HomeSpun Threads

This is a really cool website my sister-in-law Robyn just told me about. Right now you can order their patterns for FREE. :) I like Free. :)

So I should probably update

Here are some fun pictures to show what is going on in our lives at the moment. (Tami- thanks for encouraging me to update...) Does anyone know how to fix the annoying text issues? That is one reason I have not been blogging as much. I don't like how the text goes down the side.


This picture is out of focus, but I love it. This pretty much describes our life at the moment. :)

I love that my kids are getting to be quite helpful in the kitchen. I was trying to get all kinds of things ready to take to Thanksgiving dinner and the girls shaped the rolls for me. :)

Kelsi decided that Devin's overalls were in fact hers.

Jessica LOVED thanksgiving dinner. She just kept eating and eating. This isn't the best picture, but she is sure growingl up fast.

We have a very happy little 11 month old boy. And messy, but that is another matter...

This is Kelsi at 15 months. The Mischievious grin runs in the family.

Kelsi and I made our family in snowmen after we dropped Jessica off on the bus. It stunk that the snow had so many leaves in it, but it was great packing snow. She is kissing the snowman. Afterwards, she was really cold and hungry and could not decide whether she should cry or smile.

And Devin has started...

Halloween!!! (Finally)

Here are some pictures finally from Halloween. The girls were Princesses and Devin was a spider inspired by his chosen method of crawling (hands and feet). We had lots of fun. :)

Alison Gainer got me started. She found 5 yard bolts of fabric at Walmart for $5, but by the time I got there they were ony $4 and the pink was only $2.50. How could I resist? Thanks Alison for getting me started and making dresses with me (She made an amazing Belle for her daughter), Project Runway for giving me courage, my childhood dreams for inspiration (and fine- Disney), and my sweet girls for giving me a reason and for being patient with me when I turned them into dress forms. :)

Kindergarten and Preschool

Phone Farewells

You can tell you have been on the phone a lot when you say a quick prayer and end with "Thanks, Bye" as the phone rings again.

Happy Birthday Kelsi!!!

Happy 3rd birthday to Kelsi. We had a great day yesterday (June 30). We had a fun breakfast, fingerpainted, bubble bath, lunch at the park, Grandmas over for dinner and cake and ice cream in the court with all of our friends. Happy Birthday Kelsi! We are so glad that you are in our family!!!

We also really enjoyed the days up to it. My friends talked me into taking a Wilton cake decorating class at Michaels and this week was the last week of the first class, so I decided to make Kelsi's birthday cake. I realized I am not going to be able to take the rest of the classes for a while because 2 1/2 hours is too long for Devin that close to bedtime, so I decided to try my hand at fondant figures, which you don't learn until the 3rd class. A friend had mentioned marshmallow fondant so off we went! The girls and I started a week early making 2 figures a day. The recipe is really easy- the hardest part is mixing in enough color. Jessica was with me every step of the way kneading the fondant and rolling it out. She even woke me up in the morning with "let's go make a zebra!" Kelsi was there for a lot of it, rolling some, mixing some and eating some. :) So- the girls and I had a lot of fun and here is the final product.

The best part of the whole thing was when Kelsi woke up in the morning I told her happy birthday and took her in to the kitchen, opened the fridge and showed her the cake. She LOVED it!

DJ's Grandpa passed away 2 weeks ago and we went to his funeral. He was a great man and lived to be 91 1/2. At the cemetary, we took the opportunity to get a family picture. This was my favorite- I think it epitomizes each member of our family.

Grandpa is holding a card that Jessica made for him. Here he is the day before he passed away in the hospital. Devin is the first boy born that will pass on the Swenson name for 5 generations- of Devin's Great Great Grandfather's posterity. Hopefully there will be many more- Richard. :).

DJ did a Triathlon in Salem, UT in June. He did a great job and it was fun to cheer him along.

The girls had fun with the Strawberry Cream cheese filling for the cake.

Kelsi LOVED swimming with her Daddy. I tried, but I think she trusts him a little more. I am so glad she loves her family so much. She is a delightful little girl.

Family update

I just caught up with a bunch of blogs and enjoyed it so much. After several, I decided maybe I should update my own.

Devin is 4 1/2 months and is just delightful. He has been growing and stretching longer and longer and is finally starting to fill out as well. He is 4 1/2 months and the 6-9 outfits I just pulled out are not going to fit him very long, which is a bummer because I REALLY like them. His cheeks are getting chubby, his little lip is filling out, and the legs... What a perfectly cute stage for little summer plaid rompers.

He loves to smile. He will smile at you until you look at him and then he will GRIN. My favorite smile is the one when he sticks his tongue out. He has an adorable long and skinny little tongue. He has an adorable laugh, but you have to work at it- but so worth it. 2 nights ago was the first time he giggled and laughed at peek a boo. I think it had something to do with the late hour and being slap happy, but Daddy and I enjoyed ourselves immensely. Devin loves to roll. The moment you lay him on his back her rolls to his stomach. The problem is that he does not love his stomach. He will play there for a while and then start to fuss. I'll roll him back, and he will immediately roll back to his stomach and start fussing. I have video proof that he can roll back to his back, but he has forgotten that minor detail. Needless to stay he doesn't play on the floor for long periods of time anymore. He still loves his hanging jungle gym, and he spends some time in the bumbo seat, bouncy seat, crib, floor and of course my arms. I love him so much. His calm and easy going disposition is such a blessing in my life right now. What a delightful little boy.

Kelsi is getting so big. I cannot believe she will be 3 this month. She is delightful. I love her smile and she still has a slight mischievious streak in her, especially if she is feeling deprived of attention. The past couple weeks I think she has felt especially deprived and has taken to not letting me out of her sight or arms reach. I think it stemmed from some particularly bad colds and ear infections recently and just needing mom. She loves to play with her big sister and they are getting really quite good at sharing and looking out for each other. If we are going to do anything she says "and me too? And 'Dasida' too?" She is also fiercely protective of her little brother and his things. I hesitate to say anything to jinx it, but who know when I will update again. Several weeks ago Jes had preschool and a playdate afterwards so I decided to spend the day working on "potty training awareness." It went fine, but I had no expectations since she had shown no interest previously. Then a few weeks later she decided she wanted to wear underwear and actually kept them dry. We have had our share of accidents, but I think I am trained much better this time around and had different expectations and have been a lot more patient this time around. She is doing really quite well. Kelsi is beautiful. I love to hold her, snuggle with her and read her stories.

Jessica is at a really fun stage. I can tell she is wanting a little more independance, so I try to give her some space when I can. She will love having a house and yard she can play in since we can't just send our kids out to play in the court by themselves. She is so thoughtful. She has gotten much better recently at including other kids and has amazed me with her bravery in new situations and inviting kids to play. She started a new gymnastics class last month (which she LOVES) and on the first day she went up and sat with some girls she didn't know but looked about her age. She also invited a boy on the playground that she had not played with before to play with her. She is expanding her friendships and I am really proud of her. I think these are great skills she is learning right before starting Kindergarten in the Fall. It is really hard to think about sending her to school. She is so little! I am glad that it is only half day, and that we broke into it with Preschool this past year. Just a quick story- last night I was singing to her before bed. I had gotten up off the bed, but was still nursing and rocking Devin standing up. She got out of bed and got a chair for me, put it next to me and climbed back in bed all without me saying anything. She is becoming really quite thoughtful and I so appreciate her.

I love my kids and husband so much. I am so very very blessed!!!