Laney gets a new dress!

I've had this shirt hanging in our home(s) for the last 2-3 months with plans of using this tutorial to make Lane a dress.  Reilly bought this shirt for Mike for Christmas and within 1-2 wears, it had a stain on it (of course), so what better way to "keep it in the family" than to make Lane a dress.  Today, is the last day of May.  All of my customs are finished, so I had today and only today to get any "me" sewing done before beginning June custom orders.  I sat down at my machine around 4 and within an hour had everything done except threading the elastic.  Lane looks cute in it - I am pretty sure Mike is going to love it - and I am pretty proud of myself!

And now I'm mom to a 5 year old, a 4 year old, and an ALMOST 17 month old!

That's right - Finn is FOUR.  Not really sure how it happened, but he is.  He had a wonderful birthday complete with lunch out (at Daddy's work of course) where they sang to him and brought him some balloons.  We also took him to Fun Depot where he got to bowl, climb, play mini-golf, and jump on inflatables.  He even got a cake straight from Florida, delivered to him on his birthday!

Ok, so we've lived here for just over a month.  Mike is still in love with his job, the kids are still loving the space, and I'm getting involved and making friends.  I'd say it's successful!  I attended a new playgroup last week and the kids really enjoyed being around other kids.  I've met a few awesome, like minded mamas since moving here and am confident that I'll make some forever friends here!  We begin puppy training with Scout in a couple of weeks -- and it can't come soon enough.  She did however learn to play fetch today - improvement over just biting our feet all the time I'd say. 

We are now struggling with a decision --- homeschool or public school?  Reilly has (once again) decided he's not interested in anything I have to offer, and is also unsure of school.  I think we'll be taking a tour of the elementary school soon and letting him make his decision.  It's like 2 steps forward, 1 step back with him. 

Until next time....

Almost a month has passed...

I'm sorry for that.  After my last post, we had a visit from my parents and then we moved to Asheville.  During the first week we were here, a storm came through that fried out internet router and while we replaced it, my laptop will not connect.  We're going to have to call a computer tech out soon.  So, in the meantime, I'm on my netbook which is much slower and harder to use than my laptop.  The plus side to this --- I'm working faster through carriers, spending more time cleaning and organizing our new house, and knitting again (which I've not done since January-ish).  Oh, and the dog....I spend 10-15 minutes of every hour taking her outside, staying on her not to use Laney for a chew toy, and keeping the big kids from scaring the crap out of her.  Anyway - incase you don't know about her, her name is Scout (the kids picked it, but as a friend pointed out the name is very fitting since she was abandoned by her mama at 2 weeks old).  She's a lab/boxer mix, though the bigger she gets, I'm seeing that she's pretty much boxer through and through.  She has the tail of a lab and that's about it.  The kids love her, Mike adores her (almost as much as the kids I think), and I like her.  She's sweet, but she's having a 4th child (or 5th on certain days). 

I did manage to get out to LLL last week (though I did get my days confused and showed up on Monday for the Wednesday meeting).  I believe the group will welcome me with open arms...it's just hard to leave my groups in the Charlotte area (and to not compare the groups).  I'll be attending the breastfeeding cafe' on Monday as well as the Asheville group that night.  Fingers crossed that all goes well with those 2 events. 

Mike is settling in nicely to his job.  He's excited to be working for this company again - which is something I've not really seen from him since he opened Salisbury.  Everyone he works with seems accepting as well as flexible which is perfect since sometimes things do come up.

Reilly is becoming more accepting of actual worksheet schoolwork and is still holding his ground that he wants to be homeschooled rather than go to public school.  We're still rolling with it for now.  Finn is almost FOUR!!!!!!!!!!  How in the world did that happen???????  "He" got a swingset for his birthday (meaning it's really a family thing, but we can let him believe it's his birthday present) and Mike is building him a sandbox (so that they'll stop using the gravel in the driveway to build "sandcastles").  Delaney is....well....Laney.  She's into EVERYTHING.  I don't really remember the boys being SO testy at this age.  She's a climber, she's a sneak, and she's a mama's girl.  She's 16 months and walking full time now (or running if the door gets opened and she thinks she can make it to the swingset before mama catches her). 

Bottom line...we are all settling in.  The kids love the open yard and play outside for a couple of hours every day, mama likes all the space (though on days like today - the kids forget there's 10 other rooms they can be in that's NOT the one I'm in), and daddy is enjoying telling stories to the kids of things he did in this house while growing up.

I promise not to stay gone so long this time...