What can you get for $5

After several unsuccessful attempts to get Lucy to ride her bike without training wheels, Eric offered her $5 if she could ride 40 feet without help.  Suddenly her fear morphed into determination and she did it!  We are headed to the $ store, per her request. 

School Carnival

I was in charge of the silent auction giftbasket for Ruby's class.  We had so many donations that I ended up using a large storage tub as the basket and had my friend make a vinyl sticker to turn it into a game storage box.  It is HUGE! Ruby was so proud she asked if she could carry it into the office... but I could barely lift it.  

Quilt show/ Art In The Park

Today was our local Historical home tour/ quilt show / art in the park. I really wanted to go and knew that the girls would rather die then go walk around looking at quilts. So when we got up and the girls were watching cartoons, I said:

"Ok it's Saturday morning, time to do your cleaning chores"

Of course this was met with a chorus of "Oh man, do we have to?" to which I replied:

"I guess we can skip our chores if you would like to go to the quilt show downtown" they all suddenly became very excited about going to see quilts!

I think they actually enjoyed it. Haley loved learning how to do traditional rug hooking, she has informed me that she wants to be a hooker. When we got home she went right to the computer to Google information about rug hooking. I told her that she has to finish one of her 2 crochet projects before she can start hooking.

This is a classic portrait of my girls. All girls subconsciously lined up in order of age. Lucy wearing one of her favorite skirts, Ruby wearing platform heals, a mini skirt and purse and Haley wearing softball shorts and tennis shoes. I love that they each beat to their own drum!

At Art In The Park there was one lady that paints all the local historical homes in bright loud colors. Her work is very recognizable. When I saw this painting in her booth I just loved it. It's our mountain! My girls gauge everything by the R on the mountain like how low the snow level is and how bad the smog is. I even made a quilt block of the R on our mountain here.

Even though it was 1,000 degrees today we had a great softball free day at the park and ended with some nuclear colored cotton candy ice cream from Rite Aid.

Eric sat at the hospital library studying for his Board test from 7:30am- 6pm. I am thankful that he is so dedicated and focused but I can't wait for him to rejoin our family after his test is over in June.

The Quilt Police

I recently finished piecing my Civil War quilt top from our quilt exchange and was so excited to finally have it all done.  

When Eric came home and I showed him the quilt top he said "That looks good" ... but then he stood there staring at it for a long time without saying a word.  

Finally I asked him what was wrong and he said "How hard would it be to unpick these two blocks and switch them?" 

What the heck? I just finished it, there was no way I was going to unpick it! 

Eric is less then passionate about most of the quilts I have made, but every now and then there is something he doesn't like and he becomes very outspoken.  He looks at a quilts like a math equation instead of art.  

He kept pleading his case and trying to get me to unpick it, finally I said "You can unpick it if you want to".  

The next morning the quilt was on my sewing table with the bottom row and sashing completely unpicked.  Holy cow he was serious!

I re-sewed it with the two blocks switched.  I will admit that it looks a little better, but not enough to justify unpicking it.

When he saw it re-sewn with the two blocks switched he very sincerely said "Thank you so much for doing that, it looks so much better now".  

****I am THINKING about hand quilting this quilt, does anyone have any suggestions about what kind of batting and thread to use? I have never really hand quilted anything except a very small doll quilt.

 

The House quilt

 I finally completed my house quilt!

Over a year ago I was flying quickly through quilting blogs looking for ideas on a project I was working on.  After a couple of hours I had visited quilting blogs all across America, Australia, England and Norway.  I was just scrolling through looking at photos of quilts and dragging the photos that I liked to my desk top. After I was done wasting all that time, I looked over the photos I had selected and one by one deleted them for one reason or another until I came to this house quilt(photo below). I just LOVED it.  

The more I looked at it, the more I loved it. I decided that I needed to make one exactly like it. I emailed the photo to some friends just to see it and the next thing I knew all 6 of us decided to do it as an exchange.  I am really sick that I have no idea what blog this idea came from. I wish I could email her and tell her how much I love her wonderful original design and ask her forgiveness for completely copying her idea.  If I remember correctly she was American but living outside of the country. 

