Sew, Sew Busy

We are getting ready for the boys' birthday party. In between making banners

and entertaining these two...

 Speaking of which, I've found that when this lil guy is doing his usual whining,

 I can put Ewok in the backyard and that usually does the trick. Ben likes to knock on the sliding glass door and wave to him. While Ewok HATES this, Ben LOVES it, which gives mommy 10 more minutes to do what I need to do.

But I digress... As I was saying, in between making banners, entertaining children, doctor's appointments, homework, and just keeping up with the demands of a hectic, crazy household, we're sewing some more costumes, oh.. and tablecloths for the neighbors, and making alterations to my cousin's new jacket, and, and, and, haha. I digress again. We are making MORE costumes!!!! 

 

 This time not for Halloween, just for pretend play throughout the year.

 Any guess on who or what we are making???

 Here's a hint...

  Remember, Megan's favorite princess?

 Why... Princess Tiana of course!

 I jumped for joy when I found this sewing pattern at JoAnn's. I've been looking for this for sew, sew (pun intended) long. It must have just come out because 2 months ago I swear it didn't exist. I wanted Megan to have a Princess Tiana costume but not like the generic ones they sell in stores. I wanted hers to be a lil bit more than just that. Sewwww, with a lil bit of mama's time and effort, and a few minor changes from the one pictured above, Meggies will have a dress to pretend play all year long!

 

I've finished Emily's gypsy costume and Elizabeth's Dorothy costume too. I still need to post those, don't I?! And I didn't forget to post some video of the cemetery in the front yard, that's coming up soon too. I promise.

 

Oh, and someone's getting their tonsils out next month...

 

 

"Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story." ~Mason Cooley

Happy Birthday Ben!

My baby is 1 today!!!! He's NOT an infant anymore. I think I'm gonna cry! He doesn't drink baby formula anymore. He's walking, crying, saying "mama", "dada", and "nana". His favorite is "caca" when I tell him something is gross and he shouldn't be putting it in his mouth. Benjamin, if I could have had my pick from all the babies in heaven waiting to be born, I would have chosen you! I cried and laughed with joy the day I found out I was pregnant with you. One of my most favorite days was the day you were born. I will never forget those precious moments when you entered the world. Thank you Lord Jesus for my last lil monkey, this precious boy!

"Boy, n.: a noise with dirt on it." ~Not Your Average Dictionary

Happy Birthday Matthew!

Today is this lil guy's birthday! Five years ago today I became mother to my firstborn son! What a beautiful day that was. I remember it like it was yesterday. I want to cry when I think about how fast the time has gone by. Before I know it, he'll be wishing his son a happy 5th birthday.

Matthew- you've absolutely no idea what you mean to me. I prayed for the opportunity to buy blue blankies and Tonka trucks. I prayed so very hard for you. God answered my prayers the day you arrived. Thank you for being mama's sweet, sweet boy.

"I brought children into this dark world because it needed the light that only a child can bring." ~Liz Armbruster, on robertbrault.com

Look-a-Like Survey

It's been awhile since we've had a quiz or survey here on this blog. In fact, I think the last one was around the time we were guessing the gender of Ben or choosing the perfect baby name. This post is one I've been wanting to do for such a long time. I just never have the time to scan old pics. Today, I MADE time. I'm always hearing different opinions from different people on which one of my daughters looks the most like me. I have my own opinion but I thought it would be fun to post a pic of me around their age and let you once again choose for yourself.





I am in 4th grade in this picture here.

Brianna- 6th
Elizabeth- 3rd
Emily- 2nd
Megan- 2 yrs.

Double Click on the picture to get a closer view.

I do have to say... My girls are much prettier than their mommy!

So... what's your say? Who looks the most like mommy?

Not Me Monday

I went to Target last week and I bought two jars of spaghetti sauce. I intended on making spaghetti for dinner that night. When packing the car full of kids and groceries, I did NOT accidentally drop my jars of sauce in the parking lot. It did NOT splatter sauce all over me, the car, and the kids! Nope, this did NOT happen. I did NOT pretend like it wasn't me who did it. I did NOT drive away feeling like a stressed out, frazzled mother who wanted to cry all the way home.

I did NOT leave Ben to play on the bathroom floor and dig thru momma's bathroom cabinets just for 20 minutes of peace while I showered. I did NOT get out of the shower to find my beautiful little boy sucking on an open (UNUSED) tampon like it was a lollipop. NO! This did not happen. He did NOT kick and scream when I took his tampon pop away! Not, my Ben.

I did not let Megan and Ben play with a box of Apple Jacks cereal to keep them occupied while mommy blogged her little heart away. This is NOT what they did to the last box of cereal we had left.

I did NOT fall in love with a house down the street and I most certainly did NOT drive by it almost everyday for a month. I did NOT lie awake in bed at night dreaming about how I would decorate each of the kids' bedrooms in this house. Certainly, I did NOT wake up the other day to find that MY HOUSE was sold. I did NOT shed a tear. Nope, not one tear!

We are NOT planning another birthday party right now! Because my lil man will NOT be turning 5 and my precious baby boy will NOT be the big 1 already!!!!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

HALLOWEEN!!!

Oh, the irony! On the day daddy started putting out the decorations, another rainbow filled the sky.

Matthew and the neighborhood boys had fun helping daddy put out the tombstones. I'll post some more pics of the yard this week!

