A Big Recap

Tim has been off work since December 23rd and besides the flu hitting our house we have been busy busy busy getting stuff done. I promise to post Christmas pictures once I have edited them but for now here is a big recap of random things. 

Rascal woke up Sunday the 22nd with a high fever and a headache. We were getting ready for church and I knew that I needed to stay home with him. The only symptoms he had was his headache and fever and his fever was harder to get down than normal. He got plenty of rest Sunday and we treated the symptoms. Sunday night his temp got to 104 which is pretty high for him and I worried he had the flu. I took him into see his dr and rule out the flu. He was feeling fine and really really didn't want to go to the dr but I went ahead and took him. Sure enough he had the flu. The dr and I were both shocked since he was acting fine and not running any fever. They gave us a rx for Tamiflu and prepared us for the next 4-5 days (they said it would get much worse before he got better). Well we were so pleased that he didn't get worse and he was back to 100% by Tuesday. We stopped the tamiflu because it was pretty clear he didn't need it. 

(Rascal on Monday) 

I am pretty certain that our natural remedies is what kicked the flu's butt and none of the rest of us got it. On Sunday night I made Rascal drink some green tea with honey, turmeric and cinnamon mixed in. He said it didn't taste good but all those have such great healing properties that he drank it quick to get it over with. 

We continued giving him kefir (but we moved it up to two doses a day) and the apple cider vinegar. He got daily epsom salt baths too which he really liked. 

As for the rest of us, we washed our hands like crazy, began taking elderberry syrup and apple cider vinegar and Tim and I also took two doses of  Oscillococcinum. Between taking all of that the rest of us stayed well and no one else got it. 

 I will post more on the natural remedies on the Mondays to come. I have to give my best friend Angelia a great big thanks. She was on the phone with me helping decide what to get and I owe her big time for her advice.

While Rascal had the flu and for a few days afterwards, we all stayed home and made sure the flu was indeed gone. Poor Lucy was going just as stir crazy as we were. She would sit and stare out the back door whining at the squirrels playing in the yard. 

Christmas Eve we skipped our annual church service and stayed home just to make sure everyone was clear of the flu. It was SO HARD to keep Rascal from running around so we all sat down and played games. It was a lot of fun. 

Sweet girl is growing up so fast! She is always being a mother to anyone who will let her. 

Sometimes this is cute but most of the time is it annoying. 

She sure is a cutie! 

I pulled my sewing machine out for some Christmas projects at the beginning of December. I love love love to sit down and sew. Here are a few of the things I made: 

Super hero capes for a dear friend's grandsons 

Toddler infinity scarf

A diaper and wipe pouch 

Some baby doll diapers for Baby A's baby dolls. 

A dress for Baby A's baby doll 

Some pillows and hand towels 

I actually made half a dozen hand towels for gifts to teachers and I just don't have pictures of them. 

This isn't a sewing project but I took an empty makeup compact and filled it with nail polish and let it dry. Now Baby A has some pretend makeup to play with. 

Picture Post

We had some icy weather hit last week and schools were cancelled. 

We spent the morning inside staying warm, watching movies, building blocks and reading books. 

Around lunch time Tim's office closed and he came home. The kids kids begged him to go out with them and he gave in.... it was COLD!!  

Baby A was all bundled up and wearing my hat. So cute!!!

While they were outside freezing and sledding, I cooked and sewed . A friend asked me to make her grandsons some super hero capes for their Christmas present. Besides my machine hating me a few times (not sure why it has a mind of it's own at the worst times) these were so fun to make. I am even thinking of making Baby A one because she loved them so much. They would be more girly though. :) 

This week started off with the boys heading back to school (which they were bummed about) and Rascal won the Box tops contest.  That's always a fun way to start the week. They just have 2 weeks left before Christmas break and they are so ready to be out for a few weeks. I am too, I LOVE having all my babies home with me, even if it does mean I referee fights a lot.more. 

Baby A walked into the kitchen the other day and told me "mom this is how you are supposed to hold a car seat. " I have no idea where she learned that from but it shows how she is a natural little momma. 

