My newest hobby

I have become fascinated with hair bows.  I luuuurve to get them and put them in my girls' hair.  Lucky for me they like hair bows too.

I bought my first ones at a craft fair last year.  The girls' loved them.  I've even looked them up on Etsy and was dangerously close to ordering some.  But I held back since I was feeling broke at the time. 

I went to the craft fair again this year.  And bought more bows. 

Then I had a brilliant idea. 

Surely I can make own bows, right?  Right.

So I've been looking all over the Internet for instructions and found some great ones here.

This afternoon I decided to try my luck at making some.  It was definitely a first-timer bow and I've got a lot of practicing to do.  I also made a fancy hair-tie with ribbons for Tracey to wear for her games but didn't get a picture of that yet. 

I learned that I need a bigger variety of ribbon (hint, hint...good Christmas idea) and more colors.  The colors I bought are Tracey's school colors and were intended to make something the girls could wear to her games. 

Tracey also made some bows and blogged about it here.

I will try and get more pictures and share them with you guys.  Hopefully we'll see some improvement *grin*.

Unlocked

I just finished reading Karen Kingsbury's latest book "Unlocked".  Wow. 

I have read most of her books and I love, love, absolutely love the entire Baxter family series...all 14 of them, starting with Redemption.  I've also read most of her stand-alone books as well.  I would recommend everyone read these books, every last one of them.  They are that great.

She is a Christian author who writes books about struggles and issues that real Christians deal with and also includes stories of those who discover the Lord.  It's impossible for me to read any of her books without crying, sometimes so much that I can't see the pages.  You can always tell if I read all night because the next day my eyes are all puffy from so much crying.  lol

Unlocked is about a boy who has autism and he finds his way out of his locked world via music and connecting with his childhood friend.  But autism isn't the only 'locked' issue in the book, she also deals with students unlocking the beauty within themselves and seeing it in others. 

I would love it if anybody reading this picked up one of her books and read it.  Even if it's not "Unlocked".  However, I think Unlocked is one of her best books. 

If you do, please let me know.  Or if you are a fan, I would love to hear from you.  What's your favorite? 

New friends and old friends

Recently one of my best friends from college came to this area for a visit.  Since college she's lived in California, Ohio, and now back to Arizona, where she's from. So we really haven't gotten to see eachother in many years.

I had never met her children, and she'd never met mine so it was fun to see them make friends and play together.  I guess that's a sign of what stage we are in life- when you can't wait for your kids to get to meet eachother and then hope that they become close friends and grow up together just as their parents did. 



Krysten was sick so I only had Kylee with me, but that didn't seem to matter to anyone. 

What a bunch of goofy kids :)

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Mandy and Dayna

2010.

Ky-Ky turns 5

Happy 5th Birthday, Kylee

Proof we need a bigger house. 

And, there were at least 7-8 people were missing from this photo.  

Zia Lucia Craciunescu

***UPDATE:   Zia is home!!!!!***  (Friday, Nov 12)

My bloggy friends, meet Zia Lucia Craciunescu!!!

Isn't she just so fabulous?  Here she is with her mama, Gina and one of her sisters, Denali.

And here she is again with her most wonderful, fantabulous cousin!  I was so excited to get to hold her.  She is still in the NICU but they are able to take her to a 'family room'.  All my girls got to see her, so that was extra special for them. 

As soon as she starts growing faster and doing better with her breathing she will be able to come home. 

She is almost 43 weeks old now.  Or 3 weeks old.  Or 14 weeks old. 

Daddy's little girl. 

For those of you who don't know, Zia was delivered via C-section at 30 weeks.  She wasn't growing because the umbilical cord wasn't working right.  She was less than 2 pounds when she was born!  Like many preemies, she's had some rough times but she's doing much better now.  Please continue to pray for her. 

Halloween

The Friday before Halloween was the day when everyone was allowed to wear their costumes to school.  But there was a caveat...it had to be a book character- to coincide with the Read-A-Thon.  At the eleventh hour (literally) I decided to go as Skippyjon Jones.  For anyone who is unfamiliar with Skippyjon Jones, I recommend reading one of his books.  They are HILARIOUS!  They are about a siamese cat who wants to be a chihuahua.  Skippito is his alter-ego. 

Anyway, here is my Skippito costume.  Yes, I made it all. 

On Saturday we drove to Tucson to see Zia.  (more on her later).  That night we went to Trunk or Treat at Grama Lucy's church.  It was lots of fun and the girls got lots of candy of course.  BTW, this was the SECOND Trunk or Treat we had attended in as many days. 

I totally loved my costume!!  I even was asked to pose for several pictures by complete strangers!

Minnie Mouse

A purple butterfly.

Phantom of the Opera

What a motley crew we make.  The musketeer is my cousin Denali.

I suffer from the syndrome of wanting to do as many things as possible at all times.  I love being busy and having things to do.  Unfortunately, then I stress over it all.  My Halloween weekend was no exception.

Friday- #1 6:00pm Trunk or Treat at the girls' daycare. 

            #2  7:00pm  Surprise birthday party for a close friend's daughter.  I was in charge of getting her other

                  3 kids to the party on time.  Notice the time crunch.  Insert stresser.

Saturday-  #3  8:00am (actuality-9:30am) drive to Tucson to visit Zia and the rest of Gina's family.  Then

                       drive to Sierra Vista.

                 #4   6:00pm Trunk or Treat

                        10:00pm - depart Sierra Vista to drive home (3 hour drive)

Sunday-  #5  9:00am Sunday School and Church (honestly, I skipped SS so I could sleep)

               #6  4:00pm Costume parade

                #7  5:00pm  insert a wee bit of trick or treating

                #8  6:00pm  - game night at friend's house.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday-  sleep.  Decompress.  Swear I will never do 3 days of Halloween again.  Remind me of this next year, please.

Invisibility.

One of the blogs I read is called Attack of the Redneck Mommy.  She is sentimental, sarcastic, hilarious, and sometimes even a bit crude.  She has 3 children, one of which is medically fragile.  He has a whole host of medical problems of which I am not going to list here.  She recently blogged about his 'superpower' of invisiblity.  It is completely heartwrenching.

Please, please read it for yourself.

Wordless Wednesday

My crazy, hectic, insanely busy life.

I have lots of pictures that I want to post.  I have lots of stuff I want to share with you guys.  But I don't have lots of time to get it all done.

My Halloween weekend was super hectic and I'm trying to recover from all the missed sleep.  So, instead of blogging last night, I made myself go to bed at a decent hour.  No guarantees about blogging tonight either. 

Plus, I've got to get my house cleaned up and in presentable shape for company becuz it's Kylee's 5th birthday this weekend.  And no, I don't know exactly what I'm gonna do...that's why no one's been invited yet.  But don't worry, whenever I get my act together, you'll hear about it.  For those of you that know me, know that I am the queen of last minute preparations.  So this shouldn't come as a surprise at all. 

So don't abandon me yet, I promise I will try and find the time soon to let you know all about our Halloween adventures. 

I will tell you this....

...I got to see and hold baby Zia this weekend!!!  Definitely the highlight of my weekend and yes, I do have pictures of that!!!!