Picture and cuteness overload

Here's a few pictures from the last 3 weeks.

Kisses for sissy.

Showing Maemae how to use this toy.

Fixing Mom's dishwasher with his assistant, Uggie the dog.

April 1st and Mom and Dad still had snow around their house.

Pretty girl's big smile while clutching her blankie.

Peanut's gigantic egg after hitting the side of my dresser while reaching for something. The open wound part is from his skin splitting about 30 seconds after the sickening dull thud I heard. I was imaging the stitches scar across the forehead but thankfully that was not the case.

Side view of that bad boy.

Future ball player.

Movie snack. We love us some kettle corn.

Maemae looking oh so adorable in her Easter outfit a month after Easter.

Enjoying playing outside while Mom and I work in our new garden. One the 1 day that has been 80 degrees. I think it rained the next day and has been raining every day since.

Quad time with Papa. And before I'm yelled at for no helmet, nothing cracks this head. See above pictures for proof.

Bath time fun from tonight. Before Mom washes his hair.

After hair washing.

The end. (Sorry Mom if you can't load all these. Guess you'll need to come in and use our lightening fast internet cable. Hahah.)
~Crys

Quilt show

Maemae and I met Mom and Sonya at the Clark County Quilt show a couple weeks ago and perused the quilts hanging up with awe while wondering where the women (and a few men) find the time to make such creations. Maemae slept through the show after eating and managing to stay awake for about 10 minutes. But I enjoyed the time being toddler free and able to take my time and not have to rush like the last quilt show we went to with Peanut before Maemae was here.

I took a few pictures of my favorites. None of these are my creations, but they do give me tons of inspirations. And I get hope from them that once my kiddos are in school (if we're not homeschooling) I'll have some time to expand my quilting comfort zone and become more detailed in my quilting.

My favorite and just my style. I did take a close up of the quilter's information that had the pattern's name in it for one of my next purchases.

Simple-ish and very springtime-y.

I stared and stared at this one and could not make my eyes see that it is only 2 dimensions. We were given white gloves when we entered so we could touch and we did....a lot.

I really like this design and have seen many variations, but really don't have a burning desire to make my own. It kind makes my head hurt after a while because I try to figure out where each block is and it's not a block pattern. From what I understand, how it's sewn and cut is where the design comes from. Pretty but not my thing I guess.

Can't wait until another quilt show is in my area to go get inspiration from. They certainly do give me a boost to get working at my machine again.

TTFN ~ C

Another in the same day!

Yes, I know, I am amazing. Another post when it's been 40 minutes since my last. Photobucket is being very quick so I uploaded some more pictures to share and brag about.

Quick panel quilt for Jonah's 4th birthday.

Peanut's apron that I sneak onto him when we're baking.

Purse/bag I sewed last month but am not sure if I like the style of it enough to use it. I love the fabric and have enough to make another style that I know I'll use.

Lounging in Peanut's bed after Peanut's naptime.

Pretty pretty girl.

Maemae 3 months old.

Peanut at 3 months. Wow, Maemae is much more cushion-y than Peanut ever was.

That's all for now and probably the next week or so. :c) ~C

Quick catch-up

Whew, I haven't posted in a while. Life has been quickly going by and I find myself tied to my cranky baby at the end of the day waiting for her to fall asleep so I can follow. Just last night, Maemae fell asleep right after Peanut (and stayed asleep!) and I was able to clean up a little and play with my sewing stuff. I have gotten a few things off my ever growing to-do list in the past week. A quick panel quilt for my almost nephew Jonah's birthday, a start on a mystery quilt, a small quilt quilted and bound for Peanut that I started at the September retreat, and tonight blackout vampire shades whipped up in the last hour for our bedroom. Hopefully they do the job and Mike can get some better quality sleep.

As usual, I think of several things to blog about throughout the day and then forget most of them once I have a few minutes to actually blog. It's been a trying week for me and the kiddos. Mostly due to having a cold again, Maemae has a small snotty nose, and Peanut is working on 2 year molars. The second one finally cut through a few nights ago, but they are huge so take him many days to get all the way up and out of his gums. So we're all sleeping crappily and it makes for a pretty bitchy, exhausted Mama who doesn't have any patience and a Peanut who watches 2 or 3 movies a day so we can rest.

Peanut is very active, always wanting to play and seldom sitting quietly so I can build up my energy. I've heard this is the beginning of the terrible twos, but my child is not terrible (so don't say that, it makes me snarly). He's a healthy, beautiful 2 year old who is exploring his world and has unlimited energy. He behaves (mostly) and listens well (again, mostly) and that's not terrible. It's terrific! I am reminded again and again to view the world through his eyes and to slow down and enjoy what God has given us. I no longer worry about what a mess my house is and how desperately it needs to be dusted and vacuumed. I think it's a good day when I get the laundry washed and dried. Folding that mountain of clean clothes is always last on my to-do list and usually it's pawed through until they are gone.

