My Kids Are Growing Up and Learning to Code!

It's pretty miraculous that I got my laptop back from my oldest two children so that I could write this post. They've discovered codecademy, and since we are currently taking a break from video games (the fighting, please save me from the fighting), they are eager to keep going with learning HTML. Xander is 12 and Maxton is 11 years old, and it makes my little web-designer/proud-mama heart do a small jig to see them learning.

How long before I can farm them out or have them take over my job on the sly? Two weeks or so?

Anyway, I'm even using codecademy to make sure my skills are more well-rounded. I highly recommend it (also, they don't know I'm saying this. Just my experience with the site, which I really like, and all the standard disclaimers).

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Hulk Birthday Party Invite

My oldest son is turning ten this week and he wants an Incredible Hulk birthday party. I'm not planning anything too elaborate, but I did make this birthday party invite last night (after my show: An Ideal Husband at the Echo Theatre--I'm Lady Basildon, a small but very, very fun part).

Here's to awesome super heroes and fun graphic design and birthday parties and theater and staying up way too late!

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Halloween!

So, I stayed up sewing until 3:30 am on Sunday night. Maxton, really wanted to be Aang, from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I couldn't find any in the stores and for some reason, it didn't occur to me to check online until it was too late. This is cooler, because he's the cartoon Aang, not the live-action movie Aang.

So, of course, I didn't have a pattern, so this is hodge-podged together. The pants I based off a super easy pattern, then I added elastic around the bottom. The cape I sewed in one try, making up my own pattern, and same with the belt.

The collar took me four tries to get right (it's separate from the shirt). I'd never sewn anything like that, and I had to make my own pattern, so that was some serious trial and error. The shirt was a nightmare. The pattern I chose for the shirt was all wrong--the directions did not make any sense (or I was just not getting it, I'm going with the first because it makes me feel better), so I ended up just doing my own thing with it. But, it's done!

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

More Photos from My Over-scheduled Summer

I'm going to have to reassess my evaluation of myself as a person who isn't very busy. This summer has been the most intense of my life. I have never tried to have so much fun in so little time. Note previous posts about Disneyland and Arches, plus all the little things, like a movie every week with my sister, craft day every week, hanging out with friends more, playing baseball for the older two boys, and then there are still four more majorish trips we have planned for this summer. Zion, Yellowstone, another family reunion and climbing Mt. Nebo. I swear, this is turning into a travel blog. Sorry, I swear I'll stop after the summer is over.

In the past few weeks, we went to David's family reunion. His parents and all their eight children, their spouses and then all the grandchildren gather every other summer--the only time we are all in the same spot. It's an event.

Some of my favorite pictures from the week:

Maxton playing the piano at the piano recital.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

UFO, I'm coming for you.

Over the past three weeks, I've been working on my unfinished objects. I'm killing them off, one by one. 13 out of 41 are done (although I don't thing everything in my unfinished box is on that list--I may need to do a little revising--still it's close enough).

Some of them have turned out cute. Some of them, not as cute. But, the most important part of this process is that they are done and I can either give them away (even if it's to the thrift store) or start using them or realizing that I'm not going to use them. Such is the way of the things I make. I'm pretty sure that Aubrey does not like the dress I finished for her.

Anyway, here's the list as it looks so far.

Spray paint frames
Tree tote bag
Pettycoat skirt
Ampersand
Yellow rosette pillow
Patches on jeans
Long blue tank refashion
Box purse
Let out Citrus halter
Sew pom pom on poncho
Crochet tan bag
Blue and brown crochet hoodie
White floaty scarf
Pink shirt refashion
Wrap around vest refashion
Crochet fingerless gloves
Repair pink and grey hair flower
Hexagon quilt
Thanksgiving wall hanging
Rehang crochet butterfly in kitchen
Garden quilt
Grandkid silhouettes
Gold sweater
Yellow flower/pink flower/pink felted flower/purple headband/pink cuff
Curtains
Green knitted buckets
Painted linen skirt
Blue serving stand
Braided rug
Mom's messenger bag
Santa Claus wall hanging
Repair grey and pink hair flower
Grandma Jensen quilt--blues and purples
Crochet beaded bag
Butterfly embroidery
Wool scarf
Cross stitch Noah's Ark
Blue and Pink diamond quilt
Orange and green diamond quilt
Mom's Christmas present albums
Bag embroidery

Now to the good stuff. Pictures.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

In which I Go to Disneyland

I keep thinking about my blog and how much I want to update it. I keep doing 10 projects in steps and rotating them in such a way that I never finish one project. Ever. I have some really cool things to show you. Probably one or two more cycles through my rotation and I'll be exploding with things to show you.

