In Need of a Little Trim

Ever since the fiasco haircutting incident of September 2008 I haven't wanted to touch Aria's hair. It has gotten so long in the last year and a half. It was starting to look a bit straggley on the ends so I decided it was time for a trim.

The before-I can't believe it was almost down to her waist!
Her hair clipped up and ready to be cut. The after- Here she is posing for the camera. She is such a funny little thing. She was so excited to get her haircut. Luckily her hair is so fine and thin that it only took like ten minutes. It helped that Mike was right there to keep her attention and keep the head moving down to a minimum. After she was all done she decided to test her hair out with a little hair flipping and swishing. Of course she wanted me to take a picture of her.
Is that too funny or what?!

New Magnet Board

While Mike was gone on his golf trip last week I decided to get a couple of things crossed off my project list. This is our command center in the house. I bought these at Pottery Barn a few years ago. The one on the left has our family calendar where each child is color coded so I know at a glance who has what going on. There is also a place to hang our keys and keep our temperature gauge. The one on the right is a magnetic chalkboard. We've never really used it as a chalkboard because there isn't enough room to write anything under all the papers. Last Christmas Mike's cousin Carrie gave us magnet clips with all the kids' names on them. This has made it very easy to keep track of all their important school papers. I've been wanting to make a much bigger magnet board for a while now. I hate how the papers all hang off the board and often hide the clock. I found this frame at Michael's for half off. I took out the glass and bought a piece of sheet metal at Home Depot. I laughed when I asked the guy at Home Depot where the sheet metal was. He looked at me and then said, "You're making a magnet board, aren't you." I wonder how many women have asked him where the sheet metal is. :) Unfortunately it was a smidgen too big. Fortunately my sister-in-law Megan showed up right then. She went out in the garage, found some gloves and tin snips and went to work on trimming it down. It fit in beautifully! I switched the arrangement because the wall on the left had way more space. Now I have plenty of room for all of the kids' important papers and anything else I want to stick up there. I keep smiling as I walk by it. Thanks for the help Megan!

Nighttime Happenings

Early this morning at about 4:00 Aria started crying. Mike got up to check on her. (Sometimes I just love that he is closer to the door. :) ) I couldn't quite make out what she was saying but Mike had her back to sleep in a couple of minutes so I didn't worry about it. This morning Mike asked me if I had heard what she had said. When I replied No he told me that she was crying and saying, "My bed peed!" I guess the little sippy cup of water she had sitting by her pillow had tipped over and leaked a little bit on the bed. Too funny!

A few nights ago we were awakened at about 12:30 when we heard someone walking down the stairs. Then the light came on in the family room and soon after turned off. Some more walking around in the kitchen and then Michela came up the stairs. Mike asked her what she had been doing and she seemed a bit clueless. She said she had been looking for something but couldn't remember what. The next morning I asked her what she had been doing last night. She said she remembered talking to Dad, but she didn't know she had gone downstairs and had turned on the lights.

It is funny how I have ended up with so many sleepwalkers and sleep talkers in my life. My sister used to say crazy things in her sleep and sometimes wandered around our room at night. I remember her trying to climb into bed with me and one night she brought the entire contents of our closet to the floor with a mighty crash. Both of my roommates in college talked in their sleep. Mike often talks in his sleep and sometimes his dreams are so real he is leaping out of bed ready for a fight. As a kid he would often sleep walk. All of my kids talk in their sleep and now Michela is wandering the house. I guess interesting nights will always be in my future. :)

The Call of the Wolf

It was pack meeting last night and Hunter earned his Wolf badge. Along with his Wolf he also earned a gold arrowhead, 3 silver arrowheads as well as his Basketball belt loop. I am so proud of all the work he puts into scouts. I love that he loves it so much. Watching him and Mike work on different projects just makes me so happy! It's also so much fun when I get to help him with different things. I remember participating in scouts with my older brothers because my Mom seemed to always be the Den Mother of their troop.

