My Creative Outlet

First of all I am happy to report that Aubrey has been staying out of trouble. There have been no major messes that have caused me to call my daughter names such as beastly or a terror. So I am much happier these days. :)

I have been having so much fun lately with doing the kids' rooms. The boys room is all finished except we have to actually hang the shelves that we got at Ikea last week. When that is finished I will post some pics. I have been on the hunt for a chandelier for the girls' room for quite some time. When I tried to explain to Josh what I wanted he thought I was crazy. I had to show him pictures on the internet to prove that putting a chandelier in a girls room was a good idea. Anyways, I had found a few at a really awesome store here in town that sells antiques but they were more than I wanted to pay and when I looked online all I could find was ones that were too big or ostentatious. But I still wanted to have the crystal look. Well, then I stumbled upon this little beauty... While we were in Utah for the birth of my sister's first baby I took the fam to a cupcake shop that was right by our hotel called "The Sweet Tooth Fairy." The cupcakes were to die for and I found a light fixture that would be perfect for the girls' room. I just loved it so I took a picture so that I could try and find a match to it. The next day I went to Ikea and unexpectedly I found a chandelier that was almost a perfect match. And the best part was that it was half the cost of the ones I had found in Billings. I love ikea!!! So this little sucker is the inspiration for the girls' room. Now I just have to fill in the rest. We are starting with paint and will go from there but I am loving the striped two tone paint look.

I have been lucky enough to have a number of friends and family members having babies recently. I love babies! I just want to hold them and snuggle them and eat them up. You can't get much better than a brand new baby. Anyways, I have been hard at work making some cute things for all of my friends and family. I made some bow ties and used my skinny boys' necks as a guide. I figure that you don't want them too tight for a baby and that if a baby is chubby at all then Ethan's neck will most likely be the same size. We will see. I put lots of velcro on them just in case. My sister had shown me once how she makes bow ties so I just made a few adjustments and tried my best. I was pretty pleased with how they turned out.

Josh's stepsister is having her first baby next month and naming her Aubrey too so I made an initial onesie with the cutest ruffle butt ever! I love making little girly things with ruffles and bows and not using traditional "girl" colors. Oh and just can't over how cute the flowers and headband turned out. I love the fact that the black headband goes so well. I had made this one for Aubrey but she didn't get to wear it very much because she had nothing that really matched.

Too Cute!!!

This bag was a special request made by Julie. It is her diaper bag for her new baby. She was very particular on the fabric but we finally found some that she approved of (long distance fabric shopping is difficult) and it turned out so beautiful. I made a couple of different adjustments to the pattern on this one to make it more of a diaper bag. I added width to it and gave it a bunch more pockets as well as a longer handle. I had taken it down to Utah in pieces so that I could finish it with her there in case she wanted any other adjustments made. Well I had forgotten some pattern pieces so I had to wait for Josh to bring them to me, (he came down a day later for work) and then the next day when I was supposed to finish it he still had my stuff with him in his car when he went out to make his sales visits. So I finished it up at the last minute in the hotel. I even had to go to the front desk and ask to borrow a pair of scissors since I had left mine at Julie's house. So yeah, getting this bad boy finished was quite the feat.

Yup, I took this picture in my hotel room :)

This is my newest favorite baby item. The suspenders are so stinkin cute! And then it allows me to use a coordinating fabric for the ties. I love them!!! I can't wait to make more, so you friends of mine better start poppin out those boys!

Yesterday I spent almost the whole day sewing. It was wonderful, I love sewing because it allows me to clear my mind and just think. I found myself pondering a number of different things in my life right now. It just leaves me feeling refreshed and more focused after I get to spend some time creating. Now if only I could find that kind of joy in cleaning my house.

