Ladybugs for Boots

Boots loves bugs as I may have mentioned. So he was out of his mind excited when he opened this yesterday.

We have had butterflies from the same company, Insect Lore, and it was such a wonderful experience that Aunt K thought that Boots might like to see the life cycle of a Ladybug. Aunt K and her family thoughtfully sent Boots the whole Ladybug experience for his approaching birthday.

The Lady Bug Dome, complete with live Ladybug larva.
The Ladybug book, so we know what is happening and what it means.
And last but certainly not least, the life cycle recreation models, other wise known as bug toys!
He must have laid on that floor for two hours yesterday, peering at them through the little magnifying top. Aunt K your the best!

Bug Books

On Wednesday of this past week we watched Boots and Little P's cousin. It worked out perfectly, the kids were getting restless with each other, and having a cousin here to play is always guaranteed fun.

He has a reputation in the family of being able to get into a lot of trouble, quickly... Now this is not to say that anyone thinks he is not the best little man around, they do, and the fact that he is so stinkin' cute helps ease the fears quite a bit. However, I have watched this child many a time and never once had to lock my doors to prevent him from escaping, or had him scale any of the gates in my house in a Superman like single bound. So I personally think that he is a ANGEL!!!!! And no one will ever tell me differently!

Look at this face, how could he be anything but perfect!
Boots has a new obsession. These books.
We owned an older version of the Alphabet Bugs book. It had lived a long, hard life and was missing a few key parts of the alphabet by the time it caught Boots eye. Once I saw that this was not a passing fad and he wanted nothing more than to read this book, every night with half of it missing, I went to go buy it. There was nothing sadder than hearing him say "Well when we get the new one I will see what ___ looks like', about what ever part of the book was missing!

Well no bookstore in town actually carried it, I could order it, but then it would take at least 10 days to get it. Which by the way, was better than Amazon, with a minimum of 14 days. So I placed the order and on our way out Boots spotted the Easter Bugs book. He loves the pop up part. I mean LOVES it!!!! So with that in his hot little hand he was more than happy to wait the 10 days until we could pick up the other one.

This is finale the of the book, this giant Easter Basket filled with bugs! Too cute!
With Boots turning 4 next Saturday I was thrilled to be able to add a few more of these books by David A. Carter, to his birthday presents. How cute are these?

Bed Bugs, Birthday Bugs, Bugs In Space.... there is a huge list, check them out at Amazon.

Evander and I

Have you ever had one of those days when you knew from the minute your feet hit the floor that you should just not bother getting out of bed. I hardly ever experience that dread, but I did yesterday. And apparently for good reason. I got up with the intention of a little solo road trip to tend to some family business and remembered that the leather tire zippy thing that goes over your tire on the back of your car was off from when we had to change the tire a little while back. Being as neurotic as I am I set it in my mind that the cover was going back on the tire before I left. I mentioned this to Mr. Fantastic, who told me, with no defined reason as to why, it is not going to fit. So out in to the garage I went. After some serious refusal to move I decided that perhaps a pair of pliers would help convince the stubborn zipper to hurry things up a bit. After all I had a minimum of two and a half hours ahead of me to even get to my destination. So I grabbed a pair of pliers that were circa 1970, complete with rust and no sissy rubber grippy things for the handles. Did I mention that they weighed about 8 pounds? All of this should have been a clue to put them down and walk away. But I am determined, and when I set my mind to something, hell or high water I am going to get just that. After one final adjustment I gripped that zipper with the ridiculously large pair of pliers and gave it a yank that would have freed the sword from the stone. Instead of some magical moment of it all working, the zipper top broke, the pliers flew back and nailed me above the eye and I pinched some funky nerve on my back. What a freakin' wreck.

I do realize defeat when I see it. I was starring it in the face. I walked back into the kitchen, and was washing my hands when Mr. Fantastic points out that I am bleeding. I quietly turned to him as he was starring at the blood trailing down my face and said, "If you value your life at all, the words I told you so better never come out of that mouth, so help me god." With that threat I walked to the bathroom to see what I had done to my face.

It never didn't get much better. All day was kind one problem after another, not exactly stellar, but I suppose they can't all be. I iced the cut over my eye and I only looked like Evander Holyfield for a little while. And I made myself to the gym today thinking that if I worked out, perhaps it could loosen what ever I had done to my back. I talked with my trainer a little and she advised me on a few more stretches than I normally do and tada I feel much better. This had better not be an indication as to what my week is going to go like!

