Can I get a green eyed baby?

I mean, I've done the charts. blue + green = such and such nonsense. But, I'm sort of the great white hope when it comes to passing on this green eyed thing and I'd like to see whether it happened or not.

The other day I was looking at pictures with my mom (only school photos because heaven forbid that my photographer dad should snap any pictures of us...geesh) and in 4K my eyes were blue! But sometime after that they went green. So there's hope yet.

I've been watching the green eye progression on my middle child (aka Thing 2) and his eyes are definitely changing. He has a hazy color around the pupil and I think we're well on our way to green. He tells me it's happening because he kisses me so much. It's true. We do kiss an awful lot. Not like necking or anything, but he's pretty smoochable.

Thing 1 is definitely staying blue. No changes there.

But the other day my girlfriend said, "I think the baby's eyes are changing." And my heart pretty much broke. A green-eyed girl??? Is it possible? I guess only time will tell...

Halloween Lanterns

I've been super busy in poppyland: sewing costumes, back to school, not going insane while my husband is gone for days at a time, and starting up a new business. But we've also been doing some crafting.

It's my favorite time of year...holiday time! Seriously from October 1st until January 1st I am all a tizzy with crafting and the joy of the season." But wait!" you say, "It's not even October 1st yet." That's right. This year the kids caught the first whiff of Fall and decided it was time to decorate for Halloween. Despite my protests that I didn't want to decorate and am far too lazy to carry the Halloween bin from the basement, the house got decorated in a hurry. Somehow they lured their father up from the deep recesses of his woodshop and conned him into carrying the bin up for them. I bet they told him there was candy or something.

So, two days have passed and several decorations have already been broken and/or commandeered to the boys' room. The boys have been begging for more decorations, but the Summer of Cheap has transitioned nicely into the Fall of Cheap (and I'm sure the Winter of Discontent...zing!); we're making our own decorations. Squee!

Super easy and super cheap...pumpkin lanterns made with jars, orange tissue paper, white glue, and ribbon.

Varying sizes of jars...baby food, spaghetti sauce...whatevs. Here we've accessorized with a
shrunken head in a jar and an antique book of Grimm's fairy tales.

What I did:

1. Cut up strips of orange tissue paper
2. Thinned white glue with water
3. Glued paper to clean jars
4. Affix ribbon to the top of jar with glue or tape or whatever.
5. Optional, but you could put black construction paper letters on the jar and make them say "Boo!" or "Halloween" or "Knock, knock, motherfucker" or something cute, but I have OCD and I just know my kids will rearrange them and make them say, "oob!" or some nonesense thus compelling me to get rid of the entire display.
6. Modge podge those babies.
7. Put some tea lights or those fake tea light things in them and enjoy!

Unbearable things happen

I haven't blogged in awhile. I can't say that it's a been a deliberate choice, but when I sit down at my computer to share the types of things that I usually want to share with you I freeze up. And I know why. A month ago, my husband's Auntie Kris died...and it was unbearable for a really long time. She was a wonderful perosn and now she doesn't get to even BE anymore. How does one come to grips with that? So every time I thought, hey I made something nice and I should share it with you...I thought of Auntie Kris and I felt like my blog post was somehow making light of the tragedy of what happened. But that is the antithesis of Kris. Some people say a funeral is closure, but to me this is closure.

I first met Kris shortly after I met my husband (aka manfriend). He brought me home to meet his family the week after we met. When we pulled into his aunt and uncle's driveway, they were all on the roof of the house pulling off shingles. I was slightly intimidated, but I like to think that I put on a brave face.

A year and a half later my husband and I were engaged and I was looking at wedding dresses. I found one that I loved, except for one small amd important detail. My future mother-in-law said, "Just ask Kris. She'll make it for you." Um....what? Ask her to make the most important piece of my wedding day (aside from my husband of course)? I had no questions in my mind about whether she was capable, but rather would she want to do it? Why would she want to do it? But, I asked her and she rejoiced at the opportunity. You might think I am misusing that verb, but then you would be misunderstanding Kris. Because at the heart of her was someone who gave.

Over the years Kris was an inspiration for me. She sewed, she knit, she cooked, she gardened...and on top of it she was a loving mother to her kids. She was able to meet one grandchild, though I'm sure she'll look down from heaven on many more.

This is the dress that Kris made for me. She also made all of my bridesmaids' dresses and my junior bride's dress.

Even now I feel like this post is too light hearted and doesn't convey the sheer amount of grief and emotion that has been poured into every word. But, grief is intimate. and unbearable. and so we go one.

Good Girl

We got Zion as a puppy from a farm about eight and a half years ago. She had the most incredible red brown coat, violet eyes, and an incredible demeanor. When my husband proposed to me just a few weeks later, he tied the engagement ring to her collar and cued her come out and lay her head in my lap.

