dining in the dining room?

For as long as we've lived in our house, the dining room hasn't been a dining room, for many reasons. First, we don't have a dining room suite and separate "breakfast nook" dining set. Second, we don't need a dining room. And lastly, I really wanted to use the dining room (which I took to calling the "conservatory" in a snooty British accent) as the room to hold my baby grand piano. But, I don't own a baby grand piano. So, it stayed relatively empty, except for a bookcase, a keyboard piano, occasionally a Christmas tree, and a chair from Memaw, not to mention over-flow of Britton's toys.

I was inspired by Jessica's house makeover, and ready to finally finish our house. And one more thing pushed it to the forefront. One night as we were eating dinner, Britton wanted to sit next to the hub and me. That meant we had to put her at the end of the table. And because our dining table is somewhat large for a breakfast nook, it was a tight fit. I said to Britton, "You know what kind a table you can sit at and sit next to everyone? A round table." And it stuck.

Here is the breakfast nook "before":



I love this table. It belonged to my father's parents, and is made of teak. The chairs are from Target, because the original chairs were in such bad shape and needed to be replaced.

And the "after"! Sorry it is so dark. The set is by Better Homes and Gardens from Wal-Mart, and by far the best deal I could find for a table and four chairs.




A better picture (from the website) of the table...



And our dining room now, since I couldn't find a "before" picture. Yes, the sewing machine moved to the dining room! And that baby quilt hanging over one of the chairs - I'll show ya'll that soon. And no, I'm not pregnant and it's not for me.





We also switched the bookcase in the dining room with the one in the guest room, since the one in the guest room kind of resembled a hutch (with the cabinets on the bottom) and matched the wood tones of the dining room table. Now the dining room is begging for some art on the wall, and I think I already have the perfect picture to hang. But by the time the hub got the bookcases switched and I moved all the books to the guest room, we were done!

thirty-two months old

At 32 months old, this girl is definitely sassy and independent! It has been in the last month that we've really seen Britton moving away from needing us all the time. This is when you realize that one day your baby won't need you, which you know is coming but sucks just the same! But that's what we're doing as parents - we have to give her the freedom to try it all out, mistakes and all. I try not to "helicopter parent" her too much, knowing that if she struggles with something, like a hard puzzle, it's the process of working it out that matters as much as accomplishing the task.




Britton would rather be outside than inside ALL THE TIME and that's fine with us, even if it's now in the lower 90s! Ok, I admit it - when it hits 90 degrees, I would so much rather be in a pool than on our fifth walk of the day, but that's the way it goes (and we don't own a pool). She tries to get to the park every minute of the weekend, and sneak into the backyard to throw the ball for Sadie. The hub got her some new paint markers and stamps, which she loves. Art is such a big part of her day, and something she truly enjoys.




And Little Miss Thang now has strong opinions about her clothes. But she can't wear her heart shirt and pajama heart shorts every day of the week, so I'm giving her options of two outfits and she has to pick one. Britton is still eating well, and we've introduced her to Oreo ice cream and she's in love with it! She still asks for pancakes every weekend, and I'm happy to oblige.



Wearing Daddy's hard hat!



Likes: playing outside, dancing, wearing dresses, everything Dora, the swings at the playground, her Mega blocks, Flintstone vitamins

Dislikes: oatmeal, when Sadie won't listen to her, being rushed

And a new addition to our monthly updates - Britton's favorite books o' the month! We go through so many different library books that I thought I'd share our favorites.

Books: "Corduroy" by Don Freeman, "If I Were a Lion" by Sarah Weeks, "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak, "Don't Slam the Door!" by Dori Chaconas, and "If You Give a Pig a Party" by Laura Numeroff

the day my sister and I used to trade places

Today was an absolutely perfect day. Full of gymnastics-like contortions, and "watch me Momma!"....



And dancing and spinning in the new Minnie Mouse dress I made in ten minutes, courtesy of pre-shirred fabric finds at the Wal-Mart...




Perfect day? Sure! Absolutely no whining, crying, grumpy pouty give-me-my-way frowns. And Britton surely did not poop during her nap, then pull her pull-up and underwear off (yes, both) and get it EVERYWHERE. I certainly did not spend the afternoon cleaning her crib or steam-cleaning the carpet, and the hub didn't hose down Britton in the tub and use half a bottle of Johnson & Johnson baby wash!

Happy April Fool's Day! So, if you can't tell, yes - it all happened!

pattern maker

During a work break, I stumbled upon an incredible pixel quilt pattern maker which uses your photo to make a quilt pattern. Check it out here at the Victoria and Albert Museum website. It's a time vacuum, so I had to stop myself at the few quilts I made! Or else, really, I could have been on there all day. Truth is, as ya'll know, I'm not a big fan of modern quilts. But these don't seem too modern to me, and they are what every quilt should be - personal.

If you have trouble seeing the picture in the pattern, just stand up away from the computer screen.

Sadie...




Britton...




Tried out Steam Boat Willie...




And a random flower...




And Britton as a baby in black and white...




So many tiny squares, but the website gives you a listing of fabric colors and how squares and triangles of each color you'll need. Hmmmmmm.......addition to the project file?

granny squares quilt for granny

Remember that patchwork quilt I made with the tea towels Granny embroidered for us? Well, I wanted to say thank you to her for the towels and inspiration, and I stumbled upon this Granny Squares Quilt (originated here) and knew it was the perfect project. Just big enough for a lap quilt, generous use of scraps, so dang cute I want to cover it in glitter, and of course the name - Granny! The design is inspired by crocheted granny square afghans, and while I can't crochet worth a nickel (though my sister can), I can quilt.