Sweet Treats

You know how the other day I told you that I hate to spend money on vacuums? Well, this is why. The one we bought less than two weeks ago just died. No reason, no warning, just died. I was so mad I could scream. We waited a long time to buy one that we thought would hold up. So when we did purchase one we didn't go cheap. So after I spent the entire morning with the vacuum completely taken apart and all over my kitchen floor with no luck of finding the reason for the very abrupt death, AND spending over 45 minutes on the phone with the makers of this machine, I had had enough. I put it back together, threw the kids and the repackaged vacuum in the car and took it back. I then proceeded to drive to every store I could think of to find a suitable replacement. I mean lets be honest here folks, I have two children, three dogs, and two cats I cannot go with out a vacuum for more than a day. So along the way I found these treasures:
Two, yep I said two shirts for me. That has to be some kind of record. I NEVER buy things for me, and if and when the rare occassion does occur it certainly isn't more than one thing. But I loved these and they fit into my jeans and tee shirts life perfectly, so now they're mine!

We found Boots some Spiderman finger paint... Can't wait to see what a wreck this is going to be.
And Little P some gel pens, check out the concentration...
And lastly I read this article in the local paper about a small bakery is in our town. It's Jackson's Bakery in Greece, they have been on Stone road for 60 years. I didn't even know we had a bakery this close. So told the kids as we were running all over the place that if they were really well behaved and didn't give me anymore of a headache than I already had we would take a little trip to see this old town favorite and perhaps pick out a special treat for after lunch.

It was everything a little small town bakery should be. The smell when you opened the door was a cross between instant comfort and insane hunger. There was case after case filled with cupcakes and cookies, pecan bars, cakes of every size and filling, danishes, and breads and rolls, cannoli I could go on and on. Everything was selected and placed in perfect little white bakery boxed and tied with string.
The lady who helped us has been working there forever and was the sweetest woman I think I have ever met. She told me that the cupcakes we picked out, she made this morning herself.
More assurance that they will be worth the extra 30 minutes I am going to have to be on the treadmill!

Mr. Fantastic, being a good Italian boy loves him some cannoli's, so these are for him.
Little P immediately set her heart upon a cream puff that was sprinkled so delicately with powdered sugar that it looked like lace.
Now I have more sewing to do, I have dolls to finish and back packs to make, and sleeping bags to put zippers in... Oh and I still have to drive to the gym after we put the kids to bed tonight... I need more hours in the day!

The Stuffed Undead

I haven't had much time to sew lately, and truthfully I have missed it. So this weekend I surfed on over to Wee Wonderfuls and bought myself the Make-A-Long Story downloads, and they came with a bonus pattern each. Gotta love that! I have pined after them for a while now, and I decided that I no longer wanted them, I NEEDED them. Hillary, you are so talented, I need to sing your praises. Not only was it fun, it was easy and it was just the kick I needed to feed my creative monster, thank you so much!

After a quick trip to Jo-Anns, my arms full fun patterned flat quarters, I was ready to sew, sew, sew. And sew I did! I figured that since I would be making three assembly line process was the best way to go. I was all set to stretch everything out across my desk when Pippin put a little kink in my plans. I mean honestly who could move this????
Needless to say once I did get started it was hard to stop. I had to force myself to go to bed! But not before I fully completed one. It just happened to be a Zombie, for you know who.... this was before I finished stitching the skull on the shirt.
Here he is, all finished, ready to haunt someones dreams.
Cweeeeepy as Boots said. On to the ones for the actual kids! I will post pics when they are finished. The kids are both off from school this week, so free time is seriously limited, but we have a few things planned to keep every body happy and out of trouble, and hopefully a few minutes here and there to stuff and stitch! Stay tuned!

Valentine's Day Part 2

Since the kids didn't have school on Valentine's Day, they both celebrated with their classmates on Thursday. They both dressed for the occasion.
I am not sure she could love this skirt any more. She would live in it if I would let her!
Boots made us the cutest card,
Here it is with his blurry thumb print! Tell me that is not super cute!

