With sprinkles on top

Happy Birthday to Grace and Jessica! We started out the day with a sprinkly treat to let them know we knew it was their special day. You only turn 8 years old once. I can't believe it's been 8 years since my twin girls were born. What an incredible day that was! We celebrated this weekend by taking them camping which turned out to be quite the trip.

It's such fun watching the girls explore and create adventures in nature. We just never get that opportunity living in suburbia. It doesn't come without it's bumps and bruises though. The girls first decided to pick some prickly pears off a cactus - ouch! Each and every one of them got a hand full of prickly thorns. Doubt they will do that again....but you never know! That was some hike though. Tested my patience, but it was a beautiful view and we saw a whole bunch of deer. Thankfully, no snakes! After the hike, we all were ready to go swimming in the lake but not before my oldest decided to take a tumble off a see saw (remember those?). Yep, she broke her wrist in two places. Lucky Dad got to take her to the emergency room (he's getting a tour of the Hill Country ERs). Fortunately, it's not a bad break and after a few weeks she'll be good as new. Unforunately, it's her right arm - the one she does everything with (write, eat, wipe herself, etc. etc.!).

Grace and Jessica loved the fun, little ballet bags I made them. They needed something to carry their ballet shoes to and from class. We filled them with goodies of course!

Now the laundry is done (not folded though - that's tomorrow's work). You would not believe the laundry that is created by a weekend camping with a family of 7. Someone might think I've buried a child in the pile that sits on top of the bed. Alas, they are all safe and sound, all tucked in their little beds, snoozing and dreaming like little girls should.

'Til next time,
Lisa

Giving it your all

There are times when I feel I fall short of my expectations for myself and wonder what I could have done better. Other times I settle for less for the overall betterment of the whole. Being perfect is not the question, but giving it your all to feel good about what you have accomplished is. Everyday I strive to give it my all and most of the time it is for others. This isn't something I want patted on the back for at all and I guess the only reason I'm writing about it is that this is also something I'm trying to instill in my children. It certainly is a balancing act trying to run a business and household. We've always prided ourselves on customer service - making it our top priority and sometimes I feel like my hands get tied if I'm relying on someone else - like a manufacturer who just can not get products out in a timely manner. So then I just do the best I can - meaning wait and then I feel terrible. What to do?

So I'm taking some things into our own hands to try and balance this out. We've started producing our own Simply Medium Prefolds so that they are always in stock. We've listened to the tales of overly bulky diapers and how parents didn't like it or thought their baby would grow up bow legged! Since so many babies stay in the medium size for a very long time (many through potty learning) having prefolds that fit makes sense. Of course, you can always trim your own prefolds too! I'm always looking for ways to save money, so I don't hesitate to pass that along to my customers. It's tough being a parent on a budget.

Speaking of budget - I think it needs a new name. Something like "money forecast" might be a better term. "Budget" brings up all sorts of feelings resembling being strapped or tied down. When really we are trying to forecast where our money is going. I might have to bring this up to Dave Ramsey!

Melissa is surely giving it her all right now. She's making me so proud! She's taking up sewing little things and I often find her cooking things up in the kitchen these days. Her school work is also coming along nicely and she just aced her first literature assessment. Way to go Mel!
She and I are working on a little something to give to the twins for their birthday. I'll have to post pics of them when they are done. My house has just been a blur of creativity these past few weeks. The old sewing machine has knocked out a few really pretty diapers for Abbey too in Freshcut fabric. Sewing diapers has got to be the funnest thing I've done in a long time. Such satisfaction comes from creating something yourself. And making it pretty helps! Seriously - when something gets changed as frequently as a diaper, isn't it nice to look at something pretty while you do it??

~Lisa