Comedy Relief

Yup, he's at it again...

Dancing with the Stars Emery

Emery never fails to entertain.  I nominate him for Dancing with the Starts.  Either that, or American Bandstand.




He fell off the table btw, he wasn't jumping from it.  LOVE the shoulder shrug after he fell.  He's so expressive.

Baptism Day

Saturday was such a special day for us.  Abbie was baptized!

Call me crazy, but the day before we decided to move the office downstairs and the playroom upstairs so I didn't get to bed until about midnight.  Then Emery woke us up with a present at around 1:00a.  His R.A.D. is flared up right now so he was coughing so hard that he caused himself to vomit...all over my bed and pillow!  So I had to give him a bath while Glenn changed the bed.  Didn't get to bed again until sometime after 2:00a.  Then had to turn around and wake up at 4:30a because Glenn has to leave by 5:15a to go to the temple and I needed his help moving a couch to the front yard before he left for a yard sale I was doing that day.  YES, the day of the baptism we decided to have a yard sale.  More craziness.  I just decided not to go to bed after he left because I had too much to do.  Luckily Darius woke up at about 6:30a and helped me bring about 15 bags of clothes upstairs and outside and a queen mattress upstairs and outside.  Abbie helped too by watching the kids.  Ended yard sale at just before 2:00p, started putting stuff away and didn't get a shower in until close to 4:00p.  We're supposed to be at the church by 4:45p.  But we made it!  Plus I had to quickly clean the house before leaving because we were having the dinner/social afterward here.  Needless to say, I was beat by the end of the night and my feet and legs are STILL sore!

Anyhow, the baptism was lovely.  Darius gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and we sang the Rainbow song (sorry, I don't remember the title).  Here are some pictures of Abbie, her baptism cake, and some others.

This is Abbie just before we left for her baptism.

Abbie right before getting baptized.  Abbie chose to use a dress instead of a jumpsuit, of course ;)

Abbie and daddy before the baptism.

(we were all waiting on Glenn, he's worse then a woman when it comes to changing!)

Abbie's beautiful baptism cake!

Six layers of chocolate with chocolate mouse filling and whipped frosting...YUM!

School Schedule Helps

Okay, so last year I put my kids into public school.  Before that, I homeschooled them for two years.  But I had a baby and another on the way, I was unsure if I could handle all of that happening at once.  And this year, I can't homeschool because the program I want to use (that I used before) I can't afford.

Anyways..... last year we struggled with our home schedules.  It threw me off because it wasn't the same as it was when I was homeschooling.  And because of that, miscommunications would happen which would become flared tempers.  I wanted to avoid that this year so I came up with a solution.  I made a daily calendar for each of my two older kids so they would know EXACTLY what to expect from the minute they wake up to the minute they go to bed.  Plus, I just need to know that things will run smoother.  Makes me feel better =]

I scanned in a sample of my daughter's schedule.  I didn't think about scanning it in until "after" she had already stappled it to her door.  If you click on the image it will enlarge and you can see better detail if you so desire.

Cute, Easy, Cheap = Awesome crafty gift!

Okay, so my friend turned 30 recently and it was supposed to be a big suprise party.  Well, since money has been tight lately, not knowing what to get him/bring to the party for him (what do you get a 30-year-old, anyway?) I remembered a cute little crafty/edible gift I saw on one of the many crafter's blogs I follow.  Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures as I went along in the making, but I will explain it.

You will need:

Shoebox
Curling ribbon
Wrapping paper
# of suckers per age
(would be handy to have a cricut or other letter cutting machine)
Foam blocks
Tissue paper
Hot glue and tape

Wrap the shoebox in the wrapping paper.  Cut the foam blocks (I used the green floral foamy stuff) to fit snuggly inside the box.  Glue foam pieces together and wrap the top of the foam with the wrapping paper also using the hot glue.  Using the curling ribbon, tie a small tie on the stick of each sucker and curl each one.  Then place them randomly in the box, poking the foam.  If you have a cricut, cut out the words as you'd like and tape them on.  Adorne with tissue paper to suit.  Voila!  Done.  Easy peasy, rice and cheesy.

