Pics...

Just thought I would share some pics of the girls since I finally have a chance. (I'm currently attemptign to make homemade cinnamon rolls and am waiting on them to rise!) I made homemade bread yesterday for the first time and it was soooooo delish. I had to try this awesome tutorial for the cinnamon rolls! :)

Weddings, Hair Fires and Birthdays.........

I know poor E.baby deserves her own post, but she'll have to live w/ this! :) My little girl turned 1. I am so sad. She's growing so fast. I just love her more and more everyday. I still need to get her 1 yr. pics taken. Bad, bad mommy.

Emersyn feeding my mom

Getting the hang of it

There's ice cream, too???

Hmmm....who is the 1 year old?

2 days after Natali's fire incident and we STILL sit a candle in front of a 1 year old! LOL

wowzers

Eatting like a big girl

My big girl...so stylish

About a week before the wedding (details below), I had a candle lit, sitting on the table. Bad idea. Natali, who is always sooooo cautious, simply bent down to smell it. Needless to say, half of her bangs caught on fire. She screamed bloody murder. Steven and I looked up and were there in a flash. He beat her over the head until the flames went out. (Okay, so he didn't actually BEAT her over the head, he simply patted the fire out.) Thankfully, we were standing just a few feet away. If not, it would have easily burned her scalp. It stopped just millimeters from her scalp anyways. Another half a second and her head would have been charred. As it was, she made it out, w/ half of her bangs and a pretty nasty burn on her forehead, which has already scabbed over and pretty much disappeared. You can part her hair on the other side of her head and it's easily hidden. Here's the pictures:

The next day, getting ready for school.

Grandma brought ice cream over to make her feel better. It worked.

My best friend since Kindergarten got hitched this weekend, despite my pleas for her to do otherwise. I had the honor of being the Matron of Honor, while Natali was a rather, *ahem* eventful flowergirl. None the less, the pictures are adorable and we all made it out alive. Let's just say she was up all night the night before the wedding, and didn't stop puking until the day AFTER the wedding. Yeah, it was exciting. She was a trooper, though. She threw up just SECONDS after we got out of the chapel. Thankfully, she made it through the wedding, but we had a trash can hidden in case she needed to upchuck during the ceremony. Ugh....

...Busy Little Bee...

It seems like the time from Halloween until Valentine's Day are just CRAMMED full of events! I have been so busy lately. I'm ready to just sit down and not get up until SUMMER! LOL
This week, I've been getting things ready for my bff, Meghan's bridal shower and bachelorette party. Wed. is Emersyn's birthday, Thursday is Meg's shower, Friday is the bachelorette party, Saturday is E's birthday party. Then, I still have to do lots of wedding stuff for my darling procrastinating friend! She decided she wants me to MAKE a veil for her! (Which I have no clue how to do! LOL) And, she wants me to add ribbon to her ring bearer pillow and Natali's flower girl basket. So, when does she ask me to do ALL of this? Yesterday, yes, yesterday! And, on top of that...I have to hem my matron of honor dress before NEXT Saturday! LOL Sound busy??? It's cause I am!
So...out of all of the trillions of things to do today, I decide to sit down and make E. an outfit for her birthday. Poor girl, never gets any clothes made by her mama! Natali bearly wears any storebought clothes and E-baby wears nothing but! I did make her several outfits at first, but she outgrew them so fast, it made me mad! Now, the growing stuff is slowing down, so I think I'll start again. So I'm making a simple ribbon top w/ ruffle jeans. I love the fabric I'm using! I'll share pics when it's done. (Which may NEVER happen b/c my serger isn't cooperating! It's hard to NOT use a serger when it's just sitting there staring at you...laughing b/c it's outsmarting you...just taunting you...dang thing!!!)
So...what else happened this week? Hmmm...took the girls to the dentist today. Nothing too exciting. Emersyn's teeth don't have enamel on them...just like mine and Natali's. Great...:sigh: Oh...I took and passed my driver's test. WRitten and the driving part. SUcked. I hope I never have to do that again! I would explain the story, but I'm tired. Maybe tomorrow! ;) Oh...and last week, Steven and I decided to make our own laundry detergent. Well, we made our own dishwasher stuff a few months ago and it works good and saves money, so we wanted to give laundry soap a try. Well, we have been using for over a week and so far, so good. Everything smells great and is soft. We are trying to go green...and save money. Every little bit helps. And, it's actually kinda fun! ;) Everytime I do laundry, I think..."Hmmm...I just saved a quarter!" LOL
Well, I suppose I'd best get back to my sewing....Maybe I'll actually finish this outfit before her birthday!

What happens when you let my brothers babysit...

Kodak Moment...Darn it...

Yesterday, Emersyn pulled another one of her little toilet stunts. She has been playing in the toilet anytime someone leaves the door open. (She can lift the lid herself, but can't get in the door!) Well, of course, having a 4 yr. old sister is just perfect when you're trying to get into a closed bathroom. Natali just cannot remember to shut the darn door. Well, yesterday, Natali got my camera down and was letting Emersyn "take pictures of her modeling her new shoes" Lo and behold, the camera somehow *mysteriously* ended up in the crapper. Hmmm...no one knows how it got there either! We put it in the oven for awhile and currently it's hanging above our fireplace, hoping it will dry out!
Anyways, my cousin, who is 6 weeks younger than Natali is staying the night tonight. And, wouldn't ya guess it, they are playing dress up and having a fashion show. And, here I sit, w/ no darn camera. UGGGGH!

