Time to Make a Dress

A few weeks ago I saw a picture of a cute peasant dress and decided Vivian needed one.  After searching for a pattern, finding several and getting one from a friend, I decided on one.  The next step finding the perfect fabric.  Of course this is alway the hard part for me.  I can never find the "right" fabric.  Now fabrics have either very bright colors or geometric designs I can't stand.  I always go to the store with a color in mind but never a pattern.  This time I wanted a soft color with a more vintage look.  I love vintage patterns.  I found the perfect pattern with a coordinating pattern.  It is a quilting fabric.  I fell in love with it but still looked through out the store, but could not find anything else I liked.  Fabric normally has the designer and pattern line on the selvage but this one just says design exclusively for Joann Fabrics.  I was thinking of making a quilt out of this fabric line.  That is how much I love it.  After searching Joann's website I finally found the name of the pattern line and I am pretty sure I will make a quilt with it .  I just need to figure out what size quilt I want to make and how much of each pattern I need.  The fabric is Legacy Studio Fabric Bobbish - http://www.joann.com/search/_legacy_studio_fabric_bobbish

The dress was pretty easy to make and it took about an hour to cut and sew.  I did this while Vivian was at school.  I had to wait until she was him to complete it since I wanted to make sure the neck and length were correct.  I made the dress about 1-2" longer than the pattern.  I wanted her to be able to wear it longer and she is A LOT taller than most 3 year olds.  Most people don't believe me when I say she is 3 because of her height.  I am so happy with the dress and it fits Vivian great.  I need to get a picture of her in the dress.  Until then here is the dress.  Isn't it adorable.

Making Menu Planning Easier

I have become obsessed with Pinterest.  I spend so much time on the site.  I have found so many great things on there.  I have done a few and added a ton to my list of things I want to do one day.  Recently I came across a menu board that I absolutely love made by Clair at http://clairsfairytale.blogspot.com/.  I am guessing I am not the only one that loved the board that she did two follow-up posts on her blog.  I loved the board so much that I made one.  First I had to figure out what we eat regularly and also things we eat occasionally.  My goal was to come up with 30 days of meals.  I then had to write down what was needed for each meal.  Once that was done I printed the meals and lamented each one.  I have several crockpot meals I love to cook and sometimes I just find a crockpot meal I think we will like.  I decided to just have one card for the crockpot.  Periodically I like to try new recipes.  I made one card that says New Recipe.  I am very happy with my completed board.  I have decided I will make it a family event to plan the weekly menu.  The older kids will each get to select 2 meals for the week and then I will select the other 3.  Hopefully this will make things easier since they say I never ask what they want to eat.

Now here is my completed board and a sample of the menu cards.  My cards are very simple and only list the main items.  On the front is the menu and the back is the ingredients needed.  Some nights we also have rolls and salad with the meal but I felt there was no reason to have this on the cards.

Pretty easy to see that is the card for baked chicken and the back of the card for Hamburgers with Fries or Chips.  Of course with hamburgers I do add other ingredients tot he meat but they are main staples I always have on hand.  I didn't list any ingredients that I always have in the pantry. 

I have several scrapbook kits since I am a member of a monthly kit club.  That made this project so much easier since everything is already coordinated.  I used my Slice Elite and Bon Appetit Design Card for the designs on the pockets and the word menu.  Now that I am looking at the picture I may pop open the frame and move the word Menu over an inch or so to the right to make it look centered between the cards and the frame edge.

Here is the direct link to the board - http://clairsfairytale.blogspot.com/2012/01/ultimate-menu-board.html

Now onto my next project - a peasant dress for Vivian.

Let's get this thing going again

A new year and new list of exciting things for the new year.  I did finish my 356 days of pictures even though I stopped blogging about it.  It was just too hard to find time to blog every day about a picture that may have just been the sunrise or a flower.  I know those things are so exciting and you wanted to know what I was thinking when I took the picture.  Well most of the time I was thinking what can I take a picture of today in the beginning and then it was oh know it is 7pm and I haven't took a picture that then turned into what was I thinking I don't want to take a picture today and finally it was I can't think of anything to take a picture of and is is Dec 31 yet....that was in May.  So now you know why I stopped writing about it, but like anything I start I had to complete the project.