Feet!

What do you do when you have eight newly clean little feet, a camera, and Adobe Photoshop Elements?

Take a picture, of course!

Here's what I took this morning before church since all of the kids just took showers/baths.  Why not take advantage of that?  Then late tonight I decided to play around with it a bit, only took me ten minutes...woohoo!  I'm getting the hang of this!

Not a professional job, I know, but I love how it turned out =]

Hair Accessory Holder Thingy

Okay, so today I had two dilemas.  One, something crafty to do.  I was just itching for it.  Two, to organize ALLLLL the hair ties that my two daughters collectively have.  Then BINGO!  I remembered a blog some time ago that my husbands super uber crafty cousin made and thought hard...do I have all I need for it?  YES!

I started searching her archives for a tutorial on how to do it (unsure if she even made a tutorial or just simply blogged about it).  I was unable to find it so I had to kind of come up with it on my own, with a little tweak.  I remember that all of the holders I've seen only cater to the hair ties that clip on.  None of them had anything for pony tail holders, headbands, etc.  So I came up with a solution and took pictures step by step along the way in case any of ya'll were interested in doing it for yourself.  It would also make a super cute baby girl shower gift or birthday girl gift too!

The dimensions of mine is quite large 24" X 30" because I have two daugthers with different hair needs.  I also thought it would look super cute if it had a distressed frame around it, but I don't have an extra at the moment.  I may add it later.  So anyways, here's the tips!

- 24" X 30" pegboard
- 1 package of 7/8" cup hooks (my package had 100, I think I ended up using about 34 or so)
- Scissors
- Sewing machine
- Hotglue gun and sticks
- Ribbons of all sizes and colors long enough to run over the height of your board you choose
- 1 yd. felt
- 1 yd. fabric for background

Cut felt and fabric around the perimeter of the board leaving an excess of about 1 1/2" all around.

If you're using masonite pegboard like I did, you'll need to sand what will be the backside of your board around the perimeter so the hotglue will adhere to it nicely and not "pop" off sometime in the future.  Make sure to clean it well after sanding.

What I chose to do was sew a diamond pattern with my fleece and fabric.  This step can be entirely eliminated if you choose.  I just chose it because I felt like it.

Next I sewed all my ribbons on with an approximate equal spacing between them all.  I sewed both ends and trimed the rest off.

Then I had my older daughter help me hotglue it onto the backside.  Super easy and quick part.  I would approximate about 3 small sticks worth.  I used 1 1/2 long sticks of glue.

This was my alteration and solution I made for the other miscelaneous hair accessories that everyone else seemd to leave out.  I added the hooks to hang all kinds of things on.  Of course, for the masonite, I had to pre-drill the holes then find them again after hotgluing the fabric on.  LOADS of fun.  But it worked out in the end.  Maybe somebody out there would have a better solution to the hole issue.

Finished project!  Now I don't have to search and search for "just the right thing" anymore =]

Nappys! (a.k.a. Cloth Diapers) . . . Tutorial

Okay, so a few months ago I was having a pleasant conversation with a friend of mine while visiting in Oregon and she mentioned looking for cloth diapers to use for her first child.  I must admit, I was very wary about the term "cloth diapers".  But recently, out of necessity, I found my mind wandering back to that conversation.  I then soon found myself vigorously trying to find some on FreeCycle.org.  But no luck; nobody wanted to give away their $17+ each diapers (yes, they really do retail for that much per diaper).  However, considering what you would pay total per child for disposables, the upfront cost in the long run really is a good steal.  BUT, after getting no response on FreeCycle, I decided I would make my own.

It will probably run you about $200 to make 24 nappys and 24 soaker pads.  HOWEVER, if you are coupon savvy and wait for sales you can do it for half that cost.  If I had started with my first child I would have saved around $5,000.  Plus, it's easier than it used to be.  They sell adjustable high pressured sprayers that connect right to your toilet plumbing and hang on your wall so no icky messes!  Get a good, wide standard diaper pail with a lid, fill it with a water/vineagar solution and you're good to go!  Oh...no drying these diapers in the dryer though because of the all-in-one feature.

