take your kids to work day

Britton has been asking to see my office again, since, according to her, she can't remember what it looks like.  Honestly, it's a cube farm and not all that impressive to see, but I didn't tell her that!  I figured it would be no problem to bring them to work last Friday morning, since the office is ghost town on Fridays.  I was right - my department had two people there!  And little did I realize that "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day" was the day before, so I'm totally claiming this visit was in celebration of that day.  Even if I didn't know until today!

Britton got a kick out of seeing all her artwork all over my file cabinets.  My company has a "non-personalized space" policy, where you're supposed to have cleared off desks without any memorabilia. The idea is that everyone is a mobile worker and could plug a laptop into any desk and go to work.  And while that mentality may work in the Hague, it doesn't fly in 'Murica.  I like my photos, I like my kid artwork, I like my various knick knacks, and that's just how it's going to be.  European stream-lining be damned - I need my space to be personalized.

I think the kids most enjoyed running through the cubes.  I could have let them go for hours and they'd have thought it was the best time ever.  It reminded me of when Jessica and I would go to our dad's work, and run through the rows and rows of the warehouse (he distributed marine and boat stuff).  Each bin of items had a colored round sticker, no doubt denoting certain important information.  Jessica and I gleefully pulled those stickers off the bins, covered ourselves in stickers, and had a blast!

stairs makeover

We've lived in our house for close to three years now, and the stairs from the basement to the first floor have been my nemesis since we moved in.  The stairs were carpeted in berber carpet, very light in color, and we had made two dark rows up the stairs from going outdoors to indoors.  Even taking off shoes didn't help.  

I was torn between wanting to recarpet the stairs and wanting to paint them.  I finally settled on painting  them, with the idea that if they turned out horrendously, I could carpet over them.  One day the hubs tore off the carpet, and revealed these beautiful stained stairs!  Better yet, they were scuffed up enough to not be slippery (my biggest concern about painting).  Sure, there are a couple of paint drops here and there, but they are really in fantastic shape!

There are a ton of stair decorating ideas.  With these stairs being in the basement, I could have more fun with them.  Our foyer stairs would require a more formal treatment.  I had hunted around the internet for ideas, and found some awesome decals (even mice!  Just check out Etsy), but I really loved a picture of stairs with numbers.  Of course, I had saved it months ago and lost the picture!  So I hunted on Etsy and found a shop that has vintage random numbers. The price was about the cost of a gallon of paint, and much cheaper than carpet.  We started with "0" so that I would end on "12," and not the unlucky "13"!

Some numbers are reflective, and the "12" is from a bus route.  Each number is different.  I love how it turned out!  Britton counts the stairs as she climbs them, and Barrett loves to get down low and touch them.

teacher appreciation gifts (a little early)

I've got Barrett's birthday party and a seminar I'm teaching coming up right around Teacher Appreciation Week.  So, in order to have some semblance of control over the amount of work staring me in the face for the next few weeks, I went ahead and made the teacher gifts.  I found this tutorial online for a lined zippered pouch and had to try it out.  I figured at worst, I'd waste $2 on a zipper and 15 minutes of my time.  But it turned out to be much easier than I thought, and I ended up making four!

"Sew Stitchy" by Aneela Hoey for the outside (little straight pins), red gingham for the inside (left over from Gigi's placemats).

"Remix" by Ann Kelle for the outside, orange text fabric for the inside.

A Japanese fabric with my favorite little elephants for the outside, seafoam gingham from Memaw's placemats for the inside.

A bumblebee favorite I've been hoarding for the outside, a yellow favorite from Joanns for the outside.

This was my first experience with zippers, and not nearly as troublesome as I thought it would be.  Each finished out at 10 inches by 6 inches. I went ahead and quilted the outside of the pouches to give them some heft and texture.  I hope the teachers will like them and make use out of them.  I've got some plans to make some more for myself!

daddy daughter dance

The Girl Scouts held a Daddy Daughter Dance tonight, with a "Hollywood" theme where the girls could dress up as their favorite movie character.  I imagine there will be tons of Elsas tonight!  Britton was very excited for her date with the hubs, and this was their first Daddy Daughter Dance.

