Sleepover

Last week I had Sheri's kids so she could have a break, and it was a treat for all of us! Kielan & Anelise came home from gospel meeting with us, and were delighted to share homemade pizza for dinner. Kielan said he wanted the spicey kind, and no mushrooms. Ha ha, kids are so honest! Breanna & Levi loved the extra kids around, and Breanna was most impressed by the extra help when it was time to clean up the toys! It was much faster, and more of a game; when there were more to help.

It was 11:30 by the time they were all asleep, and I was relieved at thinking they would be sleeping in. But oh no..... up well before 8am! I made dutch-babies, and they cleaned them up lickety split. Kielan wanted his topped with syrup, homemade jam, AND whipped cream.... it looked like quite the combo- but I figured why not for a treat!

It was quite a chore getting 4 little people fed, cleaned up, dressed, hair done.... and then Breanna asked me why I wasn't dressed yet....?!? It was a miserably cold and windy day out, and they agreed when seeing all the trees whipping around like toothpicks that they probably didn't want to play outside. So I promised to take them to Bouncing Bears, which is an indoor playpark with lots of blow-up slides and playareas. Kielan & Anelise had never been before, and were quite excited. I guess I didn't do things "up to speed", though, finally Anelise said "you sure are taking a long time to get us out of the house!" She was right, but 4 kids 4yrs. and under was quite the challenge for me! =) Our beloved minivan is still in the shop getting engine work done, so we are driving the F350, meaning Kielan was in the middle in the front, and it's difficult to reach to get them all buckled in. When we finally reached B.B., they took off and I got a bit of a break! Levi wasn't too sure about doing things himself at first, so I did a lot of climbing and sliding too. I was completely exhausted after the 2 hours were up, it was a great workout!

Everything went great and it really was fun for us all, but I was so tired once I was back home with only 2 kids. Then I found out the next day that we are expecting in August, so that would explain the exhaustion! I was really hoping that with Breanna & Levi I'd gotten my share of "morning sickness", but it's started again..... only the kind like Levi's that is more "throughout the day sickness".

I did really appreciate how well Kielan & Anelise just sat down to meals and ate up! My kids seem to drag the meals out forever..... any advise on fixing that? Sheri says she doesn't know how it happened, they've always been that way.

I also give a thumbs-up to whomever came up with Bouncing Bears, it's a great place for those of us who live in places where winter lasts over half the year- after a 2hr. session the kids are asking to go home because they are exhausted! Makes for wonderful naptimes..... often they are both asleep by the time I drive the 15mins. home. =)

Long-Arm Quilting Machine on the way!

As of Thanksgiving, we now have a 4-year-old at our house!

I did something very exciting on Saturday, I ordered my first long-arm quilting machine! It will take about a week to get here, and I have a feeling this is going to be one of the longest weeks of my life..... =) I've thought long and hard about this purchase, as it is a good business venture, but also a very expensive one. I want to be able to stay home and raise my children, and also help pay the bills. After talking with various people, I decided to at least try it out, and many have said they are easy to resale if I decide this isn't my thing. I love the quilting part of the process, though, so don't think that will be an issue!

What started me thinking more seriously about this, is when I tried to machine-quilt a queen-size quilt for my good friend, Marlene. By the time I was done, I was very frustrated at having to push & pull and fight all that fabric with my regular sewing machine, and vowed never to do a quilt that size again without an actual long-arm machine! The resulting quilt was fine, but not all that it could have been, had I the right equipment. I had similar experiences with Jared's graduation quilt, and the baby-clothes quilt.

The stand for this machine is about 12feet long and 4feet wide, so it is no small thing to fit into the corner of my sewing area! =) For now I think we're going to leave it in the living room (Tyler's idea, and many have agreed it makes sense- Sheri said just make a pretty quilt to put over it when company comes!) Anyway, Tyler is now drawing house plans again, and as soon as we get the trim finished and a few other things, we're thinking of selling and building another house. Nothing big or extravagant, but this place is getting a bit cramped for us. We have 2 bedrooms and one bath (which has obvious complications), and Tyler is tired of not having a shop or garage to work in. We don't really look forward to the building process again, but it doesn't make much sense to either of us to just buy, when we can get about twice the house by building. We'll see what happens! I also joined the Alaska Club fitness center last month to try and loose a bunch of "baby-weight", so with all this going on I should be a little busy the next bit!

P.S. I added 3 new albums in the Picasa photos. I have been slacking a bit on the photo-taking, There weren't nearly as many to post this time!

Venturing into the "selling" world

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I tried my first Bazaar for selling quilts and purses. It turned out to be a "skunk", none of the vendors were very impressed with the turnout of buyers! I did sell a few purses, though, and after the day was over; traded for some other craft items! There was a girl who had nice felted-wool purses and I traded one of those for a small baby quilt. Another lady had fun handmade cards, so I traded her a small purse for 25 handmade cards! I also put out quite a few business cards, and got lots of interest for machine quilting and some interest in the baby-clothes quilts; so in all I think it was a success. I only made $25 over the cost of my booth, though, so won't be trying that one again! I am signed up for some here in Wasilla that should have better turnouts, and the tables are much cheaper so I'm hoping that will work better. I am also making more quilted tote/purses- they are very well liked, and also some quilted hotpads, as they are smaller dollar items and should sell better. Many thanks to Lindsey & Tyler for watching the kids for me, Lindsey & Trisha for helping me do pricing, and Trisha & Tyler for helping out at the booth! I love to quilt but have a tough time in the pricing area, or selling- and their encouragement and help was much appreciated! And of course the most thanks to Tyler- for building me a beautiful rack to display the quilts, and standing behind me in all my new ideas! =) Note: Some small doll quilts are missing from the top racks on both ends.... somehow we got down there and accidentally left them at Lindsey's! She has a place in Anchorage not too far away, though, so I drove back to get them and it was a nice break from the "nervous excitement" of waiting for the bazaar to begin.