Productivity

I don't know if you have noticed, but i have been crazy reading this year. Especially since I moved here to Virginia. I always read more when I am pregnant, because I am tired and need more rest, which equals reading books until I start narrating my actions in my head in the same tone as the book. But this time it has been an obsession. I would say it is more of an addiction. I felt like I couldn't function if I didn't have a book to read. I was addicted to the library, to goodreads, to falling asleep to a chapter and waking in the night with the story still on my mind. I kind of felt like I was in a literary haze.

32 books so far this year.

I decided to take a bit of a break, to slow down with reading and start working on some of the other goals I had made for myself this year. So for the last three weeks, since I returned from my vacation, I have stayed away from the library. During my new free time, I made a quilt for the little baby blue that we are expecting, and I made a tooth fairy pillow for Claire.

Tooth Fairy Pillow: I wanted to try this flower pattern my mom gave me, which I tweaked a little because I apparently don't like to make things exactly like other people do. I also wanted to try the pin-tuck technique. I loved the way it turned out.


(And Laurie, a tooth fairy pillow has a little slot in the back to put the tooth, so it doesn't get lost and the tooth fairy knows exactly where to find it and where to deposit some coinage.)

And here is the quilt I made for baby boy. I really like the way it turned out, with the blanket-stitched stars and border, and the blue ticking fabric on the back. Does it look familiar? I totally knocked it off from Pottery Barn Kids, but added some of my own design. Oh yeah, and I tried quilting it myself- I must stop doing that. I am no good at it. Next time I am sending it to my mom to quilt. She is amazing.

First day of Kindergarten

Ah, the first day of kindergarten. So much anticipation, so much excitement, so many photo ops. The night before, we were trying to hype Claire up on being excited about kindergarten. We had a little ceremony as we packed her lunch box. We carefully went through the list of school supplies and loaded them into her backpack. We set out her clothes. She went to bed with visions of sharpened pencils dancing in her head.

The next morning was a bit more chaotic than we had planned. First off, my alarm didn't go off, so I slept in, but we still had time to get ready. We step outside and it is pouring buckets. The streets were flooded. But we made it on time. Plenty of time. We arrived a day early.

Apparently I didn't pay too much attention to the actual date of the first day of school. So I and about 7 other parents had to take home our disappointed kids, who we had previously hyped up for this big moment. Big let down. Oops.



So today was really Claire's first day of school. Thankfully when we arrived, there was a parking lot full of cars and a classroom full of Claire's future friends. I am so glad to be back on a schedule. It is going to be a great year!

Don't Put All Your Adages in One Basket

I tend to procrastinate these vacation posts as they tend to be long-winded and not that interesting to anyone besides me. I have to force myself to be brief, and I never like being brief. But here is my attempt.

My flight out to Utah: it was me and my two girls going alone since Codeman had to work. I flew Delta, therefore you can probably guess what happened without me going into much detail. The girls and a very pregnant I (I threw the 'very' in there for dramatic effect) were stuck over night in Georgia through no fault of our own. You know the drill, stand in an airport line until 1:30 at night with two crazy kids who refuse to go to sleep, get shuttled to a hotel, blah, blah, blah, wear the same clothes the next day, haunt the airport the next day, waiting to fly out. It was actually fine; I mean, not a picnic or anything like that, but not as terrible as it could have been. One of the most annoying things about the whole experience was listening to the conversation behind me in the line, as I waited to get new tickets and a hotel room for the night. The guy behind me just couldn't quite grasp that time travel isn't possible. "If I would have known I was gonna be stuck here for the night, I would have stayed an extra night at my grandma's house" (this is a grown man, by the way). Or, the same guy, "I could have driven home in as much time as this is going to take." And then he would follow up these incredibly pointless musings with incredibly stupid adages. "But, you know, it is what it is." "Whatcha gonna do?" "Just have to grin and bear it." And there I was, pregnant (very, did I mention), standing in line with my two wily kids running around (which is putting it mildly), and I had to listen to this man, all by his lonesome, whine, complain, and then console himself with greeting card messages. I had a couple adages I would have liked to offer him, "Life is full of disappointments.", "Cowboy up.", "Listening to your voice makes me want to pull my earlobes into my mouth and gag on them." (what, you haven't heard that adage before?)

So much for me being brief.

We finally arrived in Utah, stayed a week with my in-laws on their farm in Utah. Claire loved playing with her cousins, and all the animals that Grandma and Grandpa have. Claire threw up, Morgan thought that she and the kitty-a-cat were soul mates, and I read a book.

There, that was brief.

