Friday, December 24, 2010

Warning - Glimpse of how my mind wanders in 3....2...1........

Does anyone else ever feel like the innkeeper? As I am taking steps to make tomorrow morning run that much smoother (laid out everyone's clothes, bag is packed for all contingencies, breakfast and highchair set up so Emily can go right in etc) can't help but feel like I am running a B&B getting the next day ready for my tenants.  Of course I am also getting it ready for myself.  Goodness knows the more I do in advance the better the morning will go but the thought did occur.

At least I would be like a 4 or 5 star B&B. 

How ironic....I probably could not afford to go to a B&B like the one I sometimes feel I run for my family.  Pretty sure if I ever go someplace that cooks all my meals, launders and puts away my clothes, cleans my room etc, it'll be at a point in my life where I have blue hair and false teeth and spunky and sassy have been added to the adjectives that are used to describe me.  My get up and go will have gotten up and left and my great great great grandkids will come see me the 3rd Sunday of every month.  Fighting over turns in my hoover chair when I am not in it.  I'll sneak them candy with there mom's and grandmothers very aware and intentionally oblivious.  Matt will tell them stories of when cars had wheels and drove on the ground, fueled by gas (that word will make the kids giggle), he'll tell them the same story every time they visit and they will pretend it's the first time every time he tells it.  My husband will still have eyes only for me chasing me in his hoover chair, he'll still posses an amazing ability to make me giggle (and blush!) like a 16 year old girl falling in love all over again every day.  For our 100th wedding anniversary we will have saved every penny to go to Disney Universe on the Moon.

Our room will have a view of the Galaxy.

.....and we're back.  My mind enjoyed the trip...did yours?  What are somethings you see if you just let go and imagine everything is possible in your future?  Sometimes allowing ourselves to let go and dream everything also gives us a glimpse of where are hearts are now... Where is the focus of your dream?  Do you need to adjust somethings so that your future becomes your present?  Is your dream focused more on things then people?  If so is that how you want it to be?  I can't glow with pride at a flatscreen tv but I look forward to bragging on my grandkids...as much if not more then I enjoy bragging on my girls :D

off to finish up the kitchen so we come home to a clean house tomorrow.  God Bless!
See you soon!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Christmas is Coming.....

We have been collecting, plotting and planning for our girls for the past couple months and in 2 days time I am hoping the reaction equals the effort.  At 4 years old and 9 months old it's really not to hard to please.  Katie is thrilled that there are presents to open and Emily is just happy to be well...Emily.


I added the ribbon loops to attach Emily's toys to.  This way (hopefully) they will be hard to loose in the car.  She'll be able to let them go without necessarily loosing them.  It's also a good lug around size.


This is made of the Ultra snuggly fleece.  It is super soft.  Katie helped me pick out the fabric.  This will go in the crib with Emily.
I made a blanket for Katie too but had to wrap it quickly because she heard the sewing machine.  While I am looking forward to Christmas I am also looking forward to the New Year and our life settling back into a normal routine.  I made 3 blankets this Christmas.  They are wrapped and under the tree.

In January I am going to start making my mom and my sisters the picnic blankets for Christmas NEXT year.  I know impressive right?  If with all my good intentions I start before October I will be justly impressed with myself :D .  I am also going to make Matt a flannel blanket for his birthday in March.  I MAY make it a quilted flannel but not making any promises.

We are all set for Christmas.  Off I go..God Bless Everyone and I hope you have a blessed and happy Christmas and New Year.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Brrrr

Could someone please let the weather know that I am in FLORIDA!!??  We are expected to get down around 25F here.  FLORIDA....I AM IN FLORIDA!!

I finally got the majority of our Christmas stuff up.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas time and decorating for it.  I have a few little tricks up my sleeve of things I plan to do for presents. 

I am going to go this Friday and get the makings to sew picnic blankets for my 2 sisters and my mom.  Hoping that my mom will actually use hers and not just put it someplace for safe keeping.  I'll make it a condition.  My neices and my girls go up every summer and swim and have picnics and I thought this would be the perfect gift. 

I got the idea here....

Tutorial for Picnic Blanket

I am going to do their blankets in green tones (my sisters and my mom all love green) and I am going to make my own blanket in red tones (Guess what my favorite color is?).  Should make for a great and easy (I HOPE) Christmas present.  I am really looking forward to thinking about each of them when I pick out the fabrics and sew it together.  I am hoping they end up as excited about this as I am about making it.

Off I go....I have some cleaning to do before shower and then bed:D  I recently got an Epic and there is a help you sleep App that really lulls me to sleep.  It's great.

God Bless!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Drum Roll Please!!!

