From Annie to Ashes

We've had quite a couple weeks-and I keep meaning to update, but I get so tired if I sit down. ; )  Saturday we met our friends and drove to Springfield, Missouri, to see Annie the musical!  It was sold out, a wonderful show, and we had front row seats!  I was surprised at how MANY cast members there were.  There were 19 orphans, and in Daddy Warbucks house, there were about 30-40 staff members serving and dancing.  It was impressive, incredibly well-choreographed, and the sets were amazing!  I have to say I was definitely impressed. : )

When we got there the man told us we were in the Splash Zone.  Instantly I'm thinking of the floor-mopping scene. : /  And another man came up and told him they ran out of umbrellas for the first two rows.  At this point, I was getting worried.  As we sat, we inspected the stage, and the full orchestra under the stage (with a big netted opening in the stage).  The stage didn't look that clean or wet from the night before, so I didn't know whether to believe them or not!  Turns out, no real water.  Ha-joke was on me. ; )  (thankfully!!)

Then we headed down the street, and had a little treat at The Cup (a must-visit in Springfield!) for a custom cupcake.  Three of us got the Peanut Butter Cup, and Angie got the Raspberry Beret.  They were beautiful and delish!  They were pretty big, so we had to use forks.  (and we were being lady-like!) heehee

I seriously wish I'd gotten pictures before we started eating!  They were so beautiful.  Alas, we were hungry!

Hooray for Girls' Day Out! ; )

We also got to visit Build-a-Bear to get Mary Claire a free shirt for her little bear, and Andalynn made a Marine bear for her daddy's birthday.  We had lots of help, and the girls had fun!  Even said the Pledge of Allegiance before they put his little red heart inside. ; )

We picked up our Girl Scout cookie order yesterday afternoon, so we've begun delivery!  The kids couldn't wait to get them home-we ate an entire box (yes, just the four of us!) as soon as we got home. ; )  It was the new lemon cookies, Savannah Smiles.  Yum.  Glad we bought lots of boxes!  Oh, and it was Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday, so we had to indulge.  (Confession: I had to indulge at Krispy Kreme last night as I drove our carpool group to Bunco-they were hot, and we needed a dozen!)  Thank goodness that sweet red light was on!! : )

And..today is Ash Wednesday.  Ches is still out of town, so I got up super-early and got all the kids ready to make Mass in Rogers by 8am!  It was totally a miracle we weren't late (especially with crazy morning traffic!).  It's not a Holy Day, but I asked the kids if they wanted to go, and they said yes.  They were pretty good-I was thankful since there was only one of me.

I've learned how absolutely hard it is to single-parent.  Yesterday Clay called, and he'd forgotten to take his medicine (since I forgot to give it to him!), and I was on my way to pick up Ethan at Mother's Day Out, so I couldn't rush over to the school.  It was stressful.  We made it, but whew-Long Day.

I'm also on my last two weeks of braces. Hooray!  ; )  On Monday, they made some changes, cut a wire, wired some teeth together, and added jaw-locking rubber bands (seriously-they go up and down on all brackets in the back all the way to the front, and then reach across my front teeth in a big X).  They are NOT fun.  I look like a crazy person and can't even lick my lips!  Oh, and talking is next to impossible.  (and Pain?  Won't even go there.  Let's just say I cried like a baby on Monday.)  I gave up yesterday morning, and took them out.  But last night, they were back in.  They are meant to give me a solid bite, since my back teeth barely touch.  I go back next Monday to check on things, and s-h-o-u-l-d get them out the next Monday.  I can't wait!  Never thought I'd have braces off and a baby within the same few weeks! ; )


Pray for the safety and health of all pregnant women, and for blessings as they choose Life! It's a long, hard wait for the joy at the end.  We are totally earning our Perseverence badge.  That's another one to sew on-I'm earning more lately. ; )
 

Card Tree

I finally figured out why it was taking me so long to write... ; )  I don't want to complain.  I have plenty I could whine and moan about..but I’m still thankful.  Of course, I'm still pregnant..and doing well. : )  Resting a lot more and growing!

And of course, I’ve been busy. ; ) Baby Carter’s room is finished!  I covered a lamp shade with the light blue toile, made a boppy cover with the white minky dot and the toile, added some art and pictures I got in Branson from P. Graham Dunn (love them-all Christian themed art!), and made a decoupaged C for his wall out of handwritten paper.  Ches also finished writing Carter’s prayer on his picture mat, and it is framed and hung.  We also ordered a new Baby Bjorn carrier for the summer (white and mesh, so it’s cooler!).  I’m SO happy to have things finished, so I feel ready for him..I even packed his diaper bag! ; )  Here are some updated pictures:

same-same, I think!

