closed. Evidently, they must have given up on the rain. (There were people there when we went by in the morning, but the rides hadn't been going.) So, we went to White Castle, where Ari got whacked in the head with a box of chicken! (It was a Church's/White Castle.) The guy felt so bad, he won her a prize out of the claw game.

All in all, the kids had a pretty good time. Then we got lost on the way home, and went like an hour out of the way. Oh well, it was a nice, scenic drive. ;0)

Poor little Charlie's bum was worse for wear after his all day long sitting marathon, though. He was in pretty bad shape yesterday, but was doing better today, you know, until the rocking chair thing.

Friday, we are taking the kids to COSI! I can't wait! I think I'm more excited than they are. I'll be taking Ari's sock to work on in the car on the way down, and finally finish that.

Some progress to report!

Well, I am very happy to say, I finished my OWL! I knit the 2 baby camo bibs, a sweater for Charlie, with matching slippers (of which the children have already lost 1) and little leg warmer/hamhock covers for winter. He also got a new pair of socks.

I did not finish Ari's socks in time to turn in for complete points. :0( I am hoping to finish them by tomorrow...when my sweet baby girl turns 6!!

I did get a wonderful present for my birthday, though. My dad bought me a new sewing machine!! It is awesome. Though, it still doesn't have all the stitch options I had hoped for, I am still THRILLED with it!

Yesterday was the first day I got to use it. I made Melodie a purse with matching coin purse (cursing my snap attacher....grrr. It's a hand press, not part of my sewing machine, and let's just say, I now have to cover the hole I accidentally pressed in her purse! sigh) And I made Ari a baby Hermione doll she had asked for, for her b-day, to go with her baby Harry. I just have to embroider the face tonight and whip up some clothes and a blanket. I ♥ my new machine!

I'm hoping to work the heel on the sock tonight, and I'll probably have to finish up the foot tomorrow during lulls in work. I've also got to bake her cake tonight. She was inspired by one of her friend's b-day cakes, so I'm tweaking it a little bit because I don't have the necessary baking apparatus to recreate that one! I'm doing a quarter sheet cake, and we're making cupcake fairy houses on top! My mom got me a piping tip and dye set for my b-day. (I had been buying tips as necessary.)

I am just a boring person

So, I keep thinking, I need to blog today! But, I'm just not interesting!! I've just been working and wrangling the kids.

About all the exciting news I have right now is knitting related, and that's not all that exciting! I'm kind of stalled. I've got a week and a half of the Cup left for this term, and then it's break.

Right now, I'm working on my OWL. Since Charlie's sweater grossly underused my stash I'm trying to get rid of (I need to knit/crochet 750 yd for a Transfiguration OWL), I kind of lost my gumption. The pattern said the largest size would use 600 yd. I knit with 1 size larger needles, and it still only used about 384!!! I'm working on it, though. I've got half a baby sock done. I need to finish at least this pair and use up the last of the yarn that matches Charlie's sweater, and I should be pretty close. I've done 2 baby bibs and a pair of slippers to match the sweater already.

I've also got to finish Ari's snitch socks, which I bought the yarn for last year to make for her birthday, and her birthday is in about 2 weeks. I've got about half of one of those socks done, too. Oh, and I need to sew a dress for Muggle Studies. (Thank you prof., for accepting sewn projects, too!) I am also going to try to whip up a lacy soap saver for Potions if I have time.

I finished my Charms. I knit 2 camera cases; 1 for Melodie's camera and 1 for the camera Ari wants for her b-day. I tried to get the camera Monday, because Dan kept the kids so I could go to the store in peace....and they no longer carry 35 mm cameras at Walmart!! At.All. So, I'm watching a few on ebay, as well as some kids digital cameras and hopefully will be able to get one here by her birthday.

I've also finished my DADA homework. I made 2 pygmy puffs. I haven't turned it in yet, though. I'm hoping to get some extra credit, so I'm going to make a little box and poke holes in them and do a label that says they're from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and address it to Ari like they do Harry's letter in Sorcerer's Stone!!

Well, that is me, in a nutshell, in my mundane, boring life. Hopefully when the kids are in school (August 24th!!!!) I'll have more time to at least post fun tips and recipes again!!!

