Sweet Tea Soakers

Spelling? and science, too

2012-02-01T16:07:00.000-05:00

Helping Niall practice his spelling words, I say, "Bright. The moon is bright."

Instead of spelling he says, "The moon is bright, because the sun shines on it and it reflects. So it's bright."

Smarty pants.

Happy birthday to me!

2012-01-27T08:05:00.001-05:00

This is quite possibly the greatest birthday present ever.
The signage - made by John to help me along the way since I'd be finding it precoffee - makes it even better.
He said Robert had a hand in this. Of course he did.
It takes two minds to put together this level of awesome.
Lucky for us, we have an outlet by the light switch. Only the one. No where else will do.

One down

2012-01-10T17:23:00.000-05:00

Niall has big news!

The other one is loose, too!

I saw it on Pinterest!

2012-01-10T15:23:00.000-05:00

I've been really enjoying the ideas I see on Pinterest. One of the ones that caught my eye this past month was an idea for how to store Christmas ornaments. I didn't think it would take much more work to put it together than it would to wrap all the ornaments up in paper to store them, and once it was done I'd have great storage for a long time! So, I've had the box of ornaments sitting around in the living room until I remembered to go out and buy plastic cups.
Today, I remembered!

Pinterest, I love you!

I also decided that it would be better to have more smaller boxes instead of two very large boxes, so I've been packing away things in groups. A box for the stuff that goes on the mantle. A box for the stuff that goes on the tree, a box for the Advent things... I hope I'm really happy with myself next year when it comes time to get it all out again.

Happy Little Christmas!

2012-01-06T19:39:00.000-05:00

Christmas is now over for another year. I took the tree out of the house today. The pixie was not happy with this event, and stood on the porch yelling at me. "Hey! What you doing my Christmas tree?!" She did not agree that it was time for it to leave. I took the popcorn garlands off and hung them on our maple for the birds.

For our usual tradition, we went and got a Galette des Rois from La Farm bakery, so we could celebrate the arrival of the 3 kings to visit the infant Jesus.
Niall chose who got what slice because he was the one who got the feve last year. Who got it this year? Me!
And of course, I crowned John the king. Happy Little Christmas everyone!

It must be done

2012-01-03T17:58:00.001-05:00

Today, we began a new phase of life. I have been diapering someone for 9 1/2 years. I switched Rowan to cloth diapers when he was 18 months old, so I have been washing diapers for 8 years. I am ready to be done.
Today's picture is part of the photo 365 collection on Flickr. This idea of taking a picture every day is pretty smart. I have to work on figuring out settings for light and shutter speed, and I also end up documenting what is going on in our lives.

We are not impressed with this idea.

We've been married for 11 years!

2012-01-02T21:17:00.001-05:00

Our anniversary was last week. December 30th. According to the traditional calendars, the 11th anniversary is the steel anniversary. So, what do you do about that?

John got me a new stainless steel teapot, since my old one broke a couple of days ago.

And I got him Zoolander because, duh! BLUE STEEL!

I'm happy I married that guy. 11 years later, he's still a bunch of fun.

A post the grandparents will be happy about

2012-01-01T18:04:00.001-05:00

One of the resolutions, added to the list, is to practice photography. I decided this kind of late in the day on Jan 1st, when the light was already gone, so had to use the flash to take a picture. I was going for one of all 3 kids, but the one of Niall, when I called him out for not listening to me at all, was the best.

You will find the whole set of pictures in a special album on Flickr. Feel free to call me out on it if one isn't added every day. It kind of reminds me of when Rowan was a baby, and I sent out a picture of him every day called The Daily Rowan. Good times.

2012 Reading list

2012-01-01T13:23:00.002-05:00

I did this last year on the forum I'm on (soggy granola) and it was a lot of fun to track what I was reading and see how many books I could read in a year. So, I've decided to keep track of it on here, too. It's just a listing of what I'm reading - no matter if it's literature, doula related, or complete trash. A lot of what I read is the stuff that is offered as freebies on the Kindle - and those aren't always great books. But I'm one of those people who will ready nearly anything, and rarely walks away from a book, even if it's awful.
But I never understood the fascination of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. That one is one I did walk away from. Snozz.
Anyway... this is more for my benefit than anything. It's fun to keep track of what you're reading. I might make a note of what it's about, but more often than not won't. I'll try to link the titles so I can find them again if I liked them.
So, to it!

1. Mansfield Park - Reading this one because it's Jane Austen, and I've had the movie in my netflix queue for a while now. It needs reading before I watch the movie so I can be properly disgruntled with the script. ;)
2. Murder at the Vicarage - An old Agatha Christie book.

New Year's Resolutions

2011-12-31T19:41:00.003-05:00

#1. Selfish knitting. I will finally make myself the Celtic Icon sweater that I've been meaning to make for years. I added it to my Ravelry queue in Feb 2008 if that tells you anything. Here's a picture stolen off of Ravelry to give you an idea.

I had an unused gift card to knitpicks, so I ordered some yarn from there. I'll be using their Stroll Sport Yarn in the color eggplant. (They didn't have a wool/cotton blend so wool/nylon will have to do.) Now I just need to wait for it to get here.

#2. Become certifiable. Heh heh. I have attended 3 births in the area and have paperwork for those. I've done the childbirth class. I just have a few more things to complete the certification for DONA, so I can call myself a fully certified Doula and be listed on their website.

#3. More knitting. Someone special to me is bringing a new little someone into the world this coming year. That little someone needs some knitwear. AND the knitwear actually needs to get MAILED. My friends who have had babies may not be aware, but I've knit things for each of them. I'm just abysmally bad at mailing things before said baby would be too big to wear it. *hangs head* This year, I will be much better about that. I might even be making make up items for older babies. Possibly. Depending on time and stuff.

#4. Floss. I say this every year. I do well for a while and then I forget about it. I should fix that.

#5. Pay attention to the food I consume. I had Burger King for lunch today and it is NOT the king. It is not nearly the king of everything and I've felt awful since. I feel so much better when I eat real food, I'm going to make it a point to do that most of the time. Along with that...

#6. Keep exercising. I have been doing pretty well and it shows. I intend to do more and see if it will show more. It also helps with the feeling good.

#7. Improve my photography. This that end, I am going to try to do one of those photo a day things. It will force me to try to capture something every day.

Hmmm... So far that boils down to knitting, flossing, eating well, exercising, and pursuing a goal for working. Sounds like I have it covered! I'll add more as it occurs to me.

Thank you, Uncle Ruben!

2011-12-29T21:27:00.000-05:00

We've been having lots of fun building Lego Harry Potter!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-28T10:09:00.000-05:00

A small sample of Christmas morning, in pictures.

I hope yours was as merry as ours was.

How to remove fiberglass splinters

2011-12-23T13:43:00.002-05:00

You'd think that we'd have all these lessons down by child number 3, but the Pixie presented us with a whole new injury today.
We have one of those "Go slow, kids are playing" type turtles that we put out in the cul-de-sac when the kids are playing so the neighbors know they're out there. Said turtle holds a little flag. I didn't know it before today, but the stick that the flag is on is made of fiberglass and has gotten splintery.
The Pixie got a hold of that stick and got herself some fiberglass splinters.
I remember getting them myself as a child, from a friend's mailbox. They hurt, and they're practically invisible so it's not like you can grab them with tweezers and pull them out.
I had no idea what to do for her. She was crying, of course, and I tried pressing packing tape to her hand to pull them out, but that didn't seem to work because she was still crying. I sprayed it with some numbing stuff, put her in a bath, rubbed cream on it, wiped it with a rag... all crying, crying, crying. Poor baby!
So I went hunting online for other ways to get splinters out. I found an eHow article suggesting putting glue on, letting it dry, and peeling it off. But how do you do that when the child in question is only just 3 years old, and is super offended at the horror of hurting hand? John thought to try using the hair dryer to speed things along. Her face was so pitiful, I had to grab the camera.

She didn't fight too hard once the glue was on there. It must have been soothing.

And it doesn't hurt so much when it's obvious that Daddy loves you very, very much.

So she gritted her teeth and dealt with it.

And eventually decided to go ahead and have some lunch, until...

Success!

She stopped crying, so we must have gotten whatever splinters out. And don't you love how gently those big daddy hands cradle the tiny Pixie hand? He's our hero.

I saw it on Pinterest!

2011-12-20T18:47:00.003-05:00

Oh Pinterest, my new addiction. It's like this huge basket of crafty inspiration and really cool ideas. If one of my friends sees something neat and they pin it, I can see it. If I pin something, they can see it. Searchable for ideas, pictures for everything, way better than google searches when it comes to craft inspiration.
I mean, I never in a million years would google for a new way to hang stockings. I'd do the same thing I always do and use a bunch of tiny nails. But one of my friends came across a great idea, and when she pinned it she shared it with all of us so I saw it. LOVELY!

The idea - so simple it's genius: use a curtain rod to hang stockings.

Curtain rod - less than $7 at Wallyworld. Add red duct tape for that holiday flair.

Wee!

