We have a walker!!

Owen has decided to join the world of walking. It may just be the cutest thing ever. He does pretty well, until the dog jumps in his way in a bid for more attention.

Craft Time

I have always thought of myself as being a crafty girl. I also enjoyed painting and quilting and sewing, but I have come to find out lately, that I am just a really good copycat. I rarely have any good ideas of my own, but I am really good at copying other people great ideas. Here are some ideas that I have copied lately.

This is an idea that I stole from this blog that I love!!! I was forced to change it a little bit because I bought the wrong size board from the store. I really like how they turned out.

These hearts I copied from this blog. We did these at our 2nd annual Superbowl Sunday craft day. While the boys watch the game downstairs, the girls stay upstairs and do a fun craft. We had so much fun, we are even thinking about doing a craft once a month and have a girls night out. These were so fun and easy and inexpensive to do. Even my girls and my nieces helped. I just cut the stencils out of contact paper with my cricut machine. It was a little more work that vinyl would have been, but much cheaper!!

So, if anyone has any really cute, original ideas, send them my way and I will be sure to copy them!!

Addition to the Family!!

No I am not pregnant-we got a dog!!! My bro-in-laws parents were looking for a good home for one of their mini dachshunds over the holidays and we jumped at the chance. I always thought that I would like to get a puppy so that we could watch it grow. Not anymore-biscuit (that's the dogs name, I tried to get Olivia to change it, but she threw a major fit so the name is staying) is the coolest dog ever!!! He is already house trained and so calm. He has fit into our family so well. He does great with Owen and the girls, Owen chases him around the living room laughing so hard. Alex claims that he must be half-cat because all he wants to do is snuggle. He will climb right onto your lap and fall asleep. We are so happy to have this little dog in our family!!

Homemade Laundry Soap

Right before Christmas I realized that I was out of laundry soap. I hate hate hate buying things like this. There are so many things that I would rather spend my money on. That very same day I found a recipe online for laundry soap on this blog http://cuegly.blogspot.com/. I went right to the store and bought all the stuff-which only cost me around $6 total. It was so easy, I will never buy the store stuff again. It actually worked better than the soap I had been using and it smells really great. I was worried about my kids skin getting irritated, but I have been using it for over a month now and have not noticed anything different. Here is the recipe if anyone else wants to try it. I got all the stuff from my Frys Marketplace.

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 cup washing soda
½ cup Borax
*
Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use one tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 tablespoons.
*
Yields: three cups detergent (approximately 40 loads).

I even made me a cute little container to hold it in. It makes doing the laundry just a little better (very little, but every bit helps right!!).

Christmas

We had such a great Christmas this year. I made the girls some Christmas dresses and Owen a tie to wear for our Family pictures. I seriously had to take about 100 pictures for a decent one of all the kids-here is the best one.

On Christmas Eve, Santa came and filled the stockings and left some fun presents.

Olivia woke up first and waited in our room until she was practically crying because she couldn't wait any longer. So we woke up Abby and Owen and went to open presents. Owens favorite part was the dum-dums in his stocking. He loved them!!!

Abby was just so cute opening her presents. She got so excited for every one. Olivia was more excited to watch Abby open her presents then opening her own.

It is so fun being the Mom now that my kids are old enough to "get" Christmas, but still young enough to really enjoy the spirit of Christmas. We had a great Christmas this year!!

Baby Shower

I am posting this in my blog because I know that there are a few blog stalkers out there. We are having a baby shower for my sister Sara, who is having twins, on Dec 29th in the evening. If any of you are interested in coming, email me your address and I will get you an invite. My email is aelledge13@yahoo.com. I know that she would love to see you, even if it has been awhile, so don't be shy!!!

Favorite Christmas Toys

Two years ago I saw this little peoples Nativity at Walmart (it has more parts, but I couldn't find them).

It has since become the favorite Christmas decoration for the girls, especially Abby. She spends all day playing with these guys. She loves that she knows their names and she will read them stories and carry them around the house. I have found the Baby Jesus stuffed in her pocket many times already this year. So last week when Alex was at Target, he saw this playmobile set he bought it and gave it to the girls.

They were beyond excited. It is so funny to hear them play with them, especially when there is drama. Mary and Joseph have broken up many times already this week (I have no idea where Olivia gets this idea, but it is popular when she plays Barbies also). I love that my kids know that we celebrate Christmas because of the Baby Jesus and that they know all the people involved in that amazing story. I hope that these continue to be a favorite at our house.

An unrelated, but funny picture. I asked Abby what she was doing and she told me "family means nobody gets left behind" I guess we have been watching too much Lilo and Stitch!!! This picture cracks me up-no pun intended Ariel!!!