Games with Toddlers

A couple weeks ago it was requested of me to buy Uno. Since then we have played approximately every other day and even the 2 year old has caught on and gets his own cards now. Having mastered one game, they have moved on to Monopoly. It's quite hilarious to play with them and as long as you don't mind bending the rules, even very fun. Rory's absolute favorite thing is getting a house and hotel on his property's, so the 'monopoly' part of owning all three pieces first has fallen by the wayside. As soon as you own it, you can build.

 It makes for a quicker game, which is an advantage since there's a lot of skipping around, wrestling and car playing on the other players turns.

I can't really believe that my kids are old enough to actually play games the correct way-kind of an "oh my goodness, they are getting so big" moment for me. Since I love to play games it's also nice, no more waiting until N's home!

An Auction Item

This'll be up for grabs at the auction SL's..I was thinking it would make me a good library bag. The only problem is I switched the panels when I was sewing so it ended up taller instead of wider. When we get to the library we generally have 20-25 books, so yeah this isn't big enough for me. Hopefully somebody else likes it, and I think I need to make some more bags. They are fun, (relatively) quick and easy. And fun. Did I say fun? Can't wait to bring some goodies home, hope you all are cleaning closets:)

On a Thursday

It's a busy day today, but worth it since tonight is girls night:) Although I've been debating the wisdom of going since apparently I don't know how to come home at a decent hour anymore..the question is-how worth it is to get out?  Generally speaking, it's totally worth it! Even the 2 am laying in bed trying to fall asleep and super crabby Friday. And Saturday. Tonight I'll make a real effort to get home earlier, since tomorrow we are bringing the kids (and a s.i.l. to babysit for a few hours) to a waterpark hotel for the night.

So far I have:

1. Brought L for a consultation (to the neighbors, it's handy to have a sister for a nurse that lives across the street!) to check her eye. We had a rather scary Valentines Day evening that ended up with a trip to the ER. Stitches, staples and glue- she's doing okay. And no infection, which I was starting to wonder about.
2. The Cinnamon Rolls are rising.
3. Three loads of laundry are done.
4. I'm enjoying the view into the front hall, which I finished painting yesterday.
5. Got a packing list completed.
6. N's on his way to buy some new glass panes for a couple windows (#1)
7. The bathroom wall is getting sanded (and I still get a little jolt every time I open the door and the huge old vanity isn't in there. Very nice.)
8. Supper is started since we're delivering it to the family with the newest niece, whom I can't wait to hold again!

Still on the to-do list:

1. Pack up the bags
2. Girls have dentist appointments
3. Paint the bathroom
4. More laundry
5. Send in the application for a new apartment building in Williston (Nokota Ridge for anyone looking-can find a posting on craigslist that will bring you to their website)
6. Really hoping my leg will hold up to a walk today as it's absolutely gorgeous out. Sunny and 40's. Love.

The way we live

I've been noticing the influence of the Internet lately.Not in a bad way, just in changing my perspective on a few smaller areas of my life. Take food, for instance; we've been going through a streak of not to healthy eating at the moment. I've always got fresh fruit and veggies around for cooking, snacking, etc. but that's not what we've been grabbing lately. A couple of days ago I stumbled onto this blog via pinterest, and have been reading through some of her posts. It's actually really interesting reading, all about a family who decided to do a 100 day challenge of no processed food. She blogged about what they did and didn't eat, meal plans, ideas for getting the food, what she buys, etc. After mulling it over for a few days my thought is that while I don't plan on doing as much as she did, I would like to implement some of the changes into our lives. What I'm thinking about is, switching from white to whole wheat flour, cutting back on sugar, and taking a look at my pantry-as far as ready made foods and what I do want to still use. One of her rules of thumb is buy nothing with more than five ingredients, and nothing that has 'chemical' names in the ingredient list. 

As far as the organic vs. non, I can't really make up my mind. I see points for the organic side and maybe it's just the stubbornness in me pushing out...don't really know:) If I do decide to lean that way at least we live in an area that has a lot of family farm grown produce and meat. And we have D&B's also in town. Looks like we might start buying a little more organic! Any thoughts? Things that you have tried and have worked?

