A good day

Today was a pretty busy day in our house. We are having pretty much the entire house painted this week and the painters got here at about 7am this morning. I am very pleased with the work that they are doing, but it has made it difficult to keep the kids out of the way and Alex will not nap if he can hear or see people in the house. So this morning the kids got me up at about 6:30 and the painters got here at 7 I had the kids dressed and fed by 8 and we left to go to the gym for my exercise class and then Abbie's gym class. After that we went to the store where I picked up food for a birthday dinner for Alex (he is 3, hard to believe). We then went home and had lunch and I put Abbie down for a nap and tried to get Alex to take a nap but he wasn't having it. So, he and I hung out until 3ish when the painters left and then I put him down for a nap. Unfortunately Abbie got up about the same time that I put Alex down so I didn't get any child free time this afternoon. For dinner I invited my dad to join us since my mom is out of town this week, we had hamburgers, fries and a small birthday cake (Alex had a bigger party last Saturday). Afterwards we hang out and talked for a bit and then I went to quilt guild and Joe put the kids to bed. All in all a good day, I am really pleased with how the painting is turning out and am really glad that it is getting done. Our walls were the flat white paint that the builder painted and they were filthy dirty.

Sorry that this is going to be another photo free post but I still haven't figured out how to get the pictures off my camera and my husband has gone to bed so I can't ask him to help. (I figured it out and have added some pictures, the first one is from Alex's b-day party on the 13th and the second one is from his actual birthday)

Things have been a bit crazy here

Wow it's been quite a while since I have posted, I have been a bit busy over the last couple weeks. First my birthday was on the 5th and my husband arranged for my friend to come into town from Wyoming to visit with me. It was a nice time, we went to Benihana on Friday for dinner and then hung out a bit on Saturday morning (she and her kids spent the night here on Friday) and then we took the kids to the zoo on Monday. Saturday my other friend took me shopping at a quilt store for my birthday present. While we were out we came across the grand opening of a new thrift store. My friend got a nice skirt, top and jean jacket and I got several books that I had been wanting to read and a bag with a half completed quilting project. I think that I will cut up the fabric and make new string blocks out of it. Saturday night was my anniversary and we took the kids to my parents for the night and Joe and I spent the night at the Princess in Scottsdale (that's where he took me to propose). Sunday we went back over to my parents house to pick up the kids and we also had my birthday lunch.
In between all of this I have finished my butterfly garden quilt and made a "Party" wall hanging. I recently got a new laptop and have not gotten the photo software set up yet so I'll have to post photos at a later date.
This weekend will likely be just as crazy. Tonight is the semiannual mother's of multiples rummage sale so I will be going with my mom and sister to get some winter clothes for the kids (Alex mostly). Tomorrow is Alex's birthday party (he will be 3 on the 16th), and there are no plans for Sunday yet.
I almost forgot, we had a big milestone here yesterday, we turned Abbie's car seat forward facing. I can't believe how big my baby girl has gotten. Yesterday I took the swing, activity center and bouncy seat to the resale shop. We have had these things since Alex was born, but Abbie has outgrown them and we are not planning on having any more kids so it was time to declutter. I was a bit sad to see them go realizing that I am moving out of a phase of my life and that I will likely never have a little baby of my own to cuddle again.

Measuring time

I had a sort of funny revelation today. In the last 6 years I have changed how I measure time. I used to measure time by months and days but now I measure time from events in my life such as that happened before I was married, I have had these pj's since I was pregnant with Alex, on Alex's birthday I will have been breastfeeding continuously for 3 years. It's funny how our perspective changes. For example when I was single and childless I was nuts about my birthday but now that I am married with 2 kids it feels like just something that is stuck in there between Alex and Abbie's birthdays with an anniversary thrown in for good measure. I am not saying this so you feel sorry for me, it is just not as important anymore.
In other ways to measure time, Abbie has gotten another molar so we are up to 9 teeth total. I can't believe that she is getting to be such a big girl.
Quilt wise I should be able to tell of a UFO finish soon. I finished quilting my Butterfly Garden quilt and have the binding sewn to one side, I just need to get some thread to match the binding and then I'll finish it up (since I anticipate that this quilt will be used I will stitch the binding down by machine rather than by hand). It will feel good to have this completed I have been working on this quilt since Alex was a newborn.

A First Birthday party

Today we had Abbie's first birthday party. Fun was had by all and we got some more great cake eating pictures. I'll post pictures in the next couple of days (I finally added those photos!). Abbie gave me a surprise for her birthday also, two new molars. She totally snuck them in on me, I only know that they are there because I saw a flash of white in her mouth and checked it out. Hope all of you out there had a great weekend.

My Baby Girl Turns One

I can't hardly believe it but Abbie girl turned one today. We are having her party for friends and family on Sunday but today we were able to celebrate with a small cake and dinner with my friend and her two kids. Monday that same friend and I took the kids in to get their birthday pictures done (her son is 26 hours older than Abbie) and then we went back in briefly to have a picture of the two of them together. Abbie is wearing the dress that I made her in the pictures of her by herself. The headband is a free pattern from Heather Bailey. Abbie got to eat her first piece of cake today and she made a lovely mess with it. I tried to post a video of Abbie eating her cake but it wouldn't work so I'll try again later.

Small Quilt Auction

Tomorrow night is the annual Small Quilt Auction at my quilt guild. I have donated a chicken pincushion in the past but have never made a quilt so tonight I decided to make one. I used the "waste triangles" that I double sewed when I was making Alex's big boy quilt and that I had previously trimmed to 1 3/4" and sewed into 4 patch pinwheels. Tonight I sewed the pinwheels together and put on a couple borders and bound it. I am very pleased with how it turned out.

I have also included a couple more pictures from our trip to Zion. The picture of Abbie is of her in our Ergo Baby Carrier, this is how she saw Zion and I was very pleased with how comfortable it was and she got alot of attention from people when she was in it (although she gets attention wherever we go.

Our Week in Zion

We had a great trip to Zion with my parents. The weather was perfect cool in the mornings in the low 90's in the afternoons and in the 70's in the evenings. We were able to get out and do things in the mornings and then come back to the campground in the afternoon to cool off and rest. One nice thing about Zion is that they have a shuttle system to reduce the traffic in the park so we were able to pick up the shuttle right at the entrance to our campground and didn't have to do much walking with kids unless we wanted to. Check out my husband's great pictures from the trip: http://www.joechott.com/photos/2007/2007-09-10

While we were gone I got a couple of packages in the mail, what fun! I got the Sew What Skirts book, the sublime stitching book and several of their embroidery patterns and some kids activity cards that z recommends reviewed.

I found a great website recommended in parents magazine for swapping books, there is a link to their home page in the sidebar. I like the concept of this because all you pay is to ship it to the other person, rather than the amazon $3.99 shipping fee along with whatever the cost of the book is. I have just mailed off a book to someone and have requested three other books, I'll let you know how it works out.