Spring has Sprung

and this is a sure sign summer's just around the corner....

Postman Preview

The "Thank You's" are sent...

And a sweet batch of PPK's are on their way to their new Mommy!
Be on the lookout Kellie! Your babies are on their way!!
I really hope you like them. Here's a little preview for you...

I think they turned out darling!

Daniel and the Lions Den

**titled Daniel in the Lion's Den after Puddin's favorite song.. The Good Song

The lions may grow weak and hungry but those who seek the LORD

lack no good thing!

Psalm 34:10

Yes, it's from SEEDS FAMILY WORSHIP and it's Puddin's favorite song! She just loves it! In fact, it's on her newest Puddin Pop Kid! (she has a few) :)

If you don't know about SEEDS... you should! They are AWESOME!! I just love them and we listen to the Courage CD daily. It's music for kids that grownups can like too- I mean really like! All of the songs are straight form scripture, so it's hiding the Word deep in the hearts and it will be with them forever. And , it's really awesome for mommy's who can't remember things anymore either, due to that blasted Baby Brain Syndrome that really NEVER goes away apparently- I'm just sayin.

Anyway, no one asked me to push SEEDS, but be forewarned- if they ever do, I most definitely will!!

Today while driving Puddin to preschool we were jamming along to the courage CD and I realized that I was not the only one singing along. So, I got quiet and listened. It was really a beautiful sound. I could hear my 3 oldest babies from the back seat, the waaaay back seat, singing God's Word! BEAU*TI*FUL!
And since you asked, I'll tell you what they were singing!
They were singing Do Everything In Love 1 Corinthians 16:13-14
And you can hear the song here.

Just hearing my boys sing, "Be on your guard, stand firm, in the faith, be men of courage, be strong, be strong. Do everything in Love, do everything in Love... made my heart all a flutter!

BEAU*TI*FUL!

oh- another great thing about SEEDS is that for every CD you order, you get an identical free copy to give away... and plant a SEED!!! I know what the preschool teachers are getting this year!

Oh... my favorite??? Hmmm... #12, or #6 any of them really. As of this very moment the Courage CD is my favorite but they are all great! Go check them out!

Princess Puddin and her Prince

These two are as thick as thieves.

While Monkey Do and I hang out in the kitchen and play, usually with Bud and Daisy, these two are usually up to something.
Today, I was informed Monkey See was now her Prince Charming... and then she introduced him... in his unnawe-ah, rain boots and pink Princess Pea crown.

Unnawe-ah translates in English as underwear.

Both boys are potty trained... YAHOOO!! But that's a whole other post entirely!
Anyway, they just looked so stinkin cute I had to snap some pictures!! I love these 2 silly kiddos and I am so happy that they love each other too!

Saturday Chores

Last weekend we spent the day cleaning out the garage. So fun, right? I lead a glamorous life I tell ya!
Anyway, As hubby and I were unloading the garage I looked over to see this... Monkey See doing what boys do, playing in the dirt.

Isn't he precious!

I'm so glad I hadn't bought new flowers for this pot yet! Where's Monkey Do, you ask? Why getting his "hat" of course. And for the record, I only half dressed him. He accessorized all by himself. Yes, he is wearing socks and sandals, and yes, the socks do not match. He has the fashion sense of a 90 year old man! (No offense to any 90 year old men reading this!!)

He soon joined his brother and they had hours of fun!!

Mommy and Daddy did not have near as much fun. We did get the garage cleaned out but now- Craigslist is calling!

Business

** Naomi, I can't find a way to get in touch with you so email me (mhudspeth at msn dot com) and we will get your order going! Thanks for responding!!!

A few days ago I received a couple of questions about ordering on the comments and when I went to reply....something it happened... and they were gone!

So, if you were one of those people please know I am not ignoring you...I just can't find you! So if you still want to order please send me another message!

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Remember when I teased you about my new love??

Well, this is it!!

A super soft and snuggly blanket! I have made these before, but this time I added a little something to it. I added a brown trim all the way around the patchwork, then added the taggies. I LOVE it!
Now I wish I had done Bud and Daisy's blankets like this!

Much like the PPK's you can personalize these as well. This one has a sweet baby's name in the bottom corner and here is his verse...

Such a beautiful verse!

Anyway... these sell for $40 and if you are interested in a custom blanket please contact me. Sadly, I do not have any in stock right now... my stock is EMPTY of everything.

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Which brings us to the "business" portion of this post. I must rebuild my stock and I can't do that while taking custom orders and maintaining my life... a girls gotta sleep sometime.

So, I am going to stop custom orders for the first 3 weeks of May so that I can focus on sewing for the shop. That way if you email me at the last minute needing something I can get it to you quick!

So, if you are going to need/want anything for May/June.... you might want to message me soon.

:) Happy Thursday!

