Math Challenges

Last night, we gave each of the girls a math challenge. They both got the answers! I had been asking Emily things at dinner like what numbers add together to make 4, and multiply together to make 3. That first one took her a while, but then she listed out loud two ways to add to 4 and figured out the answer. She didn't list 4+0, so I asked her what adds to 4 and multiplies to 0. She got it. I asked her what adds up to 7 and multiplies to 12. She got that, too. So Harper told her he would give her 50 cents if she could figure out what number times itself is 25. It didn't take her too long to come up with the answer!

Then he told Lainey he'd give her 50 cents if she could figure out what plus 6 equals 11. Well Em blurted out the subtraction problem. So Harper and Lainey just worked through it together with counters. But then Harper gave her 4 plus what is 7. Lainey figured it out all on her own! =) So she still got her 50 cents. =) I love math challenges. =P

I'm stuck on the girls' dresses without brown or white thread, and I might not have light pink, either. I need them all for top stitching. Em's just needs the lining hand stitched down and the ribbon (white) put on. Lainey's dress is brown with tiny white polka dots and I have sewn most of it with black and the wrong shade of brown. But now I'm to where stitching will actually show, so I need the right color for the sleeve ruffles, the zipper, and the hem. And then the pink for her ribbon. But that is still super close to done! =)

Lainey's Shirt-Dress =)

I was going to get rid of this shirt even thought I loved it. It was just too tight. It was a little bit tight even when I bought it (after kid #1) - they didn't have it in a bigger size and I wanted it so much. =P Anyway I couldn't bring myself to garage sale it... I almost sent it to Care and Share but then Em wanted to wear it as jammies. Then Laine did too. So I found another polo that I really liked but was sending to Care and Share too (too small - got it at a garage sale and it never did fit) and each kid got one to wear as jammies. But then today I decided to make this one into a dress for Lainey. She loved it. =P She told me to make sure I didn't cut her when I made it. =) She said, seriously, "God made me and it would be really sad if you cut me." Hehe. =P

Bueno

Hehe, that reminds me of the day when Emily asked me what Taco Bueno meant. I asked her what buenos dias meant and asked her what she thought the buenos part was. Then she figured it out and cracked up about Taco Good. =)

I was talking to my mom yesterday and realized I haven't blogged much about what Bek's doing. She seems to big to me now. She is finally rolling from her tummy to her back and she likes to roll around. =) She grabs stuff and plays with toys and chews on everything. =) She likes to grab my fingers and bite them. =) She is a very happy baby and it's pretty easy to crack her up. =) She is a delight.

So, Harper found out he was getting laid off the day before we got Em's MMR shot. She had a flu shot in the fall, which is the only shot she's remembered because we stopped her vaccinations at 6 months after we did some reading about it. Anyway she kind of freaked out about the flu shot and I knew she wasn't looking forward to getting another shot. So we told her we thought it was okay for her to cry if it hurt, but we just wanted her to be brave enough to let them give her a shot and not try to resist getting the shot. She said she would be brave. =) But we told her we'd get her a little present afterward if she was brave about getting it. So when Harp lost his job, we said we weren't going to spend money on things for ourselves that weren't necessary until he got another job. So I told her instead of getting a toy, maybe we could make something together or I could make her a present. She asked for a nightgown that said 'cutie' on it in pink letters. =) So this morning, I finished it. I cut it out a week or so ago and it's just been waiting for the chance to sew it. It was pretty quick because I just serged it all. It's light grey with dark grey raglan sleeves. The neckline and armholes are gathered and there's a pink band around the neck and armholes. It's big enough that it will fit her next year, too. And maybe the year after. =P But it's great for a nightgown right now, too, so she is so happy about it. I thought she would want to wear it all day, but she wore it for a little bit and then was really excited to fold it and put it in her jammie drawer. =)

That reminds me... A couple of weeks ago I did laundry and went in Em's room to find her sorting all of their panties. A pile of panties, a pile of training pants, and a pile of plastic panties (diaper covers for over Laine's diaper and Em's training pants at night). Very neatly stacked. She said "I had a good idea, Mom! We can just stack them like this so the drawer isn't a big mess!" lol I let that drawer and their jammie drawers be a mess just because it makes it easier for them to help put stuff away (and me not care if it's not right - it's always right when it's supposed to be a mess). =P So now we are folding stuff. Weird. Well I had decided that I didn't mind their messy drawers, so I don't fold my underwear anymore either. But now that my KIDS don't want messy drawers, I guess I should neaten my drawer up, too. =P

Emmy is a very crafty girl. As in into crafts. =) She has made some scrapbook pages for me that are really cute. She used a pic of her pushing Lainey on the swings with red shirts on and put it on a white 12x12 paper, then punched holes all around the outside and wove a red ribbon all around it. It's really cute! And she loves the bows I have made and she said it would be really pretty if I made a whole layer of brown, then a whole layer of pink, then a whole layer of brown again, and a pink button in the middle. I had just used random ribbons in all the layers, so I thought that was pretty creative for her to think of that. And I happen to have that ribbon, so I'm going to make her that bow. =)

It's been kinda fun making stuff out of things I just have lying around. I had all that ribbon and the fabric for Em's nightgown already. It turned out so cute that I kind of want to make her a shirt or two like that. I have some black knit fabric that I can embroider something on.

