Monthly Archives: October 2011

Happy Halloween!

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Alethea was asking all day when it would be time to go trick or treating, so she was delighted when it was finally time to get her costume on and head out the door:

Before we left the house, we coached her to say ‘trick or treat’ and told her that she needed to say ‘thank you’ when someone put something in her bag.  She followed the rules very carefully.

At one of the first houses we went to, Alethea got a kit-kat bar, but Lydia got a tootsie roll pop, and boy did she think it was cool!

From that point on Alethea was determined to find someone to give her a sucker too!  She took her home-made trick or treat bag door to door in search of someone with cheap candy, but wouldn’t you know it, all of our lovely, generous neighbors seemed to have mini candy bars.

We were down to the last two houses on our street when finally we found someone with suckers.  When I told the nice lady who answered the door that Alethea was in search of a sucker, she gave her not one, or two, but three!

At that, Alethea handed me her bag full of chocolate bars, unwrapped one of the suckers, and shoved it in her mouth.  Then as we walked down the drive way, she looked up at me and said, “I’m cold.”

“Should we go home now?” I asked her.

Despite the dum-dum hanging out of her mouth, she managed a big, “Uh huh!”

Once home, we let the girls enjoy the spoils, although Lydia mainly just had cheese crackers, because she found the sucker a bit hard to eat.

Alethea was mystified by her sister’s apathy towards the tootsie roll pop and proceeded to polish off two suckers and a kit-kat bar before we cut her off for the night.

I may have slightly over-estimated the amount of candy we needed.  I think our numbers were down this year.  Still, by giving out handfuls at the end, we managed to nearly run out by the time we turned the lights out.

So, all things considered, I’d call it a successful Halloween!

Hope yours was great too!

A First and Some Fun

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Today was a crazy busy day.

It started out with Alethea and I going to Cost Cutters for her first haircut.

We only got the back cut, because I’d still like the front to keep growing and I don’t want Alethea to have bangs.  Still, I’m glad I went to a salon, because Alethea was pretty cooperative, but I think that was mostly the result of getting to wear a cool surfing penguins cape.

After her haircut, we went to Wendy’s for a mother/daughter lunch.  Getting to have a meal together (just the two of us) isn’t something that happens all that often.  We bonded over chicken nuggets and an apple chicken salad.

With tummy’s running on full, we hopped into the car and did some more errands, including the dry cleaners, which isn’t something I’d normally bother to share, but I’m super impressed with this one I found near us because they have a drive up window.  LOVE IT!

Our last errand of the morning was Kohl’s where we used our 20 percent off coupon to procure a black hat for Alethea’s Halloween costume and new sunglasses for me, who foolishly let Lydia play with my last pair while she was sitting on our concrete sidewalk.  SCRAAAAATCH!

I found a really cute new pair and so did Alethea:

After we put her selection back on the rack, we bought the hat and my sunglasses and then headed home for nap time.  Or at least Alethea took a nap.  I, however, took off again and picked up a pumpkin at the grocery store, take n’ bake pizzas for dinner and a paint sample for our main floor bathroom.

Then home again, home again, jiggidy jig, I tossed the pizzas in the fridge and grabbed a paint brush, determined to test a small square of the color before our dinner guests arrived.  I’m wasn’t sure exactly when I’d get around to actually painting the bathroom, but I just love to see what paint colors look like up on a wall.  So yeah, dinner guests coming and no plans to paint the bathroom soon.  Should I have waited to try the color out?  Oh probably, but I had a brilliant plan.  Just paint a small square behind the picture frame on the wall and hang the picture back up when finished.  Fool proof…

Unless one fails to realize that the screw in the wall only marks the top of the picture frame when the hanger for the picture frame is actually at the top.  Not closer to a third of the way down the back, like mine is…

Oh well.  Looks like I’ve got new motivation to move ‘paint main floor bathroom’ up on my to do list.

Our dinner guests arrived on schedule, but since it was my parents and Peter’s parents who came over, they were very understanding about the painting mishap and the tool box sitting on the kitchen counter.  Besides, we were about to create an even bigger mess since they had all come over for our annual pumpkin carving.  It’s quickly becoming a family tradition for the men to watch football and drink beer while the women-folk do the carving, but that’s okay.  We all probably enjoy it more that way anyhow.

