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.

My Organized Chaos: Dyson DC25 Vacuum ~ With Giveaway

I have been dying to have one of these vacuums ever since they came out! And now, the chance to win one!?!? I can't even imagine. These are so expensive, I've never even thought about actually being able to have one of my own. My old vacuum is less than perfect, and it's big and bulky. This one is small and light and works so well! I hope I win!

My Organized Chaos: Dyson DC25 Vacuum ~ With Giveaway

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.)

My Organized Chaos: Sophie's Chic Boutique ~ With Giveaway

Check this out! Win a pair of squeaky baby shoes!! How cute are these?!? Charlie needs some new shoes in a bad way, so these would be great for him. He's never had his own brand new shoes yet, just Atley's hand me downs.

Plus, today is my birthday, and it ends on Ari's birthday, so I've got birthday luck on my side, right!?!?

My Organized Chaos: Sophie's Chic Boutique ~ With Giveaway

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!