A Look Back at Christmas....

Well, I am FINALLY getting a chance to get on here and share some Christmas pics! I didn't have many from actual Christmas day, b/c we were so excited and enjoying the moment and I didn't snap many pics, but I have a few. We are so incredibly blessed. I cannot even begin to tell you all the things that we got that we didn't deserve. We have great friends and family, who showered us all with gifts, but we mostly have an awesome Savior, who is the real reason for the season. Okay, so on w/ some pictures....

The girls after opening presents...I made them matching pajama's but Natali spilled something on her shirt RIGHT before bed. LOL

Can you tell we aren't morning people???

Emersyn...hiding behind the TV door...she carried the outfit around for about an hour! LOL

Natali, using the stockings as puppets...

Carrying that darn outfit again...LOL
Natali ended up getting A TON, and I mean, A TON of stuff! Of course, we buy the absolute minimum b/c we know that BOTH of the Grandma's in our family go completely NUTSO over Christmas, buying waaaay too much. Luckily, Emersyn was still a bit young for TOO many gifts this year, but I'm sure next year will be a different story.
Steven ended up getting a lot of nice dress clothes, some dress pants (I think they're called slacks or something...don't ask this country girl!) and some new dress shoes. He got a lot of other stuff, including money to spend on his fish tank.
I got lots of decorations (YEAH!), the automatic sweeper I wanted, a new pillow (I needed it, bad! Been hinting to Steven and he actually picked up on it!), and a few necklaces. Oh, and I almost forgot...my brother got me some sewing lessons. I told him that I need them, since I am a self taught seamstress. I bet there are all kinds of tips/tricks that I am completely clueless about, so I think it'll be a blast. Steven says I am gonna teach the teacher a thing or 2. LOL
Emerysn ended up w/ a few toys and a few outfits. Nothing too extravagant. The boxes were the most exciting part for her! :)
And Ms. Natali...well, it's safe to say that she made out like a bandit. I mean, that girl ALONE had over 3 trash bags FULL, I mean FULLLLLL, of stuff from both Grandparent's houses! I think it's a bit ridiculous and we've asked both grandma's to cut back, but do they? Of course not. So, she made out w/ TONS of new clothes, toys, a few new V-Smile games, a HUGE gumball machine, a new CD player, some Hermit crabs (thanks a lot, mom!), and this...

Her name is Cheese Dip...

Which is fitting since our other dogs were named Nacho and Taco...


She is super duper good w/ the girls...

And, she's a man's best friend...

Merry Christmas to all....

Okay....so now I guess I will show you some of the Christmas gifts that I made this year. I made MANY MANY more, but just happened to snap a few pics of these random ones!

Here is the record bowl that I made my sister. She LOVES Michael Jackson, so I used one of his old records. (Yep, you read that right...she actually LIKES MJ!!! Don't ask me...she's a goofball!)

I made ALL of the kiddies in Natali's class crayon rolls. They were a huge hit. I actually just made them out of felt and it was SO much easier! No measuring and such. I just but the sheets of felt into thirds and then used a different color to make the pocket. Nothing fancy, but the kids loved them. (As did the teachers!)

And, some MORE crayon rolls for a trade I did w/ a mama on Diaperswappers...

Then, I did these matching pillows for a mama, also on Diaperswappers...

And, this name pillow for a brand new baby girl....

And, we made these clipboards for Natali's teachers. I wish I would've gotten a better picture. These were my first and they turned out REALLY cute, but I think next time I do them, they'll be even cuter! :)

Well, as you can tell, we had an abundance of blessing on Christmas, as we do everyday! I just hope that you and yours had a great Christmas too.
And, this will be my last post of 2008! Be careful, safe and courteous. We are staying in where it's safe and warm and playing board games w/ some friends and family! Don't forget, my birthday is only a few days away! ;)

Four More Daaaaaays....

Wow...Christmas is a'comin! I am SO darn excited. I can't wait. I am COMPLETELY done w/ my shopping and even have all of my gifts wrapped. :)

I ended up buying Steven some dress clothes. Like, really dressy, compared to the rest of his hillbilly get'up. My BFF, Meghan is getting married in January and me and the girls are in teh wedding, so we'll be REALLY dressed up and I wanted Steven to be dressed up, too. Maybe this will be the perfect time for us to get some family pics! I bought him some pants, dress shirt, and a tie and my mom is buying him dress shoes. SHHHH...don't tell him!

Natali is getting some Webkinz (she's an addict!), a few clothes, and this book:

I loved it as a child and I know she will, too!

Emersyn is getting some cloth blocks that I got for a STEAL of a deal from a lady on Diaperswappers. That's about all she's getting. She will never even know, though! ;)

So, what do I want, you ask? Well, Steven has asked me several times and I have a list of little things I want. But, when I started naming them, I sounded like a complete moron. Here's kinda how I sounded:

"Let's see...I've been wanting one of those handy sweeper things that you don't have to use a dustpan w/. And, I saw this really cool vacuum on TV the other day. Oh...and I've really been needing a whisk lately. Hmmm...how about some new washcloths? Oh, oh oh....I really want one of those Scrubbing Bubbles Shower cleaner thingys...."

Awww...the life of a mom. Everything I want makes sense to ME b/c I know it will make my life simpler, but to others, I sound completely dumb. ;) But, I'm still crossing my fingers for the sweeping thingy-ma-bobber!