Another Week (that's already passed) in Review

Oh, this is the week I discovered Instagram--the second week of March! My Boushka was my first subject for an Instagram photo.

This tiny tot was my second!

 And this DIY pretty board (as they're called in this house) was my third. 

 Since I love posts on DIY projects, I decided to do one for my "pretty board"--starting with a trip to Hobby Lobby. Only because I love the cute girls who were with me!

I bought frameless cork boards and fabric--I already had a stapler and scissors at home. But that was really all this project needed.

I cut the fabric so that there was a couple inches of give on all four sides. I laid the cork board on top of the wrong side of the fabric. 

The cork board comes with sticky things in order to hang it on your wall, but I don't like sticky things on my wall. It is said in Murphy's Law Book that I will ruin any wall that I stick something to. So I used the sticky things to secure the fabric as I stapled. 

Then I simply folded one side over the sticky things.

Make sure it's taut and staple.

Then you fold up the bottom of your fold's corner like so. 

And then you lay it down flat and staple.

Then you pick up the next side of fabric and fold it over. The corner piece will overlap the part you laid down in the last step. Seriously, this is as tricky as this project gets!

See? Now brace yourself... it's about to get boring!

You can see the correctly folded corner in the top left of this picture. Once your side is folded down, you pull it taut and staple again. 

 

 By now, you're all pros since this ain't your first rodeo. So I skipped one side's worth of folding. You're welcome! Just make sure that when you get to this last piece to fold over, you do the corners (both of them) first. Then fold the long piece over.

Staple it up!

Then say "VOILA" as your children enter the room--where you've been crafting the last 8 minutes--so they think you're a creative genius. Tell them you made them a pretty board so that they can get rid of all the clutter on the family desk and instead, hang it up on their pretty board in their room.

I didn't get pictures of this step because Matt did it, but make sure you have picture hangers put on the back--inevitably the kids will want their new pretty board hung in their room!

And make sure you do this on a day when you have extra food cooking, you haven't cleaned up after any meal, etc, etc. Just so you can have your kitchen look as messy as mine did that day!

It was bad, folks!

But this? This was good! Oh so good. In case you can't read it, the recipe says "Lemon-Pepper Fettucinne" and it is in the Food Network Cookbook. I made it for a dear friend of mine. Paired with a crisp salad, toasted french bread, and homemade fudge---this is the perfect meal.

 And here's why I need to keep m posts up to date-- I can't remember details. I know I took this picture of my shrimp taco whilst dining with Matt and Scrunchie because I considered it fine culinary art, but I can't remember why I only had one kid with me in addition to my husband. Where were my other kids? Well-taken care of... probably at one of the Grandmas' houses!

 Also, I know Brownie made this sweet gift for me, but some details are sketchy--but the important ones are clear. She overheard a conversation I was having with Matt about quitting my second job and the money loss that would come with it. So out of the sweetness of her soul, she made me money. She asked "mom, can you write 'This is for' on this piece of cardboard (that already had "68" on it). I said sure and did as she asked. She does something to it real quick and then hands it to me. She says "Will this be enough money for you to quit that job?" She wrote "mom" after I wrote "This is for" and told me it was money so that I could quit my job. How does her little five yr old brain understand this? Well, I lost it right there, folks! On so many levels, I felt my bursting into tears was okay because---

• I'm pregnant and reserve the right to cry just because
• I felt guilty that she overheard my conversation and took on the burden I was feeling
• I felt so proud that my little girl has this much heart. I love that she wanted to help and that she acted in a way that she thought would help! I'm VERKLEMPT!
• And then again because I feel guilty about what she heard and then felt!

But ain't she sweet?!!!

 Scrunch had a sucker--for what reason I don't know. But I thought her picture needed to be taken because she was enjoying it so much. 

 We did venture out one day when I had the girls. One of our errands was getting Peach some new soccer shoes for the season. Games started that Saturday! The exclamation point is for me--I love Soccer Saturdays!!!

 That Friday I was 13 weeks preggo. I tag teamed Scrunchie's 12m check and my OB appt--we see a family practitioner, so I can do back-to-back appointments like that. It works out great for us. Scrunch was pretty healthy. She was about 21 pounds and 29 1/2 inches.She did have a little ear infection though. We had just finished a Z-pack a week or two before, so I was pretty disappointed to hear that she had another infection.

For my OB appt, the doctor and I were pretty sure we'd hear a heartbeat this time (we didn't hear it at my 9 wk checkup), but after searching with the doppler for five minutes we headed back to the sono room. I was sooooo nervous that something was wrong, but right away she found the sweet kiddo moving around and little flickering heart just beating away. The whole family (except Brownie who was with Grandma) got to be there. The girls were pretty excited to see their new sibling. We also announced our news on FB this night. Matt had been dying to say something to our friends--so I caved.

And of course, we started soccer games the next day. My Brownie scored some goals and went after the ball like a champ!

And this sweet Peach did the same. Score a goal--CHECK! Get after the ball--CHECK!. 

The three big girls went home with Gram after soccer, so Matt and I took the little two shopping. Grammy met us at the store and took Boushka home with her. So we checked out and went home to clean. Because you know... that's how you spend your free time when you parent 5 children all six and under!