Cold in the South

It is January, here in the south, and occasionally the temperatures dip below 50*.  On this particular night, after the kids had showers, they decided they were cold.  Their get-ups were funny enough to me (particularly Kaitlyn's) that I decided to take a picture.  Kari wrapped herself in a blanket and put on some thick socks (over her summer PJs).  Kaitlyn (also in a summer night gown) donned a sweater and scarf as well as Kari's softball socks (because they pulled up so high).

Dylan was actually decently covered, but the picture session for him turned into a game of peekaboo.

I will miss this little face when he gets old enough to not want to pose for me anymore.

Stay warm, stay warm!  Wherever you are!

Kari's Baptism

In our church, we wait until the age of 8 (or after) to get baptized.  So this birthday for Kari was a pretty significant one. 

We waited until the Saturday after her birthday, and then got together at the church.

Dylan had taken a nap and was having a hard time waking up (see above picture).  Daddy was able to get this cute one though :)

The program was lovely, with talks by Kari's Primary teacher for the last 2 years, and by her Grandpa (who flew in especially from Chile).  Aunt Pickle also came to share the special day with us.  It was a wonderful event, particularly touching for the grown ups involved.  I am fairly certain Kari's understanding of the responsibilities she was taking on was deepened, and her little heart touched.

After her confirmation, we had a few snacks and stayed around and visited with the wonderful people from the ward who came to share the day with us as well.  I put up a few pictures as "decoration" so we all could see how far Kari has come :)

I feel old to have a child that is baptized, as well as extremely blessed to have her make such a wonderful decision.  As is sometimes the case, while I am sure that Kari's heart was touched, it was a nice confirmation for myself as well.  Happy Birthday to my little girl, and congratulations on making a wonderful decision.

Fast Food

Growing up, I didn't know that there was such a thing as a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger.  Or a Hawaiian pizza.  Or a super deluxe taco.  There are 2 adults and 4 kids in my family, and my dad would simply bring home a "grundle" of something, and we would eat to our hearts content.  Who can blame him if he didn't want to take orders and try to keep things straight, let alone have to try to figure out what belonged to who when he got home.  Not to mention that I am sure it was much cheaper going the plain route, vs the super duper something or other. 

There was usually two piles.  Hard or soft.  With cheese or without.  Pepperoni or sausage.  Easy peasy!

It was somewhere close to my high school years, while we were driving back and forth to Utah (yeah, imagine that: 6 people in a van for days at a time), where I became aware of my choices.  I remember pretty vividly going into a fast food establishment and looking at the menu in awe.  I could have a chicken sandwich!  I could add bacon!  This was a whole new world for me!

The other night I went to pick up tacos for the kids.  Hubby wasn't going to be joining us that night, so I did a quick tally of heads and ordered the appropriate amount.  I am pleased to say that I was pretty much spot on!  For my family of 1 adult and 3 children (between the ages of 8 and 3) I ordered 15 tacos.  And there was only one left... 

My point is this: I shudder to think what the employees at Taco Bell thought when my dad went to the counter and ordered (my best guess) 50 tacos...  With a family of 6, each eating between 6 and 8 tacos (plus my brother, who we will affectionately call "The Garbage Disposal") we rarely had any left over. 

Now, no post is complete with out a picture.  And I have been saving this one for a while.  I didn't really have much of a story to go with it, but it seems to fit perfectly into this post.  It is a picture of my dad, at his company's Christmas party down in Chile.  It seems completely appropriate that they celebrate the holidays down there by riding a bull.

Also, don't ask how BOTH of my father's legs ended up on the same side of the bull.  If I was going to offer any advice to him, I would tell him to try putting one on EACH side next time ;)

Menace (AKA Crawling baby)

The little stinker is quite the mover!  She went from this to this.

At the moment, she is pulling up on everything (although she is at that humorous stage where she can get up, but can't figure out how to get back down).  She actually let go of the coffee table the other day, and them promptly fell and hit her head :(  So sad, but it just let me know that it is not far off.  She gets into everything she can reach, which increases every day....  Such a cute little menace!

Mooch

Friday night is Pizza and Movie night at our house.  Kelsey hasn't transitioned fully to big girl food, but she is quite close.  I couldn't resist taking this picture though, of Kaitlyn in her earrings and Kelsey mooching bits of pizza off her sister.  She seems to know who has a soft spot for feeding her :)

Eighth Birthday

Kari woke up to this banner the morning of her birthday.  (Thanks to sister Pickle for the suggestion)  It totally made the day special.  Problem is, I suspect now we will need to do something like this for everyone for every birthday.  Look what we've started....

