Sewing projects to come

I found some really cool and hopefully easy little projects I am going to try as soon as I get the sewing machine from my mom.

I looked on the web and found a couple of really cool sites with tutorials to follow to make things.
Like...this adorable dress I found at this site. KoJoDesigns

and OHSOHAPPYTOGETHER
who has so many cute girly ideas and tutorials.

and Cally-Cruze
for these
and
Treyandlucy for this cute and easy dress
and for this easy tutu

and this guitar onesie I am going to make for a friend who is having a boy due the same day I am.


I can't wait to try to make these. As soon as I do I will post pictures. It will give me something to do during naptime before this new little one comes.

All things girly

I have been trying to be a little more creative, especially when it comes to all things girly. Kaelyn is obsessed with headbands, clips, and bows. And whatever the older sister is into, the little one is sure to follow. So I went to Michael's and bought some flowers.

And then bought some plain colored headbands from Target.

And with a few simple stiches....headbands!

Kaelyn of course wanted to try the pink one first.

I found some really simple dress ideas to make for either Kaelyn or the new baby. Or maybe both. Since I don't have a lot of Kaelyn's old girl clothes, I thought that maybe I could make a few cute outfits. We will just have to wait and see.

NOOOO Santa!

This is becoming a tradition with our family and our neighbors the Bivens. We take the kids to the Westminster Mall to see santa. Last year both kids were scared. Kaelyn wasn't sure if she should cry or smile for the camera and Jack just wanted to get away from this strange man he was sitting on.


And this year not much has changed.
You can't tell by the picture, but Kaelyn was actually happy to be seeing Santa and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. Jack...not so much!!

Can't wait till next year and hopefully more crying pictures of the kids with Santa.

Preschool Christmas

Today we had Kaelyn's preschool Christmas program and she wasn't really in the mood to sing. Each class got to go up on stage and sing their songs. Peyton (kaelyn's cousin) got on stage first and sang. She even danced a little. (video will be up on Sally's blog shortly I'm sure) But Kaelyn just stood there the whole time her class sang.

I would of posted video, but really she just stood there like that the whole time. Not a sound, not a move the whole time.
But at least she looked cute doing it!!

When she came back, I asked her why she didn't sing with her friends in her class. And she said that her best friend Jayla wasn't standing next to her and it made her sad. But we saw Jayla walk by so that made her happy.

And we even got some very cute pictures of the 3 girls. (Peyton, Mia and Kaelyn)

In the mood for some soup?

With the whole family not feeling so good and the somewhat cold weather we are having I decided to make some home made soup. I remember growing up my mom always making us soup and I loved it. But I really didn't have the energy to spend standing in front of the stove cooking it. So I found this recipe for Loaded Baked Potato Soup that you make in the crock pot. Got to love easy crock pot recipes!! So here it is.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup
serves 6

6 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes
1 large onion
1 quart chicken broth
3 cloves garlic, minced or chopped
1/4 cup butter
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper

1 cup cream or half n half
2 cup cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons chopped chives
1 cup sour cream (optional)
1/4 cup bacon, fried and crumbled

Combine the first 7 ingredients into a large crockpot and cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low
Mash the mixture until potatoes are coarsely chopped and soup in slightly thickened. Stir in cream, cheese, bacon and chives.


Top with sour cream (optional) and sprinkle with more cheese.


It is super easy and very good.

We've been hit..

with the cold or flu bug.
A few weeks ago Jack and Kaelyn had a little cold and fever, so we spent the whole day in our pjs and watched movies. It didn't last very long and they were better. But then it came back. This time Rich caught it. And it wasn't a cold. I am not sure if it is the flu or food poisoning, but it is not good. We went out to dinner with Rich's family to Buca Di Beppo and he is the only one that woke up in the middle of the night with a date with the toilet. I have never seen him that sick. I felt so bad and there was nothing I could do to make him feel better. Rich was in bed all day yesterday and still is not feeling 100% today.
Jack is now starting to show signs of being sick. He has been very congested which is making him cough and occasionally throw up. But has energy and is playing. So I am not sure what is up with him.

I, on the other hand, am feeling a little sick and tired. I have a cold and as you know when you are pregnant you really can't do anything to get rid of it. I mean you can take some medicine, but nothing that will knock it out of you. Plus taking care of a sick husband and 2 kids, I don't really have the time to rest and actually get better. I am just praying that it doesn't get worse.

Thankfully Kaelyn is perfectly healthy. Not even a runny nose or anything. Praise God!!!

In the mean time our family is loading up and all the good stuff to make us feel better. The kids are drinking lots of Orange juice, water and even eating chicken noodle soup. Rich and I are taking whatever medicine we have that can make us feel a little better. And I have made sure that our house is germ free with a little help from my friend Lysol.

