The Thornock Family

Household Math

2012-02-01T09:57:00.002-07:00

1 sick boy + 1 bed x 12 hours = 3 unexpected loads of laundry

1 sick boy + 1 hungry baby = 1 tired mommy

1 little family - spreading illness = 0 errands ran

0 errands ran = 5 oft avoided chores accomplished.

At least some good came from Carter's puke-fest last night...

Digital Thank You Note

2012-01-28T07:26:00.003-07:00

Dear Grandma Becky...

Thanks so much for the adorable pettiskirt. I love it

THIS MUCH!

Love, Allison

The Best Way to Nap

2012-01-13T17:51:00.003-07:00

Sunday afternoon naps are back at our house... and this is, by far, the best way to enjoy them.

Christmas Recap

2012-01-13T17:09:00.005-07:00

We had a happy Christmas at our house. This year was fun because not only did Allison undersyand, but she was EXCITED... as in nearly pushing Brian down the stairs trying to get past him to see if Santa came. I don't have lots of photos (Brian was helping kids while I was mostly nursing Lindsey), but here are a few we did get.

Santa brought Allison a real camera all her own...

Carter was so excited about the firetruck from Grandma and Grandpa

Mommy made Allison 3 new princess dress-ups to go with the Barbies Santa brought

Carter + football = little boy heaven!

The kids big gifts were guitars built by Brian. They love them. Cute little story: We only wrapped the guitar bodies, so the necks were showing. After opening stockings Allison saw the necks and said to Brian: "Oh, Daddy! You're very lucky; Santa brought you TWO guitars!" She was even more excited after we checked the tags and found out that they were not for Daddy. Here's a quick little video of the kids playing with them before moving on.

Conversation of the day

2012-01-10T14:36:00.004-07:00

Me: Um... Carter, why are you wearing a skirt?

Carter: Because Allison just gave it to me and I put it on.

Me: You know that boys don't really wear skirts, right?

Carter: Well, I don't want to talk about that right now.

Cute, funny kid.

Wanna Do's

2012-01-06T19:44:00.003-07:00

New Year's Resolution time, right? I'm not very good at resolutions, but I have been thinking about things that I would like to do this year. More like habits I would like to establish. Here are just a few thoughts about things I wanna do this year...

Read more
A few books on my list are:
*Book of Mormon at least once
*10 Habits of Happy Mothers
*Love & Logic Magic
*Parenting with Love & Logic

Anyone have good fiction recommendations for me?

Sew & create more
I have a HUGE list of projects that I want to do... the things below are just the projects that I know I have supplies for off the top of my head. Its kind of scary long if you ask me... I would really love to try and tackle one project per week. Thats seems realistic enough without being overwhelming.

*Beanbag chair (Carter)
*"PLAY" canvases (playroom)
*Book slings (girls room)
*Drapes (master bedroom)
*White Button-up (Allison)
*Red Wool Dress Coat (Allison)
*Angelina PJs (Allison or Lindsey)
*Rapunzel PJs (Allison or Lindsey)
*Covered Art Supply boxes (Carter and Allison)
*Rapunzel dress-up (Allison)
*Sleeping Beauty dress-up (Allison)
*Winter yarn wreath
*Herringbone pencil skirt (me!)
*Yellow summer dress (me!)

And the sewing projects listed here probably don't even encompass a third of the fabric I have stashed away. Oh... and the girls are absolutely going to need some matching summer wardrobe something. :)

House projects
We've lived here nearly 2 years and are still in the process of making it "ours." Just a few things I'd like to see done by the end of the year...
*Paint away the pink!
*Hallway photo gallery
*Dining & living room drapes
*Recover dining chairs
*Finish a craft room in the basement (okay... this is a honey-do really)
*Paint master bedroom

And, of course, I have the ever ubiquitous goal of eat healthy/exercise more/lose weight/get in shape. I'd love to see my pre-Carter body again by summer. We'll see if I can find the energy or will power to make it happen. :)

What about you... what do you want to do this year?

Adorable Ridiculousness

2011-12-25T12:30:00.001-07:00

Baby girls are just too fun to dress up. :)

Things you forget between babies

2011-12-21T07:50:00.004-07:00

1) Nursing makes you ravenous all the time. If its slower than me, I'll eat it. Good thing my big kids are fast movers. :)

2) The "baby" you left at home will be HUGE when you get back home with the new baby. I swear Carter grew 4 inches and gained 20 pounds while I was in the hospital. He's so big now!

3) Hormones and your big kids will make you cry for no good reason. Carter had a major melt-down on Monday (he was frustrated with a computer game, and over-tired and probably not knowing how to cope with being a little mad at me for being gone for 3 days and confused by his new role of big brother and "not the baby anymore") that had both me and him reduced to a puddle of tears. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying not to cry while I read books like "The Little Dump Truck" and "Monster Trucks"... books that would not make a sane person cry. Ever.

4) Dozing with a newborn snuggled onto you chest falls pretty darned high on the "best thing ever" list.

5) Having a baby makes everything take longer than it should. And you have less time to manage it all because, inevitably, the second your 2/3rds through your errands, its time to eat.

Oh... and the one I forgot earlier...

6) the Boppy really is the best baby product ever. Makes for easier nursing, easier sibling baby-holding, easy place to safely put baby for a snooze... I forgot how much I love my Boppy and how much MORE useful I found it with a 2nd (and how 3rd!) baby.

Finally...

2011-12-19T16:37:00.003-07:00

The long awaited baby:

Lindsey Elaine, born December 16th at 8:02 a.m. 8 pounds, 7 ounces 20 inches long and not happy about being out in the cold. And yes, she has a set of lungs to support that yell...

She's beautiful. And we love her, even if she was late.

Look who's learning...

2011-11-10T19:05:00.004-07:00

to read!

Now, she's not reading every word... she's using lots of sight words she's learned and lots of context clues, and maybe a little bit of memory too. But only a little, becuase Brian and I both this Go, Dog! Go! is kind of a strage book and we're probably read it less than 5 times. Ever.

I don't know how this girl got so smart...

More Goals...

2011-11-10T18:52:00.003-07:00

So... what did you accomplish in October? Me? I started losing energy fast... but I did get the girls' room painted. Plus Allison moved into it, the crib set up and baby clothes in the new baby's dresser. I made a beanbag chair for Allison's room, and contemplated one for Carter's. I bought canvases to DIY some of these (a football, basketball, baseball and soccer ball) for Carter's room, but have been too scared to try so far. I made roman shades for the girl's room, only to get them installed and realize that the clearance curtains I used to make them were not the same opacity or the same color... so I'll be remaking them when I find the right fabric. Which, now that I think of it, could already be in my fabric stash...

We did not get the living room/entry way/stairwell/halls painted, but I picked a color, which is a start. Its just such a big, daunting job...

For November... finish all my Christmas projects and shopping (I don't have a ton left to do... Princess dress wardrobe for Allison is the big one) and stock the freezer with some meals. Anyone have some great freezer meal plans? I'm thinking some easy crock-pot-in-a-bag "mixes", burger patties, and making double of a few meals this month. Oh... and go into labor.

Little Helpers

2011-11-03T12:23:00.000-06:00

I know two kids who are getting pretty excited for their baby sister to get here. They've been practicing lately...

Hopefully their helping will be a little more helpful than me and Ben's attempt at helping when Emily was born... that MIGHT have ended with a dropped baby...

Halloween and such...

2011-11-02T16:03:00.004-06:00

Hope you all had a happy and safe Halloween. We sure had fun at our house!

I was let off the costume hook by my kiddos, which is great becuase I'm not sure I would have been up to making costumes for them. Allison decided months ago that she wanted to be a witch and wanted to wear the costume I got for the dress-up box during last year's after-halloween clearance. And Carter was going to be a wizard, but then decided to be a pirate instead. I found his little costume online for 99 cents... I bought 2 to make the shipping worth while and now my kids don't have to fight of the pirate costume during dress-up... yahoo!

At the ward's trunk-or-treat

trick-or-treating our neighborhood with daddy

Beginning the sugar high...

We had some other fall fun at our house too. A few weeks before halloween we went to a little pumpkin patch near our house. Nothing big, but the kids had fun.

they love silly photo ops...

And were all about the mini pumpkins and gourds.

Unfortunately we went about a week too early. They INSISTED on carving the pumpkins for FHE a week later, which meant that by the time halloween rolled around those poor jack-o-lanterns were BLACK with mold. Ew... Needless to say they got tossed yesterday.

Carter's Post-bath conversation with Dad

2011-10-15T16:40:00.003-06:00

Dad: Whoever can be a good listener will get to have story and songs before bedtime!

Carter: *no response*

Dad: Carter, time to get out of the bath!

Carter: *no response*

Dad: Okay Carter... I guess no story tonight.

Carter: *no response*

Dad: Okay Carter, I guess no songs tonight either.

Carter: *no response*

Dad: Okay Carter, no story, no songs AND daddy puts you to bed!

Carter: *crying* NO!!!!!!

Think the kid's a momma's boy? :)

To Paraphrase Dr Suess

2011-10-12T16:01:00.004-06:00

Mom is sad.

Very, very sad.

She had a bad day.

What a day mom had.

It ended with me texting Brian, then locking myself in the quietest place I could find (my very small closet) and daydreaming of a one-way plane ticket anywhere. And admitting to myself how insanely jealous I am of my husband's life.

I've reconsidered this mommy thing... is it too late to change career paths?

Blackmail

2011-10-08T17:21:00.004-06:00

Beacuse I firmly believe that I'm not fully doing my job as a parent if I'm not collecting plenty of embarassing material to use on my children in 15 or 20 years...

Doesn't Carter make a pretty princess? :)

September

2011-10-04T11:08:00.005-06:00

For starters, what happened to September? Out here in NY September seemed to have a bit of an identity crisis (it thought it was July... 85 in September is just unacceptable!), and then it was just over. We did manage to do a few things around here, however.

First, I got my house mostly deep cleaned. I never did manage to tackle a major mop of the floors, and the master bed and beth got generally neglected. But the rest of the house did get a nice clean. And I managed to get Carter's room painted, with Brian's help. I'll take pictures of both kid's rooms when they are (hopefully) completely done later this month. I didn't get my craft room (aka the girls' new shared room) painted, but the color is picked and I think Brian and I might tackle that one this next weekend or on Coloumbus day (which he has off... silliest holiday ever). So, yay for goals mostly getting done!

I took the kids apple-picking again this year, which they thouroughly enjoyed. I can't believe how big they've gotten in a year.

And I potty-trained Carter this month. Yes... I am that crazy mother who decided to potty-train her 2 and half year old. But he was ready, and he took right to it. He is largely accident-free and will tell me when he needs to go... I'd call that venture a success. And now I have a few months of no diapers!

I finished a few sewing projects for Allison: a jumper using Manhatten fabric (pattern is Simplicity 2574 ) and a fleece jacket (McCalls 6430). The jumper is cute, but too big. The little jacket is about perfect, and fills a gap in her fall/winter wardrobe too!

I got inspired about our living room, and how have a whole vision for a make-over. Its involves a different furniture arrangement, new couches, and a new TV, and a new cabinet to hold our DVDs and components. Apparently I don't get inexpensive inspiration, so for now I'll go with a new paint color, slipcovers and maybe a TV on Black Friday. Do you think Black Friday could put me into labor? Becuase that would be kind of awesome.

I love this pallete for the living room, except without the dark greys, and add in cranberry. My carpet is cranberry, I'm going to go a light grey-beige on the walls, chocolate slipcovers on the couches and light blue and green accents. Still hunting for the perfect fabric for window treatments to pull it all together.

What did you do this September? And what are your plans for October?

