Shameful...

1 month! Shameful, I tell you. I can't believe it has been so long. On one hand time is flying by, on the other it definitely feels like a month has passed since the last time I posted. I do have a post started 2 weeks ago that was never finished, much less posted. To sum the last month up, things have been up and down. The post started 2 weeks ago was the begining of my upswing back out of my low. What I had begun to talk about in the post is my NEED to stay positively focused and thankful for something all the time. I catch myself really falling into a bad habit of negative focus and "woe is me-isms." However, I am now feeling much better and very excited about new ventures. I feel there is so much to fill in from the last month, but I'll try to stick to the highlights.

One of the biggest highlights of my month was making a pair of tights for my daughter's 18" doll. Seems silly, but they came out SO good, PLUS I made them using a pair of her leggings that had been stained from a cocoa spill and the knees had been ripped up due to a fall at school. I adapted the pattern for a doll using Made by Rae's tutorial for baby tights.



They came out PERFECT...so much so, that I left the doll (modeling her tights, of course) on the kitchen counter for a week. Made me smile everytime I looked at them. Honestly, this is close to the most exciting thing I accomplished over the last month :)  (can you tell I am proud of them, lol)

One of the other big things going on for me right now is the quilt I am making for Malachi's new "big boy" bed. We have transitioned him into a twin bed (it's been a few month's now) and his bed is lacking in the comforter dept., so I decided to make him a quilt. I took most of the month of Jan. to decide on the fabrics, but it has all been picked out, and is now in the process of being cut up and pieced together. I will share pics. as the project progresses.

Sewing and crafting are making a strong push back into my life. I think it might be fond memories of my mom, always busy crafting with me and my sisters. I love making things for the kids, and have been spending far too much time reading other craft/sewing blogs and tutorials. It's a nice outlet for me. I was in dire need of a hobby anyway, so this is perfect. The problem right now is trying to sew with small children underfoot. It's a slow going process, and frankly, it's very frusturating at times.

The hardest thing for me right now is that I don't feel I am getting enough "me" time, and I am definitely not getting enough sleep! Any "me" time I do get or might be getting this week really needs to be spent sleeping, and I hate that!

Okay, re-focus. What am I thankful for this weekend? Yard sales! Jubal, the kids and I went to 2 yard sales yesterday. I love yard sales and we haven't been to one in a long time. Found the kids some great clothes for a quarter an item and Jube scored a few guy things too. Plus it was nice to have a stress free family outing.

Laid back Saturday

Well yesterday was super laid back. I mentioned that Jubal and Malachi went to get hair cuts and they both came back looking really good :)



He was so well behaved!



After. Isn't he just the cutest?!





Malachi is so adorable when his hair is trimmed and you can really see his face. We just spent the day putzing around. Melanie stayed the night with Grandma & Grandpa, so it was just me and boys for the first half of the day. Grandpa Dean came by and picked up Malachi and took him and Melanie to play at the McDonalds playland (with their own food snacks, of course) Jubal and I took the opportunity to go shopping at Sunny Farms, which is not something you do with 3 kids. Anyone who's ever been there knows that store is not laid out well for the volume of traffic they have. You can barely get 2 carts down the aisle...and some aisle's you can't! Was nice to shop leisurely there. Got lots of good salad makings and also the ingredients for Tom Ka Gai. I'm super excited to try making it. Jubal LOVES it and orders it everytime we go out to Thai. We'll see how it turns out. All in all, another great day and I think the grateful highlight was how much love Malachi showered me with yesterday. He just adores me! I love it.

Another great weekend....I think so.

I'm excited the weekend is here, especially since we have very little on the "to do" calendar. We are expecting a visit from friends Sunday night, but other than that we have no other plans. Jube and Malachi are off getting their haircut this morning, a nice Father/Son bonding time. Malachi was really excited to go to the "Big-Boy Barber Shop". He always looks so cute when he has his hair freshly cut. It was getting really long and I felt bad for him because it always looked like his hair was poking him in the eyes.



Before - front



Before - back.



What have I been thankful for the last few days?

Well, it seems Thursday has become such a blur that I can't even remember what we did :)

I do recall that Jubal and I turned in early, and I'm always thankful for more sleep.



