Getting ready for Threesie

 I boiled all of Katie's rejected binkies.  Threesie will have lots of options!










Abby and I moved the mattress back upstairs and into the corner.  To try and mimic her crib, we put a gate around the bed.  And because I love that wallpaper and don't trust her little fingers, I had Matthew and Spencer put a sheet of plexiglass to cover it right there.  Over her head are pictures of Grammy Rita and Great Great Grandma Katie.  That's been on my list for so long!  

We moved the chair over in front of the window by the crib.  Will Katie stay asleep for night nursing?  I hope so!

This old old piece of quilt was a gift from one of my dear bonus parents.  It fits perfectly on the changing table and makes me happy every day.   I love that I get to use it daily in its third life.  

I put in some drawer dividers.  Katie jammies on one side, Threesie on the other.  And then they each get just one drawer.  We're going to have to be ruthless about clothes.  We have too many anyway.

I couldn't have done all of this without Abby.  What a great auntie.  Matthew and Spencer did the Plexiglass installation on their rainy day off.  What a lucky Mama I am.



Just maybe-we're ready.  Though I'm still pulling for August.  :)

Threesie's bed

We got out the beautiful bassinet, and outfitted it with Threesie's blankie and another lovely pretty one from Sarah.  It's perfect for a sweet summer boy or girl.  

I love my bassinet. 

Katie loves the blankie.  Oh, sweet girl, you have no idea what's coming.  

Patriot Toes

I have a sister who's willing to paint my toes.

And she's willing to paint wiggly little girl toes too.  

We each had a different style.

 It was the first trial with the white paint pen.  Abby said it worked well.

I'm still very fond of glitter toes.  Happy 4th of July!  (I wonder what Pinterest fad we'll jump on next year?)

Bringing Up Bebé

I saw Bringing Up Bebé at the Library the other day and picked it up.  Such a fun read!  I love reading about what we (former *sniff*) language teachers call "small c" culture-the real life sorts of things that make countries different.  This book was chock full of "small c" culture, interesting and funny.  It's my kind of parenting book too-all about limits and being firm and encouraging independence.

One of the items discussed was baking with children-and she includes a recipe for gateau au yaourt (yogurt cake) that French kids learn to bake all by themselves.  (Here's another Mama's post about it-with recipe)  Sounds like fun to me.  

Anna made it all by herself!  

I couldn't find whole milk yogurt, so we used nonfat, and a little basket of raspberries.  Could use more, I think.  

Then, because we had fresh cake and it was recommended to serve it with tea, Anna decided we should have a tea party.  

We had a lovely time.

Fabric fun

In my little snippets of free time I've been working on my scrap basket.  I'd like to cut all of them into 1.5" strips to use in scrap quilts.  I have bins for light and for dark.  I'm getting there....once I get caught up, hopefully I will just have this be another step in the project and then I'll always have something fun to play with.  

With the really tiny bits (I have a terrible time throwing anything away) I've started a postage stamp quilt.  I figure this'll take years and years and years and that sounds like fun.  It's easier for me to throw away tiny bits if I'm using at least one more part of them.  So I cut 1.5" squares and sew 64 together at a time to make blocks.  

Someday this will be a super fun quilt.

Spencer's Quilt

Only one year late, I finally finished Spencer's graduation quilt.  I used a pattern from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, a book I have really loved.  The red and white fabric is clouds with little birds flying-I loved it and the name "Free as a bird" reminded me of Spencer.

What is it about a blanket that invites babies to happily lay down?  They can't resist.

Both girls 7/4/12

This gives you some idea of how the whole process went.  

  

With some distractions...

  

A rare still moment. 

Two girls singing.

I think the only picture of the two girls looking at the camera.  

Whew.  And next year I'll have THREE!!??!!  :)

Katie Portraits 7/4/12

And if Anna was hard, Katie was nearly impossible!  I need to do these when MJL is around to help.

I had Anna stand behind me and make faces, which helped a little bit.

Here she's singing.

And with blankie, her very favorite companion.

Happy 4th, Katie bug!

Anna Portraits 7/4/12

I was stressed and maybe a bit cranky-but I got some good pictures finally of my girls.

I need to remember that Anna looks good from above.  Almost all the pictures I like came from this 30 seconds.

And letting her do some weird poses gets me a more natural smile.  

I have no idea how she's posed, but she's happy!

Sweet pretty girl.

13 years

I think this was the best year yet.  

Quilt tablecloth

I saw this big quilt at Goodwill and couldn't resist it, even though I really didn't know what I could use it for.  It's heavy and would be a great lawn blanket, but I just made one...

But I loved it so I brought it home.  

And realized it would make a fantastic 4th of July tablecloth!  I'm so very happy.  

I love the farm. #5

You can't beat the commute.  :)

I love the farm. #4

Little girls (and big girls) get to walk across the yard and help Daddy in the shop sometimes.  

What's not to love about that?

I love the farm. #3

I don't know how to get a picture of the glistening green corn.  It's so much prettier than this.

I decided I love the summer fields because they're so tidy.

All even and smooth and uniform in color, it's beautiful and soothing to drive around in the summer. 

I love the farm. #2

These are the weeds that grow in the ditches.  Did you ever see such lovely weeds?  They make me smile any time I drive out to deliver a lunch or a dinner or a girl or a part.  

I love the farm. #1

This week I want to share a little bit of what I love about the farm.  Every year that we're here I love it more.  Even in the crazy busy summer when Daddy's gone and busy and working so hard-I just love it here.  

Wheat and sky.  

And did you know that the wheat makes a pretty loud rustling in the wind?  

All scratchy and whispery and rattly.

Father's Day Paintings

We've been doing Father's Day paintings for 6 years now.  

 Here's Anna's first masterpiece in 2006. 

I'm still not quite good at relaxing during the painting process.  We go outside, we wear old clothes, I don't worry about getting messy...but it still makes me a little crazy.  

But what wonderful things to have hanging on the wall for a year!  It's always worth it.