Anna on the Loose

So it's official - Anna can crawl. I was working on my quilt for a minute, I turn around and Anna had made her way from the family room to the kitchen table and had even found herself a snack on the floor - YUM!


Seems like just yesterday I could put her down and know approximately where I would find her... Oh, Wait, it was just yesterday!! Today she was all over the place. She even pulled herself up on her walker - not to standing, but to her knees.

And while we are telling Anna stories, yesterday I was feeding her lunch - some rice cereal mix - and as she was eating, she was falling asleep. Her eyes were closed and she would just open her mouth when she was ready for more. If I threw off her rythm, she would open her eyes and whine at me to let me know I was slacking and had thrown off her groove! Of course, I tried to take a picture, but she woke right up when I got the camera out - isn't it always like that??


I took a few pictures, this one shows her looking drowsy at least! (If you zoom in, you can see her eyes are red too...) On second thought, in this picture, maybe her look is not so much 'drowsy,' as it is 'annoyed' with me - "Mom, can you stop taking pictures and finish feeding me so I can take a nap?!"...

Samuel has fallen asleep eating before, but he wasn't this young... It seems like he falls asleep eating Doritoes - Mmmm, comfort food.

My New Projects...

Here is Evelyn's shirt. Hers took longer because I wanted hers to be sparkly, so hers was done with glitter instead of paint and it had to dry for 3 days... yeah - 3 days!!! Then it was supposed to be washed and washing it took some of the glitter off... :( But this is the 'before' picture when it looked perfect.



Here is my Applique Rooster Apron!!



and a close-up... After it was done, it was time to make dinner, but I didn't wear this apron because I didn't want to ruin it... Don't worry, I've gotten past that - a little - but I still won't wear it when I cook spaghetti or bacon...




And now, here is my introduction to my "BIG" project - a new quilt. What I have loved about hair bows, and T-shirt designs, and appliques is that they don't take too long - they can be done easily in one night. Quilts take me much longer - usually months. But nevertheless, I wanted to do this and I've been collecting fabrics for it for about 2 months and trying to find what pattern to use.

After surfing many quilting sites, here is my sketch of 4 blocks:


The woman whose site I found it on called this quilt "Star Struck." I am soooo excited about this! It's going to be mostly black & white, and pink, with accents of white on black and purple. It'll be sized 8 x 10 blocks, for a total of 80 blocks, each completed block will be 8".


I'm cutting all the pieces right now and have about 1280 pieces to cut!! AHHH. Thinking about that still makes me hyperventilate. As of now, I have 220 cut... Anyway, here's a glimpse of my sewing table. It's much cleaner and more organized than normal. In fact, today Samuel asked: "Mom, why is your sewing table so clean??" :)

Through the Eyes of a Child

If you were 5 - almost 6 years old - and got a new camera for Christmas, what would you take a picture of. Here are some of my favorite things Evelyn has photographed with her camera:


Ok, I cheated, I took this picture! Isn't she beautiful??



Here is her picture of herself.



The first attempt was better...


Her new Barbie - with brush, and Princess Paddleball



Toy Dinosaur and a dirty sock.



Not sure on this one - maybe a super close-up of Anna's quilt.



My Sewing Table.



Stocking Treats.



Fingernail Polish.



A Bouncy Ball on Tile Floor.


Close-Up of our Black Couch.



Her New Purse.



Her Loot.



I think this is a jacket on the floor. - ??



Her new church shoes.



Bacon.



This is my FAVORITE!! Any Guesses?... Yeah, It's the lid off the Whipped Cream!! No photo album is complete without one.

Evelyn may look like her Dad, but she acts like her Mom. I used to take some pretty awesome pictures too! But who wouldn't want to test the limits of their new toy? When we got the Suburban I had to make up errands to go on just so I could justify driving it so much! And with Evelyn and her new camera, everything and everyone in our house suddenly looked like a great photo opp.

I Was Bitten

So a friend recently pointed out that I have been bitten by the craft bug. If you don't believe me, here is further eveidence:


Emily showed me how to make any design on a T-Shirt!! It is soooo easy, so fast, and it looks professional!!


The hardest part was deciding what to put on them!! The boys have really been loving Dinosaurs lately so even that was not too hard!

P.S. This is the boys' favorite new pose for pictures. It even comes with sound effects, lucky for you, you can't hear it. It reminds me a little of a 'barfing' or perhaps a 'pretend dying' sound - add a little emphasis at the beginning: "Bleeeeeeeeehh."

A Familiar Song

Evelyn was a fussy baby and while my Mom was there helping me, she taught me that babies loved to be sung to. So I would sing Evelyn all sorts of songs, some would calm her, some would have no effect, but EVERYTIME I would sing he "I Am a Child of God," she would calm down. It was truly amazing!!

I was afraid I would jinx myself by figuring this out, but whenever she was fussiest and nothing else would work, singing "I Am a Child of God" would. I have since sung it to all my children when they are upset and it worked for them as well. Once while I was out shopping with Anna, she was screaming and I thought: "Let's see if you like this song..." and while we were in the car, I sang it to her and she stopped!

I love that my kids know and love this song (even Hyrum knows the words - although you wouldn't believe me if you saw our video...). I think we sing it every week during Family Home Evening. I know that there is something special about that song. Perhaps we sang it up in Heaven, maybe it calms me down and thus calms the babaies, whatever it is, I am grateful for it!!

The Perfect Day

So while I was pregnant with Anna, everyone would ask when I was due and I would tell them: "August 2, but she's going to be born in July..." To which everyone would reply: "Why July??" So let me tell you why I wanted a July baby and why Anna was born on the perfect day.

First and foremost - what pregnant woman wants to go past their due date? I didn't, all my other babies had come early, and July sounded so much closer than August. So I made July my 'goal' - as if I could control when she really came...

Secondly, Anna was born on a Friday. All of my other babies were born on Fridays... Fun huh?

Finally, Anna was born on the 31 of July - I did get my July baby!! AND another pattern emerged. Everyone in our family has either a 1 or a 3 in thier birthday... Dad - 3 September, Mom - 10 December, Evelyn - 13 February, Samuel - 16 December, Hyrum - 11 May, Anna - 31 July...

So there you have it, no real reason for me wanting a July baby, other than wanting my baby sooner - but look at all the fun 'patterns' that came from her perfect birthday!

"Night at the Musuem"

On Monday we went to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History with some friends.


On our way there, Hyrum kept saying that: "we go to Night at the Museum." I tried to correct him several times, but the title 'museum' never seemed to catch on...


We started out in the Dinosaur area (but couldn't dig for bones because it was too cold), and then watched a 4D movie - which included some information about Fort Worth's History - but in a fun way. The theater seats moved, we got water and air sprayed on us, and we got to wear 3D glasses so that parts of the movie 'jumped' out to us - one part being a Dinosaur! It was fun - similar to the movie we saw in New Orleans' Isectarium.


Most of our time was spent in this room. I don't know it's name, but it had things for kids of all ages to play with. Joseph, Samuel, and Hyrum LOVED the train table; although I think Samuel almost exclusively played here. He loved ducking in and out of the holes in the table and trying to get his trian all the way around the WHOLE track.


Hyrum loved pushing the kid-sized shopping cart and shopping in the 'grocery store.' I remember when I was growing up, New Orleans' Children's Museum had an area like this and I LOVED the grocery store part!


The Dr. area kept Nadia busy. She took very good care of her baby!


There was even a space for Anna to play in! She loved being able to get out and crawl around (and I loved that there was a place for her too!).

We had so much fun there, and we didn't even get to see the second level! I love places that make learning so exciting!