Naturally, step one of carving is to pop the top off the gourds and clean out the guts.  The girls both helped with this.  Lydia very willingly stuck her hand right into the pumpkin, but then had a hard time grabbing seeds, since they were so slippery.

And when she did finally get a seed out of her large orange friend, it went straight into her mouth.  I was about to dive in after it when she swallowed it in one easy gulp.

And with that, her pumpkin gutting time quickly ended.

Alethea was definitely more squeamish than her sister, but eventually got into the seed finding fun.

With the guts cleaned out, we began the carving process.  I worked on a puppy pumpkin as per Alethea’s request (yes, she had a puppy pumpkin last year too) and Peter’s mom Denny worked on Lydia’s pumpkin eating pumpkin, which was based on a photo I found online (I wish it had been my design idea, but it wasn’t).  I’m super happy with how they turned out!

Small pumpkins and gourds of the world, beware!

We also took some time during the evening to have the girls model their Halloween costumes for their grandparents, who won’t be around on Monday to see them all dressed up.  I just can’t get over how cute they both look!

The bumble bee costume was actually mine when I was about Alethea’s age, so I’ll have to dig up a picture so we can do a side by side comparison.

Alethea was disappointed it wasn’t actually time to go trick-or-treating, and honestly, I was too.  It’s going to be a really delightful Halloween!

My little flower and bumble bee are snug in their beds now, and I think I’m going to join them and put an end to this very busy day.

Two and a Half!

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Today is Alethea’s half birthday!  Can you believe she’s 2.5 years old?!?!  That means she’s half way to 5!  Yikes!!!!  Not ready to think about that, so I’ll just say…

Happy Birthday, Alethea!

You make us smile every single day and we can’t think of anyone else we’d rather have for our firstborn girl!

A Big Big Bed

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It’s official!  Alethea in no longer in a crib and she’s no longer in a big girl bed.  Nope, she’s been upgraded to a big BIG bed!

While it was nice to have a crib that converted to a toddler bed, we realized that Alethea’s time in it was limited by the fact that our second crib, the one that Lydia is using, is a drop-side model, also know as an “they no longer make them death trap”.  So now that Lydia is on the verge of pulling herself up to standing, we figured it was time to pull the ol’ switcheroo and get Lydia into the safer crib and upgrade Alethea to a twin mattress.

Alethea’s transition from nursery to big girl room wasn’t completely smooth and her move from crib to toddler bed wasn’t exactly without bumps, so a few months ago Peter and I started strategizing how to make Alethea totally enthusiastic about her big, big bed’s arrival.  So enthusiastic that she’d want to help take apart her toddler bed.

Plan Stage 1: Talk it up!  We started telling her about the big, big bed, how it was going to be so big that it would go all the way from the wall to the bookcase and how she’d have room to sleep with all of her stuffed animals.

Plan Stage 2: Bribe away!  Alethea adores Clifford, the big red dog, so I found a large plush Clifford dog at Kohl’s.  Then we kept telling her that when she got a big big bed, her bed would be so big that Clifford would come sleep with her.

I’m happy to report that our two stage plan worked brilliantly.  Alethea was begging to go bed shopping!  And after we bought the bed, Alethea was so excited to sleep in it that when we offered her dinner, she said, “No thanks.  Go to sleep!”

She did eventually come down for dinner, but right after she got her jammies on, she asked where Clifford was.  I have no idea what she was expecting, but when Peter brought in the stuffed animal, she got a huge grin on her face, held out her arms, and said, “I want it!”

Of course, we couldn’t leave Lydia out, so she got a new plush too, Clifford’s best friend T-Bone!

Of all the sleeping transitions we’ve gone through, this was definitely the easiest.  She was thrilled with the bed and her new Clifford (and only mildly bothered that she didn’t get a T-Bone too!)

And I am so glad that we finally got to make the bed with the gorgeous quilt that Alethea’s Gramma Denny made for her.  It really brings her whole big girl room together so nicely!

A big girl, a big red dog and a big, BIG bed!

Check It Out

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I just started following another blog a few days ago.  It’s called Nesting Place, and as you might guess from the name, it is a home design blog.  However, my two favorite posts so far are not specifically about decor and are totally worth checking out, even if you don’t have a passion for home fashion.

