Wounds

My older son has reached that magic age where he loves horror movies.  He and his friends were counting down to see The Devil Inside, and it came out this past weekend.  After the movie, four extra boys came over to spend the night.  They all came in acting like the movie wasn't scary at all and what a disappointment it was.  I was surprised that they were home so early and looked it up online and saw the running time was only 82 minutes.

That night, all Derek and I heard was creaking from the floorboards above us in our old house from them running back and forth, back and forth - I don't think I've ever wished for a ranch style house or basement more.  I also vowed that night that it would be the last time I let five 8th grade boys spend the night.  Good thing for my kids that I have a short memory, because I'm pretty sure I've said that before.

The next morning, Nate had a big red mark down his nose and also on his forehead.  He said he thought he heard a noise behind him and turned to run .... and ran right into the wall! 



The forehead and nose on day 3.

 

So..... I'm wondering if they were just trying to act all manly, and maybe the movie was a bit scarier than they let on! 

I thought it was so funny and had to share, he didn't think so (hence the "evil eye" in the picture above).

Happy Birthday, Baby!

Last night was the last night I'll ever have a 5 year old child.  Sad, isn't it?  Well she wasn't sad!  She had me french braid her hair just so she could take it out first thing this morning for curly hair.

This morning she wore her finest birthday dress to school (good thing there was no P.E. this week), and had me bring Popsicles to her class for after lunch.

And since I can be talked into things easily, she had me check her out of school early to play with her new Moxie doll. 

I usually make them their favorite meal for supper and when I asked her what she wanted tonight she said, "Junk."  I don't think I can do that, so I guess we'll just have her next favorite thing ... PB&J sandwiches.

Photo of the Week

Tom Selleck Fan Club

Favorite Foto of the Week

My girls

Farbenmix Emely Pattern

I bought the Farbenmix Emely pattern awhile back and finally got a chance to sew it last week.  I had bought the darling butterfly fabric from JoAnn's and was going to make it all out of that fabric; but after seeing other people's creations I wanted some accent fabric to go with it.  My little girl insisted that zebra would go with the butterflies, I didn't agree, but I obliged.

I'm really glad I listened to her, because it turned out cute!

The directions weren't completely clear; for instance, it didn't tell you to hem the bottom (but who can't figure that out?).  It also tells you to put the elastic in the top of the pocket, although I couldn't find how much and what size elastic anywhere in the pattern - again, nothing that can't be figured out, but a beginner might have a hard time following.  All in all, this was one of the EASIEST things I've ever made and, not including tracing and cutting out the pieces, took me only about 3 hours to sew.

Another plus is - the top is reversible!  Who knew?  They don't tell you that on the pattern, but if you sew buttons to both side, why not?  Which side do you like better?  Me - the butterfly; the girl - ZEBRA!

Captain American turns 8!

Where has the time gone?  My youngest boy turned 8 last week.  This one is crazy; always bouncing around, annoying his brothers with silly voices, and most the time has a smile plastered on his face.

Don't you think he looks a LOT like my father in the photo below?

My baby lost her first tooth last week and she was so excited.  She stood and looked at herself in the mirror after I pulled it for at least 10 minutes and came in and told me, "I look good without a tooth!"  She's only 5, but the dentist told me she would probably loose her bottom teeth early after she fractured her jaw. 

We are also in the process of cleaning out the girl's room, which you currently can't see the floor.  I told them the other night to go find five things that they didn't want anymore that we could donate to Goodwill.  This is what she came out with.  In case you can't make out the picture, folks, that is three marbles, one pencil, and one dime.  Isn't she generous?

Hippie Chick

On the way home from Key West, we stopped by a Tie-Dye store, hoping to find some dye.  They didn't sell any dye, but already tie-dyed clothing, cloths, bags, etc.; along with lots of hippy clothing and accessories.  The shop owner was a wonderful lady who said our children were "magical".

My redhead flower child fell in love with this dress and she's worn it almost every other day since we've been home.  Isn't she cute?