Here is Hunter proudly displaying his Wolf marking. Such a tough guy. :)

Maternity Shirt #2: J. Crew Inspired

When I got back some of my maternity clothes from my friend she also threw in a black t-shirt she had bought. She bought it near the end of her pregnancy and thinks she never got around to wearing it. Let's just say it was a Liz Lange XXL Black V-Neck Tent! There's no way I would ever fit into that shirt so I decided to do a little refashioning.

I was inspired by a shirt from J. Crew. (It is no longer on the website.) I loved the ruffles around the neck and the asymmetry of the neckline.

I cut up the side seams of the shirt and sleeves. Then I used another t-shirt as a pattern to take in the sides. I also cut off the sleeves, took them in a bit and moved the shoulder seam so the sleeves weren't hanging off of my shoulders. I also had to hem up the bottom a little. I used the excess I had removed from the shirt to make the ruffles. I ended up with a cute fitted shirt.

I love how I don't even look that pregnant if you are looking at me straight on.

I kind of blew out this picture so you could see the detail at the neckline.

At first I had the ruffles going down but when I flipped them up I loved it even more. For the other ruffles on the side I took some smaller pieces, gathered them up and then randomly bunched them together. I then attached them by hand in a few bunches.

Super cute black shirt that can go with so many different things. I really love it with my gray boyfriend cardigan from Shade.

It also would look really cute dressed up a bit with a skirt and heels. Now I'm ready to tackle a couple of more gigantic tees.

Aria's Play Kitchen

I've been wanting to put a little play kitchen in our playroom for Aria since last year. I was determined to have one in there for her birthday last year, but didn't get around to it. I was in love with all the cute wooden play kitchens I saw in Pottery Barn Kids, but I didn't want to pay $300! I also didn't want to go the plastic play kitchen route. I wanted something that would last and looked a little more old school. I vaguely remember a bookcase kind of deal when I was little that had a fake stove top on it and a little sink.

After seeing so many cute nightstand and dresser play kitchens in blogland I decided I wanted to try and tackle one myself. This kitchen at Sutton Grace was my inspiration.

We started out by buying this lovely little entertainment center from the classifieds for $30. When Mike brought it home he announced that we were now the proud owners of a piece of junk. The glass had fallen out of the door on the way home, but I was okay with that because I intended on taking it out anyway. I loved the lines of this piece and could already see my vision coming together. It is also very solid and I know it will hold up nicely for years to come.

I took off the doors and hardware, sanded it all down and primed it. Mike put a piece of plywood on the back to cover the opening. Then he built up the counter part because I felt like it was a bit low. This also made it so that the sink had a place to sit rather than in the cupboard down below. We put a divider in below the counter and cut a couple of more shelves for the side cabinet. Then I painted it a nice barn red. This is one of the colors in our playroom and it looks so nice against the yellow walls.

It became quite the family project. When the weather got too cold to drag it outside, Mike and Michela finished painting it in the garage. I didn't want to be stuck in the garage with fumes that might hurt little Peanut. For family home evening one night we carried it downstairs and put it in the playroom. It is so cute!

It fits in a little nook under the slide in our playroom. When we built the house I had Mike include this little "house" on the plans.

I hadn't seen any play kitchens with refrigerators, but I knew I really wanted this to be a part of Aria's kitchen. I replaced the glass with sheet metal and backed it with some plywood. Now she can spell out words with her alphabet magnets. Inside there are a few shelves with plenty of space to hold all her food and dishes.

The sink is a metal bowl from Target and the faucet was donated to us by our lovely plumber friend Reyes.

The stove burners are just circles cut from scrap wood and painted black. The stove and oven knobs came from an appliance repair shop in town. The owner Steve helped me rummage through buckets of knobs to find some that went together.

For the oven we put the hinges on the bottom of the door and used a cookie cooling rack for the oven rack. The muffins are ready!

I made some cute little valances and added a framed picture so that it looks like there is a window above the counter. I decided to use a frame so I could change the picture out with the changing seasons. The picture in there now is one I took during the fall. I love looking at the majestic mountains. Don't you think some blossoming trees would be beautiful for spring?

