I was in the mood for some fruit salad, so I made some last night. I can’t think about fruit salad now without singing the Wiggles song. Anyway, I wanted fruit salad because of a picture I found on Pinterest. It had all kinds of berries and kiwi and it looked so good! Had to have some right away. Anyway, here’s my “recipe”:

Fruit Salad
1/2 pint strawberries, cut up
small box blueberries
small box raspberries
blackberries
1 nectarine, cut into cubes
1 golden apple, cubed
2 kiwi, cut up
1 banana, sliced
a little lemon juice to keep the apples from turning brown
1 can mandarin oranges

It was a little tart so I added a tiny bit of sugar, maybe a teaspoon. Then this morning I added some watermelon. I just didn’t feel like cutting it up last night. The watermelon helped sweeten it a lot and it was so good for breakfast! I think you definitely need to add some kind of melon, and some mango or pineapple might be good too.

Last night we also had Pampered Chef’s Deep Dish BLT Pizza, which I remembered liking a whole lot more. Maybe it’s because I’m sick, but it just wasn’t as good as I thought it was going to be. I still like it, just not well enough to make often. :)

Things I always seem to make time for:
Sewing/Knitting/Crafting – at least a couple of times a week
Friends – If you stop by or call me and want to talk or hang out, I drop everything and we hang out. I’m there. (as long as Kody’s at work)
Family – Again, I’m there. I’m all about some family time, all the time! And, there are a couple of friends who fit in the family category.
Cooking/Baking – we have to eat, don’t we?
Laundry & Dishes – these are things that I don’t really like to make time for, but I do, everyday.
Church/Worship – unless we’re sick, we’re there.
Doing things for others – I like to help other people. With little children this is harder, but not totally undoable. This could rally go in both categories depending on the day.

Things that get pushed to the side:
Schooling – I know some of you might get on to me for this one, but it’s true. Some days school just doesn’t seem as important. My children are learning and they are doing well. We don’t always get our books out and sit around the table though. Some days we learn “real life.” I guess this really could go both ways too. Some days schooling really is important to me and we have to get it done.
Other cleaning – all those extra things, like dusting/baseboards/walls/sheets/curtains/blinds/etc., get pushed to the end of the list. If something starts to look extremely gross, I clean it. If it’s not too bad, it can wait another day. :)
Work – If I have custom orders for handmade things (even though they count as crafting) I shove those aside oftentimes in favor of something fun. I don’t like this, but I do it.
Blogging – There are so many days when I have something to say that I don’t say it, simply because I am too busy doing. I have the want, but other things seem to be more important. This is why you don’t see a new post every day.

I know the “Christian Priority List”- God, Family, Everything else. I like to think I have that down. Some days, I guess I do. Some days, I am lacking. We all have our own “everything else” and we choose what to do each day. Don’t be envious of what others seem to get done, until you know what they didn’t get done. Then take a look at what you did and didn’t get done. If your priorities need a shift then make it today!

sick feverish baby :(

During these sick days, when I didn’t feel like doing anything else, but had to be awake, I was able to complete a couple of projects. Friday, I made a notebook cover for my sister. A belated birthday gift; her birthday was January 25th and I didn’t get it done in time. Story of my life lately! Anyway, I hope she loves it. I want to make another just like it for myself, but I say that about everything, I guess. Definitely digging the ruffle. I wanted to put her name on it too, but I couldn’t figure out a way to make it look nice with the pattern and the two Fs were giving me trouble right next to each other. Fabric is My Paris by Timeless Treasures.

Today I managed to whip out this ds game folder of my own design. We just can’t seem to keep up with ds games in our house, so Kody proposed a library check-out system. I thought a fun place to keep all of them would be nice, so I drew a picture and made some measurements and got to work. There are 4 rows of 4 slots on each side, so it will hold 32 games. Unfortunately, a couple of the slots are a bit tight and a few are a bit loose, because I don’t measure perfectly, but they are all usable. I used a bit of 1/4 inch elastic and a big button for the closure. I just grabbed a couple of pretty fabrics out of my stash. Actually all 4 fabrics in these two projects are purchases from my January trip to Hancock’s. Love their remnant table!

