Introducing my nieces... (boy that sounds weird) I only had nephews!!!!

Jay, Sam and I traveled to Rochester to see my in laws this past Tuesday night after work and we had a great time there. While we were there for the 5 days of our "vacation" we got to meet Jays' fraternal twin nieces Ashlyn and Jordyn who were born Sunday the 23rd. They are about the same size as Julia and I were when we were born...4 lbs 11 oz, and 4 lbs 13 oz. They are definitely fraternal as you can see from the pictures...here they are.

Ashlyn (L), Jordyn (R)

They had feeding tubes for about 30 hours to let them rest since they were 6 weeks early, but they are otherwise doing well and are in the special care nursery and not the NICU anymore.
Ashlyn Renee

Jordyn Grace

I must say as nice as it was to be in the presence of babies...there was not a twinge, or a tingle, or a tugging at my uterus strings.
Ahhhhhhhh content with my boy~ Enough said!

Here we are at Chucke E Cheese's for the third time during our 5 day trip!
He is a GREAT pretend ATV driver!

Scrub a dub dub...

I made a pattern today for a scrub top fitted to me exactly! I made one for me, and one for Julia...

This is the one for Julia...she is a brown gal!

This is mine...

Some new back to school creations:

After an inspiration from my twinnie Julia ,

I made these name tags today to keep the boys organized in the school bus shuffle
(I am so nervous that they will not get on the right bus)


and these checklists for our husbands when they have to get their OWN children ready for school in the morning... Oh the horror! LOL


Here they are modeling the name tags...they are encased in packaging bags to protect them from the elements, and little sticky hands.

Ahhhhhh it feels so good to be prepared!!!

Glads, Flocks, and Bee Bomb...Oh my

A smattering of loveliness from my garden! I love the mix of colors. Ahhhhh so nice to have some color on my table.

My poor child...

Is now my lucky child!!! Today after much bad mothering months, I finally provided my son with a REAL BED!!!! Granted, all toll, the kid probably only spent 1/2 a year on the futon mattress (on the floor mind you) since he spent most nights in our bed until we made him start sleeping in his own bed (see old post). But today I bought him a twin mattress, and box spring, and bed skirt. My mother provided some old sheets from my gram, and I used an old full size bed frame I had in the basement that Julia and I tie rapped to fit a twin mattress. I feel like a million bucks and feel so much better to finally have a REAL BED for my precious boy. He could have cared less about what he slept on, but I felt like a loser, and now he has an awesome, spacious, clean, lovely room to spend his nights in and he LOVES IT!!!!!! Now all I have to do is sand and paint the wall seams and walls and Voila...a finished room for my boy!

Desperate times call for desperate measures:

As I am writing this, I am hoping that some of you who have school age, or almost school age children have been where I am right now...
SCARED TO DEATH THEIR KID IS GOING TO BE
THE " DUMB ONE"
in school. The boys are very smart, loving, good boys, but they are by no means an expert when it comes to letter recognition and, as they are now called, "site words". I feel that we have lost all of the ground over the summer that the boys gained while they were under the pleasant, patient, eye of Mrs. Beglin (Pre K teacher extra-ordinaire). So having purged this confession and then realizing that there is less than a month left till the first day of Kindergarten (GASP), I decided to make the following videos. I have tried passing flash cards, that I have made, with letters on them to Julia, to quiz the boys on, time and time again, but they always get lost in the bottom of a bag, or trashed, etc. So I decided to make it fool proof, and uniform. The same explanations, the same cards, and the same system. All WE have to do is go to my youtube channel and click on each of the 3 videos below, and do this 2 times EVERY DAY day and I WILL FEEL BETTER!!!!! The boys are already gaining ground, and it feels awesome!!!!
I can almost see their brains growing~ LOL.

So without further a'do...

Lala's Letter Lesson

Lala's Letter Quiz

Pre K-Kindergarten Site Words

My goal is to prepare them for anything they throw them, so hopefully they will feel confident on the first day of school! I want everyone to think they are as wonderful as I do!
One small step for me, one HUGE STEP FOR THE BOYS!!!

How precious is this?

I modified the 2T pattern I had and made 5 dresses today in 3-4 T sizes. My model as always (Sam) was very accommodating! This is a bit snug and short on him so I am calling it 3-4 T. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

How Lovely!!!!

Today at the farmers market while we were having a lull in customers at our own booth I received a phone call from the mechanic where I had dropped Jay's car off this morning to have some brake work done.

Here is my end of the conversation:
Hello?
The car is done already? Great!
How much is the bill for?
UNDER WARRANTY? NO COST???
REALLY????
YIPPEEEEE~

So now with my new found windfall I decided to buy some plants from a guy across from our booth. Let me just preface the following pictures by saying that in the 5 years since we built our house I have never planted flowers. I have though: strewn seed mixes, planted hanging baskets, and bulbs, none of which every truly flourished. So having said this I am not to optimistic about my newest acquisitions, but I am hopeful. I bought 10 of the HARDIEST perennials he sold. I am giving one that has 3 Lily blooms to my mother since she mentioned liking the ground cover from them. I planted the rest and here is a smattering of the likes:

The finished project:
My very modest garden, to compliment my very modest house

These little lovelies are adjacent to my "garden" and are just about to turn into the juiciest, plumpest black raspberries. MMMMMM!

