Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Pillowcase dresses

(I love this picture of Peter and his girlies.)
 My friend suggested I try making some pillow case dresses for our etsy store and so I thought I would start by making some for my girls to see how well I could do it.
 I love the way they turned out. I learned a few things and will do some parts differently next time around.

Lily was not thrilled about Arabella holding her for a picture.
 Arabella is such a pretty girl and loves pink. She is very excited for the other dress I am planning to make- it is princess material.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Camping in the Cold

The kids always want to go camping and when Peter goes every month it heightens their desire.
Arabella specifically asks every time to go with him. 
We had a weekend open up and took advantage of the time.
It had been warm and lovely the day before but as luck would have it the weather was really cold for camping. We took lots of blankets and hats and gloves and firewood and it was wonderful!
 Bedding down for the night after roasting hot dogs, making s'mores and enjoying some time with our friends the Bjarnason's who came to enjoy the fire for the evening.
The kids slept great- me not as much but it was still a great night.
They woke up at their usual times so Joey was up at 6 am.
Peter woke up shortly after that and got the fire going.
 Lily sat and enjoyed the fire in the morning while eating bugles.
 The boys could not wait for breakfast and so they roasted the last 2 hot dogs.
 Love camera timers!
 After enjoying a breakfast of eggs, ham, and Dad's sourdough pancakes with famous syrup the kids all helped with the dishes while I cleaned up sleeping stuff.
 Love a cup of hot chocolate.
 We then walked down by the lake and threw in rocks- Lily had to be in on the action.
 We wondered around to what was once an island and is now a peninsula due to the water being so low. 

Arabella was so proud of her feathers she found.
It is a bit hard to see but all 6 of our R foot prints are in this picture. 
I am so thankful for a great weekend with our kids. I love the feeling of spending good, happy time together.
We got home about 12 on Saturday and the kids all willing helped to clean the house and do laundry.  We finished our day with pizza and watching the movie "The World's Greatest Athlete"- classic Disney. 
It was the BEST weekend!

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Etsy Shop

My friend had an Etsy shop while she lived in Atlanta and decided she wanted to open it again.
 What does that have to do with me? 
Well she asked me to do it with her and post these blankets and burp cloths that I have been making for the many, many babies we have had born recently in our ward.
 I have been shopping, washing, ironing, cutting, pinning, and sewing like crazy the last 10 days so I would have some things to post. 
 I never in a million years would have done this of my free will but I am loving the idea of doing it with a friend. I don't know that I will make much money doing it but I have a plan for the money I do make.
 Peter has been really supportive and I believe he loves the idea of me doing something outside of my comfort zone and entrepreneurial.  He would love to open his own shaved ice business again and do it more full time than just on the side.  It may happen someday.
I am not settled on the prices I have listed for my things but thought I would give it a month or so before I go changing them. 
Our store is called BabyBare Necessities and my friend's items are ADORABLE!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Baby Dolls

Lily loves baby dolls.  She loves babies too- she thinks they are dolls.
She also loves to wrap her dolls up in blankets and pack them around  the house. 

Even Little People princess dolls need to be wrapped up in a blanket or a wipe- her personal choice for such a small doll.  I love how proud of herself she is.
She is a girly girl through and through and I love it!

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Pinewood Derby 2013

It is that time of the year when Peter gets to use all of his fun tools to help the kids create awesome looking cars!
We went Pokemon themed this year with the boys.  
Jon went straight forward and did Picachu.  He painted the face and the details.
Joey wanted Onyx who is a rock type Pokemon.  It is a snake like creature that is made out of boulders. Joey carved small styrofoam balls to form Onyx and helped cut out, sand, paint, etc the car. He did a great job! The boys both said they did not really care if it was fast they just wanted it to look cool.  Peter was thrilled because he did not feel the need to spend a ton of time working on the axles and the wheels. 
Arabella wanted a girlie car and that is what she got. It was three Minnie Mouse inspired bows. Purple with pink shiny/metallic puff paint dots.
 The wonderful thing is that Joey won! He was SO EXCITED!
 Jon is striking a Picachu pose and face.  Peter helped set up the track and ran the timing system.  He always does a great job with all things scouting!
The amazing cars (and Lily in the background to prove she was there). 

