If you have been reading my blog you know that I have been setting up my booth down at the American Fork arts market. Helen also has set up a booth and had been trying to sell some of the jewelry and crochet things she makes.

Business has been kind of slow in American Fork, so on Tues. Helen said that she was going to set up her table on the corner and try to sell her stuff there. She had much better luck right here on the corner. When she decided that she was done, she had sold most of her earrings and a couple of her crochet flower hair clips.

Now Helen has a history of trying to sell stuff, lemonade, popsicles, and probably the most unique thing was trying to sell swimming suits made out of plastic grocery bags. And to add to the humor of that, it was December, and it was cold. I stepped in and advised her to figure out something that might sell better for the season. So she came up with the idea to sell snowflakes that she had made. She had a pretty good business going there for a little while. She even had a couple of orders that we had to mail.

Now Arthur is to the age that he wants to be able to sell things that he has made and when Helen was selling her jewelry he thought about what he could make. He came up with the idea that he could hand sew some pillows, I helped him cut out the first one and gave him a needle and thread and he tried really hard but the thread kept getting tangled and he started getting frustrated. So I thought I would try to teach him how to do a straight stitch on the sewing machine. He really got the hang of it quick. So now he has made 5 pillows and he is out by the curb trying to sell them. He is calling them car pillows. They are small enough to store under a seat or in the back window, but could make it more comfortable for passengers naps in the car.

Orson also wanted to sell something so he made some of his paper art (I failed to get a picture of the Art, I will have to do it when he makes more) but pretty much it consists of drawing on a paper and the folding or crunching it in some way. After being out there about 5 min. they had their first customer and he bought 4 for the paper art for $.25, Orson ran in really excited to show me his quarter and then about 5 min. later he came in sad because he lost his quarter. He had another customer that bought some for $1, he is very excited about that but he didn’t like sitting out there and waiting, he gave up in about 15 min. after they started. He told me I could go out and sell his art. Somehow I don’t think I could do as well selling it, I don’t have the big brown eyes and dimples.

February is here and the 14th is going to be here really fast. It’s time to start thinking about what you are going to get your Valentine. Chocolate and flowers are good but it’s predictable. Here are some unexpected Valentine goodies that you can get for your true love…

How about a crazy love bird. First birds don’t have arms and they aren’t shaped like hearts. Just in time for Valentines they grew arms to hug with and everybody knows that the universal symbol for love is a heart, so why not.

If hearts just aren’t your thing. Then I have some mini Love Ninja’s. These little Ninja’s decided that they are tired of always wearing black and hiding in the bushes at night waiting to ambush their opponent. They want to spread some love around. What is a better way to show your love than giving your love a Love Ninja? I say there is nothing better. Your Valentine can keep this mini ninja close by to fight off any boogie monsters that might be hiding under the bed at night.

And if you want to REALLY want to show your Valentine that you love them, why not get them one of these fuzzy love ninja’s. These ones really spread the love and if needed they really pack a punch. These ones can be kept close by to fight off the bad guys. Bad guys might suspect an attack from a ninja hiding in the shadows dressed in black but they won’t suspect an attack from a bright red fuzzy ninja.

These love birds and ninja’s can be found now at Frosty Darling and on February 3rd- 13th at the Patina Market.

Speaking of Love… The other day I heard that Orson had kissed one of his little friends. When I asked him about it he said that he had kissed her and it wasn’t even a Eskimo or a butterfly kiss. It was on the lips, he said. He continued to tell me that his friend told him that they were married. He said that there wasn’t any kind of wedding stuff, she just told him that they were married. He got really serious and told me that he didn’t want to live at her house, he wanted to live at our house and be in our family forever. I explained that he wasn’t married. He was pretty relieved that he wasn’t married. When I told the little girls mom, she thought that it was pretty funny that her daughter was trying to secure a husband at 4 years old.

We had a long weekend this week with Martin Luther King day on Monday, and Tues. was some kind of teacher prep day for the start of the new term. We didn’t do much, just kind of took it easy. On Monday I thought about doing something fun with the kids but they were being so good and they were playing good with each other. So I just let them do what they wanted. Helen started making a doll house with Arthur’s help, they were singing silly songs like… I have a lizard it’s name is wizard. Happy Birthday to me, I’m 103, and I’m stuck in a tree. I couldn’t interrupt them they were getting a long, sometimes that is rare.

I’m impressed with the detail they put into this doll house made out of a box.

Look at the computer it even has a mouse that is attached with a piece of thread

The paper doll is watching spongebob on her T.V.

This is the Fridge, sink and couch, I missed loading a picture of the stove with built in dishwasher.

The house even comes complete with a wii, balance board and games.

This paper doll has all the fine things in life, that is according to my 10 and 7 year old’s.

I knew the day was coming, we put it off for months and months. I kept telling Reed no, but it was just getting out of control.

Look at those cute long curly locks

Now look….

My baby’s beautiful hair is all gone. I cried, I tried not to, I tried to be tough. But when Cedric looked in the mirror and saw his hairless head and started crying more than what he already was, I just couldn’t keep the tears back. Reed say’s that his curl will grow back, I don’t think it will. The curls are gone forever, his baby hair is gone forever. It’s tradition, that’s what I’ll call it, tradition. All my boys get a buzz at least once a year. But it’s that first buzz that seems to change my boys from babies to boys.

