Hey, I can't add any pictures!  What happened?  The only options for adding pictures to my blog is to choose existing pictures on my blog, from the web, or from Picasa.  I always add them straight from my PC.  Since that's no option, I guess this will be a picture-less post (boring, I know).  I hope I won't have to break down and use Picasa, as I hate it.

In children news, there have been no self given haircuts in close to a year!  What a milestone.

Nate played The Entertainer at the Jr. High talent show this week.  He didn't win, but he did get in front of hundreds of people and played - quite an accomplishment.  He also won the outstanding trombone player out of all of the 6th grade band tonight at the Spring concert.

Matt has been bit by the reading bug.  He's currently reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Paperback Boxed Set (Books 1-3) series.  In 5th grade, they are supposed to read a book and take an AR test on it to test comprehension.  The goal is for every student to have 20 AR points a quarter.  Matt has 65 so far for this 9 weeks at the halfway point!  I also am AMAZED that this boy has found not one but TWO lost hamsters.  When I say lost, I mean they were out roaming the room for over 24 hours and he found them!!

The Collingsworth Family came to our church a couple of weeks ago.  They were an amazing musical family.  One of the daughters played the violin; which inspired Chuck to work even harder at his playing.  He is part of a strings group through school and now he is adding private lessons once a week.  He has been so excited - he met his teacher for the first time yesterday and was even happier when he saw how cute she is!

The other three are there usual crazy selves.  What more can I say?  They are the ones who keep the dog fed, feel the water bowl up, dump it out, feel it up, dump it out, etc. 

I love them all.

Azaleas

My younger three are all one year apart, so this Spring they are 6, 5, and 4.  Today, they had fun decorating a lawn chair with Azalea blooms.  Isn't it beautiful?

Of course, they thought it was a perfectplace to take some pictures; and I think they were right.

To give you an idea of how huge the Azalea bush in our front yard is, I zoomed out.  It's really 2 bushes next to each other - on the other side the blooms are white.  It's beautiful; but since we haven't trimmed it in a few years, it has gotten a bit scraggly.  Is that a word?

I have so many more pictures; but I thought I'd spare you in this post.  Stayed tuned tomorrow.

Easter

Wow, what a busy week I had.  The girls had picked out their own fabric for me to make them Easter dresses.  My week was so crazy that I didn't even start cutting out and sewing until Friday afternoon.  Of course, I picked out some crazy patterns and was completely overwhelmed.  I think they turned out great, though.  Both of these patterns came from the book to the left, Sewing Clothes Kids Love.  Being true to herself, Anna picked out some wild Amy Butler fabric that we bought from Glenna.  Molly was a little more reserved and picked a nice paisley from Hobby Lobby.  I really thought it wouldn't make a pretty dress, but once made up, I love it!

Here's the skinny on the dresses.  For the pink one, I used the Manhattan Special Occasion Dress pattern.  Let me tell you, it was a doozy.  The skirt part alone is 16 pieces; and there are just as many on the bodice.  I think it would look pretty cool with different color materials to show off the design.  The instructions were slightly unclear in some sections; mainly because the pattern pieces aren't marked well.  Well, the name of each piece is marked well; just not which direction it should go. It is fully lined, so it can be reversible; although I didnt put any loops on the lining so you can cinch it up in the back the other way.  It is way too loose without the ribbon in the back.  This pattern also runs big.  I made Molly the size 3T/4T and she usually wears a 5.

Anna's dress is made with the Feliz Party Dress pattern.  This dress ended up being heavy by the time I added all the ruffles in the back, but she loves it and wants to wear it everywhere.  She is begging to go to Disney to meet Alice in this dress.  She picked a blue fabric since that is what Alice wears, you know, and she thinks Alice would love this dress.  I want to make this dress again, but leave the overdress part off and I think it would be cuter.

More pictures of Bessie (upper left), Jo (upper right), and Mattie (bottom).  Here's to weeks of enjoyment and hoping for no little dwarf hamster babies!

We might just be the stupidest 2 people in. the. world.

I can't believe we got talked into this. 

Chuck's class got a gerbil as a class pet this past week.  He has been BEGGING for his own gerbil ever since.  We finally gave in tonight to just take them to the pet store just to look; and we came home with not one, but three dwarf hamsters.  Derek was the one who was so hard to convince; but he seems to be the one enjoying them the most.

They are supposedly all girls.  The one at the top is Jo and belongs to Nate.  She is by far the fattest and laziest.  He bought the cage with his birthday money, so these gals are going to stay in his room and he promises to clean the cage and do everything that needs to be done to take care of them.  How long do you think that will last?  The little lady in the picture above is Mattie and she belongs to Matt.  He, of course, named his pet after himself.  I think she might be the smartest, as she was the first to figure the wheel out.  And lastly, we have Bessie, the psycho of the group who tries to escape anytime Chuck gets her out of the cage.  You can tell by her disheveled hair and crazy eyes that she's trouble.

