More Christmas Sewing

   So,I have been sewing a good part of the day...First I made 3 stockings for my sister,her hubby and baby.They picked a bright array of Christmas fabrics to begin their newChristmas tradition.

   Then I sewed the first(of 2) Snowmen Christmas dresses for the girls.I tried making the pillowcase dresses for the first time,they are really cute but I need to find a new wider red ribbon for the shoulders cuz what I bought was just too thin.I trimmed Daisys with red Ric Rac trim and then a cream colored ruffle with light blue trim.I only have Daisys completed so far and Lillys is cut out,ready to sew :)I LOVE the snowmen!

   Then I made my 11 month old nephew Remington a white fleece hat with appliqued horses (left overs from his dads stocking),it turned out really cute,lol we'll see if it fits him,it fits Lilly perfectly.

The Reality of the Nightmare of Child Abuse-Personal

Dear Nichole,
   Seven long hard years have passed since you were murdered,O how I remember how much you loved (shocate) frosty from DQ,I remember how terrible I felt when you smashed your little fingers in the car door,I remember your first day of school,I remember taking you to the park to play with your baby sister,I remember how much I loved doing your brown curly hair and dressing you up so pretty,I remember that you were always  happy even through the horror you lived thru every day at the hands of your birth parents,I remember too well the day I received the call that you were being removed from life support at 2pm, you went be with Jesus 20 minutes later,this was a joyous time for you,sweet innocent girl,however baby it was hell for me, I wish I could have died to keep you safe or done more to protect you,I was fighting with DFS to bring you home as my daughter from the moment you went into foster care,your funeral was torturous I desperately wanted it to be a nightmare,hoping I would wake up any moment,but looking at the burns and bruises covering your body I knew this nightmare was reality and I also knew I had failed you terribly,I'm so sorry I could not save you from the evils of these pathetic people honestly baby I have fought many personal demons over your death.I remember a blinding pain taking over my whole life & wanting to kill the foster mother who so cruelly took ur life from you,her job was to PROTECT you and help you heal from the past.I remember the last time I saw you alive,it was hell for me,how I wanted to take you into my arms and run as fast and far away from those people,the people who ultimately ended your life a short time later.They say time heals all pain,but apparently they don't know what they are talking about because time does not heal the pain,however it does make it easier to live with.Now I picture you singing and dancing with the angels & sitting with Jesus  living a glorious pain free life full of the excitements of heaven and when I picture this I'm almost glad you were spared having to live with the abuse and horrors  of your past.I realize now that no matter how awful or tragic ur death was,your life still was full of meaning and purpose.You are my inspiration Nikki, I look at my beautiful girls and think of you and realize that tomorrow they could be dancing with you,I don't want to regret anything else they way I regret the way you died,but I want to thank you for helping to teach me the meaning of life and for teaching me that  life is never so hard I can't thank God for every day He gives me,you will always be in my heart,I love you baby girl xoxo Love,Sally
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx4RsCfL_fA

Girl's Sunday Night Coffee

So,on Sunday night my bestest girlfriend came over and we had a lovely evening alone (the girls were already in bed :)We visited about men,children,christmas,family,etc while we drank steaming hot coffee and had pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes.I even made chocolate coffee spoons!(ok,so maybe I was testing the recipe out before Christmas but still!)They were really pretty and I must admit yummy although I kept thinking of all the calories lol

  

Felt Play Food

   I have been busy as can be today!So far I have gotten quite abit accomplished,including a Spongebob "lovey" for Lilly,she saw the fabric at Walmart in the reduced basket marked down to $1.42 for the piece(precut) so I went ahead and got it for her and got it done fairly quickly.Please don't judge me too harshly that my children watch the evil Spongebob show,but hey as Nick always says"there's alot of worse stuff they could be watching!"

   I have also been hand sewing a felt tea set for Summer for Christmas,I will probably make my girls some also to go with the new ($25 yard sale deal!) Toy kitchen my parents got the girls for Christmas.It even has light up burners!its so cool!The girls will be so thrilled to see it on Christmas morning!So far I have a really cute set of 6 felt sugar cookies,with pink frosting with pink glass bead sprinkles.I also made 2(so far) felt teabags to go with her cookies.I plan on putting little magnets on the back of the cookies and then buying a little cookie sheet at Dollar tree for them to go on,and then making a little bag to keep them safe when not in use.For some unknown reason my pic keeps turning sideways,but I'm sure you get the point :)

   For Daisy I plan on making felt donuts lol with purple and pink frosting with sprinkles she is my donut fanatic so I'm sure she will love playing with them as much as she loves eating them!