In the meantime, we went on a trip to Disneyland last week or so. It was my kids' first trip. We didn't tell them we were going--which was so fun! We picked up the older two from school and left. It was literally snowing huge snowflakes as we left. In MAY! I was never so glad to leave.

I had a huge bag of activities for the kids to do in the car. Every 30 minutes (I brought a timer), they got something new out of the bag. I'll do a post with a list soon. It worked amazingly well. Almost no whining.

We decided to only go to Las Vegas the first day and stay overnight there (about a six hour drive). We drove with the kids down the strip and let them see all the cool hotels. We saw the volcano going and the fountains in front of the Bellagio. Nice timing.

Then, we woke up and drove the rest of the way to California. We went with my parents and my youngest brother, Ty, and we all rented a house. It was a great vacation--you know, all the regular vacation cliches. Which is why the rest of this post is going to be photos with a tiny bit of commentary.

Maxton waiting to leave the Las Vegas hotel.

 

The kids getting a bit restless now. We did eventually leave.

Griffin lying on the bed of nails at the Discovery Science Center.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Two Wheels Digital Scrapbook Kit Freebie

New to digital scrapbooking? Never downloaded a digital kit before? What in the world are .rar files anyway? Get your answers here: How to Unzip Files So You Can Digi Scrap. (Applies to any compressed files).

Both Xander and Maxton both learned to ride their bikes this spring.

Sheesh. I feel like a bit of a bad mom, not helping them before this. I guess one thing about delaying these types of things is that when they are ready, they learn FAST. I guess 6 and 7 isn't that late, but I remember learning before kindergarten.

My mom helped Max a little last fall, but he didn't get the hang of it all the way. He could go a few feet. Then, when we moved, we suddenly had a lot of (safe) concrete to practice on. A few tips while Natalie was visiting and suddenly Maxton is riding around. I go out a few days later and Xander is riding all around.

Anyway, that is clearly the inspiration for this kit. When I get a second, I'm going to pop in some of the pictures I have of Max and write up some new journaling.

Click to Download

Kit Contents: 8 Pattern Papers, 4 Journaling Blocks, 4 Labels, 4 Title Labels

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

The Xander Digital Scrapbooking Kit Freebie

New to digital scrapbooking? Never downloaded a digital kit before? What in the world are .rar files anyway? Get your answers here: How to Unzip Files So You Can Digi Scrap.

Awww, it's the last in my four part series. Maybe I need to keep going with The Kara and The David, because I had a lot of fun designing these kits for my kids.

This week has two inspirations. A while ago on Project Runway, Amy designed these pants:

Now, I'm not saying I like these pants or that I would like to own these pants or that these pants should exist in a world where you can buy perfectly sane black pants that don't do that fluttering thing, enlarge the look of your butt and turn you into a strange mermaid from the waist down, but I do like the colors together and the pattern was really inspiring.

The judges main criticism was that they were a weird color combination. Now, I can see criticizing the weird petals and too many colors, but the color scheme is your basic complimentary colors. Blue and orange are across the color wheel. This makes me wonder about the judges. Have they never studied color theory? Because I guarantee that blue/orange is one of the first ones you learn.

On the other hand, isn't that petal skirt on the girl so cute!?! I must make one for Aubrey, ASAP.

The other inspiration would be some vintage fabric, and I could throw Xander in there, for being totally adorable and sharp as a lawn mower (and nearly as loud).

I love the slightly retro feel of these papers. The blue and orange really pop. And here is my cutie, Xander. He's one of the smartest kids you will ever meet and he's super affectionate too. I did this page about how he is starting to read chapter books on his own (he's in 1st grade). I don't get it, but he really likes non-fiction. I keep thinking he'll like fantasy, but he doesn't. Of course, his favorite series is the Magic Treehouse series, because those are packed with non-fiction type information. I mean, I love some types of non-fiction, but they generally have some sort of meaningful or deeply interesting story, while Xander just wants to memorize the facts.

(Click to Download)

Kit Contents: 5 Pattern Papers, 2 Background Papers, 1 Overlay, 1 Journaling Block

(Do you see my pant-inspired paper there at the bottom? Love it!)

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

I Miss Having a Baby

So, yesterday I was comforting Aubriana, holding her and I can't believe how tall and skinny she is. She's in 3T clothes already (she is two and five months) and they aren't large on her either. I'm sort of in disbelief that I'm never going to have a baby again. I mean, I'm glad. I can barely handle the four I have, but at the same time, I'm going to miss having a baby of my own. I compensate by stealing Graham every chance I get.

