Date night

For mother's day, Gennifer had given me $20 and a coupon for babysitting the girls so David and I could go to the movies. Thanks Gennifer!!

Anyway, We went out to eat at springcreek barbecue. Barbecue was my choice because I smelled it cooking last week and have wanted it ever since. David called dinner mediocre. I enjoyed it. Wasn't as good as momma used to make but it wasn't bad either. Mostly I enjoyed the atmosphere. Then we were off to the movies. We didn't want to watch shrek or spiderman or pirates (by we I mean me since I know David would have loved seeing either spiderman or pirates but he kept telling me it was a mother's day gift so I got to pick the movie) So I picked Delta Farce thinking we would both enjoy mindless entertainment. However it didn't start for another hour and a half so we went to Hobby Lobby to kill time.

I, of course had to check out their flannel selection for boy prints & I found some!! I found hotwheels and matchbox prints on clearance for $2/yd. It only takes half a yard to make a dipe. I get all giddy when I get to buy fabric!! I love it!

While the lady was cutting my flannel, David was discussing our children and homeschooling and what not and she turned to me and seriously asked "Is he pulling my leg?"

Absolutely not ma'am. :)

So then, just like every other stranger on earth, she has to relate to us her story about dealing with homeschoolers. Fortunately, her experience with homeschoolers was a good one and she seemed to like us.

I began browsing other clearance fabric and came across some great school fabric. One looked like a blackboard and had addition problems done on it in chalk print, the other was black and had ABC's printed on it with little pictures of things that start with each of the letters. So cute. The best part is, the lady who seemed to like us after having to be convinced we were serious about our children and homeschooling, marked the clearance fabric down even further! WOOHOO!!!!!

Then we went to see the movie which was mildly funny and disappointing. I should have picked shrek or pirates over delta farce. At least, I didn't expect much out them therefore would not have been disappointed. but whatever. Still fun.

All in all, I enjoyed the whole evening and am still on my fabric high as I am sewing diapers today!

***Side note*** as I check my spelling with the spell check, I realize that homeschoolers is not a word and homeschool is also not a word but homeschooling is a word, now how can that be?

Yea! thrift Store Score!!!

I have been making cloth diapers for "baby on the way".

To make the diapers, I sandwich cotton t-shirt fabric (usually four layers) between cute flannel(which is not easy to find when looking for boy prints) and then, I put elastic at the legs and back and make a doubler to match so that each diaper actually has 12 layers of fabric counting the doubler but only 6 layers when it goes through the wash so it cleans and dries so much easier.

So anyway, I went to the thrift store and asked if they ever bundle old/worn out/holey t-shirts to sell for rags. The nice lady told me that they did not sell them but she would give them to me. She went to the back and brought out huge garbage bag full of t-shirts!!!! WOOHOO!!! She then apologized because that was "all they had" right now but said if I come back in a week or two, she would have a lot more!!

My baby ticker...

I had to remove him from a message board sig and missed him so I placed him here.

Our swimsuit treck

ugh... Way too many hours spent looking and looking and looking and trying on and trying on and trying on....

We spent all day Saturday searching for swimsuits.

For the younger Sonja(4) and DJ(6) we got dance leotards with short sleeves and a net skirt. very cute and protective from much sun exposure because there is no open back or shoulders which, from our experiences proves to be impossible to achieve with real swimsuits. As matter of fact I am convinced that many of those toddler swimsuits had to have been designed by all but the most vile pedophiles. Why do so many people think it is ok to dress toddlers in a "sexy" manner? ugh!

For Sharla(9) we actually found a real one piece swimsuit that comes down into shorts at the bottom and has tank type sleeves. Not really sleeves but not just straps either. It has a little hole in the back that will probably be covered by her hair most of the time.

Alizabeth(12) got a swimsuit for her b-day last week so we did have to buy her one. Hers is a one piece. We bought a lycra sports bra to wear under it because the back is very open and we bought some swim shorts to wear over it because it has high cut legs.

For Heather(13) we had to settle. We found a summer top that comes down far enough to cover her shorts with room to spare but it has a racer back on it so the shoulders are exposed. Not crazy about that more for the sun exposure than for the modesty thing because it doesn't look too bad. The shorts are tight biker-type shorts that have about a 3 inch leg.

Don't even get me started on how seemingly impossible it find Gennifer(15) something to swim in. We finally settled for something Sunday evening after 2 days of looking. The swim suit we settled on is a one piece that looks good on the bottom with s skirt to cover things and gathers so that it is not too tight but the top is way too flattering for her. I will have to do something to alter it.


Pics to follow.

Swimwear, Health, and Modesty

Well, it is time to buy new swimsuits for my girls.
Modesty has always been an issue but never as much as it is now that the girls are getting older and have more, umm, parts that need covering.

My sister has melanoma and that brings up so many more cosiderations. It really hits home now. Never thought that would be a concern in my family cuz, you know, that is something that happens to other people.

I want my kids to feel comfortable in what they swim in. I don't want it to be bulky and cumbersome.

I also want them to be safe from cancer. I just read a statistic that said 1 out of 7 children get skin cancer from sun exposure. That is a big number. Sun screen is a big factor, I know, but even when I am dilligent slathering the stuff on, my children tend to get some sun burn when we spend the whole day in pool. Usually it doesn't even show up until a couple of hours after the event.

When we were in Florida, we had a really hard time finding swim suits for my then 12 and 13 yodds. We wound up using semi-modest-looking exercise tanktops with sports bras under them and skirted swimsuit bottoms.

I can't afford $100/suit but I know what I am looking for will probably be more pricey than the $15 suits at wal-mart.

I like something like this for my younger ones. Good price too. I will proabably order some of the these but it is my older girls I am having a hard time outfitting with swimwear.

My sister

This was a really tough photo shoot. My 18yo sister wanted me to take pictures of her before she starts chemo and loses her hair. I want her to know how much I care about her. She doesn't want to talk about things. She doesn't want people to be upset. She doesn't want things to be different. She doesn't want to be a reason that people are sad. So I will just say......

Isn't she lovely in the pictures.






Now I am crying. I am sorry Valerie. I know you don't want people to be sad or treat you different. Where you have love, you will have emmotions. Even sad ones. at times. If you were honest with yourself, you would have to admit, that people having no feelings at all would be worse than have bad ones. sad ones. I love you.