Cute Things on a Sunday Morning
Feb 19, 2012

Cute Things on a Sunday Morning

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This morning Elizabeth and I were talking about show and tell. Two books we have been reading a lot lately have to do with show and tell.

Here is a bit of our conversation this morning:

Elizabeth:  I want to be a big girl and go to show and tell.

Me:  What would you bring to show and tell?

Elizabeth:  I’d bring mommy.

Awww.

Elizabeth also contrived a unique seating opportunity with one of our cats today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luckily, Poe ran off when Elizabeth tried to sit in the pink chair. That would have been a great picture.

~Krista

Filed Under: Family Life · Tagged:
One of Those Days
Feb 16, 2012

One of Those Days

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Today started off great, and for the most part was a good day. Somehow, the little things seemed to bring it down.

I was pulled over for speeding on my way to a playdate. I was going 30 MPH in the school zone. I really felt bad about it. I knew it was an elementary school. Elizabeth was pointing out the playground to me when we were going by.

I am not a perfect driver, but I really try to be perfect when my child is in the car (or when other children could be near- though at least there weren’t any other kids out). It was a big mommy fail.

Luckily for me, the officer was extremely nice and only gave me a warning. THANK YOU! I am sure a speeding ticket in a school zone is not in the budget.

Elizabeth was a little concerned and we got to have a nice talk about how mommy was going to0 fast and police officers stop and tell you when you are doing something wrong (in addition to coming to help if you need help).

If that had been all, I think I could have dealt fine and just felt lucky. Then this afternoon I managed to break the dishwasher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was pulling out the bottom rack to empty it and it was jammed. I thought it was just a spoon and once I freed that, I pulled harder without realizing that the water squirter was still in the up position and that was really what was caught. I heard a crack and knew instantly that I had broken it.

So I broke the dishwasher and I had a whole sink overflowing with dishes that I had to wash by hand (oh, how I hate washing dishes by hand).

Duncan was able to take a look at it when he got home and found the part online to order. The part was $17 and the shipping was $18! Sadly, it won’t come until Tuesday (darn holiday) so we have a long weekend without a dishwasher.

To finish the day, I took Elizabeth to the library for us to pick up new books. She couldn’t bring herself to use library voices at all and kept up a running commentary in the quiet room for the full minute I was in there trying to find a new mystery book. She then ran back and forth across the children’s room talking as loudly as she could.

Now, for the first time in a long time, I have a headache.

So today I am apparently ranting. Maybe this is a good thing to have a blog for. I am usually a very happy and cheerful person, so I know I will bounce back tomorrow.

Hopefully a hot bath and new mystery book will help brighten the rest of the evening.

~Krista

Filed Under: Family Life ·
Valentine’s Day 2012
Feb 14, 2012

Valentine’s Day 2012

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We had a happy little Valentine’s Day today. Duncan and I don’t really celebrate this holiday, so it was different to have a special little someone to share it with who is now old enough to understand.

Elizabeth LOVES Valentine’s Day. One of her favorite books is Biscuit’s Valentine’s Day. She was so excited and has been making Valentines for a week.

 

 

 

 

 

She was also happy to get a little Valentine gift from her mommy (aka me).

It was just a homemade heart card and a Thomas the Tank pez dispenser with a refill pack. This kid loves Thomas the Tank. She has even requested a Thomas train themed birthday party (still a few months off).

 

 

We had a pretty fun and lovey day. She ate candy and played play-doh. We built a couch cushion fort. She rode her tricycle in the garage and then down the hall.

We ran through the house dangling yarn and let the cats chase us and then gave them way too many treats (and told them how much we loved them).

We also said “I love you” to each other too many times to count. I never get tired of telling her it or hearing her say it back.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

~Krista

Filed Under: Family Life · Tagged:
A Little Toddler Art on the Wall
Feb 13, 2012

A Little Toddler Art on the Wall

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Elizabeth has really been loving to paint lately. She paints in her paint with water books, using her water colors, and even pretend paints (she has thrown a pretend art show for the past three days). Even though only one of those actually produces permanent art (the water colors), we are starting to be overrun with masterpieces.