Now onto a new year and new idea.  I have decided instead of devoting a day to something for an entire year I would make a list of projects both craft and home that I want to do by the end of the year.  So far my list is at 35 projects.  They range from a 30 minute project to a 3-4 day project.  Once a project is complete I will post about it.  My goal is to give people ideas and inspiration to become more crafty.

Now that we have that out of the way on to the projects I have completed.  Each will get it's own post in case someone wants to link to it.   Not sure that will happen but just in case.  My first project was organizing my craft area which was primarily moving it to a new location and organizing my scrapbook stuff.  The table was in the office and I never used it because everyone was always piling stuff on it and the stuff wasn't organized.  Well I solved that problem and consolidated everything at the same time.  I had empty shelves and drawers because of the way the table was arranged that I couldn't access them.  I moved the table into the living room.  Something that I really didn't want to do because I didn't want it in there but I have no where else to put it.  With it being in there that means it will stay clean an organize since I have to look at it every day.  Now everything in a drawer that is labeled with the contents.  Every thing has a specific place including a spot for projects I am working on.  As of right now nothing is out.  My Cricut will be out at some point but as of now it stays in it's green carrying case.

This corner was Vivian's.  It had a table and a 5 drawer plastic container with her coloring books, play dough, crayons, etc.  I have moved that to another are in the living room.  You can see her roll of paper had not been moved when I took the picture.  It is still sitting on the fireplace.  It just gets moved around and has not real home.  I need to find a good location for it but can't think of where I want it.

Day 23 of 365 Days of Pictures

Today was another lazy day.   Nothing exciting except the weather was nice enough for the kids to play outside.  The day would have been better if our allergies weren't causing all of us to have sinus congestion and coughs.  The day ended with basketball games.  Some days I am happy to go then there are days that I don't feel like going.  Today was one the I don't feel like going days.  Luckily the games were back to back instead of 2 hours between them like normal.  We are home now, the kids have taken baths and everything is ready for school tomorrow.  Now time to relax and enjoy the remainder of the evening.

This was taken before we left for the basketball games.  Vivian looked so peaceful.

Day 19 of 365 Days of Pictures

Today went by so fast.  I don't know where the time went.  I guess when you are busy time flies by.  The day started with getting Kirsten and Anthony up and off to school.  Normally Wednesday Vivian would go to Mom's day out, but the past few days she hasn't been feeling well and I was going to take her today, but she is coughing up a lot of mucus.  The coughing is causing her to gag and a few times she has thrown up from the gagging.   I would prefer her to stay home when she is like this.  I still had to take her to the center for class pictures.  We spent 30 minutes there then we went to CVS, Wal-Mart and back home.   Next on my to-do list, a doctor visit for me.  I had my annual checkup and my doc said every thing looked good and then handed me a referral for a mammogram.  I knew he was going to since my mom died from breast cancer and I have talked to my doctor about it as well as my concerns about it.  Since my insurance pays for them at any age we decided it was time to get another one.  The first one was 5 years ago.  I came home fed Vivian lunch and put her down for a nap, then called my insurance to verify my coverage for mammograms.  They are covered 100% once a year.  Called the hospital radiology department and made an appointment.  After all that I decided it was time for a treat.  Pablo has to have cookies every night before bed so I  decided to make sugar cookies.  We haven't had them in a long time.  I usually just make chocolate chip cookies, but I wanted something different.

Day 17 of 365 Days of Pictures

Today Vivian woke up not feeling good.  She started coughing yesterday and this morning she woke up with a low grade fever, the cough and a running nose.  She didn't want to take off her pajamas.  We decided it would be a PJ day since she wasn't feeling well.  The only thing that made her happy was blowing bubbles.  She walked around the house doing that all day except for when she took her nap.  She really didn't feel good because her nap was 4.5 hours.  When she woke up her fever was higher and she still only wanted to blow bubbles and color.

Day 9 of 365 Days of Pictures

Not much happened today.  It was cold and rainy.  The kids had basketball games.  The rest of day we sat at home and did nothing.  The kids let me sleep in today and I was surprised when I came into the living room this morning.  Vivian was laying on the couch watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  I was able to get a picture before she got up.

