the saige page

Wetx jvxjcxdhjh

2011-10-23T21:51:00.001-04:00

.hdyohxufhjxhhixm.

This is what happens when one of these two get a hold of your phone. Not only a post, but a title too! Crazy little men. :)

4

2011-10-15T19:03:00.001-04:00

A week and a half ago, this boy turned 4. How is that possible? My sweet, funny, adorable Matthan, Mommy loves you very much.

fantastic

2011-09-03T13:45:00.002-04:00

My porch fan has been without blades for almost a year now. I took them off to replace them with some others that were much better looking. The old ones were disposed of before I realized the screw holes for the new blades didn't fit--like 2 mms too close together. So at least once a month, I'd walk out on my porch, want to turn the fan, and get sad. Buying a new fan wasn't really an option, and I didn't want to spend too much money on blades.
This week, I thought I'd take the kids to the habitat home store since I finally figured out where it is, and it's only a mile or two from Matthan's preschool. What should be sitting there, sort of out of place? Some fan blades, for $5! I measured them, went home and measured the fan, saw it was a match, and went back to get them. It was a bit of a hassle loading and unloading the kids, but, they were the right size! I had to get them before anyone else did! But goodness, they were ugly. They looked like this first picture--bad enough!--but imagine this in white and shiny gold. No.

So I did what I've been wanting to try for forever, so I took off the attachments, painted them black, and reattached them to the undecorated side. Much better, don't you think? I love it--makes me want to get crafty with the rest of my porch. :) Now I just need to find a fitting globe...

school

2011-08-25T11:36:00.001-04:00

Looks like sister isn't the only one enjoying using the K-12 curriculum. If ever we leave Aubie's door open, this is where I find him--standing in Aub's chair, playing with the math blocks. :)

first day of school

2011-08-09T13:47:00.001-04:00

The only picture I could get was of him running away. So I tried again and I got a silly shot. Oh well. At least this post will help me remember why I took these pictures--Matthan's first day of K-3. :)

solomon and the cat

2011-08-08T09:54:00.001-04:00

This is the face of sheer delight. :) He LOVES this cat. If only Leo would reciprocate.

Trying

2011-08-07T15:47:00.001-04:00

My new phone is connected to blogger. I can talk to my phone and it types what I say. I can add pictures from my phone. The things that were keeping me from blogging are now no longer an issue. I think I can do this again now. We'll see...

I'm trying to learn to love my house again. Here are two pictures to help me toward that goal. I mean, I'm pretty lucky to have glass knobs throughout. So I guess it's safe to say I love my door knobs. And that's a start.

juice box

2011-04-05T22:50:00.009-04:00

I was going to post Cherry Blossom Festival pics, but since it was 2 weeks ago, I thought I'd post something a bit more current first.

Solomon's first juice box. :) It was actually Matthan's so I am so happy that it turned out sto be such a pleasant experience. Normally, this sharing probably wouldn't have happened. But I think Matthan thought Solomon's enjoyment of it was as funny as I did so he kept letting him have more. They are such cute, sweet brothers.

what? a post?

2011-03-03T09:28:00.005-05:00

So, you can usually tell if I'm caught up on housework by whether I'm posting or not. For some folks, I'm sure blogging is as much an obligation as folding clothes. For me, folding the clothes comes first. A+B=C, therefore it's good logic to assume that if I'm not blogging, I'm swimming in laundry. I actually am right now, but since it's almost cherry blossom time again, I thought I'd give a little post or two before then so I won't have only 2 posts a year. :)

Yesterday was Dr. Seuss's birthday, so we celebrated by reading Dr. Seuss stories in school and eating green eggs for supper. Since I just COULDN'T dye ham green, we had green pancakes instead. :)

OH, and what's that brick wall doing in my kitchen? You'll see. Eventually. ;)

year 4

2010-11-22T14:49:00.001-05:00

Well, it's that time of year again--Pumpkin patch time!

The kids standing by the pumpkin patch sign.
On the little hayride. Without any hay bales to sit on, the bumps were AWFUL!

Matthan getting a pumpkin on his hand.

Since it's taken me till Thanksgiving week to post this, and there are so many pictures already, I'll spare you the flashbacks. But if you want to see them, you can click here.

Six cuties. :)

A shot of all 6 kiddos at Burger King.

Sorry if this is discombobulated, I've spent a couple of different days over the past month and a half trying to get this posted. At this point, I don't feel like proofreading--I still have Matthan's birthday to post--so I apologize for any nonsensical things that might have been said. :)

late night (and early morning) presents

2010-10-12T17:08:00.004-04:00

The kids were invited to a birthday party for one of Aubie's friends and her little brother this past Saturday. Birthday parties always mean the same for me--staying up late the night before the party to finish a present. Always. I actually had my inspiration early on for once. I knew pretty much what I wanted the little boy's shirt to look like, and had a grand plan to make a something for the sister as well. Well, the the idea I had for the girl did not work out at all, because I tried using a hoodie, but the jersey was just too thick for applique (at very early in the morning, anyway).

So what to do? I went to Michael's Saturday morning--pushing it, I know, but God is good! Michael's had the perfect gift (on clearance!!!) for this little girl who owns chickens--a foam barn kit! It was so cute. But I felt bad that I hadn't made her something as well. So I made a felt bag and appliqued one of the calico chickens from this adorable vintage fabric (I used it for the straps) onto the bag. When she saw the bag, she was so excited about the chicken! I'm so glad I decided to make her something as well.

Since their mom is about to have a new baby, I thought the little boy needed a symbol of his upcoming status. The big brother shirt was a technique I've been meaning to try for some time, but just now had a need to do it. I used both freezer paper stencil (for the word "brother") and applique (for the word "BIG"). I used too big of a satin stitch for "BIG"--a mistake that could have been dealt with had I made this 2 or 3 nights before. Oh well. It didn't turn out too bad for my first attempt at mixing the two though, I guess. I thought it looked really interesting, so I'm definitely looking forward to using both styles together again.

2010-09-24T02:32:00.001-04:00

Since I still have to put new pictures on the computer--that's been the holdup with new posts--I thought I'd post an old project. Several months ago, I decorated this bag for the movie I was giving as gift. I love doing collage work with scrap paper--it is just so fun to represent something without having to worry about all the minute details. Can you guess what movie is in the bag?

beans, beans...

2010-09-20T22:35:00.002-04:00

Aubie has never liked beans. Since she was tiny. The other day when we were eating taco salad, she finally described to us the reason she doesn't like them. "They taste like potatoes without any salt on 'em." After she said it, I could kind of understand where she was coming from. Especially when I split a kidney bean down the middle--it even looked like a tiny potato. :) (Here she is back around the time she was beginning to decide these sorts of things.)

lesson

2010-09-09T13:00:00.003-04:00

This morning, I had another Bible lesson much like this one. Though I was standing right in front of him, Matthan kept saying, "Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. Mommy! Mommy! MOMMY!" All the while, I am saying, "Yes, Bud." every time. Finally, it was too much. So I yelled, "Stop saying my name if you're not going to do anything!" More than ever before, it hit me. God doesn't really like that either--He must not if it's one of his top ten rules. And I thought about my dad's sermon on Sunday (if you'd like a link to listen, I can send it to you)--that maybe I'm not guilty of saying God's name as an expletive, but that, like I yelled at my son about, I am guilty of saying His name repeatedly without doing anything.

the house

2010-09-08T09:49:00.004-04:00

It's hard to do your schoolwork when a little house needs furniture. And people to live in it. Only, I was just told, "Mommy, that little circle is not a head. It's a table. I can put some people if you want..." No Ma'am, I'd just like for you to finish your spelling, please. :)

already?

2010-09-02T20:36:00.003-04:00

Hard to believe this was 2 months ago...

Happy 2 month birthday, Solomon!

more guitars for the guitar room

2010-08-30T23:30:00.000-04:00

I've had a 4-picture frame that I bought at Kirkland's hanging on the wall for MONTHS now. I am very sad to say that I left the fake people pictures in the frame and even sadder to say that the way it was hung, those people were sideways. :I

My plan was to take a picture of each of us with David's guitar and put those 4 pictures in the frame. To let you know how long it's been hanging on the wall, "each of us" meant Saige, David, Aubie, and Matthan. :) When I knew number three was coming along, I also knew I had to put up with the sideways people for a little longer. But here's what ended up going in the frame:

This is back before we were married--I think we might have been engaged. But I like that it was an already existing picture even though all we have is a copy made on a copier. And this is actually a picture of that copy. (I mean, I'm sure the negative is somewhere, but who knows where, and the little 2x3 picture is somewhere too but I'm not sure of it's location either.)But with it being one from before our marriage, itt's kinda saying, "Here's where it all began".

My sweet girl.

I love it when he's serious like this (a rarity!).

I "Paint"-shopped this picture to get rid of the grass that was showing because I didn't spread the blanket out far enough. :I Thankfully, you can't really see the weirdness from up on the wall. :)

The finished product. (You can see my yellow kitchen through the doorway.)

this day

2010-08-28T14:46:00.004-04:00

On August 28th, 1999, I married this handsome man. :) Eleven years and three kids later, I definitely love him more than I did then.

I plan on making him a mobile...

2010-08-26T17:26:00.004-04:00

but until then,

he's thrilled with this one from 1971 (5 years older than me!).

i never thought i'd make curtains

2010-08-16T23:53:00.006-04:00

So, a WHILE back, I promised I'd write a post entitled "I Never Thought I'd Make Curtains", but you never saw it. And then a shorter while back, I promised to show you the children's artwork, but never did that either. Well, here are both those posts rolled into one.

I don't guess you can call a simple valance a curtain, but I made it, and I think it was the first "curtain" I ever made. The shade is a flour sack towel that Mom had given me. When she gave it, I knew it had to be used in my yellow and black kitchen somewhere, but I wasn't sure how. Then I remembered having seen a tutorial on adding fabric to shades. So that's what I did. It's a little wonky since it was my first try and, once it's on, it's on. But I like it--it's fun. Now if it just wouldn't fall down every time I try to pull it up... I'm gonna have to have David work on the hardware part for me. :)

You're probably thinking that the shelf just looks like a board laid across two cabinets. Well, guess what? You're right. It is just a board laying across two cabinets! That's a future project...

I really cannot remember where I got the scale. Maybe the Rescue Mission thrift store, maybe David got it from "that old lady" (another post another time), maybe it was Aunt Mae's (my great, great aunt who was the previous owner of this house). All I know is I had it way before I decided on a yellow and black kitchen and I love it. And as you can see, on either side of it is the artwork. Aubie's kind of looks a little Van Gogh-y. Matthan's is definitely very impressionist--as in, the impression of his foot is seen many times throughout the piece.

