Good tidings

 Well! That was fun. And it's good to see most of you are on the same page on colors you'd like to come back (hello eggplant and orange!!) and some other additions of yellows, corals, neutrals, reds, blues, more greens…but yeah it was the eggplant and the orange and the yellow. NOTED!

Now lets pick a winner congratulations to:

 Lisas Mom said...

I'd like a red to orange or orange to yellow ombre. Eggplant would be awesome!

for being the winner of a lot of color theory scraps. :) perhaps you can make a scrappy trip along quilt with them! :)

Well, Market is right around the corner and I have been working a lot these days on sewing for that, and for my books (pre-order them on amazon!)
and on some other fun stuff as well.

Some of you have been saying you miss my "noisemakers" presence on the blog. I know I do too. When I started this blog 7 years ago, my intention was to keep my husband up to date while he was deployed on our life back at home without him. What it ended up being was an opening to so many wonderful friendships, and opportunities, none that I could have even imagined…and as those 7 years have passed, my children grew up. My oldest is almost 15. And our move to the midwest has been absolutely amazing for him, and our family. And while I used to on a regular basis in the past write on the blog about being a mom to these amazing 4 individuals, they were young, I wrote generalized funny situations that I had as a mother of them. But at some point they grew up into mini adults/people with their own stories to tell and lives to live and create…and I felt like it was time to step back and stop telling my version of their story on the internet.
Oh they still say/do dumb hilarious things, but they are so much more than that. They are intelligent, caring, hardworking, selfless, spiritual, AND funny. I don't need to broadcast it for them, I don't want to embarrass them, and honestly, I don't want to hurt them. They can be these people to their close friends and family and individuals they know personally. So, yes, that's why no more funny/embarrassing/tear jerking stories about my children.
BUT I don't want to leave you hanging like Veronica Mars did in their final episode when they thought they were coming back for another season. I will give you a little bit of closure and give you a small update on each of the kiddos from where I left off telling their story to where they are now:

THEN:
Oldest noisemaker and oldest boy: (farthest left) Was struggling with friends and school. Had a hard time with Dad being gone overseas, and continued to have hard times even after Dad came home.
Second noisemaker and second boy: (farthest right) Was doing well considering the situation. Took on the role as the protector of his older brother.
Third noisemaker and third boy: (second in from right)Always smiley except when he wasn't. Loved cereal and being near his older brothers.
Fourth and Youngest noisemaker and the only girl: (only one wearing pink) Ruled the roost and was completely different from her older three brothers. Brought pink into our house, and was attached to me in a backpack at all times, or had to have at least one hand on me at all times.

AND NOW:

Oldest noisemaker: Is in freaking High School, almost 15 he is, picked up playing the trumpet and plays for the HS marching band (and they are pretty good too!) He's also in the 9th grade play "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." He also plays baseball for the city league. Through these activities he has made some really great friends, and is a wonderful young man (with flair ups of being a teenager but we don't hold that against him) He talks about going on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is thinking about going to school to be a Physical Therapist when he gets back. (the kid is pretty darn amazing considering where we were like 4 years ago. He's gone through a lot in his small time here on earth and we couldn't be happier with how he's taken life and spun it in a positive direction for himself.) He also loves reading books, skateboarding, pizza, and listening to instrumental music.

Second noisemaker: Is in middle school, is almost 13, getting straight A's, got braces, and no longer feels the need to protect his older brother. As a matter of fact they are more friends and have a lot of fun together. He was able to do the lego league last year in 6th grade, and is now devoting his time to swimming. He has been doing the swim team for a few months and loves it, and is super excited to start competing for his school this winter. He plays in plays the cello for the school orchestra. (he's a great example to us of being a hard worker) Has accomplished sewing a small quilt and is waiting for his mom to have some time to teach him the next step of quilting and binding it. (probably Christmas time) He's already stressing over colleges, even after we've told him to relax a little he's only in 7th grade...He also loves anything mexican food wise, oatmeal, skateboarding, and reading ridiculous amounts of books.

