Dress Code

Its our week to clean our church building and tonight I told the girls to get shoes on so we could head to the church to clean. Rob told the girls to get in the car and Charlotte said "I need my dress." Rob asked why she needed her dress and she replied "to go to the turch (church)." Too cute! We explained to her that this time she didn't need to wear a dress to church but we love the way that little girl thinks.

Asparagus Hunters

Awhile back the women of my church had an activity centered around gardening.  One woman mentioned that she had planted some asparagus and noted that it takes years to produce.  It got me thinking about my days as an asparagus hunter.  It was long ago when I was just a child.  My grandpa was the master hunter and he reveled in teaching me the skills.  There were thirteen of us grandkids and the hunts were not too often (I'm guessing this has something to do with the "years to produce" thing) and he would usually invite a couple of us to join him.  Now this asparagus wasn't stuff he'd planted.  It was wild, growing free in many secret places throughout our little town that were only known to the master hunter.  He made us feel like secret sleuths, creeping through the brush to get to a point where he'd reach forward, and like magic, part some weeds and reveal the hidden treasure - a small patch of asparagus - that we were allowed to hold onto while he cut them off close to the ground. At the time I didn't even like asparagus- but the acquiring of it, now that was something I loved.

A little something I made

Whipped up this Anthropologie knock-off apron for a friend of mine this week.  I love it.  Now I wanna make myself one.  I used this pattern for it.

White Rock Centennial Half Marathon

In December I told a friend of mine that I needed to get motivated to start working out again. I mentioned something about signing up for a race. She emailed me the next day with a race she wanted me to run with her. I did the 5k. I loved it and in the midst of getting ready for it I started running with a couple of girls that go to our church, and after the 5k, one of the girls suggested we sign up for a half marathon. We did. So we had to keep running. And then a couple more joined us and it turned into 7 cool women who drug their butts out of bed at 6 am every morning to run together. It has been an absolute blast and I have gone from someone who hated running to someone who is completely loving it. I nursed an injury for the last few weeks of training for the half but with the help of some physical therapy, some Aleve, and the race-day adrenalin, I made it through the 13.1 miles without stopping. And you know what? My husband did it too which just made it that much more fun.

The shirts I made for the seven of us who trained together.

Yes, that's a minivan

The night before the race. Our carb-loaded dinner.

Here we are before the race. Me, Cheri, Sarah, Ginger, Kim & Casi.
(One of the girls got injured and was unable to run)

Me and the hubs

Me all sweaty and gross with my finishers medal.

Not an old dog but I can learn new tricks

So I'm taking this online sewing class right now. (I know, how do you take a sewing class online? Videos people, videos.)  Its a 5 week course on learning the basics of sewing kids clothes.  I've done quite a lot of sewing over the last 3 years but I was mostly making it up as I went along (sorry to those of you who received handmade gifts during that time, but its true) and I recently realized that I haven't really done a lot of sewing for my own family.  So I decided it was high time I learned what the heck I was doing and took a class.  I'm really loving it.  The blog style class is a little hard to follow occasionally (like when the teacher loses her voice and has to post pictures instead of videos) and sometimes I want to throw those stupid half-made pants out the window   take a break but overall it has really been good for me.  I've developed a lot more confidence in my ability and learned some pretty cool tricks/techniques along the way,  I've fallen in love with sewing again (I just turned a pile of nothin into the cutest little dress/skirt/pants/pinafore, etc.) and my little Pumpkin is honored and thrilled to sport her made-by-mama duds.  In fact, she frequently tries to sneak them out of the hamper so she can wear them  six 2 days in a row.  She even tried to convince me today that it was, indeed, okay to wear a pinafore to your ballet class. (She's possibly obsessed with the pinafore because a certain hippo in a certain library book is made to wear one throughout the story.)  I now find myself itching to finish up my chores at night (or skip them all together) so that I can head upstairs to create some little something.  I've even been making things not required by the class.  Last night it was a quick nightgown fashioned from one of daddy's old t-shirts and tonight it was a tiny utility apron constructed of some very flowery fabric in hopes of making tomorrows task of bathroom cleaning a little more exciting for the helper.  We'll see how it goes.  As for me, I'm already thinking ahead to the next thing.  Perhaps my "sewing projects" bin may one day get emptied after all.

A birthday gift

My baby girl Charlotte turned one in January and for the last few weeks I've been feeling a little blue about the fact that she's not a baby anymore.  A few months ago she started sleeping in her own bed (as opposed to in my bed spinning and kicking me all night) and sleeping through the night.  I've just been a little lonesome for all those tiny baby things like rocking her to sleep, snuggling her all night and having the alone time with her while I feed her.  Today is my birthday and this morning in the wee hours I heard her cry.  She does that occasionally but usually goes right back to sleep.  She didn't.  She kept crying.  I told hubs to go get her and just bring her to me.  He handed her to me and immediately she snuggled up right next to me, nuzzled her sweet little face into my neck and collapsed into sleep.  And there she stayed for the rest of the night, nestled in close to the mommy who was missing just that.  There was no spinning, I did not get kicked. What I got was a sweet few hours of a birthday gift where I was reminded that though she may no longer be a baby, she will always be my baby.  So happy birthday to me.  What a perfect present.  Thank you sweet C.

Can anyone keep up?

With a toddler and a 3 year old? Or do you all have it under control and I'm the only one that always feels 10 steps behind? And how can I be steps behind when one of them is barely taking steps? This is a reminder to myself in a sense because I think its so easy to forget the craziness that is life with children under 5. Mind you, I know from watching that the craziness continues, it just shifts and changes forms as they grow. But please tell me how I am supposed to get this new house completely unpacked and organized when I have to clean up all the tupperware she pulled out of the cupboard for the third time today (I know they make child locks), and sweep up the food she threw on the floor to tell me she was finished eating each and every meal. I sometimes think about how quickly I could get things done if I didn't have these two rag-muffins at my feet all day. But what fun would that be? No, instead I find myself spending the majority of my time merely "maintaining" the chaos that is our day to day. And every now and again the stars all align and something incredible happens. Perhaps there happens to be number one's favorite show on at the exact same time that number two has collapsed into a nap and I am able to take one teeny tiny step beyond just holding it together. I might actually get those pictures printed to put into the empty frames or I may put those empty frames up on that empty wall that has long been waiting for them or I may find a place to store all those things that are for now being stored on the kitchen counter (which I might mention is probably still sticky from the PB&J we had for lunch). If I'm being really looked out for, that toddler will get herself into an extra deep sleep and that three year old will amuse herself with barbies long after her show has finished and I could possibly have a minute or two to clear a path through that room that will one day be the crafting room of my dreams but is currently a place to put stuff and stack stuff and store stuff that you forgot that you had because, well, its buried somewhere in a pile of stuff. Is today a day the stars will align? We'll see. But even if it doesn't, when all is said and done I'd gladly take a hundred days of "maintaining" over one day without my messy munchkins.