It came together easily, and picking the little 2.5 inch squares was the most fun by far. Once I had it all arranged and trimmed, I sashed it, quilted it in straight lines (which are actually diagonal lines), and bound it. Then last week I mailed it off to its new home (after spending the morning with it on my lap because I didn't want to say goodbye so soon), but Granny was out of town! No problem since her neighbor picked up her mail for her, and kept it safe until she got home. I talked to her today and am pleased to relay that she loves it, as do her neighbors. And I don't think she'd mind me sharing that her neighbor saw the quilt (and pictures of the embroidered quilt and Britton I included in the package) and told her that she must be really loved. The neighbor was right - she is.



Paisley binding, from the first dress I made Britton. I was originally going to go with brown with white polka dots but the hub vetoed it and said the binding needed more color......and since he doesn't hear this often enough, he was right.



Walking foot, you are my friend. See how crinkly and soft a dryer makes this quilt?



I asked Memaw what Granny's favorite color is, and she said if she had to guess it would blue or periwinkle since she wears those colors often. I had just the yardage in my stash, and added the little blue flowers, since the solid back wasn't quite big enough.



Oh, my little hidden surprises! A cupcake amongst the yellow squares (from an apron for Britton):



And two orange crabs sneaking around...




And this quilt has inspired me to do what I don't normally - make another! As soon as I got back from the post office, I was cutting into my stash for more 2.5 inch squares. And that's how you know you love a quilt. We love you Granny!

remember when?

Yesterday Memaw and PawPaw made Britton her first snow cone! I remember my Snoopy Snow Cone machine from ye olde days o'yore. And you know what? They still make them. Really. Now, Memaw and PawPaw got a better one - one that doesn't require you to grind ice by hand! But it reminds me that the things we loved as kids, like snow cones melting into the bottom of a paper cone, don't change all that much.

But some things do. And the hub and I have gone through a laundry list of what we had/saw/did/used growing up that Britton will never know. Follow me down memory lane.....

1. The green pages. My dad used to lose his mind if the green pages went missing. Because without the green pages, you didn't know what was on the television schedule for that week. The "green section" came in the Sunday paper, and it was preserved in a constantly-folded condition, next to the remote control. We didn't spring for TV Guide, so without the green pages, we would have never known what was on all of our 30 channels.



2. No cell phones. My mom actually owned the Zach Morris giant cell phone. I didn't have a cell phone until I was in my second year of law school. That was only seven years ago. And I didn't know what texting was until maybe two years ago. Because I'm not currently thirteen years old, with a cellphone-less past I can't remember, obsessive cell phone use bothers me. I scream at people using their phones (and texting!) while driving. I laugh at people who text while grocery shopping and run into a meat freezer. Britton will never remember a world without cell phones.



3. But she'll never use an answering machine. And there was just something about coming home to a blinking light that voicemail isn't going to replace.



4. More technology, I know, but it seems to be what changes the most. Computers. My sister Jessica bought her first computer when we were sixteen or thereabouts. It was so slow. They all were. My mom had one of those old computers where the cursor would blink over the green rectangles. In college, it took me over three hours to illegally download a song off Napster. And that's if the dial-up internet connection didn't fizzle out when 95% of the song was downloaded! My iPhone is a better computer than the Gateway (yes, Gateway) that lasted me six years. And I only had to get rid of it because it caught a virus and couldn't be updated enough to install anti-virus software. Heck, my iPhone is faster than my desktop computer I use for work every day, but of course that desktop is loaded down with over 8500 photos. Photos I never print anymore because....why? See the next one.

5. Remember film? Remember that excitement of one-hour film development? You'd order double prints so you could give copies to your friends. And my scrapbooks, oh my scrapbooks. I'm currently ordering the six iPhoto albums I have saved on the computer, one dating back to 2007. No longer are 100 pictures strewn across the floor, ready to be put in chronological order. I just open a new blank album and clip and drop in photos in pre-arranged places. It's not the same, and not even close.



6. Television shows. My dad sat me and Jessica down for the premiere of MTV. Seriously, on the day it premiered, we all sat on the old sectional, mouths agape, and watched MUSIC. ON TELEVISION. Britton won't see MTV that way, since they don't actually play any music videos anymore. But she will know all the crap we know as reality shows. And MTV was the birth place of reality shows - "Real World," anyone? There's a great theory that the only true "Real World" was the first. Ever since then, they have filled the position of "out-of-control anger issue" and "virginal innocent" and "smart but unattractive female" and you get the idea. Ever since then (or really, the premiere of any reality show), the people who show up on season two, three, and more are just imitating what they saw the season before.



Everything changes all the time, right? I just hope snow cones never do.

our afternoons

Every afternoon I stop work around 4:15 pm to start on dinner. I get dinner to the point where it's almost ready (anything that takes a while, like chicken), then go pick up Britton from daycare.

And when we get to our street, I put her window down and she completely expects it. We pull over on the side of the road, and call out to "Mommy Horsey." There's also a Shetland pony we call "Baby Horsey." Now, I'll fill you in on a little secret - "Mommy Horsey" is in fact a boy. But we still call him "Mommy Horsey" and call out for him and he comes over to the fence and nods at us.




Then we go home and I finish dinner while Britton plays. Usually with Sadie, and markers, and coloring books. But today I surprised Britton with some new number flashcards! And she promptly spent the next fifteen minutes "teaching" Sadie her numbers. Adorable!