Lipstick and a Quilt

I have been a little stir-crazy. I am not going to school during the day and I have been needing a little something to keep me busy (ok, not really I am already busy enough) But I got an idea in my head and couldn't get it out. I had an idea for decorating the boys' room. I had seen Camille Roskelley's (Simplify) boys bedroom and loved it. So I thought I would get to work and spruce up the room and it definitely needed a little attention. So we painted it a light gray and I have been adding bright greens, dark gray, black, and turquoise to it. I am not quite done but I did order the cutest "I hope they call me on a mission print" from here that I can't wait to get. I also need to take a trip to ikea for some bright green shelves. We did finally get the wire hung that we had gotten at ikea last october, and I found the perfect dark gray curtains at target. I wanted to make a quilt for their room but haven't decided if it is going to go on Ethan or Preston's bed. They have trundle beds but in all honesty Preston's is rarely pushed in. The slipcover on Ethan's bed is perfect for their room already and I had picked it up at ikea also (I had this idea brewing for quite some time.) Anyways here is a picture of the quilt before it was all put together. It was also missing quite a few blocks so it has a different feel to it now. I was still waiting on two fabrics in black and white so what I added helped give it a little less color. I LOVED the way that it turned out. This is the first quilt that I have made where I picked out all of my own fabrics and it was tons of fun. I do a lot of my fabric shopping over the internet, which can be difficult when it comes to color. I am pretty familiar with all of the major designers and know their fabrics and colors but there were a few that I bought for this project that didn't quite work in the end. Oh well, I can always add to my stash right? Finding boy prints was also difficult. Fabric tends to be floral.... which wasn't going to work for this projects so we ended up with lots of strips and polka dots but in the end there is no hint of girl. I am going to quilt in with just vertical quilting to help even more in the masculine department.

Here is a stack of MOST of the fabric before I started cutting.

The finished quilt on Ethan's bed. Ethan found a picture of art class to hang on the wire RIGHT away. I am planning something with modge podge, fabric, scrapbook paper, and the word "brothers" to hang on this, we will see how long that takes me :) I will post some finished pictures when I get everything done, but don't hold your breath, it may take awhile.

Aubrey is such a little mess maker. I cannot even begin to describe the amount of or magnitude of her messes. She is unlike any of my other children in this department. Yes all of my kids have gotten into things and made messes but this little princess is in a league of her own.

Here she had gotten into my purse and found my favorite estee lauder lipstick. It was a fun and trendy red and I had really been enjoying wearing it. I also loved that it was a nice quality lipstick, which I don't get too often. Well she used her little fist to grab pretty much all of the lipstick out of the tube and then proceeded to use rub it in her hands like lotion, coating EVERY crevice and surface with my lipstick. But she also proceeded to get it on the carpet, her face and pajamas, and Preston. She was so coated in the stuff I had to take a picture. I am going to try and be better at taking pictures of her masterpieces (messes) so that she will understand just how destructive she was. And it gives me proof that I am not joking when I tell Josh that his daughter is CRAZY!

A Few Christmas Pictures

I just had to add a few pictures from Christmas since it was at our house this year. And these ones of Aubrey just melt my heart. She cracks me up. She is so full of personality. She had just opened up her purse and sunglasses from Josh and I and then she got this doll from Grandma and Grandpa Wynia. She LOVES baby dolls and is such a little mommy to them.

Just this morning as we were headed out the door to take Kendra and Ethan to School she spotted her purse and would go no further until she had it on her shoulder.

Here we are getting ready to rip into some presents.

Before present time they were watching Despicable Me downstairs and I just had to take this picture. Uncle Devin is so amazing! He is going to be the best daddy someday. My kids adore him.

Thursday before Christmas we had Kendra and Preston's birthday party since everyone was in town. Amy and Wayne had literally just walked in the door when the party was getting ready to start. I ended up having MUCH less time than anticipated and so my plans for their cake got way scaled down but still turned out fun. I did a layer for each of them and put butterflies on Kendra's and dinosaurs on Preston's. They loved it so I was happy.

Just a quick picture from Ethan's Christmas program. At their old school they didn't do a Christmas program each year so we were excited to be able to go to their school and watch them perform.

South Dakota

Well we never got the laptop fixed and instead had to get a whole new computer. Apparently the motherboard went out and that was going to cost a pretty penny to fix so we just got a new one instead. But it is working great so no complaints here!

So we made it to Mount Rushmore on Thursday I believe. It was one of the warmest days that we were there, but by the time Josh got done working for the day and we got up there it wasn't warm anymore. If you didn't notice Ethan is crying in this picture. He did not want to sit up on the ledge. He has a HUGE fear of heights. When he was about three his uncle Devin was playing with him and threw him high into the air. So high that it totally freaked him out and for a while he would get scared when I picked him up. Anyways, the ledge we set him on was a good two feet wide and on the other side was another level about 7-8 feet down is all, but that didn't matter apparently. I think that pure exhaustion played a role in his meltdown because he was being just a tad ridiculous about the whole thing.When we were parking the car and getting out Josh realized that he hadn't brought his coat with him. He normally never wears a coat but definitely regretted it. It got cold up there.This was just a few minutes after the ledge incident and see how happy he is? Oh and yes, Ethan lost his first tooth. It took Ethan forever to get his teeth. I remember being at his one year check up and asking the doctor if something was wrong because he didn't have any teeth. The doctor told me that all kids get their teeth at different times. Well it also took him forever to loose his first tooth. He was 7 and a half when he finally lost it and since then he has lost one more. He was super excited to finally have lost his first tooth, too bad he swallowed it.Josh took us to this place called Culvers that serves frozen custard. I was really skeptical but it was YUMMY!Here we are all dressed up for dinner, (I think.) This is what happens when I wait forever to blog, I forget! But I love this picture because it shows both of my curly haired kiddos.The waterpark! Oh man, we spent so much time here. When we left my legs and stomach were all red and burned. I think it was from spending HOURS everyday in the water. The kids loved it though and there was plenty of fun places to play. Preston called the lazy river the "bumpy ride" because at one part they have jets on the floor that shoot up so it makes it kind of like rapids. This is Kendra lying on the ground as the huge bucket droped water all over this kids play area. Kendra was the only one that would willingly wait for the water to drop. Ethan did it sometimes, but only if Kendra was with him