Third noisemaker: Is a brainiac in math and science, is almost 11, likes to skateboard, hang out with friends building legos, and plays baseball for the city team. He just earned his Webelos in boy scouts and is working on getting his arrow of light. He's enjoying his last year of elementary school and has started playing the Viola (and is showing that he is catching on pretty fast!)  This year he sewed his first quilted pillow top for his bed and has plans to make a quilt for his stuffed animals. He's a little obsessed with turtles and penguins. He's still a smiley kid, except for when he isn't, still loves cereal, and being with his brothers but can be found playing stuffed animals with his younger sister when he has to (even though he totally likes it and won't admit it). 

Girl noisemaker: Still rules the roost, just turned 8 and was baptized, is super girly girl through and through but can handle playing and tagging along with her brothers when they let her. Wears dresses and skirts every single chance she can, still best friends with her dog, and has a lot of human friends as well. She is known amongst her peers as a funny nice friend who is kind. She hasn't decided what she wants to play instrument wise, I keep telling her she should do drums but we might go with piano first. We'll see what she picks. She's still is my little shadow and has started to sew a few small projects for her dolls. I find her "crafting" on her own all the time and she's got some talent I tell you. She loves anything with a bunny on it, or bunny shaped, or basically bunnies in general. She likes Mac and Cheese and watermelon, and black olives and she reminds me that by this age all her brothers were knew how to ride bikes and ride skateboards, so what are we waiting for. Sheesh.

Our children are our lives. We work hard to protect and love them and give them life lessons so that at some point they can protect themselves and be honest, good, kind, virtuous, individuals who will make where they are a better place. At least that's what we're aiming for. 

So yes, they are all doing great…I appreciate the time I was able to write on this blog, and the support I received when they were smaller, when I was a struggling single mom, while my husband served in the military. I will forever be grateful for that time when I needed that, but now is a new era for me, one where I let my children tell their own stories, because it's time to start to let them be who we've been trying to teach them to be. 

Thank you for your support, and if you are a long time reader, thank you for sticking with me, reading my words as I tried to make sense of my role as a struggling military wife. Thank you for your support as I turned around and grew a side business. Thank you for your support as we went through and dealt with a loss of a job, having to uproot our family, having to leave all we've ever known to live somewhere new, dealt with heartache, lost a parent, saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and thanks for your support in the time of upswings as well. 

I am a very blessed individual. This does not escape my thoughts ever. Even when in the middle of a trial, I am blessed to wake up the next day. 

And with that, I will say that my children may make appearances on the blog, but this is mainly where I will continue to show what I'm making and what I'm doing, with a silly story here and there of how I fell, or missed a flight, or angered the angry lady behind the counter at the chinese restaurant. (story for another day)  because those things still do and will probably continue to happen to me. 

K, thanks for listening. 

We'll talk soon.

V and Co.: summer happenings

 we are in full swing summer mode over here.
our strawberries are growing and are super sweet, there's something incredibly cool about eating from your own yard. i miss our days in the middle of nowhere when we had an acre and had our raised beds of veggie's but strawberries make up for it as we could never really get strawberries in the middle of nowhere because they don't grow all that well up at 7000+ sea level. but we did try anyways.
so ofcourse seeing our plants do so well is pretty wonderful.

another fun surprise was seeing all my new patterns and my new fabric collection on the back cover of stitch mag super super happy to be on there.

 summer at our house means lots of activities one of them being scout camps of all sorts for the each of the three boys. so far two have gone on their week long adventures, one is left to do his two day hike later on this month.

i got to volunteer at the youngest boy's camp, and learn quite a bit about nature and archery. and other stuff. but i really liked those two. so all i heard of the other ones were "blah de be blah, animal care..blah de be blah blah cooking over a fire :)

 aurifil was in the house at Pineneedles Iowa this last week as well. i was asked to talk about how i use my aurifil thread collection in my projects and of course other aurifil thread as well. cause well, it's the only thread for me :) and i am kind of a snob when it comes to thread now.

i've mentioned my sewing machine has felt a little bit lonely this summer as i knew it would. i did get to sew on it a little bit this last week.
it.
felt.
great.
as i am getting a lot more of my hand sewing done that need some kind of machine work, i'll throw in a little time with the sewing machine when the kids go to bed.

