Snow day

So, um, we had a snow day yesterday? I guess 5 inches of snow means you should call everyone in the school district at 4:30 am to let them know school has been canceled due to inclement weather. Ok, sure. God, I thought someone was dying. I flew out of bed to get the phone!

In Colorado the buses had to be unable to get to school for there to be a snow day. I do recall walking through deep snow to get to school. No, it wasn't up hill both ways, just one way.

The snow here didn't get played in by my kids. By the time we were all up and about I noticed it had changed over to rain. I don't know about you but the idea of trying to make a snowman out of slushy snow while being rained on doesn't sound to me like the most fun thing to do. Maybe it's just me.

I had to do something to keep the kids happy, entertained, and inside that didn't mean staring at a screen all day long.

We decided to make brownies. I had the kids do most of the work. They had to read the instructions and work together... somehow it actually worked!

They each got a turn stirring, adding, and they all got to share in the best part, licking the bowl!

Then while the brownies were baking up we painted with water colors.

Notice the coffee? Yup, I like my coffee. I don't drink soda or alcohol but I love coffee.

We managed fairly well the rest of the day. There was some tv watching and computer playing but it wasn't all day long. We did have two friends over but we sadly had to send them home early when my older two couldn't behave themselves. When there is hitting the fun is over. I am a party pooper, I know.

While house bound and comfy in my pj's I got Seth's Jungle Quilt sandwiched together.

I better get going. Seth and I are going to the library this morning!

Jungle quilt and monkey girl

Over the weekend I finished piecing the top of the jungle quilt. I totally changed the sashing and border fabrics. I'll get it all sandwiched together and work on getting it quilted, hopefully this week. Do you like it?

The art teacher called me today and told me all the blocks are done! I always like to see what kids come up with. Now I have to find out if there will be a goodbye party for Simon's teacher so we can present her quilt to her.

Here is little Miss Hannah with her braces off! She has to wear the retainer for a couple months and then only at night for a while. Here daddy was standing behind me making goofy rabbit ears on me so I had a hard time getting a good picture of her. Anyway, her teeth are straight for now... all of her adult teeth aren't in yet though...

Just another Monday

6:50 am- Seth wants mommy to come downstairs. Convince toddler to let me sleep for a few more minutes because big sister can put on Diego for him!

7:00 am- Hit the snooze button.

7:09 am- Got up and began the day. Made lunches, ate breakfast while checking email and facebook, got Seth to pee on the potty, sorted and started laundry, picked up neighbors daughter and drove the kids to school.

8:45 am- Started coffee, showered, got Seth dressed, grabbed snacks, made Seth go pee again, blow dried my hair because it was still in the 20's outside, swapped laundry, and then hauled ass to get to story time at 10 since it was already 10!

10:05 am- Made it to story time in the middle of the first story, phew. Seth likes the craft part better anyway. Talked to the mama's that joined us. Made the Chinese lantern craft, Seth picked out the pink paper and pink scissors (he will either be very secure in his masculinity or very gay...), read some more stories and came back home.

11: 15 am- Make Seth PB and honey sandwich and carrot sticks, I had leftover lentil and brown rice casserole since the kids don't like it. Swap laundry, fold, finish grocery list, get new shoes out for Seth since the old ones are a bit too small, make him pee again, now off to the store. Had to go we were out of milk, eggs, etc.

1:00 pm- Made it through the store without any issues of course I got him a drinkable yogurt and pretzels that we opened in the store to keep him quite and busy. Swap laundry again, put groceries away, fold next load, check email, start blogging...

2 :19 pm- Do dishes, play with the boy, make him go potty again and then get the kids from school.

3:00 pm- Got the kids run home to get snacks and a book for Simon. Go to girl scouts. Anyone want cookies?

4:50 pm- At home, swap laundry, get Simon ready for TKD while Hannah does homework, work on calendar for MOMS Club, find Seth asleep on couch... shit.

5:20 pm- Take Simon to TKD, come home to cook stroganoff for dinner. Get laundry swapped out again!

6:45 pm- Eat some dinner with a crying toddler who shouldn't have napped in the first place. Fold more laundry.

7:15 pm-Leave for book club. Hurray for running away! Enjoy leisure cup of coffee with Tiff and talk about whatever we want (no one else showed up).

9:45 pm- Come home to a quite house. Finish up the dishes that didn't fit in the dishwasher. Talk on phone. Up load pictures. Blog.

