Extra Fabric

I was thinking that it'd be very cute to have my girl's in matching outfits for church on Sunday. Unfortunately, I didn't have a pattern for a baby dress, so I decided to make due. (In answer to a question on a prior post, I DID have a pattern for Chayce's dress). I went online and looked at all the free patterns, looked at some of Payge's current clothing (because she's almost 8 months, but wears anything from 6 months to 18 months depending on the brand) and tinkered around til I got this:



I'll be putting a white turtle neck under it since it's SO COLD here now (I think it was 60 degrees today). {wink, wink}

Finally.

See this dress? I finally...after thinking about it for a very long time...made it. I told myself that if I didn't start using that sewing machine of mine, I'd have no reason to keep it around. Well, I'm not one to get rid of perfectly good items, so it inspired me to make the dress I'd been ho-humming about. I saw it in my head, even imagined my Chayce in a swirly, fall-colored dress, but then I'd do something else. Now she's spinning around the room, and I couldn't be happier.

Pumpkin Carving

Chayce did such a good job cleaning out the pumpkins!

Daddy helped (a lot).

The crew.

Yucky hands. eeeew

Zach hard at work.

Ha! So, I just realized that I didn't take photos of the finished products...and it's been 2 days, so they are a bit more...uhhh...mushy.

Halloween, the never-ending saga.

Photo explanation: After lunch, Chayce came running to me and said, "There's room right here for some candy, after I filled up on my lunch!" Yes, she's still in her jammies, and I made the stipulation that anyone not dressed for the day doesn't get any Halloween candy, so she ran off to remedy that. She had actually opened her jammies and showed me where there was room for candy, but I made her do them up for the photo. ;)
Zach's eyes after removing most of the turtle paint. He looks cool, doesn't he?
A wonderful member of our ward is a very talented balloon shaper. He does it as a side job, but also came to the ward Halloween party. This is the flower bracelet he made Chayce. He made Zach a cute turtle, but the photo didn't turn out, and I couldn't try again--because it popped!
More of my fancy face painting artwork. I had to hold her head in my lap to get her to stay still, and even then, there are more smudges than I'd like BUT, the overall result was beautiful with her ballerina costume.

A few funnies

First, let me state that I am an independent with a mixed range of support on each side. I really don't favor one party at the moment. Right now, for me, there is no perfect party.



This commercial made me laugh so hard--each time I watched it. Maybe because our house is set up the same way, with a spot the kids can run around and around, and I've had times when I've tried to visit while the kids chase each other--who knows, but I laughed, and I'm sure you will, too.

Payge Montage

Concern

Cheesin' it--toothless.

Curiosity

Wrinkle nose

Happy Baby!

Ice Hockey, and An Odd Sense of Humor

Notre Dame vs. Miami. Ice hockey. We had a blast. Honestly, we went hoping to catch a few minutes of the game. We didn't think the kids would last very long (they lasted the whole game!! Whoo, hooo!). However, I think that the main attraction was the players crashing into each other and smashing into the walls. Everytime someone would wipe out, Chayce would break out into maniacal laughter. Score: Notre Dame 2; Miami 3. It was very close.

Zoo Boo!!!

When I was a kid, we got to dress up once (at least that my parents told me about). The end. But now, there are many opportunities to use this years Halloween costume again, and again, and again! Tonight was Zoo Boo. We had a great time collecting treats and gift certificates with our little turtle, ballerina, and octopus.


Our pink little octopus.

I'm trying to look evil. Does it work?


Where is Stephen? Taking the photo. Plus, his costume consisted of a spider ring.


Why am I wearing this? Why are you laughing?


Hello!

Zach, admiring Chayce's jewelry.


Hugs.

Big HUGS!

Posing as a ballerina. Good job, Chayce!

Smile for the camera!


Our turtle.

Folks at Zoo Boo kept telling Zach he was scary...but he'd reply: "I'm only a turtle...you're scared of a turtle?" With a "what's your problem?" tone.

Election Day

OK, so, I'm going to be outright and honest. I'm LDS, living in a Catholic town. I must say, I've been impressed with the openness of discussions here. Also, as the following video is circulating, I'm impressed with it as well.



Read. Think. Vote. Any questions?

Why Having a Make-up Artist For a Mom is COOL.

