My Very First Sewing Project

Alright, that's not exactly true, I did take a sewing class when I was ten and took Home EC in high school. But the shorts I made in the sewing class didn't turn out and I never finished my apron project in high school.

Anyhow, yesterday morning I was trying to nap simply because I was bored and Delilah was sleeping. I wasn't tired so I sat and thought. I have been down a lot since Kale left again, it's harder this time around. I knew I needed something to occupy my time and keep my mind off my loneliness. So I decided I would teach myself to sew. K had offered to teach me years and years ago, but for some reason (maybe because we tended to shop more than sit at home) we never got around to it.

I took Meme, Lilly, and Aidan to Joann's and we picked out a pattern that said it was easy. Then after 45 mins of decision making I finally picked fabric and all the "notions". $28 later I had two patterns, 2.5 yards of fabric, thread, buttons, two zippers and a "green bag", enough to make Aidan a dress and a shirt for Sophia. Not too bad. I started cutting the pattern out at 6:30pm and started to sew at 7:20pm after I put Delilah, Sophia, and Aidan to bed.

I was on the phone with K after the first hour of sewing. She helped talk me though the rough patches. Apparently the pattern I picked was not necessarily for beginners. It had a zipper, gathering, and button holes (which I didn't do, as it wasn't needed due to the zipper). I finally finished at 12:30am. I think it's pretty cute myself. I wish I had fitted it to her before I put the straps in place, they needed to be in further. But she wasn't awake, when I do Aidan's I will fit it to her better.

I am pretty proud of myself. My goal is to feel comfortable enough by Easter to attempt dresses for each girl. I may try Valentine's Shirts next.

She calls it her "princess dress shirt"

Wordless Wednesday

Here's Lilly modeling the dress K made for her, it fits perfectly.

K also made this cape, but she intended it for Abby. It was far too big for her, so Aidan benefits from this fact. Aidan likes that she looks like Little Red Riding Hood. I may use it for her Halloween costume next year.

Sophia in the dress K made for her. It wasn't originally intended to be for our family picture, but now that I changed colors it's perfect.

She wanted to take the pictures outside even though it was only 28 degrees outside with a wind chill of 18.

Some days she can be such a ham.

This was while we were waiting in line to pay at Kohl's this past Saturday. It wasn't quite Black Friday long, but it took a good 20mins to get through the line.

I received my dress in the mail today and it fits. :) Although a little big in the bust, as usual. Apparently most people my size have considerably larger breasts. It's the last place I gain weight and the first place I lose it. :( I am at peace with my size now, I don't like it, but I am at peace with it.

Judy is sending a dress she had bought for Aidan, it should be here tomorrow. She thinks it will be perfect for our family picture, I haven't seen it yet so I am hoping she is right. Delilah's is not my favorite, but it will work. Hers is a brown corduroy jumper dress with flowers printed in lots of colors on it. It also has a pink shirt underneath. I saw one I liked better, but I didn't want to shell out $24 for a dress and another $17 for the sweater. I can't do it right now, I am saving our extra money for activities while Kale is here.

Hope you all had a great day!

It's Snowing!

It's not the first time it's snowed this winter, but it's coming down a lot faster than last time. Maybe it will be enough to cancel today's Girl Scout Ceremonies, I don't feel like going and being social. And of course both girls have ceremonies the same day and time, so that is wonderful. My aunt is taking Lilly for me, so at least I don't have to feel the guilt of "No one is going to my ceremony!" Although Aidan maybe upset that I am going to hers instead of Patience, we will see. I also have to go get a dessert to bring with us. And I have to go to the post office to return the wool dress coat I bought and didn't notice the sizing was junior's sizing. Needless to say it did not fit. I ordered a new one in the appropriate size already.

Some pictures of recent acquisitions:

Kale's New "Top Coat" for Dressier Outings

My New Dress Coat

My Dress for Our Family Pictures

K made two of these dresses out of fabric I bought this past fall. One for Sophia and one for her "friend Abby".

Here's Abby modeling the dress. I would post one of Sophia modeling hers but it was just mailed out yesterday.

After Judy decided she wanted a family picture also, I decided for my side of the family's picture we would all wear brown and pink or black. I couldn't find anything I liked for Lilly so Keisha offered to make me one. I just had to pick a pattern and she found the fabric. She is my hero, she made the entire dress in less than 12hrs. Impressive to me as I have little to no sewing experience. I also don't have a picture of her modeling it as it was also mailed out yesterday.