Here is Aria playing in her kitchen. She is cutting up "potatoes" (tomatoes). She loves cooking up pancakes, soup and any other dish she can think of. With all the things we had to buy I think we came out at around $100. Not too bad for a one of a kind wooden play kitchen. Now I'm excited to try my hand at making some cute felt food!

Maternity Shirt #1: Jalie Pattern 2806

I have heard a lot of good things about Jalie patterns. I was encouraged when I saw on another blog that they had taken a Jalie top pattern, altered it a bit, and made a cute maternity shirt. My first attempt at this was Jalie 2806. It is a blousy scoopneck tee with a little gathered detail at the neckline.

I went with the size closest to my bust measurements, since when I am pregnant I can be rather top heavy. I then swung out the side seams on the front piece to give my growing tummy a bit more room and lowered the bottom hem of the front a bit.

This is what I came up with.
Next time I think I'll raise the neckline a bit. It is just a teeny bit on the low side for me.

Notice the gathered pleat at the neckline. It gives a little more fabric ease to the front of the shirt which is great for the preggo tummy.
A side view of the pleat detail.
And here was my outfit for the day. I actually got dressed up a bit because Mike wanted to meet me for lunch.
The skinny jeans were some non maternity jeans I found on clearance at Old Navy a couple of months ago. I put in my own stretch panel and tapered in the bottom of the jeans a bit more to fit into my fabulous new riding boots. The beautiful scarf is one I picked up in Italy on one of our trips. This turned out to be a pretty chic little outfit on my pregnant bod. Love it!

Asthmatic Bronchitis with a Side of Pneumonia

Chase had a bit of a cold this last week but on Thursday night it turned into an uncontrollable cough. I was up all night listening to him cough away. How is it that kids can sleep through most of their coughing but Mom can't? I kept him home from school on Friday and noticed that something was off. I couldn't exactly put my finger on it.

He couldn't stop coughing so I decided to call the doctor. I was hoping maybe some strong cough medicine could be prescribed to ease his coughing and alleviate his stomach soreness from all the coughing. On the way there he fell asleep in the car and I kept glancing at him. What was it that was nagging at me? Finally I realized it was his breathing that was bugging me. He was breathing really fast and it seemed like he couldn't take a deep breath. I also could hear some wheezing and rattling going on with each breath.

The doctor listened to him and asked him some questions. Chase told her it felt like his chest was being squeezed. I watched his little chest going up and down too quickly while they checked his oxygen levels. Turns out they were low. As she listened to his back I saw a look of concern cross her face. She then told me he had asthmatic bronchitis. What? He doesn't have asthma, I thought. Then she said she was pretty sure he had pneumonia in his right lung. He had only been sick for a few days, how did this happen? They gave him a breathing treatment and then she suggested I get a nebulizer to do treatments at home. I am so glad I followed my instincts and took him to the doctor.

Now Chase is taking antibiotics for his pneumonia, an anti-inflammatory medicine for his inflamed bronchial tubes and cough, and he has to do breathing treatments with an asthma medicine every four hours. What seemed like a little cold turned out to be a whole lot more.

Luckily the medicine is helping and he has slept well the last couple of nights. Fortunately I haven't had to do the breathing treatments every four hours at night. He's already sick of them. Every time I pull out the mask he complains. The cough medicine is disgusting so he gets to chase it down with a couple of spoonfuls of chocolate syrup. "Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down."

He'll probably have to stay at home for a little while until his breathing gets back to normal and the wheezing goes away. At night I wake up and go stand by his bedside and listen to him breath. I just hope that this doesn't turn into something worse or that he develops asthma problems after this. He's never had any problems like this before, Hunter is the one who has always had the nasty croup problem. I just wish the air was clearer so I didn't have to worry so much about what he was breathing in.

Here's hoping that he'll be back to school soon and running around with the kids outside. But for now I think he is enjoying hanging out at home with Mom and watching cartoons while his brother and sister are at school.

Happy 11th Birthday!

I can't believe Michela turned 11 today. Those 11 years have gone by so quickly. Since I became pregnant with her we have moved six times and built four houses. She has gone to 3 different elementary schools and four different wards. That's a lot for 11 years!

