Busy busy

I know I've been slack on my blogging, at least, that's what the hubby keeps reminding me!
But I've been super busy, in that good kind of way.
So I thought, why not blog while I'm waiting on my little boy to come out of his tonsil surgery.
Details of this day will be saved for another time, but I would like to share the few pictures that I've taken in the last few weeks.

First off, I wonder what I was thinking to try to pioneer during a month that my son is off from school for two weeks, with field trips, special shows at school, oh and throw in a few sicknesses and other obligations into the mix.  It hasn't made my month too effortless but it has been pretty fun and crazy, all definitely worth it of course!!

The first week in the month, Ethylwolfe came down with a really high fever and then strep throat, then I thought I had strep, so that took out one whole week.

Week two, E was off to school and KennaKat and I ventured to the library to spend time with our friends.  For lunch, our friend had a groupon to Mad Hatters, so that decided where we would venture to that time.  Even though the adult lunches aren't the cheapest, I did want to tell you about the kids meals...

For $4, your kid gets a few options to choose from, along with a cookie or a design your own cupcake, and a drink...not a lot of places offer so much for $4 so I would recommend it.

The finished result...I am to blame for this mess of yumminess...
KennaKat put a delicate little butterfly on top but it had so little icing I told her to squeeze as much  as she could  and then dump the sprinkles on :)

Little Miss got the cookie and she loved it.

On Wednesday, E's class invited the parents in to share their projects with them.  They each presented their projects.  As I mentioned earlier E chose to do grass...

KennaKat and I in service before heading to E's project share.

waiting for his turn to share

Telling everyone about grass

KennaKat always makes herself at home in E's class with her favorite toys that the teachers keeps  for her

Sharing his journal with daddy

After school, we met our buddies for snowballs!

They were just a little happy to see each other :)

The next day E's class went on a field trip and I signed up to drive.

Fortunately the museum was only about 5 miles away from the school because I had a car loaded with 4 gabby, excited boys :)

The only part of the museum that I was allowed to take pictures of.
They were building mobiles and learning about balance.

After dropping the boys back off at school, I picked up KennaKat who was right down the road with her friends at Duke Gardens.  We ventured to Costco to pick up my new glasses and I was entertained by KennaKat trying on all the different glasses they have for kids.

Well, at least I know that if she ever needs glasses, she'll look adorable with them :)

As a last day of 3rd quarter gift and for doing so well with his reading and also for his coming surgery, I got E Sonic and Tails stuffed animals.  I really thought I took a picture of him with them but I guess I didn't. 

On his last day of school, the school decided to do a mini 5K for the 4th grade girls who were doing one the next day.  E ran over 2 miles in under 20 minutes on a very hot day! Woohoo!

We celebrated afterwards with snowballs...of course ;)

I forget which day it was, but we always get the randomest large trucks turning around in our driveway and this day we got a FIRETRUCK!!  The kids LOOOVE firetrucks so this was a special treat for them to observe during their 80-point-turn ;)

The next week, the kids were troopers as they went out in service with me A LOT!

One day Twistyn joined us and I didn't get any pictures.

But this one lady that she found at home was really nice and told E that he should read to his cat.

So when we got home, E quickly grabbed a book and read for 30 minutes to Shakespeare.

I think E forgot that the reason Shakespeare is now an "outdoors cat" is because he's really allergic to him :(

hey look!  I cut E's hair...waaaay better right?? ;)

So even though it was really cute and Shakespeare looooved it, my poor boy was sniffing and sneezing for the rest of the day :(

Nani also joined us for a day in service and I didn't catch that on camera either.

Then Papa and Guncle Paycake came over to go fishing at the river with the hubster.  So Ethylwolfe joined them on that adventure while I took KennaKat to get her hair trimmed...

I was really hoping for another cute cut but she just kept saying "I don't want to get my hair cut, I want it long" that I finally said Fine!  just trim it!  So little was trimmed off that you can't even tell it was cut at all.

So that's all the pictures I've got.  Even though our life has been way more eventful, that's all I'm sharing for today :)

E's surgery went well and we're home now, but more on that later...

Wow

Did that crazy loud storm wake anybody else up super early this morning???