My October? Paint the girls' room. Finish projects to finish the kids' rooms (roman shades, theme-y painted canvases and bean bag chairs, off the top of my head... I know there are more!). Paint the living room. And halls and stairwell. And I should probably get started on Christmas sewing and crafting projects... hopefully the nesting instinct kicks in hard. :)

Today

2011-09-09T08:11:00.006-06:00

Wanna know what we're up to this morning?

Potty training. He's ready... I'm not. So far, so good... Wish me luck!

First day of school

2011-09-08T17:19:00.003-06:00

Allison started pre-K yesterday, and she was so excited.

All ready for circle time to start! She might have been one of the first kids to sit down (there was an issue with the school-aged kids using the classroom right before her class and a late bus). That really is a smile of her face, not a grimmace... camera delay...

When did she get so big?

Me? I'm enjoying 2 and a half hours every day of just one kiddo (at least for the next 3 months). And Carter? He wasted no time styling himself out at Target during our first run of preschool-time errands yesterday. What a cute, crazy kid...

Fall Goals

2011-09-01T16:35:00.003-06:00

Many, many, many, many, MANY times, I feel like I spend my days accomplishing nothing of merit. Everything I do just has to be redone... clean laundry gets worn and dirty, clean dishes get used and dirtied, meals get eaten and people are still hungry again 4 hours later, clean playroom get played in and cluttered... you get the picture, right?

So, in hopes that maybe this fall, with Allison going to preschool every day (which will bring more structure and schedule to our life), I can accomplish a few big goals. Not many... just a few. So I don't feel so anti-accomplished all the time.

And a goal not written down is merely a wish, right?

So...

September: Deep clean the house (including hiring out upholstery and carpet cleaning) & paint kid's bedrooms, possibly the living room, halls and stairwell too.

October: Move Allison & baby furniture into her new (shared) room (which also means moving my craft stuff out of it) & finish decorating kid's rooms (I've got a few projects I want to try for each room on my Pinterest boards).

November: Stock the freezer with freezer meals, menu plan through January & finish all Christmas shopping and projects by the end of the month.

December: Um... how about survive? :)

What do you do in the summer time...

2011-08-26T16:51:00.008-06:00

when your parents are insane enough to plan a 2-week cross-country trip with 2 kids under 5?

You sleep in the car.

You sleep on the plane

(and then avoid sleeping on the next plane when you SHOULD be sleeping because going from East to West is hard like that).

You go to the park... lots of parks.

You ride the ferry...

and the big gold pig at Pike Place.

You go for a hike,

And throw rocks in the ocean.

You "help" grandpa rebuild the deck stairs.

And play with the toys rescued from the attic (even though they've already been sold on Ebay).

You go to the Children's Museum (on the day you thought you were flying home because mommy got the dates mixed up).

And when you finally do get around to flying home you spend a solid 21 hours (!!!) travelling in cars and airplanes to make it all the way home. Which makes your parents vow to pretty much never do that again.

It was great to get to see most of both of our families... But next year, we're staying closer to home for vacation.

Birthday girl!

2011-07-25T18:59:00.004-06:00

I can't belive that Allison is 4! Where did all that time go?

How's this for lazy mommy? I just couldn't bring myself to make a cake, so we got one from the grocery store and plopped a Rapunzel figurine on it. I got lucky with a pink and purple accented cake.

She loved all the attention. It was low-key on Sunday, but we'll be hosting a birthday party for 8 little girls on Thursday... wish me luck!

Today I...

2011-07-19T17:18:00.002-06:00

Today I yelled at the top of my lungs.

Today I told my almost 4-year-old that I was cancelling her birthday party.

Today I ignored my 2-year-old when I knew he was awake and finished with his nap.

Today I refused to make dinner. Or put the kids to bed.

Today I wanted to run away.

Today was not a good day on the mommy front.

Maybe tomorrow will be better...

Yesterday

2011-07-16T07:18:00.004-06:00

Yesterday morning, I had an ultrasound and we all got to find out the gender of baby #3. It was a pretty amazing machine, but a REALLY squirmy baby... which is why the picture is a little unclear...

Baby's profile with hand near the face. :)

Yesterday evening I went shopping... cause thats what you do when you find out... buy baby a new outfit, right? Or two or eight...

...

Its another girl for us! :)

By the way, if you love the cuteness that is Gymboree, I asked one of the employees at my store if they had any 0-3 month fall/winter things in back (read: old stuff marked down cheap), and they brought me out a big ol' pile of things to pick through. You just have to ask and they're usually happy to pull stuff for you if they're not too busy. Everything I got was marked under $7 per peice.

Impromptu recital

2011-06-28T17:31:00.004-06:00

Here's how Carter and Allison decided to entertain themselves before dinner tonight.

Cute, huh? I had a splitting headache, but I'd much rather have this kind of noise in the background than them screaming at each other, ya know?

Did you like Allison's bow? Or how Carter throws the spoons ("drum sticks") because he's so excited that its his turn to dance? Pretty darned cute...

Right now...

2011-06-22T13:19:00.004-06:00

Right now my kids best friends are over to play. We are so lucky that another couple in our ward are our child twins... their oldest 2 are each a matter of days younger than Allison and Carter.

Right now Carter and James and Bridget are having fun in the playroom. And here is what Allison is doing...

Pouting. Refusing to go play becuase I told her she should. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face...

On a side note: negotiating the sharing of train engines between two 2-year-olds takes a special kind of diplomacy. :)

Allison's recital

2011-06-18T15:35:00.008-06:00

Allison had her dance recital today and she did so well. She's really enjoyed ballet this year and I'm excited to see how she does next year (in whatever studio we decide to land at).

For your viewing pleasure... really, this one's for you, Grandmas!

Carter behaved like a champ during the (two hour) recital. Here's how he spent a good three quarters of it...

And Allison after her dance. We surprised her with flowers, which she, of course, loved.

Carter as a GPS

2011-06-13T05:55:00.004-06:00

Brian and I about died laughing last night when we had this thought... Carter would be the worst (or most hilarious) GPS ever.

You see, Carter has a man's "built in sense of direction." He is constantly being backseat driver in that car and telling me "Go dat way." Problem comes when I have my own ideas about where we are going.

Carter says turn left, Mommy turns right.

Your GPS might calmly say "Recalculating" if you ignore its directions. Carter screams at the top of his lungs: "NOOOOO!!!!! DAT WAY!!!!!"

And if you continue driving, your GPS will give you a new route that accomodates your disobedience. Carter, however, melts his screams into sobs of "Noooo! I want go dat way!" For the GPS of Carter there is no recalculating.

Just imagine that next time your GPS recalculates. ;0)

Can you picture...

2011-06-10T20:40:00.005-06:00

Can you picture my dining room AS a dining room? Not just the mostly empty, often cluttered dumping ground/playroom annex that its been masquarading as for the last year? But AS an actual dining room?

How about now!

Its a terrible picture, but I just snapped one really quickly before dinner. I found this 7 piece dining set (there are 2 more chairs, and 2 leaves) at a gargae sale this morning. "Luckily" our van wasn't actually ready to be picked up yesterday even like we'd been told, so I was taking Brian to work again this morning and we passed the sale on the way to work. I turned onto the street to look closer on the way home (thinking that maybe I'd find a small dresser for baby) and saw it, disassembled, sitting on the porch with a big price sign... $50!!! Done and Done! The chairs could use a reupholstery (mostly because they're a little dirty and stained, not torn up), but thats easy enough. And the top has some scratches and could use a refinish, but its not in desperate need of it. It really just looks like its been used in a house with kids... some wear and tear, but nothing terrible. So we'll probably just leave it be until our kids are past the stage where they're climbing on the furniture. :o)

The lady selling was even nice enough to offer to deliver (since it was only about 2 miles from home and our van is STILL having its A/C issue worked on by the dealer...) later in the evening if we came cask to help her load.

And now I'm really excited to actually finish the room. I'm thinking roman shades or bamboo blinds and curtains for the windows, a fun fabric to reupholster the chairs, and some art on the big blank wall. Oh, and some non-carpet flooring, eventually. That one may be a few years. :o)

Our Little Graduate

2011-06-04T12:53:00.003-06:00

This week was the last week of Joy School, which meant a graduation ceremony!

I can't believe how big Allison has gotten this year and how much she's grown in so many ways. We don't plan to do Joy School next year, which makes me a little sad... but I'm not sure I could handle it next year with Carter and a new baby.

Oh, and how do you like the dress with yesterday's bright, pre-ruffled fabric? I used this tutorial from Make it and Love it (one of my very favorite sewing/crafting blogs). Turned out cute, I think. Its a little big, but that just means she'll be able to wear it for a good while. There is leftover fabric, so Allison with either get another little borther and skirt from the ruffley fabric, or she'll get a little sister with a matching dress. :)

Manhatten Fabric, part 2

2011-06-03T19:10:00.004-06:00

I realized the other day that I never posted this...

These fabrics came from StyleCrest, and other designer wholesaler that is not open to the public. At first glance through I didn't see a lot that I like. It was crowded and we were looking at hanging sample, not rolls or bolts, so it was hard to see what there was until people started standing in line to order... then it got MUCH easier and I found a bunch of things.

Clockwise from top left:

*Red rayon blend double knit for under $5/yard (3 yards). I'm seeing a dress for me out of this. Something classic, I think. This is super high quality, versitle stuff. I bought it becuase the price was crazy good (you'd probably pay $15/yard for a 100% polyesther version of it at JoAnn's) and I knew it would come in handy for something at some point...

*2 yards (I think) Teal & Pink madras plaid, $4/yard. This is real madras: small squares of fabric stitched together to make one multo-pattern print. So much fun! I plan to copy my favorite bermuda shorts and make them from this. I'm thinking maybe a knit waistband, which would mean I could wear them this summer...

*3 yards (or was it 4?) yellow cotton gauzy seersucker, $4/yard. Its not at bumpy are most seersuckers that I'm used to, but very nice. It spoke to me. I'm going to make this dress with it:

I've had the pattern several years (I'm sure I got it on a $3 Vogue sale) and never used it. This fabric seemed P-E-R-F-E-C-T!

*2 yards silvery-grey floral print silk, $15/yard. I LOVED this fabric, but wasn't going to get it at $30/yard. The owner heard me talking about it while I was ordering and offered me half off since they were down to their last few yards of it. I'm seeing a skirt... or maybe a wrap dress? Something beautiful and flowy...

*1 yard awful, bright pre-ruffled knit something, $4/yard. I bought this for Allison. I didn't have a project in mind, but I knew she'd love it as a skirt or something. Funny thing is I saw this same fabric on the red tag pile at JoAnn's a few weeks after Manhatten. Original price? $15/yard. I'll post pictures soon of what I've already done with it.

*2 yards (maybe 3) pink/teal plaid lightweight shirting, $5/yard. I'm seeing a jumper/dress for Allison and a blouse of some kind for me. It would make a great lightweight summer shirt.

Sadly, all of the fabric for me is on hold, becuase I don't want to make maternity clothes with it. I do hope to use the wool tweed to make myself a nice coat before this winter, but everything else will have to wait. I will, hopefully, be making a new maternity skirt soon. I have fabric and a plan (no pattern! wish me luck)... I just trying to find the nerve!

Things a 90 degree day might entice you to do...

2011-06-01T07:05:00.005-06:00

cut your hair 6 or 8 inches...

allow your children to play out in the pool for hours and hours and hours... (I'm pretty sure Allison was out there for 4 hours yesterday, and Carter got in 2 and a half after his nap)

yes, Allison is about to pull him down the slide here...

while you sit in the shady garage with ice water and magazines (and still get sunburned!).

