Today Might Just Be the Day...

What happens in the daily life of the family.. the drama of foster care, the adventures of parenting, & pictures to share with everyone!

New Beginnings…

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So, we are at the end of a chapter of our lives.

We’re done with foster care. At least for awhile…

And it’s hard for me to say that.. it’s even hard for me to type that.

But, ending a chapter means beginning a new one!

For me, that means actually taking the leap and selling a few crafts. For Brian… who knows? I think enjoying the kids, helping me on my next venture and having more engergy for work.

There are other new beginnings around us, too. My cousin just gave birth to her first son (total doll!). And I have a good friend and sorority sister who just wed her wife a couple weeks ago (right after we adopted V). And, they, too, will have a new baby shortly.

I am working on something for my cousin’s little guy still.

But, I finished a gift for my girlfriend’s baby-to-be today and I want to share it before I send it out. Mostly because I think it’s stinkin’ cute!

A little taggie & onesie for little one…
The back side.. little ruffled bum..
If you want one of these, I can personalize it for you, too!

Another Sneak Peak…

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Cute enough to eat! Back and front of this sweet onesie design...

Isn't this ruffle adorable? On the front it says, "Love Bug"...

Great for all budding math geeks... Again, I'll be offering this as an iron on alone or already in place on a shirt or onesie

This is an iron on or sew on applique.. I have a lightening bolt to go along with it. And I'll be selling the applique alone or already sewn onto a shirt or onesies.

More of what I’ve been working on…

There’s tons more, but I still haven’t figured out how to get great photos yet and I need to save *something* for the site roll out. If you have any questions, requests, or want anything specific please ask me!

Growing an Empire & T-ball Players…

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So, V & Bean are playing t-ball. Kind of. V is actually pretty good. He hits pretty well, he can run fast and he actually can throw and catch (these make him the second best on the team). Bean, on the other hand, is struggling. She looks adorable with her pony tail coming through her hat and her hot pink glove on her hand. But, she’s been having some issues with crying. I keep telling her, “There’s no crying in baseball.” (Thanks, Tom Hanks) But, it doesn’t seem to work.

She gets frustrated when the ball is hit to the 1st base side and she’s on 3rd. She gets frustrated when she can’t get each ball that’s close to her. She gets hot (it’s still over 100 here daily) and whiny and just melts. I should say, however, that even with her mid-field tantrums, she’s easily the best girl on her team (yes, there’s more than one) and is actually still one of the better players on the team.

Brian and I have been trying to prevent these meltdowns. He offered candy, I upped the ante and offered McDonald’s this week (!). But, it wasn’t working (when has McDonald’s not worked as a bribe?!?). In the middle of yesterday’s game, David came on the field, where I was holding a sobbing Bean’s hand and trying to get her to chill out. He found gum in my purse. Low and behold, I read the label and discovered that this was no ordinary gum… It was *magic* gum! Gum that stopped crying and helped you get to the baseball.

Not a tear was shed after the gum entered into the picture.

Yes, I *am* a genius, but you already knew that…

**********

So, that was in the morning, in the evening, I crafted more and more!

Brian is working on my website, soon you’ll be able to shop!

I now have several purses in process with my friend Renee. And I’ve made about 15 different onesies. I finished a third dress last night and today will sew up another taggie.

It’s exciting and a little scary!

Any words of wisdom?

Of Course!

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So, I don’t know about your state, but mine is broke. And, assuming you’re from the States, your country is broke, too.

I’m sure you hear about it. You might even be  feeling the pinch of your own financial struggles. I know that the economy has been rough on all areas.

But, what’s it really costing?

An article was posted on a fostering board that I frequent (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gq1yhAPK8txoVpGAPujSMUK9wz5gD9HULPCG4)

Turns out that the number of kids in care has gone down.

The interesting thing to me was that virtually all of the people who read the article on that board had the same view. It’s easy to assume that the number of kids in care has gone down because we’re educating parents more. Or, you can look at the aid that’s given to families in need–maybe that’s alleviating some of the pressure and preventing abuse and neglect.

But, those of us in the thick of things have a different thought. Maybe it’s because there aren’t enough people to investigate… Maybe there’s fiscal pressure from above to leave children in their homes (not in all cases, but in those borderline cases..).

