My crazy life

Life has been crazy lately! I feel like I have SO much to do, and NO time to get it done!

The latest potty training fun--
We've slacked off a little bit with the whole potty training thing. I think that if I worked with her for a few days straight, without doing ANYTHING else, she might get it. But, right now I just don't have the time or energy to do it.
Today, when I put her down for her nap, she obviously didn't go to sleep right away. About half an hour later, she started screaming "MOMMY! I WENT POTTY!!" Not sure what to expect, I went in there, thinking I'd just need to change a messy diaper. But, I found her standing in her bed, completely naked (why??), holding her diaper (no poop, thankfully), with pee ALL over the bed! SO much fun!
I didn't want to use the bribe with candy method to potty train, but I might have to start doing that, for sanity's sake!

Besides that mess, I've been trying to get things situated with my business for the next few months. I have a couple of craft shows scheduled, and I want to have my inventory ready for that, as well as Christmas. So, I made a list of Zadyballs to make. It turned into quite a list!
Can you guess what this is?

If you said a very large, colorful bird's nest, you would be WRONG!
This is what uncut strings for about 100 Zadyballs look like. Am I crazy, or what??

In addition to trying to get all those done, I still need to get Halloween costumes made, work on scrapbooking (my goal is to be caught up before the baby comes. I hope I can do it!), get my webpage up and running... and the list goes on and on!

My wish list

I've started thinking about what I'd like to get for the new baby. There's lots of things that I DON'T need because we already have TONS of girl stuff (clothes mostly). But, since I didn't know about Etsy when my first two kids came along, there are some things I've seen there that I REALLY want to have!

So, I thought I'd start a little wish list. I obviously won't be able to get everything, and I am by no means suggesting that anyone buy these for me. But, I have a lot of fun looking!

Here's just a few on my list:

Butterfly Mobile from BuggaLove. I've always thought it would be nice to have a mobile, but never gotten one! These are so fun and pretty, and she is willing to take custom orders! I want a pink one!!


Super soft blanket from LittleSnuggleBunny. Every girl should have a super soft and silky blanket! This one is SO beautiful!


Nursing Cover from CheyLoCreations. This is something else that I've always wanted! My babies have always gotten to the point that they just love to pull the blanket off when I'm trying to be discrete. This would REALLY help!


Speaking of nursing - reusable nursing pads from BooBonnets. I've always used disposable ones, but I'd really like to try something like this! Only problem is that I really tend to leak, so I'd need to get several! I love the fact that these are just simple white. Lots of other handmade ones I've seen use funky fabrics, which may be good for some, but I like to be as discrete as possible!


Okay - that's just the start of my very extensive list. I'm sure I'll be back with some more soon!

Getting to know you

You can blame my sister for this one. I got this in an email forward from her, but I don't like to forward emails, so I thought I'd put it here.
I used to do these silly little survey things all the time, back when I was like in high school (oh that seems so long ago!). But it's been a while since I've done one. So, here we go.

If you want to play along, copy the questions and either send them to all your friends, or you can cop out, like me, and post them on your blog!

The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends that you might not have known!


1. What time did you get up this morning?
About 8:00, I think. My husband was kind enough to get up with the kiddos so that I could sleep in for a change!

2. Diamonds or pearls?
I'm not sure with this one. I rarely where jewelry to begin with. My wedding ring is mostly a sapphire, but there are a few diamonds surrounding it. I have a pearl necklace too. I guess I should wear it more often.

3. What was the last film you saw?
The last what? It's been so long, I hardly remember!

4. What is your favorite TV show?
I'm a big fan of Scrubs. Those guys crack me up!

5. What do you usually have for breakfast?
Cold Cereal and Apple Juice

6. What is your middle name?
Lin

7. What food do you dislike?
FISH!

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment?
I don't get to listen to MY CD's very often (usually it's Elmo or something like that), but when I do, it's almost always Barenaked Ladies! Stunt or Everything to Everyone. Awesome!

9. What kind of car do you drive?
2006 Toyota Sienna

10. Favorite sandwich?
Greasy Sandwiches! Just like Daddy used to make!

11. What characteristic do you despise?
Being two-faced, dishonesty

12. Favorite item of clothing?
Sweat pants

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
I'd love to visit Europe. Ireland especially.

14. Favorite brand of clothing?
I really don't pay attention to brands. Anything that is comfortable.

15. Where would you retire to?
Not Phoenix!

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday?
recent? hmm.... I'd have to say 18th. That was a fun, crazy day!

