Idiots!!

Petty Thieves are Idiots!! We walked out the door Sunday morning to go to church at 9:30am and discovered our Navigation/Radio System hanging by the wires. They broke the panel trim, the plastic bracket around the unit, scuffed up the dash, stole our Lion King DVD, my sunglasses holder, and free McDonald's value meal card.
We decided that in our rush to get kids and ice cream into the house we didn't lock the door. Fresh strawberry shakes tend to distract you. You forget one night!!
I am so mad because now we have to fix something that wasn't broken.
Reason 1 that they are idiots - At least if they had succeeded I would be paying for something.
Reason 2 that they are idiots - they should have looked around, they could have made a killing!!
In our car was the following items.
Left by me - my purse was underneath the backseat. Full of credit cards, IDs, checkbook, etc.. (okay so I am an idiot as well)
Left by Jason - all of our birth certificates and social security cards, in a folder in the drivers door. (and so is he)

Yup - we are so thankful that the experience was no worse than it was.

Sticky Belly and Bubbles!!

We recently enjoyed a late morning and lunch with friends. We visited some animals, rode some "cows", and milked them (what is it with boys?). Then we enjoyed popsicles and bubbles.

Yup - he still has that same smile!

It must be a boy thing?!?!



When I know that this is going to be the end result - there is always a moments hesitation before I say "yes" and hand my children a messy popsicle.

Relax. We have wet wipes. That is so sticky. Just look at that cute full, happy belly!

She is so nice, she will share.


Making sure she has every last drip, too bad she can't get to all the drips on her belly.

Kids and Bubbles - such a wonderful combination. It is amazing how long bubbles can entertain us (yup, even me).

These are the moments I hope to remember and hope they remember. Warm days, popsicles, bubbles and mom not caring if you get messy = Summer!!

Eating Corn on the Cob is Highly Over-rated!

He is so cute! He talks funny, sometimes I think on purpose. I was hoping to have him sing in church this summer. I guess that will have to wait until he can say "Sister Sally Suzy Sat on a Thistle" or "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" and I not believe him. Since he is my apple eater, this is proving an inconvenience for me. He needs his apples cut up and the corn will have to be trimmed off. I remember kind of liking it when my mom cut the corn off for me, it was a novelty and no one else had it that way.

My last question for "y'all" How come they don't question Santa or the Easter Bunny, but the Tooth Fairy falls under immediate suspicion? Even Grahm is questioning her existence.

Daddy's Girl

Okay - Not that I am jealous or anything... But before Jason left for his Navy training, Charlotte was mine. If she had a choice she would always pick me. Now, she picks Daddy. I love it, I think it is cute and ...

When he is home and she is in her highchair and he walks out of the room, she cries. If she needs a drink or a her clothes changed, she goes to Dad. She falls, she goes to Dad. And so on. I think this could be trouble, it will only take a short while before Jason will be lost to all reason. Are daughters like Sirens for their Fathers?

I guess he should get to have a Daddy's Girl.

Happy Father's Day

{When ever I go looking for a certain picture to show something I want to blog about - I usually find out an area I don't have many photos.

******Note to self - take more pictures of Dad.}

My Dad is truly one of the greatest Dad's there are. He has 6 daughters and a wife who love him. He has 4 son-in-laws, 4-granddaughters, and 3-grandsons.

One of the lessons I remember my Dad teaching me, is to do something even if I am afraid. Now he didn't cure me, but I learned he would never let me get hurt.

One day we were fishing. This was not something we did very often, girls + fishing = complaining. I think we were at a fish farm somewhere in Idaho. I am guessing my parents thought guaranteed fish on the line, might mean less complaining. We had managed to catch a few fish and they were secured on a line that was kept dangling in the water to keep them alive. I was in charge of holding this line. It slipped and sank to the bottom of the little stream or pond. We had been standing I think on a bridge or some kind of wooden structure with a railing. My Dad told me I had to get it. Well of course I could not see any possible way to accomplish this and I started to cry. My Dad told me how I was going to get it and I am sure I started to cry even more, saying that I could not do it. I ended up upside down dangling by one ankle (I think) and lowered until I could secure the line. Of course once this was accomplished and I realized I didn't die, it was not a big deal.

