My new online store!

I did it! I opened an online home-made store at Etsy.com. You can check me out at MariahMade.etsy.com (just click on that, and it will take you there) I am filling up my store as quickly as I can with lots of cute things. I will be adding new things so check in with me often to see what's new.

My sweet husband made the banner on my Etsy site and came up with the store's name. He also made this fun picture (above) to announce the opening of my shop. Thanks sweetie, I love everything. You did a great job!

Here are just two of the items in my shop. Baby Bows (above) for bald babies. I was buying these for Georgia and realized I could make them easily myself. That was the start! Below are some pink flower hair clips.

If you want to order something you can just call me so you don't have to pay for shipping!

Lagoon!

Summer Fun! Some friends of ours, Gabe and Brandi, gave us some tickets to Lagoon! James, Conner and I went once before when Conner was about 10 months old. That didn't really count though because we didn't go on any of the fun rides. Here is a picture of me and Georgia. She was pretty good most of the day.

This is Dallin, Tavener, Conner and Chloe. Tavener is Gabe and Brandi's son and Chloe is a friend of ours that comes over every Thursday and Friday while her mom is at work.

This is Dallin and Chloe going on the "Ladybug Bop."

This is Gabe, Chloe, Conner and Mallory on the "Mouse Trap." All the kids loved this one.



It got pretty hot there so we let the kids play in the water fountains. They are in the very middle of the water squirting up. It cooled them down and they dried off quickly in the sun. It was tons of fun for them.

Here is sweet little Georgia, what a trooper, hanging out in her stroller all day. We were there from 11AM and didn't get home till about 11PM. It was a long, fun day!

Busy Week!

This has been a BUSY week, but we had tons of fun. Where do I begin...

As the ward Humanitarian Leader I had to be at the church all day Wednesday for our Humanitarian Day. We quilted for 12 hours and collected baby items to donate to the Pregnancy Resource Center. It was a long day but well worth it. Georgia was an angel the whole day, she rolled around the gym in her walker all day and played. The boys were gone most of the time at a friends house. Here is a picture of me and Janet in front of a quilt we were working on.

A sweet lady let Dallin help her on the serger! He got to serge several bandages that are going to be sent to Africa. He did a great job and was proud of himself.


All week Dallin has been attending Karate Camp - Weapons. He spent at least 5 hours a day learning the Bo Staff. On the last day he spent 9 hours in training. At the end of the week he promoted to a purple belt. He was so tired and worn out each day but didn't get crabby at all. I am so proud of him and for all his hard work. Great job Dallin!

On Saturday we entered sweet little Georgia in the Provo Freedom Festival Baby Contest. She was in the girls-age category and the costume category. I made her this cute tutu dress so she would look like a flag. I guess they didn't like it enough because she didn't win. That's okay because we think she is adorable anyway. Here is a picture of her at the judging table.

And last but not least, Conner and Dallin were in the Saratoga Springs parade. They got to sit in the back of Dallas and Arlynn's truck in their karate uniforms. They threw out candy and had a blast.

I hope next week slows down. We need a little break. The suburban broke down and needs a new fuel pump so we probably won't be going anywhere. I have the truck just in case. I am so tired, hope I'm making sense.

Georgia update

Georgia is nine months old today!

She is still not crawling which is fine with me. I think once she does start crawling she will be more happier. Right now she wants to touch and eat everything.
Georgia had her tubes put in her ears on Tuesday and ever since then she takes naps. Before she would only doze off when I nursed her. Now she will take two 1 hour naps. Yeah! I can't believe how much I can get done in that short amount of time.
They say when a baby is about 4 months you can start to let them cry themselves to sleep. Well that is when she started getting her several ear infections so I kept putting the sleep training off. Now that she is feeling better I just lay her in her bed, let her cry, and 15-20 minutes later she is out. I hate the crying part, I am hoping soon she will stop the crying and know it is time to go to sleep.
She is such a sweetie, I am having so much fun with her and her brothers. I love them all. They are great kids!

Gateway Discovery Museum

Summer is finally here! We took our first summer field trip yesterday to the Gateway Children's Discovery Museum. The kids had tons of fun. We went there a few years ago and loved it. It is perfect for any age. The boys had tons of fun and Georgia couldn't get enough. Usually I can get Georgia to look straight into the camera when I take her picture but she was so curious I couldn't get her to look at me.

Georgia playing with the toys and rocking on the blue doggy!

Conner collecting balls to send up the tubes.

Dallin operating the crane.

We bought a six month season pass so now we can go there whenever we want. It's a perfect summer activity for a too hot day!

Recovering

I am still alive! I am just recovering from vacation and having you know who home for a couple of weeks. We had an awesome vacation on the Royal Carribean Cruise to Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, and Mazatlan, Mexico. We met up with my step-dads side of the family. There were, I think, 36 of us. It was tons of fun and the kids had a blast. I bet you want to see pictures, well since James forgot to save them onto my computer I can't post any here. But he did put some up on our family website. Click on mariahandjames.org and click on Sanders Reunion. You will see a cute picture of my little mexican girl. James is still adding words to that page but you can at least see the pictures. The other pages on our website are mostly outdated except for the Iraq page. Anyway have fun looking.

Mexico or bust!

