I should really take a nap...

I won't, but I should. Last night I had every intention of going to bed before 11. Delilah, however, had different plans. She went to bed fine, but woke at 10 screaming. I finally brought her down at 10:30 and we went to bed at 11:30. She was up again at 4:45am and didn't go back to sleep until 6:45 and then was knocked out when I had to wake her at 7:45. I did get more sleep than I have been, but it was interrupted sleep, never good sleep.

I am dragging a** today, I have no intentions on going out today. It's currently 9 degrees and feels like -4 degrees. My brother so kindly picked up the girls and brought them home for me. I wasn't feeling well, tired and a little down.

I did finish Sophia's shirt last night. Only took me three hours, would have been less if the gathering stitches hadn't broken and needed to be redone. I like hers the best so far. Kale prefers Lilly's. You can be the judge for yourself. I think I will take a break for tonight and work on Aidan's tomorrow night.

Lilly's Valentine's Shirt and My New Habit

I have a new habit of napping in the late mornings. It's been nice, except I don't want to wake up when Delilah does. Oh well, I need to really start going to bed at a decent hour. I have been burning the midnight oil for weeks now. Not really good for someone who needs to be functioning during the day. Since I took up sewing my housework has suffered more than usual. My dishes and laundry mostly. My living room has never stayed so clean. I have to vacuum every night to be sure no one steps on any loose pins. That's one of my greatest fears.

I finally finished Lilly's shirt. It took me the longest so far. I didn't realize hemming on a curve was so difficult. I know better now. I like the way it turned out and how well it fits Lilly. Of course I had to take it in an inch and make the elastic 2 inches shorter than they suggested, I have skinny mini girls. I think I could make the bodice a size 5 for her, but she needs the length to be a 7. They are all over the place for the pattern sizes.

Now I just have Sophia and Aidan's Valentine's shirts to finish. They are all cut out and just need to be sewn. At least these two have easy written on the patterns, not like Lilly's. :P

Trying Not to Turn This Into a Sewing Blog....

Friday night was pretty uneventful for us, we stayed home all night. I ended up staying up until 1am working on Delilah's Valentine's dress however. Which really kicked my butt when I had to be up and out of the house Sat. morning in time to pick my mom up at 9am. We went shopping for the whole day.

I had things to return and pictures to pick up at Walmart. She had a fax to send at her school. Then I had to pick up a few things at Target and she had to exchange a sweater at Kohl's. Then we spent a bit of time in Hobby Lobby. They had Simplicity patterns on sale for 99cents each and even though I had gone the day before and bought my limit of 10, I still had more I wanted. I ended up buying 6 more. Then I had to get the trim for Sophia's Valentine's shirt, the bias tape to finish Delilah's dress, and the elastic for Sophia's shirt. I looked at fabric, but the kids were way too wild to stay long. My mom had given them candy before we left town, never a good move. We ate lunch at Panera Bread, our favorite, and then headed out to pick up our family pictures from Sears. After that we dropped my mom's jewelry off to be inspected at Zale's while we waited the kids used their Border's gift cards they received from Kyla. After we picked up the jewelry we headed home.

I wasn't at my parents house for more than 15mins before I left with Jason and Rosy. They were going to look at vans. We left all the kids with my parents and headed out. Not long after we left Sophia and Aidan were picked up by Patience. It was their turn to spend the night, Lilly and her friend had spent one night the week before. Patience took them and Meme to Chuck E Cheese, they had a blast. But they stayed up until after 11pm, which I don't really mind, because I wasn't in charge. I just made them nap the next day.

Jason, Rosy, and I looked at a van, then they took me to Hancock Fabric to get more patterns. They had Butterick on sale for $1.99 and I had picked out Lilly and Aidan's Valentine's shirts online in their patterns. I also got a large cardboard cutting board, so I can stop putting pin marks in my table top. Then we drove around looking for more vans, but the one place they saw one they liked was closed by the time we arrived. We then attempted to eat out at a sit down place, no such luck at 6:30 on a Sat. We ended up eating at KFC, it was alright but gave me a tummy ache.

