Okay, maybe not quite a million, but it feels that way

About a million years ago Ryan decided he wanted to go back to school and finish his degree. He had been in mortgage banking and decided he wanted to do something he loved instead of something he tolerated. So he started part time at the Community College and over two years he slowly finished the last year of his AA degree. Now we are down to the last quarter and a few weeks until he graduates with his Bachelors degree in Geology. And he wants to do a Master's program with an emphasis in Hydrology (that's the study of water, for you uneducated laymen).

(sound of head repeatedly hitting desk)

So he applied to three schools - University of Montana (in Missoula), University of Idaho (in Moscow), and Western Washington University (in Bellingham, WA). He finished all the applications at the end of the first week of February, and now we're playing the waitandsee game.

I love the waitandsee game. I love not knowing what my life is going to be like in 6 months or less. I love having to re-register the kids in an unknown school district. But most of all I love moving. This is the longest we've ever lived in one house, and I'm super excited to pack up everything we've accumulated while we've been here and see if it all fits in a new place. BONUS!

Would you get my meaning better if I put the sacastic parts in italics? Okay.

I love the waitandsee game. I love not knowing what my life is going to be like in 6 months or less. I love having to re-register the kids in an unknown school district. But most of all I love moving. This is the longest we've ever lived in one house, and I'm super excited to pack up everything we've accumulated while we've been here and see if it all fits in a new place. BONUS!

On Wednesday he got a letter from the department chair at one of the schools. It took everything in me not to just rip it open before he got home. And even then it somehow ended up in the bathroom while I took a really long shower without the fan running. Not quite steamy enough. But I finally got a hold of Ryan and he said I could open it.

He got in!

It wasn't the official letter, but they said it was coming in 1-2 weeks. We got it the next day. So now it's official, he's going to do the Master's program, but of course wants to wait and see what other schools he gets into before making a decision.

Terrific! As we already know, I LOVE the waitandsee game.

Yep, it's a mohawk

Caden had a two week break from school and also needed a haircut. Since daddy is the one who does the haircutting at our house this is what we ended up with for about a week and a half. Fortunately we were sick that Sunday so it didn't make an appearance at church, but it did make it to Walmart. Kinda par for the course for Walmart, I guess. I found myself attributing all his 6 year old attitude/behavior to the mohawk instead of to just being 6. Thankfully school is back in session and this thing is no longer on his head.

Does baby girl crack kill like plumber crack does?

What a stud I'm married to.

Lincoln is 4!

The much anticipated day began with the making of the cupcakes to take to school. Then off we ran, over to Grandma Smiths house to open the first birthday present. Then we met friends at Jump and Bounce which is essentially $6 an hour to let your kids loose in a warehouse full of giant (and I mean GIANT) bounce houses. Totally worth it. They all had a blast, even Aile. Slept really well that night too.

Then, over to Wal-Mart, home to frost cupcakes, and quickly over to the school to drop off the birthday boy and treats for the class. Caden wanted to get a present for Lincoln too, so off to the store, then back to pick up Lincoln. Daddy came home early, so Lincoln opened presents (yay! Batman stuff!), then off to McDonald's for dinner (his choice, not mine).

Our Batboy

Back home we had leftover cupcakes from the school or leftover cake from Aile's birthday because the real cake was being saved for the firstbirthdaypartywithfriends on Saturday.

Fastforward now to Saturday, here's how the party went down: we played pin the bat on the batsignal, color your own paper cape, and freeze tag with balloons. If you haven't already guessed, we had a Batman theme. Here it is in pictures:

The Cake

Reversible Batman/Superman Cape Party Favors

Opening the Presents

Blowing Out The Candles

Note to self: black fondant turns your teeth and tongue black too. Hmm, something to keep in mind for the future.

Lincoln had a great time at his first REAL birthday party, and Mommy is just glad it's over now. I love this boy so much! He is my most favorite 4 year old boy in the whole wide world. Happy Birthday Lincoln!

Aile's First Birthday!

Today my very last baby turned 1! I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand she's getting so big, she's becoming independent, she's the last baby I'll nurse and the last one to be in diapers. On the other hand she's getting so BIG, she's becoming INDEPENDENT, she's the last baby I'LL nurse and THE LAST ONE TO BE IN DIAPERS!!! She's such a huge part of our family; we are so blessed to have her. I'm so glad that she is MY girl.

After a dinner of lasanga, garlic bread, and salad (Aile loves Italian food), we had the party. Here it is in pictures:

The cakes (I purposely didn't level them, I wanted a hill-ish look for the flowers).