Last night, we had burritos for dinner. Lainey finished hers and said "Can I have another piece of pizza?" lol She never looks like she is joking! My mom said maybe she was just thinking about how she likes pizza and that's what came out. =P Laine is a funny, funny girl... =) Harper said yesterday he thinks Bekah is going to be more like Laine, personality-wise. Fun! =)

Birthday Party Pics & Dress

The wedding dress.

Em picked a hat from the church hat box. =) And we used candles from the candlelit service because I forgot birthday candles, lol! I don't ever think about candles because they aren't important to me. But everyone else makes sure I have candles. =P And this time Em asked for them too.

Katen... Just because she's so stinkin' cute!

Duck cake... The beak is retarded, lol. But I'm sure it was yummy. Emily asked for the beak piece, hehe. =)

There are tons more pics but I only edited these... Still no desktop and I don't really like editing on the laptop...

Happy Thanksgiving and 116

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a fun day at Grammie's house. Grammie is our pastor's mom and she is so sweet to always invite us to their family get-togethers. =) I love that we know so many of the aunts and uncles (the pastor's siblings & spouses) and some of their kids. It's just fun. =)

I keep forgetting to blog that Emily's new favorite big number is 116. I guess she decided that 115 wasn't quite big enough. =P

I finished stitching the binding on Em's quilt today while we played Settlers and Carcassonne at Grammie's. Yay! Emmy is so happy about it. Now I need to get to work on Lainey's! =)

I got fabric to make Em her wedding dress for her birthday. The princess dress thing has become a tradition and when I asked Em what color she wanted it to be, she said she'd like a white wedding dress.

A new consequence for lies and whining has made a huge difference in our house: vinegar. My friend Emily told me she puts vinegar on a rag and cleans their mouth out if her kids let bad things come out of their mouth - including whining. I talked to Harp and we decided to give it a try. They HATE the vinegar. Em has caught herself so many times starting to have a bad attitude and then changing it right away. Yay!

Baby cries. Talk to ya later! =P

Babies, Lunches, and Kiddos...

Long time no post. Sorry. My parents are here and we have been doing stuff.

Yesterday I did go in and have the prostaglandin gel. I had contractions 4-5 min apart for hours, but they didn't accomplish anything. I went home with a candy bar as a consolation prize (Kathy's assistant Brenda is too funny). =P And candy bars for the girls since I wasn't bringing them a baby. =)

I've still been having contractions. Not as frequently, but at least something is going on. =) If I haven't had a baby by the beginning of next week, we'll try again.

We went to Pump It Up this morning and Emily was cranky and didn't want to bounce. Don't really know what her deal was. Then we met Anna and Rachael and Kelly and their kids at McAllister's for lunch. I have pics, but they aren't on the computer yet.

Speaking of pics, I got a new camera! I love it! My dad upgraded his, so he's upgrading mine, too. =) Thanks, Dad! I got a Canon 30D. The few things I would have changed about the one I had (the 10D) are changed on it! Cool, huh? And it's a better camera, too. The things I would have changed were just silly things like where the focus points are, how you pan when you review pics, and that there was a separate button to turn on the thumb wheel. The 30D has a lot of other things better about it, too, so I'm excited. =)

Harper fixed our dryer (I don't know if I even blogged that it broke) so I'm doing laundry. It was supposed to be laundry day today anyway so that worked out well. =P

And I'm about to make a new hamper. I have the metal outside part of it, but the fabric was falling apart because Harper tried to hide in it one time when we played hide and seek. =P And it has been falling apart more and more since then. So I'm going to make it with some of the jeans I had left and it will kind of match the bed spread and body pillow in our room. =) I think while I'm at it, I will make a bath mat for our bathroom. Same style, but smaller pieces.

I have another apron set done for Katen's birthday. And I went through my scrapbook pages and got them in albums and got pages shifted around in albums so they are approximately the same size. The craft room is fairly organized. =P

Salsa verde turkey burgers for dinner. Yum!

