Oh, October

You were such a busy month.  I (finally) ran out of free blog space so I had to figure out how to keep this blog going.  Now I can catch up you up on the last half of the month...

We continued to play and jump in the leaves and enjoy gorgeous weather.  I took this picture of Magnolia as I watched her play and realized soon...

She would turn FOUR!!!

Her last ballet class of the season was on her birthday.  

A small recital was held to show what was learned.

I was so proud of her!

She listened so well to her teacher, Miss Ceci.

After that we went home to eat Chinese food and her birthday cake.  

I made it exactly as she asked, complete with swedish fish!  

Then she had her school Halloween party.  She went as a purple horse.  

With Jillian, Lydia, Meg, and Elena

And her whole class including teachers; Mrs. Fox and Mrs. Freiding

For Halloween we had a puppy dog and kitty cat.

I think I handed out close to 500 pieces of candy.  It was a nonstop flow of kids!

We let these two eat A LOT of candy.

By the time they came home they were ready eat dinner and didn't ask for their candy for days!

This week Magnolia tripped and fell, smacking her head into the coffee table.  It sliced her ear.  Away we went to Urgent Care for two stitches.  George took her to our town bakery for a donut afterwards.  Later that day she came down with the stomach flu.  Poor thing, what a day!

Leaves!

 We were in St. Louis for almost a week.  When we came home we found our yard completely covered in leaves.  It was like seeing winter's first snowfall for us!  The kids were besides themselves with excitement.  I stepped out of the car, went straight to the garage, got a rake, and quickly made a huge pile to jump in.  We left it like that for a week.  I just couldn't bear to rake them up.  This was the first time the kids had seen so many leaves in one place.  I even caught Big George jumping in!  Now they're all in the street ready to be picked up but we still have two huge maples on our side yard that haven't dropped yet.  :)  Oh Happy Fall!

18 Months

 What a big boy you are George!  You are 18 months this week! 

You won't say much more than ball, bus, car, and truck but today we had a very nice little conversation. We were playing outside when a plane went by overhead.  You stopped playing, looked at me, and did the sign for airplane.   I told you that I heard it too and did the sign for airplane.  You then pointed to the sleeve of your shirt and I knew you were telling me that you have pajamas that have airplanes on them.  It was so nice to have that little chat with you!

 It turns out that we have a lot of trucks and fire engines that go down our side street.  If I didn't have you, George, I wouldn't know how exciting that is!  You have made me very excited about dump trucks, cement mixers, cranes, jack hammers, city buses, school buses, motorcycles, big trucks, and fire engines.  I always say thank you to the road workers when we are stuck in traffic as they will capture your attention endlessly.

 I love when you run, you hunch your shoulders up high and pump those arms to gain momentum.  You just started to jump this week.  Your feet still haven't gotten off the ground but you keep trying.

 You like to eat just like I do, bread and fruit, never much meat but a fierce sweet tooth.  You are a real monster when you wake up, it takes you a long time to adjust.  We most always take a long walk in the stroller so you can wake up slowly.   Your Aunt Emily knit this gorgeous wool sweater for you.  She had to redo the neckline countless times so we could be sure we could pull it over your incredibly large head.  :)

 You love your rocket car.  You like to pull the front wheels up off the ground and slam them back down.  You don't see me smile, but I do.  Every time.

 You are so much fun.  I just adore you.  I love seeing life through your eyes.

 I can't say you are the most active child I've ever seen.  I won't complain.  You never stray far from me. Here you are taking a rest and let me tell you, you hadn't gone far.  I love how you are resting your foot on the tire.

 We took you apple picking for the first time.  You did great and even helped pick some apples sitting on daddy's shoulders.  Mostly though, you just picked up the apples on the ground and chucked them.  

 You may be growing up fast but I still see those fat dimples on your hands!

You really are something else.  I always knew it would be fun to have a boy but it's SO much more fun than I ever dreamed it would be!  Happy 18 months!

::: Thank you everyone for your kind words on the loss of my dear cousin, Kate.  She is greatly missed.

Kathryn June

On Friday night I got a phone call so late that I knew it was going to be horrible.  It was.  My cousin died that day.  She just celebrated her 16th birthday. We are all so saddened by this unthinkable loss.  My heart is aching for my aunt and uncle.  She was so bright.  She was so sweet.  She was so loved. Rest now Kate,  I will miss you.

I will be back at a later date.

Screened Porch

The screened porch is done and I love it!  We are fading out our neutrals and going bold and bright!  These colors just make me feel so happy.

It all started with the couch.  It was love at first sight at a garage sale on the island and the tag said $15.  It was mine in a heartbeat.  It must be from the fifties or sixties.  It's steel made to look like bamboo.  The original color was green and I knew it had to be green again.  George painted it with his new professional paint sprayer along with the wicker ottoman I found at a garage sale for $2!  I knew I wanted white cushions but knew they wouldn't be practical with kids so I went with marine vinyl.  It is surprisingly soft and easy to work with!  Sewing the piping, however, caused me so much grief.  So glad they are finished! 