So, I happened across this two peas post and I had to respond. Here's what I said (a little edited for the blog).

Xander was such a cute baby. He was smart, smart, smart (still is). He would play peek-a-boo with his burp rag and it was adorable. He would do the actions to twinkle-twinkle little star at 6 months--I can just see his chubby hands doing the twinkle part. When we went out to eat, he was so friendly with the waitresses. He watch them coming and going and charm them to death. I miss that. When he started to get hair, it stood straight up in back. It still likes to stick up back there. I loved watching him grow up. I've always been around babies, but it's different to see them day by day learning things. I was always so eager for him to do things and to get to know his personality.

Maxton was the chubbiest thing. He was so good-natured and sweet. I miss the baby kisses from him (he is still the most willing to give me a kiss). I have pictures of him kissing me at 6 months. He has a dimple and it was a killer as a baby. He was such a talker too! I mean, all my kids have been verbal, but with Xander just a little over a year older than him, he picked up on it so quickly. He was saying 25 words or so at age one. He's always been a little rough and tumble guy. He wasn't afraid to tackle Xander. They were so cute playing together.

Griffin was always entertaining us. At 13 months, he would sing e-i-e-i-oooo and crack us all up. My husband would get him up in the mornings and he would toddle to my bed and wake me up and snuggle with me. I miss getting woken up by a baby in the mornings. He was also determined to walk and tried sooner than all my children. I miss seeing him try to walk and working so hard to catch up to his brothers. Now, he's pretty much done it in most areas, but to see his little face and his little body straining to master things--so cute! He would also climb everywhere. I would find him at 9 months in the window sills. It scared me to death. The other thing he would do was open the bottom drawer in the kitchen and climb in and then he would play for a while, then get all upset when he couldn't get out.

My baby, well, she is just about the cutest thing ever now with all this personality, but as a baby she was a quiet, serious thing--always watching us. You could see her wheels turning. She was also very flexible--like seriously flexible and she would fall asleep bent in half, like she had been sitting up and decided to fall asleep with her head between her knees or doing the splits with her head on the floor in front of her. So darling! I miss gluing bows on her head. Now I have to deal with her hair! I loved those bows and she looked so sweet in them, even if she was lacking in hair. She was an early talker too and she always said "thank you." I loved those little sentences. Now, she comes in to me, and this is a direct quote, and says things like, "Help me put my socks on. It's really hard."

Writing that all out and reading everyone else responses has put me in a nostalgic mood. Ack! Where is Graham? I need a Graham fix.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Fun with Atoms Digital Scrapbooking Kit Freebie

New to digital scrapbooking? Never downloaded a digital kit before? What in the world are .rar files anyway? Get your answers here: How to Unzip Files So You Can Digi Scrap.

This kit is inspired by my Science Foundations class. We are learning about radiation this week and carbon dating, so a little retro 50s space age science kit was in order, I think. It might be fun to do a kit based on each class, but I'm not making any promises at this point.

Here's the layout I did with this kit. My boys are so grown up! I went looking for a picture of the three of them together and when I opened that one, taken six days after Griffin was born, I literally started crying. They are just so big now! I'm so proud of them; they are each amazing.

(Click thumbnail to download)

Kit Contents: 18 Pattern Papers, 1 Journaling Block, 1 Ribbon, 1 Ribbon and Staples Combo

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Fall Breeze Digital Scrapbook Kit Freebie

New to digital scrapbooking? Never downloaded a digital kit before? What in the world are .rar files anyway? Get your answers here: How to Unzip Files So You Can Digi Scrap.

I took some time out of my studies this week to make a new kit. I wish I could keep up the pace of doing one a week, but that's probably not going to happen, so I'm aiming for one or two a month. We are supposed to have nasty weather tomorrow, so it feels appropriate to put up a fall kit.

I don't know what happened last year, but I don't have any fall photos, so this layout is of photos from two years ago. My boys have grown so much! They look so tiny in these photos.

(Click thumbnail to download)

Contents: 5 pattern papers, two styles of journaling blocks, 3 labels, 1 word art ("fall"), 1 background paper mask

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Wrapped in Love Digital Scrapbooking Kit Freebie

New to digital scrapbooking? Never downloaded a digital kit before? What in the world are .rar files anyway? Get your answers here: How to Unzip Files So You Can Digi Scrap.