The Chosen One

YAY!!!!!! It's finally here!!!

We got to go see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince opening day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (can you tell I'm a touch excited?)

I so wanted to see the midnight showing, but Dan said it was too late for Ari. I vow to take her to the midnight showing of Deathly Hallows, though. She'll be almost 8 by then.

Here is Ari, sporting her Quidditch wristies from the Cup, in the lobby with the movie cutout....also wearing her OOTP shirt and Timeturner!

Fabric Pictures!

Ok, I know I've been saying this for weeks. Jaydee, just for you, here are fabric pictures! ;0)

These are from Joann's a few weeks ago. The one on the right is to make Ari a dress. (and enough for at least a doll dress and maybe one for Melodie too. But hey, it was $1.99 a yard!) The one in the middle is to make the boys some summer pajama shorts/pants. The one on the left was a remnant of the smocked sundress material I had hoped would fit Ari, but unfortunately it didn't, so I'll be making a baby sundress to put in my Etsy shop. And, as you can see, Charlie had to sneak in because he has decided he is quite a ham in front of the camera now!

Ok, this picture turned out pretty dark. On the right, you can barely see the gray fabric with pink butterflies I got to make the girls winter skirts for school. I'm thinking of going pleated, and I'll probably have to make some matching pink sweaters! The one in the middle is Shrek fabric. 99 cents a yard! I got 3 or 4 yards I think, I can't remember right now. I'm going to make the baby a shirt out of it, and then make some stuff for my Etsy shop. The fat quarters in the front are for bib backing for bibs for my Etsy shop. The blue on the left is to make Melodie a dress. Isn't that beautiful fabric!?! It was only $3.74 a yard because I got the last of a bolt, and they take 25 cents off a yard if you buy a whole new bolt or finish one off. So, about $4 for that beautiful embroidered dress...can't beat it!


And, here is Charlie in his new sweater with the neverending sleeves. I still need to get him some buttons, but I haven't been to Joann's for awhile. He was happy to see his picture, and went and got his sweater and handed it to me. He's such a smart baby!! (If I do say so myself, which I do.) ;0)

Been Caught Stealin'

So, yesterday morning, we do our normal weekly shopping trip. I take my own reusable bags, so we went through the self checkout, as usual. Atley got a piece of candy because he had written his name all by himself the night before, and he had to get his K shots yesterday. We get out to the car, and someone was parked close next to us, so I was watching the girls get in so they didn't ding the doors. I saw Melodie toss something on the seat. I knew she hadn't taken anything in the store with her. I went to see what it was, and saw a jumbo pack of Juicy-Fruit on the seat!

I was furious! I still am. And disappointed. I marched her right back in to the store and made her give it back and apologize to the manager, who talked to her. (although, not nearly as sternly as I had hoped.) I'm going to have my uncle (a detective with the Highway Patrol) have a talk with her, too. After the boys had their shots, we went to Twistee Freeze for ice cream, and she had to sit and watch. (Dan says I'm messed up.) She also will not be participating in cake and ice cream, goody bags, or party games at my cousin's son's b-day party this weekend. Dan says I was being too harsh to keep her home completely. (Which really surprises me, because he's usually slightly stricter than me. I figured he'd say I wasn't doing enough! go figure!)

Today, poor Charlie seems pretty miserable. They wanted to give him 5 shots. One of them, we're deferring, but I still didn't want him to have 4, so we split them up. Thank goodness! I can't imagine how miserable he'd be if he'd had 2 more! Atley is fine. Now that the shots are over. My goodness, I didn't know the little weasel was that strong! It took me and the 2 nurses to contain him enough to get the shots. He still squirmed a little much, and they had a hard time getting 2 of them to stop bleeding. He has made a full recovery and shows no ill effects, though! :0)

I know, I still need to get those fabric pics up. I am battling this sweater. I've got about 1-2 more rows of ribbing, BO, and seam! Then, I can put pics of everything up!

Headache

So, today I have a headache. My mom gets migraines, really bad. I'm lucky and only get them very occasionally. I think from Charlie's stint of not sleeping, and my staying up too late this weekend, plus the muggy change in the atmosphere, I got one today. :0( I really am lucky, though. I only get one maybe 3 times a year. My mom gets that many a week. I don't know how she functions.

