Ready?

For Valentine's Day, I made these cute skirts for the girls.  The wore them for 4 days! They wore them to their school parties on Thursday.  They got up Friday morning (no school day) and put them on again.  Then Saturday I insisted they not wear them all day (but they got a few hours of wearing time in) and they got washed.  They wore them again on Valentine's Day to church.  I also made matching headbands!  They are the headbands I will be teaching how to make on Saturday.  The girls absolutely LOVE their skirts and want to wear them every day.  I am glad that they turned out so well.  They are quite simple and I am thinking of making a tutorial to post here on my blog!

 

I have a picture of Jeff with each of our babies like this one- both sleeping.  I think it is the sweetest thing!

  

I have been busy packing.  I am so grateful to my friends for helping.  It is extremely difficult when you have a baby.  He needs to eat or have his diaper changed, or just wants to be held.  With the help of some friends, we have managed to pack most of Jeff's and my clothes as well as 3/4 of the kitchen.  I seem to always think I will only need so many boxes, only to realize I need twice as many.  Why do we have so much stuff???  Probably because I love to bake and cook!  I am very sad to be leaving my beautiful kitchen.  We have just one week and one day before we move.  I cannot believe it!  This just seems like it is happening so quickly.  I feel that I am not ready to leave everyone.  I am trying to stay calm for my children.  I know this has to be difficult and confusing for them.  We were packing the kids' clothes on Friday and Saturday.  When we got in the car to leave during the Open House, Natalie asked where the box of clothes was.  She wasn't sure where we were going, but she wanted to be sure her dresses were going with her!  I am afraid that loading up the truck and then getting in the van will make her think her things will end up somewhere else.  I wouldn't be surprised if she wants to ride in the back of the truck with all of her things! (she won't be able to, of course)   Alona and Ashley seem to be taking it okay.  They are sad that they are leaving their friends, naturally.  We will see if the strain on them shows more as we actually move.  Andrew doesn't really care.  He may not even notice that his surroundings will be changing.

We found a few houses online that we like.  We will be renting for awhile.  We were trying to decide between 2, but I went to look at them again and one had been leased.  It had a smaller kitchen, but was less expensive.  The kitchen is sort of the important thing for me.  Surprisingly, it can make it or break it for Jeff, too!  Of course, we don't want carpet in the living areas and we have to have at least 3 bedrooms.  We will be downsizing, but will have a much bigger garage.  The garage will actually be used to house a vehicle so that it doesn't get too hot in the summer, but there should also be room for some storage.  We sent in the application for the house today.  It has black granite tile floors downstairs.  I am not loving that.  Dust will show like crazy and it will hurt when Drew starts falling over (attempting to crawl, stand, and walk).  The kitchen is very nice (other than the tile countertops- what are people thinking? how are you supposed cut out sugar cookies when the dough gets stuck in the grout lines?)  The paint colors aren't our first choice, but its not like it will clash with our white furniture!  It is in a housing development with a community pool.  One of Jeff's co-workers lives there too.  We are hoping we get it!  If we do, next week I can get in touch with the school there.  I am not sure I am ready for this!!!!!

Teaching

 

I get to teach a sewing class!!!!!

My friend Kristen set this up.  I made a couple of headbands using this tutorial from thelongthread.com for a nickel auction I was attending.  Kristin got both and wanted more!  They were the highest selling items (I was quite shocked by this). So Kristen sent me an email asking if I would do a class before we moved (one week before me move, no less). I have never taught a class, but I am sure it will be okay.  It is not a difficult project.  We are holding it at our church building.  Anyone is welcome to attend.  We even have extra fabric scraps if you don't have any on hand. Hope to see you there!

What's new?

Umm, so many things! We've had a lot going on here recently, but I couldn't blog about it.  Now I can (well, most of it anyway).

First, we are moving! Finally.  It's only been about 8 months since we first found about the company moving.  It is finally happening.  We will be moving in 3 weeks.  Only 3 weeks!! I am sad and excited at the same time.  I am sad that I will be leaving all of my wonderful friends and family.  I am sad that I have to leave the house we made into our home.  I am excited to be moving to a sunny place.  I am excited to take the kids swimming- ALL THE TIME!!!! The kids are so excited about the swimming too.  I am sad that I have to pack my kitchen.  Really, who enjoys packing?? Not me! I am excited for this new adventure on which are about to depart.  I hope we will make many new friends and enjoy being tan. (hehe- I am trying not to think of all the sad parts because I don't want to cry.)

Next, I have been trying to run a half marathon. I started training just a few weeks after Andrew (who we are calling Drew) was born.  Unfortunately, I had to have surgery two weeks ago.  I was unable to exercise.  Now my doctor has told me that I have to take it really slow if I start up again as I am not healed as much as she expected (although I am healing well). This is very frustrating to me.  It seems that I am not meant to run it again this year.  I am hoping to run as much of it as I can and walk the rest.

Ashley was on the Battle of the Books team for her grade at her school.  They beat the 4th graders, but lost to the 5th graders.  I suppose it is for the best since we won't be here for anymore of the battles.  She enjoyed going to he library with her Dad to get the books for the battle.  She also enjoyed reading the books til 8 every night instead of going to sleep right at 7:30.

Alona is learning how to read quite well.  She loves it!  We are so glad we have great readers in our home.  She is all about the pirates right now.  She had to write something at school and this is what she wrote:

When I grow up I want to be...
a swash buchler.
My parents
always call me one.
Alona

She is too cute! She picked a Pirates of the Caribbean book at the public library and then brought home Pirate Girl from the school library.  One night she was told to get dressed for bed.  When she came back to the living room she was wearing Jeff's T-shirt (the girls' favorite thing to wear to bed.  It has a pirate logo (jolly roger) and she was wearing her pirate head scarf and her pirate sword. Oh yeah, and a HUGE smile!

Natalie is getting very tall.  She is all muscle! She only wants to wear dresses and skirts and she only wants to wear what she wants.  She loves watching the 80's cartoon Astro Boy and the newer Danny Phantom.  She loves the Netflix "magic dics" (that is how she says it).  It allows her to watch streaming movies on the PS3. I think she is addicted to the TV.  I am trying to correct that.  It is difficult because I get no sleep at night.  Which leads me to then next child...

Drew is getting huge! I picked him up the other day and he seemed to be so much heavier than the day before.  He loves to smile and coo.  He seems to catch every girl's eye when we are out.  All of the women at the salon loved him when I got my hair done yesterday.  He is a good baby.  He doesn't cry very often.  He is still keeping us up at night, but it seems to be getting a bit better.  Last night he fell asleep at 1 am!  It was nice to get in bed at the same time as Jeff.  We are trying to get Drew on a better sleep schedule.  Hopefully he will go to bed a bit earlier each night until he starts going to sleep by 11 pm.

That is all the news for now.

Andrew at 2 Months

 

  

Andrew went in for his 2 month check up recently. He weighed in at 12 lbs 5 oz.  He is 23 inches long.  He jumped up in the weight percentile drastically.  The doctor was pleased.  He has such a hard start with jaundice and trouble latching on, so it took him longer than the norm to get back up to his birth weight.  He is growing by leaps and bounds now, though!  He is the biggest 2 month old I have had.  We sure enjoy his coos and smiles.  He holds his head up well and will push up on his legs if we hold him up on his feet.  He loves to sleep all day and party all night- just like a teenager!  We love having this little boy in our family and wonder how we ever managed without him.