Care for an update...?

It seems like forever since I've posted. Life has been extremely busy preparing for the upcoming move back to Kentucky/Ohio and trying to get everything in order.

I have good news about my dear sweet Anton! He saw a developmental psychologist last month and was diagnosed with ADHD as well as ADD to go along side his dyspraxia. I'm hopeful that he'll now be able to get the services he deserves. Up here in New England school is still in session and his IEP meeting is scheduled for June 13th. It'll be just a few days before school dismisses, but it is a very important step to have completed prior to moving! He has a concert tonight and I can't wait to see =)

Other life updates, it's warming up here! We went to the beach this past week where we realized that though the boys love the water our little Alana isn't much of a fan of being pummeled by waves! She did enjoy getting a sandy mess though so she enjoyed herself even out of the water. The boys(and myself) are really going to miss the ocean. It's been alot of fun up here, but it's time to be home again. I can't wait to be surrounded by the love of family and friends again, something the kids don't really know!

I hope you are all well and enjoying the beginning of your summer. Blessings!

Whatta week!

Things in my life have changed drastically this past week. I'm attempting to find a house I can buy or even rent 900 miles away, looking for a job and trying to sort out what I want and don't want out of a divorce. I haven't decided if my life has been complicated....or uncomplicated. There's this freeing feeling that I'll soon be living my own life and making decisions for myself and making my own imprint in the world rather than tagging along behind someone else's.

The details are still being decided and the kiddos and I will be leaving after the school year ends to start our life over back home surrounded by family and friends. I have so missed the love and support of loved ones around you. I know that the transition is going to be difficult and sometimes almost impossible, but I have the drive and aspirations to be successful and not give up.

Tonight I'm working on a baby quilt(that I started MONTHS ago, I'm so sorry Kristen and baby Anna!) so that I can get it finished and handed over before we leave in June.

I'm excited, scared, and ready to embrace this new life and the challenges it will bring. I'm ready to hold myself accountable. =)

Who are women in your life that show you the strength and inspiration to make it through hard and difficult situations?

Reflection

Too often we try to avoid the unavoidable.

At times it's easier to give up, but sometimes you really need to fight for what's right and just so that you can feel pride in an achievement. Then, there are those times, when you fight...and fight and nothing good ever comes out of it. Sadly, it takes a long time to figure out that this isn't a battle to be won and to learn to walk away from it and move on.

There is finally a realization that there is life beyond what we've managed to create here. There is more to me than what I've let myself become. There is more for us to learn, explore, and love. Its time to get up, dust off our well worn pants and move on. Its time to say goodbye to what was and hello to what is to become.

The wee ones are tucked in and peacefully snoozing and I'm heading to bed to cuddle with my Kindle and read a book.

I wasn't expecting that...

Yesterday did not go at all how I had planned. In fact, I'm heartbroken, confused, and angry.

Yesterday was the IEP meeting for my dear sweet, Anton. With diagnosis in hand( verbal constructional dyspraxia, fine motor and planning deficits, and written expressive language deficits) I went merrily to this meeting thinking everything would be put into place to help Anton in the school setting to achieve any sort of work.

That, my friends, did not happen. There were 5 of us in that room. Myself, Anton's kindergarten teacher, a special education teacher who works with him, his RTI Math(also extra help) and the special services director of the district. EVERYONE in that room except one agreed that Anton needed help, and it was the general consensus that it was 1-on-1 help that would be best for him. Now, Anton is intelligent. He excels in math and he's really chugging along with learning his letters and reading, however, he doesn't produce anything in the classroom. He can't focus or keep himself on task without constant reminder or encouragement that he's doing something correctly.

So, we're all trying to figure out what is really best for him, what services the school should provide and what I can do outside of the school when up pops the special services director with "I don't feel he has a learning disorder" ...

...
...

...
...

Insert four very confused faces looking at her and all at once saying "what?"

And the kicker, the kicker the fired me up beyond belief, she adds "If he had a diagnosis of something like ADHD or Autism then there would be no question."

ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!

REALLY?!

I kept my composure. I smiled. I cried. And I asked in the nicest tone I could muster
"Could  YOU please explain to me why for the LAST SIX months I have been taking my son to see an OT, he's gone to psychologist and neurologist to get a diagnosis. A diagnosis that YOU have RIGHT THERE in your folder because the SCHOOL recommended that it was BEST for my son to get a MEDICAL diagnosis versus getting one through the school. I'd REALLY appreciate you explaining that to me so that I can understand why the diagnosis he was given is not GOOD enough for you to provide him with services? Is it because it's not one of the many that are over diagnosed every day? Is it because it's not something you're familiar with so you don't want to deal with it?? Because I really DON'T UNDERSTAND what the problem is here."

She stares at me, blankly, and replies "Well what do you expect me to do? Do you want me to do an evaluation through the school?"

I wanted to slap her. Truly. I wanted to get up walk over to her and just SLAP her!!!! Why didn't they do this evaluation SIX MONTHS ago when it all started?? Why is she now wanting to do it when there is barely enough time to get the testing done before the school year ends.... oh wait, yeah that makes sense. Offer to do the testing now, that won't be completed until the end of the year(if it even gets completed) and hope that since we are a military family that we will move and you won't have to deal with the expense of giving him a 1-on-1 aid.

I am furious. I'm seriously at a loss at the disconcern with a child who is obviously struggling and barely hanging on. His teacher informed us that she would not be retaining him in Kindergarten and that he would be going to first grade because she doesn't think that repeating Kindergarten is what is best for him.

What are your thoughts? Do you think that a child who can not thought process, organize himself, or keep himself sitting still has a learning disability that needs to be addressed? Or should he just be ignored and forgotten because he wasn't diagnosed with something as over diagnosed these days as autism or ADHD?

Sorry for the rant, but I'm an upset mother.

I'm feeling at home now!

Did you notice things look a wee bit different here? Ah, I'm in love. All my favorite things are hanging around now and I finally feel at home. Still need a few more tweeks(mainly fonts) and I'll be all settled in into blogland. I'd like to take just a second to thank Sara*s Pixel Studio for helping me out and dealing with me to get this done =)

I'm preoccupied right now with getting ready for my son's IEP meeting on Wednesday. Hopefully that will all be squared away and taken care of and life can resume for me =) I'll be back to blog soon, I promise.

What do you think of the new look? Love it? Hate it? If you hate it, you're not my friend LOL!!!! I'm just playing, but really, how can you NOT love it?!

A tutorial!

Or maybe better titled "distraction"?


I've been meaning to post this for a few days, but I've kept myself busy trying to go through and do a bit of spring decluttering cleaning around my house. Tonight is the storage closet *shudder*

So, to take a little break, I figured I would go ahead and type out this tutorial for anyone who may be interested =)

What're we making?

What you need:

Printed Alphabet (If you use my templates you will need 7 sheets of printer paper)

• Download the PDF HERE

Scrap fabric pieces (or yardage if you prefer!)
Pins
Scissors (Fabric and paper)
Some sort of stabilizer like:

• Batting
• Interfacing
• Felt

Optional Supplies:
Exacto-knife
Magnets (Small to put inside the letters before closing them all the way up!)

Now, let's get started!

Step 1.

• Print and Cut out your alphabet templates.
• I recommend using an Exacto-knife to cut out the centers of the letters or those hard to reach with scissors places =)

Step 2.

• Using the paper templates you just cut out you'll start cutting out your letters. You'll choose a front fabric and back. I cut mine out at the same time just remember to place the backing fabric right side down and the front fabric right side up and your letter on top of those pieces.

• Please note that with this step if you'd like your letters to have felt as backing so that they can be used on a felt board you would be cutting the felt as the backing fabric!
• Pin your templates in place so that they (and the fabric) don't wiggle around as you cut them out.

• I recommend that you cut the main shape out with a large pair of fabric scissors and then a small pair for the inside details.

(I LOVE THESE!!!!)

