First Day of Preschool 2010

Last week the kiddos started their first day of preschool. Puddin goes 4 half days a week and the Monkeys go 3 half days.

Puddin was THRILLED to be back at school and couldn't wait to get inside!

being silly

giving her brothers a hug goodbye

with her teacher Mrs. Tasha

her teacher Mrs. Karen

The next day was the boys first day of preschool. Much to my surprise, even Monkey See seemed excited! He was a little nervous and hid behind my legs for a minute or two but I really think that because they were so familiar with the environment there it made the transition easier for them.

Monkey Do and Monkey See

giving each other a hug- so sweet!

Monkey See headed straight to the tub of animals...

and Monkey Do went straight to the puzzle table.

The transition for mommy was much harder. Yes, tears were shed. By me, not my babes. I'm really not ready for them to be in preschool. I enjoy having them home with me. BUT, I think the social interaction, especially for my little homebodies, is a good thing. It also gives me some one-on-two time with my babies (who are growing up waaaayyyy too quickly for my liking!).

And so it is, a new season has begun. *sigh*

What a day!

Remember this...?

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children she didn't know what to do.
She gave them some broth without any bread.
Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.

As a little girl, I just didn't get it. I mean, how could she be sooo mean to those poor kids?? Today on the other hand, I completely get it. This old woman and I could sit and swap stories for HOURS- just about today's adventures! Bless her heart- I feel her pain!

What a day! Oh- and just to be fair.... most of the day I only had two children. Yes, TWO! I kept thinking, everyone said things would be sooo easy when preschool started and I only had the babies. They were wrong.

I'll be back tomorrow to share more about preschool and, if I dare, share some about today and why I feel like I do right now.

On her way

This little luvie will be shipping out today!

I can't wait to see pictures of her with her new "mommy"!

Silly Monkeys!

Quick Update

Thank you so much for your prayers for my sister in law. She still has a long way to go but has shown a lot of improvement over the past couple of days. And for that we are so, so grateful!

This weekend has been crazy none the less. We were up to our eyeballs in clothes- literally! If I get over my embarrassment enough maybe I'll share! Right now I'm trying to take my house back, quite literally again, and prepare my three little BIGS for their first day of preschool tomorrow!!! They are all tucked snuggly in their beds anticipating the big day!

Monkey Do is excited, Monkey See is not. It might be a long night! This year Puddin is excited about going and is really trying to help me encourage her brothers. It actually might be me that needs the most encouragement. I'm not sure I'm ready for them to go out into the big world of preschool yet! But, they need it and it will be good for the babies to get some Mommy time on their own too.

So, that's our weekend in a nutshell! Now, I'm off to crank up the sewing machine and get some orders finished and shipped out this week!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Manic Monday

Prayer request- My sweet sister in law is in the ICU right now in serious condition. I may be able to share more details later, but for now, God knows the details. If you have a moment today, please pray for her. She is loved and needed by so many.

******
Lots to share...
some new projects in the mix,
and a couple of new products as well.
But, for now, things are slow going.
I was going to share a photo to show you why- but, I just don't have time to take the picture!
I am sorting, tagging and drowning in clothes to prepare for an upcoming consignment sale.
I hope to have it all wrapped up in a couple of days (if you could see my mess you would be laughing right now).
So, in a couple of days I will, hopefully, have some orders wrapped up and a couple of new things hot off the presses to share!
Thanks for being patient!!

Shirley Temple

One of my fondest memories as a little girl is sleeping in pink, foam, hair curlers.
I remember my Nanny curling my hair up when I was 3 or 4 and being so excited the next morning to see what it would look like. Of course, she told me I would look just like Shirley Temple, and I believed her. She would brag on me about how precious I looked in those curls and give me the sweetest hugs.

I have really missed my Nanny today.

And she would have loved seeing this!

This little girl was every bit as excited about waking up with curls as I used to be!

All day long I looked at these curls, normally straight as a board, and thought of her.
**********************************
Last night after Puddin's bath, it struck me, she has never had her hair curled! So, I dug around in my hope chest looking for that old tin of curlers that used to be mine, but couldn't find them.

I guess they are in a box in the attic.

Anyway, I would not be deterred.

I found a rarely worn t shirt from my closet and started cutting it up.
I decided to go with good, old fashioned, rag rolls!
Now, it has been a mighty long time since I have rolled hair and I might have rolled it in too small sections or too tight, but for our first time around it looked pretty cute!