The annual Santa picture

2011-12-20T13:05:00.000-05:00

Today is the first day of Christmas Vacation for the boys, and since we hadn't managed it yet, it was high time to pay a visit to the guy from up north. The head hancho. The boss man, himself... Santa Claus.
I was interested to hear what they'd tell him, since they haven't been on their best behavior lately and they know it. But they were both up front and honest with the big dude, Niall going so far as to say, "I haven't been very good lately and I'm sorry." I'm sure he doesn't hear that everyday!
Santa played his part well, talking with the boys about how hard it is to be good all the time, but he knows they don't mean it, and they must be extra good from here on out. Rowan asked for a remote control helicopter. Niall asked for a hexbug set and a playmobil space shuttle - even though he knows that Santa only brings one thing. I guess Santa will decide which one to bring. The Pixie was quite nervous and wouldn't say a word, but I'm sure he knows exactly what she needs. We got the picture

and then carried on our merry way back home for lunch.

But right when we were getting back into the van, right when I'd just gotten her out of her stroller, the Pixie tripped and fell, konking her head on the plastic hubcap of the car parked next to us. The vulture waiting for our parking spot had to sit while I comforted her, because goodness knows you don't strap a screaming and insulted pixie into a car seat for a 20 minute drive home. By the time we got home, it had bloomed spectacularly.

It looks ugly, but she's fine. And at least she waited until AFTER we saw Santa.

Teacher Christmas gifts, the 2011 edition

2011-12-14T19:45:00.001-05:00

This year, we decided to mix it up a bit when it came to teacher gifts. The oven was questionable, and I had no desire to try to make enough cookies for four teachers plus the hunting down tins and all that.
But, this year we had a new plan. When we were down at the farm over Thanksgiving, Fran gave me a couple of chunks of beeswax to try making something with it. I looked in her book, and on a few internet sites, and we decided that making a beeswax hand salve was just the thing.
It is SUPER easy. The recipe we settled on only had 3 ingredients.

1 part Beeswax
5 parts olive oil
a few drops of essential oil

That's it. Fran also loaned us her double broiler that she uses to melt the beeswax, and Rowan picked out a bottle of lavender oil, and we were in business.

I didn't think to take pictures of every step, but all we did was melt the beeswax, add the olive oil, and keep on stirring until it's all melted together.

I'd seen it mentioned a couple of places that we should warm the olive oil before adding it, but I forgot that part. It looked REALLY weird, because when the cold oil hit the warm beeswax, some of the beeswax solidified again and it was all sorts of crazy. But we just kept stirring and hoped for the best.

It all worked out and everything got all melty again. I added the lavender oil and we gave it another good stir before I poured it out into the jars.

I made sure to put some cardboard down on the counter top first, so I wouldn't have to peel beeswax off the counters. Smart thinking there, because pouring it was a little sloppy.

It cooled into a lovely salve for the teachers. We all tried some of the salve the spilled on the cardboard, and it was greasy at first, but melted right into our skin and it smelled really good. I have some beeswax leftover, and I'm going to have to make some more for us to keep!

I printed off pictures of each boy and used mod podge to glue them to the lids of the jars. Another coat of mod podge over the top of the picture helps it stay nice. Niall's picture is of him wearing the bee hood, and Rowan's is one of him working the smoker with the great big gloves on.

Each jar has a label on it telling what it is, who made it, and where the wax came from. I hope the teachers like it as much as we liked making it!

Thanksgiving part 2

2011-12-12T22:28:00.000-05:00

AH! Finally, Thanksgiving part 2 is up on flickr. It was a big upload of 70something pictures, and the internet has been slow lately. Maybe it's all the Christmas shoppers?

In any case, you can see the whole set here. Please ignore the focus and exposure issues. I'm still learning how to use the new camera.

The 2011 Christmas card attempt

2011-12-11T11:31:00.002-05:00

Getting a Christmas card with 3 kids, one of whom is a snarly 3 year old, is not for the faint of heart. Telling fart jokes is key.

You can enjoy the whole set here.

7 years ago tonight...

2011-12-08T20:47:00.000-05:00

My water broke! And at 1 minute after midnight, I had my Niall!

All 9lbs of him. We did not expect a baby that big! The first words out of my midwife's mouth were, "Holy Cow!"

He grew and grew and grew! He was busting out of his bucket car seat at 2 months old

He was giving the Michelin Man a run for his money by 6 months old

He was nearly as big as his 3 year old brother when he was 8 months old

He's gotten into everything in the house, and broken nearly half of it

But for all the frustration, he can really make me laugh.

He's such a sweet boy. He loves puppies and babies, and reading, hotwheels and boats.
He changes what he wants to be when he grows up about every hour.
I could go on about him all night, but I have Oreo truffles to make.
He's my anNIALLator, and I love him.

Learn from me

2011-12-03T16:22:00.000-05:00

If you give a mom a gold medicine cabinet,
she's going to want to paint it.
Once she paints it,
she's going to notice that the etagere behind the toilet doesn't match,
so she'll head to Walmart (on a Saturday in December) to get more spray paint.
She'll prime it.
Once she's primed it, she'll notice that the bottoms of her socks feel tacky and strange.
She'll take off her socks.
Once the primer is dry, she'll go out to paint the color.
She'll forget that she's barefoot.
Halfway through, she'll discover that her spray finger doesn't work so well because she's already painted the thing once with primer.
She'll call for her husband to help her.
She'll want to go inside, but will then notice there are leaves stuck to her feet.
I mean STUCK to her feet.
She'll also notice that they appear to be very painty on the bottoms,
like hobbit feet on crack.
She'll decide to go wash them before they get worse.
Once in the bathroom, standing in a tub of warm water, she'll notice that her feet seem to be sticking to the bottom of the tub.
She'll tug one up.
Then she'll see the painty footprint left behind,
but also see that there is no noticeable difference in the color or texture of her foot.
She will then panic just a bit, and grab for the scrubby sponge.
This will clue her daughter in to the fact that mommy is sitting on the side of the bathtub.
The daughter will then come to keep her company.
The mommy will be a bit busy with the paint freak out, and not notice the daughter.
The daughter will seize the opportunity to grab the diaper sprayer and give it a good squirt.
This will cause the mommy to yelp because it's cold, which will bring a son in to see what is going on.
The mommy will still be in a bit of frenzy, scrubbing at the painty footprint and scratching at her painty feet, and will ask the son to go get the barkeeper's friend.
The son will leave, and then come back confused and without the scouring powder.
The mommy will have progressed to stripping down and scrubbing the tub because she's leaving painty footprints everywhere.
The son will be dispatched to find the husband.
The husband will find his wife, naked and irritated, scrubbing at the bathroom tub with painty feet while two children watch and ask her for random things.
He will bring the scouring powder and shoo away the children.
The mommy will resume scrubbing.
She will alternate between her feet and the tub until she's not leaving painty footprints anywhere.
Then she'll notice that she's pretty stinky.
She'll grab a quick bath and get dressed again.
While she's doing so, she'll consider what other things need to be done to make the bathroom pretty.
She'll then go admire the freshly painted etagere, but will resolve to wear shoes the next time she paints something.
Especially with spray paint.

$30 plus a can of spray paint

2011-12-02T17:57:00.000-05:00

The bathroom project is nearly done. Here's a sneak peek of the new medicine cabinet.
It was gold, but a can of spraypaint fixed that. I love Craigslist!

Keeping busy

2011-11-30T20:26:00.000-05:00

Today was a busy day. I helped Joe hang wallpaper border in the bathroom (pics of that once the whole thing is done) and then this afternoon I finally got around to making a Montessori stamp game (for doing math!) for Niall.

I think it came out pretty good.

iPod Instagram

Thanksgiving part 1

2011-11-29T18:05:00.000-05:00

I got that new lens, so I had to take a LOT of pictures over Thanksgiving. So many, that I'm breaking it up into parts.
Here is part one - the day at Mamaw's house.
I'm working on part two - the day at Pop and Fannie's house. I'll make another post once that set is up.
Give me a couple of days though... Flickr is taking ages!

Pithy little status update

2011-11-20T14:00:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I ripped out that back door mat rug. I kept tripping on its flappy edges.

I have so much crafting to do... I need to make mom's Christmas present. I need to make gifts for the teachers. I need to finish the Pixie's cardigan. And what about a cardigan for me? I should have one. And socks. What about that first pair of socks that I've let lay abandoned. And the shutters. I have to finish painting the shutters. And there's the trim in the bathroom and the whole rest of the house trim is looking pretty grim. And that idea of painting the kitchen cabinets green...

Do people really get bored? Why? Can I have some of their free time?

Rag rug project - take one

2011-11-19T18:05:00.001-05:00

Necessity is the mother of invention, and lack of funds is the mother of creative house solutions.
We got rid of the carpet because it was old, vile, and nasty. But winter is arriving and it brings with it coldness to the laminate flooring that isn't so nice for the wee feeties that populate this household.
So, a rug is necessary. I stalk craigslist pretty well, but finding something that isn't awful or nearly as much as buying new is just not happening this time. I mean, some of these rugs are hideous! or aqua. or both.
I got the idea of using old T shirts to make a rug. Why not? The material is usually cotton, won't fray, and can usually be gotten for cheap or free. I posted on a local list asking, and scored a stack of old T shirts for free!

Give me your holey, stained, and shrunken...