This curtain is sort of a valance too, I guess--it had to be short so that when I open the glass slats, I can still see the kids through the screen when they're playing outside. Yep, it's one of those weird 50's? doors. I just loved this print on the dress that I got in a stuff-a-bag for $10 at a thrift store. I had to take out some darts, but this curtain came pre-hemmed! I LOVE re-fashioning for that very reason. :) The top is the same fabric as the other valance, and the trim is some awesome Asian-themed ribbon that I got at Malone's fabric (one of the junkiest, most amazing places I've ever been) for a dollar a yard.

That almost concludes the tour of my kitchen. I can't wait till I can one day post the truly finished version. No more plastic tile, no more ugly floor. But until then, I'm trying to make it as "me" as possible.

Cows 3: The Herd Returns

2010-08-16T22:32:00.010-04:00

My cute cow girl. :)

Another Cow Appreciation Day has come and gone. It's funny how when I worked at Chick-fil-A, about the 3rd year in of "Eat Mor Chikin" I hated the cows. I thought it was a major marketing mistake. But here I am, dressing like a cow for the 3rd year in a row, so I must be over it. :)

Here is the proof that we walked up to our Chick-fil-A to avoid taking a one week old baby around a bunch of folks (I had a lot of grandmothers worried as to what I would do).

David's photo shoot with our sad camera...

You can see what he has to work with...

But here I am telling him how to take pictures, and messing up our only chance for a good one.

And here is my sad attempt to do better. :I

These didn't turn out too bad, though. :)

A friend made this onesie for a baby gift. I'm so glad she did! Though I had the best of intentions, I know it wouldn't have turned out this cute even if I had found time to do it. It says, "NUBORNZ NEED MILK. MOMZ NEED CHICKIN". So cute!

Well, this concludes my first post after a long, long absence (AGAIN!). But I've already uploaded some photos for future posts, so there should be a new one next week (or as soon as I know that my 5 faithful readers have had a chance to read this one :) ).

yay!

2010-07-04T15:45:00.003-04:00

Welcome to the family, Solomon! He arrived at 3:20 a.m. July 2nd. My biggest yet at 10 lbs. 3.1 oz. and 22.5 inches long! We are all so happy that our sweet baby boy is here. :)

original artwork

2010-05-25T10:31:00.006-04:00

I've had these brown squares for a while--I think Leah got them while she was teaching art or something, and passed them along. And I've always wanted to do something cool with them. Well, one day a few months ago, I decided to let the kids use just my kitchen colors (yellow and black) to paint something for the shelf (that is not yet completed, but kind of hanging anyway).

Aubie was neat, and stuck to the color scheme by mixing colors as little as possible.

Matthan on the other hand...

But now I have two very yellow-and-black and very original paintings for my kitchen. AND... you will have to see how they are arranged (currently) in another post, since I can't get my pictures to upload right now. So just enjoy these shots of this dainty girl and this messy boy and then imagine what fun I had cleaning my kitchen after they were finished. :)

numbers

2010-05-22T14:44:00.003-04:00

75, 85, 45, 18. What do those numbers represent? Would you like to guess? That's the amount of times I blogged in the years 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. So far, though you may not believe it, I already have 14 posts for this year. I sincerely believe that I will beat last year. I really do. Thank you Miss Debbie for encouraging me to post again. I'll get a new picture post up next week. :)

cherry blossom time

2010-03-20T09:20:00.003-04:00

So, what year is this of our Cherry Blossom Festival tradition? I think the first year, Daniel was 10 months old. Actually though, we went the year before that, only it was night time and with other friends too. So yeah, we've been doing this for 5 years! Wow. Hard to believe.

Aubie watching the sea lions with some random children.

Pre-drama picture. Naptime + Crowds+ the motorcycle already being taken= Little man not riding anything the whole time and lots of tears. I even tried to see if he wanted to ride later when the motorcycle was free, but he just wouldn't do it. :(

Another pre-drama picture. Should have known better (I did, actually, but didn't stop her) than to let Aub ride with Daredevil Daniel. She enjoys going round in circles at the lowest level. He enjoys pushing the throttle and staying at the highest the dragon will take him the entire ride. Needless to say, there were LOTS of tears. :(

Some fun after all. It's always fun to continue throwing rocks when your mother is telling you its time to go and all your friends are waiting on you.

The PINK choo-choo train could not be avoided by this young man. Even though it was pink. :) But, it was a stationary train, so there were no tears here!
(Oh and a crafty thing--Matthan's shirt is a freezer paper stencil I did for him. The boy needed a motorcycle shirt something awful!)

All the kids are in this picture somewhere... The more children, the harder it is to get the picture! So next year, I am not sure if I'll be able to get a shot at all--the newest member of the bunch will be really be wanting to explore by then. :)

As we were walking back to the van, a helicopter was about to fly off, so we all stopped to watch.

After minutes of waiting, finally, it took off! It was a lovely day to attend the Cherry Blossom Festival and we all had a lot of fun. Sadly, I forgot to get the traditional 5-kids-in-the-back-of-the-van picture. Kinda sad, cause next year we'll be driving separately. Oh well, I'll still have the memories. :)

if I live to be a hundred...

2010-03-20T09:07:00.003-04:00

I hope I'm as cute as this little old lady. :)

Thursday was the 100th day of school at Aubie's kindergarten and they were asked to dress up like old people. I was out of baby powder or she would have had grey hair as well. :) With the dressing up, and the counting 100 cookies, 100 marshmallows, 100 pieces of candy, I think she had a pretty fun day!

a glimpse of the kitchen

2010-03-07T12:51:00.004-05:00

This is a picture of the wall above the stove. As you can see, I still have the yellow tile that I described in detail here. I'm ok with it for now, but when it is gone, I will be so, so happy!
I have my pots and pans hanging on the wall--I wanted a baker's rack, but David said that it would be hanging too close to the stove and everything would get covered with grease. Yuck! So, I made my own baker's hangers using 2 black plant hangers I found at Kmart. They were a lot more economical and definitely take up less room!
I painted the "P" plate at a local pottery place. It was so much fun, I would love to paint plates for the entire house! But, speaking of economical, that's probably not the best idea. :) The other two monograms are David's and my initials and they were done using the same Black Adder font. Only this time, I just Mod Podge-d them onto some $.25 plates I got at the Rescue Mission. I had to darken the letters by coloring them with black permanent marker after I "cut" them out by outlining them heavily with a ballpoint pen. Yes, that was probably a weird way to do it, but at least it made the edges as softly jagged as I wanted them, as opposed to the horribly jagged job that I would have done with an Exacto.
And the adorable little cookbook that's framed in the middle is one my mom got at an antique shop. She told me that Mimi used to have one just like it! I just love that.
Well, that's a glimpse of my kitchen. More to come later.

wedding bot

2010-03-04T15:09:00.005-05:00

My future cousin-in-law, Kat, suggested that we do a swap back at Christmas. She'd make me a scarf, and I could make her a robot shirt sorta like the one seen here. Well, Christmas came and went. I had my scarf, but poor Kat didn't have her shirt. Organizing the house, sicknesses of various kinds, and fear of making a shirt for a New Yorker working for a designer, all kept me from getting started. After receiving the sweetest letter from her, I finally found the courage to just do it, and send it, no matter what it looked like.

I had always wanted to make a detachable veil for the robot, since she and my cousin were getting married very soon. Now that the wedding is next week, I have finally completed the project and it will be there in time for her to wear it only once before the wedding. :( Oh well. At least she'll have it before the wedding! I used an 80's-ish cut tshirt in case it's too big for her, so she can make it look as though it's meant to be big. I also made her a little robot tag for the present. Hope she can use at least one of these two items!

another finished corner... for now

2010-02-22T18:12:00.006-05:00

Another finished corner? But wait... those curtains DO NOT match the ones she made. Bless her heart! No, I am not pattern-challenged--well, at least not too bad anyway. I ditched 'em. Well, I mean, they are in my fabric stash again, but they won't be hangin in my living room. When you find $50-a-panel-curtains (that match your living room pretty closely) for $4, it's kinda hard to convince yourself to continue working with vintage polyester. :)

Hanging on the wall is the guitar picture that I was having trouble finding. I was quite distressed, because it's one of my favorites. I drew it shortly after David asked if he could begin courting me, but we couldn't yet because I still had this final project to do and needed to focus on that. Funny how my subject was guitars (because of him) and that this picture happens to be my guitar and his guitar side by side. Kinda shows where my focus was heading. ;) I found it after much searching, and was so happy! (The little picture on the lamp table is one of us when we were dating--he's playing the guitar while I watch happily.)

For 10 years, I've searched on and off for a frame for the "our guitars" picture. The problem is, it happens to be 17 by 24 inches--way bigger than your average frame at Goodwill. I wanted so much to have a nice frame, but for very little cost. And though I never officially priced it, I'm pretty sure having a custom frame made for such a large picture is out of my budget. So how did I find one? My brother got this frame with the faded out picture of an airplane and a car from one of his civil engineer jobs and Mom had been saving it for just such an occasion (not really knowing about my endless quest for just the right frame). I had to do a tiny bit of refashioning to it, but if I don't tell you what I did, you might not notice. So, I'll keep it at that.

After looking at this picture, I realize how bland the fluffy off white pillow (and its mate that I've kept shammed for 6 years until now) and the off white throw look sitting on the couch. I'm going to have to remedy that. But at least things are starting to come together. And, having things still to fix means more posts later on, right?

instead of cards

2010-02-18T20:59:00.002-05:00

Last year, I bought two or three boxes of Valentines that I just knew the kids would love handing out this year--Transformers, Hello Kitty, something I can't remember. Two months ago, I set them aside because I knew I'd need them soon. And although my life has been one long organizational ordeal since after Christmas, I have yet to find that special place that I stored the Valentines. My house is pretty dang small, so I'm a little confused. Anyway, since kids in Aubie's class are always giving out goody bags, and as of the night before the party I had still not found the cards--I refused to buy more!--I made these to go with the Valentine gummies I bought. Sure, what's a kid need a key chain for, but I thought they turned out cute.
The names were done on Shrinky Dink paper (I love to make small things, but Shrinky Dinks make things even smaller!). The little flowers were some small ornaments that I got on clearance after Christmas . (Had I realized at the time how many uses I'd find for these, I'd have bought them all!!! Pics of other uses to come later.) And I had the all the key rings already on hand. Pretty nifty little Valentine for about $.30.

snow!

