a little of this, a little of that

i’ve been eyeing these dresses from the gap. I want it for myself actually. i’ve talked my mom into making it for the girls. i can’t don’t sew clothing. my mother sews beautiful dresses. i’ll have to post my girls blessing dresses sometime, they are better than the $300 ones in boutiques, she is amazing.

so i bought some black gingham check material and i’m imagining some black knee high boots and cute little white cable knit sweaters to go with. i never thought i’d be that mom who dresses her girls the same but i have to confess i love doing it! big brother gets a little bent out of shape that he is left out of this so i’ll have to get him a shirt to match or something.

i’m also a big sucker when my kids whine, can you tell?

a finally dropped jena’s quilt off to Nichole who will be quilting it for me. i’m excited to see how it turns out. Nichole does such cute quilts and she couldn’t be any cuter herself! You can see some of her work here.

this is a project i planned to do myself but my lortab induced haze has not been a great mix with the sewing machine. i tried to sew 1 straight line 3 times in a row and sewed it inside out 3 times in a row. i know when to quit, so i did. then my mother, unable to see a sewing project just sitting there, took pitty on me and whipped 8 of these up for me in about an hour.

they are bibs for little sister. nothing to write home about but i like them because they cover from neck to knees and little sleeves. that totally rhymed and thanks to my lortab i find it very funny! :) they are just made out of cheap walmart hand towels and cute ribbon but they are better than any other bibs i’ve ever bought.

and the last project on the list will come from this cute fabric. the good thing about this is that i don’t have to make these. Nat mistakenly generously offered to make some pajama pants for my kids and i’m totally taking her up on it.

don’t you just love that skull fabric? i though my mother would die and the women cutting it. they thought it was hideous! i think it is adorable! in fact i sort of want some for myself too. love the polka dots too and the mister is sure to love the BYU for big brother.

next project on the list is shadow boxes for the kids blessing outfits. my grandpa is a fabulous craftsman with wood and has offered to make these for me. so i need to design them and get the sizes figured out then he will make them and i will paint them. i’ll share them when they are finished.

as little sister said only 10 minutes ago…ni-night!

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thankful thursday

circumstances being what they are with regards to my recent surgery, i am reminded of how grateful i am to live so close to all of my family.

first of all and obviously my husband.  he is so caring and patient.  he too knew deep down that the pain i was having was not panic induced and forced me to go to the ER for which i am now grateful. watching him the last few days with our children’s has been very gratifying. he is such a wonderful, caring, fun dad and his children adore him!

second on the list is my mama. the women is a saint! she deals with us day after day in her home and she never complains. never. she is always there to do anything you ask of her and usually does it all before you can even get to asking her. i literally could not survive without my mom. she is a perfect example of selfless service.

third is my sister, teri, who even when she is super busy makes time to be there for me and my family. she will take my kids, run my errands or just call to see what is needed.  i can’t imagine not having her for my sister, i could never fill her shoes.

fourth is my sister-in-law, natalie, she is also one of the people who without being asked is just there for you. even if it’s just to entertain with conversation she is one of the few people who ‘get’ me and she is priceless in my life.

there are many more of you that are so near to us and we appreciate you all. all the calls of concern and offers to help have been so appreciated and we love you all!

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showing off a bit

my friend Natasha is an up and coming photographer and has just started her website. i think her stuff is great so i thought i would share. she will be doing our family pictures in a few weeks so i will share those when we get them.

check her out here.

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Out of commission

I just just came out of semi-emergency surgery. I had my gallbladder removed because it was full of stones and causing me lots and lots of pain. So I may be out of commission for a little while but I’ll just have to see how it goes.

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child labor alive and well

the mister and i have not had a chance to go golfing this year until last thursday. i really love to go golfing with him and the first time out in a while seems to turn out the best score of the year. it doesn’t hurt that i beat him either.

the best part though?

meet our new caddy-

after a few driving lessons he thought he should be let out on the open road.

he is great at cleaning your golf ball.

retrieving things from the ponds.

and bringing me my clubs.

and occasionally we let him swing a club.

he’s not so fond of my pink ‘breast cancer awareness’ clubs but daddy’s are too expensive to hit the ground with. maybe if he keeps up the hard work i’ll buy him a club of his own so we can have a little tiger woods in the family.

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anti-climatic

i had planned to share with you some pictures of the mister. i have been banned from doing so. the mister is a little blog shy. he gets a bit paranoid, maybe it’s the cop thing, i don’t know. i do know he can sure be a big party pooper sometimes and now i can show you his big transformation.

it’s not nearly as fun, but i’ll just have to tell you about it.

the mister received a very out of the blue, unexpected job offer this past week. it was a job we were waiting on for over a year and our living situation/location was going to be determined by whether he was offered this job or not. after a year we decided to move on. the job was no long looking likely, there was a bunch of politics involved and it became one of those who do you know that can or can not get you this job. we were so done putting our lives on hold for this job. so, we started making other plans and neither of us had given it the slightest bit of thought for over 6 months now.

so just when your not expecting change, change comes a knockin’. B and i spent a 2 days in a stupor, sort of staring at each other with shock and kept asking each other, ‘what do you think we should do?’ followed by the other saying, ‘i just don’t know.’