Cutting up a T shirt is pretty easy, since it's a tube. You start at the bottom and spiral your way around and around until you run into the armpit and can't go anymore. You get a pretty good ball of fabric and the leftover tops can be used in some other project down the line. Potholders or something. Rah!

So I got to cutting. I discovered that cutting T shirts leaves something like T shirt dandruff all over the place. Should you try this, don't wear a black shirt like I did.

Take one before I tore it down.

Trial one was my first idea - log cabin style. But it wasn't working out because I kept needing more T shirt to get to the end of the way to turn around. So I ripped this out and started over. Word to the wise - ripping it out means more T shirt dandruff. Everywhere.

Take two, when gravity was still working.

Trial number two was going great, for a while. It wasn't exactly square but it was doing okay. I figured gravity would kick in at some point. But as it got larger, it got wavier. I thought adding some extra chain stitches at the corner would help it turn the corner a bit, but no... that didn't help either. I really don't know what I'm doing when it comes to crochet, but they don't make knitting needles big enough to make a rug... unless I knit a bunch of squares and sew them together. That's starting to look attractive.
So anyway, I was mad at the flappy rug but Joe told me to just fasten it off and use it as a back door mat. So that's what I did.

Back door mat. Bonus anti-gravity features.

I still need a living room rug. I still have a stack of T shirts here. We'll see what happens.

Life with Joe

2011-11-17T19:35:00.002-05:00

We love him.

Brand new lens!

2011-11-16T18:48:00.000-05:00

I knew when I got my new camera that it wouldn't be long until I wanted one of the fancier prime lenses instead of just sticking with the kit lens. All the reading I did led me to one surefire buy as a first upgrade - the 50mm f/1.8 lens.
It's good for portraits, and can open wider to let more light into the camera. Yes, it was expensive, but I asked to get paid for some knitting with an Amazon gift card. Some swagbucks money and babysitting money rounded out the rest. I'm considering it my early Christmas present to myself - and a solid investment for me to be able to get great portraits of my kids from here on out.
And even though I only got to play with it for about 15 minutes this afternoon - I'm already super happy with it. I'm finally, finally, finally! starting to get the kinds of pictures I've been trying to get for ages.

Eleri was my model today. The boys were busy playing on the computer and doing homework.

In other news, Loki got out yesterday while I was at the grocery store. I came home to find Bosco and no Loki - just a backyard gate hanging open. I called John and Mommy in a panic, and loaded Eleri into the stroller to start looking for her. She ended up being found after about an hour through the help of a neighbor and the town police force, and I was so glad to see her again! I was a weepy mess, worrying about that little dog. It makes taking this picture that much sweeter.

I'm not going to bog the blog down, so go see the rest of the pictures I took today here. It's mainly Eleri since she was the one who would come outside into the light with me. Now I just need more practice!

For Mamaw

2011-11-08T16:17:00.001-05:00

Mom said that Tuesdays are rough days at the office, so here's a smile to perk her up.

She has to hold her mouth juuuuuust right.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:05:00.000-04:00

It was a damp and soggy night this Halloween. Living where we do makes it hard to plan out costumes. It can be in the 30s, in the 90s, or anywhere in between. So we just roll with it.
This year was chilly and rainy. We didn't let that stop us though. There was candy to be had!

Checking the radar to see when the rain will stop

The Pixie learned very quickly what trick or treating was all about. She even got over her stage fright a few times to say a sweet, "Tricka tricka treeeet!" to a lucky few. I didn't take the camera out with us, because of the rain and all. So a few shots of the group before and after in the living room will have to do for this year.

Happy Halloween! Can we leave already?

Group shot

Rowan is Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox ball player

Niall would not smile. Being a skeleton is serious business.

A very excited candy corn who could not stop jumping up and down.

Spontaneous group shot of cuteness

The aftermath. Nice haul!

Happy Halloween!

And Halloween Costume #3

2011-10-30T14:39:00.001-04:00

Rowan slid into home just under the wire. Literally.

I could tell he was feeling pretty down about his costume. Every year up to now, he's figured out what he wanted to be WAY in advance. This year, he was at a loss. No suggestion was good. No idea was great. He picked being a Charlie Brown ghost, and I said fine, but since he kept changing his mind and it was a simple costume, I'd get him the stuff and he could make it.

He cut holes and was pretty happy, and drew a bunch more circles and was coloring them in so it would look like Charlie Brown's ghost costume. And then he found out he couldn't wear it to school because school says no masks.

And then he saw me making the Pixie's costume, and Niall's costume, and you could tell he was feeling really left out. So I told him that if he could come up with something that we could put together in one day, then I would do my best to help him.

Niall had to work on a project for school, so when I put the Pixie down for her nap, I decided to take Rowan to Walmart with me while I ran some errands. We looked at the costumes, but they were pretty picked over by now, and I had no interest in paying $20 for a Mario costume. No, no, and no some more.

Then we remembered that he already had a Pedrioa jersey in his closet. So we got a long sleeved red shirt to wear under it, some socks, and a pair of baseball pants. Bingo. Instant Red Sox.

Batting stance

Rowan feels a lot better about this costume. And he feels special again. That's what I want for all of my kids every day, but especially at Halloween.

There's that smile!

Yet another harebrained idea

2011-10-30T11:03:00.003-04:00

Or we could call it THE PROJECT FROM HELL

We all know this happens from time to time, especially to me. I have a great idea, things go wrong, I have to fix it, they go more wrong, I start crying and wondering how in the world I thought I could pull it off in the first place... Meanwhile John stands there trying to deal with the fallout of an overwrought wife up to her ears in project and PMS.

Sorry, honey. You're awesome.

So, this time the idea was actually pretty simple. Niall wanted to be a skeleton for Halloween. I'd seen articles on how to do freezer paper stencils before. We had a long sleeved black tshirt that fit him. Sweat pants from Walmart were five bucks. (A nice skeleton costume was $$ so I only considered that briefly.) I ordered glow in the dark paint from Dharma for those extra cool mom points.

Measured his shirt. Traced design onto paper. (Bless the people at Apple for having glass screens on their laptops. Makes tracing easy!) Slowly, but surely, cut the design out on freezer paper. It was all going well.

Design cut out. Awesome.

Then I looked up the settings for the iron again, just to make sure. Set iron to medium. Got it. Ironed on the stencil. It was all going so well!

I am the greatest Mom EVAH!

And then I started painting. I had 5 tubes of glow in the dark paint, and used a tube and a half on this part, but that was okay. The rest of the stuff would be long bones and not so hard. This was going to be the most visible part of the costume, so it had to be good. Except then I started to notice... the glow in the dark paint didn't have any color to it. None at all. It glowed - beautifully. But in the daylight it would look like Niall had just spilled random stuff on his shirt.

Insert a little irritation here.

No worries. I had a 40% off coupon so I could go buy some white paint. I'd just have to check for more glow paint in case I ran out. Got two tubes of white paint - velveteen because that's all they had left and I have no idea what that's even supposed to mean... but it's white. It'll do. And some spray on glow paint. Just in case. With the coupon it was $12, still way under the cost of a costume.

Came home and painted some white. Let it dry, and painted more. Let that dry and painted one more coat to be sure. And then checked - nope. The glow paint did not have what it took to glow through all that white paint. Gave it a light coat of glow paint. It didn't look very glowy. Decided to spray it with the spray on stuff. The spray on stuff was WET. I started to freak out again. I had never done freezer paper stencils before. How well was it sticking? Was freezer paper even up to what I was putting it through? I mean... that was a lot of painting and moving and stuff and spray on wet and AAAAAARRHEOEONDHWNEONAE!

Insert wailing and gnashing of teeth here. Turn hairdryer on shirt. Notice it starts looking kind of cracky. Retire to couch to regroup. Decide that I am a moron, and I also smell. A bath is in order. And some Mike's cranberry. Booze and a bath. And some leftover birthday cake.

After all of that, I started to peel up a section of the shirt. It didn't look bad! It didn't look bad at all! I stopped peeling though, because the paint was still kind of dampish and sticking to the freezer paper some.

I may not be a failure after all!

Decided to NOT destroy all that work with impatience and hand wringing and went to bed. That was probably the best decision I made all day. Bed, when you are tired and overcome with failure and doom, is always a good idea.

This morning, I carefully, CAREFULLY started to peel away the rest of the paper. And HOLY MOSES HALLELUIAH YAY GOD LOVES ME! It worked!

Super happy boy with way cool shirt. And cocoa wheats that Daddy made.

And you know what? IT EVEN GLOWS!

I'm so doing this again.

Halloween costume #1

2011-10-29T12:54:00.003-04:00

The Pixie is THREE!

2011-10-27T18:28:00.004-04:00

How can it be that my Pixie is THREE?

This was just last week, wasn't it?

This child, this precious daughter, has been a joy. Pixies are real... a bit temperamental, but magical all the same.

I'm so glad she came to live with us. She's made our family perfect.

The picture uploading will be ongoing. She's just opened her presents from the family, and then there is dinner and cake. Her birthday play date is in the morning. You can find the full set of Pixie birthday photos here, and check back later because I still have more to put up there.
That tiny bit of a baby has grown into a tiny bit of a little girl. She's still small, but practically perfect in her own way.

