Humor Me!

I don't know if I want to laugh or cry.

Tonight Mike arrived home and we had an early dinner, as I had a small list of things I wanted to do and get out of the house for a little fresh air.

1. Pick up laminate flooring offered on Freecycle.
2. Return shredded moldy cheese to Costco.
3. Return things to Fred Meyer's.
4. Get Coffee!

A bit before we leave the house, I like to make sure the babies are fed (nursed) and happy - there's nothing worse than 4 upset kiddos in the car! Well, Christian decided to throw up all of his dinner on my shirt and in my lap - I'm used to him spitting up, but he really threw-up! And was really crying. He was having a not-so-good time today, really fussy. I realized he hadn't pooped in a few days, so, I tried to help him with a suppository - it took 3 suppositories (and pee all over my couch and multiple layers of wipes) to make this little kiddo feel better.

Ok, so the throw-up, pee-pee and poop incidents were done with. Perhaps we could get in the car and get my list of things done?

I really wanted some Coffee, really bad, you know, the $4 coffee that that I like to treat myself to about once a month when I can make it out of the house, and we passed about 4 coffee houses, and they were all closed! I ended up compromising and getting a drip coffee at Breeze-in, but was so out of my element that I didn't know what I was doing and didn't really get what I want. Coffee Flop!

So, we did end up making it downtown to pick up the laminate flooring pieces, but it didn't fit in my Explorer! Ugh. Duh! I hate wasting gas! Now Mike's got to take his truck tomorrow to pick it up.

On the way home we drove past Costco, which was closed as well, LOVELY!, so Mike will have to exchange the moldy cheese tomorrow, or maybe Saturday, whenever they end up opening!

Wow, this evening has gone smoother that I expected (hah!) - at least the kiddos were all content (and sleepy).

At least the last stop at Fred Meyer's was a success and all items we wanted to return we were allowed to return (now we had a whopping $13 extra to spend) and I really need another shower rod (which I will explain in the next post).

I Hope that your New Year's Eve was just as exciting as mine!

Diaper Disappointment

Most of you know that I (almost) exclusively use cloth diapers.

Having three kiddos (well, soon to be only two) in diapers, you can imagine how many I go thru and how many loads I wash and dry each day.

I have been very happy with Kushies all-in-one diapers, except for now - now that I've been using them for 5 months (the first month I used disposable - since babies were too small for the Kushies I had).

I have noticed that they are really wearing out.

I think the main problem is that living here in Lovely Juneau, I have to dry them in the dryer, and that EATS the outer lining producing little holes, first along the legs of the diaper and velcro areas. I have to say that I am rather disappointed, I would line dry them, but here that might be next to impossible - say 10 out of 12 months!

However, now that I am accustomed to changing cloth diapers, I hardly use a liner, which I used in the beginning (the kind that helps peel the poop off and then flush down the toilet), and am going to switch to regular cloth diapers and use a Snappi with a wrap as my other Kushies diapers wear out.

To try to extend the life of (what I have left of) my Kushies I am going to attempt to "line dry" them in my bathroom. We have forced-air heat and I figured out if I put up another shower curtain rod over the middle of my bathtub, I can hang those diapers to dry, and it will take about 24 hours to dry. However, I will still have to put them in the dryer for a few minutes so they're not board stiff. I'll take a picture for you and add to the post when I get it put together (hopefully tomorrow!).

No Greater Joy

http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/magazine/

I highly recommend reading and subscribing to this free magazine. Articles usually focus on chid training and marriage. I recieved mine in the mail yesterday and have already read it cover to cover!

Making Christmas This Year

This year we didn't put up our tree until the week of Christmas, and then took it down last night, next year I want to put it up closer to Thanksgiving. I really enjoyed having Christmas this year. It was rather special, as I tried making most of my gifts in the kitchen or on the sewing machine.

We misplaced our box of ornaments and lights, so I decided we didn't need to buy any, we could bake them! I used a salt dough (I think it's the same as home made play dough) and let the kids help me roll it out and cut out ornaments with cookie cutters. I'm kicking myself for not taking pics of the kids when we did them. Here's a few of the ornaments:

My Grandma Carolyn sent me these flowers:

Which was perfect as my centerpiece for Christmas Eve when Mike's brother and sister's family came over for dinner. I baked a ham (for the first time) and it turned out great! Here's a pic of the boys (and Connor had already gotten into the cookies - as evidence is on his face!)

I also made several batches of Cinnamon Rolls, of which some were successful and some were not, I need to make these more often, and not just during the holidays!

These were some of the crayon/coloring bags I made for my nieces.

This sewing project was my favorite - canvas tote bag. I made about a dozen of them and really had fun picking out the ribbon for the handles.

I also enjoyed making these mixes to hand out: Corn Bread, Swope Bread and Salt Dough.

Michael Jr. helped me with the ginger cookies, he had a lot of fun and called the dough, when he rolled it, 'dinosaur poop.'

Here's the stockings I made for Jr. & Connor - next year I'll make stockings for the twins.

Here's my first crayon/coloring bag that I attempted - which I adore, and sent to my dear sister, Jasmine!

This is a garbage sack for the car (or truck) that you put on the back of the chair and hangs off of the headrest.

Well, I sure had fun this Christmas, but will start A LOT sooner than I did this year to get some of those cooking and sewing projects done so I can get more sleep next year!

I will post pictures of the boys opening their gifts on another post.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Fruit Of The Spirit

With four kids constantly needing my attention, as well as my husband and frequently forgotten dog, I find it rather challenging at times to maintain composure.

I find that the more I practice these fruits of the spirit, the happier I am, and the happier everyone else is as well.

For a constant reminder of how my attitude should be I have the following verse in my kitchen and read it several times a day:

Galatians 5:22-23

The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Connor's new pants (I made them!)

I am so excited! I sewed my first pair of pants! Connor has a problem fitting his pants because he's got cloth diaper bulk and it's hard to pull up and pull down his other pants (it wouldn't be a problem if he were wearing disposables).

Anyway, I am just so thrilled that I completed such a sewing project. Of course, I had a few bumps, I was so excited about sewing that I wasn't careful when I kept being interrupted and wasn't paying attention to the knee pads I sewed on - so the 2nd knee I put on I forgot to sew the 2nd circle around and sewed the pant legs together, so I had to rip the stitches out TWICE! First because I wasn't paying attention, and 2nd because I sewed them back up without sewing around the circle!!!

If you're interested in making a pair for yourself or your kiddo, here's a link where I got my inspiration:

http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/2009/08/repurposing-boys-lounge-pants.html

Pictures

It seems like I'm taking fewer pictures these days, these are of the few that I've taken since Halloween. Twins will be 6 months on December 18th!!!

A Homemade Christmas (Crafty Blogs To See!!!!)

It's been a while since my last post, and I've been rather busy! I've been preparing for the Christmas Holiday trying to use my craftyness this year. I have decided to make all gifts either in the kitchen or with my sewing machine! So you are all put on notice! LOL.

I have recieved a lot of inspiration from the following websites that I highly recommend checking out:

http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/ - you will miss out if you don't check it out!!!!

and

http://www.skiptomylou.org/ - another absolute must!!!!

and

http://makeitfromscratch.blogspot.com/ - more great ideas!!!!!

I will eventually post pictures of my craftyness, but not till the season is over - since they're all gifts to be given, I don't want you to see them here yet!