100th Day!

That momentous day of the school year has come and gone!  Jane {and apparently Sophie} both celebrated their 100th days of school today.  Jane had the assignment of bringing in 100 small items to count -- we went with pennies -- and an optional assignment of decorating a shirt with 100 items to wear to school.  I didn't want my poor little fourth-born to be the only Kindergartener at school today without a decorated shirt, so I spent a good bit of time this morning attaching 100 safety pins to a plain white shirt to make sure she'd be ready to party!  Haha.  I probably could have saved my time, however, because Jane said only a couple of other kids opted for the optional.  Oh well!  She REALLY liked it a lot, and I think it looked pretty cool as well.   Even Grace gave her stamp of approval and agreed.  :)  It's crazy to think that this school year is more than half way over!

 

New Old Project

It's been a while since we started our Family History Project, and to be honest with you, it hasn't really been going anywhere for the last several months.  This past weekend, I thought up a new approach to kicking off our Family History once again (and bring things a little closer to home), and have decided to back blog a family record of the years from 2002-2006.  I have more than enough pictures to do the job, and even if I can only provide a scant narrative, it's better than nothing!  Haha.  I've been a pretty regular journal writer my whole life, so surely I can come up with one post per month to cover each of those years.  And then once it's all done, we'll be able to have a full family library of our life!  :)

Ethan was the only kid on board with helping me start the project last Sunday, but I think we're off to a pretty good start.  We managed to go through that whole tub of "odds & ends of pictures" up there and sort them into gallon ziploc bags according to year, and once I check a few more places for stored pictures, I'll put Ethan right on that task of scanning everything in.  Hahahaha.  It's going to be nice having an assistant...

Graph Paper is Kind of Fun

Even if the quilt graphing that accompanies it makes my head hurt.  Haha.  Good evening ladies and gentleman, my name is Jessica and when I've got my mind set on a project, I attack it with such single-minded focus that I let everything else fall to the wayside in my efforts to get it done.  Because mama gets it done!  Hahaha. 

 

Today's project was finishing up Sophie's quilt top.  And boy was it a project!  I didn't intend to finish everything tonight, but once I graphed everything out and got started, I was on too much of a roll to let it go.  The graphing was kind of fun and kind of mind-scrambling all at the same time.  Kind of like putting together a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure puzzle.  Made even more exciting by the fact that I almost ran out fabric before I was done.  I literally cobbled together every last scrap I could find to fill in the background on the very LAST mega-block.  I can't even tell you how happy I was to see that I wouldn't need to put the project on hold semi-permanently while I ordered more fabric online and waited for it to come in the mail!!!  THAT would have been tragic. 

There's no real way to give an accurate tutorial of how I pieced everything together, but a rough outline of what I did would be as follows: 

1.) Used masking tape on my design board to mark off the size quilt I wanted to make {56" squared, which is basically the same size as Ethan and Grace's baptism quilts -- technically I think theirs are 54" squared, but they may have shrunk a bit from washing},

2.)  Arranged the blocks according to my fancy within the square,

3.) Filled in a few blank spaces by creating more Wonky Stars,

4.) Used masking tape to group the original blocks into Mega-Blocks,

5.) Graphed the original blocks and Mega-Blocks out to scale (using the actual measurements of the original blocks) in order to determine what sizes I'd need to cut for the background fabric,

6.) Cut background fabric and pieced the Mega-Blocks together after carefully going over the measurements on graph paper. 

 

 Mega-Block 1

 Mega-Block 2

 Mega-Block 3

Mega-Block 4

 Mega-Block 5

 

 Mega-Block 6

 

 Mega-Block 7

Mega-Block 8

 Mega-Block 9

 

 Mega-Block 10 -- with the hodge-podged background fabric piecing

Suffice it to say, the kids were left to their own devices for a few hours while I hyper-focused on the task at hand.  Lots of TV was watched, the pantry was raided a few times over, Alex (and Jane) spent WAY too much time on the computer, and dinner was relegated to "Cereal/Leftover Night" VERY early on in the afternoon.  I got those Mega-Blocks done, though, and I can always be responsible tomorrow!  Haha.  It did make me feel like it was all worth it, however, when Sophie came around the corner this evening and saw the quilt all together for the first time up on the board and exclaimed, {unprompted, I might add} "It looks AWESOME, mom!"  :) 

Now all that's left is to SEW the Mega-Blocks together and figure out the backing.  Then it's on to quilting and binding and I'll be done! 

