made by The MAN

Well, My mind may be made up for me.

This is regarding my decision to keep my website open for business. I was worried about being able to find time to sew with three children, but I managed to pump out a HUGE order in December without going nuts so I figured I would keep it open and take what I can get but now this...

The U.S. Government, in an attempt to avoid the catastrophe of two years ago when toy after toy was testing high in lead content, has created a new law that goes into affect on February 10th. While the intentions of this law are good, the law in and of itself is horribly written. Basically put, it will be illegal to sell or distribute (ie. give away) any thing that is intended for use by a child under 12 years of age unless it has been tested for lead and phthalates. This means extreemly expensive testing by a third party, then all itmes must have a bar code that can be tracked and proove it's testing. This includes childrens clothing and it includes ME, yes even WAHM's (work at home moms) are subject to this law. It will be illegal for me to do what I do now without the testing. Litterally, it would cost me hundreds to test the skirt that I sell for $65, and I would have to test each color or skirt variation. Can you believe it?!!? and if each componant of the skirt were tested by the manufacturer, it wouldn't matter, I would have to have it re-tested as a whole. Forget one of a kind items or even several of a kind, I wouldn't break even.

Think of all the craft shows, all the cute home made items. Not to mention what about selling my kids used clothes when we are done with them. What do I have to do. Burn them? Apparently (althought this may just be the rummor) I can't even donate them. What about D.I.? Good will? Garage sales? Kid to Kid?

I'm all for the safety of my children, but I have absolutely NO concern for the saftey of home made clothing or the buttons and zippers on that clothing. If anything, make the fabric maufactures and notion manufactures test because these things get used EVERYWHERE, and affect EVERYONE. I trust a home made stuffed animal more than the ones sold in stores that come from foreign coutries and I sure like supporting the WAHM's that made them more than who knows where the moeny goes and for what when you buy it in a store. I mean Come on!

Just another way that I think the Government goes overboard...... can we just say bailout!?

I'm hoping that enough people have rallied against this to have them amend the law. You can read more about it here.

Christmas 2008

What a good Christmas we've had. Seriously. We didn't go all out, but the kids got some great gifts and had a lot of fun.

We of course started out Christmas eve with a ginger bread house. Fun, but still a little too complicated for the age of our kids. Roman loved trying though.


The kids opened their jammies before bed.


Roman came bursting into our room at 7:40 am jumping up and down and begging us to get out of bed. We were surprised and grateful that that he didn't do this at 5:40am.

Marisa had to be lured out of bed because she had a rough night. So leave it to her to cry on Christmas morning, but she finally warmed up and enjoyed things a bit more.


Roman got lots of games for the family present which was a DS from Grandpa Bill, and for his leap pad. He also got a cool motorcycle racing toy, and a stocking stuffed full of favorites like a snot rod from Cars, M&M's, bubble bath, Puzzle Buzz magazines and a movie.



Marisa got a stuffed horse, a cabbage patch doll (which she is a little afraid of), lots of books, and I found this spring horse on Craigslist for $10. I figured that the $80 horse that was her size was just too much to spend and too little to last more than about a year. And I wasn't going to spend even more for a new larger horse because it's not the type of toy that gets a ton of use. So when I saw this horse on craigslist I was ecstatic! Marisa loves it and yes.... she pinches. :) Marisa doesn't care that she's well used.


I finally got a shredding attachment for my mixer which I LOVE! Some nice pj's. And a wax warmer for making our house smell good.


Shane got a clock for his car (which is getting installed as I type), some warm shirts for shoveling because we have a monstrous driveway and no snow blower. A happenings coupon book and some gloves for driving the civic that never gets warm.

And again, the DS was a family gift. I've been wanting to get one for a while because I enjoy a lot of the games they have and LOVE the portability for airplane trips, long waits in the dr. office and other times when I need to keep the kids corralled and quiet. If only I could take it to church ;) Roman would play day and night if we would let him.



Later that night we went over to the cousins and played Wii fit and guitar hero (someone was nice this year) I love guitar hero, it's just fun. Wii fit on the other hand was more interesting than fun. Don't know if I will be getting that one ever. I think that is just one of those things that gets better as you play it more. Since the few games/exercises I tried were just OK. Maybe someday, but I'm not jumping at the chance yet.

Anyway, it was a good day. Roman was on cloud nine. Marisa didn't let go of her stuffed horse and still hasn't. and Ezra.... well, you snooze you loose and he slept all day. He did get a teething book to chew on as soon as he gets the notion.

The Excitement cannot be contained

Roman is BURSTING!!! He's been counting down for quite a while now and it's FINALLY Christmas Eve.

Yesterday he was telling us that there were only two sleeps left and he was doing a funny little dance in the kitchen.

Last night he went to bed at his normal time but didn't fall asleep for hours. I'm sure he was just way too excited.

