reusable.bags

My friend, Julie, who has been my friend since I was 5, sent me 30 $1 bills for my 30th birthday. It was so sweet of her.

Then, I was like, what do I send her for her 30th? I can't just turn around and send her $30. Josh said, "You should totally (he probably didn't say 'totally') send her 20 $1 bills and tell her that she doesn't look a day over 20!" While, I liked this idea, I thought I should give her something more personal. :)

So, I sent her 3 of these:

Yes, 3 lined reusable shopping bags. I wanted to make her something...now that I love to sew. Everyone is getting handcrafted gifts from now on...not really, but if you want something, you'll just want to put in your request. (Yes, Jill, I'm working on your pillow covers.)

Anyway, these are by far the hardest things that I've made, but I must admit that I use the two that I practiced with a lot (and they turned out pretty well for practice ones). If you put a pocket on the front, they can fold up into themselves so you can throw one into your purse or diaper bag. So nice.

If you want to try them out yourself, I found the tutorial right here.

 

sleepy.juice

I hate it when I fall asleep while I'm trying to finish off my meal!

This was Amelia's first nap in her high chair, and I just couldn't resist snapping some pictures.

 

time.out

Claire has been documenting Meredith's time in the corner as well. We may have to replace the carpet where she's standing in a couple of years...it tends to get a lot of foot traffic. :)

 

not.so.bad

I hope that whatever is on your to-do list isn't as overwhelming as this! If you haven't noticed...I'm a little behind on the laundry.

Thankfully, though, it's almost the only thing on my to-do list today (along with planning our Easter menu...any suggestions?).

pin.cushion

Here's my pincushion. I'm going to spellcheck this in a few minutes to see if pincushion is one word or two. It will be correct once this posts. Back to subject.

My mom has a pincushion with the sewing box that I kind of took from her. She doesn't use it, so I'm just trying to make use of the things that she doesn't use. I figure I'm doing her a favor. Back to subject.

So, she had a pincushion that I'm pretty sure that she made. I'm sure it was cute at the time, but it had definitely seen its better days. It was too sad to even post. Back to subject.

So, I found the cutest tutorial for a pincushion HERE and whipped this one up. I did it while we were on our girls' weekend. Some of the other girls liked them so well, that I whipped up 4 of them in one sitting and passed them around. Super easy project for those of you learning how to sew! I hope you get to make one!

 

more.from.claire

This one is an ant. I guess kids take pictures when you have ant problems in your house.

These next two are really fun. This is a birdhouse that my dad gave the girls to paint. I bought the paint (last fall), and we obviously didn't get it painted fast enough for the girls.

Here's how the story goes: "Mom! Don't come in here. We're doing something, and we don't want you to see it. It's a surprise!" Hmmmm...this always makes me wonder.

But, I'm trying to be nice...I just think they are playing and "creating" something. Yes, that's what it was. Again, "Mom! We're making your Christmas present...don't come in here."

Ok, now I'm going to feel bad if I see it because I don't want to ruin my Christmas present! So, I go to the back of the house to do some work. I come back out (forgetting that they are working on my Christmas present), and I walk around the corner and see this:

Yes, those are crayons. Yes, those are barrettes. Yes, those are plaster of paris shapes. Yes, that is a Littlest Pet Shop figurine. And, oh yes, they are all glued to the birdhouse.

Me: What did you do?!!! Those are our best crayons! (On a side note...of course, they were the best crayons...this was a Christmas present for Mom after all.)

Claire and Meredith (pretty much in unison): Mom! You saw your present before we wrapped it! Now we can't give it to you for Christmas!!!

Me: (saying nothing...what do you say when you've ruined your Christmas present?) Well, let's just put it on the counter, and we'll talk about it later.

Later...after Josh gets home...

Josh: Girls, don't you think you should ask before you do something like this?

Claire and Meredith: Well, we couldn't ask Mom...it was her Christmas present...then she would have known what she was going to get!

Josh: (just like me...no response to this one.)

I guess I'm not getting anything for Christmas.