picture blank stares and stunned expressions and staring at walls dazed and confused. we were clearly not prepared for this. we had spent a year praying about this, we thought we knew what was coming, we had made alternate plans. apparently we were wrong? the time just wasn’t right and now it is? we needed to learn patience? i don’t have the answer. so really it’s not the job that is that big of a deal it is just the circumstances surrounding it.

the interesting part is that in all the weighing of the pros and cons of taking the job or not, do you want to know what weighed on both of our minds the most? you don’t? well too bad because that is the point of this whole post!

old job=goatee

new job=clean shaven

do you know how many times i’ve seen my husband clean shaven?

two.

when we met, he had a goatee. i love goatee’s. for some reason when we were dating he got a little crazy and shaved it off. i demanded that he grow it back. he obliged, more because he hates to shave than for me i think.

a few weeks before our wedding my mom kept telling him he needed to shave that ‘thing’ off for the wedding. i told my mother that no such thing would be happening in a ‘over my dead body’ type of way.

after we were married he grew a mustache with it. and then when he was in the police academy he had to shave it off. i think that is the dumbest policy in the world but they don’t give a rats Heine what the wives think. big brother was about 2 1/2 when this happened and the first time he saw him he got a bit of a confused look on his face and said ‘why did you shave your daddy face off?’ it was the most adorable thing and he was genuinely distraught by the whole thing. a few months later when he started to grow it back R commented that he was ‘glad to have his regular daddy back’.

did i mention he also seems to look 15 when he has no facial hair?

i’m sure when he shows up to work the first day they will immediately change policy because i’m pretty sure they have an age limit for police officers. the mister with a goatee, sunglasses and a beanie is very intimidating. i’ve had people tell me that my husband is sort of mean looking. the mister with a smooth chin is about as scary as little sister with a water gun. maybe that could actually be an advantage now that i think about it. he looks totally non-threatening but can actually cause all the muscles in your body to become useless in about 4 seconds flat. hmmm. don’t mess with a defensive tactics instructor. he would love to use his skills on someone.

so now each morning i waken to the fact that i’m turning the big three oh this year and i’m married to a 15 year old. i may have to call in a favor from my old boss the plastic surgeon.

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Houston we have a problem

Remember all those kids I mentioned were going to be here today? Well, they finally arrived, and I forgot how adorable they are and I miss them so much I could squeeze them to death! But I digess.

What was my point again?

Agh yes, it has been nonstop motion and sound since they arrived and when they were all finally asleep I discovered something.

My keyboard is full of water or should I say, was full of water and now some of the keys won’t work.

The crazy thing is I was hardly ruffled by it! You all know how I feel about my computer right? It’s so strange that I’m so unaffected. I actually found myself thinking it might be sort of funny to try and right a blog post minus the zxcvbnm, or the lower row of letters as you know it, and have you try to figure it out.

Being sort of picky, like I am, I chose to just blog from my iPhone while laying in bed instead. Now it’s driving me crazy that it auto capitalizes and I don’t want it too! Sometimes you just can’t win.

Hopefully my keyboard is all dried out tomorrow and working. Then I can share that surprise with you that I mentioned. If not, I may have to take a little trip to the Apple store and that could be REALLY dangerous.

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thankful thursday

i am thankful for sleep.

at about 6:30 this morning big brother was awake to go to the bathroom. he told me he was so tired and he loved to sleep. could’ve fooled me with the way he goes to bed. i told him to go back to bed. he went and watched cartoons instead. i went back to bed. not for long enough though.

later this morning i was talking to ashley, who just had her first baby. she was telling me how tired she is. i don’t think you can ever prepare yourself for that first baby. you just have no idea. and the hormones, it’s like a cruel joke for a new mother. hang in there ash! sleep will come, it does get better and your so normal!

this all got me to thinking how much i love sleep.

perhaps this is because i’m lacking in this area right now. it’s half self induced but that doesn’t make it any easier. big brother is still working on staying dry all night so that means i’m up with him 2-4 times a night. generally just 2 now, which is great progress from the 5 when we started about 4 weeks ago.

big sister however has decided to join in the nighttime fun and started shouting in her sleep. she has always been a sleep talker, but lately she’s going to extremes. she must wake me about 4-5 times a night. if i wasn’t so tired it would be hilarious. here is a little of what i’ve heard come out of her mouth recently, all at a shout too-

R, zip it!

tell them i don’t want milk! i want juice!

mom! come catch the frog! she really has a frog so i came running on this one.

R, shut up! do we see a pattern here?

oh, that boy is so cute!

i want macaroni and cheese!

Sydney did it!

between these two and my late night habit, i could really use a sleep in day!

i think this just turned into me complaining and it was suppose to be thankful. crap. reread all of this with a thankful tone, full of gratitude and happy thoughts with a smile on your face!

wishing peaceful sleep filled nights to you all!

