Happy Birthday Josslyn and Brielle...

Today the twins turned 4. Oh how I wish we could have been there to celebrate their birthday, but we did send them a box of goodies and the two dresses I smocked for them. We haven't had much contact with them since they left our care in April, so to say that we miss them is an understatement! I am hoping their mom will take pictures of them wearing their dresses and send them to me. I have only pictures of them on the day they left so here we go...

Jossy, Jordy and Briell-y (these are my lovie names for them)...

Just tooooo cute and adorable...

At DFW...This is their mom with Brielle, Jordan and Josslyn...

Our last photo together...

This was the hardest day of them all! When Brielle realized that we weren't going with them she began to wail, which caused the other two to wail and Bill and I had to walk away crying as well!

Our house was as empty as a tomb when we got back home, but gradually we've put our lives back together.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSSLYN AND BRIELLE!

Blessings and hugs,

Barb

It's a family thing....

My hubby is progressing well with his new leg, though he's not at the place where he can walk without his crutches yet. He's having a little difficulty trusting the leg will support his weight. Attending PT three times a week, we have seen him move forward quite well.

He is to wear his new leg for about 3 hours a day and do some exercises while he has it on! Here he is on the bed, doing some leg raises with his best exercise buddies. They are so cute!!! They march up and down our hallway with him, and mimic all his movements.

Let's get ready...



Uuuuuuuupppp!



Downnnnnnnnn!


Just had to share these photos...Monkey See, Monkey Do! These two little monkeys are too cute!!!

Rearranging the beds...

Here is our BIG boy in a little bed...




Here are our little girls in a big bed...



Got a new bed today, and so we shifted all the beds in the house around. Twin beds in Jordan's room, old king bed in twins room, Sleep Number in our room! Ahhhhhhhh!

Tongue Piercing???

We all know how much it hurts if you get a sore on your tongue, or accidentally bite down on the edge of your tongue when you're chewing something. It HURTS!!! Why people spend money to get their tongues pierced is beyond comprehension, not to mention the risk involved that the piercer might just hit an important nerve in the process. But accidents with our tongues do happen and such is the case in our household today!

Josslyn, the most adventuresome of the twins pulled the ladder up to the trampoline today, while I was moving my car from the street into the carport. I heard this horrible screaming and ran to see what was the matter. There was blood all down the front on her shirt and she was fairly inconsolable! I brought her into the house and began to inspect her chin and teeth but couldn't find the source of the blood. I did what any wise mom would do and asked her where she was hurt. Then she stuck out her tongue and it was quite a site to behold. With blood pouring out from the teeth indention marks I had to check her out closely to be sure she didn't need stitches. Whew! She didn't!

But she wasn't too happy about eating dinner. It caused her tongue to bleed again. So after a valiant attempt to eat we finally resorted to a popsicle which did the trick...well for a while anyway...

I grabbed my camera and got a couple of pictures of the injured muscle of woe! She keeps running to the mirror in her bedroom to look at it!

Unfortunately I can't seem to find a recipe to stop the bleeding and the wound isn't deep enough to require stitches, so I guess it will be lots of popsicles to help it heal!

Blessings and hugs,
Barb

Cheeky kids in Tilda Shirts...

I finally got some time to take pictures of the girls in their new shirts. I have used #259 Kneeling Tilda. I thought this image was perfect for the girls. Following my pictures is a copy of a post I found on I Like Markers blog. Her information is great....

AS always, Josslyn is wearing the green shirt and Brielle is in pink...

The following is a direct copy of what I found on her blog...

Copic On Fabric
People ask me frequently if you can use Copic markers on fabric. The answer is YES! They look great on fabric. A few things to consider:

1. Red inks will bleed when washed, so either use colors besides red (or brown since it has red in it) or only work on projects that won't be washed.

2. No need to heat-set, the markers are permanent

3. The markers will bleed out as you color with them since fabric is so absorbent. To avoid this just heat up the fabric before coloring and the alcohol will evaporate quicker, causing less bleed.

4. For a fine line you can use Copic Multiliners, however, those do need to be heat-set.

5. Don't airbrush on fabrics, since the dye doesn't soak down into the fibers enough.

6. ALWAYS work with scratch paper under your fabric.

When Stamping on Fabric to be colored with Copics:
Try using Brilliance Ink, Heat-set for best results. Sherrie Siemens has done many projects on fabric with Copic markers, so check out her blog for more examples.

Otherwise, enjoy playing with Copics on fabric! I have a couple pairs of jeans I've drawn on and I love how the markers look.The photo above is from a scrap of white cloth that dyed with Copic inks, then I went in with the colorless blender and added drops and swirls in for texture. I made this about 4 years ago, so I don't know what colors I used, regular cotton fabric (though any fabric works).

Nit Picking......

Since school began we have had a plague of head lice in our home. We've done everything we know how to rid the children of this besetting plague but have had no success. They've been sent home from school repeatedly and we've even gone to the doctor to get prescription shampoo. I've laundered bedding, clothing and sprayed everything they ever touch to no avail. Wednesday was the last straw! I even got a call from the Speech Therapist the girls see to tell me that they had nits in their hair. I declared war on head lice!

It's been nearly impossible to rid the girls of nits because their hair was so long and curly and really frayed on the ends. It became futile to even try using those blessed nit combs you get with the shampoo. So I took matter into my own hands...

We decided to cut their hair short so that removal of nits would be a simple task! Or so we thought! We took them to two hair cutting places and neither would accept them. They saw nits in their hair and sent us packing. So we brought them home, sat each one in the chair and I cut their hair short. Why, oh why did I struggle so long with this process. I wanted to keep their hair long for their mom, but it was a battle I simply wasn't winning, and I won't be outwitted by a brainless louse!

Here was our process....I cut their hair, we slathered their heads in mayonnaise and covered them with shower caps. They wore that for 2.5 hours. We shampooed their heads and then began the most tedious process of 'nit picking'! Finally after a couple of hours, Bill and I were worn to a frazzle and the girls were exhausted from standing. Jordan's hair was easy! I borrowed clippers from our neighbor and buzzed his hair.

Now, on top of all this work, I washed everything, and I mean everything, in a two hour sanitizer wash and put it through the dryer on Heavy Duty for several spins. Almost nothing has thread left to it.

Last night we sat them under my craft lights again and picked through their hair (the girls, not Jordan because he no longer has much hair). Actually I was quite pleased! Apparently we had done a wonderful job the night before and found only three nits on their hair.

I'm singing "Hallelujah" tonight for sure!!!

So I took some pictures of the "new" do's and they are so cute....

Our handsome dude has the longest eyelashes known to man kind, but a short "do".

This is "the pose"! Aren't these two the cheekiest pair?

But they can be angelic when they try very hard...

Josslyn and Brielle

You can see that Brielle is now 1" taller than Josslyn and weights 1 pound more~

"The Dude" loves his race cars.....

That's it for tonight! I'm almost finished coloring T-shirts for the girls and they will model them tomorrow and I'll post those pictures....

Blessings and hugs,
Barb <><