but not too much because that's the only time when i get to see the husband these days.

he's been equally as (oh okay waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more)  busy as the kids and i.
he opened up (on top of working at the local private university) his own private practice. and is working a lot of hours trying to set up everything and making sure all wrinkles are ironed out.  (cause he's that kind of a person)
he's been able to make it home most nights for dinner and family time, but we try to work in a walk at night so we can catch up on the day's happenings and then after that we old farts get tired and get into bed.
he leaves as early as 4:30 in the morning or most mornings around 5:45.

needless to say. he's busy. we're busy.
we like to see each other and talk. so we make the time when we can. :)
pretty proud of him and all he's doing and also keeping his family as one of top priorities.
i'm blessed.

 so during the time in the day when i'm here and there between running around to scout camps, gymnastics, band and orchestra, and of course the pool i've been transporting with me and working on a few projects.

later this week (after the 4th of july fun we'll be having over here) i'll give you a few hints on how to work with tiny little hexagons using the english paper piecing technique.
there are tiny little boogers, but they sure are cute and i'll show you how i used them in a fun little project!

happy fourth of july week. we will continue on our summer mode, of family, pool, and add some grilling to the mix.

have i mentioned i love summers.
because i do.
we'll talk soon.

V and Co: i miss my sewing machine...but...

 i haven't touched my sewing machine for over a week. maybe it's been almost two.
sigh.
i really miss it.
i have been thinking of a butt load of fun things to make...and yet...no sewing and no crafting has happened.

no, instead i find myself traveling in the car to and from concert band, jazz band, orchestra, gymnastics, reading camp, and scouts. phew!
every morning we are up and at em.
man, i spend a lot of time in the car.
but it's okay, my kids are happy and active in things they like. and it gets us up and moving as a family early in the am.
i can't complain, i also enjoy the time i have in the car with each individual child to each individual activity we are heading to or from.

this year we have our summer schedule again (but this time i laminated it, thank you very much! oh and i spelled vacuum right this time!)

every day they are responsible for things that aren't on the list (i.e., pick up room, make bed, take laundry up to the laundry room)
i put pick up rooms on wednesday as a more "deep clean" pick up room, as in check the closet for all the stuff that was stuffed in there to hide it, remove all excess toys on top of dressers and so forth.

and this year we added a fun little experiment to our chore list

this year we have added timed increments to each chore, and a small allowance to be earned for each chore completed either by or before the time is up.
for example for bathrooms they each have 10 minutes of hard work (each child doing something different) and when the time is up they get either 25 to 50 cents depending on the chore (bathrooms are 50 cents, dusting is 25 cents).

what?
too cheap you say?
nope.
not when you go to the pool everyday and their snack bar consists of items from 25 cents to 4 dollars.
my kids love to earn their day's snack junk at the pool by finishing up small increments of chore times.

oh go ahead say it "but vanessa you have a teenager! wont he totally say "whatever, don't care, i have money from my birthday anyways.""

yeah, well here's my answer: no work= no pool or video game time or friend time. so you can either work and get paid enough for the snack bar or you can get nothing and the whole family suffers that day.

it's never come to that thankfully. because my kids know i'll do it. i don't threaten, i follow through.

i also have decided that 5 to 10 minute increments of time is a huge amount of time when there is motivation to get the chore done.
every day we have finished most of our chores by 10 even in between all the traveling we have been doing for the summer activities.

my minions are doing awesome, and i love that this experiment of small timed increments has worked out so well.
we go to bed with a relatively put away, clean house, and wake up having to just hit the scheduled chores to keep it up.

i think i may try this on just me when they go back to school. because let me tell you when you only have 5 minutes to pick up the master bedroom and you don't want to be the only one that didn't do it in the allotted time, you'd be amazed at just how darn fast your butt can get in gear. i think i'm going to give myself 10 minuted every day to tackle the storage room that houses all my fabric scraps. perhaps a scraps giveaway and listing some fabric in the shop? hmmmm. we'll think about that later on.