If you fold the letter a little bit and use the tips of the small scissors to start a small hole to get in there it makes a world of difference =)

Voila!

• Now you'll need to cut out your interfacing letter as well (or batting, whatever you prefer to use as the inside to make it a little more sturdy!) I trace my letter in pen straight onto my interfacing so that I can cut it out without worrying about my template.

• Once you have it traced or pinned to the interfacing(or batting) cut out your letter.

Step 3.

• Stack your letter cut outs with back fabric facing right side down then your interfacing(or batting) and then top the sandwich with the top fabric facing right side up. (You're pretty much making a mini quilt here lol if that makes more sense!)

Step 4.

• Pin if you feel the need and then sew a very scant 1/4 inch seam around the entire edge of the letter.

(Pivot at the corners!!!)

• Once you have the outsides of the letter sewn together move onto the inside details. So for the A, you'll sew around the inside triangle =) (Sorry I forgot to get a picture of that step lol)

Step 5.

• Trim the interfacing or batting if you prefer. I used my small scissors(see I really do love them!) to trim away the excess because I was afraid with my daughter's tiny hands she might get a paper cut from it. So, just keep that in mind =)

Step 6.

• Enjoy your lovely little fabric letter and then move on to the next one =) 

And forgive me as this is my first tutorial. I wanted a set of letters for my daughter to play with that weren't the cheapo plastic magnetic ones you can find. I love this alternative, and I think she does, too! So, do you prefer less photos or is this an okay amount? And are the steps detailed enough? Give me feedback and maybe I'll do more =)

Just onea those days!

Seriously, here it is, 1:34 in the afternoon as I sit to type this and I'm already exhausted. Aiden and Alana are peacefully napping. The hubs is upstairs sleeping before he has to go into work for the night and Anton is off at school. I'm stressing over the fact that mother nature is deciding to dump another snow storm on us here in New England and feeling sorry for my poor little flowers that are nearly 4 inches tall now. What on earth is up with Mother Nature? Lady, you need to take some Midol or something because we can't handle anymore of your mood swings! JUST SAYIN!!!!!

Argh, and to make all matters great, I went to Joann's today(and Savers) and managed to not spend one penny...now this is could be because I left my wallet at home mistakenly. They had the cutest little outfits at Savers that my dearest would have looked darling in...if she were 3 sizes smaller =) Really though, her closet needs to be purged(the boys too for that matter) and I need to refill her wardrobe. My dear sweet Princess is down to merely no clothes that fit! Anton has the knees ripped in probably 75% of his jeans(does anyone have a good/cute way to repair them?!) and Aiden is just growing like a weed...who is on some MEGA MiracleGro!!! lol

All is well though and I am blessed with the days I have. Today I have finished an order of grocery bag holders and need to get those in the mail tomorrow. I think I'll mass produce some bibs and burp clothes tonight...or maybe just get some rest?

What are you all doing with your time? Has Mother Nature given up on keeping you cold and allowing you to enjoy the warmth of the sun yet? If so, I'm direly jealous, send some my way!

Every little thing...

Is gonna be alright =)



I'm not sure if you're familiar with this song or not, but it's my motto these days. I first found the profound meaning of it while pregnant with our little Princess. My pregnancy was far from smooth from the beginning. I was put on bed rest at 8 weeks with a husband who was constantly going out to sea and two boys who were 2 and 4 when she was born. It was a very difficult time and frustrating to know that it didn't matter that the doctor's orders were for me to rest to save my baby, I had to care for the two I already had, too. I listened to this song EVERY DAY multiple times throughout and it got me through that pregnancy. She ended up coming 2 weeks early, but so did my boys, so it all worked out and every little thing was alright!


We still listen to this song every day and it's a favorite amongst the little ones. It makes me smile every time I hear my boys singing the lyrics and watching my daughter dance and jabber to it.

