My New Project

This past weekend I officially undertook quite a large project. Our couch and loveseat are in bad need of recovering . . . I have repaired holes a few times, but have no more matching fabric . . . So now I'm taking on the whole thing. I was able to get 25 yards of really cute upholstery fabric off of Ebay for $80!! (Shipping included!) The fabric really isn't that different from what we already have - which I'm glad for (as I really liked it). Unfortunately, the original fabric must not have been very good quality. Many holes have just worn through from regular use. In this picture you can see that the right arm rest is recovered (and obviously, the cushion is off and being worked on.) Since taking this picture I have finished the cushion and put it back, but have made no further progress. This project is going to be very long-lived. So far the most time-consuming part has been removing all of the old staples - my entire body hurt for days after only one night of work!

Cute Girls!

I've been meaning to put these up for a while now. (They're actually from last summer.) This is Emma and her good friend Karis playing in our backyard. These two are quite a pair . . . When they were little they just about drove Amber and I crazy . . . Emma tends to be a sneaky instigator and Karis tends to be the queen of all over-reactors . . . we had to settle many a ridiculous dispute! Now they've grown up a bit and love each other fiercely. On this particular summer afternoon they were swinging together and making up praise and worship songs. They laughed and ran and dug in the dirt. Then when it was time for some cookies they sat and had some good old-fashioned girly gab time!

Ready for the 1982 Prom

One of the girls' favorite things to play is Dress-Up. Our collection of clothes is quite extensive (Two 18 gallon rubbermaid containers full!) We have dress up clothes in all sizes ranging from 2T to 10 and they all get played with regularly. This "designer" piece was a gift from Aunt Lydia (a thrift store find, I believe) and always makes me think of a 1980s prom dress. Meg was very impressed with herself once she put it on. After I took her picture she ran to the camera to see it and exclaimed, "Oh look! She's a princess!"

Getting the Hang of the Sippy Cup

Well, it seems like Julie has finally caught on to the sippy cup. It's not something that I've pushed very hard, so it's been slow in coming. She even drinks cold milk and water out of it! It's hard to believe that in less than two months we will be taking away the bottle completely and moving on to the sippy cup full time.

Side note: How did moms ever live without sippy cups?

The Two Baddest Things . . .

Ali and I were talking at dinner tonight and she piped up with, "Mom, I know what the two baddest things are!" to which I responded, "Oh yeah, what's that?" as I was thinking, "Oh great . . . here we go!" She very confidently looked me in the eye and said, "The devil and germs!" I just sort of smiled and nodded. I have never been a germophobe and can only assume that that has come from school!

Healthy Again!

I can't believe it has actually happened! We are all finally healthy again. It has been a VERY long road and I am so thankful to have my happy children back again. Julie has had the roughest trip through it all and I'm so glad to have a baby who is happy, sleeping and not always crawling around with a paci in her mouth!

Side note: this picture is actually 5 months old (rather obvious as she is quite bald here). . . it's just a cute one so I decided to use it. I love those wide eyes and her "Who are you wierd person and why are you looking at me" smirk.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Pathetic!

Poor Julie has had a pretty rough winter! Many ear infections, surgery to put tubes in her ears and now a nasty cold bug/sinus infection that just won't go away. Last week she went to the doctor because she had tons of yellow goop coming out of her eyes along with a fever, so now she has just finished a round of Zithromax to treat a sinus infection (that had backed up into her eyes). For a few days I felt like she was doing better, but now the goop is back and she is just a pathetic little girl. We have had to go back to giving her an evening nap because she just can't make it 'til bedtime. Her eyes start getting droopy and she gets really cuddly (very unusual for our 'on the go' baby!) She has been back to having the paci full time (that has been limited to bedtime for a few months now) because she just can't seem to cope with life without it! I guess I should just be thankful that her paci is comforting to her!

On a happier note, the rest of us seem to have pulled out of all of this yuck. We still have some lingering coughs, but we can deal with that. Also, Julie's ears have looked great since her tubes went in . . . so Praise the Lord, they seem to be doing the trick!

How Did I Ever Live Without It?

This is my new favorite toy! Anyone who knows me well knows that my kitchen floor is typically the definition of disgusting. On those rare occasions when I actually get it completely clean, it only lasts until the next meal when it is quickly christened with sandwich crumbs, macaroni and cheese, cheerios and whatever else my children (the two little ones in particular) happen to be eating. Every time, I shake my head and wonder why I bothered in the first place. How is it that four little girls, who don't throw food on the floor intentionally, still manage to make such a mess? We've bought different little sweeping devices with the goal of having Ali and Emma be in charge of sweeping after meals. While this was a task they took on very enthusiastically, they were never very good at it. So, after seeing the Sweep 'n Vac on a Fox 2 News "Deal or Dud" segment, I decided to give it a shot. It's wonderful! I finally feel like my kitchen floor is manageable. It vacuums up almost everything that is typically on the floor (though, some bigger pieces are too big) and the swiffer pad gets all the tiny particles. My girls have no problem working it, and actually think it's great fun. So all that to say, I'm sold!