It keeps getting better, every single year.

Parent teacher conference - Rowan

2011-10-25T17:05:00.000-04:00

We had Rowan's parent teacher conference today. It's always nice to go and have a teacher tell you how highly intelligent your child is. :) He does have some difficulties, mainly with recall when it comes to remembering math facts and spelling rules. He also has slight issues with fine motor skills and handwriting. His handwriting looks just like John's, so he comes by that honestly. His reading is way above grade level, and his storytelling and writing skills are very good, too. His math takes him a while because of the math fact recall issue, but he does it with precision.
We've also noticed that he does a lot better with staying on task if he stands up while writing instead of sitting down. If he's sitting at his desk, he can while away his time doing absolutely nothing if he doesn't have anyone to prod him and keep him on task. Right now, he's sitting next to one of the teachers, so he's doing great. We just need to figure out a way for him to learn to stay on task and get things done on his own.

After that mostly glowing report about the oldest boy, John took us out to lunch. The Pixie had her own cup of ice water. She definitely approves.

iPod Instagram

Pics from the campout

2011-10-22T21:35:00.000-04:00

I went over to where the Cub Scouts were camping at about dinner time tonight, so I could snap a few pictures and score a s'more. Niall kept running off with other scouts, so I don't have as many of him. Here are a few of the better ones. Enjoy!

While the boys are away...

2011-10-22T15:23:00.000-04:00

Realistically, I know that there isn't much difference in being at home with the Pixie when the boys are at school, and being at home with the Pixie when they've gone to the cub scout camp out.
But for some reason, having them gone on a Saturday is much more productive than that whole Monday-Friday thing.
Today I've picked up the living room - no mean feat, that!
Made a sleeper for Niall's baby doll, which will be saved for his birthday.

This was way easier than it looks! I used a sleeper that Tori gave me, and instructions from here.

I also finished someone's Christmas present.

I'm not saying who it's for, and that's the only pic you're going to get on this blog. Wonder what else I can get up to today?

My cub scouts

2011-10-22T11:30:00.000-04:00

It's the fall camp out this weekend. Prime chance to catch my guys all uniformed up.

Pithy little status update

2011-10-21T17:19:00.002-04:00

There is something extremely precious about sitting in the bath with a book, only to look up to see a tiny naked person standing there with her arms up saying, "hewwo!"
Of course I let her into my bath. These moments are fleeting, and I treasure them.

Happy Friday to you

2011-10-21T08:55:00.000-04:00

iPod instagram

status

2011-10-17T10:07:00.002-04:00

Shower done.
Laundry started.
Laundry from this weekend to fold.
Better get to it.

For prosperity

2011-10-16T18:35:00.002-04:00

A song, composed by my children this evening...

Chicken wing chicken wing

hot dog and baloney

chicken and macaroni

*fart noise*

Yep. That's a mother's pride...

And now... video proof.

New Toy!

2011-10-15T17:42:00.000-04:00

It took 9 months of saving up to get it, but today I bought a DSLR camera. I got it used, off craigslist, from a lady who said that she got it but she never took it off auto, and it was too big to carry around in her pocketbook - just the situation I was looking for.
It was painful, at times, to want something and not be able to get it. We're such a RIGHT NOW kind of society and it would be so easy to walk in to a place and put it on a card and make payments on it. But I'm trying to not live that way. I think the previous generations had a better idea - if you want something, save up for it. You don't get it as fast, but it's cheaper in the long run when you're not paying interest. And that way I had the option of finding a used camera and paying even less. Now I have to apologize to John for all the whining and whinging all this time.
I've been frustrated with my old camera for a while now. I'm so excited to learn a whole new set of skills, and figure out how to take even better pictures with this new one.
As we all know, I name my things. I have yet to name this guy, though. I've only had him for a couple of hours. Yes, he's a boy. Don't you think?

Yes, it's a picture of a thing that takes pictures. Magic!

As of yet, I am still getting used to holding it in my hands. Actually turning the lens to zoom in on something instead of flipping a dial with my thumb. The shutter button is intuitive, so that's good. I have no idea what to do to access menus and such, and have to learn how to read the meter business that it's trying to show me. So, for now, I have it on auto mode. Give me a bit and I will be spreading my wings - although I must say... I already love it more in full auto than I did my old camera in aperture mode.

First pics!

Today, I went postal

2011-10-07T15:41:00.000-04:00

So, last night I completely lost my nut on the boys. This past week I've been doing the seasonal clothing swap out - figure out what is outgrown - try to sell and donate things - madness.
They were quite happy to roll around and stomp on and drag out any pile of clothing they could. And they were also quite happy to ignore the two laundry baskets of clothing I put in their rooms for them to put away.

The rule is: I wash and fold it, you put it away. It's not hard. IF YOU DO IT.

So today I took it all out. All of their clothing. Well, except the socks and undies. I will probably weed through those in a bit, but since I wash them separately from all the other laundry, it can take a little bit for a load to build up, so having more of those around isn't a bad thing.

But all the rest of it? Yeah. Binned. Donated. Put in the attic.

They will have a chance to earn back some variety if they choose. If not... well, I can donate and consign what's in the bin because it's already sorted by season. Bonus.

Each boy has
6 shorts
6 t-shirts
6 long sleeved shirts
5 long pants
2 sets of pjs
1 pair of pj pants
1 pair of sneakers
1 pair of sandals
1 jacket

End of story. That is plenty to see them through. If they don't put it away, I will take it, too. If they end up doing the cartoon character have to wear the same thing every day... so be it. But THEY will be washing it if they take it that far. This mama means war.

There are 2.5 bags of clothing that is about to be too small or it's something I don't like. Those will go to goodwill.

As I was doing all of this, I was thinking about how this is such a first world problem. Even what I left them is kind of excessive. I mean, really. We are so incredibly lucky to have so much. What a problem to have... too much to wear. So much that it's difficult to keep up with. We need to "need" less.

some things I would have said today

2011-10-06T18:38:00.000-04:00

I get to watch Molly! Yay for babies!

Time to go knit at the shop. I don't think Eleri ever really napped. Oh well.

I'm making choc chip banana muffins, and spaghetti. I would not recommend doing both at the same time. There is a clash of fruit and garlic.

pithy little status update #1

2011-10-05T21:12:00.000-04:00

I now have to go in and check on the Pixie about 90mins - 2 hours after I've put her to bed for the night.
Why?
Because for the past few nights, I've found her completely naked when I went in to go to bed.
This would not be such a problem if she weren't still in diapers.

Well hi there

2011-10-05T15:05:00.000-04:00

I will admit it. I have been an abysmal blogger since I started doing the facebook thing. But I'm irritated with facebook now, and tired of all the "improvements" they have in the works.
See, the thing that made it so appealing was the ability to put pithy little blurbs about my day in as a status update. A few words, hit submit, ta da and done.
Ummm... I can do that here. I SHOULD do that here. And so I will. My blog is going to be my new/old facebook. Sure, it's not set to friends only, but... I don't know. I've never been worried about that with my blog. Maybe I should be. Or maybe I think that no one really visits here who doesn't know me in some form or fashion anyway... so...
Yeah. Not saying much am I?
Here. Have a photo. An instagram. I got a new ipod this summer, and it makes these really easy to do (and share on facebook, but we already went over that. I'm going to be sharing from here now.)

Niall had to do some journal homework. The topic: 5 sentences on anniversary. I like how he capitalized Love.

First day of school 2011!

2011-08-15T16:31:00.001-04:00

This year, both Rowan and Niall start in new classrooms at their school.

Rowan is a 4th year in the 4th-6th grade class, and Niall is a 1st year in the 1st-3rd grade class. Rowan has a few of his old classmates in his new class, but Niall says that no one from his Kindergarten class is in his same classroom this year.

1st grade and 4th grade!

Walking in

Niall at his desk

Rowan at his desk

I've been showering, I promise

2011-07-19T14:26:00.001-04:00

But something around here must smell funky, because this afternoon we've had a visitor out there.

Yeah, that's just the thing you want to see when you're taking care of your friend's kids, right? Don't worry about what we'll do with ourselves all afternoon. We have entertainment here. We have a buzzard.

It didn't even move when John got home. It just sat there in the driveway, looking hot. So John, being the suburban mountain man that he is, tried to chase it off.

With the garden hose.

Did the bird fly away? Oh no. Not a bit.

That fool bird walked around like it was enjoying the shower.

Come to think of it, maybe it's not so foolish after all. It's pretty hot out there, and the hose probably felt good.

But now it's out there, hanging out next to the mailbox, and it's not leaving.

Maybe it's waiting for us to put the garbage out? It is garbage night. Maybe that's why it showed up in the first place?

I'm not sure, but I don't want to go out there. The mail lady came, but it was in the driveway when she came by. She still didn't leave any mail for us, so I have little incentive to go out there.

Jenn will be here to get her kids in another hour or so.

You could come over, too. You can't miss us. We're the house with the lawnbuzzard.

I haven't been keeping up like I should

2011-07-12T21:53:00.000-04:00

I blame it on facebook. Now that mom is on there, too, I've been neglecting it here.
I'm sorry about that. I'll try to do better.

