Anyone who has seen Napoleon Dynamite can faintly remember the horse shirt that he wears in one of the scenes, the thing that some of you that aren't from rural Idaho might not know is that the horse shirt is a true representation of Idaho citizens in the 90's. I remember horse shirts being the coolest thing in elementary, everyone had them (along with neon shoelaces and double pair of socks). My mom went to a screen printing shop when she visited West Yellowstone and came back with one of the coolest shirts I had ever seen. I always thought my mom looked so elegant in her horse screen printed sweatshirt.
Yesterday, Al and I were going through the refashioning pile and I was so surprised when she pulled out my mom's beautiful horse sweatshirt from the 90s. We talked about how we had both loved the shirt when we were kids. She said the last time she was home Mom sadly put it in the DI pile, Al rescued it. We talked about the possibilities, we finally decided on a horse sweatshirt dress (that we later changed to a sweatskirt).

 

So most days and moments of being a mom are really hard. It seems that toddlers are almost always pushing limits and doing things they probably shouldn't. Even though parenting is frustrating a lot of the time, it seems that there are sweet little moments each day when you kid does the cutest darndest thing. When these happen, I'm going to sit down at the computer and write a blog post about it so that I can remember that moment. I invite all of my dear sisters to capture these beautiful moments and share them with me. Label them: kids say the darndest things.

Yesterday was one of those super sweet moments. Scary and I were in the kitchen making dinner and the kids were sitting across from each other at the table eating raisins.
As they were eating Ryder said to Ty, "You wanna get married?" Chuckle, chuckle.
Pause, "Ya." Chuckle, chuckle (Ty)
"You wanna pick out a movie?" (Ryder)
"Ya. Let's get get married and pick up a movie." (Ty)
"Okay." (Ryder) By now they are both giggling.

 

We had a stinky thing happen last week. Slim Jim had his Jack disappear out of his truck. It made me very upset, I decided that all of our tools would be marked. I am never having that happen again without the thief having to look at our name and face his/her terrible decision every day.

Seriously this only takes  seconds.

Go to your old t-shirt drawer of shirts that you just love, but you can't get rid of because they remind you of a memory from your childhood. You can't wear them anymore because they are either not fancy enough to wear in public, have small holes from being worn so much, or probably even just that you are not the same size you were before you had kids.

Pull them out. Only set aside the ones you could realistically wear in a week and that still fit. Place the other in a pile and give them to your toddler for pajamas. Chances are your kid will love your old shirt as much as you did; Ty was pretty ecstatic about having Mommy-Mom's basketball shirt for her 'jamas. Especially if you point out the face of Albert Einstein and his crazy hair or the awesome player and basketball on it it is sure to be a hit.

No need to worry about where the bottom of the pajama set went or how to keep your kid in pajamas that fit because they grow too fast.

You might ask yourself how it can be considered a refashion without any work? The explanation is simple, by giving all of my old t-shirts to my toddler I am making a new and better use of them.

Yesterday I went to our new ward's playgroup as I was getting to know the women there I met a lady who does all her meal planning 5 Weeks at a time! Isn't that amazing. I asked for further details because I was super impressed and a little shocked that someone could be that on top of it.
Here are the highlights of her 5 week meal planning plan:

• Uses the same 40 favorite recipes and if she isn't feeling one meal she just rotates it with another one
• Grocery shopping once every 5 weeks to get her groceries
• 2-3 meals a week are in the crockpot because she works part time and doesn't get home soon enough to make dinner
• As a side she serves home canned vegetables. (She cans one can for every day of the year)

Meal planning is something I have been good at in the past but not great my weaknesses include: CRAVINGS! Days turning out a lot busier than I anticipated. Or weather (I like soup when it is cold).
But this week has gone pretty good so far, here has been the results (bold=success) (strike=change of plans)(italics=added bonus)

This morning this is how our (Al and Scary) day started. We ran, we walked, we lunged and we found a sweet old playground that had no one on it!
After running today we sat down and meal planned for the week.

We have found that pretty much the only way to have a full fledged meal, meet our kids needs, save money, and stay sane is to cook together. This isn't really a planned dinner group, but more of a spontaneous, but not so spontaneous symbiotic relationship. We also find that if we cook together we make more delicious stuff and are better at adding all the sides. Feel free to cook along with us this week if any of it sounds good to you. We will attach links to the recipes that we can (some of the ones we've made up ourselves don't have recipes written yet).