i've said it before, and i'll say it again. one of my favorite things about the midwest is the fireflies, and the clouds.

 this looks like it's some kind of smoke billowing from some far away fire...but they aren't they are clouds. this was the scene when i looked east from my back yard.

and this is what i saw when i looked west later on that evening on my husband and my walk. 

i love the midwest clouds. my husband is like "why are you so weird about the clouds?" and i'm like "they totally look like "Toy Story" clouds and then at other times they do weird things like...blah de be blah blah blah." yes, by that time he tunes me out. what can i say i like them. it makes me happy. happy makers they are.

so yes, i've been feeling like i really would love to put in some sewing time. and i will here and there. (there has to be a rainy day in there again sometime right?) or perhaps one day the kids just decide they want to stay home and make quilts one day instead of going to pool. no? well maybe. you never know.

but for now, i'll enjoy the things that are making me happy till i can get back to the other thing that makes me happy...sewing.

:) we'll talk soon.

V and Co: this last weekend

 this last weekend i felt like spring finally happened.
i got to sew a little and clean a little. we spent a lot of time watching GC with the family and spent some time outside...FINALLY.

we love weekends like this where we aren't needing to be anyplace, and really it's just all about family.
when the weather turned super nice we got some outside time... the kids were so excited to play in shorts and be in the sun.

 it's crazy that just a few weeks ago on our little trip we were all bundled up and looking like we would be pasty twilight lovers for like EVER. (hanging out in men's bathrooms...ahem)...

 no wonder every fifth picture i got of the kids outside were of them jumping for joy...and apparently opening their mouths making silly weird faces.
yep. spring has def placed a spring in our jumps.
i can hear myself getting happier.
we'll talk soon!

V and Co: just one of those weeks

no need to cry over spilled milk

 i've had one of those weeks.
i think it started with having a 4 day weekend this last week. it got me off my groove.  i was always a day behind. i was thinking it was wednesday and really it was thursday.
what??? where did that day go, oh yeah, that's right my monday started on tuesday.
but i'm a mom, i'm supposed to roll with the punches, i eat chaos for breakfast!
normally yes.
this week?
not so much.

i wonder why some weeks are like that.
seriously, anyone have the answer? aside from cloudy days, hormonal imbalances, and blah de be blah blah...why is it that some weeks we have SO much on our plate, and yet we can still take motherhood, career, household schedules, school, extra curricular activities, eye doctor appointments, "honey i forgot ...so can you bring me"'s, and all the other little things that happen daily by the horns and say "YES! I JUST HANDLED THAT!" you walk away feeling like you could chew through leather if you were asked to.

yes, that's me making fun of myself two days ago

and then there are weeks where getting up, making lunches, making beds, and getting to one appointment, is almost too much to handle because of all the other responsibilities that are still there waiting for you to pay attention to the minute you get a chance.

i started writing daily lists:
i have one for work related deadlines
and i have one for daily household and family necessities.

funny how a stupid little box where i can place an "X" inside of it can make me or break me somedays.
this week those "X"s haven't been happening.
i feel like life is so SO fast.
always rushing to finish something. just to get to the next thing.

last night after a day of feeling like i've failed to use my time wisely every single moment of the day...
i was getting super frustrated with my youngest noisemaker. she's stubborn. cute as all get out, stubborn as you know what. she refused to do something for school. or rather was saying she didn't know how to do it. i just wanted to get the homework done so i could move on to cleaning up the dishes...and check up on spelling for the third noisemaker, tell the 2nd noisemaker to make more noise with the cello for practice, and check up on the oldest one to make sure he's still on task to finish coloring in his geography map...

my eldest son can write a book on being stubborn, and as he passed by (apparently he wasn't on task) and he was listening to my struggle with katie, he stopped and said "maybe i can help, mom."
i walked away with hands up in the air, and headed to the sink to clean the dishes. but i heard him talk to her.
he talked to her about how hard it is to let go sometimes and do what you are supposed to do, when you resist school things, kids make fun of you, and teachers don't know you are learning stuff. and a lot of people get upset. he ended with "i know katie, because i do that a lot. but i'm trying not to do that now."
i wanted to cry.
he then proceeded to work with her on the numbers sheet.
and i wanted to cry again.
they worked on it for 20 minutes.