The house repairs are coming along and are nearly done! We have a new roof, new siding, new paint, the shed is back where it started and resided and reroofed as well. We still need a new door for the outside storage closet, but after that is taken care of - ALL of the tornado damage will be repaired!
The swingset got damaged when the tree people dropped a tree on it, but they took an appropriate amount off our bill so we can get that fixed. They never fessed up to it, but I don't care since they're doing the right thing.
We are still going to have the back door and floor in the kitchen fixed, too. That damage wasn't from the tornado, but since we have a contractor here anyway, we are going to go ahead and let them take care of it. The good news is that USAA paid us for our damaged iMac even though we're not buying a new one, and that money will go toward the repair in the kitchen. So that's nice.

What have we been up to? Well, it's been summer! We've had one visit to SC to visit (and get our dogs back, yay!) and Rowan has gone to camp at Victory Junction again. We've played on the wii, and got the pool back up and running for some fun there. We've had a few playdates with friends, and dressed up as cows to get free food from Chick Fil A.

So we've been keeping busy.

I've also been going to weekly childbirth preparation classes at the local hospital as part of my DONA certification to become a doula. That finished up tonight, so that's one more thing I can tick off on the list of requirements to a fulfilling career. Did I learn anything there? not really, but the people were nice and it wasn't a horrible way to spend my time. And it's good to know what that particular childbirth course offers to parents to be. It was an excellent class so I'm glad I went, because I can refer people to take it knowing that it's a great one.

Other than that... It's just the same old story. Eleri has given up nursing but is still clueless when it comes to the potty. Rowan and Niall irritate the living snot out of each other but love each other in spite of it - most of the time. John takes care of the fishes, and I fight entropy at home. Joe has been a welcome addition to our house, and we regularly joke about how great it is to have a Manny to help with the kids. :)

All in all... Life has been pretty good.

Progress!

2011-07-01T19:39:00.000-04:00

It's going to look great!
The front and left side is done. The right side and back are still yellow.
I got the green matched today. :D

It's like magic

2011-06-30T17:03:00.002-04:00

Magic that is poundy and thumpy and not all that immediate.

Shazam! New house color.

on my watch

2011-06-29T17:16:00.000-04:00

Why yes, Mommy did take Sudafed today. Why do you ask?

Videos from Rowan's class

2011-06-15T20:47:00.000-04:00

Rowan had his end of the year potluck today, and part of it was a music program. Here are videos.
The first two are songs in Chinese. Ms. Mei came this year to teach them Chinese once a week. He really enjoyed it.

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes (in Chinese)

And a song medley they practiced over and over. (Be warned, it's nearly 5 mins long)

Oh Happy Day!

2011-06-11T21:48:00.001-04:00

Rowan had his First Holy Communion this weekend. He was so excited and proud.
Our boy is growing up!

Kindergarten - bring your parents to school day

2011-05-25T12:47:00.000-04:00

I love these days. It's so much fun to go into his classroom and see what he's been doing and how it's done.
Today he showed us how to use the stamp game to do addition.
I wish I'd learned this way when I was a child. It would have made so much more sense to me!
Of course, I forgot my camera, so I had to make do with crappy cell phone pictures...

Niall shows John the tiles. They are divided into ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands.

He does a math problem for us. Let me see if I can explain it...

First he got out the number of tiles he needed for each part of the problem and laid them out.
Then he started at the ones, and would pick them up and count until he reached 10.
Once he had 10, he would put those back into the box and get out 1 tile for the next highest group.
(So when he counted up 10 of the ones column, he put those back and got out one of the tens tiles.)
If he ran out of tiles before he got to 10, that was the amount he had for that column.

His answer. I love the backwards 5 that he crossed out and made right.

Since I was busy on Friday the 13th, it hit me today

2011-05-19T09:24:00.001-04:00

Some of you might know my history with Friday the 13th. This year, I had my first job as a doula, so I was a little busy and then a lot tired for it.
Friday the 13th knew that, and saved it for today. Thursday the 19th seems to do just as well.
______________________________________________________

So I'm sitting at the table in my nightgown eating my egg and poking around on the internet, when
I hear a tapping on my front door.

??

It's not even 9am yet. Who could it be?
Why, it's the contractor and some other dude. The electrician. Contractor says he told John they were coming.
Okay.
Hello, I'm in my nightgown. My NURSING nightgown. And I don't wear a stitch of clothing under my nightgown.
Come on in, men who may or may not be getting an eyefull.

I scurry off to the bedroom to put on clothes. Call John on speaker phone and thank him for the warning.
He swears he didn't know.

Pixie is in her crib crying while I'm running around, so I grab her and notice she has a wet diaper.
So I put her on the floor and whip her diaper off.
On the floor, you see, because her changing table is piled high with her clothes because she plays in
her drawers, trying everything on, and I haven't put it all back yet.
Guess what? Surprise poop!
Not formed toddler poop, either. Peanut butter poop designed especially to leave a great brown smear on my bedroom floor.
The bedroom floor that the electrician will be seeing soon, because the breaker box is in our bedroom.
And also all of the laundry and things piled around because I've been slacking on housey things while I do other things.
So I go to grab the wipes. No dice. They're out in the diaper bag. The cloth wipes are all dry.
Toss her in the tub and wipe off as much as I can with toilet paper before running out to grab the wipes from the diaper bag.
Wipe her off and start the tub running at a trickle because she's highly insulted and crying.

Run out to the kitchen to grab a glass to mix a little Dr. Bonner's so I can clean the poop of my carpet.
At this point, the contractor is trying to talk to me. Whatever man. Hear the crying baby? Go away.
I get the Dr. B, check on Pixie, give her toys, leave her in the tub because she's not exactly sanitary.
Dump soap on rug, go soap up Pixie, go scrub rug. (Pixie can be seen from rug stain with a little leaning.)
Also pile laundry onto bed so it looks like I meant it to be that way.

Now I'm hiding here sitting on the toilet. There's an electrician here somewhere. I hear him skulking around.
Pixie is playing in the tub, but I hear the microwave beeping at me to remind me the butter I was softening is waiting for me.
Because I was making muffins before all this started.

*sigh*

Time to get back on the horse.

A little ambition

2011-05-09T19:20:00.004-04:00

About a week before the tornado hit, we drove out to Broadwell's nursery in Angier and got some plants. We got a maple tree for the front yard, 3 little shrubs that I think are bayberries but I could be wrong. There are no labels at Broadwell's. And we got this twig that was supposed to be a blueberry bush.
That weekend, we planted all of it. The next weekend, we got a tornado. But wouldn't you know... all the yard damage was in the back. Not a single one of our new little plants took a hit. Not even the blueberry twig.

I call it a twig because it's really not a proper bush yet, but it's in a sheltered spot that gets lots of sun, so that will change.

I didn't expect much of it this year, what with being planted and whipped around in a windstorm and pretty much ignored in all the mayhem. But then I went out to check on it, and what do you know? This little guy has big ambition.

I'm pretty proud of the plucky little thing.

What the adjuster said

2011-04-20T15:41:00.000-04:00

John met with the USAA adjuster today to go over the house and property and see what needs doing. It will be easier to list this out in bullets, I think...

The fence counts as property! That means they'll fix it. They won't replace the whole thing, but they will fix it where it got broken. Woo!
Any trees that are affecting property (instead of just yard) is a tree that they will handle. That means the trees that are on the fence and the tree that moved the shed are ones that they will deal with. That leaves just 1 full tree and one large piece of tree for John to deal with.
They will fix the shed and put it back where it started.
They will completely replace the roof.
They will replace the ceiling in the living room.
They will possibly replace that entire wall that the fireplace was on.
They will rebuild the chimney.
They'll give us $$ toward any property that was damaged outside (clothesline, wheelbarrow, etc.)
They will replace the siding. Does this mean all new siding or just patches? Don't know. We'll ask. If it's all new siding, I'm going to try to get a new color out of the deal.
They'll replace the floor in the bathroom that the water restoration people removed.

I'm probably forgetting things. Frankly, it's all a little overwhelming still, but I feel a lot better having a plan in place. We'll have to go to one of those extended stay places while the work is being done. I have no idea when that will start. I'm hoping we have a timeline soon.

Tornado!

2011-04-19T09:49:00.000-04:00

We had a close brush with Mother Nature on April 16, 2011.
John was watching out the back and I was watching out the front while we had the tv on showing the radar.
I could see that the storm's hook was going to go right over our area and was listening for that telltale wind hum,
but the thunder was constant so it was hard to hear.
I never saw a funnel, but did see the trees start moving in that way that anyone who has been through a storm will recognize, and my ears started popping and ringing, and the hair on my arms stood up, so that's when John and I went back to the bathroom with the kids and brought the dogs with us.
The house creaked and shuddered a bit, but we had the lights off so the light from our flashlight candle was steady.
The kids didn't really know how bad it was. We downplayed it big time.
It was over really quickly. I don't why people say they sound like freight trains. They sound nothing like freight trains to me. They sound like tornadoes.
That night we stayed at Jenn's house.

The next morning, we went back home to try to figure out what to do.
The boys are on spring break, so we decided to pack them up and send them to Fannie camp. We drove and met Fran and Tommy in Concord and traded the boys for a chainsaw. Doing that took up most of the day.
We slept at home that night.

