Birthday Week 2013

Today officially ended birthday week 2013.

As I'm getting older I figure the only way to make tacking on another year acceptable is to have a week long celebration. I don't celebrate half birthdays (ahem...Tracey) and I won't continue to turn 29 from every birthday from now until I'm 40, unlike my mother (seriously, do you know how hard it got to remember how old she was really turning?!) I will however use my birthday week as an excuse to spend time with my family and friends, eat good food, and do fun things!

I knew it would be sad to see it end, no longer can I use the excuse "It's still your turn to change the diaper because it's my birthday week." (My husband plays along so nicely with my silly antics.)

A successful birthday week it was, though! I'm pretty sure I packed on a few pounds due to excessive eating. (I think I may have eaten something chocolate every day along the way.)  I got to celebrate with some of my favorite people and I happened to rake in some pretty sweet gifts too.

I found these amazing books at a local antique mall. (Happy birthday to me!)

And I plan on making this amazing swim suit with the pattern, circa 1947.

My husband got me this box I was swooning over at Hobby Lobby to put all my buttons in.

My mother-in-law surprised me with this mirror that I saw and fell in love with (also from the antique mall.) I want to paint it but I'm not sure what color. I need my farm house already so I can pick out a color pallet!

And today I got to rummage through my aunt's old things and bring home these treasures that used to belong to my grandmother.

A quilt she had made.

Vintage Vera Neumann napkins.

And this Cranberry Delaware Early American Patterned Glass berry serving set. I kind of love it!

I think I may have gotten spoiled!

One is the Magic Number

Some may say that one is the loneliest number, I am convinced it is a magic number. It seems so anyway. Marinn has always been a lot little needier than her big sister ever was. It made for quite a first year with her in our lives. However, since turning one Marinn has become a much more independent child.

It's magical.

I feel as though she was visited by a fairy godmother who waved her wand and dusted some magical thing over her.

I can wear pants without a belt because there are no little hands tearing them off because I am no longer dragging her behind me as I do each task. There are no snot marks on my knees, as I am no longer the human Kleenex. There are no late night screams beckoning me into the the girls' room late at night. There are no sad faces smashed against the glass of the front door if I take the trash to the curb.

It only took a year, but I have gotten a full nights sleep for weeks straight!

It's so exciting, I don't really know what to do with myself.

I have had time to clean my house, play with the girls, fold laundry (not just pile in back into a laundry basket) AND do something leisurely like read or sew. I even took a bath the other night and it wasn't just to hide from screaming children refusing to go to bed.

Clearly this is going to be a good year. Much needed after the "fun" of last year. I feel so accomplished when I realize we all survived, no worse for the wear.

 

Look! They're playing together with no adults having to be in there with them!!

Playground Etiquette

We had an unseasonably warm day today so I decided to venture out with the girl in tow to do a little shopping. On the way home I looked in the back seat and saw I had two sleeping babies. As exciting as that was, I cannot under any circumstances allow Amelia to nap or I will have to endure the 3 hour bedtime battle from hell. I got the crazy notion that if I took them to the park and let them run around for a bit it would undo the brief napping so off to the park we went.

I love having the playground to ourselves, but we weren't so lucky today. I dread seeing other kids and their parents because I feel as though people lack basic etiquette. Most trips to the park reinforce this feeling. Today was no different.

Amelia barreled out of the car and made a bee line for the swings. I carried Marinn and place her in the swing (the one the only other kid on the playground had just exited) and picked Amelia up and put her in the other. Oh the giggles that come from my girls when they swing...

Next on the agenda was a game of tag with the 'new friend' Amelia made. I ran and played with them while Marinn sat content in the swing.

Onto the slides we went. Up the stairs, down the slide. Again and again. Little kid heaven. All the while Marinn was swinging.

Then the parent of the child on the playground decided to stand a little to close to my kid in the swing so I decided to get her to join us. As I lifted her out of the swing (much to her protest) my hand felt something cold. She was wet. Really wet. Weird because although the ground was soggy the playground was dry. As I held this wet baby on my hip I looked up to see the 'new friend' being hoisted onto a swing-with pee soaked pants.

No! It couldn't be! Surely it mist have been her own diaper leaking! Quick check and... nope, bone dry. Resisting to urge to toss the pee soaked baby to the ground I rounded up Amelia and headed for the car. No amount of hand sanitizer will make that go away. My kids cried when I made them leave the park to take a bath.