I have also recently bought Aidan and Delilah wool dress coats, Sophia's my mom bought a couple of years ago at a yard sale for only $3. It's in perfect condition and only needed to be dry cleaned. I bought Lilly's last year in an after Christmas sale. I almost always buy coats a little big so they last longer than one season. We will be a well dressed family this winter. :)

Wordless Wednesday

I made these this week for Sophia's Birthday

One for Abby. I am making her a necklace too. The pictures don't do the colors justice, but where I took them was shady.

Delilah's Birthday Dress Arrived!

I just love it!

Her new and very silly smile.

I also ordered the bow too match it.

Sophia's Birthday Dress AFTER K Fixed It.

Looks so much better now, I wish I had a before picture to show you.

It looked like she was wearing a potato sack.

The socks I had made for her too, I am hoping the same woman will make a pair to match Delilah's dress too. The blanket isn't for any special effect, it's to keep the dirt off the dresses.

I also ordered matching bows for her dress.

They're here!

Stella and Meme arrived yesterday. Delilah and I were there to greet them when they came home from the airport. Stella is very tall and skinny, Meme is equally skinny but not very tall. My dad spotted right away that Stella had a hickey on her neck. She said it was from her boyfriend on her last night in Germany. My dad joked he will have to keep and eye on her, I think he is not joking as much as he lets on. She was very embarrassed and said her mother noticed it when she came home that night and was worried what my parents would think. I know exactly what my dad thinks about hickeys, he thinks they are trashy. He told me so the very first (and LAST) time I had one. He didn't even notice it, my mom did and my punishment was to call and tell him about it. He gave me a long lecture about how trashy he thinks it is and how I am better than that, must have worked I haven't ever had another one. I didn't even know I had one that night, it was my very first time making out with a guy. It was his first time too, so we didn't know it would happen. They were huge too, I mean my neck and jawline were pretty much covered. It was quite embarrassing, especially when I had waltzed in my house thinking nothing was there. Then my mom takes me aside and tells me to go look in the mirror. After that I hid it from my dad until he left for work. I am thankful my mother was always conscious not to embarrass me in front of my friends. She waited until my friends were gone before making me call him.

Anywho, Patience did take the girls swimming and my uncle Guy even came along. He doesn't get out much, he has many problems with his back, he had a house fall on him when he was 17. Long story, but he has always been kind of a hermit. He's a great guy, funny, loving, and nice but he just doesn't like to leave his house. He came along because their grandson was going too and she can't handle all four by herself. After 2 and half hours I went back to pick them up. They fussed at my uncle when he told them it was time to go, I could hear them fussing at him from outside the gate. I knew how well that would go over, he is very big on respect. I told them they had to apologize and made them feel guilty for being rude. And then he talked to them about it also. It was Lilly and Aidan, Sophia is too little to scold for to much of that, plus she came out without a fight.

I received the dress I ordered for Sophia's birthday. It's too big so I sent it to K today so she can fix it, along with some fabric I bought since she is going to make the girls halter dresses/shirts. They are going to be super cute! I am glad she can sew, I can't. I took a sewing class and home ec and still can't sew a straight line. I could probably do it, but it wouldn't be perfect and therefore I wouldn't like it. K does such a great job, I am lucky to have her as my friend. In exchange or to say thank you, I am making Abby a necklace and bracelet set with her name on them. I ordered all the stuff these past few days. I have done a couple of bracelets for her when she was a newborn and I made her a necklace with her name on it before too. But K says she needs a new one so I decided to just go ahead and do some for all the girls. I am doing Sophia and Delilah's in their birthday dress colors. I am not sure about Lilly and Aidan yet. K is thinking brown and either pink or aqua for Abby. I ordered a bunch of different colored cat's eye beads, so I have a lot to choose from. I will post pictures when I get them all done.

Today is Alan's 1st birthday party. I have his gifts but haven't wrapped them yet. I don't even think I have any boyish wrapping paper. But it's late and I am going to bed, let's hope I can sleep in tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!

Blog Bum

I kind of forgot to post yesterday, doesn't happen too often during the week. I wasn't busy or doing anything special or spectacular, I was just being a blog bum. At least that what K called me when I told her I hadn't posted yet and wasn't motivated to do so.