The truth is that we don’t know.

And we won’t for a long time.

My guess is that as the economy changes, there will be more changes in policy and more cut backs. And there will be fewer and fewer children in foster care. There will be fewer caseworkers to investigate and less funds for preventative measures.

Then, there will be a tragedy or two or three or one hundred. And all of a sudden, people will wake up. They’ll demand to know why children were left so long in unsafe conditions. There will be a public outcry. And then the funding will return.

The real question, in my mind, is how many children will be sacrificed? How much do we need to see and know before we want action?

And, more importantly, what can we do now to stop this?

I think that it starts at home. Do you know your neighbors? Are there any that need help now? What about at your work place… is there a family in need? Do you interact with children? Have you seen the signs of abuse? If you have, what are you doing to help? What about your family, do you have someone close to you who’s an addict? Are there kids involved that you can step in and help?

I think the best thing about this economy is that as a whole, we’ve been force to reevaluate. We’ve started looking differently at debt and value and expenses.

Let’s move some of that focus to our neighborhood and the children and people around us. We can make a difference.

New Family Members

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So, no new kids! No need to freak out!

But, we do have some new pets.

We added three small frogs a couple weeks ago. Then came a snail. And tonight came three more snails. As any parent knows, picking a name is an important job. We gave this job to the kids. So, here are the names…

  • Froggy
  • Ricky
  • Joseph
  • Snaily
  • Gary
  • Pinky
  • Jack

Obviously, some of my kids are more creative than others…

What to do…

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So, if you’ve thought about me in the past week or so, I’m sure you’ve been wondering, “What is Amanda up to these days? Surely she’s bored… After all, she only has 4 kids now, the adoption is done, school routines are in place…”

Boring!

So, now that I have no other distractions to take me away from cleaning, I’ve had to make up a few!  Like I said in a couple previous posts, I’ve been crafting & crafting.

And I wanted to show one of the shirts I finished today.

 

Know any cute pirates-in-training? If so, I’d love to make one for her!

Sneak Peak

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Since I’m dying to show off my creations (and because Jessie told me to), I am posting a photo of one of the dresses I made yesterday.

My friend Renee and I have decided that we’re going to finally take the plunge and try to sell some of the things that we’ve been crafting. And I hope to have a couple of these little dresses ready to go. I think this one would look very cute with black leggings!

What I’ve Been Stealing

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I am using this tutorial to make a few t’s and dresses:

http://www.rookiemoms.com/boy-hand-me-down-for-girl/comment-page-1/#comment-130478

I’ve been making some baby onesies… and, honestly, there was no need to steal the ideas, but here’s the type of personalization I’m doing…

http://www.craftyminx.com/2010/06/appliqued-onesies.html#comment-6a00e5536eb0a388330133f4996a15970b

I’ve also been doing a few like these…

http://www.sanaeishida.com/weblog/archives/000245.html

(But, it should be no shock that mine are more cheeky than pretty)

The other thing that I’ve been making is taggies… I don’t know where I stole this idea from, but here’s a tutorial for you.

http://craftblog.com.au/2008/07/04/appliqued-ribbon-blanket-tutorial/

(It should be noted that mine are not nearly as fancy as the ones in this link. And I’ve never done a personalized version. But, they’re still soft, cuddly & have a variety of textures for baby.)

Next time, I’ll share a few of my own photos…

But, this way maybe you can be inspired to make a little something on your own!

Recharged!

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Yesterday, I was overwhelmed. Well, I don’t know if that’s the right word Maybe more frustrated?

The kids were full of energy and everywhere I looked there was a mess (still is!). Then I tried to go to the bathroom. I ended up falling in (curse you seat-lifiting boys!) and then there wasn’t any t.p. and when I went to wash my hands, I had to first clear off the sink to even get to it.

I will fully admit that I am high-strung… but it just got to me yesterday.

Anyhow, after a great evening supporting the National MS Society (click for more info) at Corks and Chords (wine, food, music, and shopping! I love this event!). I came home and went to my craft room. And I crafted. I created. And the stuff I made is *cute*!

I am running on very little sleep, but still full of energy…

I tried to get photos of one of the dresses I made, but Ms.Bean is not being cooperative this morning.