End of school...summer to dos...and some sewing projects...

23 weeks 2 days of this baby boy belly.  Lots to do before he comes! 

But lots of fun to pass the time and heat! 

*1 trip to Virginia

*1 wedding

*1 camping trip (as of yet)

*two soccer seasons to begin

*My belly seems to have grown significantly this week too...I'm currently 24 weeks 3 days.

I haven't sewn much lately... but

I've had a crush on this apple and pear fabric for a long time! 

So I was super excited to find it in a retail store!  JoAnn's no less!  In fact, my sil had told me she saw it there one day and I thought she was thinking of a different fabric.  Sorry Amy!  I didn't believe her!  Anyhow, I made one of these bibs for my new neice last October and a friend's baby girl this spring.  Georgia also got a brown blanket with white polka dots on one side and white minky fabric on the other. 

The two on the right are burp cloths.

And here's a dipers and wipes case.  I made it a bit oversized.

This lemon apron is from last October!  I made it for my friend and wish I took some notes.  I really love it!  I copied a style from Anthropologie and it worked pretty well...except that I don't have smocking abilities so the top is different than theirs.  The top edge and bottom by the ruffle is a crocheted lace.  The band around the middle and ties at the top are a plain apricot color with the fun green with polkies at the bottom! 
And another last fall for my sister!

I've started a to do list for this summer...

I need to chart out a calendar...with our trip to VA, motley sibling visits around here,  Motley family reuinion camping at Dana Point...I want to schedule some family day trips and weekday field trips. 

Tahoe, SF, Fairytale Town, Squirts park, slip n' slide play dates, etc!

but also organinzing school projects, creating new church bag booklets/journals and and am hoping to add some sewing projects...a copy of this apron for me...hopefully a birdie sling for me...and something new for our new baby in the fall(I've recently seen some really cute fabric for boys...geometric with good colors - let's just hope I can find it in the stores! It'll be fun!

Way to go Ryan!  Good job in 1st Grade!  Mrs. Cern was a great teacher ~ especially for our

transition from one school to another!

And so far to kick off the summer we replaced dead batteries in yearned to be playing with toys...

and went out for Ice Cream!

Ryan got some early birthday presents from Grandma and Grandpa Motley...

And we enjoyed a nice evening with friends and Bob's Famous Tacos! Ryan ate almost three this year! 

How cute are these kids????  The ones which aren't mine

are kids of a friend of Scott's since early childhood!

And we had a fun birthday party for Ryan last night!  Instead of R2-D2 he requested R4...Obi Wan's droid.

Personally I didn't even know what he was talking about...

but Ryan definitely has his own ideas of how he wants things so that's what he got!

And we had fun with a pinata.  I love how any kid in any generation will love a pinata! 

Look at the faces of Ryan and his friend and Sean (partly cut off). 

Such happiness! After everyone got a turn he and another got to have turns without the blindfold!  Scott had a fun time teasing the kids by pulling the pinata up and out of their aim!

For such a busy week it was a fun and rather easy party! 

R4

Aprons!

I've gotten to do some fun sewing projects lately!

Kindergarten teacher and

teacher aide present: Half Apron

Friend's birthday present: Halter Apron

My apron! Reversible...

My sil Amy fell in love with sewing recently...I'm thinking she got a sewing machine for Christmas? Anyhow, she quickly got started on some great projects including a fantastic diaper bag and Amy Butler Sling bag. After her cool projects we talked about the fun sewing projects we wanted to do during her 6 week stay while her husband was in the Navy Officer Training Program on the east coast. We also talked about how much we loved great fabric and how fun it'd be to go fabric shopping together! We accomplished some fun fabric shopping trips, some even without my older children in tow! One trip with all the sil's we had 4 adults and 8 kids in the fabric store! If you haven't been to a fabric store with children...it's not the best store for kids, but they did pretty great, especially due to my dum dums and Nikki's jolly ranchers! Anyhow, actually sewing together with all of our children in one house was a different story. We got this pattern couldn't wait to have our cute aprons! We both almost finished by the time she left, but not quite...and there was no mutual sewing together. Oh well, there's a time and a season for everything! Initially I was going to make the flowery side of my apron out of the main fabric for the Kindergarten teachers, but ended up making that project last minute...and it wasn't Scott's favorite fabric. I really liked the fabric I switched to, but it is hard to see from afar so I don't think it works as well in this pattern...oh well! I'll just have to make more!