Well, against my better judgment, I let the kids play in the back. I figured taking the chance of a repeat of the other day was worth it to my poor, throbbing head to have some slight quiet (if you can count Charlie growling quiet...silly baby.) Oh, he's making "car noises" for a wagon. Anyway, I took a nap earlier (with the kids safely inside) and feel slightly better now. I can work, which is always good. I need to go down to the dollar store and get some Gatorade. It probably wouldn't have gotten as bad as it did if I could have gone down earlier, but when it started coming on, Charlie was napping. I ended up taking a bit of a nap with him until Atley came in and woke him up, but it was enough to at least take the edge off...yay!

My fabric trip was a nice surprise! I got some GREAT finds! I'll try to get some pics up later. I started cutting out some stuff last night from my stash. If I've said my yarn stash is bad....it's NOTHING compared to the fabric stash. Hopefully, Melodie will have a new dress tonight! Then, I just need to find my pajama patterns. I had gotten them out to lend to a friend a few months ago, and now I have no clue where I put them. *sigh* Well, if nothing else, Joann's is having a $1.99 pattern sale this week, I think.

I should be finally finishing Charlie's sweater for my OWL tonight. I finished the front last night. I just need to do the edging and seams! I have to look over button holes, because I've only done them once, and I want it to button, not snap.

First Steps!

Charlie took his first steps last night! There were only about 2-3 of them, and he only went about 4 inches, but he took steps without holding on to anything! Hopefully he'll be full-fledged walking very soon! :0)

I'm working on a new sweater for him right now. It's for my Transfiguration OWL for the Cup. I've had the yarn for it since last fall. My OWL requires me to use at least 750 yds of my stash. I don't mind seaming. I don't know if it's because I like to sew or what, but it just doesn't bother me. I'd much rather seam in sleeves than do them in 1 piece. Dear lord, I never thought I was going to finish the sleeves on that thing! Thankfully last night, I had to break for the front, and I'm now happily doing short rows of st st. (which I also don't mind, but for pete's sake, 132 sts in each row was a bit much!

Oh, we're going to Amish Country in 2 days to check out that fabric store! I can't wait! (and, I think we're even going to get some lunch at Der Dutchman...yummy!)

Summer vacation is in full swing....70 days left! Yesterday, I let the kids play in the backyard by themselves. Normally, they're not allowed back there if no one is out with them. Well, I figured almost 9, 6, and 5 year olds should be able to play by themselves in the backyard......um, no. They were "washing" their bikes with dirty leaves, so I gave them rags to use. Then, Atley came in and asked for a bucket of water. "Sure, just make sure you turn the hose off." About an hour later, I went to check on them because they were quiet......and the entire backyard was a mud pit, children looked like drowned rats, and my nice, clean, previously dry laundry that was hanging on the line was dripping. Needless to say, it will be some time before the kids are allowed to play in the backyard unattended again.

Progress

Well, I've been knitting and crocheting up a storm lately! For the Cup last month, I finished the Wizard of Oz finger puppets; the lion binky holder and Charlie's Gryffindor House Hat for Quidditch; Melodie's Pokeball water bottle cozy, a crocheted hip sling, and a baby mandrake!

I did a Calorimetry for Ari's teacher last night. Very, VERY quick knit! She is just a sub, so she won't be there next year (one of the K teachers was on maternity leave, has quit, but our district isn't hiring right now, so she can't stay.) I wanted to thank her for all she's done to help Ari come out of her shell and learn this past year.
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Charlie had his 1 year check up. He only weighs 20 pounds! We're pretty sure he may have lost a little weight, since he's been so mobile lately, though. He is crawling all over everywhere and everything! His favorite things to climb are over the big kids when they're laying on the floor and to sit on top of Atley's train box! (a plastic sweater storage box.) Right now, he's standing at my desk, clicking the mouse, so if this post looks wacky, it's Charlie's fault! He can say "dog" and he says dada and mama. He waves hello and good bye. I sewed him a sock monkey, which I'm trying to make his "lovie." Mr. Charlie has decided it's not fun to sleep anymore, and he'd rather be awake all night and cry in his crib. So, he's been spending a few nights sleeping in the living room in his play pen. Atley could sleep through a tornado!

