dora dora dora the explorer!

so we celebrated gracie's 2nd birthday yesterday. don't look too closely at dora's face... the cake sunk in a bit and her nose and mouth are a bit jacked up. oh yeah, and once i got to the party and looked at all the decorations, i realized that dora's bracelet is supposed to be yellow, not white. after i pointed that out, i got teased for messing up the bracelet (only because my family knows how obsessive i am and how the bracelet mishap would really bug me).

i made some cupcakes too- these are REALLY messed up. i was completely out of patience by then and just slopped them together. and carter kept sticking his fingers in them... the whole time i was decorating the cake and cupcakes, carter kept coming in the kitchen and saying "mom, what you doin?" i would tell him "making a cake"... to which he would respond "you makin a cake mom? oh." this conversation happened about 47 times... hence the completely out of patience.

grace sat on nanny's (wheelchaired) lap for the cake... and cried when everyone sang!

look at how thrilled she looks...

carter was eating his cupcake by the fist-full!

gerry became the jungle gym afterwards...

sidenote: clay built his jump up a little more on saturday... here he goes!

green and brown

so i actually DID get some stuff done tonight. and apparently i have been a big fan of the green and brown combo...

and i am just absolutely LOVING these key fobs... i just hope other people are loving them as well. i made these tonight once i put the brown thread in my machine.

and then there is this material. it's really cute, but VERY thin. this bag turned out like crap. i need to figure out something else to do with this cute stuff.

well, i have one more bag that i cut out this week to put together. and if i can make another 2 or 3 tomorrow night i will be pleased. wish me luck at this show on saturday... whatever money i make at this show will buy me vacation clothes. and chubby girl needs some new clothes! :)

oh yeah, and by the way, i started reading the twilight series 2 weeks ago. i can NOT stop reading! i'm half way through the 4th book... it is SO GOOD!!! i feel like a 15 year old. but seriously, they are REALLY good... and i'm not typically a vampire kind of girl. if you have not read them, read them. if you think that you are too old, or too cool for these books, read them. the movie? it was ok. i honestly expected edward to be better looking though... anyone???

boring post

so i have a craft show this weekend with tina. i have not done very much to get ready for this show. i cut out 8 bags the other night, but have yet to put them together. between my mother in law still being out of commission, getting ready (mentally and physically) for vacation next week, and trying to get through the twilight books, i have been just too doggone tired to sew. yeah, i said "doggone". i decided last night that it was time to get something accomplished... so i made 18 key fobs. still haven't made those 8 bags i cut out... although i did put the straps together. that's it... tonight i WILL get those bags made. i have to. stay tuned for a post of cute new bags tomorrow! :)

a busted leg, mardi gras, the first bonfire, and a few days off

so this past weekend we attended mardi gras in ellicottville. this was the snow bar/band at holiday valley. the boys skied, the girls hung out, we headed to the (lame) parade, and then downtown for a bit. it was not as fun as i had expected though... probably because our other third was absent. friday evening, my mother in law had an accident and ended up in the hospital with a busted leg. my sister in law spent the weekend in the hospital with her, which kept her from the fun and festivities. in case you're wondering, my mother in law is doing ok, but she has a long road of recovery ahead of her.

here is chippy, rocking my old sunglasses and some chocolate...

clay is rocking another pair of sunglasses and some beads... he thinks he is SO cool!

then, on monday, we celebrated the beautiful weather with the first bonfire of the season!

the boys were SOOOOOOOOOOO excited!

clay roasted a zillion (very stale) marshmallows.

chip just ate them raw.

tucker even came out back to join in the festivities!

here is the hubby and i...

since my mother in law was M.I.A. we had no babysitter monday, tuesday, or wednesday... so i had to stay home with chip. i got my car cleaned out though (thank goodness!- i think things were beginning to grow in there!)

chip worked on riding his 2 wheel bike...

we went for a little walk in the woods...

and in true stead fashion, the dirt bikes came out... grace loves it almost as much as chip! :)

tubby time!

so my kids LOVE the bath tub. if i allowed it, they would stay in for HOURS! i'm not going to lie, many evenings i will put them in the tub and go about my merry way... do the dishes, do some laundry, or (usually) go on facebook. well santa claus brought them some bath tub crayons in their stockings and they LOVE them!

and of course they draw dirt bikes...

this has to be my favorite though... it is a picture of clay doing a flip on his dirt bike, over the big hills... and apparently it is in the u.s.a. too funny...

fish guts

so this weekend was dedicated to ice fishing. although it certainly was not myself who was ice fishing... on saturday, gerry and clay went out on lake erie for a bit, then gerry went again on sunday. here is the bucket of perch he came home with on sunday... they didn't have much luck on saturday- too cold!
the boys watched gerry filet the fish... at my kitchen table.

apparently they found it fascinating... i found it disgusting.

clay had a good idea... when gerry showed him the egg sac in one of the fish, he suggested we put the eggs in our fish tank and "grow some more fish!"