Random

  Here is a random picture post for you today.

 Baby A LOVES to do whatever I do. 

Whether that be wear perfume, jewelry, makeup or in this case flat iron my hair.

 

She looks so big! She was so sweet and sat really still while I flat iron her hair in sections. If you only knew how long I have waited for days like this!!

I broke out my sewing machine for a quick nap time project. The pink top was a t-shirt that I cut and then sewed the bottom skirt to. It was SUPER easy once I figured out how to use the elastic thread. She wore it to church a few weeks ago and it even held up through the wash. That is my test on how well I did :)

 If Baby A hears me in the kitchen she comes to investigate and see if she can help.  This morning they helped me make homemade nut free granola bars. 

 I mean really can there be anything sweeter? 

 The Friday night after Valentine's day Tim took me out to dinner. We decided to try a new place out, Amerigos. Well Tim has been there for lunch but I had never been there before. I had a Chicken Tuscany pasta and he had some grilled Salmon. Our waitress was the best waitress I think I have ever had. After wards we strolled the aisles of William Sonoma and Pottery Barn Outlet.

 We have started a little downstairs bathroom renovation. I was headed one way with a theme and then once the paint was done I decided to change that. I'll share more pictures once we are done but here is a sneak peak.

 

I mean really, her dimple kills me! LOVE IT!! 

 Sweet Lucy! She's on my good side this week ;) She has her moments when I want to scream but she is just a puppy and I have to remember I got myself into this.... 

Plus how can you stay mad at that sweet little face?? 

 This is how she spends most evenings when Tim is out of town. She sits on our bed and stares at the bedroom door. She WILL NOT lay down and occasionally whimpers. Then I finally just put her in her crate and she goes on to bed. It's pitiful.

Oh look at that smile!!! She was over the top excited about coloring with markers. It drives me batty when she does because they get EVERYWHERE and she never puts the lid on tightly so they all end up drying out. It's right up there with mixing playdoh colors. Seriously it drives me insane but that sweet smile of excitement helps me forget about the small things.

But seriously markers are right up there with mixing play doh colors.Drives this momma crazy!

Random Picture Post

Baby A has started asking us to let Heidi out when we are out at night. Heidi lays down but never takes her eyes off the kids. She is such a wonderful guard dog and I think she is so beautiful. We love her!!

I have been sewing a lot lately. Here is a sweet dress I made as a baby gift. I need to get some more material and make one for Baby A. (the front of the dress is the picture below and the back of the dress is above)

Baby A loves to have her hair done. I recently permed my hair and she has been asking to get her haircut ever since. So the other day while I was cutting my family's hair, I let her get hers trimmed too. She LOVED it!!

The next week she wanted to put mousse in it and blow it dry. It looked so cute and the little flip on her left side even curled under. :)

After her haircut, since she was so great, we let her have a little treat. She LOVES cake (not like her momma on that one)!!

Baby A LOVES to help me. If I am doing laundry she wants to help, if I am wiping down the counter she wants her very own wipe, if I am washing dishes she wants to rinse them and when I unload the dishwasher she loves to put away the silverware. It ends up always looking like this (above). And I always just shut the drawer and leave it just as she left it. I have come A LONG way with my OCD!

Baby A wasn't feeling very great the other day and of course she wanted in the babyhawk. She loves for me to wear her when she is tired or sick and I LOVE to wear her. (excuse the laundry in the floor)

She laid around for a day and of course Rascal was close by to tend to her every need. The boy is CRAZY about his sister and I honestly think it kills him to see her sick or sad.

Sweet girl still clinging to me. Oh and here is a picture of my perm. I was sick of sweating to death trying to dry my long straight hair. This was is MUCH cooler!!

Rascal finished his breakfast the other morning and left a little on his plate. Waste not want not........... Baby A decided to finish off his breakfast burrito! See her crazy bed head?!?!?

Baby A's birthday outfit

I finished up making Baby A's outfit she is going to wear to her party today. I just couldn't help it....... I had to try it on her and then I just had to have some pictures too.