my 12 year old, the one that i have cried in frustration and in anxiousness for his well being, was showing characteristics of a loving, selfless, individual wanting to help his youngest sibling out.
i have to admit, i've not written much on "hard" motherhood lately. but i'm going to break my rule of not talking about too emotional stuff on here.

my eldest son, is amazing.

oh he's still a goofy pre-teen, still makes me raise my voice and ask "seriously?". basically he's still a normal kid. but amazing none the less.

i have struggled with him so much leading up to this point. we've clashed we've fought, i've been placed on my knees in prayer more for that kid than anything else in my life.
i'm not going to rehash how hard it was during my husband's deployment, or the struggles of moving so much in a short period of time and how it affected my then small child. all you need to know is it affect our whole family, but my 12 year old took the brunt of it emotionally. he held a lot on his shoulders.
i think of all the struggles my 12 year old (almost 13!) has gone through up to this point and know it has matured my son into a much better person than i could have ever asked for, he surpasses me on empathy, and he surpasses me in knowledge of dealing with personal hurt, and struggles with school.
it's true you do not experience true love, willing to sacrifice everything kind of love, till you have a child who is going through some kind of horribleness, whether it is emotional, physical, or a mere pain of learning of life's lessons. there were many times i would cry just wanting to take away all the weight he had to deal with. i would plead, beg, make deals, anything to take away some of those struggles when we were in them.

this year...he's been surprising me throwing me curve balls with how he can be such an amazing individual, taking responsibility, running after and inviting to stay a kid at church who always likes to slip away before anyone says anything to him, giving me a smile of appreciation and pausing to tell me thank you for the socks in his drawers and the lunch in my hand to give him as he walks out the door to catch the bus, hearing his teachers at school saying: "he is such a great kid, so kind and really wanting to do well."

and last night, watching him, my life made sense for that little bit in an otherwise wasted day in my eyes. he's going to be a great older human being. and i'm so happy to call him mine. i can't take responsibility with how he turns out completely. he ultimately makes his own life. but let me tell you. so far what i'm seeing. brings tears to my eyes and makes me so so tired to think of the years leading up to that moment. but yeah.


not much got "X"d off my list this week. but last night i did go to bed with a full heart, and appreciation for trials in our life to experience these happy moments.

have a wonderful weekend. i'll be over here putting out fires and building some other ones.

V and Co: making cute shrinky dinks

phew!
didn't mean to let so much time go by
well the last couple of weeks have gone in a flash. and honestly, if i can be so bold...i've enjoyed being lazy laid back this summer.  gosh i'm going to miss it. but the kids are anticipating school and...okay only 50% of my kids are super excited to go to school, and the other 50% wish that school was optional.
but whatever we're enjoying the last little bit of summer and when we get to first day of school there will be tears and they will be by me and that is enough to make all the kids want to get on that bus. :)
soooo...
last week we had a couple of times that we couldn't go to the pool. i know shocking, but by the end of the summer they do get a little tired of going to the pool every single day and we also had a sick kid. we stayed at home, so to keep myself sane, and the kids entertained we bought some shrinky dink making material.
and can i just say that shrinky dinks are just as fun if not funner as an adult than they were as kids? they really are.
seriously.
so much fun.
i think it ended up being more about me having fun than them. even when the kids were all done, and i was like "lets make this!" and "wouldn't this be cute!!!!" and "lets make it smaller and see how little it turns out!!!"

my kids were like "okay mom. put down the pencil and walk away from the shrinky dink."

we started off first by making our own drawings and the boys walked away with some really fun storm trooper helmets the oldest one drew for them...and then katie brought out a book and asked "can we do hello kitty?!" 