I can still remember when Michela entered the world. It was a Sunday and we were so excited to meet our new little girl. It all started at about 1:00 Saturday morning when I went into labor. By 8:00 that morning we were on our way to the hospital, sure she would be born that day. Unfortunately I was not far enough along so they made me walk around the parking lot for an hour. After my next assessment I was told I still wasn't ready. I was throughly depressed and in a whole lot of pain. My labor pains were coming very fast and very hard. They gave me a shot of morphine and sent me home to sleep. By the time we got home Mike almost had to carry me to bed.

Later that afternoon the pains started up and by Midnight we were off to the hospital yet again. Luckily they let me stay this time. By 4:00 Sunday morning Mike was begging me to get the epidural. I really had wanted to try a do it natural but he couldn't stand to see me in any more pain. What was I thinking?! Did I think I would get a special badge of honor if I went through the whole process without any drugs? My poor body did so much better after the epidural. I could finally relax and stopped fighting my contractions. Things started to progress much better after that.

By 8:00 I was ready to push, too bad for me, Michela decided she didn't want to come out. After pushing off and on for almost 5 hours my body was too tired to push anymore. The doctor said if I couldn't get the baby down far enough to pull her out with forceps than I would have to have a C-section. That scared me enough to give one last effort and got her to where they could reach her. I had an appendectomy when I was 16 and I didn't want to go through all that again. Around 1:30 in the afternoon Michela joined our family.

She was the prettiest little baby. All the nurses wanted to hold her and get a look at her. She always came back from the nursery with a cute little hairdo and a little pink bow. She was such a sweet little thing and such a good little baby.

Where has the time gone? How did she grow up so fast? When I look at Aria lately I catch glimpses of that little girl Michela used to be. She has grown to be such a beauty, though she doesn't like you to tell her that, and she is as smart as can be. She loves sports and is so creative. She loves to draw, write stories, and read book after book.

For her birthday her favorite present was her new ripstik. She rode around the kitchen for a while this morning.

She had birthday blueberry muffins for breakfast before church.

For dinner we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a little celebration. Michela had requested that Grandma Peggy make her an ice cream roll cake with double fudge brownie ice cream inside. Talk about some serious chocolate!

Some fun things to know about Michela:

1. She Loves to Play Football.

2. She is Quite the Little Artist. She especially loves to draw Cartoon People.

3. Her Favorite TV Show is Phineas and Ferb.

4. She Loves Asparagus, Broccoli and Green Beans.

5. She is Learning to Sew.

6. She could Spend All Day Reading.

7. She Likes to Make up Funny Songs.

8. Her Favorite Soup is White Bean Chicken Chili.

9. She Hates Math.

10. Her Favorite Color is Blue.

11. She Likes to Bake.

We sure love having Michela in our family. I couldn't have asked for a better first baby and oldest child. We are truly blessed to call her our own. Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

St. Patrick's Day Topiary: Tutorial

I really have no St. Patrick's Day decorations. I usually leave up my Valentine's day decor for half the month of March and then start putting up Easter. I wanted to come up with a fun craft for St. Patrick's day that looked elegant and was easy to make.

You will need:

- a pot
- a styrofoam ball ( I used 4" balls.)
- Four leaf clover garland
- floral foam
- a wooden dowel or stick
- paint
- ribbon
- green moss


I started out trying to hot glue the garland around the ball. After a few burnt fingers and a few melted clovers I figured there had to be an easier way.
On my next try I decided to stick one end of the garland into the ball, then I wound the garland around a few times, cut off the piece and stuck the other end into the ball to secure it. I just kept doing this, changing the direction and placement of the garland until the ball was covered. Much easier, much safer and much faster.

I then painted my pot black and my dowel gold. I wedged a piece of floral foam into the pot and stuck one end of the dowel into my covered ball and one end into the foam. Next I covered the foam with the green moss and tied a gold ribbon around the pot. It ended up looking a lot cuter than I hoped.

