My treats!

The biggest treat for me when we go out of town is the chance to get out of the house and find variety. When I leave home here I get my choice of one chain store (the super grocery/house needs kind) and three specialty stores that are the size of my living room. I don't leave my house very often because whatever those three stores have I've seen before or I know they'll still have it next month.
At my mom's it's an entirely different story with almost every store you can think of right out her back door, well not really but so close I could walk if I were fit. I wasn't able to do much damage with the time frame I had but I did my fair share. I don't want to give the impression that all I live for is shopping, cause I don't, but I do LOVE crafting and doing something fun everyday and it's hard to do it if you don't have supplies. Anyway...

The highlight of my trip was visiting the candy shop itself- Quilt Taffy! P.S.- They're having a great sale today only so scoot on over and have some Moda! Can I tell you how excited I was, I was really excited. They have the best fabrics to choose from and she always packages them so nicely and ships them so swiftly, but this time I got to go in person and touch everything. Corrie let me crash her Christmas and I can't thank her enough, my favorite stop for sure! If I could have stayed another day I would have met them both but I'll have to meet Des another time.

This is my favorite fabric combo and I think it's going to be a cute summer dress and booties for Kennedy.

My Aunt Tina knows how much I love cupcakes and I couldn't live a day without ice cream so she gave these to me. Well actually I haven't had ice cream in over a month but I'm sad about it ;o). I'm so excited to try them out. Don't they look like fun? The book has some super cute cake and cupcake ideas I've never seen before.

I'm off to bathe and de-stinkify my 5 criminals who are all sick so we can trudge to the grocery store for some food and spread our germs. What can I say, we're givers. I don't think they'll let me cook from a can for another day without going postal on me ;o). The weather has been a bit dicey so I haven't gone to get food in quite some time. It's slush today so we're off. Have a great Monday!

Merry all around

What a Christmas! It was super fun but I have to tell you- I've had all the Merry I can stand and it's nice to be home. We were packed like sardines for a couple of days...

I cropped a few whiners out (my sisters who would rather not be blogged in their jammies- sheesh) but this was the scene all the way around. Crazy! A fun crazy though. I finished all my projects except the doll houses and clothes pin dolls (so cute, so I'm a little sad about it) and I was going to make some Molly Monkeys for the older girls. They didn't miss them though and loved every present they received. I'm so lucky to have kids who truly appreciate every gift they get. They really do, and they got just as excited about the dum dum suckers they got as they did the gifts Santa brought. I love that! They just loved being at Grandma's and having fun as a family.

Speaking of having fun with the family, Cody surprised us with a game system. Anyone who knows me knows I've been avoiding any type of game system or cable t.v. for as long as I could. Well the day has come and I have to tell you- I love it! I hope I'll be able to get things done now that I'll be spending some time brushing up on my shooting skills (balloons that is) and steering cows. I wish they had a knitting game so I could practice that before I screw up anymore yarn. The kids don't really understand what it's all about yet so I can use it as a learning tool. I'm going to try the "Pay to Play" method where they have to do chores to earn playing time. I'll let you know how that works out ;o).

And did I get any pictures of my finished projects before I gave them away... no. I'll try to drum some up and post them if I can. Oh, and before I forget, the Doll head purses are not my idea in the least. Of course I picked the fabrics and drew them up myself but they are direct copies from another blogger. I just can't seem to find her or her link right now since I saved the picture about a year ago. I'm not in the business of copying other peoples products and selling them so if I read your blog- never fear! I only copy things from other bloggers for my own personal use and I make my own original stuff to sell or give away. I always try to give credit where I can! I hope that puts a few minds at ease ;o).

Short Round- month 4

Here's an update for the family with crafty stuff below. Kennedy turned 4 months old today. She's getting so big and I'm not just saying that. She's 16 lbs and 26" and is wearing 6-12 months clothing already, such a chub! You would think I would have fabulously toned arms from hefting her around all day but alas- still flabby. She's starting to play with her toys but refuses to roll over. She just likes to lay there all day having things handed to her. My kind of girl ;o).

