new bean bag.  made it from a vintage italian duvet that I got at a yard sale for a whopping $5. 

oh yeah.

my 5 year old model shows off its size:

it's about the same size as the patchwork one I made for the Harry Potter room a couple of years ago: 

fletch and I have been sick all week. now it sounds like the other two are about to succumb.  (don't tell our dinner guests)

earlier this week:

ME:  sweetie, come here so mommy can hold you.

F: why?

ME: because snuggling helps people to get better faster.

F: ... really?

ME: yep. proven fact.

so we spend all morning cozied up together.  later on that day, as I putter around the apartment, he reaches up to me from his perch on the bean bag, 

"Mom, come here! You are making me sick!"

apparently not snuggling will actually make a person worse. 

This is Toby

he is my BIL's family's dog. and he has nothing whatsoever to do with this post. 

I just think he's cute.  

there's been just nothing to post about lately - we've all been busy getting this homeschool thing together (lessons were online today. they start the curriculum from the beginning of the year so we blasted through 11 Math lessons this morning and I expect we'll do about the same for the next week or so), and preparing for my sister's arrival in a couple of weeks. 

by the wayside are being put: Fletch's 5th birthday and the arrival of our 3rd baby.  I just don't have time to worry about that stuff right now! but the Fletch will have a party at school so hopefully that will satisfy him.  and I'm counting on things calming down in a few weeks so I can spend the few weeks beyond that actually thinking about having another kid. 

*shudder*

I found a new blog to enjoy. Some ridiculous super mom in texas. she posted a Cheesecake Pie recipe the other day because apparently last friday was National Pie Day.  So of course I made one, last night. And now it's 1:40 in the afternoon and the entire. pie. is. gone.  The boy's ate about a quarter of it, in my defense.  Now I have to make an entire new one before Craig gets home so he won't know that I already ate it all!!! 

Another blog I like comes from another Kelly (different spelling though) in Utah and her latest post was inspiring in a different way.  (as in, a non-food-consuming way) She wants to make 31 newborn kits for her own 31st birthday celebration this year. Which I think is awesome and I'm totally going to join in.  The Humanitarian Aid guidelines are linked from her blog and she's willing to do a lot of the work herself if people just want to donate materials. 

I suggest you check it out. (the link is in red above)

Happy Week!

i can't, but maybe you can - 

just because I have no girls to shop for, doesn't mean I can't send you all to THIS awesome etsy shop for browsing love. *sigh*  Happy shopping! 

homeschool.

so, we're doing it. we're going back. the kid's been asking all school year and we've decided to give it a try. it is going to be crazy - next month my sister comes to stay for 4 months, the month after that I'm having another baby. and I've been trying really hard to get an online shop going on etsy. 

my youngest is staying in preschool.  because he wants to, and the social is good for him. 

can I do it? sure. 

is this spring going to possibly be the hardest and craziest I have ever lived through? probably. 

brace yourselves for complaints galore. wish me luck. say some prayers. 

thanks.

not that I'm complaining, but it has ben hot this week in Los Angeles, and my 3rd trimester was a bad time for this to happen.

see, in the past i've had this problem. 

and it's happening again. 

(don't tell my husband)

the problem is, when I'm pregnant (and nursing for that matter) I seem to have this crazy need for ice cream. I ate a lot of it during my first pregnancy. I didn't realize how much until years later when I mentioned something to my husband about going to the creamery every day for a shake.  

"wait, but you had a bowl every night, too! you never told me you got a shake every day!" 

well apparently I didn't think it was important at the time. 

of course it could be a major contributor to why I gained 50 lbs during each of my first two pregnancies. (um, yikes.)

I've only gained something like 12 lbs so far this time. A fact of which I have been inordinately proud. 

Until this week. When it got so hot. And I've found myself wanting (and having, mind you) a bowl of ice cream after every. single. meal. 

it's a good thing I've made this new budget. at least I won't be allowing myself to run down to Baskin Robbins or Cold Stone every day when I feel like it.  maybe I'll still be able to keep myself from gaining 38 more pounds in the next 9 weeks.

mmmm -  Cold Stone......

you all know what this is, right? 

well, possibly my mom doesn't - because when she was pregnant with my sister the doctor said, "Don't eat breakfast, and then eat a King Size Snickers bar at 11 and come in an hour later so we can take your blood." 

which is like, so not fair. 

the stuff doesn't taste that bad, really. it's just hard to keep the stuff down - my tummy din't like it so much. 

but now it's done! yay! 

my husband had the busiest of days yesterday. moved a fridge, switched the door on the fridge to open on the other side, chopped up our christmas tree, watched a movie with the boys, went to work for 5 hours, and read to me (well mostly the baby in my belly) until I fell asleep. 

