Merry Christmas 2011

(Ready to Be) Stuffed

Yes, I finished them. Before Christmas even (about a week ago, actually, but I didn't get around to taking a picture until today--and the picture is awful!). To get done in time, I did scale back my grand plans of embroidering everyone's name on the cuff of his/her stocking, but I'm okay with that. I stitched a border around each cuff as well as around the "patches" on B and Squish's stockings, and adding that to getting done in time to not have to stress about them on Christmas Eve, and I am going to count this as a victory.

Like all of my projects, there are things about each one of them that bug me. I can't help being a perfectionist. However, I'm not going to write any of those things in this post except to say that mine (the wonky striped one second from the left) ended up being my least favorite even though it was the one I was most excited to make. I just think it's too busy to appreciate the fact that it's a stocking, which only reaffirms my notion that I should take a step back and simplify my sewing. Design/execution flaws notwithstanding, I'm so excited to finally have stockings after 7 Christmases without! Hurray for Christmas!

P.S. Pattern found here. Yes, I modified it and no, I'm not going to post a tutorial. I'm lazy, I don't have any extra time right now (holiday madness and more!) and besides, I'm pretty sure nobody needs it before Christmas anyway.

Stitched

When we found out our little Stinker was going to be a boy (after I was so sure that he would be a girl), I immediately knew that I wanted him and Bubs to have coordinating quilts since I was pretty certain they'd be sharing a room for the rest of their lives. The problem was that Bub's quilt was already the third that I had made with that line of fabric and I had very little left. Thankfully, my sister-in-law Katherine hadn't yet made a quilt with the squares she had from our quilt block exchange in 2008 and so between her squares and my scraps I was able to just barely have enough fabric to finish off little Squish's quilt. Phew!

At first I didn't like the fact that it is so "scrappy" and colorfully unplanned, but the more I look at it the more I like it. This is a perfect fabric representation of his rambunctious, bright and zany personality and anyone who has met my boys knows that while they definitely are "cut from the same cloth," #2 is the wilder and crazier version of the our more orderly and calm #1!

Oh, and a link here to see his brother's if you want to compare. Both quilts finish at 54" square and are made out of Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt, white and tan.

P.S. In some ways I actually like the back of Squish's quilt better than the front, which makes me think I'm way over-thinking this quilt thing and should just do large colorblocks all the time rather than the comparatively complicated stuff I tend to do. Also, I just noticed between the zig-zag on the front and the colorblocking on the back, this is a pretty trendy quilt considering it was started almost 4 years ago!

Spoiled

We spent the last weekend checking out what will be our new hometown starting next year. We are excited to be moving and excited for our new town. However, there are a few things that concern me.

The first is that our apartment will be 500 square feet. For those of you with no concept of space, this is small. Very, very small. There are two bedrooms: one is 8x10 feet and the other is 10x11 feet. We (and our king-size bed) have to fit in one bedroom and our two boys have to fit in the other. The kitchen has no room for a table, so our table will be in the living room. This means there is no room for couches. Maybe a loveseat, if we squeeze it in just right. The closets are tiny and there is only one window air conditioning unit (in the living room). I'm nervous. Very, very nervous. And yet, this is the only option I've felt good about, so that's where we're going. When we got home yesterday, suddenly our 1100 square foot apartment seemed palatial. That's the first time that has happened.

Then the other issue: shopping. I'm not a big shopper with regard to clothes, shoes, etc. We've never had the money for it. Not having money is another reason that I tend to do grocery and all other shopping at various stores trying to get the best deal. Where we live now is good for that. Within 9 miles of my house I have 3 Costcos, 3 Trader Joes, 3 Old Navys a Whole Foods, 3 Targets, not to mention countless Hobby Lobbys, Wal-Marts, Jo-Ann Fabric Stores, H&M... you name it, I can find multiple locations of it and close. Within 9 miles of our new home there is 1 Old Navy, 1 Target, 1 Wal-Mart, but despite my deal-seeking, that's not the real problem. This is: the nearest Costco is 58 miles away, the nearest Trader Joes is 72 miles away and the nearest Whole Foods is 118 miles away! And so while this is distinctly a "first world problem" and I try to tell myself it's not that big a deal, I can't deny that I might be freaking out a little bit. Okay, maybe a lot.

