Love at first snuggle.

Posted on by
3

Our new little cousin/niece is finally here and we are all simply smitten with her.

Amelia Hope arrived on MY birthday (I guess it is now OUR birthday), cinco de Mayo, just under the wire at eight minutes before midnight.

We all trekked up to the hospital to officially welcome her yesterday, and Em got to hold a not-even-24-hour-old baby for the first time. I think she kinda liked it.

DSC_0268

What am I saying? I know she LOVED it. In fact, she is bordering on infatuation with the new baby. She wants to know when Amelia will be home, when we will get to go see her again, when can she help babysit!

I have to say I was pretty impressed on how natural Em was with the baby, she was completely unfazed as she reached to take Amelia out of Uncle Jeff’s hands. I had to intervene and make sure she sat down first before holding the baby, but then she settled in and both girls were completely content and happy to meet each other.

For me it was incredibly surreal to see MY baby, holding a baby like she was just born to do it. I had a weird little minute where I sort of flash forwarded and imagined 20 years from now and Em holding her own baby.”  (Not that I’m in ANY hurry at all…20 years ought to be good!)
DSC_0266

I think it is safe to say we all think Baby Amelia is practically perfect in every way. Welcome to the world, sweet baby. We love you already.

And congrats Aunt JB and Uncle Jeff! We couldn’t be happier that you get to experience parenthood and am most certain you are going to be terrific parents! Just remember the old saying “the days are long, but the years are short.” I know that it already feels overwhelming and a pretty big hill to climb, but before you know it, Amelia will be 10 years old and figuring out how old she has to before she can babysit, too. So as much as you can – enjoy the journey. And for goodness sake…sleep when the baby sleeps!  xoxo

 

Hellllooooo….

Posted on by
Reply

I realize that I’ve been absent over here. And also realize that I totally skipped Crafty Tuesday this week, my one lone day that I’m sure to post something. Birdie #2 and I have been frantically finishing up some projects, I’m chugging along on the living room re-do, and goodness if those children and all of their activities don’t take up A LOT of time.

But we are still here. We are hanging in. And we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled posting very, very soon.

Crafty Tuesday

Posted on by
3

I have so, so many posts piling up over here but between the “week of Emma” and the fact that our entire house is in construction chaos, I just can’t seem to get a minute to put it all up here. But my goal by the end of the week is to post all our Spring Break fun (yep, it was a good 2 1/2 weeks ago!) and hopefully a FULL update on the living room project as I furiously try to pick out some paint colors over.

So a quick little Crafty Tuesday here – Emma Grace Birthday Edition.

First the invites we sent to Em’s friends…

invite

We handed out “reverse goody bags” – in other words, we handed out our treats the day before the party.

DSC_0422

Which contained little tees for the girls to wear on Saturday when we hit the park.

DSC_0420

DSC_0421

How cute do they look in all their matchy match tees?

DSC_0432

She had a great day…or rather, great week!

DSC_0452

I still can’t believe she is 10.

Double Digits.

Posted on by
8

Dear Emma Gracie Girl -

You have made it to double digits!  I can’t believe that it has been an entire decade since you made me a Mom for the first time. There is something so very special about being a first, you know. Some days I’m sure you will be grumbly about how we still have our parenting “training wheels” on when it comes to you. And yes, your sister will get to do things at a much earlier age than you did, but think about everything you get to do first.

While I was making your birthday movie over the past few days, I re-lived many of your firsts. Your first day home. Your first bath. Your first tooth. Your first steps. Your first day at school. The list just goes on and on. And today is your first day of a new decade, double digits.

I can’t wait to see what new firsts are around the bend for you. Your first day of middle school. Your first time driving. Your first time to leave the nest. (I didn’t say I’ll be happy about all of them!) I know you will handle all of these and more with bravery, grace and determination. And I realize too, how very blessed we have been to be given you as our first little girl.

10 years of Emma Grace from carrie voris on Vimeo.

Happy 10th Birthday, my sweet girl. Here is to many more firsts.
All my love,
Mama

Crafty Tuesday

Posted on by
4

I know I promised you a Baby CT today, and I had high hopes of finishing everything on our task list for the nursery, but I only finished the quilt. In all honesty, that was the “big” thing on the list anyhow, so I guess that is good. We still have a pillow, a changing pad cover and maybe a few basket liners to finish up and baby A’s room will be done. Here is the quilt before we handed it over…

DSC_0748

 

I used this pattern from Bijou Lovely and the fabric is from our Michael Levine scouting trip and a lot of the quilt is from the Honey Honey by Kate Spain for Moda Fabrics line that I got off of FatQuartershop.com.