And..I’ve been making more valentine’s mailboxes!  I made some for friends, and finished the kids’.  I also found little buckets at Wal-Mart that were red with a big white heart on the front, so I put their names on them, and have finished their Valentine’s treasure hunt!  We did a treasure hunt last year for their little gifts (more emphasis on hunt, less on chocolate!), and I thought the end could be the buckets.  I put a few chocolates inside, and some rolled up gift certificates with bows-for their booty.  They are also getting some new books, and Mary Claire is getting money in her “Mom Bank” (she has a deposit book with all the money she’s earned!) for the Kindle she is still saving for, and I made her a new pump pouch.  Ethan is dying to have an SD Card with music for his Nintendo DS like his brother and sister, so I’ve got to put some music on it for him!

I used a font that looks like handwriting, so you can't tell their names are even in vinyl!

coupons : )

she really needed a new pump pouch! ; )

Lastly…we are getting ready for Mary Claire’s teacher’s birthday in a couple weeks.  ..and I made her a Card Tree!  (don’t laugh-I went back and forth trying to decide if it was cute, or just CrAzY!)  It is just a decoupaged tin pail with ribbon on the handle, and a big branch from my yard poked into some foam in the bottom.  (I did have to weight it with rocks to make sure it wouldn’t tip!)  I tied tiny clothespins all over the branches with different colored ribbons to hang note cards or gift cards for the teacher!  I used all Me & My Big Ideas papers on the sides with sweet little kid faces-so cute!  It’s so happy-looking, I can’t look at it and not smile. : )

The branch is pretty big!  But..it had to hold at least 24 clothespins! ; )

This is the bucket covered in paper, and the handle is all tied with ribbons. : )  She can always pull out the branch and foam, and just use the bucket.  Not everyone needs a big tree, heehee.

I covered the foam with the white shredded paper.  ..You can't look at those happy kids and be grumpy! ; )

Bed Resting (& Shopping)

I write to you from Bed.  My big, comfy bed.  Yes, yes, I almost always write from my bed.  I gave up computing from my desk about the same time I switched to a laptop. ; )

But.  The reason I'm in bed this sunny (cold) Saturday is some bedrest. : (  I  had some horrible pain (ripping/stabbing about two inches below my belly button) strike me this week, and again Thursday night.  By Friday morning after some (bad) Google-time, I called my doctor's office.  They told me to come right in.  I waited around for Ches to get home from Mass (in Rogers), but it was taking soooo long, so I left.

They checked my abdominal muscles for hernia (no), cervix (closed), my fetal fibronectin (tells if you will go into labor in the next 7 days, negative), my blood (just trace bacteria they are culturing now), temperature (normal), urine (normal), and an ultrasound.  It was also "normal".  Carter is moving, good heart rate, he's up to 2 lbs. 4 oz, and his placenta does not seem to have pulled away from my uterus (the concern).  It's hard to determine for sure, but there is no pooling liquid (blood) behind it, so it's most likely fine.  When I told the ultrasound tech where the pain was, she checked, and there are his knees, all bunched up against my tummy, right below my belly button.  Umm..I'm telling you-the pain was nowhere near kicking/pushing pain-it felt like something was ripping.  So..

The doctor asked if I worked (paid job?  No.  Work really hard at home?  Yes.), and said then she couldn't tell me to quit.  She just said to go home and rest, and to come back Monday for a recheck.  Hopefully no more big pain (none yet), and lots of Downtime. (i.e. internet maternity/baby shopping, Kindle shopping/reading, visiting your blogs, Girl Scout cookie tallies, movie rentals, getting stuff ready to turn in for taxes..)  I know it's only been a day, but I think I could do it.  Even if it's lifted, I think I'll take it easy for the next few weeks.  All in the name of Healthy Baby. : )

So..shopping..I have now found a Beaba baby food maker that I must have (plus its accoutrements and recipe books).  I made all Clay's baby food (purees), and some of Mary Claire's.  Poor Ethan got boxed rice cereal and jar food.  I feel bad, so this baby shall get homemade food. (and Clay is such an amazing eater now!)  I just have to have all the cutesy stuff (I know, I did it with no tools last time..but the Beaba blends, steams, purees, defrosts all in one little unit.)  Magical. ; )

And I found the cutest little paci thing last week, a Wubbanub, and had to order it.  It was smaller than I thought it'd be-about the size of a small beanie baby (remember those?):

Ok, and please reassure me it is not a girl paci.  Ches promised it didn't look girly.