YES.WE.CAN. 

so we started to flip through the pages...

edited: for all of you asking:
i found my shrinky dink paper at Michael's (of course)
but here's the amazon link to the exact stuff i used:
Shrinky Dinks Shrinkable Plastic 

and of course there's a whole selection of pre drawn shrinky dinks as well.

so katie picked out some that she wanted to make herself and then i picked out some i wanted to make for myself for her. and then we went to town.

i thought this little croc was such a cutie.
on the package it says you can use color pencils, markers, and crayons, or pens. i tried markers...they kind of smear after they cook, so maybe if you use markers make sure you let them air dry for a little bit.
same thing with the crayons. they seem to stay a little melted for a while.
so i would say the colored pencils are you best bet.
but hey if you like smeary need to wait shrinky dinks...who am i to tell you what's best. :P

see how cute my croc is? i know right?! anyways katie did pretty sweet on her cake as well. 

she had me trace the cake and then she colored in the cake.

then i cut them all out. 

we made corn and hello kitties and grasshoppers, and puppies, and penguins, and stormtroopers, and spongebobs...man we made a lot of stuff.

any ways it was fun.

and now i have a ton of little shrinky dinks all strewn about my house.
but the memories are there. and i think we may have started something fun...only this time i'm the mom. :)
shrinky dinks rule.

V and Co: our weekend-ish

my family is in the shadows i'm the tiny little person in the reflection in middle of the bean taking a picture

stop the presses, i'm blogging. i KNOW. seriously i look at how much i'm blogging this year vs how much i was blogging in summers past...and well, the numbers don't lie, for some reason i've not been blogging and yet, we've been busy. not busy doing projects every minute, just busy being us. and while i used to blog about us being us...for some reason, i get nervous to do it.

why? well lets just say this: when you live in a small town in a remote area, all the people pretty much knew you knew your stories, and pretty much were family. i could write about everything we went through and they would laugh/cry with me...but they already knew it because they witnessed it or i had already told them. so when i wrote things the people that would come up to me and say "you're so hilarious!" or "oh my gosh could you BE any funnier?" (cue in chandler emphasis) or my favorite "we can take care of that goat problem of your yours." and of course "can i just tell you, i love your kid, he's going to be okay."

yeah. somehow living in a small town where i was just writing to a computer screen and all my "friend-family" were the only ones coming up to me and saying that they read what i wrote, it seemed okay.

now cue in living in a larger city, (not that large compared to most but still) and not knowing everyone in your town, and cue in the looking over your shoulder and wondering are you reading what i wrote? 

is this weird? i mean my readership has been in the general area in numbers for a few years (a slow incline but nothing too drastic), but all of a sudden because i don't have my hula hoop of wilderness around me, i feel like i'm more on display.

so yeah. thoughts? 

anywho. i'm working on writing about every day mundane things, because honestly, that's when the best things happen, at least when you are in a family. it's the stolen looks between the husband and i of a funny inside joke the kids don't even know anything about. or the HILARIOUS, or the things that our children do and say that drive you insane or teach you life lessons. 

those are the best memories, and the prettiest images around you that should be the threads of our creativity and the wind in our sails.

so here it is: 

we went on a little trip.

 i say little because chicago isn't that far away from where we live. well, compared to where we used to live. it's a mere 4 hours away and we decided we were going to try to see somethings we've never had gotten the opportunity to do before due to living on the other side of the united states all our lives.

 we went to cloud gate or "the bean" we've seen it in pictures, i'd seen it in movies, but never had i ever seen it in real life.
amazing.
it.
is.

 i tried to get good posed pictures of the kids (emphasis on the tried and you will see why later on in the next few pictures) but due to too many witnesses, i couldn't do my "take a picture and make it look good so i can use this picture to send it out to everyone this year blah de de BLAH iCAN STAND HERE ALL DAY PEOPLE TILL WE GET IT RIGHT...DON'T YOU TEST ME I CAN CALL SANTA, YEAH YOU HEARD ME!" routine i normally do when i try to get a staged all facing the same way smiling only once a year happening because we're using it for christmas pictures that year rant.

don't know what they were contemplating here in this picture...but it would have been cool if all four of them did the same thing, but of course one of them didn't. oh well.

