kids in a box

I knew the hubs badly wanted a new cooler.  And when Father's Day snuck up on me, I was at a complete loss for which of the 187 available coolers he wanted.  There were too many options, sizes, colors, you name it.  So I took the easy way out and told him he could pick one out for his present.  Oh yes, I gave him an errand for his present.  You're welcome.

And the hubs took a while to pick one out, so it showed up last week.  Wouldn't you know it, just like cats, my kids were all over that box.  Britton was first, naturally.  She gathered "camping supplies," then popped herself into that box and started non-stop giggling.  Sadie went over to check it out (and see if Britton's camping supplies included the goldfish crackers she loves).  Sadly for Sadie, no crackers.

And Barrett walked, yes walked, over to find Britton.  The hubs and I kept up the game, trading comments, "Have you seen Britton?"  "Nope, haven't seen her for a while.  Maybe she went upstairs?"  All the while, Britton is giggling and saying "No!" after each of our asinine comments.  This game went on for a while!

As life with a sibling requires, Britton ended up having to share the box.  She didn't mind, and Barrett thought it was just the neatest thing ever.  The big lesson learned here - give my kids boxes instead of toys!

camping [in the rain]

Memaw and PawPaw decided to go camping this weekend and asked us if we wanted to join them.  Absolutely!  Britton was attending a birthday party Saturday morning, so we planned on heading out right after.  Unfortunately, the weather decided to be ornery and it started raining Friday night and never stopped!  We decided to go anyways, but the hubs, me, and Barrett wouldn't spend the night. Originally we were going to spend the night because Britton, Memaw, and PawPaw would be in a tent outside while we took over the RV, but a muddy ground means no tent.  

The campground was in Tomlinson Run State Park in the very northern tip of West Virginia and only took about an hour to get to.  Britton and Barrett jumped right into the camping lifestyle.  The RV had a great shade that covered the patio area, so even when it started pouring we could be outside and not get wet.

It was the campground's "Christmas in July" weekend, and Memaw decorated the RV with lights, stars, a wreath, and mason jars.  Most campers had decorated too and it was fun seeing everyone's attempts at outdoing each other!  Makes sense, since there were prizes for the best decorating!

The rain made everything muddy, and luckily Memaw and PawPaw had brought an outdoor rug.  But that didn't stop Barrett from plopping down on his butt and getting muddy!

Memaw and PawPaw grilled up some hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner, then the hubs stoked the fire to get it ready for s'mores.  I love s'mores.  I do.  I love them so much that I regularly make s'mores in my microwave.  Which will work when you're really craving one, but nothing beats charring a marshmallow over a campfire and slapping it on a graham cracker and chocolate!

Britton wanted to try roasting her own marshmallow, but the heat of the fire bothered her.  She said she could "feel the fire on her forehead."  So the hubs helped her out.

And Barrett cheesed it up with Memaw.  Man, he had her in stitches!  And he loved that marshmallow so much.  

I like my marshmallows like I like my bacon - burnt.

After the rain let up, Britton and PawPaw went on a hunt for the perfect climbing tree.  Unfortunately for Britton, the rain had made the trees too slippery, and no one wanted to wander into the forest because of the overwhelming number of ticks we've got this year.  But she got PawPaw to use her princess umbrella, so the walk made it priceless to me!

We left Britton to camp with Memaw and PawPaw (she has a bunk in the RV that she loves) and the hubs and I took Barrett home for bed.  He was wiped out!

britton's 5th birthday quilt

Yep, I'm early here, since Britton's birthday isn't until August 2nd.  But I'm itching to share her birthday quilt with you!  I thought up this quilt after getting one of my little fabric catalogues.  I saw this quilt kit:

But I didn't like the big stars.  So I thought about the tiny baby quilts I had made before and BAM, I had Britton's birthday quilt design! You can see the little stars and this quilt's beginnings here.  I got to work on an excel spreadsheet for the color movement, and since Britton loves rainbows (and rainbow is her favorite color) I knew she'd catch it if the rainbow wasn't just right.  The colors had to feel like they were slowly moving from one to the next.   Every fabric in this quilt (other than the white background) is a scrap, and since the individual blocks were a mere 2.5 inches each, I didn't much scrap.

