Pictures are coming...

BUT...I started yet another project...I'm telling you, I have completely lost my mind...

The butterfly canvas is done and hanging on the wall...
My husband's valentine gift from me and the girls is framed and ready to go...
Narnia "Susan" 's dress is cut out and ready to begin sewing...(poor Lucy will have to wait a bit)
And...project #4: ???

Well...my mother in law had an incredible idea that she carried out today...Earlier in the week, she "invited" my older girls and their two cousins to a Valentine Colonial Tea Party at her house. She picked them all up at noon. They got dressed into their shifts, colonial dresses and those little cap things on their heads...She had an elaborate tea set up in her dining room. They had "tea" sandwiches in the shape of hearts, chocolate covered strawberries and chamomile tea...Each girl got a little red tulip to take home along with a valentine goody bag. She had them begin "samplers" and make friendship bracelets, all this after they watched the Felicity movie together with their dolls. It was just an incredible afternoon...

I gave her my camera (I didn't want to come over and interfere) She got some great shots...well, while I was at Michaels picking up a frame for my husband's little gift (again, picture this weekend...gotta give it to him first!) I saw these adorable 3 inch photo slot books...I thought, "huh, why not put together a little memory book for each of the girls about their Colonial Tea" And thus...project 4 began...the pictures have already been sent to be printed...so I just have to print out the journal tags and put it all together...I'll take a picture of this as well...

I can't wait to share it all with you...but, I'm not sure how much longer my body can handle doing this many things at once...gotta take a breather soon...but those dresses are gonna take forever!!!

One day I will be back to being "still" and contemplating things...but for now, I'm on a short sprint and I just feel like writing the "facts" of the day...thanks for bearing with me!

Cabin Fever

I'll start right off with a promise to post pictures after Valentine's Day...You see, I've had cabin fever. I told this to a friend the other day and she stared in disbelief, "YOU...cabin fever? I don't believe it!" I'm usually the homebody...I don't necessarily like going out all the time or running from one activity to the next. I just really like staying home.

That is, until I've been INSIDE for days on end with 3 little ones running around and laundry piling up!!! So, with my cabin fever I've gone a bit "project happy". As if I don't have enough going on throughout the day with homeschooling, cleaning, playing with baby, running, not to mention attempting to get a shower by 3pm, fixing dinner, getting one or the other child to swim lessons or ballet (IF the weather permits)...NOPE, I go and get project happy...

Over the last 4 days I have started three(and finished 2) projects. On Saturday we went to get our "family photos" taken. Now, I'm usually the photographer in our house, for all the kids yearly pictures, etc...but I just can't seem to figure out how to take a picture with ME in it and expect everyone to be looking at the camera and smiling...so, I got a coupon and off we went. Needless to say, photo shoots that are "scheduled" never really turn out all that great...so while we waited, because they were backed up about a 1/2 hour, we went over to PBK. I love going there because I get all sorts of ideas...and I was not let down! There on the wall was this cool canvas...it had buttons and wallpaper samples sewn onto it in a shape of a butterfly...you can go to their site and check it out potterybarnkids ...it's really sweet. But, immediately I thought, "I can do that"...and I did!

I came home that night, ignored the dirty dishes, laundry on the couch and playroom disarray and I sat down with all my collections of buttons, an old canvas I had behind a couch and some multicolored foam and I made my own version of the butterfly...(again, I will post pictures soon...)

I want to wait for this reason: I started and finished the 2nd project tonight...it's a Valentine's Gift for my husband...dont' want to post pics until he gets it...but, it will come soon. All the kids were involved...it's pretty cool!

Lastly, and this one is really quite "amazing" for me...I shouldn't really be attempting it at all, but I threw caution to the wind...I'm stuck inside anyway...so here we go! I went to Joanns and bought the coolest material for both older girls (only spent a total of $26 on all supplies) and I'm planning on sewing (yes, I actually said SEWING) Narnia Lucy and Susan dresses for them...I plan to start the pattern cutting tomorrow night! They play Narnia CONSTANTLY! They eat, live, breathe, dream narnia...I swear, they ARE Susan and Lucy right now! So, what better way to act the part than to really dress like it! We'll see how far I come by the weekend...

And so I conclude this blogging this evening, exhausted, but happy! I like that sort of stuff and although if you came to visit, you may have to move over some folded clothes on the couch in order to sit down...just know that I'll pretty much stop everything and sit and have a nice chat with you! We can talk projects and kids and keep hoping for spring!!!

