Miss Molly Blue

Molly at 14 weeks.

Oh and just in case you're wondering what Brian brought home for my worst morning ever...no chocolate...no fabric....no paint samples....but dinner!

Yeah!

Guess who got a shoutout at Kiddlins today?

Yep, Molly and I!



http://www.kiddlins.com/

That kind of day...

Have you ever had that kind of day...the day where nothing goes right and it's only 12:00 pm and you have the worst headache of your life?

Where 4 of your 6 kids have spent the morning crying and/or throwing tantrums until you want to walk out the door and not come back for hours. Where one boy wants chocolate and you are more than willing to give some to him just so that he will be quiet for two seconds so you can teach some science to the girls but he won't say please and just keeps demanding it over and over again. First you try to ignore his tantrum, then move on to spankings, all the while trying to keep Molly happy and quiet. Finally after 1 1/2 hours of crying about various things (sorry you finished reading that book and there are no more pages to look at) I stuff said boy with chicken nugget dinosaurs and send him outside.

Meanwhile Molly wants to take a nap but won't settle down so we walk and walk while teaching mixed whole numbers and improper fractions, pausing long enough to switch shoulders because an arm is very likely to fall off it's so tired of holding a 14lb chunk.

Just when you think it might be quiet so you can go gulp down some wine water, your oldest (who rarely cries) is crying because she just started a new math book and doesn't understand the problems. What she is really crying about is that this new math book will take her longer to finish the problems and more brain power, hence she doesn't like it. You tell her to suck it up and get cracking because life is about work and isn't fun so get used to it. Okay well you didn't really tell her that. You really said something encouraging and told her if she needed help to just ask.

Now it is quiet, 2 advil are down the pipe, Molly is asleep, Grae & Ellie are playing outside, it is t-minus 5 minutes until the boy's naptime and things are looking up. Maybe your husband will read this post and bring home something special for you tonight, maybe something involving chocolate or fabric or paint samples? I'm just saying...

Ava

Lauren found a broken cd during school. She showed one half of it to her sisters. Ava, being a nitwit witty, said "Oh no, now only half the songs will play."

She sure makes life fun around here.

Would would Alice wear?

Our eBay sewing group, the Clovergirls, decided to do a Wonderland launch. Since I can't make costumes (I'm really not creative enough), I did a What Would Alice Wear On A Fall Day Before Going Down The Rabbit Hole For Her Long Adventure outfit.



You can check out more pics here: My auction...

My pink princess

A new gown on eBay. I made the hat and it about killed me. I probably went through a yard of fabric just testing it out, lol.



Link:
http://tinyurl.com/yuea25

What I've been up to...

Just got back from Maddie's vision screening and she doesn't need glasses. To say she is relieved is an understatement. She's thrilled. Lauren went in for her screening last week and we found out she needs prescription reading glasses. Fortunately our insurance covers hardware up to $250 so we won't have to pay anything out of pocket. Ava's screening is Thursday so we'll see what she needs.

Molly is 3 months old now and I really need to get some pictures of her. Hopefully by the end of this week. That girl will be crawling by the times she's 5 mths. I can't leave her on the bed alone or she will scoot herself right off.

Oh and a big hooray. I just paid off two of our 5 medical bills! It feel so great. 3 more to go (and they are the bigger ones). I thought I ran out of things to sell on eBay but then I find a box here or there will stuff we don't need.

I was sewing on Saturday while Molly took her long nap and Grae, Maddie and Brian were running errands. There is a soccer field pretty much right behind our house and I could hear a girls soccer game. The parents were cheering, the referee's whistle blowing, the coaches, well, coaching. One thing that bothered me though was a male coach (at least I think he was the coach), yelling at the girls. I don't mean encouraging, "go get 'em" yelling but borderline abusive yelling. It really upset me.

I played sports when I was a kid. Basketball, baseball and softball. I know the excitement that a coach feels during a game but since when did it become okay for a man to yell at girls like that? Why didn't the parents step in and tell him to cool off? What kind of example does it set for the kids? Well, it's just a game, he's really nice in real life...NO I don't buy it. If it was just a game, why act like it is the most important thing in the world? I hope he doesn't act that way at home with his wife and daughters. Get a life coach.