Zion never barked, never nipped, never left the yard...She was a good hunter and a good friend.

Earlier today we had to put Zion down. She had been sick for a few months with a disease called autoimmune hemolytic anemia. She was treated with a several rounds of heavy steroids and antibiotics, but in the end, her body couldn't take it and she was suffering. She will be missed.

Camping; It's like a vacation, but with manual labor

The manfriend and I took the kids camping this past weekend. That's right. All 3 kids in a tent. And I'm totally counting it as a vacation, which is pretty sad when you compare an actual, stay in a hotel-type vacation with camping. But guess, what? Camping is cheap. Let's take a look, shall we?

Hotel Vacation                                                   

• Sleep in a bed on sheets with a nice thread count that is magically remade by someone else every morning.
• Enjoy luxurious room service menus or free continental breakfast made by someone else.
• Poop in the privacy of your hotel room bathroom which is cleaned and magically restocked by someone else.
• Enjoy sandy beaches.

Camping Vacation

• Sleep on the ground in a body bag that your 5-year-old magically creeps into every night.
• Bring everything that everyone might possibly want to eat for 3 days and make it on a picnic table.
• Poop with 500 strangers in a semi-private bathroom that sometimes has toilet paper.
• Enjoy sand everywhere...on the beach, in your tent, in the baby's diaper, in the bag of shredded cheese.

I'm only (half) kidding. We went with about 10 other families who all had similar aged children. It was a blast, and the kids had a great time. Here is some photographic evidence:

Campfires

He thought being on a boat was akin to visiting the dentist.

We didn't catch any fish, but Thing 1 caught a nasty sunburn. That's what you get when you're a pasty white redhead.
Don't worry though, the burn has faded back to his natural alabaster skin tone.

The second that we walked on the campground the baby got diarrhea.
Here, she's going au natural to try to beat her diaper rash.

Locked up in baby jail.

Of course it rained, not just a shower but a torrential downpour that filled
fire pits. Luckily my manfriend dug a moat around our tent, so we were fine.
Do you see in the lower left corner a large bus like thing? Yeah, that's what our
neighbors were staying in.

Sunbathing

Pudgie pizzas are the best camping food. EVER.

There were some alternate titles I had for this post. I'd like to share them with you now.

• It's all fun and games until someone gets stung in the lady bits.
• Where's Chloe? (don't worry, she was found)
• Wait, the kids are doing the non-alcoholic Jell-o shots, right?
• If I were the neighbors, I'd totally hate us.

Big Baby's Big Birthday and How We Celebrated (for cheap!)

Sob...

She started out with dark, reddish hair...

And now she has white hair!

OMG, I can't believe my baby is one! It baffles me to try to figure out where the last year has gone.

It was awesome to finally get to celebrate a birthday in the summer. I love outdoor parties and found a lot of inspiring pictures on pinterest, but since our budget for Big Baby's big birthday was somewhere just above nothing I had to figure out a way to make it all happen for CHEAP!

Here's how I did it:

Homemade reusable snack-bags as treat bags filled with a little bit of candy and some fruit snacks.
Bubble wands from the Dollar Store paired with homemade bubble solution (water, dish soap, and light corn syrup)

For the menu, I made slow cooker, BBQ pulled pork from a pork roast and hot dogs. I paired that with fresh corn and a pasta salad with artichokes, feta, and tortellini. My mom and mother-in-law both helped out by bringing a seven layer (I guess technically a six layer since I made her leave the bacon off...did you know I'm a vegetarian?) and a fruit salad, respectively. Plus, I made vanilla AND chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing, because that's how I roll people. My mom also helped with set up and clean up because she's awesome.

We didn't do a lot as far as presents go, but I made her a cute top with fabric from the dollar table at Hancock, and some sheets also off the dollar table.

And that's it, folks! If you want anymore info on anything just let me know, and I'll be happy to oblige with a tutorial or two.

We're Maybe Going Overboard...

...on this whole cheap thing, but you gotta do what works, right?

It's literally a million degrees outside right now. I shit you not. It is like walking on the sun. And, it's a thousand percent humidity. And guess what? The kids want to play outside. That's right. All those cool mornings when I was like, "No video games! Get outside and play you little slackers." And they whined like sallies. Now it's so hot that old people and babies can't leave the house without an AC unit strapped to their back, and they want to play.

Whatevs.

My manfriend being the engineering sort that he is built them a slip and slide. Yes, I know they're $2.50 at Target right now, but we already have a tarp and sprinkler.

It's like bowling, but with children!

I'm thinking about turning these into a flip book so I can laugh at my kids even when they're not around.

It hurts, but I think I like it!

Opa!

Thing 1's turn.

Right up the middle.

Strike!

Do it again, Dad!