   I also started sewing on Lilly's baby doll kit,I got her diapers done and am working on a matching doll quilt and diaper bag.Of course they are pink with pandas,what else? :)

   Well,enough for now,my sewing machine is telling me I still have alot to get done in the next two weeks :)Have a wonderful evening!

  

Still Alot to do Before Christmas

   I'm doing my best to keep up with my blog,the girls,sewing,making presents,etc but still it seems there are never quite enough hours in my day to do everything I want to do!
   Daisy spent the night with Grandma and Papa last night giving me a most welcome break!So I did something we have never done before!I took Lilly and went to the gym,she went upstairs to the day class for 2 hours and I worked out,it was alot of fun and I am hoping to do it often!My membership just went thru and the girls are welcome in the day class for 2 hours every day except Sunday when we can all go swimming.We definitely plan to make the best of our membership!I'm hoping to lose all my baby weight and get back into shape so maybe I can feel better physically and hopefully lessen my migraines and seizures into nonexistence so I can stop feeling like this all the time

   So,I have been doing alot of sewing and gotten 3 rice bags done,snack bags for my nephew,and am getting ready to do the girls Christmas dresses.They will be sooo cute with the Snowman fabric we got!I cant wait to get them finished!
   I also bought felt to make pretend food sets for my little sister and my girls,I plan on only making cookies and tea bags.I will post pictures when they are done.
   Alot of baking in the plans for next couple weeks,mostly to give away as gifts to family and friends,because after this mornings workout I realized exactly how much work it takes to work off those calories!

   Well,I need to sign off for now,its off to the Trading Post to see if we can buy Lilly some new wool slippers for Christmas,she has become  very picky and refuses to wear shoes now and will only wear a certain kind of slippers lol
   I am like totally obsessed with snowmen this year and have decided to sign off each post with a new snowman pic.have a great day!

The Holidays are Rapidly Approaching!

   WOW!I so cannot believe it has been nearly 3 weeks since I wrote last!

   OK,so where do I even start?A couple weeks back we were in the Emergency Room with Daisy struggling with croup and not being able to breathe.after nebulizer treatments not helping we decided to just take her in,after a dose of Decadron we were on our way out of there in less than an hour and she rapidly improved,until about a week later when she stood up and fell out of a Shopping cart in the Safeway parking lot directly on her head!She immediately began throwing up resulting in another rushed trip to the ER and diagnosed with a concussion and released again within an hour!I was thinking wow,we actually made like world record in and out twice in a week in under and hour each!

   Then on Friday night(Dec 3rd) Lilly got croup and truly could not breathe hardly at all,So once again we jumped and ran to the Emergency room and began immediate treatments of Epinepherin,Decadron and Tylenol (she was also on Motrin from home) she did not respond to treatment very well and this time we stayed for 5 hours and I was thankful they had not sent her home any sooner because she really was struggling,but when she finally fell asleep she was able to breathe easier.

   I haven't had much time for sewing up til now but my lonely sewing machine is calling my name telling me I have many gifts to get done still!I have a list wrote up of everything I need to get done within the next 2 weeks and its almost daunting to think of how hard I'm gonna have to push myself with the girls being sick.

   I also plan on doing allot of baking for the holidays and giving away allot of cookies and candies as gifts...lol better get busy!

   The girls and I did however take the time to sit down and decorate their gingerbread house a few nights ago.Daisy was thrilled with how it turned out and she had so much fun.Its not nearly perfect but knowing she did allot of it makes it perfect for me :)

   We also sat down and made allot of baked Christmas tree ornaments to hang on our first-ever Christmas tree!The girls love it and Daisy always tells me how perfect our tree is.They had allot of fun and Lilly painted herself more than her ornaments but was happy so I just let her enjoy her time :)

   Well,gonna sign off and get back to making our pumpkin muffins,have company coming over later and still have some other work to finish.

Christmas Crafts

 Last night the girls were pretty antsy so I got out some craft projects that were just waiting for an evening like last night!We made foam Christmas picture frames for the girls to send to their grandparents and great grandparents this year.We had alot of fun!