This week's kit was inspired by a sweatshirt I saw in Costco a few months ago. I can't even remember exactly what it looked like, but the flower print is the general idea. It looked warm and cozy and for a while, this kit was named "Cozy Sweatshirt." Since I did the layout about Xander's sweetness with his little sis, I renamed it.

Here they are almost a year ago together. He is so kind to her.


Look at this close-up of her eyes in that photo. I think they are so cool. They look a little blue-green here, but really they are gray. I never thought that was a real eye color, but hers haven't changed much at all from the day she was born.

(Click thumbnail to Download)

Contents: 14 Pattern Papers, 1 Background Paper Mask, 1 Journaling Block, 3 Chipboard Flowers

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Project Progress: Tying Up Loose Ends, Week 3

I didn't do as well as I hoped this week. I feel scattered, like my attention span has become pea sided and bouncy. Hopefully I will do better next week. I still got a lot done, but I was light on the finishing part.

You know about the library tote bag. We used it and it's perfect!
I also have a quilt I technically finished ages ago, but I hated the way I quilted it and started to unpick it. This week I finished unpicking it and started quilting it again, but didn't get too far on it. The nice thing about this project is that I already did the binding, sooooo, as soon as I finish quilting, I will be instantly done! Hopefully, next week I will finish. I have to say I'm pretty sick of quilting, lol.

On Wednesday, I sewed this hoodie up. It's still missing the zipper. I got frustrated and put it on hold for now. That can happen when you sew the zipper on UPSIDE DOWN the first time, then after unpicking that, sew it with too much seam allowance. Arg!

It was a pretty fun project though, because I used a hoodie she already had to make the basic pattern, then made some modifications to fit the vision I had. I really enjoy pattern making, although I would teak a few things on this one.

We also went back to school this week. Xander is a first grader! Maxton will offically start Kindergarten next week.

My little ragamuffin. Every time this outfit is clean, I put her in it. So far, she's only worn it on this side, so I might have to make myself put her in the other side next time. Usually she wears brown legging underneath it, but she's in various states of clean/presentable here, so no leggings.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Xander is a Star!

Maybe I'm a little silly, but I'm SO excited that Xander is the star of his Kindergarten class this week. On Friday, we will all be going to share a treat and talk about how wonderful Xander is! I also had to make a poster for him. I actually forgot until Sunday night. I probably would have finished in time if I had remembered that Monday is early day and school started 30 minutes before I was thinking. Luckily, I know myself, so I had an alarm set on my phone. They got there exactly on time.

Anyway, I finished his poster last night and Xander is itching to get to school and show it off. Not that I can blame him much. He wrote all the captions for the photos and helped me pick them out. We have a lot of photos. I didn't even get to go through 2005, 2006 or most of 2007. Yikes. This has also motivated me to perhaps better organize my photos and maybe put searchable tags on them. We'll see.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Xander lost his first tooth

After weeks of a loose bottom tooth, Xander's finally popped out today while he was watching Star Wars (we just barely let them watch the first one, A New Hope; I was worried they would be scared, but they love it). He just looked up at me and said calmly, "Mom, I lost my tooth." I was never that patient and loosing teeth was always traumatic, but he just let that thing slowly wiggle its way gone. He's been very excited to test his theory on the Tooth Fairy. He's said to Maxton several times, "I wonder if the Tooth Fairy is real. When I lose my tooth, I'm going to test it and figure it out." LOL. That has amused me for a long time. He's asked me if she is real, but I always turn it around and ask, "What do you think?"

Here's the resulting cheese fest photos. He's forgotten how to smile naturally. ;)

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Xander is 6 today!

That's the cake that I spent all of yesterday making. I had a really stressful weekend, I have to say I am so glad it is over with! I think I cried twice over that cake--the fondant was giving me attitude. Also, the kids were sick this morning, we have a cacophony of coughing at our house right now. So fun. (I probably shouldn't be writing this right now, because I am grumpy).

Anyway, he had a pretty fun birthday and he's very excited to be six. He loved his cake, which was inspired by one I found on cakecentral.com. He got a box of cereal too, which was almost the only thing he asked for present wise. We usually by the bagged Malt-o-Meal cereal, so having his own box is going to be a real treat. Here he is with his favorite present:He also got a shirt, his first set of Legos, a pop-up punching Superman, a rocket from the Blairs, and a set of the Bob books, since he's out-grown his first reading book (he is on his way to reading everything in sight), and Othello, which is a board game. We are going to Chuck E. Cheese on Wednesday, so hopefully we will all be less sick, less stressed and more cheerful.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

That was NOT how I was planning on doing it.