I would officially like to add a Man's Dress shirt remade into a girls dress to my resume!  My first attempt at it.  It turned out better then expected considering it was a first try!  I love, love, love binding tape.  It not only makes the edges look better but my more then questionable hem between the dress fabric and the chest fabric looks SO much prettier now!

Here she is.  Think she likes it?
Man's Dress Shirt to Girls Jumper Tutorial - The only thing I did different is use a coordinating fabric for the chest and straps instead of making it all from the shirt.

Next on the list is making a coordinating dress for Emily!  TTFN

Monday, November 29, 2010

I caught the sewing bug

Ok.  I am not sure why I am so struck right now with this urgency to sew new things but I am.  We saw Katiebugs new nightgown and today I made her some easy peesy wrap pants.  The great thing about these pants is that they TIE on.  So there is A LOT of room to grow.  They are also very forgiving and beginner friendly.

Easy Breezy Wrap Pants Tutorial - Thank You Laupre!!

You can't tell in the picture but these are actually on upside down....easy fix.  Like I said these pants are very forgiving.  They will grow with Katie and hopefully the pair I make for myself will shrink with me :D
I also plan on getting her jumper from dad's dress shirt started today!!  I have already disassembled the shirt VERY carefully.  Wish me luck if it turns out how I am hoping then I will also be making a mini matching one with diaper cover for Emily.  Which is why I am STRETCHING the fabric as much as I can :D

Off I go! God Bless!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Katie's New Nightgown

Here is my first attempt at making Katie a nightgown from SCRATCH!....  I think all things considered it turned out really well.... You won't be seeing any close ups of the back :D

(Please excuse the bed head - she's been sick all weekend)
I have a favorite tab FULL of projects I intend to do...can you hoard links on your computer?  If so it is quite possible I am a virtual hoarder.  Finally decided to get one done so I could add it to my resume.

Here is the link to the nighty tutorial.  All I did different is make thicker straps and more length.  It is an amazing tutorial and she gives great pictures/illustrations.  She also has a lot of other fun projects that are currently saved in my virtual hoard.  In my Imgonna file!

Until next time :D  Next on the imgonna is making Katie and Emily somewhat matching dresses....out of some scrap fabric and a dress shirt...I FEEL LIKE MCGYVER!!!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Bleh bleh bleh

Ok ….could someone please explain the logic that says the kids have to feel their best when you are starting to feel your worst?  I am coming down with something and as I feel the “germies” taking over my body and any will to move Emily is fussy and Katie is energetic.  If I am not dealing with one I am dealing with the other.

Bleh bleh bleh

I really don’t feel good.

I have definitly felt better.

Short post today my friends.  I am really crashing here.  I’ll post again soon.  TTFN

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Why must blowouts always follow baths??

Post Green Beans... Katie has to be quiet and still while Emily is eating because Emily would much rather pay attention to her then the spoon!
It started after I gave Emily a really thorough bath.  She has a touch of cradle cap so I had been putting the special oily stuff on her head throughout the day and then every time I fed her a bottle I would just have her little baby brush and gently rub it on her head loosening up the "gunk".  Then when I gave her a bath I got behind her ears and washed her hair twice (what little there is of it).  Washed her body down twice.  All nice and fresh and clean.   Just a really good washing.

She was acting hungry and it wasn't time for a bottle yet so I decided what the heck.  Let's feed her green beans.  After the first couple bites (she was expecting rice cereal), she really got into them.  She even started to grunt at me if I wasn't fast enough with the spoon.  There was the usual give and take involved with her spoon eating...1 spoonful in, 1/2 a spoonful back, shovel that back in with another spoonful, wipe and repeat until jar empty.  Didn't have her in her pj's yet so no big deal.  She had a bib on...she was even nice enough not to blow raspberries.

She thinks blowing raspberries with a mouthful of food is HILARIOUS.

It is pretty darn cute.

But don't tell her I said so!

So I get her all cleaned up from eating green beans and we play and take some pictures.  A little bit of cleaning up to do.  Then as I am getting Katie's dinner ready Emily starts to fuss.

I assumed she was getting hungry for her bottle & fussing to be sure I knew.

I hate being wrong.

I get Katie settled and go to pick up Emily and change her into her pj's and give her her final bottle for the evening.  With a glance I make a mental note that she's drooled the collar around her onsie to death.

Then I pick her up... Instantly I realize that my hands around her waste are wet.  How did drool get down there?  *sniff sniff* That's.... not... drool.

I would love to know the law that says blowouts must always follow baths?!?

I have decided that the silver lining is that she did it before I put her into her pajamas.  Mighty considerate of her. 

Remind me to thank her later....

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Spiders - Ugh!

Spiders.

Things that heeby jeebies are made of.

I have an agreement with spiders....  I don't kill them outside the home and they don't come inside the home.  Unfortunately that memo doesn't make it to every spider in Florida and occasionally a spider creeps into our house.

