I'm a busy little bee!!!

This week I have sewed and monogrammed until my little fingers are practically bloody stubs!  I am trying to fill orders and get tons of samples made for the long coming website launch.  Turns out, I have more to do than I thought I did, but that's okay....I thrive on urgency.

Amidst all the sewing I am doing, I found some new things online I want to try.  Namely:

Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Chip Muffins (number four in the pics above)
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter (or smooth)
2 large eggs
1 cup milk (low fat or skim is fine)
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, peanut butter, eggs and milk until smooth. Pour into flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
Divide batter into your paper-lined muffin tin. Each cup should be filled to the top, not just half way up, to ensure you get a nice dome on the muffin.
Bake for 17-20 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the top of the muffin springs back when lightly pressed.
Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12.

I am so excited about this, because I am on a huge muffin kick!  It won't be too long before I have to move away from the "brown food group" I have been enjoying the past six months.  Last weekend I tried some banana coconut pecan muffins, which would have been amazing but I think I overfilled the cups and ended up with muffins that were a little mush in the middle.  Even my kids won't eat them.  We are a family that is all about texture, apparently.  

Also, these cutie tooth fairy kits are on my "to buy" list...even though we are a LONG way from losing teeth.  They are just too cute to pass up!!!

These letterpress tooth fairy kits are nothing short of fantastic. Clever and beautiful all mixed into one. Buy them here for $16. {This was discovered through Seesaw Designs.}

And finally, a cute patchwork notebook cover....I love the idea of having a notebook for each child, to jot down funny things they do or say....and of course, they can't just be a regular spiral!  They have to be cute, people!!

You can find the link to the tutorial here:

http://craftapple.wordpress.com/2006/09/17/patchwork-notebook-cover-tutorial/

Now I gotta get busy!!!!!

Funny babies!

Thought I'd share a couple of cute pics of the babies....

I think this is what they call "nesting".....

Okay, so traditionally, "nesting" brings up a vision of a perfectly clean house, with tiny little clean baby clothes folded neatly into dressers, awaiting baby's arrival.  That's not so much how it looks in my house.  I have started collecting all the items I will need for "The Big Split".  (Hayden and Cale sleeping in their own rooms, in BIG KID beds)  Thus far, I have just bought a bunch of stuff and made piles with it....I have been dreading the room reassignment, because I have visions of them roaming the house in the middle of the night, and for now, I love that they sleep in their cage.  I mean crib.  Did I say cage? I digress.   Anyway, I was suddenly struck with a fabulous idea.  Why not decorate their new rooms, but just push their cribs into their new rooms, and let them stay in those for a while?  The new baby will sleep in our room for a few months at least, so I can hold off on buying bed rails and worrying about Cale walking down Harry Wurzbach at three in the morning.  If I go with this plan, the only "pile" I will have is the new baby's bedding, waiting for Sissy to move out of the crib and into the big bed.  Yeah!  Problem solved!!  Now all I have to do is convince the hubby to take apart two beds and one crib, and move all the parts into new rooms and reassemble them.  And hang a bunch of stuff on the wall.  And get the electrician to hang up a chandelier in the girls' room.  And make a cute book holder I saw in the Pottery Barn catalog....hmmmmm.  Along with the preparation for the big kid rooms, I have been in baby project mode.....I made a cute little hooded towel for the baby, a mobile with hand sewn birds on it, a pillow for her crib, and my favorite.....my first attempt at a homemade baby book!  I saw these cutie little monogrammed baby books in a hoity toity gift store, and they were well over a hundred bucks, and they only came with about thirty pages to fill in information.  I decided I could definitely make one just as cute.....I would just find somewhere online that I could order baby book pages.  Well, after a very exhaustive search, I realized that a LOT of people online sell packages of baby book pages, but they aren't very cute!  They aren't really cheap, either.  So I busted out my scrapbooking CD and wasted WAY, WAAAAAYYYYYY too much time designing and printing all my own inserts.  The final product is about 150 pages that will mark EVERY milestone, giant and minute in this kid's life!  I think I went a little overboard, but thank goodness I bought a huge binder at the beginning of this project.  Anyway, when all is said and done....I think I like mine a lot better than anything I could have purchased.  For one, it is personalized all over the place, with her name on the cover, and her name on lots of the pages.....also, I was able to create pages that I always wished existed in Hayden and Cale's books.  (P.S....they pale in comparison, if I do say so myself!)  Now I have a huge book, with pages already printed, ready for me to fill in her every wiggle and cough.  Mostly, I am glad that I am off to a good start....not resigning her to "third child syndrome" before she's even born.....