2010-02-16T20:22:00.010-05:00

This past weekend, we were so happy to get our first (and most likely last) snowfall of the season (possibly of the year). The kids had so much fun playing in it. Here's a few pictures.

The snow was much thicker across the street at the park, so we went over there for a while. I believe this big snowball that Matthan was playing with was Aubie's attempt to start a snowman. Matthan just wouldn't let us make one--he kept stomping it or whatever else.

In this first picture of Aubie, you can see one of the huge snow clumps right in front of her jacket. If it hadn't been coming down so hard, the snow wouldn't have gotten so thick on the ground since it barely got to 32 degrees all day.

Since we had to wait until the day after to make our snowman, we had to work with top-of-the-car snow. Poor little thing looks more like a bird in the first shot. We had to move him to a new home so he wouldn't melt so quickly. With this old white tarp in the background, it looks kinda like an ice cave--a great new home for a little snowbird.

As you can see, the kids had a lot of fun! Jennifer from Wisconsin and Becki from SD are working with me to figure out an economical way to ship us some snow, but so far none of us have come up with a solution. Oh well. I think this'll do me till next winter. :)

a finished corner

2009-12-07T10:01:00.003-05:00

Sadly, a finished corner is all I can show you at present. But at least you get two views of it, right? As soon as I get the curtains made for the other window and my other guitar pictures hung, I'll show you the rest of the room. Hopefully while there's still a Christmas tree in it.

Interesting Tidbits:

I made the curtain from some vintage fabric I got at Goodwill. It just matched the wall color too perfectly to not use it, even though it's 100% polyester. :(
The picture is one of several I drew from my art class final project--most of my guitar pictures will be displayed in the living room. I really want to get the drawing of mine and David's guitars framed--its my favorite.
Most of our doors have glass knobs. I just love them!

The chair is sitting in front of the computer closet. I'll have to organize it again and then you can see. I think it's pretty nifty.

pumpkin patch comparisons

2009-10-13T23:50:00.005-04:00

Now that it's almost Thanksgiving, I'm regretting not having posted these WEEKS ago. Anyway, I can't seem to make myself write witty things lately, so you'll have to make do with looking at pictures.
Year 1

Year 2
Year 3
Group shots:
Year 1

Year 2

Year 3
I can't wait to see next year's with another little baby thrown into the mix. Six kids at the pumpkin patch is gonna be fu-un!

Upcoming...

2009-09-11T09:50:00.002-04:00

I know you're thinking, "Will she ever blog again?" Yes. I will. I am right now in fact. And once we get all this moving and switching around of houses completed, I plan to do it more. And just to let you know that I haven't forgotten about it entirely, I wanted to give you the titles of some posts to be looking forward to. So here you go:

The Tiniest Room in the World
What I Love About My New-Old House (a miniseries featuring some of my favorite details)
I Never Thought I'd Make Curtains
The Dining Room: Our New Living Room

So, there you have it. I am thinking about blogging. Just, as you can tell, the whole house thing is consuming my thoughts. A lot of things are different and new in the old the house this time around, and I can't wait for you to see the changes. But I'll have to (and so will you), because a lot of them aren't finished yet.

Wedding!

2009-08-03T09:18:00.007-04:00

I'm not going to explain every picture, so here's a little note or two about them:
I put these in chronological order.
All of the black and white are taken with black and white film, so they're a bit grainy. But I think that's what makes film so cool.
It was such a fun weekend. And such a cute couple. I'm so happy for them.
Lyndsay demonstrating the proper way to pop a collar.

David, Aubie, and I did the same once we got home : )

cows!

2009-07-17T09:20:00.007-04:00

Last Friday was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A. Since one rarely gets the opportunity to dress up like a cow, we are of course, all for it. It doesn't hurt that you get free chicken too! : )

I always have a weird look in my eye when I set the timer for a picture--its not too bad here.
I couldn' t get Matthan to give up the bottle for the pictures for anything.
Thankfully he got rid of it on his own for this pic.

Why is this woman dressed as a cow racing down the road? To get free Chick-fil-A!

Eating our free meals. I paid $.21 to upsize my drink. Not to bad for 3 people's dinner, huh?

Crafty bits: Matthan is wearing Aubie's tunic I painted last year, I'm wearing the t-shirt I painted last year, and I made Aubie a new tunic with some fabric I had. (Appropriately titled "bits".

robot

2009-07-11T15:37:00.006-04:00

This is a gift for Heather's little boy who just had the most awesome WALLE themed birthday party--the dirt cake "directive" (if you haven't seen the movie, you'll need to to get this) was pretty dang cool! A theme party after my own heart. *sigh* If ever I get my marbles back, I'd love to put that much thought into a party some time.

His name's Bot. I asked Matthan what we should call him, and that's what he said. "Bot". Probably just saying his word for robot, but he looks like a "Bot" doesn't he?

Cow pictures in a day or so... right now, its back to cleaning and packing, or whatever it is that I call myself doing.

another party

2009-06-06T19:32:00.007-04:00

SuperFriends.
How Wolverine celebrates his birthday.
Looks like HawkGirl should be perched here instead.
No, Zero the Hero didn't hit the Hulk. They're both just camera shy.
Zero the Hero (from Schoolhouse Rock) now over his camera-shy-ness.
The barely green Hulk.

Batgirl posing for her featured article in the Gotham Times.

The Hulk transforming during Batgirl's photo shoot. My camera barely survived.

How I made the costumes: The Hulk is pretty obvious. A cut off shirt and cut off pants. I think the best way to describe the Batgirl outfit is to answer Heather's question. "So, what did you dissect to make her costume?" The answer is: a windsuit, a fleece sweatshirt, and a vintage leotard. The sweatshirt is any yellow that you see. The leotard is the hat and the arm cuffs. The puffy windsuit sleeves are now the cape. The front of the jacket is the back of the shirt--the pants, the pants. And the bottom of the pants became the boots--I even kept the zipper so they'd be more like real boots. Its my first attempt at complete shoes, so they don't fit so well--too big. In fact, they only fit well enough to take pictures in, not to walk in. But, I plan to keep trying.

pony party (some craft ideas, too)

2009-05-26T12:03:00.007-04:00

Aubie turned 5 last week, and this past weekend we had her party. She requested a pony party, so here's what it looked like:
Waiting to pull the pinata strings. Does this pinata look sorta familiar?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle has a whole new meaning to me now... Like, revamping last year's castle pinata by painting a couple of horses and turning it into a "pony palace" or...
cutting the pony tails from the end of a purple plastic table cloth I've been able to reuse for several years.
Easy Pin the Tail on the Pony: Online horse coloring page, magnified on Paint, then printed (on several pages) and traced onto a Dollar Tree shower curtain.
Aubie opening gifts. She loved all of her pony presents especially!

Time for cake and icecream!

Jill with her pony.
A whole bunch of ponies. I was having a bit of trouble coming up with ideas to go along with the pony party theme. Why not make hobby horses? I found this great tutorial and improvised a bit. Instead of a dowel rod, I used mops from the Dollar Tree. Aubie has been wanting a unicorn hobby horse for several months now, but I didn't want to spend $15 on one that was too short for her. Since I bought new fabric for her horse, I'd say her's cost maybe $3 or $4. For all the others I used scraps that I already had, so they ended up costing around $1.50.

the latest project

2009-05-16T11:33:00.004-04:00

I'm sure you've been wondering where I've been. The past two weeks, I was working on this:

I did a lot more hand quilting on this one than I have on the past few quilts. Since I was getting paid for it, I wanted to put more effort in to it, obviously. I really had forgotten how relaxing it was to sit and hand quilt. I have got to get a quilt going just for fun!
Also, I was working on a refashion project for Mixtape Zine--an Australian Magazine published by the founder of Wardrobe Refashion. But I'll let you know more about that when the article comes out.

the beach

2009-04-28T18:14:00.012-04:00

Daniel will be leaving Pensacola at the end of May. So if we wanted to go to beach and have a free place to stay, we needed to go, like now. Since David didn't have to work overtime this past weekend, we thought it would be the best opportunity. So we loaded up the car and headed down Friday night. It was gonna be a very quick trip, but, its the beach, so it was worth it (to me anyway).

This is Saturday morning on the balcony. Daniel has a great view of the bay from his condo. Poor Matthan has puffy eyes due to his lack of sleep from traveling the night before.

We got good and woke up at IHOP (a still-sleepy Aubie pictured here).

And then it was off to the beach.

Matthan loved it, as I knew he would. We went back again in the evening to play in the sand a bit more, and it was very difficult keeping him from getting in the water again. Aubie and I collected pieces of sand dollars . We never found a whole, but it was fun looking for the biggest piece.

On the way home...

This is one of the best rest stops I've ever been to. Not because the bathrooms were so great, but the nice clover-filled picnic area really did allow you to "rest", even though for Matthan, "rest" means running all over the place.
Aubie showing me all the boo-boos from the weekend.

Not sure what this face was about, but it was funny.
Matthan loved seeing all the big trucks so close and he loved the little dogs that you can barely see in the right corner of the picture. He kept waving goodbye to them.
So yeah, it was a quick trip. But we had fun, and Matthan got to the beach for the first time. And now that he's been, I know we're gonna have to go back.

*Sorry "later this afternoon" turned into later this week. I couldn't seem to get all the pictures uploaded and type stuff too.
Oh, and the daytime pictures were taken by me, and the night time pictures were taken by David (except for the "crazy kids" picture).

this is so...

2009-04-27T09:48:00.002-04:00

Aubie has obviously inherited her mother's imagination and her Aunt Leah's love for words. Friday afternoon, I was getting the van cleaned out and ready for our trip to Pensacola. Not a very fun job, but it had to be done. Aubie and Matthan were in the van while I was cleaning it, which added to the un-fun-ness (why they wouldn't play outside, I don't know). With a very teenager-y voice, Aubie said, "This is so appelagate (u-pell-u-gut)!"
"What?"
"This is so appelagate."
"Is that a word you've heard before, or did you make it up?"
"I just made it up."
"Well, what does it mean?"
"It means this is really, really boring."

My sentiments exactly. But even though cleaning out the car was "appelagate", going to the beach wasn't. So I'll be posting pictures of that later today. : )

no picture, sorry...

2009-04-23T08:52:00.003-04:00

I just had to post what Aubie just said. She is so funny.
I told her that I had petted Monk (Mimi's cat that now belongs to us) last night and he really is such a sweet cat.
Aubie said, "That's my Monk! You remember the other day, when Miss Elizabeth (Leah's cat) tried to kill me? And Monk saved me? I remember that day."

