Elliott's Project

This project started because of our need for space. Space under the deck and in the garage. With daddy's toys and kiddie toys piling up we really needed a solution. Though our garage is considered extended it still isn't enough.


It's come a long way from being just a green patch in our backyard, to being something with considerable presence. Amelia helped daddy, as did mommy. Mommy was a bit more constructive than Amelia, who's helping involved drawing on things (including Mabel) with permanent marker, throwing around the dirt, crawling under the shed, hiding tools, and generally doing exactly the opposite of what was asked of her. But what's a two year old to do? Precisely what was described above!


The first thing I helped with was the back wall. I felt proud to have helped. And Elliott trucked on, building all four walls in a day. Stablizing them and trying to keep Amelia from climbing on them.


The first thing I helped with was the back wall. I felt proud to have helped. And Elliott trucked on, building all four walls in a day. Stablizing them and trying to keep Amelia from climbing on them.


Then came the rafters. Why don't you put a loft area in there and we can put holiday decorations up there? Great idea, Tabby. :-) I worried about Elliott hedging planks of wood up the ladder along with nails and the hammer whilst Amelia ran around the yard as long as she could stand to do then begged to go inside with mommy and sissy. Occassionally kicking the door and screaming to tell me her wishes. Often it resulted in a swift to naptime reaction.


Then the siding. This man works fast! And alone. Though neighbors and my dad and brother have both offered a hand, Elliott humbly turned down those offers and steamed on full force, with tea and water breaks and hands of help from me, who often asked the same question, "am I doing this right?" After all, it's his project, I didn't want to mess it up.


When we re-did the back door from a single door and window to a sliding glass door, Elliott was going to toss the window and I said why don't you keep it for your shed? And he did. See, that's why there's two of us, I see things he doesn't and he remembers important things that I forget and is about 90% always right when the phrase "how much you wanna bet?" pops up. Though he always bets something small because he knows he's going to win. The phrase "you were right" rolls off my tongue easier than it did when we were first married.


I helped shingle the right side of the roof! It was fun, but I had to get down twice as Nana shouted, "she's ready to eat mom!" and little Alyssa would sqwak as if to prove this. Elliott ended up finishing the roof by himself because Nana and Papa left for Texas later that week and I had to stay on the ground with the babies. But then the big stuff was mostly done. Elliott had to build boxes and attach trim, putty nails and screws. I didn't help much until last week when he started painting.


We changed the paint twice and ended picking a nice gray for the body and a white for the trim. Elliott informed me today that our house, when we re-paint it, will be the same color because he likes it so much. That's ok with me!


That's the story of Elliott's shed. There's still a little work to be done but not much. I'm not being bias, I think, but I really think Elliott did a bang up job. I like to look at it while I do dishes. I like it a lot!

P.s. Please disregard the dying grass. It's been 100+ for days now and we've just given up trying to water. After all, it really didn't so any good anyway.

Banju to You!

Hello! How are you today? Are you enjoying the weather where you are? We are! Everyday we take the girlies outside so they can play for a bit. Well, Amelia plays, Alyssa falls asleep in her swing.


Amelia is finally getting to play in her water table we got her for her birthday (February 11). We actually didn't tell her about it until we put it together. I generally don't tell Amelia about things until right before they happen that way if things change she won't be disappointed. Which stops any meltdowns that would follow had she known.


I also just bought them a little dollar store pool. Amelia loves it but Alyssa would rather just sit on my lap and chew on my fingers. Yeah, she's teething already. Well anyway, I have the neatest thing to show you...


It's called a banju pillow, I think. I was browsing google images for cushion ideas and ran into this particular pillow through indulgy.com. I followed it to see if it came with a pattern but it was written in German. And being that I don't speak German, or read it for that matter, I couldn't find where the pattern came from.


I did search for quite some time and just decided to dive in using the picture(s) I found as my guide. After I had one side done, I finally found the pattern but decided against buying it because it was going so well without it.