Puddin ADORED it! She bounced around all day long in her princess curls.

I would even catch myself watching her and just smiling at how different,

but adorable she looked.

I guess my Nanny may have done the same thing once upon a time.

She was really funny when we first took them out. See, she has this thing about me not cutting her hair because she wants to keep it long...I may not have explained the whole idea of "locks of love"

correctly the first time, and she might be a teensy

bit scarred from that.... anyway....

when I took the rags out and she had such tight curls,

it of course made her hair short.

Like, above the shoulder short.

Normally, her hair stops at her waist.... they were tight!

She looked at me with a concerned look and said- did it cut off all my hair???

So I had to show her by stretching a curl out that it was all still there! So funny!
By lunchtime the curls had relaxed a little and were hanging a bit longer.
Much like her momma, she loved having her hair curled!

She was even excited to NOT get a bath tonight so she can keep them one more day!
Although, you can't tell by this picture! Ha! This is the "ok, enough already! Stop taking pictures so I can play in peace" look.

These last few were after we finger separated the curls. They stretched out long a full. It reminded me less of Shirley Temple and more of Diana Ross... early 80's

Ahhh- much better!

I just checked on her, sleeping soundly in her bed, under a mountain of curls and her princess crown, of course. **sigh** Mommyhood is the best.

Watch out for the paparazzi and swimming with a cat

We recently went swimming at my mom's for an end of the summer hurrah.

I'd show you pics of me, mobbed by my children (seriously- they were in my arms AND hanging on my back) but I might blind you with my milky white skin shining in the sun. SERIOUSLY- a dark tinted shade of sunglasses in necessary when viewing those pics! Geesh- when did I get so white??

Anyway, this is not a post about my own personal fear of the sun... hehe... but rather one of my babes... the littles.

This was a first for them.

First dip in a big, deep end kind of pool.

First life jacket experience.

First splashes in the face by crazy siblings.

But- it was fun. For one of them anyway.

Bud LOVES the water. In fact, he goes face first in the bathtub nearly every time he bathes.
Daisy is his polar opposite. She will tolerate a bath as long as she is upright and can see what's happening. The minute you try to lay her back- she looses it.

The pool was much the same experience. She reminded me of a cat clinging to me or trying to crawl up the front of me to dry land. It was crazy! Finally, after much persistence on my part, she relaxed a bit and let me hug her tight on my hip, but the minute I would loosen my grip, the cat like tendencies would take over.

(now I know you have a mental image of me, milky white, blinding my children as they clamor all over me in a large pool, while my youngest, aka Kitty, claws her way up my chest. Sounds like fun doesn't it?)

Well, we finally put an end to the littles swimming and then the real fun started. Puddin went C to the R to the AZY in the water! That girl was FEARLESS!!! She'd shout, "here comes danger!" as she'd catapult herself down the slide. Normally, my first born is very mild mannered, shy and laid back... not that day!

The Monkey's had a great time and eventually got off the steps.

But, what I haven't shared is that one of my oldest besties came with her kiddos for the swim too. We had so much fun!!!

Here are a few "pre-swim" pics I can share of my littles. Try as I might, I could not get a picture of Daisy looking at me. She was in disguise I guesss... avoiding the paparrazi! She really is a little diva-esque at times.

Bud answering my phone, "It's for you!"

Daisy adjusting Bud's straps... safety first!


Are you sure about this??

Let's go for it!

I love these two! Just precious! Firsts are so fun!!

Shouts of Joy!

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.

Job 8:21

Bananas is her business...

Daisy LOVES bananas. In fact she would eat the all day long if I'd let her.

Remember this lady....

Funny, "Bananas is my business" made me think of Daisy. Or maybe it was the fact that she got mad and put her food on her head when we ran out of said bananas.

Silly, silly girl!

Christmas in July

Remember last year when I shared our Christmas in July tradition? If not, just click here for the details.

A3 waiting to open his gift

the crew... all 8 of them!

A2 checking out the goods..

Monkey Do with a new Bible. He can now carry his own Bible to church on Sundays... a new "habit" we are trying to instill early!

Puddin and Angelina.... happiness!

Monkey See and his new Bible...

A shared book...

Bud and his book... a storey about Daniel and the lions den...

Anyway, here a few reasons this year was a little bit different...