I was kind of blah yesterday. In the morning the kids were fighting (nothing new), in the afternoon they were forced to either nap or play quietly in separate rooms. Everyone but Aidan was okay with this and after she threw a fit she no longer had a choice, nap it was. I had a peaceful hour and a half after that, it was nice. I had no TV on I just sat, browsing Etsy. When Delilah woke up I woke everyone else up, don't want them sleeping past 3pm, then they won't want to go to bed. I had them all shower, since we hadn't been out of our jammies yet, bad mommy, I know :P Shortly after that Jason, Rosy, and Alan showed up. Jason was watching the kids while we went to the store to get stuff for Alan's party tomorrow.

After they left I fed my kids since it was 6:30pm and they usually eat at 5pm. They played nicely after that so I allowed Aidan and Sophia to stay up until 8pm (7pm is usually their bedtime). Delilah took a nap from 7-8:15pm when I woke her up. She seems to sleep in later if I give her an evening nap and let her stay up until 9:30pm. Yesterday she slept until 7:45am and today she slept until 8am :) I spent the rest of the evening talking to Kale or K on the phone and Jason or Rosy online, while watching TV and browsing Etsy.

Today I am taking Lilly and Aidan to meet their teachers and drop their school crap off. Then Patience is hoping to come take them swimming, it hasn't worked out any other day i.e. rain, she got stuck at work, and she had to work at her second job. So hopefully nothing will happen today and they will be able to go. We purposely didn't tell the children in case something happened and she couldn't do it. They haven't known all along her plans, it will be a happy surprise if/when it happens.

Rosy's parents and brother get in today, they came for his first birthday. And the new exchange students come in today. Stella from Germany and Meme from Thailand, hopefully they will at least be HALF as fun as Lele and Nais. It should be interesting, their first weekend with us will be a busy one. Alan's first birthday party is tomorrow. And sometime this weekend I have to exchange Aidan's dress for a smaller size. Other than that I will be watching the hours tick away excitedly until Monday 8am, when they GO BACK TO SCHOOL!

This Weekend....

So...... I spent way too much money this weekend. But it mostly went to Lilly's birthday celebration, so I can hardly complain about it. I will start with Friday though and move along to know, lots happened this weekend. Friday I spent my morning shopping, I know SHOCKING! I had coupons and gift checks that needed to be used and had to find a pair of tennis shoes for Aidan before school starts. Did I mention it starts next week? :P

I headed out first to get my new contacts. I have this weird thing with my eyes where protein builds up on my lenses and I miss read the directions on my bottle of cleaning fluid. My eyes feel soooo much better now. While we were waiting in the optometrist's office an older lady was gushing over the girls. It's always nice to hear how cute they are, what beautiful names they have, and well behaved they are, even if they are bouncing around like kangaroos on crack.

After I paused long enough to put my new contacts in, we headed off to The Legends. It's an open air strip outlet mall. I went to Carter's first where I got Delilah's fall wardrobe (most of it) at a really decent price. If I paid sticker price I would have spent around $118, if I paid the sale price I would have paid $68, I paid $48. For that price I got two long sleeve 2 piece outfits, a short sleeved/long pant 1 piece outfit, a set of 5 onesies, a set of 3 onesie shirts, and a pack of 2 pants to go with the onesie shirts. Then we had lunch at Panera Bread, which was packed. Delilah begged and fussed for food the entire time. I kept giving it to her and she kept shoveling it in, boy is she a good eater. After lunch we went to the Stride Rite store where I found tennis shoes for Aidan for $19.99. Our last stop was Gymboree where I spent far too much money and didn't quite get as good a deal as in Carter's. But for Gymboree it was a good deal. I got 3 long sleeve shirts for $8.99 each, a short sleeved shirt for $8.99, and a sunflower outfit for Delilah that I paid probably $25-$30 for, I can't recall now exactly how much. It's cute though and makes a perfect fall outfit, maybe she'll wear it to the Applefest, if it's not too hot (which it will be).