A little before 5am I shot out of the bed, startled awake by the pounding of thunder, the bright lights of lightening, and the pouring of rain.  Our house was shaking and the storm outside was raging!  Pretty insane.
The first thought was to tell my husband not to go to work today.
As my call out returned unanswered, I realized he was already gone.
I sent him a message to make sure he was alright.
As it turns out, he made it to work before the storm even started.

The excitement and the noise was enough to keep me awake, so I stared out the window and enjoyed the show.
As the storm subsided and the day began, I enjoyed the magnificent sunrise that looked like the sky was on fire.  As the sun rose and the colors became even more vibrant, it woke up the nature around me.  Every tree and plant that was behind in the blooming of spring broke out of it's shell and the day was filled with the beauty of the sky and the nature around it.  Greens, pinks, purples, reds, yellows, and oranges shooting out from every direction.  Refreshed by the shower of rain and awakened by the sun.

Take a deep breath everyone.
Spring is Here!

A Beautiful Day!

Can you BELIEVE the weather forecast for the week?!?!  I got super excited when I checked this morning.

Today was a pretty great day and can you believe I didn't get to capture a single moment on camera :(

Bummer!

The worst part is, did I tell you that the F.H. {Fantastic Hubster} fixed my camera {AGAIN!!}  KennaKat-0 Camera/Hubby -2!, well he's awesome like that I and I don't even know how he did it, but he did and it works and I didn't capture any of our day.  Why not?  Well, I misplaced it...on the couch.  But I wasn't home all day so that's part of the excuse.

So it started out by spending the morning in E's class.  The library was closed.  And the teacher purposefully didn't tell me so that I would come in and help out at project time.  Heck yes!  I LOVE projects!!  Her special assignment for me was to help 2 kids who were in a group together and have both missed like all the project work days for being sick.  Oh and did I mention that my son is one of those kids.  He has probably missed more days of school this year than last due to stupid sicknesses...like freak fevers, phlegm {isn't spelling that word hilarious?!} phlegm that makes you gag and puke every time you go to school, and quarantine time with strep.  I'm pretty sure he has missed his quota for the year, if not 2.  I can't believe how much he gets sick.  I used to win the award for not missing a day and here he is, missing at least one a week all quarter and more from previous ones.

Ok, getting a little off topic there.... So today was the last day for project work and these 2 had nothing.  They chose grass to monitor changes over the past few weeks.  GRASS...  So they planted the seeds in a pot of soil, and watered. And waited. And watered.  And waited.  Still no change.  And their poster board that's supposed to show a graph of change had nothing except a cute  picture drawn by my boy with clouds, rain, and the sun.  And NO CHANGE written A Lot :)  haha.  So, I huddled the kiddos and we discussed the changes in grass that we knew about, the stages from fresh sprout to dried dead grass, then we ventured out doors.  With tray in hand we trekked to the big field looking for every stage of grass.  The kids were adorable hunting down the perfect blades and KennaKat supplied me with a beautiful bouquet of wild flowers.  With samples in tray, we headed back inside and started our graphs.  We even plopped each sample on top of those grass seeds that would not grow and now we have a poster graph and a real life plant graph from seed to death.  It was awesome.   They completed in 45 minutes what others spent weeks on...good thing they chose grass. haha.  grass, he picks the weirdest things to do projects on.

Oh side note, I'm super excited to share with him the article in the April Awake about Platypus's because he's in love with Perry the Platypus.  He's gonna think it's awesome!!

We hung out for the rest of the morning assisting with creative writing and then left when recess began.  At this point, I was planning on heading home, tackling my messy house, and making lunch.  But KennaKat was pretty bummed about not getting to play outside so we headed to the park on this beautiful day.  First stopping at Breuggers Bagels supplying our picnic needs for the park.  It was so lovely and she had such a great time we were there for 2 hours.  I even got a little color. a little.

We headed home for a few minutes, I prepared pot roast, then we rushed to Whole Foods before picking up Ethylwolfe and another friend from the hall, from school.  Dropped the kids off and headed to my Chiro appointment.  Things are feeling pretty darn good in that regard.  It's awesome not being in constant pain all the time.  Granted, I'm still in pain every day, but it's so minor from what it was.  It used to be so painful it'd bring me to tears, cries of pain, it hurt to sit, it hurt to walk.  Now the biggest pain is getting my neck to bend the right way.  It's really sore from all the change, and wearing even the lightest necklace is torture.  