Snow,Bargain Finds,and Inspections

   The girls were thrilled to get up to snow again,I don't think they realize they will soon tire of the cold and snow lol Anyhow we rushed around and showered and cleaned the house all by 9.The girls enjoyed a breakfast of bananas,blueberry donuts and hot apple cider, while I had a homemade amaretto latte.
   We are still waiting for inspections to be done,so after the house was once again abnormally spotless the girls and I bundled up and decided to face the crowds at a local thrift store.It is open Wednesday thru Saturday and when it opens on Wed morning it is a crazy madhouse!We arrived at 9:40 am and were second in line waiting outside the doors!Everyone thought I was crazy for having two little ones out in the snow,but we had a blast! lol Other people were in a mad rush just to get in the door,even pushing me and the girls out of their way haha me?I was in a mad rush just to get a shopping cart!We found a few fun Christmas decorations and big bags of cinnamon pine cones were only .50.All in all we only spent $9.50 and had lots of fun :)
   Lilly refused to wear her hood,but instead charmed everyone by wrapping herself up in her "bankie" and covering her ears lol I was a little worried that the noise of the crowd was going to put her over the edge but she did well regulating herself with her blanket. 

   Daisy was upset to have to stand in the cold and snow just to go to the thrift store lol she even told all the people she wanted to go back home and go back to bed with hot choc and finish watching Scooby Doo! lol Everyone thought they were little charmers lol

   We came home to a lunch of hot ham and cheese sandwiches and potato soup.I scurried around and put everything away and put my girls to bed for quiet time.As I type,still no inspections,however they are supposed to be completed before 5 pm.I'll be glad to have it behind me so once again I can pull out all my sewing stuff and enjoy spending time creating again.Living in such a small 2 bedroom apartment in the big city is not exactly ideal but for now it works.I long for the day I have a yard of our own where we can play outside and plant lovely flowers and decorate to my hearts content,however at this time this is where God would have us,so daily I tell myself to be happy and content in where He has placed us.

   Every day I can hardly believe how big the girls are getting!Lilly talks constantly and asks "who's crying"probably a hundred times a day lol. The weighted blanket seems to be helping her calm herself down both at nap time and bedtime.The past three nights she has actually SLEPT!WITHOUT MEDICATION AT THAT!It has been so nice to crawl into bed by ten and get to sleep!I also gave Lilly her nighttime bottle back and I think it had helped her allot with sleeping.Daisy is becoming a big helper to me,she puts away laundry and helps Lilly with little things.Still we have to watch Daisy closely because (for undiagnosed medical reasons)she eats all kinds of inedible objects such as yarn, play dough, clay, crayons, thread, paper,patterns,etc.I had truly hoped by 3 1/2 yrs old she would have out grown it but it only seems to be getting worse.One of my worst passions is her licking or sucking on shopping carts!So,generally I use the socially unacceptable method of letting her take her pacifier out in public places.Some days I cringe,others I hardly care anymore,if it helps cut back on germs and sickness (and screaming) then she can have it!
   Tonight is dance once again.Our big dance performance is in just over a week,All costumes are completed except the last three I'm making a ribbon/corsage piece for.I am planning on completing these tonight during Daisy's class.It sure makes me proud to watch my little girl learning all the dance moves and enjoying it so much.Right now she is in jazz,but hopefully will be starting ballet at age 5.

   Well,gonna sign off for today,Love to all.

Shopping Deals

   I sit here pondering life once again as I tap away at the keys of my computer,snacking on Gluten free Ginger Snaps with ever present cup of steaming apple cider in my hand.Outside the snow lazily falls and it feels more like December than November.Honestly,I am longing for Christmas!December is the best month of the year in my opinion.Yes,warm weather is nice,but the cold and snow make me feel so cozy as I watch out the window.We don't leave the house much so we can enjoy the winter wonderland from out living room window :)
   I was up a good portion of the night trying to get rid of a persisting migraine,Lilly is sick again too so we are now just taking it easy for today.
My house is spotless awaiting the arrival of our landlords to do a routine inspection for cleanliness.I understand why they do them but it does get tiring for a mum with two small children,trying to follow their every move to pick up behind them as they go.
   This morning I bundled the girls up and forced myself to get out to the thrift store (headache and all lol).And my,am I ever so glad I did! I found all kinds of little things to use to decorate the house for Christmas with.
   I got these beautiful Christmas carolling figurines

   I got this really cute winter basket arrangement

   I had to get the cute teddy on a reindeer for the girls

   I found a cute picture in a blue frame for the kitchen,which I already bought a can of spray paint and painted the frame red.lol notice how it changes the entire picture!Now it matches with my kitchen :)

   I got a couple ornaments and a snowman candle holder....                                                                             

   The BEST find of all I found these both for $3!!!