Random stuff: Lainey likes trucks. No, Lainey loves trucks. She loves to point them out. She gets very excited when we park next to one. =P Especially if it's big. =)

Lainey sings the ABC song. It's so cute! She really just picked it up from Emily, I think, but she can sing it all by herself and she is so proud of herself.

Potty training is going well, except for #2. Lainey knows that when #2 happens on the potty, we're celebrating at Braum's. It wasn't supposed to be a bribe, but it sounds more like one every time it's mentioned, lol. Emily especially wants Lainey to poop on the potty because she wants ice cream herself. =P So Emily's always reminding her what will happen if she goes.

I was telling my parents about the words Em read the other day that surprised me and Emily added that she read 'curious' all by herself. She did and it was even in the story, not just on the cover (it was a Curious George book). And she read 'friend' in it, too. Kinda baffling. That reminds me that I want to make phonogram cards still.

Okay gonna go work on the hamper. Later!

Project, Emmy-O & Lainey Joy

The apron and chef's hat and oven mitt that I made for Kenna for her birthday. I love this fabric! =)

The girls went to bed at Hannah's house last night and we woke them up around 10:50 to bring them home. Then today they had no naps because by the time we were done with lunch, they would have slept 30 minutes max before we got them up to go to Kenna's party. So we just skipped naps. Tonight, Emmy was just a little ball of emotions, but I want to say I was proud of her for not flipping out! She tends to be very passionate - in good ways and in bad ways. She's just extreme. =) And today even when she was sad about things (not getting a bath before bed, having peanut butter and jelly for dinner, etc), she cried, but didn't freak. It kinda breaks my heart to see her cry when she doesn't flip out! lol When she flips out I don't usually feel much compassion, but when she cries, I do. A lot.

Yesterday, Emmy was playing with her clay that she got in Mexico. We keep it in the vase that she decorated there and it's up where she can't get to it all the time, so that (and the fact that she made it with Grandma A) makes it extra-special. Well I was taking pics of the girls and Em asked for a picture with her vase. I took one and then she wanted to see it. After I showed it to her, she started to go over to Lainey and tripped over me and the vase flew onto the floor and shattered. She cried and I was so sad for her! There were some big pieces, but a lot of it was small. I am going to try to glue it back together for her, but it won't be to play with anymore. =(

Lainey's newest funny thing is "Oh, no! Not again!" lol She says it all the time, usually when she drops something. I will notice now when Harper says it because I'm pretty sure he does. =P Or I'll find out that I say it, but I don't think I do. lol =P

Invites, Quilt, Comforter Cover...

Baby shower invites...

The quilt for my sister's friend, allllll finished.

This is the comforter cover I made out of old jeans. It doesn't have the comforter in it, for the summer. It is soooo nice and soft and heavy. We love it! Harp suggested making the back just like the front, so I did. There are 4 layers to this thing because the front and back are both lined with solid cotton fabric (so the jeans don't fray). And that is my body pillow at the top with the jeans going the other way. Cute, huh?

Dress Pics

A pic of Lainey at the door... Whenever they want to go around front to ring the doorbell, Lainey says "bee-bell!" It's cute because she wants to do it, but she isn't tall enough anyway, lol. =)

Em had already gotten Harp to answer the door and let her in, so she answered the door for Lainey. She opened it and said "Welcome to my house!" When Lainey is the one answering the door, she just says "House!" =P Hehe! Fun little things I don't want to forget... =)

We had a fun time at Applebee's with Alyssa & Hannah. Then all the girls went to Braum's (Harp felt yucky so he had us drop him off) and that was fun, too. =P I had a mint chocolate chip milk shake. Mmm! My favorite ice cream is mint choc chip. I have hardly been eating junk at all, so it tasted especially good. =P

I sewed most of my jeans but then ran out of thread. I would have made it, except that I have to re-sew the outside leg seams. They are tight and I totally don't get it because they were 3/4" bigger than the others (which is surprisingly a lot when you measure around your leg)... Anyway so I need more heavy blue thread so I can finish. But they are cute anyway. =P I guess I could still hem them because below the knee it's not going to matter if I make them wider. In fact, they're probably better how they are at the bottom. And the very top doesn't really matter much, either, because it's at the waist band anyway.... I guess I could finish them and then just fix that part later 'cause they are already serged (not super-close to the seam though so it's good).

Lainey wants to do everything "self" these days. She buckles the top buckle in her car seat and she always wants to get out of the car completely by herself. If I even offer her my hand, she gets upset and says "self!" She had a fit over it the other day because it was blazing hot outside and I got her out of the car to speed things up. Agh!

Anyway... I'm tired. Later!