Xander started Kindergarten today. I've been planning all morning to have plenty of time for pictures and goodbyes and all that. Well, I look on the schedule about 45 minutes before school is to start to see when they are supposed to get out. Then I start freaking out, because Monday is early out day, so Kindergarten starts 30 minutes before the usual start time. It was a dang good thing I wasn't procrastinating and Xander was basically ready to go. I grabbed the camera, took a few shots, then hustled everyone into the car to take him. I was letting them out the side door and there was some pushing and Xander had his leg stuck in between the floor of the car and the sliding door, and my camera dropped off my shoulder. I didn't get a chance to see if it was damaged, as I was focused on getting him to class on time. I herd the kids towards the door, then manage to get Xander inside to his class, but without hardly any goodbye at all, because I'm still wrestling the other three. Then I turn around to leave and Griffin has disappeared. He went into class with Xander! So, I get them outside, then turn around and Griffin is refusing to leave. He wants to stay. So, I manage to get him going by bribery (at this point, perfect parenting is low on my list), and then I check on my camera. The filter is completely shattered and the lens won't work. I thought I would cry about him going to school, instead I feel like crying over my camera. It was my expensive lens and I'm hoping that it can be repaired.

And to top it all off, I forgot to get Xander anything to eat. Hopefully he can hang on until 1:15. This is so not the lesiurly, idealistic beginning I was envisioning.

Anyway, here are the shots of Xander from my beautiful and now broken camera.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

A bunch of pictures

Sorry it's been so long since I updated. Our internet went down for a while and in the middle, David and I went on a trip to Las Vegas, without the kids (thanks again, Mom and Melissa). David had a conference he had to go to, so his work paid for our gas to drive down, the hotel and David's food, so it was a opportunity we couldn't pass up. Mostly we walked around and ate a lot. We went to see Leatherheads, which was so good, very cute movie and the theater was HUGE and completely empty except for us. The next night, we went to Spamalot, basically the Broadway musical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That was the highlight of the trip! It was so hilarious. The songs were great and I'm going to download the soundtrack as soon as I get a chance. While David was at the conference, I staying in the room, relaxing, making jewelry and scrapbooking while watching reruns of America's Next Top Model.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Talk talk talk

So, last Saturday we were coming home from getting a few things at the store and Xander started bugging us about going to Chuck E. Cheese. We told him we weren't going then. Next he wanted to know if we could go on the "next day." All three of them call tomorrow "the next day." As an aside, I will tell them that we will go tomorrow and inevitably, they ask, "You mean the next day?" Anyway, we told Xander we couldn't go because it would be Sunday and we need to go to church and we choose not to do those kinds of things on Sunday. He comes back with, "I promise to think about Jesus while I play." We were cracking up.

My other story is about Griffin. He's really got an amazing vocabulary. For example, we needed to clean up at Grandma's yesterday and he was trying to worm his way out of it. His argument? "Little boys can't clean up, especially when they are dirty little boys." Grandma was very impressed with his use of "especially." Keep in mind he's not even two and a half yet. I was laughing at him the other day, because he kept saying, "or something." I can't remember what came before the "or something." It went something like, "this is my big ball or something."

Speaking of speaking, Aubriana is now on her third word! "Dada" was first; David was so excited (although he has 3 out of 4, pout pout). Then, it was "hi" complete with very enthusiastic waves. She says it "hu, hu." Next, she got around to "Mama." Oh, it's so cute! It melts my heart into a little puddle. She mostly says it when she's hungry, but occasionally other times too. Two nights ago, I could hear her over the baby monitor saying, "Mama" when she woke up in the night. She is really the sweetest thing. She's just getting the pincher grasp now.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

A Few Funny Xander Stories

He's got his own way of looking at the world. On Monday I think it was, Melissa came over to get something. She hadn't gone to church on Sunday. This was their conversation:

Xander: 'Issa, why didn't you go to church?
Melissa: I just didn't.
Xander: Were you sick?
Melissa: No, I wasn't sick.
Xander: Well, if you're not sick, you should go to church. Why didn't you go then?
Melissa: I just didn't.
Xander: I bet that made Heavenly Father sad.

Nothing like getting lectured by a five year old.

He also recently asked me when we were going to have a new baby. I explained to him that we probably wouldn't have any more. I am thinking more and more all the time that we are done. Plus, I just lost every last pound of baby weight. Still, I can understand why he asked me. I agree, it feels like I'm always pregnant. We've had a new baby coming nearly the whole time he's been alive. He was sad that we weren't having any more. He loves babies almost as much as I do.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.