Birthday stuff...

Yesterday N & V and LaLa came over to help us celebrate a birthday for Mr. Wise Guy, and somehow the camera got switched to an odd setting and every pic turned out blurry. This was the clearest of the lovely mud pie cake. :) Actually it was a cookies'n'cream ice-cream cake ring with hot fudge and oreo crumbs drizzled/sprinkled over the top, but it pretty much looks like a volcano erupted in this picture. :) It was quite tasty though and the kids loved helping make it because they got to sample alot. ;)

I just had to add this one as it looks a little more appealing. :) We call it "The Chocolate Oreo Crunch Cake" otherwise known as a Pile of Yum!

I decided it was time for Daddy Dear to have a little something for his desk to rememind him of his kiddos waiting for him at home, so we had fun making this "Pot of sunshine" for him.

It is simply a cheap colorful flower pot from Walmart, filled with rocks, and poked full of pens with flowers attached to their tops.

There are pictures on each side of the centers of the flowers with little notes around them.

The back side

The front side.

I glued the pics onto paper and cut out with a border so I could simply write the messages on with a pen. I then glued them to both sides of the Foamie flowers that we cut out and attached to the pipe-cleaners, which were already attached to the pens with a little bit of creative twisting.

On the front of each flower there is a little saying about something to do with the daily stresses of life that has a semi-coordinating picture...

And the back has some words of cheer to counterbalance it...also with a picture to go along.

It was a fun project to do, but I still have a few more "projects" I'm trying to finish before the weekend so I can send them back with visiting family...and my house needs some serious work in the clean department(not so much messy as it is dirty)...and I need to make bread...and we're out of cookies (which is a calamity in this house)...and I have a basket of dirty laundry that needs spotting...and a Mt. of clean that still needs folding (but hey, at least its clean!)...and I really should be working on my sewing...and it is meeting tonight...and quite frankly, today I'm feeling exhausted. :) Probably because yesterday I got up at 5:00 am and went to bed at nearly11, and the last 2 nights I've been up alot with Elliott for whatever reason.

Guess I'm just getting warmed up for life with a new baby. ;)

If only every day could be as balanced, uncluttered, orderly, peaceful and relaxing as this appears to be. :)

But don't let this picture fool you! :D Check out the front side!. :D

More often than not this view is more like my day....

cluttered, slightly out of balance, with so much different stuff going on at once its hard to stay focused. Even some cropping and editing won't improve it that much. :)

But it really is the same scene from the front and the back( and no the top one has not been cropped or edited)...

Its just all about perspective! :)

project updates

Well, since we got sick very shortly after returning from our week long vacation I haven't done much in the projects department. I did however manage to sneak in a few things here and there.

Since we recieved 2 new members to the Mousie family we immediately had to make them some beds. I could only manage to come up with one of the twins when I snapped these pics so the other will just have to remain uncelebrated. :) The point was to show you the 2 cribs we whipped out the other day. I still want to paint them white and make the bedding, but here they are as is...

I sewed a little dress with attached diaper for the girl one. The babies are soo tiny it is very tricky to sew anything for them. The hand is there for size comparison...please ignore the fact that I really needed some lotion (I had just finished sanding the cribs).

And here is the first of several dresses I have on my to-do list. Some are for Kate and some are for friends/relatives. I managed to whip this up in the first couple days home before the kids and I and Mr. Wise Guy got sick and things got way behind around here. I think I'm finally back to the point of breaking out the fabric again...or at least pretty close to it. The house still needs a little work, but it pretty much always does so I can't say that will hold me back. :)

My model was very cooperative as she wanted to see the pics of herself. Plus she found out how fun it is to twirl in a full skirt. I love the way this dress turned out so I hope the rest come out just as good...Minus the horrible mistake I made. I was on the finishing stretch and was trying to be extra careful with the serging but still managed to catch a big chunk of the skirt in the serger leaving an awful gaping hole in it. Thankfully it is such a full skirt and the ties are very BIG so was able to sneak in an extra seam that is very unnoticable.