After that store my patience (and pain killers) had worn thin. It was time to go. As I was walking to the car Rosy was calling to say she was meeting me there. I politely had to bow out, I had been there for a couple of hours already and was DONE. I had asked her to meet me there earlier but she couldn't. We went to my mom's to wait for her to get off work as she was riding with us to pick Lilly up and then we were all going to get my dad at the airport. When we got to the camp Lilly was wearing her PJ's, she said she ran out of clean clothes because it rained so much. I was not fond of her walking around in her PJ's and was even less fond of the idea when we found out my dad's plane was delayed. To kill time we went to the new JCPenney's and Target (where Patience now works). My mom tried to convince me people would just think she was wearing a short set, but I was still not thrilled with the whole thing. Then we were 5mins late getting my dad and he threw a small hissy. He's such a girl sometimes. :P

We went back to their house so they could feed us. Then we went home where the girls had showers and went to bed. Saturday morning came far to soon for me. Delilah decided to wake us up at 6:00am and we all know how much I love that. At least her pooping went back to normal but why does it always happen The.Day.After.The.Doctors.Appointment? So not cool. I had to be up anyways on Saturday, even though I didn't want to be. I started the morning by giving Delilah and Sophia a bath while I shaved my legs in the sink (TMI?). Then while they were all having breakfast I showered. I rushed them to get dressed, teeth brushed, and shoes on so we could be out the door by 8:30am. Just as I got off post I realized I forgot the gift cards to Chuck E Cheese, had to turn around and go back for them. Got to my mom's early enough to print coupons for CEC, then we headed out to pick up V (who lives around the corner from my parents, how cool is that?).

We arrived at the mall in time to potty before Club Libby Lu opened. We were the first appointment of the day and had undivided attention for quite awhile. The girls had a blast, as always. It was V's first time so she had so much fun. I didn't like the song they choose to dance to though and the girl didn't have it nearly loud enough. So we didn't get a repeat of Aidan's previous performance that my mom's camera killed. But after $150 they had fun and it was time to eat lunch. I had to stop for -er- "supplies" for my current predicament, since I am always forgetting such "supplies" at home. My mom said I must have a years supply as often as I forget and have to purchase more. But I bought the wrong ones, so that sucked. They work, but aren't my favorite.

CEC was next. That place gives me a headache. All the yelling you have to do for people to hear you. I am NOT a fan of having to yell for 2 hours straight. We allowed Lilly and V to go off on their own, as long as they stuck together, which they did. My brother, Rosy, and Alan stuck together. And Mariana a former exchange student (Rosy's friend) was visiting with them and she took Aidan around. I took Sophia around and my poor mom (she hurt her neck on Friday moving furniture at work) she stayed at the table with Delilah. Sophia had the most tickets (well except for Rosy) she had over 300. Rosy had over 600. We finally started to head home at 2pm. Stopping only for gas and frozen custard. I dropped V off, then my mom, and we headed home. It was early bedtime for the younger girls.

THIS morning I was awakened at 6:15am with a poopy diaper I didn't realize was poopy when I tried to change it in the crib. So my day started off with bathing Delilah, again. I was wide awake, as was she, after that. I came down stairs, feed her, and started laundry. At 8am when she was ready for her nap I went to put her in the crib and ants had infested it, in the 2hrs since I had woke up! I was not pleased. I laid her down in Sophia's room, in the pack n play, that's where Alan sleeps when he is over. Then I got to work, found out they were coming in my window (2nd story window nonetheless), I killed them all with Raid aerosol spray. It about killed my lungs, I was coughing so bad. Then I wiped down the walls with Lysol and cleaned her mattress with Lysol. By then I figured I might as well clean my sheets and such too, so I stripped my bed also. I haven't seen another ant in that room since, thankfully.

After that mess I was sweaty and hot, so I showered. Then I got everyone ready to go. We had lunch at my mom's before taking the kids to Jason & Rosy's. They stayed with Jason while mom, Rosy, and I went to my cousin's bride's shower. It was okay. Their house stunk like cat litter though and it took about an hour for my nose to become accustomed to the smell. We played a few games, in which I found out how very little I know about her. I didn't even know her age and they have been together for four years. Maybe I should get to know her, I never did before because I never thought they'd stay together. They had many problems the first couple of years. We left after the games were over and presents were opened, we didn't even eat cake. It didn't look very good, white cake with white frosting not my favorite.

Since we have been home I have done some housework and ordered some fun things from Etsy. DAMN K! For showing me that website. I have ordered Delilah a birthday dress and bib. I ordered a bow holder and a paci clip for Alan. Now I am just browsing, I cut myself off for a little while. :P

So that was my weekend......how was yours?

