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.

Busy bee

I swear I don't get a chance to sit down very much. Always something to do... and yet my house is always a mess.


Last weekend I made a fabric box following this tutorial. I like her blog too! The box is not too shabby. I should have used stabilizer like the instructions said. I made it mostly to try out her method but I figure it'll make a nice scrap bin as is. If I make more I will get some of the clear vinyl so I can label the bins.

I spent all day yesterday at the school trying to help out with getting the rest of the flowers sold that were left over from Saturday. No such luck. And boy was it hot outside! A few more went but we still have a lot left. I decided to bring some home and pot the plants myself! We had sold out of the small potted plants we had but we still have lots of flats. I potted 20 tea cups and 8 small pots.

What cha think? Would you buy one for $4? After all Teacher Appreciation is next week and Mothers Day is soon too!


Today was filled up with FPS, library, grocery shopping, planting, gymnastics, and now on to Cub Scouts. I think my brain might melt out my ears! No me time anywhere in site... and I never go the garden started!

Good day

I had a long day but it was a really good day.

I worked at the school today selling flowers from 7 am to 1 pm. It was hard not to buy all of them myself. I bought 2 flats and 2 10" pots for the front porch. I still need more...

I left there to take the family to Hannah's gymnastics recital.

She flies around the bars!

Posing on the balance beam.

She did great. She really has improved since last year. I wonder if she'll make the team next year?

After the recital I took the kids to get some ice cream. It was such a beautiful day. Mid 80's. Perfect I tell you.

Is ice cream for eating, wearing, or both? It ran all the way to his elbows! I just laughed and took his picture. What else can you do? Clean 'em up when they're all done I guess. I don't think I'll ever stop carrying baby wipes.

They hung around the house playing inside for a while and then back out to play some more. We ate our shish kabobs and baked potatoes out on the patio table. We followed dinner up with smores. (Ice cream and smores in one day! Lucky kids, huh.) The big kids settles in to watch a movie and Seth asked to brush teeth and go read stories. He's sound asleep in bed...

It was a good day.

Spring has sprung

I finally feel like it's really spring around here! We've had so many cool rainy days that it seemed to drag out winter. (Of course, it's also been a little chilly in the house without heat.) I saw all the signs of spring- tulips and daffodils but I think it's finally, really, truly here. Maybe it's more like the weather finally agrees with what the plants know to be true.


We've been working hard on Hannah's FPS team trip. This week we went to the town council meeting, two PTO meetings, and tonight we're doing a bake sale at a school function. Phew, I'm busy! They've sent out tons of donation letters and we are moving forward with all the travel plans. This trip is going to be such a great experience for all of the kids. I question my sanity for wanting to along with this large group for 4 days...

There's been no time to quilt this week. I have a few small projects I'd like to do. I think this weekend I'll be gardening though. I'm going to pick up some flowers tomorrow for the planter boxes. I'm going to build a little raised bed for a square garden in the back yard too. I really think the kids will have fun picking their own veggies for dinner. I know I will!

Seth was being cute today while I took a few pictures of the flowers on the trees. He loves to pick dandelions. Don't all kids?

Smell the flower.

"Your turn Mommy!"

Hannah's quilt

Here it is.... ta da!


I really like how the binding came out.


I also like, no love, how much Hannah loves it!

Elephant in the room

I made an elephant today to go with the baby quilt.



Seth thought is was so awesome. He wanted to play with it. Ah, this could be bad. I told him all about how it wasn't his that it's for his new baby cousin that we'll get to go see this summer. Then I let him take it for a few minutes. All was well until I took it back. I took it because he was being to rough with it. For the past 20 minutes all he's said over and over is, "I want Elephant back."

I did this to myself didn't I?

He'll live. So will I.

Any hoo, yesterday was a gorgeous day! We sent the wee heathens out to play. They played outside almost the whole day. Wonderful I tell you. Finally at dinner time we told them to come in.

Seth is still demanding the elephant back. Ignoring him obviously isn't working...

Zoo

The rain cleared up and made way for a perfect day at the zoo. We took the long trek to the Philadelphia Zoo. It's a great zoo. It's so great in fact, we'll be going back there. Ok. I really bought a membership because as usual with places like that if you get the membership it pays for itself after going twice. The drive is kind of long but I think if we just make a day of it it'll be great. Pack a lunch, you get the idea.