Yesterday was a really nice day around the house. I've been keeping up with the house (cleaning, laundry etc.) so I was able to play with the kids and do a puzzle. I'm so addicted to puzzles that it's rare I get to start one. I can't start one unless I know I have the time to finish. I did an easy 550 just to curb the jigsaw craving. Felt great!

Today promises to be a relaxed day of casually getting things done. It's my "No stress weekend" commitment to myself and Jubal. To date, this year has been awesome. I feel like I have had a really positive outlook and low stress. Plus, I look forward to the next day! I feel extremely blessed.



I'm more committed than I look

Well, it would seem that due to my lack of posts lately that I am not as committed to this venture as I may have seemed. Half true. I have been great about thinking in a "grateful" light, but I'm not so great at posting every day. Once again, it's time to play catch up.

Monday 10th - extra late start for Mel at school today due to snow and ice. Very thankful we live within  walking distance and that Mel got to hang out at home with us for an extra hour. Was looking forward to my Monday night "me" time, but was a little short sticked because of snow. Did however get to do some shopping without kids...who doesn't love that?!

Tuesday 11th - Super tired. Marcus is not sleeping well at all due to teething. Tuesdays are babysitting day. Had my nephew plus my own two boys all morning. Boys were great though and I was able to do some crafting for niece's upcoming birthday. High of the day? Watching Despicable Me as a family and finishing b-day present for niece. Two thumbs up!

Wednesday 12th - Jube took Marcus for part of the night. Poor man is SUPER tired, but I am SUPER grateful for the sleep. Thanks honey. Wednesday date night. Woo-Hoo. Spent the day cleaning house and patting myself on the back about it. Whole day was perfect! In general, just thankful for today.

Dropping the ball already.

Crap. I'm barely a week into the new year and I'm already falling behind. Didn't blog for 2 days! I realize though that this won't be the last time, so I'll just accept that raising 3 kids is enough of a chore by itself and I won't always be able to post. Kind of worked out though because my Fri, Sat, Sun thanksgiving is that I am most thankful for this Fri, Sat, & Sun. It was SO relaxing. All in all just a fantabulous weekend. Jubal and I hardly ever have a weekend with nothing to do, not that we really had nothing to do, but we had so few committments. It was wonderful. I got the boys' room cleaned and organized, designed a quilt for their beds, took Mel to a doll club meeting and went to a friends birthday party. Not "nothing" but certainly not the kind of things that lead to stress. And the icing on the cake...SNOW. Yep, snowed for most of the morning. It just makes everything seem more peaceful and makes it so much easier to do nothing. Aaaah. Hope we get another stress free, movie watching, nap taking weekend soon.

Aaaaah. Clean spaces.

I'm full of gratitude today. Day started rough...got so little sleep, with both the little boys in my bed, that I darn near cried when it was time to get up. But I kept a postitive attitude and my day shows it. Very grateful for M.O.P.S. (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers). Went to the meeting today and enjoyed adult conversation with other moms, plus Malachi LOVES his class. He thinks it's his school, so he insists he take a back pack and sign himself in. It's so cute! Also, super thankful for my super clean room. I think it's the first time the top of my dresser has been cleared off since we moved in last Jan. It looks so good in there right now. I love it!

Harder Than I Thought?

I think this venture is going to be harder than I thought. I definitely need the accountablility to focus on positive thinking, and so far it's working. I spend all day thinking about what I'm most grateful for...I love that! However, I can see that overcoming my "I'm too tired to blog" laziness is going to be the challenge. Oh, well. I'll just have to push myself to do it, or start ending my day earlier :)
Today, I am most grateful for my youngest sister. She is always so busy, yet she never ceases to give of her time to me. She came over to watch the kids so Jube and I could go on a date and have "us" time. I didn't even ask her. I mentioned my babysitter dilemma and she jumped at the opportunity to bless us. Thank you. Since Jubal is still under the weather all we did was take care of some errands, but it was nice not to have to drag the kids along. Plus, Melanie (who was the only kid still awake when she got here) got the added bonus of  "Auntie Bonding Time". Suprisingly she didn't milk it too much. I got a call asking if Mel could stay up past bedtime to hang out some, and since I know they're time together is special I said yes. When I got home about 40 minutes later, Mel was already asleep in bed and my sister said that while they were playing Mel said "Well, I should probably go to bed. I have to get up early you know." Too funny. She is always begging us to stay up late!