I think her wording was written with a pen, but I decided to embroider the words on my border. It says "A house divided against itself cannot stand A. Lincoln"

Of course my friend Jackie that did this exchange too, finished her quilt 1st.  She added her own super cool border and did amazing quilting that unfortunately you can't see in this photo. 

One of the other girls in the exchange Kira is living in Philadelphia and sent all of us this super cute label for the back of the liberty bell with all of our names. 

Although this quilt really doesn't go anywhere in our house, it has become one of my favorite quilts of all time.

FYI- The pattern we used for the foundation pieced houses we found here.

Moving on

I really appreciate everyone that has called or written and shared their experience(s) when they had a miscarriage.  It was not only comforting to realize that I am not alone but it has been incredibly therapeutic to talk to people that relate to what I have been going through. Hearing these experiences made me realize that although miscarages are never a plesent thing, what I went through was abnormal and should never have happened.  

I truly believe that because my Doctor was post call and tired she did not want to do a D&C and sent me home to deal with it.  Also when I went in for the ultrasound to see if I passed all the products she assured me that I had and sent me home.... five days later without warning or pain I passed all the products without the painful medication.  Although I was emotionally unprepared when it happened, and angry at my Doctor for being incompetent, I feel sooo much better now and can tell that my hormones are going back to normal. I am still sad and quick to cry, but I don't want to kill anyone now. I am however switching to a new Doctor.

Not only did we receive a lot of help and dinners from friends that live nearby but I had dear friends from all over the country helping me and sending their love:

 

Thank you to all my Green Wave girlfriends (Translations- friends I met while at Tulane) for the beautiful boquet of tulips. Tulips are my favorite!  I admit receiving it made me cry, but in a good way, Thank you!

Amanda L. sent me that a very heartfelt letter with a copy of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin's talk-Sunday Will Come, you can read it here.  She also decopauged a special box for me and sent little art canvases for each of the girls. Thank you Amanda!

Shawna B. not only endured several phone calls from me but also sent me an awesome care package. Thank you Shawna! 

Kristi gave me a gift via voice mail that made me laugh and smile. Thank you Kristi!

Tasha helped to reassure me that I was not insane and that what I was feeling was normal and would pass. Thank you Tasha!

Liz sent me a very thoughtful card to uplift me. Thank you Liz!

Thank you to everyone for all your kind comments and prayers, I have felt so loved and comforted.

One last thing that everyone has surreptitiously tried to ask me... 

This pregnancy was planned and not a surprise.  

Trials

I realize that there are some things that you just shouldn't blog about and that is probably the case with this post.  But this is my journal and I want to document what I have been going through and hopefully help someone that may go through something like this in the future.  So if you are uncomfortable with too much information... you have been warned.

This last week has been one of the most difficult weeks of my life.  Last Monday I went in for my 10 week ultrasound at the OB. No you didn't know I was pregnant because we had not told ANYONE.  As soon as the Dr. started the ultrasound she immediately said "I don't like what I see here".  Long story short she told me that after 10 weeks of being really sick I was going to have a miscarriage.  

Although I was really sad and trying desperately not to cry in the office, I had a feeling of comfort and I knew that this was the Lord's will.  That didn't mean I was happy about it, I just accepted it while I spent the rest of the day crying.

  

I have never had a miscarriage so I assumed that I would just have a lot of bleeding for a couple of days, possibly a D&C and it would be over.  I thought the worst part was the sadness over loosing the baby.  I had no idea what was about to happen. I will omit the gory details but by Wednesday she gave me a prescription to help my cervix dilate and told me that I should not be left alone for the next two days. FYI-I have had 3 C sections because my cervix just will not dilate.   Eric took 2 days off and stayed home with me. I have never been in so much pain in my life. It just kept getting stronger and stronger until I could not breath. I went into what I can only assume was labor and there was nothing I could do about it. If I was in the hospital having a baby I could have asked for an epideral, but laying in my bed the only option I had was Tylenol with codeine. It did not help at all.  Eric stayed with me as I laid in bed sweating and trying to breath.  I realize that there are lots of people that deliver full term babies naturally and so I sound like a big wimp, I guess I am.