Have any of you tried the new Peach Mango Kool Aid? I’m trying to decide whether I like it or whether it tastes like Albuterol syrup… Verdict is still out.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. If you need me I’ll be coughing and sneezing while I clean up the house. No real sick days for mommies.

Then while hanging out on Pinterest one day, I found this tutorial.

I decided to make one for myself. I bought the wire, chain and clasps at Hobby Lobby. I really liked the dark color instead of silver. I wanted to make my friend one too and I really thought they’d be so easy that I could sell some [now I'm thinking I don't want to make that many!]

I started with the silver because I thought my friend would like that better and it was the recommended gauge (24) because it is easier to manipulate. I thought that it was more difficult because it was too flimsy and wanted to bend however. Since I couldn’t get it wound as tight it bunched up when I tried to wrap the sides. Doesn’t look much like a nest, does it?

Then I decided to try the darker, 20 gauge wire, which worked much easier for me. I made a nest with 4 eggs for myself and one with 3 eggs for my friend. The only thing I don’t really like about it is the chain. I love the way it looks, but every single link is open and it pulls apart VERY easily. Not a good thing when you have a 9 month old and 3 year old who like shiny pretty things. I wore it to church yesterday and it broke and had to be fixed once. It is easy to put back together, but I’m afraid I’ll lose it. I bought a different chain last night at WM to replace it with when I get tired of trying to keep up with it. It has solid links, but needs some clasps attached.

While these were pretty easy, they don’t look that much like nests in real life and I’m pretty sure I don’t enjoy playing with wire. Too frustrating and tedious for me. Perhaps if I had the right tools, but I don’t think I want to even find out. ;) I enjoy making a necklace here and there, but it’s definitely not my niche!

Speaking of nests, I finished my nest for my neck. Here is my scarf keeping my neck nice and cozy:

There were a couple of weekends that had to be taken off because of birthday celebrations, but the walls are up and partly mudded. Kameron told Kody that he was a gouper, because he was putting on the goup. :) Kameron actually ended up wearing quite a bit of the mud and his shirt and pants were nice and white when they got done. He was a good little helper, but thought that the mud was actually paint and wanted to cover the whole wall with it. Anyway, it’s coming along nicely and Kody says it might be ready to paint soon! Yay!

I think it turned out pretty, so I thought I’d share how I made it. Here’s the tutorial:

First, gather your supplies.
Wreath Form in the size you want – I used a pool noodle taped end to end, so mine is pretty large.
Fabric strips 3-5 inches wide – I used about 1/2 yard of white with gray polka-dots.
Wood letter
Mod Podge
Extra fabric for the letter and roses and bow
Ribbon for hanging
Glue Gun

Alright, plug that glue gun in and get it warmed up. Then attach the end of one strip of fabric to your wreath using a dab of glue. Start wrapping the fabric around the wreath and glue and repeat as needed with more strips until the whole form is covered. My pool noodle didn’t hold us very well with the hot glue [kind of melted a bit] but the fabric did stick and is staying on fine.

After your fabric is on, get your wood letter. If you want to paint it, go ahead. If you want to cover it with fabric like I did, use your mod podge and stick it on. I just cute a piece of fabric a little larger than my letter and slit where it would need to fold over. then coat the top of your letter with mod podge and lay the fabric over it, smoothing it toward the edges. Flip the letter over and start painting mod podge and folding the fabric to the back and gluing it down. After you get all of the edges folded to the back paint some mod podge over the whole back. When that is dry flip the letter again and coat the front with mod podge to seal it.

