Easter Bunnies

Let me warn you, this story starts out sad. Last Saturday Juan and I decided to work on our neglected yard. I mowed our two foot high weed patch in the back yard along with the rest of the yard and then Juan went around weedwacking. Well, while Juan was weedwacking he found that we had a family of baby bunnies living in our yard. One had come out of the burrow and was hiding in a weed patch near our fence. Juan felt so bad when he found out, it was too late for that bunny, but he was extra careful the rest of the time and found another bunny near the fence and their burrow with two more bunnies in it. These bunnies were about the size of large hamsters, they were old enough to have their eyes open and be venturing out, but not old enough to run from us humans. The bunny in the first photo what the second one Juan found and he just sat there the whole time Juan was weedwacking the yard. When he was done, he came in and showed me and I took the kids out to look at the adorable bunny. He let us come right up to him and then Corbin bent down and picked him up, ack! I took him away and said we would put him back in his burrow with his brothers, but before we did I let Jovi hold him. She wanted a picture to commemorate the event.




Here is a picture of all of them in their burrow.


Sunday evening mama bunny came around. (Look hard, she blends well with the grass)


Monday morning we had an empty burrow. We think mama bunny moved her babies away from our prying eyes, but it was so cool to see our back yard bunny family for the two days we knew they were there.

On Friday, 3/26 we went to our first Easter egg hunt held by Frisco at Pizza Hut Park. It was ok, nothing special except they had "healthy" snacks for the 2 and under crowd like cereal and animal crackers instead of candy Corbin barely grabbed anything because he was looking for the candy.




Last night we went to our next Easter egg hunt. On Sunday, sitting next to our Sacrament Bulletin (which was on a chair in the chapel) was a flier for an egg hunt at a Frisco park. I was excited, what a fun ward activity, so fast forward to Friday. My parents come over, we go to the park and see all these people from 5th ward out there (we used to be part of 5th ward till it split and now are part of 7th ward). Well, maybe it was a stake activity? No, no it was the 5th ward's activity and we crashed it. I was so embarrassed. None of the few people who were our friends were there either so it was just a bunch of people we kind of knew, but there was no way to explain that to the kids who had been looking forward to an egg hunt all day. I don't think anyone cared, but it was very embarrassing.

Juan and my mom went with Jovi to hunt eggs in her age group and I went with my dad and Corbin to his egg hunt. He was SO funny. He would pick up an egg, open it, make sure there was candy in it and THEN put it in his basket. He did it for every egg he picked up and then after the hunt was over, he threw out the plastic eggs and just kept the candy in his basket. He was very sure about what he wanted.



Happy Easter everyone!

Moments I Want to Remember

At the beginning of this week Laura made the comment that she has had her dog (who now lives with us) for five years this month. Jovi latched onto this, "So does that mean that it's his birthday?". "What day is his birthday?" Laura suggested that we celebrate puppy's birthday on Wednesday, the evening she watches the kids while Juan and I go out. Jovi was so excited all week. "Does he have some dog friends he wants to invite." "I'll draw him a birthday cake since he can't eat any." "Can we have birthday hats?" Laura got birthday hats, noise makers, a few doggy presents (which Jovi wrapped) and cookies for Puppy's human friends. Everyone we met on Wednesday got to know about Puppy's party. And then at 7:00, right before Juan and I left we wore birthday hats and sang happy birthday to a dog who really could have cared less, but it made a four year old little girl so happy.

Yesterday the kids and I went on a walk. As we were walking Corbin was kind of skipping in front and then he turns around and says joyously "I'm so happy momma!" and starts skipping again. It made my heart want to burst. Later on the walk he slipped his little hand in mine and we walked for a few minutes like that.

These are the moments I want to remember forever.

