Wow! That's a lot of stuff!

OK I love this little furbaby! She is a Mommy's girl and she is quite spoiled. I make her chicken.  She gets so excited and she now asks for it. But she only gets it once a day, and sometimes she gets a little antsy and wants it more but I don't let her have it.

 

Poor baby- the kids dressed her up.

But she is perfect for our family! We basically agreed Aussie could get her because Izzy likes to antagonize Kiki.  So Izzy needed a younger kitten to play with. Kiki is set in her ways and wants to be left alone.  Izzy would run and jump on her and try to play and Kiki would flip out.  At first I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but it has really worked.  Lucky and Izzy play together and I no longer see Izzy attacking Kiki.  Kiki seems to be quite content.

The other day I caught Ashley playing with her dolls.  I was so excited to see her actually using the table that I made for her for Christmas.

 

This week has been a very creative week. Last Saturday, Brushfire was having their birthday celebration and we could come in and paint for "free". We still had to buy our pottery though. So while Aussie was at Chinese class I took Mason and Ashley. We were one of the first families that got there and we won a $15 gift certificate to use at a later date. I was a little bummed because I thought we could use it that day.  Anyway, Mason picked out this odd looking mug that has an opening at the bottom.  I suppose to put a tea bag there?  Well he was so excited about it. He knew just what he wanted and what he was going to do with it when he got it back.  He painted one of his favorite stuffed animals, Moosey onto it.  The opening is Moosey's mouth.  We got our pottery back today and Mason HAD to make Nana's chocolate chip cookies!

Moosey has a cookie in his mouth.  Mason has been talking about doing this ALL week long!

He even put the heart that was sewn on his stuffed animal from his Aunt Beth and Uncle John.

Ashley made a princess bank.

 

And I created 2 plates to add to my collection.  I'm trying to have a set of 6.  So now I have a big serving bowl, 4 small bowls and 2 plates.

And before you ask, yes I use them.

Ashley likes me to put her food in them and then she is surprised to see which one she got when the food is all gone.

 

Well today when we went to pick up our pottery, I almost made a HUGE mistake.  Usually Greg takes Aussie to Chinese, but he couldn't do it today so Ashley, Mason and I had to take him but we needed to hang out while he was in class. So I saw these little magnet sized pieces that were 3 for $7 that we could paint. We started drawing on them and all of a sudden I remembered that this was NOT a free painting day. We had already started, this was going to end up costing $7 plus $6 per person painting. OH CRUD! All of a sudden this tiny little project is going to cost $25. Mason agreed that I could paint his.  I asked Ashley if she would want to paint all 3, but she didn't feel comfortable painting mine. So she let me paint hers as well.  That saved $12. She designed it and I just painted exactly what she designed. Crisis averted! I suppose you will see them next week on my blog when we go to pick them up. (BTW Greg, Ashley wants this to be a surprise so don't tell her you know we went and painted something.)

 

Then Ashley had her audition for the 80's cabaret.  It is a camp that she will do next week and perform on Friday. The boys were not interested in this particular camp so it will just be Ash.  She auditioned to the song What About Love by Heart. The boys and I had to step out of the room, but from what I understand she did a fabulous job and Ms. Cori asked her if she would be willing to sing the whole song at the performance.

 

Then we came home and I finished up a project I started 2 weeks ago.  The 5th grade girls are decorating their room at church.  I asked Ashley how many girls there were and she remembered about 6 or 7 of them.  So I agreed to make these really big pillows for each girl thinking I would be making around 8.  I had bought fabric awhile ago at Walmart when it was $1/yard.  So I set out to make these big flower pillows.  I then told the teachers what I was doing and asked if I could have a list of the girls names because I was thinking about getting their names embroidered on them. FOURTEEN!

14 girls!

I had to buy a little more fabric that wasn't $1/yard.

And the embroidery...that is a huge long story that I won't go into.

Anyway, I was so excited.  I really wanted to get these to the girls the next day. But it didn't happen that way.  Fast forward 2 weeks, I've got the circles back and now I'm ready to sew them on the pillows. After about 7 pillows I learned something. It is TONS easier to sew the correct way with the sewing machine on the table.

Do you know how I sew?

It's weird!