I love it.

My fridge is permanently covered in toddler art and it has recently spread to the office file cabinet.

I decided it was time for the art to spread to the walls in Elizabeth’s room so she can proudly enjoy her own creations. I bought a cheap frame from IKEA that has plastic instead of glass a few months ago (thinking it would be perfect for toddler art). Here is the first masterpiece to get framed:

I love the colors she chose and that she was working so hard to paint lines (she said they were roads for her cars).

She had painted on a white piece of scrapbook paper so I had to fold the page on one side and the bottom to get it to fit in the frame.

I hung it to one side of her window (near her painted hand and foot prints). I am really loving the bright and cheeriness of it.

 

 

 

 

I have been thinking it would be nice to have an identical frame with her art above this one and two matching frames on the other side of the window. I do love symmetry.

 

 

Here is the current incarnation of her room (we are always moving things around). She insisted that we take her toddler bed out to the garage last week and put her mattress on the floor. She seems to really like it, but we haven’t taken apart the toddler bed yet, just in case this is temporary.

~Krista

Filed Under: DIY & Decorating · Tagged:
The Stuffed Owl Toy
Feb 11, 2012

The Stuffed Owl Toy

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Elizabeth has been very interested in owls lately. I think I encourage it (apparently one of my first words was “owl”).

We checked out a pack of owl books from the library and have read them a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

I knew it was finally time to make a stuffed owl for her.

I have only pinned a bunch of them on Pinterest, like this, or this, or even this.

I had also been wanting to use this old crib bumper for a project.

 

 

 

 

 

Since Elizabeth co-slept with us and never used a crib, we never used the crib bumper, but I loved how soft it was and decided I would just take it apart and use it for fabric and batting (I also only used a fraction of it so I will have more for other future projects).

NOTE:  This isn’t really a tutorial. I just made it up as I went along.

Here is what I did:

I started by cutting the crib bumper into an owl shape (leaving only one of the sides still sewn). I think it broke my scissors (they are really loose now) because it was really hard to cut through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I traced out owl eyes for the applique. I used one of Duncan's old white dress shirts that was in the rags pile for the eye fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After ironing on the eyes, I did a separate applique of the owl's nose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now with the wings on, it was really starting to look like an owl.

 

Elizabeth helped pick out the owl's button eyes (she also picked the nose and wing fabric from my stash).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After some sewing, stuffing, and more sewing, we had a pretty little stuffed owl (I pinned on a little flower I had in my craft bin since she was a bit too plain).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, Elizabeth is also wearing an owl shirt.

There was utter joy when Elizabeth saw her finished owl for the first time (cue the hugging owl picture above). She has carried it around with her and slept with it so I think it is a big hit.

I kind of wish it had some more color, but she loves it completely.

~Krista

Filed Under: Crafts & Sewing · Tagged: ,
Sometimes A Chip Is Just A Chip
Feb 6, 2012

Sometimes A Chip Is Just A Chip

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Elizabeth and I had the following conversation at lunchtime today:

E:  What are their names?

Me:  They don’t have names. They are chips.

E:  No. They have names.

Me:  Okay. What are their names?

E: Their names are chips.

 

I love toddler wisdom.

~Krista

Filed Under: Family Life ·
Sunday Snapshots
Feb 5, 2012

Sunday Snapshots

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Here is a little taste of our day:

We woke up to bright blue skies this morning.

 

 

 

 

Someone likes to lick the butter off of her waffle before eating it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then she shows off our Valentine’s Day decorations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Someone else likes to bask in the sunshine (I’m looking at you Mao).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water painting became painting roads for our cars to drive on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I managed to make a loaf of banana bread that has been very popular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also got a dozen of the most delicious (and fresh) cinnamon raisin bagels.