I had another backing in mind that I had been eyeing for weeks.  But as I was walking up to the cutting counter, this mermaid print caught my attention and I made a snap decision to go with the mermaids.  While the other backing fabric would have been beautiful design-wise, the mermaids were just so Britton.  And they are a nice reminder that this quilt is for a little girl.

I thought I might border the front with this rainbow thread, but in the end I didn't want anything taking away from the movement of the stars.  So I used the fancy settings on my sewing machine and stitched these rainbow stars along the white border.  In the middle I added Britton's handprint, just like for Barrett's quilt.

I quilted the entire quilt in my lazy loopy free-motion quilting, except for the stars.  Then I outlined each star, so they would poof out a little from the quilt.  Piecing the stars into the quilt was a pain because I was essentially making it up as I went.  So I needed the loopy quilting to hide the fact that there were so many seams in the white space!

Britton already spied the mermaid fabric, so she has her suspicions.  But she hasn't seen the quilt yet, and I can't wait for her to get it on her birthday!

cousins come to town

When I went to Jessica's house before Cammy's retirement party, she asked if we wanted Garrett and Caroline to come visit in July.  And I said they could absolutely come visit!  Well, the week before their visit, Jessica asked if she, Emily, and Jason could come too and have a three-day getaway.  The more the merrier, and the hubs and I started finding beds for all these folks!

The gang showed up on Tuesday, and Wednesday we went to the water park and pool across the street from my neighborhood.  Jason had not taken a long nap that morning, so he was quite cranky and not feeling the pool at all.   He stuck a toe in the shallow end, then hung out under the umbrella with Jessica.

So the hubs and I headed to the big water slide.  Garrett and Caroline loved it, Emily was too short to go down it, and Britton got to the top then decided she wasn't going to do it.  We went swimming in the pool, then headed over to the splash pad area.

During "adult swim," we hit up the concession stand!  The kids had never had a Slush Puppie before (and if you haven't either, they are like Slurpees), so we ordered some and took a break under the umbrella.

After we got home from the pool and changed, I really wanted to get a picture of all the kids together.  We scouted out a good spot in the backyard and I took as many pictures as I could before they all got restless.  Barrett went with his "Blue Steel" smolder because smiling is so last week, you know.

Every day we sent the kids outside, and they loved playing on the swing set.  Caroline and I took turns pushing everyone in those swings!  And we took walks in the neighborhood, which allowed the hubs to get dinner started without six kids running around the kitchen.

On Thursday morning the hubs and Garrett went to go see the new Transformers movie, which us gals waited out Jason's nap.  Caroline mentioned that she had seen a website where someone turned boxes into an American Girl doll sofa.  Challenge accepted!  Before going to the movies, the hubs ran out to the post office to sneak away some boxes, and Caroline and I hunted through my fabric.

Some fabric, foam, and an ornery glue gun later, we had a couch!  Then Caroline picked out some fabric and made those adorable pillows on the couch.  They are reversible!  And I put together a bag of three-inch squares so she can make a quilt for the back of the couch when she gets home.

After lunch, we went to Fun Fore All - an arcade/carnival/putt-putt place.  Britton and I played some skee-ball while Emily and Jason tried out the ball pitt/three-story play structure known as Ballocity.  Then we headed outside for the carney rides.  First up - the "Fiesta Express" roller coaster!  Caroline spent the entire ride preventing Jason's head from slamming into the side of their car.  Poor thing kept sliding across the seat with every turn!

And the tea cups, a classic.  Britton wasn't feeling this ride at all, or to be more accurate, she wasn't feeling so good about halfway through.  But the hubs and Garrett showed up at this time (yes, that movie is 3 hours long!) so she took a little rest while Caroline and Emily went on the swing.

Britton was really excited about the bumper boats, and luckily Caroline agreed to accompany her.  I knew the bumper boats had squirt guns, but I had no idea she'd get completely soaked (which she did).  She was a trooper and spent the rest of the day in wet clothes.  We got some Slush Puppies (yes, they are available everywhere here) and hit the games.

Jessica packed up her brood and headed out this morning.  I think they were all ready to get back into their own beds and normal routine, and we all went pretty hard for three days.  But it was fun getting to see them all and stay up late watching bad television shows with Caroline and Garrett and try out the hubs' new fajita recipe (two thumbs up!) and enjoy a little summer vacation.

