Burrito Babies

This may be my most favorite picture yet of the babies.

I could just squish them:)

There is something about watching twins sleep. For one, it doesn't happen often. (He-He)

Something about seeing two little ones snuggled up together....and how they scoot and squirm closer to each other even as they sleep.

What a gift the Lord has given these little ones in each other.

What a gift He has entrusted to us!

The Out Takes:)

This week....I attempted to take A picture of all 5 kids. Having a handful of littles is teaching me many wonderful, sanctifying lessons. One such lesson is this:

Lower your standard of perfection in the areas of life that do not matter, and take captive every moment you have with your children to instruct and nurture them in the arenas of life that do matter.

In a nutshell....a perfect cute picture of all 5 kids....with all 5 kids dressed beautifully, and all smiling at looking at the camera.....has no eternal value. ummm.....I tried like a nut to get that perfect picture this week....all good advice and sage lessons aside:) The first few shots...they were pretty happy.

By about shot 15......Jordan was becoming concerned that this is what the rest of his life would look like. A constant attempt for all of them to "look" and "smile"on cue.

Oh....and it was vitally important that all 5 kids clothing be showing.

Because since I am on this, "Don't worry about the things that are trivial in life" kick......

.....I am trying to win a $100 Kelly's Kids gift card. I may need to be reminded of that life lesson again:)

At about this point...I began to promise a piece of gum to anyone who would smile.

.....then I upped it to a piece of gum and a piece of candy....

Nearing shot 50.....

...Samuel was done.

Bribery no longer had any effect on him:)

Four out of 5 kids looking at the camera.....the cute Kelly's Kids outfits my sweet mother in law and sister in law gave the kiddos sort of showing........

This will just have to be it. I'm thinking my new definition of a good picture involved one where no child is crying or picking their nose. How do you with 13 kids do this?!?! :)

I love my little people.....and know that one day I will tear up just looking at these pictures and remembering when life was so wonderfully full. Great is the Lord!

And if you want to help us win that worldly $100.......pop on over to Kelly's Kids and "like" them. Then scroll down to our picture and "like" it. Consider it a little shout out for the peanuts:)

Ready to Take Your Orders!

You may notice a few changes......

I am not offering near as many styles this summer....trying to simplify and streamline every possible aspect of life right now:)

So, I'll be sewing the 3 most requested dresses.....and the new, super-cute Sun Suit!

You may notice a small change in price. In the past I have spent lots of time searching for high quality fabric which is on sale. I love a good deal! However, after paying attention to the amount of time I was spending searching for that fabric....it was not worth it! The new price reflects buying nice, in season fabric at regular price.

I also have tweaked the method of purchase...which should make it easier on you!

Fabrics.....are now listed with their coordinates. No more trying to decide from an online picture if the fabrics you have chosen match up!

I am also going to start posting ready to ship sale dresses on the Flitterbugs Facebook page.

Also....I am now offering gift certificates! Send a little love to your granddaughter or other special girlie.........and they can choose their Flitterbug.

I plan on taking orders from today through the September. Sometime in July I will have a Christmas in July Sale!

Since I am homeschooling the children, I do not plan on sewing in the fall and winter. If it is still cold in your neck of the woods and you need warmer clothes hop on over to my friend Sallee's site.......I believe she will be sewing year round!

I'm looking forward to sewing for you little Flitterbugs again!

Tomorrow.......

I will start taking orders again in the morning!

I'm looking forward to sewing again.....and we just got word yesterday that the twins finalization may be sooner than we had thought. WHooo-Hooooo!!!

I'm still working on a few changes and updates to the site. If you have a picture of your Flitterbug that you would like me to add to this montage........email it to me! Gotta run.....typing while holding a peanut:)

Spring SALE!!!!!

I made up a stash of "Katie" Dresses for a little spring sale......and to see if it is even possible to sew with the peanuts:)

I think they like the hum of the machines....I will start taking custom orders again on Friday, April 1st!

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The Katie dress is Evangeline's favortie. Light and cool for hot summer days.

The dresses pictured below are ready to ship. I will mail them out first thing in the morning.

***They are $25 each, plus $2 each shipping.

First come, first serve.

***Please email me (jubug231@aol.com) or leave a FB comment HERE

and include the size and description of the dress you want!

***After you email me....and I confirm your order.....use the "BUY NOW" button at the bottom of this post to complete yoru purchase!

Size 6-12 months: Snails-SOLD!

Size 18 months: Dragonflies-SOLD!

Size 2: Groove Celebration

Size 3: Breeze Blooms-SOLD!

Size 4: Charisma-SOLD!

Size 4: Pink and Orange-SOLD!

Size 5: Passion-SOLD!

Size 5: Breeze Blooms-SOLD!

Size 6: Wildflowers

Size 7-8: Primrose

The "Birthmother Turtle"

You may have noticed in several pictures of the peanuts......there is a turtle. Sooo....what's up with that?

(3 months old)

When we first began the adoption journey.......about the time we had started the process from Ethiopia, I came across the blog of a birthmother named Stefanie. She had placed her precious little girl just the day before, and I immediatly developed a deep respect for this young lady. I have since learned so much from her. She chose a wonderful adoptive family, and they have done many creative things to keep her up to date and in Olivia's life. One such thing was the teddy bear. They have 2 identical teddy bears, one for Stefanie and one for Olivia. They regularly take pictures of Olivia with the teddy bear. Stefanie can then look at her teddy bear and have a way to compare and visualize how much Olivia has grown. How neat is that!