So, here we are, singing this song again! Anton's appointment went amazingly well on Monday. We now have a diagnosis and guess what? It wasn't Asperger's, ADHD, OR neuromuscular disorder! Anton has what they call "dyspraxia" and it basically means his brain doesn't process motor functions like most people do. He has trouble with every day things that we all take for granted, like spreading cheese on a cracker, brushing his teeth, tying his shoes, to even writing. It makes it very difficult for him to sequence so for him to tell you what letter comes after L he's going to have to start all the way from A to figure it out. Same goes with numbers. She says as he gets older we'll have to teach him to organize himself so that he will remember all the small things he needs daily, such as which books to take to school or his schedule for the day. I'm sure it will be a learning process for us all, but atleast now we KNOW why he has so much trouble and we can make a plan to help him succeed.

A huge weight has been lifted because there are those who have called him a child who acts out or ill mannered and he isn't any of those things. He becomes upset easily, yes, but now looking at his situations we can try to make people understand WHY he becomes upset and what we can do to help him. I know our schedule is about to be added to because he'll need to start physical therapy and speech therapy along with the occupational therapy he already receives. He'll also have to be in summer learning programs more than likely all the way through middle school and possibly high school as well.

Thank you for your prayers and well wishes. I truly do appreciate them more than you could know and it's really a blessing to have gotten this appointment and a diagnosis on the first visit.

If you would like to know more about dyspraxia you can find information HERE or HERE. I am now on the mission of getting him an IEP(Individualized Education Program) so that he can start getting the help and services at school as well. Does anyone else have a child with dyspraxia here? I'd love to hear your story!

The unknown

Thursday I received a call from medical(yeah, military, we call it "medical") and they had scheduled my oldest son, Anton, an appointment with a neurologist. This seemed like a godsend since we had been trying to get him in to see one for almost 8 months now with no luck. However, the reasoning for it is completely different than what we were looking for the initial appointment.

Back story:

Anton has always been a little different, a little quirky. He's done things in his short little life that have made me giggle because of his meticulousness. He would line his crayons up at the end of the counter top end to end right along the edge. He'd go through the recycle bin and pull out the 2 liter soda bottles and line those up in the entry way to the living room and stack them as high as he could.

And then there were the few things that weren't so funny. The things that made me wonder if he was "okay" or if there was something I should be concerned about. The vacuum cleaner was the scariest monster in the world.  If I turned it on he instantly went upstairs to his room to the farther corner next to his closet and hunkered down and shook like crazy until atleast 15 minutes after it was turned off. I dealt with this until he was atleast 3 1/2. The other thing was the "tantrums" as everyone else around me called them. They weren't tantrums. He wasn't trying to get his way by throwing a fit it was just like he would get overloaded or frustrated and had no idea how to let that out so there were "meltdowns" daily. Then to top all this, he never slept. He'd go to sleep at 2:30 in the morning at be back up between 5:30 and 6 am.

I became pregnant with my middle child, Aiden, when Anton was battling a lot of this. Near the end of the pregnancy the lack of sleep and constant stress of dealing with him got to me and I finally took him to medical to see what could be going on. They insisted he be taken to Yale to do an autism evaluation. My husband "put his foot down" so to speak and wouldn't ALLOW me to take him. He felt that the stress of the pregnancy and him being gone all the time underway on the submarine that it was just me getting worn out.

Well, then we fast forward 3 years when Anton begins kindergarten. He scored 37 on his entry testing where most other students in his grade scored 75 or higher. It wasn't that Anton didn't know these things, it was that he wouldn't speak to the teacher to tell her anything. Now we are over midway through the school year and Anton is facing retention because he's just not "producing" in class. The teacher doesn't feel retention is what he needs, but because of funding issues he hasn't been able to get the testing through the school to get him services. I've been fighting to get some sort of diagnosis that would require the school to give him help. We've seen a psychologist who refused to diagnosis him because he felt he was "too young" but that he did show signs of Asperger's syndrome as well as ADHD. He continues to go to occupational therapy once a week to work on his fine motor skills and sensory development. We'd been waiting to see a neurologist to rule out autism so that was what I thought this appointment would be for.