Sat. night I stayed up way too late again finishing Delilah's dress. It wasn't that hard, the only thing is it's a bit too long. I need to hem it more.

Sunday I had to pick Sophia and Aidan up by 10am, at 9:30 my aunt called to make sure I was coming. :P They must have driven her nuts. Then we went to my mom's to pick Lilly up and hang out for a little while. We came home, Sophia, Aidan, and Delilah napped, Lilly and I cleaned and then I napped for a couple hours. Last night I stayed up again way too late cutting out Lilly, Aidan, and Sophia's shirts. That took forever even though there aren't that many pieces per shirt.

Today I napped for a couple hours then went to Walmart to get the elastic I needed for Lilly's shirt. Then we stopped by Rosy and Jason's to see the progress on their kitchen and to have cookies, yum. Went to pick up the girls from school and then went to the grocery store. I am exhausted and my children are driving me crazy. Pretty normal day. :P

The Day I Took a THREE HOUR NAP!!!

You didn't read the title wrong, I actually was allowed a three hour nap today. It was wonderful, I feel refreshed. I have been staying up late every night and of course I have to get up at 7 every morning so there is no sleeping in. I was chatting with Kale online today and could barely keep my eyes open. I decided I'd take my shower then lay down while Delilah napped. I can't believe she slept that long and that Sophia didn't try and wake us up. I put the gate up at the top of the stairs and let her roam between her room and the older girls room. When I came out I asked "Are you playing?" and she told me "No, playing is boring. You slept to long!"

After my extremely long nap we went to the grocery store and BK for lunch (late lunch at 2:30). We ate our lunch while we waited for the girls at the school. I usually get to the school at 2:45 so I am first in the pick up line. But they don't get out until 3:15. I also used the time to clean out the van, it was full of trash. A shopping bag full of trash to be exact. Mostly papers from my mail. I open it in the pick up line at the school. I rarely get anything important so most of it's trash/recycling.

I spent all day yesterday working on Aidan's dress which has now become a shirt. I tried to put the ruffle on the bottom of the shirt but after it was on it looked weird. So I spent and hour or two taking it off stitch by stitch. I thought it was going to be too big on her, but it fits pretty well. Looks pretty good also. My mom is going to help me put the ruffle on it this weekend, we will see if I like it better with out it.

I plan on going shopping this weekend for more supplies. Hobby Lobby and Hancock Fabric are both having pattern sales. I will stock up on the brands that are on sale. I wrote down the numbers of 7 I liked in Simplicity and 9 in Butterick. I am not sure I will get them all this weekend, but for 99cents and 1.99 each you can't go too wrong.

Here's Aidan's shirt. I didn't let her wear it today in case I want to add the ruffle.

Even though she looks angry she really wasn't. She is just weird right now about smiling.

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"

Yesterday was a Productive Day, Today? Not So Much.

Yesterday I had Lilly clean the "art room" (their tv room, computer room, and where their art table is) and sent Aidan up to clean their room. This was at 10am. At 11am Lilly was done with the art room and was sent to help Aidan. I went to check their progress at 11:30am and they hadn't gotten very far. At noon they came down for lunch then were sent back up to clean again. I went to check on them at 12:30pm, this is when I realized their idea of "cleaning" was to throw everything into the closet. I know this is completely normal, but not acceptable. I had them pull everything out of their closet and start over. At 1:30 I checked on them again, they had everything out of the closet but hadn't made much progress beyond that. So I realized I had to supervise this endeavor.

They finally finished the room around 3pm, I had been helping Sophia clean her room up and then we had a tea party. Then I decided to move their bookcases and reorganize them (AGAIN). That took me about an hour. I put all the "big" kid books on one case and all the "little" kid books on the second case. They are both nearly full and I still have a box of books in the garage. It's not a small box either.

