Hoping to adopt

Our friends, Daniel & Laura, are trying to adopt a baby. (They want everyone to know that they are not teenagers.) They aren't as young as they look. They have both completed college, love to travel, and spend time with family. You can tell by looking at them that they truly adore each other as husband and wife. For a long time, Laura has dreamed of being a mother. Daniel & Laura have struggled with infertility. Despite this she has prepared a nursery & baby supplies for her future baby. She's ready! We know one day, she will get her wish and be an amazing mom to her sweet baby.

If you know of anyone considering adoption, please pass on their information. Their profile can be found (click)here.

That just about sums it up

I heard a real gem while at Walmart this morning. I know that you must think I am crazy going to the super center the day after Christmas. I ventured out because we absolutely had to restock on the necessities in our house, Dr. Pepper and toilet paper.

While I was there I noticed a frazzled mom who had enough of her 7 year old daughter's grumbling about wanting more toys, the day after Christmas, while on their grocery trip in the store. Finally, she loudly proclaims, "If you're not happy with what you got for Christmas, I can take all your crap back." (Except she didn't say crap) I know I should have been more disappointed at her cursing at her 1st grader, but I couldn't help but secretly applaud her. I assure you, it was awesome.

Family Resemblance?

I've gotten a lot of comments on my parenting skills this week. The 5 year old we reside with is sick and tired of not getting enough candy or presents with every shopping trip and has had it up to his red head about our vegetable policy. I didn't realize his resentment would spill over to wish for new parents.

Today, Adam had a play date with his 4 year old friend, Troy. For entertainment, Adam was showing off one special photo Christmas card to his friend. It is the one of our friends Dylan & Paige (pictured above.)

Troy asked, "Who are they"

Adam responded proudly, "That's my mom and dad"

Troy looked puzzled. Even he could tell there was something not quite right about that statement.

As I dispelled the truth that the card was not of us, he said, "oh, well that guy has the same sweater as my dad."

There you have it. Apparently if you start to dress like us, you gain custody of our child.

Oh, and Dylan & Paige how about visitation every other weekend and 1 month in the summer? I figured we could just split Adam's college tuition.

Another Hair Bow Holder

This one is for my sweet niece Elizabeth. I've got a few new bows on it already for her!

I'm a skateboard rider!

Pappaw had some extra skateboards at his house and let Adam pick his favorite to bring home.

He's had a great time with it!

Hadley at 6 mos.

Hadley turned 6 mos. old on November 7th. She would smile really big right after I took the picture, or right before, but not during. This is the best I could get!

I have misplaced the paper that had her height, but she is 14 lbs. 2 oz. Adam was 18 lbs. at 6 mos. so carrying around Hadley is still a lot easier!

Girl's Night Out Craft Class

Our annual Girl's Night Out Craft Class will be Friday, Dec. 4 6:30-9:30 pm.

Deadline to register is Tues. Nov 17.

A always feel free to invite any crafty lady you know. This year's crafts are super easy (aside from the lap board) Please no children.

Wooden Advent Calendar: $7.00/$6.50 for 2 or more

Merry & Bright Charger Plate: $5.50

Tis the Season Frame: $5.50 Please bring an 8x10 frame.
Price includes vinyl & ribbon. Frame not included.

Tis the Season Glass Block: $15

Flower Mirror: $6.50. Contact me for more color options/embellishments available

Monogram Hair Bow Holders: $8.50. Contact me for more color/embellishment choices

Fabric covered Lap Board: $12

This is the most difficult project.

Fabric choices: Camo (boys), Zebra Print (girls), or Mod Dots (girl)

Marshmallow shooters: $5.50/2 or more $5 each

Paint colors may vary.

Toasted Cinnamon Walnuts

I found this recipe from allrecipes.com. It got overall good reviews, but every person that commented said they added something to make the recipe great. So I thought, I'll just add all these ingredients together and it will be really good. And they were! I had walnuts on hand, so I used those to test out the recipe. I think it would work with any nut.

Ingredients:

1 egg white

1 tspn. vanilla

1/3 cup cooled, melted butter

3-4 cups walnuts/almonds/pecans

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 tspn. salt

1 tspn. cinnamon (more could be added if you like cinnamon)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to a low 250 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet, or layer it with parchment paper.

2. In a medium-large bowl lightly beat the egg with a whisk, add vanilla, and beat until frothy, but not stiff. Add the melted butter, and beat again. Add the nuts and stir until well coated.

