it's like an HGTV show around here...

I know some of you aren't that interested in yard work stories.  I totally feel you.  I glaze over the minute someone starts telling me about their weird dreams.  So, if you're checking in to see the kids, here they are....

And if you want to see the kids AND hear about our grueling yard work, complete with too many pictures, I'm going to keep on keeping on.  Here's the thing - the front flower beds were long overdue for a makeover.  Like, 10 years overdue.  The bushes were so big they blocked the windows, the thing next to the bush below is a weed (I kid you not), and besides the two giant bushes, there wasn't any other plants.  The hubs and I have been planning this redo for a while, but with only the weekends to work on it and two kids who don't want us to work on it, we were stuck.  So, we planned on today being the day!

Here is the right side of the porch "before" - big ugly bush and weed.  

We couldn't pull the bush because the roots were too big and deep.  So the hubs took the pole saw to it and mowed that thing down.  Already it's looking better!  (If we all agree to ignore the half-dead holly bush left).

The "After"!  Boxwood shrubs under the windows that max out at four feet tall, so they won't ever get too big.  The corner got a sepia bush to attract butterflies, and we added some daylillies (to tie into the bed next to the stairs), some midnight hostas, and some blue flowers that I can't remember the name of now.

But, Carrie!  What about the left side?  Glad you asked.  Here's the before, and a quite sad story to go along with it.  Two weeks ago, the hubs cut this bush down.  And then noticed that a robin's nest with four eggs fell out.  I was frantic, thanks to oh-so-timely PMS, crying and searching the internet with phrases like "how to sit on robin's eggs and hatch them yourself."  

I tried putting the nest into the bush/tree next to it, and the mom robin actually found it!  I was of course spying through those windows.  But then, when I checked on the nest a little while later, it had fallen to the ground, one egg was cracked, and one egg was missing.  So I put the remaining two eggs and nest into a shoe box, and duck-taped it to the window (you can see in the picture below).  Then I propped the cut bush up against the window to make the robins think it was safe and entice them back to the nest.  Yep, it didn't work.  The robins never came back.

Ok, now that you're all "we're talking about two bird eggs, right?" let's see the "After"!  I used the same plants, in the same locations, so as to mirror the other side.  

I keep peeking out of the windows to see the difference.  And wow, it looks so much better.  Definitely worth the labor and sore back!  And now that these flower beds are complete, we are FINISHED with transformations.  Our HGTV show is cancelled!

how do your children and garden grow?

We've taken advantage of sunny warm weather by playing outside any chance we get.  Barrett is learning how grass feels on bare feet, and I think he likes it!  Every night after dinner we all head to the swing set.  The few nights it's been rainy have turned all our moods sour.  We need the fresh air.  We need the absence of the television noise.  We need to run and learn to walk and laugh and notice the newest blooms.

And we need chalk!  Little chalk footprints that I want to cover in sealant so they stay on the deck forever.

But then work intruded on our play.  And work it was!  Our house had a flower bed running along the front stairs.  It was completely overgrown, with spider-laden blue junipers, half-dead mountain laurels, and weeds.  So the hubs took a shovel and rake to the entire bed and demolished it.

And then I went to Lowes and bought new plants and mulch.  Liriope line the stairs, and I picked two different bushes, one with yellow flowers and one with white flowers.  We left the day lilies because the deer won't eat them, and I love their color.  And I hunted down some lantana at one of the local nurseries.  I left the rocks where they were because I think the flower bed looks natural with them.

school picture time!

No more plastic combs and laser-light backgrounds.  I know, I shed a tear too.  Now picture day is all green-screen backgrounds and flower props!  And for Britton, this picture day turned out really well! For Barrett, well, you'll have to see his poor red crying eyes and sad pout and know that I am still wondering if the photographers really did their best work that morning.  Check them out!

Britton is making the best of the situation, but Barrett just really doesn't want to be there.  I don't know what set him off since the babies are photographed first, but whatever it was went on to affect the solo shots too...

I almost bought this photo to use later in life, for a high school graduation photo montage or office "guess that baby!" contest.  But when he is this sad in front of me, I do everything I can to make him smile.  But we did buy the first picture of Britton because she brought her A game! Ha!

the dresden plate quilt

Oh, I've been lazy with my posting lately.  But that's because I've been trudging away at finishing this quilt!  This is my first Dresden plate quilt, and in this case I used a thimble ruler to make fat Dresdens.  Usually a Dresden plate has longer pointier Dresdens, but here they are shorter like a sunflower.  I made the Dresden plates, then sewed them onto squares of white fabric, then appliquéd the centers on.  Once all the squares were finished, I pieced them together with the sashing and the nine-patches.

