Garden

I did it. I got the garden started! God only knows what will make it or take over the little square garden.

This is what we did:

Step one- Make a raised bed box with a few little helpers.


Step two- Fill with compost from your own bin! Woo hoo! Well, and a bit of peat moss from the garden center.


Step three- Make grid (next time I'll use a ruler a few squares are crooked). Fill with plants.


Step four- Cross those fingers and hope...

Bound and determined

The binding is all sewn on. I guess I should think about what's next to work on...


I tortured my kids at the park yesterday. It's my right as a parent to take their picture whenever I feel like it!

Now, getting a good picture of all three of them at the same time is more like torturing myself. Simon always makes silly faces no matter what, Hannah's hair was in her face, and Seth decided to pick his nose while I took the pictures. This is as good as it got. I am, however, determined to get a good picture of all three of them!



Hannah turned the camera on me. I thought the picture was ok but I told her she needed to remove the wrinkles. She said she didn't know how... me neither kiddo, me neither.


A few more park pictures for you. Seth went off to sulk by himself because his big brother let the caterpillar he found go. Seth wanted his own caterpillar and told us all about it over and over. "Me want own capiller, me want one." What you can't see in the photo is the snot running down from his nose and the dirty, tear streaked face. If I got close he screamed, "Not my picture, no!"


Lastly for your veiwing pleasure, Hannah wanted me to take a picture of her flying. All I could think was, didn't Baby do that in Dirty Dancing?


Who started singing, "I've had the time of my life and I owe it all to you...."

Thread

I was happily quilting away when I ran out of thread... guess a trip to the store is in order. I didn't think I'd use a whole spool of thread...

Borders

I added the borders to the quilt top last night. I know it would have looked fine without them but I really wanted it to be a bit bigger.I watched the season finale of Grey's Anatomy while I did it. Poor George. I got way behind on all the shows I like to watch. I do love my DVR.

Anyway, I like this quilt. It doesn't have a home yet though. Did you know it's hard to take a picture of a quilt top outside with a breeze?

This weekend is full of fun. Seth had a birthday party this morning (yeah, there's practically one a weekend!) and we're taking the big kids to see Star Trek this afternoon. Tiff kindly said Seth could play at her house so we could go. I owe them one...

Tomorrow we're gonna hit Six Flags again. Since Mom and Paul are moving my brother really wants to go there before he leaves Jersey. My kids will go ride roller coasters any day so this certainly isn't a hardship.

I haven't done the garden yet. I suck, I know! I guess I'm gonna have to go with seedling when I do finally get it done. I like gardening, maybe that isn't accurate, I like the idea of gardening a lot. Fresh veggies right from your yard, using our compost to grow all the food in, ahh, perfect... I just have to go do it. That is much easier said then done. See, I am truly a slacker.

I do have some strawberries in a pot! From last year!


Well, I better get going. The movie is in a hour. Here are a few cute pics I took of Seth. I need to get more of the other kids too.

What's your favorite snack? Yup, black olives. He asks for them.

Who's your favorite stuffed animal that goes everywhere with you? Puppy. Puppy goes everywhere!

Growing up

Hannah isn't so little anymore. You tend to not notice a lot of the little things. It all adds up though. The eye rolling, sarcasm, etc.

I've been in denial about the whole middle school thing which is just right around the corner. Next fall she'll be going off to middle school. Ack! I can't believe she's old enough to go to middle school. Didn't she just start kindergarten? Middle school, huh... and in 3 years she'll be in high school! Am I really this old?

To add fuel to the growing up fire, we went shoe shopping yesterday. The selection for her size was really limited and I thought I'd check and see how small the women's sizes were... They. actually. fit. her. She wears women's shoes! Size 6! She already wants a cell phone and an Ipod. Next thing you know she'll be starting her period, asking to wear make-up, and wanting to date! AHHH! She did ask me if she could buy high heels, after all the shoe selection increased dramatically for her. Ah, no. Flats only, you're 10!

It really does go so fast.

Meanwhile, Seth still lives comfortably in little boy land. He wants to be a Superhero when he grows up and he's going to use his powers to stop tornados! (Imagine him puffing out his chest and with hands on his hips. Then he puts his hand out to stop the tornado like you'd stop traffic.) He has no idea what a tornado really is...

He's going to do all that growing up stuff too, huh. Well, he won't be wearing women's shoes... You can't stop tornados in heels.

Chicago

Chicago skyline from Lake Michigan. Cool and cloudy.

Wow. That was awesome! A long weekend away, good friends, good food, sight seeing, and the traveling was easy. Awesome.

Friday we didn't do very much. We saw Mark's theater space and Leann's massage studio. (Silly me, I didn't take pictures of it.) Went to dinner at Opart Thai. That was some delicious Thai food.

Saturday we were tourists. We headed down to the Navy Pier. A little wandering, shopping, lunch, and then a quick boat tour. It was actually pretty chilly and it was even colder out on the water! The half hour tour that went out on the lake was perfect. So was the hot coffee afterward!

I think I look awful in this shot but Dan likes it...

Cold, cold, cold.

Sweet lighthouse!