Party Planning

We've got an almost birthday girl!  Sophie will be turning 8 in a little over a week.  Since this is a "friend" birthday party age, I gave Grace the assignment of being her party planner over the weekend, and had her put down on paper all the specifics of what Sophie wants to happen on her big day.  And boy is it quite the list!  Hahaha.  The funniest part of all -- other than the Magic Show which Ethan is putting on for pay (with Grace as his lovely assistant) -- is the fact that the allergic-to-all-eggs-girl is incorporating not one, but TWO different egg activities in her party.  Hahahaha.  These kids, I tell you.  Sometimes they really crack me up.  :)

Extra Extra

Have I got some thrilling Friday night fare for you tonight!!!  Hahaha.  Well, it may not be all that thrilling to anyone else, but to ME, it's fabulous.  After spending over an HOUR yesterday cleaning out our pantry and organizing it in order to fit all the extras I had just bought at the grocery store, I decided that enough was enough!  I'm sick and tired of the kids eating extras -- that are only supposed to be packed in lunches or eaten as the occasional snack -- like they're going out of style.  Seriously.  It drives me nuts.  Boxes of granola bars, or fruit snacks, or cheddar bunnies gone in a single afternoon because the kids keep going back for more and more and more.  Because even when I tell them no they still sneak.  Not to mention they don't exactly keep things neat and tidy as they're rummaging around for food.  The solution?  I ran over to Home Depot once the kids were home from school, and bought a brand-new doorknob with a lock.  The kind of lock that requires a KEY.  Because we all know Grace would have been able to pick the lock on any other kind.  Hahahaha.

{Ignore how filthy the door is.  I'm still working on things.} 

Ethan has become my go to fix-it man, and as I was trying to get dinner ready for the evening, he dismantled the old knob and installed the new one all on his own.  With the help of Google and YouTube, of course.  Hahaha.  He did a great job, though, and NOW all I have to do is lock the door to keep the extras safe and make them last for longer than a day.  :)

Pantry detritus from the clean out.

 And a freshly organized Pantry!

Twinners!

As per usual, my day started out with an extra early wake up call from Jane.  This time it was at the 5 AM mark, and the cause for the call was an unfortunate case of bed-wetting.  FORTUNATELY, she didn't want to take over my bed and instead insisted on getting back in her own bed.  UNfortunately, this involved a very complicated search on my part for something dry and clean to throw on top of her mattress, as well as something dry and clean to throw on HER.  I say complicated because 1.) I was so tired and out of it that I was barely conscious and coherent, 2.) I hadn't grabbed my glasses when I got out of bed and was groping about blindly in the dark trying to find stuff, and 3.) There has been a major backlogging of laundry going on around these parts for a few weeks now, and there weren't many options of clean and dry ANYTHING.  Hahaha.

What I did manage to find were some pajama pants from Sophie's drawer, and a t-shirt I found hanging in their closet.  And then, thankfully, she went back to sleep without any problems.  The reason I bring up this whole convoluted back story, however, is to set the stage for Grace's most hilarious comment of the morning upon seeing Jane in her get-up:  "Ahahahahaha!" she said to Jane, with finger pointing, "You look exactly like mom!  She's always wearing comfy pants with random shirts."  Mmmmm-kay.  Apparently I need to work on my image.  Hahahaha.  I'll let you be the judge of just how twinners Jane and I were this morning...  :)

{Jane took this picture and even though it's blurry and I look horrible, she was just so excited about the prospect of us being twins that I couldn't NOT use it for the post.  Haha.  :)  }

Irony

I always love it when the principle we're trying to focus on in our house is completely and totally ignored day in and day out and in fact the exact opposite takes place for weeks at time.  Kind of like what's been happening this month with our theme of "Work."  Hahaha.  Seriously, though.  I don't think a single chore has been completely and accurately completed this entire month.

{This little area is affectionately called "The Coat Graveyard."  The coats and backpacks are pretty much NEVER hung up on the hooks where they belong.  I was too embarrassed to snap a picture of the REAL messes around the house, so I chose this mild mess as a representative instead.}

Over the course of the last year, we've been trying to internalize the values outlined in the Family Proclamation and we've almost covered them all!  Work is the second to last principle -- and arguably the one that we need to work on (hahaha) the most in our family -- and it has certainly been slow to take root.  We've only got a week and a half left in the month, so here's to hoping we can whip some shape into our chore routine and instill a better work ethic in all of us!!