Point being, I'm going to relish the next few months of being able to get all the organic spinach that I want and picking one Target over another because the diapers are $1.30 cheaper per pack and scouring the clearance racks at multiple Old Navys to get just what I need. And come next year, I might be taking some road trips to visit those of you who live closer to my stores of choice.

Ahem

I love our CSA. Love it. However, they sometimes send things that I'm not exactly sure how to use. This week was one of those (the 10-month old is in the picture strictly for scale... and also because he's cute):

Don't worry, buddy. I'm a little freaked out by it, too. Now to figure out what to do with it!

To Market, To Market (Christkindlmarkt, To Be Specific)

To market, to market to buy a cheese strudel,

Home again, home again Yankee Doodle.

To market, to market to buy candied nuts,

Home again, home again jiggly guts.

To Chi-town, to Chi-town to see the Mag Mile,

Home again, home again with a big smile.

Also included in our long weekend: Bob Chinn's Crab Shack, the Allerton Hotel, the Ghirardelli store, lots of window shopping, Water Tower Place and, of course, Turkey Day with the family. 

Six

Super Wednesday

Apparently when I said "back to normal," I really meant back to normal life and not blogging. It's been so nice to be back in a rhythm (hello, clean house. i missed you.) and feel like life is flowing well. 

Anyway, around here Super Saturdays seem to have disappeared (is this true everywhere?), but thankfully for my wannabe crafting self, our ward had a Super Wednesday to try to balance it out. It was so fun! For $1 and a night of fun crafting I got 8 hairpins/broaches and a cute little advent calendar that will be easy for the boys to play with and cheap enough that I won't freak out when they destroy it in a few years. :)

Super Wednesday aside, I've been working on a lot of other projects. None of them are done yet, but I'm having a great time sewing and creating. Hopefully I'll get back to blogging again soon, if I can tear myself away from all the other craziness in our lives!

Back to Normal

After a few weeks of sickness, teething, growth spurts and the inevitably-following bad sleeping patterns and whininess of both my boys, I was so relieved when little Squish finally slept longer than 45 minutes in a row today. It's amazing how just being back to what two weeks ago was just "normal" suddenly seems so great! Maybe now I'll be able to get back to my normal: actually cooking and cleaning and blogging and maybe even getting some sleep myself!

Seriously, Best Birthday Ever

It started with a fantastic call from the Director of Admissions at ND telling us about B's scholarship. Awesome.

Then I got to spend all morning at my old company judging the out of control Halloween costume contest. Loved every second of the insanity.

I came home to a whole pan full of homemade Almond Roca (how is my husband so awesome?!) and a clean kitchen.

Then he gave me my present: he made me this awesome sewing table I've been wanting. Again, awesome.

Dinner was provided by Jimmy John's. Yum.

And I got to go trick-or-treating with the cutest little puppy dogs in town.

Of course, best of all were all the emails, Facebook messages, texts, cards, calls, hugs and kisses from loved ones. With a start like this, the 30s don't seem like they'll be too bad!

Best Birthday Present EVER

By now y'all know I don't use all caps very often, so when I do, it's a pretty big deal. And this is. It's a few days before the "big day" (turning 30 seems to be looming exponentially larger and larger the closer I get to it), but today brought the best birthday present I've ever gotten (at least in terms of life-long effect): my sweet, wonderful and genius husband got accepted to the MBA program at the University of Notre Dame!! And they even found a way to throw the number "30" into the mix. We are so very, very excited to be South Bend bound!

P.S. Added perk: BYU plays in South Bend both years we are there! So basically this is perfect timing all around. :)

Details

So I kinda lied before when I said this blog is going private. It's not. I'm just not going to post here anymore. All my posts will now be on our private blog that already exists. My brain just can't handle having two blogs so it's time to simplify. For those of you who already have access to our private blog, you don't have to do anything.

Also, good news! For those of you who hate private blogs and use Google Reader, you will still be notified of new posts on the private blog so you don't have to remember to check it. Each time I post something new on the private blog, I'll put a mini-post on this blog to notify you and include a link to the new post. The link to the real post will come to you in Reader and so you'll just have to click and voila! My blog posts! No more having to remember to check! I figure it's the best of both worlds.

So, the short version is... give me your email address to get added to our private blog and then starting in January look for links in Reader to tell you when we have new posts over there! Easy as that!