The 2nd day after the storm, (yesterday) the water damage and restoration people came out. At one point we had 2 large trucks and 3 smaller trucks crowding our driveway and cul de sac. They had guys on the roof putting up tarp and temporary shingles, a guy in the attic pulling out wet insulation, and a couple of guys figuring out how to anchor the chimney back to the house so a stiff wind wouldn't blow it down completely.
They put industrial fans all over the house to dry things out. They will be there for the next 3 or 4 days. There's a lock box on the door so the water guys can come check on it and make sure things are going as they should. There are also two very large dehumidifiers running. They have hoses to drain into our sinks. The floor in the vanity area of our master bathroom rated as very wet, and since it was parquet flooring the guy said it would swell and buckle, so they took it out so they could get the subfloor dry.
The bathroom is the wettest area, so they also brought in something that would heat the room to 120something degrees to bake it dry. I had to do a quick dump and dash to get all of our bathroom things that would be ruined by heat out of there. There is plastic up in the bathroom doorway to keep the heat and fan in there.
Once the fans are all on, it is very, very loud in there, so we took Jenn up on her offer to crash at her place. The dogs are going to go stay at Julianne's house and play with her kids and dog. I don't know what we'd do without friends! Well... I do know what we'd do. We'd have to put the dogs in a kennel and ourselves in a hotel. This is going to be a lot nicer than that. Life is better with good friends.

I have no idea what today will bring.

I'm taking pictures as I think of it. They'll all be included in the same set on flickr. You can find it here.

Hello Springtime

2011-04-10T20:48:00.001-04:00

Is there anything better than mud on a warm spring day?

I don't think so either.

The Pixie and her Mamaw

2011-03-28T09:07:00.003-04:00

Taking a picture of Mom is an exercise in endurance. She doesn't like to have it done, and even when she doesn't know that I have the camera on her she makes a face.
Remember that episode of friends when Chandler and Monica needed engagement pictures?

My mom is a Chandler.

That's why when I get a good picture of mom, I get really excited. She'll tell you that it came out because she's not looking at the camera, so you can't see her face. I think that every once in a while she's having so much fun that she forgets that I'm trying to capture her on film. She's really a beautiful woman. I love this picture of her with our Pixie.

Two beautiful girls

The whole set of pictures from our trip to SC can be found here.

Hey!

2011-02-26T14:31:00.000-05:00

Hey, Mommy! Whatcha doing? Are you taking a picture? Can I see? Whatcha writing? Can I see? You can't be on the computer doing a blog. You have to play with ME! ME ME ME! I am cute and adorable and you have to play with me all day long! Right, Mommy? Yay!

Friday flick for Monday morning

2011-02-06T22:27:00.000-05:00

Posting this late on Sunday for the grandparents to find on Monday morning.

Pictures of the kids

2011-02-06T17:36:00.000-05:00

Taken today, Feb 6, 2011. A warm, early spring day. We had some good outside time.

Pinewood Derby

2011-01-29T13:50:00.001-05:00

Rowan had his first run in the Pinewood Derby today. His wasn't the fastest car there, but this was his first year making one. I'm still pretty impressed at what they were able to make out of a solid block of wood.
His car was a boat, and we decided it was really a log flume boat, so the people riding it had to have their hands in the air because they were screaming. Please note the Harry Potter lightening bolt on the side. No car of Rowan's would be complete without some sort of reference to Harry Potter.
He got 3rd place, for Most Unique. Not bad for a first try. I'm sure he already has ideas for his car for next year.

Now we are 35.

2011-01-28T15:43:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday. It was not a really birthday kind of day. The Pixie is still snotty and coughing, I'm still snotty and coughing, and we had to go to the school for Kindergarten night instead of doing a fun birthday type evening. It ended up being pretty fun watching Niall do his thing. He showed us how he uses the materials in his classroom to add 4 digit numbers together. It was very cool. Of course, I forgot the camera. John took a cell phone picture, so now we have to figure out how to get that picture off his phone and onto some sort of usable platform.

Until then, have a picture of one of my recent knits. It's the Hermione Hat, and I made it for Rowan's teacher, who is moving away to California this month. We are really sad to see her go, but she's starting a grand new adventure with her little family, and we know she's going to have fun.

Happy Little Christmas

2011-01-06T20:56:00.000-05:00

Dusting off this blog to post pictures of our Little Christmas. I found a French bakery in the next town over, and so we were able to have a proper Galette Des Rois and crown our king for the year.
Niall found the feve, and crowned Rowan as king. All is well with the world.

I did get a new computer for Christmas, and am learning the ins and outs of working it and the lightroom program for photos. It's way snazzy. Expect more blog posts soon.

School Christmas Programs

2010-12-17T20:39:00.000-05:00

The boys' school is different from how my school was when I was a kid. Instead of some big Christmas (Holiday these days) program, each class is responsible for doing their own thing. It's kind of nice that way, as we don't have to sit through everyone else's kids doing things and can just go to the ones featuring our own kids.

Niall's was last week. They did a few songs and the teacher read a story where the kids "acted" their parts by standing around in different colored scarves holding props. Niall had stage fright for most of the action, muttering his one little couplet and not singing the songs. He did the best with Jingle Bells, so that's the one that survived the agony of uploading to youtube.

Rowan's class program was today, and his was simpler. The children divided into groups, and each group played a different song on the handbells. Rowan's little group did the Carol of the Bells. He was very proud of himself and told me what he was playing every time the song came on the iPod for the past week, so I knew I had to be sure to get it on video.

Enjoy!

Ho ho ho!

2010-12-17T15:06:00.000-05:00

Presenting a picture of the picture with Santa.
Eleri did fine with it, because John put her down in front of Santa, and he didn't pay her any attention until she decided to go sit on his lap. If it's her idea, she's cool with it. If we'd tried to put her there, all hell would have broken loose.

It's Niall's birthday!

2010-12-09T09:32:00.000-05:00

Can you believe he's 6 years old today? He was born at 1 minute after midnight. I'll never forget my midwife shouting, "Holy Cow!" when he came barrelling into this world. We knew he would be big, but we weren't expecting a 9lb baby! I had no idea my baby was capable of carrying such a huge guy, and he was born so quickly. He was in a rush then, and he hasn't stopped yet.

Niall was such a big baby. People would stop us when we were out to tell me how big my baby was. Like I didn't know... I was carrying him. I knew!

He's tested my patience more than anyone else on this earth, which has made me a better person than I was before. And we've had plenty of laughs along the way.

And now he's six. Can you believe it? He's learning to read and write. He loves math and is already learning some simple multiplication. He's well liked at school, and is an all around great boy.

I'll be taking more pictures tonight once he's home from school. He's been begging for a powerwheels for his birthday, and I scored one on Craigslist way back in September. It's been hidden at the university since then, and I finally get to give it to him this afternoon. I can't wait!

2010-12-05T21:13:00.000-05:00

Mom was asking for some pictures, so here's one from the Christmas card photo shoot. You know, Mom, you'd see these faster if you were on Facebook. ;) Here's one of my favorites.

The whole album, which is going to eventually be all of the Christmas pictures, can be found here.

Halloween!

2010-11-01T11:33:00.000-04:00

It is seriously difficult to get 3 kids to look in the same direction for a picture.

But getting an 8 year old to behave is easy. Meet Harry Potter. Various parts of his costume pulled from eBay, and the vest hand knit by me.

Who needs a flashlight? Lumos!

We had an astronaut drop in from the international space station.

Here he is, letting us know where Astronauts spend their time.

And lastly, a very cute cheerleader. She was much to busy for pictures.

I did my best. Forgive the clashing shoes and focus on the cute face.

Pixie turns two!

2010-10-27T17:41:00.000-04:00

It's somebody's birthday today! She's had a very good day so far. Rowan was home sick from school so she had a brother to play with all day. We tried a portrait session this afternoon, and I forgot how hard it is to get a picture of a 2 year old. Here's one peek, and I made the set public, so all you have to do is go here to see them all, including the blurry outtakes. Pictures will be added, too. She hasn't gotten her present yet. We're waiting for Daddy to be home so he can see it, too.

Thank you, Fannie!

2010-10-25T17:47:00.000-04:00

Eleri got a new winter dress in the mail from Fannie today. She will wear this a lot this winter. Probably not with the hat, though. We had to use a popsicle to bribe her into wearing it for the pictures. :)

Well hello there

2010-10-24T15:10:00.000-04:00

I haven't been posting. Isn't that how it always goes? I say that I will but then I disappear and I get emails from Mom and Fran asking what happened and where are the pictures.
I have no idea what I've been doing. But I know that this week ahead is going to be crazy busy.
Monday - teacher conference and feeding therapy resumes
Tuesday - storytime at the library and knit night
Wednesday - Eleri turns 2!!! Niall has bring a parent to school day, and I have to go help a friend buy yarn.
Thursday - Eleri's pedi appointment, lunch with a friend, knitting circle at the diaper store
Friday - No school for the kids.