Confession

I suppose I should fess up. I have been keeping a little secret from you. I have been on a little mission of sorts. I decided a few months back that I was done being voluptuous. Some call it fat, I called it voluptuous. I gained weight with each pregnancy and of course with each year. And before I knew it I didn't recognize myself.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't near a dangerous number, or ready for a Jenny Craig commercial but I wasn't the tiny body that I used to be. So I felt that I was in the right place to make this decision to get into much better shape. I was comfortable with how I looked, but I wasn't thrilled. And this was not about how much I weigh. That is just a number. What it is about, is how I feel. And I was starting to not feel so great. So before the holiday's I had some objectives to loose some of the initial weight by drinking lots and lots of water, walking and watching what I eat. I didn't give myself a time limit. I have become comfortable with the fact that it took a long time to put that weight on, it is not going to come off over night. I was really diligent with that, and it worked. I lost 35 pounds. Some times I feel as if I am surrounded by people that have never had to worry about extra weight in their entire lives. I think that is why I haven't mentioned it until now. Any one that has been on this mission knows how hard it is, if you haven't, you just don't know. It's that simple.

I had decided that once I reached a milestone with that, I would join a gym. I would consult a trainer and would get into a routine. Routines work for me, I have them in every other aspect of my life. So it will work for me with this. I am pretty hard on my resolve. Once I decide something I am not turning back until I have in the palm of my hand what it is that I am after. So I am there at the mercy of a trainer for at least an hour a day, every day, Monday thru Friday, with classes on the weekend. I DO NOT back down, I DO NOT give up. It goes against the very grain that is my core. I think that this is one of the only times in my life that my pride will help me.

When I was young, I made some very poor health choices. I know this. I admit this. I am not proud of this. But that is why now, after all of these years I am ready to tackle this safely and slowly. I don't have unrealistic expectations. But I do have high ones. So, if I am not blogging as much it is because I am literally working my ass off! I read so much about you all, I feel as if I know you, and your struggles. Some are not that far off from my own. So if you are in the same boat your not alone, and good luck to you!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We started out our Valentine's Day with a foot of snow!
Mr. Fantastic was less than loving the snow about the second round of snow blowing!
When I was little we always got a little surprise waiting on the table before breakfast on Valentine's Day. I am not talking big presents here, just a little something special. So we carry that on with our children. They spotted these puppies at Wegmans weeks ago.
I bought them and tucked them away waiting to stuff them into their super cute stripped bags.
We were greeted with squeals of delight as soon as they woke up and ran to the table. These puppies, Peppermint and Vanilla Chip were at their sides all day. ( By the way, could these be any more my children, they named their dogs after food! Flavorings in fact... I don't know if I should be proud, but I am! )

As you may have guessed, school was closed due to the insane amount of snow and super cold temps, so we decided to bake for fun. We made Valentine's Day cupcakes,
And I love the smell of baking bread so we also made Porterhouse Rolls, they were delicious....
To top it all off, Little P and Boots received a special chocolate filled surprise from Gee and Trampa...
Hope your day was great too!

Little Devils, gotta Love em'

Little P has so many cute tops with hearts and flowers and lace to choose from for Valentine's Day I couldn't even begin to count the possibilities. Boots on the other hand, loves V-Day, but there isn't really boy attire out there that I would buy. So I look a page from Mary's Book on how to dress your little dude for special occasions and snagged her idea, ya gotta scroll down to the V-day shirt... (hope you don't mind Mary!!!).
It was quick and easy and will work great for his class on Thursday when they do their card exchange and party. Throw a long sleeve tee on under it and we are all set to go.

I do have to say that I am tempted to make one for my nephew, my oldest brothers son. Simply because it fits his personality so well. He is cute as all get out, but he's got this insane streak in him. I love it! We were at my middle brother's house this weekend for a really, really late holiday get together, and I watched that adorable little boy stand inches away from my middle brothers bull dog, and scream his name in his face, over and over and over. He is so my brothers kid.... In fact my youngest brother was standing next to me at the time and said, Gee, is there any doubt to who his father is? Needless to say there is a reason for that statement. My oldest brother is a bit on the high strung side. And not to mention that his son is a mini me is I ever saw one. So it's crazy to look at this little person and see my brother so clearly... In the last minute sweep of the house before we left I forgot the camera. So no pics... But it was fun, actually it was a LOT of fun. Like the kind of day that your sides and face hurt on the ride home because you laughed so hard.