Came home from the Chiro to find the G-Parents had come for a visit.  {kinda kicking myself for staying at the park so long and not cleaning the house earlier..darn it!}  They watched the kids ride their bikes around, played whist, and joined us for dinner, good thing I cooked a lot of pot roast :)  {Accidentally spilled WAY too much seasoning into the broth and everything was a bit well seasoned...everyone drank milk with dinner...ooops!! :-o

After the G-Pa & Ma left, the kids got ready for bed and we enjoyed a nice reading/cuddle session.  So it turned out to be a lovely/busy day.  Too bad I didn't get any pictures, it would have been great.  Ah well, I'll be sure to plant the camera in my purse for tomorrow.  Now I'm beat and a lot of that has to do with the fact that I went to bed at 3am and woke up at 7am.  And ran around all day.  NOT doing that again tonight.

So I will say farewell dear friends.  Good night, Sleep tight, until we meet again!

Guess what's open?!!!!

En Route to the Hall today we passed a long line in front of Pelicans.  "They are OPEN!" I shouted.  Followed many hoots and hollers from the kiddos, and a groan from the hubby.  We promised we'd stop by after the meeting, even though the line was quite long.

Oh how happy I am that they are open again.  Every day from November 1st to yesterday, at least one, if not both of my kids have asked me "Is snowballs open yet?  Why not?  When is Spring?  Is Spring here yet?  Why not."  So much so that I kind of hated that we pass that place nearly every day of our lives.  They actually opened yesterday at noon, spur of the moment, and we passed by only an hour before in service and had no clue, and we even had a conversation about it with the friends in the car.  So we are thrilled to have pelican's open again.  We enjoyed rootbeer float, pina colada, strawberry/blueberry, cake/cotton candy...The first of many for the next 6 months I'm sure.  Since we already have our tshirts, we wont be on so much of a mission to try them all and have so many {Tell that to the kids!}

New Flowers in the Shop

I've been pretty lazy about uploading stuff into the shop.

This afternoon, I finally got to work, here ya go :)

http://www.etsy.com/listing/92053337/4-inch-mulberry-100-merino-wool-hand

http://www.etsy.com/listing/91583703/4-inch-handmade-and-sewn-100-wool-shrimp

http://www.etsy.com/listing/92052805/4-inch-sea-green-dahlia-flower-brooch

Splinter Removal

It's common knowledge around here that mommy is the go-to gal for splinter removal...OK, lets get real, kids go to mommy for everything involving anything in need of removal...  Splinters are a common sighting around these parts, on a weekly if not daily basis, somebody has a splinter in need of removal.  Splinter removal used to be a major pain in my rear...the whining for the first 30 minutes before the actual removal, while you try to talk them into accepting that everything will be ok and no they weren't going to be stuck with the needle or the tweezers, the holding down, the crying.  I'm a general expert at all things splinter removal but for some reason, there was always the drama, and the coercing and the consoling, "Everything will be OK, I promise!"  But you know, I remember getting splinters as a kid and it stunk, I completely can relate to how they feel.  I'd rather keep the splinter than endure the removal process.

So, up until a year or 2 ago, that is how it went.  Until I stumbled upon something awesome.  A while back, I purchased this whole mani/pedi awesome kit from Costco that came with tons of cool things to get those puppies into shape.  So one day, I was called on to remove a splinter and after tearing the house apart looking for my tweezers but to no avail, I stumbled upon this thingy:

For those who have no clue, this is a Cuticle Nipper.  I was in a pinch, so I persuaded E to trust in me and give it a chance.  This baby worked like a dream!  It is the best Splinter remover EVER!!!  It is now my only tool for splinter removal that I use.  It's quick, painless, and wonderful.  The clamp part is sharp, and it's pointy and it effortlessly pulls away any kind of splinter...the huge ones, the tiny ones, the ones that seem to have no entry point.  it's awesome.  Splinter removal is now a 10 second tear-less process, and this mommy is happy!

As I was removing 2 splinters from KennaKat's hand this evening, I decided that it would be awesome of me to share my secret.  These guys can be picked up for $2 and it's your best investment EVER!!

