Oh Brother!

Elfing Funny

Because I'm a big copy cat. Thanks Lori! We got a big laugh out of this!

Our Pre-School

This is a page from our math book that we are working on. I decided at the beginning of the school year to do Z and Ca's math together. It's working out great. Ca, my 3 1/2 yr old, is doing this work with little or no help. When I first saw that this work was in our near future, I was concerned about him being able to catch on. But turns out, he's a little mathematician. Today, they counted money: combinations of dollars, dimes, and pennies. They need a little work on that, but I think pretty soon, they'll be doing that on their own, too. It's amazing what these little minds are soaking up. It's amazing how much we are getting done with a distracting little brother around.

For Sarah

No more boogies.

My Future Daughters

Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking. No, I don't know the sex of my baby, yet, but just in case, I've got my daughter-in-laws already picked out.  Their parents have already agreed to arranged marriages for our children. Remember my crazy weekend with 6 kids? This last weekend, I got to take their pictures.

Kora just turned 4, so I got some extra shots of just her

I love this one

 

So with 3 girls, ages 4, 2, & 1, it's was a challenge to get everyone looking at the camera. I don't know how people do it. Luckily, I'm a head-swapping photo-shopping master. Who's the fake? I'll never tell.  

Isn't my boys' future mother-in-law just gorgeous? 

Though getting everyone to look at me was hard, being a regular sweet family was simple. 

My friend just found out that she's pregnant, again. She was scared to tell her family, so to soften the blow, I made her a slideshow with all her sweet pictures, a sweet song, and a little surprise announcement at the end for her to email to them. It worked! Her mom was too impressed by their beautiful family to be upset about their lastest additon. Now, if only that last one will be a boy and mine a girl - life would be bliss - could keep them all in the family!

Operation Christmas Child

Our Church, for the last couple years, has been a part of Operation Christmas Child, a Christian Christmas gift project for children all over the world. Last year, we took part and donated a shoebox full of items for a child. We found out that the church had to redistribute some of the items in the boxes (some were huge boxes stuffed, and others weren't quite full). So this year, I decided to put my couponing to good use and donate a lot more.  Instead of filling up one box, I just gave the church my collection of deals and/or freebies to fill the boxes that aren't quite full. They have another Christmas backpack project that they are working on, too for the things that are more appropriate for American children. Anything else they are unable to use, they're going to give to Salvation Army. All of the things pictured below probably cost me a total of under $3. Most of it was free.

I didn't count exactly, but approximately . . .

• 6 tubes of toothpaste
• 15 toothbrushes
• crayons, markers, glitter glue, chalk, paint
• train kits
• 4 boxes of pads
• 3 bottles of mouthwash
• 10 rolls of floss
• 10 packages of bandaids
• raviolis

I was really excited about my donation. Not in a prideful way, but just excited that we were able to donate so much, more than we could have before I started couponing. Full price, I sure all that would have been well over $50. Now, I can use the money I would have for the shoeboxes for a different Christmas donation project. It's great to be able to be a blessing to so many, even when your budget's tight.

Cheese!

Lately, I've had several people ask me to take their pictures. Seeing how we have very little income, I, of course, accepted. It's the season for it, and I know a lot of photographers are booked up already. I love photography and of course, photoshop is my toy. I wish I understood photography better, though. I know I could read up on it and I have some, but I do better learning from experience or hands-on. If only I had relative who knew a lot about it who could teach me. ;) My dad. The funny thing about that is he's a landscape photographer. I think what I enjoy photographing (people) bores him and what he likes is a little boring to me. We both see God's handywork, but in different things. I'm sure he could give me some useful pointers though. Anyway, that's a whole different topic. So this was my last shoot.

 My friend used to be a hairdresser, so we're exchanging services for services.

 He's showing me his superhero moves

 

I have a few more shoots scheduled and even more people that have asked. I'm not looking to start a business (have plenty on my plate with 3.5 young kids, homeschooling, piano lessons, making cards, etc), but the extra income when it comes is nice. And I really do enjoy it.

