She's Here!

Ariana was born yesterday at about 5 via C Section

she weighed 7 pounds 10 oz and is 19 inches long

She is a true miracle blessing

Watch out world!

Long time no see.....well....and a fun Christmas idea too

So, I just realized I haven't posted since July.....crazy.  So much has been going on, mostly centered around our newest addition that hasn't made her appearance just yet.  I went into preterm labor in early October and the doc's were able to stop it with some nasty meds, but it worked and then I was put on bedrest for 3 weeks.  Luckily we have lots of family and friends around to help, as I don't know how we would've done it with our other 4 kids and my hubby working and going to school full time with me not able to do much.  I must say though that God is so wonderful and showed me a few things as well as strengthened my marriage in the process......  I've been off of bedrest for almost 3 weeks now and our girlie still hasn't decided it's time, although I thought for sure she was coming last wednesday, and even this morning.  I have a few hours of contractions or several hours of contractions that come and go.  The doc said I was 5 cm dilated last monday, and the babe is big and I have almost double the amount of amnio fluid that's normal.....so the doc said she's really surprised my water hasn't broken and that I'm still prego.  So, needless to say I'm sort of in limbo and I don't really like it.  Ugh.  Oh well, God knows what he's doing, right?  Anyways, being on bedrest for that long I had plenty of time to find loads of fun projects I want to do and so I thought I'd start sharing them with you......this is one I haven't started yet, but really do want to do before Christmas this year as all we have now is a plain feltish red skirt that isn't really that fantastic.  Let me know if you make one, or if you find a template to sew the skirt part and how it goes.  Thanks for hanging with me and we'll see if I can get a project posted every week till Christmas, some with pics of the finished product of my own {;0)

http://www.smockityfrocks.com/2007/12/christmas-tree-skirt.html

A New Giveaway!

Hop on over to my Etsy shop blog, Whisperblossom, to enter to win a pair of these

Would you like to try cloth Diapers, or just add to your stash!

I found an awesome giveaway to share with you....we are making the decision to switch to cloth now that we have two in diapies and one on the way.  I would love to try these on my babes, how about you?

Chubby Cherubs Cloth Diaper Naturals is offering a chance to win a $425 cloth diaper package!

Become a fan of them here. 

You can make Soap in your Crockpot!

I was looking around over at "A year of Slow Cooking" and found this fantastic idea for gifts (and many good recipes I want to try soon, especially in the heat of summer who wants to turn the oven on?).....you could use all sorts of different things to put inside the soap shapes....stickers, little toys, plastic flowers, really your imagination could take you anywhere.  So, I thought I'd share, and if you give it a try let me know how it goes!  Oh, also if you go to Michaels or Joanns for supplies, be sure to check your local sunday paper for the store ad and see if they have coupons as that will lower your total out of pocket dramatically!

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-to-make-soap-in-your-crockpot.html

Happy Mom Day!!

In honor of my mother, I thought I'd share two cookie recipes that I grew up with...my mom made them often, and every time I make them for my kids I think of her.

Here's the recipe link for Oatmeal Scotchies,

and here's one for the czechoslovakian bar cookies she used to make.

I hope Mother's day finds you well, and that you are surrounded by those you love!

New on BlogFrog

Come check our new forum out over on BlogFrog.....I've created a new community so we can chat about all sorts of different things.  The newest topic is "What Artsy thing would you like to find a tutorial for?"....I figure we can help each other out to find the info we're looking for.  So, if you get a moment hop on over and check us out!