I find myself in this same sort of situation with my boys, where they are sure they are going to die. I make them and as soon as it is over - you can see the look of "Oh, that was not so bad."

Thank you Dad for making me and giving me parenting tips.

Love you.

Things You Missed, part 4

Messy popsicles, messy apple dip, messy dinners, messy lunches, fighting (I hope Jayce settles into being home all day soon), more lawn mowing, aphids, rain, weeds (but they are all back again, so I guess you didn't really miss them), babysitting while I ran to the fabric store, Jayce repeating Dam Dam Dam over and over (I told him that was probably not a good idea, he thought he was just making a noise like bonk, bam, bang, etc..-why is that a bad word? Is it only a bad word because it is usually part of a curse?), tooth brushing fights, amazing - wild thunder storm, 3 kids in the bed, neighbors beating each other, no sleep, Jayce's first musical (he was playing and suddenly I hear him singing - bad guys "We will fight for darkness all over the world" , good guys "We will fight for lightness all over the world" - pretty catchy tune), upset tummy's, potty accidents,

Just a few more hours...
Post Edit: Actually it is now lots of hours. Sometime tomorrow -stinkin weather and airports. Not sure if I should yell or cry.

Tomorrow Night

One week since we met, Christmas Day 1999.

Tomorrow night he will finally be home. He will have been gone for 5 weeks. Which I know is not that long. This past five weeks has crept along and flown by.

As I sit here thinking of all that I want to do before he gets home - Clean the house, bake a cake, grocery shop, wash the car, etc...

I am not sure I will be able to sleep tonight. I am a mix of emotions.

I am filled with the same anticipation that infects me on Christmas Eve. I feel jittery, exhausted, and happy. I play out the possible scenarios of tomorrow night when we pick him up at the airport. Each is filled with hugs, kisses, smiles and the excited chatter of 3 little ones.

I also feel on the verge of tears. Each of the girls in my family is plagued by overactive tear ducts in only one scenario. The scenario usually plays out thus...

One of us has fallen deathly ill at school and we have been given the approval to make that phone call.

phone ringing

Mom - Hello.

Sister (any one of the 6 of us) - burst of tears and we can hardly talk. Mom, I don't feel good. Can I please come home?

I can already feel it building. The moment I see him - that instant relief that I have love, support, help and I am not alone anymore.

I think there will be tears (and I do not like to cry). I will do my best to keep it at a minimum of only 1-3, but they will be happy tears.

Happy Anniversary Mr. Geary!

Since you are far away on our special day and I can't send you flowers.

By the way mine our gorgeous, Thank You.

I thought I would write a special Anniversary post for you.

I remember when we first met and I thought you were kinda cute.

I remember after our first date realizing you were The One and thinking you are so dang HOT (still do - it is amazing what a shower to remove all the cow manure and some nice jeans can do).
I remember a week later you and I laying on my parents floor on Christmas Eve, where I fished for your feelings and made you say "I Love You" first (Thank you for obliging).
I remember Valentines Day a few months later when you gave me a couple pairs of jeans because you thought my Gap jeans were too big and too ugly. The jeans you gave me did fit me better.
I remember your super crappy freezing cold apartment, still wish you would have turned on the heat when you knew I was coming.
I remember shopping for a wedding ring together and feeling the excited buzz that I had finally found my someone.
I remember the day you proposed, I had no idea you had purchased a ring. You took me on a horse ride and you gave me my ring in a special box, just like I requested.
I remember planning our wedding and how at every decision you would sacrifice what you wanted to give me what I wanted. I still love the Tux I picked.
I remember going to the temple the evening before we were married and how wonderful it was to be there with family, friends, and you.
I remember our wedding day and how wonderful I felt. I have never felt as pretty as I did that day, all brides should feel pretty. I remember smacking you in the sealing room - when you were being goofy with the train of my dress (I still cringe that I did that - it was just a love pat). I remember not caring about all the details of the day, I just wanted to be with you. I remember you getting grouchy about pictures. I remember you dancing with me. I remember the yummy dessert I picked - so yummy.
I remember our honeymoon and how you did everything to make it special. It was so nice to enjoy Jackson Hole, WY together. I remember shopping and shopping trying to find the perfect souvenir - we never did find it.
I remember all of the flowers you have sent me over the years. I remember hikes in the mountains;). I remember you being there for me whenever I needed it. I remember you sacrificing things for me and our family. I remember you being there for the birth of each of our three children and the love and support you gave me. Having you there makes it easier. I remember all the late nights when you wished I would stop talking and go to sleep and you would lay there and listen because you knew I needed to talk. I remember you making any piece of furniture I asked for because we couldn't afford to buy it. I remember the blessings you have given each of our children and me when ever we needed it.
I remember so much more and look forward to many more memories. Thank you for being a wonderful husband. I love you.