So go ahead, try it!  You'll wonder how you ever got along without it before.  And if not too many splinters come your way, well, it works wonders on those cuticles ;)

Tonsils

This is a picture of my sons large tonsils on a normal day.

Huge right?

Sunday night while he's cuddling with me on the couch suffering through his aches and fever, the thought of maybe a strep throat ran through my mind.  Imagine my surprise when upon inspection, those large tonsils of his were so swollen they touched!  Pour guy!  A definite sign of strep throat, I set up an appointment with the Dr on Monday.

The strep culture came back positive, obviously.

During the exam, I questioned the Dr about my sons aloofness at school, and from a few questions, we deduced that because of those large tonsils, he has sleep apnea.  Thus causing the sleepiness and aloofness at school, and the headaches that he has been complaining about.  He set up an appointment for a trip to the Otolaryngologist {imagine saying that all day}, which we did today after school.  He completely confirmed my suspicions that I started having 2 years ago, that my sons tonsils are way too large and in need of removal!

The surgery has been scheduled for the end of the month, during his Spring Break...not the best way to spend vacation time, but it's better than missing more school.

He is none too thrilled about having his tonsils taken away, even though he doesn't really know what that means YET.

New Colors in the shop!!

18 Beautiful shades of Wool Felt arrived in my mailbox yesterday!

4 were replenishment so we have 14 new shades to add to our collection.

Making it a total of 38 beautiful colors in the shop!

Mulberry, Soft Plum, Purple, Navy Blue, Aquamarine, Sprout, Black,
Magenta, Red, White, Ecru, Light Yellow, Light Peach, Bright Pink

I am in love with my growing collection of  Beautiful colors!

I can't wait to get to work on some fun new flowers.

{I'm especially in love with Mulberry and Light Peach!}

Now time for more thread shopping.

Learning Stitches

I am not the person who grew up with learning skills like sewing at an early age...though I always wished I had. I have always wanted to know how to sew and knit and crochet, to make useful things with my own hands.  When we were young girls, my grandmother gave my sister and I each a lesson in something useful.  She taught my sister how to sew and me how to cook.  Even though I was proud to make my own chocolate chip cookies at age 5 and cook my own mashed potatoes at 5 am nearly burning the house down, I was a bit jealous that I didn't know how to sew.  And to this day, I still don't know how, and my sister makes her own clothing line.  Jealous much?  Yep, I am, a wee bit.  Till this day, I still don't know how to sew and she, well, doesn't boil water. haha.

I did complete my first knitted scarf last month, and I am quite proud that it resembles a long rectangle and not some abstract wavy shape.  Plus, my handsewn flowers have been turning out great.  So, with renewed courage in myself that I can work with string {and not end up in a tangled mess}, I've been eager to stitch something for a while now.  If you look at my bookmarks on my computer, you'll notice that I have several tabs devoted to different types of stitches for sewing and embroidery.

Yesterday, after perusing the net for longer than I am willing to admit, looking for the perfect doll for KennaKat,  I decided to make her a doll out of all that felt that I've got sitting around. {And save beaucoups of moulah in the process}.  I'm kind of obsessed with Matryoshka dolls, and I thought that it would be pretty simple to handle for a beginner me, so after everyone was in bed last night, I got to work.

It took way longer than expected, because I think I'm the slowest sewer ever.  But I'm proud of how she turned out.  And KennaKat LOVES her new gift.  She's been snuggling with her and keeping her next to her the whole hour and a half that she's had her.  She said she loves it and loves how squishy she is.  She also said that she's perfect for sleeping with AND playing with.  My how I love that girls enthusiasm :)

I know I used the most basic stitch ever, and this is the stitch they have you do when you buy the kids 'make your own animal set', but hey, I'm a beginner sewer here, and it worked like a dream, I didn't even have to buy the kit ;)  It's called the blanket stitch, {plus a bit of BackStitching for the facial features in a free handed design} and if you're looking to begin sewing and make something simple, I definitely recommend it.  Don't buy the kids kit, buy some felt and make your own designs.  It's also a great way of turning your kids art into reality.  I plan on turning one of E's millions of sonic the hedgehog drawings into a sonic doll soon.  Just cut out the shape and use it as a template, easy-peasy.  I also plan on making an Owl pillow for KennaKat, I'm obsessed with owls just about as much as I am Matryoshkas.