Here's to the cold front that suppose to come through tonight and take us down 10 or 15 degrees!

Lately

2011-05-23T17:14:00.006-06:00

Lately, since I've been battling morning... er... late afternoon/evening sickness (my nausea hits between 4 and 4:30 every afternoon like clockwork), I've haven't been doing much with my kidless evening hours. Not much blogging, not much projecting, and not much photo-taking during my better hours either. Luckily Brian's picked up some of the photo slack for me. Here's some of the happenings at our house lately...

Brian and the kids happened to be at The Home Depot during their mother's day kid's building workshop. Both kids came home completely thrilled that they got to build a little planter by thenselves (Allison painted hers at home after the fact). Carter asks to go to Home Depot every time we pass by now becuase "I want tap wiff da hammer." We're planning on taking them to another one soon... Lowe's has a bi-planes clinic this weekend. Sounds like winner activity to me!

The day after Mother's Day our local Walmart had leftover roses sitting in buckets near the extrances. They let Allison take one home for free, and she spent the next several days being a "getting married princess". Adorable, right? She knows that brides have veils and flowers. I think she's already planning her own wedding. Oy vey...

On a similar note Brian has now learned that if he wants to bring me flowers for some reason, he's better pick up a small arrangement or single rose for Allison too, or he's in trouble. :)

Allison is obsessed with windchimes and asks to buy one everytime she sees one. So I grabbed an ugly, cheap one and let Brian dismantle is and build a "new" windchime with Allison. She loved it. That girl is crafty/project obsessed!

Allison found the laundry baskets in the hall early one morning and decided they looked like a good bed. Isn't she cute? And can you tell she's perfected her picture smile? She used one basket fr her bed and one with her stuffed animals and dolls... then insisted that Brian take photos. Cute kid...

New Arrivals

2011-05-20T15:43:00.004-06:00

Yesterday we bought this:

with cash! What?!? True story!

Buying a 2nd car with cash has been our BHAG for over a year now.

And its a good thing we managed it this year too... becuase yesterday I also went to the doctor... and baby #3 is on its way early this December! I got to have a sonogram (to date the pregnancy), which was nice, and baby had a good strong heart beat, was moving like crazy and is about the right size for 11 weeks along. :)

Costumes, Choreography & Body Image... Oh My...

2011-05-07T06:42:00.005-06:00

Allison has been taking a ballet class at a local dance studio just down the street and around the corner from our house since last fall. She has loved every minute of it. She's been very excited about the idea of dancing on stage for an audience ever since I explained the recital concept to her.

Yesterday we got to see the girls' costumes and try them on for size. Luckily Allison's just fit, in spite of the growth spurt she seems to have had in the last six months. Unluckily, I don't think I'm very happy with the costume choice. Its cute, and its over the top, but I don't think its appropriate. The leotards they picked are halter top style. For three-year olds. And I just don't think its appropriate.

I think that dance studios very often over-sexualize little girls at very young ages in both costume and choreography. Last summer as I was looking for a dance studio for Allison I worried about making sure I found one that wouldn't do this to her, or any of the other little girls dancing with her. The world is harsh enough... dance studios don't need to be helping 3, 5, 8, or 10 year old girls feel like they have to grow up too fast or be "sexy" to have worth.

The choreography for Allison's class is very cute, and very 3-year-old appropriate. There's not a ton of real technique involved, but they're three... the think the fact that Allison knows what first position and plie are is pretty good I think. I wish the studio did as well at preserving/honoring the innocense of their 3 and 4 year olds in the costuming. I mean... I don't really expect her dance costumes to be sleeved, but a halter top?

So now, I'm thinking about looking for a different studio for Allison to dance at and it has me all sorts of worried. There are so many things that I want for her: I want her to enjoy dance. I want her to dance somewhere where she can be taught good technique so that she has options... so that she can be a "real" ballerina as long as she keeps wanting to dance.

I'd like her to be trained at a "serious" classical ballet studio, rather than a competition team driven dance studio. I want a studio that will preserve and protect the innocense of little girls. I feel like at classical ballet studio, I'd have to worry less about inappropriate costumes or choreography. But they bring with them a whole different worry. I don't want Allison dancing somewhere that will attack her body image from a young age or ever. And that is my worry about a serious classical ballet studio. I don't want Allison to ever be told that she can't or shouldn't dance because she doesn't have the right body. I don't want her to ever think that she needs to diet or look different to be good enough. It is hard enough to grow up with a healthy body image... I don't know a single woman who needs any help thinking up ways she'd like to change her body. And I want to sheild Allison from that as long as possible.

So where do I go? What do I do? Take her out of dance entirely because I'm so scared and worried? Stick with the current studio and alter her costumes until I start having problems with the choreography too? Find a serious studio and keep my eyes open for body image issues? Find a little not-so-serious ballet studio and hope for the best?

I'll tell you what I'd LIKE to do. I'd like to clone the director of the studio my sister danced at through high school and bring her out here to start a studio. It was excellent classical ballet (with tap & jazz instruction too) with beautiful choreography, lovely costuming (that parents got to see and "approve" before-hand!) and no pressure for dancers to have the "right" body. I want to find that studio here. But I feel like, if it exists, its a needle in a haystack. And now I'm so terrified of picking the wrong place. It feels so silly, and yet, with how these things I'm worried about could affect Allison, it feels like it matters so much.

Tidbits

2011-04-29T17:09:00.005-06:00

I used to think my mom was a little strange for sitting, all by herself, in the car in silence before coming in the house. Somtimes she's just sit in the driveway for 10, 15... 20 miutes. I get it now. Take the silence where you can get it.

Hearing your 2-year-old say words like "abomination" and "destruction" makes the frustration of trying to keep him quiet during 4 verses of family scriptrue study totally worth it.

Carter just learned how to take off his own diaper. As in this morning. Combine that with his prior knowledge of how to take off footie pajamas and it made for an extra load of laundry for me this morning. And an unhappy, favorite-blanket-less kid come naptime (its possible mommy forgot to close the washer lid, so the cycle did not run while we were at church). *sigh* No more footie pjs for Carter...

I'm looking forward to getting our garden planted. We don't get the frost "all clear" around here until after Memorial Day, but I'll probably plant the week after Mother's day anyway and hope for the best. I want to add an extra box and fill it with stawberries this year. I have dillusions of having enough strawberries to make a year's supply of homemade jam... becuase it bugs me that most jams are more corn syrup than fruit in them.

I'm too tired to write a real post. Does it show?

Upcycle Sewing

2011-04-21T09:03:00.004-06:00

Allison is a skirt girl. Have I mentioned that before? And skirts are easy to sew and don't require much fabric so I've been trying to make her skirts from leftovers and scraps in my stash.

Well, late last week I noticed these two shirts in my donation pile:

I haven't worn them in a while and don't love them anymore (actually I do love the red one, but I don't love the holes it developed in the front). And looking at them I realized that it would take almost zero effort to turn them into skirts for Allison.

I like the maroon one much better than the red. Its a heavier t-shirt knit and just behaves much better as a skirt than the thin knit from the red shirt. I also was able to keep the exisiting hem on the marron one, but had to cut it off on the red one to get rid of the aforementioned holes. Allison likes them, she's worn them and they'll make good play clothes for this summer. I'll call it a success.

A Hello to...

2011-04-21T08:58:00.004-06:00

ballpoint pen on my freshly painted wall!

Grrrrrr!!!

And it won't come off! Magic erasers are just taking off paint, not pen. Guess I'll just have to paint over it...

Farewell to Pinks

2011-04-10T14:43:00.004-06:00

Or at least, farewell to the pink in the dining room. I finally picked a color and painted my dining room. My friend Natalie helped me out getting the first coat on, but I had to put the 2nd on by myself. The corners still need to be touched up a little, but otherwise its done.

I like how the colors turned out. The cream color is nothing special, but I love the chocolatey color on bottom. It looked like chocolate milk going on the walls. I was relieved to start painting to bottom and realize that I like it... I was terrified that I wouldn't since I skipped the samples this time around. I also straighted up and reorganized our bookshelf... its possible that some books that we've (ahem *Brian*) owned for at least 5 years and never touched did not make it back onto the shelf... we'll see if anyone noticed in the next year...

Oh, and by the way... I NEVER want to paint around crown molding and chair rails ever again! Even with an edger, what a slow, painfully annoying process!

An "Everyday" Dress

2011-04-07T13:30:00.007-06:00

Allison is a girly-girl. In fact, she is such a girly girl that she has recently decided that pants are out. Especially jeans. If she must wear pants they should be pink sweats if at all possible. She'll consider other varieties if you ask very nicely, but no promises... espeically if they're not pink!

And since pants are out, dresses and skirts are in. She has several skirts that are fine for playing in, but no play dresses. I made the mistake of asking her a few weeks ago if she would like to have some "everyday" dresses, which she apparently took to mean that she should ask me everyday for one.

She was finally able to stop asking yesterday morning.

I found the pink tree fabric last week before leaving for Manhatten for $3/yard at JoAnn's, and Allison picked the green to go with it. Took me two good evenings to put it all together... I think sewing for kids is a good way to ease myself back into it. Whaddya think?

UFO Month Winner

2011-04-05T15:19:00.006-06:00

Thanks for all who played with me during UFO month in March. All told I got 10 and a half (I'm SO close to being done with #11) projects off my list during the month, many of which are being put to good use already. I didn't finish everything on my list, but I'll get to them. The only really long-term UFO I have left (I think) is the crochet baby blanket I've been working on since I was pregnant with Carter. I'm just not motivated to finish it because 1) I'm more excited about other projects and 2) he already had a favorite blanket to love (thanks, Grandma!). It'll get done someday, right? So, I put all the names in a bowl, one entry for every reported project (including lists for those who posted them).

And I let Allison draw a name out...

Yay, Sarah! Email me your address (yes, I should still have it, but I'm just not that organized... I think an organized address book will be a project for my 30's) and I'll send you a $10 gift card to JoAnn's! Thanks for playing, everyone! Maybe I'll host another challenge here soon. Or I'll get really ambitious and host a sew-along... hmm...

I {heart} NY

2011-04-04T10:39:00.007-06:00

Can I just say that New York is amazing? I took a long weekend off to meet my mom and aunt in Manhatten for a fabric shopping tour through the NY garment district. It was amazing!

Peggy Sagers (owner of Shilouette Patterns and tour organizer) took us to several retailers (including Mood Fabrics!) and designer wholesalers, which aren't open to the public. There was so much GORGEOUS, amazing, DESIGNER fabric. I'm talking fabrics tagged with names like Elie Tahari and Prada, events like "Fall Runway 2010" and "Spring Runway 2011". Chances are I spent too much, but I found some amazing things and I'm all re-inspired to get back to sewing again! I found fabric for a new winter coat, 2 dresses, a few tops, a pair of bermuda shorts and somethings for the kids too. It was so much fun!

And here's part 1 of my haul... including a few piece for my mother-in-law. Can you believe that most of this stuff was actually free? Marcorp (a designer wholesaler... they had the most beautiful Elie Tahari silks in their warehouse!) had a big laundry cart just full of pieces that were going to the dumpster. We were welcome to dig through it and take what we wanted. The grey fabric (future pencil skirt with box kick-pleats in back), black & blue one (either a top or a skirt), the bright pink (hello... play clothes for Allison!), black & orange sheer and the two floral sheers (Mom Thornock... do you want any of the last 3?) in the corners were all free, rescused from the fate of a dumpster.

The big piece of black & purple will be a new dress coat for me, the blue polka dot will be a dress for me and a skirt for Allison, the light fabric (its a striped pale purple shirting weight) will be either a summer skirt or a top for me and the purple & white impressionist floral is for my mother-in-law. I say part 1 because one of the wholesalers we went to had just moved their shop and were not cutting yardage for us, just taking orders that will ship next week. I'll take a picture of that box when I get it... I'm super excited for it. I found some great stuff there...