I wore my apron whilst packing for Virginia...and my packing wasn't as stressful this time around...not to say that I didn't forget anything:) ummm...pillows and blankets for the kids on a redeye flight! (Jetblue no longer provides these luxuries.) Don't worry, I didn't forget Kyle's blue blanket.















So far Virginia has been so fantastic! So much fun...Love it! Scott went home today...we'll miss him lots!

Roly Poly and the latest Superheroes!

Saturday was such a nice family day. We had an early morning Soccer Game which was AWESOME, of course. Then we relaxed and laughed together. The kids took some funny pictures of everyone...then we hung out at this new shopping center near us. Got some frozen yogurt with yummy toppings, then walked to watch the fountain shows set to music. It was a beautiful day. We were together and I was happy to be with my family - all day!

Kyle is quite the "roly poly" these days. While he's rolled from his back to front for a while, he just figured out rolling the reverse direction as well. And he's discovered his feet; that always cracks me up! Back to Mr. Roly Poly...no more leaving him on the bed! This guy can move! Today when I'd leave him for just a few minutes, I'd return to find him on the opposite side of the room. It's cute because you can see in his eyes when I find him far away from where I left him, how much he enjoys this new independence! He's so happy to move around on his own! But now for the next year and a half, I have to worry about small choking hazards! Legos, bouncy balls, etc...Makes me nervous! Here's a common occurence...Kyle watching his big brothers. He loves to watch them!
My three sons.
Sean LOVES fruit. All kinds. He will try steal it from anyone's plate if his supply is gone. Watermelon is one of his favs. So the last few weeks of Soccer Games half-time snack has included watermelon. The challenge is to not allow Sean to eat all of the team's treats. Fortunately for Sean, there was plenty this week and since Ryan doesn't care for watermelon, he decided to give his share to his brother. Aww. how nice:) Sean was super grateful! My very own Super Hero's to the rescue!

If you have boys and they enjoy playing dress-up, and you have few options compared to girl siblings or friends, check out these costumes! Scott and his sister had a superman and wonderwoman type costumes like these when they were small. So when my boys saw dad's picture in one, they quickly asked grandma to find that fun superman costume! She found wonderwoman, but Superman was lost in the ages...so I borrowed the idea and came up with these! Really an easy costume to sew. They love them and it puts a big smile on my face! I made two of each so if they both want to be Batman or Superman or we have friends over, there's no issues to solve. (yes, Ryan's superman is a little high because I made the waistband too small...so I have to fix that up, but other than that they are set to go!) I love that with these, they want to be good guys...sometimes with swords, they want to try to be bad guys and I have a hard time with that. We'll have to see what I can talk them into for Halloween...Ryan is convinced he wants to be "Dark Vador" even though he's only seen a bit with his cousins...he really doesn't know anything about Star Wars...so we thought. Apparently he sorta does. The other night as he was trying to convince us that he knew what Star Wars was and had seen some of it, he began to describe Darth Mal. It was hilarous since we truly didn't think he knew what he was talking about...guess he does!

So does anyone think these costumes are sufficient for Halloween...even though they are sorta like bibs? I don't have the rest put together yet, but they would coordinate, be cute and good guys.

Bishops Pumpkin Farm, Trunk or Treat and Preschool Performance

Me: "Sean! Come try on your Peter Pan costume!" (They've been watching the movie and he was super excited when I was making the costume...coming up and checking it out, wanting to sit right by me.)

Sean: "Okay!"

{Sean tries on costume}

Sean: Jumps a little..."I can't fly!" {Wants costume off}

Subsequent tries to put costume on were denied by a little boy who kept saying, "But I can't fly, the other Peter Pan can fly."

The night of the party, yet again, did not want it on. I say, "Sean, do you want candy?? You gotta wear your costume to the party if you want candy."

