Can't forget, Princess needs some blog-time, too! I haven't mastered taking swinging pictures that aren't blurry, but it's a beautiful smile!
Princess' 'hairy' creature (on the right).
Some of our seedlings--maybe they need some fertilizer--they aren't looking too vigorous!
Princess can 'play house' with anything! Here are 2 car families, with a mom, dad, and baby. I'm not sure if Speedy was playing house with her, or just playing cars and she thinks he's playing 'house.' :)
I tried another version of a diaper and wipes holder (why? Just something small to work on and learn on, I guess. This one used the method from the easy peasy snap wallet (thanks for the link, b.l.!)
Of course, I had to make some modifications--next time I will put interfacing right up to the seam edge, because otherwise it's just dumpy. I first had a pretty ribbon to tie it closed, but hubby's voice of reason that it was a little to hard to quickly get in and out of won me over. Anyway, I did sew on my first snap! (even though in retrospect, it wasn't in just the right spot, but I took too long on it to move it!)
Sewing is definitely a learning process for me--and makes me appreciate all the fine seamstresses I know, and the fine things my mom and grandmas and aunts have made me!
I heard her shriek, and thought it was terror...but she was grinning ecstatically!
She was also already trying to climb UP the slide!
My 'new' gum doesn't cover all the way up to my enamel, but does cover better; and is thicker. It was extremely thin in the front. I have another follow-up appt. next week, I'll try to remember to ask what caused my gum recession.
For weeks Speedy had requested a Bob the Builder chocolate cake--the morning of the big day, he switched to a CARS cake. I was almost ready to put on the finishing touches--the cars on the race track--when the phone rang. I turned around, and the boys had smashed and crashed the cars into the cake. I'm surprised they stopped there! It actually turned out pretty appropriately, I think. About 4 hours later, I figured out that I didn't hang the phone up well enough in my hurry to stop the boys. :) Hope you didn't try to call us during that time! 
We had a fun party dinner with all the local yokels. The Bob balloon was a gift, too--Princess was dragging it around the house, calling him her prince. If he can't be handsome, at least he's handy. :)
It was me this time--I'm the one who stocked up on $2.00 a bag cereal. :) What can I say, my hubby has taught me well.
Here are a couple cute books we've read lately: (pics to come once blogger is working again)
Over In the Meadow by John Langstaff: cute rhyme about animal families and counting.
llama, llama, red pajama by Anna Dewdney is about a llama who doesn't want to be in his room by himself at bedtime--yes, I can totally relate! Plus it's just fun to say llama and pajama and mama over and over again. 
:) An excerpt after the little llama just cried bloody murder:
Baby Llama, what a tizzy!
Sometimes Mama's very busy.
Please stop all this llama drama
and be patient for
your mama.
1.) I came across this old poster on another site, and it got me thinking. I feel like we live pretty frugally, but I have been kind of getting caught in the shopping trap--it's so easy to go shopping, there are so many CUTE new things out there, and it only costs $1 (or whatever.) It's good for me to be thinking of ways to 'make do' instead of 'buy new!'
Though sometimes things can't wear out fast enough--what I'm thinking of are a couple items of hubby's clothing that he 'inherited' from his great-uncle. Things were made better, back in the day, we CAN'T get these things to wear out!
**On the same note, I came across this pdf that has directions for making 15 cards (differing sizes) using 1 sticker sheet; 4 12x12 pieces of cardstock; and one stamp. **
2.) An unexpected reason to be thankful my boy was wearing a dark Sunday shirt yesterday (I picked it b/c we were having lunch after and didn't want food stains). He picked himself a bloody nose and smeared it everywhere. Yippee for dark colored clothing! :)
3.) Our aerobics instructor challenged us to wear our pedometers for a week to see what our average steps/day is, and then work to increase that number. If I can figure out a way to keep a list of my daily steps, I'll put that on the blog somewhere. It's kind of interesting to see how many steps I take without ever leaving the house!
4.) It's that time of year for planting things--since it's the first year in our new house, I have lots of ideas, of course. One is to plant lots of fragrant (yummy smelling) plants near the screened-in porch. Sounds lovely to sit out there and smell good things. (and the weather in the plains will be wonderful for that approximately one month, right?) :) Anyway, if you have a favorite plant to smell, I would love suggestions!
Honey is getting more and more active--this is her after she climbed up on our 'jumping couch.' (the kids always throw all the cushions off and jump on it.) Honey climbed up all by herself and was holding the back, jumping! She's getting so big. And climbing up on stools, chairs, imitating everything we do, and talking more and more. So much fun. :) And she LOVES the dogs--more so than I remember the other kids.
One final random note--yesterday afternoon, we discovered our 2 goldfish were missing from our fishpond. I wondered if they had been fish-napped. (they were free fish from the farm, worth so much, you know.) Hubby wondered if an animal could have gotten them. We have no ransom note, and no surveillance camera, so I guess it will remain a mystery!
The doll (Lucy, as she's always been known) used to have flowing blond yarn hair past her shoulders. I had to wait to confer with hubby for a consequence. We decided on 'no scissors and no dolls or stuffed animals for a month.' She was quite distraught as we packed up her room that night, (one of those times it is so HARD to be a parent!) but I haven't really heard anything since.
A Thomas the Tank Engine pillow for Speedy! I've had the stuffing since last spring when I picked it up at a garage sale, so I'm always happy to use up some of my stash! Speedy loved the pillow, but tonight was asking where his 'Thomas blankie' was. Sorry, honey, that's what I used to make the pillow!! (He was talking about the fabric.)
A Care Bear blanket for Princess--as if Care Bear fabric itself isn't cool enough, the white parts glow-in-the-dark! I used a piece of flannel-ish material for the back. Sewed the wrong sides together, flipped it right-side-out and stitched around the edge again. I sewed around a few of the moons to hold it in place (it doesn't have batting in it or anything.)
Thanks for humoring me by reading this post. :)
Cheese #2!
And cheese #3: grilled cheese...
...but April Fool's, it's actually pound cake and frosting. The kids and I had fun with this idea from Family Fun. Hubby didn't figure it out until he picked one up. Here is the pound cake recipe I quickly found when our grocery store didn't have any pound cakes for sale. I baked it in 2 loaf pans for about 35 min; and of course didn't have any sour cream, so subbed yogurt--half vanilla, half peach. The cake didn't seem any worse for it!
I've finished reading Shepherding A Child's Heart. It's written from a very scriptural perspective, and has a lot of good things to say. It focuses on being intentional and changing your child's heart (which is what motivates the bad behavior.) Seems like the method of change is mostly lecture, quoting scripture and sharing appropriate anecdotes. I'm not sure how to implement that with our seemingly strong-willed kids, but the book did encourage me to be more intentional in noting the kids' strengths, weaknesses, and gifts; as well as developing good character traits in them. Makes me tired just thinking about being so intentional. Anybody have any insights on this?