Going Private

Yes, it's happening. Not until January, but I want to give people plenty of time to let me know if they want to be added. I'll remind a few more times before then. You can send me your email here or at my email account or on Facebook and I'll be happy to add you... yes, even you barely-friends or friends-of-friends or whoever!

Outtakes

This picture would have been good, except I'm hunched over and have my eyes closed.

This one was one of my favorites, except the boys both looking off deadpan in opposite directions.

Again, the boys are struggling.

Look at the camera, kids!

Our photographer (a sweet young woman from church who volunteered to give up her Saturday afternoon because, yes, I'm cheap like that) took 321 pictures. Of those, not a single one involves all of us looking at the camera with open eyes and smiling. However, there were some great individual/small group shots and even a few that will be passable for a family picture. Next year, we're practicing ahead of time. Not kidding. 

Last Ones

Today I picked what I think will be the last tomatoes off our plants, and it made me sad. And I decided that in my heaven, tomatoes and peaches will always be in season.

Also, the hot water will never run out. Yep, that would be heaven.

family picture day

first thing this morning--b bangs left eye on dresser.

then he clobbers me above right eye with a baby rattle (on accident).

then s hits himself then in face with drumstick.

i get ready for pictures while the boys nap, then check the weather and see that there is a high wind advisory. so i take my blown-dry locks (used my hair dryer for the first time in about a year) and pull them back. wasted effort.

then s wakes up really, really early from his nap, like so early that he'll be wanting to go back to sleep right at the time we're supposed to take pictures.

then he throws up on me (and me already dressed for pictures!).

then b wakes up cranky and with a cowlick and we can't find his brush. and it turns out that wetting his hair three times isn't enough to fix the cowlick. unreal.

i think this outtake from our photo shoot sums it up:

Yes, that would be lots of crying and not a lot of looking at the camera. *sigh* There's always next year. 

p.s. thankfully, we did get some decent shots. i'll post some of those later (you know, after i photoshop the one person's eyes that were inevitably closed in every picture), once i get done laughing at this one and shaking my head at what a crazy day we had. seriously, someone make the crazy stop!

Even More Cringing

Today at church we became that family. You know, the one whose toddler makes a huge mess of his snack and gets it all over the pew, floor and anything else in sight. The family whose mom rolls her eyes and shakes her head when this happens and tries to collect some of the crumbs but in the end gives up because it's going to take a vacuum to get rid of all of it.

Then tonight we were getting ready for an out-of-town visitor and got out our air mattress only to realize that it had somehow gotten water in it (likely during our second office flooding this summer) and so it had all kinds of nasty mold growing on it. This happened right as our guest was arriving and so now he and B are making a Sunday night emergency trip to K-Mart to get a new air mattress so that he can have somewhere to sleep (because since we sold our couches Saturday night, there is literally nothing but the hard floor for him to sleep on). We're such awesome hosts.

Put those two things together (and add them to the couch incident yesterday) and suddenly I'm feeling so redneck.

Prepare to be Horrified

I'm a little scared to post this because I'm pretty sure some of you won't want to be friends with me after you read it, but in the spirit of "keeping it real" on the blog, here goes.

What do all of these things have in common? I found them in our couches as I cleaned them out today for the first time. Yes, that's one of Squish's shirts, a 1/4 tsp measuring spoon, a black pen, a USB drive, seven buttons, an air pump, a Lego piece (FYI, we don't even own Legos) a straight pin, a needle, a board book, a dime, a baby spoon, two forks, a barrette, my hospital bracelet from when Bubs was born, twelve pony beads. a hair elastic, two drum sticks and eight marbles. Not pictured: several paperclips, tissues and receipts, one Christmas card, a set of earplugs and a twist-tie.

I think my two-year old is a hoarder. Then again, if I were more of a cleaner, this probably wouldn't be a problem.

Sucked In

I've been a bad blogger lately. I blame Pinterest. And life. I seem to have gotten quite sucked into both of them.

Yesterday B's dad had his retirement luncheon. We tried to take pictures outside. As usual, the only times Squish was smiling, Bubs was looking at the ground and vice versa. There were many, many attempts. This is about as good as it got:

Activity Bag Swap

Anyone else have a toddler that needs to be entertained? Anyone else who doesn't always have the time to do the entertaining?

