Another week gone...

Another week has come and gone, and what do I have to show for it??? Well, I spent a couple of days sewing again... (till 4 in the morning before I sent the girls off to camp). While out making last minute purchases for stuff to send the girls to Young Women's camp with, and Sariah really got into making things for the secret sister stuff. Sariah saw this cute Princess fabric and asked if I could make them each a pair of pj/shorts for camp. I went ahead and got the fabric, there was just over 5 yd's on the bolt so I bought it all, and lucky for me... it was on sale for $1.00 a yd. yippee! So, I began the sewing adventure Monday afternoon, and the girls left at 6 am tuesday morning.

I made the mistake or whatever of opening the door to have the vacuum salesman come in for a free carpet cleaning demonstration. monday evening, and lost several hours of sewing time while the guy showed us what my old (breaking down vacuum) was NOT cleaning out of my carpets!!! UGH!!!!! I am now the proud owner of a Kirby, and I do like it a lot... but not what we had -planned at this time at all!!!!! Liam (and the girls) LOVED the bubbles and the floor cleaning part of it!

Other than that, we had good friends come into town househunting. We have known D since He and Bill were classmates back at West Point many years ago. We spent time visiting when Germany was both of our first duty stations. Then we were lucky enough to be visiting Bills parents the summer he and H got married in the D.C. temple and were able to attend their marriage, then go up to CN for the reception (and waterskiing). They moved into a Ward in Germany with my best freinds for the past couple of years and now are ending up in Huntsville. Other than they found a house to buy in another ward... we are looking forward to getting to know their family when they move in the next couple of weeks.

We have missed the girls while they've been gone at camp, are hoping they are all have fun and having a wonderful experience. It is Sariah's first year. We picked up a freind yesterday to spend a couple of days with the girls while her mom is at camp with our sisters. I've enjoyed some more tomatoes from my garden and have a squash ready to eat - Yummy!

That is our update for now... the girls want me to take them to the pool, so... like Dana, I have to make the ultimate sacrifice and go out in public with my white/glow in the dark -mosquito bitten legs - in a bathing suit, to chase Liam around so he doesn't drown, so the girls can have some summer fun! Anyone want to come play????

19 years ago today...

At about this time 19 years ago, I was in Washington D.C. at the temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Preparing to kneel across the alter and look into the eyes of my sweetheart, and then look into the mirrors as our image went on forever into eternity...

I don't know how I got so lucky to have Bill come into my life. I can't imagine my life without him by my side. I look forward to many many more years together, and eternity of togetherness.

Tonight my sweetheart is taking me to the Temple (in Birmingham this time), and we will have the oportunity to kneel across the alter as we do temple work tonight. We will certainly be thinking back to that very special day 19 years ago with sweet rememberance.

I love you sweetheart, forever! Thankyou for taking me to the temple to be sealed for time and all Eternity.

Float like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee!

My garden is growing like gangbusters... I started my garden a bit late, but it is showing great promise. I have had a few tomatoes ripen so far, and they were very tasty. I have tons of green tomatoes that I don't know what I will ever do with them all when they ripen at the same time!!! The beans are growing and the vines are sretching all over the place. I have begun some 'organic' methods of keeping my vines reaching upward. I have thee tall trees in the back against the fence and there are a lot of dry branches, so I've been using them to stake up my garden plants. It might look a bit funny with all these branches sticking up out of my garden, but I am using what I have available and it seems to be helping. The corn is just about to send up tassels, and there are tons of flowers on my zucchine, squash and cucmbers, and a few small little squash beginning to grow. I'm a bit afraid of all the flowers and vines on the pumpkins... they are going to take over my yard, not to mention the garden!!! We certainly wont' have any need to go to a pumpkin patch this year! We may begin to chare admission to the neighborhood to come to our little pumpkin patch...

