Just thought I’d let you all know that Sears is having a HUGE clearance sale right now on a ton of their baby/toddler/children’s stuff–you can shop online here, or go into the store, where they’re taking an additional 40% off the clearance price. There is a lot to choose from, even in store. One thing that really caught my eye, even though I don’t have boys, were all the little boy church clothes–all my mom-of-boys-friends complain regularly about not being able to find clothes for their boys–now’s your chance to stock up. I think the extra 40% off is only good through tonight, though, so you should probably act fast.

So since I know several of my readers are pregnant, I just thought I’d throw this out here before I pass the word around my ward– We have an extra stroller that I’m looking to give away. It is a nice stroller, made by Graco, that works with our carseat (I’m keeping the carseat, sorry). The only reason I’m giving it away is because we don’t need it–we have two umbrella strollers, and a nice new double stroller. I don’t really plan on needing any more than that. It’s probably around 8 years old, but still works great–we never used it much, and Cory’s aunt, who owned it before us, probably didn’t use it a whole lot, either. It is black, white and gray, so very gender neutral. I’m just tired of having it take up space (it is a bigger stroller, so a little bulky). I’d imagine, even if you got a nice new Graco carseat, that it’d still work to buckle the seat into, though you’d have to check that to make sure. Either way, it can definitely still be used. Let me know if you’re interested–leave a comment, or shoot me an email. First to ask and make arrangements to come get it can have it. If you really want, I can take a picture of it, but it’s currently in the basement, and I don’t feel like bringing it up until I have to. Let me know.

So I’ve got about 5 1/2 weeks left until my due date, and this baby is definitely still riding high. I took this picture a few minutes ago, but don’t be deceived–I definitely it makes me look smaller than I am (think it’s the dark shirt or something).

Don’t mind the pants–these are so comfortable that they’re my pants of choice these days, so if you drop by, you can pretty much expect to see me in them.

To answer your questions about how I’m doing–I’m tired, and sore, and tired of being sore. I’ve still got a bunch of stuff I want to do before the baby comes, though, so she’ll have to stay in there a few weeks more. At least long enough to be born healthy– about 2 1/2 weeks. That’s just crazy. I’m still having a hard time believing I’m that close to having 3 kids. And as for names, we think we have a winner, but we’re just not totally sold on it yet, so you’ll have to wait to hear it… unless you already have. Feel free to keep suggestions coming, but try not to choose any off of this list. I don’t want my kids to have the same name as 5 other kids in their class. I mean, I did, and it wasn’t that big of a deal, but still… I like something just slightly more original. And now I need to go get some stuff put away, so I can start pulling out all the baby stuff in the next week or two… babies take up so much room!

So all through the holiday season, I’d intended on making sugar cookies and decorating them with the girls… but never got around to it. Well, today, we finally did. First of all, for my mom–here is your recipe (we couldn’t find it when we tried to make them a couple weeks back at her house):

Room Mother’s Cookies

2 C Sugar
6 Eggs
2 t Vanilla
1 C Margarine
1 C Shortening

Mix, then add:

7 C Flour
6 t Baking Powder
1/2 t Salt

Roll out and cut them, then bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 375* for 8-10 minutes.

I halved this recipe, and it still made more than enough for us. For the record, though, Mom, your homemade recipe tastes better. These ones aren’t quite sweet enough, and I had to add a lot more flour.

I’m a little bit sad that I didn’t get any pictures of Breanne and Janey cutting out cookies, but things were too chaotic at that point, and my hands were covered in flour and cookie dough, so I couldn’t touch my camera. Suffice it to say that two girls cut out cookies very quickly, and often grow impatient waiting for their turn for me to roll out their dough again… but they generally enjoy making cookies.