My friend Brittany is trying to start a toddler activity bag swap. Basically it's a bag (or box, or whatever you want) full of activities, games and little things that your toddler can do to entertain himself. (Okay, you might have to supervise occasionally.) Just imagine the possibilities: on planes, in church or at the doctor's office (or, you know, trying to make it through a Midwest winter), an automatic bag full of things to keep your baby happy! Anyway, the idea is that each person makes a bunch of one type of game or activity and then sends out the copies to everyone else participating and we all end up with a bunch of fantastic activities!

The best part: you don't even have to come up with these activites on your own. You can look at the link here:

http://therigneys.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/toddler-busy-bag-swap/

or here:

http://engagingtoddleractivities.wordpress.com/tag/busy-box/

to get some ideas. If you're interested, let me know! I can get you in touch with Brittany and get you in on the fun! I, for one, am excited!!

Fun-Filled Days

Lately, we've been doing lots of stuff. I've only taken pictures of some of it, so here is that part! Sorry for the lame captions and general lack of effort in this post, but like I said, we've been busy.

At the dolphin exhibit at the Brookfield Zoo. Bubba loved the "big fish!"

Snacks, crocodiles, snakes and seals at the zoo--basically a little boy's heaven. 

Playing with water at the Morton Arboretum. 

Ooooh, lots of fun at the Arboretum! 

I happened to enjoy the gorgeous vegetation. 

Lots of daddy/son time. 

And this guy: lots of smiling and looking around, not to mention some napping. 

My favorite part of the Arboretum: the crocheted trees! 

Splashin' it up at the splash pad!

Deep Thought* of the Day

If you drop a plastic measuring cup in your Kitchenaid stand mixer while running, it will break the cup into several pieces that you will then have to fish out of your pizza dough. Turns out it is better to follow manufacturer's instructions and turn the mixer off when pouring anything in. Go figure.

*When I say "deep thought," I mean a Jack Handy-style deep thought as opposed to Kant or Nietszche. Obviously. 

Ta Da!

Our random dabbling in woodworking continues... behold our storage bench! We created it from this plan from Ana White's site (yes, this is the bench we started back in January--don't judge!) and I finally stained and sealed it. I love having a good place to put the boys' shoes, hats and gloves, not to mention my piano music and our manuals for Sunday. It's the perfect thing!

What's For Dinner?

After I had Bubba, dinners got scaled back at our house but I still made time to menu plan and try to make good meals. After I had Squish, they got scaled back even more, and I don't even pretend to have a plan most of the time. But with this cute new board, I might be a little more motivated to get back into menu planning.

I made the turquoise one for a friend and the brown one for me... I'm just hoping my plan for newfound motivation works!

Beet Cake

That's right, I made a cake with beets. Sounds strange, yet you've probably heard of this particular cake by it's more common name: red velvet. Yes! There is a reason for red velvet cake! It's not just some quasi-chocolate cake into which someone decided to throw heinous amounts of food coloring. In fact, my own personal opinion is that this was the original "deceptively delicious" concept: throw a vegetable in a cake, cover the very slight odd flavor with a bit of chocolate, give it a pretty-sounding name and voila! Kids will eat their veggies. Anyway, on to the cake.

I found the recipe here at Sophistimom. After having made it, I don't think the recipe is perfect. For me it yielded an incredibly heavy cake and I could taste the lemon too much and the chocolate not enough. I made some modifications (though I warn you, I haven't tested them yet) and you can find my version of the recipe here. I'm excited to try it again with the changes; it was good enough the first time that I think a second try will be fantastic!

P.S. Special thanks to my sister-in-law Katherine for coming over to make the cake with me, and particularly for peeling the "beets from h*ll." You're the best!

Food Nerd

Last night: pickles.

Today: apricot-plum freezer jam.

Tomorrow: the world! ...Okay, just kidding. But if you think today's post makes me a nerd, just wait until tomorrow. It'll blow your mind.

Recent Facebook Statuses

I did this on my other blog and liked it so much I'm bringing it over here. For those of you on Facebook, you can skip this post. It's all stuff you've read before. For anyone not on Facebook, here's a smattering of what I've said yesterday. Mostly, though, this post is for me so that I can keep a record of the little things that make it to Facebook but not to the blog.

April 18: Rainy day nap? Yes, please.

April 29: Suddenly, I'm feeling so stylish. Kate and I = wedding day hair and earring twinners, except I pulled it off 5 years in advance.