Speaking of really cute girls I finished 3 doll head purses, for lack of a cuter name, earlier last week. They are lined and have a pocket inside with contrasting fabric. Sorry the pictures are so dark and un-photo shopped, I'm tired and just too darn lazy to pose my finished gifts right now. I don't know how Santa's Elves do it, well I guess they don't pose the toys and blog them either. Doll head purses- check!

Next up- Fabric houses.

The great raccoon reveal

Sometimes i get a little cocky. Okay, sometimes I get really cocky. After my sheep and pillow turned out fairly well I decided I can make *anything* without a pattern. When Jeremy handed me his 3rd draft of his Christmas list and a stuffed raccoon was #1 on all 3 lists I thought to myself - "You can so make one" because stuffed raccoons that aren't made for toddlers are a little hard to find in this one horse town. After scouring the internet and having a few ideas passed my way I couldn't find anything that 1. I had the supplies to make and 2. wasn't store bought. I found a cute illustration that reminded me of a raccoon Pokemon so I went to work. From an illustration. A flat illustration. Here is where my version of the illustration comes in...

Meet Redo Raccoon, a 6 hour labor of flat snow angel posed love-

Just like when I burn food and it becomes "Cajun" I messed him up but labeled him "shabby". He and Jeremy both like snow angels so they should get along just fine. Of course that's Redo's only pose.

Other names up for consideration are Roadkill Raccoon, Reconstruct Raccoon, Rigor mortise Raccoon, My Retna Raccoon... I could go on and on. From now on I'll leave the stuffed animal from an illustration making to the professionals in Hong Kong.

Also, if you could spare a spare minute I would love it if you would follow this link and vote for my blog on Tiffany's blog The Crafty Homemaker. She so graciously put me on her blog as one of the top 10 blogs of the week and if I get the most votes I will be in the running for a fabulous prize and blog of the year in January. If you go and vote you are also in the running for a fabulous prize package. It's a win win! Just go and leave a comment on her blog to be entered to win. I'm going to have to check out a few of the other blogs myself, some of them are new to me and my feed reader has been a little slow with the posts lately.

Have a great Tuesday!

More holiday-ness

A quick share of some of things I've been up to this week. A quick pillow I made for a gift exchange for our Relief Society Christmas party. I decided very last minute to go and gave myself an hour to make this so the buttons are just glued on and the pencil marks are still there. I'm making another 2 when I have time. Ha- I just said when I have time...

And some sheep softies for Kaci and Kennedy.

Again, these are not my original idea in anyway but almost exact copies of things I've found on etsy but ran out of time to buy so I sketched and made my own. I've accomplished more than this this week, I just haven't gotten around to taking pictures ;o). Next up- Raccoon share (it's a story) and head purses.

ETA: The lamb idea is from Bit of Whimsy Dolls and she has the pattern and the dolls for sale in her shop here- http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5062394 . I didn't use her pattern so I can't endorse it but they are super cute. Stinking dial-up doesn't allow me to buy e-patterns. Love the Billie Anne dolls too.

The pillow was inspired by this amazingly talented Etsy store -http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5263751. I love the monogram pillows too!

I am on a Christmas Roll...

I've been cranking through the Christmas crafts and I am so happy with the progress I'm making. Things are getting done. Christmas is looking like it will actually happen, not by the looks of my decorations (or lack there of) but my list is getting smaller and my toy box is starting to look full. I spent a couple hours on Saturday crafting!

I should have plenty of things crossed off my Christmas to-do list this week so keep your bloggy eyes peeled. Here's one of the projects I finished Friday night. I can sew and I can scrapbook but I can not hand stitch to save my life but I think they turned out o.k. Here's the tutorial for them if you'd like to give them a go- Reindeer gift card holder.

This lucky little buck and his 3 does are for gift cards but I found the cutest kid debit cards to put in them instead. They were a 4 pack of fake debit cards that have messages on the front that say "good for a fun outdoor activity of your choice" and "One movie and popcorn party" and other fun things they can redeem them for.