And then we went to my sister's house, spent a couple of days laughing until it hurt, then went to Bear Lake for a few days for a family reunion on my side. Loved it! Got colored a toasty shade of red. The kids loved the Harry Potter themed activities, including a potions class that I taught. As a family, collectively ate three batches of Scotch-a-roos. Went back to my sister's house, visited some friends, ate a peanut buster parfait, put a puzzles together, flew home. That's about it.

I had a great time. Claire had an even better time. She was in heaven being able to play all day long with her cousins. Morgan screamed anytime it was time to eat, fought with her 18 month old cousin, and sang "I Know You" about 147 times.

And the rest is history; we rode off into the sunset; all good things must end sometime; these mashed potatoes are so creamy; and that, as they say, is that; that's the way the cookie crumbles; you can't make an omlet without breaking an egg, any cook will tell you that; that closes the curtain on this case; dweeb-da-da-da-dweeb, dat's all folks.

(Morgan, looking totally presentable, on Grandma and Grandpa's farm)

(the view from the patio of our cabin at Bear Lake)

(Claire, with her wand and Slytherin cape, probably coming up with some evil-genius plan)

(me, teaching a rockin' potions class. I even yelled at the kids, just like Professor Snape. I am the best aunt on the planet.)

Cold Hard Cash

It just kinda snuck up on us. One day Cody noticed that some of Claire's teeth were loose, we explained to her that all her baby teeth would fall out eventually, she was horrified at the thought, we explained the tooth fairy, she was initially skeptical, but easily convinced, and pretty soon, after much 'big ' pep-talk, she was excited to lose her first tooth. Until the day came.

Then it was drama, crying, a little more drama, some more crying until finally Cody just pulled it right on out. Then everything was just dandy. This all came about so fast that I didn't even have time to secure a tooth fairy pillow (which is the best thing about the whole tooth losing process), so Claire had to put her teeny tiny tooth under her pillow, and thankfully the nervous tooth fairy found it and exchanged it for some cold hard cash. Sweet.

(the dentist at work; Morgan combing her teeth)

(a little hint of the drama that was)

(finally the proud chica showing off her investment)

2

My first post on my blog was about my frustrations in trying to get pregnant with kiddo #2. Since then, I have shared on my blog my pregnancy, my delivery story, my "she-is-so-pinchably-chubby" exclamations, her singing skills, and her hiding skills (which not only include the dryer, but today as I was cleaning out the fridge, she snuck inside and closed the door on herself. We had ourselves a near-Punky Bruster moment). Her whole life has been documented here on this blog. And now she has turned two years old.


She is serious, moody, silly, mama's girl, a screecher, a hugger, and she loves to sing songs (especially "I Know You" from Sleeping Beauty). I love her more than I could express- she makes my heart sing.
This is the same Strawberry Shortcake cake that I had when I was a little , and I have always loved it, anxiously counting down the years until I could make it for my little girls. Mission complete.

I decided today, and I don't know why it took so long to dawn on me, that I really don't like to decorate cakes. It's messy and takes a long time. I once had serious aspirations of being a cake decorator, but I think I can safely say that is one talent I won't be courting anymore (but maybe we will just hold hands every once in a while).

The video is of Morgan blowing out her candles- the birthday song is sung with as much gusto as a funeral march, and we let Morgan burn her finger. Other than that, it is pretty much run of the mill stuff.

Family Pics

Right before we left Pittsburgh, my friend Libby, offered to take our family pictures for us. I wanted to get some pictures in before I got all big and pregos, and I wanted some 'Burgh pictures, with the bridges and city in the background. She did a lovely job, especially since both of my kids refused to look and smile at the camera at the same time. She is a budding photographer and has a real eye for the art. Here are some of my favorites:

{Why doesn't someone as pale as me wear more make-up to get pictures taken. I don't know! Next time, I am going to skank-it up in the make-up department so I look like I have a pulse.}

{this is the biggest smile we could capture on Morgan; she just was not cooperating}

{Photography by Elisabeth}

Fun on the Fourth

We went back to Pittsburgh for the fourth of July weekend to attend a wedding of some friends of ours. It was fun to be back there; it is so beautiful there. We haven't been away long enough for it to have that haunted, nostalgic feeling you get when you go back to a place where you use to live. It just felt familiar and friendly. We were able to visit with some friends, attend a community carnival, eat hot dogs, and watch the fireworks. And then we zipped home. We had a good time and we are grateful for good friends.

(I know this post isn't super exciting, but I was so sick of looking at that burnt chocolate picture, I needed to put something else up)

(on a completely random note, in the last picture, I love that the cars are in rainbow order. I just recently found out that Cody a.) didn't know that there was such thing as rainbow order, and that b.) he doesn't know what that order is. I was blind-sighted. You think you know someone. . .)