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Motherhood

I have found that there are times that adulthood is not all I thought it would be when I was probably 10 and wanted nothing more than to grow up. 
First,becoming a mom. As a little girl I played with dolls and dreamed of having my own babies someday.   Then I got a little older and still wanted to "get married and be a mom someday".  I would even play MASH to find out how many kids I would have and who I would have them with. Then I became a teenager and knew I would need to have the perfect man to have this family with and the question of who could not be answered simply by playing MASH or by twisting your apple core while saying the ABC's to find out the first letter of your future spouse. Then I started dating Peter and began to dream of the family we would have one day.  Finally, I was married and knew a family was soon to come.  Then it was a question of the "right time" and then what I thought was the perfect time turned into nearly 7 months of trying before I was pregnant with Joey. After you have one, everything about being a mother changes. It is no longer a dream or something you watch other people do. No, you are living it day in and day out. And though there are many you can turn to with your questions, there are just certain things you have to figure our for yourself and do the way that works best for you. 
Now, you decide if you will have another.  I wanted 6 before we had Joey.  Then I said if we had 4 boys I was done.  We were gratefully blessed with Arabella at #3 so we were sure we would have at least 4.  But this is where my story changes from what my perception was to what reality is.  Don't get me wrong, we love and cherish Lily every day! I just had no idea when I was dreaming of being a mother of the roller coaster that becoming one can be.  Even after you learn about how babies are made or at least start to have ideas of how it all works, you don't really have a clue about what the emotional aspects of that are.  By the time we decided to have kids, I knew that getting pregnant did not always come easily for some and it may not come at all for others. I remember pleading with my Heavenly Father to please let me have a child. I asked Peter for a blessing after 5 months of trying and beginning to feel quite anxious. I feel so lucky to have been blessed  with the opportunity to become pregnant and know that there is life growing inside of me. To know, that my Heavenly Father was willing to trust me with one of his precious spirits. 
My years as a nurse have unfortunately allowed me to be part of many patients' lives as they are experiencing the loss of a pregnancy or the threatened loss of one.  There are few things that can compare to the look in a mother's face as she is wondering if she will ever feel that baby move within her or hopefully hold, love and raise that child in this life.  I had my first miscarriage between Jon and Arabella.  I was 10 weeks and I was angry.  I felt like I had been cheated out of time. I had wanted to have my kids closer together and I had just lost 10 + weeks before I would have another baby.  That miscarriage was nothing compared to my next. There were no feelings of anger over the loss of time.  My heart and mind were filled with questions of why and what happened and what did I do wrong, am I now longer a good enough mother?  I was 17 weeks, it was a boy and I have no doubt in my mind that he is eternally mine as long as I remain worthy of my temple covenants.  Lily came and filled my heart with joy and a sense that I could carry a baby and it would be okay.  I did often wonder if she would be my last baby.  I hoped she would not but I tried harder to enjoy my moments of motherhood with her- night time feedings, smiles, laughs, crawling, recognition, her hugs and snuggles. And yet, having those things from her made me want more children. There is nothing wrong with that.  I must say that this is where plenty of other aspects of adulthood could easily justify not having more children;  i.e. clothes, food, house, insurance, college savings, mission savings. But I do have faith that as Peter and I work together and with the Lord, we will be able to provide for the needs of our family and hopefully a few of the wants and our children will be happy, faithful and healthy.
We moved forward with such confidence in our plan for one more and were blessed by getting pregnant quickly.  It felt so very right and like the Lord was with us in this plan of ours.  I do believe He was and is; He just had a different outcome. It is hard when what you thought was the final episode of your family turns into a to be continued.  I never, even in my college years when I was educated thoroughly in the mechanics of having a baby, realized just how much of an emotional and spiritual journey this having a family would be - and I don't mean raising one.  
Peter and I have done a great deal of talking, praying, fasting, and had a trip to the temple with the great and eternal question on our mind.  I never thought either in those childhood/childish years how this journey would affect my husband- as a little girls the daddy just goes off to work and comes home. This is not a decision to be made just by me but most definitely by both of us.  There are many aspects to be considered and not just the above mentioned material ones.  Joey has asked a few times, questions such as "Mom, if your next baby survives where will it sleep?"  How many times do you put your kids through the loss of a baby especially when they are excited to have another brother or sister?  How many times do I put myself at risk for blood clot complications without risking my life and the chance to raise the children I have with the healthy body I have now?  Do we decide we are done and raise these children with the belief that this way we will be that much closer to do such things as serving a mission together?
I tried to think of New Year's Resolutions this year but really my mind is quite distracted by this one topic.  And so, my one new year's resolution is to find PEACE and FAITH in my Heavenly Father's plan for me and my family.  I love to be in control of what is happening to me but this time I have come to accept that His plan is far better than mine.  I will strive each day to not focus so much on this question of one more or not and if so then when and really just turn it over to him.  I am glad I have the whole year to work on this because it is going to take me every single day!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Weird Weather

