Homemade Christmas continued.

Here is the newest outfit, complete with a flower headband and a matching bracelet. I am having so much fun making these doll clothes. I can't wait to see my girls reactions.

I made this newborn hat for a cousin. There was no way it would fit Brynn's head, so Lauren's doll had to model again. The flower is a barrette, so it can be removed and used even after the hat is to small. I also made a poinsettia flower barrette, but it was hard to get a good picture. I wish the detail of the hat were more clear. It is a pattern that I just came up with, but I was pleased with the outcome. Now I need to make 1 more before February!
Brynn is modeling a scarf that I made for a gift.

This is the second watch that I made for the coat trade. I liked how it turned out, but the picture did not do it justice. When Cody took it to work today to give it to his co-worker, another co-worker saw it and ordered a yellow one. It feels so good to create something that you feel turned out well, but to have others appreciate it is so humbeling,yet satisfying.

As I proof read this post, I am realizing that I really need to learn how to take better pictures. I am sure that there are so many functions on my camera that would improve the quality of photos.

I better get to bed, I have a lot more gifts to make tomorrow.

Homemade Christmas!

Boy does life get busy at this time of year. There have been 4 birthdays in our family sense my last post, plus Halloween, and Thanksgiving. I have a lot of updating to do, but it is late, so much of it will have to wait. I wanted to show some of what has been keeping me busy though. We have been making most of our Christmas gifts for this year. I can't post pictures of a lot of it yet, but the kids are asleep, so I can show a bit of what I am working on for the girls. I have only spent $7.oo on fabric and Velcro. The rest of the supplies for the doll clothes were just scraps, or old clothes that had a hole or a stain or I just did not wear. I am hoping to get several more outfits completed soon. We have also been selling some jewelry. The pink watch is actually one of two watches that we are trading to get a brand new coat for Cody, but we have sold a couple of other ones. I have been busy, but it is fun to create new things.

We are all doing good. Everyone is healthy, and looking forward to the holiday break. All in all life is great.

a Happy Halloween party

The J side Halloween party was this weekend. We has so much fun. I was a fried egg.

Shane and Marianne are not able to come to Dallin and Brynn's Party, so they came with gifts. Marianne put in a lot of time in to make Byrnn an outfit, complete with a hat. We love it. I hope to get some pictures of her in it this week, but Lauren took this picture and you can see the cute hat and shirt, so I thought that I would post it now. She loves the hat. She wore it all day today.

Beautiful in white.

Dr. Quinn Medicine woman

Teela From the He-Man series.

If you have have seen The Lord of the Rings, then you should recognize this boy.

We all had a great time. Thank you to all that put in so much work into the food, games, decorations, and every other detail that is needed to have a wonderful party.

Last night Brynn was sitting on my left side, and Cody was on my right. I had my knees up and Cody reached his hand under my knees and tickled Brynn. She leaned over and said "Stop it Daddy." Cody said "How do you know that it was not Mom?" Brynn replied "NEVER!" she then leaned into me for a hug and said "Loves me." Not only is that darling, it proves that I am training her well, and that is a full conversation. She is not yet two. I can't believe how well that she talks, but you will have to take my word for it because she is to shy to talk around others.
The other day I looked at her and told her that she was cute. She said "Me?" when I answered yes you, she said "Oh, thanks". She is so fun. I just love this age.

More crafts!!!

I have been feeling pretty crafty lately. This is the Barrett holder that I made to match the curtains and bed skirts in Kenley, Brynn, and Baby's room. Girly, girly, girly!

I love fall, the colors, tastes, and textures are just wonderful. Katie and I made these cute pumpkins last Monday. For those of you going to the Jorgensen Halloween carnival, you just got a sneak peek at the prize for our game. I made two sets.
This next project I did on my own. My aunt gave me the vinyl letters a couple years ago. I just did not have inspiration until today. The original vinyl had a pumpkin silhouette in the center, but I wanted something more three dimensional. Then the A-Ha moment, cut one of the cheep little orange pumpkins, the ones that you get to fill with treats at Halloween, in half. Paint it to soften the bright orange, give it a stem, and a raffia bow, Glue it down, and Voila 3-D cuteness.

I don't have a great deal of space in my living room, and my cute apothecary jars are on the T.V. stand, so I thought that these new projects could spruce up the speaker one the side. It turned out well I think.

Have a happy Autumn everyone.

What are we spending time doing...look and see!

We have been making funny faces,
and more funny faces.

Katie called me and told me she had seen a project on a blog that she likes (called shanty 2 chic, they have cute ideas, but I don't know how to put on a link, so you will have to google them. ) She said that she went and bought all the stuff and would be over the next day.

This was the result of our Saturday afternoon. I think that they are darling.

I love how the apothecary jars turned out! I am excited to fill them for different holidays!

More funny faces were made. I call this one the abstract monkey face.

Crazy button bracelets were completed.

These bracelets were fun to make, and Kenley loves them.

We also made some fish hook necklaces. I helped a little, but the real credit for these goes to Cody. He not only did the bead work, but designed and carved the hooks. Talented and good looking, I am a lucky girl.

Even more funny faces!

And more necklaces.

Still more funny faces,

and necklaces,

I have also been making hats for our new little girl, curtains and bed skirts for the kids rooms and baby blankets to donate. We are busy trying not to wast our talents, now if only we could use them to make a living.

A Funny Little Story

Yesterday, We were getting ready to bath Brynn. I helped her take off her clothes in the living room, then she ran to the bathroom. As she was leaving, Dallin noticed her backside. He started to laugh and said,"She is so small. She does not even have a butt, just a crack for her thighs to fit in.".