Saturday night we went to see Mark's play, Rough Crossing, at the Piccolo Theater. It was a wonderful show. The whole cast was fabulous. After the show we all went (most of the cast and a whole bunch of Leann and Mark's friends) to a sports bar to watch the rest of the Blackhawks game. When in Rome... No, it was really fun. I got to talk to a lot of new people.

Sunday, more tourism. This time we went to Art Institute of Chicago, Millennium Park and walked just a bit on Michigan Ave.

For those of you who have seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

The bean in Millennium Park.

What we look like in the bean.

I love how it warps the reflection. So cool. That little light is me. My camera decided it was too dark outside.

A shot of Michigan Ave.

Mark and Leann had a BBQ on Sunday evening that lasted late into the night. Not something we're used to with little kids! Either that or I am getting old.

To finish off our trip we had to get Deep Dish Pizza at Gino's! Isn't that what Chicago is known for? Then is was back to the airport. Home again, home again, giggity, gig.

I really liked Chicago. It's a great city. I love that it's easy to navigate in and I can drive there! It isn't like driving in NY where you are sure you're taking your life in your hands. Really awesome. I realized as I was going through all my pictures that I never got a picture of Mark and Leann together or a picture of Dan and Mark. Oops. Next time...

Mark, hard at work... ok, probably not. He was probably checking his facebook account!

NY and the rain

Rain doesn't stop us...


We rode the ferry from Staten Island. It's a long trip that way. It's also cheaper. The bus from here is like 20 per person and the ferry is free. Parking isn't but it's a whole lot cheaper than the bus for 7 people to get into the city.



Our destination on this day of all days was the Central Park Zoo. We needed something that the kids could do. Karl wanted to go to the MOMA but my kids can't even behave at a park how are they going to act around precious art? Yeah, they belong at the zoo! In order to get to the zoo we had to use the subway. Dun, dun, dun. Trying to watch out for that many short people is waaaay too stressful! I practically held Seth's hand the whole day. I also constantly counted 1,2, 3. Ok, I've got all mine.

The zoo was delightful.


It's small but all the animals have swank little enclosures. We also got to hear all about the penguins and the nesting preparations they're doing. Oh, while we were looking at the polar bears I did a double take on the guy standing next to me. It's so cool to see famous people!

We also went to the petting zoo since it's free with your zoo admission.





After feeding animals and clambering all over everything we sat and had some ice cream. So far so good. No rain yet but the clouds were darker. On the way out of the zoo area we tried for one last shot of the kids with grandma.

They didn't cooperate.

Good thing we were done for the day. A quick little side trip into the gift shop and BOOM, the skies opened up and the rain poured down. My practical daughter opted to get an umbrella as her gift. Smart kid. We had 4 other umbrellas with us. Without further ado out we went into the rain, rivers, and small lakes of water all over the ground. I had to carry Seth so we could share an umbrella. 30 pounds gets heavy quickly.

On to one more long subway ride. Straight onto the ferry with a death grip on my kids through the throngs of people. Back to the car for the drive home. Finally home. 3 hours after we left the zoo.

Phew.

It was a fun day. Even if my backpack got wet all the way to the bottom!

Chocolate coins

Oh, I like...



I am debating doing the no border thing like the pattern has. It's 48.5 x 66.5 right now. Kinda small. I think it needs to be bigger. I have enough for a good sized border...

May madness begins

My brother Karl is here in town this week! Hurray! I wish he lived closer to me. The funny part is after we left Denver he moved just a few blocks away from our old house. If we leave Jersey will he move to NY?

Tomorrow we'll just hang out and then Thursday I am letting the kids play hookie from school and taking them up to the city with Mom, Paul, and Karl. Since my mom is moving away from NJ I don't know when we'll get a chance to hit New York all together again. For fun we're gonna take the ferry in. I am not sure exactly what we're going to do, it all depends on the darn endless rain. Seattle style my friends. I don't mind rain, really, except I'd like a small reprieve long enough to go do some fun stuff with Karl.

On Friday, it's off to Chicago! Just Dan and I. I am sooooo excited. We've never gone away together. Ever. Seriously. Our honeymoon, almost 13 years ago, was a measly week off of work. Hey, when you're young and poor that's a big deal. Otherwise we've only done dates here and there and all travel has been singly or with the whole family. Not the two of us. Chicago with no kids... sweet! Does my mom really know what she's in for with a whole weekend of all three of my rambunctious kids? Tee, hee. She'll definitely want to flee the state after this!


Even though I've been super busy with PTO, Girl Scouts (which I am apparently taking over), FPS, and getting ready for my mom to stay here for the weekend (we all know you have to clean extra for that!) , I've still played with some of my fabric. I've been hording some Chocolate Lollipop charm packs for a while now and just decided to play with them. They deserve to be shown off. I saw another great idea for a quilt from this blog but modified it to fit what I have. I can never leave a pattern alone, I swear. Mine won't be a baby quilt, it'll be lap size. Oh yes, I like this one too! More rows to add, this is just a glimpse of what adorableness is to come...


With all the rain I still haven't started my garden! I am getting worried that I won't be able to start with seeds. But I did get to sew on a rainy Sunday... that makes me a happy camper.

Hopefully, I'll get to post some NYC in the rain pics before we go to Chicago. Maybe it'll be sunny? Maybe.