As some of you may know I make baby items and aprons on a custom order basis. Thank you to everybody that has placed orders with me!

About a year ago I thought about setting up my own website. This site would be devoted to fun and showing off some of my projects. Due to all the drama in the last year that has been put on hold. I decided a couple weeks ago to start a blog instead. Kind of a trial run to see if people are interested. So far there seems to be some interest.

As you all know I have LOTS of random information and off the wall ways to do things. I mean, lets face it: I don't tend to do anything the easy/normal way. In the end I thought it would be fun to have a site as a form of distraction for all of us that are "just moms" (not to exclude the stay at home dads we know).

Feel free to stop by and see what I have going on. Please keep in mind it is meant to be a fun site, and I hope you all will enjoy it! And remember I am on a learning curve. Technology is not my friend!

www.applesandaprons.blogspot.com

Foster took his first test to move on to the advanced white belt last saturday. He was secretly nervous when we got there... something he would never admit to. He did a great job!


Foster did a warm up session with one of the teen age black belts. He loved this. The boy was very nice, and told Foster to watch his technique in a couple spots. Foster listened to him. He did everything Master Kwon asked of him, and delivered a flawless routine. We were so happy!


At the end of the routines the "breaking boards" session began. Foster has never done anything like this, but we were extremely impressed! The first time an assisting black belt held up two boards. Foster hit it a little off and only broke the back board. They retrieved another board and on the second try his "hammer strike" broke clean through both boards. He was on cloud nine! Of course I had to go through the, "we don't hit every board we see... great way to break a bone" speech, but in the end I think he got the point. Only a class thing.





Foster went to class today and was presented with his white and black belt and a certificate written in both English and Korean stating that he has moved up a level. It is a really cool certificate!

Nate took the shark car to work to add weight and have it painted. Unfortunatley the car split in half when he tried drilling for the weights.

We spent yesterday drawing up and carving a new car. Not another shark car, but one that could have weight added easily. I will post a final picture when it comes back from being painted.

Foster has joined the Boy Scouts!! He is a Wolf and seems to really enjoy it all. He is doing it through Nate's church, so of course he knows all the kids in his pack and den. Thursday was his second time going. He is taking exceptionally good care of his uniform, and loves the book. He can't wait to do the sign language part.



Next week is a Den Meeting. They are doing pinewood derby races. Unofficial so the rules are out the window. Foster insisted on having a hammer head shark car. Drawing that up was fun, and then Nate took the Dremel to it and two hours later we had a shark car! The paint specialist at Nate's dealership offered to paint it. We will take it to him today, and I will repost the finished project later. For now here is the body...

Ammon was jumping on the bed the other day and managed to give himself a black eye. He is just such a boy!! Seems happy as can be despite the eye. When you ask what happens he points to it and laughs.

Cyanne celebrated her 10th birthday in style. She, Foster, Nate, Brad and Abel all went skiing at Big Bear. They had a great time! Cyanne loves skiing and Foster took a lesson. He seemed to enjoy his lesson, but is not terribly excited to go again.












After skiing we did a spaghetti and meatball dinner. Cyanne's request.




We followed that up with lemmon cake accented with chocolate chips. She seems to have had a great birthday.

Hey all! We had a crazy busy holiday season. What else would we do?

Nate took some vacation time since part of his family was coming into town. We did lots of running around getting things all set up. He was off starting on the 19th of Dec. We finally got everything together in time for the first wave of family to arrive.

Also the 19th was the last day of school. I went into Cyanne's class for the holiday party, Ressa went to decorate cookies with her friends and Ressa and I painted pictures on the windows. We had a blast doing it, but now I have to scrub it off. She is hoping we will make this a new tradition.

On the 23rd Steve, Carla and Mettie (an amazing 103 years old) arrived. We had arranged Foster's room to be a suite for Mettie, and the girls were so excited to give Grandma and Grandpa their room. The kids then moved into the play room for a week and a half camp out.
























