The ramblings of a mom with triplets plus one and now a mini-farm in the making.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
American Girl...finally
It took many months of saving, working, double checking the website and day dreaming but the girls finally made it to the American Girl store!
Today we made the short trip with Mimi to the store. This being the highlight of their trip. We walked in and #1 went right to the doll case of Julie and #3 wondered around until she found the doll case of Kit.
Next, we will be looking at doll clothes patterns. I think both of them will enjoy sewing doll clothes when they realize how much they can do with their own imagination and their sewing machine.
Yesterday, Chick-fil-A had a promotion that if you dressed up as a cow you would get a free meal. They even had a link to print out parts of a cow to use for your costume. I talked the kids into doing this so we could get our supper for free. They were a little apprehensive but went along with it. I even did it. Unfortunately, I did not read the very fine print where it stated that you had to dress from head to toe as a cow to get the free meal. So our print outs were considered only a partial costume. But we got an entree free for each person! That was just as good to me! I purchased some diet lemonade (oh my goodness, yum yum) and we headed back to Pappy's house.
My desert city kids were SOOOOO excited when Speannie suggested we drive to a creek down the road a piece from her house to wade in the water, assuming it had some water. After driving several miles down dirt roads and going over one lane bridges that had no water flowing under them, we made it to an area that met if not exceeded their expectations. The kids were so surprised that I let them get in the water with their clothes on and not their bathing suits.
The water ended up being a little deeper than expected (a little over their knees) and the rocks were slippery (so #4 tells me). #4 "slipped" and got ALL his clothes wet, so that opened the door for the rest to follow suit. They got to wade/swim in the creek and can't wait to go back.
Again, my little city dwellers surprised me in the fact that NONE of them were scared of the little fish swimming around their legs. They were actually trying to catch the little fish with their hands. They stand back from the lobster tank at Wal-Mart!
We met some other people who pointed out the a better swimming hole was just around the bend but I think our knee deep fun will work out just fine.
This past weekend brought some relief from the already too high summer temperatures, so we headed down to the dry lake bed. The M's, the Brother L's three with D and RS came down with us. Both W's were newbies to the lake bed and had a great time. W Jr. got his feel of the dirt and wind but W 3rd is ready to arm wrestle me for the 250. AM brings his stunt kite and everyone enjoys a turn "trying" to fly it. This time around, #3 was able to fly it but #4 took the kite by the strings and was a pro. It was hilarious to watch #4 following AM's directions as AM would yell "blue, red, blue, red" so #4 would know which string to pull. Plus #4 was so small and at many times the wind was so strong, the kite would drag him.
Friends, dirtbikes, dirt, kites, mild temps and grilled hamburgers provide an absolutely wonderful day.
When I went back into the workforce after being out of the workforce for about 8 years, I had no clue about Excel, PowerPoint or any thing else other than Word and even that was limited. The last time I had used a computer at a job, it was on a mainframe and the computer looked like this:
Actually, I should correct myself. This was not a computer but a "terminal" used for mainframes. I believe this model came out in the mid-1970's. So basically, the terminal and I were the same age. I was using it in the early 1990's.
Fast forward to 2009:
Even though I have been working part time for the last three years, I still didn't learn PowerPoint until this past year and was a little scared too. But my 4th graders know how to make PowerPoint's and have done so in class as part of a "how to" presentation in class.
Both girls have made PowerPoints at home for fun. I am not sure if they are doing this to show off to me or if they now know something and just want to do it. Probally it's a little of both :)
Here is the most recent "how to" PowerPoine #3 did at home for fun.
For the longest time, I have wanted to win a ribbon for something at a county/state fair. Actually, I can pin point the moment I decided I wanted a ribbon. It was watching an episode of the Andy Griffith Show titled "The Pickle Story". Aunt Bea wanted to beat out Clara for the blue ribbon in the pickle contest at the fair. I was very young (early 1980's) but knew I wanted a blue ribbon too.
Fast forward as an adult to 2002. While living with my dad in Tennessee, my step-mom, sister and I decided to enter #4 in the baby contest at the county fair. It was strictly on a whim. We read about the contest in the paper that afternoon and made it to the fair grounds in time to enter him. He won 4th runner up out of 30 babies. Ok, now #4 had a ribbon, his picture in the local paper and a $2 cash prize to call his own from a fair. As a mom, I was so excited, but he should have been 1st! As a person who wanted her own blue ribbon, well, I was a little envious.
A question I had failed to ask my self is "What would I even enter into a fair?"