The best thing that we can do is try to relax and get better, So that is exactly what Jack is doing today while Kaelyn is a preschool!

Howdy Partner

Introducing Sheriff Woody and his pal Jessie!!!

As you can see we dressed up at Woody and Jessie from Toy Story 2. I went looking for costumes and wasn't willing to spend $50 a piece for their costumes. So with a few trips to Joanne's Fabric store, Goodwill and Disney.com, I was able to make their costumes for under $20. I am pretty impressed with myself. I think that they turned out pretty good.

On Monday, we got tickets to go to Little Monster's at Disneyland. This is when they open up California Adventure after hours and have 18 or so stations that the kids can go get treats. They even have a few rides open for the kids to ride. Rich was out of town at his company sales meeting, so we met up with the Grasse's and Aunt Lu and Aunt Bev. The kids walked away with kites, toys and some candy. By the end of the night, all of the kids were exhausted and fell asleep as soon as we went in the car. I had my hands full while we were walking around so I didn't get any pictures of them actually trick-or-treating. This is before we went in.



Kaelyn's preschool had their Halloween Party and Trunk-or-treat for the kids. This little boy is one of Kaelyn's friends in her class that dressed up as Woody. (as you can see his parents actually spent the money to by the costume).
This is Jayla, Kaelyn's best friend at Preschool.


Then on Saturday, we went over to the Grasse's to go trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. Mia, the Pirate, Peyton, the flying pumpkin, Jack, Woody and Kaelyn, Jessie. They got a ton of candy and had a lot of fun.


Hope you had a great Halloween.

Good-bye Morning Coffee

I have had to say goodbye to my morning cups of coffee. And say hello to morning sickness. Well really it is all day nausea. My new best friend is my toilet. Yes I am pregnant, 7 weeks today. My first doctors appointment is next week. I will be doing some initial testing which hopefully can tell me if I am having twins or only one baby.
I don't really know why I think that I am having twins. Maybe it is because I am soooo sick, maybe because I am a twin and Rich has twins on his side of the family so my chances go up. Maybe it is just because I have teased so many of my friends and family during their pregnancies that they were going to have twins, that I feel it is going to be me that has them. Karma.
This pregnancy is crazy. I am so sick. I remember being sick with Kaelyn, but it was nothing like this. I worked the whole time with Kaelyn, maybe taking a couple of days off before I realized that I was in fact pregnant, but I was able to work. I seriously can not function the whole day with this baby. I find myself constantly laying down in order to not feel so nauseous. Sometimes it works other times, not so much. Thankfully my mom stayed in town this week and watched the kids for a few days so I could relax and feel sick without having to watch and take care of them. What a blessing.
So if I am out of contact for a while, this is why. I really can't do much without feeling like I need to run to the toilet.
I will try to keep you all up to date with what is going on and what my doctors says about this baby or these babies. Until then I guess you can all place your bets and see who guesses right!!

Maui

Here are a few of our almost 400 pictures that we took on our trip to Maui.

Sunset in Hawaii the first night.

At the resort when we got there they had a "Make your own stuff animal". So Kaelyn picked the pink pig (because it was the only animal that was pink) and Jack picked the Dinosaur (really it was a alligator).












Kids ready for their first day at the Pirate pool then off to the beach.






Hula dancing lessons. Kaelyn had to wear her Hawaiian hula outfit, with new flower rubber band.



Look at this smile.

Little miss diva. This is what she did when I asked her to look at the camera for a picture.

Hula dancing. I have video of this too, but for some reason I can't figure out how to download video on this blog.

The next day we went to a beach so that Rich and my dad could surf. They had this great tree that provided shade and also a cool backdrop for a family photo.




Holding daddy's surfboard for a picture.

The next day we drove up a little north and found this cool beach for the kids to play. It had a nice pool area for the kids to swim in and not get taken down by the waves. It also had huge sea turtles swimming just on the other side of the rocks.


I love this photo of Rich and Jack checking out the surf.


a beautiful rainbow out our window.
Kaelyn and daddy jumping in the waves.

This was our last beach day. We met up with my parents friends and their family and it was HOT!! Probably the warmest day we had, plus there was no shade or trees. But the kids had fun.





Kaelyn had to take a picture of our airplane. It is funny, now every time we see a plane she says that it is going to Hawaii. I guess airplanes only go to Hawaii.


We had so much fun and can't wait to go back. Maybe when the kids are older and can swim in the ocean by themselves. And don't need naps (even though they really didn't take naps, only when they fell asleep in the car on the way back to the resort). But we look forward to going again, hopefully with more of our family next time.