Dipy Week #36 ~ Autumn

Posted on September 29, 2010 by carrie

Cool, fall-like temperatures? Well, today was the coolest it has been all week, and I think it was a balmy 92 degrees. Crisp, red and orange-hued leaves? Um…nope, we don’t have any of those here yet either.

But it sure does feel like autumn around here. The kids are back to school, it is football season, and all things pumpkin are back in the stores and coffee shops. (Mmmm…why do you mock me pumpkin scones?) Autumn is by far my favorite season. And around here it also means that avocados, lemons and even persimmons are almost ready for picking.

Plus, we won’t have to do any raking of lovely leaves like Kimberly’s for at least a few more months around here. It is a win-win for everyone.

Hosted by Megan and Hip Momma

Flower Girls Extraordinare

Posted on September 27, 2010 by carrie

We have the best girls. Ever.

J. and I could not have asked for better behavior from the girls this past weekend. They look like they had total diva attitude here, but seriously they were on their very best behavior.

I kept waiting for the other (little kid-sized 11) shoe to drop while we carted them all over the North Carolina countryside, messed up their sleeping and eating schedules, and forced their little nimble fingers to put together wedding favors for hours. Even the ER visit and night of sickness did not deter them…they held the course. I could not have been more proud of them.

Em was so excited to have curls like Addie for the entire day. She didn’t even make a peep while the hairstylist was putting her hair up and she had to sit still for nearly an hour.

They totally rocked the flower girl thing.

Including throwing in some good luck kisses to Uncle Jeff at the end of the aisle. (Yes, my heart did melt into a big puddle.)

Out of petals, guess we’ll just stand here and look pretty until we’re told what’s next.

Or maybe we’ll just hang out on this swing.

Or con Daddy into picking me up for a little rest.

Still waiting. But Emmy is being a great big sister and helping Addie cope.

And finally they were rewarded with the promised Justin Beiber, and a dance with Daddy. (My favorite photo of the night.)

And Mommy was rewarded, too. I can’t even count how many people commented on how well-behaved the girls were. It seems all the nagging and constant pounding of good behavior into them has finally paid off. It really was a little bit of validation that we are on the right track. Not perfect by any means, but we are getting somewhere.

It was icing on the cake (mmm….cake…yes, the cake was amazing too!) to a perfect evening. I had so much fun celebrating the new Mr. and Mrs. V. with all of our friends and family.

(Wait until you see the photobooth pics of the girls – they spent a good half-hour trying on all of the props and getting their pics taken. It was awesome!)

Congrats again, Jeff & JB. We love you and hope you are having a great honeymoon. Thanks for the fun party!

Cheers To Our Most Favorite Newlyweds

Posted on September 24, 2010 by carrie

Just checkin’ in for a few minutes down here in North Carolina, y’all.

It has been a bit of a whirlwind week but I think we are all ready to get this show on the road tomorrow, despite a few little speedbumps. The first being a trip to the ER for Em yesterday afternoon. Hey, it isn’t a good vacation if someone doesn’t end up at the ER, right? She was having some girl issues and they put her on an antibiotic, which in turn made her feel pretty rotten tonight, I think.

We went to rehearsal, all was good. Came back to get prettied up, took our medicine, all was good. Got to rehearsal dinner, Mama was all psyched up to do her little toast for Uncle Jeff, all was good. Emmy ate, and suddenly all was not good. So we had to cut our party time a little short and headed back for some rest.

While we were sitting on the bed together, all fresh from her bath and looking a little less pale, Em looked up at me with her serious, sweet little face and said, “I’m sorry we had to come home Mama and you didn’t get to tell Uncle Jeff how much you wanted him to get married.”

I told her it was fine, and Uncle Jeff already knew and JB knows how happy I am for them. And then she said, “why don’t you just do the speech for me, Mama?” So I did, and when I finished she clasped her hands together and said, “Oh, I’m glad you at least got one person to hear your wish! But it was kinda long.” (Nice. Even the 7-year old is a critic.)

And then she suggested that maybe I just write it in a card for them. “Or I got an idea, Mama. You can write it in your blog and then they can see it whenever they want.”

And that I thought was a very good idea from my smart little girl.

So here is my “cheers” to Jeff and JB….

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Carrie, Jeff’s sister-in-law, married to the guy over there who looks vaguely like Jeff. I met Jeff (& Jamie) many years ago when my family moved to Leslie in the middle of my freshman year. It was my very first day of school, in the new town, I didn’t know anyone and I met a girl who invited me to sit at the “cool kids” table for lunch. I was sitting across the table from Jeff and Jamie and I only remember three things from that day. I can’t tell you what we talked about but I just remember I laughed at the two of them the entire lunch hour. I remember laughing so hard at one point that I spit chocolate milk out of my nose. And then I remember being so incredibly horrified that I would never, ever get asked to sit with the “cool kids” again.