First let me say..... we have hit the terrible twos here already. Someone should have warned me that it is so much worse with little girls. My oh my can this little girl be dramatic!!

Taking pictures was a bit of a challenge for me. I pulled all my tricks out that I knew of to get her to smile and none of that worked. Here are a few outtakes:

Then Rascal came out and of course she smiles for him.

Except Henry totally photo bombed this sweet shot of her.

Here are a few more pictures of her tutu and shirt I made her:

Would you just look at that picture. Can we say SASSY?!?!?

I am so thrilled with the way her outfit turned out. I really didn't have a clue what I was going to put on Baby A's shirt. I just picked it up in hopes something would come to mind. Then Baby A picked out her tutu ribbon and of course she chose Minnie mouse. So after brainstorming some I landed on the idea of appliqueing Minnie mouse on her shirt and this way she can wear it after her birthday party too. She loves it a lot!!

Now I am making her baby dolls matching tutus since they are coming to her party too. :)

Random iPhone Pics

Here are a few random pictures off my cell phone lately.

Baby A has not gotten over her sinus infection yet and has been EXTREMELY clingy. So that meant I gladly pulled out my sleepy wrap and wore her around the house a few times. She still LOVES to be worn which thrills my heart like you can not imagine. Once she saw me put the sleepy wrap on she started dancing around and laughing.I put her in it and she would yell "wwweeeeee" while I was working around the house. She also found out quickly how to get me attention when being worn. She would grab handfuls of my hair and put them in my face. I would laugh which would only egg her on. So then we went in front of the bathroom mirror and got these pictures of our little play time. Yes they are not great quality but it is what you get when wearing a 16 month old ball of energy. Oh and even though these are not the best pictures of myself (since she had a ball messing up my hair....it is proof that I don't always wear my hat....the next few pictures of advent I will post later, have me wearing my hat and I promise I don't wear it everyday...just every other day ;-) )

 Sweet hugs from my sweet girl (who had just gotten told "no hitting"...she can be rough at times)

I have been sewing LOTS lately. It really is like therapy for me. I love it so much and I love finding new things to make also. I made Scooter's teacher this adorable tote for Christmas this year:

I had already made Rascal's teacher a tote earlier in the year so I decided to make her some Oreo Truffles along with some cute hand towels.  Let me tell you now....I have made several new things this year and of all the things I have made hand towels about made me quit sewing! Yes they frustrated me that much. Not sure why and I don't really think it was one certain thing but more like a couple of things together.  For some reason they just weren't coming out the way I wanted them to. So I found a new pattern and that is when they came out like this:

I also made Baby A this adorable outfit for Christmas:

Each outfit I make her I always say it is my favorite but this time I think it really is my favorite outfit I have made......so far! She wore it Sunday night to our church Christmas cantata and fellowship and she also had sweet little pigtails too. I didn't happen to get a picture of her pigtails but they were adorable and she kept them up all night too! YAY!


The boys had to go to school half a day on the 16th and that was simply filled with a big classroom Christmas breakfast. I helped out in Rascal's class with certain activities and for Scooter's class I made sausage balls and sent in treat bags. Since I knew they would get tons of candy I decided to make some simple Snowman Soup treat bags that I had seen on Pintrest. It was simply just a package of hot chocolate, 2 Hershey kisses, a mini candy cane, and some mini marshmallows.

Here are a few pictures of Baby A and Rascal at his class party:

It was pajama day so both boys wore a pair of the fleece pj pants I made them. Baby A wore her smocked nativity dress. I gotta get as much wear out of that dress as I can this season.

I didn't get any of Scooter at his party. I was trying to keep Baby A interested in her snack and not interested in Scooter's teachers things.....I can't say I was successful at that. A kindergarten classroom is much more toddler friendly than a 3rd grade classroom. She was perfectly fine lounging in their reading corner looking at books while I helped out with activities.
I am now off to try and get an advent post up. Look for it sometime today!