And the tooth fairy will be visiting tonight...

It's official. Benjamin lost his first tooth today. It was a little over due as the tooth behind it is already coming in, but the dentist assures me that it will fix itself. I'm not so sure. He was a trooper and actually let me pull it out. Surprisingly there were no tears. :) In honor of this milestone we had to make a tooth fairy pillow! I had seen a few tutorials for all kind of different ones but he picked this one.

pattern and tutorial courtesy of MmmCrafts

Benjamin saw the police officer version and we decided to try a soldier version. I don't think it turned out half bad if I do say so myself. While we were making it I was talking to him about how much he thought the tooth fairy was going to leave him for his tooth. Gosh has inflation hit the tooth fairy hard. He swears some of his friends got $20 and $30. That is just craziness. I was thinking a dollar. I guess I'm going to have to up it a little, but I mean, come on, I remember getting quarters, lol.

All-in-all though, today was a pretty good lazy day with the family. Andrew is trying to sing. He's so cute!! He can do most of the hand motion for Itsy Bitsy Spider. He puts his little fingers together and says "more spider." So cute!!

Yes, it's a bag...

IMAG0090, a photo by Angela4Eternity on Flickr.

I know I said a loooong time ago that I would never ever sew another bag again. Well...there's been so many cute bags popping up on the internet. I may or may not have joined the bandwagon :) I made this bag for Patrick's teacher. There are three more in the works for Benjamin's teacher and Andrew's therapist. Have I said that I love those ladies?? They have been with us now for a year and a half. I'm sure going to miss them!! On topic though, I love this bag. I'm going to have to make myself one. Not quite sure what I will use it for but hey, it's cute! :)

Pure Crazy

It has been so crazy around here lately. Both Benjamin and Patrick have been playing baseball. That is definitely keeping us on our toes. We are on a field somewhere ateast 3 nights a week, lol. It has been fun. There's nothing better than seeing their little faces when they make those home runs or when they happen to be paying attention in the outfield and manage to catch the ball.

Andrew has been a trooper during all this running around. He has made such amazing progress with his speech. I know its still hard for people who aren't around him all the time to understand him but he sure has come a long way. The other day he was playing with Patrick and I heard him say "one, two, go" that was the beat sound ever. He is finally putting more than 2 words together. He will say mom hold me please. He will just melt your heart now. I took a lot for granted with my older 2. You don't really get how truly important every little milestone is until your child is delayed. Andrew is catching up finally. Slowly but surely.

I've been getting rid of the baby stuff I have. It's time to close that chapter in our lives. I need to have a yardsale soon and get ready for our move. There's only 6 weeks left! Woohoo! I finally got around to going to the doctor for my hip. I guess I really did mess myself up when I fell on the ice. They did some xrays and I get to go to physical therapy. Sounds great doesn't it? Ugh its going to be painful. At least it should get better now.....hopefully.

The kids get out of school next week. Benjamin isn't too thrilled. He doesn't want to leave his frienda but he's excited about being closer to grandma. I'm going to have to find some stuff to do with them during the day. Lol. I have a feeling the boredom will set in quickly.

Crazy Wedding Week

I think I am just now recovering from our trip to Virginia we made two weeks ago. We were only able to go home for 7 days. That makes for a crazy trip, lol. My sister-in-law was getting married so it was worth it to make the trip. Not to mention my brother-in-law was graduating from basic training and it was Easter. I told you it was crazy, right? The wedding was beautiful. Their first official "date" was our wedding 7 years ago. I feel like I've watched her grow up and now she's married off. Time is whizzing by. Benjamin and Patrick got to be ring bearers. They were so excited they got to be in the wedding! We cleaned up pretty nice.
Easter was great! It was so nice to see the kids get to do the Easter traditions with family. They dyed eggs at Granny's house. They got to have an Easter egg hunt with all their cousins. It was just a great day after the crazy week they had.

The trip home was miserable. Our flight got cancelled due to bad weather. We had to stay overnight in a hotel near the airport. Thankfully we made it to El Paso the next day. The last flight was very bumpy, yuck! I don't like to fly. It's convenient so I do it, but I would much rather drive.

Good News!

This month has already been full of much needed good news! The family and I will be in Virginia in two weeks!! That's right. You heard correctly. This will be the first time the hubby has flown with all of us. Say a prayer for him. His sanity is definitely going to need it. I'm hoping that since they're older than this time it will be smoother. Hey, I can hope right? lol. We'll be there for a week. We'll get to spend Easter with the family. This will be the first time in 7 years that all of my family has been home in Va for a holiday. FANTASTIC!!! Can you tell I'm excited???

But wait. There's even MORE good news. We found out today that Christopher is getting reassigned to Ft Campbell which is in Kentucky/Tennessee. It's 10 hours from home!! How awesome is that! Now there's always a chance that the Army will rain on our parade and the orders will get screwed up somewhere but a girl can dream and for now we will be headed to Ft Campbell in October. You have no idea how exciting this is for me. El Paso has been great. I know I have complained about it but the weather is amazing. I have given birth to two amazing children here. Christopher and I have spent most of our time together here. I will most definitely be sad to leave here, but I am also ready for change. It's time for a new chapter in our life. So keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer! In the end, everything will work out like it's supposed to :)

Margaret's Hope Chest

http://www.margaretshopechest.com/

I have blogged about this once before, but I wanted to make a separate post for this. This charity makes and collects quilts for children who's father or mother is serving time in jail. They also travel to local jails and preach God's word. This cause spoke to me. It's hard to have a parent in jail. Often times the child will feel forgotten or abandoned or even that it's their fault this is happening. These quilts are sent to the child on their birthday with love from the parent who's incarcerated. They send hope. The little guy I quilted for is going to be 1! What a milestone! I hope this quilt will bring him joy and hope!