May 3: Craigslist, I love you.

May 22: I'm sad my neighbor found out she's allergic to almonds... but I'm not sad to inherit her Almond Roca!

May 28: Great date with B at let them eat chocolate.

June 6: Love is pulling an all-nighter at the machine shop to help your husband make a deadline.

June 6: Puke always puts me in panic mode.

June 7: Night 2 of no sleep. Turns out I prefer commercial ovens and forming tables to sick baby boys.

June 8: Night #3 of no sleep. Now it's my turn...

June 17: Roadtrips are like childbirth. You don't remember how terrible they are until you're in the middle of one again.

June 23: My son is officially uninsurable. Thank you, Obamacare.

July 2: Turns out ATVs are really fun and thin mountain air leads to sunburns very, very quickly.

July 4: Best. 4th. Ever.

July 12: Heaven on a plate — at Cafe Rio (Ogden).

July 13: On the road again. In wyoming. Thank goodness for a laptop and a Blurb book to create.

July 14: Turns out there are some beautiful parts of Wyoming. Too bad none of them are on the I-80.

July 19: Eye surgery a success. Hoping that anasthesia keeps him drowsy for the rest of the day.

July 20: Duh! Why don't I always put onions in the food processor rather than slicing and dicing by hand?!

July 23: Trying to sleep through this lightning storm is like trying to sleep in a discoteca. Somebody make it stop!

Our New Favorite State

On our long, long drive back from Utah, we decided to take a slight detour and see Mt. Rushmore. We enjoyed it, but what we really liked was the state of South Dakota! Who knew it was so beautiful?! If it weren't for the fact that it's missing all three of our "important" criteria for where we permanently settle someday (airport, temple and family) we'd be seriously tempted to move there! We've decided it's our new favorite state and we want to go back for a week of camping and fun someday.

Views from the Top

The Fourth

We had the best Independence Day that I can remember. It was full of American flag waffles, country breakfasts, potato salad, mutton bustin', greased pig chasing, trout catching (no rod and reel required--just two hands!), caterpillar train riding, seat drop wars, chicken chasing, ATVs, zip lines, fireworks, nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters, sunsets, mountain views, smiles, laughter, trout eating, bacon jalapeno burgers, raspberry lemonade, American flag trifle,swinging, trout cleaning, sprinkler mishaps, and plenty of fun family time. There were too many great moments to pick just a few photos and since I want to remember as much as our day as I possibly can, I'm including lots and lots of pictures. Deal with it. :) Oh, and happy birthday, America!

A Change

While at BYU, I (repeatedly) said that I never ever wanted to live in Utah. Views like this out my front door might be enough to change my mind.

Seeing as how these pictures came from my less-than-stellar camera phone, you can only imagine how gorgeous it is in person. 

Flashback: 2007

I am still loving re-archiving our old pictures. Apparently we had a lot of fun in 2007--a trip to NYC and Connecticut, visits from friends, lots of fun with our house, lots of trips to downtown Chicago, etc. I also rediscovered the beautiful flowers we had in our backyard (yes, we had a backyard once) and a favorite skirt that no longer fits me.

I think my favorite thing to look at were our pictures from the Illinois Railway Museum. We enjoyed it at the time, but knowing how much a certain toddler that I love (and often refer to as Bubba) would love to go, it makes me excited to plan a return outing in the future!

Tomorrow it's time for a flashback of another kind: roadtrip! Pray the boys and I survive. 

Unconquerable

That's what the laundry becomes when 3 of the 4 members of your household have had a stomach virus for the better (actually, worse) part of the last 4 days.

6 loads down, several more to go....

Dear Dad

Remember that router you gave us years ago? I'm ashamed to admit that up until a few weeks ago, we hadn't used it, but I'm pretty sure we (and when I say "we," I mean my husband) made up for lost time. Behold B's first creation:

He made this out of 2x4s and some pickets. Noticed how every single piece of wood was routed and fit together perfectly.

You might be asking yourself, what is this contraption? Well, it's the homemade version of this:

We needed one for a project and since we couldn't afford the "real" one, B looked at it and said, "I can make that." And he did. It boggles my mind how he fitted all those boards and clamps and brackets and who-knows-what-else into one perfectly functioning table, but he did. That table, combined with this crazy homemade heating tube (that he also just figured out how to make on his own... in the words of my sister-in-law, he's "some kind of genius")

a homemade version of this $5,000 machine

are going to allow us to take these

to make a deck. So just think, your router is going to allow us to build this:

Kinda crazy, huh?