Me? I just did fun stuff:

got this batik fabric from Mom this summer. a friend of hers had gone to Indonesia and picked up a ton of sarongs/wraps in these lovely fabrics and I got to pick one out. I've planned to make pillows out of it for 6 months. 

they're finally done! pillow forms went on sale last week and I snatched a few. It feels good to be getting some things off my to-do list. Especially since this year is looking a little bit crazy...

1. Ordered pizza last night and did not get root beer.  Pizza did not taste as good. 

2. Not sure it is a good idea to suck on a helium balloon when one is pregnant. Sure was funny, though...

Feels like a Monday today.  

Our bathroom sink backed up 2 days ago and has been spitting up sludgey water since. Most of the time I have been able to empty the basin with a pitcher before it overflows but today saw two major spills and I had to wash about 6 towels this afternoon.  

Maintenance guys have come every day this week, unable to fix the problem. Finally today they called in the big guns who, at ten minutes to five, have still not shown up...

But amidst all this mess, I've been crafty!

I have been promising Robin an apron for a looooooong time now and finally today I sat down and sewed one up from some nice heavy fabric I bought at that JoAnn place (which place I am becoming more and more disgusted with).  I made up a pattern, and had to reverse-sew a few seams as a result, but it was fun practice and it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. 

Emily is also doing another challenge this year:

I love her journaling challenges. Journaling is possibly one of my most favorite things, ever, and her challenges make me expand my horizons quite a bit.  Art and scrapbooking are kindof outside my natural habitat, so to speak, and these little cards give me a chance to stretch, without having to make a big huge project. (that was a lot of commas, I completely apologize)

The journal challenge we did in '07 is my favorite journal of all time. It's so fun to go back and look at what I was thinking and feeling and how I expressed myself through the year. I'm excited to do it again!

we spent the weekend bit of New Year's weekend visiting Craig's oldest brother near Fresno. His sister and family, and his mom came down from Auburn as well. it's always nice visiting there - everyone gets along wonderfully and there is a big yard (and cute dogs) to play around.

also Uncle Mark's family is full of boys, like ours, so there are plenty of weapons to be had.  despite the crazy-cold temperatures, the boys were outside for most of the weekend.  my in-laws mentioned that we must be invited to all the parties - since craig spent so much time running around entertaining the kids. 

and it's true - not about the parties so much, heh - but that Craig is always running around with the kids. invariably he will get bored of sitting around the kitchen, chatting and playing grown-up games, and he'll gravitate toward the guns and those who are running around shooting them.

fletcher was thrilled to have daddy on his team against the big guys.  it's hard to win when your weapon of choice is nearly as heavy as you are. 

we also had a nice stroll through one of the nearby orchards.  I was so happy to be out of the city for a couple of days! despite the cold it was beautiful (misty and winter like) and the boys were so contented!  I couldn't believe how much less attention they wanted with a place to run and cousins to do it with. I found myself wandering around once in awhile, looking for them and asking if they needed anything.  the answer was always no. they were happy.

while I think I have managed to stop being wistful about living someplace that is not a big city, I am certainly still wistful for a home with a yard - even a small one - for the boys to play in. we're cranking out the details of a new budget (it is so hard to make a budget, and actually keep it!) and hoping that the housing economy cooperates with our needs for another year or so.  Mark will have to be careful - we may end up at his house for more and more weekends to get our fix. :)

I took Nanette to the airport today. When I got home I found she had left me a photo album full of pictures of the last 5 years.

*sob!*

And I also found this:

sniff, sniff.

resolutions!
sure, I've got some. mostly the "improve myself and my quality of life" ones, you know the drill. But I also wanted to pick one that would keep me on my toes all year; keep me with those resolutions in mind in March, and June, and November.  So I'm giving up soda for the year.

This will not be hard for me. 

I don't love soda, and I don't have the Diet Coke addiction that seems to be plaguing every other person on the planet. But I do drink it, whenever we go out and at parties and stuff. But why? I hardly even like it. The only hard time, I suspect, will be when we go out to pizza. Because what pizza is complete without a root beer? 

my "big" resolution is to get organized and stay that way. Since we went through the boys room like a whirlwind back in November that room has stayed tidy. And I've been doing a darn good job keeping the living room's flat surfaces clean of "stuff".  (the kitchen table, i still need to work on). Today I've been organizing in my bedroom, which is the Master Pit of All Things That Don't Have a Place.  

They shall, from henceforth, have a place.  

I don't have much choice, really. In February one of my sisters is coming to live with us for 4 months and then I'm having baby #3 in March/April (march, please march) and we are simply going to have to keep this place organized if any of us want to be sane in our 2 bedroom apartment. 