I bought some snowflake bobby bins for Britton's "Elsa" braid.

After a convincing argument on her part, I agreed that Britton could wear "sparkles" on her eyelids.  After dinner, Britton went upstairs to get dressed, and when she came back down she had applied the eyeshadow herself.  At least someone is making use of that blue eyeshadow!

All dressed up and ready to go!  I know she's having a blast tonight.  The hubs does not like to dance, but he'll do it for Britton, and against his will, he might end up having a blast too!

a handmade house-warming gift for Gigi

My co-worker Gigi is moving into a new house with her new beau, and was excitedly describing her "country kitchen" theme to me.  She mentioned red and gingham, then oh-so-nonchalantly asked if I could make her some placemats.  Of course!  I verified the color of red (true red, not blue or orange-toned), made sure she wanted country, and then she left the rest up to me.  I scoured the internet for quilted placemats, and let me tell you what - there aren't many!  I finally settled on this one , a pinwheel star block with gingham borders on the side. Gigi requested that the placemats be smaller than the usual 14 inch by 18 inch size, so I downsized them to 12 inch by 14 inch.

The solid red is "Rich Red" by Kona, the ginghams are from Joanns, and the grey with small red flower is from one of Bonnie and Camille's fabric lines - "Ruby" maybe?  I added ric rac to the border to push the "cute country" theme over the edge, and I stitched in the ditch so that the quilting lines weren't on the red fabric and glaringly obvious.  I made eight placemats, and they took about two weeks to make.  I pre-washed all the red fabric so it wouldn't bleed later, but when I washed the finished placemats I still got pink Color Catchers!

Gigi's beau surprised her with flowers, and she posted a picture to Facebook.  I of course stole her picture, because it shows the placemats in use!  They turned out to be the perfect size for her table.

Gigi loves how they turned out, and I must admit that I am pleased as punch myself.  They do make a great housewarming gift.  I showed them to Memaw before I gave them to Gigi, and she requested some too!  I ordered some seafoam gingham, and started cutting blocks last night.  Plus, as an added bonus, I had made a sample block for the placemats, but it was too big (14 inches instead of 12 inches). I put that block aside, and now I've made six blocks in different solids to use in a baby quilt.  The pinwheel star block is the gift that keeps on giving!

barrett: 23 months old

That adorable troublemaker is almost two years old!  I now know what people mean about your children being totally different from each other.  Barrett is a rough and tumble kid, throwing himself around the couch, bouncing into the air, tumbling off anything he can, and he just comes up laughing.  He's also finding ways to entertain himself, searching out his toys and playing with them without the need for someone to play with him.  My gentle giant.

Giant, yes!  Britton is a tall kid, and Barrett is only a foot shorter than her!  I think Barrett is around 35 pounds, and he's getting into his 3T clothes and size 8 shoes.  He's babbling up a storm, going into a complete story that only kind of makes sense, word-wise.  He does love calling out for Britton by saying, "B! B!" as loud as possible.

Barrett loves looking at picture books of animals.  He can point out a cow, pig, horse, sheep, cat, dog, monkey, lion, butterfly, ladybug, and penguin, and make their sounds.  He also likes when I call out parts of his body and he gets to point them out (especially his belly, where he proudly lifts his shirt and points to his belly button!).  

Likes:  anything to do with animals, playing outside, bubbles, cuddling with Memaw, yelling for PawPaw, feeling like he's helping us out with important tasks like carrying the seed packets when we planted the garden

Dislikes:  not being allowed to draw on my lampshades, having to keep markers and paint at the table

happy easter!