Luckily for me they overlooked my nerdiness (and drinking problem) and kept me around for all these years. I feel like we have kind of grown up together and I don’t even see Jeff as a brother-in-law. He is just my brother. A fantastic brother. He is also a great uncle and an amazing friend. My only wish has ever been for him to find someone who would make him truly happy. And so it makes me insanely happy to see him with Jessica because I can see that she does just that.

So to JB, I’d just like to say – “Welcome to the cool kids table, baby.” And I wish you both a lifetime filled with nothing but happiness and much, much laughter.

Love you two!

Hey…and Happy Wedding Day (I just looked at the clock!) – today is it!

Random Crafty Tuesday

Posted on September 20, 2010 by carrie

So we have a little hodge podge of craftiness this week. And we are on our way to North Carolina for the wedding of the decade…so there will probably not be a CT next week at all, I’m thinking.

First up, we have a princess fort for Addie’s birthday. She has this amazing cavern of a closet and told me she wanted a little fort for it. So I re-purposed a canopy and some old sheets to make this for her closet. The photo leaves a lot to be desired and I need to add some ribbons for holding open the doors, but it has already been broken in and happily used.

And I made some (am in the process of making) some new pillows for our living room. We inherited some great red chairs awhile ago and I finally got some new drapes (that need alterations still otherwise I’d show those, too) so we needed some new pillows to match. It is amazing the difference just some new accessories will make.

And finally…I’ve been trying to learn how to make these glass tile pendants. I got the idea to make one for JB with her and Jeff’s little logo (the j-heart-j) that we came up with. And then I started making initials and owls, too! And some sweet ones for some sweet girls. The “A” was supposed to be for my niece Alexis but I got home and found a wee little fingerprint in the back…so that one is going to have to be a magnet, I think.

Any new projects on your plate?

Hello, Monday.

Posted on September 19, 2010 by carrie

We need the weekdays in between our weekends to rest up.

Clearly our weekends are just exhausting. (But fun!)

A Tale of Two Kitties

Posted on September 17, 2010 by carrie

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

Ah, okay…that is as far as I’m going to take this. It sounded much funnier in my head while I was writing it on my run this morning. Plus, I only remember the first line of that book anyhow. (Sorry, Mr. Ball.) And we haven’t actually made it to the “best of times” around here. Yet.

The new kitty + old kitty has led to a bit of interesting drama in the house around here the past few weeks. Even though our dear old Tiger was once the “new kitten on the block” and she endured much hazing from our then queen-of-the-house, Smokey, she has clearly forgotten how that feels. For Tiger is now the Queen (yes, with a capital Q, please!) and she has made every attempt at being most un-welcoming and un-hospitable for our new kitty.

New kitty does have a name, by the way. Since she was Addie’s birthday gift and thought to be around one year old. Addie declared that she and kitty would share a birthday and she wanted to name her Tigerlily. I gently suggested since we already had a Tiger, she should name the new kitty just Lily. And then when we call the kitties we would have a Tiger…Lily.

So Lily it is. Although she doesn’t smell anything like a flower. The exact opposite, in fact. She stinks. I mean reeks! She is a very quiet and good kitty, so the only way I know she is in the room is if I take a whiff. And if she is somewhere (even on the other side of our very large living room) in the room, you’ll know. She is trying to climb on my keyboard right now and get some love and I have found it nearly impossible to sew with her in the room. She likes to sit on my desk and *help* the fabric along. It is a real treat, but she is very sweet.

And as for Tiger, she has made herself scarce except for the piles of kitty puke that she has been leaving for me. And the hissing and growling has subsided for the most part, although she will still get in a parting shot as the kitties walk past each other in the hall. But I think she has finally resigned that Lily is here to stay.

Dipy Week #34 ~ Small

Posted on September 15, 2010 by carrie

We are going small this week. I have been staring at Kimberly’s (on top) for an hour now. I’m just not sure how she did it or what it is…but it is brilliant. Hop over to see what it is over at her place.

I’ve also been staring at these small little toys all over our house lately. They are called Squinkies and the girls are obsessed with them. At first I was not a fan…but they are very small, and don’t take up hardly any space. And so far they have been keeping pretty good control of them, so I haven’t had to throw any away. (Oh, yes I am that mom. If they don’t get picked up, no telling where they will end up.)

Hosted by Megan and Hip Momma

Wednesday Love.