17. Favorite sport to watch?
Baseball

18. Furthest place you are sending this?
To whomever will read it!

19. Person you expect to send it back first?
Who knows?!

20. When is your birthday?
Feb 16

21. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Always been a night owl!

22. What is your shoe size?
6 1/2

23. Pets?
Just a cat who tends to be a little obnoxious at times. And he likes to catch lizards and bring them in the house. ick!

24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us?
Not today

25. What did you want to be when you were little?
How little? I decided at age 12 that I was going to be a computer programmer. Been there, done that! And I think I always wanted to be a mommy. I think so.... maybe?

26. How are you today?
Trying to get over a nasty cold. It's getting better though!

27. What is your favorite candy?
At the moment - Butterfinger candy bars!

28. What is your favorite flower?
Always has been roses. But lilacs are up there too.

29. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to?
I'd like to say Jan 15th (baby day!) but I'm honestly a little terrified of that day, and I'm okay if it takes a long time to come! I guess before then, November 14th. Big craft fair! yippee!

30. What is your favorite pastime?
Lately it's been Etsy Chat. (so sad!)

31. What are you listening to right now?
My kids are watching "Martha Speaks". So exciting.

32. What was the last thing you ate?
Corn, Spanish Rice, and the fish that my husband told me didn't taste "too fishy". Right.

33. Do you wish on stars?
Occasionally

34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Light purple

35. How is the weather right now?
I haven't actually been outside today. But I'll just take a wild guess. HOT!

36. The first person you spoke to on the phone today?
Somebody called to talk to my husband, and I answered the phone. Does that count?

37. Favorite soft drink?
I've been trying not to drink any lately. But I guess I'd say Root Beer.

38. Favorite restaurant?
I LOVE Macaroni Grill! Haven't been there in a long time.

39. Real hair color?
Dark Brown (I think) with way to much grey!

40. What was your favorite toy as a child?
I remember playing with barbies a lot

41. Summer or winter?
winter? What is that? Wasn't that on a Tuesday last year?
Seriously, I'd love to see some snow! And I DO NOT like summer here AT ALL!

42. Hugs or kisses?
I think I'd have to say hugs

43. Chocolate or Vanilla?
Chocolate for Candy, Vanilla for Ice cream.

44. Coffee or tea?
No thank you!

45. Do you want your friends to email you back?
If they wanna

46. When was the last time you cried?
A few days ago. When I was driving by myself and heard a song that made me sad.

47. What is under your bed?
Food Storage!

48. What did you do last night?
Slept!

49. What are you afraid of ?
Something bad happening to my kids. Oh - and I'm SO scared to get another c-section! Do I really have to do it?!

50. Salty or sweet?
BOTH! Try dipping a warm french fry in soft serve vanilla ice cream. SOOO GOOOD!

51. How many keys on your key ring?
6, I think

52. How many years at your current job?
I've been a mommy for 4 years!

53. Favorite day of the week?
hmm.... Friday?

54. How many towns have you lived in?
Six

55. Do you make friends easily?
Not really

56. How many people will you send this to?
Anyone who wants to look at it

57. How many will respond?
I have NO idea!

Okay, that's it. Whew! There's more questions there than I thought!
Have fun! :)

My wonderful boy and a fun find

I've slacked off this week with posting. Life just gets crazy sometimes.

I do need to brag about my little boy. He sang a solo in church on Sunday, and he's only FOUR years old! He sang "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus" and I thought it was amazing! We've been working on it for about two months.
He really loves to sing, and learns new songs very quickly. The only problems he had with this one was remembering which words went with which verse. So, to help him, I made little signs with pictures that I held up to help with the places he'd been having trouble. I think it made a big difference!
I'm so very proud of him!


This last weekend, I finally managed to get somethings framed that I've wanted done for a while. (You'd think that since we have a framing company, I'd be able to get any frames I want... but I always seem to be at the last of the list.)
One that I had done is a wonderful, fun print from a fantastic artist I've met on Etsy, Marisa Hopkins, aka ElegantSnobbery and TootsieAndGrace. Since Ady has an obsession with monkeys lately, and with the color pink, I thought this would go beautifully in her room. Now that it is framed, it is finally hanging in there. Every time Ady looks at it she squeals and says "My monkey picture!"



Marisa has such a wonderful style. I love all her artwork!

Her TootsieandGrace shop is a collaboration with her daughter. "Three year old Gracie designs each piece using a black permanent marker. Next, mama Marisa uses colored pencils to enhance each picture and fill them in with bold and bright colors." So awesome!

