The Winnings

Congratulations, Tricia! 

Hope you are enjoying your new sweet baby bows! 

My personal favorite is that purple flower. 

I ended up making one for my girls too, I loved it that much!

Family Lip Sync

Our ward (church congregation) hosted a fun lip sync party!

We rocked out to "Final Countdown" by Europe!

We LOVED getting decked out for the occasion: bright eye shadow, silver face sparkles, huge gold jewelry, crazy zebra shorts, huge puffy hair, lots of sequins and tons of hairspray! Gwen even had crimped hair! I scored on our attire from Goodwill. Eric's wig was almost as epic as his mop twirling skills. Our kids were so excited--- Gwen asked every day to practice our "rock out song" and even Caroline was "SO es-size-ick, mom!"

Only Emmett was less than enthused. He wasn't on stage with us, maybe that was the problem. He wanted in in the action! 

What I learned from this experience? I inherited a total lack of 'shame' on stage (thank you to my mom and dad who are both hams) and apparently, so did my children who suffered from NO stage fright whatsoever! I also learned that I'm married to a man who is comfortable with himself and not afraid to rock a crazy wig and tight white jacket! 

In other words... 

I'm part of a crazy family AND I LOVE IT!!!!

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!

I reached OVER 1000 followers, so there IS a winner! The winner for the Pinterest giveaway is... 

Tricia M!!!!

She has already been contacted about her lucky win. Once I've completed her handmade item, I'll post pics here. I'm excited to get to work on a personalized gift! 

Congratulations, Tricia! 

Thanks to EVERYONE who follows me! Wish I could make you ALL a gift! (but that would take way too much time...)

A Robot Birthday

Our Caroline turned four a week ago (which is crazy to me!). Just so happens that 4 is one of our big birthdays (4, 8, 12, 16) that gets a friends party. Caroline was ecstatic to have her first 'real' birthday party! I asked her what kind of party she wanted and her fast response was "ROBOTS!!!"... but I didn't want to get halfway through planning and have her change her mind to princesses, fairies, or dolphins, so I probed further. Her second response was, "ummmmm....SNAILS!!!" (and I started picturing snail impersonation games of slow motion...) so I said, "let's go with robots!" ;)

 She got to invite 4 friends since she was turning 4. My plan was to keep things as simple and budget-friendly as I possibly could. I made the invites in Word bc I didn't want to purchase custom ones. I used free images and fonts I found online and designed it to print 4 to a page so I only had to print 1 sheet of paper. I'm sure if you have better design programs and know-how you could make this way cuter, but it worked for us!

Guests were greeted with this DIY robot welcome sign (one arm broke off before I got a pic)

We played fun robot games--- no winners, just fun!--- like pin the button on the robot

our robot after he got 'buttoned' by all the guests multiple times

We also played a robot pickup game (un-pictured) with those toy robot arms (found them at Target) and various small balls we had around. 

The food spread was simple because I wasn't serving lunch and I figure the kids aren't going to eat THAT much anyway. I hate throwing away platefuls of food. I labeled the food with DIY labels (all in blue, so it used up the remnants of my printer ink. Perfect. Anyone else always use up the yellow first? What's up with that? :) We had nuts and bolts, gizmos, computer chips, bio-cyborg implants, and a robot refueling station. 

Caroline had to be coerced into giving me this meager smile. 

Good thing I caught that one, because all the other faces were blurry dancing pics. :)

Emmett got to try his first birthday cake... verdict was pure joy!

All our little robot friends also made their own costumes. I loved their various designs!

and funny tidbit: if you look closely at Caroline's robot dial plate, you'll see she drew a snail. So I guess she got a snail birthday too! :)

I made magnetic robots using pipe cleaners, milk jug lids, and various nuts/bolts for our friends to take home and also included a robot coloring page and some robot stickers. The tags say "thanks a bot"... hee hee, I amuse myself!

 Items that I purchased: plates, napkins, tablecloth, straws, balloons, green and blue wrapping paper, silver spray paint, nuts/bolts/screws/washers, orange cake mix, cream cheese for icing, peach rings, blue chocolate balls, chex mix, cheetos, tang, carrots/broccoli/cucumber, 3 sheets of scrapbook paper for the gears on the wall, robot stickers for treat bags, set of 10 headbands and 2 robot arm toys.

Items I already own, so it didn't cost but used up some supply: cardstock, printer ink, ribbon, pipe cleaners, foam hearts, star stickers, googly eyes, magnets (the free kind that come in the mail from businesses trying to solicit your patronage), milk jug lids, boxes, cans (from fruit and veggies), toilet and paper towel tubes, hot glue, silver duct tape, ziploc sandwich bags, and paper grocery bags.