 

 

 

 

 

Luckily, I also made it to the gym today to help compensate for the bagel joy (no gym picture since I am a wimp and thought it would look strange if I started taking pictures while working out).

~Krista

Filed Under: Family Life · Tagged:
Happy Dining Room Progress Report (& Cat Pictures!)
Feb 4, 2012

Happy Dining Room Progress Report (& Cat Pictures!)

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Elizabeth was lucky enough to have a sleepover at her grandparents house last night.

Duncan and I were lucky enough to have some time to ourselves.

It was a leisurely productive evening and day (if leisurely and productive can ever go together). We were able to visit with a friend, paint, sleep in, go out to breakfast at our favorite cafe, and paint some more. Even though we kept busy, it was really relaxing.

We woke up to a happy Mao cat sunning himself in our bedroom window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He became a bit playful when he realized we were watching him. Unfortunately, that also meant a little scratching at the curtains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I painted the dining room trim white. It had been primed for MONTHS and it was finally over 50 degrees and I was child-free. The stars had aligned.

Here is a dining room before picture (before I primed the trim, but after I did the photo ledge wall):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spent a lot of time sanding and painting the primer paw prints on the window sill. I considered wood putty, but I think I might just leave them. It reminds me of hand prints in drying cement. So our cat Poe is forever immortalized in the dining room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happily, today was still nice (and a bit warmer) so I was able to also paint the walls. Now the dining room and kitchen share the same green (which is great since they are really one big room). Here is the start:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the crisp look of the white next to the green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My desk corner turned out well, but is looking really blank. I am trying to decide what to do with it. I don’t want to put up what was there before so I think I might do a gallery wall of pictures on both little walls. I might start it a foot above the desk height up to the height of the door frames.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, I reserve the right to completely change my mind tomorrow.

Here is the window wall (with the linen curtains I made a while back and never blogged about. Slacker):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next big thing to tackle in the dining room is the full wall built in. We love its storage and very much want to keep it, but I am dreaming of painting it the off-white to match the kitchen and make it a bit more contemporary. Now I need to wait for the next warm, child-free day.

~Krista

Filed Under: DIY & Decorating, Family Life · Tagged: , , ,
Dads Play Differently
Jan 28, 2012

Dads Play Differently

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I caught Elizabeth cutely lining up her little people when playing with Duncan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I told Duncan how adorable  it was that she was lining them up and playing so well. He said that they had to line them up so the rhinos can stampede and knock them down.

They had apparently been playing “rhino stampede of the little people” for a while. Duncan had suggested it. Elizabeth was thrilled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I never would have thought to play that. Dads definitely play differently.

Points to Duncan:  He finally got her to identify rhinos correctly (before she used to call them dinosaurs).

~Krista

Filed Under: Family Life ·
40 Degrees and Sunny: Lets Go Outside!
Jan 27, 2012

40 Degrees and Sunny: Lets Go Outside!

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After days of pouring rain trapping us inside, we finally have some sun. It doesn’t matter that it is 40 degrees out, this is Oregon and we need to soak up the vitamin D while we can.

Elizabeth and I went out today at noon and there was still frost in the shady parts of our backyard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cold didn’t seem to slow her  down. She immediately wanted to play in her sandbox. Thankfully the sand was dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It didn’t take her long to add every sand toy she had (and ditch her hat).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then hit some balls around the yard (golf style). I really think she will be a little athlete. She has such good coordination for sports (she certainly doesn’t get it from her parents).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After about 45 minutes, Elizabeth asked to go for a walk in her stroller with her blanket. It was a wonderful (though brisk) walk where I got to soak up some more sun and listen to my ipod and she got to drift off to sleep. She has been more and more resistant to naps lately, so this was a real win. I might have to do this every day (and would really love to- hear that Oregon weather?).

~Krista

Filed Under: Family Life ·
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