Putting away Monkey's baby bath I happened to glance down the tub and there it was.  A memo-less spider.  A memo-less spider bigger then a half dollar.

Why is it that it's always the big ones that don't check their memos?

A Wolf Spider.

The things that sell tickets to horror movies.

I don't watch horror movies.  I certainly don't want one in my bathtub.


THIS WAS IN MY TUB!!!
So here was my brief internal debate and dialog:

I can wait for Matt to get home.  He doesn't mind squishing things and it can't get out of the tub....probably.  What if it does get out of the tub? What if it gets out of the tub while Bug is using the restroom?  She'll never go in there again.  I may never go in there again and I know better.  What if she hurts herself trying to get away from it?  Ok I should squish it.  What if I squish it and it has babies and just seems to squish into a thousand more tiny creepy baby spiders?  What if one gets on me?!?  WHAT IF I MISS WHEN I TRY TO SQUISH IT AND IT GETS ON ME!!?? What if I hurt MYSELF trying to get away?  I can see the headlines now "Mom hospitalized after attempt to squish Wolf Spider"....

That is just a peek at the dialogue that ran through my head.  Not enough web space for the complete dialog of thoughts that went through my head in the (less than) 30 seconds it took from seeing the spider to squishing the spider.  In the end, the spider did not put up much of a fight. 

We have been giving Bug showers in our bathroom so I am not sure completely that it was entirely alive.  I actually think it was probably more dead now then alive looking back....they usually spot you when you spot them and move....this one never did....

I DIDN'T KNOW THAT WHEN I SAW IT OR SQUISHED IT!!!

It was still creepy picking it up with toilet paper and flushing it.

I need a hug.

Friday, August 6, 2010

The Power of a Smile

It's amazing how a smile is one of the first things you wait for from your little baby.

I get this just for walking up to her!! Lord help my Ego!!
 The sign that she knows you, likes you. An affirmation that you're doing a good job, she's happy. It's also something that even after 4 years it can still just steal your breath away. I don't think either of them understand the power that they hold in their smiles.
She "thinks" she's messing up my shot.
How one smile from his girls can change my husband's whole day.  Wiping away the bad and the ugly and replacing it with the knowledge that his two girls adore him.  His mood changed instantly with just a simple, adoring smile. 

In their smiles, possibilities are endless.  The world is still safe, the world is still an adventure to be had, to be taken with all the energy they have.  In their smiles, you see a future that you didn't have a the ability to dream about beforehand.

In their honest, loving, trusting smiles.... their pure belief that mom and dad can do anything.  The belief so strong that you can't help but start to believe it yourself.  Finding, through their belief, that you are capable of more then you thought possible.

In their smiles the knowledge of an unspoken promise mom and dad will keep them safe.  Fueling a desire in you to make sure that promise is never broken and a fear for the day that it will be.  Making a promise to yourself to keep that day as far in the future as possible.

The dangers & stresses of the world are only mere whispers lurking in shadows that hold no true form to them and won't for as long as is possible.  Whispers about bills, schedules, stranger danger.  Whispers about aches an ice pack won't fix and sickness that ice cream can't help.  Whispers that can be silenced by their laughter, however briefly. 

So today....we focus on our kids smiles.  What a wonderful thing to focus on! 

Ketchup Lipstick...... Once again her smile saves her.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

The First Day of the Rest of My Blog

Ok.  So this is it.  I have thought about "blogging" for sometime now.  So taking the plunge, diving in, and not fully understanding the butterflies dancing around in my tummy.  It's a feeling I (faintly) remember from the first day of school.  Will they like me?  Do I look "cool"?  What if I sound nerdy?  OH NO NOW I SOUND DESPERATE....

All going through my adult mind.  Me - Confident Woman.  Worried no one will want to play with me.  Silly right?

I enjoy writing and ESPECIALLY enjoy talking (typing?) about my girls and daily goings on.  This way at least everyone has the choice to listen (read?).  It is getting late here in my world which simply means the batteries are already on low and I need to get to bed soon but I was reading a favorite blog and was lead down the path to creating my own. 

As I start out I am HOPING that people find me and enjoy reading about our daily goings on.  I am PRAYING that there is someone out there that will read my blog and realize they are not alone some days and (yes) be glad some days that the 4 year old clipping out PATCHES OF HAIR with TOENAIL CLIPPERS is not their child (save that story for a future post :D).  A couple unintentional giggles as you read would be more then I am willing to ask for.  I am FEARFUL that I won't be interesting to anyone.  I'll be read and no one will want to come back and read again.  Except for maybe my mom....

......Or Worse.....

I do well and people expect me to continue to do so.

Not sure which one would be scarier.

Today I will focus on today.  Tomorrow will demand my attention soon enough.  Good Night All.  I hope I see you again soon.