Mi Vida Loca!

Or should that be Mi Vida Loco? I think Loca is right, since I'm a girl and the "a" is feminine. Anyway, life has been crazy.. as per usual! Going back to school (FINALLY)  was exciting and good, but hectic! I went back to school right after Thanksgiving Break. I glowed for entirely TOO long! Even once I went back home I sitll wasn't able to hold my kids for more than 15 minutes at a time for a couple days. I didn't sleep with them for another few days. It was rough, but even as I write this, just a month later, it seems a distant memory. A lot of this whole cancer ordeal is fading actually. I am glad to report that I have healed well. My scar is gradually healing and I often forget about it... until I look in the mirror!

Thankfully I am a teacher and we get two weeks off for our Winter Break. Brooke had her tonsils and adenoids out as well as had her sinuses flushed the Thursday before break. Needless to say, she has been recovering the past couple of weeks. She did really well, but it was a big surgery. She's almost back to normal! Benjamin got very sick the day of Brooke's surgery. He had to be picked up eary b/c of a fever. Corey took him to the doctor the next day and he has RSV, a bad sinus infection, and a nose infection! They sent him for chest x-rays, but luckily they didn't show pneumonia. He received a breathing treatment in office and then was sent home with a nebulizer and a prescription for treatments every 3-4 hours! He also had to take an oral steroid, had a prescription nose cream, and a high dose of antibiotics. Poor thing, but it all helped him tremendously! He is just getting over another high fever (and one night of throwing up?!). What is with this year and all of the illness in this family?!?! I am SO ready for a new year, and a new beginning! 2011 has to be better! :)

Brooke before surgery.

This is just after we were able to see her in recovery. She loved this popsicle!

Brooke did GREAT! With her age being under three, they said that there was a 50/50 chance she would have to stay overnight, depending on her oxygen levels and how she tolerated fluids. We left our house at 10am and were home by 3:30pm! She got to ride a wagon out to the parking garage! So fun!

Here is Baby Benjamin during one of his treatments.

This Santa is the dad of one of our friends. This is the ONLY Santa that Brooke didn't completely freak out around! I'm so glad we got a picture of both of them with Santa!

This was the BIG gift from Santa for both kids. Brooke asked her Elf on the Shelf, "Marker", for a play kitchen every day! Needless to say, this is a HUGE hit! It better be... it took us nearly FOUR hours to assemble! The look on Brooke's face when she found it was SO worth it though!

Santa was GOOOOD to us this year! Santa NEVER pays full retail price for anything, though! ;) The play kitchen was hidden behind gifts in the back right corner!

Ahh!! SO cute!!

My gorgeous blondie!

My precious boy!

Such a silly girl!

You know it was a good day when it ends like this!

Oh Christmas Tree!

I get these crazy ideas that I can make just whip something up quickly on the sewing machine! I saw a shirt made with ribbon and cut to look like a Christmas Tree! In typical Tracy fashion, I said, "I can DO that!!". So, I set out to do just that! I picked up a few of these shirts last year on super clearance. I think I spent less than $1 on this shirt from Target at the end of the season. Well, also in typical Tracy fashion, I thought I'd make the "tree" better than the example shirt I had seen. So... I used many more ribbons and different trims. Looks cute all laid out there, doesn't it?

Yes, it does. Then I remembered I 'd have to sew those suckers down. But, first, I had to cut them in the tree shape. My first order of business was sewing the white ruffle to the green polka dot ribbon though.

Then I moved all of my ribbons to my cutting mat and used my acrylic ruler to cut them into the tree shape.

Ooooh, la la!

Then I had to teeeediously cut teensy strips of iron-on fusible interfacing, and iron it on. Not bad until the ribbons got skinnier (or curvy) and smaller in width!

There's all of the pieces with the interfacing ironed on to one side. The next step is to peel off the other side of the interfacing then lay it out on the shirt and iron it down, being sure to keep your lines straight!

Oh and don't forget to heat seal the edges of your ribbons before ironing them down! *If I was at home I would use my wood burning tool instead of a lighter. Mostly because it is fun. OH, and using a lighter this many times makes your thumb sore from flicking the Bic so many times. That sounds weird.

There it is all ironed down! Pretty!

I sewed down every ribbon. Yes. I sewed two lines on each ribbon, one at the top and one at the bottom.

That left lots of threads to snip on the front...

and on the inside!

But, all of the tedious work paid off. It is super cute! :)