Flotsam and Jetsam

It has been a crazy month of random fun, and I'm too sick and severely dehydrated to write about it all. I'll highlight a few high (and low) points while I guzzle my Gatorade and try not to die.

I got to watch Carter and McKay for a few hours which gave me a taste of having triplets.  Three car seats, picking up siblings from school, and arranging snacks for 7 kids was fun for ONE day.

Ethan got sick and never got better.  After a few trips to the doctor he has been diagnosed with asthma and is now on 3 medications trying to get it under control.  I stupidly sat at the doctors shaking my head saying "No, no one we are related to has asthma.  This comes as a total shock."  Little did I know half of Eric's family has/had asthma and Joan even still has an inhaler and is on some of the same medication Ethan is.  Communication, it's a wonderful thing.  (On the bright side one of the conditions my kids have is NOT from my side of the family for a change! Woot woot genetics!)

Ella had her musical program for school and played Boom Whackers, which is a fancy name for a plastic tube cut to a specific size.  She did a great job with her Boom Whacker and her singing.  We have a true performer on our hands!

Livi had picture day at preschool.  When I curled her hair that morning I told her, her hair looked like Princess Aurora's hair, which Ella overheard.  We have been dealing with the jealousy issues ever since.

I bought a stash of Hostess products for my kids to try before they disappear.  I will probably lose about 10 pounds now that Hostess cupcakes and donettes no longer exist.  No joke!

Eric "caught" a deer.  A big buck that had to hang in my garage for a few days before it was butchered.

Which means I have a blood stain in my garage.  Hopefully we are never accused in any missing persons cases because the evidence will look pretty bad for a while.

It also means I got to see this macabre scene every time I went in the garage.  After the horrible odor of dead deer the fresh scent of bleach was a welcome change.... although, again, not good if we have crime scene units out to the house.

On the bright side we did get super yummy deer jerky that every one LOVES.  It is so good the kids ask for it in their school lunches.

On a super bright side I have the cutest dog on the planet.  What?  Your mind isn't blown with the cuteness of that picture?  Well, I give to you the cutest thing I have ever seen:

I know you want my dog now.  Too bad.  I might let you come visit and cuddle her...for a price...cookies, I want cookies.

The 12 Years of Marriage

On the twelfth year of marriage my true love gave to me..
a personal Skeptoid recording!

If you haven't listen to Brian Dunning aka Skeptoid I highly recommend it.  Eric and I love to listen to him on road trips.  He takes urban myths, popular beliefs, common misconceptions, even popular history stories and finds out the truth behind them.  It is really fun to listen to him back up my opinions on things, and it always strikes up a conversation in the car!

What did I get Eric?  Some almost extinct Hostess Fruit Pies.  Personal messages from a favorite podcaster and preservative filled pastry, aren't those the traditional 12 year gifts?  Happy Anniversary Eric, I love you!

I Get It Universe!

I am feeling a little self conscious about my size lately.  Watching Busytown Mysteries today didn't help.

   For those of you unfortunate enough to not know about Richard Scarry I would totally look up his children's books the next time you go to a library or book store.  I was raised on books about Huckle the Cat and Lowly Worm.  Anyways... Busytown Mysteries is a modern show using the older beloved characters where they solve problems in the town using deductive reasoning.  Olivia LOVES it.

Today they found a piece of metal with a number 10 and french writing on it.  They asked their teacher, Miss Honey (a big grizzly bear), to translate the words, which ended up saying along the lines of "Specialty Shoe Made in France."  Here is what the characters concluded:

Miss Honey: So it is from a shoe made in France.

Huckle: Do you think the 10 could be the size?

Miss Honey: That would explain why they had to be specially made.  I wear a size 6!

Huckle: I wear a size 3.  Who ever had these shoes made has REALLY BIG feet!

It turns out the metal was from a tap shoe... that a HIPPO wore.  Yup.  A Hippo.  The bear has tiny, dainty feet compared to the hippo, who wears the same size I do!  Thanks Universe, I get it.  I wear the same size shoes as Hippos, I can't order a robe long enough to cover my arms, I look like a giant baby doll trying to wear Barbie clothes when I wear regular women's clothes, and I can comfortably wear my husbands clothing.  Awesome.  I totally get it.  You can stop reminding me this week.

Flexibility in Body, Mind, and Humor... or I couldn't be prouder

Flexibility is one of those things I find very important in life.