(4 months old)

The day we got the call, was just a normal day. We had no idea our profile had been show, no idea a birmother had chosen us, and definatly no idea there had been twins in foster care for 11 weeks waiting to come home to us! I ran into Kohls that Monday morning to return some things, and noticed they had stuffed turtles for sale. "That's it!"I thought. "Great for a girl or a boy.....it will be our birthmother turtle!"

I also found a sweater on the sale rack that I thought would be good to wear to placement....which I had no idea would be less than 48 hours later! Good thing I got those items then, because jsut 2 hours later the call of our lives came and there would have been no time time for anything leisure after that:). We ended up with 4 turtles.....one for Jordan, one for Eliana, one for our foster family and one for our birthmother. We have not had the opportunity to meet our birthmother....we pray and hope and long that that opportunity will present itself in the future! For now, I am hanging onto her turtle and taking pictures so she can look back and "see" how little the babies were one day.

We gave a turtle to our sweet foster family, and it is fun to send them pictres of the babies with the turtle. Their 3 girls can then get their turtle and envision the babies and how much they have grown. They were in the 4 pound range at birth, and I wish we had pictures of them with the turtle then. They would have been tiny compared to it.

I would image these little turtles that hold so much meaning and love will be very special to the peanuts as they grow up!

So, now when you see the turtle, you know it has special meaning:)

World's Greatest Daddy

He's covered in kids and loves it!

I love my hubs!

"Are They Identical?"

Having a hand full of kiddos, including the twinnies, is teaching me a lot.

One such lesson is this; Don't ever plan on blogging.....or doing anything for that matter....on a certain day or time:) I really had planned on coming back and answering my last post, but before I knew it 10 days had passed and I had not so much a peeked at my blog. Life has been wonderful, full this past week...and time if flying by! (The fullness of life has also included van troubles, a dead washing machine, immunizations for the peanuts which involved 2 days of fever and crying, and a sweet 6 year old who vacuumed the house with a black crayon stuck to the bottom of the vacuum. You don't even want to know what that will do to beige carpet!:)

So, what is the question we get ALL the time, EVERYWHERE we go?
"Are they identical?"

The first time someone asked me this, I thought they were kidding. We soon realized...nope....they were serious! Just in case you are wondering...it is IMPOSSIBLE for boy/girl twins to be identical. I'm told by boy/girl twins that Jordan and Eliana will be asked this their entire lives. The responses people come up with are great:) Oftentimes, "Are they identical?" is followed up with, "So are they brother and sister?" or "Do they have the same birthmother?"

Really?!?

Almost without exception, we have been met with love and excitement each time we venture out. We do get the typical, "Are they yours/Are you a daycare" responses. We also regularly have women burst into tears when they see the babies and want to just look at them and rub their little heads. I haven't quite figured what triggers that response, but it happened 4 times in Kroger alone last week!

My favorite question thus far: "So, what color is your boyfriend?"

My response: "I don't have a boyfriend." ....and I just leave it at that.(We know that there will times throughout the peanuts' lives that they will feel different or uncomfortable with the questions that total strangers ask, and to the best of our ability, we are trying to take the focus off of them and rather make ourselves the "different" or "uncomfortable" ones....if that makes sense!)
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On to some Flitterbugs sewing!

I am going to start sewing again in the next couple of weeks.....with a few changes:

*I will only be taking Flitterbugs orders in the spring and summer months. (End of March through September). I just can't do a good job of homeschooling and sewing.....so I need to cut back on the sewing.

*In the past, though I have not advertised it, I have taken in quite a bit of sewing crib bedding/boys outfits/random stuff. From now on, I need to stick to sewing only patterns and styles I have listed on my home page.

*In order to get your order to you as quickly as possible, and to keep things running smoothly at home, I will be taking in 10 orders at a time. Once I finish up those 10 orders, I'll take in 10 more. I know this is not the savvy way to run business, and I realize I will loose customers this way.........but I need to work the sewing around my hubby and kids, rather than the hubby and kids take a back seat to the sewing! If you are wondering....all profits will go to our adoption finalization costs...and then in a saving account for a future adoption. (No, nothing in the works.....it will take a few years of sewing to be ready, so might as well start saving!:)

Hopefully, that all makes sense and I do look forward to sewing again!
If you do need a winter dress or don't like the way I am working things.....than hop on over to my friends Sallee's site and order a Poppy Dip! She does beautiful work, and from what I hear she is FAST! (Hum....maybe my little Flitterbugs will wear a Poppy Dip for Christmas this year:)

Since I will be sewing during the summer months, and since we have this precious baby model.....I thought it would be fun to add a few summer baby patterns to the mix!

Here is a sneak peak at the Ruffled Sunsuit:

Can there be too many ruffles on a baby's bum.......I think not:)
This fun little sunsuit will run from size 3 month to size 4, and can be used as a bathing suit. So cute!

I have one more pattern......cute for your baby girl/toddler in the summer.....I just need to get it made up and take pictures. (And this time I will not promise as to when that will be:)
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The peanuts are done with me blogging.....better run.
Happy Friday to you all!

Can You Guess?

What is the one question we are asked over, and over and over about the twins?
At church , the grocery store......everywhere we go, people want to know.......
Can you guess??
Come back tomorrow to find out....and to see:
The NEW Flitterbug Design for the summer!
(Yes....I'll be back to sewing......time to work on our adoption finaliazation costs. There will be a few changes to better fit homeschooling and life with 5 littles. Come back tomorrow for more!)