Birthday Girl

Birthday Girl blowing out her candles as quickly as she can so her garland doesn't burn:)...she barely made it in time.

after the many stresses that I put myself through making our son's Lego cake I decided to keep it nice & simple for this birthday,I love how it turned out.

Aalyvia was so excited for her shades of pink,birthday cake!

This year we decided to keep the children's birthdays more simple & let each one have their own special day. due to the fact that we have 2 children born in January & 2 in July,we had one big party & combined the birthdays. This year I wanted to make it special for each one.

2 of Aalyvia's favorite little girlfriends...they don't see each-other often but when they do she always hates to see them leave again.

time for presents! always a favorite at our house:) & if you have ever read,The 5 love languages for children,(I have & it's a really good book to read if you have children). getting gifts is Aalyvia's primary love language so it's always fun to see what we can come up with for a gift for her...I think I've discovered what each of our children's love languages are except River so far & if I remember to speak each child's love language,consistently...it's amazing how they blossom right before your eyes. but now I'm starting to ramble so I shall say...until next time...

Baby's Layette,made by me

I have had so much fun getting ready for the arrival of our little guy!

This time I've been making a lot of the items myself or putting my personal touch on an original item.

A lot of my ideas have come from Pinterest, where else?:)

Where was Pinterest when I had our 4 other children?!

This is what I've been working on so far. I'm sure there will be more later,but this is what I have right now.

The blanket I crocheted myself, It took me a few weeks but I love how it turned out!

I also made a matching newsboys hat...

I did NOT go by a pattern to make this hat, I tried & I simply cannot make sense of any crochet pattern. I'm more of a 'just wing it" kind of person & if it's a flop I ask someone else to make it for me:)...(the main reason I suck at tutorials!)

I can't wait to see our little guy all snuggled up in his hat & blanket.

Aalyvia's doll has been a model for most of the things I've made because it fits most 0-3month clothing items,& that seems like a good guide to go by.

The long-sleeved onesies I purchased at Kohl's& added the embellishments. The fabric for the tie I purchased at JoAnn fabrics for .62,cut out a tie shape & sewed it on. It has an iron-on backing to keep it from fraying. The football threads I made just for daddy,cuz he loves football. I just used a white knit fabric from an old t-shirt,cut out the shape of a football thread,backed it with an iron-on fabric & sewed it on.

The little white hat,(I used an old hospital infant's hat to use as a guide for how big to cut it),used a white t-shirt that I no longer use, used the bottom edge of the t-shirt for the bottom edge of the hat,(no hemming),cut around the hospital hat & cut a little point at the top so I could knot it after it was sewn together. And now he has a cute little hat to wear at the hospital instead of those ugly blue & pink ones.

Like I said, I suck at tutorials,but if you do want to make any of these items& you need patterns or directions on how to make them, you are welcome to visit my pinboards. Most of these are pinned onto sewing,make it, or baby boy

Canning & Preserving

This is the time of year where things get a little crazy in my kitchen, it's canning & freezing time...

Yesterday  was one of those days,there were lots of apples & tomatoes to preserve & only 1 ME.

This is what my kitchen island looked like at 6:30am when I dragged my hiney out of bed & got started with it all. It's something I always dread a little bit, getting started, but then it gives me a little bit of rush knowing how much $ I will save on my grocery bill if I fill the cellar with foods that I preserve myself. There's also the satisfaction of knowing what is going into our food, no un-pronouncable ingredients going into my food!

I got 11qt.Spaghetti sauce

16pint Pizza sauce &

9qt.Tomato juice from the pile of tomatoes 

& my only cost was the Tomato Paste that went into the sauces, which cost me 2.72!

The spices I already had in my cupboard & the veggies that went into it came from my garden....you could buy about 2jars of sauce for that price at the supermarket.

The apples I purchased at a local Farmers Market for 31.50. 

I use the Ginger Gold, they are a very sweet apple that doesn't require adding any sugar.(cheaper for me that way.)Since I bought them I've learned from another source that I can get the same apples at Sunny Slope Orchard for 9.00 a bushel, if I get the 2nds, which only means they may be a little smaller that the 1sts. I will definitely be getting my apples there next year. I gave 21.00 a bushel for mine this year & I got a bushel & a half, which still came out to about .50per pint & a 1.00 per qt...& that's not bad.

I got 43pint & 10qt.from that bushel & a half of apples.

That's A LOT of food=)!

Any-who...that was my day yesterday, I did have a young girl here to help keep the kiddos entertained, but the canning was all me,myself, & I! I got done w/ all the cold-packing & clean-up by around 7:00pm...it was a VERY long day, but oh so worth it!

If anyone is interested in recipes or how-to ??? just leave a comment & I'll try to answer those on a later post,all out of time for today...

Painting......& Pregnant

I don't know what it is with me & wanting needing to paint when I'm pregnant...It makes my family crazy!

Not sure if it's the whole nesting thing or if it's something more,maybe it's the need to feel like I have control over something when I am so powerless over the changes my body is going through & all the emotions that come along with being pregnant.

Anyway...I'm painting trim & doors in our house right now.

