New News!

We bought a house! We close in 2 weeks! I have a post written up about with pictures and everything, and nothing I've had to say is more exciting than that, so I haven't been motivated to blog anything else. I don't want to jinx it blabbering on and on about how much I love it... yet.

My boy turns 5 in just over a week also! I can't believe I am the Mom of a 5 year old. The past half-decade has gone by so fast! He is the most amazing little person I have ever met and I love him more than I could ever put into words.

Instead of a party at home like we usually do, I gave him the options of a party at Chuckie Cheese or BounceLand since our house will be full of boxes for the next couple weeks. Instead he decided -- all on his own -- that he wants to go to "that big fishtank in Chicago" that I told him about a loooong time ago. So Shedd Aquarium here we come! I am too excited. That is so much better than Chuckie Cheese or BounceLand!!

I went to Chicago a lot as a kid. We always went to the Children's Museum or my all-time favorite The Museum of Science and Industry. I don't remember ever going to the aquarium. I remember being 21 and in Chicago all hungover the day after my birthday and wanting to go but we somehow ended up at Dave and Buster's. Fun, but not the aquarium. Im so excited. He is going to love it! My in-laws are going too! Have I mentioned I'm so excited?!

Ok so it's a summer picture... but the weather is so much sweeter then and he hasn't gotten any taller. :)

Decisions To Make...

Can I just say, I hate taxes! Well tax season anyway. Again this year I decided to be organized by throwing every receipt for every fabric I bought and ever P.O. trip I took into a box marked 2009. Yup that's it. Hundreds of receipts in a box. Then every year in January I sort them out by store and date and get started on really organizing that mess. Last year I cried. I figured out how much money I made and then how much I spent. How much I spent far exceeded how much I made. I did impressively better this year. I'm ashamed to say I have nothing to show for it but pride from people all over the world buying my items. Didn't save any of it that's for sure! What'd I buy with my earnings? Fabric. Some more fabric. Some notions. Fabric. Even more fabric. Some more fabric. Probably some clothes too. And a hell of a lot of toys. Might have paid a bill or two.

So now I'm stuck wondering if I should keep this up. I'm making money. I'm selling my things and that's awesome. But when I consider the amount of time I spend online to make this money, it's ridiculous. I probably make 10 cents an hour. I love selling my wares. I love designing, sewing, selling, packaging, shipping my wares. I don't like wasting my time. I also don't want to end up on Hoarders with this fabric obsession.

So we'll see what happens... I can't just make a decision on this quite yet...

I've made some great things for friends of mine lately. I've been so busy with Christmas gifts that I really haven't added much to my shop in the past few weeks. Here are a few of them:

A yellow submarine pillow for my Beatles fanatic friend Kristin. Technically this isn't a Christmas gift since we agreed not to do gifts and I haven't given it to her yet. It's a we're-all-friends-in-a-yellow-submarine-no-matter-how-damn-busy-we-are gift. Soft, fleecy, and awesome, with a zipper for easy laundering.

This one isn't technically a gift either since I already spoiled my Ali-cat this year. She got a peek at some of the larger quilts I've been making and asked me oh-so-sweetly for a quilt for her baby doll. Easy enough, I think it took me 20 min. tops. The smile on her face was so worth it.

And here's my goober testing out the quilt and pillow. He kept telling me "Mom, you made this quilt too small, it won't even cover my butt!"


My first ever teacher gifts! Ms. S and Ms. T got matching fabric baskets (made using a slightly modified version of this pattern from Pink Penguin. So very easy and turns out so nice! Try it! David chose magnets, pocket mirrors, and candle holders to go inside. Then he wrote his name on the tags. My boy is getting so big. His teachers are so wonderful, I wish we could've done more for them! But hey, I pay em for that right? :)

One of the table runners I made. This one went to my Grandma. I made another for my boss as well but never got a picture of it. I have one in the works for my stepmom-in-law too, just haven't had a chance- or the motivation- to finish it quite yet.

These are all fine and dandy, but check THESE out!


My Mommers made them! She is beyond awesome. This is my Mom's diet plan. Instead of eating, she is making fake food. How that keeps her mind off food is beyond me, but it's working, and I've always known she's weird. Just looking at it makes me want some mashed potatoes and a PopTart. Love you Mom!

A Preschool Thanksgiving...

