Halloween Is Coming!

Looks like everyone else is more on top of it than me this year. Every year, as most of you know, I make our Halloween costumes. I usually start in August so that if I need to order something online or something goes wrong with the production I won't be stressed. The other reason why I start so early is because I like to plan out fabrics to buy when they are on sale and I don't have to pay a fortune. I have been so crazy busy with the kitchen remodel that August rolled around and I haven't even thought of it. Everyone at work kept asking me what we were going to be this year. One night when I didn't have to work they were all trying to come up with ideas and they posted them on Facebook for me. Some said Goldilocks and the three bears. Others said Cinderella or Snow White but none of those really caught my interest. One day I was sitting at a friends house and noticed that Addison's ponytail had migrated to the top of her head and was sitting straight up. I said, "Hey doesn't she look like Cindy Lou Who?" Ah Ha! That's it! I have always debated whether to keep our costumes a secret until presenting them in flesh and blood but I do have a big mouthed sister who tells everyone everything. Plus I would get sick of everyone begging me to tell them what we are so I give in.

Adam will be the Grinch, I will be his girlfriend Martha May Whovier, Addison will be Cindy Lou Who and Landon will be Max the dog.

The one thing that I am concerned about it how am I going to get Landon's one antler to stay on his head. Suggestions anyone? I don't want to attach it to the dog costume because if I need just a plain dog costume in the future or if someone wants to borrow it then I don't have to remake it or take it apart.

So I will post my progress until October!

My Crazy Life

I know that I have been saying that I am almost done with my kitchen for a long time but now I can really say "I am almost done!" I came to the conclusion that I can't do it on my own anymore. My dad took his tools back since he started building the cabin. I still had to cut all of the baseboards but had no saw. I thought, Do I try to borrow a saw, buy a saw or just put the money towards someone doing it for me? I found one of my friends from high school on facebook and he has a tile business. He is doing the backsplash and also new tile in the bathroom. He told me that he had a brother-in-law that is a general contractor and could come finish the doors, paint them and also do the baseboards. SOLD! Everything is taking me ten times longer. I work full time and am with the kids when I am home. I try to get things done when they are asleep but only if I am lucky to get them both asleep at the same time. Mostly I am trying to paint right now. By the time I get the paint out plus all of my supplies and start painting one of them wakes up. I then have to clean everything up and wash the brushes before my 3 years old "helps" me paint. There is a certain moulding around the doors that I want but I had to special order it. It will come in this week and then they can install it. Woohoo! Then I am really done. I do have to do a good cleaning from all of the dust of remodeling. I can't wait until Adam quits his job in November then I will have more time to finish things.

Addison decided to start walking now. I knew that she knew how to walk but she just didn't want to. We would barely hold her by one finger and she would walk fine but when we let go she would just sit down. She still crawls a little bit but now when she falls she will pick herself back up and start walking again. She is kind of bow legged which is a little funny but hopefully it will straighten out the more she starts walking. I think it's her big thunder thighs.

Landon starts preschool tomorrow and he is so excited. He has been asking me everyday for a month if he is going to school yet. He will say things like, "Mom I will take a nap and then go to school okay?" Or he will run, get his backpack and say, "I go to school now okay!" On Sunday morning he even made Adam play school with him.

So I am thinking about going back to work in the ER. I love the babies but I miss the variety of the ER. I am also losing all of my skills. Since we don't use much medications for babies then I forget things. I used to know tons of medications, what they do, how they should be taken etc. Now when people ask me questions about meds I unfortunately say, "I don't know." I applied for a couple ERs so we will see! I have to get recertified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS). My class is this Thursday and next Thursday. I have to review all of the cardiac rhythms and medications to give when someone codes. It's a lot to remember and since I haven't done it in a long time I will need to study. This is one more thing I have to do on top of my crazy life.

I am trying to eat better and lose weight now. I gained about 30 pounds with this kitchen remodel. I wasn't able to cook anything with having no kitchen so I went out alot. I am also going to not drink soda anymore. I had my last soda today. I will let everyone know about my progress. If people know my goal then I am more likely to do it.

Addison's 1 Year Pictures

So I went to picture people and they were actually good today. They didn't make me wait an hour like last time. Addison did not have a good time though. I sat her in the middle and went behind the photographer to make her smile. She got about 2 pictures where she was straight faced and wouldn't smile. All of a sudden she looked all around her and then busted out in the biggest cry I have ever seen her do. She was crying so hard that she was shaking and hyperventilating. So the photographer decided to give us some blocks to play with and stepped out to get her familiar with her surroundings. She played for a while and crawled around gathering and stacking the blocks. Once the photographer came back in she dived towards me and clung on for dear life. What we had to do then was have me sit in the picture and sit her on my outstretched legs and have her play with the blocks. She was still able to be with me but they got some head shots of her without me. She then started warming up, crawling around by herself playing with the blocks but the second the photographer would try to take a picture she would see and dive towards me again. We finally got some good shots so I decided to forgo the second outfit that I brought. The pictures that I posted are from the website so they have that logo on them but atleast you can see them .