DSC_0749

And here it is with the bedskirt and bunting all tucked into the nursery…

IMG_0808

It’s looking kinda amazing in there. I think JB is going to want to just hang out in there day and night once baby gets here.

Of course I am not the only one super excited for baby A to get here. Addie has been incredibly impatient with me – she really wants to make a pillow for her cousin. So that is on the docket for this week, too.

DSC_0751

More baby stuff on the way…and I have a few little things up my sleeve as in ONE WEEK, next Crafty Tuesday in fact, my baby will be turning 10. Double digits. So you can imagine our excitement and fury in getting a few things crafted up!

Crafty Tuesday

Posted on by
1

I know I promised you a Baby Crafty Tuesday today…but we aren’t quite ready for the big reveal yet. I’ll tease you with a crib skirt and a little belly shot of Aunt JB – she is coming along nicely (the nursery and the baby!).
photo2

We were all a little crafty while Daddy was away this past week. Em and her GATE class did a little gallery of the artwork and photography they created in class.

photo5

Addie got her clay on in art class. Why yes, it IS a bowl with a cat head on it.

photo4

Addie needed some EIGHT tees for two girls in her class who have birthdays this week. And she wanted to help make them, so I taught her to “weed” the vinyl out.

photo6

She was bound and determined to use the number 8 that she had weeded out for something. She started putting tape on the back of it to make a card, which led to the idea that maybe we could heat press the vinyl onto cardstock? And the answer to that is…YES! So we made some birthday cards, too. About eight seconds in the heat press and the vinyl sticks nicely to cardstock. Who knew?

photo7

And finally, Birdie 2′s sweet MC had a birthday last week. She is all soccer – all the time. So I made her some new stationery…

DSC_0617

…and a sign that she can take for her room when she leaves for college next year. Gah…we are gonna miss her so very much!

DSC_0619

The stationery and sign I made in Illustrator and just printed them out on cardstock from the inkjet printer.

So that is what we have around here this week. I guess it is back to the baby goodies. Next week…for sure!

Coming Home.

Posted on by
3

Daddy is somewhere over the Pacific Ocean right now on his way home to us! And I couldn’t be happier.

It is so funny how often I long for something, get it and then realize “oh, that isn’t what I wanted at all.” I *thought* having a few evenings to myself would be a great treat, but come to find out – I don’t like being a single parent. Even during a relatively ”easy” week with nothing more than our normal ballet, dance, piano, volleyball practice, choir, Girl Scouts routine (yeah, that is a normal week…) it is an exhausting week when you can’t check out for a bit when Daddy comes home.

And even when the girls are just being their sweet selves…

9936_4973180920338_1745581786_n…it’s just not as fun without my most-excellent sidekick. So, welcome home, Daddy! And know you were very missed. xo

 

Oh, we have a Crafty Tuesday for you today!

Posted on by
2

Yes, indeed. Some of you caught a glimpse at what the two Birdies have been up to lately, if we are friends on Facebook. But for the rest of you, we’ll just do a little recap on how to decorate for a Educational Foundation’s annual fundraiser for 250+ people on a very tiny budget.

photo3

We were given the theme “Night Market” – and thankfully Birdie #2 had the vision, I was pretty much along for moral support and a little bit of muscle.

First up – to create an outdoor, “town square” to dance the night away under the stars. It  all began with a trip to the lumberyard…in Birdie #2′s minivan. Oh, yes we did! The lumberyard guys were pretty amused as they loaded us down with 11-4x4s and a whole bunch of PVC piping! Inside, outside…wherever it fit.

photo5

Thankfully we had some amazing Dads who took all of this lumber and the pilings that I made with flower pots and cement, (yep – by myself) to create the amazing structure.

photo6

photo7

Once the structure was built, we strung it with twinkle lights and posted handbills to make it appear as if it was outdoors.