Check it

I have gotten a couple of things done from my to-do list. Now only if I had written down the to-do list, I could have literally checked them off.

• Starting to get a plan for November for co-op - 1/2 check
• Zane's 5T winter clothes hung, 4T boxed - check - only 3 more sets of clothes to go
• Make new Christmas card templates - check. Here they are. I'm really happy with that first one. I saw one similar, loved the paper, and decided to make my own. It involved layering lots of other papers and lots of manipulating, but I loved the way it turned out. The leaves are mine, too: went outside, took a photo of a leaf, and with a little photoshop magic, whalah!
• Get cards up on my card blog - check. I've also decided to sell the cards as files, too, this year. The printed cards are so awesome - thick, high-quality, gorgeous, but they are a bit pricey. I thought some might just rather print their cards at HEB or somewhere. FMI: go here. There's about 8 more card templates to choose from. I also do custom cards.



front

inside spread

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So Apparently . . .

. . . Life still happens when you're throwing up 2 or 3 times a day for 2 or 3 weeks. I'm now doing much better, but feel like I have a monster of things to catch up on:

• Zane turned 5!
• Had a birthday party
• Ben's turned 18 and 19 mths
• Went to Arkansas for a week with family
• Drove to Arkansas with 2 little kids and an unhappy 19 mth old.
• Taken some photos of friends & their families
• Kids still trash house when you're vometing. They don't care if you're too sick to clean up.
• Fall has come. Winter is on the way. Time to swap out summer clothes.
• Almost time to pull out Christmas stuff.
• Took a little "vacation" from homeschooling, but am starting that up again.
• Our co-op's growing and needs plan for this month.
• Need to start making some Christmas card templates

Holy Cow! Can someone just stop time so I can catch up on everything? As I type the kids are making even more messes!

Dr's Report

I went back to the doctor Wednesday and got a good report. They can now tell that the thing is on the outside of the sac. Dr. thinks it's just a fibroid and will remove it when he delivers that baby. Yah! I had good at not to stressing it, but it's nice to know that now I really don't need to.

This is my doctor . . .

Henry Wrinkler - right? He was in town this week. I just thought that was funny. He can play my doctor in the movie they make about my life.

Picture of the baby from Wednesday (10 wks). Can you see the arms and feet?Picture from a magazine of a baby about the same age. Cool, eh?

Things You Don't Like to Hear

from your doctor (note: my doctor has been delivering babies since before I was born).

"I've thought I've seen everything."
"No idea what that is"
"If you're ok with your doctor being flabbergasted. . ."
"I'll give you a referal to a big hospital in Ft. Worth if you want. . ."

This was his reaction to my ultrasound. Not exactly reassuring, but not bad news, right? It pretty much negated my list of questions. He didn't seem too sure about the radiologist's blood clot theory. I'm going back in next week for another ultrasound to remeasure this mystery thing hanging out with the baby. If it's bigger, I go to a big hospital. (Can't they just send them a pic or something?) We're praying for it to shrink! So far it doesn't seem to be affecting the baby. He thinks that if anything would happen bad, it'd be in the 1st trimester. I'm really not stressing it (for the most part). All we can do is pray, and isn't that the best thing to do anyway?

Afternoon, Evening, Night, and Morning Sickness

I've been extremely sick with morning sickness. ALL DAY!! Who named it morning sickness? I pretty much sleep every chance I get so needless to say, house is trashed, kids are running wild, and I'm very behind on EVERYTHING. It's temporary, though. I'll survive.

I'm really doing great with staying in my budget this month. I think feeling sick is helping with that - don't feel like shopping.

I did get an odd report on an ultrasound. Apparently, I had implantation bleeding that formed a blood clot inside the yolk sac. Give yourself a minute to figure that one out. I'm translating it as a little of the lining of the uterus (what you shed every month when you're not pregnant) seeped into the egg and formed a clot. For now, it doesn't seem to be affecting the baby. According to google, it should go away on it's own. That's what we're praying for. Nurse said they'd just keep an eye on it with ultrasound. I haven't gone in since I got the report, so next time, I'm hoping to get a better understanding of it. Wouldn't be one of my babies unless some miracle was involved.