Watching Ella in her dance class I was struck with the fact that she may not be as naturally flexible as Gumby (Ethan) and Me, she definitely is not like her daddy (who can barely bend over without pulling a hamstring).  She has worked hard the last few years and has gone from not being able to touch her toes to this:

I know it wont make a huge difference as to the quality of her life, being flexible, but the fact she is willing to go to 4 (she wanted to take 5 but I talked her out of one) classes a week to get better at something she loves makes me proud. To see the progress she has made and to be able to show her tangible evidence of her progress was really fun.


Ethan and I had scouts last night and we are working on the Scientist Pin.  I had brought a bunch of experiments for the boys to conduct and Ethan was always quick to think outside the box:

Me: What will happen when I stick a pencil into a plastic bag full of water?

Scout 1: It will break the bag
 
Scout 2: It will go through the bag

Ethan: It will EXPLODE like C-3PO's body when he got hit with a storm troopers blaster!!!

I like that Ethan looks at a situation (okay, almost every situation) with a different perspective than everyone else.  It may always relate back to Star Wars or Pokemon, but just hearing him describe the explosion made me happy.  I hope he always looks at the world through slightly different lenses than the rest of the world, because the rest of the world can be pretty boring.  We need more joy and adventure in everyday living!

I was able to go with Olivia on a field trip to Arby's today.

In Obama's America we aren't going to be able to afford to send our kids to college, so we've decided to train Livi early in the job field! Ha ha just kidding Dad, stop freaking out!

I was riding on the bus with her, Carter, and their friend Sophia and they were all talking about their cars and what they would do to make them cooler:

Carter: If I could make a car it would have no seat belts and all the doors would be always open.

Sophia: If I had a car the windows would always be rolled down.

Livi: If I had a car it would have (switches to an ominous voice) NO WINDOWS AND NO DOORS! Ha Ha Ha...

Her friends looked at her like she was crazy but I laughed and gave her a high five. She may be the only child in Nebraska to have the opening to Haunted Mansion memorized!  I was so proud that she not only remembered it, but used it awesomely!  I love that all three of my kids have such great senses of humor.  They keep me laughing, even on my darkest days.

I have amazing kids.

And the Jabberwocky says...

Picture not related: My kids with their souvenirs from my parents trip to Europe. I like how the Paris fashion for little girls is Native American!

This morning Livi really did not want me to do her hair for school.  Eric was trying to distract her by making animal noises and she would have to guess the animal.  She decided to do them for him too (just to make sure Eric knows his animal noises I guess)

Livi: Baaaa
Eric: Sheep
Livi: Good Job Daddy! Now, Neigh, Neigh
Eric: Horse
Livi: No! It's a Unicorn.

This is Halloween, This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween....NIGHT!

Woot woot, Halloween finally came!  I am especially happy because as I write this Halloween is OVER and I don't have any sewing I HAVE to get done!  Yea Ha, Yippi-Dee-Do-Da!

The day started out with Livi's program, which was pretty adorable.

Livi and Carter.  Carter's costume came with a flat plastic replica of a bag, which for a boy who loves to put things in pockets was unacceptable.  I was able to make him a new, WORKING bag that was much better.  Toot, toot (my own horn)!

They sang quite a few songs and had lots of goodies.  Here is my favorite song:

That afternoon the big kids had their parade/parties.

The Bagleys went with a Star Wars theme, and it was pretty awesome! 

Poor McKay was pretty tuckered out at this point in the day and decided he needed a good spot to lay down.  Livi was so cute, stroking his hair and kissing his forehead!

Our ward, for whatever twisted reason, decided to do our Trunk-or-Treat ON Halloween, which I don't like because
a) they billed it as a "safe place to trick-or-treat" which is ridiculous because I live one of the nicest neighborhoods in a small town in NEBRASKA, it's not like we live in downtown Detroit!
b) that means I only got to dress everyone up once.  I like to get multiple uses out our costumes.
c) it makes the day feel more crazy to have one thing after another all day long!
d) I don't have a good reason for d, but I just didn't like it, so there.

The girls decided they wanted to be princesses...again.  In order to maintain my sanity while sewing I decided to put a twist on the princess theme.  They were suppose to be steam-punk princesses, but as Eric needed more help with paralegal work, and kids have 200 activities, time swiftly flew by.  I finished the basic costumes, but not much of the accessories that would have made it "steam-punk."  Instead we are just a Victorian twist on princesses.  Works for me!