Yesterday I was out checking on the garden and the bees were busy pollinating and buzzing about... and eventually I began to feel my finger throb and looked at it and it was swollen and bruised. I guess I got stung by a bee. It was my first bee sting ever. I didn't see or feel a bee in my hand, but somehow... I managed to get stung on the inside of my little finger. It is still a bit swollen, and and it feels tight when I bend my finger. Sariah stepped on a bee earlier in the week, and it is still quite swollen and tender, and it is itching like crazy... does anyone have any suggestions? Of course it's friday, and now I'm sure I won't be able to get it seen until monday, if it is still bothering her then.

We have had a busy couple of weeks, and the three older girls are getting ready for grils camp. They will be going next week. It is Sariah's first year at camp, and Probably Rebekah's last year. I won't have three girls at camp again until it is Sariah, Hannah and Marissa. I hope they all have a wonderful experience... I loved girls camp when I was a youth.

I Will Sew No More Forever!!!!!

Just kidding... but I've had about all the sewing I can stand/handle for a little while! I still haven't figured out all the fun parts of my new sewing machine... but me and sewing machine tension are not the best of friends. I don't know why, but I can be sewing along just fine.. I change stitch which is all supposed to be pre-set in the machine... and the tension is all messed up and I have to unpick more than what I don't. It is very frustrating, and I never made it to bed last night and I really didn't have very much to do... but it literally took ALL NIGHT long!!! o.k., so Liam got up twice, and seeing lights on downstairs... thought he had to fully wake up and come down to investigate! Amanda gave up around 1 a.m. and went to bed. Rebekah left us around 11 p.m. but she had to get up early today and go to work.

Anyway, Bill and the girls are leaving this afternoon, so I HAD to get the clothing finished!!! Amanda and I finally finished all of it around 10 a.m. Now if I can get the girls to model the clothes for me to take a picture or two!!!

We have also been doing a little dresser switch-a-roo at our house. We bought a couple of dressers from someone who moved from our ward, and so I've been trying to get the kids dressers cleaned out (clothes that don't fit, or winter clothes) and then switch dressers from one room to another...

I also had a fantastic FIND this week. Driving kids too and fro in the neighborhood this past week, I noticed someone putting out a little tykes playground set. eventually after driving past it on sat a couple of times (but only parts of it were out), then noticing it still sitting out on Sunday as we drove past the street... On Monday we drove past it and it had a for sale sign on it. I made Amanda (my resident chauffer) stop the van and go up to the door and ask how much. She came back to the car and I could hardly believe it! The family really only wanted it to go away, but didn't want to throw it away in the trash... the mom had told her son if he'd haul it out front, she'd give him the money for it. They sold it to me for $20.00!!!!! Sure it is sun faded, but my goodness, it is a $200-$300.00 PLAYGOUND!!!! Liam and the other kids (mine as well as neighborhood kids) are LOVING it!

The other happenings this week have been that Hannah has been going to softball camp, and really enjoying it. Today they were working on learning to 'slide' into base. They got to do a slip and slide with dish soap to help make it even more slippery... they had fun but Hannah was Freezing and she took a long hot shower when she got home. (the water must have been cold, because it is blazing hot outside here in AL!)
Liam was sitting on the potty yesterday, and by chance went pee-pee on the potty! yippeee, perhaps he'll figure out what it is really for now! He LOVES to sit on the potty, but has never actually gone on the potty before. This morning he was wearing training underwear, and I noticed him straining a little, and ran him to the bathroom and he got something in the potty, then he flushed it happily. Of course just after that he pee-pee'd in his pants and on the floor in the front hallway! Oh well... one step forward two steps back.

Sew What!!!!!

I have a lot of sewing still to do for the girls for the Trek.

I bought a sewing machine back when I was in high school (a million years ago...). My mom went in half on it with me. It was the first Electronic touch button machine that singer put out. If my memory serves me right, it was about $1,000.00. That was a ton of $ for a teenager!!! It has been through a lot. Not that I sew a ton, but over the years it has seen me through a lot of different projects. Comforters for my bed in college, a baby quilt and crib set for my nephew T (he got married last year), Blessing dresses, and blankets for my babies. Sun dresses and t-shirt dresses as they grew, and many, many, many baby gifts: burp rags, blankets, bibs, onsies with skirts, etc.