Somewhere in all of this I have to knit a vest for Harry Potter, preferably in time for him to wear it to school on Friday. And the computer is getting worse and worse with it's reliability about things like turning on, so that's always fun. I have plans to get a macbook. I need to save up some cash.
You probably want pictures. I can't show you what I've been knitting. I'm in a gifty swap and you never know who's lurking. We got the winter clothes down from the attic and I found out that I DID buy Eleri some red dresses last year during the year in sale. She'll wear one of them for Christmas. Here's one now.

Scouts Honor

2010-10-11T20:51:00.000-04:00

That whole posting more often thing? Riiiight.

This week's calendar

Monday - cub scouts

Tuesday - story time at the library, knit night

Wednesday - baseball game

Friday - baseball game

So... have a picture of the Cub Scout. Buy some popcorn from him, if you are so inclined.

Go GAMECOCKS!

2010-10-10T21:14:00.000-04:00

I think the cute cheerleader had something to do with them taking down the #1 team.

Bomb

2010-09-30T14:34:00.000-04:00

Someone is on a food strike. That's okay, little diva pixie. I've got you covered. She still drinks her shake in the morning. She doesn't know that I performm small feats of alchemy every morning to mix up a 700calorie bomb. Greek yogurt, instant breakfast, flax seed oil, benecalorie, rice milk. That's right. So while I'm pulling my hair out trying to get this baby to eat something again - this is day 3 of the no longer eating strike - I don't have to freak out too much because she is getting something. It's just not my ideal of what I want her to eat. She will grow out of this someday, right?

Yum

2010-09-28T08:29:00.001-04:00

I've been meaning to get back to making my own bread for a while, but kept putting it off because I remember how many tries it took me to get a good loaf when I did it before. Once I finally got it, I knew what to do, but we had quite a few sad and sorry loaves before I got there. So, I kept putting it off.
A while ago, Fran showed me this article about how to make really good bread in 5 minutes a day. I figured I could manage that, but it still took me this long to get a pizza peel and stone and actually try it out. But yesterday when we were at the store and I knew we were out of bread, I purposely decided to NOT buy any, because I knew if I had bread in the house I would put it off again.
My first loaf looks pretty good, and tastes pretty great, and that's even with all the mistakes I made in the making it. I didn't leave it in the fridge long enough, and I forgot about it on the peel so it tried to slither away, and I think some cornmeal got on the inside when I had to reshape it after the slithering, and then I forgot about it in the oven. Actually, this bread seems to be pretty idiot proof, which makes it perfect for me.
Yay for bread! The boys had some this morning, and came running back for an extra slice to have in the car on the way to school. I think we have a winner!

Two things that should never be near each other

2010-09-23T22:24:00.000-04:00

I went to Ikea with a friend today. We drove down this morning, walked all over the whole store and bought many things, and then drove back home again. I'm am tired and weary, so it seems as good a time as any to tell you why I recently had to replace my toothbrush.

The Pixie still sleeps in our room. Her crib is there along the wall, right where I can see her when I am lying in bed. It works well for us, but it also makes us do some things differently when we come to bed at night. For instance, I don't go into my bedroom until I am ready to go to sleep, and I move quietly and quickly to do all that needs doing and get into my jammies so she doesn't wake up and cry at me until I come and nurse her. This means that we don't turn on the light in the bathroom. We leave the closet light on and crack the door, and that dim light is what we get for toothbrushing and toileting. Normally, this isn't a problem, but sometimes I have moments in which my brain has already gone to sleep while my body is going along with all the mechanical processes necessary to get itself there, too. That is where this comes in.

I'm sure you can spot the problem here. Two containers, roughly the same size and shape, in the mostly dark with a brain that has already turned in for the night...

I did notice that the substance on my toothbrush was more liquidy than it should have been, which made me sniff it and realize what happened before I put it in my mouth. I think that's pretty good for a body operating on autopilot.

I moved the hair stuff back where it should have been so the mistake won't be repeated. At least until the next time I decide to try to be a grownup and use product on my hair.

Story time at the library

2010-09-22T13:16:00.000-04:00

We went today because we were running all over and beating Walmart yesterday.

One good thing about living in a small town is that you can ride your bike to the library. The great thing about being almost two years old and riding on a bike to the library is the opportunity to create a great outfit with your bike helmet. The Pixie picked out her own outfit this morning.

The pictures aren't that great, but it's very hard to get a picture of someone who believes that helmet means go and who is not in the least interested in stopping to look at the camera.
Story time was lots of fun. Eleri is much more interested in dancing to the songs and playing the games than Niall ever was. Participation is cool! And she got all sorts of smiles and love for her bike helmet. It was a good morning outing.

renovations

2010-09-21T16:22:00.001-04:00

I discovered today that since blogger has changed all it's wiggly bits to make creating a fun template easier for people, now I can't change the number of gadgets and whatnot that I have here.
So there might be some changing around of things going on. Who knows? Maybe it will be prettier? My little lemon buttons are going to go though, because I had to make them match with html code things and I have no idea how I did it last time.
Weeeeee! I don't know what I'm doing!

LATER: Well? What do you think of the white? I could not figure out what pink I used before, and I was getting tired of the pink anyway. Is the white classy? Boring? Who cares?

Me Vs. Walmart

2010-09-21T12:23:00.002-04:00

I just beat Walmart again.

I say again, because this is the second time this month that Walmart has tried to foil me, but I managed to come out ahead.

The first time was a couple of weeks ago over some eggs. I needed to buy some, and since the boys were in school and it wasn't a race to get everything I needed before one of them destroyed something or maimed himself, I took the time to actually consider what I was doing. They have those little "price per unit" parts on the price tags, but I don't trust those. Half the time they label comparable items differently - like one is per oz. and one is per lb, which would be helpful if I didn't have to do math to figure out how the prices really compare.
So back to it, I was buying eggs. (and I can tell you all about this because I was so proud of myself for figuring it out that I went and posted about it on my forum of friends)

I had my choice to purchase:
1 doz. eggs for $1.41
18 eggs for $2.22
30 eggs for $4.40

Now, somewhere in my brain, I always thought that buying the economy sized whatever of anything was supposed to give you the most bang for your buck. NOT SO, WALMART. Because I stood there pacing back in forth in front of the eggs and muttering to myself. Pixie was fine. She had crackers. I could take my time.

I figured out that 2 of the 18 count eggs is 4.44, so 4cents more but you get 6 more eggs. But 3 of the dozen eggs is 4.23, you get 36 eggs, and you save money. You do not want to know how much pacing and muttering it took me to come to this conclusion, and then I had to come home and use the calculator on the computer to make sure I did it right. My brain is not very mathy, and I was taxing its abilities, but I did it right and got more eggs for less money.

I beat Walmart!

And then today, I decided that it was time to stop walking on the treadmill in my 5 year old shoes. They are old and sad and make my feet hurt, but I haven't done anything about it because have you seen the price of running shoes when you have to buy for a wide width? And also, why is it that I wear a 6.5/7 in normal shoes, but in running shoes I have to buy an 8-8.5? Do my feet get bigger when I'm running and then shrink back down?

Anyway, I decided that I would get myself a pair of Walmart running shoes for now, and then when I reach some fitness goal I will reward myself with some nice shoes. Good goal! Non food!

Walmart had some on clearance! Yay! I paced and squinted at the boxes, trying to find some that fit me. There were a few styles on markdown. Most of them just did not feel right at all. One felt great, but there was only one shoe in the box. I put it on the floor because I didn't feel right about putting a box with only one shoe in it back on the shelf. I kept looking, and the Pixie was getting kind of worried because I'd removed one shoe and it was just sitting on the floor and you know how she is about shoes. But I found another box, with two shoes in it, tried one on, and yay!

I put it in my cart and started to walk away, but part of my brain woke up and reminded me that I was in Walmart and it didn't pay to be stupid. I stopped right there and checked BOTH shoes in the box. They were different sizes. But they were the same style as that single shoe that I had put on the floor instead of putting back on the shelf. I checked, and it was the size I needed, and the opposite shoe - I made sure to check that, too. All I need is to buy shoes on clearance and get home to discover that I have 2 right shoes and no left shoes. It all worked out, though, and I walked out of Walmart with a pair of running shoes for $15, plus some raisins, grapes, and the Pixie's iron drops, because it is a law of Walmart that you can't go in there for just one thing and manage to get out with only that thing. I think they put something in the air.

But, no matter. I still won. Twice.

Resolving again

2010-09-20T19:07:00.003-04:00

Hey! I'm going to blog more. Again.
I do really well for a while, and then a whole bunch of life starts happening and I kind of forget about doing this. It's somewhat for the grandparents, somewhat for the knitting, but mostly for me, and sometimes me comes last. But right now I can say that I'm going to take it up again because the baby is in bed, Niall is in the tub, John and Rowan have gone to cub scouts, and I'm sitting here in the dim with a dog on either side of me.
Pretty good.
So a lot has been happening lately. The boys started school, Rowan is playing baseball and is joining Cub Scouts, Eleri is out of therapy but I'm still trying to get weight on the little stinker.
I've had pretty good luck improving my Corelle collection. I scored some dessert/snack plates and found a bowl.

That was a particularly good day for thrifting. We also scored some boots for Eleri. She adores them and puts them on every time they catch her eye. The clomping noise she can make while going down the hall is part of their charm, and the easy on and off makes them all kinds of win.