Now, you have to decide what other embellishments you want on your wreath. I tied a black polkadot bow near the top and tied the wreath to the hook with a wide black ribbon. I hung it on the door for awhile like that. I thought I wanted some fabric flowers, but I didn’t have time to make them then. So later on I made some rolled rosettes.

You can find many tutorials for making these, so I won’t repeat. They are so easy to make though! I used all three of the fabrics that I had used on the wreath. Then I just hot glued them onto the wreath.

This wreath is pretty simple to make, but it looks like it took a lot of work. It will also brighten your home and make it more welcoming. Enjoy!

Here he is on January 13th:

We went to the doctor for his check up last Thursday. He weighed 16 lbs 2 ounces and was 26.75″ long/tall. That puts him not on the chart for weight and in the tenth percentile for height. Tiny boy apparently, but we can’t tell because of all the fat rolls! I am used to being told that I have children on the low end of size; he is fine. And even if other babies are almost all bigger than him he does fit into the “right size” clothes. He is wearing 6-9/6-12 month clothes. Apparently children who are the norm wear clothes that are bigger sizes. Don’t you think that’s odd?

So, at 9 months, Kyler can:

- still not sit up on his own, though he is getting better at balancing. He could probably do it, but I don’t think he wants to. When I put him in a sitting position he just flops over to rest on his hands or tries to get on his belly.
- stick his legs up underneath him in a crawl position, but can’t figure out the arms…
- tries to put everything in his mouth.
- laugh at his sister and brothers all day and it is such a beautiful sound. His favorite is when they blow those little party horns. He has such a big laugh.
- sleep 12 hours at night, almost every night. This is fabulous!!
- eat cereal, and most of the vegetables and fruits. He has even had a bite of cake and a little ice cream. Shhh, don’t tell! And, he loves those wagon wheel baby snacks, but can’t figure out how to keep the puffs in his mouth.
- wave. At Kody. Sort of.
- has had this weird thing where he spits up/throws up every time he poops, since we started baby food. It’s getting better now, but it has been gross. The doctor and nurses all said they’ve never heard of a baby doing that before, but when checked out he was fine. Apparently he just had some issues with his belly working out the new foods. I’m glad he’s not doing it as much now.
-loves to be held or to play on his belly.
-still toothless.
-holds his feet, one in each hand, when he’s on his back. He is so funny!

He is still the happiest baby around and we love him so much. He rarely gets really upset. I love to get him out of bed in the morning because he is just so happy and he kicks his little legs and smiles because he’s so excited to see me. He peeks over the top of the crib bumper, through the bars, to see if I’m in bed too, which is adorable. (the picture from yesterday’s post was of him looking out while I was folding laundry. Usually the side of the crib is pulled up, but we were playing with him.) I just can’t say enough about how wonderful he is.

Here’s the deal: I don’t mind getting older. In fact I embrace each birthday and new year with excitement. I don’t like my children getting older. Not because I necessarily want them to stay little and helpless forever, but because each year brings them that much closer to leaving me. It gives me less time to make memories with them. Less time to hold them and tell them that I love them.

Kristopher turned 10 today…a whole decade has gone by. I think he’s turning out pretty well. I am a bit partial, but I hope that others agree that he is wonderful. I’m having a hard time believing that he is that old. I thought today about where I was ten years ago. A new mom in a hospital room with a tiny baby boy. So exhausted from 21 hours of labor and then a c-section. Drugged and incoherent. Not knowing at all what to do. Surrounded by family, but feeling like I was alone and not supported. Full of love for the sweet baby I was holding. Ignoring all the people who said they grow up sooo fast.

So much has changed since then. Now I know so much more and I want to be an encouragement to others. I know how fast they really do grow up. I am still full of love for my boy, no matter how big he gets. Throughout the day a book has come to mind pretty often. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch is such a good book and I just keep thinking about how I really will love him forever. When you start on the journey it’s hard to imagine and know how much love you really can give. I’m here to tell you it’s a big bunch!

