Thursday This & That

Wow. It is already Thursday.

We are finally getting into the swing of summer, just in time for it to get all shaken up again next week.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating – SWIMMING ROCKS! And it also makes the girls sleep like little rocks.

Case in point: Yesterday morning I got up to a quiet house. So J. and I tag-teamed, he went for a bike ride, came back, I went out for a run. After I came back, we had breakfast, J. showered, and then left for work.

I went up and checked on Addie…

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…she was still out. So I did two loads of laundry, called the insurance company, then called and made two doctor appointments.

Still, no Addie. Em was up and lounging around, but not a peep from our sleeping beauty.

So I checked email, read a few blogs, cleaned up the kitchen and started the dishwasher. Then I decided I couldn’t stall any longer. It was time for a shower since Em had to be to swim lessons in a half hour, and I started upstairs. I peeked in on Addie and she was lying in bed – awake – but just stretching and leisurely chatting with her stuffed animals.

M: Good morning, Monkey! I thought you were going to sleep the day away.
A: I’m just waking up in my time, Mama.
M: Oh, in your time. I see. (As I laid down beside her in bed.)
A: (Eyeing me warily) Are we gonna go to run?
M: Nope. I already went this morning.
A: Oh. So you are getting sweating all over? All on my bed?

Sweet sassy molassy.

I have also been kicked out of my little nook. Emma and I fight for “nook time.” My sewing projects are calling to me, but PBSkids.org is Emma’s siren call. Thankfully, Daddy got her hooked up on the little laptop so I can get my office back. Now I just need to institute some timer guidelines, otherwise she’d play all day on the computer.

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And Addie has found the computer intriguing as well.

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So we have been trying – rather I have been trying – to get everyone a little more active. It is hard when it is really hot, so the swimming and the pool have been really useful in that respect. But when it cools off at night, Em has been riding her bike, while Ad and I run alongside of her. It seems to be working for everyone and probably contributes to the vastly improved sleeping habits around here, too. Plus we joined the YMCA as a family. They have open swim at their pool (good!), kids’ fitness classes (very good!) and even better classes for Mommys like the torturous Pilates classes that completely kicks my butt (very, very good!).

Although it is not advisable to try to go for a run, catch kids for 2 hours in the deep end of the pool while treading water, and then take a Pilates class. All in one day. It is a bit much, that is all I’m saying.

And as a reward for all of our good fitness decisions lately? J. found a great dessert place that has…I think…(dare I say it?) replaced the Cold Stone Creamery in our house.

I know, I KNOW! You would think that it simply cannot be done. And get this…it is not even another ice cream place, it is a frozen yogurt shop! And I don’t typically even like frozen yogurt! But, mmm…I love this place. It is so incredibly good.

And even better, (can it really get better?) tonight we all got our own little dish, I think everyone had at least two types of yogurt or more, and we each had at least two or more toppings (picture a do-it-yourself sundae bar with ALL the fixings!), and it was under $10 for all four of our treats! No more $25 ice cream trips.

Yogurtland. Go. Try it. You’ll like it. Take it from a non-believer, and two very satisfied monkeys.

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Happy Thursday!

Crafty Tuesday

Hi, my crafty folks. I’ve got a few goodies to share today. Would of had more, but I boxed up a little care package for my friend to send out and completely forgot to photograph the gown I made for her.

Bah. It is sitting right here. I could unwrap it. But it is all taped up. And I’m lazy. And how about you just imagine it instead?

You can see the fabric here. It is a little roomier, has better coverage, and is softer than the standard hospital gown. Has a special slit in the pocket for heart monitors and such. So, how about this? Vic, when you kick this cancer and are all better – I will make you something much prettier that you can wear outside of the hospital. And I’ll take lots of photos of it (and you in it!). Deal?

The next project I finished, I also forgot to photograph before we gave it away. Luckily we were invited to the birthday party and my friend Jamie deemed it worthy enough for the party. She had a pink and green garden/ladybug-themed party for Emma’s best friend Audrey. So our birthday banner fit perfectly, and I snapped some photos of it hanging in a tree in the park.

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I really love how it turned out and I have plenty of fabric scraps leftover, so I’m going to make one for our house. It is handy that Jamie’s house and ours is filled with girls, so I got to use all the girl-y fabrics. I still think the birthday banner is the greatest idea.

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And I also dove into THE book. I started doing as I had intended – one gift for me (the house), then tackling two gifts to giveaway.

So the apron…

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I love the pocket and the little towel loop! Love the fabric, although again – taking it late Monday night in crummy light, doesn’t help the really cool colors. But I have already used it, and it will be in heavy rotation…I can assure you.

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I almost cropped my pj bottoms out of the photo, but then I figured I would look very weird all leg-less. And also you need to see how the apron will usually look, over lounge pants and a t-shirt, since that is my typical wardrobe on any given day. And I didn’t want you to think I was getting all fancy on you over here…with my aprons and what-not!