Two posts in one week? What?

2009-04-18T09:27:00.004-04:00

Sunday was such a beautiful day! We really did have a happy Easter. Can you believe we actually have a picture of the whole family? And we're all dressed up? Wow!
Craft points: I made my skirt out of two pillowcases (Note to self: never make a skirt without using a pattern and try to put a zipper in, too). And Mom made Aubie's dress as practice for the upcoming flower girl dress.

The kids had an egg hunt at Mom and Dad's. I didn't realize that Aubie still had her jeans on under her dress when I took the picture (she changed back into her Easter dress for the hunt--I wasn't going to let her eat in it!)
Matthan really didn't enjoy "hunting" up eggs (there was really no hunting to it--they were scattered all over the ground). He was more interested in the contents of the only three he picked up.

P.S. Until I get a charger for my camera battery--cannot find it anywhere : ( --I'll be taking pictures the old fashioned way. Kinda fun for a change, but with a wiggleworm of a son, I'm pretty sure I'll be wasting a good bit of film.

What happens when you leave a brownie pan sitting on the counter?

2009-04-16T21:44:00.001-04:00

This actually happened a couple of months ago, but I thought I'd post it.
(Coming later this week, Easter pics)

Where has March gone? (lots of pictures)

2009-03-31T22:58:00.002-04:00

We knew this was going to be a busy month--we had something planned for every weekend--but who knew it would be over so quickly?

A day or two before March arrived, we were outside playing like this:

On March 1st, we were playing in the snow.

On Monday, March 9th, David started his new job. He seems to be enjoying it so far, but his descriptions of climbing inside the fuel tank of a C-130 almost make me hyperventilate. I'm a bit clostrophobic, and I do believe I'd die before my first paycheck.

The weekend of the 15th, our friends Michael and Erin came to lead worship at our church. They did an awesome job! And Aubie loved playing with their kids again. Did I get any pictures of this very fun weekend? No, I forgot. But their son Thomas did. Lots. I just don't know how to get his pictures on my blog.

Matthan got into his share of messes this past month. He's getting into the gum in my purse in these pictures. I think the gum was too "spicy", as Aubie calls it, because when I found him, there were 5 or 6 pieces of slobbery gum scattered around him that he had put in his mouth and spit out. Yuck!

It was 50's and 60's night at Cubbies one Wednesday, so I used some things I had to come up with this hippie outfit for Aubie.

Earlier that day, I had kept Jill and Wendy for Renee while Daniel had an appointment. Aubie and Jill dressed up like cowgirls and wanted a picture to document it.

The weekend of the 22nd, Ken came back to visit. Did I get any pictures of this visit? Nope. I forgot again. But we (the picture takers) only got to visit with him for a few hours, so if I'd had longer, I might have remembered to pull out the camera.

Renee and I took the kids to the Cherry Blossom Festival again this year. Check out Renee's blog for more pictures and explaining--my post is too long already ; ) Or, if you want a trip down memory lane, check out last year's post. Matthan was so tiny!

During the week of the Cherry Blossom Festival, David had to finish getting his tool box ready for work. This included engraving numbers on every one of his tools. Since I wanted to learn how to use an engraver, and he was worried about finishing his tool box in time, I offered to do that part for him. Writing on a hundred different pieces of metal with a tool that's vibrating a mile a minute isn't easy! But I had fun, and did a pretty good job. I'm gonna keep working on it so I can get really good.

And then that weekend, our church's praise team (David and I are both a part) had two nights of leading worship for various functions, which made for a very busy weekend!

We found the most adorable turtle in our little pond the other day. Poor thing needed a real home, so we took him down to the lake. I let Aubie hold him before we "took him to see his mommy and daddy", though. Don't worry--I made her wash her hands thoroughly after she held him!

Random Pictures of the kids:

So, yeah. That was March. Hopefully, it won't be the end of April before I post again : )

P.S. Heather is celebrating her 300th post! Check out her giveaway!

3 weekends and a haircut

2009-02-16T13:35:00.009-05:00

Three Fridays ago, Renee and her kids celebrated Chinese New Year with us. The kids had great fun playing with the lion/dragon. We also made this dragon puppet. And as it always is with a complicated craft and little hands, the big hands did most of the work. :)

The following Monday, Matthan got his first haircut. It was about time! Poor fellow had a mullet and a half. He did really well because:
1) he had to sit in Mommy's lap. 2) he got a sucker. 3) there was a dog. If any one of these three things had not been present, these pictures would look a lot different!
(Notice picture #2. If we had wanted him to have a genuine official 1980s mullet, we could have left it like that. I love McGyver, but...not his hair.)

From the Friday of the Chinese New Year celebration, to the following Friday, Matthan had sicknesses of every sort, from an ear infection to sores in his mouth, to teething, and a horrible cold. It was a miserable week! But by Saturday, he was feeling better and we...

Went to Rome. It was a last minute trip, so I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to (we're coming to see you next time, Erin!), but it really was a great trip. I introduced Aubie to the folks I used to work with at the credit union and showed her the apartments where she spent the first 8 months of her life. While driving by there, I saw that my old neighbor was home, stopped by to say hey, and found out she was having a really hard time with a medical problem. I got to pray for her, and it made us both cry. She said she had just been thinking about me the day before. The whole trip was so good, I felt like it really was God-ordained.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Well, when we were Romans, we ate at Chili's! So whenever we go, that's what we do.

After Chili's we went to Winshape (at Berry College) and took some pictures. Left to right: Tiffany (Brandon's girlfriend, very nice!), Brandon (David's nephew), Dorenda, Matthan, David, Aubie (with her eyes closed), and me.
One looks like he's posing and isn't. The other is obviously posing. Obviously.

After that, we went to Dorenda's sister's house to pick up Dorenda's old car, and there were horses! I couldn't keep either child away from them, so I just had to watch closely. Ever since David was bitten by a horse (the horse got mad that he stopped feeding it and bit him in the back) I've been very cautious around horses. But Matthan and Aubie had no fear. Matthan probably would've hopped up on it and rode off if there hadn't been a fence : )

Craft! For Valentine's day, I got David this shirt combo. Only, I thought the grey tshirt looked kinda plain and needed to match the green plaid a bit better. So, I did something I've been wanting to do for a while: make Abercrombie-style letters. Basically, jersey fabric under felt lettering. It was a lot easier than the felt letters I made for New Years, let me tell you! His shirt says "father" in Russian. I just love the way Russian looks (and sounds)--I just knew it'd look awesome on a tshirt. (sorry it looks wonky--I forgot to take the picture before David wore it, then put it in the dirty clothes. So, yeah. Its a bit wrinkly now.)

BUT...
best of all , this weekend we all got to meet Kenaz, Leah's boyfriend. I think they make an absolutely adorable couple! He is such a great guy. I'm so happy to know him, and even happier he found my sister!

first picture post of...

2009-01-14T08:54:00.011-05:00

I was going to put this on a card, but I could never get the pictures to print right after I collage-d them all together. So, here you go: Happy New Year!
I haven't posted in forever, and here's why:
Aubie and Jill had their first sleepover before Christmas, so I made aprons to remember it by.

I made a potholder, apron, and basket liner (painted the basket red) for our church ladies Christmas party.
For Leah's Christmas present, I made a reversible apron (she's been needing an apron for the art room) out of a reversible skirt she had given me. I also made myself 2 "puffed-sleeve" turtlenecks out of the 2XLs Ma gave me--one of them pictured here.
Finally finished Miss Debbie's prize!
New Year's Eve Costumes.
Made the letters for my costume (hemmed the skirt as well). I was Cordelia Drexel Biddle from "The Happiest Millionaire". Leah is Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman. (sorry this pic is so tiny--I stole it from Facebook.) Made Daniel's hat and boot-covers from scratch, painted a thrifted jacket bright blue and added cuffs and a much bigger collar. Daniel was going to go for existential, but I thought it'd be a fun Christmas present for him to have the whole costume. And, guess what! he won the Best Costume prize! Woohoo! "Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow;
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow."

Friend presents.
The ornaments were some that I cut out when Renee did ornaments with the kids and me. Then I painted them at home (much more peaceful painting by myself! : )
This one was for Lyndsay--3 down, 47 to go : )

And then lastly, possibly my favorite quilt yet. Not only is it so green (as in the color), its pretty "green"--as in it was 100% STASH!!!! Woohoo! (For those of you who don't know the term "stash", it means that it is all stuff that you already have. So technically, it didn't cost me a penny.)
The recipient is doing the nursery in John Deer, so green and yellow fields with corn and green beans seemed appropriate. The tractor toy has a squeaker inside!

another Aubie-ism

2009-01-06T09:04:00.003-05:00

Sorry its taken me so long to post. I feel like I have been crafting for weeks--will the projects never end? I've been making gifts, costumes, clothes, etc. non-stop (it seems) since late November. Toward the end of the week, I'll be doing a long picture post on a lot of the handmade gifts and things that I did this year (I have something I'm working on that I want to show as well, or I'd post it all today). I want to make even more of my gifts in 2009--I just want to get a much earlier start!

To preface this: I have always been amazed at how people think the word license is plural, as though it is one licen, and two license (e.g. I can't find my license anywhere. I think I lost 'em when I took 'em out the other day.) Its seems my child has the same sort of problem : )

Yesterday, Aubie was taking a ridiculously long time getting changed out of her jammies. I didn't know why, but when she asked me for help with her shirt, I understood. She had been tattooing her legs with a pen. There were As and Es and Bs, so I'm assuming her name was on there somewhere. I let out an exasperated, "Aubie." And her response was, "I didn't know."
I said, "I think you did know. Did your conscience tell you not to draw on your leg?"
Aubie: "Yeah, but they changed their mind."

old

2008-12-13T13:26:00.003-05:00

Aubie: "This is about an old lady. Mommy, I gon' tell you a story 'bout an old lady."

Me: "Ok."

Aubie: "Once there was this old lady. Her name was Saige."

I didn't really want to hear the rest. Thank goodness she distracts easily.

two for the "price" of one

2008-12-08T18:50:00.005-05:00

Back before Thanksgiving, when it was warm enough to play outside, I couldn't stop my restless fingers from pulling up some muscadine vines and making a wreath. I wanted to use some of the gorgeous persimmon leaves--a pumpkin-y orange color--but got distracted by the 4-toned leaves in the front yard. So, I hot glued all these leaves and a few berries to it. Sadly, they did not stay this color, but the muted version was still pretty as well.