My machine has had it's difficulties over the years, trying to get the screw that holds the needle in place drilled out in a foreign country (the packers didn't pad it and it was upside down in the bottom of a large box, and the screw broke off), tension difficulties, etc. Bill took it in the past two years and got it adjusted, and cleaned up. I have had to super-glue the thread holder post back on as that snapped off in some move. Well, as I began sewing recently, I noticed that the dial to adjust the tension was completely broken, so I was sewing along alright, and then after the late night sewing last week the tension got messed up. I have another small little machine my mother in law bought me for a gift one year when my singer was on the fritz. It has some problem and I haven't used it in years. I tried to sew yesterday while I was home from church with Sariah and Liam, and I couldn't get my singer working right, nor could I get the other machine to do anything! I suppose I whould take it to get adjusted some time. It's a nice basic machine, it jsut needs a little TLC right now. Last night I was thinking... who could I call to borrow a machine from??? I actually called a friend in our neighborhood, D, and she was more than glad to help me out, and even show me how to use her serger! We planned to get together Tuesday morning.

This morning I woke up and Bill said I should get up and get ready so we could go out and buy me a new sewing machine! WoW!!! what a huge surprise!

So, we ended up looking at Hancock fabric store. I couldn't remember if they had machines in there or not, I've never looked before. When we arrived I realized it's been a while since I went in there. Appearantly they had a re-model last fall, and they have a sewing machine center in there now. They have bernina's, and they were having a promotional sale for Memorial Day. You got a card, and scratched it off and got anywhere from 20% - 40% off, of certain machines... Our card got us 25% off, and after looking at the various machines, and talking it over, we had thought I could either get a lesser machine and in a few years need another one (perhaps, give the one to whichever girl may want a machine some day to take to college with them or when they get married...), and then I'd get a new one. I looked at different features on different machines, and even though I probably don't sew enough to make the fancier one a necessity, it has severa features that I will definitely get a lot of use out of...

So, I am the proud new owner of a Bernin bernette sewing machine! Woowhoo!!! now I have a lot of sewing to do to make it worth it! ;-) Of course I have to read the manual to 'learn' how to use it first!! I am sure (now that amanda figured out HOW to thread the bobbin) that I can at least do the basic straght stitch, and a zig zag or something pretty simple to get me through the Trek clothing!!!

This afternoon, we went to a friend's Retirement party, Liam fell asleep in the car on the way over there, so Amanda held him for a bit when we first got there, and then laid him down on a quilt,to sleep. Bill tented him to keep the sun from burning him.

Liam woke up and Sariah took him on the waterslide. it was cold and he didn't like the water spraying in his face. Here he is sitting on Amanda's lap, in a towel, with a water drip hanging off his ear.

We all had a very good time, even though, a storm blew up, and some plates of food and glass candle holders went flying! We had to clean off our friend M's back, since he happened to be the bullseye for the flying salsa plate hit. ;-{, and then we vacuumed up the remaining (we hope) glass out of the grass (so that none of the kids who were running around in bathing suits, and bare feet because of the waterslide, would cut up their feet). Then, after shutting down the water slide, and clearing everyone out from under the big tented area, they pulled the tent down in a hurry, so it wouldn't blow away (and tear it to shreds) and all the people crowded into the house. everyone was in good spirits, and having a good time and after a while - with a nice heavy downpour, the kids were back out in the waterslide and the retiree J even put on his swim trunks and took a couple of trips down the waterslide. The kids thought that was awesome!

Then tonight after we got home bill and I ran out to Lowe's and Home Depot to check out the Mem. day sales. We need to do something to our bathroom floor, it has carpeting, and the shower splashes and leaks out under the shower door which sits up a bit, and the carpet even with the floor rug I have down get wet. It has been so humid lately and we try to keep all doors in the house shut and child locked to try to keep Liam out, the room doesn't get a lot of air circulation, and is starting to smell musty. We want to tile, and since Bill tiled the small bathroom downstairs last year, somewhat as a learning experiecne to eventually move on to other area's of the house, such as our master bathroom.

