We had a Happy Halloween here are our house! I love deciding on and making the kids Halloween costumes! This year we went with Star Wars. I found a great, simple pattern for a Jedi Robe. I think they turned out great! I did foam noodle swords for light sabers and we slid glow sticks down them so they would light up! We had another family in the Ward do a Star Wars theme, so we got R2D2, Princess Leah and Yoda in a picture too! I hope that everyone had a very Happy Halloween!!
Now this title is slightly deceptive! We had a great weekend. We went down to LA and N8 went to the Stake Temple Day (a 4 hour session!) while I took the kids and did some random shopping. We picked up some fun thing-fabric for Christmas gifts, fabric for baby blankets, fabric in general and these: We did them last night for FHE, very fun! I want to get these for Christmas! We didn't really need to recover from Sunday either. We got a call from Ricky, Saturday night, letting us know my Aunt and Uncle came to town and would be joining for dinner. Ricky and Kim made lasagna so we were very happy! At church we had great talks, especially Mirilou's! And the kids did well practicing for the upcoming Primary Program.
Monday we a little different and could cause for some recovery. Since last year we have been doing things both here at home and at school to help with behavior modification for Bud in relation to ADHD. For the last month or so we have been working with the school more because of some more problems we have been having. We had the school Physiologist come in and observe him. We also had a SAT (Student Assessment Team) meeting. And he is meeting in a small group once a week with the school councilor. But it came time that we met with our Pediatrician again. After a long discussion (really I don't think I've ever had a doctor really sit down and talk with me & N8 for so long) we decided to start Bud on a low dose ADHD medicine. Over the next couple of weeks we will be fine tuning the dosage to see how it helps. She also wants to rule out mini-seizures. Since Bud was about 3 he has had a "tick", habit, whatever one want to call it. He shakes his arms. When he does it, he does not respond and can't do anything. It only lasts for a few seconds, but at some points in the day can be very frequent. So, on Monday we get to get him up at 3am so that he can be sleep deprived and take him for an EEG that morning. I'm glad we're working on things and hope that we're making the right decisions.
Now what I really am recovering........ are some chairs! I know, a lot of other junk from our lives to read through to get to the more interesting part! A few weeks ago I got 4 old church chairs from a ward member. They were in good condition but the fabric was itchy and not very pretty! Part of my shopping down in LA was to find fabric to recover the chairs. Luckily Joann's was dong 50% off their red tag decorator fabric and it only cost me $10 in fabric! I now have 2 of the four done and I like them so much better! What do you think? Before: After: My other recovering project was covering clothespins! I have seen these around and just thought they were too cute and had to try it myself! A little scrapbook paper, modge podge, magnet and embellishments and there you have it! Now here's hoping that we have a calm, productive week that requires no recovery, except for recovering chairs and clothepins!
I like to be on time. I do not like to forget things that I'm suppose to get done or places I'm suppose to be. I am grateful to my parents for teaching me to be on time, it makes life a lot less stressful! But being on time or remembering appointments and things happening on a given day doesn't just magically happen. Most people use some sort of calendar to aid in remembering events. I don't have one calendar- I have 3 that I use on a regular basis and 3 on a semi regular basis! I maybe need to cut back, what do you think!!
So N8 and I both use google calendar. I love google calendar. I love that you can create a color coded calendar for different types of events. We have: Rachel's, Kid Stuff, Church, Work, Compassionate Service, Family & Nate. On top of that google now has a weather, phases of the moon and holiday application you can add (they also have all sorts of add ons for sports teams, BYU and Utah state are both there) !! I don't think we could fit everything into a written calendar! I also have a calendar that the kids use. It's on the fridge and we have magnets that have a small picture to represent their activities or things they need to know are happening. We have magnets for things like: music makers, church, the temple, N8 on travel, gymnastics, preschool, birthdays, etc. Then we have a red square that goes around whatever day it is. This calendar has really help when we have had a vacation or birthday coming up. We can just point to the calendar and it the kids can see exactly when it's happening. I also have my vinyl dry erase calendar. This one I put the basics on for me to see as I walk by throughout the day. We also put a running Costco list or Bud's spelling/vocabulary words at the bottom so we can quiz him throughout the week. My other 3 calendars don't get used as frequently. I have a calendar up on the wall by my phone. Its purpose is mainly for the date & flex friday's at a quick glance (N8 gets every other Friday off work). Then I also have a homemade birthday calendar that I use for reference. My pocket PC (it's like a Palm) also has a calendar so I can have one with me in my purse.
Sometimes I think it's out of control. Other times I'm grateful that I have found what works for me, even if it involves a crazy number of calendars! Keeping our activities organized and on time keeps me sane. I feel like we have so many things to remember and I know as our children get older it is just going to get worse!
What are some of your tricks to keeping up on your agenda/calendar/thing to do and places to be?
Saturday we got to celebrate and have a baby shower for Kim. Kim is my cousin's wife and are our closest family. I was so excited to through a baby shower and thankful for Megan's help with it. Since I had already done some Fall decorating I decided to go with fall decorations. And since it was at 10am we went with brunch foods. All in all, it was pretty darn fun!
I failed to take too many pictures except for the food and a few decorations!! I made 3 different kinds of muffins: Mini Maple Chocolate Chip Pancake muffins (from Bakerella)
I think the Snickerdoodle Muffins were the favorite of the 3. Megan also made 2 kinds of muffins using a basic muffin batter recipe. She made Triple Berry Jam and Applesauce Muffins
At the shower we played a few fun games (a candy bar game & name those TV families). We also made a Baby's first ABC book. I use 8x8 pages and put a letter on each page. Each person that came to the shower was asked to draw a picture for a page and sign her name. I'm going to laminate and bind the book (we have 2 more pages to do)! We had a wonderful turnout and Kim got some great things to start off with. Her mother-in-law (my aunt) and Ricky's aunt also surprised Kim by driving over from Las Vegas for the shower. Kim was totally shocked! It was a lot of fun!
Now I'm not one to brag or talk myself up, but I did really win!! In the blogging world giveaways are BIG! I really need to jump on the bandwagon, but for now I enter a giveaway whenever I see one. I especially like to enter them if they are being done by someone I know. So when I saw Becca over at Blue Cricket Design doing a giveaway a while back I of course entered! Now some might say I don't really know Becca, but I would say I do! We've "known" each other in the cyber world for a few years thanks to Mormonchic! Now I follow her craft blog to get inspired with GREAT ideas for holidays, home decor, cooking and more!
So back to the giveaway- I totally almost missed that I had won! She posted the results the same day I got my new computer and it took me a few days to get back up and running. Luckily I didn't miss it because I won some fun things!! She was giving away:
7 years ago today in the wee hours of the morning my little guy was born! I can't really believe that it has been 7 years.
So each year we've had a little party to celebrate this special day. Sometime it's has been bigger than other, but always just as special.
This was the most special, the day he came into the world:
For his 1st birthday we went to the park and had a ball!
The 1st birthday cake!!
He didn't get much better at eating cake the next year (2 years old):
His 3rd birthday was in the backyard with friends:
As for any kids opening presents is always fun (year 4):
He got a fish tank that now acts as a nightlight when he turned 5!
And pirates took over for his 6th!
This year we decided to try out bowling. It's the way to go if you don't want to take any time planning! His party size has consistently gotten smaller but we had a fun time with Simon and Jonny (as well as Emma and Mo)!
I had fun making goodie bags:
I think bowling was a great way to celebrate! The kids had a fun time and there was little planning and no clean-up for me!