After 2 days of fabric shopping, we headed to Manhatten for some sight-seeing on Saturday.

We went to Rockefeller Center

And took the elevator to the Top of the Rock

We made our way to the Gershwin Theatre for our matinee of Wicked(Best. Show. Ever!)

Then walked down to Times Square after the show.

It was an amazing weekend away. And I can't wait to go back. So... anyone wanna come visit me and Manhatten? :)

UFO Month Linky

2011-04-01T06:17:00.001-06:00

THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING! I'll draw a winner a little later today... one entry for every project you finished and posted/told me about during the month. Come link up your finished projects! Remember, one UFO Month participant will win a $10 JoAnns gift card!

UFO 10: Hemmed jeans

2011-03-28T13:58:00.005-06:00

These jeans have been on my list since late last September. And they only took me about 30 minutes to finish, so what the heck have I been waiting for? Especially since these jeans will serve me much better now that I can wear them instead of just letting them take up space in my drawer... especially since my favorite jeans have now official been relegated to "work only" jeans (you just can't save them after they've sprouted holes in the side seams and knees).

I found them for $9 on clearance last September. They were a nice color, a good fit (at least directly after washing... the joys and downfalls of stretch denim...) and you can't beat $9! But being only 5'5", I'm on the short end of the "normal" jeans length range, which means that these things were nearly 4 inches too long.

No before photo, but here's the after photo

Can you tell they're hemmed? If you look closely you can see the fold... I used a method that keeps the original hem intact. You can find a tutorial for it over here at Sew La Tea. Worked well... I haven't trimmed the extra off yet, but I'll probably take it off with my serger. Easy, peasy, done. :) What have you finished or gotten off your list lately?

Somebody's 2!

2011-03-28T08:37:00.010-06:00

I can't believe Carter is 2 already. Its been kind of a crazy 2 years for our family too. I mean, 4 homes and moving nearly 4000 miles makes for a crazy few years. Here are a few pictures from his big day.

He was thrilled to find out that having a birthday meant you got to open presents... Allison really couldn't stop helping, but what do you expect from a 3-year-old?

He was REALLY thrilled with the Buzz LightYear doll

And the non-girly trike was a big hit too.

He loved being the birthday boy, and kept asking us to sing "Happy Birthday" over and over. And may I just say that its amazing what a year will do for a kid's ability to eat cake neatly. :) Compare...

This year

Last year...

Oh! And I nearly forgot... his cake. Can you guess what this kid's favorite sport/activity is? :)

UFO 9: Quiet book

2011-03-24T11:51:00.005-06:00

Let me preface this by saying that this was 75% done before I started finishing it up last week. I organized a quiet book page swap in my ward last fall, which is where all the pages in the before picture came from.

Before:

After:

This has been a UFO since mid-December. It took me about 12 hours (major guess... I didn't really keep track and I worked on it pretty distractedly when I did work on it) to finish it up.

And can I just say that if I ever add more pages or do another book, I will DEFINANTLY do it with heavy-weight non-fusible Pellon and not felt. The pellon elimates a lot of steps taken to keep the felt from getting destroyed quickly. The pellon was SO easy. I found mine at Walmart for $1.77/yard. You draw on it, color with crayons, cover with absorbant paper and run your iron over it. The iron and paper will remove the wax from the images leaving only the color behind. Cut it out and use it! Velcro glues to it beautifully and it doesn't require any extra stabliazation. I used the pellon for the make-a-face and counting snake pages (see them below).

Love this page! :) Not all the pieces are showing, but you get the gist...

Yay Spring!

2011-03-18T20:10:00.002-06:00

It has been a LONG winter. And we have been cooped up inside ALL winter (hello... 174 inches of snow this winter! Thats 50 inchs above normal season's average!). I think we've all gotten a bad case of, as my 5-year-old self would have said "cabinet fever." The kids have been going crazy, and took me right along with them.

Luckily, its been nice weather this week. High 40s and sunny. Would I call it spring? Not really, but I'll take it for now! Warm enough to let the kids play outside! And, today, windy enough to let Allison fly her first kite!

UFO 8: Grapevine Wreath

2011-03-18T17:18:00.004-06:00

Its about time I got the Valentine's wreath off my front door! :)

Before

After

This hasn't been a UFO long... maybe a month or 6 weeks? I got the grapevine base fairly recently and have just been waiting for I don't know what to get it done.

It took me about 3 hours to do, that that included a lot of time fiddling with the placement of everything to make sure I liked it before I glued anything. I wasn't sure it the felt butterfly was too... something. Too much? Too big? Too whimsical? Too "doesn't go with the flowers"? But, looking at it from the end of my driveway, I acutally like it a lot... what do you think? Is it too... something?

What are you workin' on? Finished anything up lately?

UFO 4, 5, 6 and 7...

2011-03-14T21:15:00.004-06:00

I've been working...

UFO 4: Pink stripe skirt

Before

After

I spent about 3 hours finishing up this skirt, but SO much longer trying to find the rolled hem plate for my serger so I could roll hem it. I never did find it and I got tired of waiting, so I resorted to a machine blind hem (I'm lazy). And can I just say that my machine's blind hem is completely backwards from what I think it should be, which drove me pretty crazy. Just one more drop in the "I want a new machine" bucket...

This skirt has been a UFO since before Allison was born. I'm gonna guess about 5 years. Amazing that the thing still fits me! Acutally... I had to take it in, which was way nicer that how my other skirt turned out...

UFO 5: Red slinky knit skirt

No pictures. Why? It was an epic FAIL! I got this 90% done and decided that there was absolultely no way I was ever going to like this. It had been a UFO for a little over 7 years now. I started this skirt before Brian came home from his mission. And my body now doesn't even begin to resemble my body then. So, I delcare it to be finished... even if finished means it hit the trash pile. Because at least it no longer physical and mental clutter for me to sort through, right?

UFO 6: Fit Allison's black skirt

Again, no pictures, but you wouldn't even be able to tell what was done if I had taken some. I had this cute skirt for Allison which would not stay on her behind-less body. I took two little darts in the front and now it doesn't fall down. Success! It was a UFO for maybe 3 months. Took me all of 10 minutes to do, and that included convincing Allison to stop what she was doing long enough to try it one... twice. Its done, and she's worn it 2 of the last 3 days... and has it laid out to wear again tomorrow. I think she's pleased...

UFO 7: Line Carter's Curtains

Before

No white lining...

After

Pretty, white, light-blocking lining! Yay!

This one has been a UFO about a year, but its been a low-priority project. We have a (ill-fitting, girly) black-out drape up in his bedroom, but these ones fit the window and are much more boy. It took me about an hour to line them... 90 minutes if you count pressing time.

How about you? What are you working on?

Indecision Part 2

2011-03-11T08:47:00.006-07:00

So I got some color samples... Brian and I picked 2 colors that we liked together and yesterday I tossed some more color squares on the walls (never mind that there are already THREE... Five is totally better, right?).

Here's what we ended up with...

Carter insisted on being in the picture (Want say cheese, Mommy!). While both colors are nice, the grey reads really far to the blue end... even almost purple in our space. And the pale creamy yellow I think is just too much of a non-color. So I started looking again and found a combination of two colors that I like and I think would be fine with the carpet, but the swatches are TINY, since its in one of those interior colors brochures. And they don't make chips for these colors in any other format. And, since I'm so sick of buying paint samples and FAILING with them ($12 in on paint I don't like already...), I went to Behr's website and played around with the colors I've been thinking about. Here's what it looks like.

This is obviously not my dining room, its one of Behr's sample rooms online (read: no paid subscription required). I picked this room because it has a chair rail like my room. And I would love to put beadboard up on the lower half of the wall someday. Anyway, the floor is an approximation of my carpet color (not too far off, right?) and I picked the trim color to approximate the current wood-toned trim in the house (which we will eventaually paint or replaced with white... another someday).

I figure that with this scheme its neutral while still being enough of a color to satify me. And when we get around to replacing the carpet I'll have more leeway to play with the colors from the light fixture in the accents of the room.

So... what do you think? How's it look?

UFO #3: Easter Baskets

2011-03-09T06:15:00.003-07:00

I remember having these neat, reusable, fabric Easter baskets when I was a kid. I always thought they were so clever. I even still have mine (its the green one in the before picture), and I've wanted to copy it for my kids of a while now. This was a UFO for just a few weeks when I started cutting fabric, then got a little distracted.

Before:

These were UFOs for about 2 weeks (a baby UFO, if you will). It took me about 6 hours to finish both of them.

After:

And look... they collaspe flat for easy storage! Love it!

I used plastic canvas inside to give it shape, and I'm a little disappointed at how flimsy it is. If I did it over I would use a heavier/sturdier plastic canvas or used thickish cardboard like my mom used in ours. But, overall I'm pretty happy.

By the way, can you tell Allison picked her own fabric? Doesn't pink with pink flowers just scream "3-year-old little girl"?

What have you been up to? Finish any projects lately?

UFO #2: Peeps Wreath

2011-03-07T06:30:00.003-07:00

This project fell into "I bought the stuff and haven't touched it" category and was major mental clutter. I'm glad its done... turned out cute!

Before:

After:

I love that its silly and whimsical. I roughly followed the tutoral posted by Gerbera Designs on Tried and True. I opted for glue in addition to the toothpicks

This went unfinished for either 3 or 11 months. I bought the peeps on clearance after last Easter, but I didn't get the wreath form until around Christmas time. Take you're pick. It only took me about 90 minutes to finish it, and that included indecision about where to put the bow. :)

How about you? What have you been working on?

The ABCs According to Carter

2011-03-07T06:24:00.004-07:00

He's trying to hard. I think its cute...

Indecision

2011-03-04T11:35:00.006-07:00

Ever wonder what indecision looks like? At my house, this is what it looks like right now...

I've GOT to get that pink painted over, but I have NO idea what color to go. We have this deep wine colored carpet that we're not changing right away, so it can't clash with that, and that probably limits me a lot. What color would you paint? Do you like any of those paint chips?

Edited to add: this is my dining room, but I also need to paint over these same two pinks in the hall, stairwell, upstairs hallway and living room. And here is a picture of the light fixture in the dining room that I do like and I don't think we'll replace... might help you give me some ideas. :)

And here's the darker pink of the wall under the chair rail and the carpet. Its pretty close to the acutal color... not quite since I'm working in artificial light with a flash, but not too far off. I also want to paint or replace the trim throughout the house (white), but that is a project for another time.

UFO #1: Nauvoo Temple Cross-Stitch

2011-03-03T18:52:00.003-07:00

Here's my first finished project for the month!

Before

After

*Wow! Its amazing to look at the before and afters! I was never sure this would end well before the detail backstitching was in!*

Getting it framed will be another project (maybe someone should host a "get it framed and on the wall" challenege. I can't tell you how much stuff I have that needs frames...).

This was a UFO for nearly 8 years. I don't remember when I started it exactly, but I was 20 and in Nauvoo when I bought it and I'm pretty sure I started it around that same time (I must have been tired of crocheting). 8 YEARS!

It took me maybe 10 hours to finish it. I worked on it during prime time TV mostly. Made me feel less useless during that time... haha! Looking at the picture I realize that I forgot the put the words in at the bottom... I'll do that during Grey's tonight.

What have you been working on? Happy finishing!

Allison the Stylist strikes again

2011-02-28T16:24:00.001-07:00

Crafter's UFO Month: guidelines & my list

2011-02-28T13:22:00.006-07:00

Who's ready to join me for UFO month?