3. Mix the sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Sprinkle over the nuts. Toss to coat, and spread evenly in one layer on the prepared pan.

4. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes, until golden. Allow to cool. Store in an airtight container.

And the biscuits flew out the door...

I'm a spectacular cook. This morning, when Adam came into my room at 6:30 am requesting a cereal bar that he is capable of grabbing without me, I thought now is the perfect time to display my culinary skills.

Nothing gets me out of bed as happily as hearing different ranges of "mommy, mo-ommy, mah-me!" before the sun gets up.

I was already cheerful as I popped open a can of biscuits and plopped them down on the cookie sheet. While I was masterfully cooking breakfast, I was simulteanously able to reconstruct an entire lego helicopter for a busy red head.

Somehow I missed the timer indicating the biscuits being done, and before I knew it our meal was perfectly cajun style. I thought the biscuits might still be slightly edible, if we pulled off the top...and the bottoms...and possibly some of the edges. While I was letting them cool on the stove, the smoke detector went off.

I found that while Jared can sleep through Adam's morning wakeup call, he will not sleep through the ultimate alarm clock.

It wasn't even 7 am yet, and to regain order some days the biscuits just end up out the door. Thank heavens for Eggo waffles and a sweet husband.

Garage Sale Day

I woke up this morning, and thought let's have a garage sale. We've had tons of stuff piling up in our garage & thought we'd get rid of some of it.

Adam was my helper today. He was great at helping our "customers" as he called them. In fact, if they didn't stop by, he'd chase them down and ask, "Why don't you want to come to my garage sale!?"

Adam couldn't help himself by making all of his observations known about our paying visitors. I on the other hand found myself unprepared to answers his frequent loud remarks.

He went right up to our first customer to tell him that he looked "grumpy." I'll give the kid one thing, he's got guts. He said it right to the man's face. I just let the man have all the items in his hands for a quarter.

Later, during our morning rush he wanted to immediately know "Do all brown people speak Spanish? I want to speak Spanish. No, never-mind I just want to talk regular." It was even less appropriate since the family he was referring to were from India.

(Just so you know, we later had a discussion about how everyone is different, and anyone can speak any language they take the time to learn, regardless of the color of their skin. Such as Daddy speaks Portuguese, & Uncle Aaron speaks Spanish.)

It was a productive few hours and we reclaimed some much needed space in our garage. We got rid of almost everything. However, if anyone needs an exercise bike or 52 Happy Meal toys, I've got the hook-up.

Adam turns 5!

Adam turned 5 today. Every year Adam has to wait until his real birthday to get his birthday present from us. Adam got up really early and was excited to get his TRIO castle set he'd been wanting. We celebrated by having playgroup at McDonald's, and having dinner at Chili's with the grandparents. He was thrilled when the waitress asked him to stand up his chair so they could sing happy birthday to him. His face was priceless! He ate his favorite chocolate molten chocolate cake for dessert and left to spend the night with pappaw & grandma. We had a good time. (Notice the self-inflicted injury under his nose from earlier in the week. Last year on his birthday he poked his eye with a stick, this year nose. I predict next year will be his chin.)

Things about Adam at 5:

Adam is a sweet & silly boy. He gives the best hugs & kisses. Adam's favorite color is green, unless someone he loves tells him they like another color. Then he switches to their favorite. Adam goes to pre-k two times a week. He is learning so much. He knows all the sounds of all the letters. He is excited to tell me all the words that start with a certain letter. We are constantly amazed that he's right about it. I love to read him bedtime stories in the brown chair every night. It's the one time of day he is calm & quiet. He loves for me to tell him stories from when I was a kid. Adam's hair is crazy. He has a double cow-lick in the back and we can never get it to lay just right. Somehow it suits his personality. He still calls waffles - "wockles" and I never correct him because it's the only word he doesn't say correctly anymore. Once he says it right, he'll somehow stop being a little boy. Adam loves cartoons, and all things boy. He likes to run around the house and yell, "Boo!" He loves to run, and love to race us. If he notices one of us passing him by, he'll stick out his arm as he is running to try to keep us back. He's not patient, but neither am I. We are both working on that, probably by living with each other. Adam loves to help with cooking, and loves hot chocolate & treats. I can't imagine our life without our boy.

Hairbow Holders

I made a few hair bow holders for my nieces Alyssa & Savannah.

