Sew Busy

I have found a new love...no, don't worry, Robby is still here. I have found I LOVE to sew. I took sewing lessons as a teenager and then my Nana bought me a sewing machine, but I have never really enjoyed sewing until I found blogs that have tutorials that include pictures and detailed instructions, and I found out that I really am good at sewing, following directions and creating beautiful things. Trust me, that was a big breakthrough for me!

Sorry for the long post, but since I was "sew busy", I let time get away from me and didn't blog. You all still love me right? :) So this week you get two weeks for the price of one! Also, I'm trying to see if I like having all the pictures for that day grouped together or individually, so let me know which one you like!

Monday Feb. 15
For President’s Day I got to be sick! I didn’t have the flu or any type of bug, but my body decided that I had overloaded it, and shut off. I always have too much fun planning and preparing parties, and I guess my body doesn’t like that much strain! Too bad body…I will plan and party again! The kids let me sleep and Robby was great to herd them for me so I could get some rest. Gran-Nana brought over flowers for Emily. She is so spoiled by Gran-Nana! I woke up early afternoon and put together this wall hanging to hang in our master bedroom. Now there’s something on the wall!

Tuesday Feb. 16
Emily loves building things, especially if it is for Rachel, her baby. So she created this little hammock draped on 2 sticks over the gate for the toy area, and both Emily and Nathan got in on the fun of rocking Rachel on her new bed. The dirty face is a permanent occurrence on Nathan. No matter how many times a day I wipe, it still stays dirty!

Wednesday Feb. 17
We don’t buy soda very often, but when we do, the kids go crazy! A&W is our favorite and both kids love to drink from the can, which I don’t usually let them do. But today I decided to spoil my kids! They LOVED drinking from the can and shared very nicely! Emily lately has an obsession with calling my mom. “I want to call Nana.” is what I hear a million times until I pick up the phone and tell her the numbers to dial. Emily hadn’t been on the phone very long before I hear, “Nana, can you come for dinner?” The response: “When do you want me to come over?” Insert attitude and an eye roll, “Um, tonight Nana!” So mom came over right after work. Nathan found a couple of $1 bills on the counter and was doing I’m not sure what with them. But he was cute while doing it!

Thursday Feb. 18
This morning we got to watch Allison! They are so cute together. Allison had a snack container in her bag with Honey Comb in it. We also have Honey Comb cereal. Well, Nathan would only eat Allison’s cereal and Allison would only eat Nathan’s cereal even though they were the same thing! Crazy kids!

Friday Feb. 19
I have been finding WAY TOO MANY sewing tutorials online as of late. These reversible bags are the first of many projects. I am scared to death to make clothing, but I have found that when it comes to crafts or other items, I really love to sew and if I do say so myself, I’m getting pretty good at it. I really do love sewing because it’s a great outlet, and I can start and finish a project which is something I’ve really needed lately!

Saturday Feb. 20
Today the kids played really well together! Emily had decided that for 95% of the pictures that she is in, she wants to stick her tongue out. Drives me nuts! Tonight when the kids went to bed I made a reversible bag for each of the kids for church with a CTR shield on the front. Then I made me a jean bag out of a pair of shorts that never fit Robby. I love the pink belt and handle with the ruffle! I love all the pockets too.

Sunday Feb. 21
I started a small sewing project before church, and would have been all the way completed if I could just find my pinking shears. But NOOOO, they were nowhere to be found. So, already knowing that I needed to clean my craft room after sewing for a week and having kids dump out most of my bins of organized sewing and craft items, I started cleaning it tonight. It went pretty quickly once I started and I was able to organize even better than I had it the first time. And of course the scissors were all the way in the back of the room in the last place I looked. But the room is now clean, and Robby even hung my new (as of November 2008) peg boards that my neighbor and I painted. I’ve waited so long for them to be hung, and I love the organization and “up of the floor” factor that they give me! Then once I had my pinking shears, I made a business card holder for Kara and me. I seem to like making things in muliples!

Monday Feb. 22
Today I made tissue box holders for my bedside table, my desk and for the van. Tonight we played bingo and ate chocolate pudding with peanut butter chips for Family Home Evening. Emily loves to play Disney Bingo, but I was afraid Nathan’s attention span would be too short or he wouldn’t listen to the rules and mess up the boards. Nathan was amazing!!!!! We played 2 games and he either sat or lay on his tummy the whole time. He was able to find most of the pictures and he put the markers on all by himself. Now that is his favorite game and he wants to play it all the time. My little man is growing up way too fast! I can’t think of him as a baby anymore!

Tuesday Feb. 23
Today we walked down to the retention basin in our neighborhood with some friends. What was the first thing Nathan found? A stick. I got a good workout pushing the double stroller with Emily and Nathan riding. The two of them combined along with the stroller is close to 90-100 pounds!