Jovi the Soccer Player

Jovi started soccer three weeks ago. She is on team Ladybug and has had two games. She loves it, she calls herself a soccer player and I have to say I love it too. I can't think of anything much more cute and funny than 4 year old little girls playing soccer. Juan and I just love watching her games. We are a winning team (although I don't think they keep an official score at this age) thanks to our powerhouse player A, apparently she has an older brother who has taught her some serious skills. A scored 10 goals the first game and like 5 the second, she is seriously impressive. Jovi is learning and doing great. She assisted on a goal in her first game and scored 4 goals on her second game; two of which were for the other team, but I guess they cancel each other out right? Jovi loves her coach and he has the best approach to getting the girls in the right place on the field; he picks them up and places them where they are supposed to be. It is so funny to watch. Here are some pictures of the first game.




(she is pointing to the goal she is supposed to score on, she gets confused once the teams switch at half time so the pointing helps orient her :)) I'm sure you will be seeing more soccer pictures, it's so much fun being a soccer mom to a 4 year old.

February Sewing

I frequent a forum, Sewing Mamas and they held a contest in February called Stash Game. You are supposed to use up as much of your fabric stash as possible without buying any fabric during the game. Points are given based on yardage used and number of notions. They hold this contest twice a year and although I had signed up before, this is the first time I finished. Even though I wasn't even close to the winners and their numbers I feel proud that I finished. My final stats were:
32 3/4 yards of fabric sewn
19 items sewn
8 different patterns used
4 items for me

Please excuse the bad photos, i was trying to document the month and didn't get the nicest pictures. I started with curtains for the upstairs playroom using fabric I had bought for Jovi's room before we moved. I made a matching pillow, but I'm so NOT proud of it (really bad craftsmanship) that I didn't take a picture.


I also made curtains for the windows on the stairs. The have been covered with cheap curtains from Walmart that didn't even fit the windows since we moved in. Now they have nice, lined, white linen with aqua polka dot curtains. They make me happy every time I see them. Unfortunately they didn't photograph well.



I learned this month that I don't really enjoy making curtains. It involves a lot of measuring and ironing and then measuring again and then re-ironing, then measuring yet again and sometime continuing to repeat till the panels are exactly the same. The actual sewing is easy. Measuring super accurately is not so easy. I still am planning on making curtains for the downstairs living/ dining room, but I think I will wait another week or two to start them.

For Juan's Birthday I made him 4 extra long pillowcases as he requested. He said he didn't care what fabric I used so he got pink and purple pillowcases.


I also made him shark pajama pants.


For Valentines Day I made Jovi a reversible dress from this pattern. I've had it for about two years and only used it once. It makes a really cute A-line jumper and I will hopefully be making more.





I also made two sets of shorts and long sleeve shirts for Jovi to wear while she played soccer. I made the purple set she is wearing in the first picture.



One of my goals was to test out some patterns for me. I hate shopping for clothes for me. Most of the time they don't fit quite right and it takes so long to find just what I want and then it usually costs too much so... I got this pattern from fabric.com and tried it out with some cheap knit fabric I ordered from there. I will be making my own tshirts from now on. They are super easy and only take 1-2 hours from cut to finish. I love the pattern too and with a few modifications it will be perfect for me. I made the crew neck first and found the arms a bit tight and the shoulder seam a bit wide. Then I made the V neck and LOVE it. I fixed the problems I had with the crew neck and it is the first V neck tee that doesn't cut too low on me. I will be making many more of these, and the pattern is sized from little girl to adult so I can make the same tees for Jovi. And not only are my "muslins" wearable the fabric only cost $4 for each one.



Next I tried this pattern and I really liked it too. I made my own sleeve changes, but really like the gathering on the neckline and the hem band at the bottom which makes it very flattering when worn. And it only cost $4 too.


Last of all I made an A-line skirt using the basic skirt pattern from this book. It had darts and a zipper; two firsts in clothing construction for me. It fit just barely. I made it Sunday morning and wore it to church that afternoon.


It was a really fun month, but I'm taking a week long sewing break before I start working on new projects.

My Jovi

A few weeks ago I got a clearanced i-dog dance. It was originally meant for me, so I could play my ipod wherever I wanted, but it was quickly adopted by Jovi. She has wanted a dog forever, but Juan is not fond of them and since I prefer small/ medium dogs I want to wait till our kids are not a danger to them. Babies/toddlers and small dogs just don't mix. The i-dog is interactive, barks, moves and has "emotions". Jovi has named him Meatball and loves him whenever I let her play with him, usually when Corbin takes a nap. Toddlers and pretend little dogs don't even mix.