Company

What started with inviting one friend over turned into four extra boys at my house today. 

My table and my island were completely clean and clear this morning, and by this afternoon .... this.

Just how many cups do 10 kids need?  Notice the three empty jugs of Hawaiian Punch, some spilled juice spilled under my violet and cake top, and corn syrup/food coloring - ingredients for fake blood.  I love my boys; and their friends.  Seriously.  What I love more is they cleaned ALL of it up themselves without my help.

Birthday Cards

I showed you the picture my oldest son drew for me for my birthday yesterday.  Let me now show you what my youngest son wrote to me.

Awww, isn't that sweet?  Then, five minutes later, I received this one:

For those of you who don't read a 1st grader's writing well, let me translate:

Roses are red

Violets are blue

I wish Mom was skinny

Sis Boom fabric + twirl skirt pattern = FABULOUS SKIRT!

I've never sent my kids to all day Pre-K.  I've always thought that they need to be home as long as possible and also that's just too long of a day for a four year old.  However, at the end of the last school year, Molly was visiting my sister for the week; and I realized that Anna was bored out of her gourd with all five of her older siblings gone.  She was whiny and right under my feet the whole week.  I ended up calling the school and signing her up for Pre-K and finding out it was too late - there was a waiting list and she was number 53!  Would you believe it, but they called on Thursday and she got in!  My pediatrician, who books out 2 months out for well visits, just happened to have a cancellation on Friday; so we were able to go get her immunizations.  It was amazing how everything worked out. 

She was excited because that meant I would make her a skirt for her first day of school like I did Molly.  I talked her into another Redondo, because well, it's my fav pattern.  I bought some Sis Boom fabric on sale last month that was perfect for her skirt.

I got Anna to bed at 7:15 tonight to get her ready and rested for her big first day of school.  She fell right asleep, but was so excited that she woke up at 11:30 and wanted to try her skirt on and have me take pictures.  So this is not her official first day of school picture; but it is what she will be wearing - and that's really the only thing that's important, right?

First Day of School

Today is my girl's first day of Kindergarten!  She has been counting down to this day for four months now.  As you can imagine, she couldn't sleep last night.  I think she finally fell asleep around 10:30 and I have no idea when she woke up - I do know it was before 6:00.

Here she is sporting her new Hello Kitty backpack and Littlest Pet Shop lunchbox (complete with Barbie Thermos). 

Each of the classes at our elementary school has its own theme, like the Curious Caterpillars or the Jolly Ranchers.  Molly is in the Zany Zebras; so she wanted me to make her a zebra skirt.  Unfortunately, Hobby Lobby was out of traditional zebra material - but I did find this cool pink on pink zebra print!

I was a quick sew, taking only a couple of hours from cutting time to completely finished.  There was only one mistake - and a big one - that I made.  I sewed the waistband on the wrong side - with the raw edges on the outside of the skirt!  I was in a lazy mood and did not feel like ripping out the seam, so I improvised.  I decided to leave the seam; but do a rolled hem with my serger to add a ruffle type effect.  I think I rather like it!

I wish everyone could see my son, Charlie, get tickled.  It happens pretty often; and when it does, he has everyone laughing right along with him.  It's one of those laughs where no sound comes out, he can't breathe, and he just shakes all over and it's FUNNY. 

Well, today when we were taking pictures, he layed his head where you see it.  I mentioned he was under John's butt.  You can see his reaction in the picture below:

Hey, I can't add any pictures!  What happened?  The only options for adding pictures to my blog is to choose existing pictures on my blog, from the web, or from Picasa.  I always add them straight from my PC.  Since that's no option, I guess this will be a picture-less post (boring, I know).  I hope I won't have to break down and use Picasa, as I hate it.

In children news, there have been no self given haircuts in close to a year!  What a milestone.

Nate played The Entertainer at the Jr. High talent show this week.  He didn't win, but he did get in front of hundreds of people and played - quite an accomplishment.  He also won the outstanding trombone player out of all of the 6th grade band tonight at the Spring concert.

