Happy Easter....

                                                                        From My Gang to yours..

Merry Christmas....

                                              Pheww what a crazy beautiful few days it has been....

We had the family over our house for Christmas Eve..I spent most of the day prior pulling out all the stops for a great dinner. Which thankfully turned out pretty darn good. Even if my eyes are wayyy bigger then my stomach and I ate too much..Way too much..

And since I had no time to wrap I warned everyone that Scott wrapped the presents. Which would have probably ended up a bomb threat if they were to be left sitting around anywhere. But hey a wrapped gift is a wrapped gift right...Even if you are a bit scared to open it...

Would you open this thing??

It was Sophie's first Christmas and despite a bit of teething she had a blast. My youngest got her first baby doll and my oldest got his first Cell phone...What a contrast of gifts..



And talk about gifts, there were just too many to mention

But boy do I feel  blessed to have such a wonderful family who all  helped to give my kids an amazing day.

With awesome gifts like the big wheel from Auntie Kim

And the instant fave, trampoline from the grandparents. To name a few...

I feel so very blessed  and content as this year wraps up. Excited and ready to take on the next. And super  anxious to continue to share it with you all...



Crochet Ribbon Tree

I had another go at my  Christmas tree. Think this time I got it more like what was in my head. And the first thing that comes to mind is that old ribbon candy you get when you visit the grandparents. Isn't it cute??

Here is what I did....

• I chained 202 with a J hook and worsted yarn.
• DC'd in 3rd chain from hook and every remaining chain,
• I then fastened off leaving a very long tail.
• I folded  it on top of each other like the ribbon candy back and forth starting from the bottom, working up and making it smaller as I went to the top.."obvious I know"
• With the long tail on the top I used the hook and pulled it through each tier on one side down to the bottom corner across the bottom and back up other side.  Then pulled it down the middle across 2 dc's on the bottom and back up to the top.
• Straighten it all back out (mind bunched up a little as I did this) and fasten off leaving a bit of a space for hanging. 
•  Add two rows of HDC of brown in the four middle dc's on the bottom for trunk
• And attach a star.  "I attached my star as I weaved the tail up through"

Star Pattern

• Ch 3, 2 dc in first chain. *Ch2 3 dc, repeat from * 3 more times. ch2 and slip stitch to beginning chain
• Slip stitch to first ch 2 space. Ch1, hdc, dc, ch1 dc, 2 hdc, in next ch2 space *2hdc,dc, ch1, dc, 2hdc. Repeat from*  3 more times. slip stitch to bottom starting chain  and fasten off.

Progress Report...

 I am halfway finished with the Dottie Angel blanket as well, and is already being broken in. By the munchkins.

Our 4th....

Well Scott's luck had him working on the 4th of July....Himself and a few other guys from work were selected to escort a Bradley and ride in it during a military parade in San Diego. Which didn't just mean being in the parade, it also meant standing around all day for the static display of said Bradley so that people could climb all over it and ask a million questions...I didn't hover all day but I did enjoy watching Scott in his element. At his first post 6 years ago he worked with Bradley's so he is no stranger to them and came in quite handy during the display because it was obvious the other guys weren't as knowledgeable about it has he was.

Finally in the late afternoon the parade kicked off and Scott got to practice his princess wave sitting in the top of the Bradley...

And after that wrapped we headed up to my sisters to watch the fireworks on the Beach....A bit more hectic of a holiday then we are used but it was a great day overall.. Thankfully they did give him Monday off so we didn't have to make the 2 1/2 hr drive home on a holiday night. I am not a fan of driving during holiday craziness. So we are back home for now....Wonder what adventures the next 4th will bring.

Almost perfect!!

If only the hubby would have been home for Mother's Day, I would have concluded this one to be the best yet.  But he promises to make it up to me so then again, what's better then an extended holiday?

I had planned on going to my sister's for the weekend but at the last minute changed plans and headed the extra 35 miles to my mom's. It was a pretty lazy weekend and while I did not expect much from her mainly because well it was a rather surprise visit. I sort of turned the tables on myself and celebrated the holiday for her rather then I.

Flowers and a few gifts from the kids to her were shared. And then little did I know she had snuck a purchase of new plates for me while we were out. And silly me even pointed her directly to them completely unaware.

As great as that was I was completely unaware of the stupendous generosity about to come my way. I had asked her if it was possible to buy extra parts for my hand mixer that she bought me as part of her wedding gift to me and Scott. One day a few weeks ago I loaned Shay one of the beaters to lick clean and I never got it back. Pretty sure it ended up in the trash. Anywho your not gonna believe what she offered me realizing I no longer had a mixer to bake with.