This morning he woke up almost an hour earlier than normal and I found him in the living room checking the stockings. After I told him he had to turn off the lights and just rest for a while. I got back in my bed, and he cleaned up all the toys in the living room. This is because I always tell him that Santa doesn't want to see all his toys out. If he sees all the toys he might decide that you have enough and won't leave any more. And by cleaning up his toys, I mean that he put them all in his room and closed the door. :)

Today on our way to Ezra's Doctors appointment we were listening to some Christmas music and one called "Shake hands with Santa Clause" was on, but this is not what Roman heard. He heard "Chickens from Santa Clause" He thought that was hilarious. Chickens from santa.... LOL

On the way home from the appointment we saw a deer crossing the road and I said "do you think that is one of Santa's reineer? Santa must be close by." Oh my goodness, Roman yelled, "hurry we need to get home and clean up and make cookies!"

Oh to be 4 years old again.

Only six more sleeps

Until Christmas. This is how Roman gauges how long until something is going to happen, by how many times he sleeps. I can't believe Christmas is so soon. But we have been busy celebrating the Christmas season.

We had our ward Christmas party on Wednesday which I'm sad to say was a flop! I'm used to the ward Christmas party being a HUGE deal with lots of good food, a small program and of course Santa. It probably didn't help matters that our wards tradition of having a Christmas breakfast was thwarted by a totally booked building, then, they changed the date something like three times. So although there were many people there, everyone that signed up to bring their favorite holiday treat forgot I guess because there was something like 7 plates of treats for a lot of people! NOT ME!! Actually I'm quite proud that I didn't forget because sleep deprivation does horrible things to my memory. So anyway, I had the kids help me makes some peanut blossoms. They thought it was great. Roman likes to roll the dough in the sugar and Both he and Marisa helped unwrap the kisses. Marisa ate a few. They were just too cute sitting on the counter together I had to take a picture.


So we get to the "party" and literally sit there and wait an hour for the big guy to show up. Roman ran around the halls being silly with all the other kids and seriously, we just sat there. There were maybe enough treats for all the kids to have one.

When Santa came the kids all lined up and Surprise Surprise, I asked Marisa if she wanted to go sit on Santas lap and she said yes. WHAT???? And even a bigger surprise, she actually did it willingly. Well, once she was on his lap she looked at the floor and fought back the tears but I expected a big fight and a total melt down, and I'm not even exagerating. Roman didn't want to sit on his lap, but he did, and he told Santa what he wanted and they both got a bag of goodies and a book.

Last night we drove to Spanish Fork to see the festival of lights. It was fun for the kids and much closer and more kid friendly than something like Temple square. I love going to Temple square to see the lights but we got to stay in our car for this one. Can't beat that. :)


Today was Roman's preschool program and the last day of preschool for two full weeks. They sang some songs and were silly little kids in front of a room of parents etc.


As for me, I'm done with all the christmas shopping and about 10 minutes from being done with christmas sewing. Then I've got neighborhood gifts to make and then relax. :) ha ha yeah right! Tis the season! at least we are having fun.

Baby Blessed

Shane Blessed Ezra yesterday in our home. We've blessed all our kids at home and we love doing it that way. This time we had a small crowd in comparison to the other kids blessings but it was still a good little party with some yummy food and a lovely blizzard outside.
Anyway, we got a few good pictures:

Ezra showing off his smile and his monkey


What a cute little guy.

He started smiling a few weeks ago and has started to make talking noises. I wish I could say that he is sleeping better at night but it's really not true. He eats every three hours around the clock surprising me just about once a day with a four hour stretch, but that is usually not at night. :) I tried waking him up just enough to feed him when I went to bed last night, hoping it would help him go longer, NOPE instead it just woke him up taking nearly an hour to settle down again and he woke up at his normal time to eat which was only two hours after feeding him... Nope, not doing that again.

Answered "prayers"

Well, Sunday night I fell asleep on the couch waiting for Ezra to wake up and eat so I didn't say my prayers, but my Sunday night post was SO a desperate plea for help and boy was it answered.

Monday at 2:30 AM while feeding Ezra I thought.... "Those rockets are so LAME!!!, what am I going to do?!" and just like that, I thought "REINDEER!" and just as quickly I thought through everything I needed to make reindeer out of rice crispy treats and I had everything but the red noses.

I woke up and made some rice crispy treats and shaped them in two different sizes of muffin tins for the face. Then I took a chocolate cookie recipe that my friend Kristy had made just two days before and a holly leaf cookie cutter that I already had and made antlers for our deer.

I purchased some red cherry gummy coin thingies at Reams for the noses and we used raisins for the eyes and they were ADORABLE!!!! and to top it off, they talked about Rudolf the Red nosed Reindeer all day at preschool so it was PERFECT!!! I just wish I would have taken a picture.

My only mistake was that I didn't know how many kids were in his class so I guessed around 19... whoops there were 21. But my child was one of these, and another is allergic to sugar so he got a box of raisins and Roman and I made do with the leftover things (his reindeer only had one antler, but he didn't care much). whew.