Stocking stuffer deer wallet- Check!

Getting Merry

I'm not into Christmas decorations like most people, I'm a bit Grinchy about it. It's not that I don't like Christmas, I just don't like moving my regular stuff around just to put it back in a few weeks. I'm lazy and a bit OCD and when my decorations find a home they stay there all year every year. In fact if I could get away with just stringing a tree with chocolate candy on Christmas Eve and call it good I would. I would eat all the decorations Christmas eve and then put the tree away- sounds good to me!

When you have kids though they sort of expect their mom to actually decorate. I know it's already the 5th and I don't have a single decoration found yet so I thought to help me get in the mood we'd start a little seasonal fun today and decorate tomorrow. My Aunt emailed me the funnest link for all things Christmas last year and my kids absolutely loved it! It's called Northpole.com and it's ad free and kid friendly- love that. They can send an email to Santa and get a reply, make personalized Christmas books, print out fun educational worksheets, find fun recipes, even track Santa on Christmas Eve. If you've been there before then you know how fun it is for the kids. I've printed off enough fun things today that I'm sure to be humming "Deck the halls" in no time.

As soon as I wash a few big bowls (I've been making divinity, bread, and chocolate chip cookies) we're going to make Sparkly Peppermint Playdough and Gingerbread Playdough. I haven't tried the recipes out yet so I'll let you know how they turn out.

I'm not going to win awards for being the mom with the cutest Christmas house for December but my kids will have a blast while I procrastinate decorating. I think that sort of redeems me ;o).

Have a great weekend!!

Amending the list

With only about 3 weeks left until "C" Day I'm weeding a few things out of my list and adding others and tonight's project was an add on. Kaci loves 4 things in life- babies, dress-up, Barbie movies, and milk. On a perfect day she's holding a doll wearing no less than 20 rings and 10 bracelets and her pink Aurora dress watching "Barbie Nutcracker" with an ice cold sippy cup of milk and 2 left shoes.

I was thinking it would be fun to make her a completely new dress with tulle and sparkly stuff, but I'm a mom to 4 other kids too and reality hit so I came up with a new plan. A one night project tutu in her favorite Barbie movie colors. I'll add a tiara and some bling and it will be perfect for her. Amended Tutu- check!

Of sales and heel chunks.

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving, so much to be thankful for! Cody volunteered to be called out and had to work most of the morning but made it back before everyone started in on seconds so that worked out. I got my stuffing fix- yum! Kennedy looked so cute in her shirt, much cuter on.

I'm one of those crazy people who loves Black Friday. It's a yearly tradition for my mom, sister, and I. This year mom wasn't around so my sisters came along with me. It was Kira's first year with us and I have to say, she has much to learn. She was our "wing man" and she did great for a first timer. Just not Pro-wing man- yet. We'll get her in training before next year though. They're going to kill me for taking their picture with my cell phone ;o).

It's the one day a year I can understand why Cody likes hunting only Black Friday is so much better because you get to bag several things in one day and there's no clean up. I still don't understand the wood flavored gum thing though. Maybe if they made "sale" flavor or "Blitz" flavor I would.

Anyway, the shopping this year was amazing. Not so much because of the sales or the misty rain we stood in at 4:45 a.m. but because everyone was generally polite. They were even giving us donuts on the way in. We have an entrance "play" so we don't have to wait in line and it worked beautifully. Everyone was generally having a great adrenaline hopped up time. Except old heel guy, but I don't count him. He was sort of a rogue shopper, a ticking time bomb. I think he was up eating breakfast at Denny's at 5 a.m. and thought he would pick up that random tube of Bengay while he was out. Little did he know it was Black Friday! He was behind me in an isle and said "How do you get out of this gosh darn (well not that but this is a clean blog) store" and proceeded to give me a heelectomy with his cart. MAN DOWN!! I'm not one to let a little blood and hangy stuff stop me so we pressed on. That seriously compromised my fly by pallet time but we came out victorious with every item on our lists. Our hunt was a complete success! Of course living in a town that only has a Wal-Mart (I'm not even close to joking guys) really cuts back on the size of your list too. I can't wait for next year, Boise here I come and I'm wearing shin guards and high tops.

