Saturday, March 30, 2013

Craftiness

At the end of 2012 I had hit a craft rut mainly because I was sewing so many towels I did not have the time or creative reserves to just have fun. So over the last few months I have been working on some new things and taking on new sewing challenges (zippers and making my own patterns).

Here's a peek at my newest creations:
Nora's Easter basket liner


 Sawyer's Easter basket liner

These Easter basket liners were truly a labor of love. It involved a lot of math and lots of seam ripping. But in the end I think they turned out very well and they will be used for years to come.


Pom-pom towel


Pleated ruffle towel




Boppy Cover with zipper
There are several boppy cover tutorials on the WWW but they weren't quite what I was looking for. I wanted a zipper closure on the outside seam. So I just used my boppy cover as a template and watched a YouTube video for installing the zipper. A friend had requested this for a baby shower gift and it was pretty simple. I will be making more of these in the future!

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Brrr...Zoo Edition

We went to the zoo recently. It was COLD! I was skeptical but we had been stuck inside sick all week and we needed some fresh air. Surprisingly, the kids did wonderfully and never once complained about being cold. They had a blast looking at all the animals. Sawyer remembered the exhibits from last summer so he just ran from one thing to the next saying "hi" to all the animals. Because of the cool temperatures all the animals were out and about and there was hardly anyone at the zoo so the kids were able to run wild.  It was a wonderful morning outing.

This was also the first zoo outing that Nora was really able to participate in. She got excited about each animal. When I asked her what her favorite animal at the zoo was she growled...that means lion :) She also really enjoyed the ducks. I loved seeing her get so excited. And she walked nearly the entire time. I know I keep saying this but she is growing up so much!

And just for memories sake Sawyer's favorite animals were the penguins.





This was also Nora's 1st carnival ride. I was nervous that she would be scared. She is way more tentative than Sawyer. But she LOVED it. She grinned through the entire ride.




They love to hold hands when we're out and about

Climbing on the bears with our friends Aubrey and Summer

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Travel Bathroom

Almost a year ago we were working on remodeling the guest/kids bathroom. Click here for the before and after post to refresh your memory. The room has been done for over 10 months but I never put any art on the wall. Well I finally got on that...

When I first started traveling around the world in college I wanted to buy a souvenir when I went to a new place but I didn't want a bunch of kitschy items that just sat in a box so I decided when I went to a new location I would purchase an item for a future bathroom.

Over the years we have collected several special pieces including art prints, bowls, a rug, foreign money etc. And I recently selected a few pieces to display in our guest bathroom. It was hard to choose what items would make the cut. They are all special but I didn't want to overwhelm the room and most of the items needed to have a function like the rug or a bowl (from China) to hold jewelry. For the wall gallery I wanted to display an eclectic variety of pieces (not just pictures taken on vacation). Here's what I came up with:

Sorry for the bad lighting and the glare. This is a room with no windows so this is the best my amateur self could do.



From top to bottom, left to right: hand embroidered linen towel from Ecuador, Kansas state embroidery hoop (not from our travels but a special location to us), water closet sign from Greece, a collection of foreign currency from numerous countries (China, Britain, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Euro's, Canada, etc), landscape picture of the Greenville post office (city we lived in when we were married), a hand painted Mayan calendar commemorating our wedding anniversary which we purchased on our honeymoon.



One of the great things about this project was it was FREE! I used souvenirs we already had and utilized frames I had in my stash (I may have a frame hoarding issue).


Speaking of bathrooms we are working hard on the master bathroom. Since I last updated the wallpaper has been completely removed, the flooring removed, walls primed and painted and new flooring laid. Nothing says bathroom remodel like a new toilet sitting in my formal living room. Painting trim and putting in the toilet is next on the list. I'm also working on some artwork for the new space...hopefully it won't take me a year to complete :)

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Happy Play

My children do not always play well together. They have their share of fights. But as Nora gets older they are starting to play together more.  The other day Nora was pretending to sleep and Sawyer ran and jumped on top of her. I thought she might get mad but instead she started to laugh. So they continued their fun for awhile.

In the midst of a hard week dealing with sickness, disobedience, cabin fever etc. it did a mommy's heart good to see them having fun together!  I just savored the moment!




Friday, March 22, 2013

Gymnastics {Take 2}

Thankfully after the 1st lesson Sawyer has happily participated in his gymnastic class with no tears. He is always excited when we get there. Then as we walk down the hall he becomes shy and cautious. So I walk him in and find his name tag and carpet square. Then I remind him I will be back soon and he lets me leave. He never participates in the warm up/stretches. He simply sits and watches. But when they get up to do the activities he is all in.

He loves the trampolines, bars, jumping, and balance beam. He has learned how to do a proper somersault (I didn't realize there was a specific technique :) Thus far he has been able to perform everything they do. And he usually sits and waits his turn very well. There has been a definite improvement from the 1st lesson a month ago.

Here are a few pictures of his activities. I apologize these pictures are bad because I am very far away. This will be more for memories sake than quality photography. It can be like a game of Where's Waldo?...or Sawyer in this case.
stretching or scratching his bum...such a boy

hanging on the parallel bars
hanging upside down all by himself

 Practicing his "vault" technique

walking on the balance beam, the kids even did this backward

jumping on the trampoline
And my favorite part when he runs upstairs after the lesson and excitedly tells us what he did

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Big Girl

When did my baby go from this




to this?


When I saw her lounging on the couch with her snack I thought she looked so grown up. She is talking up a storm these days, playing independently and always trying to keep up with her brother. She is no longer a baby :(

However, she is still my snuggle bug and when she is tired she only wants momma. And while it can make doing chores difficult I secretly love it. When she says "up, please" I can't resist.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Dr. Suess Happy Party

In kid world March is Dr. Suess month and we got in on some suessical fun at the ECRC. They held a Dr. Suess birthday party for kiddos complete with making Suess hats, face painting and green eggs and ham.

The kids had fun though they would not touch the green eggs and ham :)

decorating Suess hats




Sawyer's first face painting experience, he chose a green balloon



Saturday, March 16, 2013

Going Green

Gracie gave Sawyer a special treat, Fun Dip. After 3 dips with the white sucker stick he gave up on that and just used his finger...


Sawyer was very excited to be turning green like Oscar the Grouch.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Potty Training

or not...but she certainly likes to pretend she is a big girl. She loves to put on Sawyer's underwear! If she finds a pair she will pull them on she doesn't care if they are dirty or clean :)

When she puts them on she is so proud of herself. When I was taking pictures she even started posing and saying "cheese" which she never does.







She'll probably hate these pictures later in life, but she is too cute to not capture :)

Kyle thinks she looks like a baby monkey.