Snow in March?

Yes, that is right...snow in March.  So strange to me.  I couldn't get a quick google answer for the last time we had snow in March, but I don't ever remember snow this late and I've lived here all my life!

Malachi woke up and came into my room to snuggle at 7:45.  I pulled him in bed with me and turned on his favorite show (I do this every morning so that he doesn't wake up his sister.  Bubs got the early riser gene from Samuel and Sis the sleep in one from me.)  For some reason, he looked out the mini-blinds and declared "it's snowing!".  He often mistakes frost for snow, but he was insistent it was real snow, so I looked myself.  Sure enough, lots of big snow flakes were falling and the grass was completely covered.  He was so excited.  I think all the commotion woke up Sapphira since she started crying and calling for me to get her out of bed (she woke up nearly 2 hours earlier than her usual...this evening should be interesting!).  We watched it fall together for a bit before it tapered off and Malachi asked to go outside.  It took me a while to put together warms outfits for them (Malachi ended up wearing my pink gloves...it doesn't snow enough here so I don't keep good track of where the kid's warm hats and gloves are!) and it had nearly all melted in the front yard, so we headed out back.  

Sadie was sooooo happy to have someone to play with!

Playing with her snowy outdoor kitchen.

This little boy is always digging!

♥

She's always with us...even in the snow.

We saw a couple types of birds and even a squirrel ran across our fence this morning.

I was surprised by how much life there was in our backyard given it's been so cold lately.  

This is what I get for asking her to smile...goodness I love her.

Here's how picture taking goes at the Ramos house.  I asked to hug each other and smile nicely...

...first comes the cheesers...

...oh Bubba...

...not you, too, Sapphira!

Finally!  I just love them!

We didn't get to stay out too long since the snow quickly melted and mud soon developed, but long enough to get some energy out and have some fun!  Yay for an exciting morning!  Now to get ready for work!  oy :)

sigh...

(Sorry if this post isn't put together well.  My brain is quite scattered today, my anxiety is threatening to get the best of me, and I cried about a tiny baby girl in the foyer at church this morning.  oy)

Well, maybe 2012 isn't going to be as nice to us in the baby making department as I had hoped. In February, we lost another little one.  

Last month, I was aware of when my cycle was occurring and we made a conscious effort to get pregnant.  Since my last miscarriage in August, I had been starting my period several days earlier than I ever have (usually the day after I should have ovulated), so when this early "start date" came and went with nothing happening, I had a feeling that we were successful in conceiving.  This is the same feeling I got about each of my baby's genders (and had been correct about all three times we got that far), so I took a pregnancy test.  Positive.  I hadn't missed the traditional start of my period yet, but since I had gotten 3 or 4 positive pregnancy tests, we felt pretty confident that we had indeed conceived.  On February 13th,  I took another test at home when I woke up, but it was negative, so we decided I should go in for a blood draw to get a more accurate answer.  The blood work came back negative, and I started my period later that day.  After doing some online research, we discovered that the brand of home tests we using are reliable and also learned about chemical pregnanices, and we feel pretty certain that this is what happened to us.  

Like I have stated before, we believe that life begins at the moment of conception, so I am sure that we have another little one waiting in Heaven for us.  I know that I never really missed my period, so had we not been trying we would have never known of this child's existence until we met Jesus, but for us, the loss stings just as much.  Those 2 or 3 days of thinking I was pregnant brought so much hope.  After so much dispair, it was incredible how little hope it took to start thinking of names and planning life a year from now.  We found ourselves talking about if we would need a new car and talking about how things would work with 3 babies at home.  I was telling a close friend that I felt a little silly for starting to get excited since I knew all to well that it could be all gone tomorrow.  We both agreed that we need to "bond" with and love our children no matter now long they are around.  We wouldn't have denied Natalie love even though she wasn't to live long, would we? So now we look forward to another little one waiting for us at Jesus' feet.  While I am soooo thankful for my life and family here on earth, there are some days I think meeting Jesus can't come soon enough.

Mommy loves you, babies. xoxoxoxo 

Glow stick Jars

I have seen this idea on numerous blogs and even pinned it so that I would remember to do it someday with the kiddos.  The kids and I had to make a trip to the dollar store and happened to pass by the packages of glow stick bracelets while I was there.  I quickly put a couple of packages in the cart and told the kids that if they were good, we'd get to use them for a project later that night.  Once it was dark, we got started.  All you have to do it cut open the glow stick and empty the contents into a jar (we used glass containers).

Malachi chose the blue glow stick...it ended up being the brightest. 

Happy, happy kiddos!  We did it right before bed so they could have them for at bedtime and both were super excited for their special night light

We discovered that the pink, orange, and yellow don't work nearly as well as the blue and purple (blue was actually the best).  We ended up adding the pink, orange and yellow sticks all together in Sapphira's and it wasn't nearly as bright as Malachi's one blue stick.  The packages said the sticks were non-toxic, so I didn't wear gloves when I cut them open.  When I turned the lights off, my hands and counters looked like something of off CSI with all the glowing splatters everywhere.  I was thankful the mess wiped up easily and washed right off my hands.  Since we had the jars on hand, this project ended up costing less than $2 (we ended up using less 2 whole packages).  A good price for so much fun if you ask me! :)

How to make Sapphira Happy in 5 Minutes Flat!

