Ginger Bread House

I made a felt Ginger Bread House!  It's really cute, come check it out in my etsy shop!

Recycled T Shirt Bags

I keep hearing about grocery stores wanting to charge money for plastic bags, so I'm now offering recycled T Shirt Grocery Bags at my shop.  I sell them pretty cheap compared to others, I can even make them for you out of your own T Shirts if you want for a couple bucks a piece.  They're really strong and durable and hold a lot more than plastic grocery bags and of course are earth friendly!

New Items

I've added a few more items at my store

Little Dancer Silhouette 

This is a jellyfish bow holder

I made this Pillowette for my grandma's birthday

The Clinger Family Blog Has Moved!

The clinger family blog has moved to www.clingerfam.blogspot.com.  This blog will now be dedicated to my new online business, Ivy and Violets, where I will be selling a variety of handmade items, including but not limited to my Pillowettes, custom embroidery, wall hangings, and other girly type things.

My Esy Store is Now Open!

My etsy store is now open.  To visit it, go to: www.ivyandviolets.etsy.com

I have my silhouette pillows, which I'm now calling Pillowettes, on there along with a baby blessing gown.  I have plans to add more things, but for now that's all I've got!  Stop by and take a looksee!

Sea Port Village

For our after-church-outing today, we went to Sea Port Village.  I like to pack a lunch and if I have time- clothes and we head out right after church.   Again, like Balboa Park last week, it was really busy, but we got a rockin parking space right were we wanted to lunch.  The habit has been to scarf down our food, because who isn't hungry right after church, and then we lay back on the blankets and rest, while the boys run rampantly around.  Then, wherever we are we take a little walk around and look at stuff, and just as the boys start to get a little cranky we leave, so it turns out beautifully.  Another wonderful Sunday together as a family.  Sea Port Village was nice and warm, but breezy as usual, and the shade cool enough for it to be nothing but enjoyable.  We got some great pics as usual, and some with me as well, which almost never happens!

Mama Mia!

 Tonight my mom, Yessica, Candela (my mom's exchange student), Violet, and I all went to see Mama Mia!  It was totally cute, I love Abba, and musicals, Meryl Streep, and Greece, so basically it was perfect.  What was worth writing about though was cute little Violet.  Over the summer we've gone to the free movies that play on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so I already knew that she could handle the darkness and the loud just fine, plus it was already late so I figured she'd just fall asleep anyway.  I was wrong.  She wanted to watch it, and she did for about forty-five minutes.  Not only did she watch it though, she squealed and laughed, and cooed... it was so cute, she was so excited!

There was one scene where Meryl Streep is helping her daughter get ready for the wedding and she starts singing Slipping through my fingers, which is all about a mother watching her daughter growing up and here I was holding my own sweet daughter.  But, surprisingly the thought of her wasn't what was making me tear up, I started to think about my sweet little boys, and how they're about to start school and how fast time has gone and will keep going...  I love them all so much!  I

'm a little obsessed with Violet right now, but I really, truly love my little boys so much and I'm so excited for them to be going to school but I still worry so much.  I hope they fit in and I

 ho

pe they're as good there as they are at home.  I can't believe they've grown so tall and handsome, and they're so smart.  I am so blessed.  

Silhouette Pillow

I made this Silhouette Pillow today and I'm thinking about selling them on Etsy.  I would do custom one's of course, all you'd have to do is send me a picture of the profile you want and I can make it up however you'd want it.   The back of the pillow is the same pink fabric as the background of the silhouette, I did a scroll stitch all the away around the oval and hand embroidered her name at the bottom.  I could always do other embellishments, flowers, roses, lace or whatever. What do you think?