Spring Fever or Wishful Thinking...

I have been on a bit of a clutter free kick lately. If I was like that all of the time, then there would be no need for the insanity that happens when I suddenly feel the need to throw everything in sight away. Thank goodness I do have some internal ability to stop myself. To some degree anyhow. Boots room was the object of choice yesterday. I have been thinking for some time now that he doesn't have enough fee space in his room to play.

We as a family embrace the fact that we have young children, and that with these lovely little people comes a plethora of stuff. Our house will never be picture perfect. We have toys in almost every room some how. We have tried to make our home as organized as one can with two little ones running around. We have a beautiful armoire in the living room. People remark on it when they see it, that it looks rustic and like it belongs. What they don't know is if they open it, they would be greeted with a sea of plastic tubs containing every possible action figure ever made, and very carefully perched pile of games and puzzles, endless marbles and magnetics, the list goes on and on. My point is we make no attempt in trying to hide the fact that children live here. We just try to make it less of a headache to put things away.

Boots has a closet in his room that he does not use. We have lived in this house for four years and that closet has hardly been used for much of anything. It has sliding doors which make me nervous. I see pinched fingers every time I look at them. We decided that we would see what could be done with closet organizers. We also needed to remove some furniture, so the dresser seems a likely candidate. By putting all of his clothes in the closet and using the rest of the drawers in his armoire, it should free up the space we were looking for. I love that dresser, it was my great grandmothers, but have no fear, it will be going into Little P's room. Her dresser is huge and it's beautiful. But as soon as it gets humid, forget it, what ever you put in those drawers you better not need until fall. The wood swells and the drawers are not coming open for anything. We learned that lesson the hard way this past summer...

So here is the closet now,
I am still figuring out if I want to make a gauze curtain like thing with tab tops and dinosaurs stitched on it. I have some time to make that decision. We won't be painting until after the new windows are in, so we can decide then if it needs something. One thing is for sure, I will not be putting those doors back up.....

While I was tearing down the closet rod and yanking out nails, boots was busy coloring with this:
Aunt Jenn got them these for Christmas. Gotta love color wonder!!!

Crap , crap and more crap

Well everything is just going to shit over at our house. First the vacuum dies, which I have to say was kind of a blessing. I hate to spend money on vacuums but I am kind of a neat freak, as much of one as I can be with two kids and three dogs! And the old one was far past it's prime. So we bought a new one, bag-less this time and I have to say I love it. I was definitely grossed out the first couple of times I vacuumed the house though. I just kept going until I was only taking out a reasonable amount of crap out of the canister. Well reasonable by my standards anyhow!

Then the tv decided to start to giving up as well. We were just not thinking about getting a new tv right now, so taking that hit sucked, however, I will say in spite of myself, it is GORGEOUS!!!!!!
So we make this major decision to not only buy a much better tv than we had, but a stand as well. And this is what my kids are thrilled about...
the box. It figures...

And when it rains it pours so, to add to the crap that is falling apart list; windows. We need to replace the windows in Boot's room. It's freezing in there in the winter, and ridiculously hot in the summer, the bad news is the window guy came last night and they are a custom size so they will take between 6 to eight weeks to get in. The good news is once they are in, they can be installed in one day. After signing that contract last night and handing over that check I wanted to hide the rest of our bank account.... For fear of the next thing to break!!!

It is too much, let me sum up!

Today was one of those days. The kind that you have to drag yourself out of bed and inhale that first cup of coffee, oh okay, the first TWO cups of coffee. Then your tolerance is low and your stress level is high. I had about enough when I finally got back home this afternoon after picking Boots up from class. I went out to get the mail and look what the lovely and talented Felt Mouse sent!!!!!!
Love it!
It was stuffed full of lovely treasures! It was definitely the pick me up that I needed today!
I will have to hide the bell,
from a certain someone, I am not naming names here, but she has recently found herself in a boat load of trouble every time I turn around.
I know that she looks innocent, but do not be fooled. Beneath the fluffy fur and the adorable purr beats the heart of a small recking ball.

In more good news, Little P has finally kicked the cough that has been keeping her and I am sure her cat up for the last week! The antibiotics with the steroid chaser worked and there is no need for her to have breathing treatments. Thank goodness for small favors that she has managed to not come across another cold!