Here are the guidelines:
First, Post a list of your current UFOs that you'll be trying to accomplish this month. You can post it in the comments or on your own blog and link up here below.

For each UFO you finish, you'll do a blog post (or post in the comments if you don't have a blog). In each post please try to include:
*A before picture (as in what your UFO looks like right now)
*how long its been a UFO
*how long it took you to finish it
*an after picture

I'll post a Mr. Linky tomorrow that you can link your individual project posts up to. It will stay at the top of my blog all month long.

After the month is over, do a summary post. Let me know how you did and what you accomplished... and how you're rewarding yourself for finishing some UFOs. When the month is over, I'll do a drawing for a $10 JoAnn's gift card that I'll send to one UFO Challenge Month participant.

I, personally, have a ridiculous number of UFOs. They jump out of nearly any closet or drawer that I open and attack me yelling "finish me!"

By the way, I consider mending projects to totally count, becuase they inflict the same kind of mental & physical clutter as any other UFO.

Anyway... here's my list, in no particular order:

Pink stripe skirt
Peeps wreath
Quiet book
Mending/fitting black skirt for Allison
Fitting/lining white skirt for me
Refashioning a sweater dress
Red slinky knit skirt
Grapevine wreath
ABC wall (which I might change all together...)
Carter's crochet baby blanket
Line Carter's curtains
Nauvoo Temple cross-stitch
Easter baskets
Easter dress (items purchased, this is low priority since Easter's late this year)
Dress shirt (again, only have items purchased)

I'm SURE that I'm missing something off this list. If I can accomplish "enough" (who knows how much that is) this month I'll reward myself with starting a new project (of course!). Probably 2... I want to do my award ribbon keepsake quilt and decorate Allison's room (for which I have a full vision).

How about you? What's on your UFO list? Be sure to link up!

Allison the Stylist

2011-02-14T13:53:00.004-07:00

Every night before bed Allison picks out her outfit for tomorrow. We're talking the whole shebang... soup to nuts, panties to accessories.

Sometimes Allison changes her mind after we've left the room. Apparently last night she was REALLY indesicive. Here's what we found when we checked on her to turn off her lights (guess who's refuses to fall asleep with the light off...)

Thats 5 outfits, all picked out and ready for choosing. And do you see her crashed out on her bed back there? Apparently styling your own outfits is exhausting work!

A completion and too many UFOs

2011-02-11T18:08:00.001-07:00

Wanna know what football and crafting have in common? Completions are good, incompletions are bad.

Here's my best completion for the month of January: a t-shirt quilt!

I (and my mom) have been saving t-shirt for years. I mean, YEARS. There are lots of t-shirts from junior high and high school on here, but theres more: one from a progam at school in the 4th grade, one from going to Disney when I was 8, one from a play I did in the 2nd grade... this quilt is packratting put to good use, I guess. I think that this quilt (or something like it) was really the purpose of saving all these shirts. Its was a someday project for my mom that became my project.

This thing is huge. Like, twin sized wide, but half again as long as a standard twin. But that makes it great for cuddling on the couch, which is what we'll be using it for most, I'm sure. Our kids love cuddling under quilts to watch movies and read books.

Sadly, for every crafting completion, I have 2 or 3 UFOs. This t-shirt quilt spent a good 3 months in UFO status. Do you have any UFOs? Need some clarification? UFO... UnFinished Object. I know that I have TONS of them. Off the top of my head:

*painting the playroom
*ABC wall for the playroom
*Grapevine wreath for front door
*Quiet book for Carter
*crochet baby blanket for Carter (that I started while pregnant!)
*white dressy shirt for Allison
*tweed Easter dress for Allison (with that fabric that spoke to me...)

The only projects I've already purchased supplies for count as UFOs in my mind. Which is probably good, becuase if I had to count all the things in my head that I WANT to do... thats a much bigger list...

So I was thinking maybe I needed to have a challenge month. Anyone interested in an "Out With the UFOs" challenge? Let me know... I think, even if no one else needs to, I really need to challenge myself to get them finished. But really, all I want to do is start on something new.

A little prayer of gratitude

2011-01-24T13:31:00.003-07:00

Thank you for this small gift...

and the lovely, quiet afternoon that it gave me.

The problem with knowing how to sew...

2011-01-17T10:44:00.007-07:00

If you know much about me, you know that I'm cheap. Maybe frugal's a better word... but whatever you call me, it means the same. Part of me being frugal means that I buy my kid's clothes a year ahead of time when they're on clearance. I aim to get things 75% off or better. I don't like to pay more than $2 for t-shirts, or more than $4 for jeans. $5 an item it about where I put my cap for kid's clothes, and if its $5, it'd better be a darn good item. Like this adorable dress that I found in store for $5 today...

Old Navy runs a great sale this time of year where I buy a lot of my kid's stuff for next year... so does Target, since they reset kids & baby stuff in January so if you can be patient enough, you'll find 75% off markdowns. But this is really all background information.

While shopping Old Navy clearance, I found this little skirt...

Cute, right? Allison loved it too, so I bought it. And this weekend, as I was going through my purchases trying to make sense of what I over-bought (and need to return) and what I still need, I realized that I don't have a shirt to go with this cute skirt. Or the cute little silver one I found at the Carters Outlet. So I start thinking... what would I like to go with it and I come up with an idea of what I want for this skirt: a cute little white (winter white, I think) button up shirt, out of a satiny fabric... or maybe a shantung... either mandarin or classic collar, with puff sleeves and some pink ribbon rosettes on the upper chest one one side.

Can you see it? Yeah... so can I. And now that I have in my head what I want, its what I want. And, I'm more than certain, it doesn't exist. And certainly not at a price I want to pay.

THATS the problem with knowing how to sew. It gets you in trouble and you start thinking about what is possible, and perfect, instead of just shopping for something that exists and would work. So now, I have to make it. Sewing and I have been a little at odds for a few years now... so I'm not sure how this will work out. Maybe it will be good for me. Luckily, I was able to find a toddler girls button-up pattern. I was pretty afraid that those wouldn't exist either.

Oh, and the other problem with knowing how to sew? Fabric starts speaking to you. Wanna know what this piece said?

"Look at me! Wouldn't I be an adoroable little dress or jumper for Allison? And I'm on super sale... only $2.50 a yard! You know you want me... I'm even pretty Easter colors!"

It bewitched me... so now a dress/jumper is on my list too... as if I didn't have enough on that list already. :)

New Goals

2011-01-12T15:39:00.001-07:00

I don't want to say that 2010 was hard, because a lot of great things happened in 2010. Brian started a great job. We bought a house that we (mostly) love (and have been slowing changing the things we don't love). We made some really great new friends. We did not get pregnant (which, if you ask me, was really great).

But I struggled to adjust to our new life some. And most of my stuggle really came from organization, which is weird becuase I love organization. But I have spent a year lacking in the organization of my time. I wasted too much of it, and then was upset that I got nothing that needed to be done done and then never had time for things I wanted to do.

So... here are the goals that I hope to work on and reach during 2011, and how I plan to do it too.

1) Get Healthier and take care of myself.

Cliche, I know. But I need it. I recently noticed that I don't take great care of myself. I don't eat well, I don't sleep enough, I don't exercise much, I don't drink enough water. It leaves me cranky and tired. And I think my my husband derserves a wife who is not cranky all the time, and my kis derserve a mommy who isn't too tired to play nicely with them. So in that vein,

*I'd really like to lose 15 pounds. That would put be back to my weigh before Carter (who is almost 2... I think I've been putting this off long enough!)

*I want to get to the gym at least 3 times a week... not only for the exercise, but for the stress relief too.

*I NEED to get more sleep. Which isn't working out so well for me so far, but here's hoping...

*I need to eat nutritious meals. Less sugar, more vegetables and lean protien.

2) Get my house-keeping life organized.

A few weeks ago my friend, Jamie, blogged about how she finally managed to figure out a system for cleaning her house that works for her. Funny enough, her figuring out a system was inspired by my whining about not be able to figure out a system. Seeing her figure something out (and being SO tired of the constant mess) made me pretty determined to figure something out that was going to work for me. And, not to jinx it, but I think I have. Its a little bit of Fly Lady, tweaked to fit me.

Every day after dinner Brian and I immediately put the leftovers away, do the dishes (all the way down to an empty sink), wipe down the counters and sweep the kitchen floor. In the mornings, the dish washer gets emptied and (shock!) I fill it with dishes as the day goes. Having the kitchen never be a horrible mess (even though its not always CLEAN) is a huge stress reliever for me. Before bed, I also try to make sure I've removed any leftover kids toys from the living room and returned them to the playroom, so that the house is generally tidy when we go to bed Most days I could really care less if the playroom is messy... its the playroom! But we do try to have the kids pick up after themselves... a total work in progress... and Brian and I "reset" it about weekly. The rest of my week's chores looks a little like this:

Monday: Laundry & free day

Tuesday: Grocery shopping & Errands

Wednesday: Weekly cleaning chores (vacuum downstairs, mop, empty garbages, change sheets)

Thursday: Zone cleaning chores

Friday: Desk chores (grocery lists, meal planning, balance the checkbook...)

Saturday: Major vacuum & pick up

On my Thursday zone cleaning days, I detail clean a specific zone of my house... I chose 4 zones: 1)Kitchen & Dining room, 2) Master bed & bath 3)Kid's beds, bath & playroom 4)Living room, entrance, laundry area & 1/2 bath. 4 zones means that onces a month every area in my house gets a detailed clean beyond the daily wiping up. And it also means that I only have to spend a few hours (it took me less than 2 last week to do the master bed & bath... and that bathroom was in desperate need of cleaning!) every week doing any real cleaning.

So far, I like it. It structures my days and my weeks, but no one daily chore takes me so long that I can't fit other things into my day too. I try to do my daily chores either while Allison is at preschool (like the grocery shopping... so much easier with 1 kid!) or while Carter is napping. And since my chores don't consume my whole day, theres still time to take the kids on kid-centric outings and to just play together too. The think I struggle most to force myself to do: fold the laundry the day I do it. I just hate folding laundry...

3) Improve my scripture study

I suppose I should mention that these are not in order of importance... definantly random order. I recently got released from Primary in my ward, which I'm very okay with. I'm excited to be in Gospel Doctrine again (for the first time in two years I can listen to lessons without a child!). I'd really like to get as much out of it as possible. So, in addition to *trying* to get my daily Book of Mormon reading in (I try... some mornings it just doesn't happen, and if I don't do it before I hit the shower the chances of it happening are so slim...), I want to read the chapters for the upcoming Gospel Doctrine lesson. So far, 2 weeks in, this hasn't happened at all. But hopefully this week. My thin excuse for last week is that I was teaching Relief Society (a calling I think I would really love), so my extra time went into that...

Anyway, there are my goals for this year... what are yours?

Happenings today...

2011-01-05T13:23:00.005-07:00

As heard in the car (imagine it in toddler gibberishy speak, because its cuter)...

Carter: I like my sunglasses

Me: You like your sunglesses, buddy?

Carter: Yeah. They're so cool.

As heard (and seen) at home after Allison came out of the bathroom...

Allison: Well Mom, what do you think?

Me: What do I think about what... your hair? Did you put hairspray in it?

Allison: Yes... and I cut it!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I know every mom of a toddler girl goes through this, but NOOOO!!!!!! Luckily, I don't think its too bad. She missed a few key strands that would have made this unfixable except for a pixie cut. I think, as is, I can just hide it... What do you think... can you see it?

How about from the side? I have the "thank-goodness-she-didn't-get-this-one" chunk pulled back a little...

and here you can REALLY see what she did...