Garbage Pail Kids

Okay, so it was time to cook dinner and the boys were hassling me like usual, so I sent them to go play.  They asked if they could play outside so of course I said sure, anything to keep them busy and away from the kitchen.  While preparing the food I had to dispose of some aluminum cans which made me remember that Karl had left the recycle bin and another trash can in the wrong place and I needed to remind him to bring them up to their normal spot.  As these thoughts were crossing my mind I became aware of a banging that sounded like those exact trash cans.  Maybe the boys were moving them for me?  Of course not!  They were in them.  Rolling in them to be exact.  Horrible, Dirty, Stinky, Germy, Nasty, Smelly, Disgusting trash cans!  I hollered down to them to remove themselves from the cans and asked,"don't they stink?"  To which all three started giggling and unanimously replied, "YES!"  I had them come inside immediately to get into the bathtub and sure enough, as they entered the bathroom to get undressed that unmistakable, nauseatingly disgusting smell of a dump trunk came in with them.  I had them soak in a bubble bath, wash themselves, then turned on the shower and had them wash themselves again, and again, and again.  As we speak I am washing their clothes separately from all the other regular dirty laundry, so as not to cross contaminate.  And that is all I have to say about that.

School Registration

So the boys are officially registered for school!  They're going to be going to all day kindergarten starting at the end of the month!  I'm so excited!  They're really excited to, I hope they do well!

Oh Ya...

...and I got my hair cut differently yesterday!

Balboa Park

My Gerber Baby

Nice Face Sam!

So today we decided that we'd go to the Organ Pavilion at Balboa Park aft

er church, so I packed a picnic before we left and we headed there as soon 

as we got out.  It was a beautiful day!  It was only about 81 degrees an

d perfectly cool in the shade.  We picnicked under a tree in the grass across th

e street from the organ, so it was totally casual, and much cooler.  It's really sunny on the benches in front of the organ, they should think about building something to help shade them.  It was really crowded, probably because i

t's summer and a Sunday, but still it was perfectly pleasant.

  The boys were all really good, and of course Violet was too, although I think

 she might be getting tooth number two very 

soon.  Afterwards, we walked around by the international houses, we went into the house of Ireland for Karl, and the house of Ukraine for me.  Then, when we were leaving we went over the Coronado Bridge for the boys sake, and drove arou

nd Coronado a bit, past the Hotel Del and then back over the Bridge.  Then we stopped by Karl's parents house because we borrowed their little VW Jetta last night to drive to Horton Plaza with just Violet and we forgot to return the keys.  Mike Hawkins', one of Karl's best friends, daughter got baptized last night and then we all went out to dinner at his restaurant The Panda Inn.  It was kind of neat because Kate is the oldest of the four best friends (Karl, Mike, Todd, and Byron) and she got baptized on the day Byron and Kyrsta had their fourth (and I think final) baby, another little boy!  We all have four kids n

ow!  So then we visited with Dorothy and Larry for awhile which was nice and 

now we're all finally home, the boys are in bed and Violet and Karl are asleep.  A perfect end to a perfect day!

First Tooth!

Okay, so I totally called it!  Thursday I thought she was showing real symptoms of teething, then on Friday, we were at the park and she had no teeth.  She fell asleep on me for about an hour and when she woke up there it was, on her bottom left side!  She didn't even seem bothered by it, just the little bit of crankiness the day before and that was it, piece of cake!  I tried to take a picture, but she wouldn't let me.

God's Finger

I didn't have time to upload these yesterday, but this was on Tuesday night on the balcony of the house we stayed in.  Doesn't it look like a big had and finger reaching down?  It was really gorgeous.

Teeth and Pigtails

So I think Violet is really teething now.  She's been kind of cranky and needy and VERY oral, and she's had a bit of a diaper rash that isn't going away, which Sam always got when he'd start to teeth.  I hope she's not as bad of a teether as Sam was! Oh, and she's saying Mama and Nana consistently (Karl thinks she means mom and no and that she's made a correlation), and she says DA! every once in awhile!

We're Home!