A while ago, I was given a stack of blue and yellow place mats.  At our first home they would have fit in, but the way we have our home currently decorated, they don't match.  I used one or two to make some of these aprons, but still had several laying around.  The kids had gotten a hold of two of them and one day while looking at them laying haphazardly on my living room floor, an idea came to me...a dolly sleeping bag.  My mom made me one for my Barbies (which I still have by the way!) complete with a zipper, but I didn't feel like getting that involved in this project.  I asked Sapphira which side of the place mat she preferred and got to work.  I guess this turned into a mini tutorial! 

Supplies:

Sewing Machine

Coordinating thread

Two placemats

I measured how far from the top I wanted to start/stop sewing and marked that with double pins.  I find that if I don't make it completely and totally obvious for myself, I will sometimes air-headly sew all the way around and have to pull out my stitches...oy 

 I added a second seam for stability.

 Add "Cake" and your finished!  I was going to try to get a picture of Sapphira in action with it, but once I showed her how it worked, she ran off into her room to give Cake a nap...there was no stopping her!  She was so excited that night that Cake had her own bed and laid her down next to her pillow and gave her a kiss "nigh-nigh".  So cute!

So that is how to make Sapphira happy in 5 minutes flat! :)

Aggy's Bee-day!

Cousin Addy's birthday was in the middle of January, and our kids were incredibly excited for it starting the moment they got their invitations in the mail for her January 13th party.  Every morning, Sapphira would ask "Aggy's Bee-day?"  You would have thought the day I was able to say "yes" to her question was the best day of her life.  Clapping and dancing ensued! :)  All the way to the party she sang "Aggy Bee-day to you!".  Addy was able to invite a few friends to her party for the first time and the girls had so much fun dressing up like princesses and running around the house while super hero Malachi saved them from various bad things.  So cute!

Since Addy was given her own American Girl style doll for Christmas, I made her three outfits for her new dolly.  A dear friend let me borrow one of her daughter's American Girl dolls so I could test the fit of the items I sewed...thank you so much B! (A quick side note: B found this doll at a garage sale for $4 complete with purple ink in the hair, chopped locks and drawing on the limbs.  Who lets their kids do that to their toys, let alone a $100 doll?!?  oy  Turned out good for B, though! :D)

Outfit one: purple lacy t-shirt with coordinating wrap skirt and flower head band.

Shirt pattern here.  My machine would scream at me each time I tried to sew on the sleeves, so I left them off and added lace on the arm holes and neckline.

The back was split and had hook and loop tape...so easy for little fingers!

Headband tutorial here.  This would be so easy and fun to make matching ones for the dolly and girl!

Wrap skirt pattern here.  

This could easily be made into a reversable skirt, but I didn't have enough coordinating fabric.

Outfit two: Blue patterned dress with white ric rack accents. Dress pattern here.

I just love all these fun details.  This dress was sewn with a zipper down the back.  It took a few times to get it just right using the methods she recommends, but I thought it looked nice and made the dress lay neatly on the doll. 

I also made this dress with pink gingham and while ties.  I totally forgot to give it to her at her party and gave back B's doll before I remembered to take pictures.  I thought it was super cute and the pattern was easy to follow with good results.  We rounded out the gift with some white flats I got from Joann's (who would have thought they'd have dolls and doll clothing?)  I was able to use a 50% coupon and get the shoes for less than $3!  :)

Addy seemed quite pleased with her gift and I have seen both Addy and Bella's dolls wearing the creations. It makes me feel good to make someone happy! :)

Ornamentation

Each year, we make sure the kids have a new ornament to add to the tree.  When we have extra money, we let the kids pick out one from the store.  During lean years, I usually make them with supplies I have on hand or that I can acquire inexpensively.  This was a leeeeeeeean year!  I had filed this tutorial in the back of my brain when I read it a couple years ago, and based my design off of.  I try to incorporate the owner's interests or at the very least their favorite colors.  Here's this years!

Samuel's...

mine...

Natalie's (lavender and light green always mean Natalie to me, so I always use this combination)...

Bubs (he switches between red and green as his favorite on a weekly basis! :D)...

Sister (she is in love with the color pink at the moment)...

and our two sweethearts who met Jesus this year.

Once I hung them up, the kids had so much fun trying to find each family member's ornament by the letter stitched into it and chattering all about the colors.  Both kids told me that they loved their ornaments (totally unsolicited!) which made my heart happy.  I also stitched '11 on the back of each ornament so we could remember which year these were for!  Nothing like spending absolutely no money and a lazy Sunday afternoon to make every one happy!

Happy New year!

We made a point to save some of our 4th of July fireworks so that we could have some for New Years and birthdays.  We told the kids we had a surprise to do together once it was dark and they were super excited to learn it was setting off fireworks!  Sparklers were once more the big favorite and again Sapphira cried when they were all gone. :D

I was experimenting with the settings on my camera and made Samuel take pictures while I messed around.  Happy 2012!!!

 I just love these pictures of the kids having sooooooo fun!  If you look carefully at the last photo, you can see Sapphira's smile!  So sweet!  

I just love how much more fun everything is when kiddos are around!  Mommy and Daddy were asleep by midnight, only being woken by the barking dog once the loud fireworks started!  Here's to making 2012 wonderful!