 My MIL, Gayle doesn't know how I actually do it.

I sit on the floor, guide the fabric with one hand and push the pedal with the other hand. Hey it worked for me until this project, where I really needed both hands to guide it!

 

The pillows didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, some are really cute and others are kind of sad.  But here they are...all fourteen. (Actually 15 because I made one for Ashley to keep at home.)

Hmmmm....I just thought of a better picture. Let me see if I can do it.

There!

Ashley is sleeping on hers tonight so it is not pictured.

 

And that would be about the extent of what I did today! Well that and made cookies and did laundry to boot!

 

Oh before I go, sorry I know this is getting long, but when you don't blog for months I guess it all comes out at once.

 

Ashley had to have a root canal. YUCK! But Nana made it a little bit nicer for her.  If she was brave she would send Ashley a check so she could get a new outfit at Justice.  Ashley was brave! And we got to go shopping. It was fun! Ashley is really getting into wanting girlier looking clothes. Here is what she picked.

 A peace necklace.

 a ruffled shirt, sparkly skirt and little black sweater.

 And she had enough leftover to get a little outfit for her doll, McKenna.

 She didn't get this lollypop, but she posed at the store. It's a pink moustache. :)

 

Two more small things.  Mason got a hand me down leather jacket.  What a cool dude!

 

And wanted you to meet Orangy. I don't know why they call him/her this! This is not our cat! I'm praying he is a boy.  This is a stray. We've been feeding him/her.  He won't let you get too close to him. He let me sit on a stool about a foot away from him while he ate some food on our porch.  He didn't use to let us get that close. Greg actually reached out and pet his tale the other day and boy did he get hissed at. Anyway, look at him, he is angry I'm taking his picture. I'm too close for his comfort.

Please say a little prayer that this is a boy because heavens knows we don't need a litter of kittens!

 

"Lucky"

This is our new baby, Lucky.

Something pretty funny that we didn't know when we got her yesterday, that yesterday was National Black Cat Appreciation day.

 She is the softest little kitten and feels so silky.

But she is also a spunky monkey!

 At night time she calmed down enough for me to take her picture. She absolutely LOVES this little stuffed animal dog bed.  She also really likes the little toy I made her with her name on it.

I tried introducing her to Izzy today.  Izzy was NOT happy!  She hissed and went to attack.  I squirted water on her to stop her.  They are separated once again and we will try again a little later.

update

I'm sorry!  I apparently upset several people with my last post.  Yes, it has been an extremely hard day, week, even year. Am I at my wits end? yes.  Am I having a mental breakdown? no.

Thank you for your prayers, we may have a solution. Again, it's not something we want to discuss publically.

What I need from you:

Prayers and not to ask us what's going on. Please. 

We won't be writing it on Facebook.  All this is to protect certain family members.

I have some renewed hope tonight. I'm also a little nervous about the possibility.

Thank you and sorry for scaring you!

bad day

It's. Been. A. BAD. Day!


It's been a pretty bad week and even bad year!

I need help, but I don't know what to ask or who to ask.

I can't even write what's going on to halfway protect my family.

If you know me well enough you basically know what is going on.

Please pray we can get the help we need!

Swimming, Play and Party

Yesterday the kids went to Doris' place to swim. Brought my camera and only took 3 pictures. Sometimes I wonder why I bother bringing my camera.

 

Well the play the kids were in was a huge sucess!  So much in fact that they are having an encore performance Saturday and Sunday. Aussie is the jester.

Ashley is a tree named Willow- not necessarily a Willow tree.

 In the first cast Mason is Prince Ronald

And in the second cast he is Carl the doorbell. Anyway about it he is a BIG haute! Awards were given at the end of the play and he recieved the heart throbbery award.

 The play is based on the children's book The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch.  The play is outstanding! The music is adorable and I will try to post a couple videos of the songs. I'll need to upload them to YouTube first.

Now I really really doubt Steena is reading this.  If you are Steena stop here, please don't read the present I have for your party- You can come back next week.

Now that that is said, Steena is having a party next Wednesday night.  I'm kind of excited about it.  It will be about 4-6 girls. Everyone is to bring a $5 gift. Then we will play a game of some sort or draw straws and whoever wins that is whose birthday we will celebrate.

