Day 140

First, who (no cheating) can name what movie this song is from?

Seriously, DO NOT CHEAT.

It makes me want to do my best riverdancing impressions.  And hop and dance around my kitchen.

I recently forced Nathan to suffer through me watching aka saying every line from the movie.  He is not a fan of me doing this.  But if I have to watch 3:10 to Yuma (which I used to like until Nathan seemingly only watches that now, and is miraculously is on any time he takes control of the t.v.) then he can deal with me reciting every line from this movie, or any other one I care to as well.

It's not like I force him to go to the movies with me and Kerrie.

Believe it or not, this is a punishment, because as I said before, we don't shut up... ever.  It's like we immediately revert back to being 13 years old, and we just convinced our parents to waste money on Bop or Teen Beat magazine, so we know all the latest gossip on anyone and everyone.

Are you still with me?

I overdid it yesterday, and paid for it last night, when I became horribly tired.  That continued into today, but I refused to let it take over my life.  I snuggled with the kids in the morning, and then once Nate and Ty were in school, I took a nice walk with Brody and Keira.  I even dared to go without a stroller, (it must be due to my sick brain that I decided to do that.) but they were cooperative, well behaved, and didn't complain at all.  I think their older brothers whine more.  It must be that Brody and Keira were just grateful I was off the couch and actively interacting with them.

Funny little story; while wiping Brody's butt the other day, he gently rubbed my leg and said "Your legs are beautiful mama."  It was such a sweet moment, and he was being so genuine and loving.  Too bad he was bent over and I was wiping smelly poop from his butt.  It made me laugh, and smile.

Here's another random tid bit for you.  I stink at some basic girl things.  I love fashion.  Heck, I used to work in the center of Boston's fashion world pre-kiddos.  I had mostly designer clothes, and my mom will gladly remind me of my former disgust with the store I now could not live without, Marshalls.
But today, I was suddenly slapped in the face with my disgusting, falling apart, hand me down purse.
I generally do not buy pocket books.  My last few have been barely used hand me downs.
What kind of woman am I that I would even walk around with suck a tattered, old, falling apart thing?
Well, I decided that an evening clutch looked much better than this purse, and I rummaged through the cookie and cracker crumbs, broken crayons, random lip glosses, and a diaper that is a size too small now, decided there was nothing of use in it, and tossed it.
Evening clutch it is for now.

The floor of my car very closely resembled the bottom of my purse until yesterday, when I pulled over a trash barrel and cleaned it.  I even vacuumed it out.  No longer will I rush the kids out of the car for fear that a juice box, ten match cars, two dolls, and a sippy cup with old milk will fall out while I am talking to another mother at their school.

Because that would be embarrassing, and has never ever happened before.

Pffffshhhhhh.

The vacuum may or may not still be in my car.

At least it is clean though, right?

I swear I will change my dirty car and disgusting old purse habit before I am thirty.

Brody snuggling with me.  I love snuggling.

The new skirt I made for Keira.  I am in love with it and it took me a half hour to make. 

Day 84

 Day 84 was a filled to the brim one.  Today, although it could have been a disaster, seeing as how I couldn't sleep in the middle of the night, and got caught up watching The Prince and Me at quarter of three, not going to sleep until it was over sometime after four am, and having both Brody and Keira in my bed, both arms falling asleep as they both snuggled as close as close could be (don't get me wrong, I love snuggling these two, sometimes it just is a bit hard falling back asleep, and can be a bit crowded.),  and because Ty and Nate were having a rough time getting along in the morning, and my house felt dirty to me, so I spent the whole morning cleaning and scrubbing an mopping, I somehow salvaged those feelings and exhaustion and turned it into a wonderful day.

After cleaning, I decided to put up Valentine's Day decorations, (which I always forget to do until two days before V-Day,) I gathered the kids to make a cute Valentine's Day project to hang up.  Each child had four hearts to color and decorate as they saw fit, and I made two larger hearts, one to go at each end.  We strung those together on a string, and voila! A cute decoration.

Brody and Keira decided to put on a funny performance, which made me laugh

Keira and I painted our nails a pretty purple color.

I actually got two french braids in Keira's hair, which may or may not look like corn rows, but I did it!

And the kids and I finished off the day with a major Just Dance session, and then some Kinect bowling.

Everyone crashed fairly early and the day felt warm and fuzzy and cuddly to me at the end.

 

Brody and Keira's performance.

  

Our V-Day craft

  

Keira's braids... hey, I tried!Don't judge please, remember I have had three boys.

  

Brody was in rare form.  Or not so rare actually.

Live long and prosper.  Have I ever told you how much I loved Star Trek:The Next Generation when I was younger?  I am a total dork.  I hate my hand in pictures, so I had to do something weird.  Pretty purple color though, right?

Day 79

This is what I did today.  (Besides the normal razzle dazzle of life filled with four kids and running errands and cleaning ~ okay there was not much of that this day~ and what have you.)

But today, I made clothes.  Namely a cute little apron knot dress for Keira.  I used three different fabrics (the main retro circle fabric for the dress, striped fabric for trim and straps and ruffles around the apron, and the funky flower/stripes for the apron.)
I found a pattern, but it was for size 6/7. I worked out what a size 12-18 months would be and voila!
Not perfect by any means, but I am very proud that I made and article of clothing.
Truth be told it was not as hard as I thought it would be, and now I feel like the possibilities are endless.

I may or may not have already found a bajillion new patterns.

I will probably soon need an intervention.

Can I get a woop woop for addictive personalities?

Holiday Orders

I am now taking orders for holiday tutus,
petti-tutus,
and tulle dresses.