I wanted to see if I could make the same wreath work for Christmas, so I took all the leaves off and painted it red. I used this great ribbon that I'd been saving for such an occasion--sage green with red "tis the season to be jolly" on it. I just love true red and any shade of green for Christmas. Its so old-fashioned and Christmas-y.

one little, two little,...

2008-11-28T17:09:00.006-05:00

Two little Pilgrims. : )

Happy Day-After-Thanksgiving!

(This one was taken by Kat, Corey's girlfriend. Thanks for the awesome picture, Kat!)

The pilgrims with cousin Corey (I wanted you to get a good look at Matthan's shoes--this was the only time he was still enough for me to get a good shot of them). If you want more details about the second pilgrim costume, you can ask me. This time I thought I'd just let you enjoy the pictures.

Probably should've saved this till next Thursday, but...

2008-11-19T16:55:00.004-05:00

I couldn't. She's too cute, and I was too excited about posting this.
Tonight was pilgrim night at Cubbies. To make this dress I used another of the 2xl turtlenecks and scrap fabric that I had. I cut off the sleeves, cut the shirt in half, and cut the top half down to size. I gathered the bottom half, and put the two halves back together, sewed on the collar, and sewed on the sleeves and cuffs (not necessarily in that order). This was my first time sewing on sleeves in like, 14 years (when I made an outfit with Mom once), and my very first time doing it without a pattern. Then of course, she needed a hat and an apron. I won't say it was easy, but it wasn't hard either. It was just fun. But the funnest part was when she tried it on last night and said, "Oh, I gonna be so pretty!" And I think she is the prettiest pilgrim I have ever seen!

and the winner is...

2008-11-10T13:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm finally posting the contest results. Sorry. It's been a busy weekend. First, I wanted to show these pictures of our trip to Callaway Gardens Thursday. I met up with Sarah, a friend from my YWAM days. We hadn't even talked in 12 years until she found me on Facebook. Anyway, her girls are 3 and 2, and my kids are 4 and 1, so it turned out to be a great playdate and time to catch up.

We fed the ducks.

While we were eating this crane (or whatever) flew right down and started walking around. I'm kinda glad Matthan didn't notice--I was afraid his aggressive love of animals might cost him an eye or something.

These are all at the Day Butterfly Center. Its awesome how the butterflies just float all around you. Sarah and her girls had butterflies land on them several times!

This is also at the Day Butterfly Center. I Sepia-ed this one because it looked so old-fashioned like a photo in a conservatory or something, and Aubie and Matthan looked so early 1900's in it. (Click on it to make it bigger--I had my camera set so the pictures would be smaller and forgot to adjust it when uploading)

We took some goodbye pictures under this pretty tree. The drive out there and back was absolutely gorgeous--I wish I had taken some pictures. Sadly, this is the only fall tree I got.

Ok, back to "the winner is"... It's Miss Debbie! Congratulations! You'll be getting your prize in the next week or so. Thanks to all who participated. There'll be a Christmas contest in December, so be sure to keep checking!

its here... #200

2008-11-03T21:31:00.009-05:00

I've been debating what to post about for my 200th post. Should I make it pertain only to the fact that it is my 200th post, or should I just do something normal? And I decided, since I have trouble finding the time to post anyway, I might as well just go with normal. Otherwise, you wouldn't see the Fall Festival pictures till closer to Christmas ; )
Cinderella. Her dress is one of the Cinderella dress-up dresses that is made shorter for playing in (given to her on her birthday by her friends Jill and Daniel--thanks!). I was afraid if we let her wear it by itself that her little legs would freeze off. And I wanted it to be long like the real Cinderella dress. Mom helped me gather the crinoline that I had (a square dancing one I got at the SA) and I made the silver skirt by spray painting some sheer fabric I had and adding glitter to it. So it was good and poofy and Cinderella-y.
She looked a bit more like Sleeping Beauty when we got there. Poor thing fell asleep on the way.
Riding Thomas the Train.
Two different slides--I couldn't seem to ever get a picture of her at the top and then the bottom of the same one.

Playing Hockey.

Probably a bit juvenile for for her, but at least she won some candy : )
Oh, and in case you're wondering where the brother is, he was too sick to come--he would have made a cute mouse for Cinderella.

Ok. Let's get down to business. If you want to participate in the contest, here's what you do: Just leave a comment. Yep, that's it. One comment. (Though I would love to read multiple comments from you, leaving more than one won't increase your chances.) The deadline is 8:00pm this coming Friday. So be sure to get your comments posted in time!

two projects (#199-- the big one's not far away!)

2008-10-30T09:49:00.004-04:00

Last night it was Bible character night at Cubbies. Aubie wanted to be Mary. I was trying to gently encourage her to change her opinion and be someone like Esther who would be fun to costume. Nope! Mary is her favorite, so it had to be Mary.
Ma had gotten several extra-large turtlenecks a while back, and asked if we might be able to use them. (I've been wanting to make myself a tunic or something out of one, but I haven't yet.) So I pulled out this blue one, pinned the shoulder seam up to the neck seam on the shoulders, and cut the cuff off of the sleeves. Then I used an old white pillowcase to make the vest, and used a piece of fabric for her head wrap. Had I not surged the edge of the fabric for her head, it would have been a completely No-Sew outfit!

Another shirt dress. This one was made from an extra-large Eddie Bauer shirt I got at Goodwill. It was one of those shirts without a collar so I didn't have to worry about doing anything with that. The fabric just looked so fall-y to me, I had to make something with it!

fair pictures

2008-10-23T07:59:00.008-04:00

Hey, no time to explain each picture--gotta leave for Vida Nueva in like 10 minutes. Just thought I'd finally post them since we went to the fair like 3 weeks ago today.

Friday, we went to the pumpkin patch. As you'll see, it was a lot of fun ; ) (#197)

2008-10-20T22:46:00.010-04:00

One year later...

The first picture, Aubie is scared to death to hold this tiny baby. The second, she is holding on for dear life so that Mommy can get a good picture. I didn't even intend for them to look so similar, it just worked out that way.

I love this Joe D. stance.
(for those of you who don't know, Joe D. was my PaPa)

Finding the perfect pumpkin...

Look at the following pictures in order. It makes me laugh every single time. (sorry about Daniel's goth pumpkin in the second picture. my camera likes to play tricks like that.)

Aubie had a very funny story to tell about this game. I wish I could remember her exact words, but the gist of it is that Daniel was sticking his head through the holes like the ones you take your picture in, and Aubie hit him in the face with the bean bag because obviously, its a game not a picture thing. He yelled at her for hitting her in the face. See? not funny in my words, but when Aubie told it, I cracked up.

Getting her face painted.

These two are my attempt at getting a good picture of Aubie and Matthan in the pumpkins. He is obviously much too busy for that.

October sky!
We went to BK afterward. I wanted to post this picture to commemorate Wendy and Matthan now being able to play on the playground. This is actually their second trip to the playground, but I didn't bring my camera the first time.

every part of the buffalo (#196)

2008-10-16T22:15:00.006-04:00

Last night at Cubbies was Hawaii night. Aubie has nothing Hawaiian. Well, at least, she didn't. So I asked Eda if Aubie could have this Hawaiian shirt. Ma had gotten it on clearance for very cheap--she has an awesome knack for finding bargains!--and had given it to Leah the week before.
I had seen an idea similar to this dress online, but that style was a bit more complicated than I wanted to attempt, at least for my first try at this anyway. So, I put the shirt on Aubie, told her to hold her arms up and got to work. Oh, how I hate pinning! But this project only took about 10 pins so I was happy. I cut the collar off, Fray Check-ed the edges, rickrack-ed it (with some perfectly matching rickrack that Renee had given me for my birthday!), etc. Over all, the dress took about 2 hours. Washing and drying a load of laundry takes longer than that sometimes! Next time my child has nothing to wear, I may go raid mine and David's closets ;)
(since this picture, I added a line of rickrack across the seam where that green leaf gets cut in half)

On the making of the "The Incredibles" Brad Bird says, "Use every part of the buffalo". Well, that line came to my head when I was trying to figure out how I needed to make the strap for the purse. I really didn't want to have to cut straight strips out of the leftover fabric, or try to find some ribbon to match. Then I remembered the collar I had cut off. Perfect. I turned it inside out and sewed the cut edges back together , then flipped it back (through the small hole I left) and sewed down the side. I used the two sleeves one inside out inside the other so that the purse would have a lining. And of course it's accented with the same rickrack as the dress. There's actually a bit of fabric left--enough to add panels to a pair of shorts for Matthan next summer (this is a men's shirt, by the way). That way and Aubie can match, without being matchy-matchy.

tired of the same old thing (#195)

2008-10-08T21:30:00.005-04:00

"It just seemed like the thing to do at the time."

"Everyone else is doing it."

So, you're asking, "If Heather, Leah, Lyndsay, and Josh all jumped off a bridge, would you?"

By the looks of it, I would.

Happy Birthday! (#194)

2008-10-05T22:24:00.008-04:00

Happy Birthday, Matthan!

Its hard to believe that the birthday boy was ever that little tiny radioactive glowworm (courtesy of the bili-lights). He began protesting being "held like a baby" when was 2 months old, and has rarely let anyone do so since. And now that he's one, he really is that big boy that he's wanted to be all along. Here's a few pictures of his big day.

Matthan was a bit tired from our long day, but thoroughly enjoyed his sweet potato Ma cooked him.
After supper it was present time!

Mommy excited about socks.

Matthan excited about the wagon.
One of his favorite toys is the sand castle, bucket,
and shovel from Ma that I'm opening here.

He was so happy about this terribly noisy car that I got. It plays "Y'all ready for this?" : ) I don't know that I ever will be ready for the noise, but he loves dancing to it and then pushing his car along.

Loves his car.
Loves his car.
He sees it.

His firetruck! With Aubie demonstrating how to drive it.
Thanks MarMar!

Matthan's turn! We couldn't get him to keep his hat on, so Mom held it on for this picture.

Here he is calling the fire station.

*Added note: While Matthan played with his new sand toys today--10/06/08--Aubie was playing firefighter. After seeing her have so much fun calling the station about fires, driving around to find them, etc., he wanted to play too. When he got in the car, he started shouting into the radio hollering orders. It was so funny. I think he's going to learn quickly how to pretend since he has such a great teacher.

And lastly, the cake pictures.

Matthan just picked at it to begin with--the icing was too sticky.

Obviously, that didn't last for long!

the park (#193)

2008-10-02T09:43:00.006-04:00

David was off on Monday, so we decided to go to the park for lunch.