I made my gift.  I'm so tickled about it.

They are felt puppets.

A squid

A sugar glider

and

Steena

Steena is extremely cold natured.  So the puppet is made with layers of clothing, long underwear, pants, shirt and sweater. I'm going to tease her that I didn't have enough fabric to give her a winter outfit.

Today, we went to another friend's house to swim. Maybe I can score 2 more playdates over the next two days.

I'm even more tired today than I was last night.  I didn't know what was going on, but when I mentioned it to Greg he told me for the last 2 nights my CPAP mask has been broken and I was up trying to fix it.  I can barely think straight and ready to go to bed.  I'll go to bed when Greg gets home which should be within the hour.

Prepared?

I'm pretty sleepy!

We had a pretty good day.  Went to Doris' to swim.

When I tell the kids we are going swimming, Ashley and Mason get everything they possibly need and puts it in the bag. Aussie on the other hand gets so side tracked. I'm sure I said it at least 5 times, "Go get your clothes you will wear after swimming and fill up your water bottle." He leaves his water bottle but I grab it and go out the door.  I drive out of the driveway and remember an important item of clothing I forgot.  So I run in the house and get it.  Starting to drive again, Aussie says, "I didn't bring my pants." REALLY?  After I told you a gazillion times?  We are going out to eat for dinner, so I send him back into the house to get his clothes.  After we swim we go back to Doris' place and everyone proceeds to get dressed into their normal clothes.  I of course wait until last for everyone to use the bathroom for changing.  Then Aussie tells me he left his clothes in the car. So I totally get all over him (lovingly), he gets inside and realizes he dropped his underwear along the way.  He has to go back out to the car to find it.  I'm just sitting there in awe of how absent minded he is even though very very smart.  THEN...

I go to get dressed.  Guess who forgot her underwear?


Well I was going to share some pictures with you (don't worry not about my underwear) but it took me too long to size them for web, etc. that I don't think I can possibly stay up any longer.  So I suppose I'll be blogging tomorrow with pictures!  Good night!

Visiting Parents Day 5

It was a surprise to Dad that my brother John showed up from Colorado. It was the most hilarious thing ever!  John called my Dad on FaceTime a video chat for iphones from the driveway. Oh how I wish I had pictures to document this!  Anyway, he was chatting with my Dad and walked in the side door. All of us around were giggling as my Dad continued to look at his phone and talk. I think John even said, "Wow it sounds so clear as if I was right in the room with you." He was standing right next to my Dad and my Dad wouldn't look up!  So John pointed the phone at my Dad. That's when my Dad starts tapping his phone saying something is wrong I'm seeing a picture of myself.  We finally had to say, "Dad look up"!

And there he was was an awesome surprise!

Anyway, John brought his wife Beth, his son Caleb and his dog Rado. Took him 2 days of driving. Do I have pictures of them today? Uhh.....I got some later on. The pictures I got today were of my cute nephew Caleb.  I just love this little fella!!!

 I brought him some Usborne books from when I was a Rep.

 It took him a little while to warm up to me. I sure wish I could see him more often. Once a year is not enough!

And this is my FAVORITE picture of him!

Visiting Parents day 4

Thursday we went to Nature Realm.  It was really beautiful. I had two kids full of attitude, but only one was being a problem while we were here.

 I love this picture below where everyone is walking and Mason turns around and does a little jig. I got him in action.

 We had to walk over an extension bridge. I was happy until I found out I had to do it too. I tried to just fix my eyes on something, hold on to the rail for dear life and quickly walk across.  It felt like it took a half hour but I know it was only a minute or two.

 Both Mason and Ashley brought their Pokemon they won the day before.

I would have enjoyed it so much more if I had left one child at home.  There was a place there where you can sit and watch all kinds of birds come up to the bird feeders. That was my favorite part.  There were so many different birds. 

And for lunch Grampa  made his world famous hamburgers.  Chef Mason learned how to make them too.

We also went back to the playground.  This is where another certain someone had a meltdown. It was a hard day!  The boys raced through the playground as Greg filmed them and I sat with my telephoto lens snapping pictures.  I should have gotten Greg filming as that was quite a funny sight watching him run through the playground too.