This is on the way from the airport to the house in Austin

Aunt Emily with the Ben and Sam on the little train

Sweet Uncle David getting to know Sweet Violet

So, we're home from our trip to Texas.  We were there almost a whole week (early Tuesday to late Monday)  and spent the majority of our time in Austin, and just a couple days in New Braunfels, but we went to Schlitterbahn and and saw a movie and did some really great visiting, and of course, the wedding was beautiful and perfect.  We had a fabulous time, everyone was so great, the big boys (Karl's brothers) pretty much took care of the little boys (mine) so now my little ones have new idols.  They pretty much played video games the whole time, but it was my vacation too and if that's what it took to get some R&R then so be it!  Catherine and Al had this great big time share house that we stayed in.  It had two very large master bedrooms and another really big bedroom, all three had their own bathrooms (ours and Catherine's had great big garden tubs with jets in them) and the kitchen was phenomenal! All of the kids did great on the flights there and back, although I have to say that nonstop is WAY better than having to transfer flights!  We also visited my cousin Becca and her husband Joel, we went to their ward on Sunday and then they were so kind to invite us over for dinner and some visiting.  I hope we didn't ruin anything while we were there, the boys were a bit rambunctious while we were there, probably from too many video games and not enough playing, but over-all it was a  nice visit.  They are really a lot of fun, I wish we lived closer. I guess the one thing I wish I had done while we were there was take more pictures!  I was pretty busy taking care of Violet, or visiting, or helping with the wedding preparations that I totally forgot to take pictures while we were there.  I'm sure some one else did, but I'll just have to wait for them to give me some.  It was really nice to just get away for awhile, I wish we could do it more often!  

Memories

Here is a fun little game... Leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time, or a long time, anything you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. On your mark...get set...blog your memories!!

Black and White

Here's some I made into black and white, I love the color, but the black and white is stunning as well.

Little Miss Ruffles

We took this photo shoot this afternoon after church.  I absolutely adore this little ruffly slip, and of course the little Violet inside the slip as well!    

She's getting so big and so strong.  She's finally figured out that if you're on your tummy you can navigate yourself a little (even if it's just in circles).  But after she gets really tired she just starts to throw a fit instead of roll herself back onto her back.  I'm sure she'll start scooting soon. And she's definitely saying mama consistently now.  It's very cute.

Those boys are so good.  They are so helpful, anytime I need a diaper or to throw a dirty one away they jump at the opportunity.  They are so kind and gentle to Violet and love to make her laugh.  Joe and Ben are very excited to be starting kindergarten next month.  They'll be going to Descanso Elementary, it's really small but really close.

MaMa

Violet said mama yesterday!  She said it four times yesterday!  If it had been just once I might have overlooked it, but she said it four times throughout the day, and then she said it again this morning!

Happy 4th of July!

Well, we had a wonderful 4th of July.  We spent the whole day swimming and playing at Uncle Gary's house, or as the boys call it, The Swimming House.  Violet had just had her second round of shots the day before, so she was a little feverish and cranky, but she swam a bit and enjoyed

herself pretty well considering.  The boys were in and out of the pool all day and played in the

playroom with the other kids.  They sure like 
their girl relatives.  Afterwards we went over to Karl's moms house to say hi and pick up a present for Violet that a neighbor friend had left there.  On the way there the boys asked if they could play Mario when w got there and we said no, no video games, don't even ask.  So of course...       

   

...Oh well... whatever... we did however scold them, but I wasn't about to take away our fireworks trip, I love fireworks!  

I totally forgot to take pictures all day yesterday, so the only ones I have are the ones of the boys being naughty, playing the video games, and this one of Violet at the end of the day and in desperate need of some tylenol and a nap!  But I'll try to get some cute ones of her in her swimming suit, she's just too cute!

It's pretty hot out today, I'm trying to get housework done, but I'm just sweating and sweating, it's horrible.  Only a couple more weeks until our Texas trip, I can't wait.  I have absolutely nothing else to say!

Violet can Sit!

So, not long after I posted those pictures of my darling baby last night we caught Violet sitting up all by herself on tape!  She sat alone for the first time earlier in the day, but just for a second or two, then last night we sat her up and let go and she just sat there for about thirty seconds!  It was great!  I have the video of her doing it on my myspace page (myspace.com/ivyclinger).  It was a bitter-sweet moment for me, I'm really happy and excited that she can sit, but that also means she's growing up soooooo fast!  She's really mad right now because I'm not sitting with her and she's tired and can't fall asleep if I'm not with her (who rules the roost in this family...).

Time Flies!