Funny story about that, though. This morning, I groggily drug myself out of bed to go check on Charlie (sleeping peacefully in the play pen) and went to go get ready for the day. I walked past Atley's room, and his bed was empty! I went to check the girls' room, and he wasn't there. I asked Dan if he was laying on his side of the bed, nope. I went back and checked his bed, and it was empty. I checked the couch, no Atley. My heart dropped. I ran screaming into our room that Atley was gone! We started running frantically. I went back into the living room to check the front door, and I noticed a big pile of blanket on the floor. Here, Atley had heard me put Charlie in the living room. (last night, he turned the hall light on because he was scared, he said, and that's what woke Charlie up, the one night he actually was sleeping pretty good.) He said he didn't want Charlie to be alone, so he went in to sleep with him. I had forgotten I changed his sheets the other day, and his blue blanket (which I was looking for) was in the wash. I'm used to seeing blankets piled on the floor in the living room, so when I didn't see the blue one, in my half-asleep state, I think I just subconsciously overlooked his other blanket. But, Atley is safe and sound.

Well, that's about all that's going on here! Tomorrow is the last day of school, and although I will have to put up with the insanity of having all 4 kids at home full time for 3 months, I will hopefully get to sleep in some!

(oh, and for anyone who misses it, I've got 2 "injuries of the day" from last week I never posted about.) Last Friday, the kids were playing outside after school. I've told them millions of times not to spin on the swings. (Ari's gotten kicked in the face before.) Well, of course they didn't listen, and Melodie comes in screaming about her finger. She got it pinched in the chains. Any harder, and she probably would have lost a chunk of finger. It was darn near devitalized. Then Saturday, we went to the park, and she ran up ahead of us up the steps that go into the woods, and came running back down crying. Here, she fell through a weak part of the step and scratched her leg all up. My wonderfully clutzy Melodie. We don't leave home without at least 1 first aid kit!

Cold

So, it's cold today, at least compared to what it was! It's only 54 right now. My, I get used to nice weather fast!

Our garage sale went well. I was very pleased. I think having it advertised and with the whole neighborhood really helped, even though we were competing with other, bigger garage sales (a small town over from us had their annual one this weekend, too.) Of course, I got sunburned.

Charlie can stand on his own! He was hanging onto the couch, and let go and stood there for quite awhile. We are inching ever so much closer to walking!

I got a good bit done on Melodie's Pokeball water bottle cozy for my Muggle Studies class in the Cup yesterday. Sitting and watching your stuff is good yarnin' time! I've just got a couple more rows to do and then the bottom and some duplicate stitch for the "latch" on the ball. It'll be done in time for school tomorrow.

I whipped up a quick design for the Quidditch team, too! I did a little crocheted lion binky/toy holder. I think he's pretty darn cute!

Sunny Day!

Yay! It's FINALLY going to be nice out! Today, tomorrow and Saturday especially are supposed to be awesomely beautiful!

I can't believe I forgot to blog about it yesterday....we got Bocco Fasty II on Tuesday. This time, we went for a Danio, promised by Auntie to be a hearty fish. So far, so good. On the bright side, Pet Smart has a 14 day return policy, as opposed to Walmart's 3 day. Hopefully, we will have better luck, or at least be able to replace said fish more easily.

I'm baking Charlie's cake tonight! I know, the build up is horrible. I can't wait, myself. I promise, I will add pictures of everything after "the big day." :0)

The VW toy is turning out okay. I'm not as happy with it as I could be, but it's not done yet, so I'm hoping the shaping will get a bit better when I put everything together. We shall see!

I sold my first pattern! Someone bought "Bite Me" yesterday! I was so excited!

I'm a Reporter!!

I got picked to be a reporter for the House Cup for spring term! I'm so excited! (and yes, I know I'm a dork!) The Headmistress herself even sent me a PM!

Well, it sure has been quiet today with the girls in school! I wish it hadn't rained all day. Atley wanted to go outside and play so bad. (Plus, I have some laundry that needs hung up!) Which, BTW, we saved $10 on our electric bill this month! Yay for energy saving clotheslines!