I was also greatly inspired by Annie Selke.  She is a designer who recently created a fabric line.  I love all of her designs  and colors.  Being on a tight budget, I ordered a little bit of each and used it to make pillows.     

(This is the couch before)

And here is how the previous owners had the porch.

We gave the floors a fresh new coat of grey porch paint and then we covered as much of it as we could with a natural seagrass carpet.  

This pair of lamps were a steal at Goodwill for $3 each.  I painted them turquoise  (thank you Magnolia for picking the right color!) and George gave them a quick coat of lacquer for shine. 

I was thrilled to find these fleece throws at Ikea for $4 each!  The chairs I've had for years.  Made in Norway, they were a steal at a church rummage sale for $7 each.   My white garden table was also a Goodwill find, for $15!  

This was the first room I had a vision for and it's so nice to have it all come to life.  Too bad fall is coming and it will all be packed up soon.  We're making the most of it with many cups of hot tea out there huddled under the blankets.  :)

1st Day of Preschool

We had one VERY excited little girl in our house this morning.  She has been waiting for this day for a long time.  And boy was she ready to go.  She had no apprehension whatsoever when we arrived.  She spoke up, she contributed, she said her pleases and thank yous and she even let her teacher take her to the bathroom.  I am so proud of her, she did great! 

George and I both went with her today but Wednesday will be her first day by herself.  

Here she is before we went in.  I didn't even ask her to pose, I just caught her in all of her excitement. :)

The After

Okay, it's my first "after" home project.  Too bad there's no "before" photo.  I thought I had one but I didn't.  Funny that this all I can post for what we've accomplished because it seems so small and we've been so busy.  We have started so many projects but this is the only one that is completely done....for the season at least.  We dug up old lilies that were in front of the garage.  We sent away for an heirloom rose called "New Dawn" that produces beautiful creamy pink blossoms and can climb up to 20 feet per season.  It was less than a foot tall when it arrived and we had to put a little gate around it because the rabbits were eating it.  Poor rose, so much pressure.  George hung the trellis, planted the holly bushes, and painted the door black.  He also hung a window box.  (I did plant the mums!)  We had an electrician come and remove the flood light above the door and put in the two sconces instead.  Since the garage is such a part of our backyard we wanted it to have a cozier, more quaint look.  Can't wait to see how it looks next season!

Our family room should have been our first room completed.  The paint was fresh and in a nice color.  We put all of our living room furniture from our old house in here.  All that was left to do was to fill the frames on the walls.  No problem, right?  I take a ton of pictures, should only take me a minute.  If you look in this photo you'll see an empty frame.   What you don't see is that all of the frames are empty and have been for a month now.   I'm happy to say that I just ordered the photos and feel like a million bucks that I will soon have something else accomplished....whew!

In other news, Nani has come to visit.  We have been enjoying cooler temps and many trips to the beach!

Mags went to her first baseball game ever!  She was so excited.  She lasted only ONE inning and came home with a stomach ache because of too much soda, licorice, and ice cream.  She said it was a lot of fun and wants to go again!  Go Cards!

These two do nothing but ride up and down the sidewalk on the side of our house.  They've even assigned an old concrete gutter tray as the parking spot for their bikes and scooters.  

 George and I are going to have dinner ALONE tonight.  For the first time in THREE years!  I don't know where he's taking me but I am so excited!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Four for a Week

We had such a great time last week with George home from work.  We did so many fun things!  One evening we took dinner down to the beach.  (Reminder not to do that again for a few years...George managed to get sand in all of the food).  Magnolia and I jumped in the waves.  We built drip sandcastles and did a whole lot of running around and burying each other's feet in the sand.  Little George, who never strays far from me, rested his head on my legs as I was shooting photos.  I had to snap it because it was just too sweet.

One morning we got up early and headed to the zoo.  

It was our second visit and Magnolia headed right for the Spider Monkey, she knew right where it was.

They love the train ride.  Magnolia also had her first pony ride!

It was a fun filled week together with a day trip to Chicago, lots of new parks discovered, long walks. and even two lunch dates with just the two of us!  We even got a lot done around the house.  It seems for all the work that we've done that it's hardly made a dent.  I honestly can't figure out why it's taking so long.  We are nearing completion on the outside and the screened in porch.  We are the middle of deciding on living room furniture and are waiting for fabric samples to arrive in the mail.  I'm starting to doubt that we'll have a living room by Christmas.  Our dining room started once we found a mid century teak table at an antique store.  Then we found 4 chairs on Craigslist.  They need to be reupholstered and we'll obviously need to find 2 or more chairs.  The chandelier in the there is horrendous as are the mini blinds.  Let's just say, we're a long ways off on that room as well...sigh.   I love this stuff, it keeps me so busy and it's my biggest creative outlet.  I love it even more that we are doing all of the work ourselves and on a pretty tight budget.  Last night I was decorating in my sleep....   :)  Be back soon.