More pics to come of my other projects.....I definitely want to post the link to the bird mobile tutorial, because I know some of my readers will want to make one of their own when they see it!  

After the stress of last year's mega birthday blowout, I decided to plan something really low key for this year's birthday.  After all, they don't really know what is going on yet, so I am keeping it really, really small with family this year.  Plus, I don't think my mom has quite recovered from last year's fandango!  I still wanted to make cute little invites to mail to our family, so I got this great idea that the babies were going to pose with a big number 2 and I was going to get some adorable photos of them to enclose in the invitation.  You can see for yourself how my little photo shoot turned out.  I guess I expected a little too much of a couple of two year olds.  

You're looking at it kids...the ONE photo of me pregnant this go round.  Poor, poor third baby.  Last time, I made Shawn take a picture every time I grew so much as a centimeter....well, you can probably tell by looking at this picture that quite a few centimeters have gone by with not so much as one click of the camera!  This is me at almost 23 weeks.  I know I am smaller (by a LOT) than when I was pregnant with the twins, but this picture doesn't make anything look "small".  It actually stresses me out a little since I have quite a while to go before baby number three gets here!  

Eater Baket! (not misspelled!)

The babies loved their "Eater Bakets!" and hunting for eggs....this was obviously the first Easter that mattered to them. Last year, we just dressed them up cute and took pictures of them in bunny ears, but this year, they were ALL about the candy!  All week long, Hayden has been handing me eggs and saying, "Open Mommy! Canny!" Luckily the Easter bunny had the foresight to only put two m & m's in each egg, so we kept the sugar coma to a minimum.  The "Easter Bunny" (aka "mommy") tried to collect supplies at Wal Mart with babies in tow....I thought they would be easy to trick, but EVERYTHING that went in the basket warranted a deluge of questions.  "What dat, Mommy?", "Canny, Mommy?", "Chocolate!", "Ducks! Wack-Wack!" They are apparently a LOT more perceptive than I had given them credit for!  When we put them to bed the night before Easter, I told them the Easter bunny was coming and bringing them candy, and he was going to hide eggs at Mimi and Popo's house.  They listen and understand EVERYTHING now...when they woke up the next morning, the first thing out of their mouths was "Eggs, Mommy? Mimi and Popo's?"  Just one more reminder that my tiny babies are getting so big!  

We have been back from Iowa for some time, but I am just now finding energy to blog about our trip!  Air travel with two babies was not as horrible as I had expected, but the anxiety of expecting the worst wore me out!!  I packed what should be an illegal amount of snacks and toys for the plane, and the trip up there didn't even warrant busting out my stuff.  The two flights were so empty that Shawn and I both sat in our own row with a baby and both of them slept quite a while.  The trip back....not so easy.  I guess the novelty of flying had worn off, and they wanted "DOWN!" the whole time.  They were both literally seizing with energy before we took off in Minneapolis, so (for the comfort of the other passengers) I gave them each half an easy melt benadryl.  (this was preapproved by the doctor, in case you were wondering!)  It didn't take FIVE minutes and they were OUT.  Cale was so doozly that he was trying to put his pacifier back in his mouth, but kept stuffing the toy snake he had in the other hand in his mouth.  It was pretty funny.  Sadly, we had to land in Chicago, and the noise woke them up....I think they would have slept the whole time if we had flown direct....Anyway, to make a long story short....don't give your toddler the second half of the benadryl two hours after the first half.....it has the total opposite effect.  They were like rabid dogs on the flight from chicago to houston.....it took a LOT of snacks, crayons, stickers, patience, etc. to manage that flight!  We ended up having to rent a car to drive home from Houston, which was actually a relief to me, because they slept in car seats the whole way back to SA and I didn't have to worry about them horrifying other passengers!  