Check One More Thing Off My List

So I spent all day yesterday making the shelves for the pantry. I didn't have room in my garage to cut the big sheets of wood down so I had to do it in the hot sun on the driveway. Atleast there was a little breeze. I am so glad they are done. All I have to do is sand a little bit of the edges to make them smoother and to paint it which shouldn't take too long. Now that's one more thing to check off my list. Today I am going to work on putting in the doors. I guess I should atleast have a door on the bathroom since my mother-in-law is coming to visit this weekend. So all I have left is putting up and painting the doors, the moldings/baseboards and tiling the backsplash. I might price out how much it would cost to have someone do the backsplash because I just want this to be done. If it is not outrageous then I will just have them get it done. If it's a crazy price then I definately will be doing it myself. Below are some pictures of the shelves I built.

This Has Been Going On Too Long!

You know that you have been doing this kitchen remodel way too long when the guy at the home improvement store says, "Hey you cut your hair."

So here is the update. I got my refrigerator yesterday and I am so excited. My TV is coming tomorrow and they will install it on Friday. My goal for Saturday is to put the shelving into the pantry so I can start organizing things. Then it is onto the doors and baseboards for next week. Tiling the back splash and I'm done! So I am guessing about 2 weeks.
(Maybe less if I call in sick to work :) J/K)

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

So Landon's favorite book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I decided to make a quilt of the story for him. I do have to say that I got the idea from Michelle Brady's mom. She made a small quilt for Liam and I decided it would be a perfect gift for Landon. My quilt is totally different than Liam's but the concept is the same. I did applique for the pictures and hand embroidered all of the story. I took the actual book, copied and enlarged it to make my pattern. I cut out all of the individual pieces and sewed around it to make the applique. I then hand stitched the lettering because I liked the look of it rather than using my formal embroidery machine to put the letters on. When I was buying all of the different colored fabrics at JoAnn's they asked me what I was making. I told them and the girl said that she saw the dot fabric that is exactly like the book at a particular quilt shop. If you are not familiar with the book in the beginning there is a page full of colorful dots. The fabric was the actual dots from the book. I called the store and they said it was just sold out and they don't know when they will get some more. I was bummed but with my personality I don't take no for an answer. I then looked up all of the quilt shops in Sacramento and proceeded to call each one to see if anyone had it. After calling the 5th store I found it. They said that they just got it in that day and that it usually goes quick. I went and bought it right when I got off the phone. The whole back of the quilt is the dot fabric. It was a perfect find. Thanks JoAnn's Lady!

After much persuasion from family and friends I decided to enter it into the State Fair. I have to turn it in this Friday and if it is one of the winners then they have to keep it for a couple of months to display it in the State Fair. If not they just give it back to me at the end of July.
So here are some pictures. I think the cherry pie is my favorite.

4th of July

So we had a typical 4th of July except for working on the kitchen. In the morning we went to the pancake breakfast at the church. It was nice because we got to see some people that we haven't seen for a while. Oh how I miss our old ward. We had a lot of good friends there and it was so fun. After the breakfast we walked down to watch the parade. Nothing much to it. It was a typical parade but we were laughing saying it seems more like an advertisement parade then a celebration parade. We ended up leaving part way through because we were sitting in the sun and all the kids were getting too hot and grumpy.
After the parade Adam and Landon went swimming at grandma's house while I went back and finished putting the front door in. We also painted some of the baseboards so I could put them in the pantry. The next priority for me is to make the shelves in the pantry. I couldn't do that until the baseboards were in there because it would be awfully hard to reach under the shelves to put them in. Once the shelves are in I can organize the kitchen and just do the rest of the projects here and there. So what is still on my list?...paint and put in the doors, paint and put in the molding for around the doors, paint and put in the baseboards, finish installing the speakers, cover the seats on the kitchen table, make the curtains, and tile the backsplash. Then I am completely done. We are getting our new couch on Monday, our refrigerator on Tuesday and our TV installed on Friday. My dad came over on the 4th and finished installing my faucet, garbage disposal and dishwasher. Thanks Dad! Now we can actually make food in the kitchen and clean the dishes. YES! I thought this day would never come, a functioning kitchen. Check out my little model with our new dishwasher.