I love these pictures he took of the kids.

Aubie coming down the slide. (David)

Matthan and Daddy.

Aubie climbing the giant flower.

David got these shots of Matthan in the middle of a tantrum. I can't remember why--they're pretty frequent these days--but I think it was because he didn't want to leave.

Then, this has nothing to do with the park, but I wanted to show the sandwich that inspired the artwork beside it. Aubie loved her sandwich (the other star looking thing is supposed to be a butterfly) so much that she wanted to draw a picture of it. I love my imaginative girl!

P.S. Sorry for the poor quality of these pictures. Our computer messed up big time, so since we just got it back yesterday, I haven't had time to download photoshop or anything. Flickr is great, but I don't know about using it for blog posting.

variation on a theme(#192)

2008-09-29T14:00:00.004-04:00

Many of you have seen the Georgia pillows I make when someone moves away (of course two current Georgia residents have received them as birthday gifts). I had planned to make one of these for my friends who were moving back to Ukraine, but when their visas didn't come through they had to stay here. In the back of my mind I had plans to make a Ukraine pillow for them someday. The opportunity arose this past week when I was invited to a surprise party for Cristi. Here's a picture of the result.
Typical last-minute-Saige fashion, I wrapped the present before I got a chance to take a picture. And even though I had my camera at the party, I forgot to take a picture then too. When I got home, I was so excited to post! Until... I realized I hadn't even taken a picture. Very tacky-ly, I asked the gift recipient to email me a picture of the present. I think the pictures turned out pretty good for having been taken with a camera phone!

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day! (#191)

2008-09-19T14:06:00.010-04:00

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!

My first plans for a TLAPD party fell flat since hardly anyone could be there. So I tried to get together a kids party with a treasure hunt, etc. and that didn't work out either. Leah suggested--since I was so distraught over not having a party anymore--that we still dress up like pirates and go to lunch at a restaurant named after a pirate, Long John Silver's. Great idea! So that's what we did. When we got there, I was afraid we were going to disturb the other customers--I had no idea the place was so small!!!--but most folks either seemed not to notice or seemed slightly amused.

From the top: Matthan, Jill, Aubie, Daniel, Aubie again, Jill again, Brandon, Caleb, and Christian.

The pirate cupcakes. I found this idea (and many copies) on the internet. Not sure, but I think this one is the original. I hate red dye, so I did blue and green bandannas instead.

Jill, Hanna, and Aubie

The three youngest pirates, Matthan, Caleb, and Wendy (it looks like she's doing a balancing act keeping that thing on her head!)

two in a row

2008-09-16T14:41:00.005-04:00

Be sure to check out the post under this... I just didn't want to overwhelm one post with too many craft pictures, so I thought I'd just do two in a row.
Also, this is my 190th post. I'm going to try to get my next 10 posts in within the next 3 weeks, so keep checking the Saige Page. I'm giving away a prize on my 200th!

These are Aubie's "crazy shoes" that we made for crazy shoe night at Cubbies. They were scuffy white, but I spray painted them light pink and glittered them up while they were still wet. I made the pompoms out of silver ribbon. If ever she wants to wear them, she asks for her "crazy shoes".
This is Aubie's Polly house. The Pollys are from Happy meals and she loves playing with them (she wants some real Pollys for Christmas), so I promised her we'd make a house that they could live in. Since we made it last week, I don't think she's really played with anything else much. In this first picture, our model is standing in the kitchen.

This is an Aubie Lane original that is displayed in the living room. Drawn in 2008, its of Aubie and her brother Matthan. Notice how she ran out of room for the rest of her name and circled back around between the two children.

Here we have the bedroom.

This is the bathroom.
Oh, look who's here!

So far, I haven't figured out how to make their furniture, but I'll post again when the house is completed.

the craft post...finally

2008-09-03T11:27:00.011-04:00

Ok, so this isn't crafting really, but I wanted to show some more of Aubie's artwork. The first is one of her trees with some water and the sun. The second is Matthan with his tongue out and Aubie standing behind him sticking her tonge out as well. (Their mouths are both really open and that dot in the middle is the tongue.)

This was back in June for Renee's son Daniel's birthday. I got the shield, sword, and helmet ridiculously cheap, but each piece only had one jewel, so I added some. I made the knight shirt and then recycled a diaper box to put all of his armor in.
This is my first attempt at hand embroidery and it wasn't as hard as I thought. I made this bag to put Jill's quilt in that I made for her 6th birthday.
This is a close up of one of the ballerinas.
The quilt. In the middle square, the quilting is actually Jill's initials, but you wouldn't be able to see that from this picture. Also, all of this fabric is from my stash! I was so happy to be able to make something so cool (not bragging, just happy) from stuff I already had. It kind of inspired me to start doing that more often instead of buying for each project.

More of Aubie's artwork (why won't this let me stop underlining?). This is a picture of Arthur.

This is a picture of me, Aubie, Matthan, David, and Daniel (in that order). The long haired one is me. It is one of my favorite pictures of myself--I love my expression and how my hair is blowing in my face. One would be tempted to think that the person on the opposite side would be David and the other one Daniel, until you look at the expression. The one on the end definitely has Daniel's smile. : )

9 years

2008-08-28T23:10:00.002-04:00

Sorry, craft post will be postponed until this weekend due to a song delay.
"Happy Anniversary to me, Happy Anniversary to me, Happy Anniversary to me and David, Happy Anniversary to me!"

when Aubie grows up (also, expect a craft post tomorrow!!!)

2008-08-27T14:00:00.000-04:00

Aubie wants to do three things when she grows up:
1)Be on the stage. By "stage" she means Broadway or local theater--she doesn't know the difference yet. A stage is anywhere that one performs musicals, and she wants to be on it.

2) Be a rock star.

3) Play volleyball.

Of course this list of three doesn't include her desires to be an artist, wife, mother, world traveler, princess, and several others I can't remember at present. These 3 are just her latest(fairly long-lasting ambitions).
You're probably thinking I put these ideas in her head. Nope. She came up with them all on her own. Here's proof:

1) A few days ago, Matthan got aggravated at Aubie and hit at her to show his disapproval. Thirty seconds later, he had forgotten all about it, but while trying to get by was brushing her with the large object he was carrying. She started tattling that he was pushing her, blah, blah, blah. I said, "Aubie, I want you to be a Discerner of Motives." Obviously thinking that I had put an end to all her dreams and ambitions with the high and lofty title I'd rather her have, she whined, "But I still wanna be on the stage." Thank goodness one can still be on the stage and be a discerner of motives at the same time.

2) The other day, that silly Hannah Montana Walmart commercial came on ("Bring it on"--they say this at least 20 times. At least she didn't pick that up!). The background music is a Hannah Montana song that says something like "ooh, I wanna be a rock star." Aubie heard the music and said, "I wanna be a rock star". I said, "I thought you wanted to play volleyball". Sadly, I didn't write it down, so I can't remember her exact words, but she said something like, "that'll be my job in the morning." Then of course she'd be a rock star at night.

3)Aubie wouldn't eat her spaghetti because "its got meat in it". She's a texture eater and doesn't really like meat much. David was telling her she needed to eat her meat and I said because it has iron in it, it would help her poor little bruised legs--I'm afraid she has her mother's talent for running into things. That didn't really help much. So then David said it would make her strong. I told her that she couldn't play volleyball if she wasn't strong. I began imitating the volleyball commentators that we've heard the past two weeks talking about Misty May-Treanor and Keri Walsh. "Yeah, we were talking to Aubie Lane's mom before the game. She said that Aubie never ate her meat. No wonder she's playing so badly. Oh, and this could have been a gold medal." I left the room, and Aubie came running to find me a few minutes later saying, "Mommy! I ate two bites with meat! I ate two bites with meat!" Now, I don't know that 2 bites will help her win the gold, but its a start. And then, today she told me she wanted to be as tall as the ceiling, so I'm thinking volleyball would be a good option for someone that tall.

draft

2008-08-12T11:01:00.002-04:00

This was a draft I was counting as a post. Well, now it is one. (10/9/08)

the picture speaks for itself

2008-08-12T09:25:00.005-04:00

Several months ago, I called Matthan Curious George because he was always getting into things. Here's further proof: swinging from the chandelier.

Before you ask, "What kind of mother is she--letting her baby swing from chandeliers and load dishwashers?" Let me assure you that no monkeys or babies were harmed or put in danger in this photo shoot.

mommy's little helper

2008-08-02T11:47:00.007-04:00

Is it normal behavior for a 9 1/2 month old to unload a dishwasher? : )

long, long ago on a levy far, far away

2008-07-21T12:55:00.004-04:00

Back in May, I got some levy pictures. I was going through one of my no-blog times so they never got posted. I'm actually just now posting them on 10/09/08. Sad.

when Christian Bale first became my hero...

2008-07-18T08:34:00.002-04:00

Go see The Dark Knight and you'll see why he still is. (That's all I'm gonna say about the movie, Heather ;])

Aubie's artwork

2008-07-17T09:00:00.004-04:00

Matthan by Aubie.

Aubie's art has gotten really impressive lately. She just started drawing people a few months ago, but within 10 or so people pictures, she moved from the head-with-arms-and-legs-attached stage to drawing a body and hands and feet with fingers and toes. She is such an artist in the perfectionist sense. She will start out drawing a person, let's say me. But because she doesn't have the skills to draw something how it looks or doesn't draw as well as Aunt Leah, she will change it and say, "oh, that's not you, Mommy. that's just an old lady, ugly man, bear ..." or whatever it looks like. Then some of her pictures, like the onion in the Curious George picture, start out as doodling and then she calls it what it looks like. I'm not sure if that's the case with the parrot or not. I don't think it is--I've seen parrots that look like that which she could have copied--but I'm not positive.

The parrot.

Curious George and the onion.

This a mermaid, water, and fish.

what would you do-OO-oo

2008-07-14T22:21:00.001-04:00

for a free meal at Chick-fil-A? This past Friday was Cow Appreciation Day, and though I do not appreciate the cows (their time has come and gone, in my opinion), I do appreciate Chick-fil-A enough to do whatever it takes to get free food! As do my two little baby cows. Aren't they adorable?

This little cow acted a bit more like a little piggy!

Finally, the birthday pictures

2008-06-05T10:40:00.007-04:00

Princess Aubie, for whom this royal celebration was held.

Princess Aubie and Aunt KK (thanks, Aunt Karen for all the great photos! I wouldn't have near so many if not for you!)

Three pretty princesses : Princess Jill, Princess Aubie, and Princess Harlee.