Last Friday, after nearly 48 hours of continuous rain on Tuesday and Wednesday, we headed out for a few adventures.  First, we went with Arabella's preschool friends to this church's indoor play place.  
It was amazing. It had a climbing wall, a play kitchen area, a tool area, a giant white interactive screen on the floor, a netted in little basket ball place, a infant/toddler play area, and the largest McDonald's type play structure I have ever seen. 
We stayed for over 2 hours and the kids loved it!




Since the temperature on Friday was in the low 70's we went with some friends after school to the park to play. It was beautiful but a bit muddy.  The kids ran and played.  Our friend brought her dog Sasha (the one that used to be our dog) and the kids had a great time trying to keep up with her. It made me want Spring.


Saturday night it hailed.
And then it got really cold on Sunday-okay, cold for us back in the 40's. 
Sunday night it hailed again. 
Last night I woke up to a very light tapping on the windows and thought it was raining.  I was wrong it was SNOWING!
Shortly after we moved here it snowed and our kids were so excited that we had moved to a place where it snowed more than Las Vegas.  We told them that no, it did not it was just a chance snow. Well we have been blessed with several chances to have snow while living here including 2 white Christmases.
I hope this is a short lived snow storm which it is supposed to be, I am a cold weather wimp now.

Stay warm, wherever you are!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Adventures with the Thalman's Part 3

Sunday while the Thalman's were visiting we attended church.
That night we had a few friends over for a breakfast for dinner meal- yummy waffles and bacon- and then games. We laughed and laughed and had a great time spending time together.

New Year's Eve Carla and I did some shopping together.  I love to shop with my mom and sisters. I don't even need to get anything, I just love the time spent walking around and seeing different things and laughing and remembering. We found some great after Christmas items at Target. 
Then Carla took me, Arabella and Addy to get pedicures.  This was my first pedicure and I could definitely do it again. Arabella was a bit nervous at first but loved it in the end. 
When we got home, we sent the husbands to Rudy's to enjoy dinner without the kids.
We let the kids stay up until about 9:30 and then we had treats, drank sparkling apple juice, made lots of noise with noise makers, and watched the fireworks on youtube from Austrailia. 
Joey was so sad that we were not going to let him stay up until 12 so I promised I would come and wake him up.  We adults headed to bed at about 11:15 after a movie. I decided to stay up and read and then wake Joey up.  I began to try waking him at 11:57 and gave up at 12:01.  He would not wake up! 
I knew he would be sad, I just did not realize it would occur at 5:09 am when he woke up and realized he missed it. Jon came to get us saying that Joey was crying really loud for us. I explained to Joey what had happened and that he needed to calm down and go to bed.  At about 6:45 am, I found Joey down stairs with red puffy eyes still upset about the whole thing. We finally came to an agreement that next New Year's Eve we would have him take a nap during the day so he would be able to stay up.  He then spent the next hour trying to calculate just how long of a nap he would need to take to make up the difference. 
Oh Joey, I love you and your amazing little mind!

 Pictures from our early New Year's celebration.
Final farewells, with cousins. We got a few more video games in too before they left. 
We loved having them visit and hope they come again some day!
Hopefully someone else out there will see how fun it is here in Dallas and choose to come visit! ;)

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Adventures with the Thalman's Part 2

Saturday was warmer and so we loaded up a picnic and the kids and headed to the Zoo.
Unfortunately, when we got there most of the animals were still in their indoor enclosures where you can not see them.  We were told they would be coming out later so we stayed.
We headed to the reptile house since those animals were on display.








Carla actually got a picture of Joey touching a Giraffe- that is how close you could get to them from where Peter is standing in this picture. Up close and personal experiences with these long necked fellows (of which they have 9 giraffes)!



The elephant statues are a favorite every time!
Joey nearly spun Addy out of the nest.
Peter was going to stand by Arabella but then she went in the nest and so he chose a gorilla and felt a bit silly at first but had himself a grand time. 
Parker chose the panther and Jon the eagle or as he often calls it- the Scout bird.
We did not get to ride the monorail but we saw lots of animals and had a great time together!
We ended our day with dinner at Red, Hot and Blue- yummy!
Then after the kids went to bed the adults played Funglish and it was so funny!