A Beautiful Day

Now that the kids and Mike have gotten over their colds (more or less) my body has decided to become ill itself. I have a pretty bad frog and stuffy nose, but other than that I'm great. The weather has been really great lately, but is supposed to change this weekend. So, we have been doing our best to take advantage of the warmth and play outside all we can. We've been learning to ride tricycles, play basketball, and generally just enjoying nature.

Today, Abram was being nice and rowdy while playing today and noticed that, when he yelled, his echo came back to him. It was pretty funny to watch him yell back and forth with his echo.

I love that we live in a valley that is small enough and quiet enough that a little boy can play with his echo. That's Penny by the way. She has started walking a bit more, but still prefers crawling. I hope she will be walking more. The knees in her pants hope so too.

Looking forward to the future when she will prefer walking to crawling I made her this mermaid skirt. I found this fabric at JoAnn's and spent more on it than I normally do. So I want her to be walking consistently before I let her wear it. Speaking of sewing...

I also sewed up this little dress for Princess. I was super worried that it would be too small for her, but when I had it all finished it was actually too big. I just can't seem to win. Oh well, the dress turned out really cute all the same.

Flubber and Pigtails

Earlier this week Mike had his day off and I really wanted to find something fun for him and the kids to do. So we went to the library to check out a few books and movies (I got a mystery novel that looks promising). Afterwards we swung over to the local goods store and picked up the ingredients for flubber. I had come across the recipe on Pintrest and could vaguely remember elementary science projects and a funny Robin Williams movie involving the stuff, so I thought it might be fun to give it a whirl. You can find the recipe here. It was a definite blast.

Lately, Abram has been insisting on helping me measure and mix everything, and this was no exception. He seemed to enjoy pouring the glue the most. I didn't let him measure the Borax; I didn't want to risk him getting it every where.

This is what it looked like when we combined the two mixtures. It sort of blurbbled.

It looked pretty cool coming out of the bowl. Slimey.

It was a big hit with Buddy Boy. He loved how it snapped when pulled quickly and stretched when pulled slowly.

I was became a tad ambitious today too, I decided to try a new hair style on Penny Lu.

World's tiniest pigtails. Sorry about the blurry pictures; she really doesn't hold still.

They turned out pretty adorable if you ask me. That poor black eye looks pretty ucky. The downfalls of learning to walk. She looks pretty dang cute even with the shiner though.

Alphabet Soup

First off, Big News. Penny walked. Yep, I looked up and there she was taking tiny precarious steps from the play table to the crib. It was only 4-5 steps, but it was awesome. I sadly didn't have a camera on hand and the time, and she hasn't been willing to repeat the adventure so I have no proof. In fact Mike claims that because he couldn't see it, it didn't happen. I can't get too irritated at him though. I said the same thing for the longest time about her saying "Daddy". I will be hounding her with the camera tomorrow though, just in case she decides to perform.

So today I was in pretty good mood, and decided to do something fun for the kids bath time. I didn't really want to do the same old bubble bath, so I hopped on over to Pintrest for some ideas. I saw a lot of painting or coloring in the tub. I thought about it, but then chickened out for fear permanently coloring my tub. I did see an idea of putting foam cut-outs on the walls of the shower walls. I didn't have cut outs like they had, but I did have alphabet letters from those puzzle piece floor mats.

They really had fun sticking those letters on the wall. Abram was so cute. He would hold up a letter say which letter it was, which color it was, then place it on the wall very ceremoniously. Penny would just throw them on the wall half-hazardously. Some of her letters over lapped each other (behold the amazing sticking power of water on foam).

I was pretty impressed with myself for finding an activity that a 2 year-old and 1 year-old could both do and enjoy.

An Awesome Weekend

So we went up to Idaho this weekend to see my sister-in-law Jenny and her husband Ben. It was a really fun visit. We went out to Boise on Saturday. The original idea was to go to the aquarium, but by a total fluke it was closed. Apparently they were having power troubles that day. So we went to Cabellas sporting goods store instead. Honestly that store should be considered a mini zoo/museum. They had this aquarium with fresh water fish in it. Huge fresh water fish. Anyway, Penny was so fascinated by the fish she couldn't peel her eyes away. They even got to watch the fish feed, which was a bit morbid because they feed them live goldfish. It was really fun all the same. Afterwards we went to a fun center (arcade, go karts, laser tag, etc.). They had this really big play place thing there that Abram played in for hours. Even Penny Lu had the courage to climb up to the top.

You can't see it very well, but that little peach dot at the top of the slope is Penny's head. She got really high up there. I was pretty impressed. That brave girl.

I only managed to get Abram to slow down for one pic and then he was off again. I don't know how all the adults felt about going to this place but I know the kiddies loved it. Before Mike and I went back to Jenny and Ben's house we swung over to Eagle so see my old stomping grounds. I know it has been about eight years since I lived there, but It still surprised me how much had changed. It was really nice to see some of the old sites like the elementary schools and the old subdivision though. All in all, it was a really nice week end. I am so glade Jenny and Ben had us over. Thanks!

Just Some Fun Sewing

Do you remember this little number. I had made it for the county fair last year. It now fits her... sort of. It's a little big, but looks so stinkin' cute. Lately I have just been doing a few projects just for fun. It's amazing how stress relieving sewing can be. And then how stress inducing it can be when I see what kind of mischief Abram and Penny have gotten into while I was occupied. Oh well. It was worth it. I made a new long-sleeve T-shirt for myself as well as a large tea length skirt that I re-fashioned from a 80's maternity dress. I'll have to show it to you later though. Mostly I have been making some things for the kids. Both of them have just moved into the next size up and in desperate need of jeans. Since Mike's auto accident we have been on a loose spending freeze so I have forbidden myself from buying fabric. Lucky for the kids I have tons of scrap jeans.