Post edit: Every time I look at this picure it makes me really want a good kiss from you!!

Happy 100th

This here is my 100th post at this blog. Woohoo!!

My list of things I have a 100 (or more) of:
Toothpicks
Q-tips
FHE Packets
Rubber bands
Thumb tacks
Pennies
Buttons
Yards of Ribbon
Yards of Thread
Sheets of Paper
Sheets of White Card stock
Sheets of Colored Card stock
Crayons
Beads
Diapers
Beans
Rice
Chocolate Chips
Dried Blueberries
Pecans
Glass window panes
Pictures of my family
Socks (not pairs, individual socks)

Things you missed, Part 3

Charlotte thinking the race car driver on the Cheerios box is you, last day of school, root beer floats, soccer practice fiascoes - thank you Lymans, more late night sewing (I have only had the TV on twice in the past four weeks), the bike in our room, more fast ones by Grahm, more pumpkin pancakes (their new favorite), noisy neighbors, bad dreams, three kids in your bed, new clothes, first day in nursery, Chicken Tikka Masala (different, but yummy), Nazi Germany stories (very cool), cool evenings, lots of love and support.

I officially decided last night that I don't mind our noisy neighbors. You might have to remind me of this as early as next Saturday night. I am sure I will be lying awake at midnight seething and wishing the entire US Army to march on them and kindly escort them away.
When it is late at night and the nerves are starting to react to every creak and bump in the night. Suddenly I am not alone, there are noisy people right outside. It is nice to not be alone. I do believe in the good of humanity and that they would respond should I have to scream out in the night because some crazy person has somehow made it up my creaky stairs unnoticed and is at my door. Or maybe my mind is simply diverted from imagining bumps in the night to being angry at the thoughtlessness and total disregard for other people. Either way, they have been a wonderful blessing while you have been away. I am glad they were there to keep me company when I needed it.

Houdini

In early May Charlotte started standing up in her highchair. This was starting to worry me, but not enough to reattach the seat belts. Until...

One day after dinner everyone was done except Charlotte and Jason was upstairs. I needed to ask him something, so I ran upstairs. I ended up distracted (no surprise there), mid-sentence I remembered she was down there alone and not buckled. So I ran off leaving my sentence in the air behind me. I arrived breathless at the kitchen door and this is what I found...

She climbed on to her tray and then on to the counter top.

She is a stinker and she knows it. She wanted the cereal in the baggie.

We got Lucky!! The seat belt is back in!

Little Girl Ruffles!!

Here is a darling picture of my Mom playing as a little girl. Isn't she so cute! They had the cutest baby girl clothes back then, didn't they? Look at those ruffles!!!

Okay, they did have the cutes baby girl clothes, but this is Charlotte!!

Here is my latest completed sewing project for Charlotte. I need to find something to sew for the boys, it is just hard to find good boy patterns and things they want.

This one was really fun to make. It took me awhile to finish, but I was experience a severe case of sewing ADD. I started the play suit, switched to the dress, made 2 pajamas and a tutorial, started a tutu, made two pairs of shorts and then came back and finished the dress and play suit. I still need to finish three more pajamas, the tutu and make a skirt and a couple of play dresses.

Since I have been asked and probably others will want to know. The fabric is a set of Urban Chicks for Moda. The pattern is circa 1940's (by the way my Mom was not alive in the 40's).

What is so nice about this outfit is she can stay cool in the backyard and then when it is time to go to town (ha, sound like I am living in rural Idaho - go to town, we live in town) just add the dress and she is ready to go.

PJ's Tutorial

I am sure there are lots of tutorials out there on how to make a pillowcase dress. But, I thought - hey why not try something different. This is my tweaked version.