The doctor called on Friday morning to have me come in for another ultrasound to make sure I had passed all the "products" as she called it and I had.  Again I thought I was through the worst. Then Saturday the hormones started. I feel constantly like I need to cry, I am angry at everyone for no reason and I really just want to be left alone.  After each of my kids I had this type of baby blues, but never expected it with a miscarriage. 

I know that we have trials to help us learn and grow and this has been a whopper of a trial for me. I have learned and am still learning a lot from this. I feel so sympathetic now for people that have had fertility problems and multiple miscarriages.  I was so overwhelmed by the service we received from our Ward and wonderful friends that were willing to watch our kids and bring over dinners ect. 

I think I am a relatively strong person with a high pain tolerance and this completely pushed me to my limit emotionally and physically. I know that I am still not over it but I am able to talk and blog about it, so I know I am getting there.  

Thankfully we never told our kids... Ruby still prays for her guinea pig that died two years ago.  

Surviving softball

Lucy waiting for Haley's practice to end

Lucy has really been a trooper with her two big sisters playing softball this season. She has to endure 4 practices and 2-3 games a week. That translates to aprox 10 hours a week of trying to stay entertained at the ball field.

Sometimes she gives kids rides in our wagon. Sometimes she brings baby dolls and her stroller. Sometimes we bring one of our dogs and she walks it around the park. Although there have been a few melt downs she has been great about keeping busy and staying out of trouble.

Last Saturday at her game Haley was playing in the outfield. Shortly after the game started Haley was playing with the grass and reaching into the air like she was on a hallucinogenic. When she came back to the dug out I went over to see if she was OK, she said " Ya, but where's Ruby and Lucy?" I pointed to where they were sitting and she ran over and handed Lucy a lady bug. Haley told the girls that they were all over the grass and she was trying to catch some for them to play with. Ruby and Lucy were thrilled and immediately named the bug Ali and asked her to get more. I told Haley that I really appreciated her thoughtfulness but she had to stop looking for lady bugs and get her head in the game.

Haley's team lost by 2 points but she didn't care, she just kept talking about all the lady bugs on the field.

Bouganvila, Bouganvila!!!!

Right now the bouganvilla is in fullbloom in our area and oh so beautiful.  

I remember as a kid my Dad pointing out different flowers to me, teaching me their names and a little about each flower. The 1st one that I remember learning about was a snap dragon and I thought it was so cool. By the time I was six one of my favorite things was to walk around our garden pollinating the iris.

So a while ago I started teaching my kids about different flowers, starting of course with snap dragons. No flower has gotten them as excited as bouganvilla. 

Today on the way to and from church Eric was able to experience the joys as all three girls at the top of their lungs yelling BOUGANVILLA every 3-4 houses.

weekend project

Ruby's teacher asked all the kids in her class to bring a clean white t-shirt to school for the Zoo field trip.  The day I worked in her class I helped all the kids put tons of rubber bands on their shirts to prepare them for tie dying.  She dyed all their shirts olive green then they had big white circles all over them. On the day of the field trip I realized that every 1st grade glass had done the same thing but each class had been assigned a different color.  I thought this was a brilliant idea and would be great for family reunions, girls camp etc.  

So when I was in Target I picked up white t-shits and shorts for each of my girls and decided to try tie dying with my kids.

It was so easy and fun. They all had a blast and LOVE their new outfits!

Mom- Haley reminded me once again that "Grandma didn't like tie dying in the 60's and she still doesn't like it!"

I am one happy girl!

After several hours on the phone with Verizon and a borrowed modem from another softball Mom, we finally have access to the internet without having to wait 10 min for one page to load! Life is good!

The Opal update

*****Due to DSL issues I have not been blogging. Our internet connection is so slow I can't stand using it right now.  I have received several complaints about not updating my blog so here is a post that I typed in 2 months ago and never published.******

If you are not a dog person, this post will seal the deal. I knew Opal was going to be a lot of work, but there have been some situations I never saw coming.

