the longest summer ever

Andy dropped the bomb on me last night that we were going to have to cancel Jack's birthday party. He later amended the statement to re-schedule. It seems we might have a baseball game. Seems to me like Coach may be getting ahead of himself. Yes, the same man had visions of the Little League World Series last year. We have played much better this year, it is a different team, of course. Still, I put a lot of effort into planning this stuff, especially since I am very uncomfortably pregnant.
I have decided not to leave the house with the exception of ballgames, groceries and dr. visits. I would order groceries online if it were possible. I am soooooo tired.

We have a new book reader, the Amazon Kindle. I am pretty old school when it comes to some things. I like books, but this thing is amazing. I feel like I am downloading these books straight to my brain, I can read them so fast. Its also nice to purchase the trash that you'd rather not let people know you read. Thanks to my sister in law, my old habit of reading romance novels has reappeared. It's really not her fault, I just don't feel like putting effort into anything right now, but I am very bored without a t.v and it's 5000 degrees outside so I have backslid.

Have I mentioned how much I miss cute clothes and a cute figure to put in them? So when you see me on my rare trips out of the house, no I have NOT had this baby yet. Yes, September. All summer, I know, shut up.

I have no fabric to show, no projects,no nothing.
I did make two balloons wreaths and I have to report that they take considerably more balloons than the instructions say. Try 4 packs of 72 12 inch balloons for one wreath. The cheapest place to get the balloons is Wallie World. Same for the S pins. I think I am about into these wreaths for about 20 bucks a piece, no deal! How is it that every endeavour I begin ends up like this, much harder and more time consuming and expensive. It's maddening.
I have also monogrammed a few things for the baby boy. Again, realizing just how frustrating it is to find sweet baby boy things at a good price.

Sorry this is so down, but I am having a very hard time being up. I mentioned that I am so tired didn't I. I feel like I swallowed a 50 pd bag of concrete. Besides, the sweetheart that I am married to, the other thing that keeps me going is imagining my little boys face. Hopefully, the harder the pregnancy the cuter the baby. Of course, he'll be gorgeous to me.

I can't believe I haven't even thought about working on his room. I made a half-hearted attempt at cleaning out his closet which he will share with his big brother Jack. I made the crib sheet and still need to line the curtains and make a bedskirt. Maybe next week, we have a few ballgames this week.

Party Time

I can't believe that I have been so lacks about blogging. Its so hot here I can barely breathe. It is getting close to everyone having a birthday around here. Jack's is rapidly approaching. July 10th. He wants a waterslide, which we are renting. You can't have a party here in the depths of Alabama without water nearby. He has chosen a Backyardigans theme. I am not all about cartoon character themes,but I will happily oblige my baby and throw him a humdinger of a party. I have discovered several party blogs that I have enjoyed perusing and getting ideas from. Beginning with how does she.com I am going to make this adorable balloon wreath. I plan to use it for all the parties.

I also plan to make more pom poms. I posted the instructions on a baby shower post. This time I will make sure I take photos. I have found an abundance of brightly colored tissue decorations at Target and Party City. My plan is to make a "chandelier" over the food table with these items. I will post directions with photos later. I am sure it will be a real head hurter, kidding. Evidently, I didn't get all the prom decorating out of my system when in high school. Its more fun this time.

I think what appeals to me the most on the party sites is the co-ordination of it all, name tags,labels,party favors,etc... Most of them can be made with microsoft word, or if you really want to go all out you can purchase the printables to co-ordinate with your party theme at The Party Dress.net. Here are some examples. I will be making labels for my party favors. If you sign up for the email updates on howdoesshe.com , they will email you a free set of birthday printables. Sweet! Be sure to check out The Party Dress.net here for the cutest ideas for all get togethers. I could look for days.

I will post photos of my Jack's birthday next,along with his special what makes him awesome post. It might be a long one.

Also, my Mom will be sixty on the 28th so we are having a little dinner for her. So many parties so little time. I am trying to get Johnny's all planned out too. His is August the 2nd which coincides with the last month of this pregnancy. Who Hoo!

I have also begun nesting. I am almost finished with my bedroom curtains. They have been hanging for a year. When we moved in I was very prepared with window dressings for almost every room. I hadn't planned on using blinds except in the bedrooms. So for a while in the bedroom we used the panels I had almost completed. All I lacked was fixing the headers (i.e pleats). When the shutter people installed the shutters, I had an excellent opportunity to fix them. I thought I was too pooped. Little did I know what pooped really means. Anyway, its funny how pregnancy makes soooo many things intolerable. Just knowing that they were incomplete was starting to drive me crazy, so not only have I taken them down to fix, I added interling to my list of things to do. They already look much better, only one left to complete. The nursery is going to be my next job. I am so thankful my Mom really came through for me and offered to pay for the construction of the bumper. I have to make 2 euro pillows for Jack's bed, a crib skirt, crib sheets and line the curtain panels. More details to come on the nursery and photos.