All in it's time

Here I sit, wishing there were some awesome painting done and room completed pictures. Alas, the motivation hasn't been there. There are, however, quite a few sewing projects being swept off the to-do list.
 I can't remember if this has been mentioned before (mom brain) but I'm starting to realize that I work in streaks. So far it goes something like this: knit for insane amounts of time for approximately 1 week, get sick of that; head to the library and stash up some good reads. Read everyday until the books are done. Realize that the house still isn't going to get clean unless I do it, spend a few days catching up on laundry and cleaning. Cleaning really isn't my thing. Find something much funner (sewing!) and embark on two weeks of projects.

Hmmm, somewhere I need to fit that painting in...It seems odd that this awareness is just sinking in, but I'm trying to embrace it and just keep on finishing the half-done things as their time comes instead of stressing and feeling guilty all the time.

This grainy photo is my second attempt at clothes. We'll just skip over the first one, if you don't mind..well even if you do, since you ain't got a choice. Just take my word that it's pretty awful! Anyways, this is just a very simple nightgown that reminds me of 'olden days'. It actually worked out well, since L has been interested in Laura Ingalls Wilder lately, and she was excited too, because the fabric had been picked out over a year ago. So far the nightgown has been worn for eight nights running.

The top picture is the finished blanket from the last post. I decided not to do a separate binding and I like how it turned out, the only problem was trying to figure out the corners. I now have a new friend whom I spent many hours getting to know very well. It goes by the delightful name "seam ripper". Eventually I decided to do a diagonal corner (had to quick check the picture, and nope, you can't actually see it in this one...) which  adds a little something to an otherwise pretty basic blanket.

Can You Guess?

 The pictures should give you a few clues as to what 'kind' of baby we are having..

This is my first knitted sweater, and first two pairs of socks. The socks were actually much easier than expected, but that might have something to do with being 2 needle ones that get seamed. I'm hopeful that I can tackle a 'real' pair next  since the construction of the heel is pretty similar.

 After finishing this hat and socks, I'm pretty sure they aren't even going to fit this little one. My kids aren't know for having small, or even normal, sized heads. In fact, B didn't even fit into his going home outfit and his Nana had to quick dig out and wash some bigger clothes so he could come home. You just never know, maybe we'll have a littler one this time. If not, there are plenty of other babies coming to pass them on to!

This will also be my first quilt. The top is actually further along the picture shows, it's been all cut, pinned and  is about 1/3 of the way sewed. The pattern is pretty basic one that's been made up as it goes along but I'm pretty happy with it so far! The current dilemma is how to finish it- since we'll hopefully have mostly warm weather when it's needed my thought is to not do any batting and do a self-binding back. Hmm.

Hope you are all doing something fun-the cupboards and closets are also getting cleaned out around here which feels awesome this time of year! I believe the thrifty load count is somewhere around 4. Yahoo!

New Year, New Goals

In the grand scheme of things, I am not someone who does resolutions. I don't even think about them normally. However, this last month there's been some kind of heavy thinking going on around here, it feels like we're reaching a transition stage in our lives and we are getting to the point of needing some decisions. Well anyways, I've come up with some new (for us) goals and I'm getting excited to start them! Some of them are simply what they seem, and some are the first steps into a new direction. It should be fun and interesting to see what happens!

1. 2012 will be the first year of us having a budget. I've got it almost all the way worked out, just need N's approval and maybe one or two little tweaks:) I've always thought it kind of odd that we've never had a budget, it just seems like something a married couple should have!  Actually, we have half heartedly tried before, but this time we're approaching it from a whole different angle and I really think it'll work very well for us.
2. Going along with number one, we will be out of debt (except the house) in October. This is huge for me! We've been working on this for the last 5 months and now we can start seeing "real" results.
3. This one is going to be the most challenging, but I'm determined to lose weight and generally start a healthier lifestyle. Seeing as I'm due in April, the losing pounds part will have to wait, but the exercise and better eating have already started. Weight is something I've struggled with ever since I got married and I'm determined to be at my personal goal in 12 months. I know I'll feel so much better and it will be fun to like shopping and buying cute clothes for myself.

So there we have it. Anybody else giving themselves new goals for the new year?