I think, if I keep her hair tucked behind her ear with a clip in it that we can hide it until it grows out. I supposed its a good sign that I didn't notice her self-cut right away...

Allison's dream house...

2010-12-29T20:22:00.008-07:00

Or Barbie's, rather. The only thing Allison asked for at all this Christmas was a Barbie doll and a Barbie movie. I don't think it gets any easier than that.

She got more than she bargained for. The Barbie house that my dad built for me some 20 years ago is something that my parents hung onto. We brought it with us out to NY last January. I spent most of the December rehabing the house with fresh "carpet" (upholstery velvet and wood looking contact paper), wallpaper (scrapbook paper and wallpaper mod podged on) and paint. I think it turned out pretty cute!

Here's the before (sort of... this is after Brian ripped out the old carpet the the mice in our rental here loved so much... ick!)

And here's the after.

And here's my cute little girl...

Now... I wouldn't decorate or paint my house this way (although the green on green stripe in the kitchen is pretty nice...), but I think its okay for Barbie.

Carter's First Love

2010-12-26T11:25:00.002-07:00

Basketball. Definantly basketball. And he's not bad either. :)

A Storage Fantasy...

2010-12-25T10:19:00.005-07:00

2 "Cameron" Cubby Wall Storage System, with 2 extra cubby units:

$1010 from Pottery Barn

MDF, mis-tinted paint, screws and bracing brackets:

$175

1 Gallon Behr Preium Paint in "Bibbidi Bobbidi Blue" (for the walls...):

$23

DIY plans from Ana-White.com:

Saving a bundle AND having my dream toy storage installed in the playroom before Christmas:

PRICELESS! :)

Isn't it beautiful? I love it!!!

100 hours...

2010-12-08T10:48:00.004-07:00

Remember how I posted about the first snow just a few days ago? Well, Saturday seems to have been our one little snow break. And since then, we've had 100 straight hours of snow... and its still snowing HARD.

Curious over what that looks like?

I think its going to be a l-o-o-o-o-n-g winter...

Gingerbread Houses

2010-12-06T12:01:00.003-07:00

We went all out for Gingerbread houses this year. We probably spent too much for one activity, but the kids LOVED it, and it made for a much nicer-than-normal Sunday afternoon.

Which, by the way, am I the only parent of little ones who thinks that Sunday is actually often the HARDEST day of the week? What happened to day of rest? But thats neither here nor there...

Allison and Carter both enjoyed building the houses. Allison did her own with my help, and Brian did the other with Carter's help... although Carter's definition of "help" was to eat as much candy as possible. Fun was had by all. Next year, I think its cheaper graham cracker houses for our kids, but we'll stick with the royal icing. That stuff really is the key to getting a good house built. :)

Allison thoughfully placing her gumdrop border...

Carter thoughfully eating all the candy within reach...

Yeah... thats my husband... :)

First Snow

2010-12-04T13:20:00.003-07:00

We got our first real, measurable snow yesterday and last night. Allison was thrilled to wake up this morning and find a few inches a snow... totally enough to play in.

Allison was very patient, and waited - nicely! - until 10 am to be let out to play. She immediatly wanted to build a snowman, and enlisted daddy's help. For most of the building, she was too busy "supervising" to actually help... sounds like my daughter...

Carter loved it too. This was his first snow experience, and he seemed to think it was pretty cool stuff. I love how chubby he looks in these pictures. Could be because the snowsuit is a little too big on him.

Tidbits...

2010-11-27T19:48:00.003-07:00

I keep feeling like I should update, but I don't have anything much to say. So... here's a little summary of the last few weeks.

*I hit the post-Halloween clearance sale hard at Target. My kids now have lots of cute dress-up clothes.

*Two kids, three ear infections, and a newly discovered penicillin allergy. Not so fun.

*A lovely Thanksgiving, of which I have no pictures. We got together with two other families with small kids, all from out west with no family to speak of this far east. It was fun, it was nice, and I didn't have to host (read: I didn't have to clean my house), so it was relaxing too.

*Christmas crafts. I LOVE my new wreath. Wanna make one? Its just a wreath form (mine's straw, and don't look too close... you can kind of see it in some spots!) and a whole lot of Dollar Tree ornaments (I got the ones that come in tubes) and even more hot glue. Which, by the way, I bought another hot glue gun. The mini I got last time just wasn't doing it for me any longer, so I went with heavy duty. And its pretty much awesome. I think I could do a whole post on how awesome that glue gun is...

*Lots of shopping. I'm pretty sure that I'm going a little overboard. Its not hard to do... this is our first year with a real job and shopping is fun. I console myself by say that the slight overspending is okay, because I can write off anything I end up donating to Toys for Tots.

*Decorating for Christmas. My kids are a little Christmas decor crazy. Carter points to every tree-like object (including the garland) and shouts "Te-mas Tee!", and Allison has this unexplained compulsion to decorate every single Christmas tree she sees. Target has some very nicely decorated mini-trees in the seasonal aisle. We still haven't gotten our tree (hopefully tomorrow!), so I'll post pictures when that gets up.

On a completely unrelated note, I realized today that Carter is exactly the age that Allison was when Carter was born. They are different kids to say the least. And its a good thing Allison was first, becuase I'm pretty sure that had Carter been first, my chances of surviving motherhood this long would have been pretty non-existant.

Most days I generally feel like I'm going to go crazy, which is a bad sign, since we're only about 10 days into "its-too-cold-to-go-outside-at-all" kind of weather, and theres a long winter ahead of us. I really miss the days where Allison napped. A few months ago I even decided to quit forcing quiet time on her, becuase it took less effort to let her watch a movie instead. But now I'm thinking that I might have to force the issue again, because I think I really need an hour a day of unassaulted quiet time. And I don't think its too much to ask either.

All Things Halloween

2010-11-01T17:25:00.003-06:00

On Thursday (with a Friday Encore) we carved pumpkins with the kids...

Then Saturday we drove to Kirtland to see Brian's parents and crash (with permission, of course!) a local ward's trunk-or-treat for the kids. Mike and Julie really loved seeing the kids (and us too!). Fun was had by all. Sadly, I didn't get a single good photo of the kids together. Hopefully theres one on my in-laws camera... hint, hint...

Allison loved showing off her treats...

Carter loved stuffing his face with them...

And I loved that they thought they got SO much candy, when they only had a handfull each. :)

Fortunatly, becuase no one in our house have been healthy since we said goodbye to August, the kids were super wiped-out last night, so we didn't have to crosss the "why can't I go trick-or-treating on Sunday" bridge. Both kids were asleep before we got our first trick-or-treaters.

And my favorite part of the holiday? The great deals I snagged at Target on clearance this morning. Best time of year to buy dress-up clothes. :)

Halloween's Dress Rehearsal

2010-10-25T10:00:00.001-06:00

The Disney Store here in Syracuse did a Halloween Dress Rehearsal event. Basically it was an excuse for little kids to dress up in their costumes, come to the store, play a few games and parade around (all in hopes of their parents spending a few dollar there, I'm sure).

Allison loved being able to dress up in her Tinkerbell costume, and she got a LOT of compliments on it. She enjoyed...

playing in the Disney Store as long as she wanted...

playing the "Banish the Villians" game...

"Freeze Dancing"...

parading around the store, waving... with BOTH hands.

And she loved getting to take a carousel ride when the party was all over.

It was a good day to be Allison...

Shoe Love

2010-10-24T15:48:00.002-06:00

Carter is shoe obsessed! He has been for quite a little while. He is always quick to tell us that he needs shoes, or to point shoes out to us, or try to put shoes on us if there are extras laying around the living room.

A new discovery is mommy's shoes. He was trying to walk around in some of my Doc Martens today, but they were so heavy! I pulled out a pair of my flats for him instead, and he's been having lots of fun. Take a look...

Where've I Been?

2010-10-19T19:40:00.003-06:00

Busy...

My kids are going to be SO cute this Halloween, if I do say so myself. All thats left is to finish Tink's wings (I need white knee-highs) and a feather for Peter's cap.

Dinosaur Decor

2010-09-30T12:03:00.003-06:00

Back in January or Feburary, I found this cute thing at Babies R Us for $4 on clearance.

Thought it was adorable and a steal, so I grabbed it for Carter's room, which I'd put exactly zero effort into decorating up till that point. In fact, up until last week I'd put zero effort in. I mean, I hadn't even put up the silly valance. But, after being inspired by (read: seeing and wanting to totally rip off)a nursury decor idea I saw at a baby shower, I put it up and got to work making these...

No, they're not on the walls yet, but they're done (okay... I guess they need saw-tooth picture hangers on the back, but they're cosmetically done). Aren't they cute? They're just those painted wood cut-outs that you can get at craft stores glued (with my brand-new, cheap, still-not-super-great hot glue gun) into some black dollar store frames backed with scrapbook paper. Cute, huh?

To glue the scrapbook paper down, I used come Elmers Craft Bond Glue Pen. I got a free sample of it as a Bzz Agent. It worked really well for putting down a thin layer all over the paper so that I could get a good firm hold that will stand up. The paper did bubble a little bit, but only where I got the glue on a little thick. Otherwise, I think the Craft Bond was a really great product for when you really need an all-over glue.

I'm not exactly sure if these will be the final arrangments, but its what I like right now.

Oh, and PS, I finally called the pediatrician and made appointments. And I think I can make the portrait appointments online. Score two for the check list. :)

Things I just can't bring myself to do...

2010-09-29T21:14:00.002-06:00

I've been keeping written to do lists for about 2 weeks now. They're all in a little notebook that I keep in my purse (until someone under the age or 4 relieves me of it, that is). Its been interesting and eye opening.

On one hand, it definantly helps me feel like I actually do accomplish things, at least sometimes. Being the stay-home mommy of two little often leaves me feeling like I never actually accomplish anything. See things in writing checked off as accomplished can help me feel less... useless? Not quite the right word, but it works...

I also find it interesting to see what is on the list day after day after day. Since I don't put down everyday things like "cook dinner" and "sweep the floor", I'm a little surprised to see three things on my to-do list that have been there since I started the list. Curious?

1) Call & make well-child appointments
2) Call & make kids portrait appointments
3) Do something creative
4) Call & changes newspaper subscription (okay, its 4, but this one has only been on the list since Monday).

Now, besides the be creative, which I never get to becuase I have too hard of a time justifying it during the day when so many other things need to get done and I'm often too tired at night to have enough brain power left for creativity, they all have one thing in common: the phone.

I hate the phone. Which, if you'd known me in junior high you'd probably find very strange. Maybe I'm making up for those years of phone overload. But really, I hate the phone. I nearly break out in hives when I think about phone calls that I have to make. Okay, not really, but I do strange things to avoid it. Like the dishes, which I never do at our house (becuase my husband's awesome like that). These calls should take me... 5 minutes total. And 10 days later, I still haven't done them.

Hopefully one of these days I'll get tired of copying them onto each new day's list and just get it over with already. And then I'll wonder why on earth I waited so long.

Fail...

2010-09-29T21:04:00.003-06:00

I tried to finish a decorating project up tonight. My dear, sweet, neglected Carter has never had an ounce of thought put into the decor of his room. Guess thats what happens when you're the 2nd kid and you have to sleep in the pack & play for 9 months becuase your parents can't bring themselves to kick your older sister out of the crib, and couldn't justify buying a 2nd one until it became PAINFULLY obvious to everyone in the household that, not only do you find that pack & play "matress" extremely uncomfortable, but sister's not giving up the goods anytime soon. And by not anytime soon, I mean not until sister finds the princess bed exactly 5 days after mom and dad finally cave and buy a 2nd crib (but thats another story entirely...).