First days of school.

Lauren started preschool this past Wednesday. There are six kids in her class. Me and the five other mothers rotate weeks teaching. It is great because the kids are getting the preschool experience, they are with kids that they will go to school with( so they will already have friends), and it is free.

Lauren loves it! She has instructed me to call her either "Preschool Girl", or " Preschool Lauren" from now on. I went with her on the first day so I could help out. I was thinking about going the next time, because the first few times can be crazy until the kids learn the rules, and the routine. On our way home that first day Lauren said "Mom, can you just drop me off tomorrow like the other kids moms? I think it would be much funner and then I will just tell you what I did when I get home.". She is by far our most independent kid. I am very pleased that she is so confident. I know that she will do great because she is a good listener, loves to learn, and she enjoys being around other people.
Kenley and Dallin went back to school on 8-24-09. They both have done great, and have made new friends. They both have great teachers as well.

Dallin has done so much better at adjusting to a full day away from home than I had feared. It is hard for him, he wishes that he could be picked up half way through the day, but he still goes and works hard. He is excited because he is reading so well. He told me the other night that he thinks he has a great brain. I think he is correct.

Kenley is doing great in 3rd grade. She misses her 2nd grade teacher though. She has made new friends and is doing great with her timed reading lists. We are very pleased with her, and all her hard work.

Honesty + imagination = Lauren

Yesterday Lauren pointed to my face, and said "I love you there!". I thought that she was pointing to my chin (I almost always have these red bumps there, but it is always worse with hormones, and being pregnant results in a lot of hormones.) so I said, "My chin?". She replied "No, your cheeks. You need to get rid of those bumps on your chin. You should ask the Dr." I asked her how she thought that the Dr. would get them off. She told me he would use water and a knife. He would gently scrape all the bumps off with the knife. I then asked her what he would need the water for then, and she said, " To wash all the blood off." If only that would work!!!

Create!

Kenley had her first solo baking experience yesterday. I was in the kitchen with her, but I was working on something else. She made fruit Z bars. They are these sweet treats made with zucchini and coconut. She did a great job. They were delicious.
I saw an idea for a bib made out of wash clothes that had sleeves. I loved it so I had to try one. It was a bit tricky to figure out how to make the neck opening big enough for her head to go through, but small enough that it would still cover tightly enough to protect clothing from food stains. I think I got it though, and I have the supplies to make 3 more, now I need to find the time to do it. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Brynn has used it a couple of times, and it worked great.

So far she likes it. She was getting sick of her other bibs, and could take them off herself, but she can not get this one off alone.

Heaven or cannibal???

This morning during breakfast Lauren said "Did you know that my mouth is Heaven, because these (her cereal) are all people." Dallin responded with "No that would just make you a cannibal." Who needs a comedy channel when these kids are around.

garden goodness

I think this is the cutest baby artichoke ever. I can't believe that this is growing in our backyard.
Dallin is standing next to our nearly 6 feet tall tomato plants.

Lauren is next to our zucchini plants. They are nearly as tall as she is.

Harvest time.

We have watched our corn pop up in rowes.

Homemade ruhbarb jam. We picked the rhubarb out of the backyard, found a recipe, and mixed it up. Yum Yum.

Oh Brynn, what are we going to do with you!

Many of you know that Brynn has a nose issue. She loves the feel of things tickling her inside her nose. Well, tonight she put a Perler bead up there. Luckily Cody was able to get it out by using a crochet hook and tweezers. I hope she grows out of this soon!!!
She is really good at holding still for extractions though. (this is the second time Cody has had to lay her down and use tweezers to remove something. The first time it was a paint chip the size of my finger nail.)

I'm back, well almost.

It seems like I can't remember what feeling good feels like. Being pregnant for the 5th time has really drained me, not to mention the nausea. Just as soon as I started feeling better, I woke up with a terrible bladder infection. Yea for me. I have never had an infection like this, I have a whole new level of compassion for other sufferers. Anyway, I figure I better post an update.

Have you ever seen a diaper wedgie?
I love this shot of Dallin fishing in Wyoming.
Here is a sweet shot of our little Lauren.

Skully, Dallin, Brynn & Rolene waiting for the famous Alpine Parade.

Kenley and Grandma.

The parade lasted less than 15 minutes, but the kids filled a grocery bag full of candy and toys. Kenley got hit in the head with a sucker that left a big goose egg. They all had fun though.

The girls finally convinced Brynn to dress up with them. She looked so cute.

The mosquitoes were terrible. Even though we doubled up on bug repellent, Kenley and Lauren were attacked like they were made of pure sugar.

Kenley's bites don't show in the picture to well, but she got the most bites, and some of them swelled to the size of a silver dollar.

Lauren's big catch. She was pretty proud because she was the only one to bring in a white fish.

Kenley loved to reel the fish in, but standing next to them for pictures was not as fun for her.

Brynn loved playing with the rocks on the shoreline. She loves to be outside.

Dallin reeled in the biggest catch of the day. I forgot to pack his belt, so grandpa let him borrow the stylish red suspenders. They just added to the whole fishing experience, and the pictures are redneck priceless!

When the fishing slowed down Dallin, Lauren, Brynn, and I built some rock people.

I think he turned out pretty cute!

Pretty cute little fishing family!

The last month has been really hard on me, but I am starting to feel a bit better each day, so I am hoping to get back into the blogging routine. Maybe I will even hand the camera off once in a while so I can be in a picture or two.

We are very excited to welcome a new baby into our family in February. It will be great to find out the sex of the baby. We will be happy either way.