The big concern was of course potty training. She will go all day using the doggie door and not have one accident. Then Eric will get home and she will have 3 accidents in a matter of a couple of hours. Clearly she didn't understand self preservation. As of today she is doing really well and well, accident free as long as she is not allowed upstairs.

Another big problem was coprophagia... she was eating her own poop. So disgusting. I read on line that this is not uncommon and to sprinkle red pepper on the poop after they go they will not eat it and get out of the habit. It has worked really well... for a while.  Then she decided that she didn't mind the extra flavor.  We are now trying pills from Petco that as supposed to stop it, but no luck yet.

The biggest trial for me was getting her to sleep through the night. Every night for the first 2 weeks she would wake up around 4am and want to play. I didn't want her to wake everyone up so I would take her downstairs and sleep on the sofa. After 2 weeks of sleeping on the sofa the unthinkable happened.

****This is your warning**** If you are pregnant or have a quick gag reflex stop reading here. You have been warned.

One night (while sleeping on the sofa) Opal started scratching on her kennel door so I opened it up. She quickly ran into the kitchen and out the doggie door all by herself. I was so proud of her for going outside, that when she came back in I lifted her up to the sofa and was saying "good girl" when she proceeded to lunge forward to lick my face. I do not ever like dogs to lick my face, but especially not when the dog has just been outside eating her own poop! Yes in the middle of the night, half asleep she licked my face with her freshly poop coated tongue. I started gagging and almost threw up.

Luclily for her I am a forgiving person and allowed her to live.

While that was the WORST Opal experiencebut here are a few that were not far behind.

Coming home and finding holes chewed in 3 of our chairs...
Then a few days later realizing that she had been teathing on base of our breakfast table.

The good news is that Max and Opal have become great friends... most of the time. He is still not thrilled with her jumping on him to try to get him to play with her constantly, but he loves having her around.

Displaying art work

I love art, but I especially love art that my kids have made. A while back I posted about this masterpiece, but not all of my kids art gets matted and framed. Here are a few ways we display the beautiful creations that come home each day.

The Art Gallery

I purchased magnetic wall strips from HERE and use them to hang artwork all down the hallway. I bought nine of them on sale and put them end to end in two rows down our upstairs hall.  They have some that are similar at IKEA for .99 cents each HERE, but they are black and I have no idea how long they are. 

The hidden Kitchen Gallery 

Our kitchen is too small to have artwork on the walls so one of my favorite places to hang it in on the inside of all the cupboard doors. I love opening the doors to see their creations!

 
One art tradition that we have in our home is when each girl turns 5 years old they get to paint a "real" portrait of our family on stretched canvas.  I talk to them for a while about how to plan it out and and trace it with pencil, other then that I stay out of the creation process.

Haley worked on her painting for about 2 weeks every day after school. I broke my no suggestions rule on Haley's painting. I strongly encouraged/forced her to paint Ruby and Dad holding hands.  Everyone else was together (notice little Lucy on my shoulder) and Ruby was out there alone.  Notes about the paining: Eric has a surf board under his arm.  The red dot above the Sun is Saturn. There is a is a big waterfall on the left and a sprinkler near Ruby putting drops of water all over the sky.  There are six of her signature butterflies that she drew constantly at that age.
Ruby finished her painting in about 3 days. I love that every one is happy and in the air including Max and her late Guinnea pig Ariel. I love her perspective on how tall Eric is and how long his legs are. While she was painting this she made sure she put lipstick on all the girls, but commented that Dad did not have lipstick, just lips.  She spent her time making sure she had everyone's hair and eye color just right.

I can't wait until next year to see how Lucy interprets our family and hang her painting next to the other two!

You can see how I archive these fine pieces of art after they have served sufficient time in the Art Gallery HERE.

The bike race

Saturday after Ruby's game I told the girls we were going to see a bike race. They all complained and said that sounded boring and they wanted to stay home.







They had a blast at the race.
On the way home they went on and on about how cool it was and how they wanted to go ride their bikes.

Historic Home tour

Today we took a little field trip to Kimberly Crest. It is an amazing estate, almost castle like that has a ton of history. Tonight when the girls were telling their Dad about the house here is what all three girls thought the highlights were:

The main occupants of the home over several generations were three women. 