Then, my parents came to town and where able to watch the other two children while I went to preschool so I didn't have to have one child wrapped around my leg and another strapped to my front. And I could go to my orthodontist appointment all by myself.

Prayers (aka desperate blog post late Sunday night) answered. I survived.

I expected being a mom would be this hard, I think it's just extra hard on my emotions when I'm so tired. And the funny thing about Roman's preschool teacher is that she was totally supportive and nice about my total lack of preparation and inexperience in even being in a room with 21 kids, but the notes she sends home with all the instructions are extremely intimating.

and by the way... I still could not find my pen for my calendar so I finally broke down and bought a new one. The MINUTE I got home with the new pen, I found the old one, Seriously!?!?! At least I have extras now.

Oh my

I haven't been posting much lately and there is a reason. It's because I wake up in the morning after waking up twice in the early morning and I've been going non stop for about three weeks now. Here is just an example.

I thought it would be easier to have Shane and Roman gone but it wasn't. It was just quieter. Roman is quite helpful and was not around to fetch things for me, give Ezra his pacifier and keep Marisa occupied. Not to mention that Ezra doesn't have the wonderful 7:30 bedtime yet so my arms were full or busy from morning till night.

Nine days, one canceled flight, two delayed flights and a midnight trip to the airport with yes... all the kids and we are all back together again. Whew

But things haven't settled down yet. Now the Christmas decorations are half up, the rest are sitting in boxes right here next to the computer. The Christmas shopping is 3/4 done with only a few more things to buy. Today had to have been the busiest Sunday of our entire year. I changed my clothes 4 times throughout the day.

Then, I'm in charge of the treat at preschool tomorrow. And it's not just make a treat and send it with your kid. It's take something to preschool that starts with a certain letter and have all this stuff that has to do with the letter and have the kids help you make the treat and put it together etc. Now, if I had a month to think about it I would probably be better off, but I found out Friday that I have to do it on Monday!!!!! I'm gonna die!

So... we've got the letter R. My plan is to make Rice crispy treats at home (since they don't really have a stove or microwave to make them there) and shape them into little rockets. Then they can decorate their rockets with raisins (I know, raisins don't really go with rice crispy treats but at this point, I don't' care!) , and Round nilla waffers cut in half for the fins, and maybe something that is red.... I don't know. I've litterally got twelve hours to think through this and I'm panicing! Seriously, Roman's preschool nearly gives me nervous breakdowns. There are so many rules and expectations of the parents that just picking him up makes me nervous. Yes... there are rules about how to pick up your kids. I always knew that I would have the letter R, but I didn't know until Friday just how involved this was going to be. Uggggg

Then, after that, I have to load up the kids, who I guess are going to preschool with me and Roman. I don't know. and drop them off to shanes work so I can go up to an Orthodontist appointment. (which I wouldn't have made if I had known I was going to do the treat) Is it ever going to end????!!!

I know, none of you care about this, and yes, it will calm down eventually. But it's probably not going to be this week. Luckily I've lost the pen to write on my magnet calendar on my fridge, so at least I can't add to my agenda. YEAH RIGHT!

Tagged

8 Favorite Books:
(seriously, I would have to go back to elementary school days to come up with 8 books, I don't like sitting down to read books much, If I could read while I sewed, or did dishes or exercised I might do it more)

Does Better homes and Gardens count? HA!


8 Things that Happened Yesterday:

1) Went to the Library
2) Went to lunch at Gingers (had a REALLY good smoothie)
3) Dropped Ezra's birth announcements in the mail
4) Sewed like a mad man
5) Fed the baby
6) Fed the baby
7) Fed the baby
8) Picked up the kids pictures

8 Things to Look Forward to:

1) Shane and Roman coming home
2) Finishing my sewing order
3) Doing a little Christmas shopping
4) Getting more than 3 hours of sleep at a time.... it will happen.... someday.
5) The basement bathroom project to be done
6) Getting past the "newborn" stage (I know, I know, but it's definitely the hardest stage I've experienced so far)
7) Christmas Christmas Christmas
8) Sleep.... oh... did I already say that?

8 Things on my Wish List

1) Sleep :)
2) Jeans that fit well
3) A finished basement (not because we need the space because it's like this looming never ending to do list for us)
4) My kids to be good teenagers (yes, I'm dreading it already)
5) I'm going with Lindsay on the whole plastic surgery thing (dont' get me wrong, I'm very happy with my body)
6) A well decorated house
7) One of those sergers that threads itself. Have you ever threaded a serger?.......I'm not sure it's worth the extra $500 you have to spend though.
8) my tummy to magically snap back into it's proper place.

8 Things I Love About Winter :

1) Freshly fallen snow
2) Sweaters
3) Sweatshirts
4) Sleeping with lots of warm blankets
5) Fires
6) Christmas
7) Warm food and drinks
8) playing in the snow (as long as I'm wearing good clothes that keep me warm)

8 People I Tag:

I don't think 8 people read my blog, :) But feel free to tag yourself