it's so, so.

this is the necklace i made for mia. i just used some tulle-ish (i dont remember what it is) fabric i had laying around and cut out some bigger and smaller circles. then scalloped the edges, folded them in half and half again. then sewed them all together to a little piece of felt on the back.

i thought it looked really cute, but mia wont keep it on for more than 30 seconds.

oh well. i guess it could be a good Christmas gift!

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shhh...

wanna know a secret?

i didnt think i wanted kids.
and then when i did want them.
i didnt want girls.

i wanted boys.
dirty little monkeys that dont have to look cute.
that wear beanies and skater shoes.
who rock mohawks and temporary tattoos.
and make fart noises and eat worms.

i was terrified of girls.
so much pink. and princess-ness. and drama.

but then i had a girl and i realized the awesomeness that it entails.
the adorable outfits. the squealing and giggles.
even the pink.

and because we had a boy first, there isnt an overabundance of pink or princess-ness at our house.
and my girls are fine with that.
they have just as much fun with Lightning McQueen and Superman.

but occasionaly i let myself go.


i've found that the girls, oddly enough, have WAY more clothes than the boy.
weird.

(and FYI. after i finished the blanket, mia looked at me and said very disappointed, "but mom, it's not pink!" i mean. honestly. how dare i.)

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it's the boy scout motto

i knew it would happen.

one day.

it would be tragic. devastating. disastrous even.

it was inevitable.

(notice: the temple piece didnt break at the hinge, it broke off the FRAME!
wow.. thats some serious impact.)


two (almost three) year olds aren't the best with fragile items.
i know that..
and okay... skating on the tile floor in your socks SOUNDS like a lot of fun.
i mean, tom cruise did it in his underwear.
it HAS to be fun.

until someone gets an eye poked out.
which almost happened.

luckily, there was minimal damage. minor bleeding. a gouge and scrape.
no stitches. no sutures. no casts.

just a spongebob bandaid.
and some tylenol.
and a big hug from mom.

what does this have to do with the boy scout motto you say?
well, like 2 months ago, we decided to get (are you ready for this?)

a SECOND PAIR!!

genius. i know.

be prepared.
(sing it in the hearty voice like Scar from the lion king. you know you want to.)

anywho..
thats about the only thing we are prepared for because our food storage is woefully lacking..
but if push comes to shove we'll just steal food.
it's going to be anarchy anyway, right?

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DONE!!!!!!!!

its done.. and i'm so glad!! (sigh)
it seems like whenever i have a project i'm doing, it hangs over my head until i get it finished.
now that the blanket is done its like a HUGE weight off my shoulders..


i used the Yo-Yo Mama vintage baby quilt pattern, but made it a twin size instead, which increased the difficulty by like a bazillion.
the squares are all 2.5 inches and you make a quilt sandwich and sew everything together.
all at once.
which is nice because it quilts it for you as you go, but sucks because you have to shove the entire blanket through your machine.

AND its hard to keep the squares straight and lined up..
(which mine aren't. dont look too close)

it ended up being a lot harder than i thought, but probably because i made it so big..


and to save moolah, instead of buying fabric by the yard for the top and bottom my mom suggested using a flat twin sheet instead.

these two hooligans are just so excited that its finally done they can't keep their hands off it.


now i can get all hung up on something else.

like, this necklace for mia... or this and this in preparation for a big christmas surprise...

and just because there are never any pictures of me.. jonas took this one the other day and amazingly enough, it actually turned out half decent!

except for my half crazy expression on my face. but thats not his fault.


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mia's blanket

this is the blanket i've been working on FOREVER!! but i'm finally almost done..



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bleh

i feel like i've been so lazy lately.. i have a bazillion projects i want to do and ZERO motivation to do them. paint this room. finish a quilt. paint some watercolors to hang up.. etc.

AND i totally need to be better at scrapbooking because i just realized that i dont have any recent pages of my kids.
like from this year!

so the other night i stayed up late and whipped out one for each kid.. not too shabby for my 12:30 brain. thats when inspiration strikes, right?





most everything came from my favorite designer, paislee press at Oscraps.com. her stuff is simple and clean and i love it.