However, his pediatrician who looked over the reports from his OT said he feels he may be showing sides of neuromuscular disorder. I've refrained from doing internet research, I just can't bring myself to that. I'm praying that we have good results tomorrow and that everything is going to be OKAY and my baby boy is healthy and will be just fine.

Have any of you gone through this? How did you keep sane? I'm basically a one man show here since my husband isn't supportive of any of the testing and I live 900+ miles from family.

So if you could just say a prayer for him or send good vibes or whatever it is that you believe in because we could surely use it.

We have a winner!

Congratulations to MAG Creations! By luck of Random.org you are the winner of our lovely Blossom Bag!

Winning comment #7 was "My favorite food...hmmm...Probably lasagna that my mom, brother and I used to make. I still do (not near as fun without it being all of us) but we use cottage cheese instead of ricotta. Hopefully my almost 3 year old will be able to help very very soon!!!" 


I hope you enjoy your new bag!

A tiny update!

On the bag you're trying to win! I do have to be honest here, it's not anywhere near perfect and I still have to put the dividers inside, but this bag has been a NIGHTMARE to make. If you're wondering, it's a pattern from Amy Butler's Style Stitches book. I'd never really made a boutique bag before, and well, after this one, I'm not sure I ever will again ;P

So, I'm warning you, if you win, it's not perfection, however, that is not to say that alot of blood, sweat, and tears were not put into it....and probably some curse words, too.

Eye candy =)

And a close up of the handle detail:

Love the bag and completely confused as to what giveaway? Find all that information HERE!

What's this snow business?

Ya know, I know I'm in New England and I ought to be used to this snow business, but COME ON! When you give me a few days of 65+ days and then go back to snowing I get a little disheartened. It's no longer snow at this point in the evening, but I'm pretty sure there's sleet coming down with the rain. I'm just ready for some spring time. I want to see flowers blooming and hear birds chirping when I wake in the morning. It's the little things that make me happy and darnit, my kids need fresh air! We've harvested and bred so many viruses and infections this winter that I'm just ready for it to be over with!

ANYWAY!

For those of you entering my giveaway please PLEASE PLEASE! Remember to put a comment on the blog post for every entry to you do. So, if you are now following my blog(bless your little hearts and I love you for it!!!) do make sure you leave a comment on the post so that you get an entry =) I wouldn't want anyone missing out and that is the easiest way to keep track of the entries.

I'll be working on the purse tonight, just as soon as I get done here so hopefully it will be fully together tomorrow =) I think you'll LOVE it!

I'd like to take the time tonight to introduce you to my family and tell you a little about us. We're a family of 5 and a Navy family(until May 2012 anyway) We've been stationed in; Charleston, South Carolina, Groton, Connecticut, and are currently in Kittery, Maine for our second stay. Although we do enjoy the north, it wears on you. I think if we had our choice and family would move along with us we'd end back up in Charleston. Loved that area more so than any other so far. (Not that I would trade the time we've spent and the friends we've made along the way though!!!)

We have a dog(who tests my patience more than our children) named Marley, 2 feline fellows we called Meeko and Max and a goldfish....that I can't believe is still alive. You know how you take your child to the fair and they INSIST on playing the toss-the-ball-into-the-fish-bowl game and they NEVER win or if they do the fish ALWAYS dies...ours won, and he's still a live. *sigh*

As for the kiddos, we have our oldest guy, Anton, who is the most amazing little boy I have ever met. His eyes coupled with is so blue eyes could melt your heart in no time flat. He's our big boy and in Kindergarten. We see him grow so much day to day and becoming more independent. He even has his first loose tooth! (And this tooth is not to be confused with the one he has already lost, since that one had to be removed after an accident where his face met the sidewalk last summer =P)

Next up we have a dear sweet Aiden. We couldn't have chosen a better name, albeit over used, he truly is a fiery little boy. You must be on your toes for the wit that this 3 year old guy carries in his pocket. I have literally spat out drinks listening to him carry on casual conversation with me. I'm sure you'll hear about one....or a million if you hang around here long =) He's got the personality of a kid who loves everyone and everything and you can't help but love him, too.