Preston LOVED the "Bumpy Ride"
Aubrey and I did a lot of just hanging out the first couple of days until she got a little more used to the water and all the noise.
Josh made Preston stand under the bucket once. He giggled and laughed but wasn't willing to do it again.

This slide was the family favorite! In the middle of the slide it opened up into this big bowl and you would go around and around until you got to the middle and would drop down to the rest of the slide. I tried to get some good pictures but they go so fast! Kendra is the one waving.

Preston loved the big slides but could only go on them when Josh as around because someone had to stay with Aubrey (she didn't like the big slides) So as soon as Josh got of work and came down to the waterpark Preston would drag him up the stairs over and over again. He loves the water. He is going to grow up to be a beach bum and just surf all day long with his crazy blond hair. I can already see it.

Where to Even Begin

Today was my first day of nothingness. No school, no birthdays, no company, no holidays, no trip, NOTHING. I had even done most of my catching up on laundry and cleaning yesterday (yes on the sabbath, Josh had to pack again for this week.) I didn't quite know what to do. I let Preston and Aubrey destroy what little order the house was in and I caught up on a few things concerning my New Years resolutions and other things on the computer. I don't think I have spent as much time on the computer in months as I did today. It was wonderful. I did a little sewing and a bunch of eating (I made really yummy cookies yesterday.) It was a good day!

This is Josh's last week in Rapid City. It is a bittersweet thing to come to the end. There were times when I was perfectly fine with him being away every Monday through Thursday in exchange for me not having to work and spending all weekend together. Then there were the times (usually at bedtime) when I was willing to PAY for him to be home. I have to head back to work a week from tomorrow and although I have some new resolutions to help give me extra motivation I am not overly excited. With the holidays and all the business that comes with them I didn't really apply for too many jobs. I still go back and forth about me working full time during the day. I figure I have five more months of not seeing my older kids much until summer break. It is hard. In fact, when Kendra rolled over this morning and told me that she didn't want to go to school today I almost told her ok and climbed into bed with her to cuddle for a little while.

Christmas was wonderful, as always. It was strange to have the Christmas Eve festivities at our house since we have the big house now. I LOVED having both Josh's family and my family there and even more I loved not having to load up the kids or presents and being gone all night. Josh's dad and step mom got to see a new side of my family as about 12 of us all played Mafia. The accusations were made and the cousins got loud, as always. There were helicopters flying and wrapping paper everywhere. Kids were playing and everyone was eating. What is Christmas Eve without a whole bunch of Chaos? We were even blessed to have company stay with us as my sister decided at the last minute to come with her hubby and kids. I loved being able to stay up late Christmas Eve with them while the finishing touches were put on the front room.

On the Monday after Christmas we packed up and headed to Rapid City to stay the week with Josh. The hotel that he has been staying at has a huge indoor water park attached to it so we decided to make a vacation out of it. We had a lot of fun and swam A TON. The highlight of the trip might just be when we went out for dinner after a long day of swimming and Preston threw up all over the seat, then Aubrey spilled water all over and then to finish off the dinner Preston threw up again. This time Josh was prepared with the huge empty water glass and kept it contained. Preston was just utterly exhausted, poor guy, it was even his birthday! We made it up to Mount Rushmore, but then missed Reptile Gardens because they closed a day early for the season because of a snow storm. That same snow storm kept us there an extra day but when we did make the trek home the roads were fine. It was a nice and much needed trip but it made the week go by WAY too fast.