Can you believe it...A freakin' kitchen aid mixer!!!!!!! SCORE!!!!!

it's safe to say the best hand-me-down Ever!

seems she wants to buy another one so here I go. :)

Of course what's a Mother's Day without flowers. These arrived today from the kids other Grandma. Aren't they beautiful.

So as I bask in the Mother's Day goodness and feel oober blessed to be  mom to my crazy wonderful 5 kiddos. I am patiently waiting one more week to see what the Hubby has in mind. Wouldn't mind a day spent in my pj's not having to leave my room "hint..hint"

Happy Easter!

What a beautiful, blessed day, if you don't include the recent Earthquake we just had. They are saying it was a 7.2 at the epicenter and we are all still a bit rattled from it but unharmed..

The weather is amazing and the kids are working on their sugar high. We colored eggs last night and they have already been transformed into deviled eggs to chow down on. They each got over stuffed Easter baskets and an Easter egg hunt with 157 eggs to find. 5 of which are still missing lol...

Now we are just laying back relaxing and trying to forget about the big quake. Which happened to be Scott's first.

Crazy Lady

I don't know why I have never been a big "baker" but I think after yesterday I'd say that has officially changed. I went a bit baking crazy breads,cookies, pies and cheesecake...Holy Moley I hope Scott's family eats it all before I do...

We are taking a 5hr road trip with all this food so I hope it holds up. I did obviously freeze the Cheesecakes which I am most worried about making it. So keeping my fingers crossed that along with an ice packed cooler will do the trick.





And not to waste any extra time I whipped up a few face cloths during my baking breaks yesterday as well. Will gift them to Scott's Aunt's although I love how they turned out and want to keep them :P....



Other then that I might actually try out the hooking in the car thing...If I am not the one driving...Big (IF) there...Hubby loves to sleep on road trips and I am most definitely the driver of the family but I figure if being 9 months preggo doesn't give me a pass I don't know what will. Right???

Off to finish packing..Have a great day!!!

Christmas package

A visit from the Postman yesterday left us with an overstuffed box from my mom. And look at all the goodies inside!!!! I know we won't be able to be near her for Christmas this year. But I think it's so sweet that she is making sure the kids don't feel left out. I know how important my Holiday Memories are from when I was a child and I feel very thankful that my family reaches out to us regardless of where the Army sticks us during the holiday season....

The haps over here...

Still hanging in there.....

Sorry for being so quiet these days. I am really trying to find my patience somewhere stashed in all the craziness of the season. I definitely did not inherit the patience gene from my dad. Or maybe I did and it just hasn't kicked in yet???

On a different note I am officially done with the Christmas shopping "YAY". And for the first time ever I have actually wrapped some gifts before Christmas Eve. It is usually a tradition to wrap them all on that night but I just couldn't fathom wrapping 50/60 things in one night so yesterday hubby got home early from work and we knocked out the A's gifts literally seconds before they started to walk in the door from school....Perfect timing!! I still have Scott's and Shay's but I can sneak those in here and there so I am not to worried about that.

As far as craftiness....I am working on some knit washcloths to add to Scott's family gifts and managed to finish up a blanket for Shay that I started the first week I learned how to crochet. I naively picked up some super fuzzy/soft yarn and if you ever crocheted you know dealing with that stuff as a newbie is just not fun. So now that the weather has cooled and I can Double Crochet with my eyes closed the blanket was a breeze to finish. Now if I could just get the dog to stop sitting on it.....I will take pics of both projects soon, promise.

Oh and the belly well she is still nice and snug in there. I am experiencing a ton of contractions, pretty painful ones I might add. But nothing regular at all, which is fine "except the pain part" I am technically not full term til Monday so I guess she can wait. :P Then at that point it really becomes a wanting to wait situation because let's face it who wants to spend Christmas in the hospital. Certainly not me and certainly not with 4 kids at home...

Other then all that chaos I am simply enjoying my homemade "Starbucks" pumpkin spice lattes. How??? OOOOh because my mommy sent me a little goodie jar of the pumpkin mix...YUMMMMM I love it so. Oh and while spending too much time online searching out deals for gifts. I stumbled upon a website that has some old school toys from when I was a kiddo. Back to Basics has a few things that totally bring back memories for me and I am sure others as well. (not like we had a huge selection back then)

Look familiar



If I could justify spending another dollar I would so get these but they will go on my wish list for now. Cool huh??

Ok back to my washcloths.....Enjoy your weekend!!

Christmas Greetings from us...

Cards are here and minus the stamps are all ready to be shipped off. I am really happy with how they turned out. Simple and sweet, I even refused to write on them because my handwriting tends to be horrible. Think they are perfect just the way they are.

