Happy Memorial Day

WOW! What a great weekend! I will tell you all about it tomorrow... When I can type :) Happy Memorial Day!

How Sweet It Is

Last night I did my usual rounds which includes re-tucking the kids in once they are asleep and kissing them good night again. When I went into Quinten's room he looked so adorable. His little stuffed animal was neatly tucked into his shirt. It was the sweetest thing! I couldn't resist taking pictures...

After A Storm...

Driving home tonight was insane. I drive about 8 miles to my sitters house and then another 25 to work. I know boo hoo some people drive an hour or more, but still traffic in St. Louis is crazy because no one knows how to drive when the sun is out and if its sprinkling HOLD THE PHONES people the world is over, rain is falling. So anyway I only had about 6 miles to go and what (hold that thought the cat is throwing up... OK I am back now, I just gave my cat some can food and well he likes to gorge himself so he pukes up everything he just ate and then proceeds to eat more! Can cats be bulimic?)

Where was I oh 6 miles to go and what happens a freakin TORRENTIAL DOWN POUR. Traffic stopped and my joyful drive was over. Now it was raining pretty bad, I couldn't see the lines very well so I could appreciate the stopping traffic. However it took forever to get to my sitters house because I was driving at turtle speed.

So I get home with the kids and the rain hasn't reached our house yet so the kids get about 10 minutes of trampoline time and here comes the down pour again. So much for outdoor play today. Then we had dinner, painted a bit and my husband came home. I went on our front porch for a break and this is what I saw:

The most beautiful and vibrant rainbow I have ever seen in my life. It was actually a double rainbow but the top one was too light to fully catch with my camera. The brightest of the two rainbows had like 7 distinct layers of color, I have never seen this usually they look like 3 colors running into each other. Not this one, this one was defined with individual popping colors. I yelled for the kids and my husband and we all sat in amazement at the sight of nature at its finest in front of us. This photo doesn't really capture the beauty of this, and instantly my kids were all "Dad, can you go get us a pot of gold?" Don't we all wish he could.

What a perfect ending to a crappy drive home. But life is like that isn't it, peace then down pours and finally something so stunning you cant believe its real!

Hope you found your rainbow today...

Free Paper! (A Cost Savings Idea)

Want to know a great way to get free paper for your craft of purpose? This is a great tip.... Call your local paint and wallpaper store and find out what they do when they are done with their wallpaper sample books. Most paint stores throw them away and will give them to you for FREE if you agree to pick them up at a certain time every month. Stores get new wall paper sample books with updated lines so they throw these books out on a regular basis. I get mine from the local Sherwin Williams. The books are HUGE and thick, the ones I have are about a 1 1/2 feet long by 1 foot wide. A lot of the books have some pretty cool textured wallpaper in there which can be lots of fun! Here is a card I made using some wall paper samples, some pictures of one of my books and a few of the pages inside of them. I want to try and hit up an upholstery store to see what they do with their sample books, oh the sewing that could be done from one of those :) I haven't got around to trying that one yet.  

YUMMY!

So a turtle update, we never found Cheezy :( That really sucks! I was sooooo sad last night, OK for real I was crying over a turtle! That may sound dumb but we've had this little guy for almost 2 years and I am just really bummed. If he ran off on his own that's fine at least I know its what he wanted I am just worried that some little kid grabbed him up and hes off somewhere not being taken care of. Quintens really broken up about it too. He has been crying off and on since last night which breaks my heart. I am such a softy I want to cry with him but I contain my self because I know it wont help him any. Boo no more turtle.

So besides loosing one of the slowest creatures in the world this weekend I decide to try and make some Cake Pops from Bakerella now keep in mind, these do not look like hers do because I was trying to do this with the kids and the process generally takes a few hours of refrigeration and cooling. I rushed it so mine fell apart a little but they were DELICIOUS! Wow the kids had a great time making them, they were really fun to make. Now it does take time because you have to bake a cake, let it cool completely, mix in some cream cheese frosting, roll up your little cake balls then for the funnest part dip them in chocolate and back in the fridge they go. I could totally see how these could work if you take the time. We didn't start until around 7pm so I was already pushing for time. Anyway they were great, what a fun and yummy treat. Check out the web site, she has a book coming out this fall, cant wait to get my own copy :)

:(

I am super sad right now :( My turtle is missing! Today we took him outsid to play in the front garden and he has had such a great day. He ate 6 worms the kids fed him and he has played all in my flowers. He got a little hot so he climbed on our porch for some shade, I brought him out a dish of water to wade in and he stayed there for a while. I have been checking on him every half hour and the last time I went out he was GONE! We have looked everywhere. Now this turtle was completly content outside all day today and yesterday, I know he didn't just run away. Oh boy the kids are about to wake up soon, how am I going to break it to them? I hope we find Cheezy, it really sucks too because we were just putting together a plan to build him a big outdoor home with all the fixins. I am such a mom, I am going to be worried sick about this turtle...