Well, the sad news is the sale for Mem. Day, ended today instead of starting today like Bill thought, so we will not be able to tile for a while yet. We had too much deciding to do before we could buy anything like that. Perhaps they'll have another good sale around the 4th of July, if not for labor day, when they do the 10% off for military. It will give us time to really plan and decide what we want to do. I think we will re-do the shower, and make it bigger.

Sariah was a super big help today. Thank you. She kept Liam all the time we were shopping today. Thank you, we could have never had the presence of mind to deal with buying a sewing machine or looking at tile, with Liam along for the ride!

End of School, Water Fun and Concerts!

School is out, and I now have 2 going to High School, and one headed to Middle School and only 2 in the elementary school next year. Everyone did pretty well, Rebekah only had to take one final exam, after having taken the AP exams for two classes. Sariah had an awards ceremony and got a certificate for being on all 'A' honor roll all year. Then she was completely shocked when each teacher gave out two special awards for the best in their class at either the subject or for being the most improved, or something else. She sat and watched as the other names were called out went up, and then, her homeroom teacher called her name and she got a citizenship award! A trophy with her name on it. I was proud of her! Bill commented that it was certainly a good group of kids up there on the stage, and so many of her friends, and what caliber of friends she has.

Rebekah and Amanda auditioned for the marching Band. Amanda's French horn has needed to go in to get fixed for a while, so she hasn't played it in a long time! Rebekah was able to borrow one from the high school for her to practice on in the afternoon, before auditions.

We went to the church for many hours Thursday night, to sew some more of the trek clothes. It takes sooooo long, to trace the patterns, then get the fabric cut out and start sewing... Bekah and Amanda came along about 10 p.m. we were at the church until 2 am! Bill had gone earlier to help a family move and ended up hurting his back, which I didn't know about, so he was trying to take care of Liam and couldn't even lift him up. He said Liam cried for about 2 hours at some point. Sorry to both of them, but it sure was helpful to not have to have Liam running around getting into things while I was trying to sew!

Friday Dad went to our Stake camp again (I think this is about 4 weeks in a row), to work on some things to get it ready for all the Girls camps this summers task for the day was to move 2 Refrigerators from the main pavilion down to each pavillion at each of the camp sights. His back was really hurting! He was about in tears a couple of times durring the night and that was with medication. I was really worried about him, hurting himself worse. He was lmping around and coldn't even stand up straight before he left. He took a couple of the young men from church with him to help do the work. When he left the house to go pick them up, I had Reekah call one of them to tell him to keep an eye on Bill! and not to let him LIFT anything! They did a great job, and lots of hard work, and Bill literally supervised! they didn't let him lift a thing! (thanks J! and C and T).

I spent the day with Rebekah who I had promised her a shopping trip for some things, and while we were out, we found something cute for each girl. Hannah is a self proclained tomboy, and has been wearing big baggy boys football type shirts. We found her a cute 'football' type Jersey, that is green (her current favorite color), and it is a bit girly (closer cut, not so boxy). and she loves it! yay! The kids played in the water on the slip and slide at home.

Saturday Bill got up and took Hannah and Sariah with him out to Camp Hulaco. His back still hurt, but not as bad as the day before. The men from church went and did a lot of work, they also finished off building the dock at the lake. Sariah did some lawn mowing, and weed whacking, and later they all swam in the lake. Sariah has been having alergy problems, and something up t the camp while she was cutting down all those grasses and weeds, about did her in!!! Poor thing came home with her eyes all swollen and itchy and red!

Afer they left in the morning, I did some weeding in my garden. Things are growing, but the grass that keeps creeping in...! ugh! While I was in the garden, I heard Liam coming out to see me. He had a wet diaper and decided to take it off and bring it to mommy... wasn't that thoughtful??? so there I was muddy hands, and now I had Nakey baby running around in my garden as well! Then he saw the slip and slide and wanted to play on it and turned on the water.

What a silly boy! Luckily it was still fairly early in the day and I didn't have to worry about him getting a sun burn in sensative places!!! (ouchie!)