P.S. So it turns out that the downside to either our heater or the commercially-sold version is that they get overheated easily, which is obviously a problem in the summer. Because last night was cool, B and I pulled an all-nighter to do some board bending. I got home at 4:45 this morning and he got home even later. So today I maybe don't love your router quite as much as I did yesterday. ;)

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day I wanted to wake up with no dark circles under my eyes after having slept for two weeks straight (preferrably in Hawaii).

Instead I woke up to homemade waffles with raspberries and whipped cream and the three most wonderful boys in the whole world.

And I realized that sleep and Hawaii weren't what I really wanted after all.

Flashback: 2006

As part of my weekly project series, I've been going through and rearchiving my old digital pictures. Yesterday I worked on 2006. I had two thoughts: 1) I now have a much better camera and 2) "wow, remember that?" There was so much I had forgotten! That was the year we went to St. Louis to see Todd and Brooke, had the family taco eating contest (anyone else still grossed out by that?!), did a lot of work repainting and fixing up the house that we no longer own, had a family reunion for Christmas, celebrated our first wedding anniversary and so much more. I didn't have a blog back then so most of those things were never documented, but I wanted to post some pictures from our biggest adventure that year: our trip to China.

B went to Beijing for work (he was in pallets back then; from pallets to landscaping... man, we have had some glamorous jobs!) and we decided that I was going to tag along. We only had enough time to see a few big things, but we thoroughly enjoyed them.

Forbidden City. Awesome.

Tienanmen Square. Equally awesome, but in a different way.

We walked around the hutong district (old town). It was fun to see a different side of Beijing.

The Great Wall was on my Top 5 bucket list. It did not disappoint.

And our favorite part of the trip: the Summer Palace.

Looking at all these pictures is enough to make me want to go back!

Easter Pictures, Delayed

I don't even want to talk about how many shots we had to take before we got one where we are all looking at the camera (even though we didn't manage to get one with all of us smiling!), but at least we finally have a family picture that doesn't involve me wearing a hospital gown. Or anyone crying. Or picking their nose. Or... you get the idea.

Finally!

Today I'm thankful for

1. a fantastic sister-in-law that lives close enough for me to hang out with her on Saturday mornings and likes me enough to let me come over!,
2. my sister-in-law's quiet neighborhood and great walking loop,
3. infants that still sleep well in their carseats,
4. the existence of Craigslist, which allowed me to afford a decent double stroller,
5. and most of all, nice weather!

Put it all together and what do you get?


Yes,we got to go out for a walk around the neighborhood without coats on! The weather made me so happy that during the boys' nap I opened the kitchen window and danced around while doing the dishes and let me tell you, it has been a looooong time since I was feeling perky enough to dance while scrubbing out pots and pans. Yay for spring!

You Know When

You know you have successfully created a sauna in your infant's bedroom (using a combination of space heaters and humidifiers, FYI) when you walk in after a long night's rest and the diaper wipe you left out on the desk still hasn't dried out. Good thing that womb-like state keeps him happily sleeping for 11 hours at a time or you'd start to think you should maybe use less drastic measures to get some shut-eye.

You know your toddler has been trying to help with the chores behind your back when you try to vacuum only to discover a pink baby spoon lodged in the hose .* I love my Dyson and all, but maybe they should calibrate it to occasionally lose suction in the event of large, metal objects being run over. Just a thought.

*Any ideas as to how to remove said spoon would be greatly appreciated.

Project of the Week

For the past few weeks I've been trying to have a weekly project. It gives me something to look forward to, keeps me motivated to survive the hard days and makes me feel like I'm being productive. Two of them have been the sewing items posted on the blog. This past week I decided I wanted to try a new recipe (and yes, it took me all week to do it! don't judge) and so I made this amazing Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream using real, fresh mint. B and I have both been scarfing it down.

