Mermaid

I've got one mermaid costume mostly done, the other two need more work. But here is Alana the mermaid, there will be more stuff added but this is the basic dealy. Whew.

Progress Report

I'm sure you all were dying to know how my projects are going but whether you were or not I'm going to tell you. Here's a picture of the tails! Aren't they pretty? I had to take them all apart and put them back together since the last time you saw them but in everything I do I like to take 6 or 7 steps back and one tiny step forward. But today I got to take a bigger step forward by quilting them. I quilted. I'm a quilter. With much help, hand holding and needle breaking my dear mother-in-law, Arnon, helped me to quilt these bad boys. They turned out really pretty and now I'm going to take a closer look at the quilts she made for each of our children and appreciate them even more because I'm here to say, that stuff is tricky! Thank you so much Arnon, you are a lifesaver!

Where would we be without our dear mothers? Nowhere! These darling tops were sewn by my mom, Valerie, and I am ever so grateful that I didn't have to get involved because she pretty much made up the pattern and they turned out so cute. The girls love them and I think they are adorable too. You rock Mom!

So now I just have to do the tail skirt things and maybe someday we'll see a finished product. Whew!

Here's my beautiful washcloth that I finished at knitting class last night. It is a stunningly ugly bit of knitting, but I will treasure it. Next week I'm attempting yet another wash cloth. Wish me luck! Knitting class is fun.

And, here are our chickens. The brown ones are the ones that we hatched from eggs, there are five of them and they are pretty cute and nice. They should start laying in a couple of months, we can't tell yet if any of them are roosters, none of them seem particularly noisy so maybe we lucked out and only have hens. . . But then, do I really need NINE chickens?

Torturing Myself

So I decided to make Halloween costumes for a select number of my children (I'll let the boys wear sheets and be ghosts or something). Amanda, my loving sister who sews fantastical costumes every year for her darling Oliver, convinced me I could handle it. Then she trots merrily off to work every day and leaves me holding the needle. Nice. So I'm making mermaid costumes for my daughters. Leah is green, Tessa is pink, Alana is purple. Here's a picture of their fins. There will be more stuff added to them in the near future.

Those loopy things with the colors on them are handles for them to hold their little fins which will be attached to their skirts that will look like mermaid tails (fingers crossed). My Mom who loves me is making the girls tops since the pattern had them wearing halter-tops. Mom is adding sleeves. She's a genius. So it's not like I have that hard a job, just make the tails but I've already messed up and had to go back and fix it. The thing is, apparently you're supposed to read the directions and follow them step by step. Who knew?

If they turn out cute I'll take pictures and you all can see them. The girls are excited about them, hopefully that will last until at least after the Halloween parties and trick-or-treating.

And then, I took up knitting this week. I'm a first timer. Our Relief Society had a knitting class on Tuesday and I'm making a wash cloth. It is very ugly. Who knows why I chose green multi colored yarn to make a wash cloth. Everyone knows that moldy looking wash cloths are just the thing! So if you get a mossy looking bit of knitting from me for Christmas, it was knitted with love, and frustration.

Ctrl

I found this show called Ctrl on the Hulu and Ryan and I really liked it. You should watch it too. It's 10, 5 minute episodes so it won't take long to watch but it is dang funny. Hulu only has the most recent 3 episodes but NBC has all of them on it's website.

(Yes, it's Buster from Arrested Development, he has both his hands now)

Crazy Hair Day

If you look closely you can see Jeffy's ponytails. He has four down the middle like a mowhawk. As I was putting them in he was reminiscing about the last time he wore a ponytail when it was for medicinal purposes. He is funny.

Jeff called Leah "Little Orphan Annie" but Leah said her hair should be red. We'll work on that for next year. My dear Mother helped me tie all the girls hair up in rags last night before bed. Thank you Mom! It would have taken me ages!

Tessa was much more pleased than she seems in this picture with the effect. Oliver didn't want to let me do anything to his hair, but he let Jeffey do some stuff to him. It's down on half and up on the other half. Pretty wacky, eh?

Alana was happy with her do until I started to pull the curls apart for a fluffier look, but you'll see what happened after that in a second. . .

Here's the back of their little melons.