i have to say the millennium park is pretty cool, we didn't look at everything, we were kind of pressed for time, but next time we will return and i'll take pictures (ahem possibly with a camera other than my phone camera because i forgot the real camera)

also this time around we got to go to the Shedd aquarium.
my kids are huge water/fish/turtles/dolphins/penguin/otter lovers, so this was a fun and exciting thing for them seeing that it's been over 5 years now that we lived in monterey and had the membership to the best after school time waster also known as going to the aquarium for a few hours so mommy didn't go cray cray till dad got home.
our kids loved the jelly fish, when we were living in monterey, and they loved it this time around too.


in the jelly fish area it was super pretty, with all the jelly fish flowing movements, and they had nice soothing music and the colors were cool. :) kind of felt like a "happy place" of some sort.

here's another attempt of me taking a posed picture...no go on the christmas card yet again.

 next we headed to the lego and american girl store. i wish i could have gotten the reaction of the girl noisemaker's face when we turned the corner and saw the american girl store.
she was so excited it was really fun to see.
she got a hand me down doll, she's been introduced to these dolls just recently, and well up till i went into the store i didn't get what was so cool.
i was like "a hospital? and hair salon? whaaaaat? thats just stupid." and honestly it is, but man, you walk into that store and all of a sudden you want to set up a hair appointment for your little doll, eat at the restaurant...with your little doll, and buy matching outfits...wait, no, still don't want to do that. because that is just too creepy weird and kind of stupid in my book. but yes, buy the little doll outfits and glasses, and shoes, and all the other stuff that you can buy but wait i have to eat next month so let just slow it down for a minute...
regroup. breathe. get out of the spinning of crazy...and make some rational choices

so this time around we got "calissa" a new outfit (i think the girl noisemaker  named her calista, but her "t's" aren't all that great. :))
a freaking $38 outfit. um. yeah. (but they came with cute little roller-skates!) anywho moving on.
while the girl and i were contemplating what outfit, the boys were building legos.

legos are the go to toy for my boys. they like them, i like that they like them, and the big husband boy likes them too. we dig legos.

um apparently noisemaker #3 was all over the map on emotions. :/ 

after a fun filled few days we came home. 

and we were super happy to see our new normal of the iowa fields and corn. we are getting used to our new surroundings, and it's exciting to see what memories we make here.

we'll talk soon. :)

winner and nostalgia

my view this summer has been of this. (and yes i've purposely cropped my legs so they look like they last forever and are not short tater tot looking legs.)

and other pools in the area, and the parks, and behind the wheel driving to and from camps and what not.
i don't think i've stopped in the house for too long, except to do our morning routines.
sounds about right for this family. that's the way i like it. busy but not over scheduled, just simple, boring, busy.
i really love summers.
like
a
lot.
last summer i didn't get to really fully enjoy "our summer" because of all the moves and selling of houses, and trying to figure out where we were going to live, and then stressing over the move across country when we did decide where we were going to live, and then having to say goodbye to everything we ever knew...but...
...BUT...
whenever you go through something really hard, and trial-some, it gives you a new sense of happiness, and peace when you leave unrest, and rocky waters behind.
i have been feeling immensely blessed, can you tell?
i feel like i need to keep knocking on wood.
we are approaching our first anniversary living here in iowa, and aside from the weird garage sales starting on wednesdays instead of friday or saturday, and well some driving things (did you know they still have 55 mph here on the freeway?!) i can't complain.
i got a mild first winter.
i've re-found my love of hats again so my hair doesn't look like a cotton ball on my head with the humidity, and i've learned of mineral based powder and makeup...when i wear it in the humidity so i don't look like alice cooper anymore.

life.
is.
beautiful.
and i love my boring summer of wondering if we should grill once or twice or every night. and i love that my children have friends, they bug me to call to see if they can come to the pool with us, and i love that my husband loves his job, that his practice is doing well, and that i get to enjoy my very normal boring life.
i get to wake up.
we get to do our chore routine.
then i get to go somewhere with the kids to waste a few hours.
so that when we get home it doesn't feel like forever before dad gets home for dinner.
yes, i love my normal boring life.
i'm in a blissful happy place.
oh we miss our old happy place, that small middle of nowhere town that i still can imagine living in, but we are very happy that our new happy place will be a good place to be as well.
and hey, that little town and the people in it is one the ONLY reasons i keep my Facebook account open, so that i can feel like i still live on my little road, just around the corner from the first house we owned (with the cows those stupid swear word goats) and just a few blocks from everyone we knew.
yeah, i miss you little of nowhere town, please know you will never be forgotten, but that we're doing okay. :) till we meet again right? ;)

now for a winner of that book i was talking about last week:

winner of the more take 5 book is:

~ Julie ~ said...

