The girl can talk

Oh the places we go

Ever feel like you're carrying the weight of the world when you travel with little kids? Like there are way more bags than people, and each single bag outweighs the heaviest child. Sean thought I was overreacting those first few months when Ty was a baby but he has seen and believed, (and been caught without what he needs,) enough that he doesn't argue with my arsenal of luggage. I'm always on the hunt for the perfect bag and lately I've carried one big diaper bag with all three of my kids' stuff in it. If I can literally shoulder the weight then it's much easier than each one having a separate bag, especially if we're going somewhere for just a little while. Once again CSNstores has me on the hunt for a purse small enough to fit into my huge diaper bag. See, that's perfect. A big bag for the kiddies that isn't maybe the cutest thing but just when I see my cuteness diminishing I can pull out a small, pretty, and functional little purse. I've been browsing for hours.

That may or may not be what I've done two days in a row during nap time.

It helps me brave this heat, too, looking at winter-ish purses. It should make me depressed but I'm able to zone out and dream about the day when jackets don't cause heat rashes. Or the day that a snow cone doesn't sound like the best thing I've ever eaten. Or the day that I don't seriously consider running around outside when the sprinklers are on. When the kids are in bed.

Okay I'm done now. I'm off to the pool.

Ty's room makeover

While painting the girls' room I decided that it might be fun to paint Ty's too. When I was waiting on the paint to be mixed at Home Depot I checked the "Oops" paint table and lo and behold there was the color I was thinking for Ty's room. Like exactly the right color. $5 later and after a few recovery days (I needed a break after the girls' room) I went to work. His room is smaller than theirs so I started and finished today. Here are before and afters

Before:












And after















My dad made this for Ty before he was born. He and mom found the unfinished airplane and dad painted it. We decided he has to like airplanes at least until he is old enough to buy and hang his own decorations.






Another painting success! I'm so retiring now. My right arm hurts.

Memory game

I have a fun project to show you. My mom discovered it and made it for Ty and it's been a huge hit. It's a Martha project. I'll give you all the links that you'll need, (at least that's my goal...) and you can get started making one for your child or any other child that you are willing to do crafts for. As far as Martha projects go this one's pretty easy. Believe me I know. I've tried a few other ones mom has recommended and sometimes Martha outdoes herself. I've heard she gets up at like 4 am to work on stuff and from some of the things she creates I totally believe it.

Here is the direct link where you can watch Martha make the game.

She gives you a link to the craft store where you can find the wooden tiles. I ordered directly from them and since they shipped from the DFW metroplex I got them in two days. The set of 25 tiles was $5.00. Clip art is free and ModPodge is like $6.00. The way I see it this is way more fun to give for a gift because you can make it so personal and you can't beat a personalized gift for $11.00.

Now for my words of wisdom: Order the tiles that are 2" in diameter. They come in many sizes but smaller than that is tricky when you have little babies in the house.






The clip art can also be tricky to find the right size for the squares. The best one I've found is here. Just print the pages that you like and then cut them out. Use ModPodge to glue them onto the squares.






I used the same paintbrush that I finished the trim in the girls' room but feel free to use a new brush.

I know, I know, I'm just so helpful to recommend that.

Really, this is a joy to make. You can take my word for it that 2/3 of my kids LOVE this game and it's actually good for them because it teaches them something as they play. (I guess all play teaches them something-never mind.)

If you decide to make this I hope you like it! I know you will.

A room for two

Couldn't get the kids to stand still but you're used to that by now.

Good Lord I'm behind

I have lots of good excuses but they don't matter. I'm so behind on filling you in on big stuff that has been going on.

First, Louraine's surgery was today. I forgot to mention it here with getting things ready for the kids to go to Nattie and Popeye's, (so that Sean and I could both go to the hospital,) and I feel terrible that I didn't remember to ask you to pray for her. The great news is that the surgery was successful in all ways and the Dr said that after taking two lymph nodes surrounding the mass and those showed no signs of cancer she feels like the prognosis is really good. Apparently the kind of cancer it is, (if I wasn't so dang tired I might remember the name,) is synonymous with quick spreading and bad outcomes but in her case she appears to be spared from the worst case scenario stuff. She will go through chemo and radiation but her prognosis is good based on what happened today. Praise the Lord. When Sean's dad told us what the Dr told him right after the surgery was completed we were so relieved. Sean left the room for a second and when he came back he said he was just so overwhelmed with relief that he needed a minute to say his own "thank you" to the Lord. I thought that was really sweet. I'm not gonna lie I was worried that he didn't hear his dad correctly and had misinterpreted the news as bad when I couldn't find him. Ha!

I've painted the girls room and I love it. Charlie likes it but wants it red instead. (It's turquoise, if you couldn't tell from the picture.) I'll post pictures from my phone here in a little while. My camera is kind of lost right now so for the foreseeable future I'll be using my phone for all pictures. I know where my camera is so don't worry. At least I'm almost positive I know where it is.

We found out good news about Sean's health yesterday. His was not as scary as his moms but any health issue with your spouse or your parents or your children, or your friends or just complete strangers, really, brings anxiety and need for prayer. This situation did cause some anxiety and we got the "all clear" for that yesterday too.

Which basically all adds up to show you how tired I am tonight. For no real physical reason other than the Africa heat we're experiencing here. I'm just so relieved. I think a good 12-13 hour night of sleep is in order. Oh wait. I forgot to tell you that both girls are sick. Only colds we think but there's a bad cough involved so I made an appt to take them both in tomorrow just in case. We've been giving Charlie breathing treatments every few hours and that is helping her. We're so proud of her for sitting by herself and taking her treatments. She'll say, "Charlie so big girl she take medicine and get candy!" It's her longest, most meaningful sentence.

Well, that and, "If you're happy and you know it do all fwee, clah clah stop stop herray!"

Before and not quite after

The girls room before





And during


But not quite after yet. Working on it!