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carnies... big hands


ok. so this is going to sound weird. but i just finished watching the 2 hour season opener of Circus from PBS that i DVR'd.

and it was AWESOME!!

did anyone else watch it?
was anybody else fascinated?

maybe its the people watcher part of me.
or the freak show that dyed her hair blonde, blue, and pink in high school.
or the teeniest part of me that wishes i had run away and joined the circus.
(why didn't i grow up in a circus family? or have mad balancing, trapeze, or juggling skills?)

but honestly, i loved it.

so much that i got out of bed at 12:30 to blog about it. and i can't fall asleep because its all replaying in my mind.

weird.

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it's super

jonas decided to be superman.
(because his hair can curl in the front like the man of steel's.)


naturally, mia had to be on the same team. her choice was wonder woman.
although, she did flip flop between that and ariel for a while...

and i kind of forgot about layla,
but luckily we had a killer frog costume from when jonas was a baby.
and we always need a villian terrorizing metropolis, right?

terrifying, eh?

(i made jonas and mia's costumes and personally? i think they turned out pretty good for not having a pattern..)

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evolution of a spider

i came up with this brilliant idea all by myself. i know.
i'm amazing.
the first ever to have thought of it, right.

anywho.. it was pretty easy.
water balloons. paper mache paste. black paint. string. and pipe cleaner.


first. almost kill yourself trying to blow up water balloons.
i thought my ears were going to burst. seriously.

second. dip your newspaper in paste and wrap around the balloon.
be careful not to flick paste in your eye as you try to grab the balloon as its rolling off the table.
not that i would know.

third. dry.

fourth. paint.

fifth. (same as third) dry.

sixth. glue legs on.


seventh. scare your hubby with them by hanging it in the shower or closet.

my kids are really getting a kick out of them.
i'm going to paint a red hourglass on one of them and move it around the house for the kids to find.
i'm quite proud of them. if i do say so myself.

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him.
this one? really?
like he couldn't make a cheesier face?
i''m just lucky he didnt give me the heat vision stare.
i'll show it, one of these days.


her #1.
a major goofball.
if i tell her, "don't you dare smile at me"
those ones are the best.
aliases include: ariel, dora, daphne, daisy, and wonder woman


her #2.
finally, FINALLY sitting up.
i've been working on it with her FOREVER!!
and when does she decide to do it?
oh.
at her dr. appointment.
little miss showoff.



gosh. i love my kids.

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a little pillow talk...

so i saw these pillows over here and fell in love!

now that we've finished the family room in the basement i really need some color to pull it all together.

(who am i kidding. i need a lot more than just COLOR!)

i tweaked mine a bit though. more ruffles, closer together. contrasting stitches and background. but overall? i think it turned out pretty cute.

now, i've only got 4 other pillows with different styles and fabrics to make!





ps. isn't her blog just awesome? she's got great ideas and i have SO many projects lined up. now if i can only find the time.

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labels

sometimes i just get a kick out of myself.

these are the labels for the handouts for my lesson on sunday..

guess what it's on?
i'm quite pleased with them.


and guess what the handouts are....


NO.. of course i'm not giving everyone a pie...

but. maybe.
just maybe... one of these!


thaaaaats right.. pie on a stick..
it's AWESOME!!!

really.
they taste SO GOOD!

peach filling. homemade crust.
mmmm.....

nothing but pure deliciousness.
go here for more instructions.

**edited** i rolled my pie crust reeeeeally thin to even out the pastry/filling ratio. i brushed them with a beaten egg before baking to make them all brown and blistery like. then baked them longer (about 18-20 min)... also, to avoid getting the pie filling from running all over the place, i filled a mini muffin tin with the filling and then froze it. so when i put the top crust on it, it wasn't nearly as messy. just an fyi.

