Can I get your advice, please?

Busy, busy, busy!  I don't know about the rest of you, but when the days start getting longer, the work load seems to get heavier.  A lot of it is self imposed work like gardening and sewing, and other things, like potty training, have nothing to do with the season, but it always gets busier for us every spring.

Yes, my little two year old is being potty trained.

 You'd think by now I'd have this potty training thing down to an art and we could shave a year or so off the diaper wearing phase, but I figure I'll just keep her outside in a dress without a diaper and let her figure things out and if she's trained by the time she's five or six I'm doing alright.

Speaking of lofty goals, I'm considering selling stuff on Etsy.  It turns out that even though I have a cool, blue 1950's oven, I still just can't get into cooking, so I figure I'll sell stuff on Etsy, become a multi dollaraire and hire a personal chef.  So far, I've made three pounds of soap from scratch and two pennant style banners.  That ought to be enough, right?

Seriously though, I am looking into Etsy and would love to hear what any of you have to share about it.  What works, what doesn't..."don't waste your time"...whatever you have to say, I want to know.  Here's why, every month, several of the women in my family get together for what we call "craft day" and everyone brings whatever craft they're working on and we craft.  Except me.  I bring my children and I talk a lot.  Anyway, we recently decided to put our craftiness to good use and try to raise money to help a particular person who could really use the money.  Without saying too much, she is someone very dear who, as we say around here, has a tough row to hoe and we'd like to help her as much as we can by giving her some cold, hard cash.  Money doesn't make life perfect, but it can help smooth it out sometimes.  The group is very talented (like my mom) and we all have a heart to help so we're investigating ways to sell our wares as a group for her.  Do any of you sell on Etsy with a friend?  How does that work out?  Is it practical? 

Now, speaking of hoeing tough rows, my garden is complete!  Have I ever even mentioned that I was working on that?  Our dirt is made up of mostly rocks, so we had some topsoil brought in and Jeff fenced it in.  At our last house, we had some river bottom dirt hauled in that was incredible.  Zero rocks and zero weeds.  It was extremely dark brown and very easy to work with and the plants seemed to grow well enough in it.  This years dirt has some organic matter and a lot of worms so I hope that's a sign of good dirt.  I only found one or two rocks but weeds are popping up here and there already. >:[  Thank goodness for the hula hoe!

I took on gardening like everything else I do and studied up for at least an hour before I declared myself an expert and then jumped in with both feet.  This is only my second year at gardening and I still know very little about it so we made this years garden even bigger than last years.  What I lack in know-how I make up for with determination and delegation and grand ideas.  "Kids!  Go water my garden.  NOW!"  See how that works?   "Jeff!  Those trees are blocking sunlight from my garden!"  "Now let's plant an orchard there."

So do you all have any gardening plans or tips?

Don't forget to let me know your thoughts on Etsy, pretty please.

Thanks!

An artistic two year old.

Dear sweet Evelyn.  Why are you so cute (even when your mouth is stained with your latest meal?)

Things were quite, so I had to find out what was going on...

Me:  "Evelyn, it looks like you've been coloring."
Evie:  "I wike you."  Sweetest little sing-song voice.

Me:  "I like you too.  Where's the lid?"
Evie:  "I wike you mommy."  Still sweet.

Me:  "I know you do.  Where's the lid?"
Evie:  "I wuv you."  Sappier than usual.

Me:  "I wuv you too.  Now where's the lid."  Giggling under my breath.
Evie:  "It gone.  Bye-bye.  I wuv you mommy."

Me:  "Mm hmm.  What did you do with the lid?"  Sighing at her cuteness.
Evie:  "I wike you!"  In her sweet little, squeeky, high pitched, two year old voice.

Me:  Fair enough.  "I wike you too Evelyn."
 

I love that kid. 

Back seat! Middle! Feet on the hump!!!

How many of you are familiar with Brian Regan? Let me see a show of hands. Alright, there are a few of you who didn't raise your hands so I'll tell you who he is. He's a comedian. A funny comedian. A while back my sister, Erin, introduced him to my kids by way of CD to which they listened to so many times it just up and disintegrated one day. And now, because our children have to entertain themselves without the help of the TV, they love to do Brian Regan impersonations, all at the same time and pretty much all day long. This is fine while it's going on within the confines of our home but the second those kids hit the door to go anywhere in the car, they all begin yelling at will, "Back seat! Middle! Feet on the hump!!!" Which of coarse, gets the attention of every living person within earshot who happens to be outside during one of these episodes. After staring with raised eyebrows at the children who repeatedly yell this like it's their mantra while they pile into the Suburban, they look at me with a look of compassion and wonder noticing, how well I seem to be holding up under the pressures of raising such a large bunch of seemingly L.D. children. It kind of leaves me kind of feeling the need to explain. So here's my explanation. Enjoy.