Wanting to get all the trim & doors painted in the living room/foyer part of the house because those rooms are getting painted again...(the same ones that got painted when I was pregnant with River 18months ago).

all the trim & doors were this ugly oak that you see on the left...when I went to buy paint for the trim,I got the Glidden paint/primer in one,premixed white.(I'm not a complicated girl)...& I totally believed the grandpa behind the counter when he said,"oh this is some good stuff,you will only need 1coat of paint,it covers that good!".....well,after 3coats,it finally covered all the oak. A few weeks later I noticed a huge spot where paint had literally been scratched off by little fingernails...since then I've been painting a primer 1st then 2coats of the Glidden paint/primer...It's covering great & no matter how hard the kiddos try,It cannot be scratched off. Now when I have our almost monthly work day with my mom & sisters,the living room/foyer will be ready to paint,again;)

will post more pics after it's all prettied up again:)...till then,what are your pregnancy quirks? is there anything you do when you're pregnant that drives your family bonkers?

would love to hear about them:)

Weston 5Yrs. old...Lego Party

It doesn't seem so very long ago that you were this tiny,somehow 5 yrs. have passed in what seems like just a few days. 

you've always been the easy-going,laid back little guy of the bunch...that is, until someone crosses you:)

I love those big,baby-blues that always seem to have a sparkle in them.

Today you are a very "big", sweet, intelligent, little man-I love you!

 This year we did a Lego theme,Weston is a BIG fan of Legos, of all shapes & sizes.

This cake went through a lot of trial & error before it turned out like this. But thanks to my big sis, the cake was saved(a little food color mist spray saved the day).

Lego holder for the silverware...

I didn't get a close-up of the finger jello, it's also in the shape of little Legos. And the green punch can be explained...I asked Weston what color punch he wants, Green is his favorite color. So of course it had to be green:) the inside of the cake is also green(I think grampa R had a hard time with the fact that he was eating green cake)..:)

blowing out the birthday candles...make a wish!

these 3 little guys had three rounds of cake before the evening was through!

from gramma & grampa R.

from gramma & grampa H.

the hot wheels scooter was from mommy & daddy, he claimed he needed a big kid scooter(his other one had 3 wheels), "big kids don't need 3wheels", he claimed.

normally we combine the 2 July birthdays w/ his sister & have a big party at the park, but this year I wanted them all to have their own special parties. I think this one was a success from the expressions on his face:)

The Big Reveal.....

Last night I could hardly get to sleep,the excitement was just too great. I had waited so long for this day to come! I was finally going to find out if we were having a boy or girl!

I haven't had any crazy pregnancy dreams yet but this morning when I woke up around 6:00 & couldn't fall asleep again I came out to the couch & ended up dozing off again,that's when I dreamed that we were having a baby boy:)....

As I sat there in the waiting room with this goofy grin on my face,waiting for the Ultrasound Tech to come out & call my name,people were giving me funny looks but I simply didn't care.today was finally the day:)

FINALLY....

.....he called my name.

as I was getting situated on his very uncomfortable table with a bladder that was about to explode. he asks me,"will you be wanting to know the sex of the baby?"....are you kidding me?!... YES!!!...no I didn't actually shout at him,but that's how I felt.

now usually they have everything on a monitor where the moms can see everything the Dr. sees,but today that was not the case,the suspense & my bladder were killing me as he pushed around on my stomach.

Then he says in a voice that I could barely hear as he mumbled,"It's a BOY"....& that's when he finally turned the monitor on for me to see exactly what he was seeing.

Once I processed what he said,I just had to laugh,trying to imagine what life with 4boys would be like:)

NEVER a dull moment,that is for sure!

I adore this picture of our little guy,I can already see that he will resemble his littlest brother,& that cute little button nose....can't wait to meet this little guy!

now the name hunt begins...we had the hardest time finding a boy name the last time,can't imagine what we will do this time...hubs & I do not agree on boy names.

And here is the evidence,yep it's a boy:)

Big sis will have to remain Queen of the castle,no competition there...when we told the children we were adding another boy to the family,the boys actually seemed more disappointed than Aalyvia,hers was more an expression of exasperation:) which made me laugh again..

now the fun part begins... shopping!

18weeks,baby flutters...& peppers

   This is where I begin my pregnancy ramblings,sometimes you just have to put it all down in writing,so I'm giving you a chance to stop reading this point...don't say I didn't warn you:)
 This morning as I sit here,I am in awe of the miracle that God has placed in our lives. At this point I am the only one who can really enjoy & appreciate the gift in it's fullness. Tiny little baby flutters...mornings are when I notice them the most,I'm up before the children & have a few moments of quiet time just for me & usually the only time of the day when all is quiet & I notice them the most.
    Yesterday marked 18weeks in my pregnancy,& according to statistics our baby is the size of a large green bell pepper:)
    My emotions have been all over the place with this pregnancy...& as much as I love starting to feel the baby growing & moving inside of me,I'm also ready to feel "normal" again.
    For most people morning sickness ends at 3months,that is when mine starts,& is a constant companion till the moment I give birth.It doesn't just bother me in the mornings,it can hit me like a tidal wave at any moment throughout the day & very unexpectedly most times,usually related to some kind of smell:(
    cravings...SPICY.hot.hot.hot....nothing is spicy enough or has too much flavor this time around.There have been many meals that I've cooked for my family already that I've been able to eat a few bites & then I simply can't eat any more.
    July 11th is a big day around here for us!,it's the day we find out if we will have a baby girl or boy joining our family!!! can't begin to say how excited I am to find out! there are 5 votes for a girl & 1 vote for a boy in our family of 6...I would love to be able to tell Aalyvia that she will have a little sister,I feel every little girl should have a sister.I would be lost without my sisters!...so if we get there & we are told that we will be adding another boy to our family,there will be a short period of mourning the little sister that may never be for Aalyvia...but just like the little guy that came before this baby,we will not be able to imagine our lives without him,River is such a joy in our lives & there isn't a day that goes by that I don't smother him in hugs & kisses & am so grateful that God knew what he was doing when He gave us that little guy.
    Now there are some of you that will say that it's selfish to have a preference,& that as long as they are healthy then thats all that matters...a healthy baby is truly a blessing & i would never take that for granted,but I think deep down inside,everyone has a preference...so until July 11th we wait in anticipation!...until we find out...will keep you posted;)