Ready For Winter

We are trying to get ready for our annual trip to Park City, Utah. Each year we spend a week there before Christmas. This will be the first year that the kids will understand what snow is. I hope they like it! Our friends the Duggan quads gave us their snow suits and two of their jackets for the girls. They have four girls so our girls are taken care of. We just have to find the boys some winter clothes now. Looking through these pictures you will see that Jake and Anthony don't care if they wear girl clothes or not.

Jaileigh, Jake, Annie and Anthony

Anthony and Jaileigh

Jake modeling my boots with the snow suit.

Annie

Laundry

Sometimes I try to escape the little children and I run into the laundry room. I actually work while I am in hiding, folding clothes, switching laundry loads, ironing, that kind of stuff.


But without fail. . . .




one by one they come.

Jaileigh

Jakob- look at his crazy bed head.

Michael

Annie- she's usually the first one to find me.

and finally Anthony.

I had to post 3 of these so that I got a cute picture of all the kids.

Sunny Window

Smiling ear to ear- Jake

The famous "scowl"

Anthony

Anthony

Miss Personality

This baby girl is so full of personality!! She does not get lost in the crowd at our house. In fact, ALL of the kids have very distinct and strong personalities. It's amaing that all of them stand out on their own when there are so many of them!

She is sitting on the plastic fork box reading her toy magazine.

Eating Dutch Oven Potatoes.

Annie, Jaileigh and Anthony

On Sunday's our normal schedule is really off. We go to church from 11-2. Naptime and lunchtime are right in that window. I try to feed them before church and then as soon as we get home I put them down for naps. They usually sleep until 4:30 or 5. Jake usually sleeps an hour longer. This was a Sunday afternoon with Jake still sleeping and the other kiddos snacking the evening away.

Michael reading on the couch.

Harley Quilt

I had high hopes of blogging about my t-shirt quilt making process but I have failed. I did take a couple of pictures throughout the process but not near enough. Since it has been a couple of months since I made this I will just hurry and type out what I remember.

I used 39 t-shirts, mens size large and XL
Many yards of interfacing
1 shopping trip to walmart to buy interfacing and material for sashing and borders
2nd trip to wally world to buy more interfacing
trip to Costco to buy a King sized blanket for the back

I first cut off all the sleeves and necklines on the t-shirts, separated the fronts from the backs
Then I ironed on the interfacing.
I cut all the tshirts into 15x15 in squares (I used the fronts and backs of the t-shirts).
I laid them out in the order I wanted,
Cut the sashing into 2" strips
Decided I didn't know what I was doing with the sashing so I scrapped that idea and just sewed the blocks together.
Thought about calling Grandma Kolleen numerous times.
Had to unpick a whole row of blocks because they weren't lining up with the next row
Resewed and finally got all of the blocks sewn together. The interfacing made this heavy and hard to sew!
Cut out the border.
Pinned and sewed to blocks.
Pinned and sewed to backing.
Wrapped and gifted to dear hubby.

The t-shirts with the interfacing ironed on.

Cutting out the 15x15 squares in the playroom.

The cut and interfaces squares- ahhhh so beautiful!

Blocks sewn together.

98.5% finished quilt. I still need to tie it. Argh! One of these days I will do it. I promise this week!

The 5 Musketeers

The kids and I {that's right} made a T-shirt quilt for Mike's birthday. Since we've been married he has been carrying around a box of Harley Davidson's shirts in the garage labeled "Harley quilt". I decided to try and make it for his birthday, with the kids help of course. I was trying to keep it a secret but Jaileigh spilled the beans.

The kids wearing the sleeves from the t-shirts as hats.  These guys are so much fun! Everyday is something new and exciting. I love these little munchkins and the joy they bring to our house.

Anthony, Jake, Jaileigh, Michael and Annie

I think they were singing Happy Birthday daddy.

Anthony and Jai-Bai

DADDY

Happy Birthday to the best daddy and husband in the world! I'm going to have a hard time coming up with a better post than last years. Here is the link for the "Let Me Count The Ways" post, if you missed it.

Pretty much everything from that post is the same this year and more. Mike amazes me everyday. He absolutely loves his family. He wakes up, plays with kids, cleans the kitchen, plays, goes to work, comes home and repeats. He is always so willing to babysit whenever I need some alone time or shopping therapy. He puts up with me and my crazy ideas and supports me. I love you Mike and am so grateful for you!!! Happy Birthday!

Here are a few pictures from the past few years that I found. Daddy enjoying his family.

We LOVE you!

No Santa, Fry Bread, and Such

We went to the Bass Pro Shop to see Santa one day but he wasn't there. The kids told me he was napping. Thank goodness they were distracted by the fish.

Annie, Jaileigh, Jake, Anthony

Jaileigh

Hanging out together

Annie and Daddy saying "Oh No!"

Smile! So she closes her eyes.

Playing trucks.

Annie and Anthony sharing the box.

Anthony

In honor of the first Thanksgiving we learned how to make fry bread.

Working on their fry bread

Jaileigh, Annie, Jake, Michael and Anthony

Anthony

Jake

Michael loved it the most. He made the most perfect ones and made more than anyone.

Annie

Their fry breads cooking.