A kind sister started me out with some folded diapers by Gerber, 2 packs, 48 diapers total.  I took half of those diapers to make 24 diapers and have 24 inserts (for when baby gets older and need extra soakers).  This tutorial includes the Nappys that are all-in-one (meaning, the vinyl is included inside the diapers rather than using rubber pants) and not the inserts which are pretty simple and self explainatory.  Nappy should fit up to about 25 pounds or so depending on the individual body shape of the child.  Naomi is petite so I have no worries about her.  Mind you, this tutorial is no where near professional as I was figuring this out as I went along.  Plus I don't have a fancy shmancy camera, but I like what I got!  So anyways...to those that are interested in doing the same thing OR just interested in how I did it...here you go!

Items Needed:

2 Gerber 24 Pk. Cloth Fold Diapers
12 Linear yards Iron-on thin Vinyl (found at JoAnn's)
24 Fabric Quarters (or 6 yards of fabric if you want all one style)
LOTS of thread!
13.5 Yards of thin elastic (approx. 1/8" wide but not wider than 1/4")
3.5 Yards wide Velcro

Take this pattern here and cut liberally around it on the vinyl.

Next you need to follow the directions of the vinyl for attaching it to the backside of the outer shell of your diaper fabric.

Once ironing is done use the pattern to cut out the fabric pieces.

Take your store bought folding diapers and use the pattern to alter them.  *side note* I had to use excess from the soakers I made from the other 24 fold diapers to attach to make the tabs wide enough for the pattern.

Take the two pieces (outer shell and fold diapers) and attach them sandwiching the vinyl side between the outer shell and diaper.

Cut the velcro into 5" sections and alter anyway you like (I rounded mine) and attach.

Serge around edges of nappy.  (if you know how to do something fancier, go right on ahead!)

Okay, these next two steps I did my way because I'm totally NOT a savvy sewer and this is what worked for me.  Using the dots indication on the pattern for reference, sew some channels for your elastic to go in.

Cut small holes where dots indicate being careful NOT to cut into the outer shell.  Use a safety pin on one end of your elastic, push it in on one end, sew the end down then push the pin the rest of the way gathering the edges and pull it taught.  Sew the other end and snip excess elastic.  Make sure to stitch the cut holes closed.

You're DONE!!

All 23 done.  (yes, 23 and not 24, I totally destroyed the first one I did).

And the model shows off her stylin' nappy  =] 

A Date with the Pediatric Neurologist

So today was Naomi's appointment with the neurologist. Since early on, we have noticed that she was exhibiting some weakness in her muscle tone. Not holding her head up, not rolling over, not anchoring down her arms when picked up, not standing when holding her up on your lap, etc. The pediatrician had requested lab work on her and also set up an appointment with the pediatric neurologist.

As you can imagine, we had been anxiously awaiting her appointment today for the last couple of months since it was first set up. I am happy to say that I'm glad the waiting game is over and we can now go on with our lives the best we can.

Today, Naomi was finally properly diagnosed as having Benign Congenital Hypotonia. Essentially, muscle weakness. You can find out more about it here . We have a follow-up appointment for October to monitor her to make sure it doesn't worsen. By all counts, she seems to be just fine. Her lab work came back clean too. But if it does worsen, they said they want to watch it to make sure it isn't a sign of Muscular Dystrophy or Cerebral Palsy. However, we are hopeful (and feel pretty sure) that her Hypotonia is isolated.

So...yay for prayers and well wishes =] Thank you everyone for all you have done in your own way to help us out. We REALLY appreciate it.

Splash Pad!

Today we went to a splash pad not too far from where we live.  I want to try out the other one on the other side of the town later this week.  They are pretty cool.  I like how I don't have to worry about anyone drowning and it's easy to keep an eye on them.  Plus there's playgrounds right near them too so it makes for fun picnicing as well.  Here's some pictures and a couple of real short funny videos of the evening we had.

Be Still

You'll have to pause the music player I have on this blog page to hear the song on this video.  I hope you all like it and it can bring you peace, should you need it.  It's something I felt inspired to put together last night.