sewing 101

i've had this fabric hanging around the house for the last 6 months or so. it has been begging me to transform it into a skirt for lily. the problem with that scenario is that i do not know how to sew. it's something that i would like to learn. i have a sewing machine. it's older than i am but it still works. so last week i convinced kim c. to come over and show me how to sew a skirt. it turned out so fabulous! totally adorable. lily loved it.i did the basic part of the skirt and then kim did the more difficult parts like the waistband and the too cute for words pleats at the bottom. thanks so much kim!
creating something from nothing was so satisfying and now i have this little sewing bug growing. i hope that with some practice additional creations will follow. project runway here i come!! well, in my dreams anyway ;)

bath please??

the kids are always saying funny things but i rarely remember to document them. this has put a smile on my face more than once in the last day or so.

picture it - saturday morning, the only day where sleeping in is a possibility. i wake up to brooke standing by my side of the bed. "i need a bath mom. i farted in my room and i smelled myself and i am really stinky. so can i get a bath to make the stink go away?"


cracked me up. a little vulgar perhaps, but funny none the less.

tagged

i got tagged by my friend laura from back home. here's how it goes.

Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
* Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
* Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
* Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. i have an unnatural aversion to white. i do not own any white shoes and the only time i will wear a white shirt is if it's layered under something. well, i do actually have one white dress shirt that i wear sometimes to church but it drives me nuts the whole time i have it on. i like white on other people, just not on myself.


2. i have tons of nervous energy so if i sit still too long i tend to shake\move my foot a lot. the best is when i'm with my brothers because we all do it in unison.


3. i took voice lessons for 7 years and piano for 11. do i feel guilty about the amount of money my parents spent versus the frequency i put those talents to use - absolutely.


4. i'm still trying to figure out what i want to be when i grow up.


5. i can't stand to be tickled because when i was little my brothers would tickle me until i wet my pants.


6. my tear ducts are wired to every emotion that i have. if i'm mad, tears; if i'm frustrated, tears; if i'm happy, tears. you get the picture.


7. i went to work one time with two different shoes on. true story - can't make stuff like that up. reason?? can't think of a good one but i'm sure lack of sleep was involved.

ok - so i'm going to tag people that i haven't tagged before.

jami, jandi, olivia, stacey; the following dont have blogs but i would love to hear your answers so email them to me! carissa, christy, judy and leigh ann

stats

last week the three oldest kiddos went to the doctor for checkups. i have to say that each visit was very entertaining. brendan and i literally laughed through his. it started when he took off his shoes and he had on one sock of his, and one of larry's. how he managed to shove the extra fabric from larry's sock into his shoe all day is beside me. and when the nurse handed him the robe to put on, he looked at her like she was crazy. "what is this for exactly" he asked her. she choked back a laugh and reassured him that he wouldn't need to leave the room in it. so when the whole turn your head and cough thing came up - i thought he was going to bolt from the room. he had to do that last year as well, but his regular pediatrician was out on maternity leave and a male doctor was covering her patients. i remember that he thought it was weird, but this time he was mortified. the look on his face was priceless! i'm thinking i might need to switch him to a male pediatrician though because we are just barely scratching the surface of "personal" issues and i'm not sure if he will be comfortable with a female. does anyone have any experience with that? if so, please share your knowledge with me! and, he failed the eye chart by one row so we need to see if he needs glasses. poor kid. i was really hoping the kids would take after larry in that regard. but at the same time, we were laughing hysterically so it's hard to know if he really couldn't see or if he just couldn't focus because he was shaking with laughter. bella's visit went really well except she was distraught over the shot situation and had herself worked up into a frenzy. but when it came to shots brooke took home the prize! we decided to go ahead and do her five year shots even though she isn't five for another six months. long story, but basically one year i scheduled a check up for her past her birthday and now they won't let me schedule them near her birthday because the appointments need to be about a year apart for insurance to pay for them. anyway, i was really nervous for her. four shots is a lot. she was such a trooper though! she didn't cry, she didn't say ouch, nothing! her facial expression didn't even change. i couldn't believe it! the nurse and i just looked at each other with total awe in our eyes. the most interesting thing to me was the kids stats from the visits. i know your not supposed to compare kids, and i try really hard not to i promise, but their stats tell you just how different they are from each other.

