So much muchiness....

  I have been thinking several times lately of stuff I needed to post/blog about, or a project I want to share or some other tidbit that maybe only I would find interesting....but we've been so busy living life I haven't had time to write about it.
  Asher just had his second birthday (sigh..my baby), and it was a simple little family affair. Also Lyssa's was the week before that (complete with hot dog roast outside in freezing weather) and she is now 9. (sigh again) My babies just keep growing up!
  Anyhoo...besides keeping us in stitches and on our toes, Asher loves to play with our kitty, Smidge. In case I haven't mentioned her, we found her in a box beside our truck one Sunday morning after church. She was so tiny and newborn she barely had her eyes open, and we had to dropper feed her for a couple of weeks until she could eat on her own. (Oh yeah, just what we needed. lol.) She is quite healthy now and lurks about attacking unsuspecting persons. I'm going to try to upload a video clip of her and Asher right after this if my computer will let me. =)
  So, I do happen to have a couple of projects I've done that I can share with everyone... they are Christmas Countdown Calendars. I made one for the kids and then a different one for Ed. It was alot of fun. Basically you have a card for each day from Dec 1 - 24th and each one says something different. For the kids it is an activity, for Ed a compliment or something fun we can do together. (And on days Ed has to work, I will text him his card.)
 Besides all the Christmas projects, we have also been getting ready for the kids Joseph play at church. As in, Joseph-who-was-sold-into-Egypt. It's a cute little play and we have been working on it for some time now. Well, I got the "privilege" of doing all the costumes...I had volunteered to help, and wound up with the whole job. It wasn't as bad as it could have been since they are pretty minimal. Mostly just headpieces to represent different characters, but figuring them all out took some time. Still, I was pretty pleased that I had 90% of the materials I needed on hand. The play is coming off Sunday night so I will try to take pics of those too. =)
  Add in Gingerbread house attempts ( we have made it to the dough stage) and all the other goodies of the season...and yep... it's been crazy..I mean fun!

 OK...so in the middle of me trying to post the above, I got a surprise visit from my niece Abby (a baby sitter was needed for a few hours). I settled her and Asher with toys and attempted to get back on my laptop but then proceeded to spend the next little while chasing them and bringing them back where I could see them. It's just too dangerous letting Asher out of sight.
 In just a bit I realize I need to start supper, and forgetting that all the older kids are outside, I head for the kitchen. I've not been gone 5 min. (literally 5 minutes, no more) and Asher comes in the kitchen to get in the fridge and I see bright blue Sharpie marks ALL over his arm and shirt and lips. I have the only markers left in the house up on a shelf, well out of reach (or so I thought). Nope. He had climbed up (don't ask me how) to the bookcase and got the pencil holder down and proceeded to decorate the table, himself, a book, the floor, Abby....and anything else he saw. Oh and Abby meanwhile had emptied the contents of the wipe package. I suppose it was her attempt to clean up the mess? Anyway, I confiscated the Sharpies again, placed them both in separate chairs, IN VIEW, and went back to fixing supper. The clean-up would have to wait. Then I go to call the big kids in and to my utter dismay I find that Isaac and Alyssa thought it would be brilliant to start a mudfight. On Lela. Joy. And I thought the babies were bad.
 Dire threats being issued and mud dis-allowed inside, I head for the washer. I know there is no way we will escape with out washing all the coats. (And, yes, the weather is freezing right now). While I'm dealing with the mud mess, the babies have gotten down from their chairs and are trying to escape to join the fun outside. Oh yeah...and so the evening went.
 I finally managed to get the babies fed, Aaron pitched in and helped pull things back together, Lela took a bath. And Alyssa and Isaac are still cleaning the bathroom, as the mud fight was their idea.
  Whew!
 As a result I have no idea what I was saying or what I was planning to tell you about next, but I'm pretty sure this wasn't it... but hey, that's my life. =) And once the chaos calms, I can smile and say it's a pretty good one!

 Well, I'm out of time, but thanks for stopping by. Until next time....
                                                                                        

Just a little note

I've been so busy crafting away on my Christmas projects and taking care of my little munchkins that I haven't taken time to update...but I wanted to take a second to say Hi again.
 I'm excited about the progress I've been able to make, and, I promise, I'm taking tons of pics. Some days I do feel like I'm all crafted out, but then the next day I'll have an inspiration and it just touches everything.
 The kiddoes are really getting into the spirit of things and in between bouts of school and chores (and book reading) they are each planning their own gifts for whose-ever name they have drawn.
  In continual search of more and improved ideas for my gifts I have actually run across quite a few new blogs, but one in particular stood out to me tonight and I added it to my blogroll. It's for keeping your marriage full of creative and fresh ideas. I'm all over that. So I'll let you know what new ideas I've come up with, after the fact, for my man. (Gotta keep him surprised ya know. )
Anyway....gotta run for now.  Hugs.
                                                      

Lela's bag (her first sewing project)

 
 The pictures pretty much tell the story. I was right there helping and coaching, but I thought she did a wonderful job. We got it all done in around 2 hours. She is thrilled and says its going to be her main purse now. lol.
                      

Lela's birthday

Inspiration...=)

   I have been putting off blogging for a number of reasons....most of them centered around the fact that, with Baby 8 on the way, I've just not been getting everything done. I've also been hoping inspiration would strike and I could impress you all with my eloquence. Sadly, the times that I have felt remotely inspired I was nowhere near my computer...and you know pregnancy brain, I can never remember much of anything. That is probably the thing that bothers me the most during pregnancy, being tired is no fun but being scatterbrained is way worse for me. (Still can't complain though...my pregnancy's are good compared to alot of women...and we are so excited.)
  Anyway.....all that to say, I finally just decided to write or Christmas and New Year's will be here, and I will have nothing recorded about the process.
  I have been taking the past several days to 1.) prep for Duds for Doodlebugs again 2.) clean out and sort stuff, and 3.) plan for a homemade Christmas.
  I'm excited to say I have tons of ideas, and my cleaning out has been enough to also unclutter my creativity. I"m not going to post all my ideas as I'm not sure who all will be reading this ( I'll try to do an after Christmas post to let you know what all got done) and I don't want to ruin any surprises. For the kids, I would like to make pocket pillow shams and a set of new pj's around. The idea being that it will help them keep track of the pj's, so I'm not washing clean ones nor are they wearing dirty ones. =)  So that will be a big undertaking. Then, I have tons of other smaller ideas for stocking stuffers, more for girls than boys, but I'm still doing some research. Stuff like braided headbands and clothes. I can't go into detail about my other inspirations yet, but soon.
  Any ideas anyone wants to offer will be gladly received too.
 I'm also hoping to get some basic fall sewing done...so as you can see, my schedule is jam packed.
Well, I gotta scoot for now. Stay tuned. =)