Something cute and crafty next time :o).

Quick turkey share.

I found this idea and made a quick turkey onesie for Kennedy to wear for her first Thanksgiving. I made it about 20 minutes ago so it's not perfect. It is impossible to trace or ink print the hand of a wiggly 3 month old. Her little hand is only 2 1/2" wide spread out! Gotta love Moda Nest charm squares.

Fishy game, almost check!

I'm going to be out and about all weekend catching up on things I couldn't do while my car was out of commission so I wanted to blog about this before I forget and move on to the next project. I want to crank up the craft around here and get my list done!

I'm almost finished with Kaci's fishing game. The sea life are done, the pole and "bobber" magnet are painted and all I have left to do is drill a hole in the dowel and string it up. As you can see painting is not my strong suit so don't judge me, also don't look at the threads, I'm a little embarrassed but it's done enough darn it. I'm going to add a cute little galvanized bucket to keep her catch in as soon as I can get to town and pick one up. I was thinking they won't get lost as easily because the magnetic fish will stick to the bucket, I'm hoping anyway. The entire finished package looks really cute in my head... if only you could see all the cute stuff I have stuck up there!

Thank you so much Memoirs of a Mommy for the cute tutorial that sparked my nautical-ness. Next up- dressed up towels and bath mat for Grandma G. I have her name in our "handmade under $10" family challenge and she doesn't get online so I know I'm safe here ;o).

3 months.

Kennedy turned 3 months old today! My little short round is getting so big, her hair is even "bigger".
I thought it would be fun to share 3 facts about Miss Mae that she'll deny later:

1. She is the cutest drama princess. When things are just right she's the happiest baby but when they aren't- watch out!

2. She loves to rub things with her hands, especially arm pits and chest hair. I personally don't know about the chest hair thing but I'll take Cody's word for it. That's something I hope she grows out of before she starts dating. Actually if she could keep that quirk maybe we won't have to worry about her ;o).

3. She has 3 tiny birth marks. One on her eye lid (hence the red left eye), one in the middle of her forehead, and one on her back.

I'm not going to jinx myself so I'm NOT going to tell you that for the past 2 days she's been taking her naps. I'm also not going to tell you she sleeps through the night for the most part. I just love my little chubby fussy or not!

I thought I should add I do not (for real) own a 3 row BMW. I drive a 3 row Big Mommy Wagon that got fixed today, hooray! Sorry for any confusion I may have caused ;o).

Lemonade, lemonade, chant with me...

This was my mantra for the day. Lemonade. When life gives you lemons, like finally being on time for an appointment for the oldest 4 kids and my car broke down a block from the school where I need to grab Ashlyn. No problem-

Lemonade: I call Cody who finds someone to jump my car. They live here and they're home so it shouldn't take longer than 15 min. and I can still make it on time to the appointment. Great!

Lemon: I sit for 25 minutes for help to arrive and his car isn't big enough to charge my behemoth B.M.W. and I wait, and wait, and wait. Kennedy is screaming her ever loving head off and the other 2 girls are fighting. I feel like a complete idiot sitting there with my hood up and nothing happening. If I just had a burly man in front poking around in there that's one thing but to be a girl sitting there for 25 min. with her hood up messing with a cell phone inside the car, yeah, idiot.

Lemonade: I call the pediatric clinic and they reschedule for Friday. I find suckers in the diaper bag and proceed to fling them at the very very back where Kaci is until she finally catches one. Note to self, find the other six before the other kids do. Kennedy's little bum fits perfect on my steering wheel and we play games so she finally calms down.

Lemon: Jeremy's teacher calls wondering why I haven't picked him up from town, where he was at swimming lessons, to take him to his appointment. Another 1/2 hour goes by and still I'm stuck. I'm stuck at the post office. If I were stuck at Wal-Mart or in Hawaii my story wouldn't be so bad but the post office people. I guess I could have registered to vote- again.