I am hoping to get our laptop fixed next week. I will be glad to download my pictures and get caught up on a few other things. Until then...more babbling :)

An Intervention

Well I guess someone read my last post because we have definitely seen some changes around here. The week of Thanksgiving Josh's company was awarded a new contract. Being awarded this contract meant that the company was going to have to open a new branch in Rapid City. There was talk of us moving there so that Josh could be the operations manager. Not where we had in mind to live, but it would pay well enough for me to stay home so we were ok with it. Not to mention it would be great experience for Josh. Well his boss's (he has a few) decided he was more valuable to the company in his current position and would rather hire a new local guy to be the manager in Rapid City than have to hire someone for Josh's position, (to me I think that means they should pay Josh more if he is so valuable, but that is just me.) So we did avert a move to Rapid City but they did decide to send Josh over there for the six to eight weeks to open the branch, find the shop, hire drivers, contact and obtain vendors, and all that fun stuff. GREAT EXPERIENCE! Josh was excited to have the opportunity and he drives a company car and everything is paid for and he comes home on the weekend. It isn't fun to have him gone all week but that just means that we have to enjoy our weekends as much as possible. Since him being gone all week means that I can't work his company is paying him an additional per diem so that we don't have to worry about me working for the next 6 to 8 weeks.

Hallelujah!

He started working over there the week after thanksgiving. Since he is gone and not taking care of the kids at night he actually gets more of his homework done so it works out in many ways. It couldn't have come at a better time. Kendra has been struggling. She needs me home. She is growing up and maturing into a young woman much faster than should be allowed. She had been asking me every night for about a week if I had to work. That is the number one sign that I am working too much. It has been nice to be home and to enjoy the weekend with my family. I know that prayers are answered in strange ways sometimes and that this is an answer to a prayer right now. This also gives me six to eight weeks to find a job :) I didn't get the one that I had first applied for but there are a few others out there that drew my attention so we are playing the waiting game. In the meantime I get to finish out my semester without worrying about work. I also got to go to Kendra's holiday program at school last night and I won't have to miss any other holiday parties. It is WONDERFUL!

Something's Gotta Give

Each day I get up at 7:20 am and hope that Kendra and Ethan are already dressed for school. I make sure that they get breakfast, gather up their school things, and get them to school. I come home and bathe Preston and Aubrey, do the dishes or laundry, get homework done, shower and get ready for the day, I occasionally sew, and try to spend some time just being with Preston and Aubrey. By the afternoon I have class. I take the kids to Staci's house (a friend in our ward that has been so wonderful) and I head to class. I pick up the little ones, head out to pick up the big kids, and then finally come home. I have anywhere from 20 minutes to 1.5 hours before I have to be to work. Sometimes I have to meet Josh at the Roadhouse and trade off the kids (and yes people in the parking lot always look at us funny). Wednesdays I squeeze in Piano for Kendra and a quick run to Sam's Club while she is having her lesson before work. I come home somewhere between 9 pm and 11 pm (later on the weekends) and sometimes squeeze in more studying or homework. Then I get to do it all over again the next day.

Not a whole lot of fun!

I am supposed to be applying for the nursing program for next semester. If I get in then my school load goes from part of my day to my entire day. This would mean that my younger two would have to be in full time daycare and I would have to work even more in order to pay for it, while going to school. Let's just say that I don't have much of a desire to continue school right now. With that being said I have no intention on turning in my application for the program. I am excited to not have to worry about the added stress that brings into my life. When I finally made the decision not to continue it was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I could breathe again.
Since I won't be going to school in the spring that frees up my day. I had been contemplating what to do when I came across a job listing for my dream job. It was a job that I had decided I wanted to do a long time ago. I prayed about it and pondered it and it just felt right. I hadn't planned on getting a day job but it was just too perfect. So I applied. I have had my first phone interview but so far that is it. As I started thinking about it more I realized how wonderful it would be to have a real job again, to build a career and to see my school age children and husband again. I am excited. I don't know what the future holds for my family but I do know that no matter what I have to work. Sadly that is the consequence for the poor financial choices that Josh and I made in the first 7 years of our marriage. And if I have to work then I want to be working towards something and doing something that I love and am passionate about. I want to be able to see my children and not just get them to school in the mornings and then pick them up in the afternoon just to leave them shortly after.
I hadn't planned on taking this turn in life but it seems to be where I am headed and I am okay with that. I am now seriously looking for a day job again and there are many more positions now than when I was initially laid off so that definitely helps. Sorry if you came by the blog to read updates on my kiddos or see pictures. This blog has become more of an outlet for me recently. It helps me to clear my head and so if my posts are long and boring then I am sorry. Maybe when my life doesn't feel so overwhelming I will go back to the light hearted stuff. In the meantime you can learn intimate details of my life, who doesn't love that? :)