Just writing this makes me tired, but not nearly as tired as being out in the sun all day does. Sam had All-Star scrimmage games on Friday night and again Saturday morning. I thought I was going to boil. Later Saturday, we had a party for his ball team. They won the Peanut tournament and came in second overall in the regular season. Quite an accomplishment for them, they looked like the Bad News Bears at the beginning of the season. Not posting any photos from it, it was pretty bare bones, pizza and a cake. They had fun though and I am glad we have one down, three more to go.

Sammy Superstar

Sam is our oldest boy. Superstar is his latest nickname. Andy knew this guy in high school that was very proud of his accomplishments whom they called "Star," his Daddy was "Superstar." I would've saved Superstar for Andy. I am hoping this is just a stage little boys goes through, because I have noticed the same quality, this excessive confidence in other boys his age. I may be the cause of it... I do believe that God has given everyone gifts and talents and I feel kind of strongly about them being used. I generally don't have to carry on about the baseball talent because he so enjoys playing. He is a pretty good sport and I better not find out that he has made any others feel bad. He is a Malone, so he is very competitive and hates to lose, but he is also mine and he is very hard on himself. He is aware of his abilities in this area, but he thinks there are kids that are better than him, whew thank goodness. He is growing up waaaay too fast and I can see the warring emotions on his face so many times when he is trying to be big. It breaks my heart. When he is disappointed and trying not to cry, he blinks alot and holds his lips together. Of course, I want to cry. I always feel like crying. I have been crying a lot these last few weeks. The end of the school year is like that for me. I will have to be hospitalized when they graduate from high school. I may never get over them getting married.

At his end of the year awards, he got the Christian character award for Leadership , he also made the A/B honor roll.

The grades are the issue I really get on my soapbox about when it comes to gifts. He is incredibly bright, much more than I was at his age (and I actually think I was pretty smart,at least I was a good student). I don't have to ride him constantly, but the homework is definitely not a priority, especially reading. Last year, they had a reading contest and he tore through the books. I thought he was developing the lifelong love that I have. Nope, just wanted to win. He has such potential and of course, I want to see it used. So I really harp on him about how blessed he is and blah, blah, blah. You know if I can write this much I can reaaaaally talk a lot.

I really love him alot and I can't get over how special he is. He is such a great big brother, he has tons of patience(another quality of Andy's) and he continues to play ball with Johnny although Johnny quits when it is time for him to be outfield(a quality of mine). He is always sweet to Jack and always has been. He was always excited for us to have another baby as each one came, this time I think he has been embarrassed. I have other friends my age who are having babies, I am only 34, but none of the Mom's in his class. He has had many,many questions about the whole process. It is much different being pregnant this time, they were oblivious previously. Full of questions now and they notice every little physical change. It's pretty funny, but I guess the time for modesty has approached.

I probably should have started in chronological order with them, but I didn't. John must have been especially cute that week.

Last but not least, Sam made Peanut Allstars again, so we get to extend our baseball season a little longer, yeah!

Window Shopping

When I initally started blogging my intent was too blog about my family, not about all the material things I would like to buy. As it is, I get such satisfaction from putting together the dream scenarios (aka collages) it is almost a much fun as shopping. With the added benefit of no buyers remorse, and agonizing if I will like it in ten years. I tend to think I have to hold on to my stuff for the rest of my life. Any old way, when I have time to blog, the kids are otherwise occupied. Since we don't have a t.v, they use the desktop computer to play games ,which has all of my photos stored on it. That also keeps me from blogging about them because I would like to show you who I am talking about. When I run them off my other computer I will be blogging about my big boy, Sam, next.

So, since I am being all worldly and materialistic I will show you show of the other junk I love.

I saw a post on Two Ellie the other day about her friend Brook's nursery, so I had to check it out. It is gorgeous, I love her style and the fact that she seems to shop in the same dives that I do, you can see more here. By the way, I just learned how to link, thanks to my sister in law, Nichole. Thank you so much Nichole and I apologize for my deficiency in this area before. Although, it will become evident how much I window shop, I am afraid.

Since, we are on the subject I am so pumped about baby boy's nursery. He was going to be Drew, but my husband is having some issues with this now. He feels God is leading him to the name Timothy. He prayed for him by the this name and who can argue with this logic. His logic is like that a lot, unarguable. It either makes such sense that to protest would make you feel stupid or you are arguing against the Heavenly Father. Can't win either way. That might be his name, so I need to pray that God will make me feel comfortable with this name. I just know it will shortened to Timmy or worse Tim-Tim. I don't hate the name, it is fine as a middle name. I really would like his name to honor God, as his Daddy has mentioned. He is, after all responsible for blessing us with this little one. The name dilemma is one reason I thought it would be nice to have a girl,we had a name for her, Molly Grace.