Zach here is a turtle. They aren't in costume yet, but I wanted shots of their faces before they got messed up. Of course, the nice thing about Ben Nye theatrical make-up is that if you do it correctly, it stands up to the worst of circumstances (think sweating under hot lights on stage), so I figure the little rain we're getting tonight at ZooBoo will do little damage. But, just in case... Oh, yes, and as I've been asked before, it comes off with cold cream, or you can buy fancy shmancy removers, but I don't.

Another photo of Zach, with the flash. He really was thrilled with the results, I just told him not to smile til the makeup was set.

My darling Chayce! She's actually a ballerina today, but with Zach getting done up as a turtle, she wanted in on the action. I think I'll add glitter right before we go out. It's not completely symmetrical, but I was working with a three year old, so I will just let it be. Plus, it looks even better when she's not squinting...but she squints when I use the flash, and you couldn't see detail if I didn't. Trade-offs.

Intellectual Property Rights

Today I had the opportunity to teach Zachary about intellectual property rights. Chayce had started singing a song she made up* which consisted of repeating "shaka-shaka boom-boom!" Zachary listened for a minute, then nonchalantly declared he had made a song called "shaka-shaka boom-boom!" which he was about to perform for us if Chayce could just quiet down. I then tried to explain to him that stealing ideas is just as naughty as stealing toys. He acted as if he understood, but we'll see whether the understanding lasts.

* Chayce was obviously not completely innocent either, since her song could be seen as a rendition of the popular children's book "chicka chicka boom boom." A video of the book can be seen here.

More Signs of Fall

Must be my day to catch up, eh? That's what happens when you put off blogging for a few days...and when you use your blog as family history, you can't just let things slide! This is for posterity! Oh, and the grandmas.


The children having a discussion in the "pumpkin patch." Zach is eating.

They are looking at the camera...but Zach is still eating.

Three feet?! Oh, my...how she has grown.

Zach must be in the process of growing...still eating. He's also leaning funny, he's not just three feet and a few inches tall.

Still eating.

Tackle It Tuesday

There's a saying in the blog world that goes something like this, "The first sign of a broken computer is a clean house." However, that is not the case if you are subscribed to 5MinutesForMom. Why? Because Tuesday is the day you "tackle" large cleaning projects, and there is definite motivation...giveaways! Plus, getting on the computer reminded me that I had promised to do this tackle, despite the fact that I'd already cleaned and vacuumed both children's bedrooms. I regret that I don't have photos, they look really good, but I can't take them now, as they are asleep.

This week's tackle was wonderful. First, those who signed up got a free bottle of CLR (no postage, either, really, FREE); then, we agree to whoop up on some nasty, dirty spots in our house, and post our results. How hard is that? And even if you don't win the giveaway after posting the results, your house is still cleaner than it was. Can't beat that. So, here is my review.

The Kitchen BEFORE (aaack!)

Now, I know that is scary, but please believe me when I tell you the mess is the result of another tackle: canning & mass cooking. Really, in the long run, it'll be a good thing that I made that mess!

Given that I'd taught a class a few years ago named Cleanliness is next to Godliness, but is it also next to Impossible? I thought I'd take some of my own advice, and multi-task. So, I put all the stove parts in the bath tub, which also needed a little cleaning (it wasn't bad, though, this is the before shot), and sprayed away! Then I sprayed the stove, and then I let those soak while I did the dishes. The bottle says to let the CLR soak for 2-3 minutes, and not prolonged periods of time, but doing the dishes takes about 5 minutes, maybe 10. Time yourself sometime, you'd be surprised how much longer you put it off than it takes to do.

A few minutes later, I rinsed all things off (stove parts, stove, counters), and here is my finished product!

Stove AFTER

Not super impressed with the results, but it is better than it was. I went over it twice. Might need something a little stronger. However, the rest of the kitchen looked great!

Kitchen AFTER

My overall opinion of the CLR? It removes hard water very well. My pictures of the white, solidified minerals on my sink didn't turn out so great, but the sink looks much better, as does the dish drainer. It doesn't work as great on cooked on dirt / grime, but it's satisfactory for today. I also did not like the smell. Given, I don't like the smell of very many cleaners...I prefer soap and water, it just smells...clean. Would I buy CLR? Yes, for cleaning the hard water with less elbow grease (I usually scrub it off--much less scrubbing with CLR).

One more thing. I must add that after a good scrubbing session, my hands feel thrashed. So, I rub them down with Dairy Maid Skin Cream in either Peppy Mint or l'Orange Crush. Yum!