Needs Vs. Wants

No need to say that the economy is tough right now. I think everyone feels it, whether you feel it directly or your heart breaks as you watch others having to deal with layoffs, loosing a house, calling off vacations for that year, selling your own possessions...etc. etc. etc. My husband has always been a frugal person...not just frugal, he's really wise with regards to money (at least in my humble opinion) He just always strives and is conscious about being a good steward. He had to teach me a lot when we first got married, about being on a budget and what that "actually" meant...he taught me about catagorizing and saving up and prioritizing and the freedom that that brings (which completely threw me at first...how does a budget bring freedom?) Anyway, in turn, with our young girls we talk about money things as they come up...like in a grocery store, or if they see a commercial or espeically now with friends who's parents are loosing their jobs, etc. I guess, even more so now, we've been discussing how to save our "tooth fairy" money and tithing and spending.

In Social Studies we've been touching on economics...you know, needs, wants, consumers, producers, goods, services, etc...on a level that an elementary child can understand. So, my oldest has been trying to decide whether she wants to start saving up for an American Girl doll or a digital camera (like Momma:) We've discussed the prices of both and what it means, etc.
We've talked about how while we're saving our money, Daddy has to make sure we budget for all our needs before we can go out and get our wants. Because of this she is ALL about sales and coupons and keeps me on track at the grocery store, "No, Mom don't get that this week, it's not on sale, we'll just wait till next week." or today, "Kroger has milk 10 for $10...let's go there before we go to Meijer"...cute huh?

Yeah well, we had to stop at Office Max to pick up some ink cartridges for the printer...while we were there, she was staring at all the cameras...looking at the prices...asking questions...and then she just got quiet for a bit...and then,

"Mom, a camera is a want right?"
"yep, honey...and the most inexpensive one that is still a good quality is about $100 babe!" I replied.
"Mom, how much was YOUR camera when Daddy got it for you?"
"Umm...well, Mommy's camera is a rather big one and it was probably around $700-800 when Daddy got it"
She got quiet again...
"So, did Daddy take care of all your needs first before he went and bought you your want?"

Smart girl...definitely her daddy's girl at that!!!

SLOUCHER

No, I didn't say "slacker"..I said slOUcher...I tend to "slouch". In other words, I don't sit up straight, nor stand up straight. I've done this for years. I can still remember my dad tapping me on my back, "sit up straight little girl or you're gonna wind up with a big hump back"
Ha! I thought...that'll never happen...well, fast forward a decade or 2, and holy cow, I still slouch and it's harder and harder to stand up straight anymore...whaddya know, dad was right! He may be pleased about that, but I'm not so much. What to do with a rounding back in my "early" 30s?
Enter: Pilates! My MIL swears by them...my response: OUCH! I drink a ton of milk and get plenty of calcium for my aging bones. I run, get my blood pumping...but what I have not really done is any strength training for those flabby muscles, especially the ones that if I suck it in, it would hold my back up straight...and so, I started doing pilates recently.
If you ever want to feel like you are pitifully out of shape, like a weak-ling, or want to feel incredibly sore ALL over for days afterward, I suggest you try PILATES! yippee!!
Sounds enticing doesn't it? The thing is though, I'm sitting up straighter, my shoulders seem to want to stay back and dare I say, I "might" have an inch or so off my waist? (insert gasp!)
I would put a picture on this post but it would be terribly embarrassing...we'll see what happens once I can actually hold a pilates position for more than 3 seconds...
I'm off to run and then do the wonderful pilates routine...sore body, here I come!

A Few Days Ago...Plus...

So, in trying to "document" my life, I know that I've missed a couple of days already. (I have trouble sticking to something to the end...it's a lot of my dad in me...too many hobbies, too little time...too much ADD) Anyway, I need to start back a couple days in order to factor in all the pictures...here it goes:

Picture #1 is for Day 3: We love milk in this house...we go through at LEAST 2 gallons a week and we're already on our third today. Had to just take a picture because my husband thinks it quite unusual...I don't know, I grew up on YUCK powdered milk and so now I think I just crave the real thing like crazy!

I hadn't really been out of the house since Monday...Was gettin' kinda cooped up. We had Life group over on Thursday and I was sorta lamenting to them about...nice thing about having your pastor in your lifegroup...he's able to spin things in a way that everyone "wins"...all that to say, my husband took the following day off and we had a family fun day!