Hannah's Presents

I didn't take pics of the petticoat and the tiara but there are pics of her in them at the party. I made the dress, Em beaded the bracelet, and my mom made the necklace. =)

Sewin'

Yesterday the girls and I went out and ran a bunch of errands. I think am not used to being healthy and the weather being (semi-)decent because I kind of dreaded going out. But it was fun once we did. We went to JoAnn's and got stuff to make Hannah a petticoat. Good thing they were sold out of the Spring stack and Spring glitter stack (they're on sale this week) because I would have bought them and probably the Spring solid cardstock stack that coordinates... And my hobby money may very well be in the hole. In fact, I'm pretty sure it is. =P Am I glad they didn't have it? Well, no. But the little piggy in Quicken is glad. =P

We happened to have time to kill at JoAnn's because none of our other places opened until 10 and we got there a little before 9. So we wandered the store and found a tiara in the wedding aisle marked down to $5.97 from $25! It was beautiful and we decided to get it for Hannah's birthday, too. =P The packaging was sorta yucky and ripped, so we opened it (and, yes, we all tried it on, lol) and we'll wrap it in a less yucky and less beastly way (it took me like 3 minutes to open it!). I told Alyssa about it and ended up telling her about the dress because she was saying how Hannah loved putting princess dresses on at June's house and she should get her one. =P 11 days until her party. =P We're excited!

Oh yeah last night Alyssa and I went to Bethany's Home Interiors party. I was going to get two things but then they ask for not only your debit card number on the paper but the three-digit code on the back, too. Nu uh! I didn't say anything, but that's why I didn't order. No way, Jose! Harp just had his debit card number stolen so I already didn't really want to write it on there but then when I saw that they wanted the 3-digit code too (that Harp says they don't need to run a charge) I definitely didn't want to. Oh, well. I was really only buying them so Bethany could get free stuff. =P They were some little shelf things for the wall that look kinda like moulding.

Anyway I need to finish up Hannah's petticoat. Today we met H for lunch at Schlotzsky's. Usually I love it. I thought it was mediocre today. =\ Pregnancy. I keep thinking I'm over the morning sickness, but as soon as I say it, I have a yucky day. Yesterday was iffy and this morning I threw up. Bummer. But I feel okay now. Should I even say that? =P Anyway then I got fabric to make maternity jeans. They have this cool new belly at Motherhood. It is so comfortable. But none of the jeans with it are long enough for me. I was going to make some, but I couldn't find the spandex at JoAnn's. Nothing more than 12% Spandex and it wasn't stretchy enough. Maybe Hancock... Okay gonna go sew. Later!

Penguin Fleece

There is black around the bottom like the hood and the sleeves are blanket stitched like the pocket and neck hole thing.

Forehead Monkeys & Trains & Dress & Mexico

Emmy-O is so cute. She has been such a good helper for a sick Momma. She has been running around getting me things and doing things for me, even when I don't ask! This afternoon, my temp went up to 103 again and I was on the couch under a blanket with only my head sticking out. She came and put two monkey stickers on my forehead. This is no small thing. =) She has had these monkey stickers ever since Lainey's birthday (Aug 22 - a month and a half!) and there really weren't that many of them on a sheet. She had two sheets and she has used them SO sparingly. I was just telling Harper last night how I was impressed with how she only used one or two at a time so she could make them last. I never even suggested that to her! Anyway the two she put on my forehead were her last two monkey stickers. Isn't that sweet? She is my sweet, sweet girl.

I don't know where we come up with the things we call our kids, but Lainey's newest nickname is "Laine, Laine, Pickle Train." Emily calls her that, too. =)

I water stained some scrap fabric and it came out with isopropyl alcohol, so I tried it on the dress and I think it worked. It was hard to see the marks when I went to do it. They were still there but very hard to see so I don't know if I got them all.

Emily is SO excited to go to Mexico. We're going to Nuevo Vallarta next month with Harp's parents and Uncle Quin. Emily talks about it all the time. This morning, she and Harp pretended they were in Mexico for a long time. =) Pretending to surf, boogie board, play in the ocean... =)

Seriously Uncool

I am still sick, but feeling a little better. I decided to get the wedding dress done this morning because I only had to sew the sleeves in. It still needs to be hemmed, but I need to mark it first and I still haven't met Louise.

Anyway so I finished it and went to iron it and only a minute into ironing it, a bunch of water spilled out of my iron onto the dress. !!!!!!!!!! It has water spots. I tried to iron it dry but I think I messed the fabric up a little bit. I called Harper's mom and then called a dry cleaner but it was too late. He said I needed to blow it dry ASAP and it had been 20 minutes. =( He said there's a 50/50 chance he can get it out.