A few days ago The Nester posted this video about creative work.  It really spoke to me.  If you like doing anything creative or artistic, you might enjoy it.

And yesterday she posted about a unique art project:

Is it art?  An interesting commentary on our society?  A complete waste of money?  Or is it the most brilliant piece of marketing ever seen?

You decide.

How Hard Could it Be?

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Peter always dreads it when I say those words.  Like when I found this chair on Craigslist for $30.

“It’s sooo perfect for Alethea’s room!” I said.

“But it’s orange!” Peter replied.

“I’ll just reupholster it,” I told him.  “It’s just the seat.  How hard could it really be?”

First I popped off the gold nail head trim.  Piece of cake!

Then I did some measuring and bought a yard of some gorgeous teal velvet.

I showed my mom the fabric.

“You’re planning on taking off the orange leather for a pattern?” she asked.

“No,” I told her, “I think I’ll just wrap the velvet over the other fabric.  The velvet is a bit thin, so it might be good to have another layer.  I mean, it can’t be that hard, right?”

Turns out thin velvet rips when it’s stretched too tight.  Also turns out it is hard to cut fabric for a seat without a pattern.

Lessons learned.  Always listen to your mother!  I purchased new fabric (a pink brushed twill) from the upholstery section of the fabric store.  Then I pulled off the orange leather for a pattern.

While the chair was already pretty comfortable, I took the opportunity to add some additional foam to the front edge for a touch more padding.

Then I closed her up…

… and cut out the fabric for the new seat.

After I cut the fabric out using my *ahem* pattern, I stretched, stapled, smoothed, trimmed, stapled, stretched and stapled some more.  After several hours (yup, even with a pattern, it was harder than I thought it would be) I had this:

Then I nailed in a couple hundred upholstery nails, which actually wasn’t that bad.  (Finally, something goes smoothly!)  And here is the ‘new’ chair in Alethea’s room:

And fabric lovers, never fear.  I salvaged a big chunk of the teal velvet and finished the bottom of the chair.  I wasn’t originally planning on doing the chair’s underside, but with fabric already in hand and the thought that Alethea is as likely to end up under the chair as she is to be sitting on it, it seemed like a reasonable thing to do.

So, it was harder than I thought it would be, but I think the results were totally worth it!

I almost want to tackle another upholstery project again soon.  But not quite.

Lydia’s Nine Month Update

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Lydia turned three-quarters of a year old on the 5th of this month.  Happy (belated) birthday, my sweet girl!

Just today, I finally got her to the doctor for her nine month check-up.  Here are her current stats: Height – 27.75 inches, Weight – 22 lbs 2 oz, Head Circumference 18.25 inches.  That means she is in the 51st percentile for height, but in the 91st for weight.  She’s also holding on to a respectably bobble-headed 95th percentile for her head measurement.  You go girl!

The most notable change of the last month has been Lydia’s increased mobility.  While she hasn’t started crawling on her hands and knees just yet, she has perfected her army crawl and is now a dangerous force to be reckoned with.  She can get across a room surprisingly fast for one so small, especially if she has the motivation of Alethea’s toys to get her moving.  She has cried a few times when Alethea has demonstrated just how unwelcome her persistent presence really is.  And who can blame her, I’d cry too if someone twice my size tried to stand on me, or whacked me with a strainer from the kitchen drawer.  However, unless she’s in a particularly bad mood, Alethea doesn’t do anything worse than poke at her and Lydia still thinks that’s pretty funny.

Other milestones this month include going from one tooth to four, and then to five and finally… to six!  We’ve had lots of drool and some pretty whiny days, but over all, she seems to handle massive amounts of teething fairly well.  And of course, now that she has the teeth she wants to use them.  She almost exclusively feeds herself now (I only get to help with the sippy cup and yogurt, when she’s in the mood for it).  Her favorite foods are peaches, bananas and crackers, but we have yet to find any sort of fruit, vegetable or bread item that she won’t at least gnaw on.

