50th Post!

50 things: (More lists!)

Eliza Belle

1. Rolled from her back to her front today. Finally! I was beginning to worry.


2. Has worn something other than jammies the last two Sundays. Still in jammies at home.


3. Hates her car seat, but that's okay. We live less than 5 min. from most anywhere we go.


4. Smiliest baby we've had ... unless you try to take her picture. :-)


5. Thinks her sisters are hilarious. (I think so, too, but for different reasons.)


6. Likes to chew on her bottom lip.


7. Sucks her thumb, but only when she's lying down.


8. Doesn't have any eyebrows. Those are shadows in that picture.


9. Sleeps on her stomach.


10. If one more person tells me that she doesn't look anything like the rest of us, I'm going to slap them. (In my mind, of course.)

Madeline Claire

1. Asks to go to the potty, toots on it, wipes her booty, gets off and proceeds to tinkle in the floor. This happens daily.


2. Passes windies at the dinner table and says, "What was that?" every time. Do you see a theme here?


3. Prefers her Daddy, her Papa, and her Grand-dad. (Ah, that explains it ...)


4. Has a big imagination.


5. Likes to paint and will tell you exactly what she is painting. Today it was flowers with polka-dots.


6. Loves her friends "Es" (Ellis) and "Larn" (Lauren).


7. Sings as she goes about her day, sings herself to sleep. My brother used to do that.


8. Wears her rain boots with everything.


9. Timid when it comes to physical things such as climbing and sliding.


10. Walked early, but still tends to fall down several times a day.

Sophie Jane

1. Walked at 9 months and has been super coordinated ever since.


2. Not timid in the slightest when it comes to physical things, but is really shy around people.


3. Changes her clothes several times a day.


4. Has been picking out and putting together her own outfits since she was about 18 months old. (For real. Before she had the words, she would point and growl.)


5. Loves, loves, loves knee socks.


6. Extremely literal. If you ask her what she is painting, she usually says, "paint".


7. Favorite store is Home Depot.


8. Interested in my sewing projects; I think because sewing is very literal and she can see how everything is put together. She loves puzzles, too, for the same reason.


9. Prefers her Nana and her Grammy.


10. Wants to marry her Daddy. Says Maddie can marry Mr. Kevin. :-)

Danna Lyn (Boring me)

1. Favorite color: yellow


2. Favorite movie: White Christmas


3. Favorite song: Son of a Preacher Man


4. Favorite worship song: Days of Elijah (the Southwest fight song)


5. Favorite t.v. show: Project Runway, Dancing with the Stars


6. Favorite hobby: hmmm....


7. Favorite new hobby: I think maybe running! But, I'm still bad at it.


8. Favorite memory: summers - both of my parents were in education, so we had lots of family time


9. Favorite phrase: oh, stars


10. Favorite muppet: Fozzie Bear

Jeffrey Wayne

1. Plays pick-up basketball every Monday night.


2. Has asthma, but you would never know it.


3. Really nice singing voice, but again you would never know it.


4. 8 inches taller than me.


5. Loves him some Popeyes chicken.


6. Doesn't drink coffee. What?!?!


7. Director of NEA Clinic Physical Therapy. Loves being a therapist.


8. Serves as a deacon in the Connect and Serve ministry at church.


9. Built quite a bit of our furniture.


10. Was "Chief Big Tracks" at ASU. I'd show you a picture, but I value my marriage.

There you go. You are now 50 things smarter.

Commercial

Alright, after attending not one, but two baby showers today, I feel compelled to talk about something I feel is hugely important- buying handmade.

Now, you know I love to make stuff, but this is not a commercial for me. I don't sell the stuff I make. (For reasons that could fill a whole other post!) This is for those talented stay-at-home-moms out there, who do this to make a little on the side.

Think about your favorite gifts that you have received. Maybe it was a birthday present, or a wedding or baby gift. Or maybe it was just because. If you didn't ask for that favorite gift specifically, chances are it was your favorite because someone made it with only you in mind.

Some of the gifts that people were oo-ing and ah-ing about at the showers today were personalized wipes covers, embroidered towels, and sweet little hand-sewn rompers. (Well, okay, except for me who was drooling over every little bit of baby boy paraphernalia. But, again, a whole other post...) The question everyone kept asking was, "Who made this?"
So, the reasons are many:

• you support your local mommy economy
• your money is well-spent (you know you are getting your $ worth)
• the recipient loves the gift (and isn't that what we all want?)

See? Win, win, win! Here are a list of people who make beautiful hand-made goods: Amy Barrett, Amy Griffin, Jamie Stahl, Kristi Barnett (local who does my pleating).

Sorry to be obnoxious about this, but I feel so very strongly that this is a good thing! End of commercial.

Well okay, since we are on the topic of talented mommies, Amy and Jenny make cakes that belong in magazines! For real, end of commercial.

Show it Saturday - t-shirt

Here is something super simple to do with your kiddos. We used some baby t-shirts (but any size will work!). Inspiration: Pottery Barn Kids.

First, I washed them.

Then I drew some shapes on sheets of felt (25 cents at the Hobby Lobby).

Sophie cut the shapes out and then I just stitched them onto the shirt.