Opening the presents:

The best part of the presents was, of course, the tissue paper.

The Eating of The Cake:

It's thirsty work dismantling a cake.

Ultimately she really destroyed the cake well, but didn't actually eat very much of it. She mostly wanted to be fed the ice cream. Ah, well.

Happy Birthday my Sweet Baby Aile!

Can't. Stop. Laughing!

If you feel like finding a blog that will leave you ROFL go here. That is all.

FunMommy

Friday I decided I was in the mood to be FunMommy. You know, let'sallgooutinpublicandbetogetherforsomebondingtime FunMommy. So all the kids and I had a 'date' downtown to Mobius Kids (our children's museum), and then lunch at Red Robin across the street (had to use up my bonus bucks that expire at the end of the month). The kids had a great time running around for an hour at the museum and then ate a terrific lunch - they both picked fruit instead of fries for their sides (no coaxing on my part) - and got balloons from RR. All in all they were really fantastic - no whining, crying, complaining, running off, or tantrums. It was a fun couple of hours spent together.

Makes me more optimistic about the future.

Back before it was popular, back when I was little, back before stores sold 'scraps', my grandma collected scraps of ribbon, and the fronts off of cards that people sent to her, and colored papers, and little ribbon roses, and heart shaped doiles, etc. Every year the kids would gather at her house and get creative making extra-special valentines. These works of art were not for all the kids at school - they just got the boxed grocery store variety. No. These were for the people we truly loved, our parents and grandparents, and less often, each other.

This is probably a huge reason why I love Valentine's day. I love getting out all of our 'scraps' and doing this same project with my kids. I love making the giveaway kind for all the school kids. I love the tradition of giving the kids little gifts in the morning. This Valentines day we exchanged our homemade valentines, had heart-shaped pancakes with decorator sprinkles in them (they were a hit, thankyouverymuch), and had surprise gifts left for the kids on the porch (a fun knock-and-run).

Later Ryan gave me a very sweet card and flowers. I LOVE FLOWERS! Some of you ladies married men who think about giving you flowers on random days. Not over here. We need an occasion (and by 'we' I mean 'he'). So I was ecstatic to get them. My mom very generously had the kids over to her house to play Wii and have their own Valentines dinner while Ryan and I got to go out and spend some time alone. Three blissful hours childless. It was great.

And then at 4am Aile threw up. It was a fun Valentines day.

Irony

Yelling at your kids to stop yelling at each other.

A couple of friends wanted a couple of bags, and, because I'm so excessively impressed with myself for a repeat performance, I'm posting them here. That's not black, it's chocolate brown, and the paisley has a lot of the same bright olive green in it, so use your imagination. They really go well together in real life.

And I promise to start posting something besides bags.

Easier for me if you just want the pattern

I have had some interest in the big tote bag and the purse I made, and some people asking if I would make them one. So here's the deal - I can give you a materials list and a pattern for free, or I can make you a bag for a price. If you want the pattern/info for either one just leave your email in the comments and I would be happy to send it to you.

I'm going to give you the prices for both up front, and if you still want me to make you one after you finish having a heart attack, then you can email me which bag and the colors you'd like at vrcarter3 at yahoo dot com, or leave the info in the comments.

Tote bag - the finished bag is bigger than it looks in the picture: 16 1/2" wide, 5" deep, 12" tall. It is reversible, but I only put a snap to work when it's the way I thought I would use it most. It's made of heavy home decor fabrics and has heavy fusible stabilizer on everything but the handles because I wanted it to stay open when on the floor. The handles are 1 1/2" wide and 26" long so it can loop over your shoulder. It has two pockets on the outside, and two on the inside. I serged all the seams and did decorative stitching around the fabric that the pockets are sitting on. I have to say for cost of materials plus the time it took me to make it, this one is waaaaaay more economical if you just let me send you the pattern/info. For me to make it I would charge $60 + shipping to you, and honestly, that's letting you off cheap on the labor. WAAAAAAAY more economical to do it yourself! Slouch purse - this bag on the other hand is much, much faster and much, much simpler. Finished dimensions are 13" wide on the bottom, 16" wide on the top, 4" deep, and 12" tall. The handle is 1 1/2" wide and 23" long. All the seams are serged and the lining has 3 pockets: 1 large on one side and two smaller on the other. All the pockets have velcro closures. The purse has a magnetic snap at the top. It is made of the same heavy home decor fabric, but has a linen-look lining. Super easy to wear! For the cost of materials plus time, I would charge $25 + shipping to you. Um, don't be afraid of the shipping, I'm talking actual shipping costs - I just sent something approximately the same weight as the large tote bag to Canada and it cost me about $3.60. So, really, nothing to be afraid of there.