Her favorite room in the house is Alethea’s bedroom, since there are so many forbidden things to get into.  Her favorite activity is standing up next to a piece of furniture and holding on all by herself.  (She’ll stay there for minutes on end, being amused by nothing more than her own ability to stay upright.)  Her favorite person is Mommy, followed by Daddy and then Alethea.  Her favorite things to say are “ma-ma-ma-ma” and “ba-ba-ba-ba”.  (I’m pretty sure she is just babbling and not refering to any particular person or object at this point.)  Her favorite stuffed animal is her bedtime lamb and her favorite toys are Alethea’s baby dolls.  She also likes books, but always tries to eat them and is not terribly interested in being read to, because if Mommy is holding the book, that means it’s not in her mouth.

Now we’re looking forward to Lydia’s first Halloween – she’s going to be a flower.  Her first Thanksgiving – maybe she’ll be eating meat by then.  Her first Christmas – I can’t wait!  And after that, if you can believe it, her first birthday!  How time flies!

Don’t grow up too quickly, Little Girl!  We think you’re just right the way you are!

Trying New Things

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Today Alethea and I decided to try a few new things.

THING 1

Since I grew up living in a townhouse, there are many yard related tasks that I didn’t do as a child.  For example, I’ve never mowed a lawn and I don’t recall ever having jumped into an enormous pile of leaves.  Today wasn’t a lawn mowing day, but the leaf thing seemed like a possibility.  However, instead of trying it myself, I was content to let Alethea have this first for her own.

Here are a few pics from Alethea’s inaugural leaf pile jumping:

THING 2

Alethea has been really into reading the Frances books lately, especially Bread and Jam for Frances.  I started noticing how in several of the books the characters mention cream cheese sandwiches: cream cheese and chive, cream cheese and jam, cream cheese, cucumber and tomato on rye, etc.  Cream cheese isn’t something that I’ve ever eaten as a main sandwich ingredient, but it didn’t sound too bad, so today we gave it a whirl.  For lunch, Alethea and I had cream cheese and tomatoes on whole wheat bread with a sprinkling of dill for zip.  Turns out cream cheese and tomatoes make for a pretty tasty sandwich.  I enjoyed mine and Alethea liked hers so well, she requested and was given a second serving!  I can see cream cheese becoming a staple around here.

THING 3

Has anyone else noticed how crazy expensive chicken is getting?  I’ve gotten to the point that I’m doing my weekly meal planning after I go to the grocery store, just because I can’t bring myself to buy chicken if it’s not on sale.  Boneless skinless breasts haven’t been marked down lately, but whole chickens were, which is how I ended up with a bird that needed roasting.  Never roasted a whole chicken before, but I’m always up for a culinary adventure.  So armed with some advice and a recipe that I sort of followed, I whipped up this beauty for dinner tonight:

I think I did reasonably well for my first attempt.  The meat was incredibly tender, practically falling off the bone.  The flavor was good too, but not anything to write home about.  Alethea gave it two thumbs up though and it’s hard to get her to eat chicken that’s not in a nugget form, so I will definitely need to try this again.

So that was our day of new things.  What about you?  Have you done/tried anything new lately?  A new food, a new hobby, a new route to work?  Is there something that people would be surprised to learn that you’ve never done?  Or have you ever based your menu choices off of a piece of children’s literature?  Please, do tell!

A New Family Member

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No I’m not pregnant.

We’re not getting a dog either.  At least not right now.

Nope, not talking about anything living or breathing, but about something that brought a breath of fresh air to our Living Room.

A NEW RUG!

As you may recall, it was love at first sight when I saw the Pottery Barn Mia Rug in their catalog a few months back.  It was exactly what I had been looking for and I would have gone out and bought it right then and there, but it with all the summer landscaping projects, it wasn’t really in the budget.

Well, good things come to those that wait.  Good things like a rug sale, a 10% off your entire purchase coupon, Pottery Barn gift cards procured by redeeming credit card points and being able to convince Peter that since we both were sick of the old rug, the rest would make the perfect anniversary gift to give each other.

So this weekend it was out with the old:

And in with the new!

I’m absolutely in love with this rug.

Lydia likes it too.

Although that may be due in large part to the fact that she enjoys picking fuzz out of it to chew on.

Oh well!

The rest of us are enjoying it’s colors, patterns and the fact that it is very cushy under foot.

Welcome to the family, Mia!