a little birdie told me to make a wall quilt

I've started staging Britton's room, which included painting all the pink walls a gender-neutral green ("Romaine" by Sherwin-Williams).  She used to have a canopy over her bed, but we removed it since it had turned into a dust-covered mess!  She needed something over her bed, and I happened to be flipping through quilt posts and saw an old review of "Sweet Tweets" - a quilting book.  I fell in love with these birds, and the technique of "thread sketching" - going around the outside of the appliqué multiple times in overlapping stitches.  It should look like you've sketched the design out in pencil.  I figured I'd give it a try - worst case scenario, if it didn't work out, I could throw it in the trash and buy a print from Home Goods instead!

I merged two designs from the book, because I really liked the heart "leaves" on the trees from one quilt, and the two birds with a quilt from another.  I quilted the quilt before adding it to the big quilt, so it would feel fluffy.  

I couldn't resist a little heart and arrow with "B"!  Originally I had planned to leave the trees empty, but it felt so bare.  So I added "sketches" of tree bark to fill it in.

I did my loopy free motion quilting on the background in a pale blue, then added this beautiful paisley as the border.  I finished the quilt up with purple gingham binding cut on the bias, and attached a quilt sleeve.  Then I just put a dowel through the quilt sleeve, tied some white ribbon on either side, and hung it up.  This is my first wall quilt ever, and I admit that it turned out very sweet, plus Britton gets a kick out of the tiny quilt.  I'd definitely try thread sketching again - what a fun technique!

happy easter!

The kids woke up this morning to find their Easter baskets waiting, full of breakfast candy!  Ok, sure, the candy wasn't really for breakfast, but it's what they ended up wanting to eat so we went with it.  

While in Houston we found these confetti eggs, which we seem to only find in Texas.  We picked some up and snuck them into the Easter baskets.  Britton loved making them explode all over her, and Barrett didn't seem so sure that he should be breaking the eggs.  He got over that quickly when he saw all of the confetti!

When Memaw and PawPaw came over we started the Easter egg hunt.  Britton and Barrett were on it!  They found every egg, and Britton led Barrett to a few straggler eggs, since her basket was full.

Then it was time for dyeing eggs!  Memaw saw a new technique for making hard-boiled eggs, which involves baking them instead of boiling them. We tried it out and it worked!  I knew we would be having deviled eggs with Easter dinner, so Britton dyed those eggs.  She loved mixing up the colors!

Poor Barrett didn't make any photos because he was outside with the hubs and PawPaw while us ladies were inside baking (oh, that sounds so 1950s!).  Britton and Memaw make a bunny cake every year - it's their tradition, and they both love it.  So they had another success this year, and even switched it up a little by using Peeps as the ears.  And it was delicious!

hunting for eggs

Our neighborhood Easter egg hunt was held yesterday, and both kids were really excited about going.  We woke up Sunday morning to snow flurries, beautiful fluffy flakes swirling through the air.  I've been feeling a little nostalgic about snow lately, and I was excited to see it in the morning.  Too bad it was too warm this week to actually stick!  But in the end, the snow didn't keep us from the hunting egg-stravaganza (oh, you know I had to go there).

Britton and Barrett each got 12 eggs, which neither kid was happy about.  I thought 12 would be enough, but apparently 100 wouldn't have been enough, so that's fine.  Nothing a little Capri Sun and Rice Krispy treat couldn't fix!  (And I mean the hubs and I ignoring the whining while digging into the Capri Suns and Rice Krispy treats!). 

The kids were frozen, so we went home so they could check out their loot.  Chocolate and Starbursts were some favorites.  

And now both kids are egg-cited (I seriously can't stop) about the Easter baskets the Easter bunny is bringing next week!

erupting with science fun!

 

Britton wanted to enter the school science fair this year, but we were going to be out of town that weekend, and I also thought it might be too much for Britton to handle.  The science fair requires a board and presentation, and maybe at six years old science could just be fun instead of work.  So I asked Britton what she'd like to do for our own science experiment and she picked the volcano.  A classic.  Who can say no to plaster of paris and chicken wire?  Barrett helped with painting, and was as excited as Britton to finally get to see it erupt!

 

I put red food coloring in the vinegar, and Britton got ready to pour!