 {For Scripture Time this month, we're using 2 Nephi 5:17 -- And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did cause my people to be industrious, and to labor with their hands. -- and singing the hymn "Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel."}

A Walk Down Memory Lane

I just love it when I discover the morning of that a child has an entire project due that day.  Don't you?  Hahahaha.  Such was the case this morning.  As I started the tidy up the kitchen after breakfast this morning, once the older ones were off to school, I saw a stack of papers that had come out of Sophie's backpack before she left.  On the top was a packet about a new unit they're starting in Social Studies, entitled "All About Me."  As part of the project, they will be creating a time line of their lives, and their homework over the three day weekend was to gather a picture and 3 events to talk about from each year of their life.  Aaaaahhhh!  Hahaha.

Luckily, the teacher was pretty lax about it, or at least I'm hoping she was, because Sophie informed me after school that most people didn't bring it in today.  :)  Once I got Alex and Jane down for the evening {hello SUPER early bedtime -- those two crazies were up at 4:30 this morning and ready to party}, I was able to sit down with Sophie and figure out what exactly has happened in her short life that is notable and worthy of mention.  And let me just say that the blog books really came through in the clutch here tonight!  Hahaha.  I pretty much wouldn't have remembered half the stuff we jotted down if I hadn't recorded it all in the blog.  Yay for a family record!  :)  It was SUPER helpful that Sophie's entire life has been documented {she's the first in the family to be blogged about from birth onward}, and the only hard part was tracking down hard copies of all the pictures we needed to turn in with the packet.  Luckily we managed to make do with what we had on hand and Sophie ended up being only an hour late for bed.

{The newest editions to our Family Library of Blog Books.  A Little Lagniappe for 2014 -- I blogged so much last year, that we couldn't print the book in one volume.}

Flipping through the blog book trying to remember what happened that year.  :)  And for this particular year, it just so happened that she broke her arm.  Which I kind of had completely forgotten about.  At least at that current moment.  Haha.

It really was a sweet trip down memory lane looking at pictures of all the kids over the years.  It kind of made my heart break to think of how quickly they all grow and how I am probably always too hard on my firstborn and expect way more of him than is fair.  Seeing Ethan's 8 year old pictures from his baptism 4 years ago, and realizing Sophie is almost that exact age, really brought out the juxtaposition in my mind of how young and little I still think of Sophie being compared to how old and grown-up it seemed that Ethan was at the time.  In reality, he was so little still.  It was a good reminder to me that even though he seems so old now -- and like he should be responsible for so much -- the truth is, he's still so very young.  And that's my food for thought for the evening.  :)

Starry, Starry Night

Today was a nice day!  Not only was the weather warm and beautiful and sunny outside, but the kids stayed busy for most of the day by playing with friends rather than electronics on their lovely day off from school.  Scott was home, too, and we enjoyed a slow-paced day with nothing really on the agenda.  Other than our 3 1/4 miles, of course.  Haha.  :)

With the kids occupied, and nothing else pressing on MY to-do list for the day, I decided it was probably time to get back to finishing up Sophie's Baptism Quilt for her birthday next month.  I've had all the Quilting Bee blocks turned in for some time, so it's really just been laziness on my part that I haven't finished up the few more blocks I need to fill it out and then pieced it all together and started quilting.  It dawned on me this weekend, however, that time is going to start running out!

{The random sizes of the wonky star pattern I've chosen is making things a little more complicated to piece together, but I'm confident I'll be able to figure SOMETHING out, even if it's currently making my brain hurt to do the quilting math.  :)  To aid in the process, I used some masking tape on my design board today to box out the 56" squared area that the quilt should take up.  Now it's just a matter of filling out the blanks with some more of the blue background fabric, and making a few more stars to fill in some gaps.}  

 Rough Draft layout.  I've already switched a few things around and added another block I finished this evening. 

All in all, it's really coming together and I'm excited for the finished product.  And I think Sophie is, too.  :)  Until next time, peace out!  Hahaha.

