The absolute fastest month in the entire year. The rest of the year drags by but December? December moves by like a freight train with a driver that just drank a Monster drink. but this blog isn't about December just yet. I have been a bad blogger and have not posted in a while. I went looking for a new home for this blog, thinking maybe I need a change. So far I haven't found anything that I like more than here.

So I need to back track to November and the earliest part of this month to share with you some birthday goings on.

First up is SiSi. She turned 11 this year! Her request for her birthday was bowling. Request granted! I loaded up the 5 kids, 20 or so cupcakes, a few large bags of candy and my debit card and away we went.

I love that smile. It comes from the bottom of her toes and spills out through her eyes.

Next up is Ace. Can you believe that she is 3?? That means this blog is now 3yo. That's another post. Onto the wonderful world of 3!

And there it is, the slipping away of the babyness and the ushering in of the little girl.

Ace and I share a birthday. Thanks to her I am forever 32 years old. See, when you have a baby on your birthday then you automatically get to be that age for the rest of your life! Isn't that awesome?? Makes you want to have a baby on your birthday doesn't it? No? Maybe just a little?

My wonderful husband did get me a new camera for my birthday and I got to have Applebee's take out for supper that night. And lest you think that is a bummy thing, that I should have gotten to go out for my birthday, let me assure you that it was not. I celebrated my day with the ones that fill my life and we didn't have to get anyone ready to go out.

      First we painted with textured paint. It's amazing how excited the littles got when we poured salt, sugar, flour and glitter into their paint. We almost used up all of our cardstock! Introducing the newest Impressionists!

Emi's Creations

Ace's creations

and even mom got in on the fun

Z wasn't interested in painting so we spent a bit of time reading.

Then it was time to go outside and soak up the rays of the sun before our days are more cloudy than not.

Dirt is always fun!

Ahh! The sun!

A rare glimpse of the bigs

Then it was back inside for a game of Cootie!

To all of the men and women who have served or our serving our country......

Thank you a thousand times over for your service, for your sacrifice.

Thank you a thousand times over to the spouses and children that serve with you as your support team, the ones you love and who love you.

Thank you daddy for 26years of service. For your dedication. Thank you for the experience of different countries and different cultures.

Thank you a thousand times over for keeping me safe.

I recently unearthed a big box of puzzles from under our bed. I hadn't had them out since the bigs became too big for them.

Emi and Ace thought it was the best thing ever.

I admit that I became overwhelmed with all the pieces and had a slight, ok large meltdown but we recovered and away they went putting the puzzles together.

This elephant is more cute than most of the "elephants" in our lives. Knitted with love for ACE from a pattern on Ravelry.*

Not familiar with ravelry you say?

www.ravelry.com

I will warn you, if you already have more than enough to knit or crochet before Christmas then you may want to hold off on taking a peek.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

   A bit of what I've done with more to follow as the projects get completed.

One hat two heads. I knitted this for Ace but Z wanted to model it.

Pattern can be found at http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/ Super easy and fast knit.

Wash cloths to match their towels

One mitten for Z with the other to follow soon.

Harry Potter Inspired Hat for Aly, modeled by SiSi

It's here! It's here! I have been waiting all year for the Sew,Mama,Sew! Handmade Holidays.

30 days of tutorials for great handmade gift ideas.

Have fun! I am now ready to get my sewing space totally organized.

Ace joins team sickie today. She woke up running a fever and hacking like the rest of us. She also added throwing up to the mix.

Jorry started with the tight chest feeling last night but texted me to say that he is doing well so far. He is doing zicam and tylenol cold and flu meds. He is on schedule for finishing this job he is working on and can't afford to get sick like I have been.

No fever so far for me. I did that yesterday though. No fever until about 1pm and then I had one the rest of the day and into the night.

The littles and I are going to see a nurse practitioner today.

Emi has large tonsils and I don't want her to have issues with her airway.

Z still has a cough and is probably fine but since we will be there I am going to have her lungs listened to as well.

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes!

And you can find some wonderful ones in my friend Mary's shop on etsy

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=8288630

I have one waiting to be opened for Ace's birthday and another in the works for Emi's.

They are super sweet and so is Mary. I should know we have been friends for almost 30years.

Ok so it is really just day 4 but it might as well be day 215 for all the yuckiness that we are dealing with.

I am cautiously going to say that I am feeling better. I have not run a fever since getting up at 6am. I also feel like my chest is not as tight.

Z is still pretty congested but she slept well last night and when she woke this morning her cough was not croupy and was actually what I would consider productive.

Emi is running fever...103 being the highest it has reached at this point. She also has the cough that I have.

Ace is fine so far and so are the bigs. I am praying they all stay healthy.