A Cookie Cutter Diva's Life

The best way to start the day off is with smiley face pancakes from Ihop! I still like to get those smiley face pancakes though I didn't get one today but I should have! They are so yummy! Who says I can't still be a kid?





This morning our playgroup met at Ihop to have breakfast for something different. It was a lot of fun but probably more fun for us parents!
We took the kids over to the pool to play after they were so good at breakfast this morning and it was nice and cool since it was still so early!




I got out my new sewing machine today and put it together and worked on it for the first time. I had a little problems threading the bobbin at first because I had never seen one go there before but I finally got it after a few tries and now I'm good to go! I love my new sewing machine! It's so cute and trendy!
I made a little pillow case dress with bee's on it to practice using it for the first time. I have a few orders to work on this next week when my fabric order comes in for some Independance Day Dresses and one with pink skulls! So I wanted to get some practice in first before doing those on a new machine. Going to be a busy week!

I made Peyton a cute little 4th of July Tutu Set yesterday for fun! She loved that and looked so cute!




I also got my hair cut off yesterday! I decided it was just to hot and I couldn't take it anymore and needed a "pick me up" and some new life to it! So I cut it all off! It's short and stacked in the back and longer in the front! I love it! I've had this hair cut before and loved it so I knew it wouldn't be something I'd regret but I can't believe I did it after growing it out for so long! Just easier to manage with 4 kids right now too!



We had a yummy casserole for dinner tonight that I hadn't made before and was a big hit. I changed a few things to it. I'm going to post it how I did it because it turned out awesome.


Beef and Bean Casserole

1lb ground beef
2 cups crushed tortilla chips
refried beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can diced olives
2 cups lettuce
Motzorella cheese

Brown beef in skillet and drain. Add refried beans to beef and heat.

Crush 2 cups of tortilla chips and add to an ungreased casserole pan.

Add beef mixture. Top with diced tomatoes, olives, lettuce and sprinkle with motzerella cheese.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Wow it's been to long since I've last blogged! I've had a lot going on. First we had some problems with the dr back in Oklahoma who pulled me off of my heart medication as he felt that it was best and that I didn't need it. I didn't feel comfortable with this at all and sure enough after two missed doses I was in the hospital and the dr in the ER was very upset I was pulled off it and told me to follow up with my dr and show him the report and that I should remain on it.
I found out I should be on the EFMP program (exceptional family member) through the military and went back to get the paper work filled out and show my dr the reports and the dr said he wouldn't refill my heart medication as he didn't feel I needed to be on it and wouldn't put anything on my EFMP paper work for it because he felt it was "all in my head" real nice dr! So I filed a complaint!
Then we found out there's a chance my husband might be placed on Rear D so that he won't deploy until things are stabalized with me. So between finding out that, the stuff going on with the dr and finding out there wasn't a surgeon back home till at least fall since the fill in surgeon didn't get her orders approved then we decide dit was best for me to come back home when he came home from training and switch to tricare standard where we pay a small co pay but don't have to wait on approvals or referals which was the big hold up the last two years in Texas. So we did just that and I came back to Texas June 4th and switched my to tricare standard. By the time they recieved the paper work and everything it went into effect last Thursday and a few days later I had my appointment booked with the surgeon! Wow if only we had known it was going to be that easy we would've just done that two years ago! What a mess!
So I will have my consult with the surgeon on the 25th and hopefully surgery not to long after and hopefully we hear for soon on my husband.
The good thing is I've been feeling a lot better the last few weeks and actually gotten out every day since being back and been able to manage my attacks a little better.

We've been spending a lot of time at the pool and going almost every day there too. Yesterday we had a playdate at one on post that I've never gotten around to checking out.. kinda sad after living here 3yrs but we always frequent the same two pools. One being in our village. But this one is really neat and has a cute frog slide! The kids really enjoyed it!

Awhile back I started to learn how to sew but I had some problems arise with the machine and learning the things I wanted. A good friend of mine Kelly had sat down with me to show me how to do a basic stitch but the biggest problem was Brooklyn was only a few months old and a very very needy baby which was not a good combination!
I had to give up a few things such as making hair bows again. I had taken that back on hoping to make bows for her but as anyone knows, it's hard to do something with a very needy baby.



I've had the itch lately and really really wanted to learn how to do some things for the girls again. A few friends had mentioned interest in pillow case dresses as well.