Thanks Erin!

This one's for all the grandma's and grandpa's...

Monday was Madison's eleventh birthday.  She had a lot of fun receiving cards and gifts in the mail and baking her own birthday cake.  That sounds cruel of me to make her bake her own cake, but really I'm just lazy.  Besides that, she actually enjoyed doing it.  She even decorated it herself which is a lot like art and she loves art!

She used pink, blue and green icing on a chocolate background to make butterflies, flowers and blue birds.  It turned out really cute.

Seriously, it was cute.

Once she blew out the candles, we commenced with the present opening. 

                                    

Here's a list of what she wanted and what she received:

Ear's pierced.  Check.

Ipod Shuffle.  Check.

Clothes.  Check.

Candy.  Check, check and check.

Cash donations for the camera fund inspired by her mother's professional photography skills.  Check, check.

And lastly, not requested but gladly received, one digital recorder.  Check.

Then her daddy loaded up her Ipod, put batteries in her recorder and that's when the fun really began.  With the kids all hopped up on sugar they'd run into the bedroom to sing and talk and laugh into the recorder then they'd come running back out and Madison would yell (her Ipod still blasting loudly into her ears) at the adults in the room, "You've got to listen to this!  It is sooo funny!"  Then she would play back the insane nonsense for us to enjoy.  This happened nonstop throughout the rest of the evening.

Now, two days later, when I go looking for the kids I usually find them in a closet, nibbling on the remaining hunks of chocolate and pop rocks, speaking gibberish onto the recorder with music blasting from Madison's ears loudly enough for everyone else to hear, looking like this...

They've turned into a weird bunch of unsocialized, homeschooled, little freakazoids.  This wasn't supposed to happen.  This is exactly what I've tried to avoid by homeschooling them.  I hope this doesn't derail anyone's plans of homeschooling their own children.  You know you can learn 'em just as good at home as you can in public schools.  Sometimes even better.  I should know, I'm a homeschool graduate myself.  That's right.  You're looking at a bunch of second generation homeschoolers.

Thank you dear birthday gift givers.

the end.

*Please email me with any requests to use my pictures before you just snatch 'em up.  I'm more than happy to share them, I just want to keep it under control.

Thanks,

Celeste Dixon

Professional Personal Blogger, ppb

Child's Play

I feel like we really got a lot done this weekend.  We now have steps that lead into the house, all the windows are in, the house is completely wrapped and interior walls were built...then torn down and rebuilt.  Hmmm...  Anyway, I also now have all but three of my twentysome plants, grasses, bushes etc. transplanted to the new house so I'd say it was a pretty productive weekend. 

Notice the trash pile is gone!  My dad burned it.  Hurray!

Goodbye ladder!

2x4 labyrinth.

I took a box of sidewalk chalk out to the house to draw in the upstairs to see if what I had in mind would work so the girls and I had fun pretending to use the chalk drawn bathroom and walk through the chalk drawn doors.

Then the kids decided to color all over the floor downstairs and naturally that lead to drawing hop-scotch.  As soon as Gracie finished drawing the last square, rocks began flying everywhere and children began hopping all willy-nilly, like loud, squeelly, laughing popcorn.  It was obvious they had no idea what they were doing and needed an intervention.  I, being an expert on the rules of hop-scotch, calmed them all down and began to explain how to really play the game.  Once their eyes were sufficiently glazed over, I knew I had thoroughly explained the rules.  Then eight year old Gracie said, very seriously, "Hop-scotch is complicated."  Just call me the fun sponge.

I don't know which is worse, that my children didn't know how to play hop-scotch or that they now think it's hard.  This is what happens when you homeschool.  Next weekend I'll be teaching them to jump rope and hula hoop.  That should be fun!

Isaiah spent the weekend being as manly as possible for a four year old boy.  He hammered nails into everything he could and wore a piece of rope looped over his shoulder because that's just what men do.  I think it was for therapeutic reasons.  He is after all, the only boy and he's always surrounded by a bunch of girls.  I think it gets to him after a while.  These things must be done to reaffirm his manhood and regain his dignity because occasionally when his daddy isn't around to protect him, things like this happen...(I don't have five daughters.  Isaiah's the one in the hat.  Poor guy.)

My apologies go out to his father and all his grandpas and uncles.  Oh, and to Isaiah.  Sometimes girls just can't control themselves.  We must girlify everything.

Zippin' Good Time!

We had another beautiful weekend and the house is ever closer to being "dried in." The roof is on, the house is mostly wrapped and the first floor windows are in.

