everybody just keeps getting older

So we had a couple birthdays this past weekend and it just sort of shocks me how we all just keep getting older.  It seems like time is going by so slow, but then another year is past and before you know it, your in your 30's and wondering how that happened. 

My family's (immediate family including my siblings and nieces and nephews and parents) birthdays start in August and end February.  Then from March through July nothing.  So our string of birthdays is fixing to come to and end.

In 2013 Jack turned 2 in August. Abigail turned 8 in September, and Austin turned 6 in October. 

 I myself turned  30!

We are like legit grown-ups now!

This this past weekend my husband joined the 30 club.  I'm super excited about being in my 30's.  I just have this feeling it's going to be some of my best years.  Not that my 20's were bad, but it did consist of a lot of  pregnancy, newborns, lack of sleep, too much weight gain, job stress, financial stress, and most of that has passed now. 

My sweet little niece Audrie just turned two this weekend as well.  

We got her those little rubber boots she's wearing.  They light up and everything!

Love her!

Two of my handsome guys at the party.  The other was off playing!

As much as I enjoy celebrating birthdays, I'm sort of glad to have a break from them for a while.  

I'm still here

So I'm not sure what happened, but I haven't blogged since early October.  I don't know why, I just lost my motivation.  At one point maybe I told myself I was done with all this blogging business, but I don't really want to be.

So much has happened since my last post and I'm not even going to try and update you on everything.  I think I'd rather just say...

Happy Halloween!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!

and now start fresh from this point in time.

My family and I are all happy healthy and busy as ever.

Here's to a new year and some new adventures!

Chore Charts and a trip to the Circus!!!!

Way back in May I bought these PDF chore charts from this Etsy store.

The plan had been to start during the summer, but then we had the whole move out of our house and into my parents house and then move into our new house thing, so it got slightly postponed.  

We are just starting this week. 

please ignore the nasty dirty smudge on our fridge, trying to keep it real here on my blog

Every time they complete a chore they put a sticker next to it for that day.  At the end of the week they will get ten cents for every sticker.  

I know that doesn't sound like much, but we ain't made of money!! 

We went to the Circus on Sunday.  All three of the kids loved it and had a great time and were so well behaved.  I think this will definitely become a yearly thing. 

Luckily our neighbors gave us two free adult tickets, which saved us 30 bucks, and the kids get in free.  Otherwise we would have had to take out a small loan for food and extra fun stuff.  

The big kids got a snack right when we got there.

Abigail: snow cone $4.00

Austin: Popcorn $3.00

All of us to share: Two bottles of water $2.00

Jackson shared with them.

During intermission they each got another snack and Abigail got her face painted.

Abigail: Pickle $2.00

Austin: Nachos $5.00

Abigail: face paint $5.00

The grand total being: $21.00!  

I guess that's not too bad, considering there were 5 of us total.  

Lessons learned for next year...

1.  Check the tickets and make sure you are going to the right place.  Yep, we just assumed it was at a certain place and it wasn't.

2.  Sneak in some snacks and drinks.  We will probably still let them get one circus snack, but not two.

3. During Intermission get down and get in line quickly for elephant/pony rides, face painting, or balloons because the lines were crazy long.

4. Nobody is getting a snow cone.  Abigail dropped her spoon like 15 times.  They are just too hard to eat!

5.  Bring Nana and Papa and maybe they will pay for some, LOL just kidding!! 

The motorcycles at the end were the best part, but Jackson didn't like them very much.  I think they were too loud and intense for him.  He hid his face almost he whole time!

I'm so glad we decided to go.  I'm ready to start doing more fun stuff like this as our kids are getting older and can handle it!!

  Can't wait until next year!!

still sewing

Here are few things I've been working.  I had absolutely no plans to sell anything when I started sewing, but after posting my pictures on Facebook, I've got a few orders.  I'm super pumped to make a little extra Christmas money!!

I might have gone a little crazy in Hobby Lobby and Hancock Fabric!!!

I really like sewing so much more than I thought I would.  I have so many different tutorials and patterns pinned on pinterest that I want to try!!!

Randomness again

I haven't posted a randomness post in forever, so here ya go!

1. I bought some new bedding for our bed.  I love the colors!  We've never really had a nicely coordinated bed set before.  I found all of this at Target.  I'm keeping my eyes open for a yellow bed skirt because I think it could use a little more color on the bottom. 

Brent is planning on making us a head board.  I think it will be pretty cool.  It's going to have a rustic barn door feel to it. It will look a lot better once we add that.

We've never had throw pillows on our bed before, so it's been a bit of an adjustment for us to make the bed.  I think we'll survive it though.

 2. This is a hanging deal that my mom and dad made for me for Christmas last year.  We had a crafty Christmas where we all made gifts instead of buying.  It was fun, but stressful at the same time. I've decided to use mine for my necklaces.  It could be used for a coat rack too, but I like it for my jewelry. 

3.  Jack had a minor surgery to put tubes in his ears last week.  It was so incredibly fast from the time they took him back, to the time they brought him back to the room was probably less than half an hour.  He was really scared and disoriented afterwards and just cried and screamed pretty much until we left.  I think he just wanted to leave.  

As soon as we got home he was pretty much back to his normal self.  You would never know he ever had surgery.  He was even playing outside with Ellie.

4.  I've got all my Halloween decorations out already.  I love decorating my new house.  I've picked up a few new things.  I'll have to take some pics and show you what I've got.

5.  If you read my previous post then you know I've started sewing.  I'm really into it right now and I hope it's not something that I do for a while and then lose interest.  I would really like to get good at it.  Here's an apron I made today.

Please ignore the bras hanging on the door. Lol

I'm sewing!! Yes, it's true!!

 I have always wanted a sewing machine and I've been dying to learn, but at the same time I knew it would take time and energy to learn and I didn't know if I wanted to add that to the many balls I juggle on a daily basis.  

The decision was taken out of my hands when my parents got me a sewing machine for Christmas.  So I didn't have a choice then, I had to learn.  Don't get me wrong I wanted to learn, but it's been hard for me to find the time, or drive to figure it out.  

After 9 months of the machine sitting there and never being turned on, our Pastor's wife decided to start a sewing/fellowship time every Wednesday morning.  It's just been a handful of stay at home moms coming and learning to sew while our kids run around or get in our way.  

It's really been a fun time to get to know other ladies and learn to use my machine at the same time.  I'm absolutely loving it.  I feel so good after creating something.  I just think it's crazy that I can turn a bunch of fabric into something cute and useful. 

We've only met twice.  The first time I just learned how to thread my machine and practice some straight stitches.  

  

During our second meeting I made this little bag.  It's nothing fancy and it will probably fall apart pretty quickly, but I felt pretty good about myself afterwards. 

Last night I made Jack this little pillow case.  He's been needing a new one and I already had some fabric so I just went for it.  I didn't have a pattern or anything.  I just winged it and it came out pretty good.  I was happy with it.  If you look too close, you will see some crooked stitches an some seems that don't line up perfectly, but I'm just a beginner.  I'm trying not to be to hard on myself.  

My plan is to take baby steps. 

 I'm not trying to make a massive quilt any time soon, but maybe I'll get there someday. 

Puppy Love and Cheer Camp

We've been bonding with our new baby Ellie for almost a week now.  She's so easy going, especially with the kids.  She's going to be super spoiled in this family.  

Abigail went to a Saturday cheer clinic.  This is like her 3rd or 4th year to go now and she LOVES IT!!

This is just a little snippit of what they learned.