It's funny to think back to different items that are now outdated and wonder what things that we still use are soon to be on that list. In my bathroom I have an old washboard hanging on the wall . . . my kids didn't even know what it was until they saw it on "Fetch! with Ruff Ruffmann" and said "Hey Mom, you have one of those!" They thought it was hilarious to see someone bending over a wash basin scrubbing clothes. Will my great grandkids know what a broom is? What a funny thought!

Ready for School . . .

Meg came to me this afternoon and announced that she was ready for school. Nope, sorry . . . Mommy's not ready for that one yet . . . too bad, you have to pretend something else! Plus I don't know that your teacher would be so crazy about the idea of a Care Bear coming along on the first day!

So Big!

I know that it looks like I'm holding Julie's arms up, but this is a case where looks are deceiving. Julie is actually pulling my arms up. She loves to play "So Big" but she will only do it if she is holding on to my fingers. Not only that . . . if I ask her and she isn't holding my fingers at the time, she will grab them before putting her arms up in the air. What a wierdo . . . it must be the Patton blood coming out in her! : )

Still sick . . .

Last week I mentioned our four day weekend . . . well it ended up being much longer than that. Aaron went back to work the next day (only b/c he didn't have any more sick days to take) but Ali ended up staying home all week. On Thursday she saw the Dr. who said she has a sinus infection. Aaron saw the Dr. on Friday . . . same diagnosis. Julie started a fever on Wednesday, along with a continuing yucky nose. Meg had a fever for several days starting last Sunday, but no other symptoms until about 3 days ago. Now she has the yucky nose too. Emma never had a fever, but could barely breathe. She healed the fastest. Through all of this, I managed to remain the most healthy of everyone, though I still had some cold symptoms . . . Until this past Friday. Late Friday night my throat started hurting and it's been all downhill from there. On top of that I haven't has a straight night of sleep in a week b/c of Meg and Julie . . . Apparently being sick has severely impaired their ability to sleep! For a mom who is used to her kids sleeping 12 hours at night, waking up 3-4 times a night is not cool! So, as the rest of my family is getting their spunk back, I have been knocked flat on my rear-end! I guess I need to negotiate a good sick-day plan with my boss. : )

Silly Sayings with Megan

All of our girls have been given the gift of gab . . . but our little Meg really takes the cake. Last week she was with me for Julie's 9 month check up and our pediatrician said "She's only two? Goodness, it's like talking with a nine year old!" Our neighbor across the street, who took in 350 foster children in the course of about 30 years has said that she has never heard a 2 year old talk like Megan.

She is always full of silly little sayings and names, many of which are of unknown origin. One example of this is the "giants" Every time we went to the grocery store Meg would ask to see the giants. Both Aaron and I had no idea what she was talking about . . . we just kind of smiled and nodded, but she was persistent. Well, it didn't take long before we figured out that "giants" are lobsters. My girls have always loved looking at the lobster tank . . . but I have no idea how they came to be giants. (She still calls them that, even after being corrected!)

This picture is another example. Here she is wearing her "monkey." Once the winter hats came out in the fall, she said, "oh, that's my monkey." I didn't think much of it, she chatters a lot, so there is plenty that doesn't make sense to me. Then we noticed that every time we put her hat on, she would comment about how it's her monkey. After several weeks of warm weather (and therfore, no hats) we pulled it out again yesterday . . . and sure enough . . . "It's my monkey!"

Aside from the wierd names she tends to bestow, she is also quite a parrot in the phrases she uses. Last week we were on the way to the Doctor's office and she was very excited. I asked her if she was going to give Dr. Lowther a hug when she saw him and here was her response: "Ummm . . . I don't think so . . . maybe . . . we'll see . . . ummm . . . yeah, probably" I couldn't help but to bust out laughing!

Yesterday at the doctor's office (We're there a lot, in case you were wondering) she was sitting on the floor looking at a book while the Dr. was checking Ali. Suddenly she looked up at him and said, "You're so cute Dr. Lowther." He just about fell off of the table laughing. He told her that he's been called a lot of things by kids, but that's one he had never heard.

These are just some recent ones . . . I'm sure there's plenty more to come!

Chugga chugga . . . Choo choo!

Always on a quest for some new imaginative play . . . here they are when I asked them to move the chairs from around the table so I could sweep and mop!

Drumroll Please . . .

Yipeeeee! It's finally on the way! As of July 21st we finally get the 7th and final installment of the Harry Potter series. I only wish my kids were older and could appreciate this like I do!