Tuesday, March 31, 2009

11 months

We were in Des Moines for L's 11 month birthday. I've been trying to
get the monthly photo since we got back, but he is not interested in
sitting still much these days! Ha! Anyway, I did finally get a good
one on my other camera. I'll post that one when I get my new laptop
power cord in the mail this week. We're expecting first steps any day
now!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

A great spring break

Last week was spring break, and we were lucky enough to be able to join Bill's family on a trip to their favorite vacation spot, St. John in the USVI. Unfortunately, our trip started out with major flight drama. Let me just take a minute to publicly bad mouth Delta airlines for overselling all their flights. They bumped half of our group off our flight, leaving us no choice but to drive from Moline to Chicago, buy our own hotel room, buy new tickets out of Midway airport and leave the next morning, losing a whole day of our vacation. Blah. Anyway, once we got there it was wonderful, great weather, lovely scenery, fun wildlife...
... and of course, the adorable company of this 10 1/2 month old cutie pie! He had a great time watching and playing with his cousins. He loved splashing in the pool, but wasn't too sure about the ocean and beach. I think his favorite part was sitting in the high chair at dinner and getting little tastes of what we were having. Lots of good family time and memories, but it always feels nice to come home again.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

dinner at Devotay


Easing back from spring break tonight with a girls' night out with my friends & coworkers from Preucil. Dinner at Devotay is always a yummy treat. We had a wonderful family spring break trip, which I will post about soon, but just a quick hi tonight!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

blackberry cupcakes

Two of my lovely coworkers are had birthdays today and yesterday, so I made blackberry cupcakes in celebration. They are moist & fruity & not too hard to make! Yummy recipe found here

Sunday, March 08, 2009

fused plastic bags

I got together on Saturday at Home Ec with some friends that I used to work with. We fused plastic bags, then used the new material to make new bags. It was SO easy and very fun! I could have kept at it all day!
The fused plastic is great to work with, it is easy to bend, fold and sew. I made this little tote bag and the clutch bag below. Everyone made such cute bags. Next I'd like to try making a couple bigger tote bags to use at the grocery store, or a big beach/pool bag (considering the material is waterproof!
If you're interested, there's a great tutorial on EtsyLabs.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

X Marks the Spot picnic blanket

I finished stitching the next project from Elsie and Rachel's class last night. The stitching in Rachel's sample was a large X, I decided to make a smaller X with a little trail leading up to it. When I went shopping for fabric, I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but then I saw this pirate fabric on the clearance rack! Probably more "cutesy" then I would normally choose, but it was so perfect for the project.
I took Lachlan outside for a modeling session this afternoon. It was nice, but not nice enough for a picnic yet! I couldn't get him to even look at me because he was so busy checking out things in the front yard. It's been a long time since we've spent much time outside!

Monday, March 02, 2009

Monday randomness

My personal dish assistant. :)

I just came across this kid's birthday party idea, so great - Young Einstein Party

I rearranged our kitchen this weekend... put away the appliances we don't use everyday, switched the overgrown house plants with one smaller one in a colorful pot, put the microwave in a more convenient spot, a general "de-clutter". Feels good to get a fresh look without actually moving any furniture.

Our new baby gate is also "kitty proof". Too tall for Cleo to jump over. Luckily her favorite sleeping spot, litter box, and food are all on the same side of the gate. We'll just have to prop it open for her sometimes so she can survey the rest of her kingdom.

Celebrating the beginning of March with some new music from iTunes...The Be Good Tanyas, Joshua Radin, and Lisa Hannigan. Looking forward to listening to them all. I've got a plan for a nice relaxing beach mix for spring break (for little moments between baby chasing)

Elsie and Rachel's class is so inspiring, full of extreme cuteness. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to get to all the projects right now. Trying to finish up a blanket before I start on the next project (felt family portrait wall hanging? spring jersey scarf? pillow?). It's nice that they keep the directions posted so that I can go back and work on them at my own pace.

Ok, I've got to go read some more of Watchmen before Lachlan wakes up from his nap. Bill has commanded that I must finish it before we go to the movie this weekend!