The pacifiers are the ones given out in the hospital, made by Avent (my fave), and now, they have these adorable little creatures sewn onto them, to help baby hold on to them!  We picked the lamb, so it wouldn't interfere so much with his clothes. ; )  The giraffe was cute, but so busy visually!  All the pictures on Amazon.com are of the babies cuddling the animal, holding on to it.  I don't think we'll try it right away to avoid nipple confusion, but by a couple months, we'll try it out.  I do love a paci at church. ; )  The only weird thing about these Soothie pacifiers..is you can see into baby's mouth when they are sucking since the nipple is hollow/uncovered.  Weird.  I also bought some orthodontic Avent pacis just in case he is not loving the lamb on his chest. ; )

I also found a baby bathtub and a swing that we'll need.  We can find the stretchy insert for Ethan's baby tub, but can't find the actual tub it fits into!  And..our swing (and our other baby gear for that matter!) had been loaned out so many times, it has really taken a beating.  Not to mention, that most of it is 11.5 years old.  (No, we won't discuss the fact that I'll have kids at Hunt Elementary for 17 years..we'll all be best friends!)  Anyway, the pack-n-play is still going strong, and our good baby furniture was a great investment.  And all those tiny onesies and baby Keds?  Still white and pretty perfect. ; )

Ok, obviously I have time on my side today..I'd better finish up all the linking (heehee, sorry!), and maybe finish one of my new books?

What will rot your teeth the fastest?

Ethan has been totally into Valentine's Day this year.  He's already made all of his valentines for his Mother's Day Out class, two for friends, and four for kids he could remember from his preschool (I'm sure they are his best friends..they are boys!).  He even wrote all the names (To and From!), put the little sticker into the tabs, and stickered the edges to hold them together.  Totally impressive.  I had to help him with some letters, but I can remember making Valentines with Mary Claire her last preschool year..and she would get all frustrated and worn out after two.  It took us a couple weeks (which is why we started so early!)

Mary Claire is also finished.  She remembered her entire class list (in abc order, since they have numbers, and she knows everyone's numbers!).  She is number 15, and she remembered forward and backward from her.  She chose Secret Spy valentines this year, but since some said, "Secret Mall Spy" and "Cute Spy", she wouldn't give them to boys (for fear they might think she thinks they are cute!).  So, she raided my valentine tub and found previous years valentines cards for them (SpiderMan, dinosaurs, jungle animals, etc.) that didn't say anything close to "I like you" (in the I like you way).

And Clay?  He hasn't touched his yet.  And after prompted, has better things to do.  When the list comes home, hopefully he'll have some motivation.  We heard (through MC of course) that he likes a girl, but he absolutely denied it to me.  We don't have boy- or girlfriends in our house (till college!), so maybe that's his reason.  That or he's at that age and doesn't want to tell us.  Or could be both. ; )

We also have been making valentines for Mary Claire's girl scout troop for their yearly exchange.  Mary Claire got her American Girl magazine and found the cutest valentine instructions: Funny Fortunes!  They are fortune cookies made out of felt, and you can print the fortunes you like from the AG website, cut, and fold. (click here, then click on Funny Fortunes)  So adorable!

We had to fold up the fortunes, since they printed pretty big, and the fortune cookie felt circles are only about 3.5" around.  Warning: they are super silly, so you can always make your own with jokes or something. ; )

We have also started Clay's science fair project.  He is testing which drinks will rot your teeth the fastest.  Yum.  He has four molars (yes, the Tooth Fairy helped us out!), and they are hanging from fishing line into four drinks he chose: water, milk, lemonade, and Coke.  His theory is that the Coke will rot the tooth the fastest, followed by the lemonade (due to the lemon and acidity).  I did a very close experiment in grade school, and the tooth literally dissolved in about a week in Coke.  We'll see how his does.  I don't let him eat lemons (yes, he would e-a-t them if he could!), so maybe this will prove how fast they eat through the enamel!  (I wonder if Coke from the 1970's is as strong as Coke today...)

Sweet little baby molars..two Mary Claire has lost just in the past week!  (but..we didn't tell her that she donated her teeth to science.)

And what is MC doing with all that tooth fairy money?  She saving up!  She's decided she wants a Kindle (preferably a Fire, but that comes in at a nice $199!).  She now has a one of my little checkbook registers from the Bank of Mom, and is earning and saving.  She earned $25 for her grades, and is making money every day making lunches and cleaning.  She's up to $41.75 including tooth fairy deposits. ; )  The tooth fairy left her an encouraging note with deposit information for her.  We love when she saves for something meaningful rather than new Squinkies!


She still has Valentine's day, and Easter, and if she doesn't meet her goal..she wants us to help her out on her birthday. : )  And yes, I did tell her then she'll need money to buy ebooks!  ..I think it started right after Christmas when they had Electronics Day at school-and kids brought their new Kindle Fires (and iphones!).  (Can you imagine?)  Now she feels all sad she doesn't have one.  I think earning and saving are the best solution.


I just hope she doesn't pull any permanent teeth. ; )