We spent the morning at the nail salon, then went out to dinner.  Presents didn't come until we got home.

She got a Ninjago pen.

And her third Beyblade.

As well as a track for some cars.

Setting the track up.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the pink cake, a person might have thought it was a boy's birthday party.  Not that that is a bad thing.  I just think it is interesting.

Got the track all set up.  Now to play with it! :)

After we put on jammies it was time for some cake!

Happy Birthday to my Beyblade and Ninjago loving princess!!

May your life continue to go just as you want it to :)

Birthday Nails Did

For her eighth birthday, Kari asked to go get her nails done (again).  She also asked for her sister to be able to come.  Kaitlyn went first, and this is her waiting for her nails to dry, ring and earring and all.

Kari went next.

And then, inexplicably, refused to smile for a picture.

Kaitlyn chose purple and pink.

Kari chose red and green.

Then, we all sat around and watched Aunt Pickle get her nails re-done.  It was quite enlightening :)

While Kaitlyn has ceased it bite her fingernails (she is quite proud of herself that she never bit her toe nails {the goof!}), she somehow manages to have next to nothing left on her fingernails at the end of the day.  This is ONE day!

Kari also asked to go out to dinner that night, and Applebee's was kind enough to announce her name over the speaker.  She felt important :)  It was a great start to her birthday revelry.

Apple Circus

Have you seen Madagascar 3?  I though the first one was pretty good, the second one was on the lame side, but I really kind of like the third one.  The kids do too.  BTW, isn't this a cute picture of the boy?

 

Yes, I am getting to a point.  During the movie, Marty the Zebra sings a song that goes something like this

"Afro circus, Afro circus, polka dot, polka dot, polka dot, AFRO!"

 

This is Dylan's version of the song.  Also please note the stubborn-ness and independent streak that just may drive his mother to the edge of sane parenting.  *Please send reinforcements*

Nearest I can tell, his version is "Apple Circus, Polkanut (a combination of a polka dot and a coconut), APPLE!"  This is one of those times that I will choose not to correct him :)

Projects

The kids have had some really fun projects lately.  I thought I would take some pictures to share their ingenious-ness.  For this project, Kari built a robot.  Unfortunately, the hot glue didn't hold particularly well, but I really enjoyed her heart and veins as well as her use of a plastic container (that had shrunk when I failed to properly vent the lid in the microwave).

It had a little bit of a balance problem, so she gave it a backpack.

This is her write up about her robot "Philly".

The following day Kaitlyn got to decorate her own Christmas tree.  We used some old pom poms and beads from previous projects. 

 I think she may have used up all of my purple and pinks. Looks like she is a girly girl, all the way through.

Who says it isn't fun to use hot glue?

Counting with an Accent



While it looks like we will be staying here a little while longer (have I mentioned hubby got a promotion at work?!?!  Congrats hubby!!!!), when I hear things like this, I think I need to get my poor children out of the south, lest they go from "Cute Southern Belles" to "Little Rednecks."

Final Reveal, Purple Bedroom

It occurs to me that quite a bit has changed in the bedrooms around here, and I have been hoarding the pictures.  I last left you with glimpses of the purple and bedding and bunkbeds.  Since then, we have moved every part of the girls into their own room, as well as hung up some pictures.  We are 99% done with their room, and, as is our style, have moved onto several more projects and left this one to fend for itself.  *Sigh*  I am fairly certain that one day we will finish every little thing.  I couldn't officially tell you when that will be.  But here is where we stopped (mostly). 

Bedroom door with their cross stitches hanging up.  On the far right, you see the door to the green bathroom and the very very very edge of the bunk bed.  We had originally put the bunkbed on the other wall, right by the door, but it made it feel very small and dark coming into the room.  Technically we need to put in an actual door stop, instead of what is behind the door to keep it from slamming into the wall as well as find the cover for the phone jack.

Turn counter clockwise, and you see Kaitlyn's side.  Her dresser (which now has quite a bit more junk on it), the clock, and her closet with her name over it.  The closet now has a door on it :) Although we have 1 teeny tiny piece of trim to install still.   And the closet is also significantly less organized now.  Guess I shouldn't be surprised when I have a 5 yr old hoarder taking care of it.