11:00 pm- I think I've done enough for today. I'll share pictures tomorrow of Hannah with her braces off and the quilt top I finished over the weekend... I still have laundry to put away...

Good night.

DC

I had a great time yesterday!

It was a LONG drive there and back but well worth it. Traffic around DC is awful btw. Not only did I get to spend the day with a friend but I saw lots of the things while I was there. Ok, I drove by most of them but I still saw them! We had lunch at a fabulous Turkish restaurant in Georgetown where we stuffed our faces. Wow, Georgetown is cute! I should have taken pictures of the town but I was too busy oogling to get out my camera. Gee, maybe if Hannah doens't get into Princeton she can go there. Kidding.

After lunch we went to an Obama inspired quilt show.


We weren't allowed to photograph the quilts though. Bummer. The quilts were fantastic. There was so much meaning in all of them. This election represented such a monumental moment in our history and for the African American women who made these quilts it showed through. It was humbling and inspiring.

We did a bit of wandering once we finished up. One of the Smithsonian's wasn't to far away. Annie (Sam's little girl) woudn't have had the patients to walk through the whole place but we found a few cool things like this.

We thought about walking a few more blocks to get to the mall but I want to save that for my next trip. I want to go with the kids next time so they can see all of those things with me. Although, if we get to go as a family it'll have to be an overnight trip! I was gone from 7 am to 11 pm.

A note to all my friends left behind in Colorado: If you manage to make it out this way, I'll do what I can to come see you! (hint, hint)

Thanks for hanging out with me, Sam!

Annie took this picture of us with the giant hand eating us. I see a future photographer.

An assortment of things

I haven't had much time to sit at my computer these last few days. I kind of miss it. Seth is already whining at me to play with him so I have to make this quick.

I finished the blocks for Seth's quilt. I am still torn about the borders... what to do... I even picked out a few new ones to see if I like them... ah... must decide quickly! The clock is ticking.


We are having some walls repaired right now which means I spend most of the day telling the kids to leave Jim alone.


Have you met Simon and Seth? Between the two of them I am surprised Jim hasn't run off the job screaming, "It's not worth the money!" Seriously. Seth follows him around wanting to help and Simon asks endless questions. Poor Jim. He's great at what he does though and apparently really patient. Anyway, he's finishing up today. Now we get to paint... I hate painting.

We went to a small aquarium on Monday to get out of the house for a bit. I couldn't get any good pictures but we had fun. It was a quick trip seeing how small it is but it got us out and about. If there hadn't been snow on the beach I might have walked around there too. Seth didn't want to leave at all and protested loudly with quite the tantrum. When will he be 4? Oh wait, he isn't 3 yet.


I sent Simon's art teacher fabric blocks and markers. I am excited to see what they draw for their teacher.


Tomorrow I am off to DC. Yeah, the big deal inauguration (which was totally awesome to watch!) was today but I am going tomorrow to see a friend!

Animals

I've gotten 4 of the animals done. 4 down, 8 to go. I think the elephant is pretty cute! I am being a big fat slacker and doing it all on the machine. I don't have tons of time until Seth's 3rd birthday. (Poor Dan, he doesn't get enough recognition, it's his birthday too! Hell, it was his birthday first. It's just been slightly overshadowed by the arrival of our youngest boy.)

In other unrelated news, I am officially the cookie mom for this years Girl Scout Cookie Sale. Before you ask, yes, I am insane. It's crazy but not to hard really. SO.... if anyone want to buy some delicious, fabulous, wonderful, can-only-get-them-once-a-year, cookies... I'm your hook up. Besides, the girls want to use the money they raise to go toward a trip to camp (which I volunteered to go to also!) and more they raise, the less I pay out of pocket. I just pay for it with blood, sweat, and tears... no, not that. More like cold trips around the block, frustration, and a few broken nails. :)

Also, wholly unrelated, Simon is now in Black Belt Club at Tae Kwon Do. This means I only pay for two years and if he hasn't hit black belt yet he gets to keep going for free until he gets it. I am sure this will some how work in their favor and not mine because that's how things work out for me all the time. Although when I was at the quilt guild meeting I bought a door prize ticket and mentioned that I never win drawings. Luck was in my favor or maybe it was more that there were 5 door prizes and only 20 people there. I actually won. I got some cute batik fat quarters.