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brrrrr lake

so the big family vaca was at bear lake this year. and it was a TON of fun. if you count getting rained on and having to play in the coldest lake on the coldest day, fun.
just kidding. sort of.

but we did have a lot of fun. my brother brought a water ballon slingshot launcher thing and it was AWESOME!! you should've seen those things fly! holy moses. and if you caught one better hope you had some spare clothes.


these are from when i woke up super early and couldnt go back to bed. so i thought i'd walk down to the beach. i find it so funny that they drag the boats out into the water with tractors. i love the hick-ness of it. and my dad was in love with this one. he made me take like 30 pictures of it becuase it was the same exact one they had growing up..
and i heard ALL about how it worked, etc.



this was the treasure hunt we planned for the little kids. it was hilarious and they thought it was the best thing since sliced bread.


and here we are at the beach in our jackets becuase it was FREEZING!! well. 65 degrees, but still cold...


all in all, it was a good time!
thanks mom.

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a toast

to:
summer
ice cream cones
letting watermelon juice drip down your chin
hot days and sleeping with the fan on
ice cream cones
swimming at the pool
getting a tan
outdoor birthday parties
spending time with family
fresh fruit and veggies
being able to work out outside
long days
gorgeous sunsets
staying up late for the demolition derby
and...
more ice cream!




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lazy


so wikipedia says that cats have 30 vertebrate..
(thats 4 more than humans. i think.)

my cat utilizes ALL of them.
everyday.
notice how the front paws are facing a different direction that the back ones?
(he remained in that position for a LOOONG time)
he's quite agile.
perhaps he should have been a gymnast.
but that would require movement.
and exercise.
two things he's not prone to do.

and lets be honest.
sometimes i wish i were a cat.
who lived at my house.

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recent eats

im hungry.
im always hungry.
even after...
no, ESPECIALLY after i eat.
im super hungry.

but alas.. the diet is, what it is.

at least it looks good before it disappears into thin air.

for maybe 30 seconds.

we haven't had hamburgers for 3 weeks and these were AWESOME!!
a little mango and white peach, salad, and cucumbers.

a snack.. no jam allowed, but berries are. and isnt that what jam is made of anyways..
this had A LOT less sugar, thats for sure.


and, steamed fish over rice with avocado, salad, and strawberries.


the best thing about this diet? the dinner prep is so easy.
meals are 30 minutes, tops. nothing bakes in the oven. there isnt any chopping.
the grill takes maybe 20 minutes and veggies steam in less than 10.
im loving that part.
and it doesnt heat up my house.

tonight we're having steaks..
(dont mind my drool)

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a summary

we've been busy.

celebrating.



eating rabbit food.

(ps.. the baked sweet potato was AWESOME!)

acting rather surprised at new foods.


and lots and lots of cleaning!


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the tastier leaf

so. i'm revamping. with a new house, comes a new way of eating. we've been doing the zone/sugarbusters for a while. but to be honest, i've never been a "dieter".. . i never felt i had to. i have a slim build, am athletic, and frankly dont have the desire to limit myself when it comes to what i eat.

and mostly, it was because the man wanted to, not me. but alas, the baby pooch, as i call it, needs to go. and i've been persuaded by my uber health concious hubby, that i would benefit from a lifestyle change. not that i dont eat healthy already, or just stuff my face with crap, but i don't really care to diet either. and the only guidelines i've given myself previously, are if i dont like it, dont eat it. if i do, then look out stomach! (in moderataion, of course).

so here i come body for life. i am officially "dieting".. ugh. i hate that. i feel like there is so much stigma attached to that (mostly self inflicted). it makes me feel old that i "need to diet". but, if it makes me get rid of the baby pooch and look better, then i guess i'll exercise some self control . and the fact that i've agreed to it, should help a bit.

here's one of the first meals.. it was actually easy and so pretty on my NEW PLATES!
i made on prerequisite to agree to the diet.
i would get new plates.
A. because i hate my old ones.
B. so they could be smaller to fit smaller portion sizes but still look full.
and
C. they are simple and classic. mmmm... everything looks good on them. seriously.


(i love that the onion looks like its trying to escape!)

salad never tasted so good!

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