Anyway, my poor neglected son is going to be getting some love in the form of cutifying his room. And I'm sure that he cares.

Problem is, I come to find out that my glue gun sucks. As in I can't glue the darn things on because by the time I've gotten enough glue on them (takes 10 seconds, tops), its already cooled and useless.

Guess I know how I'm spening my Hobby Lobby coupon this week.

Maybe you'll get to see my attempts at boy room cute tomorrow. Or something resembling tomorrow, anyway.

Carter-isms

2010-09-22T18:53:00.005-06:00

Carter has QUITE the vocabulary for the little tyke that he is. Here are some of the funny things we hear him say a lot

I did it!

I come! (as in, I want to come in the store, don't leave me in the car with daddy!)

I did the buckle! (on his carseat)

button

Elmo

I want mouse

I want bear

I want book

I want that

I want milk

shoes... he's got a strange fascination with them

bath

ducky

ball

I want ball

basketball (he says it "bak-e-baw")

crayon

sticker

puppy (which is any and every animal)

candy (said Caaa-eeeee)

granola bar (said na-guh baw)

I go downstairs

stinky and poop (lovely... if only that was a sure sign of time to potty train...)

game (as in, computer games, that Allison has recently discovered and Carter feels he MUST get his fair turn at).

ride (in the laundry basket)

Ah-ice (his attempt at Allison)

Dane ni! (that's "Dang it!" And he uses it in correct context too...)

If you can't tell, the kid's quite a talker. And between him and Allison there are very few pieces of quiet for mommy to grasp at most days. *sigh* :)

Allison's First Day

2010-09-21T12:10:00.000-06:00

Allison started Joy School this week, which we're super excited about. I love having more structure to her week. This is just a quick picture I snapped before we left for her frist day last week. It was sharing day, and she was taking her teddy bear to share.

Isn't she cute? And when did she get so big?

Niagara Falls

2010-09-20T13:20:00.004-06:00

Last week my parents flew in to come see us and we spent Friday at Niagara Falls. It was amazing! We took the Maid of the Mist boat tour and got soaked, but those photos are on my Dad's camera. In fact... most of the good picture are on his camera. I need a copy of those... hint, hint, Dad! Maybe they could find their way in downloadable form onto mckeent.com? Pretty please?

Anyway, here are the best of the photos I DO have, which don't actually include my parents. But I promise, they did come.

Either way Niagara was amazing and I'm super glad we went, even if we have to make it a short day trip to accommodate two tired little kids.

The Great NY State Fair

2010-09-01T19:07:00.004-06:00

Brian and I took the kids to the NY State Fair last Saturday. Its held in Syracuse, so it made for a great day trip. We went opening weekend and it was SUPER crowded and crazy. But our choices were either opening or closing weekend (the fair only runs 12 days... what?!?), but we had fun. Here's a few photos:

Everyone's favorite part: the Shriner's circus put on in the kiddie area. It was great, even Carter was rivited every time an act came on. Allison's favorite part was watching the ariel gymnist who climbed the fabric for stunts. She spent her whole act just staring at her, eyes wide and mouth open. If you asked Allison what her favorite part of the fair was, she'll tell you that it was the circus, and the part the girl "climbed up so high on the fabric!"

Over all, I was acutally a little disappointed with the fair. Coming from my 4-H background, I really wanted to see some awesome 4-H non-animal exhibits (which we couldn't even find) and come stunning arts/crafts/sewing/quilting entries, which was housed in a TINY not-very-accessible building. Excluding quilts (several of which were displayed on blank walls) I think ALL of the sewing exhibited was shown in about 20 square feet of exhibit space. Now, maybe my point of view is skewed, becuase I knew the Pyuallup and Kitsap County fairs like the back of my hand, but I really didn't think that this fair had NEARLY as much in the way of non-animal exhibits as either of those fairs. Made me homesick in a way. On the bright side, what we did see and what was exhibited encouraged and and inspired both Brian and I to aim for having a few entries each for next year's fair.

Apple Picking

2010-09-01T18:32:00.003-06:00

Brian's been out of town this week, so I've been trying to pack the kids' days with fun things to do to help them go by faster (for all of us!). And I've been having the hardest time finding a decent apple at the store around here, so we went to a local farm to do some apple picking. We were in luck, too: galas had just come in and they are DELICIOUS!!! It was a fun little farm. In addition to apples they had a cute little country store, several other crops for the picking through-out the year and a little petting zoo. The kids really had a great time. It was lots of fun. We'll probably go back later in the fall for pumpkins.

Love this picture. Carter spent most of the time walking around munching on a HUGE apple. I mean, does life get any better than eating your own yummy apple while exploring outside without mom nagging you to hold her hand? Carter doesn't seem to think so...

Feeding the goats. Carter kept his distance, becuase he did not want to share his apple with them (which is good... we had feed pellets for them). Allison thought feeding them was great.

Sunday Afternoon

2010-08-22T14:55:00.003-06:00

Enough said.

Carter Grooves

2010-08-15T14:58:00.005-06:00

Too funny not to post... even funnier that he's doing this weird crazy dancing with a play-kitchen chef's knife in his hand. Slash dance, not flash dance...

The End of an Era

2010-08-15T11:24:00.002-06:00

Right now its 1:30. Nap time. And this is what Allison is doing:

sitting on the couch, munching popcorn, watching a movie.

And here's what I plan to do about it:

...

Yep. Nothing. After a horrific 10 days of experiencing an all-day-cranky Allison, brought about by her waking at various and sundry inhumane hours of the early morning, we decided that in order to have her sleep better at night, it was time to say good-bye to her nap.

Good-bye, dear naptime quiet mommy-time. You've been my close and loved friend these 3 years. I hope to meet you again someday. I'll miss you everyday until I see you again... maybe you can some visit when Allison's in kindergarten.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

2010-07-28T19:23:00.005-06:00

Allison turned 3 last Saturday! I can't believe my baby girl is 3... where did the time go?

Lame

2010-07-27T10:50:00.002-06:00

So I got a letter the other day. From the Utah State Tax Commission. Turns out that when Brian and I (okay... it was just me, because I do our taxes) ammended our 2007 federal tax return (because BYU was WAY late in sending a tax document that accounted for $1500 in income for that year), we (again, I... but we sounds less blamey and judgemental of myself) forgot to also ammend our state return. Oops...

So, now Utah wants their $68 refund back, plus some that that we probably should have paid that year, plus interest. *sigh* So NOT what I want to do with my money. Oh well... at least it won't be much.

A Hand Built Play Kitchen

2010-07-24T11:49:00.005-06:00

IT IS FINISHED!

Brian and I built Allison a play kitchen! I have wanted her to have one for SO long, and I'm so glad that she finally does! And I guess its only "mostly" finished... but finished enough to give her this morning.

I teased this project back in March, but things didn't go as I planned. The plans I drew up, although cute, weren't really working out for us, so I turned to Knock-Off Wood. Ana White has posted FREE plans for all sorts of furniture build projects. I love this site... its amazing! We intend to do several more projects from her plans, including this console table (topped with a slab of marble instead of the wood planked top), this bed (in King size, if I get my way) for our room and these bedside tables to match the bed... or maybe this one instead. But first we'll need a miter saw (can anyone guess what Brian's getting for his birthday this year?)...

We stuck the phone on there becuase the kids love playing with it. Allison frequently "calls Grandma and Grandpa." Its very cute... and the phone is more useful as a pretend toy for the kids than a connumication device when you don't have land-line service.

Anyway, the plans we used for the kitchen can be found here. There are several other plans on that page too. This kitchen is patterned after a now-discontinued Pottery Barn Kids play kitchen.

Was this cheaper than just going out and buying a plastic or MDF play kitchen at Walmart or Target? No. Total cost ran us almost $200... but it would have been cheaper if we'd through through the plans a little more and had bought the right wood the first time around. But caulk it up to experience. But this kitchen is larger, higher quality and CUTER than what $200 might have gotten us at Toys R Us... and something similar to this at Pottery Barn Kids would have run us anywhere from $300 (for the most recently discontinued model) to $600.

We still need to find something for a faucet (we're thinking a straight and a U- or a J-bend PVC pipe painted with a large pair of those glass faceted knobs) and I need to sew a curtain to hide the shelves under the sink (I tried last night, but my serger just WOULDN"T play nice! The needle kept hitting the upper and lower loopers, and it was casting the stitches onto the throat plate, instead of the pressure foot... tying knots that I had to snip off. I re-treaded the stupid thing 3 times and still could NOT figure out the problem... so I gave up until another day). After the curtain and the faucet it will be done... until we find more accessories to add to it! :)

$200 is a lot... but we love it, Allison loves its, Carter loves it and it will see a LOT of play time over the next several years. And that, makes a project worth it.

Museum of Play

2010-07-24T11:18:00.006-06:00

Brian took the day off yesterday as kind of a birthday gift to Allison (she LOVES it when Daddy doesn't have to go to work!), so we took the kids to Rochester to the Strong National Museum of Play. We had so much fun... we were there 4 hours (its a 90-minute drive and the kids went napless, so we decided to leave kind of early), and didn't even see everything... we didn't even have time to THINK about the Toy Hall-of-Fame on the 2nd floor!

There was so much to see and do there... an active area call the Field of Play (not a plyaground, but lots of large, active toys... race cars, PVC Pipe Organs, Dance Dance Revolution, Ball Rollercoasters... stuff like that. The other half of the first floor had a giant Sesame Street interactive exhibit, a kid-sized Wegman's (THE grocery store, for all you non-east-coasters!) to shop and "work" at, a little Historic section, an art section, a post-office, a helecopter and a boat and I don't even know what else, because we didn't see it all!

The kids had a blast, and it was a fun, exhausting trip for all of us. If it was closer to home, we would have paid for a family membership before leaving yesterday. Enjoy the pictures!

Allison got to meet (and hug!) Raggedy Ann. She's been visiting the museum this month to celebrate her 95th birthday!

Carter ejoyed Wegmans, but would have liked it better if the food had been real.

Allison loved ringing up her own groceries and pushing the buttons to make the receipt print.

So cute! The reading nook at Sesame Street!

Allison's favorite is Zoe. Carter thought Snuffleupagus was pretty cool...

Look out, world!

Allison was excited to see the Barbie display when we first came in.

They both loved the big aquariums at the entrances.

OCD in Training

2010-07-22T13:52:00.003-06:00

This is how Allison puts her crayons away.

She started doing this a few days ago with no prompting at all. She also will take them all out, line them up neatly on the table, then put them all back, neatly stacked.

Nice to know that she is capable of (extreme) organization and orderliness... wonder what the best way to channel that into her toys and books and general helpfullness around the house would be?

Oh, and I survived the party... but have no pictures to show for it. Oh well... the girls enjoyed it, and I'm more excited for Saturday morning, when Allison gets her gift from Brian and me.

Tomorrow...

2010-07-21T12:28:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow I am throwing a birthday party. A princess party. I'm expecting eight three-year-olds.

And today, I'm thinking, "What was I thinking?!?"

Then again, maybe this will be a good training ground for Joy School in the fall...

On systems, schedules and eternal messes

2010-07-16T07:19:00.004-06:00

I have a housekeeping schedule. Its a little loose, and looks something like this:

Monday: Major Pick-up, Bathrooms

Tuesday: Groceries & Errands

Wednesday: Laundry (clothes), Vacuum downstairs, Garbage

Thursday: Dust, Pick a room and clean thouroughly

Friday: Kitchen Floors, Counters, Stove

Saturday: Laundry (non-clothes), Vacuum upstairs & downstairs

Every evening I sweep the kitchen floor (it is desperate for it, EVERY evening) and Brian does the dishes (I don't do dishes. I delegated that to him 6 years ago and he has, lovingly, stuck to it for 6 years).