I better get going. Today is one of those busy days. Simon had a doctors appointment this morning to check on how his new brace is fitting, it's fine. We dashed over to Chipotle! I love Chipotle. I think they put crack in their burritos because they are very addictive. Where was I, oh yes, Hannah had girl scouts after school, and I have to leave in 15 minutes to take Simon to TKD. AND somehow I have to get the house all cleaned up because my favorite handyman is coming tomorrow morning to fix the cracks in the plaster walls. I am sure you didn't want to know all that but now you do anyway!

Pretty, pretty fabric

My fabric that I ordered showed up yesterday!! Hurray! I do love those packages being delivered right to my door. You know what's in the box yet you're excited to open it anyway.

I got the fabric for my new nephew's quilt. It all soft cozy flannel. And quite adorable, might I add. I threw in the pattern I want to use in the picture so you can see it.

I don't have to hurry to much on this one because I think we'll take it to Denver and deliver it ourselves when we see the baby. Did I say Denver? I did. Baring any catastrophic events we are going to go home to visit this summer. We haven't been home since July of '07. Just a little while ago. I'd like to see all those people I haven't seen in two years.

In the package I got yesterday was also a little bit of fabric I got just because I thought it was cute. I got a designer sampler of Amy Butler's line of Midwest Modern 2. They're funky and retro. Should be fun to work with 'em. They are only 4.5" strips but I want to make a brick pattern so it'll work fabulously for cutting 4.5 x 7.5 blocks.

Lastly, I took a photo just for Gramma Stella. She got Seth a shaving set for Christmas and both of the boys want to use it. Simon will take a bath with Seth just so he can play with the blue shaving cream.

I know you are all jealous of my pink bathroom, admit it.

Jungle quilt

My little guy is turning 3 next month! He's not a baby anymore. *Sniff*. If I accidentally call him baby he says, "Me no baby, me Deaf (Seth)!" I want to make him something for his birthday present. I always want to make something, right. Well, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away (Ok, ok, it was almost 2 years ago!) I bought a book where the story follows along with the animals on the quilt.


It's quite adorable. I thought of making it for his 2nd birthday... obviously that didn't happen. It was too cute to make for someone else so I saved it. If I don't make it soon he'll be to old for it. This will be perfect for his 3rd birthday I think.

I pulled out my batik bins and began searching for the right fabrics.


I love using my stash. The only one that I don't have in batik is a black and white for the zebra. Totally sucks but I do have something that will suffice. I think what I have pulled together will work pretty well. I can't decide which frame, sashing, and border combo to use. With all the busy colors for the different animals it's hard for me to choose.


Do you like the ones on the left or the ones on the right? Dan likes the ones on the right but for some reason I like the ones on the left... Help. What do you think?

Back to normal

The holidays are ALL over... ah. I am looking forward to getting back to normal. Here's some food for thought for next Christmas though.

We had spent some time at the beginning of December trying to decide if we should keep with our lovely family tradition of getting a fresh cut tree or if we should get a dreaded fake one. It seems logical doesn't it? You aren't cutting a tree down, it lasts for YEARS but it turns out it isn't better for the environment. Really!?! The crunchy girl in me smiled! You see fake trees are horrible for the environment because of how they are manufactured and transported AND when you are done with it where does it go? To sit for eternity in a land fill. Yet a real tree from a tree farm takes carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere for years and then when you're done with the tree it can be composted seeing as it is organic and all. I love that we can continue our family tradition for years to come and I don't have to feel guilty like I am just a tree killer. Here's some info if you'd like it. Oh, it makes me so happy!

Tomorrow life goes back to normal. Up early to get the big kids off to school, out and about with Seth, after school activities, etc. You know normal= crazy busy all the time.

The break has been wonderful. I have lazily slept on the couch in the wee hours of the morning. Older kids rock too. Seth will ask for breakfast and one of the big kids, bless their little hearts, will get him a bowl of cereal so I can sleep longer. I've played with fabric a bit too. I finished up Seth pajama top.


I also made the silly little name tag for the quilt guild I joined. It made me feel like an old lady to make it. It sooo isn't my style.

Oh, oh... I ordered some fabric yesterday too! I have a new nephew coming in a few months so I needed some cute baby fabric. Of course, I threw a little extra fabric in for myself too. I haven't bought anything for me in a while. To justify it more I had a 20% off coupon too! See, it was meant to be! I can't wait until it gets here!

Anyway, winter break was awesome but it'll be nice to get back into the grove of normal day to day things again.

Midwives deliver

As most of you know I am a crunchy-granola-home-birthing kind of mama. There was an article in the LA Times about Midwives and it's AWESOME!

What are you waiting for, go read it!