Lemonade: A very nice gentleman I know just happened to be getting his mail in a huge diesel pickup and asked me if I needed a jump. The other very nice man who's been trying to help from the beginning comes back and gets in my car because I'm afraid I'll screw something up so I just sit back and watch my lovely vehicle start.

Lemon: I wasn't able to get to town so I have nothing to make for dinner, my package didn't get mailed (wrong post office, that's an even longer story), the kids missed their appointment, and I needed to borrow a pair of pinking sheers to finish my fishy project and they reside with someone 20 min. away. Not to mention about 50 other things I had planned just got de-planned, un-planned, ex-planned?

Lemonade: This kids were overjoyed, no ecstatic to find out that they missed their flu shots! I haven't seen a happier bunch since last Christmas. I almost hate to tell them we get to do it again on Friday, almost ;o). I do have some cans of dinner, oh how the family will love that. Not to mention because I won't be spending all evening shopping with the furious 5 I can show you this, my finished ribbon wands I said I would post yesterday. Note to self- small dowels are your friend.

So there you have it. A little glimpse into why my blog is called everyday chaos.

Busy...

Busy is an understatement around here! Kennedy is napping again during the day so I'm starting to accomplish some things- yeah!!! I've made 2 pairs of booties and I'm putting the finishing touches on 3 more. I'm working on 2 ribbon wands and Kaci's go fish set as well as a bath mat and I've bought the supplies for everything else (almost). It feels sooo good to flex the old crafty muscle. Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of some of my completed Christmas list stuff on Monday.

Just a side note, when I get comments on my blog it won't tell me a reply e-mail address anymore, it used to but for some reason it won't tell me anymore for anyone, is anyone else having this problem? So, if you leave me a comment and you want an answer please leave an e-mail address for me to contact you. Or, if it's easier just drop me an email at dontlickthefloor (at) hotmail (dot) com . I only check that email every few days but I love to answer questions when I can!!

Speaking of that, Kay- I got the idea for the sheet metal activity boards from this Etsy shop. I'm going to make my own for just my kids to use but her prices are excellent if you are interested in buying some. I probably won't show pictures of that when I'm finished because I will be making them almost exactly like hers with accessories and I don't want to step on any toes ;o). I think it's a great idea and will be a great gift! A tip for anyone thinking of giving one of these, Dry Erase marker does NOT come out of clothing so it's probably better for the larger set of kids. We have a Christmas dress that learned that lesson...

Have a great weekend and I'll be back on Monday with some crafty eye candy!

Heart Breaker: take 3

Ok, so you're probably tired of all the quilt giveaways I keep posting but I'm only doing it as a service for you. I don't want anyone to miss out. So go head on over to Camille's blog and drool and wipe your lip, then don't comment so I can win. I mean it! I'm going to win this time ;o). She's going to make me the ever famous Bloom quilt, I hope with every finger, toe, and hair crossed!

My Christmas list.

No, this isn't going to be a post about the list of things I would like to have for Christmas. Rest assured Cody already knows what I would like to get ;o). This is a list of things I need to make for Christmas. I figure if I type it I'm bound and obligated to do it. So let it be written, so let it be done (quick, name that line!). Here's the short list of things I'm working on starting tomorrow-

4 Sheet Metal Activity boards

1 Elastic neck tie

3 Fabric doll/dog/princess houses and characters (here)

1 Go fish game (here)

3 Ribbon Wands

4 doll softies (here, here, and here)

3 Head purses (here)

1 game softy

1 blanket

1 puppy shirt (applique pattern here)

For the other little ones I know and love-

Fish in a bag soaps (posted link here)

Shrinky dink rings (here)

Sticky notes books (here)

Fabric cuffs

If I have any time left at all I would also like to try-

Piggy banks

Recycled Glove Chipmunk (here)

Patchwork bathmat (here)

Framed Quilted name art

So there it is. I have a few more projects that are secret since someone is a known peeker *cough* Cody. I'm not planning on doing every one of these things, this is just a wish list of all the gifts I would love to give homemade. I do plan on trying to get as many done as I can and of course I'll change them to suit our little creepies so I'll update with pictures when I'm finished with each one. Wish me luck and if you don't see me for the next month I'm holed up in my craft cave happily crafting away!