The material is mostly "Happy Go Lucky" by Bonnie and Camille (yep, I am a little obsessed with their fabric lines!), with some JoAnn staples mixed in.  Truth is, I only had two charm packs (40 or so 5 inch squares), and that wasn't quite enough, and I didn't want to have to order more.  So I took a charm pack to JoAnns to color-match it to some of their fabrics.

I did my all-over loopy free motion quilting.  I originally planned on doing the loopy quilting just outside the actual Dresden plates, then doing a fancy design within the Dresden plates.  But I tried it out and it looked bad, just bad, so I ripped out my stitching and went with the same loopy pattern over everything.  This is one of the biggest quilts I've ever made, maybe the biggest, so quilting it on my regular machine was a struggle!  My neck and arms are sore from wrestling it into the machine.

The backing is a yellow queen-sized sheet.  Doesn't the hubs look excited to be holding a quilt?

I love the binding.  It's from the same fabric line, and the rows are on a diagonal.  Therefore, when I cut it into strips to make binding, it looks like I cut it on the bias.  Score!

Once I get this beauty washed and dried, it's going on the guest bed.  I love how it turned out!  And while I might do another Dresden plate quilt in the future, I've got real reservations about doing such a large quilt ever again!

mother's day 2014

Memaw and Paw Paw came into town on Saturday to celebrate Barrett's first birthday.  We went out for lunch at Emiliano's, then cupcakes at home.  And it gave me a chance to show off my Mother's Day gifts from the kids - plants!  Their school had requested we bring in one shoe without the expectation of getting it back.  Okay.....I was stumped.  But I brought in one of Britton's flip flops, and no shoes for Barrett since he doesn't have any.  Fast forward to Friday morning, and I received my gift from Britton - her shoe was painted silver and had been transformed into a plant holder!  

Britton's planter

Barrett's plant, with a handprint card

She also made me a beautiful card with a drawing of us on the front.  One the back were her answers to questions about me, and it seems that Britton thinks I'm 60 years old, loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and watch oil and gas at work!  

I only had one request to the hubs for a gift - a journal.  I saw something in a magazine (maybe "Southern Living"?) about having your kids write in a journal every year for Mother's Day.  I'm the unofficial family historian, keeping up family videos (complete with photo slideshows) and photo albums.  I've taken monthly pictures of both kids for their entire lives.  I am a sucker for nostalgia.  So a journal for my kids to write me messages every year - even expanding it to my birthday and Christmas and big family events - that is right up my alley!

happy first birthday, barrett!

My ridiculously incredible and sweet son is a year old today!  I know everyone says it, and maybe that's because it's true - the time flies by so fast.  I mean, an entire year has passed and I remember snippets, but not the exact moment Barrett stopped being a little baby.  He so easily became a part of our family, it was as if he was never not here.  He wakes every morning with a smile, he cuddles as a default, and he loves every minute he spends with Britton.  

On to some milestones - Barrett can clap and hold your hands and make them clap too; he says "Momma" and "Dada" and sometimes "hi" and "bye;" he can pull himself to standing and walk holding onto something like furniture or us; he dances to music.  He weighs 27 pounds, 11 ounces and is 32 inches tall.  He wears size 24 month clothes and size 5 diapers.  He now has eight teeth, with two of them coming in just this week (the ones on either side of his bottom middle teeth).

His favorite toys are his musical instruments, especially maracas and the drum, and the Weebles.  Barrett loves sitting a couple feet from me and rolling a ball back and forth to each other, and even throws it to me.  Nothing is safe, not even Britton's toys, and her toy kitchen food is a favorite to teethe on.  

And eating.  As you can see below, he's full-on real food now!  His favorites include taco meat, mashed potatoes, fish, any kind of crackers, any kind of bread, corn, carrots, spinach, yogurt, and strawberries.  Now that's he's one, we're transitioning him from formula to milk, and hallelujah we never have to buy formula again!

To celebrate Barrett's birthday, we had cake after dinner.  Barrett was unsure at first, but threw his hands into the icing anyways.

Hmmmm......this thick stuff is kind of sweet.........