Then I called Shirley (friend that owns laundromats and does dry cleaning) and she said I could wipe it with a damp towel and it might get it out. It ended up just leaving bigger spots. She said she has had water spots just come out in the wash before and it would be worth a try, but I didn't finish the edges of the dress, it's not hemmed, and there is tape inside of it (there are little rope loops sewn into the front so it ties up and I just taped them so they wouldn't fray). So it's not really a cleanable dress. =( Harp is going to buy a steamer and we'll see if it will steam out. The steamer I have drips water, so that wouldn't help... =\

If anyone knows what to do, please comment. I don't want to have to make another dress in the next two weeks.

Why Didn't I Think of That?

I finally bought a hemmer thingie a couple of months ago (the stick that you put pins in with). It was a gift from Grandy, actually. I haven't used it yet. But look what I found today! What a cool idea! There is still a point in having the hemmer, though. You can't do the string thing with a really full skirt. But I'm glad I know that trick now. =)

Quilt & Bonnet

This is the quilt I'm making for Ashley's baby. =) She is pregnant again, by the way - I don't know if I ever blogged that after she "officially" announced it. =) 15 weeks now. Yay! Em asked if this is for Ashley's baby that's in her belly and I told her nope it's for Ashley's baby that's in heaven already. She asked if it was coming out of her belly and I told her well sometimes they come out of your belly and sometimes God takes them right to heaven. And this baby he took right to heaven. But there's another baby growing in her belly now and it will probably come out. =P So now Emily talks about "the quilt for Ashley's baby that's in heaven." =)

I don't know how I'm going to bind it yet. I was thinking about piecing together the fabrics in the quilt for the binding. Kind of weird maybe and might be too bulky at the seams. But I don't want it to look too boyish or girlish. So maybe I should just do white. Tell me what you think, okay??

I found these purple petals and ribbons at a garage sale yesterday. So I whipped up another bonnet. =) Cute, huh? It's for my dad. But, Dad, you have to take a good picture of Lainey in it. =)

Bonnets

I have mostly finished one of the bonnets I'm making for my dad. I ran out of flowers, though, so I have to run around looking for more. =) I think they have them at Walmart. I hope so because they were used for a wedding a year ago so other stores may not have them anymore. The other bonnet is coming along and I won't run out of flowers for that one, so that's good. =) Gonna work on them some more... They are super cute on Lainey btw. =)

Em's Bible Cover

Playing With Hannah & Quilts

This is from last Monday when Scott and Alyssa came over. I made Em's skirt. It's kind of bunched up in the picture but it is really cute and funky. =) I was going to use other fabrics from the same line for Tatum's quilt (a friend that miscarried) because she's really funky. I ended up picking 3 of the 4 I used for Em's skirt (and one other that's green with green bubbles). =P So Em's skirt will pretty much match the quilt but oh well! Ashley's quilt is completely pieced and I got fabric for the backing yesterday. Now I'm just waiting for a nice day to be able to spray baste it. I'm not gonna use that nasty stuff in my house ever again. It smells horrid and it leaves stickiness on the floor. =P

Em's Dress

Welllllll hmmmmmm. I made Em's dress last night. Finished around 12:30 this morning. She happened to wake up, so I tried it on her. It's not so cute. The top part of the gathered skirt isn't as gathered as the rest. I did calculate how long each tier should be so they would all have the same amount of gather, but when I cut them, I didn't worry about measuring them exactly. Just as long as it was within an inch. And I didn't worry about seam allowances. I figured it wouldn't really make a big difference. Well it did. An inch is a pretty big deal when you're talking the difference between 25 inches and 33.5 or whatever it was. So it looks goofy. I don't really know how I should fix it. It would look better with ties that tied in the back so it's tighter in the front. I didn't want to mess with ripping out seams, so instead I sewed some elastic across that seam in the back (so you can't see it on the outside). It did bring it in a little but not enough and I think it would look goofy in the back if I used elastic to bring it in any more than that. A bow on the front might detract from the funky gather... But I don't know what color to make it. The dress is white on top and the top tier of the skirt and then a light blue and then a darker blue on the bottom, but with a small white band all the way around the bottom. So if I use the dark blue, it doesn't look right in the middle of all that white. I guess the light blue might work but I think it might make the bottom look funny. Maybe I'll take a pic and post it and you tell me what you think. But don't say to leave it how it is because it really does look goofy. Okay I just took a pic and stuck it on this post so now my whole description was pointless but I don't feel like looking back and fixing my post. =P It needs to be ironed at all those skirt seams and it won't look so goofy there once it's ironed.