Better Than Last Year, I Think…

Well, Easter has come and way gone this year.  It was a crazy time.  Easter is my favorite holiday, and it seems to be crazy every year!  Not the way I would like to enjoy it.  I love Easter because it is spring!!! And because you get to buy pretty new dress clothes!  And there are the Easter eggs, the bunnies, the pastel colors everywhere…I could go on and on!  Easter 2010 was crazy all because of me.  I had too many things planned at once.  Not surprising I know!  

The week of Easter we had just gotten back from a trip to Tulsa, where I never took a picture!  I took my camera, but never took a picture.  Trust me when I say we had a great time!  While I was there we did some shopping.  I decided since I was running out of time to make Callie a dress, I would buy Callie an Easter dress.  Between Nana Charlene and I, we managed to pick out three dresses, two purses and a pair of shoes for Callie.  Just in case.  You never know what mood I would be in!  I had also decided to order a pre-made, pre-pleated dress to smock, in case I had time.  I really didn’t think it would be here in time to even start, but oh well, we had backups!

The Monday after Easter was the day to take things to our local Just Between Friends sale.  This is a huge consignment sale that I have been missing while being in Iowa.  I started going to them in Tulsa, and have since sold stuff through them in Norman and OKC as well.  So, the week before Easter I had to get all my stuff ready to sell.  Never mind that I had known about this for a few months!

And the week of Easter my parents were coming for a visit.  This was a good thing as they haven’t had much time to visit us and my dad was coming to help me hang shelves in my John Deere room.  Since I would be dragging stuff out of it to sell at the consignment sale, this would be the perfect time to do this.

And there was all the usual stuff:  school, co-op, homeschool PE, probably orthodontist appointments since we manage to go at least every other week!

Well the dress I ordered came on the Thursday before Easter.  I couldn’t stand it.  My parents came on Thursday and I started alternating between pricing and smocking, and trying to be a good hostess, which I am sure I was not!  This is why I titled this “Better Than Last Year…”  Remember last year when I decided to make an Easter dress in a week?  (Last years Easter saga:))  Well, this year I did it in three days.  Granted I only smocked it.  No sewing involved on this one.  But the smocking is what I love to do anyway! So, is this better since I did it in less time?  Or worse since I waited until the last minute two years in a row?  Oh well, who cares,  I love it!  I do not have a great picture of it yet.  But it is bright pink check with white and green stitching.  It is not as long as I like for this type of dress, but cute anyway!

Look at this grin.  This is her two-year-old grin.  The grin that says “I am so cute, I can do anything I want!”  (Can I just say she actually minded me tonight at dinner and even the boys were telling her good job it was such a surprise!)  Ornery!

Todd has put his foot down on the matching clothes for the boys.  This is the closest I could get without being vetoed!

Callie and Grandma having a conversation at the kitchen table.

Callie and Gannon taking a break from cleaning out the John Deere room.  Notice all the tubs in the background?  All empty now!!  I am so excited.  The consignment sale was a huge success!  Worth all the madness getting the stuff ready.  I would share how much money I made but it is embarrassing to think I had that much stuff to sell! Taking time out from the work to fly kites with Grandpa.  One advantage of living in a house with no neighbors, trees, or anything for that matter!  There was plenty of room to fly!

Callie and Gannon watching the kite action. 

All in all it was a great week and Easter, just tiring!  I really am going to start Callie’s Easter dress sooner next year.  I know, I could have used one of the dresses we bought, but I love to make her things!  I figure I need to get things made now before she refuses to wear what I make.  We are already starting to have issues with her picking out her own clothes!

So, moving right along in our little family journal.  I recently started printing my blog for 2009.  Since I don’t scrapbook, I thought this would be a perfect thing to print and bind for the kids to have someday.  They may not ever care, but it will release some of the guilt I have for not scrapbooking!  Or even just putting pictures in albums!  Anyway, I feel the need to go back and include some of our life when I get behind so we can remember what we do! 

Christmas Fashion Show

I was excited to find a little time for sewing this Christmas. I would always love to have more, but with everything going on, I was glad to get this much done. I didn't think to take pictures of her standing up so you could see the finished product, so I just cropped the best pics I could find.

This is the tried and true Martha Pullen A-line. It is so easy, takes less than an hour to whip out, and it's reversible, so you get two dresses in one! I have already made too many of these and will probably make many more! This side had a Christmas ornament appliquéd with a C in the middle.

This side of the jumper had this cute Mary Engelbreit fabric. My favorite part you really can't see but along the bottom is says "Is Christmas fun or what?" So cute!

This is just a little red tee with Christmas tree appliquéd on it. I love this tree. The red thread swirls to look like garland.