There was no interfacing or glue or ironing, so it is really soft. Just pin them to the shirt and stitch like you are sewing a button. Then take the pins out. :-) Voila!!!! Custom t-shirt for a couple bucks!

I let her pick what shapes to do, so we have an elephant, a bird, a giraffe (which looks more like a dinosaur. I'm not so good at the drawing!) and a square with an "E" for Eliza. Felt is surprisingly easy to cut with her little safety scissors. I did even out some of the jaggedy edges, though.

They were so easy, I'm going to let Maddie do some next time I go to Hobby Lobby.

They would make cute baby gifts!

We've washed them several times and the dye in the felt doesn't bleed onto the shirt nor does it shrink or pucker.

Moments

Something frustrating:

Our neighbors are putting there firebird in the car show this weekend, and they were out revving the engine at 6:45 in the a.m. . Let me tell you, nothing is scarier to some little girls than a big old noise right outside their window. Mass screaming ensued. Why am I being so whiny? Because, Friday is my only day that we don't have to get up and get somewhere. Friday is sacred, folks. Sigh. And, boo hoo. Sigh some more ...

Something sweet:

Sophie and Maddie ran smack into each other today. They hit so hard it knocked them both down. Still lying on the ground, Maddie's first words were, "Sophie, you okay?". Oh, that girl. She is totally forgiven for the tantrum in Wal-mart yesterday.

Something weird:

Jeff got home today bearing pound cake, which I heart. He says, "How much do you love me?" Sophie pipes up from the other room with "five!". Maybe we should stop asking questions in her presence.

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Oh, X-Box Wife, you should know that I can't resist a list! The point is to make a list of 13. Confession is good for the soul, so here's my list:

13 Confessions

1. I have very immature eating habits. I still like spaghettios and Kool-aid.


2. Sometimes I laugh when my little ladies break windies.


3. My favorite shoes came from Limited Too. For real. My girls don't even shop there.


4. I have a love/hate relationship with reality t.v.


5. I am the slowest runner in my running class.


6. I ate dessert tonight even though I didn't finish my supper.


7. Maddie mispronounces a lot of words and we don't always correct her, because we think it's cute. For example: she calls pickles ... tickles and she calls popsicles ... pickles. Go figure. Cute, though.


8. I've never done any mission work with my husband. Not even stateside.


9. I'm 4 weeks behind in my ladies' Bible study.


10. I drive my van until I'm running on fumes.


11. Several times I have repeated dirty jokes because I didn't get them.


12. I don't like to pray in front of people.


13. I may have said to you that I like surprises, but I don't.

Ah, that does feel good.

WAVE STITCH (Baby or Half-space)

Back to the smocking! The next stitch we will work on is a variation on the cable stitch, but instead of stitching in a straight line, we will add one little step to make it look like a wave (hence the name!)

Step 1: find your middle "thread knot"marker

Step 2: Look at your pattern. Does it say begin on the guide thread, or does it say begin half-way between two guide threads? Mine says to begin at the half-way point, so I will bring my needle through there.

(Note - we will be stitching 1/2 the space between guide threads. That is why it is sometimes known as the "half-space wave")

Step 3: Make a "down cable". (The down cable is one straight stitch with the thread "down" below the needle.) Remember! The first stitch is always over 2 pleats, then every stitch after that is one pleat at a time.

Step 4: Instead of making your next stitch in a straight line, take your needle up half a space on the next pleat over, keeping your thread "down" below the needle again. (Sort of like a long down cable).

Step 5: Make an "up cable" (The up cable is a straight stitch with the thread "up" above the needle. Step 6: Now we are going to stitch back down to the row we started, with the thread "up" above the needle. (Like a long or slanted up cable).

There you go! You have just made a baby wave! Isn't it pretty? Now we just repeat!

Remember to ask me questions!

Praise God!

I've been struggling with self-doubt lately in regards to my spiritual life. My failures in regards to spiritual matters. I feel like I am a weak pray-er and I've fallen way behind on my ladies' Bible study. It's frustrating when you feel like it's something you should and could fix, but you find all these reasons not to.

All day today, the song "When the Night is Falling" has been running through my head. When Sophie was just weeks old, she was diagnosed with the dreaded colic. It was just she and I at home all day and she would just scream and scream. Some days I would just hold her and cry too and sing, "how I love you child, I love you". Over and over. It was our theme song. No matter how long we would sit there, crying, I still loved her so much.

So, the entire day, I've been thinking about that time and, more specifically that song. Then, tonight, we sang that song at church. I immediately began crying. In church, y'all. Danna doesn't do that.

Now, you can take this story any way you want, but I believe God was comforting me. He was reminding me of where I am not a failure. Praising in song comes natural.

Unforgettable moments of praise to me:

• singing "Hand in Hand" after my baptism, crying but not really understanding
• my mom singing "He gave me a Song" (pretty much my entire childhood)
• the Sunday night devos my freshman year at Harding in the lobby of the admin. building
• the Sunday morning at Downtown (happy clappy) that when the service was over, the entire congregation erupted into spontaneous applause
• hearing "I Will Praise You in This Storm" for the first time at the Casting Crowns concert

All of these moments were so special. And tonight God reminded me that to be able to praise is a gift He gave us. I cannot explain to you the feeling of comfort/euphoria I am experiencing right now. I feel like I just got back from a youth rally!