On the 24th we did a fondue dinner in honor of Sean's (my brother) birthday. It was tradition for my family, and we carry it on. It was nice to have a nice slow dinner for a change. The kids lost interest and eventually made sandwiches instead. I guess we are on a learning curve there.























Christmas Eve Nate set up the camping tent in the play room to prevent the kids from noticing Santa come. We set out the stockings in the kitchen and they were off to bed. They slept a surprising long time... not waking until 8:30am. They were very patient while the grandparents got ready, and we figured out if Santa had come.













Ammon went straight for the riding Lightning McQueen toy Santa brought, and then continued to sit on it while he opened his other gifts. He was terrified of the hulk toy Nate and I bought him, but soon got over it.




















Ressa got the princess bike she has been drooling over from Santa. She was super excited to have a real bike that matched her princess helmet, princess knee pads and princess elbow pads. She loves to ride it. She also was excited over the 5 barbies and barbie doll house that we bought her.







Foster seems to really like the remote control Hummer that Santa dropped off, the sweatshirt and the shoes we bought him. He especially likes to chase Ammon with the Hummer!



















Cyanne was super excited over the soccer goals and new bike helmet she received from Santa. She broke her old helmet while camping when she wrecked the mini-bike. She also loved the sweatshirt and shoes we bought her.








Cyanne and Foster had a small Christmas due to us pre-gifting them the mini-bike. We gave it to them as a joint Christmas gift in time for us to go Camping with the Butlers. It was a huge hit, and they were more than happy to have a smaller Christmas in exchange.

Nate gave me a book I was wanting and a new ear piece for my cell phone. Just what I wanted!! I gave Nate (early because he knew about it and begged me for it) his new watch and I ordered the book he has been wanting. Unfortunatly, it is back ordered and we are still waiting for it.


The 26th Jenn and kids as well as Jeff and family came into town. It was great having everybody around. Foster went to the beach house with Nick for the first night, and then the rest of the trip Nick stayed here with us and the "older" girls (Heather, Natalie, and Cyanne) spent most of thier time at the beach house. They did spend a few nights/days here... that meant we had 10 kids in the house. Crazy fun!

























Josh spent a few days here playing video games with Nate too. He is off to his mission in Seattle this month. Won't be seeing him for 2 years, and I know Nate loved spending the time with him.





The 27th was Foster's baptism. He got dunked at 11am and then everybody came to our place for a pinata and chili cheese dogs... he planned the menu. We had around 35-40 people in the house, kids spilling into the yard. I think everybody had a good time!































From the 28th-the 30th we had tons of fun. We went disc golfing with all the kids, to the beach, Jeff helped us get some good family pictures, played tons of Rockband and Scene it, hung out with all the nieces and nephews, and spent some quality time with Grandma Mettie. She is one of my favorite people on this planet!











Carla, Steve and Grandma Mettie left on the 30th. Before they went they stayed a night or two at Jeff's beach house. Mettie was a real trooper and sat through LOTS of pictures! She adores the great-grandkids so it was fun getting shots of them!














The 31st Jeff and Sandee took Nick, Heather, Chris, Natalie, Foster and Cyanne to DisneyLand for the day. They left our place around 9:30am, and returned at 1:30am on the 1st. Everybody was big enough to do all the rides, and it was Chris and Natalie's first trip. They enjoyed themselves so much!! The crowds were bad, and the oldest two did get pretty turned around at one point, but all was well when the rest of the group caught up with them.

We had a couple VERY disappointed little girls (Ressa and Lexus) due to the fact they didn't get to go. I ended the tears when I told them I would let them design and then I would make them thier very own princess dresses. We pulled out all my extra satin, lace, and elastic and went to work. OF COURSE they both chose the cotton candy pink satin, variations of lace for the sash and straps, and made exactly the same design. We had matching princesses!! They spent the rest of the day putting them on, and taking them off.






















Jeff and kids left on the 1st. Followed by Jenn and kids. Sandee and Josh left on the 2nd. The house was suddenly very quiet and empty. We took a couple days to recover, but was well worth the energy to have so much fun!!