I can make these in any assortment of colors, or color combination.

Popular holiday colors are red, white, red and white, red white and green, black with red ribbon, blue and white
(red, green and white pictured above)

For inquiries, send me a message at NicParrish7@gmail.com

Orders placed by December 10th will have free shipping.

Happy Holidays!

Day 20

Twenty days. I will eventually go into the reason that prompted me to embark on this journey. For twenty days I have made a conscious effort to live each day with the knowledge that life is short, and I need to make the most of every precious second.
Today was another migraine day for me. What does a mom do when she's feeling under the weather and it's rainy?
Well this mom makes playdough.(photo courtesy of Nate, I know I look thrilled... this was while we were deciding what color to make the playdough.)

So instead of typing a whole lot (because I am smack in the middle of baking cookies with the kids), I will illustrate two hours of playdough making/playing with pictures.the kids were really excited. We got out all the cookie cutters and some other baking goodies to make it fun.
Brody, who normally has some major issues keeping his hands clean, did shockingly well.
Nate was making me pizza and cookies galore!
This was Keira's favorite accessory. She was singing "roll, roll roll!"
The kids thought it was lots of fun to make me things to eat (photo by Nate)
photo by Nate.
photo by Nate

My gracious daughter force feeding me her creation. Photo by Nate (thanks Nate)
Nate's playdough monster.

The day turned out to be a good one. We were even able to get together and snuggle up for a Friday night movie, one of our favorite things to do.

During this difficult time, I am so proud of my kids for banding together and being so compassionate and caring.

Home Made Gift Ideas

There is nothing like a homemade gift, and with everyone tightening their belt this year, I want to share two fun, easy, inexpensive gift ideas that are not only home made, but are easy for kids to make themselves or assist you in making.
Last year the kids and I made home made French Vanilla Hot Chocolate, and made "ice cream cones" to give as gifts. We purchased clear pastry bags (can be found at any crafts store) and scooped in the hot chocolate powder. We then put a scoop of mini marshmellows, then topped that with a scoop of chocolate chips. We tied off the bag with a red ribbon, and made a little gift tag with instructions.
You can make this process even easier by purchasing pre made hot chocolate powder.
These make great gifts alone, but can also make perfect gift toppers.


Relatives love to have new, updated photos of kids, and you will love sharing your special moments as well. A unique way to do this is with a puzzle piece picture frame.
If you have any cardboard, or even an empty cereal box, you already have the backing for your frame! Place your photo on the cardboard and trace around it to get the approximate size. I recommend leaving a 1" to 1/2" border around the photo, depending on the relation of the faces to the edge of the photo. Next get out some of those straggler puzzle pieces. (You know you will never find those 3 missing piece from that box you've been saving!) Or pick up a puzzle at your local dollar store. Get the kids involved by having them paint the puzzle pieces. We prefer washable paint in our house. Next Glue the photo to your pre cut piece of cardboard, and glue your colorful puzzle pieces around the edges. Add some glitter, or pom poms to the frame. Personalize it. you can write letters on each puzzle piece. Have fun with your design!

Holiday Wreath Craft

This Holiday Wreath craft can be a fun way to get the family into the spirit of the holidays, no matter what age. It also makes a wonderful gift.
What you will need:

• paint (preferably washable)
• Paint brushes
• Construction paper
• Glue
• Ribbon

How to make it:
Dab your child's hand or hands with paint (green/red pain for a traditional holiday wreath, or make a fall one, using yellows, oranges, reds and browns.. HAVE FUN WITH IT. Another tip, add some glitter to the paint, to really make it "sparkle".)
Make the hand prints all the way in a circle, try overlapping them a bit.
When you are done making handprints, take a paint brush and dab little "berries" on the wreath. When making a fall wreath, try making a few twigs or a pine cone.
Next take some ribbon, try making a bow, or have fun "stringing" it through the wreath. Just use some glue to keep it on.
Carefully cut around the wreath, to make a circle. If you'd like, punch a hole in the top and loop some more ribbon through for easy hanging.

Keira's Paintings

I finally waited out sales and got canvases at 80% off (yes I actually waited for a sale to buy them) and painted the pictures for Keira's nursery. I've had the idea for a while, and am so happy to have finished. I didn't want them to look polished or perfect. I wanted a raw, almost shabby chic look to them. I am happy with the end result. Here they are:

Stockings

I grew up with an amazing stocking. It was something I loved, and looked forward to taking out every year. I really wanted my kids to have a similar feeling when they took out their stockings each Christmas. I asked Nathan's mom (she is an expert at all things sewing) how difficult it would be to create stockings. She thankfully offered herself to help, and when I say help, I mean REALLY help create these stockings for our family. We worked for just under TWELVE HOURS yesterday. I think they are absolutely beautiful, and am so proud of them. In case you can't really see all the details, here's a basic description of them. All of the stockings are black micro-suede fabric. The boys have a cream satin cuff on the top, myself and the baby have a dusty mauve cuff with a lace trim. Each stocking has a name embroidered in an old english type script, and has two holiday designs on either side of the name. Each person's stocking has a picture from their first Christmas, protected with a vinyl cover and has (for the boys) a cream, (and girls) or dusty mauve thick ribbon around the picture. They are simple, yet timeless (in my opinion) and I am SO SO SO happy with them. I learned so much from Nathan's mom when making them and really just couldn't be happier! My stocking (also what the baby's will look like, but we have to put the name on before we can complete it.)

Nathan's stocking

Brody's stocking

Ty's stocking Nate's StockingWhen looking for my first Christmas picture, I came upon these and they reminded me so much of the ones I just took of Brody. Just thought I'd share.