Britton woke me up bright and early this morning, insisting that there weren't any eggs in the yard so the Easter Bunny didn't come.  I'm not sure what I said, probably incoherent mumbling about how the eggs are invisible until mom and dad get out of bed, but I did convince her to lay down for a couple of minutes so I could fall back asleep.  For 10 minutes.  Then I could no longer deny that this girl was excited about Easter and we needed to get up.  Because really, someone needed to get those eggs into the backyard!

Barrett got books and stickers, Britton got scented markers and pens.  Both got candy, which I ate for breakfast.  The push pops were the surprise hit of the candy, and Barrett managed to cover his face and hair with push pop stickiness!

Scented glitter gel pens and a new Frozen journal - this girl's heaven

 After checking out their baskets, the kids wanted to get into the backyard.  However, Memaw and PawPaw were on their way, so we stalled them with some egg dyeing.  I knew I'd be making some deviled eggs for Easter dinner, so dyeing eggs got me some hardboiled eggs and a fun activity for the kids.  We stuck with the coloring and the stickers - the glitter somehow got "misplaced."

Memaw and PawPaw arrived, with donuts and a ham!  Britton and Barrett ran to give them hugs, then checked out the Easter baskets they brought for them.  Then the kids found their coats and shoes, and were ready to get out into the backyard for an Easter egg hunt.

I heard a jingling sound, and turned around to see Barrett shaking the eggs he found.  He would just walk along, shaking an egg like a maraca and it was adorable!

Before we started on dinner, Britton and Memaw made their annual bunny cake.  Memaw and Britton have been making this cake every year (even when Britton was very little and couldn't really help so much as watch Memaw make it).

And the cake was delicious!  Actually, the entire meal was!  We had ham, deviled eggs, roasted asparagus, Hawaiian sweet rolls, and the Pioneer's Woman's twice-baked potato casserole.  We were all a little stuffed!

britton: 68 months old

Yes, I am a day late and a dollar short!  Last night, after midnight, Barrett started crying and we thought he might let it go but he didn't, so the hubs got up and gave him a bottle.  Barrett drank all of 1 ounce, and still wouldn't just go to sleep, so I went in to rock with him, and when I got back into bed (Barrett still crying), Britton creeped in and I knew it was coming because how could she sleep through that mess?  I didn't want to fight it, frankly I just wanted to go to sleep, so while the hubs got the bottle, Britton crawled into bed up against me.  And as we're laying there, the hubs comes back to bed and the monitor is quiet, and I suddenly remember and say, "Is today April 2nd?  I forgot Britton's monthly picture!"  And it's 1:00 am, and no longer April 2nd, and everyone just needs some sleep, so I mentally put it on my to-do list for tomorrow.

Britton doesn't sleep with us often (usually only after she's stayed at Memaw and PawPaw's and is going through cuddle withdrawal), but when I let her - when she's had a bad dream or there's a terrible thunderstorm (hopefully she will take after her mother and learn to love thunderstorms one day), she's so cozy and sweet and holds my hand.  The hubs detests it, because Britton will shove her legs into him and push him off the bed, or worse yet, roll over on him and raise his body temperature to 100 degrees. Britton is definitely my heat-seeker.

So yes, a long story for why I'm a day late on this post - my brain forgot the date!  Lately, Britton has been very into dancing.  We don't have that "Just Dance" game, so I pull up internet videos of the dances for her follow, and she's now in love with "Final Countdown" and "Shape it Up." Sometimes I'll dance with her, but frankly, it's a sad sight when I join in!  Britton is in dance class on Saturday mornings, and has requested to do gymnastics this summer.

Lately we've been able to hang out outside before and after dinner, and that warmer weather is rolling in, so Britton loves to play freeze tag, regular tag, swinging or rock climbing on the playset, and chasing Barrett.  

Likes:  being chased by the hubs while he roars like a monster, the Cinderella dress up shoes she picked out (with golden butterflies), checking our seed starters to see if we have sprouts, the hubs' Chinese food recipes

Dislikes:  when Barrett wants to do everything she is doing