I finished Charlie's dino last night. I'll post some pictures of all the birthday stuff after Friday. (hey, I have to keep you guys reading somehow, right?! lol) ;0) I also started the VW toy I had been planning on last night. I'm still not sure how it's going to turn out. It's working up pretty quick. We'll see. More on that later, too. I might frog and rework some things, but I really want to get it done, so I might just do it and then rework the pattern later. decisions, decisions

Good Day

Well, I've had a pretty good last couple days! Yesterday, I went to my BFF's baby shower. It was fun. I got to give her my yarned goodies. I still owe her a dalmatian hat, but I figure I can give that to her in the hospital when baby is finally here! Oh, and it was so funny, my other BFF (the 3 of us are pretty much 3 peas in a pod) was babysitting her little niece who is 1 month older than Charlie. We sat them at the head of the table in their highchairs next to each other so they could play. It was too cute! They held hands. They shared pancakes, eggs, and Cheerios. She kept putting her finger in his mouth, and he'd suck on it. Then, he'd check out her buttons. They even shared toys! No fighting or biting at all. Very impressive for one year olds! We've decided they make a cute couple and are destined to be together. (We had decided that when Charlie was born, though!)

The girls got to help with the presents. They took turns holding the trash bag for the wrapping paper and were so excited. Ari won a door prize! She got a movie night gift basket, which is her favorite thing in the world.

My mom took the kids for an overnighter afterwards. I must say, I did enjoy it, although strangely, spring break went much happier and smoother than I thought it would, crappy weather and all! It was a pleasant surprise. Maybe summer won't be so dreadful this year...we'll see!

Dan's friend came over last night to celebrate his birthday. I made his good cake, and they both loved it! His friend kept saying how he hates chocolate cake and icing, but that was the best he ever ate, and he just loved it! Yay for me and my cake!

My mom still has the kids. I got the lawn mowed this morning. I'm doing good on getting work done. Charlie just laid down for a nap. It's been a good day!

I'm almost done with Charlie's dino. I hope to have it done tonight. I just need to do the feet and embroider the eyes. I finished the head last night. I can't wait for his birthday! I can't believe my sweet baby is going to be 1 already. He is still SO close to crawling. He gets on all fours, and then sits back down. He's doing good pulling himself up now. Hopefully in the next month or so, we'll finally get him walking, or at least scooting/crawling in the right direction! (He can scoot himself backwards on his belly with his arms. He can scoot on his butt wherever he wants to go, though.) Charlie will be getting a sock monkey cake for his birthday. I'm going to do a banana pudding filling in it! I can't wait. I'm so excited to get started on it!

I've also been inspired by Inspired Mama Musings (her button is on my blog! Check her out, she does some AWESOME work!) to break out the good ole' sewing machine again. I've been wanting to, but I just haven't had the drive to sew. I admit it, I'm lazy. I like to sit on the couch and knit. I have to sit in an uncomfortable wood chair to sew. But, I think I'm finally going to make the girls' dresses I got the fabric for last year. I really want to take the kids to get their pictures taken at the park. I'm hoping my mom's boyfriend will take some so Dan and I can get in them, too. We haven't done a family picture since Melodie was a baby, so we're long overdue! I was going to make the boys matching overall outfits, too, but my mom picked up a little short outfit for Atley on her last vacation, and it happens to match almost exactly a little outfit that used to be his that Charlie can wear now, so I think I'll leave them at that. I do need to make him his Spiderman jammies I've had the fabric for for over a year though. He doesn't really have any summer jammies for this year that will fit!

I won!!

I won! Charlie's Hat won in the House Cup!! Yay! I won some roving. I'm so excited!!!

Speaking of roving, here is the ebay store that has the .99 cent roving! It's called My Special Tea. They have really good shipping time, and .99 cents, can't beat that! Some of it is more, but she has sales and stuff. I've bought at least 4 ounces or so from her. Now, to find the time to spin the rest of it!

Yesterday, the florist put up a big sign about opening their craft store! I need to get moving on getting some stuff made up!