Alana was a bit distressed about her hairstyle until I put a headband on her head and reminded her that it was Crazy Hair Day after all!

Good times.

A Quick Funny

We've been enjoying the new school year so far and have been adjusting to the new schedule and demands very well. Here's a funny conversation I had with Jeffey shortly after school started:

(setting: the kitchen, eating popsicle's after school)

Jeff: Mom, will you go to the drug store and buy me some deodorant?
Mom: Why do you think you need deodorant?
Jeff: My teacher said that usually in fourth or fifth grade kids start to get stinky and need to ask their moms to go to the drug store and get them deodorant.
Mom: (internally laughing) Well, my darling, how about we just keep a close eye and nose on you and if you start to stink we'll make sure you get as much deodorant as you need. I'm sure your sisters will let you know in their own gentle way also.
Jeff: Okay.
Mom: But do keep an eye on your armpits, when they start to grow hair that is a sure sign that you need deodorant.
Jeff: Yeah, because sweat on hair is really stinky.
Mom: Yup.

Poor kid, little does he know that it will be more like junior high or later for our little beasties considering what late bloomers their parents were!

Buckle Up - It's a long one

It has been a busy week. Last Tuesday Arnon, Terry, the kids and I left for Utah for the Livingstone Family Reunion (taa-daa). We liked it. So here's how the trip went:

We got to stop and have a lengthy visit in Flagstaff with my dear friend Gaby. We loved the cool pines and we went on a lovely walk in her neighborhood to the park. There is a long involved story about why Lindsey's kids are there but I'll just leave those of you who don't already know the story in the dark about it - trust me, it isn't that exciting and I'm being succinct (right Ryan?). But we had so much fun with Gaby and we are already planning our next trip up to see them later this month. We love those guys!

We got up to Utah eventually and found our long lost Tessa! Who would have thought to look for her there? She had a wonderful time with Aunt Katie (she called me Aunt Katie for the first couple of days) and Uncle Kent and Sweet Afton. It is nice to have all my children back again.

The Livingstone Family Reunion began on Friday. Here are the three Livingstone brothers John, Terry and Mike with Aunt Linda (Uncle John's wife). These men had an amazing mother who passed away three years ago, her children and 20 grandchildren and 54 and counting great grandchildren rise up and call her blessed. It was wonderful to hear them talk about Nanny and the influence she has had on the lives of so many people. It isn't just ourselves that we effect with our decisions. . .

We played at a park in Orem that is next to Ryan's cousin Patti and Ben's house. It was a great park with an excellent hill for slip-n-sliding.
Make sure you see Alana in the picture above, she's between Jeffey and Tess, she is itty bitty.

Alana sliding.

Tessa sliding.

Leah sliding.
Jeffey slid a lot but I somehow didn't get a picture.
Sorry dude.

Kate and Afton on a grassy knoll.
Thanks Kate and Kent for letting us stay with you, you are brave.

Afton and Peter giving kisses.

Tessa's tooth finally came out, she's only been working on it all summer.

Rock Band at Patti and Ben's house. We adults played too and we rocked it, I got to sing because I'm not organized enough to play drums, guitar or bass :)

We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house on Saturday. I was so excited to be able to take our children inside the temple and show them around and tell them a little bit about what happens in temples and try to explain how much I love temples. They are always fascinated with me when I get a bit teary eyed but I think they got a little of the point. It was lovely to be there with all of them and all of the other thousands of people who were making their way thru the tour, it was the last day of the open house and it was busy! And we temporarily lost Oliver. . . but on the whole it was lovely.

Then we came home Sunday night and Monday morning bright and early it was time to head back to school! Woo-hoo! So off we trudged in the 100 degree heat. This year we have Jeffey in 4th, Leah in 3rd, Tess in 2nd, Alana Kay in Kinder and Oliver in Kinder. It was fun to see our little group with their new backpacks on and their hair combed. I love school. Amanda was so cute dropping off Ollie, her baby is all grown up!

They are cool - but not too cool for school.

Alana Kay at her desk. She is cute.

Tessa Lou at her desk. Her teacher had Leah last year so she knows Tessa's
nickname is Pickles and she already calls her that. Fun times :)

Well, I'll keep it short even though I'm sure you know I could go on and on. . .