Fortune Telling Cowboy

Occasionally, when I am tired and don't feel like cooking dinner, hubby will stop on the way home and pick up Chinese take out. Surprisingly, it' something we all will eat. I guess we have had it more than I realized. The other night, when I did cook dinner, the kids chose to have a piece of candy from their Easter eggs for dessert.

As I was cleaning off the table I looked up to see Monkey Do reading his "fortune" to all of us.

Too bad it was a Hershey Kisses tag!

I love that boy!

Blog Award

Wow- my first award!

My friend, Katie was so sweet to give me this award...especially on a day that I don't think I really deserved it! Katie has a great blog with lots of great decorating ideas. She and her family recently moved to Chicago and she has been completely redoing her house! I love it! She does some really cool stuff too! So if you need some decorating inspiration go visit her blog! She's got some cute kiddos too!!

Anyway, one day last week I got this message from her about getting this award. I was honored but I felt a ton of guilt because just a few hours earlier I was wanting to make this face at a grumpy granny in Hobby Lobby that hurt my feelings! Ha! Aren't I a big baby?! Since Puddin has some great facial expressions I think I'll use her to tell this story. Because, believe me, I was all over the place!

I was in Hob Lob for he umpteenth time last week with the entire crew no less, because I was finishing up our birthday party shopping. Anyway, the kids were GREAT! They had been perfect the entire time... no meltdowns, poopy pants or crying...perfection!

So we get to the checkout lane and this is how I'm feeling...

However, one mean snipey comment made me want to do this.... You see, grumpy Granny was checking out in front of me, with a baby of her own no less. Probably her grand baby if I had to guess. And that sweet little baby was screaming to beat the band. (Looking back now, I guess she was taking out her stress on me.) The baby couldn't have been very old, just a couple of months but she was SCREAMING! So the boys noticed and started to say, "Momma, dat baby cwyyy-in!". I told them I guessed she was hungry or tired but she would be ok. Granny turned around and snapped, "She's not hungry, it's not time for her to eat. She's just WET!"

Okay...

That was a bit of an over reaction but now, I realized we should not comment on the screaming baby in front of us because Granny was at the end of her rope. I know it can be frustrating when you have an upset baby but, seriously, don't frighten the other children!

So, as my children drew in closer to me I tried to quiet them even though they were only concerned for the still screaming baby in front of them when she turned around and looked at me US. I mean she eyeballed us up and down.

And then it happened. The same line we hear most places we go, "Are they ALL yours?" (but hers was very snipey!) Most people are nice when they say this, and truly I have only experienced one other person that made me want to make this face at them but that story is for another day!

Anyway, my response, while still smiling? "Yes, they are!"

Her reaction?

"I am so glad I'm not you! Umph!" Then she turned grabbed her bags and marched out of there.

WHAT????

So now I am internally going through these emotions while my children look at me for their cues...

I of course, played it off, cool as a cucumber...

But, truly, my feelings were hurt. It was as if her words were some sort of "grade" on my children... like they weren't good enough. Now, I know that is not true in any way.

Even if my kids hadn't been standing there so still with their halo's shining brightly above their sweet little heads, it still wouldn't have been true.

If they had been the ones screaming their little lungs out, or smelling up the place with their poopy pants, her reaction to us STILL wouldn't have been true.

But, mean words are still hurtful, no matter how old you are. I just wish my children didn't have to experience it. Often times people speak before they think and mean people are a part of this world, unfortunately.

So, we finished our transaction, smiled at the cashier and other customers, said goodbye to Hob Lob for the day, and went to the van with smiles on our faces.
I also said a few silent prayers for her and that little sweety she had with her. We could all use extra prayers now and then. I have since prayed that God would help me be less defensive when comments like that come my way too.

Oh, and just in case you wondered about my response. I didn't realize what I had said until it was too late... remember the roller coaster of emotions I was going through? Apparently, out of my mouth came,

"We'll we're pretty happy so I'm glad you're not me too!"

I meant that in the nicest way possible.

And then I come home, still thinking about the grumpy granny, and get a sunshine award! Ha!

Thank you Katie, an answer to prayer! The next time I feel myself reacting to a meanie in public I'll remember your sweet award!

Milk and Cookies

**Test**
*** WARNING*** This is a super long post full of sweet and sugary children! Continue at your own risk!


So, my sweet babies had their very first birthday party this weekend! It's hard to believe they are really one year old- except they are actually 13 months old! ha! Yes, the party was a month late. We rescheduled in March due to them being sick and my Nanny passing away. But, what a beautiful day we had to celebrate a beautiful day for our lovies!
These are the homemade invites... The "Milk and Cookies" theme isn't very prevalent in the stores so I had to be creative.
I used card stock and a bowl to make the cookies, then I "eyeballed" the shape for the glass of milk. Vellum gives it that "milky" look.
All of the important info is on the back of the cookie and under the vellum on the glass of milk.