Continue counter clock wise and you see Kari's "side".  Her dresser fits between the two closets by mere fractions of an inch (we had wanted it tight, but not that tight) and her name above her closet as well (that now has a door knob).  Yes, there is plenty of room to actually open her closet door before the bed.  Dish tub storage under the beds for shoes.  And if you were to keep turning left, you would see the door to the bathroom, and the door to the hall. 

Voila!  They have been in their own bedroom since the end of September (obviously) and love it.  One day we will finish it.  At least, I am pretty sure that is the plan.....

Back Flip

It takes almost until November for it to be pleasant enough outside to play.  While I know some people out west are having negative temperatures, this week we have turned the air conditioner back on.  I have yet to figure out why I am living in the hot, humid south when I don't really enjoy the weather.  *Sigh*   This particular day, a few months ago, daddy had just come home from work and was obliged to get some exercise in.

In the form of throwing around some decently heavy weights.

This particular weight was a scaredy cat, though...

Daddies have to blow off steam every now and then too!

Then we moved onto to "back flips"  (Forgive the picture quality.  It was dusk outside).  Has Dylan told any of you that he can do a back flip?  He can.  With daddy's help.

Also, ironically, while I am not exactly sure what a back flip technically is, it appears that the direction is a bit confused since he is going forward.

Everyone needed a turn.

Ah, to be a child...

Also to be a child....  

Kari didn't want to do back flips.  She preferred to work on her hand stands.

Kelsey and I sat on the porch and watched the show.  We also enjoyed a nice bottle of travel conditioner.  It was a good year for that particular bottling.

Until it was time to walk off into the sunset.

The End.

Cheerios

Look who is eating finger foods!  She is much better at it now than she was in this video.  But I think that is partly what is so cute.  That it takes her so long to actually get one in her mouth :)

Tree Skirt

If you are going to make a confession, the best place to do it is on the Internet, so EVERYONE will know.  In that spirit, I have a confession to make:  I don't have a Christmas tree skirt.  Well, until this year.  A waaaaaay long time ago, hubby and I made grand plans for our tree skirt, and we bought material so that I could make a custom skirt just for our family.  This was before we had Kari, so....  9 years ago?  Here's the real confession:  It has taken me this long to do it.  One of the reasons I hadn't done it is that I hadn't figured out a way to sew it so that all the lines matched up with the batting in between just right.  In one of my insomnia fits, I finally dreamed up (which is ironic being that I couldn't actually sleep :p ) a way to make it all work.  However, that being said, that was at least 2 years ago.  I can't explain it why, but I got the bug to actually complete the skirt this year.

 

Hubby drew a pattern for me, which I think he kind of enjoyed.  Unlike me, he still remembers some of his high school geometry and was able to use it to draw a perfect 1/8th of a circle for me.  I traced and cut out all the pieces and then started sewing them together.  I could go into details, but I won't bore you, since more than likely you don't care.  My method allowed for me to have all the seams match up (since it is a double sided 8 piece circle on both sides) as well as not have too much bunching around the seams from the batting (because I left it in one piece).

Once all the pieces were sewn together, and the long straight edges were finished, it was time to trim the excess around the curved edges and sew on some trim.

I have never been great at circles, but this seemed to work alright.

When I had originally bought the material 9 years ago, I had bought some blanket binding to go with it.  Upon doing some more geometry (yay for HS math!) I found that one package would not be enough.  Knowing I wouldn't be able to find something that matched exactly, I opted to just buy all new.  When what should my wondering eyes behold, but a large spool of ribbon in the clearance bin!  So, for 1/4 the price of new binding, I just bought the ribbon and ironed it in half.

And there you have it!  One side is alternating red and green plaids.  And while it doesn't show very well in the picture, there are golds woven into the red, and some shiny red woven into the green.  It is very pretty.

The other side has more playful fabrics in a larger varieties of color.

Look how wonderfully it goes under the tree!

And I couldn't help myself.  When taking a picture of the tree skirt, I noticed Dylan's corner.  While decorating the tree, he put most of the ornaments I gave him in the same corner.  Over the course of the month, some have been moved, but it makes me smile to see what is left.

I really like the way it turned out.  And no reason to feel bad that it took almost a decade to finish a simple project, right?  *sigh*