Another week gone by with no blog posts! What is wrong with me? I haven't really been keeping up with Bloglines either and have dozens of unread blogs to pick through. But you know, it's actually kind of nice to not be chained to the internet so much lately. I've been sewing a lot, crafting a lot, learning to knit, and most of all enjoying my boys before they are no longer just "the boys." The Boys plus a girl. Eep!

Anyway, just wanted to make sure everyone knows I'm still alive.

Two of my three adorable men:


The third one getting in some big brother practice with my friend's adorable baby girl:


And some of Sawyer's artistic handiwork. The person on the left with the pink hair is me. Second from the right is Darth Vader, according to him. And above us are the sun, moon and rain clouds all at once. Genius.

Here are some pictures.

We did these the weekend before Easter. Don't mind my bloatiness. It seems to be a lovely side effect of pregnancy for me. Bleh. Aren't we adorable though?

I've been working on some things for Baby Avonlea over the past week or so - it hit me that HEY, I only have 8-12 weeks left before my world is rocked by a newborn! I need receiving blankets and diaper covers and all that other essential newborn stuff! Her nursery is still not finished but should be soon. Our neighborhood is having its bi-annual community garage sale next weekend and I'm hoping to find a dresser that I can paint and spiff up with some fabric decoupage and maybe a nice rocking chair. Other than that I need to paint her name letters, make her crib mobile, and hang some stuff on the walls. I better get cracking.

Receiving blankets:





Squishy soft minkee and thermal cupcake blankie:





And the first of many fleece soakers - I have plans for more to match some shirts she has, complete with embroidery on the bums.

I just have to brag on Sawyer real quick.

After a long, long, loooooooong road of resistance and messes and tears and triumphs, he is FULLY POTTY TRAINED.

I can hardly believe it myself - this has definitely been the biggest parenting challenge to date. He was not an easy kid to train. All of you who just slap some underwear on your 18-month-old and have them mastering the toilet in a weekend can kiss my pregnant white butt. Because I'm here to tell ya, it's not always like that. Oh man, is it not.

We started the process back when he was two and a half, so about a year ago. Yes, a YEAR. We went through lots of resistance in which case we would stop for a few weeks and then start again. He'd go back and forth between no accidents and pooping on his floor and painting the walls with it when he was supposed to be sleeping. NOT. FUN.

Finally, one day something clicked and he stopped having accidents and being obsessed with his own droppings. He's been mostly accident-free at home for a few months now. Which left us to work on outings and bedtime. He was highly resistant to using any toilet but the one in our house so out in public was a challenge. But a few days ago, he did a 180 and started agreeing to go pee while we were out and about. He's successfully gone on four or five outings now with no accidents so I'm calling that mastered!

As for nights - he has always been a heavy night-wetter. Would wake up soaked most of the time. We've been cutting back his liquids in the evening though and he was waking up dryer. Couple that with him thinking he was being slick by taking a crap in his diaper as soon as we put him to bed just so he could come back downstairs, and I was DONE with diapers. Last night was the final straw and I put him in some underwear and told him no more diapers, ever. I expected to be woken in the middle of the night to clean soaked sheets, but surprisingly, he went the whole night dry!! I was so proud.

So tonight is his second night in underwear. I made him some special fleece ones so in case he does wet the bed, it'll be contained a little better. He's already come down twice to potty though and peed both times, so I'm thinking he's probably good for the night.

If you're thinking of asking me for tips - don't! I don't know any. As if that isn't obvious by the year it took to train my kid, haha. But seriously, I feel like I'm still clueless, and we get to start this whole process again with Beckett soon. But hey - at least now I won't have three in diapers!

I threw this together on the fly for lunch today, which is rare for me because I almost always use a recipe. Now, I'm no Pioneer Woman, but this was pretty tasty so I thought I'd do my first photo recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 3/4 cups ricotta cheese
3/4 cup grated parmesan
1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce
2 tubes refrigerated crescent rolls
1 can mushrooms (or fresh if you choose)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 cloves fresh garlic
2 eggs
1-2 fresh zucchini
Approx. 10-15 stalks fresh asparagus



1. Brown the ground beef in a skillet on medium-high heat.



2. Add the Italian seasoning, mushrooms, spaghetti sauce and garlic. Mix together and allow to simmer.




3. In a separate bowl, mix together the ricotta, eggs, and parmesan cheese.



It should look like this:



4. Stir in the meat mixture and mix well. You'll have something like this.



5. Add in the mozzarella and mix it in as well.



6. For this part, I use a round baking stone from Pampered Chef. A round pizza pan would also work. Unroll the crescent rolls and arrange them on the stone in a ring like this.



7. Drop spoonfuls of the meat and cheese mixture onto the crescents, until the ring is full. Side note: you will have lots of filling leftover. Save it to make another ring or spoon it onto a bun for an Italian sloppy joe!



8. Fold the ends of the crescents over and tuck them in so the filling is enclosed. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.



When it comes out, it will look like this. Yum!



9. To make the veggies, dice everything up into bite size pieces.



10. Toss in a skillet with 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat.



11. Sprinkle in some Italian seasoning and garlic to taste. Saute until the veggies are crisp and cooked through.



12. Remove from heat and stir in some shredded mozzarella and sprinkle grated parmesan on top.



And enjoy!

Also known as Works In Progress. I have several I need to finish and I'm trying (keyword there is trying!) to finish them all before I start anything new. Which is very difficult because there are so many tempting NEW projects I could start. I hate having half-finished pieces cluttering up my piles though.

I finished the easiest project first - a quilted pillow. Now I have three quilts I need to tackle that all need sewn together before I can do anything else.



The little weenie dogs are actually cut from one of Beckett's old stained onesies.




I also received my promo material for Avie Adorned. How cool is this stuff? Business cards and "packaging" for my bows! I punch a hole in the cards and then clip the bows on for shipping.



Speaking of bows, I added several new ones to the shop last night. Check it out!

I had the honor of making these little gift sets for twin boys born on the 17th. My awesome friend Cara was a surrogate and carried the boys for a couple from Iceland. They were a little early at 33 weeks but they're doing great and are just the cutest tiny things ever. I got to meet the proud mama and daddy and even got to visit the twins in the NICU yesterday. The hats fit them perfectly!

Sawyer giving Avie a poke. Yes, my belly is lopsided - all three of my kids favored the right side and have stretched it out!

Happy Easter from Sawyer and Beckett from Alicia Melban on Vimeo.

What do you get when you wait until 11pm on Easter Eve to go shopping for goodies? Sand buckets as Easter baskets. Hey, they're cheaper and more durable anyway. I'm glad I bought the peeps a couple weeks ago because the shelves were barren on Saturday. All that was left were loads of that edible grass - apparently not the best invention ever.