I like books, I like that my kids enjoy reading. I used to. If I enjoy a book I have to finish it, right away. I took three literature classes my senior year and loved every book we were assigned to read. Even Shakespeare, which I took one class that was strictly Shakespeare. I don't read much anymore, I am too scatterbrained anymore. My mind swirls all the time and I have a hard time concentrating anymore. The last book I read was The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. Now my mom is pressuring me to read the Twilight series. She gave me her book and asks me all the time if I have started it yet. Nope and I don't plan on it either. Vampires don't interest me one little bit. Plus part of me is afraid my mother will be right, and I hate that. :P

I will leave you with a few pictures from yesterday's productivity.

Sophia and I having our tea party.

Delilah saying "cheese" when I whip out the camera. What they don't learn from their older siblings.

Little Kid bookcase. A little room left, but not a whole lot.

Big Kid bookcase. Also a little room left, but not a lot. I am proud to mention Lilly has read all but a few (very few) of these books.

Lilly's bed. It was made when we cleaned, but I took these today.

Picture this closet 3ft deep with toys.

Much improved.

Aidan's bed. Messy but better than before.

This bottle was full the 24th of December. Aidan decided her bed stank and sprayed half the bottle all over her bed. Their room stank for days.

I Want a House!

I don't know why but Kale decided to start looking at houses while he was here. We found this one online and we LOVE it. You can check it out for yourself here if you like. The kitchen is pretty much perfect, the rest just needs paint and maybe new flooring, except the master bath needs an overhaul someday. If it is still available in six months when Kale returns we will try and buy it. It's bigger than any military house we have lived in so far, by nearly 1000 sq ft. We expect/hope to be here for at least 5 more years if not longer. I would like to keep the girls in the same school as long as possible. But this is what I have to look forward to, something to keep me motivated.

He's Gone, Again....

It's harder this time around. I am alone with the girls this time around. My entire family is out of town right now, parents in Chicago, brother in Mexico. It's just harder this time. Before I had Judy here to keep my mind busy and the first two months I went non-stop from activity to activity. It also doesn't help that it's winter right now and I haven't been going out as much before he arrived.

His visit was wonderful, but far too short and went by far too fast. We had barely a day to sit and do nothing. We had two family portrait sessions in two weeks. Three family dinners in two weeks. One dinner out alone,a dinner out with my family, and a dinner out with just his family. We also had Christmas Eve dinner at my parents house and Christmas dinner here at our house. Both dinners were delicious. The girls received way too many presents from everyone. We had Lilly's play to go to and Kale spent a day volunteering at the school. We had a morning of baking with the kids, Meme, and Judy. The women went out shopping the morning after Christmas. Kale took the girls to the movies twice they saw Bolt and The Tale of Despereaux. It was a busy busy two weeks but it was a happy two weeks.

Thankfully Delilah and Sophia are better. Delilah hated her meds and they had to be force fed to her or hidden in food. FUN! She has also not regained her appetite as of yet. Hopefully she will get it back soon.


I leave you with our second family photo shoot:

Kale, David, and Judy

In-Laws David and Judy

Delilah didn't want to hold still but sat still when we sat her on the sled.

Sophia and her silly smile.

Aidan's sillier smile.

Lilly

This isn't the best one of the four of them, but it's the funniest.

Four generations of Kale's family. His Dad David and his grandma Margaret aka Nanny.

Family Pictures!

Getting Delilah to stand still was no easy task!

Lilly's the only one that looked weird in this picture, but all the rest of the pictures of the six of us my dress had lowered in the front and looked funky.

We are all looking and most of us are smiling, success! :P
The woman was wonderful, she took 82 pictures of us and didn't delete any of them.

We had left to go to Lilly's play so I didn't see these until I talked Green into bringing me the disks.

Mom and Dad

Alan wasn't real cooperative either, he wanted down. Jason paid Sophia to make him smile and laugh. It didn't work as well in their family picture as it did on his pictures alone.

Her natural smile, nice to see it usually she has a fake one planted on her face.

Aidan had fallen and bumped her mouth just before it was her turn. You can tell she had been crying.

Love it!

He's too cute!

She's hard to capture on film! But the woman managed it.

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!