I also finished some lounge pants for my niece’s birthday. But I’m appliquing a t-shirt to go with it, so I’ll save that to show for next week. Although I really – no REALLY love the lounge pants. But I have to make another gift before I can start a pair for myself. Plus I have fabric for two dresses for the girls that they keep bugging me about. So back to the sewing machine.

What crafty goodness do you have to share?

Now we can officially call it summer.

The girls, Em’s friend Audrey, and I all headed to the beach yesterday and we had a great time. I was so thankful for the really big waves because the girls were a little afraid to venture too far into the surf. The waves forced them to stick close to the shore, which ultimately made my job of watching three little monkeys in the water, much easier!

They did do a lot of tempting fate. Sitting on the edge of the water and waiting for the waves to come in.

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It was great fun when they did roll in.

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And a couple waves even made them move to higher ground a few times.

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And, today happens to be Audrey’s 6th birthday! So happy wishes to our sweet Audrey!
We hope 6 is a terrific year for you.

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Meanwhile, back on the towel…
I can’t decide which I love more in this picture her curly tendrils or her lovely eyelashes.
She is delicious.

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And my one “artsy” photo of the day. She refused to let me get a sunhat shot, but I caught this one.
I love the angle, and her slight little peek of a smile.

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We might have to head back to the beach this weekend.
I think our day reminded us that summer is fleeting, and we need to take advantage of it while we can.
Have a sunny, happy weekend!

This & That Thursday

Let’s dive in, shall we?

  • Remember last month – our month of “June Gloom?” You couldn’t just tell me to keep my big, complaining mouth shut? Well, it always comes back to bite you, I’m hear to tell you. Because, July? It has been H-O-T. We are on our way to the beach right now. It is usually 15-20 degrees cooler there, so hopefully we can find a little relief there.
  • Plus. It doesn’t really feel like summer until you spend a whole day in the sun and surf and head home to get the sand out of…well, out of everywhere.

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  • Finally got a few photos from our dive trip up. J. took hundreds, so I just went quickly through the first trip to the Molokini Crater and pulled a few out. I still have all the videos and a few hundred others from the Lanai trip, too. All in good time. You can see the few I weeded out over on Flickr.
  • Due to the lack of good programming on the TV this summer, we have found a bit relief on the Discovery channel. We have been watching Deadliest Catch for quite some time now, totally hooked, but we just watched The Colony. Have you seen/heard about this show? It is wicked. Check it out if you need a good TV fix. Also…Shark Week starts next week. Sweet…
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  • This heat is messing with my head. Making me tired and unable to think. I’m out of here. Until next week.

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Crafty Tuesday

Hello, my crafty peeps! A happy Tuesday to you all. I am completely in a sewing zone, but figured I had better take a break for a few to post something for our Crafty Tuesday today.

I got invited by my craft-aliscious friend, Jamie, (the one who gave me the book – my current obsession!) to a private paper crafting party this past weekend. So after a decadent breakfast we ventured over to PaperSource and had a little paper fun. By the way, the PaperSource is my achilles heel. It is the most amazing store and I always find a million things that I cannot live without.

Speaking of which, why did nobody clue me into the amazing world of embossing? I think I might be in love with embossing. Just a little.

We embossed some cool cards and envelopes…

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And we also learned how to do envelope lining, which I will most definitely be doing a lot of from now on…

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And a few others…

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I LOVE this one. We used chalk stamppads for this…

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One of these days I will prepare a little ahead of time, and maybe actually take some photos in the nice natural daylight so that they actually look decent, instead of scrambling around at the last minute on Monday night. For now, back to the sewing machine!

Whatchu got for me today?

Waterlogged…

Well Addie is, at least. Emma? I had to practically drag the girl out of the pool by her hair this afternoon. I really think she has gills. So, a few more pool photos, if you can stand it. I’m sure it won’t be the last of them, although it might be if Addie has any say in it.

“Is this day my last day of swimming with Miss Carrie, Mama?”

I kid you not, those were her very first words out of her mouth this morning, before “G’ Mowrning, Mama,” even. (Which she always starts the morning cuddle with.) She just got so nerved up and anxious during her swim lessons – but she can actually swim very well. When she is relaxed and messing around, she is just fine. But get her in those lessons, where she is being told what to do…yeah, that doesn’t go down so well.

The very last time she climbed out of Miss Carrie’s pool today. Can you see the teeny, tiny smile?

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Meanwhile, I don’t think I got any real photos of Em this afternoon. She came up once for air and I got this one, and I caught maybe one off of the diving board. The rest of the time I could just see flashes of hot pink and black.

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She was promoted to the Strokes class for next cycle. I was going to take the next 2 weeks off, but how can I deny her such great (cheap!) exercise and fun? Plus she wants to join the swim team with the kids across the street next year, so we need to work on some form.

So, for at least another 2 weeks, our laundry room is going to continue to look like a swim locker room.

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Right now I’m off to go take a break from swimming for a date night and J. and I are going to see Harry Potter! Very excited. And then tomorrow you can find us in the pool again. And Sunday? We have a date with the neighbors…and their pool.