Sean: "Yea! I'm Peter Pan!" (wish I could type the way he says Peter Pan)

Sean excitedly puts costume on...but when we arrive at the party, he does not stop talking about said candy...and that's the last part of the party! I explain so many times...First chili and cornbread, then games and THEN candy. First fishing game there was, he got candy, but it was wrapped in a bag with other stuff, he wanted it. What was I thinking trying to keep him from a piece of candy he'd been waiting for for hours? (I was thinking I didn't want him to eat the candy in the midst of the craziness of a church hall packed with people going to different games so that he wouldn't smear chocolate all over costume before dad and Halloween night got to see him in his clean Peter Pan glory.)

Love that little guy! He's such a character. Once he's decided to do something, he's all in. Lately he's been acting "2" a lot. Truly, Ryan never went through these "terrible twos," wanting his way about everything. A few mild random tantrums, yes, but not the same. With a bit of mind trickery, we can usually redirect him but next time, gotta think about the timing of redirecting. And it's not that he's throwing tantrums all the time, it's just plain stubborness for his way! It's a good think I think he's sooo cute and crazy fun!

Oh goodness! We've had too much fun this last weekend. Having kids has REALLY brought out my love for Halloween. It's just fun. So since Grandma was in town we went to Bishops Pumpkin Farm which is fabulous! We got to see racing pigs...which I hadn't seen since I was a little girl...but these ones jumped hurdles! It was so funny! Our section's pig was the one with the green and his name was "Green Eggs and Ham!" He won the hurdle race. Wahoo! There were many other great activities...so much fun and I took zillions of pictures and included pretty much all without editing some out because I first sent this show to Scott so he could experience our fun day in his quarantine. So bear with me for the lots of pictures...not going to redo the slideshow. So later that day we got to go to our ward's Trunk or Treat and obviously had a great time there too!


This morning Ryan's preschool had a Costume Parade followed by performing their songs they've learned...about Fall and Halloween...and something in spanish I didn't understand. Here's the pictures from that...again, for Scott's benefit...there are lots of pictures!

Laurie Smith Fabric

Does anyone not know about Trading Spaces? Truthfully, we haven't watched it in years. But once upon a time...I LOVED watching it...circa 2001-2003ish. But, if you've watched, maybe you'd recognize the name Laurie Smith...the cute stylish red head with a bit of a southern accent. Anyhow, apparently she has her own fabric line at Hancock Fabrics. The fabrics are fun and modern. Sadly her line is being discontinued! But that means it is on sale for $1.99! Hello! And it's home fabric...thick stuff. I believe it was originally 16.99. Anyhow, at this bargain I HAD to figure something out to make! And since summer was approaching and I really needed a HUGE bag for 4 towels and other beach essentials, I decided to try making a bag. It was so easy! If you can fold and sew in a straight line...you can make these bags!



I also wanted some other bags too...thus these other sizes. I went on a bag frenzy!
Super simple and fun to have!

I also thought it would be such a fun project for Young Women to learn to sew. One of our YW once mentioned her friend's ward made placemat purses...and they made them the same way I made these...but could you find a cute place mat for so cheap? Not a chance. You could make several smaller bags with one yard of this fabric..and you could mix and match the fabrics. If anyone is curious about how to do that...let me know, I'll show ya!

Happy Mothers Day and Bonding with the kids

Happy Mother's Day! My best Mother's Day present this year was getting to see R go sing with the Primary kids during Sacrament Meeting(Scott and the boys spoiled me too)! I started getting teary while he walked up (luckily Sean was playing and didn't notice R slip out - otherwise the experience would have been different...ie: little S screaming because he wants to follow big brother). They started singing...but nothing came out of R's mouth. New experience I guess. He looked around, smiled, and waved. He was standing on something so you could see him really good. I didn't even care that he didn't sing. I've always wanted to have my very own kid up there to watch and it happened! Yea for Mother's Day! I was also really excited about Mothers Day because I got to work on one of my inspirations! Remember the aprons I fell in love with? This is what I came up with for our moms.



