Blessed Easter Week

Wordless Wednesdays - Dandelion Sniffers

(notice the yellow stains under their noses?)

Just Under The Wire

Many many many months ago I was at Joann's one evening and came across some ridiculously adorable corduroy fabric that I thought would make perfect little jumpers for Annabella.  (I will have to get pics of the fabric to post). The only issue was that I am not a great sewer, I hadn't sewn for over three years, I had no space in the house in which to sew.

So for one of my Lenten goals I decided I would dig out the sewing machine, find/make a space for it, and make up a simple jumper out of some spare fabric as a trial run.

I put this off over and over.  I  found this most adorable, very easy tutorial here: Bubble Gum Jumper Tutorial but I was still intimidated.  Afraid to try and screw up.  Ughhh...just couldn't bring myself to do it.  BUT I was truly motivated to complete all of my Lenten goals.  So I finally forced myself to sit down and just DO IT!

Turned out it was SOOO much easier than I feared and I am love love loving this cute simple little pinafore jumper!!  And I JUST finished sewing the buttons on tonight.....hours before Easter and the end of Lent!!

I have visions of adding a little pocket with some little embroidery on it, but it is done, and ready to wear either way.  Time to break out the corduroy fabric and get some done for Fall/Winter!

Egg Free Hot Cross Buns

I made hot cross buns for the first time.  I found an easy allergy free recipe.  I used regular milk since egg is the only allergen we worry about here.  And I left out raisins because they are vile.  I have never ever ever even almost had any success making anything requiring yeast, but these actually rose enough (still not great...what is my problem with yeast??!!!) that they came out nice and light.  And Ben even ate one!

Recent Thrift Store Finds

Over the last few weeks I have come across some great thrift store finds.

The Melissa and Doug Noah's Ark sorting toy.  My kids love these sorts of toys and I was shocked to see it there on the shelf amidst the junky broken toys and stained stuffed animals!

Cute little jumper for Annabella.  Love it!

This picture came out sort of blurry (I wish I was one of those bloggers that knew how to take great photos...alas...) But the statue is of a little girl dressed up to celebrate St. Lucy's feastday.

Anna's Easter dress brand new with tags still on it!

Matching white cardigan because with this weird spring weather we are just as likely to have snow as sunshine on Easter!

This is a baby quilt that I just LOVE (even Cla fell in love with it) because of the mushroom fabric.  No idea what I am going to do with it (perhaps take it apart and reuse the fabric) but I just couldn't leave it there!

Find any great deals lately?

Weight/Nutrition Updates For the Wee Folk

(disclaimer: these pics have nothing to do with this post...just couldn't think of another reason to post pics of the kids brushing their teeth and who wants a post without pics....so it was a  match made in the bathroom heaven)

So, first Benjamin:  He gained no weight in the last 6 weeks (despite Boost shakes and calorie boosting).  He is 26lbs14oz and 35 inches tall.  So, we are going to try two things with Ben this month.  1. An appetite booster and 2. For him to drink three Boost shakes a day (the concern was that even with the extra calories he did not gain at all....so lets see what happens if he is getting over 1000 calories straight from the shakes with no portion size etc to worry about...just drink.  She wants me sure that absorption is not an issue (he has had several labs done to test absorption all came back normal, so this is just one last check).

And Annabella:  She gained a good solid pound despite having a rough month (colds, tube issues, pump issues, etc).  Kind of lessons the heartbreak of dealing with that tube!  She now weighs enough to qualify for the feeding therapy program at CHOP.  Most likely she will start therapy in July (apparently there is a 2yr wait list for this program and kids are accepted into the program based on need....so Anna was accepted immediately pending the weight requirement) or August.

There is now some talk about switching Anna from an NG tube to a G tube.  If they offered to admit her today to do that I would have jumped at it.  The G tube involves a small surgical procedure to place a port in her stomach and then the pump can be attached directly to her stomach.  Definitely higher up on the gory scale, but never again would we have to worry about her tube coming out and all involved with the care of her tube that causes her quite a bit of suffering.  Also it would LOOK much better.  No more big piece of tape across her beautiful face and the tape tends to get all cruddy with food, dirt from playing outside, boogys etc etc.  So anyway, this is just being discussed, but I hope that they recommend it.

We go back in four weeks for another round of weigh-ins etc.

The Lambs To Go Along With Our Lions....

Just a few pictures of the lamb craft Ben and I did the other day.

It was real simple: Paper plate, some glue, cotton balls (I cut the cotton balls in half so as not to waste more than we have to), construction paper, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, pom poms (and of course anything can easily be substituted....no googly eyes...just cut eyes out of paper, same with the pom poms or pipe cleaners).

Ben had fun gluing the cotton balls around the plate for the first circle.  By the second circle the novelty had warn off and he asked me to help him LOL....but basically we glued the black construction paper circle in the center of the plate, glued the cotton balls on in two rows around the outer edge,  added the faces and the ears and let the glue dry a while.  They are now hanging in our front windows.  Came out pretty cute!

Any tips on working on scissor skills with little guys?  Other than just keep trying?  It is the open close motion he has trouble with once he has his fingers in correctly.  It is funny the skills we take for granted as adults!

Relationships Bloom Over the Glow of Mommy's IPod

Wordless Wednesday - Togetherness

Anna Does Her Best Snotty Teenager Impression

Daffodil Day

Today was Daffodil Day in the town we live in.  While the daffodils were definitely blooming the weather was otherwise quite frigid and UNspring-like!  We ventured out early as we are expecting a day of heavy rain.

Ben thought it was quite funny to peak through the little window on the stroller.  So cute that one!

Apparently there were going to be horse rides, a scavenger hunt, specials at the local restaurants, a Little Miss Daffodil contest, but it was just so cold that we just sort of quickly went around to have a quick look.

One of the little booths had this bee keeping display.  That is a  live hive with real bees.  The man who owns the hives mostly rent his bees out to help farmers pollinate
.

close up of the bees.

They were also having a sheep shearing at the local Quaker meeting house.  I peaked in at them in their trailor.

This is the Quaker meeting house.

Claudio and the kids waiting for the sheep.

It was amazing to see how patient and docile the sheep were while being shorn.  The man was twisting him this way and that and bending the sheep in half and they just went along with it.

There was also a little fleamarket where we got a few little things....an Etch a Sketch for the kids, a little St. Nicholas nesting doll, some ribbon, etc.


Now we are in the warm house snuggling on the couch watching movies and drinking cocoa.

The Heat is On!

Well Monday we had our first day of REAL heat.  It was in the mid 80s and bright and sunny!  We broke out the shorts and tshirts and sandals.....AND we broke out the little plastic wading pool!

I only meant for the kids to use it as a water table.  To just kneel over it and play with the toys in it.  But they immediately stepped in and plopped themselves down in the water.

They spent a good hour or more sitting in the pool (fully dressed as you see LOL) splashing around and filling buckets and other toys.

And if you look closely you will see even daddy took advantage of the good weather by working on the porch!

The warm weather was merely a fluke as it has been cool ever since!  Strangest spring weather ever!