I feel as though it should go without saying, but since it doesn't I think I'll petition the city for a sign listing park etiquette. Top of the list will be:

If your child urinates or defecates on playground clean it up. (Or at least say something when a mother with their hands full goes to sit their child in it!)

Big Sister Blues

Amelia: I need jammies on.

Me: What about a bath?

 Amelia: I don't want a bath, I just want to go to bed.

Me: You don't want a bath?!

Amelia: No, Marinn poops in it every time.

After cleaning up a mess the past two nights, I can't say that I blame the kid. Marinn, what are we going to do with you? So sad to think this sweet little face may have forever ruined baths for big sister.



A Very Merry Homemade Christmas:Sew With Me

As soon as Amelia was big enough to talk, if I was sitting at my sewing machine I would hear, "I sew with you?"

Much like anything else I do, she wanted to be a part of it. Not willing to risk little fingers getting poked or pinched I would hand her scraps of fabric to occupy her. As she's getting older she's not as easily entertained by mere fabric. She watches closely as I work on projects and mimics what I'm doing. When I saw her get a baby spoon out of the drawer to use as her needle I knew I needed to come up with something better for her.

This project was inspired by something I remember doing in grade school, sewing with laminated paper and yarn. I wanted something sturdier than paper so I opted for a piece of hardwood. Together with some yarn and yarn needles Amelia now has her own 'sewing kit.'

For this project you will need:
Saw
Drill
Sandpaper
Paint
Small detail paint brush
Spray laquer
Krazy glue
5 1/2" x 36" piece of hard wood
4 Wooden spools 1 3/16" x 5/16"
4 yarn pieces cut to 50"
4 Yarn needles
Optional: cute painted box with fabric modge podged into the top

Start by cutting the wood into four equal parts and sand the raw edgeds until smooth. Next draw your design onto a piece of paper and mark where your holes will be (I spaced mine 1" apart). Each piece of wood will need its own template.I did simple shapes for these using Micrsoft word.
Tape one template to a piece wood and using a drill with a size   drill bit, drill holes through paper and completely through the wood. Remove paper and sand any rough areas that may be around holes. Repeat with remaining pieces.
Using acrylic paint and a small paint brush number the holes as if it were a dot-to-dot puzzle, lable the shape and allow to dry completely.
Once dry, spray with a coat of laquer and allow to set the reccomended amount of time.
Next take a spool and use krazy glue to glue one end of one piece of yarn to the spool. Hold in place until set and allow to dry completely. On the other end of the yarn lace one yarn needle on, leaving a 1" tail. Using the glue again glue the tail back to the yarn, securing the needle onto the yarn. Once the gule is completely dry, wind the yarn around the spool and secure into place by tucking the needle into the yarn. Repeat with remianing spools.

Marinn Was Here

I have a dreaded feeling third grade Marinn will be in trouble for etching into a desk

 'Marinn was here."

Let It Snow!

I woke up entirely too early this morning to nurse my now one year old (seriously kid? I thought we would be done with this by now-or at least only do so during normal waking hours.) and looked out the window to see snow falling.

As an adult I find the snow less appealing than I did as a child. I guess when there is no such thing as a snow day and you DO feel when your fingers are going numb from being outside in the wet stuff too long, it looses a little bit of its magic. I also know my husband has to drive an hour to work in the stuff long before the plows make their appearance. I was a little annoyed by it all, kissed my husband good bye and went back to bed.

When morning came (the real morning, when the sun is at least starting to make its appearance and mostly when you cannot convince children to sleep any longer) Amelia came bouncing into the room and pulled the blinds to check to see if it was moring (and therefore if she could be up.) She started bouncing, yelling, "It's snowing time! It's snowing time!" She excitedly ran from room to room lifting blinds and announcing, "It's snowing time in my room! It's snowing time in the living room! It's snowing time in the kitchen too!"

The snow hasn't lost it's magic for her! She begged me to open the front door and she and Marinn watched out the screen door as the snow continued to fall. She cried when I told her we couldn't go out and play and informed me that she and Daddy would be making a snow man.

Because recently sick children will not be going out to play in this snow we made snowman pancakes to compensate. I'm sure it will only be a little while before she's begging to go outside, but for the moment she's satisfied!

 

 

 

I think there will be hot chocolate and Chritmas movies in our future today!