Crown or Kiss the Frog Prince. The boys crowned him, the girls kissed him. They were all blindfolded (except Isabella) and nobody cheated!

Roman was the first to go and he got the closest for the boys. Here he is laughing at where he put the crown.
Aubie after her turn. Ellabella "kissing" the frog.

After that it was lunch, and then the Pinata! Instead of letting a bunch of children under 5 (except Jill, she is 5)violently swinging a stick around, I opted for the pull string pinata. Isabella loved twirling in the ribbons. King Daniel, Princess Aubie, and Princess Jill. Thank goodness Mom had an extra crown around. Daniel didn't want to just be a knight, he wanted to be a king! Jill and Aubie getting ready to eat cake!

Princess Aubie's castle... cake.

Aubie looking shy during the "Happy Birthday" song.

Matthan woke up in time to watch Aubie open presents. He looks a bit like his Daddy does when he wakes up from a nap--Grumpy!

Aubie opening presents. Kelly drew the cutest little princess--I had to take a picture.

Aubie loves her Cinderella dress from Jill and Daniel.

A cute picture of Wendy : ) Ellabella was happy to be a princess when she got there, but after her crown broke, she decided to leave as a knight.

3 Fun Crafts from this post:
This is the before shot of the pinata. Aubie had really wanted castle pinata, but 20 bucks on something that is just for getting candy out of... I'd come out way better (and have about as much fun) by just throwing candy in the air. But when Mom gave us this for recycling, the squares on the box looked sort of like blocks to me, and it got me thinking. So, I turned it upside down, attached 2 paper towel rolls (I also took a roll apart to make the cones for the tops), spray painted it pink, painted some castle-y blocks on it with pink and purple, and used this website to figure out how to make a pull-string pinata.
For the knights cloaks, I used some felt I had for the crosses, some (brand-new) flannel I got on freecycle, and since flannel doesn't ravel that easily, I didn't even finish the edges. I had the red and white ribbon, and I made some little drawstring pouches to keep coins in(these actually held Princess fruit snacks). Leah found the adorable horses at the Dollar Tree--not a craft, but I thought I'd mention them.
And then the cake. I got the design from Family Fun. But everyone who reviewed the recipe said that the 4!!! square cakes that it took to make it needed to be made of something sturdier like pound cake. I wanted to make this cake, but I was definitely not having time to slave over 4 cakes! So I remembered a little trick from my cake decorating class and I used 2 SaraLee family size pound cakes. It wasn't pink strawberry, and was definitely a lot smaller, but it was just the right size and we weren't stuck eating birthday cake for days on end. : )

walks to the park again

2008-05-23T11:14:00.007-04:00

Hey, instead of updating the the other "walks to the park", I just thought I'd put the rest of the pictures in a new post. Only a couple of captions--we're leaving for Rome in a few hours and I don't really have time to be creative or funny. I really don't have time to post these pictures either, but I've been promising them for days, so here goes...

Tadpoles!

The tadpole's two worst enemies: Snapping turtles and mommies who don't know how to take care of tadpoles (after the first of our two died, we threw the other one back).

:o)

a sad cinderella post

2008-05-22T11:23:00.003-04:00

After just having complained how I hated taking my kids everywhere!, I'd just like to go somewhere by myself for a change!, etc., etc., and so forth!, Leah came home with terribly sad news. She asked me if I had heard about Steven Curtis Chapman. I said no, not expecting what was going to come next. His teenage son backed their SUV over his 5 year old daughter, and she died from her injuries later at the hospital . This was sad of course, and I felt for him. But it wasn't until she said, "It's so sad 'cause he wrote that song, 'Cinderella'"... I've heard this song on the radio many times. And though it's always seemed like one of those tunes with lyrics orchestrated just to make you cry, I also knew that he had a daughter that he was singing about, so it was ok. And since Aubie is going through her Cinderella phase, it always made me tear up a bit. When Leah said that, I couldn't hold back the tears. "Cause all to soon, the clock will strike midnight, and she'll be gone." What beautifully sad lyrics! I don't care if I do have to take my children with me everywhere I go until they're able to drive, they're still here with me right now. This tragedy has made me rethink and realize how truly blessed I really am.
Please pray for SCC's family--especially his son.
I still plan to update my photos later. I just wanted to share my thoughts on this.

walks to the park

2008-05-15T15:15:00.005-04:00

, its been a while. I've had this one in my head for a few days, but am just now getting around to it. (And look, after I wrote that, it still took me almost a week to get it posted.)
Anyway, these are just various pictures of our walks to the park the past week or two. Mostly we walk in the evening before Matthan's bath then bedtime. But we do go during the day some as well. Anytime we go, we have to walk down to the pond to look for tadpoles or to see how big the baby ducks are getting. This post is about what we do when we're there. No captions, just pictures this time.
I've got a few more pictures to add to this one tomorrow, but I told Aunt Karen I'd post today, so here it is. When you see *updated*, you'll know I added them.

cinderelly, cinderelly *updated

2008-05-05T21:00:00.008-04:00

Saturday night, Leah and I surprised Aubie by taking her to see Cinderella.
If you click on this oddly shaped, badly put together photo of Aubie, you'll find that its one picture of legs and another of the rest of her. I had to find some way to get rid of Eda. I knew she would fuss if she looked on my blog and found a picture of her that (she would consider) is quite unflattering! But I just love how Aubie is sitting--you can just sense her anticipation. You might be wondering why I didn't cut Leah out on Photoshop. Well, after an hour of trying, I realized if I don't have time for flowcharts, I don't have time to prettily cut people out of pictures, either.

In fact, you can just deal with the fact that this post has several bad pictures. You can't use a flash during a play, and when people move and there's no flash, its just bound to be shaky. But I thought these statues were pretty cool. They were actually people dressed up and they did a great job at staying still. Thus making them the only non-blurry things in these pictures.

After Cinderella, the drama team did their version of Stomp! and the audience was advised to take their small children out at their discretion since it "is hiphop" and "some things might not be appropriate" for younger viewers. I was quite appalled at them feeling the need to turn Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella into a "Follies" event (there was a one act play before the musical as well). But, we could never have gotten this lovely shot of the prince and Aubie if we hadn't had to leave the auditorium for "Stomp!". He just happened to walk through while we were waiting for it to be over, and kindly agreed to get a picture with Aubie. She was so happy!

I caught Cinderella and the prince as soon as they turned the corner after the show and asked could we get a picture. It turned out great except for the one-act people behind them. Maybe one day I can figure out how to Photoshop them out. Until then, I'll just leave them there. I don't feel like chopping up anymore pictures today.Look at this! Mom's cousin Sue sent this to me last night. When Aubie saw it , I think she was a little confused, because she didn't remember having stood in front of a castle. When I explained it to her though, she said, "That's cool!"

Just when you get on a roll...

2008-05-03T08:48:00.005-04:00

My explanation to my frequent, then infrequent blogging: Naps or no naps. If Matthan gets a nap, then I get a chance to upload pictures. If he doesn't, then I don't. I'd love to make a flow chart to explain all the possibilities--if no nap, then night time, did David go to bed early?, then no blogging--but I'm sure you're not that interested, and I really don't have time for flow charts, do I?
Anyway, on with the blog.
Aunt Evelyn came to visit with Ma April 23, and while she was there we came to see her. Here's a picture of her and Matthan. (I just love that sweet smile!)

It was also MarMar's birthday that Wednesday! She has always been so generous to us--I wanted to do something special for her for her this year. So, I asked Aubie to pick out some fabric for her, and she picked out the pink frogs. There was a whole theme with all different kinds of of matching fabrics, so I thought the pink frogs could be from Aubie, and the green frogs could be from Matthan. But what to make with pink and green frogs? I was going to make a pillow, but I remembered that I had a photo album that I meant to cover and hadn't gotten around to it and realized that of course this would be much more useful than a pillow. So I pieced the frogs, added bead eyes to the big one in the middle and quilted him so he'd stand out. I was able to use the serger again, so that was extremely helpful in making it look finished.

Oh! I forgot to say what was so cool about the frogs! When we were little, Aunt Marilyn used to tell us this story about "the Little Loud Mouth Frog". It has such a cute ending. Just one of many memories of MarMar's fun stories. So when Aubie picked out this frog fabric, I thought it was so perfect--my two "little loud mouth frogs" were giving MarMar something to keep her memories in.

Here are two pictures of Aubie that I took to go in the album (these were some of the best out of several. You just never can tell when she's going to be in a photogenic mood).

no more we stop to see pretty cherry blossom...

2008-04-27T22:10:00.014-04:00

Ok, so the pictures are backwards. This first set is actually Friday, and the second set is Tuesday. My silly blogspot page will sometimes move pics around quickly, and then other times I can't get them to move for the life of me.
Anyway, Friday we went with Mom (who had just returned from Charleston--see pics on Leah's blog) and on Tuesday, Renee, her kids, Me, and my kids all went to the Central City park to see the tigers and ride rides. Both days were fun. But I figured out last year that I'm allergic to Cherry Blossoms, and two days at the festival this year confirmed it. I came back Tuesday with little headache and stuffiness. I came home Friday with a Horrible! headache and stuffiness. How can I be allergic to one of my favorite flowers (and festivals)? Waaah. Anyway...

FRIDAY

Because the forecast was rainy, the Cherry Blossom folks moved everything down to the Terminal Station. Everything except for the free carriage rides, that is. Since no one was downtown, we were first in line. Matthan didn't seem to be that happy sitting in the floor, but it was too shaky for me to hold his carrier in my lap.

This is the pink train inside the exhibits building. Just the sort of train Aubie loves. Pink is her favorite color, you know. (As I am reminded daily.)

Nope. I didn't get one picture of a cherry blossom. Isn't that pitiful? But we did stop at our house to get some pictures of the azaleas. Aren't these in the back yard gorgeous? (Please ignore these 2 of our neighbor's 30 cars.)

Friday was a repeat of what happened Tuesday (as you'll see further down). The day started off so gloomy, and by the end (the hottest part of the day) the sun showed up! It turned out so pretty.

(You're thinking, "Didn't she already post this picture like 3 times?" Just splitting things up so you won't get confused.)

TUESDAY

Aubie, Jill,and Daniel all got pretty hot at the tiger show. Who knew that when the forecast said 80--the day started off sprinkley, foggy, and so, so dreary--they actually meant it?

The kids rode 2 rides and went through a bouncy something-or-other. They had so much fun. Of course the girls got the pink boat and the purple dragon.