So there it stands! Wish me luck!  What are your resolutions?

somebody is moving away in seven sleeps.

far, far away. 

she and i have been neighbors (of sorts) since 1999.  we lived in married housing in the same complex at university, where we each had our first child and our husbands entered the same major.  everyone wondered why there was a sign that said "rabbit" next to their front door. 

(there is no reason)

i was always comforted to look from my 3rd floor apartment into the windows of their first floor apartment and see the midnight oil burning there, too. (those animators and their hours) 

i always wondered, watching her inch her way from the car to the apartment after a brutal day of dialysis, if she'd be offended if I just carried her the rest of the way home. 

the week before we moved to L.A, we got to visit them in the hospital. she was finally well again! the only better going-away present than seeing that, was knowing that she'd be joining me in the big city before the end of the year.

 

our kids are just over a year apart. they say they're getting married. they talk about how her last name will change, and how it sounds pretty good that way. they fall asleep curled up in each other's arms, watching tv or playing games.   (we wonder if it's not actually a good thing they're being separated before they get a bit old for this sort of thing)

mostly, this is how we feel about the whole business:

my sweet youngest said, "i don't have a lot of money right now, but i'll save my allowance, and we'll come visit you."  

well we always did like the pacific northwest....

we'll miss you guys. 

a couple of our gifts this year were home made. Craig bought a bunch of plain sketchbooks for his coworkers, and then embellished them with fun pictures and scrap papers (and stamps, ribbons, and brads from my stash). we had a lot of fun putting them together.

about a year or so ago, craig drew a picture of fletch's handprint inside of connor's inside of his own, and I kept it, and I finally did something with it for Craig. This one is embroidered and sewn onto another sketchbook, but I did another one, without filling in any of the shapes, on the back of a hoodie for him. He loved it. 
this week we're making a new budget (house, someday, please?) and organizing, and making resolutions. 

i LOVE making resolutions. 

probably everyone's highlight from christmas day was the nerf-gun war we all had. Fletcher got a fully automatic "machine gun" from santa this year and had loads of fun popping everyone with that beauty:

there were a couple of interesting hits:

and the big kids hunkered down in the fort and massacred anyone who came near. 
we played 4 rounds I think, timed so that there were breaks for reloading and stealing everyone else's ammunition.  after we declared the war to be over though, the guys continued on for a good 15 minutes or so...  :) 
awwww. I like this guy.

I'll have to post photos all weekend - Nanette took some great ones for Christmas - but these particular ones just show off the theme in presents this year. :) 

Hannah got me this:

yes - it's a giant puffy sheep. fletcher can hardly even get his arms around it. 

and I made this for Nanette:

I made a basic design and then craig made it cute for me. the sheep looks properly forlorn, I think. 

We had Christmas with friends this year- since none of us were going home (it's so much better to visit our family in the summer) and we managed to have a great time. Craig wanted to do the tradition of sending everyone on scavenger hunts for gifts (my dad started that one when I was young) and I thought it'd  be fun if everyone's gift was a Nerf gun. 

Oh yeah. Pictures of that awesomeness later. 

Candied Citrus Peels

because all the cool girls are doing it.

these are a little time consuming, and I haven't decided if they are awesome or not (3 out of 3 taste testers said, "yes and no" - I suppose I should ask a grown-up...)

but they sure are pretty! and hopefully they'll be dried enough to take a package of them to connor's fencing teacher for a Christmas treat later today. 

I started these at around 9:30 this morning and it's now 2 pm - so it's a longish process but a lot of it is away-from-oven stuff (they boil for an hour, for example) once you get past the peeling of the fruit and scraping all the pith off. 

that was a drag. 

had no idea what to do with two grapefruits and 4 lemons that I had bought just for the skins - but the kids had no problem coming up with something. Winter lemonade!  it went perfectly with lunch. :)

Merry Christmas!

This week we'll be doing our last minute shopping and baking, listening to Christmas Carols and, hopefully, getting better from the sick.  Hope you all have a fantastic holiday and I look forward to catching up in a week or so!

I am so glad for the weekend to be here! Both boys got sick the last couple days of school and refused to stay home because they would miss the Christmas parties. Now all 4 of us are mega sick (poor Craig still has to work today) and I'm just crossing my fingers that we'll be human again for Christmas itself. 

Made these cookies the other day (recipe from Pioneer Woman, link is on my sidebar) and they were relatively easy to make (more complicated than choc. chip, easier than sugar cookies) and the kids had a lot of fun dunking 'em in white chocolate and rolling 'em in peppermint.  They look really cute too.  I suggest you try them out. :)