The wedding itself was great...the babies behaved, and Sissy actually walked down the aisle in her first foray at "flower girling".....despite screaming "DADDY!!! BUBBY!!!!" as she walked.  They loved dancing at the reception, and got to see snow for the first time. Hayden ate a snowball, and cried when I took it away....(it was melting all over our hotel room floor)

The hotel we stayed in was so cute, and looked just like a ski lodge....and as an added bonus, they provided breakfast every morning, so all we had to do was get the babies out of bed and head downstairs in our jammies....I really resented having to make them breakfast myself the first morning we were home!  :) 

It was a fun trip....traveling with toddlers isn't going on my "favorites" list, but we managed!   

Baby-isms

I knew I would love this part of being a mommy.  My babies are at that phase where everything is new and amazing to them, and their commentary on their little world is hilarious!  I keep trying to remember all the funny things they are saying, and this blog has to be the medium I use to record them, since I lapsed on the scrapbooking a LONG, sad time ago. 

 

"Baby?  Hiding?"-Cale talking about the baby in Mommy's tummy.

"Open!"-Both babies, lifting up my shirt and wanting me to get the baby out.  

"Mimiappolis.  Mommyapolis.  Daddyapolis."-Hayden's commentary after we talked about flying out of Minneapolis.  

"I MEAN it!"-screamed at me by Hayden when I wouldn't let her run loose on the airplane.  

"Daddy Shawn.  Mommy Shawn."-Cale...when asked what our names were.  

"Bubbalicious"-Hayden, in response to the question, "What is your bubby's name?"

"Mommy, more ice cream cone bite."  Cale, the longest sentence he has spoken so far!!

"DADDY!!!!!  BUBBY!!!!!" screamed by Hayden, as she walked down the aisle at Uncle Andrew and Aunt Holly's wedding. 

"Thank you Momma.  You're welcome Baby." Hayden, trying to thank me.....but saying my part and hers!  

"Night Night Ding Ding!"  Cale, telling his "boy part" goodnight as we put the diaper on.  

"Chicken nugget.  Shee shies." both babies, every time I ask them what they want to eat.  Or, spoken as we go through any drive through, even the bank.

"Momma, dump it out!" Cale, as I was pouring his water from his cup to make room for his Sonic Apple Juice Slush.

"Close eyes." what they say every time the hairspray comes out.  What can I say?  I like their hair to look nice!

"Daddy's plates!" Hayden, when I found her in the cabinet messing with my clear plastic plates.  I told her to put them away....apparently she thought if she told me they were Daddy's plates, then it wasn't any of my business.

"Wheeeee Mommy!" Cale, every time the car so much as bounces.

"Mommy crash." Cale, when I bonk the cart on any of the displays when we are shopping.

"No poot." Cale, reassuring me yesterday as I went to change his diaper.

"Watty, clap your hands!" Hayden, telling the dog to clap his hands.  

"Daddy panties." Hayden, as I folded Shawn's underwear this morning. 

"Look at that!  Get out!!  Oh my gosh!" both babies, apparently mimicking phrases I use WAY too much."  (Get out is usually hollered at the dogs)

"More surpup Mommy." Cale, wanting more syrup on his waffle.  p.s.- waffle is pronounced "washel".

"Hot dog. Make it." Cale, to our waitress at a diner in Iowa.  Apparently, he thought she had stayed and visited at our table long enough.  

"Mimi baby?" Hayden, as her Mimi tried on a shirt with an empire waist.  Apparently she's been paying attention to my maternity clothes.  

"More noonels Mommy!" Hayden, eating lasagna.

"Big chip." Hayden, asking for a tortilla.

"What that?" Hayden's new phrase, uttered four hundred thousand times a day.....even at people, pointing right in their face.  We're working on the pointing.

"Tiny baby. Big baby. Baby Lilly." Hayden, taking inventory of her baby dolls.  

"Mommy, playroom.  Open!" Cale, wanting me to open the door to his playroom every morning.  

There are a ton more.....they are making me laugh so much!!!