Total: about $55

I'd say it was about as cheap as I could make it! 

These pics are from Wed night when we gave Caroline our family gifts. 

Can you believe I found this Melissa and Doug art easel free on the curb? The girls love it and it is still in great (not perfect, but it is for KIDS, so who cares?) condition!

She loved her gifts! In her own words, "I love today that is my birthday!"

Emmett was pretty stoked about the crackle-y wrapping paper

I love my little big girl Caroline! She's part monkey (gymnast) part barnacle (those hugs--- girl's got a grip, I tell ya!). Caroline we love your enthusiasm and affection, your generosity and sensitivity to others, and how willingly you GIVE to your sister without prompting. Love how much you adore Emmett, love your confidence (flips on the gymnastics bars unassisted? I'm astounded!), and love how much you enjoy eating (no coercion necessary to get you to down your dinner. meat and veggies and all!). LOVE your honesty (admitting your mistakes is a gift!) and LOVE how much you love talking about Jesus (every ray of sunshine that breaks through a cloud you declare to be Jesus). 

 Happy birthday stinker--- our family would truly not be the same without your vibrant energy to keep us on our toes. We love you!

A Handmade (by ME!) Giveaway!

Guess what? I've got nearly 1000 followers on Pinterest! Crazy, right? 

I've been brainstorming what to do to celebrate when I reach that milestone... and it just seems appropriate to do a thank you giveaway! 

When I reach 1000, I will use random.org to choose one of YOU to receive a handcrafted by me item *of my choosing! I'll enter all followers (exceeding 1000 is fine with me--- don't panic if you are follower #1001!) who follow by this Friday, April 17th (Or til I have 1000 followers, whichever one comes last). Not on Pinterest? Sorry, this is definitely a Pinterest giveaway. Wish it was Instagram? Sorry, I'm not an Instagram gal... yet...:) If you follow me on Pinterest already, never fear: you're already in the running. If you DON'T follow me, jump in folks! I will contact the winner personally to notify them of the win and get info for the prize!

*I plan to tailor the item to the winner individually, so please allow me some time to make it. Don't be checkin your mailbox for at least a couple of weeks!

7 months Lizard

By lizard, I mean 'lizard tongue'. Emmett's resting facial expression these days is reminiscent of a little lizard tasting the air. Cuteness!

At 7 months, Emmett is eating tons of solids (pretty much everything besides the most common allergens), rolling all over the place, occasionally experimenting with going up on hands and knees, and even beginning army crawling forward. So far he definitely prefers rolling as a means of transportation, but he is pretty eager to reach stuff he sees, so forward army crawl is quickly advancing in appeal.

The latest update is actually about 1 week AFTER his 7 months (I post after the fact. sometimes LONG after the fact! that is how I roll. :)-- he is sprouting his first 2 chompers on the bottom!
Favorite things: dry erase markers and box, paper and crinkly plastic (he is devastated when I have to take them away from him!), pulling strings on shirts and mommy's hair, his sisters, tickling, being tossed in the air, and having someone make silly 'doh doh doh doh doh' noises at him. In other words, why do we buy toys for kids? :)

Microscopic Milestones

Ever feel so great about a goal you've accomplished...
Only to realize later that compared to what you've STILL got to do, this was a minor accomplishment?

I reached a weight loss milestone Easter Sunday and was pretty stoked! Rewarded myself with a new shirt to wear and bragged to Eric so he could give me a big congratulatory high five and hug. I love how proud of me he is.

And then that night we video chatted with family... and when I caught a view of myself all the wind went out of my sails. The urge to share my 'accomplishment' with everyone fizzled. Because I don't LOOK like I reached I milestone. I don't LOOK like I've done diddly squat! And that is so extremely frustrating.

Eric reassured me that it is all mathematical equations. That when a sphere has lost half of its volume it has only decreased its radius by the tiniest percentage. (Yes, isn't my nerdy husband the cutest/sweetest thing? Who brings up math to comfort their wife? Oh, my man does. ha ha Love him!) Ugh. Thanks dear for helping me accept my current state... but you DO realize that only makes the future look even more daunting? Because by the same logic I've got a TON of work left to do before I see what I want to see in the mirror. So. Here's my pep talk to myself and any of you seeing only the long road ahead:

You've got this. Don't give up now. You're not alone. Be proud of what you've done! Gird up your loins because the next portion of the mountain climb is a steep slope... but remember the view at the top will be worth it!

And go ahead. Brag about your 'minor' milestones. :)