Just a quick note: if you decide to make them yourself you should know that I only used a 1/4" seam allowance because I serged all my seams. So if you don't have a serger or access to one, you may want to increase the seam allowances when you cut your material.

Just so very, very sweet

We have cable, but I don't think he knows

With all the commercials heralding the coming of the DTV transition and the need for a converter box (if you don't have cable) Caden has taken it upon himself to save us from the snow show. Ignoring all the other clutter, look at the upper left corner of the picture. See the tinker-toy contraption on top of the really old black camera? That's our rabbit ears on top of a converter box. Hallelujah, we're saved. Thanks, Caden!

In my search for the perfect tote, I happened across this purse on Etsy and fell in love. Don't try to buy it, it's already sold. But it was $45 plus shipping!!!! No way was I willing to pay that for a purse, let alone a FABRIC purse. And then, as I scrolled down, I noticed that the seller had very generously provided all the information I needed to make one for myself. Thanks seller!

I wear a lot more brown than black so my purse is brown instead, but it was so simple that I may make a black one too. And a orange one, and a green one, and a purple one.... I even included one big pocket for uh, feminine essentials, and two smaller pockets for a cell phone and a pack of gum (or whatever else you might use it for). All the pockets have velcro closures. The purse is lined in linen-look fabric and has a magnetic snap. Other than the color.....pretty darn close, dontcha think?

I have been annoyed at the tote bag that we use to haul all the kid stuff to church. It's just so basic and floppy and I could no longer stand it. I wanted a tote that had stiffer sides so that it would stand open while Aile rifled through it, and one that was big enough to put the grown up stuff (and coats and hats, etc) into, and I wanted it to be reversible too. I looked online and found lots of different patterns for lots of different kinds of totes, but not the one I had locked in my brain.

So I made up my own pattern and here's the result. I have a sew-on snap I've still got to sew on, but other than that it's finished. What do you think?

And it made us rethink moose tracks ice cream

A few weeks ago we were all downstairs watching TV when our neighbor calls and asks, "Do you know you have a moose in your yard?"

Seriously!?

We ran upstairs and opened the back door and the first thing Ryan said was that he could smell it. Must be all that experience with the wildlife in Alaska because I didn't smell anything. But the moose was not out back so we ran to the front door and there he was eating off of our maple tree in the front yard. He was nibbling the bottom branches which are about at the top of my head (I'm 5'7"), and of course his head and antlers and everything were above that. He was huge!

I ran to get the camera, but he had moved away in the 20 seconds it took me to get it and turn it on. By the time I got back he was across our driveway at our neighbors house. The only reason we got any picture at all was because he activated their motion sensor lights. I know it's a crappy picture, but you can vaguely see it is a moose-ish sort of blob.

The real proof was the next morning when we found the hoof prints in the snow and the moose poop under the tree. Didn't think you'd want to see a picture of that though.

Science Fair

Caden is in first grade, and for their science grade this quarter they were required to participate in the schools Science Fair. The requirements were that they had to ask a question that they didn't know the answer to and have a comparison. They were specifically instructed on how to lay out their boards and were given a month to complete it.

Caden loves to read books - especially How Things Work type books and encyclopedias, so there are not a lot of first grade level questions that he doesn't already know the answer to. He and Dad decided on growing salt crystals; testing whether more grew with tap water or distilled water. Caden did a great job, and Dad also had a lot of fun. Mom got to help with putting the board together, but Caden did all the writing.

Of course the day of the Science Fair the poor kid was sick, but we took in his project so he got his credit and ribbon. It was a good way to introduce us to the world of science fairs since I had never participated in one before.

The 'Fest Continues...

Lincoln was sick Friday night into Saturday, and I got it Sunday night and all day Monday. Thankfully Lincoln's only lasted about 8 hours, although he still doesn't really have much of an appetite back. I was not so lucky.

My particular strain was worse in almost every way - I'll spare you the details. I will however say I'm feeling much, much better today, and am so very grateful. Hopefully we're done now, because Ryan will have escaped getting sick if we are. If he gets something it takes him forever to recover, and then the grades and everything else go into the toilet.

A very BIG THANK YOU to my mom who dropped everything and spent the day taking care of my kids and running them around, and running to the store, and doing my dishes, and playing with the kids, andandand. It was very nice to have time to actually rest, and to have someone take care of everything else so that I could take care of me. Thankyouthankyouthankyou MOM!

I promise to post something more exciting than puke in the next couple of days. Today I have to play catch-up.