Yeah, I really should be doing other things right now...

But a girl's gotta eat breakfast, right? I'm still half asleep, my eyes aren't quite focusing yet, and I'm working on my 2nd bowl of "cookie cereal". Hey, it's not 8 yet and I'm awake, which is a huge deal these days! My parents and 2 baby brothers are coming up to visit today, and my house is such a mess! I honestly think it takes something like this to spur me into action. We really should have people over more often - not just people who know me and understand my limitations, but people who will judge me for the way I do things. Thankfully, the big girls helped last night before they went to bed, so I've got a running start :o) I have to finish straightening up the living room and vacuum, then I need to sweep the entryway and kitchen. After that, I'm vacuuming the stairs and cleaning my bathroom. I HATE living in a messy house, but once it builds up, it's so hard to get everything back to where it should be. Anyway...

Yesterday was a rough one. It started off just fine, but as the day went on, it got insane. I started by making a massive batch of granola. The kids go through about $10 in cereal ever week or so, and it's making me crazy! On top of that, they won't eat the "good for you" stuff, so it just sits here and eventually finds its way into the garbage after Noah dumps it all over the kitchen, or the bag gets thrown on the floor, and dirty laundry gets put on top of it. I know, this is me not being on top of things, but I can only do so much. I made the granola in the hopes that the girls might eat it, keeping them from whining about having to make cream of wheat, grits, or oatmeal every morning. So far, it seems to be a hit! Noah is calling it "cookie cereal", and is eating his 3rd serving (about 1/4 - 1/3 cup each)! Ellie ate it and says she likes it, Audrey wanted it for a snack when she got home yesterday, and Madeline is okay with eating it, despite the nuts. Sounds like we have a winner!

Sometime during the granola making process, Audrey called wanting me to bring her dress and tights for Latin dance club, as they were supposed to be taking pictures yesterday. Around 2:15, she called again, totally freaked that I hadn't made it up there yet. It's hard enough to get the kids out of the house in the 1st place, but anything before 1 is really pushing it for us! On top of that, Ellie, for whatever reason, decided to take a nap yesterday! She takes about 2 naps a month, so I try really, really hard not to wake her up when she does. I did finally have to wake her around 3 so we could pick Audrey up from dance. I'm pretty sure that Audrey has been mad at me for a couple of weeks now, but whatever. It's my job to parent, not to please. And right now, my parenting skills are being stretched very thin as all the kids seem to be in a very needy state.

After we got home from picking Audrey up, I had her start thawing some chicken breasts for dinner, and I took about a 30 minute nap. I made homemade chicken pot pie, but I was out of all-purpose flour, and the crust turned out to be more biscuit like. That was fine, it tasted great, but while I was making it, the big girls started fighting. Being stressed beyond belief, I told them to go fight somewhere else where I didn't have to hear it. Audrey started arguing with me, and I totally flipped out. Lovely. We wound up eating dinner about an hour later than I planned b/c it took so long to deal with the girls. Grrrrrrrr! So much for getting Christmas shopping done last night. I tried telling Adron that I'm losing my mind, that I just need to get out of the house and relax, and I need some adult conversation. So, being the helpful husband he can be, he picked up his guitar hero game and went back to playing it for the next hour, without a word to me. Sighhhhhh.... What do I have to do to get a break!!! Tonight is a PTA meeting - not a break, Saturday we went shopping - not a break, last Tuesday was my smocking guild meeting - still not really a break. I want some down time. AWAY from the kiddos. I really do enjoy them, and love being a full-time mom, but everyone has to have some time away from their job, right? I don't know what to do. I think I'm a better mom when I get some real "me" time, and get to go out with friends. I honestly don't know when I last went out with a friend and no kids. Adron throws a fit when I want to leave in the evening, but I really can only handle so much guitar hero, and listening to the kids fight.

Ellie is another story alltogether. Honestly, there is some type of noise (talking, humming, screaming, etc) coming out of her mouth approximately 50 minutes out of every hour during the day. I don't think Adron believes me. She has an attention span that is about 3 minutes long, she's constantly moving, messing with Noah, yelling about things not going her way, or just talking my head off. It's stressful. I enjoy her, but there's a limit to what I can take. Is it wrong to be looking forward to putting her in kindergarten next fall??? She is moodier than Audrey, and it's making me crazy! We really have to walk on eggshells around her so we don't set her off. When she has a meltdown, about 3-5 of them on normal days, it lasts a very long time, and there is no reasoning with her. She will sit upstairs and howl for an hour straight.

Noah is a snuggle bug. He's not challenging, just needy. Not a bad thing, really - at least someone around here likes me LOL! But it is still very physically and emotionally demanding. Good stress is still stress. I do love that when I tell him I need to go to the bathroom, he immediately gets off of me so I can go, and doesn't pitch a fit about it like he does when I leave the room for any other reason ;o)

It's been a quiet morning so far. The tv isn't on yet, and I'm liking that! Ellie is upstairs in her room talking to goodness only knows who/what, Noah is now on his 5th bowl of granola, and I haven't accomplished a thing. Unless, of course, you count this as "doing something" lol!