We are leaving for Mexico tomorrow! I'll post pictures when I get back.

Which Disney Princess are you?

You Are Aurora! (A.K.A. Sleeping Beauty.)

Thoughtful and loving. Authority figures probably have been sheltering you all of your life. Thankfully you're a very tranquil person who is content with what life has given you, but secretly you want to know how the outside world works.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Hours of Entertainment!

I found this box of beans in storage recently. When Dallin was a baby we would let him sit in it and he would play with the beans forever. So when I found the box I had to get it out for Georgia. As long as her pacifier is in her mouth she won't eat the beans. As soon as her "suckie" falls out her hands, full of beans, immediately goes to her mouth. Obviously, I have to supervise her, but she could play in these beans all day! What fun.

Favorite's Challenge #2 Winner

Well since only two of you entered my second favorite's challenge you both win. Corene will get the notebook filled with my favorite quotes since James can always refer to the one I have here at home. The other day James emailed me and wrote something that I am counting as my favorite quote even though he did not post it.

"Ask for a stronger back not a lighter load."

I love that quote. Heavenly Father knows how much we can handle and he will never give us more than we can deal with. Be grateful for your challenges. Thanks sweetie for that advice.

Check out my Slide Show!

Belt Promotion

Conner and Dallin both earned a new belt last night in karate. Conner earned his 6th belt which is green. Dallin earned his 3rd belt which is orange. They are working so hard in karate and love it so much. Here is a picture of Conner and Dallin with their karate teacher J.D. He is an awesome teacher and the boys just love him and look up to him. If fact right this very minute they are both in the other room pretending to be on the SWAT team. One of them is J.D. and the other is Dallas!


This is a picture of the Storm Team and all the karate kids who promoted belts this month.

Karate Tournament

Conner and Dallin competed in their second karate tournament today. They both did really well. Dallin competed in the forms for his division. He placed third, which is pretty good. Here is a clip of him doing his form:

Conner competed in forms and sparring. He earned a ribbon for his form and he placed third in sparring. He hasn't been sparring for very long and he did an awesome job! Here is a video of Conner sparring (Conner is in the red uniform). He actually had to spar against 4 people and he won each time except once.

Shopping Poll

Where would you rather shop, poll results:
5 people voted between Nordstrom, GAP, Old Navy, and Banana Republic.
1 person would rather shop at Nordstrom (20%).
No one wants to shop at GAP!
2 people like to shop at Old Navy (40%).
2 people like Banana Republic (40%).

Dress for Georgia

Well, here is the dress I made for Georgia. I haven't finished them hem line yet because the dress is a bit big on her and I want to wait till she fits into it so I can make it the right length. It was fun to make. I learned a lot. Reading a pattern is complicated. The hardest part was gathering the dress and sewing it to the "yoke." I didn't even know what bias tape was and now I do. I think I did an okay job considering it was my first time following a pattern. I love the material. It is by Michael Miller. I used it also on my burp cloths. James thought it was "bright." I think that was his nice way of saying he didn't like it! What do you think?

Favorite's Challenge #2

Okay, here is Challenge #2:
What is your favorite quote?
I will choose the one I like best out of the quote's you all send me

and the winner will receive this notebook full of my favorite quotes.

Here is one of my favorite quotes:
"Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt.
Sing like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth."
-Mark Twain

This challenge begins now and ends Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 10:00 PM.
Anybody can send me a quote.

Conner's Birthday

Conner wanted to go bowling for his birthday. So here we are at the bowling alley. We had about 8 kids and tons of fun!
Today Conner got to spend his birthday money. We went to Toys'R'Us and he got the Cherry Picker Lego set that comes with a motor. It took him 3 hours to build and for some reason there were a lot of spare parts left at the end!
He did an awesome job though, it was a tough one to build.

Why is everybody laughing at me?

What is on my ears?
Why is everybody laughing at me?

My Mom and Dad did this to me and Corene when we were babies. Corene and I did it to Conner and Dallin when they were babies. So now it is Georgia's turn to have it done to her. She did not know what to think at first, then she started laughing with us. Isn't she just adorable?

Burp Cloths

Aren't these so cute? I bought some Michael Miller fabric at The Quilting Cottage and made some more burp cloths. I have tons now and just need my friends to have babies so I can give them away. I loved this fabric so much that I went and bought more so I could make a dress for Georgia out of it. I have only followed a pattern once in my life, it didn't turn out so well. So we will see how Georgia's dress turns out. I'll post it when I finish it.

So I decided to package these burp cloths in a bag. I also added a pacifier with a pacifier clip. I used matching ribbon on the pacifier clip. I think they turned out pretty cute. What do you think?

And the WINNER is.....

Thank you everyone who entered their favorite books into my "Favorite's Challenge." This was a hard decision but the WINNER is:

Corene
An even harder decision was deciding which book, Left To Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza or Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, would be the winner. I am going to choose Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer for my book club. I hope everyone likes it Corene! So, Corene I will be mailing you my favorite book These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner. Let me know what you think of it after you read it and remember there are two other books in the sequel.
I am interested in all the book ideas everyone sent me. So now my "books to read" list has just grown. I will be having another Favorite's Challenge coming soon so make sure to check in with me. I have some fun prizes to give away.