I sewed some fleece in the middle on the wrong side because there are gaps between the second and third/fourth rounds and I didn't want fiberfill to spill out. I got some great new needles by sewology from Hobby Lobby that are super sharp (ask my thumb... Ok! I purposely poked my thumb on the needle to see how sharp it was) and they made it so much easier to poke the yarn through the fleece.


These are so much fun to make, so much so that I made two! The rainbow one for my sister and the larger one for my bed. It's now Elliott's pillow, just so you know.


I used my I hook on the larger pillow and did double crochet for the edges. I liked the way it looked but it made the pillow harder to stuff because it would just stretch instead of getting firmer. I used my H hook on my sister's and did half double crochet between the two halves. The smaller gauge and hdc made it easy to stuff and it wasn't as squeeshy as mine.


And if you're wondering, I didn't get all fancy with the green blanket as my background. It's just the thing that Alyssa was rolling around on in the living room.


And of course, the best part of making anyone a gift, is giving it to them. My sister had no idea what it was going to be though I sent her a couple picture updates. She liked it so much she asked me to make her another one in all blue for her new house she's moving into in August. Why, make something with yarn? Don't mind if I do. :-)

Moving On

Hello friends! How are you doing? I'm doing pretty good! This post is coming a week late because of something that happened. I've been struggling writing any kind of post trying to play over it, but I can't. It makes me feel guilty. My grandma passed away on May 27, rather suddenly and unexpectedly. She was just shy of her 80th birthday.


She lived in Texas, same city for 52 years, same city I was born. She's the only grandma I ever knew and regret that we weren't closer. She loved each of her 6 kids, 14 grandkids, and 5 great grandbabies. I'm sad she never got to meet my girls and they her. But that's life you know? I'm happy she's happy now. Well, I assume she's happy, I had a dream just the other night that she was. She wouldn't stop smiling in my dream. I get a lot of my crochet and sewing talent from her. Though she taught me neither, I still get it from her.


Passed to me from her stash was a shoe box full of zippers. I haven't braved into it yet, but I'm looking forward to it.


A shoe box and giant tin (like two shoe boxes side by side) full of buttons. Matching buttons, loose buttons, random buttons. I went through both things of buttons because as you can see the box fell apart when I opened it. It took me two hours. I would assume my grandma never threw any button away. I even found a washer in there which made a giggle. Also, a box of costume jewelry came into Amelia's care from my grandma. The strangest thought passed over me as I watched Amelia play in the "neck-a-nesses", about how my grandma would think it was cute and I should send her a picture. Then I remembered. You assume you have more time with someone but it always passes too fast. Unfortunately, we couldn't make it to the funeral, but my sister went and I lived vicariously through her text messages. My mom's doing ok, she's down there cleaning and getting ready to put the house on the market. We're all moving on in our own ways.

Sorry this was sort of a downer post, I just didn't feel right not saying anything. Thanks for listening!

I love you grandma, enjoy yourself now.

Dis-Easter (Kinda, but not really)

I hope everyone has had a fantastic week and had a great Easter. My Easter Sunday started out well enough, I ran into a blog called Crochet with Raymond the night before right before I dashed off to bed, and read through Alice's posts during the my nightly feedings with Alyssa. I love the blog! It's colorful and bright, plus Raymond, you're just going to have to check it out or take my word for how wonderful it is! And I finished Alyssa's Easter booties that matched her dress that morning and had managed to dress myself before getting the girls ready. Then disaster struck. Amelia refused to wear her dress and when I snuck it onto her she desperately pulled at it and begged to take it off. Crying and saying, "mommy, off!" No, sweetie, we have to wear it for a little bit. "Mommy, off!?" No, we can change out of it later, we just have to wear it for a little bit. Screaming and crying and begging ensued and mommy put little Amelia into time out for not listening and screaming. Crying is ok, but screaming is not. Not too big of a deal, not something uncommon in our daily life. But then a bigger disaster hit.

