Remember all That Fabric??

Well......I finally made something with it! I found this cute idea from an Etsy shop called "Little Bit Funky"...and I thought I'd give it a try. Sewing has never been something I have really tried too much. For some reason the sewing machine & terminology intimidated me. I think it all goes back to the "Breads & Threads" class I took in Jr. High. I had to make a 2 piece outfit, and the pattern lingo really didn't click with me. (I'd like to thank my Mom & Aunt Trudy for helping me finish that lovely skirt & top up. :) )Anyway ~ I found I actually am not too scared of the sewing machine anymore. I did have a little mishap with somehow un-assembling the whole "bobbin area", a number of metal pieces popped out and there I sat with a handful of puzzle pieces. Thank God for the internet and online user manuals. I finally reassembled the machine and here is my end result:





I am hoping to make some more in a Christmas theme...and maybe Fall too. :)
(the color in the pictures isn't the greatest - they are much cuter in real life---at least I think so). These were a great gift for my Sister-in-Law!

Well, we are off to the beach for the weekend.
Have a safe & happy Labor Day!

~Linda

Okay.......I Did It!

I JINXED MYSELF!!

Do you remember the end of my last post when I said Ella was still sleeping through the night??? Well, since then she has NOT slept through the night.
I knew it.

I got too sassy......



and this sweet baby:


















Has turned into this baby at 4:00am:



Okay, so she doesn't scream her head off...she just wakes up and wants to eat. Last night was a true test of my patience. Malia was up at 2am, Ella at 4am, then Alex a little before 6am.



So.......this is me today:

Weekend Pictures - Minus a Few

Where did the sun go? I must say I do kind of like the change in weather. :O) As long as the rain doesn't stay around too long!

The weekend is just about over, and I am ready for a quiet week without any classes or big plans. How boring am I?? We are heading to the beach for Labor Day weekend and have a preschool "open house" so I guess we have some things going on! We didn't have a heck of alot happening this weekend, which was nice. Alex had his last Kindergym class, Malia had her last swim class, we spent Saturday at Grandma Jeaneen's pool, and we did some back to school clothes shopping. UGH. I always thought this would be semi-fun, but no. It really isn't. Malia is only 4 (almost 5)....and she is hard to please. It used to be so much fun to buy clothes **I** like and make the kids wear them. It's not so much fun when they start having opinions. LOL!



Like the title of this post reads..........here are some of the pictures we took. I completely forgot the camera when we went to the pool. And then today I left the camera's memory card in the dang computer.............so we have no pictures of swim lessons or the park with the fun water fountains. I'm so mad at myself. I did manage to get some pictures of the kids at home. Malia & Ella just hanging out, and Alex helping Dad mow the lawn & taking a little break on the front steps. (Please excuse the grass growing out of the cracks in the cement - this has not been a strong year for me when it comes to yard work. 2009 is my year!)





Well, that's all I have for tonight. I should be doing something more productive while everyone is asleep. Oh, and by the way.....ELLA IS STILL SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!! Rock on!

Good night~
Linda

Baby Ella Update!!

Hello!
I hope you all are enjoying your Summer! It sure is slipping away fast. Speaking of time going fast, Baby Ella is now 8 weeks old!! Here are some pictures of her at 6 and a half weeks. Apparently I haven't taken any pictures for a week and a half! GASP! Now I see why the third child (or 4th, 5th, etc) gets the shaft on pictures and baby books. I was always so upset that I never had any pictures of me at the hospital (I was the third child)........now I understand why. Malia has **TONS** of pictures. I think I have ranted on this before!?!?!? Alzheimer's may be setting in (or possibly lack of sleep).

Ella is smiling like crazy and loves to be talked to. She tries to talk back. It's so much fun for us all. Another great thing.......she has slept through the night the past couple of nights!!! I AM SO HAPPY!! I shouldn't talk about it, because I am probably jinxing myself. :O) That always happens to me. So, no more about that.






