Natalie's Birthday Skirt

Last year for Natalie's birthday, I made her a tutu to wear for her party.

I wanted to do the same thing this year, but I wanted to do a real skirt that she could wear again. I found the cutest pattern on HERE, that I wanted to use. I don't buy patterns very often, I usually find free patterns online somewhere, but when I saw this...

I just had to buy it. I found the perfect fabric to match the theme for her party, and went to work. I haven't made her shirt yet, but I plan to just applique a "2" on a white shirt with the same butterfly fabric.

She wasn't in a real picture-taking mood. She was too enthralled in her new obsession..."Dora." Here is a close up of the fabric. It has little sparklies all over it. :) Too cute on her.

PILLOW FIGHT!!!!

It has been so rainy, cold, windy, and just plain yucky outside for the past month or so, that the boys didn't want to go outside to play. Now, that wouldn't normally be a problem, but with my boys, it is. They are the type that HAVE to burn off energy, or they are just soooo hyper by about 5:00 in the evening. One day, I was just fed up with how hyper they were, and told them to grab their pillows. We had our very first pillow fight, and I must say, the boys had a BLAST! They loved every minute of it. When I told them it was time to get pajamas on, they didn't even fight me on it, because they had worn themselves out really well. :) I think this might have to become a tradition in our house on rainy days. They both did really well, and I can't say that anyone won. They both got some really good hits in on each other. Jacob kinda had a hard time holding his pillow, so I may try to find him a littler one to use. Natalie was laughing so hard at them, and then she ran to her room, and came out with her little pillow too. :) I was helping her hit the boys, so I don't have any pictures of her in the fight. It was fun, and they really enjoyed it.

too busy

I know it has been 2 months since I posted last, and I am going to use the lame excuse of " I've been sooo busy." Which in actuality, is true. Natalie is turning in to one michievious little 2-year old. She definitely keeps me on my toes. This is what happened when I tried to put a load of laundry in the dryer.



Stinker.
She has also decided that diapers are for babies, and she is not one. :( She is doing good with the potty training though, so I can't complain too bad. Only 1-2 accidents per day. And that is usually because she can't make it to the potty fast enough and get her panties down. We are working on it though. I am not afraid to take her places anymore, as long as we bring her potty chair. She refuses to use big toilets yet, so along comes the potty chair. EVERYWHERE. I even took it to walmart with me the other day. I got some strange looks, but she stayed dry, and we were there for over an hour, so I don't mind the looks. :)

Jacob is his nutty self. Had a great birthday. I can't believe he is 4 now. That is just crazy to me. I also think it is really funny, that his favorite present that he got was a pack of bubblegum. :P Silly boy.

Cody has decided that he hates school, and it is such a pain to get him ready in the mornings. Every day, he tells me he doesn't want to go to school. It is sooooo boring. Tough luck kid, it doesn't get much better.

I have been forging on on my weight loss journey. I have now lost over 50 lbs., and I feel so much better. I still have a lot to lose, but I am getting there. I have also accomplished one of my New Year's Resolutions already. I ran a 5K!!! Feels great. I may try to hit a 10K before the end of the year. We'll see. Here is a comparison picture so far of my journey. :) Sorry no smiles. I was using the self-timer on the camera, and I can never get the timing right to smile. Oh well. You get the idea anyway. :)

Beloved Blanket

Oh how I miss you. I loved the way you could comfort my daughter, and turn her from a screaming, crying mess into completely content in a matter of milliseconds. You put her right to sleep with your soft minky fabric. You didn't care if you were filthier than the dirt, even though I did. But, you decided to leave us somewhere in the vicinity of the Phoenix Zoo. Let me tell you, that car ride home was not fun! Having to endure a 9 hour car ride with a tired, crying, tear-streaked toddler is not something I want to do again. So, although you decided to leave your best friend, you can and WILL be replaced.

Just as soon as I get the fabric in the mail. :)

This is when Natalie first received the blanket. It was a gift from her grandpa for her first Christmas, and it hasn't left her side since.

This was this past summer. I try to make her leave it in bed, so it doesn't get as dirty, but she sneaks it out most days. :)

No more APPLES!!!