A fun order

I got a wholesale order last week and have spent the last several days working on it. It was really fun because ALL of the ones that were requested had faces. Plus, some special ones were asked for that I think turned out great! I'm going to have to make some more for my shop!

Red and Black Octopus


Pink and Brown Cat


Mini octopus


The WHOLE order

Crazy internet

My internet connection has been unreliable for almost a week now. We had Cox Communications (our provider) come out to see what the problem is. Apparently, something happened to the outside box that brings the cable into the house. They have to dig up the street in order to fix it. That involves getting a permit from the city, which takes at least 5 days. So, for now, we just have to deal with it. Every once in a while, the connection will come up. But it doesn't seem to last very long.
*sigh*

Kind of hard to run an Internet business when I can't even get to the Internet!

I have learned where there are a couple of "hotspots" around. There is one at all Peter Piper locations. On Monday, I thought I would go there with the laptop and let the kids play while I tried to get some work done. But, I found out that they don't open until 11 - I was there at 10! So, I just sat in the parking lot and at least checked my email. The kids weren't very happy with that arrangement though, so we didn't stay very long!

Pregnancy Update

I am now officially 20 weeks pregnant, so I guess it's time for another update.
And I guess I do have some pretty big news.

First of all, here's my belly picture, as of this morning. I KNOW that I still don't look very pregnant. And for once, I'm okay with that.


I did have my BIG ultrasound today. The first thing the doctor looked for was the baby's gender. He pointed out what he was 'pretty sure' was girl parts. (It looked just like what they showed me when I was expecting Ady, so I'm pretty sure that's what it is.) He said he sure didn't see any boy parts, but he has called more than one boy a girl, so if it does comes out a boy, we aren't allowed to sue him. (ha ha)
But, we are pretty confident that we are having another GIRL!
I'm happy with that because now we don't have to fight over a name... although I'm not too confident in the one that we have picked out, so it may change before she is born.
We didn't really get any decent pictures of the baby this time. Just this one that the doctor *says* is the face, from the front, but I just don't quite see it....



We did see her move around quite a bit, and she was even sucking her thumb at one point. SO cute!

Take me out to the ball game...

On Labor Day, we took the kids to the Diamondbacks Baseball game! We had free tickets for the kids thanks to the library's summer reading program, and we thought it would be a fun time.
It was! It was a pretty exciting game. At one point, the D-backs were down 6 to 3, but they came back to win 8 to 6!
We sat in the truly "cheep seats" (only $6!), but I thought we still had a pretty good view of the game.
The kids did get a little restless, so we decided to leave during the 7th inning stretch.

They both fell fast asleep on the way home!

Randy Johnson was pitching, but wasn't at his best.


Happy Kids


Popcorn stuck in her teeth - eeww!


The whole family!


I would totally do this again! It was a really fun time for all of us. And CHEEP! With tickets, parking AND a hot dog and popcorn (we ate lunch before we went, but Brandon HAD to have a baseball hot dog!), we spent less than $25. Not bad for wholesome family entertainment!

A happy birthday - and a camping adventure

We thought it would be fun to go camping for the holiday weekend. And, since it was Ady's birthday, we decided to have her party at the campground. My thinking was that there would be less mess to clean up, and it wouldn't be in my house!
Ady has recently developed an obsession with monkeys. Ever since her brother's birthday back in May, she has been saying that she wanted monkeys for her birthday. Nothing would change her mind! So, this birthday party was ALL about the monkeys!

Super cute monkey clip - custom made by PammyDawn


Happy girl


In her birthday shirt! I put the monkey on it. I think it turned out pretty cute!



We had a great party! Lots of fun!
But, then it started to rain...


The kids thought it was great fun to play in the rain. We even saw a beautiful rainbow! (Zander with his cousin, Ashlee)


When we went to bed Saturday night, we thought the storm was over. But, around 2:00am it, started to POUR! Brandon, the kids and I were sleeping in our popup tent trailer with Brandon's parents. So, we kept pretty dry. But, his sister, with her husband and two kids, were in a tent. And it LEAKED! A little before 4:00am, they brought two, soaking wet kids into the trailer and said they were packing up and going home. Everything they had brought with them was wet.
We told them that we could make room in the trailer, and they could stay in there until morning. But, in the process of making room, we put one too many people in the bed. And it collapsed!
Now, none of us had a safe, warm bed to sleep in. So, we packed up, in the middle of the dark, rainy night, and left for home a day early!

But, at least we had an adventure!