On a different note, we had a GARAGE SALE this past weekend. If you live in this area you will remember how EXTREMELY HOT it was this weekend??? As in days of record temps......at least 2 over 100 degrees! Ugh. I am thankful it's over. I think we would have had better sales and more customers if it would have been cooler. Oh well, we did make some money, and got rid of junk. I am a little upset with myself for not clearing out more........I just seemed to run out of time. I should be cleaning up our house -- we have "garage sale" aftermath going on. Random things here and there that I just couldn't part with. Now I'm wondering where to put it all. I think that's a sign that I probably should have gotten rid of it!! LOL. I believe I have a "hoarding" problem. I think it's an actual disorder, not sure what it's called. I don't have it bad, just a mild case. I remember hearing a story about a lady that was killed in her home because a huge pile of her own papers and junk fell on her. I'm sure it wasn't funny, but I do find it a little comical...........that may be me someday.

Gotta run......I need to figure out what's for dinner. :)
~L

A Fun Little Princess Quiz ;o)

You Are Ariel!

Headstrong and fiesty. You have a mind of your own that's full of romantic dreams about the world around you. Exploring exotic places is your ultimate dream, and although you can be a little naive you'll realize that there is something to be gained from your family's wisdom.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Ballet Anyone?

Where does the time go? I haven't blogged in so long. :) I still have pictures on the camera that need to be moved to the computer........so these are from a couple of weeks ago. Malia has been taking classes through Tualatin Hills this summer. This one was her "Pre-Ballet" class that she took with her friend Mia. She made a new friend too, Sophia. This class was called "Pre-Ballet", but there seemed to be very little 'ballet' involved. This was the only ballet class that worked into the schedule this summer. Oh well!










And here is a picture of the little brothers. We were not normally in the classroom (as you can imagine why), but this was the last class, so we had the chance to be the audience. :) The boys had a **really** hard time staying off the dance floor and keeping quiet.
Thank God there was a playground outside. That's where they were all the other weeks.


On another note, we are having a garage sale this weekend. Ugh! I have so many clothes I keep saving "in case". In case I lose weight, in case I go back to work, etc. I can now get rid of the "in case I get pregnant again" clothes......because I know we are done. I have also realized that by the time my body is back down to the pre-pregnancy weight (like before pregnancy #1) all my clothes will probably be out of style (if they aren't already). And that's a big "IF" I ever get to that size again. :) Too bad it's going to be close to 100 degrees this weekend. Who feels like buying clothes when it's that hot?? Malia is excited to sell cold drinks, chips, and cookies.

Well, it's super late and I need to get some sleep. Good night!

Yippeee!! A Package of Fabric Goodness!

There is one thing I just love........mail & especially PACKAGES! Sometimes I think I should work for the USPS! :) Anyway......today I received my pacakge of gorgeous fabric scraps I ordered off ETSY from www.lassiegirl.etsy.com. Take a look at these pictures:
It came nicely tied with a fun polka dot ribbon. A cute little bag of Jelly Bellies was under the sticker :)


And a super fun assortment of scraps that I hope to turn into cool things for Etsy & holiday bazaars.


Another shot:




Dont you just love it??

Just for Fun........

Happy Tuesday!
I can't believe Summer is halfway over. It always seems to just start rolling....but I can never put my finger on when it starts. The kids have been trying to keep busy with Summer classes (dance, kinder-gym, ballet, sports) but there is still a lot of time to "fill".....otherwise we seem to get on each other's nerves by the end of the day. It's been a little more challenging with a baby who has food needs every couple of hours.

Today turned a little bit cool with some sprinkles. I feel like I'm getting old, because I enjoyed the cool weather. I used to love the heat - but now I get too hot and irritable if it's over 90. Yikes! How sad is that? I should mention that we DO NOT have A/C and our house gets very hot in the afternoon with direct sun and no shade. I think some form of A/C is in our future. Maybe not this year but maybe in 2009???

Here are a few pictures of the kids. The first one gives you an idea why I'm pooped by lunch time. Malia has so much energy it's exhausting. At 4 years old she already knows how to push people's buttons. She must get that from her father. LOL!