Then a bit after noon Rebekah and Amanda and their friend M left for Post. They sat in the HOT sun for hours and hours so that they would be RIGHT in front of the GATE to get in at the MWR concert on Post. They were there by 1:15, and the gate didn't open to get in to the concert until 6! We got there around 5:15 and by the time we got in, M and Rebekah had staked our claim on the ground for the concert.

This was the 2nd time we have gone to theconcert on post. Last time it was Carrie Underwood, and Liam was a newborn. This time It was Kelly Pickler, and we were pleasantly surprised that she could really sing! After Kelly was Ronny Atkins, then was the main event with Taylor Swift. We all had a great time. Sariah was so miserable because of her eyes, she just laid down and covered her head and went to sleep. Amazingly Bill was feeling better! He was able to do some work at the camp durring the day, and was able to have kids sit on his shoulders to be able to see better at some parts of the concert! Marissa eventually fell asleep as well (after she got back up to sing and dance with the first couple of taylor swift songs). And finally, Liam fell asleep, almost at the end of the concert! We just put our chairs all around our blanket so no-one would trample on the kids as the crowd swarmed to leave the concert grounds. We figured we weren't in a hurry, since then we'd just be stuck in traffic anyway! As everyone left, you could see the trash left all over on the ground. Rebekah, Amanda and M. were so disgusted at the people! When I told them that most likely it would be soldiers having to clean up the trash all over the field, they felt so bad! And on Memorial day weekend when it should be a day off and celebrating them for all that they do and give for our freedoms!

I have a bunch of pictures on my phone, but don't know how to access it at the moment.

I was so proud of the girls. They went and got a trash bag and can and started picking up the trash around us. Then the circle widened, and they had to get more and more bags for more and more trash. It was amazing how much work our girls did! They ran around pretty happily, picking up trash! A few people saw our girls (and Bill ) picking up trash, and picked up a little bit here and there. Eventually our little group (other than the sleepy heads, who were out cold!) , in aobut an hour, filled up 8 HUGE bags of garbage and cleaned nearly 3/4 of one whole side of the Concert area. Talk about good citizens!

At the end of it all, Bill had taken all of our chairs, and Hannah to go get the van and see how close they could park so we wouldn't have to go quite so far, especially with sleepy kids! When they pulled up to the parking lot near the back gate, they saw a croud by the fence, and realized that Taylor Swift was signing autographs. Bill left Hannah in line with paper and came to get us. I took Liam (who was still asleep in the sling) and went to stand with Hannah in line. He went and woke up Marissa and Sariah to come and get autographs. I couldn't get any pic's, since I'd taken pic's with my phone of the kids at the concert (and Camera's aren't supposed to be allowed, so we left it home), but she did sign a couple of concert tickets for the kids, and she signed the notebook that Hannah had. It was so cute, she was very sweet! She leaned down to Hannah and said, let me see your eyes, Oh my, you have beautiful eyes! and then signed I 'heart' Hannah, you are gorgeous! - Taylor Swift. So sweet!

We didn't get home until after 1 a.m. this morning.

Then this morning poor Sariah woke up with her eyes still messed up and her one eye was swollen shut! So seh stayed home from Church, and Liam had a yucky cough and gross stuff coming out of his nose this morning, and I didn't think that that they'd want him at nursery today, so we stayed home also.

Two, Nine, two, Nine, Ready GO!!!!!

I hear this a lot lately. Liam likes to count, and then jump (off of things). Lately he has begun to count then run! Or count and throw a ball or some other item! He only knows two numbers, but the numbers change occasionally, or else we can't exactly tell from the pronunciation, whether he's saying Two or Three...

It is pretty cute though. As amanda was getting ready for the Powder Puff football game, she did quite a bit of practicing throwing and cathing the football. Well, Liam who LOVES any sort of ball (and all things ROUND - it MUST be a BALL!), really enjoyed this! Now he seems to be throwing the ball(s) around even more than usual - I can't manage to get a picture of him since by the time the camera focuses, he has already thrown the ball! One of these days we will have to teach him that age old house rule... No Throwing balls in the house! For now, it is jsut fun to watch him learn different things and he is darn cute! And I love the new addition of "Ready Go!"