Last night, I would have had the back of Charlie's vest done, but the kids did something with my pattern! I couldn't find it anywhere, and of course I had already shut down the computer for the night, and it wasn't worth the hassel of waiting for it to boot back up. So, hopefully tonight I'll get the back done and a good start on the front. It's working up superfast, but a babyvest in worsted weight isn't all that complicated of a project!! lol

Picture Day

Again....yes, again. I swear, they have WAY too many picture days at school! Don't get me wrong, I love pictures of my kids, but school pictures are always crap. Plus $40 x 2 kids is really expensive! I don't know what I'll do next year. Of course, I don't have to buy them, but then the kids are so disappointed. I'm not getting the whole package though. I'll just probably get a sheet of each. I am very happy to say that Melodie washed her hair....with shampoo....this morning!

Well, we're back to being sick again! Atley had a very slight fever last night and is coughing again. Poor little Charlie has the runniest nose and also had a fever again yesterday. I'm watching ears VERY carefully.

Here is the link for the clothespin bag I was talking about! I haven't gotten mine done yet. It probably won't be until after Charlie's b-day. I am going to get to hang out some more laundry today though! I'm so excited. It's supposed to be almost 60 and sunny today. Of course, it's supposed to drop 10 degrees and rain tomorrow. Oh well, I'll take what I can get!

I started on Charlie's vest for his birthday last night! So far, so good. I'm lovin' the yarn I picked. It's Knit Picks Comfy worsted. It is VERY soft. I was a little worried because of the stiffness of other WW cottons I've used. This just feels so good in my hands. I think the colors go together pretty good, too. I'm hoping to have the back done tonight!

Dare I Say It??

Good things might finally start happening to me!?!?

Yesterday after our weekly grocery trip, I decided to finally stop at the florist's on the way home and talk to them about their "Crafters Wanted." I think I'm gonna do it! I need to get some inventory made up. My mom said she would spot me at least the first few months of space rent to get me started and see how it worked out. I'm so excited! Dan's kinda wishy-washy about it. The way I look at it, is this could be my only chance, and it's been practically thrown in my lap. I've really got nothing to lose, because if the shop space doesn't do good (they're a small florist, but they're hoping to expand in a couple months and be more flowers and a craft boutique kind of thing) I can always do craft shows or put more effort into my Etsy shop or on ebay.

Thanks for all the kinds words about my car! I'm still in mourning. It took every ounce of self restraint I had yesterday when I told my SIL they were invited down for Easter/Dan's birthday Sunday, and she asked if she should call their other brother, and I said yes not "No, car-killers aren't allowed!" One of Dan's friends came over last night. He and his fiancee restored her 65 Mustang last year. He was horrified to hear about my poor car.

Oh, we finally have 4 fish! *knock on wood* Atley picked out a new fish yesterday. This time, it is just a run of the mill goldfish. He named it Fasty Bocco. He's whitish with an orange dot on his head. He's so happy. He watched it for a couple hours last night.

Awesomeness

Charlie's viking hat is up for the March prize for Herbology in the House Cup!! I'm so excited. I showed him his picture today, and he was too. He's getting so big. He can sit up by himself now! Like, from laying on the floor to pulling himself up to sit. This morning, he even finally scooted forward in his walker! (Food is a driving force for that child.) He rammed into my work chair because he was hungry! lol

Oh, I can't believe I forgot to blog about this yesterday. So, while I was at the carnival with my mom and the kids, Dan stopped by to wish his sister a happy b-day. While he was there, his dad says, oh yeah, by the way, about a week and a half ago, your brother was burning a stump out of his yard, and it caught Michelle's Mustang on fire. WTF!!?!?! They BURNED my CAR and NOONE COULD TELL US!!?!??! Ok, so it wasn't the nicest car in the world. In fact, it was a pretty crappy $300 special, but it was mine, and Dan's VW is finally painfully close to being done, and there was an actual snowball's chance in hell that my car might get started on before I die. We got it almost 5 years ago and have made about twice our money back from it selling parts we weren't going to use off it. And now, it's burned. Apparently the tarp caught on fire and the roof is toast. We had initially planned on putting a different roof on it anyway because I like fastbacks and it's a coupe, but we have since changed our minds because I'd just like to have it. Well, so much for that plan! Dan did just find a picture of a Mustang wagon a month or so ago, and we were talking about that so I could have my car to drive everyday and still be able to tote all the children. My poor car.