The super moon

The best shot I was able to get of the moon, courtesy of settings from Jamie :)

February Catch up

Nothing says I love you like heart shaped pancakes. It's a Valentine's tradition around here. I wanted to make a big fuss about Valentine's day this year. For one, the kids LOVE it and two, this month marks a year of their daddy being home. How awesome is that? lol It was cute to see both older boys get into making the Valentine's for their friends. Of course they were more excited with all the ones they brought home.




In other news, I finally finished the quilt for my grandma!! It should be there tomorrow. I am in love with it, and it almost didn't make it to her. There is another one in the works for me now, lol. It quilted up so nicely once I washed it. I only wish I could be there when she opens it. Lots of thanks to Amanda Jean from Crazy Mom Quilts (found here ) Her tutorials rock!

Reflections

Life has gotten busy. Guess it has a tendancy to do that. The boys are growing like weeds! Benjamin weighed in at 68lbs and 4ft 4in. He's going to be taller than me in no time. Patrick was 38lbs and 3ft 5in. He's finally Growing! He's so skinny. Andrew is terrified of drs right now. The best we could get for him was that he weighed 32lbs. Silly boy. He's finally making progress with his speech. I'm so glad we were able to catch it in time to get him help. So, mamas trust your gut. If you think there might be something wrong with your baby, speak up.

I've been doing a lot of soul searching lately. I've been mostly considering the person I want to be and remembered as. I guess there's decisions I need to make. I know, its confusing to me too, lol.

I signed up yesterday to participate in a charity quilt drive. Its called Wrapped in Love. They donate quilts to children on their birthday whose parent is in jail. They travel to various jails and preach the Bible in hopes of turning their lives around. It definitely spoke to me. My quilt will be going to a little boy who will be celebrating his first birthday. I am beyond excited to be doing this. I've had a drive lately to give back. I've got a few more projects in the air right now. More to come later

El Paso CAN freeze over

We got snow, and a decent amount of it. At least enough to shut everything down. So all my boys are home. It was so cute to see the excitement on their faces when they saw the snow outside. I'm glad it was enough for them to toss at each other and hopefully will be gone soon. We bundled them up as best we could as we don't have snow gear on hand. They had a blast. Well most of them did. Andrew wouldn't wear his gloves. His little hands were freezing. He was out there maybe 5 minutes and kept saying "cold, cold, cold" over and over but wouldn't go back inside. He's an odd child, lol. Eventually, after taking daddy's gloves, he tried playing a bit. The older two had fun tossing snowballs at daddy. We warmed them up inside with some hot chocolate. It's been a great morning. :)

01 - What they do - Part 2

They game...lol. They absolutely love the wii. It's so cute to watch them concentrate.



This one is not quite old enough for the wii although he wishes he was. So he watches them play and chugs milk. The boy loves it.

01 - What they do

One of the many blogs I follow showcased a photography challenge for February called "Finding your Love" it can be found here, you should join!
I thought what the heck, it can't hurt. I've got a camera that I don't really know how to use so I could use the practice. For the first prompt its "what they do".

My husband "does" a lot of things. One of his favorite things to do in his spare time is play games on his computer, Suprise! :) I can't really complain though. It really is his only vice and most days it doesn't get on my nerves too much..lol. So here it is:

DSLR

I always wanted a DSLR. I have to admit that after I got one (from my awesome cousin Jamie, btw) it scared me. I didn't want to "miss" the moment by taking a crappy picture with a camera I didn't know how to use and let's face it, it's not a camera you get to use in "auto" mode. So after reading, reading, and more reading I decided what the hey, might as well give it a go. We will see how this turned out. I did download a trial version of adobe photoshop. I love the program!! I'm not so sure I like the price tag, lol. I need suggestions on cheaper alternatives.







The boys were their usual crazy selves today, but even more so for some reason. I think some days its a game to see how much they can get away with. They were on the naughty seat a few times. I've been working with Patrick at home on some schoolwork. He's got 24 kids in his preschool glass. His teacher must have the patience of a saint. Having that many kids though makes it tough to give one-on-one time to the students. Patrick has a little trouble focusing, especially when his friends are around. He is most definitely sociable. I will be happy when he can write his name. It has been a whiny battle. He will one day, maybe.

I'm finally taking my tree down. Yes, it's still up. What can I say? I've been lazy. The house is slowly returning to normal. I LOVE Christmas. I'm sad to see it go. On a brighter note, that means spring is around the corner. Can't wait!! Maybe I will actually plant a container garden this year. Every spring I always want to start one. I have the seeds. I get the itch to put my hands in dirt. I know that sounds weird. It's probably the "country" part of me. I want my kids to grow up with some part of that. I guess I should really do it this year. Add that to my to-do list.

(Patrick has paint on his forehead from school today, messy boy)

Andrew's all time favorite cartoon at the moment, Thomas the Train.

Boys being boys.

Back to school

Today the boys headed back to school. They've been home since the 17th of December. That was a long break, lol. Don't get me wrong. I love having them home. They do on occasion get bored and drive me crazy, lol. Thankfully this morning went smoothly. Here's to hoping the rest of the week goes as smoothly.

I finished the DS case for Benjamin that he wanted. It's always neat to see their faces when you finish something for them that they really wanted, lol. He got to pick out the fabric he wanted. So cute! I have a tshirt order I need to work on tomorrow. I probably should sew some dresses as well.

Patrick has gotten a smart mouth lately, but I'm not so sure he means it that way. Sometimes I don't think he understands how it comes across, or at least I hope he doesn't. It was so nice this evening to watch them running through the hallway giggling and chasing each other. I know that this time with them isn't going to last forever.

My babies are growing up :(