The sweet little booties that I made for Alyssa, the one that I had tried in a cream color first and decided that the pink would match better, and tried on one of her feet and determined it would fit, didn't fit the other foot. I tried my best to stay calm and get the bootie on that sweet little big foot, but the more I tried the sweater I got, the more she moved and fussed from being "held" down. It was a nightmare. In dismay I snatched the booties, threw them at the crib and cried in despair to Elliott that our baby had too big of feet. "Can't she just wear socks?" Of course she could! But that ruined the picture of Easter I had in my head. The whole 20 minutes that all of this took place I lost my appetite for Easter. And I love Easter! Then after we were on our way to my in-law's I realized I had left Alyssa's Easter onesie at home with her sun hat. UGH! "Do you want to go back?" Elliott asked. NO! I don't want to go back. If we go back I might lock myself in the bathroom and not come out until dinner.

Then I stared out the window and shed a few angry tears that helped lessen the fire in my tummy. It would be ok, we just had to get there and I would feel better. We stopped at the gas station on the way out and Elliott ran inside to get something. He came out with my new favorite drink, Brisk's sweat ice tea, and one of my favorite little snacks, a nacho flavored slim Jim. Thank you sweetheart, for making me feel better with goodies. How could I be mad after that? He did try his very hardest to keep me collected and make me laugh. He has always been the only person to get me out of the deepest funks. So, we got to my in-law's house and Alyssa wanted to be held, no biggie, and it was rather warm outside so body to body gets warmer. We had to shed the dress before anyone really got to see it, and of course, no pictures were taken of the girls in their dresses together. Years from now when they ask me, "mom, where are all the holiday pictures at from when we were little?" Well, girls, mommy has mommy brain and I can't hardly remember where I leave my shoes let alone remember to bring and/or use the camera. MENTAL NOTE: Get better about using the camera. You'll miss those memories when they're gone.

So, aside from no Easter pictures and me being mad the first part of Easter, and Elliott working that evening, it was a pretty good day. The girls got a nap and I put my feet up and had a few minutes of quiet time, because you know if you have more than one little one down for a nap they take turns actually sleeping, so the overlap is only ever a few minutes. It's a work in progress I assume, or is it always like that? Either way, it's worth it. I can always sleep when they're in school. Right?...

Well, that's about all I have for today, because this has taken me a week to write. My mom was very generous and let me borrow her computer with her internet card. It's nice to be able to see things full screen. I was watching something on YouTube and my eyes started to hurt a little because it was so big and bright! It was a nice change from my little iPhone. I just wanted to give you a peek of my ripple which is fast growing now that I have an itch to finish it so I can cuddle with it. Yep, just in time for summer.

And I leave you with a picture of my two A's, enjoying tummy time together and watching their/Amelia's beloved Puss in Boots. Amelia wrapped her arm around Alyssa and gave her a kiss on the head. Of course it didn't last long, because being two makes you move more often.

Happy Days!

Some Blankets Revealed

I've been thinking about my poor little blog. I've sadly neglected it over the passed few months, and I really want to fix it up. I hate not having the Internet because I can't do the things I want with my blog through my iPhone. As Puss would say, "it's a curse on my life!" My phone, not my blog. Have you seen Puss in Boots? I really enjoy that movie, so when Amelia asks to watch it for the millionth time I don't roll my eyes and reluctantly say yes like I do with other movies. Such as Alvin and the chipmunks. I wake up to feed Alyssa with those songs swimming around in my head.


She had a small accident the other day. Fell nose first onto the driveway while chasing bubbles. Luckily it's only scratched. When I saw her after it happened I freaked (without causing a scene for Amelia's sake). Her nose was swollen and red but she didn't seem to notice. I asked if it was broken and should we take her to the ER. I touched her nose and she didn't pull away other than in two year old fashion, so I let it go, but still! That kid has more face injuries than a hockey player. And last night she slammed her head on her headboard while jumping on her bed. Resulting in a nice bruise. Ugh!


So because I've been busy lately (I can't imagine with what :-)) I never got the chance to show you my finished projects! I set out to finish certain things before Alyssa was born but some things still didn't make the FO pile. But Elliott's "anniversary" blanket did.