Anywho............HAPPY TUESDAY. I am happy because Big Brother is on tonight. SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..........don't tell anyone I watch it. I used to think it was the dumbest waste of time ever. Look at me now. ;)

Hasta la bye bye~
Linda

Cute Idea!

Isn't this adorable? First, let me say I DID not make this. I found it on some one's blog, and of course I can't remember who it was...sorry! It's an old metal bread tin covered in scrapbook paper, then turned into a photo holder. I'm adding this to the never-ending list of projects I would love to make and will most likely never get to. :) Oh well, it's fun to think I may do it someday.




Hope you had a wonderful weekend. We went to the Washington County Fair on Saturday! We had a good time and the weather was perfect. Both kids were able to ride on at least some rides this year, which was great. Alex loved the car ride (of course) and Malia loved the Bear ride (kind of like a Tilt-A Whirl, or the Tea Cups) that spins. Alex was a little freaked out by that one. We watched the Pirate show and I even got to hold a parrot......not that I wanted to, but Malia wanted to then all of the sudden did NOT want to, so there I was holding the parrot after the show with the pirate guy. We then spent a fortune on some food, played a couple of games, and saw WAY too many farm animals. Good times.............


Have a great week!

A Look back at Malia's "West Africa Week"

Happy Wednesday!
We are back to life with 3 kids this week, after Malia spent all last week with Yaya at the Coast. She took a week long class celebrating West Africa. It was a 5 hour class each day that included learning dances, having art classes, traditional African lunches, play, theater and story time. Malia was the youngest in the class, and anyone under 5 needed to have an adult stay with them. By Wednesday she didn't want Yaya there anymore, and all the teachers agreed that she would be fine unsupervised............so she was on her own Wed, Thurs & Friday. She had a blast and made quite a few new friends: Saybah, True, Sage, River, Diego...to name a few.




On Saturday Rourke & I headed to the Coast with the Kids to meet up with Malia, Yaya, and Uncle Jeff. We met at the Art Center, and had a traditional African dinner that included fish, couscous, peanut sauce, a couple of rice dishes, spinach stew and fried plantain. After dinner was the BIG PERFORMANCE they had been working on all week with Miss Habiba. Authentic drummers were there as well. Here are a few pictures from the night. I was alternating between the camera & the video camera. :)




They also put on a play. This picture isn't the greatest, but Malia was a princess. Her friend Saybah was the queen. It was fun to watch! I think I missed some of the storyline while I was trying to take pictures, video, while Alex was going crazy and it was 100 degrees in the room.



Gotta run......baby needs me.

Average!

This is a funny test! I thought I'd probably fail......but actually scored average. :) The 1930s were a different time for sure...........

46 As a 1930s wife, I am Average Take the test!

What Flower are You?

I found this quiz, and thought it was kind of fun..........
my resluts were:

I am a Canna What Flower Are You?

"You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that."




Happy Friday to all.......we are off to the coast tomorrow to see Malia's performance and bring her home. I can't beleive she's been gone for 5 days!

:) Linda

Fourth of July at the Beach!

Greetings!
First of all, let me say that I am completely disappointed in myself for the lack of good pictures from the July 4th weekend. I had cute outfits on the kids and didn't get one picture of them alone, or together. No pictures of fireworks, sparklers, beach pics in the daytime......NADA! So...........below is pretty much what I took. :(

We did have fun watching fireworks on the beach by a campfire and making SMORES!! Yum. I don't know how it happens, but how does sand always get in the smores?? Oh well, they were still delicious! I could go for one right now.







And here we are at the Cloverdale 4th of July parade. Woo-hoo! We missed most of it trying to find a place to park, but caught a few "floats" and managed to snag some candy. They were only throwing candy on the right side of the street, because they had traffic taking turns in the left lane. This was the MAIN road through town. We parked in the driveway of someone's barn. :)



Malia is off this week for an African Dance camp near YaYa's house at the coast. I can't beleive she'll be gone so long. We will head down next weekend for the final PERFORMANCE and an African dinner.

Have a great Sunday.
~L