I snuck a birthday hat on him before he got too engrossed in the cake, and Britton gave him some love.  Then Barrett set about destroying the cake and getting good and sticky!

Before bath time, we let him open presents.  The hubs and I got him a toy remote control (he loves television remotes) and a tug boat for his bath.  We plan on getting him a sandbox too, but we've put it off until it finally warms up for good around here.

Britton helped him unwrap, since Barrett was more into eating the wrapping paper than unwrapping!

Aunt Jessica sent us gifts too - a cute two-pack of summer rompers (she knows I'm a sucker for nautical clothes!) and two books.  Books are such an under-rated gift - with having read Britton's books 100 times each, by the time I'm reading Barrett books at night, I'm going to need all new material!

Memaw and PawPaw are coming this weekend, and we'll celebrate with a trip to our favorite Mexican restaurant and more cake.  Why not keep the celebration rolling?  You only turn one once, and this little guy deserves to party!

57 months old

No longer an infant or a toddler or whatever comes after, Britton is now a full-on kid.  Three months shy of five years old, and this girl looks years older.  Maybe it's Britton's height, or her ridiculous vocabulary and math skills, or her sweet patient ways with Barrett, but she's certainly not what I imagined when I thought of four-year-old Britton.  I think the one aspect I am enjoying the most right now is Britton's imagination.  She spent the afternoon wrapping "presents" (random stuff from around the house) because she wanted it to be Christmas.  And this of course made perfect sense because minutes prior when we were outside, she told me she is Queen Elsa from Frozen, and was dead set on turning spring into winter.    

Britton's class at school has started reading chapter books (well, the teachers read them to the kids!) and I've noticed that Britton has now moved towards preferring longer books as a result.  She gets six books a night, and while I sometimes don't really feel like reading for 30 minutes every night, I always do because she so looks forward to it.  And I remind myself that there will come a time, all too soon, when she's reading books under her covers by flashlight (like Jessica and I and our "Sweet Valley Twins" addiction), and won't need me to read.  So I gladly take her to the library every week after dance class, loading up on up to 20 books a week, just to give me some variety!  Her favorite tonight was "The Snatchabook" by Helen Docherty, and I agree.

Britton loves her ballet class, and the recital is in one month.  After ballet is over, she will take swimming lessons at the water park/pool across the street from our neighborhood, then soccer again in the fall.  I let her choose her activity, with the agreement that we only do one activity a season, and we finish what we start.  Next August she'll start kindergarten, and we'll start exploring music lessons, depending on what she's interested in.  Ya'll know I'm rooting for the piano!

Likes:  spending five straight days with Memaw, going to the park (it's finally warming up around here), swinging on the swing set with Barrett, painting/anything to do with art, getting to brush her teeth by herself

Dislikes:  when Barrett grabs one of her toys (which lead her to proclaim this morning that she does not like sharing)

setting sail to the Caribbean

In need of a little rest and relaxation, the hubs and I booked a Disney cruise to the Caribbean, just us. Luckily, we found a good last-minute deal on the room, and left the kids in the capable hands of Memaw and PawPaw, which for the kids is better than going on a cruise! We left out of Port Canaveral on Sunday afternoon, along with two Carnival ships and a Royal Caribbean ship, so the port was quite busy that day.  Check out the traffic jam...

The first night we had dinner at Palo, the Italian restaurant on the ship.  We had been there before, and loved it so much that we went ahead and booked an additional dinner and brunch!  On Monday morning, we awoke to the ship pulling into Nassau.

And the friendly lighthouse that always greet us on the way into port.  I wouldn't mind getting off the ship and sneaking over there to stay forever.

The hubs and I don't typically get off the ship in Nassau, since we aren't in the market for jewelry.  So we took advantage of a near-empty ship, and headed to breakfast.  Mickey waffles are a must!

Then we went down to one of coffee shops, got some cafe lattes, and pulled up a seat to check out the other ships docked on either side of us.  This is the Royal Caribbean ship, the "Voyager of the Seas," one of the largest cruise ships in the Caribbean.  It is huge!

After coffee, I headed over to the spa.  Now, I'm pretty bad about getting regular massages, pedicures, facials, you name it.  Those types of things just don't ever make it to the top of my "to do" list.  But a cruise isn't real life, so when I saw that the spa was offering a massage, scalp massage, foot and ankle massage, and a facial at a ridiculous price, I went for it.  90 minutes of bliss.