In one week and one day Violet will be five months old!  I can't believe it!  She's getting so big (I'm staying so big...) I don't want her to grow up!  Everyone's doing great, the boys are continuing to be fabulous big brothers, they love to make their sister laugh, Ben's particularly good at it.  He's still got that undying ability to be super repetitive, which is turning out to be a great entertainment factor for the baby.  Before I forget, I want to write about something that happened right after Violet was born.  She was at the most a week old, probably less, and I was laying on my bed with her and she was sleeping.  Sam came in with a sword and imaginary coat of armor and shield and announced,"I am a knight!" (You have to imagine it in his high, breathy little voice though so it's more like "Hi am a knight!")  Of course I responded in disbelief, "You are a knight!?!"  "Yes,  Hi am a knight, and baby Violet is a printheth!"  I have to paraphrase now, but he proceeded to weave a tale right there in front of me about how Violet was a princess in a cage, guarded by a huge purpled dragon and that he, Sammy the knight had to save her.  He acted it all out, fighting the dragon, slaying the dragon, and then running to unlock the cage that held the princess Violet.  He then carried her to safety (pretend carried) and they lived happily ever after.  It was so cute, and so imaginative.  I've always known he had the best imagination of all three of the boys, but that was such a glimpse of what I know goes on inside that head of his all day long.   I guess it's just that this was the first time he'd communicated so well what he's been thinking for so long.  It was so sweet.  I hope he never loses it. Oh, and one more thing before I have to run, I was looking through some old photo albums, and Violet looks a lot more like Joe and Ben than I had thought.  She has a dimple like Sam, and a couple of things like Karl, but she definitely looks a lot like the twins.  I'll have to scan some of the pictures I was looking at and post them.  Gotta go now!

What a Good Week!

So last week was pretty jam packed!  Karl's bio-mom and family came from Texas for a visit and we had a blast!  We pretty much just hung out, took a trip to the beach and to Green Valley Falls, nothing too fancy or anything, just enjoyed each other's company.  All the kids stayed at our place, and the big boys brought their Wii to show the little boys, which was way too cool.  I'm really looking forward to our trip to Austin in July for Katie's wedding now, I can't wait to see them all again. (By the way Rebecca, if you read this, we're coming to  you're neck of the woods in mid-July, so plan on a schlittlerbahn trip, or a least a visit from the Clingers!)  Oh, we also had a birthday party for Sam (4th) combined with a surprise party for Karl's graduation!  It was really fun, Sam got tons of Spiderman stuff (perfect since he is Spiderman), he got so overwhelmed by presents he had to take a break and just play with the stuff he'd already opened and come back later.  Sweet little Violet is getting so big so fast.  I started giving her some rice cereal at the very beginning of the month, and she liked it okay, but last week I gave her some mashed banana and she loved it!  She ate about two inches of mashed banana and didn't spit any of it out!  She's also pinching with her thumb and forefinger already, not actually picking things up with them yet, but still, pretty good for a four month old.  Anyway, Sam wants me to help him with his parachuting G.I. Joe, so I'd better go!

June

So far, this month has been pretty busy. Karl's out of town again, in Virginia this time.  Our exchange student J went back home to Korea on Tuesday.  That was really hard to do.  The boys and I really really miss her.  She was here for a eight, almost nine months.  This Saturday is Tommy and Yessica's wedding reception and I needed to make Violets dress.  It was a difficult little thing to make, but it turned out pretty.  It's a little big on her, but it's fine.  She looks like baby Cinderella in it.

Violets been starting to eat some solid food.  I don't want it to change my milk supply, so she gets a few baby spoonfuls every other day or so.  Just rice cereal for now.  She's very particular about how she likes it though.  It can't be too thick, or mixed with water, it has to be thin and mixed with milk only.  She has been practicing with grahm crackers too, it's more of a distraction thing than a snack or food thing.  She likes eating, it's pretty cute.

Next week Karl's family from Texas is coming to town to visit, and it's Sammy's fourth birthday a week from today.  I can't really think of what else is going on.  I'll probably think of something later.