The Rest of the Story

We had actually been trying for several months when I found out that I was pregnant, so it wasn't a complete surprise. I had started to give up though, so I wasn't really expecting it to happen. In fact, I had told Chris that I was about to start, so that's why he was so surprised. I was a couple days late, but felt pms-ish. But this time, I figured out the difference. That pregnancy fog. Took a test while texting a friend, sent her a pic, and she's the one who helped me come up with a fun way to tell Chris. Every other time, we found out together by looking at the stick. I only kept it from Chris for a few days - it was really hard. I tell him EVERYTHING.

So Amanda invited us over for a Labor day dinner so Chris suspected nothing when we started the dessert. Adam was "trying out" our video camera to capture his expression. The cookies read: #4 baby (that was the pink one I ate), #1 dad of 6 (Amanda got a little confused on that one - well, I sure HOPE there aren't triplets), & 5-24-11 (due date). She had regular flower cookies to give to everyone else, so that it would be obvious to Chris that his were different, but I think she got a little too excited and give him his first. They, too, are trying to have a #4, so that's why Chris was a little confused.

Other stuff

• Ben will be 2 yrs plus a couple months (this is the furthest apart we've had kids)
• This is the LAST ONE. I might would like more, but 5 c-sections aren't good on a body.
• I'm preparing myself for another boy. Let's face it. It's a big possibility.
• We haven't told the kids. "They" recommend you await because nine months is a long time for them to understand.
• I keep forgetting. I'll start feeling queasy and think, "I wonder why I . . . OH yeah"
• We already have the other half of a bunk bed for Ca's bed, so that's where Z will go. We're going to do quite a bit of room swaping, so that the nursery can stay the nursery.
• Only 4 more years of diapers!
• I'm 5 1/2 weeks, even though this nurse try to convince me that I'm 3 1/2 weeks. Someone really need to explain to her how they calculate it. I tried, but she just kept trying to explain it to me. Lady, I've done this a few times. I get it!

Do you like my story-telling fonts? Saw it somewhere so I thought I'd give it a try, too.

Chris' Surprise

These were his cookies. I ate a pink one (not in pic) for good luck.

Wild Weekend

A friend of mine had to go away for the weekend to a place that wasn't meant for kids. I volunteered to keep her kids for her so she wouldn't have to take them. She did pay me. I'm not that crazy. You think I baby bundled? Check out her load.

Ages: 4, 3, 3, 2, 1 1/2, 1

Hers are all girls, mine are all boys. I think some arranged marriages need to take place.

children in diapers: 3

sippy cups to fill: 6, over and over and over

toys to pick up: all of them times million

plates to dish out: 54, plus snacks

cribs: 2 . . .here's where I put hers . .

Yes, it fit.

Had them Thurs night through Sun afternoon. It literally took 1 1/2 hrs to get them ready for bed - 2 sets of baths, cleaning up toys, filling up air mattresses, setting up the pack-n-play - and all by myself. Chris works weeknights. Friday, we walked to the park (can't fit all in my van) and Melissa met us with her two to help me out. Saturday, we stayed at home, but Sunday morning, Chris and I took them to McDonald's (took 2 vans) and the park. I wonder what people thought. Chris called us the Brady Bunch, the younger years.

my assistant

I was a little nervous taking on this endeavor, but it turned out not being too bad. The little ones all napped, everyone had a place to sleep, everyone behaved (as much as this age group does). It was busy, but doable.

One Final Detail

I found this key rack at a garage sale for $0.50. I added the ribbon and binder clips to use it as a invitation/reminder slip holder. Since my calendar only fits one month, I can write down future dates to remember and hang them from the key rack, too. All conveniently located right by my calendar.