Day 8 of 365 Days of Pictures

Pablo has been hard at work making a cover for the back of his truck.  HE has spent many hours at his friend's shop.  This is not the first cover.  The first one was a big failure.  The cover wasn't sealed properly and started to expand when it rained.  Then they made a new one - this one.  He covered it and then decided the foam material they used wasn't the correct type because when you put anything on top of the cover it left an impression.  They took the material and foam off and tried again.  This is the result.  He is very pleased with the outcome this time.  Hopefully he will not need to redo this one.

Day 7 of 365 Days of Pictures

It is Friday night and Kirsten has been doing homework since she got home from school.  It is days like this that she makes me proud.  Instead of waiting until Sunday night she decided to do her research and write her paper for her Science Fair project.  She got home at 3pm started her homework around 3:30pm it is now 7:50pm and she is still working on the project.  She said she is almost done and then she will have the rest of the weekend to have fun and be a kid.

Day 4 of 365 Days of Pictures

What happens when you leave leftover cupcakes from the day before unattended on the kitchen table.  Vivian helps herself to one of course.  What should you expect - a 2 year old no one in the room and cupcakes within reach on the table

Day 3 of 365 Days of Pictures

Today is Anthony's 10th birthday.  I can't believe it has been 10 years.  Time just seems to go by so fast.  I still remember the day he was born.  It was a day full of emotions both good and bad.  I was almost 36 weeks pregnant when my water broke and Anthony was born.  He was 4 weeks 1 day early.  I was so scared when he was born because the labor and delivery was fast and easy.  I thought the worse - that I was going to be going home with out him.  Luckily he was 100% healthy weighing 7lbs 1oz and 19 inches.  I can't imagine how big he would have been at 40 weeks.  I had pre-term labor at 28 weeks and was on bedrest until 35 weeks.  The doctor said this is the reason he was so big at 36 weeks.   He could have possibly gained anoth 1.5-2 pounds if I would have delivered on or around my due date.

Now on to my picture of the day.  Cupcakes for Anthony's birthday

Day 2 of 365 Days of Pictures

Today I got the camera out and Vivian would only let me take a picture of her.  Every time I tried to take a picture of anything except her she would scream "No picture me"  So today's pictures are all of Vivian.  I had numerous pictures to find the one for today.  We had pictures of her looking out the window at the dogs, her coloring, playing with the felt board and of course a crying Vivian.  I picked one of her smiling since this is a rare thing to capture on the camera.  She is a happy child and smiles all the time, but get out the camera and she always has the same look on her face.  She just strares at the camera with no smile.

Cakes, Crafts, Pictures and everything else

Most of my posts are about fmaily.  Well it is time for me to start blogging about anythign and everything going on.  So what have I been doing lately.  Making crafts, taking photography class and teaching myself about fondant.  This has been interesting and some people may wonder how I can sewing one day and playing with fondant the next day.  That is easy. I finish one project and get tired of that type of thing and find something new. In the past month I have redocrated Kirsten's room, made a nap mat for Vivian, started photography classes and learned to make and how to design with fondant.  I love learnign new things and I think I am a great teacher because I am pretty much self taught on everything crafting I know how to do thanks to Google and You Tube.

Well, I know this is short but I need to go to the store to get more craft stuff.....cake decorating supplies.My photography classes are goign to come in handy once I get good at all of my hobbies.

My oldest kids had ADD and ADHD.....I wonder if my bouncing from thing to another is ADD.  I have never thought about but t maybe I have a minor form of ADD.

Wow!!!  I really haven't updated this since Feb.  I guess that means no one has been reading this.  Oh well!!  I will still update.

SO much has happened in the last 6 months.  I turned another year older, celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary, the kids got out of school, we went to Puerto Rico for a month, Dallas for a week and the kids went back to school.  That is about it.  We are just a normal everyday family if that includes sibling fights, kids misbehaving and lots of mommy yelling at the kids to behave.