Alyssa's is older, so I made hers from a cork board. I figured in a few years when she is out of bows she can still use this to thumbtack her favorite pictures & papers.

Wrap 5/8 yard of fabric around a cork board with no frame. Hot glue fabric on the back. Use 2 different color ribbons in a pattern. Only hot glue ribbon on the edge & the back. If you glue the ribbon to the front of the fabric you can't clip hairbows on.

For Savannah's I used a wooden letter that I painted pink. I hot glued a butterfly woodsie to the front. I found some coordinating ribbon and glued it to the back. I think I'm going to add some glitter glue to edge of the "S" for a little sparkle to finish it off.

My son, my son

Last night Adam found another way to injure himself. He truly is all boy.

About a month ago he tried to climb the laundry basket to get something off his single wall shelf. In the process, slipped, and pulled the entire shelf off the wall, including all the shelf's contents onto him.

Because I'm such an excellent parent I immediately went out and bought new wall anchors and secured the shelf back to the wall that day. Yeah, right.

Unfortunatley, I left the long wooden shelf on his window seat. 30 days is the maximum number of days that a young boy can be tempted, and not act.

Last night he decided he could lean this shelf on his window seat and it would give him a long ramp to run up on. At least that is how it went in his mind not understanding the laws of gravity. In reality, the board slipped out with the weight of an extra 46 lb. kid on it. It slipped down lunging Adam's nose squarely on his window seat.

I heard screams from his bedroom while I was cooking dinner. I immediately thought, please don't be blood, please don't be blood. (Moms of boys will understand this.) I ran to check on him to find him holding his nose with blood all over his hands.

He asked me, "Am I bleeding?"
I said, "No, not very much at all. There's just a little blood." (I lied, Adam freaks out if he sees any blood.)

Luckily, it ended up being a lot of blood for a little cut right under his nose.

What I don't understand is how he gets sidetracked so easily. He was helping me cook dinner. He likes to help cook dinner. I sent him to wash his hands. He went down the hall, and somehow passed up the bathroom, and set up the circus ring in his room in about 45 seconds. Here's hoping Hadley isn't a Houdini. I can't take two kids like that!

Trunk or Treat

Here are some pictures of our little pirates this past weekend before our church Trunk or Treat.

5 Months old

Hadley turned 5 months old today. She's rocking the scales at 12 lbs. 7 oz. and is 25 1/2 inches long. She is such a happy baby! She can roll over back to tummy and now tummy to back. She can roll all over our living room. Hadley loves to eat rice cereal. She has started pulling her knees up under her tummy and rocking back and forth. We are absolutely not ready for her to start crawling! I'm hoping we'll luck out and get a few more months before she puts it all together. She loves being around her big brother and he makes her have the biggest smiles.

The New American Doll

This morning I am getting ready to sub. I'm lamenting my cause of absolutely no pants that fit post Hadley.

I had a pair of semi-maternity pants that I thought looked pretty good. However, the two times I wore them I got asked, "Are you pregnant!" After the 2nd time, they went on the burn pile.

I've been wearing dresses. This morning however I found that even the small pile of dresses are laying in the dirty clothes basket. Someone failed to do laundry. I think it was Adam. I was able to find one dress, only one, that I could throw a sweater over and not freeze at recess today.

As I was sitting here checking my email, I happened to hear on tv about the new American Girl Doll. Her name is also Gwen. She also only comes with one dress...because she's homeless. I hope my life doesn't keep parallelling American Girl dolls.

However, I am taking appointments if anyone wants to spend $100 to play with me.

The Subsitute Teacher

I've been substitute teaching a lot lately. It's actually been fun to be around pther people's kids again, but every day I've been reminded of how much I have forgotten since elementary school.

This week I had to ask the neighboring teacher what a preticate is.

Last week I subbed for a 1st grade bilingual class. The assignment was to write their Spanish spelling words two times each. Looking at the list I realized I possessed far less knowledge than a group of six year olds.

I had them tell me the meaning of each word, you know, to review their translation skills.

I did take a few years of Spanish in high school and college, so I was confident in my ability to use the correct pronunciation as I read down the list of Spanish words. I racked my brains when I came to the last word, "puma." For the life of me I couldn't think of what this Spanish word could be. Finally, I asked the kids, now what is this word, "puma"? I assure you it was prounounced with bilingual gusto.

The answer, "you know, it's a big, black cat that lives in the jungle."