Orson got a hair cut too, he was the one that started the whole thing. He asked to get it cut, we usually have to fight him to do it. Reed couldn’t miss the opportunity so now 2 of my boys hair is gone.

The last couple of years we have gone on a trip during spring break and stuck around during the summer. It makes for a lot cooler of a trip. But that doesn’t mean that we haven’t had fun. The days have been zipping by way too fast! The kids have spent a lot of time playing with friends and really they would rather doing that then going to the zoo or other activities we could be doing. They even complain when I take them to the park, they want to be home playing with friends. Even if their friends are at the park, silly kids!

Here are some pictures of some of the fun we have had this summer…

Helen has been in 2 competitions this year, she did wonderful and won 2-3rd’s and a 2nd.

We celebrated the 4th, 24th and Helen’s birthday with fireworks.

Helen and I both got our hair cut to much shorter lengths. My niece Jessica is going to beauty school and she did a fabulous job.

The kids and I were in 2 parades this year, the children’s parade and the Bountiful parade. After the children’s parade they have a carnival and all the activities are free. Helen and Arthur liked going on the inflatable big toy things. Orson was too scared of them, but they all enjoyed getting their face’s and arm’s painted, all but Cedric, he was happy just to watch all the people and play in the dirt.

Arthur lost his 2 front teeth this summer, it’s been rough for him. It’s hard to eat corn on the cob, peaches, apples etc. He is getting pretty good at using those side teeth to bite stuff.

Cedric loves shoes of all sizes, shoe is one of the few understandable words that he uses and he will try to wear all kinds. In this picture he is wearing Helen’s shoes.

We attempted to grow a garden this year, but like usual it’s struggling. One of these years it will flourish. Cedric loves to be outside and it’s hard to keep him away from picking the little things that are growing. This day he picked a hot pepper.

This is what he thought of the pepper.

Cedric recovered from the hot pepper quickly, then Orson thought that it would be a good idea to squirt him with the hose and help show him how to get really dirty. And what did I do, I let them, and I took pictures. Orson got dirty but not as dirty as Cedric.

When Arthur was in Kindergarten last year, Orson really missed him. He didn’t know what to do with himself. Orson has been Arthur’s shadow for years and they have always played really well together. I have been worried when Arthur would go to 1st grade and be gone all day. Now I don’t think I have to worry, Cedric and Orson are starting to be partners in crime. On the 24th Reed’s family was getting together for family pictures because his sister and her family was here from California. Before we were getting the kids bathed and looking nice for the pictures. I had to hurry and run to the store and I left Reed in charge of helping the kids. After Orson and Cedric had their baths Reed had just put some play clothes on Orson and Cedric was just in a diaper. Because any parent knows that you don’t want to put them in their nice clothes until right before you head out the door or something might happen. And we were lucky. When I returned home from the store, I pulled up and Orson and Cedric met me in the carport, covered in dirt. They thought it would be a good idea to pour dirt in their hair and in Cedric’s diaper. They can be sneaky, they watched for the moment that Reed was helping Arthur and snuck out of the house.

A year ago I had a newborn…

Now I have a One year old…

One of his favorite things to do in climb up on the fireplace, he thinks he is so big. He isn’t walking yet, he can climb and escape from any high chair. He is pretty happy with crawling, and he gets in enough trouble as it is without walking.

We have this keyring thing that has a bunch little cards that have different questions on it. It’s one of those conversation starter games. Arthur found it today and he asked me to read one of the questions. The question was “What would you dream for to make the world a better place?” The conversation went something like this…
Arthur- “Mom that would be hard”
Me- “what do you think? What would make the world a better place?”
Arthur- “if everybody in the world made butter, but some people might not know how to make butter.”
Me-”really Arthur you think that the world would be a better place if everybody made butter?
Arthur- “Well that is how the world could be a butter place”
Me- “Arthur it says a better place not a butter place, what do you think would make the world a better place?”
Arthur- “I don’t know, but if everybody made butter, everybody would have butter to eat”

I’ve tried to make butter before, maybe I better try it again. I didn’t salt it last time.

Tomorrow I am going to try to post some pictures of some of the things that are going to make it into my shop.

The other day I put Orson in this pair of pants. He saw the hammer loop and he told me that the pocket was broken, I said that it wasn’t supposed to be a pocket it was to hold a hammer, then I forgot about the conversation. Everyday for about a week he would ask me where his hammer was, I couldn’t figure out why he wanted his hammer so bad. My answer to him, was oh it’s probably in your room somewhere. Then the pants made it through the laundry cycle and I put him in them again and a little while later he came to me all excited that he had found his hammer. Silly boy!

I’ve been a big slacker at the blog lately, so I thought that I would post these pictures of Cedric. If I had to watch a bunch of almost 7 month old babies I would put them in here. Cedric thought that it was great fun.

Today Cedric was playing on the ground and when I checked on him he was under the chair and using it to chew on it. Who needs pets to chew on your furniture, we have Cedric.

I have been busy working on something new, hopefully I will have something done soon to post.

P.S. The blocks that Cedric is in, is a book shelf that Reed and the kids had just put together.