On Wednesday Vivian will start a 1 day a week Mom's Day Out program.  What am I going to do with 6 hours without kids?  Well for this week Pablo and I are going to go out to lunch and enjoy a meal.  It has been a really long time since just the two of us did anything by ourselves.  After lunch I am going to a movie by myself sicne I want to see a chick flick and of course Pablo does not.  I guess I better look at the showtimes and plan the day so I can be back in time to pick up Vivian and be home in time for the bus.  HMMM not sure how that is going to work.  Vivian at 3 and kids home at 3????  It will take me 5 minutes to get home from the church Vivian willbe at.  I guess that means I need to get some keys made for the kids in case I am not home when they get there. 

September is birthday month in our house.  Pablo is Sept 19 and Vivian is Sept 29.  This year Pablo will be 35 and Vivian will be 2.  No big plans yet.  I guess I better get planning.

I can't believe she is already 2.  Where have the last 2 years gone?  She is getting so independant and her vocabulary has went from a few words in June to 3-4 word sentences in 2 months.  It is crazy how fast they grow and how fast that learn.  Another reason to get her in a program.  I need to get her around other kids her age so she can learn to 1. play with them 2. share and 3. be away from mommy.  I don't want to be one of the moms that drop their kid off for the first day of Pre-K or Kindergarten only to have the kid kicking and screaming for mommy not to leave because they have never been apart. 

Now you are probably wondering about Kirsten and Anthony.  Well Kirsten is in 6th grade and will be starting Basketball for the school soon.  She will also be playing recreational basketball, but this is the last year she can play for the rec department.  She wanted to play volleyball, but she said they may not be able to because they can't find a coach.  Apparently this would be the 1st year for volleyball or the coach from last year isn't there anymore.  I am not sure I haven't talked to the principal yet.  That is on my list of things to do.  Anthony is in 4th grade and not much going on with him.  I am going to try and get him to play recreational basketball this year, but I don't think I will have much luck with that.  He is just not very athletic.  He gets that from my side of the family.  He will play baseball in the spring.  He likes that and is a great catcher.  Both kids aree doing good academically although I know they both can do better.  They are still trying to get their brains in school mode and out of summer mode.  I am sure int he next coupleof weeks we will see a big improvement.  They are already half-way through the first 9 weeks.  As soon as they see their progress reports they will see what subjects need improvement.

So the kids are in bed and I am sitting here writing about them.  The life of a mom.....always thinking, talking about her kids and doing everything for them but nothing for herself.  Yes that is me I always put my kids first.

Seriously no entry since Dec 16, 2009.....what happened.  I said i would blog more and document my life as a SAHM and the kids growing up, but I haven't made any progess.  I guess I will put a reoccuring calendar entry to post once a week. How many people read this anyway?  I guess I could archive it and have something for the kids to read later in life........

Well, the holidays are over, the kids are back in school and things are returning to normal.  Not much has happened in our life.

We will start with Kirsten.  She did not get the Student of the Year for the District.  I told her SOTY for her school is awesome and very few people can EVER say they made this accomplishment.  I told her this is an acheivement she can put on her college resume.  She was happy and she will be recognized at the school board meeting in Feb.  She particpated in the school science fair and got 1st place as well as an outstanding acheivement ribbon.  She got a perfect score on her project.  I am so proud of her because she did it all by herself.  The only thing she needed my help with was printing the pictures from her experiement and of course buying the materials.  Basketball season also started so our Saturdays are now devoted to BB games.

Anthony decided not to play Basketball this year, but can't wait for baseball to start.  He played catcher last year and hopes to play the same position this year.  I guess we need to get out the baseball stuff and see what we need before the season starts.  Not much more going on with him.  He is just relaxing and enjoying school, friends and family.

Vivian is a bundle of fun and excitement.  Everyday is a new journey and I am soooo thankful I get to spend it at home with her.  I never had this advantange with Kirsten or Anthony.  I absolutely love being able to stay home and watch her discover and learn new things each day instead of hearing it from someone else.  She is developing her vocabulary and her personality is really coming out.  She makes me laugh several times a day.  Recently when you tell her no or stop she will just sit/stand there and stare into space with a pouty look on her face.  It is like she is trying to decide what to do next...."do I continue doing this or move on to something else....while I decide I will sit here with this puppy dog look and see if they will let me continue doing this, take it away or find something else for me to do"....Yes she is a handful, but enjoyable.  She now has 16 teeth her 1 year molars have all come in.  I need to check to see when the next set come in because she has been cranky and whiny for the past couple of days.  She has also been great when it comes to eating but the past few days she has been refusing everything I put in front of her...except her snacks and fruit.  My mission today is to get her to eat a balanced meal.  This girl was eating anything and everything I put in front her.  Now she just shakes her head no, pushes it away or throws it off the high chair.  I tried 3 different things for lunch yesterday..hot dog, grilled cheese, chicken nuggets....not one thing got eaten by her....I caved and gave her crackers, an orange and some other snack foods.  I had to get something in her and I got to the point that I didn't care what it was as long as she ate it.