Frizzle Frazzle

My brain has been in a state of frizzle frazzle all afternoon and evening long!  As some of you may remember, I volunteered to be the Girl Scout leader for Jane's Daisy troop at the beginning of the school year, and tonight we officially welcomed them into the Girl Scout organization with a formal "Investiture Ceremony."  I was also in charge of the activity for the regular troop meeting we were holding before the ceremony, and that is where the frazzling REALLY came into play.  Hahaha.  Because I've had so many other things going on the last few weeks, it seemed as though tonight's meeting snuck up on me, and I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off all afternoon, while trying to gather up everything I needed for the evening.

 (Don't let her demure pose fool you -- she was out of control for much of the night.}

Thankfully, everything went well tonight {or as well as can be expected with a troop of 5 and 6 year olds that were running around, hopped up on goofballs for the majority of the evening :) }, and I can finally rest for the day!  It's actually been really great leading this little Daisy troop, and I'm so grateful for my two co-leaders and the other moms who regularly help out at the meetings.  Getting to know and visiting with all the other parents and family that joined us at the end of the night for the Investiture Ceremony was a rather enjoyable way to end the evening.  :)  And on that note, I'll sign off.  The couch is calling my name.  Hahahaha.

{Trying to get her to shake hands and make the Girl Scout sign.  It was an effort.  :)  }

January Showers

Today was a non-stop, on-the-go kind of day! From before sun-up (when Alex climbed in bed for the second time of the night) until way past sun-down, I've been busy, busy, busy!  Aside from getting all of the stuff that I needed to get done today, I also squeezed in some time to get a FUN errand done as well.  :)

Two of my sisters {Emily and Laura} are both pregnant and having babies in March.  And in fact, they're due dates are only a week and a half apart!  Emily is having her 3rd child and second girl, and Laura (or Muffy as the kids call her) is having her 1st, a little baby boy.  :)  My mom is throwing a long-distance baby shower for Muffy at the end of the month, and I have been wanting to send along "a few of my favorite things" for her to open with all the others.  I found just what I was looking for (and then some) at the Baby Gap, and Alex -- my shopping partner for the afternoon while all the others were at school -- found lots of things HE was looking for at the mall, but managed to hold it together and not throw a fit when I wouldn't buy him a single thing.  And yes, you should be proud of BOTH of us.  Hahahahaha.  Thank you and goodnight.  :)

Monday, Monday

Another day is done!  Thanks to a two hour delayed start for school this morning, my plans were shuffled and reconfigured, but thankfully I got everything done that I needed to do, and we all survived in one piece. Thank goodness!

The day started out a little rocky, with Grace waking up saying she was too tired to go to school, but after hearing her talk about waking up "ten times" during the night and not being able to go back to sleep, I decided to have pity on her and let her take mental health day.  {Because heaven knows I would have appreciated a day off after one of my sleepless nights last week.  Hahaha.}  She spent the day up in her room cross-stitching and listening to Harry Potter -- except for when I dragged her with me to the gym with Alex and Jane -- and even brought her lunch of a sandwich and snacks up to her room so she wouldn't have to come down.  Because everything got so pushed back with the delayed start, I ended up keeping Alex and Jane home from school, too, and they had a delightful time swinging an owl over the front hall railing for most of the morning.  Grace graciously showed Jane the best technique for hanging the stuffed animal, and it seriously provided more entertainment throughout the day than you would think!  Haha.

 In case you're wondering -- a rubber band around the neck with some yarn tied to it is the way to go!  Hahaha.

Other highlights of the day included buying more yarn for making pom poms to decorate for Valentine's Day and the Family Room actually being cleaned for chores for the first time in over a week.  Hahaha.  But seriously, though.  When Ethan got home from Magic Club after school, he was so excited that he made a beeline for the new yarn, because believe me when I say my kids LOVE to wind up some yarn balls.  Hahaha.  And for whatever reason, they are all REALLY digging the pom pom making.  There IS something rather therapeutic about it... :)

To wrap things up here, I'm hoping this week will be better than the last one!  I've finally kicked that head cold, and Jane has actually stayed in her bed all night long for the last couple of nights, so things are already looking up!