DSC_0244

And we planted the piling pots with flowers.

photo4

It looked much prettier and more “authentic” once the lights were dimmed.

photo8

Before the dancing, there was an auction…so we created Night Market “stalls” with buntings to differentiate the auction categories. (THIS is what we had been collecting 32+ umbrella stands for! A big thank you to those of you who helped with our cause!) We built the buntings with the stands, pvc pipes and for the bunting signs, we used international newsprint.
DSC_0255

We created some centerpieces using even more paper – donated sheet music from our middle school. We rolled the music, arranged them in jars that we vinyl’d up with Big Momma and topped it all off with a tissue paper flower.

photo2

Let’s see what else? Oh, yeah…we tried our hand at 3-D paper lanterns (also cut with the Silhouette). They were a little challenging, but once we cut it and covered the cutouts with vellum, it was perfect with LED votives for a little extra touch on the bar tables.
DSC_0266

And that was about it. Any wonder why the Two Birdies look like they are hanging onto the pole for dear life at the end of the night?

twobirdies

Sooo very happy that it is behind us. Stay tuned for all things B-A-B-Y next week!

No Crafty Tuesday Today.

Posted on by
2

Not that we haven’t been insanely busy and crafty…but I don’t have a post to share today. I will have lots to talk about next week when this San Gabriel Education Foundation fundraiser is behind us (SATURDAY!!), for being the decorating chairs has been a harrowing experience, and Sunday cannot come fast enough. But I did want to get the Tiger Kitty post down so I don’t see it every time I log into my computer.

I miss Tiger. I think I might miss her more than the girls, even. It is hard to be here during the day by myself – it is just quiet and lonely. Not that she was loud or that we even interacted some days, but she was here…another living creature in the house with me. I keep expecting her to come around the corner and meow at me or climb up on my lap at night when I pull the throw blanket down over myself.

Addie talked us into going to the Humane Society over the weekend because she “just missed petting a kitty.” We agreed as long as there was no asking to bring a pet home. There weren’t a lot of adoptable (thankfully!) pets there this weekend, so we didn’t hear any pleas. Although give it a few more days and she won’t have to do much convincing to her Mama at least. I miss petting kitties, too.

Tiger Kitty.

Posted on by
4

It was a rough day. It started out hard and just got harder as the day wore on.

Tiger had been sliding downhill for the past few days. We could tell her body was starting to shut down and she wasn’t eating or drinking. She wasn’t really moving that much at all. We found ourselves babying her even more than normal, and tiptoeing around her as she moved from corner to corner in the kitchen. The past two mornings I would wake up and start downstairs expecting the worst and ending up a little bit surprised that she was still hanging in here.

This morning however I could tell that it wouldn’t be much longer. She couldn’t really even stand or hold her head up for very long. So we made sure that everyone got a good cuddle, some kitty love, and to say goodbye. Needless to say everyone was sent off into their day in tears.

addie

emmaShe slipped away while I was away running errands. I was incredibly surprised at how distraught I was when I found her especially since I had already said my goodbyes, I knew it was inevitable, “her time had come,” and all of those other cliches we tell people when they lose someone they love.

I was so grateful that J. jumped in his car and was here before the girls were even out of school to help me deal with both the kitty and telling the girls. To sit and try to comfort your poor devastated girls is probably even harder than saying goodbye to your cat that you have had for over 16 years.

tiger

 

Yeah, that is kinda how we feel about that. Psssthhhh…

But I told the girls the story of how we picked Tiger, or rather how she picked us, at the Santa Clara Human Society all those years ago. We had picked out a kitty playmate for Smokey and were going back to get the other gray kitty named Madison to bring home. While we were walking through the “holding area” for new pets, Tiger reached out, through the bars on the crate and touched J’s shoulder and just let out this little meee-ooow? We both literally stopped in our tracks. The Humane Society lady asked if we wanted to see her and when she let Tiger out of the cage, Tiger promptly climbed up onto J’s shoulder and wouldn’t stop purring. The lady was reading Tiger’s transcript to us and said she was all up to date on her shots, about 2 years old and they thought she was healthy, although every time they tried to listen to her heart they couldn’t hear through her incessant purring. (I went back several days later and the other kitty, Madison had also been adopted, otherwise we might have been a 3 cat household.) Tiger was just meant to be with us.

And she was such an sweet and loving kitty. And INCREDIBLY tolerant of Addie’s non-stop torture…I mean, loving. Addie is definitely taking it the hardest, as we suspected she would. But we buried Tiger in the flowerbed that I have been intending to redo anyhow. Now it is going to be our kitty garden and we are going to get some flowers and maybe even a birdbath this weekend to make it special. Addie spent nearly 40 minutes tonight “shopping” on Amazon and she found a cat memorial stone to put in the garden, too. I think that helped ease the pain a little bit for her.

As for me, I know in my head that she is in a much better place and it is so much better for her, but my heart is aching tonight.

It is just a little rough.