Keep in mind, I am certified to teach in the state of Texas.

Halloween Crayons

I know I've done a recycled crayon tutorial on here before but, this way is way easier than the candy molds. I've seen online where people have used muffin tins to recycle crayons. I've always wanted to try it but, never wanted to take the plunge in case it ruined my pan. I was at Hobby Lobby this week and saw this wilton halloween pan. I had a 40 off coupon and decided to go for it. I'm glad I did they turned out adorable! We are going to pass these out for Adam's pre-k class next month for Halloween/Adam's birthday (if we are allowed).

This pan worked great because the individual cavities were a little deeper than candy molds.

Step 1: Peel all your crayons, and break into pieces.

Step 2: Spray pan with non-stick cooking spray. Wipe any excess.

Step 3: Put crayons in pan. We needed 4-5 crayons per individual cavitity. As you can see, we didn't have enough this batch.

Step 4: Bake at 275, for 7-8 minutes

...and wait.

Let the crayons completely cool, flip the pan over and they'll fall right out.

The best part it didn't damage my pan. I was extremely careful though in pulling them out of the oven so I didn't get hot crayon splashes on my pan. You could also just turn off the oven a couple minutes early and let them cool as the oven cools. If you can wait that long!

Phew....

The other day Adam asked me, "when is my baby brother going to be in your tummy?"

I got really nervous for a minute because I remembered back when he was convinced, and was correct, that Hadley was going to be a girl. Just for the record, mom and dad are ready to be done. I started thinking, I seriously hope he doesn't know something we don't.

Out of curiousity I asked him, "well how many brothers and sisters do you think you are supposed to have?"

His answer, "14." He had it all planned out on where 14 additional children would sleep in our house. Although, in his plan he still gets to keep his room and everyone else in the house has to bunk up.

After that I was relieved that he wasn't receiving some spiritual prompting because I know we aren't supposed to have 14 kids. Can you imagine?! We will stick with two. Although we sure could use the money from our own reality show.

Female Bonding?

Tonight Jared went to hang out with his friend Aaron. Adam asked me what they were going to go do. I honestly didn't know for sure so I just said, "they're going to do guy stuff." He excitedly told me, "...and we get to do WOMAN's stuff!?"

Adam's First Day of Pre-K

Adam is going to pre-k on Monday's & Wednesdays. He absolutely loves it and couldn't stop talking about all the things he got to do. The sun was a little bright so the outside picture is a little squinty eyed.

Nap Mat

I made a very simple nap mat for Adam at pre-k. This was pretty easy and I was able to finish it in an afternoon. Luckily, I had most of the supplies for this in my craft bin. I did end up needing some fleece for the blanket but, I had everything else. So it was also cheap too!

It folds up really nice too.

Job Skills

I'm off to my very first day of subbing...ever. I taught elementary art for five years but, it's been over two years since I've been in a classroom. Heaven help the kids. I hope make a pinata is on the sub plans. I can really rock at papier mache.

It's Settled

We're going to be pirates. I found some stuff at the thrift store yesterday that we can turn into costumes. Does anyone have any pirate accessory items?

Halloween Costumes

Adam puts in his request for his birthday parties themes and Halloween costumes early in the year. Now that we are getting closer to the fall, I am ready to start thinking about both those events, which happen to be one day apart.

One quick search on the internet shows why I will have to have the extra time to make or modify our costumes again this year. The only modest costume I was able to find is completely innappropriate for our church trunk or treat.

...although maybe the kids could be the safety outlet covers.

I'm also mortified that this costume, "Robyn da Hood" is considered a plus size costume.
Geez, this model is such a fatty, go on a diet already.
Seriously, I'm getting grossed out just looking at you.

I've got my work cut out for me.

Guess who's rolling over!

Hadley is 3 1/2 mos. This week she really figured out rolling over. The second I put her on her back, she rolls right over to her tummy. She hasn't quite gotten the rolling over from her tummy to her back yet. I can't believe how much she is growing. Tonight I was rocking her and instead of sleeping she was just jabbering to me. I have no idea what she was trying to tell me but, she gave me an earful of her sweet baby talk.

The boy smiles

Adam has been camera shy lately. Tonight he let me get a picture of him. He looks so big to me in this picture. What happened to my little boy?