My plans for the fall are to make my neighborhood Christmas gifts! I just know I'll be on top of things this year and get everything for Christmas done early so I can enjoy the holidays without the pressure of last-minute gifts! (Yeah, right!) I have some snowman fabric already bought to make some cute mug rugs for everyone's hot chocolate mugs! Thanks for the opportunity to win such a great book! :)

thank you all for playing.

i'm sorry its been a little on the quiet side on the project front, but i'm really enjoying living life outside and with my family. i'll be throwing in a project or two perhaps if i so fancy. the girl noisemaker is starting to bug me to do more sewing, so perhaps we will...or maybe we'll paint. we shall see how it goes.

all i know is that this is a wonderful time in my life, and i can do a lot of working when all 4 of the kiddos are in school this fall. (ahhhhh! the day has come when i have no kids home during the day? what?!)
so for now, perhaps i'll babble of silly things. like how ridiculously happy i am with boring, and normal. :D

V and Co: star wars dorks we are

the husband came home the other day exclaiming quite excitedly that one of his students had made him the COOLEST present.
from behind his back he pulled out this little hand made yoda.
we love him, and he is happily residing in our bedroom for now till he goes to its final resting place, his office.
yup, dorks we are.
yup, yoda i speak often.

and of course this obsession love of star wars like things has trickled down to our children. santa may have even of found the millennium falcon on super sale this last october for $35 less than what it's selling for now (and with NO tax or shipping because it's amazon. I LOVE YOU AMAZON!) for all the boys to put together (yes, including the husband).
we have posters, we have outfits (the kids do, not jake and i, thank you very much), we have legos upon legos, we have little action figures. i even almost bought a large starwars lego alarm clock for the boys (but that's a little pricey for an alarm clock) so i'll wait till it goes on sale someday.
soooooo naturally when i saw this book:

the star wars craft book yup i went coo coo for coco puffs and HAD to have it. luckily i signed up for a swap (which i NEVER do because i'm crazy as it is in my own life to have to have people rely on me to do a swap is just plain dumb so i never sign up...BUT this swap was different.) for this swap all i had to do was say what i wanted for the cost of less than $15 and then my partner would buy it for me and send it my way...i in return would do the same for the person i had. (my gal asked for the farmer's wife block book) so i amazon-ed that baby and sent it her way too. hope you like it! (cause i know you'll ask the swap is a twitter swap and it's #ssswap) twitter it, i'm sure it will get even bigger next year cause seriously it was great.

okay so seriously.
my kids have been looking at this book since it arrived in my home.

they've made lists of things we're making this christmas vacation. which i'm thrilled about because christmas vacation is always the hardest on me with kids wanting to do nothing but play video games...so this vacay...we're making these admiral sackbar puppets and these ADORABLE washcloth wampas.

i'll try and see if i can find some good deals on star wars t-shirts and make something along the lines of a tote for the library or for the pool...and...

if i knew how to work any kind of yarn like projects like knitting or crocheting, i would soooo make one of those r2d2 beanies, but i am SOOOOO making that herb ATAT, and my 7 year old really wants the ewok head thing...but i'm afraid that's just too easy pickings and he'd be toast at school if he showed up on the school bus let alone on the playground with that thing on his head...maybe if he promises only to wear it at home...
the most FAVORITE project of the book i've got to say is this:

WAY too cute for words cuddly bantha. yeah, i may have to make one just for me too.

so there you have it. even though "nerd" is in right now, i have a feeling we'll still be loving it and BEING it when it's not.
ashamed we are not.
proud we will be.
ps:i'm almost done with a cute little gift idea (just have to take pictures) so watch for it monday.
talk soon we will. :)