Time to end this entry.....Vivian is waking up and my food battle begins.....

Christmas is less than 2 weeks away.  I can't wait, but that is only because we are going to Dallas to visit my family.  The kids are really excited and I can't wait to see everyone.  I hate that we only see them 2-3 times a year, but that is what happens when you live 500 miles away.

Kirsten has made me so proud this year.  She was nominated and selected as student of the year for her school.  Last week she went to the school board office to be interviewed and do a written assignment.  This interview was to pick the Student of the year for the whole district.  If she is selected as Student of the year for our district then she will compete at the state level for the state student of the year.  I couldn't be prouder.

Anthony has made so many improvements as well.  We are working with him more at home.  I have also been workign with the school to help him get control of his behavior.  He is a honor roll student and does great in school but he likes to do what he wants to when he wants to.  We have seen a drastic improvement over the past month.  He is now starting to talk more about why he is mad or upset.  Before he would just close up and not talk to anyone.  We would have to wait until he was ready to talk or wait until he calmed down.

Vivian is doing more everyday.  She is starting to be vocal.  She tripped over a toy the other day and said "oww".  It was so adorable.  She also says oh when she trips or falls down.  She will also make you do what she wants.  If I am at the computer and she wants my attention she will pull my hand away from the mouse and pull it torward her or try to climb on my lap.  Her favorite word is mom.  She will say it over and over and over even after I acknowledge her saying it.  Sometimes it is followed by a bunch of jibberish and I just respond telling her I understand or that is interesting.  She has also started calling the dogs, but not by their names instead she says dog dog or that is what it sounds like. She understand so much and if you ask her questions like do you want milk or do you want to go night night she will either go to the refrigerator or go to her room.  She is just doing so much that is hard to write about it all.

I am really enjoying being a stay at home mom.  I have been able to do so much more and be a lot more involved in everything the kids are doing.  I would never be able to do all of the things I do know if I was still working 9 hours a day in an office.

Wow I can't believe my oldest is 11.  Yesterday was her birthday.  While she was at school I thought about everything that we have went through in the past 11 years.  Mostly I was remembering the day she was born and how I felt.  I remember asking my mom as I held this fragile hour old baby "can I do this?"  I was so scared while holding her.  Sure I had held babies before but they were always nieces and my nephew.  I never held a baby that I would be responsible for and every thing I did fromthat moment on would be for that child.  All my mom told me is "you will be fine you are goingto be a great mother".  I knew she was right and she taught me well.  I couldn't have a better person to look to for advice.  She raised 3 children on her own.  To this day I admire everythign she did and every sacrifice she made for her children.  I hope she knew how important and how much she meant to me.

I want to share the wonderful news about Kirsten.  She is the Student of the Year for her school.  Next week she will got the school board and compete against all of the other Students of the year for the elementary schools to be Student of the Year for the whole district.  I am so proud her accomplishments and how much she has grown since this time last year.

In just a few short weeks my baby boy, Anthony, will be 9.  So I will be going through all of these emotions again.  He has been my challenging child.  The girls have been so easy.  Kirsten and Vivian were both great as infants.  They never cried and they wer very happy babies.  Anthony on the other hand gave me problems from pregnancy until now.  He is a handful.  He had colic as a baby and we are still dealing with the terrible twos just in a different way.  Who ever said boys are different than girls was absolutely correct.  He has challenged me at every thing from sleeping habits, potty training and school.  I will say in the past 6 months he has been a better child and things are getting better everyday.  We went from fighting every night at bedtime to him getting in bed and staying in bed as well as going to sleep.  He is my night owl and loves to sleep in so school mornings are SOOOO much fun.