Started out with sledding...we took the girls to a large hill, which we had never done before. Normally we just use our little hill out back...they LOVED it. IT was bitter cold, but we bundled up and off we went. Baby C was with us, so I didn't get to sled as much as I would have liked, but regardless, it was a lot of cheering, and screaming and laughing and spills and sliding and just plain FUN!

Then we dropped little one off at Nana's and took the older girls to Wendys for lunch (always a treat to them!) We ended up at COSI for the afternoon...just doin' science experiments and watching science presentations. The evening wrapped up with my eldest spending the night with her cousin at Nana's house, my middle child getting a vanilla milkshake and staying up to watch Parent Trap and having a sleep over in mommy & daddy's room!

We were all exhausted by the end of the day, but it was much needed! I think we missed being out, missed being with daddy and missed just blowin' off the entire day to do fun things!

This brings us to today...we had an appointment to get our pictures taken at 11am. The girls were showered, blowdried, dressed, fixed up and ready to go...we even got there early...only to find out that the electricity had just gone out and no appointments were being filled...bummer! So, hopefully we'll get some "amatuer"shots in by mommy this afternoon, once little nipper wakes up from her nap!

That's my end of the week report:) Stay Warm!

Day 2: Snow Ice Cream

Well, for the start of this little Project 365 (which I may rename to Project 52...basically just try to document a week instead of every day...we'll see) Anyway, for the start, this has been quite fun...I just take a picture of something we do for that day...I will confess that I've already taken a few pictures of "everyday" things...that way if I forget a day, I can slip it in because we probably did it anyway...am I making any sense?

Here's Today's Picture:

So already this morning we made Snow Ice Cream...I was up early with Miss Early Bird Baby, checking my facebook while I made her some breakfast and I came across a friend who said she made snow ice cream for her kids...I have never heard of this before, so I do what all Moms in my Generation do: We GOOGLE...so I googled it and low and behold there are umpteen recipes for Snow Ice Cream...I put on my boots and trudged into our backyard to put out a big 'ole bowl so it could fill up with snow.

When the older two woke up I told them that we would do school work until the bowl filled...that took all of 2 hours, it is snowin' like crazy here in the Midwest...Anyway, I printed off the recipe, the girls invited their neighbor friend over (because of course, school had been cancelled) and we made an ice cream treat at 10:30A.M.

This is what is looks like after you pour in the cream/milk, sugar and vanilla...Here's the finished product with all the trimmings: chocolate syrup, sprinkles...the works!and here' the look of delight as she spoons it into her mouth..."Ice cream in the morning Mom? This is GREAT!"All three enjoying...might be a good day!!!

Project 365

Well, maybe more like Project " I hope can at least document possibly 200 days out of the year?"

So… my friend sent me this link to this “project” and I thought it was really neat…what a great way to just document everyday life. I thought I would just try it out on my blog every once in awhile (Don’t worry, I doubt I will make it an EVERYday occurrence…that could get really boring for everyone) But, just a picture a day sounded fairly easy and with a blog rather than a scrapbook, I don’t have to print anything! Yippee! Basically, you take one picture a day, for a year…pictures can show what you’ve done in a day or every day things or memories you might have had during the day…there’s not really a rhyme or reason to it, but to just say, hey, this is US for today! I probably should add that being a “photographaholic”, I won’t be able to just post ONE picture whenever I do this…I’ll never be able to decide on which ONE tells the best story…so just be forewarned…

And so I begin: Day 1…

Every morning it’s the same thing for breakfast for my middle child! I try other ideas, like cheesy eggs or bagels or toast or even muffins…nope, she’ll have her buttermilk waffles with flaxseed and wheat germ please! I’m not complaining, at least they’re healthy! And the wafting of steam from my waffle maker makes my house smell so yummy in the morning…it’s like a staple food for her. It makes me laugh, because her daddy is just like that too…I don’t think in the past 9.5 years of marriage that we have ever NOT had waffles on a weekend…When Anthony wakes up Saturday morning, first thing he does is get out the buttermilk, flour, eggs, etc. etc and heats up the waffle maker. He’s the early riser too…so I “smell” the waffles before I even make it out of bed!
And so I start this 365 day adventure in the morning…with the “Most important Meal of the Day”…Waffle day is Everyday at our house!!!