I Blogged

Got books for the next two weeks of school. HELLO! That's a lot of books. The curriculum I'm using is thematic unit study based (did I just make up that term?), but I'm adding tons of reading to it. Kids like to sit and read, and they learn so much that way. Thankfully, our library has a website where you can search from home, make a list, sort by call number, then print. So easy to find all my books! Last year, I didn't notice this on their website (either that or they didn't have it), and I'd copy/paste the books I wanted in a word program. Such a pain. 

 

This book is for me. I haven't read a novel in . . . let's see, when was Zane born? I saw this at Mom's, and I think this is the one that she ruined the ending for me, but since my brain is mush, I don't remember. In fact, I was reading part of it last night that seemed extreemely familiar to me. I think I've read this book before. Anyone have any good novels they'd recommend? This one's a mystery.

And for my usual post . . .Got these shoes for $0.24!! They had a printable $3 off coupon at target.com and these shoes were clearanced for $3.24! Nice!

I also got Z some shoes for $2.24. No coupon, just clearanced. The glade was free - 2 $1 off target coupons from target.com, a $1 off manufacturer's coupon from coupons.com, and 1 buy one get one free coupon from the paper (that one's expired now).

They tried to charge me for 3 glades. I'm glad I checked my receipt. A few weeks ago at HEB, they charged me for 11 green onions instead of 1! Now that I'm budgeting, I'm paying more attention to my receipts. I can't imagine how many times in the past, they've messed up, and I never noticed.

Stuff This!

We've been in this house for over a year. In that time, we had yet to find Ca a chest of drawers. We looked and looked. I didn't feel like I was being too picky - something that was big enough for 2 kids (he has the bunk bed and if we have a #4, 2 kids will go in this room), something simple, reasonably matched his bed, and not too expensive. Finally, we found one. Home Zone. Not a bad store. We got this chest for $300. It's not perfect, but after a year, my standards lowered. It's a little darker than his bed, but close enough. We do have the other bunk, but it will stay in storage until we need it. We don't need any other hazards in our house.

While I have my camera out, here are the boys playing in Ca's room.

Can you guess what they're saying?

"Who will fight me?" ~Dave and the Giant Pickle~

Feeling Green?

I absolutely LOVE my new room. I couldn't be happier with my green that I chose. Ready for the tour?

This is the first thing you see when walking to the back of the house from the living room. That door is the door to the back porch. I need to clean up that filing cabinet. It's got old tape sticky on it.

This whole wall cost me under $20 - most of it is garage sale finds.

I got this frame from CIA for $5, painted it white, bought a piece of plywood, spraypainted it with chalkboard paint, then drew the lines with a white paint pen. A chalkboard calendar!

More garage sale finds.

A place for my chalk

I found the schoolhouse picture on google images and photoshopped it black and white and put a Scripture on it. Got the frame for a quarter at a garage sale. The tin was a free sample candle that I got in the mail.

Wanted a cool clock for my room (love clocks), but again, I am cheap, so what do I do? You guessed it. I made one. Clock parts from Hobby Lobby. I decopouge scrapbooking paper to a black board (chris cut for me). The white circle was on the back of that mirror. Numbers are chipboards from Hobby Lobby. The paper has quotes about boys, appropriate for my home, I thought.

This next one is the before. Beige walls, doors, baseboards, windowframes, ceiling. Nasty.

After . . . I'm still hoping to find some schooldesks for the kids. This table is proving to be a little small.

My friend got me some 5 cardboard magazine files from Ikea for $1.99. I covered them with scrapbooking paper, labeled them, and now our computer desk is organized and neat. YEAH!!

Here's our brick wall. Chris mounted some shelves for all our schoolbooks and such. Remember my $13 chair?

I made this basket liner for our library book basket. We get lots of library books.

Homemade bookends

The other one is an "A" - A-Z - get it?

This is the built-in bookcase that is on the side of the room. It was beige, too before. See my green coupon binder on the third shelf?

I somewhat organized our dvd's according to color. I know, dorky, but I think it looks nicer that way.

I think the whole room, paint, decor, and all, cost under $100. Not bad, eh? Guess it's time to start school.