Last weekend was fun. S and R got to go to their first "Father and Son Campout" with our ward. S's been excited to do this for years. They had a blast. Meanwhile, back at the ranch (S wishes we lived on a ranch with some cows and horses), S and I had some fun of our own.
S and R's Highlights: IBC rootbeers and potato chips. R was in heaven having his own soda and free range of the chips (They were living it up-he doesn't usually get sodas or chips). R also was the most popular kid in camp as he had the bag of chips and was willingly sharing with anyone who wanted some...and plenty of kids wanted some.
BBQ hotdogs on the campfire. S asked R how many hotdogs he wanted and R says, "Two, because my mouth is this big." Then he opened his mouth as big as he possibly could. Unfortunately, R asked (I think he was having a sudden growth thing going on or something as he was excessively tired for 3 days or so)to go to bed just before 8 -- so he missed the program the Aaronic Priesthood prepared and S had brought stuff to make Banana Boats...but we made those for FHE last night...it was a big hit:)
In the morning, as S was helping R get ready, R says, "Dad, my teeth are cold!"
Taking a walk around the lake...wishing they had a canoe.
R got soot on his forehead and the kids called him a warrior indian.



C and S's highlights: Applebee's dessert...he didn't want the kids icecream cup...he wanted the fancy molten lava cake and ice cream. "THAT ONE! THAT ONE!"
So he got it. Then to the park until 8pm. I won some much needed mommy points! Don't get me wrong...he loves me...but lately he's been a daddy's boy and I didn't want him to think he got a bum deal by staying home with mom.

Yesterday the boys and I had fun with the sprinkler in the back yard. Sorry, strike that...R had fun in the sprinkler. S wasn't a big fan. Not hot enough yet.
There is major construction going on behind our house. There was a huge bulldozer working meticulously RIGHT outside our fence while we were playing. He waves occasionally. The noise was not so fun.

I haven't sent videos to my family for a long time...so we took a few to share:
S's is funny. He does this all the time now. He's yell so loud and with such passion..."Mommy, where are you?" or "R, where are you?" He didn't do it very good in the video...they NEVER DO! Drives me nuts! Not good show off, but it's hilarious. The funniest is when he does this after we've put him to bed...he'll open the door, and yell, "Mommy, where are you?"

This is our outside play:

Apron Love!

I've been inspired! I was thankful for this newfound inspiration because during the last few weeks, I've witnessed several sad events (a MOMs Club friend's husband passed away from a freak accident, our family friend lost their baby and the Virginia Tech tragedy). One day I happened to find an apron online (the apple and pear one) and thought it was so cute! Then Julie emailed me a link to a great blog that had an even more fabulous apron(the 1/2 apron ruffle one)! Somehow I fell in love with these things! How adorable would you feel making dinner or dessert in these!?







I love making gifts for when babies are born. They are so cute and easy! When I saw the first apron, I thought...WOW! I could do that...I think. And what a fun gift..that isn't related to babies. And so original! But then further research showed that in many circles these fashionable aprons are chic and already a trend. Regardless, I love the happy fabrics and cute styles! They make me want to make a cake and put it on a cakestand to display on the counter. Or make pizza and cookies with my kids (both we've done recently and you get flour everywhere!). Basically they inspire me to be a better homemaker (which I do enjoy) and who doesn't need a little inspiration?

I've discovered many blogs with a purpose...photography, crafts, food, etc...soon a friend is starting her own travel blog! Many people offer their own experiences, but somehow seen to inspire along the way (a few friends from long ago ...www.twoandthensome.blogspot.com (she has a great way with words-Hello! I lOVE the name of her blog) or http://homeschoolblogger.com/henryteachers (inspiration through homeschooling). I started thinking that mine was rather simple and I needed to step it up! How cool and fun to read...but I'm no expert in anything. I'm a dabbler...like to try several things. My blog is just really about our family because we have so many family and friends far far away and it's a fun way to keep in touch with the simple everyday things. So this is just about us and our simple lives, but since we don't live enormously exciting lives and I do enjoy new and interesting stuff or a good find, I thought it'd be fun to include them for those who might enjoy something a little different from time to time. Don't expect too much though, by no means will this be a regular thing! Bon Appetit!