You can't see it too well but I made those cute little jeans. They really turned out well. They are a little long in the leg, but the waist fits perfectly around her chubby belly. I also made that top this week too.

Here is a close up of the top. Mostly I just wanted to add this pic for the pout. How could you resist that face?

This is a top I had made earlier, just before Christmas. I thought the fabric was so stinkin' cute. I just had to show it off.

Here is a shot of another pair a jeans I made. These things... can you say "winging it"? They were my first ever attempts at making flannel lined jeans and I had cut them wrong a few too many times. I also ran out of elastic for the waist so she got a drawstring. They ironically fit really well, but they look just silly. At least they're warm. I made another pair of regular jeans for Abe, but really need to make more. He went from having a dozen or so to having just one pair.

I also made a couple of "ice-cream" dresses that I copied from an Oliver+S dress. I was totally making it up as I went along so both of them are way too big for Penny now but they will probably fit her in a few months though.

You can't see it, but on this one I stitched a little bird on the front center The dress will be super cute when I finally fits her.

I just realized I haven't put in a pic of Abe yet. Here he is. His cheeks have been red like that for a while now. I don't know if it is the cold or what; I think it looks cute though. I'm planning on doing a screen-free week when we get back from Idaho. I get the feeling we will be spending a lot of our time out of doors. Actually I wanted to try making that "rainbow rice." If anyone knows were I can get a ton of rice for really cheap, let me know. Or if you have any other really good ideas, feel free to share too.

The Holidays

Yes. The holidays are nearly over. Thank goodness. Both my body and mind are ready to call it a day. I figured since the holidays are nearly over I might post a few pics. to commemorate the good times we had.

I will have to apologize for the devil eyes. I am just too lazy to fix them this morning. So Mike and I decided to keep the tradition of letting the kids open one present on Christmas Eve. We keep it limited bed time gear. 

This year I made the kids pajamas. I don't think Penny really understood what all was going on. Poor girl was pretty tired.

 So, obviously the kids cloths are way to big. I am thinking the pattern I used must have been mislabeled (either that or I did a really crappy job cutting them out). The great thing (or the sad thing) about kids is they grow very quickly. So maybe by next Christmas they will fit perfectly.

Here is Abram and Penny Christmas morning. Those fruit snacks Abram is getting into are actually Penny's. It was kind of funny. Abram had so much fun tearing open wrapping paper that he just went to town on all the presents, whether they belonged to him or not.

Abram decided Dumbo needed to help him with the presents too.

We celebrated Penny and Mike's birthdays too. I am actually a good baker, but not when it comes to cake. I am horrible. I made the mistake of trying something new for Penny's birthday and it failed epically. My sister-in-law, who is amazing with cakes, thought it was because I used a denser cake for the balls and a regular cake mix for the rest. So in the future I will know better. In the mean time this cake looks really pretty sad next to the nice DQ ice-cream cake Mike got.

At least it tasted good. Or, that's what Penny thought.

There is a better shot of the cake. You can kind of see what I was trying to do. I wanted the inside to have colored dots like her outfit. It would have been cool if I had been a little more thoughtful. Oh-well.

Her out-fit was really cute. A pom-pom tutu, onesie, and crocheted crown.

Here is a side shot. I really need to get a better digital camera.

Well, we had a wonderful Christmas and had a great time celebrating Penny's and Mike's birthdays. Later that week we had a basketball get-together and some more Christmas parties. Now I am gearing up for a New Years Eve party at our house. I have truly love visiting with family and celebrating the holidays, but I surely ready to call it a day and take a break. I hope you all have had fun this year too and I wish you all a very happy New Year.

Weddings, Halloween, and Hair Cuts

So it feels like forever since I posted last. Mike has been away in Texas for two weeks doing a mandatory training and with him went our computer. So I have oodles of things stored up to tell everyone about.

First off weddings. My brother Jesse got married just over a week ago at his and his new wife's home in Arlington, Texas. I thought it was really considerate of them to schedule the wedding in the middle of Mike's business trip to that same part of Texas (I know that wasn't the reason, but it certainly made things so much easier on us).

Isn't my family so cute. Of course we are missing my youngest brother David, who is in Kansas serving a mission, and my little boy Abe who spent the weekend with his Grandma and Grandpa Scadden (thanks you two so much for watching him). The wedding was wonderful. I had so much fun meeting my new sister-in-law and her family. I love her already.

 

 It was a bit of a change having only one baby to look after, but I enjoyed the relief. Other than crying during the ceremony (eek!) Penny did really well during the whole thing. 

After Penny and I came home from Texas, I threw myself head first into the kids' Halloween costumes.

Abram went as a biker and Penny as Raggedy Anne. Not to brag or anything, but I think my kids were the cutest ones around that night.

I made the costumes myself, mostly. Penny's I did 100% myself. That stupid wig took me forever. but her cute 10x larger than normal head was worth it. The top itself turned out so cute I think I will have her wear it beyond just Halloween.

After Halloween, I finally caved and gave Abram a haircut. He desperately needed one (he had a total Hulk Hogan mullet thing going on). I hadn't planned on cutting it so short but the very first cut I made he twitched on and I scalped him. So he ended up with a nice... summer cut. He actually tolerated the cutting pretty well (until I cut his bangs and got hair up his nose and all over his sticky, candy covered mouth).

So far the fall is shaping up to be pretty awesome. We will be moving to a bigger place in a week+ and have a wonderful Thanksgiving to be looking forward too in a few more. Hope you all are having a great fall too!