What I've been up to

Well this has been a craptastic couple of months.  We have been more sick this season than ever before, I think.  The past two weeks we've had a combo of viruses attack.  Some kind of stomach bug and than another virus with a fever for a few days followed by an insane amount of coughing.  Boy #2 stayed home last Friday from school, boy #1 stayed home Monday, and now boy #3 has been home the past two days.  We have an old house that the windows have been painted shut, so no airing it out.

The good news, though, is .... Spring has sprung in Georgia!  I've been able to leave the doors open and the kids have been non stop outside (when they're not running a fever).  Here is some shots of their new favorite pastime.

There happens to be some dried out vines hanging from one of our trees in the backyard.  The kids moved a play castle underneath to reach it good and then do their best Tarzan move.  I know it's pretty hard to see my boy; with his camo on he blends right in.

More good news - I got a job!  It's part time and working from home.  The kids have already spent my upcoming paychecks for me.  They are wanting to save them up and go to Disney World.  Guess who the girls are wanting to see the most there?  You'd think Cinderella, Ariel, or Belle, right?  Nope, they want to see Alice from Alice in Wonderland.  They LOVE that movie.  Can you imagine what a trip to Disney for 8 would cost?  I don't want to.


Of all this, I think the thing I'm most excited about is the 5th and final Fablehaven book is coming today!  Did I tell you how much I have enjoyed this series?  I'm telling you, it's Harry Potter good.  It came out yesterday and my UPS guy should be bringing to my door around 5ish.  I hate being the last one on his route.  Alas, I know what I'll be doing tonight and for the next couple of days!

If you like fantasies, or have kids who love to read - these are some great, clean books.  Two thumbs up from me.

If you have kids, I'm sure you've found them sleeping in some crazy spots.  This one tickled me enough to grab the camera and I'm sure my eight year old won't appreciate me putting this on the blog, but what can he do?

When my husband went to check on the kids, Charlie wasn't in his bedroom.  He found him in his older brother's in a toy bucket.  Isn't that funny?  And look Mom- the rag quilts are being used!

Skew Socks

I thought the socks were going to be the death of me.  I fell in love with the Skew sock pattern on Knitty when it came out a couple of weeks ago.  When I looked on Ravelry and saw the close to 400 versions of Skew by other knitters, I was inspired.  I found the perfect yarn and set off. 

This is how my adventure set off.  Cast on for my first toe up and it was a little exciting learning a new cast on.  Darn, I dropped a stitch - had to unravel and start again.  Drat, the stinking perfect color yarn splits like crazy and with all those increases it's driving me crazy; dropped another stitch and had to start again.  Decided to move to DPNs since they're a tad more pointy on the end.  Finally get past the 8th or 9th round and have crazy huge ladders, frog yet again and start over for about the 6th time.  Decide to use another yarn that won't split so much.  Takes 3 hours to wind 400 yards of yarn because I have still not bought a yarn winder.  Finally cast on with new yarn, and decide to use 47 inch size 2 circulars by the 7th round, realize I have one more stitch on one side than the other; since I'm not too far into the sock decide I'd rather frog again than backstitch.  Cast on for 30th time, probably about 10 rounds into it, pull tight at join to keep the nasty ladders away and my STINKING YARN breaks!!!  I finally did get it started and going great, once I was up to 72 stitches, I changed to my new HiyaHiya 9 inch size 1 needle.  It is now going along great and I lurve the 9 inch needle.  Did you notice I started with a size 2 needle?  Well I didn't mean too, and with all the problems I had I wasn't about to start over yet again.  Yes, I can tell - hopefully it won't feel crazy once they're done and all cute on my feet.  Look at the top left side and you can see the point when I changed to the appropriate needle size.

Now that I've complained about my stupidity with trying to start these socks over and over and over again, let me tell you how cool these socks are.  I love the way it's coming together and I love the Zen Yarn I changed to.  I can't wait to see how they turn out.  I'll leave you with one more picture to see the side view.

Poncho

I finished this last year, but never did add the fringe and never did show it to you all.  It's the children's poncho  pattern made with Knitpicks merino wool (so soft).  I started making it last year for my youngest, and when it was finished; she, of course, hated it and refused to wear it.  Red did, however, loves it; but it's a little too small for her, especially the neck opening. 

It was my first time using Knitpicks yarn, and let me tell you - I wasn't dissappointed.  It is so soft, and got even softer after washing it.

More on hair and more on *BOOKS*!

I mentioned a few posts back that my little one cut her hair again.  I thought I'd put a picture to show how minor this one was; hence my forgetting to tell my Mom about it.