I've been nagging my mom for some time to show me how to make them and let me get on her sewing machine and finally she did! You know the mother daughter bonding moment you all wait for .. but of course my mom didn't see it that way. She thought it'd be a mess trying to teach me and I'd be to stubborn or she wouldn't be a good teacher lol



Finally she made some templates for me and sat down and showed me how to make one! It was really simple and after seeing just how simple it was I'm mad at myself for not learning sooner!




So I made my youngest daughter Peyton a pink John Deer Pillow Case dress today with a matching hair clippy! I can't wait to play around more and make my oldest daughter something!

Summer time has officially come to our house and school is out for summer!! Today was the last day for the public school kids here so it was our last day as well!

Of course I like to have the kids still do some learning through the summer to keep their minds fresh and it's good for when they get bored to entertain them. Nothing good can come from any kid having that much free time in one day haha

We made some graduation hats today in honor of our last day!

We cut a strip out of black construction paper and fit it to each of the childs head and then glued it together.

We folded the top of the strip back and glued it to a flat piece of black construction paper to make the top part of the hat.

Then we took a few pieces of white yarn and glued it to the center of the hat to make tassles.

The kids really loved it!

I can honestly say that my kids have pretty much tried about every sport there is out there almost!

I like to have them test out the waters in every little thing possible to see what best fits their interest or what they do best at!

my boys have done some open gym before but my daughter hasn't had a chance to try out gymnastics just yet. With summer rolling around we definatly need to find a few things to keep everyone busy and active! Keep their little minds going!



We saddly missed the Tball cut offs here. Wrestling doesn't start till fall and I've been wanting to try my daughter out with gymnastics so we jumped on a great deal for the summer at one of the local businesses and all 3 of my kids started their first class for summer tonight!

I got a super cute little outfit for my daughter! I can't wait to watch her learn more! She seems to be in her own little world sometimes so hopefully this will teach her some grace and focus.

The boys seemed to pick right up on it!

After days of observing the egg a little at a time and adding more viniger to it and watching the egg shell slowly become see through.. today we took it out and examined how it looked and how you could see through it at the table and by holding it up in front of the window and letting the sun shine through it!



We discussed what happened and then we felt of it and how soft the shell had become.

And then we did the best part of the entire project! We squeezed the egg and SPLAT!!! Observed everything that was inside of the egg!!




The boys especially loved that part the most haha

I can't believe that it's that time already!! Our little Peyton is officially on the go at 5 months and 2 weeks!

She's been getting around by scooting around backwards on her belly since about 3 months on. She would just inch and inch back. She would scoot on her back when throwing a fit by kicking her legs so hard she was so mad and we thought that was crazy enough! The pediatrician thought we were crazy when we told him till he made her mad by messing with her at her 2 month check up and saw her try to do it on the table and was like wow she is one strong baby and especially for being so tiny!!

Then at her 4 month check up she showed him how she was scooting around backwards on her belly!

So she's been getting up on all four's for about 2 weeks now. Every since my husband left to NTC for training. I just knew she was going to sadly wind up crawling before he got back.. but that's how this wonderful military life goes sometimes..

And yesterday she's up on all fours and she takes one plunge forward with one knee and BOOM right on her face! Poor little girl! But that didn't keep her from going at all! She got up and went again! And again!!!

So we officially have a crawler! She will be off in no time around everywhere when she gets her hand coordination down a bit more!

So as exciting of a day as it was yesterday with that it was also a very bad day. I wound up going to the emergency room from having tingling down my left arm from my fingers through my shoulder. I had an SVT attack on Saturday night and was able to get it under control but had tingling off and on Sunday.

From the moment I woke up yesterday it was non stop. Then turned into a pain from my elbow up through my left side of my neck. Chest pain, shortness of breath, about to pass out. So I went in and everything checked out fine on the xray, EKG and blood work that I wasn't having a heart attack and he said the steps I'm doing at home during my SVT attacks are the right ones and just come in if they last longer then 30 minutes or get worse.

They said they think I may have something called sheehans that is developed from loosing to much blood and they think I developed it possibly after I gave birth to my 3rd child and lost so much blood with her and almost had a blood transfusion and that would be what was the onset for all of these problems.

He said I may possibly need to switch heard meds since I was still borderline for high blood pressure and my heart rate was still high but not alarmingly high. But he's leaving that up to my Dr at my appointment on Thursday. If I do have to switch I will no longer be able to breastfeed sadly. Which everyone knows how much that means to me and what a big thing it is so I'm sad thinking about it.

So I got discharged and started feeling better and we made it out for an ice cream play date at chick fil a last night. It was nice to get out and get some adult communication even if I was a little out of it!