Finishing the roof was a little scary because Jeff used roof jacks which are held in place with one screw and there were only three roof jacks which means he was being held up by only THREE little screws! Even he was nervous!

The house will most likely still be wearing nothing but a towel, a.k.a. house wrap, when we move in and stay that way for a while. It will be enough to keep the house dry while we finish the inside so we'll wait till after we've moved in to finish the exterior. Isn't it lovely? I think it looks good with the Sanford and Son theme we have going.

If your wondering about the clothes line with the big nail dangling from it, it's a zip line and a concrete stake. More about that in a second.

Next came the windows. Now it's really starting to look like a house!

Sunday morning, while Jeff was working by himself and waiting for the rest of us to show up, he made the kids a zip line with his repelling gear. As soon as we got there the kids lined up to take turns riding it. One by one, they'd crash to the ground or get dragged across a yard full of rocks, hanging on for dear life only to be thrown off when the ride came to an abrupt halt at the end of the line. A good time was had by all. Once the kids had all the fun they could stand, Jeff put a 2x4 on it so they could sit as they zipped down the line. That turned out to be a little gentler and provided them with hours of pain free fun.

I did get a video of Isaiah who managed to survive the ride on one of his turns.

Bed Head

You know those mornings when you first wake up, look in the mirror and think, "Hmm, not too bad." Then you pick up the mirror and look at the back side of your head and suddenly feel embarrassed hoping the hubby didn't get a look at that matted down, greasy mess! Well, that's about how the house is looking, deceptively good in the front.



Here's the front...not bad. (Ignore the junk on the ground, house building is messy work!)








But now take a peek at the back side. Hopefully that will get done next weekend.









Every time I'd show up to the house Jeff would be up high and hanging over the edges working. It was hard work and very scary at times, but I managed to survive. Jeff? Oh he's fine. Just a little sore from climbing up and down ladders all weekend. No biggie.





Here are some shots from the second floor. The kids are going to have some nice views from up there.























It looks kind of small, and it is kind of small but it will be fine for a few years till we can add on.








That's my mom holding Evelyn who's crying...as usual. She did a lot of that this weekend. I'm not sure if it's because of the new baby or maybe the big skeleton of a house that her daddy always seems to be dangling from is freaking her out. Either way, she been somewhat unpleasant company these last few days.







She did enjoy the little fires and marshmallows we had though. She doesn't actually like to eat the marshmallows, she just holds them.






We did a lot of fun stuff this weekend.


The older kids are always coming up with stuff to do out there like this...









We had a birthday lunch for my dad...












which included cupcakes.














Sophie took a lot of great naps.










We had a weenie/marshmallow roast and hot chocolate around the fire.













We were entertained by watching Jeff repel down the roof to get those last few screws in.









I even got to do a little landscaping amidst the rocks and poison ivy.

All in all, not a bad weekend.

It's starting to look like a house

Jeff, Eric, Rick, Chad, JJ and Dave put in some long hard hours on the house this weekend and we now have walls! It's great to have such good friends and family who'll spend that kind of time and energy helping us!





Jeff and I spent an hour or so on the fine details of the blueprints Friday evening to decide exactly where all the windows and doors need to be and while we were going over that Jeff decided he'd go ahead and build a few more of the interior walls. So hopefully, I'll have bedroom walls!!! It's nice to be able to have a place to hide out for a few minutes every now and then and with only one bathroom for seven people I need a second place to hide. Not that I ever get to go to the bathroom by myself anyway.

Since I haven't actually been out there to see the framing for myself this is one of my favorite pictures because it was taken inside the house from the dining area. Chad (ladder on the left) is in what will soon be the bathroom and Eric (ladder on the right) is in what will be the bedroom. You can also see the opening to the second floor which is over the living room.

There was only enough time for them to start on the roof assembly but Jeff is taking all of next week off to work on the house. I can't wait! I've got to figure out a way to spend time out there and keep the baby out of the weather, preferably without having to spend the week sitting in the birth mobile, er I mean suburban! Hopefully the weather will be good. We've been having some cold, wet weather lately.

Sophie seems to be coming out of her newborn coma like sleep and I've been feeling like I'm slipping into the new mom coma. If my posts seem are incoherent filled with mispelings and not good grahmer, you'll understand why. I did get an eight nonconsecutive minute nap today though, so I'm good. Actually my sleepiness is coming from my newest late night addiction. Lost. No, I'm not talking in my sleep...I'm addicted to Lost, the TV show. We're one of those families that "doesn't have TV." So then, what pray tell, is that big black box on the wall over the fireplace, you ask? Yes, it's a TV. We don't have network, cable or satellite but we do have Hulu.com and about a week ago we began season one, episode one of the show. We just finished all twenty something episodes of season one last night. Maybe we should slow it down a little...if we can.