Okay, enough of a sappy long post. I’ve cried some, smiled lots, sought advice from others, screamed, talked, disciplined, laughed so much and been incredibly blessed in the past 10 years. I am so proud to be his mom and I hope that he is happy to have me. By the way he waves and smiles whenever he sees me I know he is. :) Happy 10th birthday to my big boy who is growing up way too fast!

First up, I bought some Lego scrapbook paper [it is even bumpy and has the lego logo on each dot] in red, blue, yellow & green. I made banners to go all over the place by cutting the paper into 6×8 dot blocks. Then I cut up Kristopher’s Lego calendar from 2011. Then I just sewed the papers together on my sewing machine. Easy Peasy and so cute! I used a couple of the larger pictures from the calendar on the walls. Balloons hanging from the light over the table are fun. I put Legos in clear glass containers on tables to decorate as well.

In the living room, I set up this little table to greet guests. I wanted to have each boy sign the card, get a name badge and guess the number of Legos in the vase before doing anything else, but as guests were arriving I got sidetracked and they all ended up doing this in a bunch. It’s much easier to do that sort of thing with adults!

On the wall in the kitchen we also had “Bob”, who had lost his arm. He was drawn by Kristopher and playing that game was completely Kristopher’s idea. He did a great job with the drawing, but he didn’t win. Going first was not advantageous…with the arms the boys just felt for the previous arm and then placed theirs. So the farther down the line the better your chance. Try to make your arms flatter if you play this! Ours were curling up on the hand end. :)

I found a “favor pack” of Lego build kits that came with 4 each of 2 different designs. We had a little contest to see who could build their’s the quickest. The winner got a prize. While they were building they were very serious and it was completely quiet around that table. Totally different than the rest of the party! So funny to see the difference between the kids when they had something to work for.

After all the games I let the boys play for awhile, while I cooked some pizza and finished setting out all the food. My goal was to make Lego pizza like this blogger did. Mine was fine, but the pepperoni’s slid around during the cooking and so the pieces didn’t exactly look like they were supposed to. Still we had small rectangular pizza pieces with round circles. Good enough, right?! I also purchased the silicone Lego molds and we had Lego ice and Lego shaped chocolates. Some of the chocolate men went on top of cupcakes. I made a second cake since I didn’t know how many people I would end up feeding. For that one I used this idea and put marshmallows on top to create the Lego look. Not exactly how I pictured it either, but still a hit. To make the cupcake stand I hot glued some candle stick holders to the bottom of one Lego board and then set it on top of a larger one. The Hot glue peels off easily and it made a cute display. That gray board was actually mine when I was little. :)

Kristopher wanted to blow out his candle on a special cupcake, not on the big cake, so I just wrote 10 on one of the cupcakes. We prayed and then sang to him before eating any of the food. I had ice cream, but forgot to get it out…

After gorging on sugar, it was time for a little present opening. Kristopher got a lot of cool gifts. Several Lego items were included (how could they not be?!) and he got the two things he was most hoping for as well. It was fun to watch all the kids gather around him while he opened his gifts. They were practically on top of him. During this time he said some of the funniest things. He said he could barely breathe because everyone was so close. When he was done opening everything, someone asked him what he wanted to play with first and he replied, “before I play with anything, I want to clean up this mess!” My boy is so funny. This mamma is thankful that he wanted to clean it up though, less cleanup for her!

Near the end of party-time this fellow showed up:

He sounded like Kristopher and he had the same outfit as Kristopher, but he looked a bit older than 10… Boys will be boys. ;)

Everyone left with a little goody bag, containing a Birthday Lego man and some Lego soap, bought on etsy.

He had a great birthday party and tomorrow we are looking forward to a quiet day of church and celebrating his and Kody’s birthdays with a nice dinner and, you guessed it, more cake! Back to talk about how I can’t believe 10 years has gone by tomorrow…