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that’s what coaches are for

i’m not purposely on hiatus, life just sort of sneaks up on you. you know?

big brother has been attending football camp at the high school ~my alma mater no less, which does my heart good~ and he has been having such a great time! i’m sure this is and will be the highlight of his summer.

a few hours before his first day at camp R was filling up his water bottle for camp because he was so excited he had to do something besides sit and wait. this is when he said the following,

R – mom, to play football you have to be tough. you can’t cry or anything if you get hurt because the coach will kick you off the team.’

me -it’s great to be tough and try not to cry, but if you’re really hurt than it’s ok to cry a little and you should tell the coach because he will not kick you off the team.

R – mom, boys don’t cry. well maybe i cry sometimes, but not at football!

the second day he got a little banged up learning to tackle. there was some limping and a few tears. there was also a great coach who sat down with him and helped him stretch and talked him through it and then all was well.

on the way home that night R was very quiet in the back of the car and I was trying to decide if i should ask him about getting hurt when he said,

R- mom, do you know what the coach told me?

me – what?

R – that when you get hurt it’s ok to cry a little, and that’s just what you said!

me – i’m pretty smart huh?

R – ya, but he also told me that even the big high school boys cry sometimes too and that i didn’t even cry as hard as them and that they are a bunch of pansies! I’ll bet you didn’t know high school boys were pansies mom!

me – i had no idea that high school boys were pansies!

R – that’s what coaches are for, they teach you stuff like that.

me – hmmm. (but between you and me, i already knew that high school boys were pansies)

————-

we also have family coming into town. starting tomorrow we will have 6 children under 6 years of age under 1 roof. i’ll let you know how that goes. it should be lots of fun and chaos, but the good, cousin kind of chaos!

and i’m going to have to share with you the unexpected turn of events that occurred over the past 3 days at our house. the mister may reveal something that even i have rarely been witness to!

stay tuned!

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the smeller’s the feller

do you ever have one of those days where you wake up in a really good mood and all seems to be going well and then, smack…you are hit with something that just ruins it for you?

i stepped in Poo.

not just any poo either. my shoe was full of red, brown and green! hello what is wrong with that dog?

it also just so happened that i had brand spanking new shoes on. isn’t that so great? my sister has a huge slight shoe buying habit and she had a pair of running shoes in her closet that she bought for $10 and you just can’t pass that up, right. anyway, she had never worn them so she bestowed them on me. i think she is secretly trying to give me some fashion hints being that she is not a boring jeans, t-shirt and flip flops kind of girl. although addias running shoes aren’t helping that problem much.

back to the point. these shoes have really deep treads in them so i think i pretty much took the whole load with me on my shoe. here is the bad part. i’m pretty sure this happened at about noon in a neighbors yard while dropping big sister off to a birthday party.

i kept thinking i smelled something as i ran errands for the next 3 HOURS but just kept checking little sister’s diaper and finding nothing. i’ll bet you i went into more than 10 different stores. the worst part is i went to a medical uniform store to try on scrubs and while trying them on thought ‘S has to be poopy, it totally stinks in here.’ so i proceeded to change her in the dressing room, where i discovered she was in fact not poopy. i had to take some scentsy stuff to 2 different offices and i so hope they didn’t smell it!

at this point in the story i’m thinking i either need my nose checked or i’m just super slow. hmm? i finally discovered the mess when i got home and sat down to my computer to pay bills. i’m sitting here eating my fast food hamburger and i can’t figure out what the stench is. y’all it took me 45 minutes to get that sh*t out of my shoe! i am not a happy girl.

to make matters worse, i had decided to give up the fast food habit about a month ago. cause if you know me, you know i eat out way too much. i did this for budgeting issues but after 2 weeks i realized how great my stomach felt all the time and that i used to feel sick a lot. ok, where was i going with this? oh yes, so half way through the removal of said feces from my shoe i am suddenly and severely ill. i’m talking running for the bathroom ill but you can’t move because it might not be pretty kind of ill. all is well now but i’m convinced they put laxatives in the food at arctic circle. no lie.

i’m still having fantom poo smells in my nose. i need to go clean the carpet in my car and mop the entire floor and have my carpets cleaned because i’m sure i tracked it everywhere.

have i ever mentioned that i really hate dogs? it’s true. i might tell you your dog is cute but i’m lieing. i can fake it really well that when your dog touches me and licks me and smells me in inappropriate places that i’m not really bothered but i secretly want to kick it. the mister early in our marriage told me he wanted a dog, to which i responded ‘you married the wrong girl’, actually i said ‘i don’t do poo in my yard’ and what i wanted to say was ‘H-E-double hockey sticks NO’ and thankfully he has come to see the light. although his sister recently lost her mind and purchased one of these poo producers. she was then added to my ‘not so bright people’ list where she had previously been on my ‘most favorite people’ list. that was a sad turn of events.

as we speak i’m trying to recover my bright and shinny outlook from this morning. so on a positive note, what have we learned from this experience?

1. do not walk in said neighbors grass.
2. i did secretly and now openly despise dogs and their poo!
3. i need to see an doctor about my anosmia.
4. always check the bottom of your shoes.
5. and the ‘you married the wrong girl’ comment was actually said to my husband when someone asked him how many kids he wanted and he responded ‘a baseball team full’. I could have also used the H-E-double hockey sticks response here too. ;)

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