After lunch, we headed to the top deck to check out Nassau.  I have tons of pictures of the touristy section of Nassau, but none of the bay area outside the tourist shopping district.  

Then we went to the art gallery.  They had these beautiful figurines, and we bought the Snow White figurine for Britton.  It was supposed to be for her birthday, but she spied it in my luggage and we ended up giving it to her today.  

There were a ton of Thomas Kinkade paintings for sale.

Then I discovered this painting by Lisa Keene, titled "At Odds with the Sea" and I just fell in love with it.  I went back to visit it many times over the next day, and tried to talk myself out of buying it.  But I couldn't stop thinking about it.  I admit, I don't know much about art, don't know which artists are "good buys" and I'd never heard of Lisa Keene, but I knew I wanted this painting bad.  The colors are beautiful, the mermaid's face was so achingly sad.  So I pulled the trigger and bought it, and now the hubs is off the hook for buying me a birthday present and a Christmas present!

The hubs and I also did something we've not ever done - a champagne tasting!  We got six glasses each (there was a surprise glass at the end of the tasting), and while it was something that I didn't know if I would enjoy, we ended up having a great time.  The hubs and I aren't big drinkers these days, and we know next to nothing about champagne, so this was a real treat.

My favorite was the fifth glass - Rosa Regale.  It tasted like, for lack of a better comparison, Arbor Mist!  Very fruity and sweet and right up my alley.

Empty glasses and a little tipsy feeling.  And it was only 5:00 pm!

The next day we docked at Castaway Cay.  Honestly, Castaway Cay is what makes this cruise incredible.  An entire island was just sitting there, waiting for us to get up already (we slept in until 9:00 am!) and get our sunscreen on.  We grabbed some breakfast and bottled water and headed out to Serenity Bay, the adult beach.  And I don't mean "adult beach" to equate to Hedonism - it just means that no one under 18 is allowed.  If you're not traveling with kids, you really don't want to spend the day at the beach having sand thrown on you.

We got to the beach and immediately dragged our chairs down to the water's edge.  I think we spent a good ten minutes in absolute silence, just taking in the colors of the sky and the water.  I told the hubs that in my quest for the perfect paint color over the years, this was the color I was seeking, and that none of the 10 or so paint samples sitting on our workshop shelves even came close.  If I ever find a paint color that matches where the water meets the sky, I will paint every room in my house that color.

The water was so clear, we could see schools of minnows, needle-nose fish, and a sting ray!

I noticed that the ladies further down the beach we grabbing cameras and running towards someone.  Captain Jack Sparrow!  I don't know how this guy didn't pass out in the heat.  That wig must have weighed a ton and sweat was pouring down his face.  But I give the man credit - he never broke character.  Even made some rum joke as we were taking this photo!

After lunch, we stopped at the beach bar for some frozen concoction, and filled our eyes with the beach.  By then there was a sandbar cutting through the middle of the bay and people  were flocking to it.  I didn't want to burn, even with my 50 SPF, so the hubs and I headed back to the ship.

Wednesday was our last full day at sea, and we spent it being completely lazy.  A couple at our dining table, Russell and Audrey, had won a gift certificate for a facial at the spa and neither were going to use it, so they offered it to me.  After our brunch at Palo, I headed back to the spa for my second facial!  Then the hubs and I took a three hour nap, which is the only nap we've ever taken together (or, for that matter, for three hours) since Britton was born.  A completely lazy and much-needed day!

The hubs and I had a fantastic time, and there's nothing we would've changed.  Plus, we had time to just hang out and people watch, and shared laughs over the guy who was so engrossed in his cell phone that he jumped into the pool fully- clothed while still playing on his phone, and the lady wrapped in confetti who loudly proclaimed not 10 minutes after the sail away party that she was drunk and then we couldn't be near a bar without seeing her there with a drink in her hand for the entire trip, and the wedding we watched from the balcony of a couple we'll never see again, and the transsexual man who we kept seeing in horrible 1980s women's fashions, and the other couple we were supposed to sit with at dinner who wouldn't speak to us because they were mad they had to share a table.  

We got back home this afternoon, and while I could've spent another week at the beach, I also really missed my kids!  But they think they got the better end of the deal because they got spoiled by Memaw all week, so I'm sticking with that story.  And tackling this mountain of laundry!