Some Unfinished Buisness

Jenn asked for a picture of my "new" couch awhile ago, like over a month ago when I purchased it. I am just now getting around to taking and posting pictures of it.

Please ignore the pile of clean laundry, I know I am. :P

Damn that wall is bare! It used to house everything on the opposite wall, but I get bored and move things around every few months. I really should put it back, but I really can't now, the couch works perfectly in that corner and won't on the other wall.

Also ignore the cat fur on the chaise, that's BC's favorite spot and I forgot to vacuum there when I vacuumed today.

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K brought me a wonderful present from her sil Marie from Memarie Lane. I had dumped a bunch of my baby clothes off on her, I mean gave, I gave a bunch of baby clothes to her. :P I am just glad they can go to a good home where they are wanted, needed, or appreciated. I spent a ton of money on baby clothes and it's nice to know who they go to, usually I just give them to Goodwill. And as a nice surprise, totally unnecessary but appreciated nonetheless, she sent a bunch of her handmade hairbows to me. Aren't they just the cutest? You can't really appreciate the cuteness with out clicking on the picture for the original size.

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Today is going to be busy and stressful, I am taking Aidan and Sophia to the dentist. Aidan has major dental issues, not cavities, but a narrow palette with extra teeth. We will find out exactly how many extra teeth she has and discuss the plan of action. Her dentist has previously told us it's going to take years to fix her problems and cost us $3000 out of pocket. Lucky us. I had a narrow palette too, but we had it spread with a retainer. My dad had extra teeth but my grandma said they fell out on their own, weird. I swear to you the first visit we had with the dentist he kept saying "Huh, I have never seen this before" or "Huh, this is interesting." Not good things to hear from the dentist. I am not looking forward to this visit, he is doing a panoramic x-ray of her mouth, insurance only allows two of these in your lifetime. You know what the worst part of this all? It had to be Aidan, the most dramatic, unreasonable child we have. Wish me luck!

Look who came back to have dinner with us?

On Saturday afternoon K called and asked if we would like to meet up with them for dinner. They were on their way back home and were going right by us anyways. Since I already had dinner prepared and on the table we meet them for dessert. We met up at Panera Bread where they at dinner and we all had dessert afterwards. It was nice to see them again, even if it was only for an hour.

Having dinner @ Panera Bread

Asher, Aidan, and Aaron

Abby avoiding eating her dinner

Aaron avoiding eating his dinner by talking to Lilly

Aidan being silly

I know I said I was done with pictures but....

I found these from when the kids had to say goodbye.

It's not easy getting 6 kids to look and smile at you for a picture.

See what I mean? :P

Group Hug!

Asher and Lilly, they have been friends longer than K and I!

Abby saying goodbye. Sophia was not happy when she left.

4th of July: Part Four

Patience, Marion, and Nadja before the show.

K and Mary (her mom) before the show.

Nonnie and Pa trying to keep Delilah and Aidan calm.

I took over with Delilah and she was fine the rest of the night.

Aidan was a different story. She cried loudly for the first half, then calmed down enough to watch, but only with her ears being covered by my dad.

Asher, Lilly, Abby, and Aidan before the fireworks started.

K and Alan

I had her hold him to see how big he is.

Sophia, Jason, and Rosy before the fireworks started.

Abby and Green

She sat with him the whole show. We were teasing him because he has always wanted to marry a pretty blonde american. We told him to wait 20 years and he could marry Abby. :P

Asher, Lilly, and Aaron watching the show upside down.

Abby and Sophia before the show.

Delilah and Alan before the show.

Jason and Rosy before the show.

Rosy being silly with Green. His shirt says "You'd look better with me."

K and Aidan before the show.

We walked from my house to the pond where they hold the fireworks display on Fort Leavenworth. We arrived just before dusk and sat on the opposite side than most of the people. So we had a great view without being crowded by other people. We brought our own chairs and Rosy supplied us with bug spray, thankfully, they were really biting. The bats kept us entertained before the show. They had a little trouble getting the music going, but overall it was a good display. Nadja and Marion thought it was the best fireworks show ever. I guess in Germany a show like ours would cost millions to put on. I mean it was good, but not that good. After the show we walked briskly home, tired, sweaty, and happy.

K and I spent the rest of the night talking and loading pictures from her camera, her mom's camera, and my camera onto my laptop. I also finally convinced her to join facebook so she could see all the videos and pics I post. Overall it was a funny but exhausting day.