brendan
height - 39%
weight - 78%

bella
height - 18%
weight - 16%

brookelyn
height - 87%
weight - 82%

survival of the fittest - a post for brendan

the other day brendan was outside practicing his entomology skills and stumbled on a praying mantis devouring a grasshopper. finding a praying mantis was not a new thing for him, however finding one that was in the middle of dinner was so exciting he could hardly contain himself. he came in shouting, begging me to take some pictures. so - here we go.

since it was so hard to see the praying mantis in the grass brendan wanted to move him onto the bricks. he grabbed a paper plate and we slid it underneath him a little bit and moved him out. it must have made him feel exposed and he quickly began to drag his victim back into the grass.

i didn't feel the need to stick around and watch the rest of the story play out, but brendan was fascinated and continued to watch for a really long time.

this was the same day that brendan and a friend of his from school got to lead the audience in the star spangled banner at the school assembly. usually i attend the assemblies when the kids are getting an award or singing, but i was at the last one so larry went instead. i knew that brendan would be totally jazzed to have his dad there. whenever i attend those, i leave feeling so proud of not only my kids but our friends kids as well. at every assembly there is a least one kid from church, besides our's, that is being recognized for something. it's nice to know that the "mormon kids" are setting good examples for their peers and impressing the teachers with their behavior and abilities. i hope that trend continues throughout my kids school careers. something that makes me smile everytime i attend an assembly is the kids principal. growing up, my dad was my elementary and middle school principal and he was not a cool guy. he was very good at this job and he was highly respected, but lacked a certain coolness factor. the kids principal however ends every assembly by bringing out the electric guitar and jamming away. it's so fun! the kids start screaming and sing along. at first i was really taken back and thought it was so unprofessional (mostly because it was so opposite of what my dad would have done) but now i look at it differently. the kids still have a tremendous amount of respect for him and it doesn't hinder his ability to govern, so to speak, the school. plus, who doesn't enjoy a little jam session now and then??

the end of ponytails??

it's been 8 long weeks since my horrific haircut. for those 8 weeks i have done nothing with my hair but ponytails, messy buns and pigtails. this morning we didn't have a lot going on so i decided to try and actually do my hair. i was surprised to find that with a ridiculous amount of product and time (it took forever) it kind of works. the layers are not quite as fly away as they were, the extra growth has weighted them down a bit. and the extra product keeps the frizzies under control. but, due to the time issue, i still won't be fixing it very often. however, it is nice to know that the option is there should i so desire.

bella took the photos












this is a post that i started a few days ago and got sidetracked. i figured that since it was based on the same theme as this one, i would just combine them together.

i was fixing my hair this morning when a little shimmer caught my eye. upon closer inspection i found the source of the shimmer to be one lonely, stray grey hair. now a grey hair is nothing new to me. i have been pulling them out for years, but i must say that in the last 6 months the frequency of this find has increased tremendously. i proceeded in the normal course of action when this find occurs; quick pull with the tweezers and all is well again. however, unlike it's predecessors this hair was really long. usually they are very short, just starting out. but this one had been hanging around for awhile, camouflaging itself. is that how we turn grey? they hideout growing in secrecy and then you wake up one day and surprise! half your head is grey? now i understand that getting grey's is a part of life, but i simply am not ready for it! i want to remain in denial, thinking that by some miracle it isn't going to happen to me! i'm not ready to try and figure out what highlights and hair color i want to use to cover it all up. and can someone please tell me why they have to be so stiff and wiry?!??! is that what my whole head is going to look like? a mess of steel wool? these are the thoughts that run through my head when these finds occur. these are the stresses that they bring, silly and ridiculous as they are. and why is it that when men start turning grey they look distinguished and women just look, well older than they did before. and of course the most important thought of all....why do i let it bother me??

project runway

recently i have found a new wednesday addiction. project runway. i cannot sew. i am not a "inspired to create something fabulous out of nothing" gal. i wish i were, but it's just not one of my talents. so it amazes me what these designers can do. the pressure, the drama.... so entertaining! last night's episode was especially fabulous. the designers had to make outfits for each other that represented different music genres. this morning when i was blog surfing i found this entry about the show and it cracked me up! it was everything that we said about kenley. i had to link it so that other p.r. viewers could enjoy the laugh as well.

project runway recap