{In a totally unrelated tangent, Jane was our sleeper hit in a family game of Pictionary last weekend!  I was teamed up with her against Team-Scott-and-Ethan and Team-Sophie-and-Grace, and figured we'd totally be in last place (which was fine), but she shocked us all with actually being a REALLY good draw-er! Hahaha.  How perfect are these pictures??}

Flashback Friday -- A Trip Down Memory Lane

 {Remember Mix Tapes??}

Oh hey!  Long time no post.  Haha.  This week has been BRUTAL.  Don't let this cherubic little sleeping beauty in the picture below mislead you.  We have been S-T-R-U-G-G-L-I-N-G mightily with this little chick at bedtime lately.  She's never been an awesome sleeper, but sometime around Thanksgiving, she really decided to kick it up a few notches and has started waking up multiple times a night on an almost nightly basis.  When you throw in Alex, who ALSO likes to climb in my bed to "snuggle" in the middle of the night, and the occasional extra roommate in the form of Sophie, the sleep deprivation on my part is almost worse than having a newborn!  This week has been made harder thanks to a head cold I've had since Tuesday, and last night was pretty much the worst.  Adventures in parenting, let me tell you!  First off, I scored a total mom fail earlier in the evening when my exhaustion collided with aggravation over the kids and their non-stop fighting, and I totally slipped out a "What the h*** is going on in this house?!" when Grace was freaking out over Ethan "stealing" Alex from her.  NOT my finest moment, but it DID stop Grace's meltdown cold in it's tracks because she was totally and completely shocked by my outburst.  {I'm not really the swearing type, in case you didn't know.}  From there, the night only got worse as it took forever to get Jane to calm down and go to sleep at bedtime {she's afraid of pretty much everything these days -- the noise from the vents, being alone, etc.} and our plan to lock the bedroom door so that no one could come in our room in the middle of the night TOTALLY backfired, when first Alex {at around 2 AM}, and then Jane {who was awake from about 3 until 5} banged on the door crying and wanting someone to come and lay down with them until they fell back asleep. 

Let's hope tonight goes differently!

ANYWAY, it was insane.  BUT I DIGRESS!!  The point of this post is actually a flashback.  A trip down memory lane, if you will.   Right after Christmas, I got a CD player for Jane and Sophie's room that also contains a tape player.  At the beginning of the week, before all the sleep festivities began, I dug up a cassette tape that I've had since my freshman year of college.  Because, of COURSE, having a tape player at my disposal made me want to dig up the sweet sounds of the late 90's and wax nostalgic about the days gone by.  Those sweet, sweet days of ZERO responsibility and cares.  Hahahaha.  Titled "The Rogers Posse Mix," this tape has an A-side and B-side of awesomeness compiled by two of the girls from my Freshman dorm {Rogers Hall at BYU -- '98-'99}, and I can still remember sitting in one of their bedrooms -- with the rest of the "posse" -- painting my nails a translucent white {to better show off my tanning bed tan, of course} while Cat finished making all the tapes for everyone.  My freshman year was the bomb.  It was seriously SO much fun.  I made some of the best friends of my life while I was there, and every now and then, I daydream about going back in time (just for a day or two) to re-live some of the fun from that year.  

As I pulled out the tape on Tuesday night and started singing along to just about every song on it, I felt like I was 19 years old again.  :)  Sophie is REALLY digging the tape, too, and has been listening to it every night at bedtime while she's trying to fall asleep.  Hahahaha.  Long live the Rogers posse!

 All of Rogers Hall -- The last Sunday of Freshman Year

 Before some dance? I think?

 Burning books at the end of the semester for the classes we hated.  Haha.  Freshmen do so many dumb things.

 Last day of Freshman year.

 And back in P-town for Sophomore year.

 Those were the days!  :)

{The Rogers Posse Mix Playlist -- for your listening pleasure...

"Cat is Cool" side:

Vanilla Ice -- Ice, Ice Baby

Wilson Phillips -- Hold On

Queen -- Bohemian Rhapsody

Abba -- Knowing Me, Knowing You

Michael Jackson -- Billy Jean

Cyndi Lauper -- Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Milli Vanilli -- Blame it on the Rain

Weather Girls -- Raining Men

Counting Crows -- Mr. Jones

Prince -- Little Red Corvette

"Word from Angie" side:

Sugarhill -- Rappers Delight

Cake -- Sheep Go to Heaven

TLC -- Red Light Special

Cat Stevens -- Saturday

Prince -- Raspberry Beret

Wonder Woman

Tiffany -- I Think We're Alone Now

Cake -- Hem of Garment

Prince -- Kiss

Michael Jackson -- Rock With You

Abba -- Take a Chance on Me

Cranberries -- Dreams

Green Day -- Good Riddance  }