Merry Christmas from this gang to yours!!!

The Tree is Trimmed

This year was hands off for me since the A's are old enough to be in charge. So I got to sit back and enjoy the show...They did a great job!!

Snow in the South

It's a rarity...And on top of that it's their first time seeing snow fall not to mention Shay's first experience with it all together. Other then the fact that we did not have the right wardrobe for it. They have been having a blast, hopefully there will be some left in the morning!!!

An easy going kind of day

It's a bit rainy and dreary outside but I don't mind.....


Other then the inability to get comfortable no matter which way I contort myself sitting/laying/standing these days. It has been a pretty easy going start of the week around here.

Scott is catching up on sleep after working a 24hr guard duty shift. Which of course led to me and Shay crawling into bed and sneaking in a little nap of our own.


I've done a tiny bit of cleaning, a little bit of sewing, and a lot of trying to keep my feet up so they stop swelling like sausages. Oh and can't forget eating..I finished up the last of the T-day leftovers. We did end up giving a bunch away to the single guys Scott works with so there wasn't much left. But I enjoyed them while they lasted.

My tiny bit of sewing of course is another hat. Isn't it funny how you can get stuck on making something even if you have no one really to make them for? I suppose I could sell them. Atleast that would get Scott off my back for making more things that we don't need :P My daughter did request one of these in her size. So looks like I need to mess around with seam allowances and see if I can do that for her.



Here it is the last of the leftovers turned into my lovely lunch sammy. MMMM yum it was good. I need to cook another turkey I think :P


And my version of Christmas shopping this year Amazon and all things online. It's always exciting getting things in the mail and the best part is they are already closed and able to be hid amongst all the moving boxes so the kids can't sneak a peak. I just have to be careful to not forget which ones are which when it comes time to open them. I am sure they wouldnt want a big box of mom's clothes for Christmas haha...



I guess I should get back to packing and my Christmas to-do list. Hope everyone is having a great start to their week!

Happy Thanksgiving

And you can bet I am stuffed....With a very happy squirmy baby girl in the tummy!!

Thought I would share a few pics of our feast...

Now the beauty of being home with "just us" for the Holiday is... it's totally acceptable to hang out in PJ's all day...Am I right or am I right???

Here is Shay chowing down on pre-dinner snacks....



And in this picture we have the FEAST...A 24lb turkey "yes I said 24lbs haha" given to us by an anonymous Army Angel...Thank you whoever you are...Now I think we are set for the week with Turkey left overs..On top of that Hubby had to have his 8lb Ham..YUM..We barely made a dent in either....And of course the norm, mash taters, corn, candied yams, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy and rolls...YUMMMM



And for Dessert??? That I still can't find room to eat yet.... My first ever homemade cheesecake. Looks good right? Go me!! And the "must have" tucked away in the fridge a pumpkin pie....Last night I checked on the cheesecake to make sure it turned out ok...Scott joked I was going to find him holding it like a cookie chowing down...Now that wouldn't surprise me it's his fave.



Besides being thankful for all this yummy food...I am very very Thankful for my family the one in my home and my extended family as well. I know it's not always easy for us to be near them all with this Army life but you are all in our hearts. And we Love you!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone :)

My Creative Space

Is mainly in the kitchen this week (currently baking a super yummy cheesecake) gearing up for Thanksgiving...Hubby missed it last year since he was in Iraq so this year he plans on having me make up for it, we have so much food it will take a week even for our big family to finish it all...But it's what he wants so that's what he's getting...:) I will have to take a pic tomorrow once it is all served up...

Other then that I have gotten a few other crafty things accomplished as well....

I finished the tote bag for Scott's mom (she likes purple) and am working on some hot-pads for his dad, who is the cook of his house....




And I am slowly getting this shawl finished, isn't it lovely...Can't wait to finish it!!!!



I hope everyone is having a great week and make sure to check out all the other Creative Spaces over at Kirsty's

Easier then I expected

Well as most of us with multiple children do. I stressed over this year's Christmas Card picture......

Although it wasn't as creative and fancy as I would have preferred. I really needed to get these things ordered so I set out for a simple photo with all the kids looking at the Camera......And within 5 mins. I got it!!!!!!

Go Me.......




I ordered them through Vista Print, used them last year and everyone liked them so I did it again this year :)...30 cards with envelopes $15...Works for me!!

Costume parade

We had a great night!!! Although I wasn't sure it was going to go that way by the looks of Shay when he first put on his costume. But once he figured out what he could get with each "trick or treat" it was on!!!









No more pictures mom...Let's get a move on!!!