Wednesday Feb. 24
My poor little miss woke up with a fever this morning and stayed home from school. Nathan on the other hand was as wacky as ever! I finished our operation game for our business presentation tomorrow. Kara drew “Operation Rob” and together we figured out the pictures and then I assembled it all today. Tonight was amazing! My friend Laura and I purchased tickets back in August or September to Mary Poppins and we finally got to go! We treated Laura to dinner at Applebee’s and then Robby dropped us off at Gammage. The show was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! I am now wanting to purchase the CD to Mary Poppins, so I think that will be my next major purchase! I wished I had that play as a DVD because there was so much to see and hear that I’m sure I missed a ton, but what I saw was amazing! I cried through most of the second act, for what reason I’m not sure, but I really enjoyed this play. Thank you Laura for going with me!!!!!

Thursday Feb. 25
Emily stayed home from school again and even though her fever is gone, she is still coughing really hard. Today is one of those days that I just let Emily have the camera and let her take pictures to her heart’s content. I usually end up deleting 99% of the pictures, but this picture shows the randomness of her pictures…a picture of the TV with a Disney channel show. This morning Kara and I presented our “Operation Rob” game where we were doctors and everyone in the networking group was interns. The interns were given a definition of a term, diagnosis or symptom and they had to come and find the right body part with the computer term. Everyone had lots of fun and we always love playing games to help people remember what our computer service company offers!

Friday Feb. 26
Today I made 2 pairs of baby shoes. They are sooooooo cute! I can’t wait to make more. I know of 6 babies being born within the next 6 months, so I wanted to make something to be ready for all the showers. They are so tiny and it makes me want a little baby with tiny feet! Tonight we went to a friend’s house for dinner and games. We first played Backseat Drawing Game where the director had to describe to the artist how to draw what was on the card the director was holding. You can only describe in terms of shapes, lines and size and of course the girls won the game because we are better communicators! Robby got crazy and drew a smiley face on his glasses with the dry erase marker. Then we played Mousetrap and let the kids play with us. The girls loved watching the trap being put together and then the mice being trapped.

Saturday Feb. 27
Today I went to a friend’s house to borrow her infant car seat for measurements, and she ended up giving me a box full of fabric! JACKPOT!!!! I love fabric and I love it even more when I don’t have to spend grundles of money on cute fabric! More sewing projects here I come!

Sunday Feb. 28
Today it rained most of the day and so I sat at my sewing table and watched the rain from my window and made these cute car seat covers and little knit hats with bear ears. Now I have a complete gift package for baby showers. I will put in the car seat cover, 2 pairs of shoes and a knit hat. I want to do more because I’m having so much fun, but I need to remember to simplify and not go berserk. I really enjoy all this sewing and even better, the kids spend time with me in my craft room. As an added bonus, as long as I make sure the house is clean before I hide in my sewing room, it stays clean because the kids aren’t destroying the house, they’re destroying the craft room which is a much smaller space to keep clean!

Love and Laughter Week

Make sure you check the post after this one as I didn't get a chance to post last week due to my computer being on the recovery bench, so I did it today, but back dated it. We've definitely had a busy couple of weeks! My love to you all on this Lovely Love Day! We have our doors open and we're enjoying the beautiful weather! Warning: This post is very picture heavy!

Monday Feb. 8
I didn’t get my computer back until late morning, and when it was placed on my desk I cried for joy! Nathan wakes up so early in the morning, so I put him on the couch and stumble over to my computer to finish waking up while checking email and Facebook. This morning was odd because I didn’t get that wake up time, but somehow I survived! Emily wanted to ride her bike to school, and since I had nothing to do without my computer (housework doesn’t count), I said sure. Well, Nathan wanted to get in on the bike riding action too. We got out his tricycle, and he sat down and WALKED not pedaled all the way to school. He can reach the pedals, but his legs aren’t quite long enough to fully pedal. A 5-7 minute walk turned into 15 minutes there and 15 back. I learned patience this morning! Needless to say, I went by myself to pick up Emily when school was done! We made chocolate chip cookies this afternoon and I made a dozen cookies into heart shapes and put one on Robby’s desk for when he got home from his appointment! For Family Home Evening tonight Emily wanted to cut out hearts. So we folded paper long ways and I drew the heart halves and Emily cut them out. Then Emily glued the hearts onto paper and made valentine’s for her preschool teachers.