O.k so I got off on a tiny little tangent. I have been inspired as I am sure many others have by the recent offerings in the Serena and Lily catalogue. How killer are those headboards? I think it would really break up all the wood furniture I have, to have an upholstered bed. I made one prior to purchasing the bed we now have. It was definitely a beginner result. Just a big ole beige rectangle, it would have been cute dressed up with some nailheads,in retrospect. It would probably be hard for me to sell this option to Andy, since he might remember my first attempt. Also, even more difficult since I would have to buy one this time. I am not getting any smaller and more agile these days. I have shown one on Layla Grace that is to die for, but the one's on S&L ain't bad either see. Speaking of Serena and Lily, I do love their crib bedding. However, my pet peeve is that their crib skirts are too short. I prefer them to touch the floor, as I do with all bedskirts and curtains. Especially for the price. Chintzy. My favorite set is Ben. I am using a similar palette in our nursery. I have finally nailed down my fabric choices and I will bore you with them one last time, then I will be starting on the bumper pads. I am going to attempt to make box cushion bumpers. It is a headache, but I spent too much money on the cording, so now I have to do it myself. I have my fingers crossed that the curtain panels that I purchased will work. If it all comes together as I hope, I will only have the baby bedding to make. Not too bad.

Finished Cradle

I finished this little project fairly quickly, but I am not the swiftest on posting. I used Valspar spray paint from Lowe's in Baby Blue. The white pique fabric has been in my stash for a while, I believe it came from Jo-Ann's. I have no idea what designer or anything, it's pretty standard. The interior of the bumper and the sheet were made out of a print by Annette Tatum called Prairie Sea. I bought it online at Sewmamasew.com. I used Wright's Quilt binding for the ties and extra wide ric rac in color 706. Typically, I would have not cut corners on this step and made my own, but it is about my least favorite step in sewing. Also, he won't be sleeping in this little cradle for as long, so I didn't want this bedding to take forever. Most of the time , I completely under estimate the time it is going to take to make things. The most pleasant surprise in all of this was the simplicity of the fitted sheet.

Since, I have been searching the internet over I have found several new sources for my fabric addiction... The aforementioned Sewmamasew.com; Hawthtorne Threads.com and of course my old favorite Fabric.com. Quilting fabric is awesome- hip patterns, cute colors. It is the perfect weight for bedding (duh).

Cradle project

Brown cradle+blue paint+pretty fabrics= something similiar to image below.

I love the color of this cradle, not crazy about the cowboy linens. I will post results...

Johnny Baseball

We are at the ballpark about 3 sometimes 4 days a week. Between two teams with games and practices we can log in the hours there. Not to mention the friends that we have to go watch, and the high school team. Suffice it to say, we are obsessed. We are not alone, we do have friends that share the same obsession. Thankfully, with all of the boy children that we seem to produce we won't have to give up our pastime for a while.

John is our middle son and he had to play t-ball again this year. His Daddy tried to move him up to the Peanut league, even though he is two years younger than the age requirement. He passed the evaluation and did very well ,but they stood by their rules. They have them for a reason, Andy. Anyway, that was just God's hand because we have seen how competitive the rascal has become and he needs another year to learn how to control himself.

He is a good size kid for his age, so it is expected that he should act older. He is only five years old, though. And it is very evident sometimes, especially when he loses a race. The first incident occurred when he was racing the kids on Sam's team (whom he practices with almost always). He lost. O.k first of all they are three years older than him, but he thinks he is equally matched. Anyway, he was FURIOUS that he lost. He exclaims, "WHAT!" and proceeds to fall out like I have never seen. He throws his legs out from under himself- similarly to the seated bounce like you used to do on a trampoline except he was on red clay. You know it had to hurt. It was so hard not to laugh. Andy thinks this quality is a good trait (this fierce competitiveness), but we have to learn how to harness it. You think.

I fear for the children that he gets after when he fields the ball. They don't all know to stop running when they get on base and if he gets the ball, he is hot after them to get them out.

Of course, it might be a little funny to me because he mine and I know how sweet and gentle he is most of the time. It was not so funny to the other Mother at the ballpark who drug him up to Andy and said he mauled her son on the playground. Never before has he gotten into a fight with anyone, so you can imagine my shock. Evidently, the other child would not let him on the playhouse. I was not there, I had to leave to attend a baby shower, so I cannot attest to any of it. Regardless, whether he was profoundly provoked or not, we can't maul people. He got into big trouble for that one.

Temper control issues aside, he is extremely shy. Last week, he had to take his test for kindergarten. He would not hold his head up and speak to the teacher. Hopefully, he did look up once or twice when she evaluated him. He said he only missed one answer, I have yet to hear from the school. They did say that he was very smart before we left (do they say anything else). He cannot wait for kindergarten, he finally gets to go to school with Sam.

He is such a unique member of our family. He is the only one who has remained blonde, hence the name Blonde John. He looks so much like his Daddy it's not funny. He has always been a Daddy's boy, so I have been ecstatic that he finally shows me some affection. He is very excited that we are having a baby and he is very careful and loving to me. His reaction to the news of another baby brother, "WHAT!" and a fallout.

Next, installment....Sammy superstar! I have to take more photos, I have been very slack this season.