Matt has been bit by the reading bug.  He's currently reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Paperback Boxed Set (Books 1-3) series.  In 5th grade, they are supposed to read a book and take an AR test on it to test comprehension.  The goal is for every student to have 20 AR points a quarter.  Matt has 65 so far for this 9 weeks at the halfway point!  I also am AMAZED that this boy has found not one but TWO lost hamsters.  When I say lost, I mean they were out roaming the room for over 24 hours and he found them!!

The Collingsworth Family came to our church a couple of weeks ago.  They were an amazing musical family.  One of the daughters played the violin; which inspired Chuck to work even harder at his playing.  He is part of a strings group through school and now he is adding private lessons once a week.  He has been so excited - he met his teacher for the first time yesterday and was even happier when he saw how cute she is!

The other three are there usual crazy selves.  What more can I say?  They are the ones who keep the dog fed, feel the water bowl up, dump it out, feel it up, dump it out, etc. 

I love them all.

If you have kids, I'm sure you've found them sleeping in some crazy spots.  This one tickled me enough to grab the camera and I'm sure my eight year old won't appreciate me putting this on the blog, but what can he do?

When my husband went to check on the kids, Charlie wasn't in his bedroom.  He found him in his older brother's in a toy bucket.  Isn't that funny?  And look Mom- the rag quilts are being used!

I *love* this little girl

This little sweet thing is my youngest. I don't know if I've ever met anybody who loves life more than her. I'm telling you she is one crazy child from the things she wears to the way she wears her hair - she fixed it herself in the above photo. I probably failed to mention that she yet, again, cut a chunk out of her hair last week. It's become so common place that I forget to share it with people anymore. She begged me to shave it off like I did her older brother's hair. When I offered to take her to the beauty shop to get it in a bob, she declined saying she wanted very long hair now.

Today she has been carrying around a boom box (do they still call them that?) around with her from room to room listening to Weird Al Yankovich. Her favorite song is one called Jurassic Park that she knows all the words to and one day I'll catch her on video singing at the top of her lungs. Her second favorite that I've heard 40 times today is Bohemian Polka; it's Bohemian Rhapsody sung to a polka beat and let me tell you from experience, it can grow a little tiring.

I can have her showered and "super shiny clean", as my redhead would say, and within 5 minutes she will look like she's been dragged through the woods by a pack of wolves. She climbs onto the counters looking for candy or snacks in the upper cabinets and if she can't find anything, she'll grab a spoon and eat sugar directly out of the bag.

She drives me crazy sometimes, but I'm so glad she's my daughter. She truly keeps me on my toes and makes life FUN. Plus, she gives the best hugs!

This is the usual way my girls walk around the house during the day. They call the skirts on their head their long hair.

Notice Anna's dress, skirt on body, and pants.

Style

My girls definitely have their own sense of style. This is what my little one has on today. No matter how hard I try, I cannot convince them that orange and pink do not match. Let's break down this outfit starting with the shirt. There is nothing wrong with the shirt save the name on it is not her name. It's her older sister's shirt.



I love that she paired the shirt with some too big pink plaid shorts. What I love more is that the pockets are always poking out. To complete the outfit, she chose one red shoe and one brown one. I think they are both right foot shoes which makes it even better.



Man I love this girl. She is a mess and is always in to something; but not a day goes by that she doesn't make me giggle at her silly ways.

School Daze

It's that time of year again. Back to school time. I hate to see them go back because now I'm wondering who will help me clean.

My youngest boy started Kindergarten today and it's hard to believe he's growing up so fast. His teacher wanted her students to bring in something that they could share with the class. John wanted to bring a picture of him with the nameless puppy.



And tomorrow my oldest starts Jr. High tomorrow. Oh boy. That's all I can say. He's in the youth group at church now. Really?! When did this happen?

I think all of the boys got good teachers and I know they are going to have a good year. They're excited about starting - probably because they won't have to help me sweep and vacuum.

Should I be letting them play this?