The front door is really the back door. 

They have fabric on the walls instead of wall paper.  

There is a bell under the dinning room table to call the servants to come. 

There are HUGE Koi fish, frogs and turtles on the ponds.  

Lucy also mentioned the large bowl of jelly beans.  

It was interesting to hear what they remembered and thought were the highlights.

I snapped this photo because I have noticed that my girls tend to line up in order of age subconsciously.  A few month ago a man at church commented to me that every sunday I walk in with my "3 little ducks" behind me.  He said that they are always lined up by age and asked me if I had them do that.   Are you kidding me? I am making sure no one is sneaking in worms or lady bugs and that everyone has underwear on, the least of my concerns is what order they are waling in .  But since his comment I have noticed they do this all the time. 

The girls loved the grounds with all the flowers and ponds. They kept striking poses and asking me to take their photo.  This photo below is so deceiving,  the house is really large. 


Tonight after dinner Haley said "Mom, thanks so much for taking us to Kimberly Crest, that was really cool".  I must say they enjoyed this historic home tour a lot more then I ever remember enjoying stuff like this when I was a kid. 

Spring Break

Spring break has officially started so we headed to LA for the day with some friends. 

1st we went to the LaBrea tar pits and the Page Museum.  Even the stinky smell of the tar could not ruin the beautiful weather. There were a few schools there in field trips and they were filming too so it was a little crowded, but not that bad.  While Ruby and Lucy were just looking at everything Haley was reading all the descriptions and stories.  I need to take her back, she really loved it.

"Rancho La Brea is one of the world’s most famous fossil localities, recognized for having the largest and most diverse assemblage of extinct Ice Age plants and animals in the world" Description stolen from their web site.

Columbian Mammoth

Ancient Bison

After we left the Museum, we went to lunch at Andre's Restaurant (6332 W 3rd St, LA).  Then walked across the street to the Farmer's Market for dinosaur shaped donuts at Bob's. 
The kids were all tired and ready to had home, but we couldn't help taking a long detour to go by M&L Fabrics in Anaheim on the not so way home.  As a result of this detour we ended up in horrific evening traffic, so we decided to stop by our friend Jackie's new house on the way. Even though we got home super late and everyone was tired and cranky, overall we had great day.

Easter Sunday

Talk about a bad photographer... I did not take any photos of the girls in their dresses before church and all the photos I took of the egg hunt at Ken and Natalie's are terrible. So just to document that we did do an egg hunt here are a few photos.

Today Lucy discovered that if you take one of those punch balls (balloons with a large rubber band on them) and place the rubber band around your waist under your dress then position the balloon at the rear of your dress you can run around for hours talking about your big bootie! 

Busy Saturday

My life is pretty much consumed with softball right now.  With both Haley and Ruby playing we have four practices each week along with an average of two games a week.  So this morning was all about softball, both girls had game and both teams did great.

I take tons of pictures at the games but our last name and city where we live is plastered all over the hats and shirts, so with a little retouching here are a couple of photos from today.
What does Lucy do during their games?  She gives random children rides in her wagon.  After the game she pulled Haley and Ruby all the way home. That little Lucy has serious muscles!
After we recovered from our hours in the sun we filled the rest of the day with easter crafts.

We blew out some eggs and hard boiled the others.  The hard boiled eggs dyed with regular egg dye. The hollow eggs we painted colorful tissue paper on and filled with colored rice to make confetti eggs.  Grandpa Ken was a good sport as I think we had most of the confetti eggs thrown at him!

Haley has loved weaving in her art class at school, so after we finished all the eggs Haley made a loom out of cardboard and started weaving.  
After all our art projects we made the Resurrection cookies right before bed. The girls were so into it, I could not believe how well it went.  Although when I let them taste the vinegar to see what they gave Jesus when he was thirsty, Haley would not taste it at all. Ruby thought it was disgusting and needed water right away. Lucy brought the bowl back to the table and kept licking it off her finger... she won't eat strawberries but likes to drink vinegar?