   AND...All of it only cost $6.50! all together!

Epilepsy,Seizures,and Migraines

   Another day has arrived!I have so much on to do on my never ending list of tasks needing to be completed.I still have dishes from last nights dinner to wash,laundry to do,cleaning that has patiently waited for the past few days,etc
   I have been struggling alot the past week or so with migraines and my epilepsy,so I have been having to take my meds more often than usual.I really hate how they are making me irritable and feel like a walking zombie and yet still trying to complete normal everyday mum tasks.The girls have been pretty patient about it all but I know its getting hard for them as well.I am hoping to find a natural remedy to help with my seizures,if I can control  them I can limit the migraines since they are all connected
   Lilly is not sleeping at all anymore,I have never met a child who can go for days without sleep like Lilly does,I just don't understand,so we have really been working on "if you cant sleep that is OK but you still need to stay in bed,without kicking the wall" lol I don't know how much of it her 22 month old mind is getting,but hey that's the point right?Here is a pic I snapped of her in her bed where she was "supposed" to be in timeout...

  
  

Daisy's New Dress

   My sewing machine has been hard at work all day on various projects!I am so pleased to have the sleeves for the dance performance nearly complete,all seven sets are sewed and ironed just waiting to be fitted with elastic and completed.The three corsage pieces for another class are nearly ready to be assembled and then I am finally free to sew and create to my hearts content without worrying about time lines!
   Daisy's winter wardrobe got a new addition today,in between my sleeves I managed to sew her a soft pink flannel butterfly jumper.She is really thrilled with the fact that I even added her a pocket,trimmed with white eyelet lace :)

   I have also been busy sewing little snack bags for the girls.These can be made in any fabric,however once again I chose flannel.Not for any reason except I had panda bear fabric and both the girls dearly love pandas!They are simple,one layer flannel pouches that Velcro shut the entire length of the top.No,they aren't dog treats! lol they are the ever-in-demand Scooby snacks!Along with ghost marshmallows and fruit snacks!

  

Halloween Pics

   Today Daisy went to the doctor and had her meds readjusted,I'm so hoping they can pinpoint what is going on with her.She has been struggling with migraines and vomiting for quite some time now,however 2 weeks ago she was put on a medicine to help control pain and it completely eliminated her vomiting,but seems to be making her aggressive and violent,especially towards Lilly.Both girls are on meds to sleep at night,but for some reason it doesn't seem to be helping Lilly as she has spent the past two nights kicking the wall or banging her head on the wall ALL night long!I am very thankful she has been really a good girl about her insomnia but its extremely hard for me to get any sleep when she is kicking the other side of the wall within inches of my head lol.
   On a brighter note,Halloween went well,if you consider Daddy having to work,Lilly refusing to wear her costume and both girls being terrified of other trick or treaters.Not to mention Lilly falling down multiple concrete steps bruising her head badly YET AGAIN!One house we went to had the window open on the screen door and a nasty looking green witch hanging out,and I'm telling you both girls totally flipped!Daisy walked away muttering "That darn witch scared me" lol we laughed for about a whole block over that one!Both girls really didn't want pictures takes,so we kind of just had to do the best we could.Daisy went as "Cinderella in Rapunzel's dress" as she put it,she couldn't be Rapunzel because she doesn't have long hair!You gotta love it she has quite the imagination!Lilly was kinda pouting in the corner so I snapped a quick picture she just wanted to wear a dress and her red shoes lol

   Well,not too much else going on here at this moment,I have been running low on energy from lack of sleep the past few days and now my house is suffering so there is alot to be done!I'm hoping to run to Dollar Tree later to see if they have fall decals for the windows,also need to run to the store because the girls each got $5 in their Halloween cards from Nick's Mum so I promised the girls we would see if we could find them each a new movie to add to their collection.We no longer buy toys in our household,the girls only get toys as gifts from family,everything from me is now homemade.I find they are much more appreciative that way!So when they have a little money we either save it or get movies to watch together.
   I still have the sleeves to do for the big dance performance in a few weeks,so yesterday I sat down for an hour and played around with my fabric and elastic and created 4 different dance sleeves and then me and the girls went to the studio and let them pick which version they liked.I will get pics posted as the get done :) but for now I'm going to sign off!