Trying to Catch Up

Little tops for Cousin Cora and Addison. These are so easy and

fast to make! I love being able to pick my own fabrics.

Hanging with the boys:

Addison is always the only girl at the birthday parties, but

she doesn't seem to mind. This was her first time bowling.

3-4 year-olds bowling.... It was like herding cats, but really cute!

Addison made Mod Podge Christmas soap and thumbprint

reindeer cards for her friends this year. :)

For Addison's teacher - these sweet little gift bags

are only 25 cents at Target!

Key Fobs for all the Teachers this year:

(these are REALLY easy to make!) Maybe I shouldn't tell

you how easy these things are, so you will be impressed by

my craftiness, ehh?

A gift for a little cousin

Halloween T-Shirt and matching Hair clip:

Addison's Halloween costume:

This picture made me SUPER FRUSTRATED! I love photos of my kids, but don't know enough to be able to take good photos anywhere but outside in broad daylight. I'm not sure how to fix the problem, but all my indoor photos end up orange and blurry. Ugh.

As Per Usual

As per usual, the busier I am and the more I have to do, the more I choose to add to my plate. Today was our first day back to work for "meetings" before the kids come back to school next week. With getting up early, getting kids ready for daycare, going to meetings all day, planning for the year, having to pack for a day away from home again each morning, and dragging in the door drained of all energy, I felt compelled to do a little crafting. (something I didn't have time for during summer vacation. Go figure.) So I took an old pair of Addison's jeans that still fit her waist, but had gotten too short to be cool, and we improvised. Since Addison is all about accessories, we made a hair clip to go with.

We'll have to get a better top now, since the rest of the outfit was free! I had plenty of scraps to choose from and alligator clips sitting around. This is so simple, I found myself wanting to rip up her perfectly fine jeans just to make another skirt. Since this was all about "recycling," though, I suppose that would be counterproductive....

Appreciation

My recent silence on the crisis in Haiti hasn't been for lack of thoughts and things to say. In truth, I have SO much to say that I haven't been able to put it together in an organized fashion. Like many of you, I find it so horrifying and heart wrenching to watch tragedy unfold without any ability to physically help. Monetary donations are appreciated and desperately needed, but if you're a hands-on type, this hardly seems like an adequate response. I want to DO something.

So, I did what we all should do on a regular basis anyways - I appreciated and made sure NOT to take for granted every moment with my healthy, safe, and comfortable little family this weekend. When I see footage of a two year old being pulled out of rubble - I can't help but lean over and cup the sweet little cheek of my own. We are so lucky - so incredibly lucky.

While on the way to the Monster Trucks this weekend, we stumbled on the very best family restaurant in the universe. Sombreros, a balloon artist,balls of fresh tortilla dough to use as play dough, fabulous service, and the most incredible fresh Mexican food - no cans used in the kitchen! It sounds like a loud, boisterous family restaurant, but it wasn't. It was somehow perfect for children, but classy and tasteful. Perhaps because all the kids were occupied and all the adults were wearing balloon hats?

Chevy's:

Best. Appetizer. Ever.

I don't know what it was - but it had something made with corn, some kind of heavenly sauce, and shrimp. And I don't even like shrimp.

Best. Salad. Ever.

(And now I'm hungry from looking at this picture.)

Tortilla Dough

fresh salsa

And get this --- We found out that 2 days a week, kids eat free. We just happened in on one of the free days!
And then we saw this place on the side of the road and had to pull over:

Turns out, Addison is a bit of a hillbilly. (which we already knew, I guess.) The second the monster trucks revved their engines, she was grinning, cheering, holding her "squeeze-it"
juice up in the air like a beer bottle and hollering her head off.

(balloon corsage from the restaurant)

Look closely and you can see Addison's Geographic Tongue. Yes, this is a real condition. Addison is following the esteemed family tradition of bizarre and mysterious diagnosis. You go, girl.

We also started the fairy trail this weekend. We informed the kids that we found some things in the woods that led us to believe fairies were decorating and moving in... so we went on a walk and let them find for themselves...

We'll add as the weeks go by. - I'm thinking darling little bird houses to nestle in the trees as fairy houses...

A cat and a good book - two of my favorite things.

Finally - my first knit hat!

My model:

His new tote bag made out of a too-small, but favorite shirt:

A very lovely weekend overall.