"When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers, ‘tis near Halloween." ~Author Unknown

City Parade

A few weekends ago, the girls participated in a city parade with their cheerleading team. It was so much fun to go and watch them march through our city's first parade ever. Ben was just as excited as mommy, can you tell?

He even got Uncle Joseph to smile.

Matthew, Megan, and Mackenzie snuck in a quick jump in the bounce house before the parade started.

Here's Elizabeth and a few of the other cheer girls getting ready for the march.

Sisters & Best Friends... Emily & Elizabeth.

We had front row seats.

Proud Parents.

Three of the cutest kids in the audience.

Entertaining herself by climbing on the bleachers.

Brianna on her way to the starting line.

Another cute picture of Ben- just because it's my blog and I can't get enough of this yummy boy.

Who needs a parade for entertainment when you can climb like a monkey on these bars bleachers.

A rainbow in the sky on the night of the parade. A sign of good luck perhaps?

The high school flag team and band were the first in line. Hearing the live music was a highlight of the evening. Now I'd love to show you pictures of the girls actually marching in the parade. BUT, it turns out that I was so into my screaming, chanting, and cheering them on when they walked by that I completely forgot about the camera sitting on my lap! I was soooo angry with myself. Oh well, it is what it is.

Hospitalized

The title says it all!!! Megan got worse before she got better. Her symptoms were severe enough to require hospitalization. When they told me they were admitting her I was overwhelmed with relief! I felt so helpless; It was such a long, miserable night. No matter what I did or how hard I tried to help her, it just wasn't enough for her. Prior to the day of hospitalization she was crying out in pain all night. Her ears were red, hot, and swollen. She complained of her ankles hurting. They were so swollen that the only relief she got was when I had ice packs on them and her silence only lasted a few moments. If she wasn't crying about her ankles then it was her tummy that was hurting her. She kept burping then crying, burping then crying. Then, she started wheezing. Daddy, mommy, and Megan were all sleep deprived. We ended up in the E.R. again that night and were sent home with Ibuprofen for her joint pain. We got home and maybe rested an hour when she started crying again because of the same symptoms. Her hives weren't any better and the itching was ever so present. By 8 o'clock in the morning we had maybe slept 2 hours total! She started vomiting and wasn't keeping down any food or meds.

We went to her pediatrician's office. Megan had a breathing treatment while her doctor called 911. She got her first ambulance ride and hopefully her last! Several tests were ran and lots of meds were pumped into my little baby. Little by little she improved.I'm overjoyed to have my Meggies feeling normal again. The overnight stay in the hospital was bittersweet. As much as I don't want my baby feeling ill, I enjoyed the alone time I had with her. I was ALL hers and there weren't any siblings competing for mommy's attention. No interuptions. Just quiet time to hold her and rock her and sing to her. It made me fall in love with my little girl all over again.

By morning, she did a complete turnaround. She woke up singing nursery rhymes to herself and talking the nurses' ears off. They fell in love with her too. We learned that she is now allergic to Amoxicillin. The doctor overseeing her care said it was one on of the worst allergic reactions he has ever seen. He called it Serum Sickness. He said that the burping and the tummy aches was because everything she was experiencing on the outside was also going on in the inside of her. In other words, her whole GI tract was swollen too!

Thank you Lord, Jesus for keeping my baby safe!!! Thank you everyone for all of the prayers that were said. Thank you Mimi, Alarick, and Brandon for the big pink bear (Megan named it: Big Pink Bear) and the balloons. She kept telling the nurses that it was her birthday party because she had balloons. Thank you Uncle Rigo and Auntie Aracely for visiting her in the hospital. Thank you Smith's for watching the kids. Thank you mom and Lety for keeping me sane! I have such an amazing support group. Megan smiling waiting to go home.

Not the Chicken Pox!

Here's Meggie in the ER yesterday, fast asleep from the meds they gave her. Wish they'd give me some extra for the other kids, haha. Megan is much better! After watching her bumps get worse yesterday as the day went on, I started really thinking it WAS chickenpox. Then, after picking up the older kids from school, I noticed her ears were really red and swollen. I could feel the heat coming from them. Soon after she started complaining that she couldn't walk. I took one look at her feet and was horrified at how swollen those were too. I've seen this happen to Brianna before and had a pretty good feeling she was having an allergic reaction. I threw her back into the car and took her to urgent care. They sent us to the emergency room where it was confirmed that that's exactly what was happening. She got a shot of Benadryl and was given an oral steroid. She fell asleep from the Benadryl and didn't wake up til morning! She even got to sleep between mommy and daddy last night! We still aren't sure what caused this because she had nothing out of the ordinary to eat or drink yesterday morning. The Dr in the ER suggested we follow up with her pediatrician and schedule some allergy testing. Thank you everyone for your prayers and concern! Life is good again, at least for the moment :)

Please tell me Meggies does NOT have CHICKENPOX!!!

tell me this is just a rash, pulllleeeeease!

Halloween Costumes

Momma's been busy with sewing projects lately. Here's a preview of a little mermaid costume I've made for Megan and her cousin Mackenzie.

Emily wants to be a gypsy this year and so I'm working on that one now. I'll post some pics of it this week. Daddy was excited to start decorating and couldn't wait til Oct. 1st, so out came the tombstones and the zombies the night before. I'll post those pics too this week.