Time for me?

With another baby on the way I've been more and more aware of how precious my free time is. Granted, I don't really have a lot of free time anyway and most of those free minutes come via the Disney channel and PBS kids. However, I have managed to carve out a few extra hours by totally neglecting personal hygiene (who needs a shower every day?) house work, home cooked meals and my children (see Disney channel and PBS kids).

In those spare moments I've hauled out my sewing machine and sewed up some things I am proud of. I slip-covered one of our living room chairs. I made easy covers for two living room pillows. I've made about 200 yards of bias tape--which is only cool to about three people in the world so I guess I shouldn't brag about it. I "made" a new bedspread for Clare by dying an old one pink and sewing some bias tape around the edges. I made a new stroller seat for one of the little girl's doll strollers. I made some hot/cold packs for the kids. I've hemmed three pairs of Wyatt's pants and spiffed up a handful of dressup dresses. I made a Cinderella blanket for Adell. I even got super ambitious and made myself a circle skirt. I put pockets into the skirt--I've never made pockets before! Who cares if I am going to be pregnant for another 11 weeks and my butt will be pregnant for another year. The skirt will fit some day, like when Lorien is sixteen and she pulls the skirt out of my closet to wear to a costume party.

Hey, it's the chair I slip-covered and one of the pillows! Aren't they great?!?

The short version of this post would just be:

I discovered Pinterest.

The End

Stealing?

Some how I suckered the CEO of a solar company into commissioning me to paint some pictures for his new office.

It feels like I am getting away with a crime--getting paid to paint--criminal.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Occasionally, after we had our third child, strangers would comment in casual conversation that they only had two children because they couldn't afford more. I would smile, nod and make sympathetic mouth-noises but in my head I would think "Quitter. Having extra children isn't that much more expensive. "

Fast forward five years.

School starts with three Anderson children needing: clothes, back-packs, shoes, school supplies, etc... Then the financial weight of our over-population choices hit me like a ton of bricks. All of a sudden, three kids really was a lot more expensive than two.

That same feeling came creeping around yesterday afternoon as the kids and I sat down to make over eighty Valentine's for their classmates.

I even went for home-made Valentine's to try and keep costs down. We only had to buy candy and bags but it was still a lot of stuff.

They were darling Valentine's.

More importantly, the cards were perfectly appropriate for my older two children who worried about sending Valentine's with "the wrong message" to classmates of the opposite sex. We printed a picture of a fish bowl with the words "I'm glad we are in the same school" on them. Then we stuffed cellophane bags with gummy fish and the note.

They were a hit...83 times over.

Now I just have to tell Adell she cannot go to collage because we sent out Valentine's in 2012.

Kindergarten 100's day.

Yesterday was the 100th day of school for Clare. 100 days, where has the time gone? The school year is more than 1/2 way over. In addition to bringing 100 items to school (a bag of 100 buttons Clare forgot in the van...) the kids got to dress up like they were 100 years-old. We made her a cotton ball wig, reading glasses and a cane. When I told her that we didn't have any clothes that a 100 year-old would wear Wyatt suggested the sweater I was wearing. "What, this is cool!?!" I said. "Well, it looks like a bathrobe that a 100 year-old lady would wear." Wyatt responded. Clare agreed so she wore my sweater to school for her 100 year-old outfit.

Nice.

Also, on the 100th day of school I got a mysterious case of vertigo. Will stayed home from work and we spent the afternoon in the hospital. The doctor couldn't figure out what was causing the vertigo. Finally, I was diagnosed with benign-situational vertigo. Meaning, it was nothing serious I just had to wait for it to go away. Pregnancy does weird things to my body.

Stinkin' pregnancy.

Ahhhh, Adell.

We sure have a fantastic 2 year-old on our hands over here. Sure, she has her days or weeks where she defines the phrase "terrible twos" but we all can't help but love her to pieces. Here are a few of the things Adell has been doing lately to entertain us all.

Adell is a talker. She has been chatty for a long time. She started talking earlier than any of the other kids, I think she just knew she had to speak up or she would be forgotten. Her non-stop chatter gets comments when we are out and about. One day we were out at a department store picking up Wyatt's Cub Scouts uniform. Adell had to use the bathroom so we made our way to the back of the store where the restrooms were. As we walked, Adell loudly pointed-out and named everything we passed: shirts, shoes, colors, purses and toys. Just before we got to the bathroom a store employee passed us saying "I've been hearing your little voice all over the store." Then she crouched down so she was right at Adell's level saying "You, are delicious!" After the woman passed Adell stopped walking and looked up at me responding "Momma, I am not deeewishous. I am not food!" On our way out of the store we passed a rack of greeting cards. Adell stopped at one card where the cover pictured a cartoon drawing of an old woman wearing a tube top. Pointing Adell said "Look Momma, that is a naked Fairy God Muver." I got a good laugh out of that.

Adell also says "May I" when she asks for something. I don't know where she got it because we are not that meticulous about grammar around here (just go ahead and read any of my posts if you want solid examples of crappy grammar). "May I have some juice?" "May I hold this?" "May I watch a show?" May I, may I, may I--she is great.

Last Adell talking note. She tells you what the answer to her question should be. So if she asks "Momma, may I have some juice?" and I say "Not right now". She quickly responds, "Momma, say 'Sure'."

As I mentioned above, Adell is potty trained. She had been showing an interest in using the potty since November but I have been very resistant. I think having two kids in diapers is waaaay easier than having a newly potty trained kid. Finally Will convinced me to give her a try in panties pointing out that if we wait she might loose interest, making potty training a bigger chore. Adell figured it all out really quickly. Mostly, she made the "use the potty--get a candy" connection really quickly. Now she is a potty-using champ. She also has taken to naming her bowel movements. It is like a game of find the shapes in the clouds with her. As soon as she finishes she says "May I see it?" and then gives her #2 a name--like "dinosaur". Sorry to gross you out there, I think this will be a hilarious story to tell her when she is older. Adell is also very proud of her success. She likes to call Daddy on the phone to tell him all about it. She also likes to announce her achievements in every room she enters after the deed. One Sunday Will took her to the bathroom at church. A few minutes later she came tearing into the chapel at full speed yelling "Momma! Momma! I went poop on the potty!". It was awesome.

Adell is very independent and demanding that we all go along with the things she wants. We've taken to calling her a Tyrant. When I first called out in exasperation "Adell! You are such a TYRANT!" the kids wanted to know what "tyrant" meant. Then best explanation I could come up with was "a person who has come to power even though no one else wants them to be in charge." Dictionary.com says a tyrant is: a sovereign or other ruler who uses power oppressively or unjustly. Either way, "tyrant" describes Adell pretty well. She insists on saying the prayer over dinner every night. As soon as I say "Time for prayer" she starts yelling out the start of a prayer. Then she stops and says "Lorien, fold your arms!" or "Wyatt, close your eyes!" or "Everybody, say quiet! I'm saying de-prayer!". Her demands are frustratingly adorable. I don't know what is going to happen when the baby is born. She is either in for a rude awakening or we are all going to be in a lot of trouble.