Back to work - I started a little bit of digital scrapbooking last night, but I don't know if I like it. My mojo is sooooo gone. Ah well, I'll post it later and let you be the judge :)

As promised :o)

Here is the outfit I made for Darby - I know her mommy said *she* liked it, but I'm hoping that Darby does, too... The fur cuffs were a total PITA! But not so bad that I wouldn't make 'em again lol!





I finally finished up Noah's monogrammed jonjon, too! I didn't have a chance to make the shirt to go underneath it, so I just used a polo shirt. Not sure I'm liking it, but I'd rather him wear it that for it to sit in the sewing room waiting on a shirt until he outgrows it. I suppose that is the problem with monogrammed clothing, huh! LOL! I don't know why I don't do more monogrammed things - not like jonjons and jumpers are hard to make, or take much fabric. I suppose I like to pass things down, and I can't if it has a name/monogram on it. Then I wonder why I care? Ah well, we all have our quirks ;o) Please ignore the bedhead - I always have the girls brush his hair in the car on the way to church, plus it was really windy Sunday! It was really cute - we were about to leave and I told Noah that he looked very handsome, and he ran to the door, squealing "Pictures! Pictures!" ROFLOL! Boy, does he know me well!



I am soooooooooooo craving Mexican food! Particularly enchiladas from Jaliscos, a local taqueria with the most amazing food, and the family that owns it is wonderful! Vanessa, the manager, is so incredibly friendly and funny, and her mother owns it. They have an all you can eat menu where they cook everything to order. It is so delicious! The babies and I went yesterday, and I had a beef taco, a chicken taquito, and 3 beef enchiladas. YUM!!!! That gravy they make is totally TDF!!! I sat there and thought about it all afternoon yesterday, and woke up thinking about it today. I'm not sure that's a good thing lol! I'm thinking it's time to make up a big pot of jambalaya and see if Vanessa *really* wants to swap food =D I mean, she said she likes Cajun and would be willing to trade. I wonder how many enchiladas (or how much of the gravy lol!) I could get for a pot of jambalaya...

Back again

Well, this week hasn't been quite what I was hoping it would be, but it's been fun lol! I haven't had a chance to clean anything in the sewing room since last Thursday, but it's so much more bearable now. I am starting to suspect that the next chance I have to work on it will be the week of Thanksgiving, when Adron has his next week of vacation. If I can only work on it when he's off, then I should be able to have it done by New Years =D That is really exciting to me!

Tonight and tomorrow, I have a retreat at church. I am really excited about it! Adron has to take Audrey to her dad tomorrow, so I will take the babies to church with me so he can take the little car and save a ton on gas. I'm so glad they have babysitting available! The retreat is over at 2, with Q&A until 4, so I'm thinking I'll get a chance to sew for a second tomorrow evening. We are going to a birthday party Sunday afternoon, and I'm making a spinny skirt and fur-cuffed appliqued tee for the princess. I made a skort and tee for her sister's birthday this summer, and I thought this would be a good follow-up lol! I'm in love with the fabrics I picked - I was going for a Christmasey theme, but didn't want it to be red and green, so I went with pink, lime, and black, and it's perfect! I went out on a limb and am using a black tee to go with it and I can't wait to see how it turns out! I promise I'll take pictures and share 'em lol!

Halloween was a blast! Audrey is taking Latin dance classes at school, so she wore her performance outfit. She looked absolutely beautiful, but I really didn't get a picture of her in all her glory :o( Madeline was a "Goth Vampiress" (ummmm.... isn't that kind of a redundant title???), and her costume was a real, honest to goodness, store-bought costume. Easy peasy! Ellie wanted to be an Indian Princess (not the kind with feathers, though, mommy), and we had a really pretty Indian top here already. I made a scarf to drape over her shoulder, and created my own pants pattern to go under the top. I found some cute curly-toe shoes at Dollar Tree, and she wore them over her tennis shoes. Noah was a magician - black tee, black sweats, black Converse high tops, top hat, gloves, and a cape. I made the cape, and he hated it! I had to sew it to the shirt for the evening so he wouldn't keep pulling it off lol! He refused to wear the hat and gloves for any length of time, but being the ham that he is, he let me take pictures of him in his full garb.... Boys! Do you know that it is nearly impossible to find a plain ol' magician's wand without going to a magic store? Yeah, I learned the hard way lol! Why do I always pick costumes that don't really exist?

Anyway, here are some pictures from Halloween - we went to curch for a party, and had a fabulous time! Micah, the pastoral assistant/youth leader, set up a fabulous scavenger hunt that the kids loved! He had coloring pages, saints stories, bobbing for apples, face painting, and some other games. The babies were so worn out, but no one wanted to leave!











I forgot to mention that we got a new computer! Ours totally died last Wednesday, so Friday night, Adron got us a new one :o) It's awesome to be back to normal lol! Unfortunately, I am having to take everything of the 750G external drive that appears to be defunct. Grrrrrrrrrr!