What inspired this post is the fact that I hate....HATE... spending $10 or more on pajamas. I remember having really cute pajamas growing up (made by my mom) and I also remember sleeping in my Dad's T-shirts.

The problem... I don't want to spend a ton of time on pajamas right now (Charlotte has no summer clothes) and she is way too little for Dad's T-shirts.

Solution...Take Dad's T-shirt and with a little tweaking make it work for her little body, and it doesn't hurt that it is cute!!

I didn't take enough pictures the first time, so fabric changes during this explanation. If you make one I would love to see pictures, also leave comments about how confusing this is or ask questions (you can be anonymous). I will clarify in the comments.

Step 1: Measure how long you want the dress to be on the child. I like Charlotte's pjs to hit around the knee. I want it be about 15" long.

Step 2: Measure the length on the t-shirt. The existing hem will be the hem on the finished dress. Mark the line with pencil, disappearing ink pen, tailor chalk, etc..

Step3: Cut along the line.

(OPTIONAL) Step4: This old T-shirt has some labeling near the hem that I don't want, so I cut it off. Trim off the entire length. Now it will need a seam.

(OPTIONAL) Step 5: Pin the cut edges right sides together and sew. Make sure you use a stitch that has some stretch (check your machine manual for what it recommends) since you are sewing on knit.


(OPTIONAL) Step 6: Iron the seam open.

Step 7: Grab a piece of paper or card stock (use junk mail - it doesn't matter). Grab a sleeveless item or jumper and trace the armhole (you can use a shirt with a sleeve, just a little harder to trace). You can also just freehand the shape, it is a J shape.

******The armhole opening on the dress does not go all the way to the top of the shoulder, it has ties. So the top is really the height of the neck line - make sense?***************

For an 18 month old over 2.75" and down 2.5". Cut out the armhole from the paper (see orange card stock below - label the top and side - because it does matter).

Step 8: Lay armhole shape on t-shirt dress, lining the neckline with the top and the side with...well the side. Trace. Step 9: Cut out armholes.

Step 10: Cut out your bias binding: You will need:

2 pieces for across the chest (measure on the child or an item of clothing). For double fold bias, cut the bias strip 3 inches wide by the length you measured. Mine was 3X6.

2 pieces for the arms (I usually have to seam two together, so this really might be 4 pieces)

Mix and match prints, you don't have match - use your scraps. Since these are the ties, I made single fold bias, cut 1.5 inches wide and about 36 inches long (longer is better than ending up too short to tie a bow).

There is a great video tutorial for cutting bias at http://rangercookies.blogspot.com/. Click Binding Help to watch the tutorial.

Step 11: Prepare binding for the chest. Fold in half and iron, now it is 1.5 inches wide.

Step 12: Gather the neckline of the dress or pleat it or whatever you choose to get it down to the desired chest measurement. On this one I pleated it with several small pleats, the look is not that different from gathering. It was a waste of time, bigger pleats would be better.

To gather, run a gathering stitch (I just use the longest straight stitch on my machine) along the neckline. 1/2 inch from raw edge.
Step 13: Pin raw edges of bias binding to raw edge of dress neckline. If you pleated then the neckline should be the same length as your binding. If you are gathering the neckline then you will need to pull one of the thread tails in your gathering stitch to gather the material. Continue to pull and make gathers until the binding and the neckline are the same length.

This is before there are enough gathers for it to fit the binding.

Now the neckline fits the binding.

Sew with 5/8 inch inseam.

Press binding up.

Fold over to unfinished side, pin. Make sure the folded edge just covers your stitching.

Top stitch down.

Step 14: Press 1.5 inch bias binding in half.

Step 15: Pin one raw edge of 1.5 inch bias binding to raw edge of armhole, right sides together. Sew 1/2 inch inseam.

Step 16: Press binding up, press raw edge of binding toward center (the center fold you pressed in step 14).

Step 17: Fold binding over the armhole edge, sandwiching the knit fabric in the bias binding. Pin to hold in place. (Same as neck edge).

Step 18. Starting at one end of bias binding (which is not attached to the dress). Make sure raw edges are folded to center and top stitch close to the edge, continue the entire length of bias binding (you will be top stitching the loose edge to the dress when you pass along the armhole).

Step 19: Put dress on child and tie shoulders. Trim excess off and knot the ends.

Step 20: Add an applique if desired.