Dancing Princess

I was trying to get Violet to settle down tonight after dinner so that I could go take a shower in peace so  I put on Barbie's Twelve Dancing Princesses (a really cute movie) on my computer with her swing set up in front of it for her to watch.  It's got really pretty music and dancing in it.  I was holding her in my lap at first and she got sucked right into the movie.  Her eyes got really big and she started cooing and gooing, and then she started to try to stand up and kick her little legs.  It was so cute, she knows she's a dancing princess!  I wish I could have gotten it on video, but I was holding her and talking on the phone to my mom, and I just don't have enough arms, but my mom was a witness to the cooing!  Anyway, it worked, I was able to put her in her swing and take a shower, and when I got out she was sound asleep.  She's such a little angel.

As a side note, my mouth is finally starting to feel much better.  I was able to eat dinner tonight with the family without wanting to die, so that's good.  I'm sure I'll be all better in another week or so.  It's almost too bad, I might have been able to drop all the baby weight if it had gone on for another couple of weeks!  I guess I'll just have to start exercising and do it the hard way.

Only one more day till Karl comes home, I'm so excited.  I miss him so much, but he's doing really well.  He really is a natural teacher, and he enjoys it so much, it makes me happy that he's found a job he can really enjoy.  We keep in touch with Skype, so the boys and me get to see him every day.  It really helps to be able to actually see him  instead of just talking over the phone.  The boys absolutely love it, Sam thinks he's stuck inside the computer.   

Well, I'm gonna go kiss the boys goodnight and hit the sack myself.  All is well in the Clinger home.

My Mouf Hurts!

I had my last wisdom tooth out last Tuesday and my mouth is still killing me!  To compound the situation, I also have a killer canker sore on the same side as well!  I've been on a liquid diet for a week now (and it's actually starting to show, not a terrible consequence)!  I get the stitches out in the morning, hopefully it's healing well.  Karl's gone again, but just for five days this time.  He's in Santa Clara this time.  His boss says it's really rare to have to be gone for two weeks in a row, I hope he's right because this could get really old really fast.  Thankfully the boys are all pretty good, and really good helpers when I need them to be, I just wish they wouldn't push each others buttons so much.  But what can you expect, there's three of them and they'll all pretty much the same age, and they're boys!  I'm grateful to have J here to help me too, I'm really going to miss her when she's gone.  Anyway, nothing really new here, just a little bored and lonely.  If my mouth didn't hurt so bad I'd take the family somewhere tomorrow, but it's really unbearable still.  Oh well, this too shall pass!  Good night!

I'm lonely!

Karl's out of town with work for the next week so I'm all alone (except that I'm not really alone)! Church went surprisingly well though, I was able to feed Violet right before we left so I didn't have to leave during sacrament meeting.  I did however have to feed her during primary, but all I missed was head, shoulders, knees,and toes which is fine a cappella.  Violet doesn't really like sitting in her car-seat when we're not actually driving, so I bought this really cute moses basket at a thrift store for only $10 (they were asking for $20 but I had Karl ask for 10 and they went for it) and used it next to the piano so she could see me.  It worked out pretty well, she would start to fuss if I didn't look at her for about thirty  seconds to a minute, but would stop every time I looked at her and smiled, so I did!  She eventually just fell asleep.  She's such a good baby.  Later, I was playing with her and she grabbed onto my finger and put it in her mouth for the first time.  I thought this was really smart because she just discovered her own hands orally last week.  The boys were really well behaved during church as well.  I think they're finally getting the concept of a bribe, something we've just started doing.  I told them that if they were good I'd make them cookies after dinner, and the were, so I did.  Anyway,  that's all for today, I've sort of decided that because it's easier to type than write that this is going to be kind of a journal for me.  I've always struggled with journal writing, but this is pretty easy. 

Family Pictures

So last night we went to the park to take some family pictures.  Oh my goodness, is it really that difficult to be happy for a half an hour and just look at the camera and smile?!!  Apparently it is.  I shot almost 100 pictures and only got about five good ones.  Those boys wouldn't hold a pose or a smile to save their lives!  When one would be cute and smile and look at the camera, the other two would be looking away, or asking a question ("are we done yet," and "can we play now" being the most popular), or even crying... SAM.  After all that, I don't even know if we're going to use what I got for the reason I was taking the pictures in the first place.  The light wasn't really good anyway.  Try, try, again...