Tuesday Feb. 9
Today started out by making heart shaped French Toast. The kids loved the shapes and I loved that they wanted to eat with their fingers and I didn’t have to wash forks! (Yes, I’m lazy) I made rice heat bags for the ladies I visit teach and for my family members for when they come over on Sunday for dinner. Then for my valentine’s gift to myself, (Hey, let’s face it. I don’t really get gifts from anyone, so I have to make my own gifts!) I decided we would go to Fuddruckers for dinner tonight. They have a deal where you can feed a family a 4 for $20 with 2 1/3 pound burgers with fries and drinks, and 2 kids meal hamburgers with fries and drinks! It was so good! I put pico de gallo and onion on mine, and I got a burger and Mexican food all at once! I did very well on my gift to myself this year!!!!!!

Wednesday Feb. 10
Today for our “love”, we watched our business partner’s little cutie, so she could get some rest. He took a nap, played with toys, and smiled a whole bunch. Makes be crazy for another little one around my house!

Thursday Feb. 11
Today I purchased all the fun stuff, and food, for the Valentine’s Day dinner on Sunday. I purchased fabric to make a tablecloth and a table runner and glass center piece decorations to be filled with candy that matches the tablecloth! I started making a bingo came for after dinner too!

Friday Feb. 12
Nathan and I have been walking Emily to school all week while she rides her bike, and today I thought I might try my patience again with Nathan’s tricycle. We got half way to school at the maddening pace of .1 miles per hour, and he was done with his bike because he couldn’t go as fast as Emily. So he ended up walking the rest of the way to school. Nathan sees Emily’s preschool as play time with all the toys and he was mad at me for not letting him stay and play. So he threw a tantrum (like that was going to let him have his way) and refused to be consoled. I then proceeded to drag him home, all while carrying his bike. Half way home I started to carry him and his bike-bad idea! So I put him down and just started walking away. He got the idea that I was going home without him and decided to follow! Um yeah, my patience was tested this morning! But I think I passed the test because I didn’t explode or mangle anything! We went to the mall with Nana today and ate at Subway! My favorite! Then Emily and Nathan got to play on the playground inside the mall. We stopped and got Emily 2 new pairs of Sunday shoes because bad mommy me had let her Sunday shoes get too small and they were hurting her feet.

Saturday Feb. 13
The kids and I got all ready and when Robby woke up we went to get in the van to go over to mom’s house to help take down her shed in the backyard. Well, the van reluctantly started, so the only place we went was to Checker Auto to have the battery tested. The test came back that the batter was fine, but that we had a bad alternator. So back home we came and I went back to sewing and preparing for the Valentine’s dinner and Robby proceeded to take apart the van. So out comes the alternator and Robby takes it to Checker to purchase a new one. They test the alternator there, and it works just fine. Come to find out, the battery was the culprit the entire time. A new battery is less expensive than a new alternator, so I’ll take that problem! Good thing Robby found out: he can reach all the spark plugs the next time he has to change them if he takes the alternator out! It was a good thing we stayed home from mom’s because the kids and I got to work on all the party prep. They helped me make jello and little cheesecakes. Then when they went to bed I made rolls, made and rolled out pizza dough and cut it out in the shape of a heart then baked them, used my little cookie cutter to cut the pepperoni into little hearts, and made homemade marshmallows. Robby was wonderful and helped me by sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor!

Sunday Feb. 14

Happy Valentine’s Day! Today was a tricky day to get everything to all in the day! The kids and I went to church alone because Robby had a bad stomach last night and didn’t get to sleep until 4:30. We only went to Sacrament Meeting in our ward, and then I went to opening exercises for Young Women’s and then I took the kids home because mom was speaking in her ward today. When I got home Robby was awake and he had cleaned the family room and was vacuuming it! Mom did an awesome job with her talk. Plus, it was so nice to listen to an entire talk without having to entertain my little ones! Love them dearly, but I miss listening during sacrament meeting. Then I came home and threw the party prep into high gear. I finished all the last minute details and decorated the table. We had so much fun tonight. It was a mystery dinner that I found on this blog http://cutevalentines.blogspot.com/2010/01/mixed-up-valentine-dinner.html. Each person had a plate with their name all around the edge. They had to figure out the code and right down the five things they wanted for each of the 4 courses. Laughs were heard around the table as each person tried to decipher the code with the help of others. I served the first course, and the other 3 courses they got themselves. I had set up and labeled everything on my washer/dryer and a table in my laundry/pantry room. After each course was completed, everything had to be taken away. Nothing was allowed to stay, so if you got a fork at the very beginning, you didn’t get one again. It was fun to see Michael eating his cheesecake with his pickle because he didn’t have any utensils that course, or Robby using his pickle to eat his jell-o. Some people had utensils at all the right times, but others like mom had to eat her cheesecake with her knife. I had to eat my ice cream and cheese cake out of the dish with only my tongue. Not really a pleasant thing! Nana lucked out because she came late and got all of her food and utensils at the same time! This was the menu: 1. Chip Off the Old Block---tooth pick, 2. Manure Spreader---fork, 3. Eve's Delight---apple juice, 4. Jack Frost---ice cream, 5. Drunken Log---large pickle, 6. Good and Plenty---main course (mini pizzas), 7. White Cloud (marshmallow), 8. Greaser (knife), 9. Twiggy (pretzel), 10. Jacob's Well (water), 11. Square (napkin), 12. Sticky Stuff (cheese cake), 13. Underground Icicle (carrot stick), 14. Gold Water (orange juice), 15. Rooster Tail (fruit cocktail), 16. Greenbacks (rolls), 17. Nervous Pudding (jell-o), 18. Lover's Delight (spoon), 19. conglomerate (tossed salad), and 20. Popeye's Friend (olive). Then we played bingo and I gave out the rice heating bags. Of course Nathan gave all his sugar to Gran-Nana! He loves giving kisses almost as much as Gran-Nana loves getting them! Mom brought balloons for the kids and a little chocolate cake for me and Robby and Nana brought me roses. I finished cleaning up after the party, and was in craft withdrawal because I had no projects I was working on! I’ll have to fix that problem…right after I sleep!