I took Dan's little camera along today. I wanted to get pictures but I didn't want to haul around my nice camera. I'll share these pics with you in a minute.

Furnace update: We're going with natural gas. Yes, it costs more. Yes, it'll take longer to install. And yes, I'll be happy not having to deal with oil anymore!

Quilting: I am sewing down the binding on Hannah's new quilt. (It's nice to have something warm on your lap when there's no heat in the house.) I did something I've never tried before with the binding. I ran the stripped fabric the long way around the edge. I'll show you when it's done. I like it. As for my next project, I don't know. I had ordered fabric online and then with the company going out of business before they sent me my loot that I was really excited to get... I lost some momentum. I'll get something going here. I have lots of to-do's. Just not sure yet.

Without further ado here are a few pictures from our adventure today.

4 happy and energetic kids ready to take on the zoo!

This is what I saw of the kids most of the day. The back of their little heads. Maybe I should have fixed Seth's hair...

Seth and Hannah at the Tiger habitat.

3 little monkeys sittin' on a bear.

Dead furnace

It's official, the furnace it dead. Like soot on the basement floor with the stench of burning oil dead. On Sunday morning we were smelling the fumes a bit more and I grumbled about not being able to take it much longer. We went ahead with our day as usual and went over to our friends house for an Easter feast with fun activities for the kids. Their egg hunt was fun. They had camouflage eggs hidden in the yard. Thankfully they also had a map of where all the eggs had been hidden. I'd never be that organized and we'd never find all the eggs. Anyway, fun was had by all and the eatin' was great too!

Dan went back to the house early with Simon while I stayed with the other two kids. Apparently they could smell the fumes from the house before they even opened the door! He shut off the furnace immediately and opened windows and doors. Here's where all the fun begins. It was only 47 degrees outside and we had to air out the house. I came home a few hours later with one of John and Tiff's space heaters to add to our own. I couldn't believe how bad it smelled. It was awful. And it was freezing.

We ate dinner at McDonald's just to get out of there. Then we went home packed up some stuff and went to my moms over night. I was nervous about the kids being in the house with the horrid fumes. Thanks, Mom!

So here we are with a completed dead furnace, no heat and cool weather. We have oil heat too. I don't know about you but I really don't like oil. I don't like the massive tank full with 275 gallons of oil sitting under my porch. I don't like how it runs out sometimes or how you HAVE the the furnace cleaned yearly due to the dirty build up. It stinks. I'd also love to have a gas stove one of these days. They are so much nicer to cook on.

Now we have a chance to convert to natural gas! Awesome right...

Ok, now this is really fun part. We could get a new oil furnace put in tomorrow if we want. No issues, it'd be put in.

Gas on the other hand we have to get a line run to the foundation of the house. First I had to find out if there were gas lines in the street. Yes. Next, will the town let us get a permit to dig up the road? No, the street was recently paved it can't be dug up for 5 years! How about the other street since we live on a corner lot? It's not a town street it's a county road. Another phone call to find out if there's gas out there. Yes. Another call this time to the county. Will the county let us dig? Yes. Ok. Now for the next round of fun! Finding out how much a new gas furnace will cost... almost double because they have to run the lines in the house, install the furnace and remove our old oil tank.

The best part..

It would take 6-8 weeks to go through all the approval and permit BS to get the gas line run to our house.

AAAAHHHHH!!!

Is it worth it? Is gas that much better than oil?

Eggs for Easter

Before I tell you all about our egg dyeing fun I wanted to show that I still do some quilty things. I picked up Hannah's quilt yesterday before we went to the park. It was a great day for the park. I'll get the binding on it soon.


Easter egg dyeing is such a fun thing to do with the kids. Hannah goes for the artistic look of using rubber bands, crayons, and different color combos.


Simon uses his fingers and dips in different colors.


Seth just wanted red. That's it, red. I snuck a blue one in though. After he had them dyed he liked using the stickers to decorate.

They definitely enjoyed themselves. Simon ate two of his eggs immediately. Guess he didn't want to look at his creative work, he wanted to taste it.

I wish I would have brought the external flash down with me sooner though... I'll learn some day. I know, I keep saying that. One baby step at a time.

Direct flash.

Bounce flash, so much better!

Here's wishing you all a very...