Tomorrow is my boy's first Thanksgiving party at school! I can't believe he's growing up so fast. I asked him what he wanted me to make for his party after signing up for a dessert. He wanted candy. That seemed like the easy way out... even moreso than my typical grocery store purchase switched from the plastic tub to a fancy Christmas plate. So after a little convincing we decided Dirt Cake would be fun. My son is more likely to eat dirt than actual food so I wasn't surprised he was such an easy sell on something he'd never even tried. "Cookies?! Pudding?! GUMMY WORMS?! Yes Mom, of course I wants that!"

One giant 7 pound can of pudding, 50 smashed Oreos, and 25 gummy worms later, we had one hell of a mess and 25 individual Dirt Cakes.

They don't look too bad huh? This is about as domestic as I get. :)

Soooooo.....

I deleted my last post talking about my kiddie-klepto. I found my camera and I was feeling guilt for all but accusing him of hiding it. *sigh* This mom stuff is even more exhausting when ya screw up.

And now that's off my chest. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Growing Up So Fast!

Here's some really cute pictures ... with a story from Little Dave's perspective.
(He helped me write it too!) Enjoy!

My first day out of that belly!

It was comfy in there but man, I couldn't wait to get out and meet

that Mommy of mine!

Plus she was always playing the drums on my big round house and it was making me crazy.

She still does this and calls it a Tummy Drum, and I'll admit, it's pretty fun.

I decided to escape that place a couple months early.

I was born impatient.

I get that from Mom.
I'm glad they put me in this warm box, it's cold outside of Mommy!

I'm just over a month old here! I'm so cute, even though I like to cry a lot.
If Mom and Megan didn't dress me up like I'm a doll I might have been happier on this visit.
Look how big my newborn overalls are!

Look at my lips! I'm a silly boy! These are funny and I still like them.
They make me fall down in fits of giggles!

I'm a collector. All things that aren't mine should be!
I'm all set in case I ever need to make a phone call!
I look just like my Daddy.
Mommy says we are both very, very cute.
We are her favorite boys.

My Mommy kisses me ALL THE TIME.
Really, she never stops.
This time it was my turn!

Wow I'm growing up fast!
Today I told Mommy that I am going to grow up to be really old.
She seems to be very happy with this plan but told me not to do that too fast.

Wednesday I start school for my first time!
My new teacher is very nice and has pretty blonde hair.
She has lots of fun toys and wants me to write my name.
I get to eat lunch at school and then Mommy and Ali are going to come pick me up!
I hope I can show Ali my classroom because she's my best friend.
I'm going to be nice to the other kids and keep my hands to myself.
I've always had a hard time with that, but I told Mommy I would make her proud.

Then Mommy cried some more about me growing up and being so smart,
and hugged me and gave me a hundred kisses.

I told her to chill.

A Picture Crazy Morning

Today I took the kidlets to the park. I love going to the park. We have a playground at home that I hate. It's boring and David ALWAYS leaves covered head to toe in dirt no matter what. We have a swing set and a huge yard full of goodies at Ali's house, but it's still just not the same as a trip to a park. A new playground. New fun!

He's a happy kid! He spun us so fast I thought I'd yak.
I couldn't even get a non-blurry picture!

Still smiling, but smartly hanging on for dear life.

Cheesin while on the see-saw. I always called these tetter-totters.
David won't let me though. Both are weird names in my opinion.

Look Lainie! No hands!
We played on this thing a loooong time!

We took a walk on the railroad tracks over the river too.
This kinda scares the snot out of me as a mother of a risky kid and a klutz.
No one fell in so it was all good. And BEAUTIFUL.
Somewhere along the way David cut his foot and ended up bleeding all over me.

Ice cream cured the pain and he forgot he was bleeding.
I was still concerned. The ice cream lady gave us a bandaid.
That ice cream should've been good enough to make me forget.

And the highlight of our walk!

We got into town just in time to see not 1, not 2, but 3!! dumpsters get emptied.
When I showed David that I took this picture he simply said

"Mom, you are really really cool. I love you."

Mom's happy. Kids are happy (and tired - yay naptime!).
David's cut is just a tiny super-bleeder, so that's all good.
It's only 12:30 and today has been so wonderful.
I'm counting my blessings that this is how I get to spend my days. :)