I attached the 2 pieces with a thin ribbon and popped them in some large envelopes.

Since our babies don't really have other 1 year old playmates... they play with their brothers and sister and their friends, we opted to have a reunion of sorts.

BACK STORY:

Their actual birthday last year came as sort of a surprise to us. It was not planned and according to my plans, I had at least another week to get things prepared. So needless to say, I hadn't really firmed up any arrangements for the other children, but I was in the process of doing that. Suddenly we learned at my weekly routine exam that we were delivering that day, not to go home but directly to the hospital. Again, not in the plan. But with 1 phone call several special people stepped up and my childcare situation was covered in a matter of minutes. And not by strangers either! If you know me, you know I am very, very careful about who I leave my kiddos with. So, my dear Sunday school class stepped up and while the mommies came to comfort me and pray with me and ease my fears, the daddies took over the child care! And I couldn't have been happier with the way it worked out. In fact, during the time of delivery, there were 3 daddies at my house fixing dinner for my 3 children as well as 4 others (their own.)

Just in case you are curious, that made 7 children ages 4 and under!! Ha!
So, for their birthday, we decided it would be great to invite all of the people who were at their birth or made it less stressful for us by caring their our little ones at home. Everyone except 1 family was able to make it! And what a beautiful day we had to celebrate!

Since the theme was "milk and cookies" (gender neutral-yay!) We decided the menu would be, you guessed it, milk and cookies!

There were 5 or 6 different kinds of cookies, milk cartons from a local school cafeteria for the kiddos and coffee punch for the grown ups...yum!

The colors were pink, blue, brown and cream, and lots of polka dots for the chocolate chip effect.

The decor was a milk tanker truck that belongs to Monkey See and Monkey Do and flower pots from the back porch to hold pictures from the past year of the babies. I also had some pictures framed on the table.

This is the cake table. We had chocolate chip cake with caramel butter cream icing. The children had chocolate chip cupcakes with whipped cream icing and mini chocolate chips. The babies had white smash cakes with Duncan Hines incing! (They loved it!)

Each of the flower pots holds more pictures of the babies. One specifically has pictures of Bud and the other has pictures of Daisy.

Here is their cake... I loved the way it turned out!!

A close up of the toppers! Aren't they precious?!? I made the cake, but not the toppers- I wish! A friend makes them and I just had to have them for this cake. They were perfect!

As far as activities, we kept it simple. The plan was to decorate cookies, have a pinata, open presents and then do cake. But, at the last minute I was able to snag a mini jumperoo from a friend for the kids to play in. It was perfect!

And, we didn't have to decorate the cookies!! YAY! Less mess!! HA!

Then we moved on as planned, to the pinata!

I wanted to make a cookie pinata but had the hardest time finding brown streamers so I finally ran out of time and went with the #1 from party city.

Daisy trying to figure out what to do with this heavy bat!

Bud liked it, but I think they were both more curious about the bat!

Sweet baby L getting her turn at bat too!! She is so precious!

Monkey Do taking a turn. Monkey See refused to try... too many people watching him!

Puddin went a little crazy! She loves the pinata! Ha!

Some other friends taking their turns too...

These kids were getting serious!

Finally- Cousin G sliced it in half!

Next, we moved on to presents....

Bud is ready!

Daisy too!

This little teapot is soooo cute!!!

Bud...hehe... it looks like he is tired of hearing me read the card! He actually wanted to eat it!

Nana and Papa! We love them!

The babies also got a great radio flyer wagon with seat belts and a canopy!! They loved it!!

A big shot of the group. We are also opening presents in front of the birthday book table. This has a book for each of the babies and as our guests arrive or leave they write a message to the babies inside. We do this for each birthday and each child. So when they are all grown up - sniff, sniff- they will have quite a collection of books and memories!

Too bad we didn't get a better picture of the table. OOPS!

This year they each got the book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. We also had the mouse that goes along with the book sitting on the table.

Next.... time for cake!!!

My dad calls them sour puss and smiley... I thought this pictures accurately portrays that!

YUM!

I love Monkey Do's face here!! He really wants some of that cake!! HA!

And "A"'s face here just cracks me up!!

notice the difference in the cakes... and the icing covered hand to the back of Monkey See's head.

Puddin thought watching Daisy smash up her cake then eat it was hysterical!

Sweet boy!

I LOVE the next 2 pics of thier sweet baby toes!!

Almost done!

yep- the tank is full!

Love the goatee look he has here! ha!

The party wa scoming to an end. The kiddos played for a bit more while I bathed the birthday babies. They were so tired when I got them out of the tub I just put them to bed! It may have been the 1st party ever that the guests of honor took a nap!

Pudidn was sad to tell her friends goodbye but we had a great day!

Now it's time to gear up for the next big party! At least I have until July to prepare!