Do you see the little chunk missing where I pointed the arrow?  You might also notice what a horrible job I did on trimming her bangs.  The good news is, with a rubber band in her hair and me properly using the scissors to fix her bangs, you can hardly notice the blunt cut she made.

Allright, so enough about hair this week.  Let's move on to books.  You may have noticed that I added the Amazon widgets on my sidebar.  I am going to try to make a few cents with this.  So .... if you ever need to place an order through Amazon; please do it through my blog to help me fulfill my wish list.  That means you Kim, Rhonda, and Darla - I know you all love Amazon as much as I do.

I've been reading a lot lately and have read a few ho hummers; the best by far that I've read in a few months has been a kid's series that my son has devoured.  It's called Fablehaven and so far there are 4 books with the 5th coming out next month.  I would say it is equally good as Harry Potter.  They are packed FULL of adventure and excitement.  If you and your child is looking for a great new book by an up and coming author, check out Fablehaven (Boxed Set): Fablehaven; Rise of the Evening Star; Grip of the Shadow Plague.  I'm on the 3rd book and am having a hard time putting it down to do my housework.

New book!

If you've read my blog for long, you'll know that I lurve Farbenmix patterns. Now Sabine Pellohn and Nancy Langdon have written a book! I got it a couple of weeks ago when I was down with the flu and it certainly lifted my spirits; even though I didn't feel like pulling myself up off the couch to sew.

It has 10 patterns in it including the Feliz Party Dress which I'm dying to sew for my girls. I think that will be their Easter dress this year; and I'm hoping to stop by Glenna's to buy some Amy Butler Love to make it with.

There's lots of other very frilly and funky patterns in this book with very colorful images. And true to the European fashion, they use very crazy fabric combos. I'll definitely tone down the things I make, but I know I'll be getting a lot of use out of this book.

I *love* this little girl

This little sweet thing is my youngest. I don't know if I've ever met anybody who loves life more than her. I'm telling you she is one crazy child from the things she wears to the way she wears her hair - she fixed it herself in the above photo. I probably failed to mention that she yet, again, cut a chunk out of her hair last week. It's become so common place that I forget to share it with people anymore. She begged me to shave it off like I did her older brother's hair. When I offered to take her to the beauty shop to get it in a bob, she declined saying she wanted very long hair now.

Today she has been carrying around a boom box (do they still call them that?) around with her from room to room listening to Weird Al Yankovich. Her favorite song is one called Jurassic Park that she knows all the words to and one day I'll catch her on video singing at the top of her lungs. Her second favorite that I've heard 40 times today is Bohemian Polka; it's Bohemian Rhapsody sung to a polka beat and let me tell you from experience, it can grow a little tiring.

I can have her showered and "super shiny clean", as my redhead would say, and within 5 minutes she will look like she's been dragged through the woods by a pack of wolves. She climbs onto the counters looking for candy or snacks in the upper cabinets and if she can't find anything, she'll grab a spoon and eat sugar directly out of the bag.

She drives me crazy sometimes, but I'm so glad she's my daughter. She truly keeps me on my toes and makes life FUN. Plus, she gives the best hugs!

haircut

My poor boy looks so cute with longer hair and I love it. It reminds me of Joey what's his face from "Gimme a Break". Do you remember that show? He always begs me to cut it, and I will only trim as I see fit. Well, it had gotten even too long for my likes. He has asked me for the past week to please cut his bangs because they were in his eyes. I finally cut just the bangs yesterday and he looked like a little Amish boy; so I had to give him a full on proper haircut tonight. I must admit, he's pretty cute with a spiked up do, too.

Happy Valentine's Day

We have had a great weekend! It started with a four day President's Day weekend for the kids. Then we had a great snowfall on Friday. We usually don't get much snow here in the south. But it just kept falling and falling and was so beautiful.



The kids had so much fun playing, and Charlie got to make his first snow angel. Three of the boys even made a snowman all by themselves. I think the pine straw and leaves mixed in from our unkempt yard add a special touch.



The best surprise of all, though, was when the these arrived on my doorstep Friday afternoon from my Valentine. Aren't they pretty? I think they are the most beautiful flowers I've ever got.



We had Filet Mignon tonight for a special Valentine's Day dinner by candlelight. The kids thought that was the best thing ever and wondered why we don't do that every night.

The best part of all is .... they're predicting more snow tomorrow!!!

Flu

The flu struck our house last week. It got half of the children and me; and a few of us are still feeling the effects.

Some of the few things that helped me make it through the week were my fleece gown my Mom made me several years ago, the butt ugly but oh so warm wool socks I made, and the hot tea my brother in law, Robert, brought me back from a business trip to India. The leaves looked an awful lot like spinach after steeping; but was a delicious green tea that soothed my aching throat.