I would not shed a single tear if I never saw another apple again. Honestly. The last week in October, one of our neighbors organized to get some Fuji apples from Washington. When they arrived, he emailed everyone that was interested, and he was selling them for $0.45/lb.! I couldn't pass that up, and since my kids LOVE the homemade applesauce that we made before, I decided to go and get some. I came home with 100 lbs of apples. That was a Friday, and all day Saturday was spent peeling, coring, cooking, blending and bottling these apples. I managed to get 68 pint jars of applesauce. Wow. They still had some apples left on Monday, so I decided to go get just a few more, so we could eat them, and I could try and make some apple pies. I just couldn't pass up the 45 cents a pound price tag. I knew Jared was going to be gone all week for work, so I didn't want to get too many. On Monday, I came home with another 100 pounds of apples!!! What was I thinking?!?! I did go and buy an apple peeler this time though. Those things are so cool! With this 100 pounds, I made apple butter, apple juice, and 1 lonely apple pie. I am pleased to announce, that all of the apples are finally out of our house. Well, except for the 20 or so that are in the fridge for the kids to eat. I am so over apples......until next year at least. ;)

My Heritage

I did this with all 3 of my kids, and Natalie's and Jacob's said the same thing, but Cody looked 19% more like Jared. I can tell, but I thought Natalie had a little more of me in her. Guess not.

My first tutorial :) Doll Cradle

I don't know if anyone would be interested in learning how to do this simple doll cradle, but I made it anyway. First, you need an oatmeal canister, or mashed potato canister. I chose mashed potatoes, because that one was bigger for our family. :) Make sure it is clean and dry. Glue the lid closed on it.



Then, leaving both ends intact, cut half of the canister away. Lines don't have to be perfectly straight.

Lay it on it's side, to make sure it rocks okay. Straighten up the edges if you are a perfectionist. ;)

Decorate any way you want. You can cover it with paper, or scrap fabric, or leave it plain. I haven't decorated this yet. Natalie saw it, and wanted it immediately. Add a "mattress" which for us was just some rolled up scrap fleece. Make a little pillow if you want. I used the same scrap fleece. Add a baby and a blanket, and give it to your little one. Our blanket was the same scrap of fleece. :) Natalie plays with this all day long, and has for a little more than 2 weeks now. I should decorate it more, but eh..she likes it plain, and I am being craft-lazy.

Crafty Moms

You might have noticed I added a button to my blog. You might not have noticed. You might not even care. But, go take a look at this blog. It is awesome! They have a ton of cute stuff, that moms make, and sell to try to get a little more cash in their wallets. I absolutely love their tote bags. I am saving up for one. They have cute bows, hats, headbands, diaper/wipes cases, binky clips, tutu's and a ton more! Nice ladies to work with too. Go check it out! By the way, they are also having a giveaway too. ;) Just don't enter, so I have a better chance of winning. Just kidding. You have every right to enter and win, so go. Go. Go.

Apples

Last weekend, we were trying to come up with something to do with the kids, that was pretty much free. I had just come back from my provident living meeting earlier that day, where we happened to be talking about apples. Did you know, there is a TON of stuff you can do with apples? I didn't. You can make applesauce, apple butter, apple jelly, apple syrup, apple pies, or just plain bottled apples. So, I decided we would take a drive up to Zoin National Park. Right before Zion, is a little town called Springdale. They have an apple orchard there. You can pick your own apples, and then pay for them. We ended up picking almost 60 lbs of apples! I don't have any pics of us picking, because I forgot the camera, but I do have a picture of what I did with them. For the next 2 days, Jared and I sat at the table, and peeled and cored all of those apples! I made and bottled applesauce and apple butter. They are sooooo much better than the store bought kind. I think I have spoiled Natalie a bit, and now she won't even eat the store bought kind. So, you are probably wondering how much applesauce you can make with 60 lbs of apples. Well, I will tell you.


All of this is applesauce. There are 24 pint jars, and almost 9 quart jars. I did end up using 4 of the quart jars to make the apple butter. I don't have a picture of that though. Jared keeps joking about us going back and getting more apples. I think he has forgotten how much work goes into it. :) I think he is suffering from a case of apple-picking amnesia. Don't they look pretty though? They are different colors, because I added cinnamon to the first 2 rows, the next 2 are natural, and some of the big ones, I added apple pie spice to. We all like the natural ones the best. The cinnamon is okay, but I think it kind of dulls the sweetness of the natural apples.

Patriot's Day

In celebration of Patriot's Day, Cody's school did a little flag ceremony. They had one student from each class stand in a line between some police officers, firemen, and military personnel. Cody was the student that was picked in his class. His teacher called me the night before, and told me that she picked him, because his behavior has been so excellent in class, and he is just doing great! I was very glad to hear that, since we have been struggling with his behavior at home a bit. Anyway, here is Cody standing in his place in line. He is close to the flag pole end of the line.

They started passing down a folded flag, and as the flag was passed down the line, they would salute to the next person in line. Here is Cody recieving the flag from a police officer. I didn't get a picture of him saluting to the next one in line, because my camera is too slow. :( After the flag reached the flag pole, they had the kindergardeners help raise the flag, and then the ceremony started. I thought it was pretty cool, and an honor to be picked. I am glad for Cody, and I hope he remembers this for a little bit. At least I have pictures for when he does forget. :)