Fast forward to 2009. I had learned how to sew and Spelly had showed me how to take some really good pictures. I had missed last years county fair so I was ready for this year! Even the girls were ready and #4 decided to draw a picture to enter too.
Well here is our wall of ribbons. It was so fun to see my kids enjoying the lime light but I finally had my blue ribbon!
Today the triplets' class sang an Arbor Day song for the Arbor Day program at school. As always, they requested that I video it. To think they think I only video or take pictures upon demand. I would do it anyway!
At the county fair, the kids rode a mechanical bull and I am surprised they wanted too. Needless to say, I captured it all on video. Our friend J and her daughter, V, went with us and I videoed V too!
#1, #3, #4 and I entered our creations into the county fair this year. I entered two baby/toddler dresses and four digital pictures. All three kids entered a drawing and #1 made a nightgown and #3 made a rag pillow sham.
All of recieved a participation ribbon for each entry and all three kids received an honorable mention for each picture and nightgown and pillow sham. I recieved a first and second best in class for my dresses.
It was very exciting to find our entries and see ribbons on them!
I will post pictures when I pick up our entries on Tuesday.
Yes, with thriftiness always in the forefront of our minds nowadays, we have made it a family outing to go our local Goodwill Superstores in the last couple of weeks looking for bargains. It seems the kids always grow out of their clothes two days after you buy them or they just plain wear them out.
So, this past week, I dragged #1 to one of the two Goodwill Superstores we have been frequenting after her doctor's appointment (since we were already on that side of town). Despite her being sick (two ear infections), she let me make a quick run through of the clothes for her. She was in need of more meeting clothes. I was able to get #3 several meeting outfits since we had stumbled into "50% off all clothes" a few Saturdays ago. This week, #1 and I stumbled into "25% all skirts". We walked out with brand-name items (many with the original tag still attached) that amounted to five meeting outfits for less than $20!!! (Pictures to come as they wear the clothes.)
Tonight, Jason wanted to go to his favorite GW Superstore, closer to our home, to check out what they had. Well let me tell you, somebody walked out with a super big smile on his face. I have to admit, I did too. We spotted a brand new gas dryer for $60 dollars. What manager's special did we stumble into tonight? It was 25% off everything in the store. So with that, Jason skipped up to the counter and put his name on it. Total spent for the dryer was $45!! There are no dents, scratches or chips on it. Frigidaire has a MRSP of $619, but looking online, it looks like it goes for about $500. He saved $455!! Jason ran a gas line to the dryer hook up a few years ago so that we could save on our electricity bill (which it has). Our friends were kind of enough to give us an old gas dryer they no longer needed but it has been on its last leg for months. It squeaked so bad, everyone on our street knew when we were drying clothes. For the price it would cost to fix it, Jason decided to start looking for another used dryer. Tonight he found on and he got an awesome deal. The following video is a few seconds of the new dryer doing its thing, quietly. That is how proud we are, we want to share with the WWW land how nice it is to dry clothes, quietly.
Still coming down from the high of our thrift store experience, I was craving more of Mama Rose's pizza. I ran into Food 4 Less and what did I find but my pizzas on sale for 50% off! These pizzas come in packs of two, so I came out with two packs at $2.29 per pack and a two four packs of snack pizzas for $2.79 per pack! Even though, for the last two weeks, I have cooked six regular pizzas and 10 snack pizzas for anyone in the house who wanted to partake I still felt the urge to make another one tonight. The crust is wonderful and the cheese is so creamy, almost liquid. Even when it gets cold, the cheese is still soft.
Now that I have totally rambled about a dryer, cheap clothes and pizza for several paragraphs, I can not end this post without sharing a picture of an item that I felt would never be a likely piece of decor in my house. But, when my eye caught I glimpse of this lamp, I knew in my heart that if Jason saw it, the lamp would be coming home with us. Well, he got a glimpse of it. Proudly,here on his side of the bed, stands his new $5 lamp. I am thankful it is not a leg lamp.
Tonight at the Meeting, Sister H had invited the kids to be her householder for an impromptu talk. The kids were very excited to be a part of this talk and to be on the stage in the front Hall. They wanted to make sure we took video of it and then posted it on the blog. Needless to say, they felt good and received lots of complements for their effort, reading from the Bible and willingness to go up on stage.
If you could have seen the cameramen, you would have seen two very proud parents.
Guess who needs to clean their "eyes" with Windex now?