Livi is Cinderella and Ella is Aurora.
 Okay, so I am not a princess.  I am THE MISTRESS OF ALL EVIL wha ha ha - Maleficent!!!

Ethan didn't want to partake in the awesomeness that is homemade costumes and opted to be Boba Fett, everyone's favorite Mandalorian.  He even has the quiet demeanor and slim build to pull it off!  Tonks (briefly) wore an ammo belt and went as his captive, Chewbacca.

After the trunk-or-treat we headed off to do a little trick-or-treating with the Bagleys.  Livi's bag ended up breaking, but Carter was nice and let her use his ammo belt (thank goodness I had added the working bag!) to put her treats in.  We decided she was a princess wookie, or "pookie", at that point and both thought it was great!

McKay made a GREAT Ewok!  He even kind of walks like one still, and he wanted to hold my hand all night, which basically means he will forever have me wrapped around his finger!

Here are a few detail shots of our costumes for Julia who pretended out of niceness to care:

Blurry bathroom pic of my make-up.  The eyelashes were AWESOME!

Ella's hat with mechanical bird

Livi's hat with mechanical mouse Gus-Gus

A nod to Cinderella's glass slipper on Livi's skirt.  I was going to embroider this in silver but ran out of time.

Livi's "corset."  I used an actual pattern from 1885 and thought it was the piece de resistance.

 

I embroidered roses on Ella's corset front in a nod to Briar Rose.

The back of my skirt.  Kind of like the back side of water in excitement, but thought I would add it.

In terms of hours my corset beat everything else combined.  Of course I had to make it hard.  I couldn't just make a costume corset.  I made a full lined, boned, grommet-ed, and busked corset. I used different fabrics for each section to add interest and some panels even have shear overlays.  Why did I do this?  I don't know.  Probably because it is written into my DNA (thanks Dad).  I hope I can come up with some way to wear it again, but right now I am drawing a blank.  Any ideas?

Well that is it for now.  I started this year in July and didn't get everything done I wanted to.  I guess next year I will have to start planning around Easter! (Just kidding, Eric, I promise not to undertake sewing costumes again until the year after next!)

P.S. The Disney Store has these amazing couture-esque Designer Villain Dolls.  I have to say I thought of my costume before I saw the doll, but I am flattered Disney thought to copy me!  Ha ha.  I totally want this for Christmas...hint hint!

Getting Baby Hungry....Nope, It's Gone...(or Livi turns 4!)!!

To clarify some comments, I do LOOK skinny in that picture at the pumpkin patch, but I was standing sideways, Ella took the photo from a downwards angle, and the photo tips Aunt Diane gave made me look better than in real life.  I have actually gained back almost half the weight I lost before summer.  Hopefully now that some stresses have been eliminated I can go back to eating healthy (wait, sugar cookies for breakfast isn't healthy?) and exercising more!

Onto Livi:
Olivia, my tiny baby, turned 4 on Sunday.  I can hardly believe it.  With having 3 sisters pregnant, and lots of friends expecting it has been a little bit of a struggle remembering why we are done having kids.  I really don't want another baby, and I totally feel like our family is complete, but I do feel a little like I am being left out of a club.  Or like I was a member of the club, but stopped my membership just before everyone else joined (I'm hipster Mom I guess).  I just feel a little left out is all.

Eric was kind enough to remind me of diapers, midnight feedings, lactose intolerance, monetary cost and I think the biggest for him, my severe postpartum depression.  Once he started the list I snapped back to reality, and decided I am just going to have to spoil all the little ones coming into my life, cuddle them to bits, and then send them off home to their moms to feed, bathe, and change!  Works for me!

Sunday is a hard time to have a birthday since you can't go out to eat, or see a movie, but Livi did get to have everyone around all day, sing in the primary program, go to primary, and play with friends.  She seemed to have a great day!

A pile of presents seem to make the early morning more than bearable!

At church I was on the stand, and the only free row was sitting with the Bagleys, so Eric took the kids over there.  I looked up and realized Eric had let all the kids sit with their respective friends so Livi even got to sit by Carter during Sacrament meeting.  They got into Livi's stickers and put them to good use!

I only had a couple hours to make Livi's cake, so it wasn't as well executed as Ella's, but Livi seemed to like it anyways!

Livi loved Carter's (and the whole Bagley clan's) present, a PURPLE GUITAR!!!  She is still carrying it around the house "composing" songs to "serenade" us all with.

 

Happy Birthday sweet girl, we love you!