Friday, April 29, 2011

Another zoo day

Nothing special -- just some cute pictures of the girls at the zoo.  They have a new bird show that was really cute and I wish I had been smart enough to video the parrot singing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm".  Instead I just got him saying good-bye.
 The love the playground area in the children's museum.  Abby's getting to the point where she can actually play and she's fun to watch when I'm not taking her away from things or pulling stuff out of her mouth!



And yes I was up at 4:30 this morning to watch the wedding.  It wasn't intentional -- I woke up, looked at the clock, and thought why not?  It was perfect timing to see the arrival of the royal family and Kate Middleton herself at Westminster Abbey.  I would not want to be here -- I complain enough about having a husband that is gone all the time for scouts, let alone the ruler (future) of a country.  But I loved loved loved her dress.  I don't know why I didn't think of having my own designer when I got married! :)

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

I Won I Won I Won!!!!

So one of the things about blogs that I really love is the fact that they all give away stuff.  Of course I never win.  Apparently I just don't have that lucky streak.  And it's really no surprise -- some of the blogs I follow get comments in the hundreds for their giveaways.

But my luck has changed!

I don't remember when I found this blog but Kellie of Don't Look Now is an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G quilter!!!!  I am absolutely in love with her raw-edge applique quilts -- they are the sweetest things.  But applique completely freaks me out.  Completely.  

So she had a giveaway for a pillow pattern and I entered and I WON!!!  So so so so excited because it's nice to try something new but be able to do it for free.  
Isn't that adorable?  It's nice that I have girls to decorate and do cute things for but she also has some awesome little boy quilts.  You have to check her blog out!

When I get the pattern and make the pillow I'll let ya'll know how it went.  If it's a success, well, you know where I'll be spending more money . . . 

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!

We hope that everyone has a wonderful, Christ-centered Easter with their families!



Saturday, April 23, 2011

The Easter bunny was here!

We asked the Easter bunny to come on Saturday this year and we have the evidence to prove that he did.
Sorry, no pictures of the girls -- I just wasn't thinking.  Suffice it to say that emptying out Easter baskets involved lots of "no Abby!" from Megan and angry screaming from Abby because she wants the chocolate.  She got some of her own too so everyone was happy.  The girls are a little too happy . . . and going to bed to sleep it off!

Oh and I do believe that this is the same "Easter bunny" who has been leaving nice little piles of "jelly beans" in our backyard . . . but we keep him around for food storage.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Easter Traditions: Eating Chocolate

This might be my favorite Easter tradition.  I know it's Megan's.  And by the way she's acting in these videos, I think it's very quickly becoming Abby's.  Thanks Grandma for the See's chocolate -- it is still the best!

Oh and sorry about the shakiness of the videos -- it's hard to record the girls and facilitate chocolate eating at the same time!  Oh and Grandma, I think we have another example of cell memory since Grandpa says THE EXACT SAME THING when he opens a box that has a box in it . . . 



Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Easter Traditions: Dying Eggs

I love dying Easter eggs.  Even when it's basic and cheap, there's just something magical about it!  
Oh wait, this is an Easter Egg hunt we went to . . . 
 But back to dying, we got all ready to go
 And started in on the colors!  We took our time and enjoyed the process.  Chopper did a lot of experimentation with colors and stuff and I drew lots of pictures on eggs.  Megan plopped them in and did stickers afterwards.
 And Abby tried to eat them.  Keep in mind this is after dinner.
 I swear this girl has a hollow leg . . . We did crack two out and eat them.  Megan ate it!  She has absolutely refused eggs any and every way for a very long time now.  But if she'll eat them after dying, maybe I need to stock up on egg dying kits when they go on sale after Easter!

 Pretty!
 Megan is flying the little egg dipper thingy and she spent about 15 minutes after we were done talking to the stickers.  Actually, I don't know if technically she is talking to the stickers or if the stickers are talking to each other.  Regardless, the conversations usually include a lot of what happened in our home that day.  So today the stickers were saying "I'm sorry" and also talking about the kids she played with this morning.
 Abby's other favorite pastime is destroying my purse.  Today she found a sucker and went to town on it, wrapper and all.  I swear I feed this kid.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Getting Ready for Summer

My mom sent this adorable swimsuit for Abby's birthday and I had to try it on her and make sure that it fit in case I needed to make a size switch.  It has just enough room to grow that I think it will be perfect for all summer long!  Megan has been asking to go to Target and buy a swimsuit for ages and so we finally got one yesterday.  Now she asks to wear it and go swimming every day.  Looks like I need to get out the pool!
 I love a little polka-dot bum!  Most of my pictures are from this angle because Abby does not hold still for anything anymore.
  Oh, except snacks and drinks.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