Our little Princess Alana is the youngest in our family. She just turned 1 at the end of December and we couldn't have asked for a more laid back little girl. She's finally walking and terrorizing her big brothers, the dog and the cat and I'm sure if we give it time she'll pester the fish, too. She makes life more interesting that's for sure. It's not often you won't find her rummaging through her snack drawer searching for her Oreos(she truly has an addiction and I think we might need to setup and intervention soon!)

They brighten my day, everyday. I won't say there aren't days that I really just want to crawl back in bed and not deal with being mommy, but that phase doesn't last long, because in no time I have a sweet smiling face waking me up to make sure I'm okay. Nothing compares to the love of a child.

What's a blog without readers?

Lonely =(

What's the best way to lure readers? Have a giveaway! That's right, I'm bribing you to follow me by having a giveway. I'll stoop that low =D

I have an absolutely amazing purse I am working on and no matter how much I love it I know that one of you will get way more use out of it than me!

Isn't this fabric A-MUH-AZING?! I love it to pieces, but I'm not really a purse kinda gal so I truly would love to give it to one of you lovely readers to enjoy. I promise I'll post finished photos in the next day or so and you have until March 26th to enter. 

HOW TO ENTER!

Please remember to leave a comment for each separate entry. Each comment is like your raffle ticket, but please don't cheat and leave comments without fulfilling the requirement, I will be checking.

1. Become a follower!

2. Blog out my giveaway!

3. Share the giveaway on Facebook/Twitter or whatever other social networking website you use!

4. Leave a comment with your favorite recipe. Don't cook? Leave a comment with your favorite home cooked food, wether it's by grandma, auntie, or mom herself!

That's right folks, 4 chances to win! Now, get to sharing the love for me and I'll get to work on YOUR bag =)

<3 Emily

There's been a break in!

Anton came home from school today insisting we had to get treasure of gold and shiny things to put out for his leprechaun trap because he just HAD to catch one so that he could find where he hid all his gold! Well, what's a momma to do? We took a trip to Joann's(where I was supposed to get interfacing and ended up with way more than that...and without the interfacing!) to get some lovely treasures to set our trap!

Now, mind you, I have two boys who both want in on this fun so we MUST set TWO traps instead of just one!

Anton picked out a huge strand of golden beads and Aiden chose some red glass beads and to home we went. I told them they had to choose something to put their treasures in to catch their leprechaun. After much thought Anton decided on a glass jar(that I had to empty my caramel apple pops out of) and Aiden chose a glass. We put their pretty little things inside their own trap and then I tucked them in.

Now, I was looking at these two traps with NO IDEA how I was going to catch a leprechaun for my very excited little boys to find in the morning. Then it hit me, I didn't really need to CATCH one per-say, I could just find evidence that one had been here and that maybe he couldn't make it out with all his loot from our house and hid it away for later.













Now it's time to go tuck myself in and get some rest. Hopefully I'll have an eventful day tomorrow to blog about =)

Sewing...without a tutorial!

Makes my head hurt.

I'm terrible at math. I mean, absolutely TERRIBLE. I learned tonight that one can have the best of intentions when it comes to numbers and though they may add and re-add and look those numbers over 3...maybe even 4 times....if they aren't a number person it's just not going to end well. After much adding of borders and much trimming of edges I managed to make the outer portion of the cover for my(husband's) bread machine.

I took the day and did a major rearrange of my dining room and chose to use a shelving unit(that was still boxed!) to house a few small kitchen appliances. After putting them there though they looked like a worse eye sore than the clutter that was rampant prior. I decided(oi vey) to make that little bread machine a dress! It does look mighty great on there right now, but I know that there is the next step of making the liner for that cover and well, that makes me want to hide the cover and forget I made it!

I love to sew and normally I do so by tutorials or pattens where my numbers are all right there for me and I do very well with that. I went out of my zone of comfort though because I truly wanted that so very uber cute bird fabric to be on display and oogled over(even if only by me!) Please tell me there is someone else out there that loves to sew, but can't do a fraction to save their lives?!