For this coming week, I've decided my project is going to be to get out and reorganize all my piano music (and man, I have a lot of it apparently... the box in our office was fuller than I thought) because I want to have it all ready for my return to Primary! After two months of being released from the Presidency, I'm baaaaaack!! I can't wait to get back into the swing of knowing what's going on with all the kids and being involved with the craziness and laugh-out-loud chaos that is the Primary. Being the Primary pianist is my absolute favorite calling in the whole wide world (or the whole wide church, as it were) seeing as how I get to watch and enjoy everything but be responsible for nothing (no keeping them reverent, no teaching, no pressure=win/win/win). I'm so excited!!

Would You Want This?

Not "do you want this?" but would you want it if you were pregnant with your first baby and it was a girl? Or would you rather have something practical or off your registry?

I made this quilt for a baby shower I went to on Saturday. When I thought of the idea to make a baby quilt I was so excited but then as the time got closer I got nervous... Do people like gifts like this? Or would they rather have something they really need (especially since this was for a first baby)? Or if I am going to give a quilt, should I only do it if I know their colors or what they really want? I mean, I think I know this girl well enough to know that these fabrics were her style (or at least that she wouldn't hate them), but that doesn't mean it's what she wants for her baby. I'm might be paranoid, but I would love to hear any opinions! I don't want to give gifts that people don't want!

P.S. If it helps you have a more informed opinion, this baby quilt measures about 28" square. It was also the first time I attempted machine quilting and binding , the first time that I didn't add any sashing and didn't use any white so this poor girl was kind of my guinea pig. Yikes! I'd still love to know what you think!

Just Roll It

Back in October we purchased a Groupon for a sushi rolling class, but being pregnant at the time I was not about to make sushi that I couldn't eat! This past week we finally went downtown for our class and we had a great time! Our pictures didn't turn out so hot seeing as how it was dark (oh yeah, sushi rolling class in a swing bar with red and blue spotlights) and we were just using a camera phone, but hopefully you get the idea.

Everything laid out and ready to go. The spray bottle of water is for your hands and knife so that they don't stick to the rice. Ditto the plastic wrap on the bamboo rolling mat.

The start of our California rolls. You use your thumb and second finger to hold/roll the mat and your third, fourth and fifth fingers to hold the "stuff" inside. This is after we had already spread the rice and sesame seeds on the other side of the seaweed since the California roll is "inside out." Turns out rolling is harder than you'd think since you have to roll until the two sides touch, then pull back and do another 1/4 turn. Learning the technique was fun.

Slicing the roll. Also harder than you'd think in the sense that seaweed is hard to cut and you have to get the knife wet after every cut. Note: here B is slicing his cucumber roll, which is not inside out.

My finished California rolls (and excess at the top). They were yummy!

Here are our spicy tuna rolls. I did an inside out version and B did the normal way. 

The best part of the night was that our spicy tuna plate won 2nd place in the sushi rolling contest! What can we say, they were blown away by our plating design and we suddenly felt like our hours spent watching the Food Network were well worth it. Our prize: free admission to another class offered by the same company, in essence making this the Groupon that keeps on giving. We've decided to go to their Chocolate 101 class on May 28th and we can also get 2 friends in for half price, so for any of you locals that want to spend an afternoon learning about/tasting and making chocolates, let us know! We'd love to have you come along!

Covered

Inspired by this friend and this acquaintance and using this tutorial, I made a carseat cover for Baby S. It only took me a week to make from buying the fabric to being completely done, which I consider to be a testament to how easy this is seeing as how I could only use stolen moments (and I mean REALLY stolen since my sewing machine is about 2 feet from S's bassinet, which meant I could only sew when he was awake but not being fed AND his older brother was either asleep or otherwise occupied) and I'm still not getting nearly enough sleep. It's really a miracle that it got done this quickly, although having a fantastical husband to agreed to feed the baby anytime he was home so that I could sew helped quite a bit.

I wanted to make something that could go either way gender-wise so that if we have a girl in the future I won't need to make another cover, assuming of course that I don't fall prey to the "my girl must have everything super cute and pink" bug that seems to afflict so many mothers out there. The materials I used are pretty bright, but I like it that way. I wanted the solid backing to be a little darker so that it wouldn't let in as much light (hopefully this child will sleep in his carseat sometimes) but the outer fabric to be light so that it wouldn't be too hot. I think I accomplished everything I set out to do and it's cute, too!

I have some other projects in the works, but since they are going to be gifts, they'll have to stay under wraps for now. It feels good to be back in the creative saddle!

Desperate Times

Desperate times call for desperate measures and today we needed a new form of amusement.

