SB2K'11

Whew!  Can't believe I didn't get to post again last week!  I was a little under the weather and that "daytime" Theraflu.....yeah.  It's not.  Knocked me out.  In the middle of the day.  But all is well now!!

We started our Spring Break Friday!  The ride to the lake looked like this:

All the tummies were full of yummy chick-fil-a!  Of course, we HAD to make a stop for some bait.  Lots of fishing was to be done this weekend!

Robert decided to get "black salties" to fish with.  They were live fish and the kids LOVED playing with them. 

We made it to the lake and waited on the rest of the fam to get there!  We haven't been to the lake since Rhodes could really walk, and watching him walk around in his life jacket was hilarious!  Should be interesting this summer at the lake!  I'm sure it will only take once or twice of him teetering in the lake to figure out how to maneuver in that thing!

Robert and the kids spend a bunch of time fishing.  I'm sad to report that their efforts didn't produce much fish, but actually fishing with the "black salties" I'm pretty sure was fun enough.  Because it LOOKED like they had caught a fish! ;-)

Olivia did catch a carp.  Gross. 

There were LOTS of fun rides on the 4 wheeler.  We've discovered many paths and trails. 

We also pogoed a lot!  Yup!  Lacey and I jumped right up on that thing and went to town!

Rhodes watched in awe...of course.

Then we played a friendly basketball game.  :-)

And rode the go cart that we've had since we were little kids!  It still runs and it's so much fun!

You can see how much Rhodes LOVED it!

Then there was some skeet shooting!  I'm sad to say I didn't shoot this year! :-(

But Walton and Margaret were there (2 MONTHS TIL THE BIG DAY!) and Walton helped her out a little!

Mac annihilates every skeet.  Show off....just kidding.  He's just that good!

So that was just the first 24 hours!!!!

How was the start of YOUR spring break?!??

Socks Sew Cute!

 **  This tutorial shows you how to DO this particular project, and how NOT TO DO this particular project!


Recently Lillian has become quite particular about her socks.  The littlest things bother her toes and such.  It was getting to the point of meltdowns and refusal to wear shoes.

SO, I told her let's go to the store and find some socks that she likes.  BUT ONLY, if she lets me make them pretty! :-)

We found some socks that I think will hug her feet a little better, therefore fitting better!

They just don't make cute socks anymore!  And Lillian is definitely still at the age where lace and bows and frills are OK!  Plus, she likes them!

I dug into my craft stash and found a bunch of lace and eyelette. 

I then pinned some of the lace to the end of the sock (right side out). 

Then I went around sewing the lace to sock.

This was my first attempt and result.

I didn't LOVE it.  I wanted more ruffle from the lace.

So the second time around, I didn't pin the lace to the sock.  I went straight to the machine and began to sew around.  PULLING the elastic around the sock as I sewed. 

PULLING the sock as I sewed around gave the lace a much better "ruffled" look!  This was also done with the sock RIGHT SIDE OUT. 

On my third attempt, I decided to turn the sock inside out and do the same thing.  I pulled the sock as I sewed some lace on.  Then I tacked the raw edges together with one or two little stitches and a back stitch.

Then once turned right side out and folded down, it gave a double ruffled look!  I thought this one was SUPER CUTE!

And that's it!!  It's super easy and jazzes up those boring socks!


Also, please don't be lazy like me and leave light yellow thread in the machine and sew on white socks.  :-)

Happy Friday Happy Baby

I love Fridays and I love Happy Babies! 

I snapped these shots while I was shooting a quick, easy sewing tutorial!!  So YES, stay tuned!  It's super easy!

Rhodes is so smiley and chatty these days!  I love all the expressions he gives us!

Here are just a few!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Ours is going to be filled with baseball practice and hanging out around the house with the family!  I can't wait!

It Ain't Purdy, But It's Functional!

SOOOOO.....after a couple of weeks of looking around at thrift stores, consignment shops, and garage sales, and not really finding anything I love, I finally just decided to move out of the kitchen with the furniture I already had.

Really, I just couldn't bring myself to purchase anything.  


I do have a sort of vision for my little sunroom, but when it came down to it, I was ready to move in and start functioning in it. 


Here is the kitchen minus all the "clutter"....a.k.a. my desk. :-)

I dont' know if you can tell or not, but Robert and I really like things UNcluttered, and neat.  Regardless of how it looks asthetically.  :-)  We just want it to function for our family as efficientlly as possible!

Moving all my stuff out really opened up the kitchen and let us use all of our (mismatched) stuff without feeling cluttered and cramped.


I moved my desk in the sunroom and then added a table to the left for all the modems, routers, printers, speakers, and my huge calendar.  Now I actually have a little room on my desk to write! :-)


I also brought up a desk that was in the playroom for the kids.  We have had a hard time finding Olivia a place to sit down and do her homework where she can concentrate.  Doing it at the kitchen or dining room table always resulted in other little people joining her. 

I also hooked up their computer to the internet!  Now they can play all their little games that we've bookmarked on their own desk instead of mine! ;-)  Anyone have any suggestions for popup/ad blockers and a safe internet program?  It's PC so I pretty clueless! ;-)

I also went and got some new pencils, markers, crayons and paper for them to put in their new little desk!  I have challenged them to keep it as organized as they can, putting everything back in it's place when they're done!

We are also getting into the habit of closing the door every time you go in and out.  Another problem I was having is that Rhodes would climb up to my desk and click around.  NOT GOOD!

This is the view into the kitchen from the sunroom!  Loving that the kitchen is now 100% the kitchen with no other purpose!

Anyways, it's not pretty, but at least it's functional!  I still plan on shopping around for things like a tall lamp for next to me, a small area rug to cover the yucky carpet, and a small bookshelf to organize all my books.  And possibly a chair too!   We'll see, it's a pretty small room! 

I'm happy to have a new little spot to call my own!!

Apparently Not Indestructible

About 2 minutes after Olivia snapped these pictures of me and Rhodes, he thought it'd be a dandy idea to give his mother a scare and bust a lip and tooth.  Bust them so hard that the tooth LOOSENED!


I have to say, it's not easy to send me in to "fight or flight" mode.  The last time I remember feeling that kind of adrenaline go through my body was when Landon cut his head open and needed stitches.  I knew seeing a baby tooth hang out wasn't good.

I called the dentist and they told me to come in and check it out.  That meant loading up 4 feisty kids at 3:30 and all heading to see the doc.  They called us back and we ALL had to go back and sit in one of those tiny little rooms.  In those tiny little rooms are LOTS of little things that look really fun for kids to touch and play with.  But they are completely inappropriate for kids to touch and play with.

This is where SIT TIME comes in handy out in public.  I put Landon in the waiting chair, Lillian on the floor next to him, Rhodes in the dentist chair, and Olivia behind him in another chair.  I told them they were to sit there until I told them to get up.  Even Rhodes.  And I'm proud to say they did it!!!

Rhodes scowled at me every time I reminded him to sit still or sit down.  But he definitely knew what I meant and wasn't getting up.

I glad to say that Rhodes is going to be okay.  He definitely has a nice little split on his gum, but they said the tooth would grow back in.  Isn't it amazing how resilient kids are!?!??!

Now, let's hope and pray it's a while before I get another scare like that!!!!