To end my day I decided to take a trip down this:

and across this:

to pillage the HOLY GRAIL of BLUEBERRIES!!!
(Jealous?)
Hope you all had a lovely day! Tell me of your landscaping or lack thereof!

Hmmmmmm...I am not doing this any time soon!

Well, today I got called off and was able to bring our boys to our cousin Aurora's 5th Birthday Party. My Aunt Patti, her mother, was holding the festivities at the Avalanche Adventures mini putt and bounce house extraordinaire. I woke up to a dreary, dismal day all around and was hoping that it would be at the bowling alley instead, but I received the phone call at 11:00 saying that it was officially going to be at the fore mentioned. So I pulled up my boot straps, loaded the boys in the car, and was bound and determined to have a great time.

Here we are on our way to meet the gang! We practiced singing Happy Birthday, talked about "being good boys" and "listening" to Auntie/Mama, and how we were going to thank Aunt Patti and Aurora for inviting us. I was most excited for the possibility of a nice time!


So we get to the party, and here is the main event... The Bounce Houses!
These "death traps" were more than a little damp, slippery, and covered in stained plastic sides with god knows what smeared on them from kids faced being pummeled against the sides while jumping ensues. One child even pee'd his pants in the SpongeBob one just before we headed inside. Here are a smattering of photos from the jumping mayhem.
THEY ALL DID HAVE A BLAST THOUGH!! !










As you can see from the group shot...the wheels were almost all off some of the kids, ours included!

Please understand that there will be no pictures from the cake and indoor activities...I had all I could do from swallowing an entire bottle of Celexa in order to cope. So, here is a run down of the indoor events:

CAKE, FROSTING, MESS
Unorganized present opening and scattering
Tunnel caves, and crying for mini golf
A phone call from my beloved sister who offered to come over and rescue me
Eben and Sam MELTING INTO OBLIVION that only sugar, rowdy activities, meeting many kids they don't know, and no nap by 3:10 pm can bring.
Dragging to the car, and thanking Aunt Patti for the "FUN"

OK, so it wasn't that bad until the end, but isn't that what everyone remembers? Or just me???

So on the way home, my smile had faded into an annoyed frown, which only escalated when I got stuck behind 4 cars going 35 miles an hour...and by the way, I usually don't take photos while driving, but at 35 MPH...who gives a shit!


Please God...look at Sam's face behind me in this shot!!!! It kills me!!!
My lovely line of SLOW TOURIST F-ING DRIVERS!
Finally conked out...LONG DAY!!!!!

We woke up refreshed, and happy and over all it was a great day, but we had definately as we say: HAD IT!

Today only reinforced the reason I don't throw birthday parties for Sam. We go somewhere fun as a family and have a blast! This year we are going to the Great Escape! I am so excited!!!!

OK... My top ten truths!!!!

I was mentioned in my twins Julia's post and in following with the spirit of her post, I am going to list my top 10 truths:

1. I love my MINI VAN!!!
2. I am addicted to electronics (TV, CELL PHONE, DVR, COMPUTER, MICROWAVE)
3. I hate to sleep in and stay up way to late, and am not a napper
4. I would rather eat snacks all day than eat meals
5. I gave my son chocolate milk every night for over 2 years, and he subsequently got TWO cavities...MY WORST MISTAKE EVER AS A MOTHER!!!!!
6. I said I would never let my son play video games, watch over 1 hr of TV a day, or eat junk food and drink soda...I FAILED MISERABLY AT THIS...and my son can kick my ASS in Ratchet and Clank, and can set up any video game system you put in front of him...much to Auntie Jellas relief when she can't figure them out, and he also frequents the Nuggie Fry franchises, also known as Mc Donalds, a bit more than he should~LOL
7. I hate slackers/laziness (especially from my coworkers, and my husband!)
8. I am the pants wearer and handywoman in my household. I WILL set a good example for my son, and he will know how to be a gentleman and chivallrous, and handy!
9. I love wedding cake...more than any other dessert in the whole entire world
10. I love my son and my nephew EQUALLY!!!!

I am not in any way responsible if my son...

BECOMES A CROSS DRESSER~ LOL

Here he is being a muscle man modeling the skirt I made for our 5 year old cousin Aurora's Birthday present. I made my own pattern again so I had no idea on the sizing requirements, so since he is the same size as she is...he graciously helped me out! Thanks Sam...I promise I will not ask this torturous task of you many more times~thanks for being my awesome model.

Ok...how freaking cute is my kid???

Sam wearing the Spiderman Sling that he BEGGED his Auntie Jella to make him so he could carry his "baby" Pandy around! Too cute!!

For My 100th post I am having a giveaway!!!!

Today is the day I post my 100th post and what better way to celebrate than to have a giveaway to my blog followers/friends!!!

I made some new original patterns today for baby clothes and am very pleased with the finished products!!! Here they are!!!


So my friends, in order to qualify to be in the drawing for the giveaway, please comment here on this post AND add me to your blog follow list, and let me know what item from our ETSY shop you would like to win. Any of the items I make are for grabs, and they include...

Any one of the Baby Clothes

Any Apron or Nursing Cover

Any Bootie Set

Any Bag/Tote

Any Bib/Burp Cloth Bundle

The drawing will be held on July 4th at 10PM!!!!

Enter to win!!!!!

Thanks to all who enter and follow up on my blog! Tell your friends about the giveaway!
FREE quality goods up for grabs!!!!!!

Sincerely,
Laura