In the garden

Today I decided to let our turtle Cheezy come out and play. I feel bad that he is stuck in a tank most of the time. Although he doesn't complain I know he loves it outside. Its been too cold and rainy lately so today was the first nice day we could bring him out to get some fresh air. The kids dug up some worms but he wasn't too interested. For the last hour he has sat under my carnations basking in the sun. Maybe I should build him a little space in the yard he can play in while we are at work, he would love that. It has to be dog proof though so I will have to give it some thought!

Seriously!

Seriously! This is a crisis in my home, I know I have three dogs but WHY I ask WHY DO I VACUUM DAILY and THIS is what I come home to MORE DOG HAIR. Can dogs really shed this much? I just don't understand. And why does the hair roll up into a little ball and make its way across my floor like some sort of tumbleweed? I bet I could build a small person out of the hair I collect in a week. Do you know how many vacuums have been destroyed trying to manage this mess of hair. It's redonculous, its unmanageable, can I donate this to some sort of good cause because I could come up with an endless supply! Oh well I guess I better quit complaining and go vacuum....

So I realize this isn't the best photo I have ever taken but darnacles (by the way this is a word I created, and its pronounced DAR-NA-CLES. It's a combination of barnacles and darn it! YES there is too much SpongeBob in my house) Anyway I could not get my flash to cooperate tonight so the pictures suck but the point is how cute is this little turtle guy, I named him Ned and he is a little embroidery wall hanging I made for Quinten's room.

This is the one I am making for Hailey, I haven't gotten very far but she is going to be a little Acorn Fairy. I purchased the embroidery pattern from Wee Wonderfuls and here is the traced picture so you can have an idea of what she will look like:

A side of TOOTH please!

Did you know you could be chewing dinner and a piece of your tooth can break off and you can then swallow it? Well its true cause it happened to me last night. I was eating a burger made by my husband (he is generally the cook at our house) and I bit down and there was a sudden sensation of pain in my tooth at which point I went to review the situation in the mirror and realized HALF MY TOOTH WAS GONE, yes that's correct g-o-n-e.  So let me mention this is really my fault, I had a filling fall out a few weeks ago (in this very same tooth) and haven't made time to get it refilled. Well I will never do that again now that teeth are falling out just from eating a hamburger. I feel like I am an old lady or something!

So this morning was CRAZY, my sitter was sick so I dragged my daughter with me to the dentist which luckily is in the same building that my mom works. Soooo my mom kept her while I was poked and prodded at. The good part my dentist is pretty amazing and she was able to do some drilling and fill the tooth rather than having to pull it or crown it. The filling is kind of weird because the inner part of my tooth is gone so its like a little slope in my mouth on one side and a normal tooth on the other side. Here is the tooth with the filling (before it fell out)

Now here's the after picture with a new filling and its a white one rather than silver...

The bad news is my dentist gets a little to close for comfort when she's working in your mouth I thought her boobs were going to smother my cheek and hello I would really like to close my mouth after 20 minutes of drilling. Shouldn't this be a cardinal rule for dentist??? Dentist let your patients close there mouth please!

So the rest of the day is going well, I am sore and I have a head ache but other wise its been nice to be home with Hailey. Here she is watching her favorite movie Coraline.

Have a great day and try not to swallow any teeth!

Introducing...

This is Chewy, short for Chewbacca or we call him bakky too. Best dog ever, I love it when an animal just behaves.I mean aren't they all supposed to do that or am I crazy??? His only down side is barking, this dog will rush someone at the front door like you wouldn't believe. But he is gentle with the kids and listens to every single word I say which is great since no one else does that.

OK so 2 years ago I had this hair brain idea to get a puppy for the kids for Christmas because that's the best idea ever when you have two kids under the age of 4 running around. Like I really believed this was a great idea, have I mentioned yet this dog is completely insane! He is not great with kids but he has become completely attached to me and I love the little anxiety ridden dog to death! His name is Chubbs, by the way he likes a good binky...

And last but certainly not least we have Max, or Maximo as I like to say. Max is definitely a rescue, to put it mildly he is the only survivor of a cruel animal attack, the rest of his litter didn't make it

:(

Max is a GREAT dog, he loves the kids and he is so laid back. This dog is super calm with the kids but playful with the other animals. He was a great addition to our family. 

 

A First Attempt

OK here's my first try at making my own pattern for a cute little colorful robot. He is definitely not finished yet (hence the lack of arms) but this is how far I have gotten with the pattern. He's not perfect but my kids like him so I guess that's a good start!