Jovi is getting so big. She is such a good big sister and really takes care of Corbin, sometimes more that he would like :). Jovi loves to watch TV, especially Scooby Doo. She would watch all day if I let her. When she isn't watching Scooby Doo, I still feel it's influence. She likes to find mysteries that need solving. She makes maps and clues to solve her mysteries, it's pretty cute. She just started soccer and is super excited about it. We've been practicing outside when the weather is nice and she is getting pretty good and almost always remembers not to use her hands. Jovi is finally liking preschool and her teachers say she is doing great in class. She loves to draw and her drawings are awesome, lots of detail. Jovi loves spending time with her family. She calls my parents' house her other house and she loves playing with her cousins whenever she gets the chance. Jovi's a great helper in the kitchen, but is pretty picky about what she eats, her favorite foods are all the little kid staples like mac and cheese, pizza, hot dogs and ham sandwiches. She also likes eggs with green food coloring (like in the book green eggs and ham), but not regular eggs. She has really gotten into doll play and is a great pretend mommy. She loves clothes and dressing up, she has a good eye and some of the outfits she comes up with are really, really cute. I love my Jovi and am so glad she is part of our family.

Arghhhh!

Corbin is two, he is just SO two in that hugely annoying and super cute at the same time sort of way. For example, the other day we were at the library and Jovi found a friend. Jovi is very good at making friends. Whenever we spend time at a place where kids are playing, the park, MacDonald's, the library, she ends up with a new friend. They might not know each other's names, but they are friends who enjoyed playing together, ah to be four again. Anyway, Jovi went off with her new friend to look for Barbie books while I was trying to read a book to Corbin. He looked up and realized Jovi was no longer with us. He immediately jumps up and starts yelling "Jovi" at the top of his lungs as he runs around looking for her. He finds her and then roars at her as loud as he can which startles Jovi and makes her scream. Ack, what is a mother to do? Whispering seems impossible for him even though I had talked to them both about being quiet in the library, in the car, on the way in, on the elevator ride to the kids area, walking into the kids area, well, you get the idea. All the other kids in the library seem to manage to be quiet, why can't my kid?

Then he was super cute while we were there too. He was standing behind a little girl when she tripped. He immediately went over, gave her a hug and asked if she was ok. She pulled away with this look of, "who is this kid?!?!", but he continued to try and pat her back continuing to ask "you ok?, you ok?". I had to intervene and tell him she looked like she was ok now. It was so sweet.

Last night my sister watched the kids while I went out and ran a few errands (thank you Laura). When I got back I went to check on the kids and found Corbin sleeping with his diaper pulled off and holding it in one hand. Fortunately the bed was dry and I put the diaper back on without him fully waking up, but I cringe at the thought of what could have been.

The other day I was trying to work in my sewing room and within five minutes Corbin had tried to touch and turn on all my sewing machines (big nono), grabbed my fabric scissors and was looking for something to cut and then when I took those away he found a permanent marker that I hadn't even know was on the floor and took off the top before I grabbed him and finally gave up working in there while he was awake. Honestly, I know better, but was in the middle of a project and was trying to finish up one last step.

The past three days we've been in the car at lunch time (I need to practice better time management) and he has had a drink in the car. All three times he has spilled a large portion of the drink on himself and/or the car. Before this week he really didn't cause much trouble with drinks, but after this third time I think I've finally learned my lesson.

I love the kid so, so much, but sometimes I just want to channel my inner Charlie Brown, bang my head on the wall and yell a nice loud Arghhhh!

Win one of two sewing machines

Ok, so I'm sure you are tired of hearing about how much I like www.youcanmakethis.com but I just have to tell you about their latest "thing". The are starting a new website with FREE evideo tutorials on all things crafty, sewing and quilting. Here is a little intro:


To kick off their new website they are giving away an embroidery machine AND a sewing machine. How cool is that? There are a bunch of ways to enter. Go check it out, http://www.thediydish.com/ It would be too cool if someone I knew won.