The Barrett and The Garrett

barrett: 14 months old

Well, a huge milestone was reached today - Barrett walked!  It was a few steps, and he refused to treat us to a repeat performance, but he took his first steps this evening after dinner.  It was almost as if Barrett forgot to be holding onto something - he just turned to get a hold of his walker and had to take a few steps to get to it.  Luckily, the hubs and I were both there to witness it!  

So, last night we went to Red Robin for dinner.  And Barrett was throwing his sippy cup and generally being exuberant.  An older couple was sitting next to us and smiled, and the older gentleman said, "Well, looks like someone is having a good time.  She must love this place!"  Or something to that effect.  But of course the only thing I heard was "she"!  Ha!  We didn't correct the man, because I can see how he would make that mistake.  I mean, look at that hair, ya'll.  Seriously.  And most of the time his hair curls in these sweet little tendrils and we can't bear to cut it.  Can a 14 month old sport a ponytail?

We also had another big first this weekend.  Barrett loves pulling the colander out of the cabinet and beating on it with wooden spoons.  And Britton plopped herself down next to him and took up with another colander and some spatulas.  They just sat there together, cracking each other up and playing so well, and it was the first time I experienced my kids entertaining each other without help from either the hubs or me.  Everyone tells you how much easier it is to have a second kid than just the first because this time around they have a built-in playmate. And we're finally getting there!

Some developments - Barrett can now say "ball," "all done," "uh oh," "hi," "bye-bye,""mommy," and "daddy."  When you ask him what a cow says he goes, "Mmmmmm." He's ridiculously heavy and tall, but we don't have any stats until his doctor's appointment next month.  He wears size 24 month clothing (and some 2T!) and size 5 diapers.  He's getting his molars in, so sleep has been iffy.  We had a nice long stretch of him sleeping through the night, then the ornery molars showed up and he's been waking for a bottle right before the hubs and I go to bed.  It's annoying to be going backwards, but we're crossing our fingers that once the molar pain subsides he'll go back to sleeping through the night.  Of course, now that I put that out there I've jinxed it!

Likes:  water - the water table and the baby pool are magnets for this kid, going on walks in the morning, dancing to music, playing his kitchen drums, "petting" Sadie (we're working on what nice petting is), and climbing the stairs by himself

Dislikes:  being in the car without his Teddy Grahams - he always needs a full cupholder of them, laying on his changing table to get dressed

happy 4th of july!

Am I the only one who thinks the 4th of July snuck up this year?  It wasn't until July 3rd that all the America flags and decorations got put out, and if not for making Britton's skirt, I'd not have remembered it was so close.  Britton is at the age where all holidays are just the most important day of the year ever, so she's been talking up flags and fireworks and Paul Revere and how she had the day off of school.  We invited Memaw and PawPaw to come over, throw some meat on the grill, and hang out for this Independence Day.  

While the east coast was being beat down by Hurricane Arthur, we woke up to beautiful fall-like weather.  It was 68 degrees and sunny and perfect.  I ran out to JoAnns today (no surprise there) to get some fabric, and I picked up some bubbles for Britton.  I also happened to notice that JoAnns has put out their Halloween decorations - seriously people.  Seriously.  But I digress.  I got home and Memaw and PawPaw arrived, and we tried to spend ever minute of this gorgeous day outside.  On the swing set...

And in the kiddie pool!  We all thought it was way too cold, but Britton likes to pretend she's Elsa and that the cold doesn't bother her.  And she does have a pretty good tolerance to the cold.  The pool piqued Barrett's interest though, and he went over to check things out.  Of course he wanted to get in, and the minute I plopped him in his lips turned blue and he started shivering!  

After an incredible steak dinner and a bath and bedtime for Barrett, Memaw, PawPaw, the hubs, Britton and I took our fireworks to the driveway to have some fun.  The hubs and I picked up some sparklers at a stand in a parking lot, and let's just say, these things weren't the finest quality.  It took multiple attempts to get them to stay lit and they gave off a ridiculous amount of smoke. Britton wasn't so sure about the sparklers, and here she is holding her first one...

Not so sure at first, but there's a smile!

I played with my camera settings and managed to get light trails from Memaw's and Britton's sparklers!

The hubs wrote Britton's name with the lit sparklers.  This residue can't be good!