Yes, that is my child sitting (almost) fully clothed in a sink with running water.

Yes, I let him also eat while in the sink. The roll I was munching on was too yummy for him to pass up. 

Being a boy, he very quickly figured out how to make the water spray all over the kitchen. He looooved it. 

I didn't mind his antics (read: I had a ton of time when he was contained and happy to clean up the rest of the kitchen and deal with the dishes) and he had a great time! I also let him play with the hand soap, water my plants in the windowsill and splash all he wanted. It was all in the attempt to avoid another moment like this one:

P.S. For the record, I did not let him play with the drain stoppers, put any food in his mouth that touched the sink or play with the dirty dishes. I do have some limits.

Van Dyck or Vermeer?

Try and tell me this child doesn't look like he belongs in a Dutch painting.

Well, besides a few obviously non-Dutch compositional things like not looking directly at the viewer, etc. I still think the resemblance/style similarities are remarkable.  

Metamorphosis

I am now a Minivan Mom. And I'm not sure how I feel about it.

P.S. I am, however, unequivocally happy to be back in a Honda again.

Our (Not As New) Addition

For those of you (*cough*Buffy) who think that our fantastic, homemade toy shelves just aren't as great as our fantastic, homemade baby (and we can't say that we blame you), here he is!

Our New Addition

I'm loving our newest addition. It makes my life easier rather than harder, cleans up my living room and generally speaking puts a smile on my face.

I am not including a "before" shot of this corner. If you have ever been to our house and seen it, you know it was NOT pretty. It was a completely chaotic mess of toys. Trust me when I say that this is much better. 

B and I used this plan from this site to create our fun cubbies. The drawers on the bottom are from Ikea as is the hanging net for the stuffed animals. We are loving are new kiddy corner!

First Day Without Mom

I can't deny there were several meltdowns that included tears and my house is perhaps not as clean as it was yesterday. However, we are all alive and we all ate at least three meals and at the end of the day I even managed to take out the trash and make dinner! So yes, I'm counting today as a victory. Now to get some rest and gear up for tomorrow...

Embracing the Chaos

Yep, this is pretty much the state of our lives lately.

3 1/2 Weeks Early

... but you would never guess from his size. Arrived February 8, 2011 at 7:55 AM. 8 lbs. 2 oz. 20 inches long. Wonderfully squishy and absolutely adored.

He has been named, but not nicknamed for the blog yet, although my current favorite is Kermy (as in Kermit the Frog) for the funny squished up faces that he makes and his splinted arm that looks much like a Muppet when he tries to move it.

The Problem with Cul-de-Sacs

... is there's nowhere to put the snow.

Views Out the Front Door

This is only about halfway through the blizzard and after our walks and driveways had already been shoveled by the snow removal service at my in-laws' house. Last night that drift out the front door came all the way to the door, all three feet of it.

If things get any more exciting than gigantic snow drifts and the 50 mph winds that howled around us last night (not to mention the gigantic snow drifts that were on the roads last night, but we just heard about those), I'll post more pictures. For now we are just happy to be safe inside with nowhere to go except my OB appointment later today, but I'm not sure that they'll be open... if they are, I'll try to get some shots of the road!. Exciting times so far in the Great Storm of 2011!

Priorities

There's nothing like your doctor telling you that you can into labor "any day now" to make you rethink your Get Done Before Baby Arrives Nesting List and reshuffle everything to make sure the most important things are at the top and get done right away.

My pre-baby pedi tonight was awesome.

Date Night

Sparks fly...

But the end results are promising! Pictured are our completely-assembled but unfinished storage bench and the beginnings of toy shelves for the boys. We are loving our date nights in the wood shop. More pictures to come when both projects are completely finished (which might be awhile considering how cold it's been and that we don't have a heated indoor space for the staining and painting).

P.S. Lest it look like I didn't help, I did. Besides my general duties as the assistant measurer, organizer, direction-giver, etc. I also spent a good portion of the night try to get half-frozen wood filler into our screw holes in the bench, which is tougher than you might think.

Oh Yeah, It's a Boy

I think it's proof that I have a little extra testosterone in my system these days when my favorite part of my "night off" tonight was not shopping Old Navy's amazing sale and not picking up a great book at the library, but eating a Reuben at Jersey Mike's while watching SportsCenter.