Diapers!

My very latest project has been keeping me up all night. Literally. I have wanted to switch to cloth diapers for a long time now (several reasons really, one of them being that they're cute & the other having a new, fun sewing project!). So, after weeks of research, I've decided to make AI2's (all-in-twos: for those that don't know the lingo yet - it took me a while). I ordered 3 from different companies to compare [tallulahbaby.com, urban-fluff.com, softbums.com] I also ordered a pattern [verybaby.com] to make my own, and that's what came first in the mail on Monday. Since then I have made 3 diapers, one each night into the wee hours of the morning. I made size Medium for Ema, and then a small & newborn just for practice and possibly give away. {the newborn diaper is SO CUTE! i could make a ton. it makes me miss that age...}

The brown one from tallulah baby came next and i love it!! I should be getting the other 2 today. I can't wait for the mail to get here! Oh, and I made a bunch of soaker pads as well to add in for extra protection.

Ema loves the diapers too. Goodbye diaper rash. [She was saying "cheese"]

p.s. I made these w/in the next couple months and they were great! A few months later I had someone order these from me and I sold them :)

Little girls

I was working on the computer one morning and Emalyn was playing in the pantry just to my left. I don't know how I missed the sound of her bringing a 5 lb bucket of sugar onto the floor!
She managed to get the lid off and get a little taste.
I love this face! I asked her "what did you do?" Classic.

Later, Emalyn got into the blackberries and Gabs got as far away as she could :)

Emalyn is now 15 months and continues to crawl/scoot. She is quite vocal, MUCH more so than any of the others. Guess you'd have to be being the littlest.

Ema LOVES to be outside and can climb up the slide and go down. She likes to push the shopping cart, but after a few steps and realizing she's walking, she stops. and is done.

More projects

Cajsa bought a small pillow for Adison and when she came down to visit she had a job for me; to make pillowcases for it. We went to Melanie's house, picked out some cute fabric, and came up with these! I ended up buying my own little pillow as well, so I could make some cute pillowcases for Emalyn :)

Oh, and speaking of Melanie's house, I went there to make these cute cover-ups for swimming. (ok, just this one is cute, the one below kind of failed - it was my rough draft)

This was supposed to fit Gabriela, but I bought a cheap towel that was smaller than the rest. Positive note, now Emalyn has one (even if it is kind of ugly - Gabs picked out the colors).

Easter

For easter we went over to my parents and colored egss with my sisters. They are starting to get "too old" for such things, but it was OK with the younger kids :) Oh! don't forget to click on the picture of Lissa holding the eggs - Danny wrote secret messages...

After all the eggs had dried we did an easter egg hunt w/those eggs as well as the plastic ones filled w/candy (thanks mom!). [I don't buy candy - I know, I'm mean] Anyway, we let the little ones start first and they were off to a great start and then realized what they had in their basket and were done after 1 or 2. We let the older ones go and they all caught the excitement and started back up again. At the end we had to spill it all out and divide it up evenly (well, no candy for the baby).

p.s. they all got new church clothes for Easter too. i totally forgot to get a picture! i'll see what i can do...

Isabel

I forgot to add these photos in, because they were on my other camera! My MIL treated the girls to Isa's birthday lunch at the Chantilly Tea Room. Isa & Gabriela LOVED it! A real-life tea party!
Some shots of us :)

On April 11th, Isabel turned 9! We started out the day with crepes filled w/strawberries and whip cream. Later that night, we went out to eat with the Montaño & King clan, and at the end we sang to her as the waiters brought out her dessert! Isa is a beautiful, easy going, very social, and friendly girl, who loves to sing, talk, dance, do anything outdoors, and play w/her younger sisters. We are so proud of her and love having her in our family!!

Brendan

On April 8th, Brendan turned...11. I can't believe we have a kid that old!! We love him to death, and are so glad he's our oldest. He is a great friend, leader, and older brother. He loves to read (keeps the library going single handedly), ride his bike, play strategy board games, and the x-box. For his birthday, we started out w/his favorite breakfast, pancakes & bacon. Later that night we had the Montaño & King families over for cake. Bren got scout stuff; he is now officially in Boy Scouts! We are so proud of all of his accomplishments and hard work.
He keeps us laughing :)

Swimming

Cajsa (& Adison) came to visit the first week in April, and it was SO FUN to have someone to play with during the day!! Emalyn said "baby" non-stop :) We hit the pool almost every day, and I even pulled the kids out of school early one day to swim! [It was Brendan's birthday after all]
Trying to get 5 children to look at the camera at the same time, yeah right!