I forgot all about these

I downloaded some pictures today of my pantry and lo and behold found some that had been missed!  Whoops!  So these pictures have been the highlights of our past two weeks:
 Yup.  That's a lemon.  I was craving lemon bars (and they turned out really good) and Megan helped me bake.  She also ate the lemon.  Sucked out the pulp and started chewing on the outside.  And then when the lemon bars were done?  She tried it, I'll give her credit for that, but didn't like them.  And I wonder why I can't figure out what to feed her . . . 
 Megan has learned that if she wants her toys and books to be just hers, they have to go up high.  Unfortunately, now that Abby is pulling up to standing on everything, Megan no longer has "up high" places that Abby can't reach!
 It's really windy in Texas.  No tornadoes in our area yet but we might not even need one!  Oh and Abby still hasn't learned that if she holds this thing a certain way, it whaps her in the face.  There's been a lot of crying around here lately.
 It's getting long and it's got a little curl!!!!
 Chopper built me some additional shelves in my pantry.  We have a nice-sized pantry but now it's food storage ready!  And with no basement and the garage baking at 110 degrees in the summer, this is about my only option!
Finally, we got some eggs from an egg farm for Easter.  They're pullet eggs -- the first egg that a baby chicken lays, and at Easter the farm sells them 30 for $1.00.  Not only can you not beat that price, but because they're extra small, eating 30 eggs won't be as bad as eating 30 eggs!  Megan of course LOVES LOVES LOVES THEM!!  They will all be thoroughly kissed by the time they actually get dyed.  That's the pullet egg on the right and a regular size one on the left.  They really are cute!

And that's it!  We have some fun things coming up this next week leading to Easter so we'll get back on track with the exciting posts that you just can't wait to see!!  Happy Thursday! 

Oooooh, Harry Potter tomorrow!!!!!!!!!  Now that really is the highlight of my week!!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Weary

I have fatigue problems.  I know every mother does -- they're called children.  But mine have gone beyond that lately and I just haven't been too motivated to do much.  Except Wednesday -- that was a good day.  Cleaned house, sewed curtains for Abby's room (not sure that I like them so no pictures yet), played, read, cleaned more (I love a clean house), and just generally felt productive.

So one day in seven is good right?  Because every other has been draining.  And today especially.  Megan is spending more and more time in her room for talking back, hitting, kicking, and general Abby torture and Abby has gone very quickly from sweet, even-keel baby to cranky, complaining cling-on (not the Star Trek kind).  And I want more than two?!?!?!  I still think so . . .

You know what is really a blessing?  That regardless of the day I've had, Abby wants to cuddle before bed and Megan wants weird kisses (long story) and tells me she loves me.  Every night.  Rain or shine.  Terrific day or terrible day.  And I love that.  But I am still exhausted!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Little Things that Make me Happy

Megan let me braid her hair the other day.  I can't believe she held still AND she even kept them in ALL DAY!  This from the girl who pretty much refuses to wear any kind of hair accessory.  It helped that she really likes the movie Tangled and so we braided her hair "like Rapunzel's".  That was one of my favorite parts -- the look on those little girls faces when they were given the chance to braid all that hair!  I was that little girl so this is fun for me!


I finally finished the quilt for my best friend from college, Krista.  Her baby girl was born in December but her gender was a surprise so I didn't actually start on the quilt until after she was born.  The pattern I've actually had for years!  Krista is crazy for cats.  And this was a crazy pattern!  It's a Buggy Barn pattern and it was the oddest thing to put together . . . but I'm pleased with the results.
 And of course every little girl needs a pair of shoes for formal occassions.  The pattern for this is from Curby's Closet if you're interested . . . 

It's nice to get a couple of projects scratched off my to-do list.  Now I just need to clean out the closets, finish the curtains, sew a couple of pillows, start a twin for Abby (quilt, not baby), and transplant some flowers!  Whew!  I need to get cracking!

Friday, April 1, 2011

No fooling -- a new blog!

Happy April Fool's Day!  I'm excited to announce a new blog!  Why?  I mean, why a new blog?  Well, it's kind've a long story but if you really want to hear it . . . (if you don't, scroll down!)

The biggest thing I miss about teaching is the lesson planning (go figure) and the teaching and talking about English stuff.  History too, but mostly English.  I've also felt for some time that I need to do something a little more educational with Megan but I'm not quite ready to put her in preschool.  Sooooooo, I'm doing a little bit more with her at home, but even though I'm working with a 3-year old here, my mind can't stop working on it's normal high-school level for teaching.  And then I've been finding stuff that I love still for younger children but she's not quite ready and I want to remember it all.  So I'm going to blog about it.  I want to keep it separate from our family blog and it may or may not include other things as well.  We'll see.

Anyway, it's called Lightbulbs and Lemonade because every now and then I get great ideas (lightbulbs!) and every now and then I have to make something out of a disaster (lemonade).  I can't guarantee fabulousness but hopefully it will at least be fun.

In other news -- we finally got some rain over here.  Megan was very excited to use her polka-dot umbrella and after it dried it had to come into the house.  Good thing I don't believe in bad luck with open umbrellas indoors!  It sat on our couch for 2 days and made a great little nest for Megan.  Every time I would fold it up she would find it and come crying "I'm not done!" and up it went again.