I guess you could say this is her "official" Christmas dress. I smocked white on white then green and red to resemble holly. I love the simple look of it. The only problem is that it is huge! I bought the pattern the next size up from her Easter dress. Well, she hasn't grown enough to need that size. But, it will all work out. She didn't really get to wear it this year since we were out of town on Sundays and churches were cancelled in Oklahoma. So, it should still fit next year. Woo-hoo, one Christmas project that I can cross off the list already!

This is not a homemade Mama project, obviously. But she got it for Christmas from Grandma so I had to include it. Shoes and all. How cute is this? I think Grandma is worried that Callie is destined to be stuck in jumpers and polka-dot shoes forever! And, I think Grandma is also pulling for her to be a the point guard for the OU women's basketball team, so she is just getting her used to Nike's and warm-up suits!

Even an athlete needs to cook!

Callie

Callie turned two December 13. I can't believe how fast two years has flown! I always think time is flying by, but it really has these last two years.

What can I say about Callie?! We are always getting comments about her. She is a friendly, happy little thing. She loves to smile at people and wave. Right now her favorite thing is to wave to the Salvation Army bell ringers. She is so excited to see them! People always comment, "Well you finally got your girl". Or, "Looks like the icing on the cake". Or, "Three big brothers, she'll never have a boyfriend". You name it, we've heard it! I will just say she is definitely the icing on our cake. I never imagined having a girl. Even before we had any kids. Maybe it is because I felt comfortable with little boys, having had two little brothers. Maybe it is because I griped so much about going to Little League games that my mom told me I was going to have a house full of boys. I figured she was always right, so she would be right about this! ha! Or maybe it is because I can't fix hair, makeup or tie bows. God knew better than to give me a girl! Anyway, just never imagined have a daughter. Todd on the other hand, always said he was going to have three boys then a girl. He has a way of getting his way so I should not be surprised this happened!

Now that we have a girl in our family, we of course can't imagine her not being here. She is the cutest little thing. She is so different than the boys. I know you are thinking, obviously. But, I think unless you have one of each you don't realize how different they are. Right now she loves her babies. She mothers them, takes care of them. She cleans up after all of us. She loves to put her laundry away. She got a shopping cart for her birthday. She pushes it around with a piece of paper and pen to cross things of her list! It is so funny! Also a little scary to think about what she watches!

She also thinks that she is much older than two! I think that comes from being a fourth born child. But it is also because she is just too smart! She watches and learns from all of us. Just yesterday when I gave the boys their lists for the day (chores, etc.) she wanted a list too. If I would have told her some things to do, she would have done it! Of course she learns bad with the good. Unfortunately she thinks burping is so funny. I only made it through one child not laughing at things like that! Once you have more than one child, it is impossible to keep them from laughing at stuff like that. But, she also sits pretty still in church, because she has watched her brothers sit still in church. So, I guess I will take the good with the bad!

We didn't have a big party for her, just our little family. I knew our house wasn't ready for a bunch of company and I am still getting settled in from moving. And, she's two. So maybe she'll forgive me! We had a great day though. She was thrilled to be the center of attention. Come to think of it, it was like any other day for her! Ha!

Callie before church. I made her a little birthday dress. I think it is so cute! We had a ladybug theme for the day. I was really just looking for another justification for buying ladybug shoes!

Callie and the brothers.

When we went to get Callie at Bible class they had made her a birthday crown. How sweet ! The said they had to enlarge to go over the bow! Ha!

She fell asleep on the way to eat. She trying everything to stay awake, but it was already too much excitement!

We chose Red Robin for Callie, since she doesn't really know how to choose a place for her birthday. The boys like to go there for their birthdays and it is always fun. This is the look on her face when they were singing to her. She is not impressed!

She was loving the hot fudge sundae they gave her!

While Callie took her nap, the Cupcake Bosses decorated her ladybug cupcakes.

We didn't get any pics of her blowing out the candles, who knows. But, she wasn't too into the cupcake after she got her fingers dirty.

Maybe we'll try a fork.

Present time!

Official videographer.

I love it when kids sit like this! Flatfooted without falling over :).

She was only into getting the wrapping off. She could care less what was in the gift. Here she is laying on the gift to make sure all the paper is off.

Love.

Her new baby and carrier. She was already making sure her "banket" was just right.

Is this not the cutest shopping cart you have ever seen? She loves it!

Gannon very kindly showing her how to dress her baby.

Checking on her baby again.

Full view of the dress. I just love it! I need to learn how to make bows so we could really be coordinated!

Callie, you are are so sweet and fun for all of us. Your brothers adore you and would do anything for you. You have your daddy wrapped around you finger, it is really sweet to watch. You are my special friend and keep me on my toes! We thank God every day for you and your health and happiness. We are so looking forward to the coming years with you!