 

photography.by.claire

Claire loves the camera...especially being on the other side of the camera (although, as you can tell, she likes to even put herself in the pictures!). She loves to take pictures. She's a girl after Grandma Ice Cream's own heart!

I'll be sharing some of Claire's photography skills in the near future. It's pretty fun to see things from a 5 year old's perspective!

Here is a fun series of her and Amelia...I'm guessing that Amelia was seeing spots by the time the shoot was over!

I love my girls.

cutest.baby

Who's gonna argue? Do you love her little sprout or what? :)

 

one.year

This weekend marks the one year anniversary of us moving in to our house. Josh and I have been reflecting over the happenings of this past year a lot.

In some ways, we thought we'd be way ahead of where we are in the finishing of the house. However, when we look back at all of the things that ARE done (especially all of the unexpecteds...a lot of them!), we've (really mostly Josh) have done a ton!

Two weeks ago, Josh started painting the kitchen. Some of you may ask...Jackie, why have you not picked up a paintbrush and painted your kitchen? You've been complaining about those white walls for a year! Well, for those of you who don't know my hubby, he's a bit of a perfectionist. And not only that, he is a perfectionist who painted his way through college.

That's right...I've haven't touched a paintbrush since college. And, really, I'm ok with it!! He does a fantastic job at painting! Everything looks sooooo unbelievably good when he's through with it...he even is fab at picking out colors. And he's colored blind. I know, crazy isn't it?!!

So, without further ado...here is the kitchen from day of purchasing through construction to this week (please ignore the fact that I didn't clean off the counter or empty the sink of dirty dishes or move the highchair out of the way before I took the last picture):

This is the kitchen the day we bought the house.

This is after all of the walls were torn out and the beam was put in.

Drywall up.

Cabinets up...look at all that dust!

The week we moved in.

This week. And the one below is for your before/after look!

i.have.issues

Claire is just full of hilarious things these days.

Today, we were heading to our last day of swim lessons, which is actually an open swim for the families involved in the swim lessons. I had grabbed my sandals to wear in the locker room and around the pool because I'm a bit disgusted by my bare feet touching a bathroom-like floor.

The girls wanted to grab their sandals as well, but they forgot. As we were getting into the van, one of them realized that they had forgotten theirs. They wanted to go back in, but we didn't have time. They were getting very weepy about the whole thing.

Me: You haven't had your sandals for any other swim day, so you don't need them today.

Claire: But you have yours, and we want ours.

Me: I'm sorry that you forgot them, but you'll just have to try to remember when we come again.

Claire: (still weepy) But you have yours.

Me: Well, I have issues.

Claire: (suddenly stops being weepy and says quite surprised) You do? Oh.

I guess she gets it. :)

different.feelings

Setup: Claire and I are doing her reading lesson, and she is getting distracted from time to time by Amelia who is making normal baby sounds. Claire starts softly humming a tune when she gets to a word that she doesn't know.

Me: Claire, you need to sound out your word.
Claire: I am.
Me: No, you're humming.
Claire: I don't think I was.
Me: Yes, you were. You were going, "hmmmm, hmmmmm." (Think of me humming a little tune.)
Claire: That was kind of funny!
Me: It wasn't funny because you're supposed to be reading.
Claire: (As she looks back at her reading lesson...in a very quiet voice and very matter-of-factly...) I thought it was funny. You didn't. I guess we just have different feelings.

As always, I laughed out loud.

favorite.girls

Check out my favorite girls all smiling in the same picture...it's a rare find! :)

more.organizing

That up there is my infamous blue binder. I love that thing. It holds my daily dockets, cleaning schedules, grocery lists, a few receipts, and the kitchen sink.

One of my organizing tips for anyone is to use things that are fun! For cryin' out loud, you'll use it if you like it. If it's boring black, it won't be as much fun to use it! I'm pretty sure I could even spruce up the blue binder!

