Interesting Updates

A lot has happened since my last post. So, let me think how should I get everything out? Maybe I will categorize them by subject:

Phoebe is coming into her own. She now is climbing on things and getting into closed rooms, turning on and off lights. I now have to lock doors cause she figured that one out.

I made an apron out of an old crib skirt. I am working on a cute dress for Piper with it as well, just need to put the zipper in. But here is the before and after picture.

 

 

We sold the 10 puppies that Gabby had. That was a relief, so much poop!

I started school finally!

The kids did some painting.

 

 

 

Piper's was the blue elephant, Cody's was the tiger, Harley had the parrot and I had the silver hippo.

  

Oh and we are moving back to Phoenix! We bought an RV and will be staying with a friend.

We are planning to leave here on the 1st of November so the kids can get trick-or-treating in before we head out. We have pretty much sold everything to minimize our stuff. Curtis is transferring to the Wal-Mart in Scottsdale. We will be in Phoenix for at least 6 months if not longer. We are definitely going to have to get a Table Mesa trip in!! If all goes well and if my plan works we will be able to do a little travelling before we settle down on our property in northern Nevada, which we are still going to do.

Laundry Day!!! We sold our washer and dryer so we have to go to the laundry mat and of course this is all Curtis had left to wear, but thought it was adorable so had to add it in there.

The kids have decorated for Halloween, we really couldn't do a lot because we are leaving the next day but here is their window. Not sure about Harley's eyes, I tried to fix the red eye but it just got worse, still a cute picture though.

 

 Cody turned 8 on the 16th, we had a small party for him. Surprisingly though my parents showed up in Las Vegas and we were able to celebrate with them.

 

Phoebe was enjoying the frosting.

Phoebe wouldn't get in the picture.

I found this picture of Phoebe the other day and just can't believe how fast she has grown.

More to come, I will post Halloween pictures soon.

Blessed Be

Latest Happenings

 had my hysterectomy on September 3rd. The first four days were pretty bad and was in a lot of pain. But it got better each day. I just have to say Curtis is a wonderful man. He stayed home with me and the kids and took care of us. He got up in the middle of the night when I needed him or with the kids or the puppies. I love you baby more than you will ever know.

Piper celebrated her 5th birthday on the 8th of September, we had a cake for her and she pretty much had run of the house for the day. We did not do much since I was still healing and was running a bad fever that day. The night before we took her shopping and she picked out some really cute girl clothes. Anyone who knows her, you know that it is hard to get her into girl clothes. But she picked them out and looked cute.

 

Okay, so the clothes are a tad big on her but she will grow into them.

Phoebe after her piece of birthday cake.

We also celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary on the 19th. Curtis brought be home some flowers and a cake.

I am looking forward to many more years with him.

Feeling Creative

It took me about 2 days to really finish my office, but I did it. You can see my before and after pics. Notice I have created myself a nice little sewing area.

 

On that note I made my first purse today, I used my fat pants. I say that because over the past year, I have lost a good 40 lbs. I went from a size 18W to a size 14 regular. Huge accomplishment, I am still working on losing more weight and getting toned. Right now it is delayed due to medical issues, but hopefully I will get back on track in about a month. Anyhow, a little off track but here is my purse. (I think there is something wrong with my blogger or I did something wrong, because this purse was done before my surgery and my office was cleaned before my surgery as well.)

Random Things

So, I am sitting in the office the other day and I hear this slow clunking on the floor. I turn around and this is what I see. She was wearing her sister's shoes, not only that they were two different ones. She found this whole get-up all on her own and was so proud of herself. Maybe I should find her a pair of shoes.















And, this is what you get when the kids sneak your camera:

We went to dinner at a friend's house a few weeks ago. The kids were all kinds of excited, we haven't been anywhere together as a family in a while with our van being broke down. But they got to get all dressed up and when we got there they went out into the backyard and found CARS!! WooHoo!!

 

  

  

 Gabby had a litter of pups on 8/23/2009. She had 14 but 4 did not make it, so we are left with 6 males and 4 females. They are all fat and happy now, they had their tails and dews done on Monday. I have really never been around a dog when she is giving labor. She started laboring outside and I had to get her back into the house with the pups she already had to her kennel in the house we had set up for her. Talk about an adrenaline dump. I freaked! Luckily Curtis was on the phone and calmed me down. He came home on his lunch to check on things. All was well, I did pretty good that day. Was exhausted, and a little scratched up. She started having the pups behind a short palm tree we have in the backyard and I had to quickly crawl in there to grab the pups to take her inside. Totally worth it. The kids are excited to see the puppies, they want to keep them, but no we have no room. Plus, the money from these pups is our Winnemucca money. They are growing fast. 

This is Pixie one of our chihuahua/pug mixes. She likes to put herself on pedestals.

And last but not least, Curtis and I found a yummy looking recipe in a book the other day. Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter and Fudge Brownies. They turned out pretty good, but they were a pain the butt to make. It will be a while if at all before I make those again. So, I took a picture so it would last longer (haha I made a joke!). 