This thing is pretty big, approximately 64"x78". Please excuse the random clutter on the floor. I love the granny stripes! After finishing this I regreted that my blanket was a ripple instead of a granny stripe because it's so heavy and warm and cuddly.


It got Amelia's approval for sure.


This is the ultimate test. I always lay out my finished projects and if either Amelia, Tonka, or Mabel come to sprawl out on it I know I've done a good job. That or they all just do it to get in my way because they want my attention, either way, it's all golden.


I even went ahead and used Lucy's trim idea too. Lucy, from attic 24, is who inspired this creation. Well, actually all of my big projects right now are taken straight from Lucy's tutorials. The granny stripe, the ripple, and the hexie. I owe her. Elliott loves his blanket and takes it with him everywhere he goes. No joke! He sleeps with it at night and then pulls it downstairs with him in the morning and warms up with it in the green chair while Amelia eats pre-breakfast, and I get to catch up on some sleep. I love that he loves it.


And this quilt I finished in Three days, beginning to end. I made it for Meg's little princess for her birthday. I actually finished it the morning of the party and didn't get to wash it before the party. It was well liked at the party and princess M seemed to like it a lot but because it's been so warm I'm not sure if she's used it yet. But soon enough!


It's just shy of 40"x60" and really fun!


I really enjoyed making this quilt, it was fast and relatively inexpensive for a quilt.


Amelia has fun at the party with princess M.


A little too much fun really.


Then I finally finished Amelia's scrappy heart quilt. It had been basted since before Christmas, wait even before Thanksgiving!


I quilted it with two rows of hearts on the top and two on bottom and random squiggly lines in between. I didn't like the hearts because they were super wonky. But once everything was said an done Elliott told me he really liked the quilted hearts, and so did I. They were endearing and lovely really. But it all worked out in the end and it turned out great!


You can sort of see one of the hearts in the bottom right corner. There are five different shades of purple on this quilt. It's rather lovely, if I do say so.


It shares the same green strip that the anniversary quilt has too. A baby quilt an a parent quilt. Cute!


Someone likes it.


She drug it into the kitchen and laid it out to play on it so that's a clue to her liking it so much.


And she well should. It's a nice quilt. Made with a ton of love! I actually really liked this quilt in the end, because as you can remember I didn't always love it.


And the mostly most important thing I had to finish before Alyssa got here was her bobble blankie. She sleeps with it in her bassinet and I tuck in the sides so she can't pull it up over her face. Though that doesn't seem to be the problem, she loves to kick it down.


It's soft and bright and 34"x37". Perfect for a nappy. I've tried covering her with other blankets but she definitely prefers this one. I've managed to squeeze in some hooking on my hexie, about a row and a half, worked about a hexagon at a time, randomly when I can. I've also determined where the end shall be for my ever growing ripply blanket. I'm very excited for that! It's currently downstairs in it's bin and I have a beautiful sleeping babe on my lap, so you'll just have to take my word that it's beautiul too.


Besides all that, we're ready for Alyssa's first Easter. Store bought dresses and all. Hopefully next year I'll make the girls dresses for Easter. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter filled with family, friends, and food.

Happy days!

Little Treasures

Three weeks and one day have passed since I became the lucky mommy of two little girls.


How is that possible? Time moves by so fast and no matter how hard I drag my feet in the dirt, it's not slowing down.


And this one! She says some of the funniest and craziest things and has the biggest personality that will fit in her little body. I frequently tell both my lovies how much I love them and I'm surprised they haven't drowned in all my kisses yet.


Amelia put herself down for a nap on the couch the other day. I just helped cover her with her blanket. I cracked up while watching her fall asleep, then marveled at how lovely she truly is, especially while sleeping. ;-)


And I love snuggling with Alyssa in the new Moby Wrap. She hates her carseat and I bought this the day we ventured to the grocery store for the first time as a foursome. She cried for a few minutes in the store but then fell asleep in it. I'm getting really good at putting her in it and tonight she fell asleep within five minutes.


But my greatest treasures, are these two and Elliott. As long as I had Elliott, Amelia, and Alyssa with me, I know I could face anything.