Update on cloth diapering

I.LOVE.IT!!! I am really enjoying cloth diapering Molly. We use prefolds, a Snappi and a Bummis Super Whisper Wrap during the day. During her long nap I also stuff a Cotton Babies microfleece insert.

Still using disposables at night but that will change when I get my fleece soaker, the Stacinator, great name ;) It should come this week. Lauren is also going to knit Molly some wool longies, like these, to wear at night over her prefold. Aren't they cute?!

I'm so glad we aren't putting disposables on her all day. I like knowing that we can just wash her diapers and not have to throw them away. I also like that she wears cotton and not chemicals on her bottom. I'm going to be switching Graedon over to cloth soon. Maybe it will help him to potty train faster if he feels the wetness. I'm not so excited about changing his poopy diapers. Yuck. But at least it is only once a day and I can put a flushable liner in it.k

A quick project

Don't you love quick projects? Brian's dad let us have this wood bed frame that was sitting out in his shop.

It's in really great shape but just needs some paint. Bri sanded it down and we had Lauren prime it.
Brian glued a wood decal we bought at Lowe's. It was only $3.49 but really adds to the look of the bed (at least I think so). After 1 coat of primer and two coats of a cottage creamy paint, it was ready to go up to the bedroom.
The whole project took a few hours and cost only $3.49. Can't beat that! I do have another project that won't be quite so easy and certainly not quite so inexpensive.

I want Brian to build me an armoire to hold our flat screen tv. The t.v. will sit on top. I want it to look old and I want it stained my favorite turquoise blue. This is my drawing.
It will have open shelves at the sides and two doors in the middle. The doors will have beadboard on the panels. The hard part will be finding some great short legs for it. I have total confindence that Brian will make it exactly how I have pictured in my head and probably even better. I can't wait to get started on it!

Another project we're going to be starting is fixing up our hallway. I'll try to get some pictures of it later. It's really small and really doesn't get much light. I want to stencil the upper walls and really decorate it in an art deco style. Our house was built in 1938 so it would be appropriate. I've got lots of ideas but little money ;)

Making Red Grape Pie

Every time red grapes go on sale, Brian asks for this pie. Well, they went on sale for $.99 lb so I HAD to make it. Here are the steps:

1. Wash the grapes:


2. Enlist children to cut them in half for you because you don't want too:


3..Assemble your ingredients:


4.In a large bowl mix everything together and dump in a pre-made pie crust because you hate making crust (or maybe because you are no good at it).


5. Put crust on top. Brian likes when I tear the crust and squish it on top. Hey, it's easier that way too. Be sure to place it on a baking sheet to catch the splatters.



6. Pull it out of the oven and stick it on your very favorite Fiesta ware blue plate.



7. Repeatedly tell your 2 year old son that we can't eat it yet. Tell him again and again as he asks for pie all afternoon.

8. Eat it but forget to take pictures.
Red Grape Pie

• Pastry for a 2 crust pie


• 5 cups seeded, cut up red seedless grapes


• 2/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar (divided)


• 1 teaspoon lemon juice


• 3 tablespoons quick cooking tapioca


• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine


• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Combine grapes, 2/3 cup sugar, lemon juice and tapioca. Place in pastry-lined 9 inch pie pan. Dot with butter.
Adjust top crust, flute edges and cut vents. Sprinkle with a mixture of 2 teaspoons sugar and the cinnamon. Bake 45 to 50 minutes.

I'm not a guy

So I was standing in line at our local REI store yesterday waiting to pick up some Keen sandals I ordered on their website. In front of me was a strapping young man in his mid twenties. He proceeded to the next checkout lady (who also was in her twenties.) She was all smiles and helpful and had a cheery tone in her voice. I thought she was nice.

He finished up and she bid him adieu and it was my turn. I gave her the print out of my order and told her I wanted to pick up my shoes. I think what she heard was I needed her to change my son's poopy diaper. She trod off to the backroom and a few minutes later came trudging to the counter carrying what seemed to be 100 lb shoes. My order was a heavy burden for her to bear. She hoisted them up on the counter, printed a receipt and handed me a pen. I signed for the shoes and handed the pen back to her. She took it from me and dropped it in a can right next to me. I told her "oh sorry" and she gave me the "whateva" look. I thanked her but her attention was elsewhere. Probably searching the store for another guy. ;)

10 weeks

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