Cuteness and Chaos

I am posting this a week behind because my computer was on the recovery bench trying to get back lost files. But it's here now, so that's all that matters, right?

Monday Feb. 1
Today I was working on thank you cards for work and Nathan was pestering me for one thing or another. Then when I finished the cards I realized it was eerily quiet. I look over at Nathan on the couch and he has fallen asleep and his little head is bobbing all over the place. He was so cute!

Tuesday Feb. 2
Today was a rare day that Robby grabbed the camera and took pictures. He even turned the camera on himself for a self portrait! I love all the funny faces he makes!

Wednesday Feb. 3
Today a special package came for Emily and Nathan from Robby’s parents. In it were these great necklaces with Christmas lights on them that light up and blink. Emily and Nathan wore the necklace literally until they fell apart! Emily even took her necklace for show and tell!

Thursday Feb. 4
Happy Birthday Nana! My wonderful Nana turned 91 today. She is such a blessing to me and I love her so much. We had a big family party for her tonight at my uncle’s house. We were able to see 2 owls up in the trees before the party started. The kids LOVED looking at the birds and Nathan added two new words to his vocabulary: Owl and Hoo! Our present for Nana was an ABC birthday card. Each letter of the alphabet has its own card, and you fill in “is for _________”. My favorite letter was “P is for Papa’s best gal”. The cards made her smile with each and every one she turned to, and that makes me feel great to put a smile on her face. Then we sang to her and had CHOCOLATE (Nana won’t except anything less) cake and ice cream.

Friday Feb. 5
Today started with blueberry muffins. Emily loves to help in the kitchen, and was so proud when her muffins came out of the oven. Today was a vehicle maintenance day. We have a good friend and neighbor that is a mechanic, so we asked him to change the oil in our vehicles. So off went the car, then the van, and he came to our house to change the oil in the truck (gross sludge!) Then he advised we change the serpentine belt in the van before it broke. So we had that replaced too! We are so grateful for talented friends that are able to help us!

Saturday Feb. 6
Emily grabbed my camera this morning and took some pictures of her favorite things. Rachel got to ride on a Barbie Cinderella’s horse, and she caught Nathan doing his favorite thing: reading. Then this afternoon we walked over to Great Clips and Robby and I got our hair cut. I took before and after pictures so that I could see the difference for myself. I cut the layers off and evened everything out so that I can grow my hair out long again.

Sunday Feb. 7
Today was great until tonight. Robby made crepes for breakfast and Emily was playing with the camera and told us to kiss so she could take a picture. Don’t have to tell me twice! Tonight is when the nightmare came to visit me. I was making pizza to take over to my aunt and uncle’s house to share with their family, when I deleted my Documents folder on my desktop. Robby had copied and pasted it (or so he thought), so I was just deleted the copy, right? No, I ended up deleting all of my business documents and some of my pictures. Robby instantly put it on the recovery machine and we left for my aunt and uncle’s home. Robby followed later because the recovery machine was saying it wanted over 6 hours to recover whatever it could. After dinner we roasted s’mores and sat and talked around the fire. The kids were thoroughly sugared up by the time we left! We were up until 12 waiting for it to recover, and then up until 2 starting to go through was it was able to find. I lost most of my Photoshop projects for the business, but was able to recover most of the documents that only I had for the business. The pictures that I lost I thankfully had backed up. I have through June 2009 backed up, and I stopped the deleting process at the beginning of January 2009. What a blessing that I didn’t lose any pictures! I found this cute football and knew I needed to document that we are NOT football watchers, follow it in no way, and were definitely not going to watch the Super Bowl today. So here’s my non-plug for Super Bowl Sunday! :)