 

It bubbled!  It oozed!  The volcano erupted!

 

Now the poor volcano is a soggy mess of newspaper and chicken wire, cast aside in the backyard. We put 10 times more work into making and painting the thing than we did setting it off, but it was well worth it.  Aunt Jessica, the science teacher, would be proud.  I love contributing to Britton's excitement for learning, especially when it's fun!

barrett: 34 months old

 

Check out this little stinker!  Barrett has his sweet moments, when he climbs onto the hubs to "nap," when he tells me he wants to snuggle before bedtime, when he gets so excited about a certain book he wants to read it 3 times.  But sometimes, well, you can tell he's about to turn 3!  I remember when Britton was 3, how I was completely unprepared because I thought 2 was the awful why-did-I-have-kids age,  when the big cosmic joke was unfolding that 3 was so much worse than 2.  I know it's a function of frustration that Barrett can't always make us understand what he wants, but also that we won't let him do what he wants to do whenever he wants to do it.  Because no, we can't ride in the Cozy Coupe for two hours.  Well, Barrett can, but I sure don't want to!

 

Barrett is still in his crib, and while he's getting taller every day, I will leave him in a crib forever.  I chuckle to myself when my co-workers, first-time parents, are "transitioning" their kid to a bed at 18 months old.  What a beating!  Nope, I'm leaving Barrett in his crib until that horrible day he can climb out, and then my ability to get 7 hours of sleep in a row will be destroyed by Barrett's ability to roam the house. 

 

Barrett loves counting, and it doesn't matter much to him if he's counting correctly or not.  I find it adorable, especially when he skips from 14 to 17 to 20 and then gets a huge proud grin on his face.  He terrorizes the cat, runs after the dog, loves the swing and slide, and thinks "The Wheels on the Bus" is as good as it gets.  Barrett isn't the opposite of Britton and he's not Britton's clone - he's a boy all his own.

 

Likes:  mac and cheese, jelly on any bread item, Frosted Mini Wheats, riding his bike, blocks, playing with his cars, reading books

Dislikes:  lately it's been going to bed but I shut that down pretty quickly,  having to go anywhere he slightly doesn't want to go in whichever form of transportation we are using (if we're going in the hubs' truck, he wants to go in my car, for instance)

79 months old

 

Sometimes Britton doesn't want to take a bath with Barrett and she takes a shower instead.  One of many things on the "she's growing up whether I like it or not," this whole shower business.  Showers seem so "adult" to me if only because they are utilitarian - in and out as quickly as possible.  Baths are for lounging, playing, bubbles, toys, when you're a kid.  

We told Britton something I haven't announced officially - we're moving to Houston, Texas in July.  We held off on telling her, so that it didn't become this thing hanging over our lives for months on end.  But we also wanted her to have enough time to get used to the idea, to be involved in staging and selling the house, and to adjust to the inevitable "lasts" that come up - last day at her school, last time riding her bus, last karate class, last Daisy meeting.  She took the news well, admittedly better than I did when I first found out my company was closing our office here (Britton asked if she could have purple walls in her new room; I sat in my car in a parking lot and ugly cried).  We're trying to focus on the pluses, like having Sea World close, having the beach even closer, and swimming in a pool 10 months out of the year, balanced with the need for Britton to ask questions and be upset or sad.  We're not "Mary Poppin"ing all over the place and readily tell Britton that we will miss the house too, miss her school, miss the snow, miss our lives here.

 

Britton has been getting all "smiley faces" in school (based on paying attention, staying on task, not talking during read time, you know the drill), so she wanted to throw a "smiley face" party.  I figured that celebrating the good behavior might be a good way to keep it coming (getting more bees with sugar and that whole thing), so we were off to Party City.  They were out of smiley face balloons, so we got a minion and the smiley sunshine.  Britton picked out yellow plates and pink silverware, and of course we picked up Eat 'N Park's smiley cookies for dessert!

Likes:  riding her bike without training wheels, karate (4 more classes until her camo belt!), knowing all the major muscle groups - I had to explain what the "gluteus maximus" was today)

Dislikes: getting a start on her bike without the training wheels, when Barrett refuses to be quiet and yells generally just to annoy her