I guess that is all for now. I cut the boys' hair last night. I will take pictures of them when they wake up and add them later.

Oh, I almost forgot. Check out the fishies on the side there, if you click it will drop food. Also, they follow your mouse around. I know kinda silly, but its the little things that amuse me the most.

Blessed be,

Brandy

Homemade Play Dough

I found this awesome easy recipe for making play dough at home. With the four kids, it can get expensive to purchase it in the store. It always gets left out to dry. I thought I would share it. I found it in a book I got from my brother-in-law (thanks Jay). It is so easy to make, I let each kid pick the color they want and make a separate batch for each of them. It usually lasts a good month if they put it away every time after playing with it. The cookbook I found it in is called KidsCooking: A Very Slightly Messy Manual, by the editors of Klutz Press.

Play Dough Recipe

1 cup white flour
1/4 cup salt
1 tbsp cream of tartar
1 cup water
2 tsp food coloring
1 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Mix flour, salt and cream of tartar in a medium pot.
2. Add water, food coloring and oil.
3. Stir over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Don't worry if the mixture looks like a globby mess; it'll turn into dough!
4. When the mixture forms a ball in the center of the pot, take it out nd put it on a floured surface. Squich it and punch it around a bit; this is called kneading.
5.When you're done, put it in a plastic bag or airtight container and store in the fridge.

Update...

I was talking to my mom the other day, and she made it a point to tell me that I haven't updated in a while, and she was right.So, I figured I would do that now. I had to go back and find out when my last post was and well.. it was April. We are now almost at the end of August. Let's see... I turned 33 in June. We stayed on the strip for my party. We had a blast!! Of course, we always have a story... so here goes. On our way back the next morning, we had a blow out on the freeway, took our entire bumper off the van and the gas cover, it also took some stabilizing thing to hold the part of the gas tank where you put the nozzle in to pump the gas, cause it is all wobbly now. After having that all fixed and drivable again, a few weeks later it crashes and burns. We think it is the computer but still working on it. Meanwhile, we are getting by with the car we have.

The kids are still growing fast. Phoebe turned 2 on July 23rd. We had a quaint little party for her, with some friends here in town. Nothing like our parties in Phoenix with all the family and friends we had there, but we still had fun.

Her birthday dress and a ponytail!!! She does the squishy face like Harley used to do when he was little. If you look real close on the wall behind her, you will see her artwork.


We had a BBQ, she loves corn on the cob.

I had to put that one in there to show of her ponytail!


We did a craft the other day, they made glasses. They didn't last long but they had fun.

I tried and tried but could not get a picture of Phoebe with her glasses on.
The kids posing before We found us a hot tub off of Craigslist for free and have it in the garage, I know a little redneck, but we are limited on room and well, don't care, hehe, we have fun with life.
Curtis and I have been spending our free time planning our move to our property up north. I have another blog for that. http://thefretwellfarm.blogspot.com/. Don't expect too much info on there for a while, but that is where we will chronicle our adventure, when we get there. I am going back to school, hopefully in October. I will be going for my bachelor's in Information Technology with a Software Emphasis. I found the online university where it is competency-based. This means I will move forward based on my knowledge of the subjects. They are 6 month terms and I can move at my pace and not on a rigid schedule. I am very excited, I have missed being in school. http://www.wgu.edu/
My surgery for my hysterectomy is on September 3rd. We are hoping they will just take my ovaries, but if need be I will have a full hysterectomy. I will keep you posted on that.
I think I will sign off for now. I need to work on the post about the puppies.....
Blessed Be,
Brandy

We are still here....

Okay, I know it has been well over six months since I last posted. But in my defense I did point out that I am not good at this, lol.

Well it is almost the end of April already and we have been in Las Vegas for over a year now. I guess we survived the move. Although we still miss family and friends dearly, and have talked about moving back. At this point we will be staying put until we find out about Curtis' job and if he will be entering the Assistant Manager program soon, he has put so much work and effort into it so far that it would be stupid not to stick it out here, instead of starting over in Phoenix.

The kids are doing great, I am working on pictures for them. I was trying to be good and clean up my computer but instead I deleted all, and I mean ALL of my photos of my computer. I was able to recover them but in the process I recovered EVERY single photo that ever crossed my path on this computer, including the cookies from the Internet, so it is taking me time to sort through them all.

Harley is 9 now and is smarter than ever! Cody is 7 and is just as stubborn as Curtis, hehe. Piper will be 5 in September, and she is a pistol. I am working on her and getting her to wear girl clothes, a slow process but I will make it happen! Ha Ha. Phoebe is growing too fast for me. She is walking all over the place, and has her own unique personality just as the other kids have their own unique personality.

I am doing well, still working for the cab company. This alone is an experience. On track for a promotion.

Well, I will be back and I PROMISE I will keep up on this thing and be adding pictures.