Matthan had already eaten when we got to McDonald's so, he was left to entertain himself with his feet. Jill looks like she's still going strong, but Aubie's smile is starting to fade by this point.

And here is the picture I told Renee I would title, "Two Crazy Moms" or "What Mothers Will Do So Their Children Can Have a Day of Fun". Really, I can't remember how bad it was having 5 children aged 5 and under squished into the same minivan. I told Renee at the time (during someone's fuss about someone else having done something), that one day, we'd look back at this and laugh, and not really remember how "horrible" it was. And you know, just 3 weeks later, I've already forgotten. I just see happy kids. And maybe that's what they'll remember too.

P.S. Can you guess which movie the title is from? Its one of my favorite vintage movies (see Lyndsay's post).

yesterday...

2008-04-25T12:53:00.010-04:00

all my troubles seemed so far away (at the beginning of the day, anyway).

Matthan has been pulling up on things for about a week now, but yesterday morning was the first time he pulled up in his crib. (Some folks might recognize this little face from about 27 years back--here he reminds me so much of some of Daniel's baby pictures.)
Renee brought her kids to the park in our neighborhood and the kids got to feed the ducks and geese. Aubie, Jill, and Daniel had so much fun, and as you'll see in the video, the free food caused quite a stir!

Matthan so enjoys the outdoors. He was quite contented watching the kids and the geese for... well, a little while.

When we got home, I started getting excited about our ladies group's craft night. I planned to go late so I could feed Matthan and put him to bed before I left--I knew it would be impossible to do crafts with him getting into everything. I did that, and got there around 8:00. Still plenty of time to eat, fellowship, and work on crafts. But 7 minutes after I got there, my far-away troubles called me on the phone. With a very worried voice, David told me that the spot on Aubie's face that we had discussed at supper was not a bug bite, but poison ivy. : ( "Oh, and Matthan's awake now too." Double : ( So, I hurriedly finished up my piece of pie and stuffed the rest of my baby carrots in my mouth grabbed a cup of coke and was out the door again. Off to CVS to get poison ivy stuff and back home to treat the poor dear.

Here's David putting the stuff that gets rid of the poison oils on her fingers.

The girl loves pink, but its so sad to see it on her face : (
(Speaking of pink, I'll post the pictures of the Cherry Blossom Festival soon. They've been hanging over my head for far too long.)

fish for a day

2008-04-21T23:15:00.009-04:00

We walked to the pond today (started this post 4 days ago). And though I desperately wanted to catch a tadpole, I only saw one. When I finally figured out what to catch him with--Matthan's baby food jar--he was gone.

So, I caught a minnow instead. Up with that scoop came some pond sediment, and some form of larvae that I'm hoping wasn't mosquito. I also got a a small lily pad so the minnow wouldn't feel too out of its element. Aubie named it Lolly. Since I had no way of finding out if this centimeter-long minnow was a girl or a boy, I figured we had a 50/50 chance of it being a "Lolly"*.

Though she came home in a Gerber container, she quickly graduated to something much bigger--a frappucino jar.But, by the afternoon, I started to realize that Lolly may want more room to swim around in, and I wasn't going to buy a fish bowl for a minnow that I didn't even know how to feed. So I convinced Aubie that we needed to take Lolly back. After several I-don't-want-to's, Aubie finally said, "Yeah, her need to go back to her family."
That evening, Leah, Aubie, Matthan, and I walked to the pond (only Matthan was in the stroller) to take Lolly back home.

If you click on this picture, and you stare really hard at the upper middle of the jar, you can see Lolly.

Aubie saying goodbye to her fish.

A parting glance.

Aubie and the rest of the farewell party, sans photographer.

Getting a fish and then taking it back all in the same day was too much excitement for this little fellow.

It was such a nice evening, David went for a ride and met us on our way back home.

Goodbye Lolly. We miss you :)

*Besides the name Sally (and now, Wendy), Aubie's favorite name is Lolly. If a Lolly has a sister, its Tolly, and after that, its anything else that rhymes.

2008-04-19T20:02:00.004-04:00

Becki from My Little Blog recently posted that her baby (who is very close in age to Matthan) loves this video, so I thought we'd check it out. Matthan, Aubie, Leah, and I all love it! They Might Be Giants is my new favorite! I pretty much love all of their (kids) songs. They were a band for a long time before deciding to do children's music in addition to their other stuff. This second video has two songs, so its a bit longer, but the first song is about my favorite number, and the second is about something we have probably all done at some time in our lives. Both are just great! I hope you enjoy TMBG as much as we do.

Elenor

2008-04-19T00:22:00.002-04:00

Take the Quiz here!

Like Lyndsay, I am Elenor. I figured this is who I would be most like. Even though I tend to be a bit more like Marianne at times. But then, sometimes I'm Jane or Lizzy. Leah says I'm a cross between Jane and Mary--the horrible hypochondriac sister in Persuasion. I'd love to take the quiz that comes up with those results!

The adventures of Matthan (aka Curious George)

2008-04-17T10:17:00.007-04:00

The Little Prince.
<------- This is why we bought one of those fences to keep him contained. I left the room to get something, came back, and found him here. Yeah, he did it all by himself. Oh, and that's sweet potatoes on his nose ; )
<-----This is what happens when you let
this happen ------>
Actually, there was a method to his madness. Somehow he had hit enough buttons to make the computer "doink" every time he hit a key, so to him, he was making music.

Though you can't see her, Aubie is dancing around making him laugh. He absolutely loves everything she does. He thinks she's the best big sister--as do we.

Computer Tip: Oh, and if ever your computer screen gets turned upside down, the way to fix it is hit: Ctrl, Alt, up-arrow-key. It took me forever to figure this out. Of course, you probably already knew this... but maybe I'm saving someone some heartache by posting this tip : )

meme

2008-04-16T12:53:00.003-04:00

Several weeks ago, Heather tagged me with this meme. Thank goodness she didn't tag me with her "50 Things About Me" meme, 'cause, I'll just tell you. It wouldn't be happenin'.
Ok. Here goes:

1. What translation of the Bible do you like best? KJV, but I really like my new English Standard Version and I really want to get a NASB.

2. Old or New Testament? Old Testament

3. Favorite Book of the Bible? Proverbs, definitely.

4. Favorite Chapter? Proverbs 1

5. Favorite Verse? Proverbs 30:28 (KJV)The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces. (I realize that the literal translation is not spider, but something like a gecko. I don't care. I love the way this verse sounds--even though I hate spiders--as well as what it means.)

6. Bible character you think you’re most like? I would love to be like Esther--beautiful, brave, totally dependent on God--or Jochebed, Moses' mother, who did whatever it took to save her child and trusted God with the outcome. As far as who I'm most like? I don't know.

7. One thing from the Bible that confuses you? I'm sure there's something, but I can't think of it at present.

8. Moses or Paul? Moses. Read Deuteronomy 34. (Thanks Heather for putting this passage in your answer. Sadly, I didn't know where to find it.)

9. A teaching from the Bible that you struggle with or don’t get? Paul's teachings about women (I'm just leaving Heather's answer here, because I think that's probably my biggest struggle too.)

10. Coolest name in the Bible? Matthan, of course. That's why I picked it!

Sorry. No pictures for this post. But I'll post one of my coolest-name-in-the-Bible boy and not-in-the-Bible-but-still-a-cool-name girl tomorrow.

Oh, I almost forgot. I'm supposed to tag someone else with this, right? I pick Leah ; ) (imagine this winky face saying "he he". Only, its not, because she and I both can't stand it when people say "he he". All the more reason for saying it after tagging her with a meme.)

Matthan's first feeding

2008-04-15T23:14:00.006-04:00

Matthan's first feeding --February 6th, 2008. Its obvious he liked it based on his reaction in the second video--hes' a bit upset that its all gone.
Well, that's one promised post out of the way. Now for the meme...

events from March (in no particular order) *picture added

2008-03-31T17:11:00.014-04:00

Easter. Aubie, her baby, and I were all dressed alike (no, I didn't make our outfits. Mom got Aubie's dress and matching doll dress, and I found a matching top for me the day before).

After pictures, Aubie changed into this shirt that I made her. Didn't have time to make her baby a matching shirt for the egg hunt.

My little snuggly baby fresh out of the tub : )

St. Patrick's Day. Since we weren't planning to go anywhere on the 17th, no one would see our green, so we all wore our outfits the day before at church.
When I saw this one, I was wondering what that weird thing in my hair was then I remembered it was my mic (those things really do look strange on, don't they?)
Aubie and Matthan's St. Patty's Day wear courtesy of Aunt KK.
These pictures at sunset were on the day of.

This moth was on Ma's doorstep one evening as we were leaving. Pretty cool to look at when it was still, but when it started flying, it freaked me out. That thing was huge!

Tacky Night at Cubbies (AWANA). Earlier that day, we made a kite using embroidery thread, twigs, tape, and a Hobby Lobby bag. I was afraid the huge wind gusts would go away before I made a decent kite, so it was pretty shabbily put together. As pitiful as it was, it went as high as the house before the embroidery thread got all tangled and then ran out. Miss Elizabeth tackled it and tore it before I could get a good picture, sorry. It wasn't much to look at anyway. It was fun though : )

David sold his jeep. I was sad to see it go, but the little guy who bought it seemed really nice, and so happy to be getting his first off-roader.
And here's the replacement:
Way better gas mileage!

So, it only took me... a long time to get this posted. Today is April 10th, and I started this at the end of March.

Crafty Tips (from items featured in this post): 1) My friend Cristi gave me the idea for Aubie's flower shirt (an idea she got from an Ebay boutique). She was making her daughter one and inspired me to do the same. To get the ribbon flowers to stay on, she used E6000. I had never used it and was terrified, but it went well, and without the tacky stitches that I would have probably done, Aubie's shirt looks almost store bought.
2) Aubie's pink jacket she's wearing in the Easter pictures is actually a shirt I got at Walmart the day before for like $3.50. Since I was borrowing Mom's surger (actually Ma's--Thanks Ma!), I just cut down the center of the v-neck shirt, surged both sides and then glued them under with--yep, you got it!--E6000. It was just perfect to complete her outfit and to give her a sleeve, but not too heavy.
3) The leggings Aubie is wearing with her St. Patrick's Day outfit are actually some of her baby tights that I cut the bottoms off of then FrayCheck-ed all the way around to prevent runs. Since they were all ball-y, I turned them inside out. If I hadn't told you, you never would have known, huh? Oh, and her socks are just plain old white socks with green rick-rack sewn around them (thanks for doing the sewing for me, Mom).