Confession: I do not follow this schedule. I manage the groceries and errands on Tuesday, I manage the laundry on Wednesday and Saturday. I manage to sweep the floor every evening and nag Brian (when necessary) into doing the dishes. But the rest... I just can't bring myself to do it.

Maybe its just an excuse, but it just feels so darned fultile to try picking up or (heaven forbid) cleaning a room while I have two little people literally following me a round and un-doing everything I try to do. If I try to pick up the kid's DVDs and put them back in their storage bins, Carter will help by removing them, one-by-one, as soon as I've got them in. Same goes for the books on the bookshelf, and the toys in the bins in the family room.

Allison is super-helpful in that the second she's done with something, not matter what it is, she throws it on the floor. It doesn't seem to matter how many times I've told her not to do it, she still does.

I've been reading lots of house-keeping system books lately, trying to get a handle on my house... so that I don't feel like its always a mess. The most recent one suggests that your schedule includes an errand day, a "quiet" chore day (pay bill, balance the check book, make grocery lists and menu plans... that sort of thing), a moderate cleaning day (2-4 hours of cleaning), a heavy cleaning day (4-6 hours) and one free day, where you only do things you want to do.

Really? I only get to do things that I actually WANT to do one day a week? And further more, what am I supposed to do with my kids while I'm busy doing whatever I want? Becuase I can tell you that 1) I don't want my children getting their hands on the things I want to do for me and 2) what I want to spend my day doing and whay my kids want me to spend my day doing are two VASTLY different thing.

And what about those cleaning days? Seriously? How am I supposed to accomplish 2 or more hours or real, actual cleaning when I've got these kids following me around, asking for constant attention, fighting with eachother and whining about being bored, or hungry, or tired. Just exactly when am I supposed to accomplish that? Naptime... doesn't exactly last that long anymore. And I typically use naptime to "treat" myself to a nice, healthy lunch that doesn't consist of food leftover from my kids' lunch plates (and, furthermore, since when was a real meal a treat? At what point in my life did proper nutrition morph from need to privilege?).

So if naptime's out, and I don't want my effort undone immediatly after accomplishing it, so while kids are awake is out. I guess that leaves after the kids bedtime... so I need to spend 2 nights a week cleaning, starting around 7 and ending anywhere between 9 pm and 1 am. Wow. Sounds like exactly how I want to spend my evenings. That was my sarcastic voice, for those who didn't catch it.

Yes, I'm frustrated. Yes, I'm whining. Yes, at this point I'd think I'd prefer to just throw everything we own away so that I don't have to deal with it. But seriously, is there a system that works when you're kids aren't in school? Is there one that doesn't involve spending every spare moment I have without the kids picking up, or cleaning in the endlessly futile battle against the mess? Or is it hopeless? Should I just give up until they're all in school?

As if I needed a longer "To-Do" list

2010-07-15T20:29:00.005-06:00

For your viewing pleasure. Please note that I take no responsiblity for your urge to do these projects as a result of looking at this post.

I've been thinking I should make some skirts for Allison. She loves skirts and they'd be so cheap to make... cheaper than buying the things. Toddler-sized skirt patterns don't exist (becuase they're so stinkin' easy, but I'm a Type A, so I looked anyway), so I hit the internet. Here are a few of my favorites that my searches yeilded me today.

Lazy Days Skirt. No picture here, but click the link for the instructions. Its simple and easy. I'll probably make this one several times over.

The Dresden Plate skirt. Cute, huh? See the scallop edge? Not being a quilter I had no idea what a "dresden plate" was when I stumbled upon the post. But it makes a DARLING skirt. But, not-so-simple. Good thing I was taught well how to sew well (thanks, Mom!). Find the tutorial over at Crafter Hours.

The Tumbler skirt. Adorable. I love the shape. I acutally think I need to make one fore me before Allison. Looks like the PERFECT summer skirt, if you ask me. Tutorial over at Crap I've Made (seriously, thats the name of this blog).

Easy Whirly Skirt. Cute, simple, looks FAST to stitch up. Another make-it-a-million-times winner by the looks of things. Find the tutorial over at This Mama Makes Stuff.

By the way, if you're in the market for patterns, Simplicity is $1.99 at JoAnn's this weekend. We picked up the pattern for Allison's costume today. I'm not telling what she wanted to be... I was mildly (but not completely) surprised at her choice, and I'm excited that she chose something that I could use as a jumping-off point for costumes for the rest of the family. We might even convince Brian to play along and dress up this year. :)

On a related note, I now aspire to NEVER take my children to Jo-Ann's again. Ever. And if you happened to be in the Fayetteville Jo-Anns before 11 am today, I apologize for the crying, screaming banshees' behavior... er... I mean, my children's behavior.

As heard in church today..

2010-07-11T11:07:00.005-06:00

Allison was looking through the pictures in my Primary binder, pointing out Jesus in every picture that includes Him. She came across this picture:

Stilling the Storm, Artist Ted Henninger

She points to Jesus and says "There's Jesus! Jesus is a pirate!"

Doctrinally sound? Nope. But thats okay... we're pretty sure Heavenly Father has a sense of humor too. :)

Melting

2010-07-08T20:03:00.003-06:00

It's 10 p.m. It is currently 86 degrees in my house. Its only 83 outside... but according to weather.com is feels like 88, if thats worth anything. It been in the mid 90s all week. With 50% plus humidity.

We, obviously, have no AC. The coolest its been in my house since Sunday morning is 77 degrees. Its only going to get down to 72 tonight. It'll be 80 again by 10 a.m.

The kids are having trouble sleeping in this heat. I haven't turned our 2 measly ceiling fans off in over 72 hours. We're also running four additional fans pretty much all day and all night, just to make the kids rooms sort-of bearable... and our window AC unit too. I'm dreading our electric bill. I can't remember the last time I didn't feel like I'd just worked out for an hour (sweat wise). Make-up is pointless, and only lasts a matter of minutes. And this kind of oppressive heat makes me cranky. I am miserable.

Saturday can't come soon enough. Its supposed to rain all morning, and not even hit 80. Sounds glorious. In the mean time, I'll be pricing out central air...

Projects and Accomplishments

2010-07-07T07:04:00.001-06:00

I have a very long list of projects that I want to do. I think it might be longer than Brian's "Honey-Do" list... hard to tell, beceause some of the things on his honey-do list are on my list too, as I intend to be a big part of them.

I've had a very long list for a fairly long time. And things just seem to never get done. I often feel like I accomplish absolutely nothing. So, here I am reminding myself that I do accomplish things occasionally... and sometimes its even something more signifigant than the laundry.

This shouldn't even count, it was so easy. I've talked about having a bow-holder since Allison was born. A few weeks ago, I finally did it. Almost too easy to be called an accomplishment, but everything counts when you're a mom, right? Literally, I bought the A, stapled the big pink ribbons to the back and hung it on her wall.

We built our garden boxes and planted in June and its really taking off. I love that the garden required almost zero effort from me. I water it when its needs it (every day this week with our current 15 degree above average heat wave!), and pull a few small weeds here and there, and its flourishing! We planted cherry tomatoes (we've got some tiny green ones out there now!) cucumbers (a whole bunch of flowers on the plants!), red and gree bell peppers (I saw our first few tiny peppers on one of the plants yesterday) green beans, peas (which are getting taller than I expected!), pumpkins (with a few nice big flowers), zuchini and squash (both are starting to think about putting blossoms out). I'm so excited that I'm not failing at the garden. I'm thinking we'll expand next year and put in a third bed. I'm not sure what else we'll plant... I guess we'll start figuring that our when we see what kind of harvest we get this year.

This little fabric playhouse has been on my list forever. You can find the tutorial here, at UK Lass in US. Apparently her idea also made it into One Yard Wonders. Pretty neat! I enjoyed making this little barn for Allison's barn animals (and I love, even more, that the barn animals now have somewhere to live!). Its not totally done yet... Allison wants me to put in a puddle for the pigs (who are currently MIA) and I should put a door on the outside. But I wanted Allison to be able to play with it, and I haven't been able to get it away from her since! I'm also already have fabric for a Littlest Pet Shop home of sorts. I found some Littlest Pet Shop pets on clearance, and I happened to also have buy-one-get-one coupons... so I picked up half a dozen for $0.75 each. They've made great little prizes for Allison, and now they need a home too.

A little home organization. This is going to go on my kitchen wall to help me keep track of what we have going on. I decided we needed one when I forget to pick Brian up from work in time for his chiropractic appointment a few weeks ago. I just created the calendar, had it blown up (22x28) at a copy center and put it in a frame... instant wipe-off family calendar. Now maybe I'll actually get my monthly dinner menu done to put on it one of these days.

I've also done a little paper crafting recently, but don't have any pictures of those taken. But I'm hoping to do a bunch more soon... our trip to Europe is calling my name, so I finally ordered prints and hope to work on that soon.

Zoo

2010-06-19T10:46:00.004-06:00

I took the kids to the zoo yesterday. Not becuase it sounded particularly fun, but because if we didn't do SOMETHING out of the ordinary, the chances of everyone surviving the day looked far too slim. So we went to the zoo... it was the first thing I could think of really

I knew Allison would love seeing all the animals, and I knew Carter would love the stroller ride part of it (kid loves stroller rides). But I didn't anticipate how much Carter would love seeing all the animals too! He was so excited at every new exhibit. And he tried to climb into most of them too.

Both kids got to pet an elephant too. One of the zoo keepers had an elephant right by the exhibit fence and was walking her up and down the fence so that kids could touch her. Allison thought it was great... Carter thought it was interesting, and then thought that the elephant was too big and too close to him.

All in all, we had a fun day. And better yet, everyone survived the day.

Relapse

2010-06-10T11:48:00.003-06:00

My ODAD has struck again. Its was in remission for a while, but I've replased. I blame Rite Aid... and Huggies. They've been conspiring, I think. Clearancing out mega packs while $3 coupons are available? Definantly a conspiracy.

I don't want to admit how many diapers we have in the house. Lets just say, its alot. Lets just say, that by the time I run out of coupons we might not have to buy diapers again for the rest of the year. And I'm not exaggerating.

If you need diapers, find a Rite Aid near you. Price check the mega packs. All of them... Pampers, Huggies, Luvs... are apparently on clearance, but they may not marked. They should ring up at $8.99. Grab 3... Use this $5/$25 purchse coupon, and any brand coupons you may have. If you happen to like Huggies, use three $3 coupons from here (sort by "Household") and here (print each one twice from every computer you can get your hands on!) If you get 3 Huggies and use 3 of the coupons plus the $5 coupon, you'll pay $12.97 plus tax for 3 MEGA packs... thats only $4.32 per pack! I normally get excited seeing that price on Jumbo packs!

Okay... coupon TMI over.

Funny, but only because it's true.

2010-06-08T13:44:00.002-06:00

I think someone's been spying on me...

Five Things I Miss About Having a Real Job

2010-05-13T18:27:00.004-06:00

5) Having a reason to actually get completely ready every morning. Instead, I'm doing pretty well if I have a shower and get my teeth brushed.

4) The quiet drive to and from work, during which I got to listen to music of my own choosing and didn't have to listen to a single child scream.

3) Being surrounded by people capable of carrying on a real conversations more than 4 sentences long and not focused solely on themselves (and their potty-abilities).

2) When you take a day (or more) off of a real job, someone else steps in to do a good part of your work for you. If I take a day off now, I'm just delaying the inevitable.

1) Breaks. Lunch breaks, bathroom breaks, 5, 10 or 15 minutes breaks... I miss them all. There are no breaks for domestic COOs (that would be Cheif Operating Officer).