I have a nook in the wall of our entry where we have a painting hanging. I usually like to use this little shelf below the painting for a little holiday decor display. These two topiaries turned out perfectly for this spot. Now I just need to come up with something to go inbetween them. Hmm...

Do You Have Lipstick?

The other day as we were walking into Chase's school Aria looked at me and asked, "Do you have lipstick?" "No," I replied, "but I have chapstick on." Aria is very into all things makeup. She thought for a minute and then asked, "Does Dad kiss you on the lips?" "Yes," I answered. "Does he dance wiss you?" "Sometimes," I said. "And does he always bring you flowers?" Now I was cracking up. "Sometimes he brings me flowers." With that she was satisfied.

Where in the world does she come up with these things? She is such a funny little thing and so observant. I blame the romantic notions on her love for all things princess. I don't know where she was going with the questioning but at least she seemed happy with my answers. She sure makes life interesting and always brings a smile to my face.

Refinished Craft Table

I bought a little craft table for the kids when Hunter was a baby, probably 7 years ago or so. I found a cute pottery barn table at Down East, a designer outlet store, that only had one ding in it. The table has served us well over the years but it seems like the kids have been giving it a beating the last couple of years. This is what it looks like now.

I've been wanting to sand it down and restain or paint it for a little while. I finally got up the energy to do it. I thought I would just have to sand off the paint and finish, but I soon found out it was going to be a little more work. Where the paint and pen had been I had to sand it down to the wood. So I ended up having to sand the entire table down to the bare wood. It took a little more time but it was worth it in the end.
After a good sanding, two coats of Ebony Stain and a couple of coats of varnish it was a brand new table. I so love this new dark finish. Hopefully this will be able to hide a little more wear and tear.
Now I just need to sand down the little chairs and make them all red. That project might have to wait for a little while. :)

The Oscars

Oh how I love all the big award shows. I don't really care that much who wins, I just want to look at all the gorgeous dresses! After watching these shows I always want to grab a sketch book and start sketching. I was a little disappointed in the dresses this year at the Oscars. I'm not quite sure what it was but I was not as thrilled as I usually am. Don't get me wrong, there were some fantastic gowns that I fell in love with but there was a lot more ho hum stuff than usual.

First, my favorites.

I loved Penelope Cruz's dress. The draping was divine, I loved the red color and the asymmetrical top was very lovely.

I thought Elizabeth Banks' dress was gorgeous! The color was just enough, all those delicious ruffles and all that intricate work on the top made her look very va va voom!
Rachel McAdams looked so pretty. Her dress was beautiful. Very ethereal and loved the beautiful colors.

And of course Sandra Bullock looked beautiful. Her dress was not my favorite of the evening, it was pretty but didn't have much punch to it, but her whole look made her look like a winner. And who didn't love her acceptance speech, so sweet and so heartfelt.

The biggest surprise for me was Maggie Gyllenhaal. She usually looks so dowdy and dresses like an old woman. I loved the bright blue of her dress and for once she looked young and fresh.

Vera Farmiga's dress was Aria's favorite. She called it a flower dress. I think the hot pink and all the lovely ruffles caught her eye. I have to admit it was quite eye catching.

On to the duds of the evening.

Anna Kendrick is such a pretty girl but this dress did nothing for her. It was as pale as her skin and the style was more reminiscent of a nightie than an Oscar gown. She really needs to get a new stylist.

I don't particularly love the nude dress trend. They come off looking pretty blah to me. I loved the style of Demi Moore's dress but the color just blended in to her fake tan.

Another big disappointment was the usually fashionable Charlize Theron. What in the world was going on with her dress? Did no one notice the bulls eyes on her chest?!

And my favorite worst dress of the evening was the dress worn by Jennifer Lopez. When she first walked on stage I leaned over to Mike and said, "she looks like she's wearing bubble wrap!" I couldn't believe my eyes! It looked too stiff and I worried that when she sat down it would sound like a machine gun going off in the audience. :)

I also missed some of my favorite red carpet stunners like Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Anne Hathaway and Cate Blanchett. Where were you ladies?