New toys for me!

I have an awesome toy!!! It's all mine. A present from my hubby. And I just made my first "real" craft from it. Love my scroll saw!!

It is hard to put back together. But I love it! And I will be making more.

Mystical Creatures

I had the privilege to attend the dedication of the Indianapolis temple at the stake center. Leo and Katie attended with me. It is fantastic to be able to have a temple so close. I plan to go a lot!

Storm is getting use to maneuvering worth the cone. She doesn't like it. But she doesnt fight it either. I have figured out that it's most likely not a separation anxiety thing. I think she truly does have some itchy dry spots. Right now on the back of her legs. I'm thinking I'm going to have to go for oatmeal shampoos to wash her.

We had some interesting encounters this week.

This guy was on our bathroom window for about a day. I think it died and ended up in my neighbors backyard.

Some sort of giant moth at a friends down the street.

We have a family in our ward who's son is into exotic birds of a sort. He has a bunch of different fowl. He latest exotic. Emus. Awesome!!

I went to my friends awesome birthday skate party last night. It was great. I love to Rollerblade!!

Unfortunately, I did crash. One time. Pretty hard. I think falling forward would have been no big deal. But I didn't. I was in the process of turning around to skate backwards when it felt like one of my skates tripped up on something. Nothing was there. But back I went. And maybe it wouldn't have been so bad. Up until my head whipped back and smacked on the ground. I'm fine. Really. But the back of my head hurts a bit.

Storm (my dog) has to wear the cone of shame. She really doesn't seem to mind it. Once we had it on the first time anyway. Getting it on the first time was a hassle. She really knows  how to look pathetic.

17 Months!!

I have not blogged here for 17 MONTHS!! I was trying out a new blog, but that got me no where. Here we are a whole school year later. Katie is now in 6th grade and loving it. Last year she got straight A's all year. Leo is in 4th grade. The last year at the elementary school here. And Simon is now a first grader. Time has gone so fast. It once seemed like Simon was never going to be in school. He did great in Kindergarten.

Oliver is my guy at home now. For a few more years. He just turned 2 a couple months ago. He is such a smarty. He loves playing with boy toys. Dinosaurs, cars, legos, trains. He will be my tall kid. He is already wearing 3T clothes comfortably.

Other news. I have a tank full of fish. I know, big whoop. But the news there is that Katie's goldfish of almost 2 years got flushed yesterday. She got him at a fair. He reached a point though where he couldn't open his mouth to big. Like not at all almost. So he couldnt eat the fish food because we were feed them pellets. So we switched back to flake food. He was able to eat again. But then he reached the point of not being able to open his mouth at all. It was a slow starving process. I felt really bad but what do you do. It's a fish! Well, on Friday I noticed he was hanging out at the bottom of the tank not moving much. I knew we were getting to the end. But he held on. Finally last night (Sunday) Hugh flushed him (and he was still hanging in there). He didn't tell Katie he did it. Bit of a relief. Cause. saddly enough, I knew he would finally die and not suffer anymore. She handled the news well when she saw he was missing. My real worry was because she wanted to give him a burial.

R.I.P Swish

On to other stuff. My dog is awesome. Oliver tortures her and she just takes it. You would think I would always be yelling at the dog to leave him alone but that's not the case. I am always having to get after him to leave her alone. He tries to ride on her back, hug her, grabs her nose, sits on her, pokes her eyes. Seriously. And she just lets him.

Eye poke footage.

OK, OK, now time to get down to business. My friend on her blog posted about making a list of things to sew over the summer and she did it. So that motivated me to make my own goal. But it won't be a list so much. I really would like to sew through my stash. I know I don't have as much material as some I have seen, but it is more than I wanted to accumulate. I want to get through it this school year. Anytime I see something I want to sew my husband says "don't you have enough material at home?" So this school year I am busting through my stash. I will post completed projects along the way.

Boys doing homework together.

 Katie looks grown up to me in this selfie she took.

Simon is getting ready to lose his 3rd tooth. Goofy picture of him.

Oh, and, I'M BACK!!

School!!

Kids are back in school. I am no longer a homeschooler. Well except for my pre-school age kid. But we don't do much right now. I am still trying to get settled here. I am so happy to be in my own home!! I would be making progress except that 2 days ago I twisted my ankle really bad. Stepped funny really. Except it wasn't funny at all. It made a pop sound. But it is healing fast. I am glad for that. In the mean time, I have a couple pictures to share.

First day back to school! 4th grade!!!

2nd grade!!! I know he has no shoes on...

Grandpa came to visit for a week to help with minor fix ups on the house and built this truck with Simon. Simon did really good. He was very serious about his hammerin'!

Oliver at 9 months is now crawling EVERYWHERE!! and exploring the stairs.

I am now currently looking for a violin teacher for Katie. I have found a piano teacher for Leo, he will start in June. I think Katie will start her lessons soon. I am excited for them both.

I still have much to unpack and organize so no sewing has been done lately and I am ready to sew up some projects. I need to decide where my sewing will take place and get that set up. It is NOT for lack of space. I just want to make sure my house looks nice and presentable at all times. Supose thats all I have today.

Lunch Time!

Because I just couldn't bring myself to pay $7 each for something I didnt like, I made my own.

Duct tape lunch bags!! I had plenty of time before church to whip these out. (Kids start school tomorrow if its not cancelled). I love the lunch "boxes"!! I will do a tutorial on it. Simon asked for one as well, how could I say no! Oh, and found out as we were about to pull away from home that church was cancelled due to the whether. Its really not that bad out but I guess its supposed to get worse in the next 3 hours.

Petal

I totally missed posting my kids birthdays. Really they were both kinda lame birthdays. Guess that's what happens when you're in the middle of moving. Simon turned 5!!! His was not so bad. We were in the middle of packing and Hugh was not in town. But he had a cake and ice cream and a gift too!! Katie on the other hand... We closed on our new place the day before her birthday. Slept on the floor of said new place. Didn't have a cake or ice cream or even a gift ready for her. Such a lame mom!! We did go buy a cake and ice cream but we were stumped on what to get her. Well, a few weeks late but I am sure she thinks the wait was worth it.

Meet Petal the leopard gecko. Katie wanted a pet more than anything. We acquired her from a friend that was trying to find a new home for her. She did have a different name but I told Katie she had to give her a new name to make it officially hers. We instantly fell in love. This has been a new experience for me too. I have had snakes before a little green anoles. But never a gecko. It has been so much fun and a great experience so far.

Thank you Clair for giving us this awesome pet!! She loves her new house and has been eating and even pooped for Katie to clean up sometime last night.