Monkey See is no longer rocking a mullet (bless his heart!),

the babies are not babies any more. Which means they are mobile.... very mobile,

it was in my living room instead of the park,

less sweat,

Christi had to do most of the work since I was hobbling around like Methuselah,

We added cupcakes, or maybe I should say icing and sprinkles with a side of cupcake. You decide.

Either way, our kiddos had a great time!

A2 skillfully decorating his cookie,

A3 taking a break to "clean up"

A1 carefully decorating her cupcake while guarding it from the nearest predator!

Puddin... yum!

Can you tell they enjoyed the sprinkles!?

Monkey See skipped the icing and went straight to the sprinkles!

And Aunt Christi went home and crashed afterwards!! Don't you just love best friends?!

facebook friends

Only 8 more friends to go before we reach 100 friends on the Puddin Pop Designs page on Facebook.
Once we make it to the 100 mark there will be another giveaway!
If you haven't "friended" or is it "fanned" the page yet, hurry, hurry!! You could be the next lucky winner!!!

Just look for this face...

So long July!

Wow, what a month! We have been home bound for 95% of it, but I guess with the heat out there, that's a good thing!
Even though I was incapacitated for several weeks, I did manage to get some pictures to share. So, the next few days my posts will be of July in review! Hope that's ok with ya'll! On a side note, I'll also be firing up th eold sewing machine again in the next couple of days so if you are waiting to hear from me about an order (Stacy, Caroline, Betty and Naomi) I'll be in touch very, very soon!

Just keep in mind that in nearly all of my pictures the children are wearing pajamas and their faces are dirty. I could barely walk, much less change someone's clothes! I did have some amazing help for the first 2 weeks, but we didn't get dressed up for their arrival.

So... here's the first thing I have been wanting to share. This was a father's day gift to hubby. We also made one for my daddy, aka "Pappy". It was a fun and easy project to do. In fact, before my Nanny passed away we made one for her birthday in an accordion fold card. She loved it.

This is Hubby's hanging on my wall before I wrapped it...

It now hangs in his office.

Yes, Monkey Do is wearing his "dinner jacket" in the picture!!! ha!

Transformation

Waaay back at the beginning of the summer we decided to do a few home improvement projects. We did finish 1 of them and I haven't had a chance to share it yet! Sadly, there are still a couple of half done projects around here waiting for us to find the time to finish them, but, at least this one is finished!


Most of you know that kids come with stuff. The more kids, the more stuff. For some reason this fact escaped me when we built our house! Granted, we didn't have children then but still, you'd think it would have dawned on one of us somewhere along the construction phase!.

Anyway, we had a large, walk in pantry right off of our kitchen between the garage and our master bedroom. It was great! It could hold so.much.stuff!! But, once the kiddos came along, our kitchen and bedroom sort of became the dumping ground for all of their stuff. ugh!


So, I decided I wanted to convert our pantry into a mud room! And since our kitchen is large enough, with tons of cabinets, we could reorganize and find a space for everything that was once held in the pantry.


I told my dad about my project when I decided to go to Lowes and purchase a saw. I had no clue what kind of saw was needed but I figured it would be much easier to build what I wanted if I had one. Ha! After that conversation my sweet daddy offered to come and do it for me!! YAY!!! Since he has worked in construction his entire life I knew the project would go a lot smoother if he did it rather than me!

Daddy above

Hubby below

Sadly, I was so busy with the hustle and bustle of everything I completely forgot to take before pics of what the pantry looked like, but you can see it's size pretty good. It's about 7 1/2 ft. wide and about 3- 31/2 ish feet deep (see why he offered?!?). It was lined with wire shelving from top to bottom and it was FULL!

Here is a semi-before. This was taken after my dad left. We had the "bones" in but I still had to fill in holes, prime, add molding and paint.

Trying out my new, unexpected find at Hobbly Lobby. Clearance baskets that were exactly what I wanted! And, they fit perfectly too!

At this point the bi-fold doors were still on.

Here is the after with Puddin! She LOVES this room! Often she uses the bench as her stage... crazy girl!

Now we have a place for shoes, diaper bags, backpacks, extra diapers, wipes, cameras, jackets, winter stuff, and inside the seat I have large appliances that I don't use everyday, my toolkit and extra vases.

On the wall directly in front of the bench I decided to paint it with chalkboard paint and have a giant message board. Also a big hit with the kiddos.

I am so glad we decided to do this to this space- it is perfect for us and just what we needed!

Thanks Daddy!