---

I received the blue fabric I used as borders(because of my terrible math skills) from a strip swap a while back. I have been hoarding the fabric strips for quite a while and it was time to put at least ONE of them to use. Maybe I'll work on using a few more soon, they're just so yummy!

Aren't these little birds just divine? I'm in love!

I promise to take a better photo of this little beaut tomorrow when the sun is shining and I'm not relying on my terrible(and lack thereof..) overhead lighting.

Ah, a duty free weekend.

So, a bit of information that would be helpful to those trying to get to know me is that I am married(8 years in June) to a United States Sailor. Life has never not consisted of days apart(months, too) and within the Navy there are "duty" days. These are days that my dear Sailor must stay aboard and man his submarine. (Oh yeah, he's also submarines, so those days(months, too) apart are usually without much contact and what little contact we do have when he's gone is via email, and I say email but what I really mean is a short message saying I love you and I miss you and a little detail of the day to day that is read by multiple people(and computer scanning systems) before he ever reads it. What that means is if someone thinks the news he's receiving isn't something he should hear while underway then it just isn't delivered. ANYWAY, where I'm going with this is that this weekend was a duty free weekend.

He had an idea and I made a phone call and some pocket change(...savings) later we were loading up our three wee ones to head to Danvers, Mass which is just north of Boston for some indoor water park fun. Our youngest, Princess Alana(14 months) has been feeling a little under the weather, but then again, who isn't these days with all this cold/snow/rain in New England?! Our first day there we checked into the hotel and then swiftly made our way to the water park(connected to the hotel!) The boys, Anton(5) and Aiden(3), had no idea what to expect, but I think the huge tubes sticking out of the building as we circled took some of the surprise away from Anton. The guys of the house(haha yes, i mean the biggest of them all, too) played mostly in the jungle gym area while Alana and I hung out in the kiddie area. She(or me) didn't enjoy much of the splashing from all the other raging children(oh and their parents) so we spent most of our time avoiding the shooting water coming from the sides of the wading pool and the fountains from the floor of the pool OH AND the water from the huge fountain over us. Lots of water, lots of splashing and lots of cranky baby.

The huge perk to the trip, Sonic is down that way, too =) If you're in New England, but from the south, you can relate to the happiness this brings. I think sometimes we make excuses to go to Boston just for Sonic! And then this morning for breakfast we wined(haha) and dined at Denny's. I just love a Moons Over My Hammy every once in a great while. The boys spent the morning back at the water park while the Princess and I decided to hang out in the van and watch some Ice Age. I'm fairly certain that was more enjoyable for both of us.

We are now back home and Aiden and Tony(the hubs) are napping and Alana just laid down. Anton and I are attempting to get some organizing and rearranging done before all awake and chaos resumes.

It was a nice night away from home and the boys truly enjoyed themselves. Now to work on getting this little Princess back to health and some Spring would be nice! The snow is slowly melting away and we're starting to see some grass, albeit brown. Anything is better than dirty snow!

How is YOUR weekend so far?

Blogging?

I have spent countless hours reading blogs of people I've never met, nor ever will, but feel like I know. Some I have followed for years while others I have just recently found. I love to see that I'm not the only mom that struggles raising a family and being a stay-at-home-mom and I am also given inspiration that some day I too will be able to work outside of the home to help support my family and still be able to be MOM to my children.

I have read stories of the utmost strength and Courage, Inspiration, giggles(and fabric!), and all things sewing. I find myself laughing and crying with these women and they have no idea I'm even there reading their stories. I love that the online community has brought so many people together and I think it's about time I make my way into it.

I'm not sure what this blog will feature, I'm sure you'll see:

My (Beautiful) Children

My sewing projects

Fabric?

And life as a Navy wife holed up in Maine.

I hope something here can inspire you, or make you laugh, or if you can relate enough and it hits just the right chord, make you cry.

I'm Emily, and it'll be nice getting to know me.