Ever wonder why we are only half decent bloggers, it is because every day that goes by we try to finish one old project and end up starting 2 more. Don't believe us just look at Scary and I's combined project list.

Sell Closet full of Yard Sale Clothes:

• Take pictures of clothing
• Upload and Organize on the moving blog
• Locate small hipped/bust females to purchase old super cute clothing
• Hide profits from self so they can be spent on new clothing that fits, instead of on fabric/craft supplies/toilet paper

Finish Placemats:

• Cut Remaining frames
• Spray Paint place setting silhouette
• Get it laminated

Participate in Project Run and Play

• Plan out outfits
• Begin sewing 
• Take pictures of kiddos in projects

Other stuff

• Plan out Refashioning projects (laundry basket full)
• Hem tan Gap jeans from Scary
• Cut jean square for picnic blankets (another laundry basket heaping full)
• Figure out Planner/Organizer/Financial ledger system (and make it cute) -----Suggestions would be appreciated!
• Make Ty and Brooklyn ruffle romper/dress
• Make Bubba and Nae's wedding quilt (a few months late *nervous laugh*)
• Shorten bed skirt
• Help Scary put her new bed skirt on
• Clean out small storage shed
• Finish staining bench
• Refinish crib
• Refinish table & chairs
• Get Skinny (dedication ends where the cream and butter hit the pan): Maybe lunges  would help they make you super sore so they should make our legs skinny right?
• Definitely wash heaping piles of laundry, potentially fold them.
• Fix pretty skirt that Rhett took sewing scissors to. 
• Make Stick horses

Today Al and I were at Walmart and I saw the beloved $1 rack. As usual I went to survey the items to see if any of them could work for initial wear or used for future sewing projects. I saw a shirt that was pretty cute but a little loud for my style.
I said to Al, "Do you think I could pull this off."
She nodded, "Ya, I think you could pull that off."
A few moments later Al pulled a shirt off the rack and said, "I think I could pull this one off."
Ryder wanted to join in on the fun so he grabbed at the shirt closest to him and said, "Mommy you could pull this one off too." Then he grabbed at another shirt and said, "I could pull this one off." he proceeded by pulling the shirt off the hanger.
I laughed so hard. I decided the shirt was too loud and that I shouldn't get it but I was grateful for the moment to see how much of others conversation Ryder comprehends.

Blowing your nose makes it all better
Today, I am also dealing with "this time of the month" complications. I promised Ryder that we could go to the playground but I am not feeling well enough to want to hang out on a park bench until he is done playing so I asked him if we could do it another day. He was not real happy about this but when I explained that I had an oweee in my girl potty parts. He first decided that I needed to go to a doctor to make it better. When I told him that wouldn't fix it he then gave me lots of hugs to try and fix it. And when I was still sad he thought of the perfect solution, "I will go get a tissue, Mommy." He then he came out with the perfect amount of tissue for blowing your nose and made me blow until I felt better.

I hurt my bottom
A couple nights ago Ryder wanted to go see his grandparents in Utah, since we won't be heading down for a couple of weeks I was hoping that a phone call would suffice. Papa Utah ask him what fun things he had done today. Ryder couldn't think of anything exciting that day so he decided to choose one from the day before.
Ryder shouted into the phone, "I hurt my bottom on the slide. The doctor fixed my bottom and made it all better." Ryder then proceeded to tell Papa about his leg and his head and how they had been injured when he slipped on the slide.
After Ryder was done with the phone call I had to explain to Grandma and Grandpa Utah that Ryder had slipped while climbing up the slide, and we had taken him to the ER to make sure he didn't need any stitches (which luckily he didn't). I guess we have reached the age I should be hesitant what weeks I let him  talk on the phone because now he can be understood on the phone well enough to get me in trouble.

Hope you have a great weekend and that you are enjoying hearing the things the little ones in your family are saying.

Dear Slim Jim,
I heard this song the other day and I thought about how if I had to choose a song for us now it would be this one. With all the ups and downs of panic disorder, we have always had each other to lean on. And though things have been REALLY HARD at times we have had some really beautiful memories. And all of the hard times have be worth what we have together; friendship, love, support and those beautiful babies.
I can't think of anyone else I would rather create and keep an eternal family with.
I love you!
Scary.