Shir Happy

I heard from a friend (you know who you are) about smocking your own material by winding elastic thread into the bobbin of your sewing machine. It is such an easy technique and you can totally transform any baggy boring shirt like this...

Into THIS!!...

Now I'm rethinking my whole pile of frumpy clothes that were heading to the donation drop off.

Want to know how to do it? I just searched "elastic thread smocking" and a number of tutorials came up. I found this one & this one the most helpful.

I didn't have to sew any edges, because the shirt was already made!

I did three rows around the neck, five around the waist, and four on the sleeves. To get the waist in the right place, I just put my hands around the smallest part of my waist and pinned the front, back and sides to guide myself for the middle row, then sewed two lines above and below that.

I used the edge of the foot to measure the distance between each row-probably 1/4 inch apart.
Instead of spraying the thread with water, I used my iron at its highest heat and steam levels and steamed away. It shrunk up nicely.

Now I'm going to get started on some dresses for Afton and maybe work on some of my old t-shirts. This is so fast and easy AND it's a style that I see in all of the stores right now. Can you tell that I'm a little excited about this?

Baby kisses.

I didn't want to post this because of my gigantor five head-too large to be graded as a forehead. Gotta love genetics. But then I told myself to get over it and share one of the cutest tricks Afton can perform on demand!

The past few days...

Teething beauties!

Um...cute.

Mommy watch me. Hey mommy, come see.
Hey mommy you wanna see the flowah spwinkwah?
Hey mommy, fowow me. Ovah hee-ah. Watch this, mommy!

My Cowboys!

We are so lucky to have such good friends!
"Miss Susie" (on the left) boards her two horses just a few blocks from our house and she's been taking our boys to ride them for a while now. Her daughter is on the right, and her niece is in the middle. Yesterday afternoon I tagged along so I could see what they've been up to. Susan has warned me that Ayden LOVES riding, so I'm thinking we might have to do something about that in the future. I don't know what yet because I am clueless about horses, but Susan is the best person to give me suggestions.

You have to get a close-up on Ian's face (SO CUTE!)

He doesn't look thrilled at all because he wanted to GO.
He was tired of taking pictures. He wanted to start riding.
Ian kept telling me to go away when he was chasing after Miss Susie.
I was not welcome in their cowboy domain.
I promised them that I will never go again (yeah right).
When they were finished riding I took a turn on the horse Ian was riding-by myself. I even trotted a little. I have no idea how to ride, so my body was just rattled to bits. It was not documented, so you don't get to poke fun at me.

On the Mend

Afton has been a lot more cheery yesterday and today. I counted six bruises where they tried her IVs. They don't bother her, but they make me cringe. She's up to three steps now in the walking department. She has bumps all over her forehead from getting too brave with this new adventure. I think maybe the steroids gave her a boost!
Ian's poop came back normal, so no worries there. We just have to keep the BRAT diet going for a while. Today I got super cabin fever, so I took the boys to the circus on a whim.

(Hooray for $10 cotton candy! At least the magician's hat came with it.)

It was fun, but was a little too much for Ian. He's still getting over the sinusitis.

I pushed my luck going to the Circus today. I'll see how he is in the morning.

Josh got more sick and actually went to the doctor-which is a big deal b/c he never goes. He got a steroid shot, an antibiotic, and something else to help him get better. I'm relieved that I don't have to pin him down and squirt his medicine in his mouth for him like the rest of this bunch!!
So Ayden doesn't get left out: he's been entertaining himself quite well. He's been loving his vacation so far. He hasn't gotten bored yet.

He's really good about finding something to do on his own as you can see above. A cheap bag of rubber bands has produced hours of creativity for him. I really like this age. My brother told me that age six is fun, and he was right. Although he's not quite six yet, I've seen a shift of maturity in him. I can't believe how fast time is flying by. When did my little Ayden turn into the oldest child of three?

Okay, the livin' ain't all easy.

We've had a sick little family for about a week now. Josh, Ian and Afton all shared the same cold that Ayden and I apparently have some immunity to thank goodness. Afton was already coming off of her 4th round of antibiotics from yet another ear infection, but on Friday last week we discovered that her ears weren't improving any, so round five and a referral to an ENT were the result. On Tuesday I took Afton to see the ENT and he agreed with her PCP that some tubes were needed. Everything went in fast forward from then until now. I had a lot of doctor visits and paperwork to iron out the details and we are now back home from her little surgery. Robin came as moral support since her little Annie had tubes put in her ears not long ago and she coached me through the whole ordeal. Afton also had her adenoids cauterized-burned out-which seem to be the most painful thing for her right now. The only issue they had in surgery was giving her an IV. They had to try all four of her feet and hands before they finally got a good vein. It took 10-15 minutes just for the stinking IV. Thank goodness she was already knocked out for that part. Her right ear was the worst. The doctor had to put the tube in AND cut an extra incision to drain everything out. EWWW! Now we get to watch for all of this gunk to drain out of her ears and nose. Nice. I'm just happy that it won't be building up behind her eardrums anymore. This baby can finally get some relief. The adenoid removal should also help deter future sinus issues that always turn into ear infections AND sometimes wheezing. We were actually in the ER last Friday night with her b/c of wheezing. I forgot to mention that visit!
Now we're waiting for Ian to poop, so we can bring a sample of it to the hospital to make sure he doesn't have a parasite-he's had the big "D" for four weeks now. Lots of extra washings have been going on for a while b/c of Mr. Charles. Let's just say that potty training went on a hiatus for a while.
I'm changing my tune to "Summertime, and the livin' is unpredictable". It's times like these that make me LOVE the normal lazy days. Hopefully we have lots of those coming in our near future.
Oh, and our computer has been RIDICULOUS lately, so I'm behind on everything internet related (just in case some of you have been missing my comments;)