Please Note: There's some really talented ladies out there, no? None of these are my original idea so I've tried to put the link to the source when I remembered where they came from.

A mighty fortress.

I spent the morning at a Relief Society women's retreat where I got to do a few crafts and girly things and when I got home this is what I came across.

What used to be my front steps is now some sort of fortress. While the estrogen's away the testosterone will play.

Pretty fierce! There's a leaf barricade and in case the invaders breached that there's also a stone wall. I'm not sure what the large sticks next to the rake are for, maybe pole vaulting to safety in case the stone wall didn't hold 'em? Aren't those burly guards scary looking.

My little brother Josh is spending the weekend at our house so Jeremy (who's 8 and on the left) and Uncle Josh (who's 9 and on the right) have been having a blast. I'm not sure if Josh would say so because the mean older sister that I am, I made him eat one piece of broccoli before he could have a fudgecicle last night. It's fun being the oldest!

Thanks!

I think the baby must have read that I was thinking of downgrading because she took one nap yesterday. It's not the amazing two naps she was taking before but it helps. She also slept through the night, from 11 to 7. I'm knocking on plywood and throwing salt over my shoulder hoping that it's going to be the norm from here on out because I don't think I can continue otherwise.

I wanted to say thank you to everyone who left a comment or emailed because I really needed that yesterday. Sometimes living in a paper sack has it's advantages but most of the time I feel pretty isolated and alone. Being a mom can be hard and lonely work but you guys made me feel less alone and normal. I'm just a girl trying the best I can to be a good mom, wife, daughter, and friend. Some days I feel I do a decent job and others I feel like a complete failure but I really am feeling better today, oh what a good nights sleep will do!

I got this card in the mail yesterday-

I'm not sure if she reads my blog or not but I thought it was perfect timing. All it says is "Dear Bridget, I just wanted to tell you what a wonderful mother I think you are!!". Thank you, thank you so much! It must have been divine inspiration because she sent it before my feel sorry for me post but it really made me feel better.

That's enough of that! Back to my regularly scheduled crafty bloggy-ness. You should go check this link out, so stinking cute and I'm sure if you are the bazaar kind this would sell well. I'm making a bunch for Christmas gifts for the kids, I think. They would love it!

I need tech support!

Baby 5.0 isn't working properly. Somehow she's been re-programmed and isn't running on default settings. I keep running the change/feed/sleep mode but all I get is the change/feed/fuss mode. I've lost the manual and I'm afraid we'll both overheat soon.

All kidding aside, what 2 month old goes from taking two 3 to 4 hour naps everyday to taking five 20 minute naps only when being held? Mine!! This mom has had it and I'm feeling totally overwhelmed. I'm so stressed out that I keep falling asleep on the couch, with the baby since we're apparently Siamese twins, at 9:00. On Monday I fell asleep just after 8. Just call me Gloria and get me a cup for my teeth since Kennedy has aged me to 90. This is the worst possible time for this, I'm getting nothing done and I'm so focused on getting Kennedy to take a nap that the day flies by and it's time for dinner before I even realize breakfast is over. I am far, far, far from even appearing perfect right now.

If you're local and you are reading this- please please please do not come over! I would die of embarrassment and I would simply have to move. If you want to see me go to Australia I guess that's a good plan, just come on over and I'll be forced to take a sweet passport picture in my jammies with no bra on and flee the country. I can hear my enemies now "Moowhaaa ha ha, that's it! Jinkins grab our best pot luck rice casserole we will destroy the Baxter's!" because every evil genius has a sidekick named Jinkins.

I'm not sure what that last paragraph was about so I'll leave you with this-

Isn't she stinking adorable, good thing or I might be forced to upgrade. No, downgrade. I don't think I can handle six kids.