When it came time to decorate the cookies, instead of doing our usual frosting and sprinkle extravaganza, like we tend to do around here, I decided to follow Katherine’s inspiration and let Breanne and her friend Spencer “paint” the cookies with a glaze-like frosting while Janey was napping. This went over really well with the kids, and was significantly less money and work for me. I’m definitely a fan… though I need to invest in some cooking paint brushes, as you can see from the pics.

Oh, and sorry Amanda–I only thought to take pictures while you guys were in the bathroom… I don’t know how that happened.

Because I sure can’t!

The other day Breanne asked me what country we live in (which sort of astounded me in the first place…), and I told her we live in the United States of America. She replied with “Oh, like in the pledge!” I said that was right, and asked her if she knew the pledge. I knew that they worked on it every day in preschool, and as of a month and a half ago, she could fill in my blanks, but couldn’t recite it herself. Well, apparently now she can. It almost makes me tear up every time I watch it–she is growing up SO fast, and learning so much that I’m not teaching her anymore. I can’t believe it.

Oh, and that’s Cory’s whole family cheering her on in the background. We’re seriously going to miss the family gatherings when they move to Ohio in the next couple months.

So this is what happens when we try to take a good picture of the girls in their new Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve:

So here are the girls’ new beds–they LOVE them, and I really like how they turned out, too. I wish there was more room in their bedroom, but for now, this will have to do.

Breanne’s bed:

and Janey’s bed (as modeled by Janey):

And to show how much Janey is like her dad:

When I started dating Cory I was somewhat appalled to learn that he slept with a million blankets on his bed, all just kind of curled up around him and over him, not with any real sense of order… I can’t sleep unless my bedding is on straight, with the sheets tucked in at the bottom so they don’t move so much. While it’s never become a source of contention in our relationship, it is something we’ve had to adjust to. Looks like Janey takes after her dad, at least this far. She just looks so sweet all curled up in her blankets, though.

The felt playhouse is complete! Well, actually, I still need to sew one piece of velcro onto a piece of spinach, and make some birds for the birdhouse, but other than that, it is done. Yes, I know it is 2:00 am, but I had to post the pics for you, because I’m just so excited it’s done!

The front:

The door and mailbox both open:

Side one (the birdhouse is a pocket thing, so birds can sit inside, and you can use the watering can to water the flowers, then pick them–and they have pipe cleaner in the stems to give them a little more stability (though I should’ve used more, probably). Also, you can open and close the curtains from inside):

The back/garden (you can pick all the veggies, or just water them with the watering can from the other side):

Side 2 (the bone comes off, and the door is a flap you can crawl through to get into the house, also you can pick the apples):

I think in all it took me just over 20 hours from first cut to complete, but I think it will have been worth it–I’m hoping the girls love it.

This is mostly so my sister-in-law can steal these pictures, but isn’t my new niece pretty? And smiling at just 5 days old… so cute!

Meet baby Grace:

The first parts of my Christmas projects are complete! For Christmas this year, the girls are getting new beds–the baby will need the crib in a few months, so to prep, Janey will be moving up to Breanne’s toddler bed (can’t believe she’s old enough for that yet! Makes me a little bit sad, to be honest), and Breanne is getting a pretty new white twin sized bed that we bought off of a Kilger family friend. To celebrate the new beds, I have been making new quilts.

Breanne’s was my first attempt at ever piecing a quilt, so I’m not going to give you too many detail pictures, because nothing lines up exactly right… but I am pleased with how it turned out. I had intended on just tying it with yarn, too, but found that I couldn’t get the needle and yarn through all the fabric at the seams, so I decided to sew it together, instead… good thing no one really looks at the back, or I’d be embarrassed at how not straight the lines are.

Anyway–now I’m excited to put up the beds and see how they look (and how the girls do in them…). And don’t worry, when Janey moves up to a twin bed, I’ll piece her a quilt too. Don’t think I’m favoring one over the other–I made Breanne simpler bedding when she moved to a toddler bed, too, just like Janey’s. I just wanted to try something new for Breanne’s. And honestly, I love how both of them turned out.