For those of you who are gamblers: Tomorrow I have a follow up doctor's visit. Adam has to go with me. I am bribing him with all the PEZ he can cram into his mouth if he will just sit outside the room for a few minutes. What are the odds that Adam will stay outside the door while I have my examination? I hope his cheeky smile doesn't see my cheeky smile.

all to save $14

Jared & I have been looking carefully at our budget to see what is needed and what isn't. It's hard to give up those things we have come accustomed to as necessities (even though they really aren't.) It's been frustratingly hard to be a grown up where all our money goes to honor our debts of boring stuff like student loans, hospital bills, diapers, etc. I know we are not unique in our financial situation.

It's been a mixed blessing as it has forced us to get creative in our activities. We've spent more time as a family at our (free) neighborhood pool, reading books, playing games, and just having conversations. We listen to more music and watch less tv, which dramatically changes the dynamic of our home.

It's not always easy to cut back, sometimes just because the forces that be, want you to keep spending. Point in case today. We want to get rid of our home phone service because we have the cell phone. Really, it's silly for us to pay for both when the only time we really use our home phone is when our cell battery is dead. That's an expensive price to pay for forgetfulness!

You'd think I could call and just cancel it. First, I got the new guy. I patiently understand there is a learning curve in every new job. However, after 43 minutes on the phone with him and still not having my situation resolved, I politely asked to speak to a supervisor. We were getting no where and it was obvious it was due to his lack of knowledge of the products/services they offered. That and after numerous times of me spouting off comments, "I want to save money" and "I want to get rid of my home phone" he responded with scripted phrases, "Would you like to add u-verse tv!?" and "Do you use the auto-redial feature on your phone?" I didn't get into the fact we've really cut back on tv and does it really matter if I use auto-redial if I am planning on disconnecting? Speaking of disconnecting -guess who gets disconnected after this lengthy dialogue. I call back. This time I speak to agent that is much more informed and we get it worked out in 10 minutes, which I am thinking was mostly her trying to undo what the other guy did. Somehow he got us on a metro line, which he failed to tell us would change our home phone number. All in all, we found that since we have other services through the same company, completely disconnecting our home phone would eliminate the bundle discount we've been receiving and we'll actually be paying $2 more a month to not have a home phone. This agent was able to downgrade our home phone service and we'll save $14 a month. We no longer have voice mail but, we still have caller id so I can still screen your phone calls.

Mid-Week, ugh

Today, I really felt the "hurt" on not eating out.

I made a Target run this morning, and despite eating a small breakfast at home, Chick-fil-a was beckoning my name. It didn't hurt that the munchkin was making the same suggestion from the backseat. Man, I love those chicken mini's.

I resisted and found a bag of mini croissants at Target instead, which we can use the rest with tomorrow's tuna fish sandwiches for lunch. I thought if I could just make it into the store that I was in the clear. Yet temptation still lurked just inside the walls of Target. Oh Starbucks grande hot chocolate with caramel -- why do you torture me?! Yes, I know you would be delicious with my bag of mini croissants. I have to admit that I did weigh the options. Technically I wasn't going through a drive thru, and technically it was inside a store. (Remember my earlier rule that I could get whatever I wanted it just had to be from the store?) I figured justification wasn't the answer. I also remembered last night when Jared considered watching tv just for 30 minutes because he was just going to be sitting feeding Hadley a bottle. He told me he wasn't going to (and I hope he didn't.) I thought if he could do without so could I. Afterall, it's not like I couldn't have hot chocolate, we have an entire box here at home. It's mid week and I'm starting to feel the crunch of breaking bad habits.

If you see us at McD's later, I'm still sticking to the program. I am hoping that my frequent patronage of previous drive thru visits have earned my kids some free play time.

I'm my new favorite restauarant

I've done really well at eating at home. Tonight I made an awesome meal from my friend's Summer's blog. I modified a few things based what I had on hand. Summer calls this a Hawaiian meal. I have dubbed it the diabetes starter kit because there is a ton of sugar in all of it, which is why it is so delicious.

Check out her blog first to see the real way to do it. Here are my modifications. You are supposed to use sweetened condensed milk in the coconut bread. A full can cost over $1.50 but, you only need 3 tbs of it. I didn't have any use for the rest of it right now and didn't want to spend the money when I would only need a small amount. I know, I am a cheapskate. I just upped the sugar I had on hand, and it still tasted amazing.