Posted on September 15, 2010 by carrie

Something about Wednesdays always makes me happy. I think it gets a bad rap because it is “only the middle of the week,” but here is the way I look at it.

Wednesday doesn’t have the craziness of the beginning of the week like Monday and Tuesday do, and it is the porthole, the first glimpse at the end of the week. I think that makes it a perfect day to take stock in all the good things going on.

A few things I am loving this Wednesday:

A few hours of complete peace. No TV on, no girls asking for anything. Just the simultaneous hum of the dishwasher, washing machine and dryer, and the occasional rumble of a car passing by.
Productive days. Getting stuff crossed off the never-ending list.
A tub of cookie dough (bought by J.) which allows for spontaneous cookie making even at 8 o’clock at night. Even better when cookies are lovingly made by husband and consumed together while watching a favorite TV show.
Madmen. The best show on TV right now. Possibly ever. If you are not watching it – go Netflix the first four seasons. NOW.
Our new (in one and a half weeks!) Aunt JB. The girls already adored their Uncle Jeff. He pretty much walks on water in their eyes, and is second only to the #1 guy in our house, Daddy. But the fact that Uncle Jeff is marrying JB? And she gets to be “part of our family” (as Em loves to say)? And she is pretty incredibly awesome? Yeah, that pretty much sends all of us over the moon.

That Em is so very much like me, including (see above photo) her hunt for the ever-elusive curl in her poker-straight hair. As I put the curlers in her hair, I relived all of my bad perm stories with her. Sadly, they only offered her a glimmer of hope instead of deterring her. I may have to drag out some of the photos just to reiterate how very bad an idea getting a perm is.
How Addie looks up to Em so much that she had to have “curly things” in her hair too. They didn’t even last until bedtime though before she took them out. I cannot imagine the Afro result if she had left them in.

The girls doing their homework together. Of course this only lasted for a moment before some sort of shenanigans started up. But it was sweet while it lasted and while the new kitty looked on from her new favorite perch.
A good run that makes your legs feel a little jello-y afterward and you leaves you feeling virtuous for the rest of the day. (Could also insert swim/arms or bike/legs into this equation and still get the same love.)
Knowing that your good run (swim/bike) means you can have one of those cookies again tonight!

Do you have anything to add to our Wednesday Love List today?

Crafty Tuesday

Posted on September 13, 2010 by carrie

How about Birthday Tuesday instead? I did get some craftiness completed in time for a little one’s birthday – but it is missing some hardware so I can hang it up. It is not nearly impressive enough on the floor when it belongs suspended from the ceiling. It is on my list of things to do today – so I can show it next week for sure!

In the meantime, most of last week was filled with celebrating! In case you didn’t hear…a little someone turned five and even though I swore that we were keeping it low-key this year, it turned into a week-long adventure anyhow.

I love that the girls have birthdays during the school year so they get to celebrate with their friends. And I love living in California so that it is usually great weather for outdoor parties as well.

We started off the day with the requisite chalk card…

Yep. She’s five.

We had a special breakfast that Addie chose, pasta packed in her lunchbox (her favorite food) and we sent her off to school. Her teacher is adorable and makes each birthday very special for the kids, which is awesome. I got to go in and read Addie’s favorite book to the class (SkippyJon Jones) and then she got to pass out her treat for the kids.

We couldn’t do cupcakes because there are kids with nut allergies, an egg allergy, a gluten allergy, an oat allergy and a chicken allergy (chicken?! really??) in her class. Even with the ladybug lollipops we still had two kids that we had to do pencils for – they have dairy allergies and the lollys were made with milk chocolate. Aye.

She picked dinner (noodles again) and we made her some cupycakes.

Then Saturday came and it was her birthday again. Her “real birthday” as she called it. We called my niece (Happy 12th, Lexer!) to wish her Happy Birthday and Addie said, “Hey! Lexer’s birthday is on my birthday?” And herein lies the problem with the week-long celebrating – a little clueless on exactly when her birthday is.

Anyhow, we invited a few friends for a ladybug hunt. Couldn’t find bugcatchers (almost couldn’t find ladybugs!) so we made do with dollar spot buckets and I just covered them in fabric.

Seemed to work just fine.

Em and her friends – the “big girls” – all did the face painting for me. The big girls are all my Brownies, so I told them it was one of their good deeds by helping the little girls. (They are supposed to do 3 to get their Brownie pin re-pinned right-side up.) But I think they loved it even more than the little girls did.

And then we had ladybug cupcakes. Which I totally forgot to get a photo of. I didn’t take hardly any photos in fact – just trying to deal with kiddies. Thankfully J. picked up my camera and got a few. Like this one…