Halloween

Well, we are slowly getting settled in here in Springfield. Luckily, we had three out of four Halloween costumes ready before we got here, so we didn't have to stop in the middle of all this to figure out costumes. Garrett could not decide what he wanted to “be” for Halloween. He finally settled on Mystery Man. We had all the stuff to make his costume, but of course didn’t make it until the morning of Halloween. I wonder why?!

Halloween in our house seems to be almost an afterthought lately. This year, we had just moved. Last year, we had just moved. The year before, we had a baby. The year before mama was pregnant. Can you see how this happens? Last year at least we had moved into a neighborhood that had a lot of kids so therefore a lot of Halloween action. This year, not so much! Our neighborhood only has one other house, occupied by a single man we don’t see much of. So we decided to take advantage of a local church’s festivities. This is one of those churches that looks more like a mall than a church. They had tons of stuff to do and lots of kids in costumes. The weather was beautiful. We had a nice time, even if it wasn’t the traditional Halloween of going to neighbors houses and hanging out after dark.

My kids all love to dress up. They would dress up all the time if I would let them. They are all so imaginative that they take their pretend games to the max and have costumes and all! So, just having an excuse to dress up for the day made it fun for them.

On a side note: our house in Bettendorf has sold! Three weeks after we listed it, we accepted an offer. We should close on November 10th. They buyer is a cash buyer, so hopefully he won’t spend all his money before the tenth! I am so excited to be done with that worry. Now I feel like I can concentrate on this house.

Ladybug! Ladybug! Fly away home!

Mystery Man

Detective Kellen

Captain Rex

Little Ladybug

Daddy as an OU football coach, again. ha:)

Being a detective is serious business!

Not a great picture of us, but wanted to show how many people were there! We couldn’t believe it. I did not partake of all the stuff in my hands. The church was giving out free kettle corn, I didn’t eat any but kept ending up with all the empty cups!

Waiting in line for one of the attractions. Detective Kellen had found some time to shave. Apparently the moustache was itchy!

When we got home from the Halloween party, we started working on our pumpkins. Our realtor here in Springfield had left pumpkins and carving kits for the kids. The kits were Potato Head brand and poked in the pumpkins like Mr. Potato Head pieces. They are so cute!

Everyone working hard.

The finished products. Aren’t they the cutest? Gannon made a skeleton, Garrett a pirate, Kellen a vampire, and Callie made a princess, of course!

Now maybe it's summer time!

Well, nice weather has finally hit the Quad Cities. I guess better late than never! We were wearing jackets and sweatshirts to all the ballgames lately, yuck! I really need to move south! I think it is finally time to plant without a chance of frost so the kids and I got busy doing yard work. It was such a nice day! We had our lessons in the morning then spent several hours working in the nice spring weather outside. Our neighbor on one side is apparently really good and knowledgeable about plants, growing things, etc. I am not. I try, but my memory is terrible, I can barely remember what plants are called let alone what to do with them! Well, she was out and came over to give us some help. Do you think she could tell we were desperate? She said she has been itching to come over and take care of some of the stuff in our yard for years. Apparently the previous owners were not taking care of some things "horticulturally correct". Not even sure what that means, but some of our things are looking better! She was a great help and really taught the boys the proper way to do some of the yard work, it was like a field trip in our own backyard! The boys had a great time sawing, digging, etc. We found the hugest worm I have ever seen. Garrett had just studied worms at science last week so he enjoyed telling us all about it, actually pretty gross. Then it was off to Garrett's ballgame. They lost but he got a great hit. I think he is finally getting the hang of kid-pitch. He is scheduled to pitch in their next game. That makes me a nervous wreck, but he is excited about it!

Kellen and Gannon


Garrett with his safety goggles. Safety first!

Kellen pruning a bush, tree, I don't really know, but it's outta here!

Can you tell she just woke up? Looks a little dazed!

These are the looks I get when I try to take her picture. Any time she sees the camera she just runs up to me. Ugh!

This is Callie watching her daddy mow. She was done with her dress so she was wandering around with just her bloomers on. Too cute! This is not the floor she is standing on, she is up on the window seat, even though she knows she is not supposed to. I guess it is too tempting!

This is another mama creation. I love the pattern, it was a new one for me. It's called a bubble dress. I'm not crazy about my fabric choices. I like the fabrics by themselves, but not really together. I just thought she needed more pink so I added pink to the top! I probably should have just used yellow all around. It's also a little big, oh well. It's hard to measure and try on clothes with a seventeen month old!

She apparently was starving after we got home from church and eating lunch, so she is eating bread with peanut butter. My only hope for getting her still for a picture was to bribe her with food!