Hawaiian Coconut Bread:
This stuff is amazing!!
1 pkg. of Sis. Shubert's yeast rolls
10 oz. of Coconut Milk (buy two 13 oz cans total if you plan on making rice too)
1 cup white sugar
1-2 tbsp brown sugar
* mix coconut milk & sugar together and pour over rolls. Cook in oven per package directions. This makes a ton of milk, I just used the extra for the rice.

Coconut Rice
1 pkg. boil in bag rice
1 quart of coconut milk & water (I used 1 new can, the remainder from the rolls that already had sugar added & finished the rest of the quart off with water)
dash of salt
* cook rice in coconut milk, water, & salt

Grilled Pineapple:
Check out Summer's Blog for directions.

Chicken Kabobs:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Lawry's (liquid) Teriyaki marinade (already includes pineapple juice used in Summer's Recipe)
1 pineapple (I used some of the grilled pineapple from above)
1 pepper (and any other veggies you like: squash, red onion, mushrooms, etc)
2 TB brown sugar *optional

Cut chicken breasts into chunks and add to marinade & sugar for 3 hours. Cut pineapples and vegetables into chunks and skewer, alternating with chicken. Grill until chicken is cooked through.

*Instead of grilling kabobs & pineapple I just threw them on a cookie sheet lined with foil. I cooked it at 350 until chicken was done about 15-20 minutes.

I can't wait to eat this for lunch tomorrow! It sure makes eating at home easier.

Cutting Back

Jared & I have realized that there are things that are sucking our time & our money away from us. We've each challenged ourselves to cut back on a personal "excess" this week. Jared decided he was not going to watch any tv for an entire week. (I can't help but notice this isn't on a UFC week.) I don't watch tv the same way Jared does. I rarely sit down and just watch tv. The tv may be on but, I'm folding laundry, feeding kids, doing dishes, etc. So for me, it's not such a time-sucker. I'm trying to support him in his efforts and watch it less as well. Really, in the summer most things are re-runs anyway. It's sad that we still watch something that we've seen before, could quote lines from the episode, and predict the ending. It's been nice to not have the background noise of the tv while we are eating dinner or doing other family things together. Jared has already noticed that he has more time to things then he previously thought he did.

I am a fast food addict, mostly for it's convenience and my desire to get out the house once a day. My challenge is to not eat out for an entire week. Not even a quick Dr. Pepper from McDonald's. (Which by the way, the new one at Heritage Trace charges $1.99 for a large DP.) I've decided I can still have any food/drink I want but, I've got to go to the store and buy it. I'm embarrassed to say that I spent $46.19 on food & drinks at fast food places last week. It was always $5-$10 a time, but it adds up. It seems to me to be a ridiculous amount when you consider that's a little less than half our grocery budget for the week. I know sometimes it's necessary to eat on the road but, my goal this week is to do better about planning ahead so we can eat something at home, or something from home on the road. I'm trying to do better about planning actual activities instead of using the drive-thru as an excuse to get out of the house. If I can make it an entire week Jared is going to take me to a nice dinner this weekend for date night.

I changed my mind...

Adam ran up to me today and told me very seriously, "Mom, I changed my mind." I asked him, "about what?" His reply, "I don't want to be a policeman anymore, I want to be a tow-truck man!" For a boy that loves his hotwheels, and recently checked out 3 books from Grandma Ann's library about tow trucks, it probably sounds like a dream job for a 4 year old.

Hadley @ 3 months

Hadley turned 3 months on Aug. 7. Here's the newest picture of her. As usual, Adam has no interest in picture taking these days. I'm not up on her exact height & weight but, I know she's growing. She's still on the small side weight wise but, has gotten long. This week she's discovered she has feet and loves to grab for them. She's pretty much replaced her pacifier with sucking her thumb. Hadley has started to get into looking at toys, and loves her bouncy seat that has the toys she can grab and kick at. It seems like once she hit 3 mos. she started becoming more aware of her environment. I can't believe she's already 3 mos.

Hair Cut Time

Every time I'm pregnant my hair grows ridiculously fast. Even though Hadley is almost 3 mos. old, my hair is so thick I can't do anything with it. It's been so hot that I've been pulling it up into a pony tail. Which is not a style if you do it every day, and you are over 30. (No offense to other guilty parties.) My sister came for a visit with adorable hair, and it's been giving me the urge to go do something to mine. The only thing holding me back is choosing the wrong style. As evidence: here's the hairstyle I not only chose but, paid for immediately after having Adam.

