Quilt-along

I am participating in a quilt-along, via http://ihavetosay.typepad.com/randi/quilt-a-long/. I am really looking forward to it but am also nervous. I have only done small quilting projects and hope that I am not getting in over my head. Anyways, the button on the side bar will take you to the quilt-a-long site. Read about it and see if you are interested too! It is definitely not too late to join!

Smarter than the average bear!

Well smarter than her daddy at least! David blockaded Cally out of the dining room so that I could iron with out fear of scarring and or disfiguring her. However, David failed to account for Cally's persistence.

What! I can't get to the red hot iron? No fun!


Hmm, I think I have it all worked out!


See! Easy cheesy!


Don't worry Dad, I will close the chairs behind me to keep Addy out. ;)

10 months!!!

Cally already has a love for tackling. It started with knocking poor Pooh Bear off of his turtle but lately she has graduated to the cats and even Addy!


Cally is a wonderful eater. In fact it is all the stuff that she is not supposed to eat that I have to worry about. So different than her big sister Addy... Oh and to share her good news, Cally's milk protein intolerance is much better. I can eat whatever for the most part but we still keep dairy out of Cally's diet. What a wonderful progression for us as a family though!


Cally cruises around the kitchen and opens all of the cabinets. She empties each one and moves on to the next. Just today she started climbing in after she cleared her spot.


Hands down, Cally's favorite game right now is peek-a-boo. Cally covers her face up and throws her hands down to share where Cally is. We play this all day long. It is so much fun to see her eyes sparkle when she is found!


Cally took her first steps a couple of days ago! David and were both so excited to see it! So far she is just taking at most three or four steps to get from David and me. Obviously, she still has a ways to go to be a 'walker' but first steps are such fun. :)

Just call her Martha!

While I was upstairs putting Cally down for her afternoon nap, Addy decided to tackle a little bit of decorating. Earlier in the day we made a lemon-blueberry muffin mix together. Addy was not satisfied with the muffins as they were, so she took advantage of the peace and quiet and set to work. I was most happy to see that Addy went to the trouble of working out of a cup as to limit any mess. Unfortunately the muffins were a little dry and the sprinkles really didn't remedy that. What a fun surprise to come downstairs to though!

My hero!

Not only is David going through a tough training program at work he has started our downstairs washroom/mudroom remodel. Here are a few before and during pictures.

The mudroom portion of the project before. David tore down a ton of this old panelling.


What was underneath was mostly old plaster, but we did find some wonderful old bead board that we can refinish.


The bathroom after David started taking down panelling.



Here is after he has started fixing the walls.

Addy's view of her world....

A couple of my friends have posted a few (or an entire blog :)) of their kids pictures so I thought I would post a few of Addy's. Maybe Addy has a unique viewpoint that others would be interested in?

Do you see a neglectful mother in the background? Poor Addy, if I wasn't such a slacker she would be well on her way to solving the world's energy problems. Alas I do enjoy a good book. Or maybe I should have said that was the babysitter? ;)


Jiffy is always a popular subject for Addy.



Cally will do if Jiffy is not around though.


Maybe Addy will grow up to be a blogger with all of the photos she takes of her days?

The post that almost wasn't!

Sometimes as a mother of two it can be hard enough to keep track of both children, much less all of the additional paraphernalia I tend to carry. Yesterday was a great example of that, amidst all of the chaos that a school day holiday brings to an indoor fun center, I lost my camera. I was pretty bummed and figured that when I couldn't find it after searching that it was gone. I asked twice at the desk if it had been turned in and no one knew anything about it. But luckily, persistence pays off and my camera was turned in!!! So I am posting a couple of pictures of our afternoon there just because I can! Enjoy them please!

The best idea ever!

David has had many good ideas over the course of our life together. The one I am currently most impressed with is our new playroom. What used to be a dusty quarter of our basement is now a bonafide playroom! Yes, those are really angels you hear singing! I can not even put into words how nice it is to have a living space free (well relatively free) of toys upstairs now.
Here are a few pictures of the girls enjoying their new space.

Just cute

Here is one of my favorite recent shots of the girls together. Addy was all ready to go out on one of her first semi-solo activity with a friend (and their parents, really I swear there was an adult there!). She was so excited, but still took time to pose before leaving. Addy insisted on including Cally in the picture. It is amazing how much the girls love each other. :)


Here is Addy's purse store. She is a pretty sharp salesperson. She almost talked me into paying for a purse in chocolate!

Could we be having anymore fun?

Yes, mom?


Cally was all set to climb the steps after Addy.


Cally's preferred method to cruise the halls. Addy gets her going pretty fast, Cally loves it, but Addy still is not great at steering. So when Cally is cruising, I am pretty much running after them screaming, "no not there, the open area Addy! The open area!" That is being a good parent, right?


Here, let me see how that tastes! Give it here!


Addy L-O-V-E-S this sand box. She will sit in there and play for hours. Here she is with some random friend she made. The next group of kids in the sand box were a brother and sister pair, the brother washed his sister's hair with sand and called Addy, Abby. The last group in there with Abby, I mean Addy was a little boy and his mom. The little boy's mom was trying to talk him out of the sand box and to play with his dad instead. Somehow the little boy was not budging. So, the bounce house is fun for the kids and for social studies. :)

Bread Baking Basics!

I have started to bake our bread, next up is world domination. No really, it is way too easy with my new mixer and my helper Addy.


Addy even manages not to burn herself on the stove, more than I can say for myself!


Mixing in more flour, Addy thought the dough looked too sticky still. She was right, our bread needed more flour.


Our loaves after the final rising and before baking. Pretty risen (!) if I do say so myself. ;)


The final product. Next on my list of bread recipes to try is a rye flour mixture with molasses.

Old becomes new!

Re purposing is causing great excitement in my little craft/sewing world. A friend shared with me the wonderfully fun and creative blog, makeitandloveit.blogspot.com. The first thing I made from her many, many, interesting ideas was a sweater dress for Addy. It was very simple to make and I am pretty happy with the results. I showed David the dress and told him I made it. David replied that I hadn't, of course I had to defend myself and insist that I did make it. Apparently David was thrown by the Old Navy tag in the dress, it all became clear to David when I told him it was originally one of my sweaters. A sweater, I might add I bought at the Goodwill for 99 cents.









I probably have to say that the embellishments I added were meant to be abstract flowers. Addy thinks they look like honey pots. I suppose one is just as good as the other!

Fun times! ;)

A favorite way to pass a winter Monday afternoon is to go to our local bounce house. We were so excited to have our dear friends Anne and T back in town to join us. Lots of other friends were there as well, but somehow they did not pose for any pictures!

Bounce, bounce, bounce! These bounce houses are really a lot of fun, so far Addy has let me in the house once. Maybe next time I will get to bounce...


Anne and her adorable T, in mid-pants yank.


Cally Bear loves this place too!


Addy on her favorite slide. On a brave day she will even go down the covered twisty slide which is huge for our Addy! :)