So there you go. More blogging to come. Most of it will be inane, but I need to get back in the habit of writing again and I can't think of a good story every day. I'll try to have some sort of fun for you though. At least, until life gets in my way again.

Big news here!

2010-09-16T20:45:00.003-04:00

We are expecting a visitor tonight.
A very tiny, magic vistor.
You may know her as the Tooth Fairy.

Our Niall is growing up!

Rowan's first ball game

2010-09-13T21:21:00.003-04:00

It was a fine evening for baseball. The Knights took on the Timber Rattlers, and won 1-0 (though officially we are not keeping score because the fall league is all about skill building and not tournament, but whatevs, we won!)
Rowan was very serious about playing. We have some work to get him up there skillwise (batting stance, throwing, hitting...) but he got a hit so it's all good. It's strange to think of teaching a kid to play ball. I don't know how I learned, but we didn't do much besides play baseball and hide and seek in the summertime when I was a kid. I suppose someone had to show me how it's done at some point. Rowan is a fast learner though, and it's nice to have him playing a sport where I understand the rules.

Friday Flick! on Saturday

2010-09-04T07:57:00.003-04:00

This is a video that I've been trying to upload for about a month now. The upload time was insanely long. I finally figured out how to set the computer so it wouldn't go to sleep and left it to upload overnight. It worked! So now you have a good almost 4 minute long look at the Pixie.

:D This makes me happy

2010-09-03T19:11:00.001-04:00

I plugged a couple of samples of my writing into a website and got this.

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Even if it's not entirely accurate, that makes me way happy.

Tori's pants

2010-08-31T22:03:00.002-04:00

And now for a little sewing! (thanks, Fran, for fixing my machine for me!)

I have a friend named Tori who had a favorite pair of jeans. We all know about those. They're impossible to find, and once you do find them you hang on to them with a death grip until they're just a sorry wad of threads that may or may not have once been jeans. It's important to get every last second out of them.

Her jeans were worn through in the seat. This is a problem for any self respecting southern lady who does not want to flash her delicates to the world, right?

So, she asked her neighbor to fix them for her. Bought some cute fabric that could show through the holes. And handed them over.

The neighbor...

Well...

The neighbor did this:

Now... Let's examine this, shall we?

Not only did she use hot pink thread to sew them down... The patches are on the outside of the pants. What does this say to you?
"Hello, I would like to introduce you to my butt!"
"Check out my boo-tay."
"Is your butt swank? 'cause mine is."
"For a good time, grab here."

Now, Tori didn't know quite what to say. She took them home and tried them on. Showed her hubby. He would never be seen in public with her and these jeans. But they were THE JEANS. The FAVORITE jeans. So, she snagged me at knit night one week and told me the whole sad story. She didn't want to go back as a dissatisfied customer. She didn't know what to do. I didn't believe how bad they were until I saw them, and then, once I did, there was no going back. These had to be saved.

Those patches were on there GOOD, too. Three step zigzag all around them. Thin, fraying material near where the holes were. I took my time and removed them over the course of a couple of days. No rushing on this job. A sharp stitch ripper, good light, and a little tv company.

You'll be glad to know that the jeans are saved.

A little fabric peeks through the hole - like grownups wear.

First day of school

2010-08-23T12:16:00.003-04:00

First day of school. For Niall, the first day of school EVER.

First day of Kindergarten, a little excited, a little scared

First day of 3rd grade, excited and familar

Woo! Let's go to school!

In the car on the way. See Niall's face? Doesn't he look excited?

Walking in. My big boys.

Niall and one of his teachers hang his bag in his cubby.
I think my hands were shaking by this point, because my pics are blurry.

He clung to John a bit.

And then he gave me this look, right when he realized that we
really were going to leave him there, and he ran over for one last hug.

I don't have any more pics because I was BEING CHEERFUL and HOLDING IT TOGETHER and trying to get out of there before I started crying. Growing up is hard! He should be finishing his lunch right now and getting ready to lie down on his little mat. I hope he's having fun.

Pictures are being added

2010-08-20T21:34:00.003-04:00

I'm currently editing and uploading pictures to our flickr from our trip to Indiana and from open house at school today.

Uploading is ongoing. It takes for-ev-er (make that as whiney as you can) to get them up there.
Here is the set for our trip to Indiana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45427621@N00/sets/72157624768781976/

and here is the set for the school happenings. The school set will be ongoing through the whole year. I'm trying to be more organized. We'll see how long that lasts.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45427621@N00/sets/72157624770375680/

Both albums are set to public, so you shouldn't have any issues viewing them. Enjoy!

How do you knit a fridge?

2010-08-07T18:14:00.002-04:00

It's very simple, really.
First, you knit for a few weeks and make 3 pairs of shorties for a local lady.

Then, you stalk Craigslist and find someone selling a fridge for $100.

Plates

2010-08-02T19:48:00.003-04:00

So, we got these pretty nice plates when we got married almost 10(!) years ago, and they are really starting to show some wear. A chip here, a crack there, some broken bowls that had to be thrown out...
It's not bad yet, but I need to start thinking of what to do about the state of the plates...

And then today we went to the Guardian Angel thrift store, and I saw 3 plates in a pattern that looked really familiar.

not my picture, but it is my plate

This plate is the pattern Indian Summer. Mom says that our plates were Old Spice, but I'm not so sure about that. This one looks way familiar. If mom didn't have it, either Aunt Jan, Aunt Mac, or Aunt Wanda did. There were only 3 plates, and they were the small size that I use for the boys, so I got them.
And then I got to thinking... 79cents a plate is pretty awesome. And old plates are pretty awesome. And Corelle does not die. I should keep my eyes open and accumulate old Corelle in random patterns and call it shabby chic. It works for me. And I bet a lot of the people who would eat on my plates would have memories attached to certain old Corelle patterns. I think this is a fabulous idea. So that's my plan. I'll let you know when I find more good ones.

For Uncle Randy

2010-07-25T17:33:00.002-04:00

Randy heard that we like to take the boys to Lowe's for their build and grow workshops, and demanded that we take pictures for him the next time we went. So here you go. This week's project was building a UFO. It has a blinky light on the top that toggles on and off. We love build and grow because the boys get to hammer, and they get a patch for their aprons for every project they do. But lame-o me needs to get to work sewing them on. We've accumulated 3 so far that I have yet to attach. oops.

First you have to lay out all your parts to make sure you have them.

Hammer stuff down.

The decal stickers are important.

Blinky light!

Finished UFOs. Time to go home and play X-Files.

Just another Saturday

2010-07-24T08:58:00.002-04:00

John is out mowing before it gets too hot, and I'm in here waiting for laundry to get done washing so I can hang it out, also before it gets too hot.
Did I mention it's hot? The pool is fun, but not so refreshing when it's been 100*+ for days and it feels like bathwater.
This morning we have Lowe's Build and Grow, and then Rowan has a birthday party to go to. Randy wants pictures of the boys building, so I have to remember to take the camera. Then we'll scurry to grab a birthday present (already know what to get, they just didn't have the first Harry Potter at Walmart when we went), head home to wrap it, and then one of us will take Rowan over to the party while the other one does something to make Niall feel important, too.
We also have acquired yet another animal. We recently adopted Bosco, mom's Jack Whippet (that's what we're calling him because we think he's a cross between a Jack Russel and a Whippet) and he is much loved.

Isn't he a handsome dude? He's a sweetie. Loki is jealous and trying to be all alpha at him, so I've been having to firmly establish myself as alpha. It's gone pretty well, and Bosco is learning to put up with the love that 2 boys and a baby can dish out.
And then last night we adopted another animal. Our friends got this little guy and one other for Christmas, but one died and they were going out of town for a while, so they decided to find this one a new home. His name was Agent, and his name has been elongated to Secret Agent Frog.

As far as pets go, he's super low maintence. Feed him twice a week, change his water once every few months, and his little tank takes care of the rest. He's moved in next door to Shishy III, and Niall is so happy to finally have a frog of his own. (He pestered the school receptionist without fail about her frogs every time we went to the school.)
So there you have it. That's what we're doing.
Next week our friend, Sharon, is coming to visit. And then we'll be going down to Charleston to visit for John's birthday. Fun times!

Friday Flick! on Saturday.

2010-07-24T08:20:00.002-04:00

I think we can all agree that the pool was a good idea, even if it was a pain in the booty to get the ground ready.

It's been a while

2010-07-16T20:48:00.001-04:00

Have a Friday Flick.

About clocks

2010-07-07T22:41:00.001-04:00

Rowan: That long hand is the minute hand, and the short one is the hour hand.

Niall: What's that other one that goes fast?

R: That's the second hand.

N: Second hand? No, that's the third hand.

R: No, SECOND.

N: Duh, it's the third hand.

R (smacking his forehead): Not second like first, second, third... Second like the tick tock tick tock... that's a second.

N: OOOh.

metaphor

2010-07-04T18:18:00.003-04:00

Sometimes life is like this. But you keep going. Slowly, methodically, you untangle yourself and continue on. And when you've wound up your ball, then you can knit... and what was once a tangle will be something beautiful once again.

Kimmy

2010-06-29T09:10:00.001-04:00