Exhibit A:
Keep in mind, this is the styled (a.k.a "winged") version of this hairstyle.

Exhibit B:This is the everyday version of this hairstyle.

Which reminds me a lot of the hairstyle Juliette Lewis had during
the 1999 movie "The Other Sister"If you are my friend now, stop laughing. If you were my friend four years ago, you're fired. You should have had an intervention. It's obvious I can't be trusted.

Look alike?

While I was at the store last week, a stranger told me that "my kids looked so much a like." While I see a few minor similarities, I don't see a strong resemblance between Adam & Hadley. Adam has always been all boy, big, red head, dimples, and brown eyes. Hadley on the other hand is petite, brown hair, with blue eyes. I see red undertones in her hair, and she has dimples when she smiles but, overall I think they look completely different. I decided to dig out some baby pictures of both of them, and I think their baby pictures look very similar. So maybe they'll turn out looking like they belong to the same family as Hadley gets older.

Adam

Hadley

Jean Jacket Tutorial

I've had some friends ask, so here's directions on how to make your own jean jacket -

This project can be super cheap, or really expensive. You need a lot of different fabrics, ribbons, and thread. If you are a crafter you've probably got stuff that will work laying around your house. If you have to go buy all that stuff for this one project, it can get pricey. I got Hadley's jean jacket at a garage sale for $1. I've also gotten them at kid's resale shops like kid to kid for under $5. I sew a lot on this project. If you don't plan on washing this, just whip out the glue gun. It will be faster, easier, cheaper, and with far less cursing.

Materials:

- Jean jacket

- 4 coordinating fabrics - 1/8 yard each, or fat quarters. You really only need four 6 x 6" scraps but, since the smallest amount you can buy is 1/8 yard - that will be the cheapest if you don't have scraps laying around

- double sided fusible webbing - approximately 1/3 yard

- ball fringe - 1 yard or less

- Ribbon - various colors, various sizes

- Buttons or flowers for embellishments

- Blue thread that matches your jean jacket

- Thread(s) that coordinates to your color of fabric

Directions:

Step 1: Take a piece of paper and cut your big shape (that will fit onto the back of your jacket.) I did an irregular shape, while Maegan did a large rectangle. (I'm sure she'll have pictures on her blog as soon as it's done.) Then I randomly cut it into 4 pieces. These are your templates for your fabric. Be sure to label the pieces 1-4, so you know where they go later.

Step 2: Take your paper templates, and lay it on top of your fusible webbing. Cut out your fusible webbing slightly larger than your paper template (about 1/4" inch on all sides.)
Step 3: Iron your fusible webbing onto the back of your fabric. Do not peel the backing yet.

Step 4: Trim the extra fabric off so that you have a piece of fused lined fabric that is slightly larger than your paper template.

Step 5: Cut your fused fabric so it is exactly the size of your template. (There are different ways to do the last few steps, if you are an experienced sewer/crafter you can probably figure out a faster way)

Step 6: Cut out all your 4 pieces of fused fabric. Peel the backing paper off. Arrange on the back of your jacket, and iron in place. It's okay if there are small gaps between the fabrics. Get them as close as possible, keeping in mind your ribbon will cover minor imperfections.

Step 7: Blue thread should be in your bobbin, coordinating color for your top thread. Sew all your fused pieces of fabric down right at the edge.

Step 8: Look through your ribbons & embellishments & scraps. Arrange pieces to your liking. For ribbon, cut a skinny strip from the double sided fusible webbing. Iron fusible web to back of ribbon, remove backing paper, and iron to the jacket. When all pieces are done, sew edges of ribbon to jacket. Bobbin thread should be blue to match jacket, while top thread should coordinate with ribbon. Get ready to change the top thread a lot! Be prepared to change your needle at least once as you'll probably sacrifice one needle sewing on denim.

Note: fusible webbing will not hold down the ribbon permanently -- but it should help keep it in place long enough for you to sew it. If you are using the glue gun, just skip the fusible webbing stuff on the ribbon.

Step 9: Sew/hot glue ball fringe to underside of collar. Don't mess with the fusible webbing, it doesn't stick that well to fringe.

Step 10: For embellishments on front pockets -- these will have to be hand sewn on. See next post: pink fringe on front left pocket, and pink dots/orange ribbon on front pockets. Use blue thread if you don't want it to be seen, or use a coordinating color of thread if you want it to stand out.