So here's my fun notebook that I use for everyday things that are too big for my daily docket:

How can you dislike something called "Eye Candy" that has your name on it? :)

And this is my business notebook:

These books/binders are appealing to me, and it makes me want to use them. And I'm cheap which means they were all on clearance when I bought them! Wal-mart's clearance aisle is a stumbling block for me.

Just for Julie L.: I am in the middle of organizing my recipes as we speak (funny that you asked!). I've had them scattered in a recipe basket for a long time and they've been driving me crazy. So, I am purchasing a 4x6 photo book/binder deal and putting them in 4x6 photo sleeves. They'll be arranged by normal subject (appetizers, salads, main, sides, desserts, kid stuff, other).

Since they'll be in sleeves, I'll be able to add to any section at any time. Also, even when there is a recipe in a regular cookbook, I'll rewrite it and put it in my main cookbook so that everything will be in one place. I won't have to dig that way! I have recipes everywhere (books, magazine articles, computer, etc.) and I'm ready to have them all in one spot in my kitchen. I can store my cookbooks in the office, then, and only get them out when I'm menu planning or looking for something new! Hope that helps!

 

4.years

I'm a little behind in blogging about Meredith's 4th birthday! Better late than never. Meredith requested a pink balloon cake that had our cats on it. That's T-Bone on the left and Wilbur on the right. I'm never going to make it as a cake decorator, but it works for birthday #4.


We surprised Meredith with a bike which she can't wait to ride this summer.


She also got a bucket of musical instruments...her favorite is the farmonica...known by the rest of us as the harmonica.

And here she is celebrating with Josh's family.

It was a crazy-busy weekend (Feb. 14-16). We hosted 3 parties in 3 days, and I was partied out.

At 4 years old, Meredith loves playing in her kitchen, writing her name (MErEdITH), Taylor Swift, "making" play beds in the playroom, and wearing her black tutu. She isn't especially fond of going to bed.

Meredith is a very passionate little girl, and we're doing our best to channel that into the right paths. She has a tendency to accelerate into whatever emotion is on her sleeve at the time. This can be completely adorable or a bit challenging!

Meredith is all girl through and through, and we just can't imagine a world without her. We love you sweet girl!

so.much.fun

What a fun, fun weekend I spent with Josh's cousins! We were celebrating Teresa's (see picture below) 40th birthday! Teresa turned 40 a couple of weeks ago, and we had to wait a couple of weeks to celebrate...although her family threw her a surprise party a couple of weeks ago. (On a side note, we watched a 40th video montage from that party that was awesome...it was made by one of their friends' kids who is only 12! Kids these days have some serious technology skills.)

We all stayed in a bed and breakfast that is totally outfitted for scrap booking. Most of the girls are all about scrapping and card making. I'm more about sewing, so I took my sewing machine and made 4 adorable pin cushions. (I'll share that post soon!). Anyway, so we went out to dinner, played a ton of games (I learned 3 new ones), and stayed up WAY too late.

We went out to an awesome chocolate store for a most wonderful dessert after the Saturday night dinner...check out the presentation below.

So, all in all, we decided that we should do this way more often than we do. We laughed until we cried on more than one occasion, and I almost peed my pants at least twice.

"Remember Whens" from the weekend

-Deanna: I'll never forget you rolling over all of the pieces of Loaded Question because you were laughing so hard
-Gina: you are by far the toughest Pampered Chef Pizza Cutter I know
-Amber: my two night roomie...maybe we won't stay up and talk so long next time :)
-Joni: my fellow comeback kid for that marble game (I can't remember the name of it) we played on Friday night
-Alyssa: my other fellow roomie...same comment as Deanna :)
-Allie: I believe you were my most successful Nertz partner.
-Jessie: although it may have been you. (I'm sorry that I wasn't paying better attention.)
-Allie and Jessie together (because they're twins and they're used to getting grouped together): you guys make me smile all over my face :) these girls make the cutest cards EVER!
-Teresa: the birthday girl....thanks for turning 40 so that we could all have a great reason to celebrate and spend the weekend together.

I can't wait until someone else turns 40 next...not mentioning any names...pampered chef pizza cutter.