Yes, the long awaited specs finally arrived today. The office had said they should be in on Monday of this week but maybe as early as Friday. Since I had not heard from them as of this afternoon, I called them. They said the glasses were not in but quickly called me back, I guess after double checking, and said they were in! I could not drive fast enough for #3. The office closed at 5pm and we were not able to leave the house until 4:45. #3 was at a point of being willing to just physically run to the office as she knew she could run faster than I was driving. Fortunately, she liked the case the glasses came with so I did not have to stop at Wal-Mart to look for one more befitting of a picky 9 year old girl with new glasses to show off.
On the way home, she read all the signs. Even as I type, she is skipping around taking her glasses off and then putting them back on then giving me updates of how much clearer she can see this and that.
How fun to be a 9 year old with your first pair of neat new eye glasses.
I don't have a picture because it is late but the girls finished their brothers' sleep pants tonight. It went quick and their seams were even better than last night!
This evening, the kids suggested we do our nightly bike ride to Wal-Mart because I need to go there to pick up prescriptions. We also had a visitor tonight, TL from down south, so we decided to get a little extra flannel to make his kids sleep pants. I don't know if we will get them done by the time he goes back home on Thursday or Friday but we will have them in the mail by Monday.
The last two nights have been so fun! Hopefully, I truly have two new sewing partners who I will not have to beg to sew with me.
After the girls finished their sewing class in the fall, we bought them a sewing machine to share. Even though there were no fights over the sewing machine, Mimi made sure none would come up in the future. She bought another sewing machine this past weekend. Now all the girls in the house (including me) have a sewing machine to call her own!
With this new serge of excitement over sewing, we cut out pajama pants patterns and began sewing up a storm on the kitchen table. I was the teacher and did the serging(ok, we have a serger we all share) and each girl worked on a pair of pants for one of their brothers. Tomorrow, we will hem them and insert the elastic.
This is my sister, Spelly, and my daughter, #3. To me, there is no doubt they are from the same family but even if they don't look a like, their personalities are one in the same!! I am raising my sister!!
Again, I must point these are pictures of two very pretty little girls.
What do you get when you take two sisters, the same age, to the eye doctor to see if they need glasses? You get one sister who is very happy because she needs glasses and one sister who is very upset because she does not need glasses.
I felt pretty sure that #3 would need glasses for school but iffy if #1 would. Well, my hunches were right and #1 is still crying because her eyes are a hair bit over the line of good. The doctor said she MAY need glasses by next year but this year the prescription was so small it seemed wasteful to get her glasses. She has 20/20 for reading but far away gets a little blurry. And far away meaning across a football field.
I did feel sorry for her. Right now glasses are so cool and #3 had picked out a neat hot pink frame and was going to inquire if they sold frames with puppies on them.
I tried to comfort #1 by reminding her that at some point she will have to wear head gear for her teeth. Her excitement of this possibility boils over when she talks about it but the subject offered little comfort at the eye doctor's office. I also reminded her that she has been the only child in our family to sprain her ankle really bad, require a trip to the emergency room and need crutches. Again, little comfort, plus 'Mom, that was ages ago.'
I then pointed out to her that all was not lost, there is always next year.
The girls finished their last sewing class tonight and came home with their very own "lazy pants". As you can see by the pictures, they are quite proud and rightly so. Watch out for present day, your very own "made by a Harpole girl" pants and pillow case will be on the way!!
I always wanted to learn to sew. When I moved back to AL to go to college, Pawpaw's wife, Bonnie, tried to show me how to sew. I didn't really catch on but she showed how to do other crafts that I enjoyed. After I was married, Jason's step-mom helped me sew a jumper dress that I loved to wear. But that was the last I really tried to sew for some years. Then when we lived across the creek from Melvin and Frankie in CA, Frankie was kind enough to take me under her wing and teach me to sew. She was so good in teaching how and why and was very very patient as I had to sew the same sleeve about five times to get it right. She also taught me to enjoy sewing.
My girls have been wanting to learn to sew for some time. I don't have the patience that Frankie does and have put it off. The week before last, I saw Joann's had a sewing class for kids (very cheap I might add). So I signed them up and the first class was one session and they learned a little about the sewing machine and some very basics about some sewing tools and then sewed a pillowcase. They did a good job for their first project. We went to Wal-Mart and bought some material so the girls could make them another matching pillowcase and one pillowcase each for their brothers. Tonight, we started on the girls' second pillowcase and #3 did a great job! #1 will finish hers tomorrow.
This week is their third and finial class at Joann's. They have been making "lazy pants" (pajama pants). They did an awesome job cutting out the pattern and sewing the pants together. This week they will do the casing for the elastic and hemming the legs.
Location: blogging about the next phase of family life...country living, United States
I am a mom who had triplets and then had a surprise baby.
We are now living in the country, which is completely opposite from our life just 3 years ago.