Peanut springs new words on us every day or so. Latest is doctor, airplane, donkey, and tonights was "now drink" at dinner. Just when I start to worry about his speech and start thinking about speech therapists, he whips out a few new words and makes us clap like maniacs while we try to entice him with praise and whooping it up to say it over and over. He then just looks at us, calmly drinking his sippy while thinking Mama and Daddy are crazy and if they weren't listening the first time, I'm not saying it again.

Maemae is growing perfectly and is getting more beautiful every day. She had her 4 month appointment today and it went very well. First thing her doctor said was that I have great breastmilk (Yes, I know, look how well Peanut did on it) because shes a whopping 13 lbs. 1 oz and 25 inches tall. Her 6 month one-piece outfits fit her with little room left over in the height so I think it's going to be tops and pants until it's warm and then dresses for her. I picked up a few patterns last week for adorable little girl spring and summer outfits that I can't wait to start sewing up for her. I'm so excited and can't wait to get a few done so I can play dress up.

Maemae has a very distinct belly laugh that is pretty easy to get out of her. She still gets the super surprised look on her face once she gets going and then she busts out with it again. And she's a rolly over girl. She can go from her back to her tummy and then kinda shuffles herself around in a circle so she can watch someone. Sometimes to amuse myself once Mike goes to work I move out of her vision just to watch her shuffle...at least until she cries in frustration and Mama has to swoop her up for snuggles.

That's about all. It's only 10pm and I'm going to sew for a little bit on another project then go to bed. Lately 4:30 - 6am has been party time at our house so it makes for a tired Mama. And tomorrow we're off to Sonic for dinner. Woo hoo! Strawberry lime-aid how I have missed you. Sonic is on our short list of what we miss about Arizona and there is 1 in Hillsboro. Mike timed a job out there around dinner time and the fam is going with him for a treat.

Here's a picture from last month of our precious kiddos. I have tons more pictures waiting to be uploaded to photobucket, but you'll have to make do with just one in this post.

TTFN ~Crys

Long time no blog!

I haven't sat down and done a blog entry since I started back to work at 911, and everyone else in the house is asleep...I should be too, but I tried one of those new Pepsi Maxx drinks today...you know, the "invigorating" soda. It's a "diet" soda, cause it has no sugar in it, but it does have a good amount of caffeine and some other stimulant, but the name escapes me right now. It escapes me, or my head is spinning so fast I just can slow it down long enough to read it off the old hard drive.

Anyway. Today I had a repair job down in Bend, Oregon
View Larger Map. I've never been there (that I could remember) and Crystal had never been there, so, last night we went out to Crystals Mom and Dad's and asked if they would mind keeping Elliot over night so we could get up at 5 am and drive down to Bend. Being the awesome people that they are, they agreed. After getting an "ok" nights sleep (I woke up at 1:30 am with my left arm pinned under my body and alseep...not just numb, but totally dead, after 30 minutes of the "needles" poking me while my arm came alive again, I was back to sleep) we got up at 5 am, showered, feed Clella, got her loaded in the truck and were on the road. 4 hours later, we arrived in Bend. What a long drive. We went down thru the Santiam pass on the way down, and came back up and over Mt. Hood after seeing how clear the roads were. I got my repairs done and was out of the shippers house by 1. While I was working, Crystal and Clella went off and checked out a local quilt shop in town and looked around. After they came back to pick me up, Crystal said "go this way, we are going to lunch". Being the best wife ever, she managed to find a restaurant that has long ago gone out of business here in the Portland area that we both loved....Skippers! We sat down with childhood giddiness on our faces and hunger in our bellies, and were not disappointed. DELICIOUS!!!! They have the best clam chowder ever! We talked to the manager while we were there and got the low down on why they all closed up here. Turns out Greed made its way into one of the corporate leaders of the company and they embezled millions of dollars from the company, then left the country. Good times. The company has now been purchased by a man who used to work for the company many years ago and is slowly making a comeback. 29 stores are due to re-open this year alone, please let one of them be opened with in an hour of our house!!!! PLEASE!

So, after we ate, Clella ate one more time, got a dry diaper and we were off for home. 4 hours later, we pulled into the driveway, ran in the house, used the bathroom, switched Clella's car seat back into the mommy missle and were off to Crystals folks house to pick up Elliot.

It was a really great day, the weather was awesome, and I had the best time hanging out w/ Crystal and just talking. We both did alot of laughing, some of which we owe to the great Adam Carolla, his morning show is the best! "I once had some yeasty on the peckaroo" was used over and over thru the day, and applied to all situations. We had a great time. Clella was an absolute storm trooper in her chair, only fussed a few times and that was mostly cause she was hungry. We made 2 stops on the way home to feed and change her and otherwise she slept the whole time.

I can't thank Judy and Ernie enough, well, Judy anyway, Ernie got Elliot out of bed at 0545 then left for work. The time "alone" we had today was something we both needed to re-charge our batteries and have some us time. I miss that...sometimes I wish I'd had kept my "peckaroo" in my pants...but then I wouldnt have 2 of the best looking, acting and fun to be with kids. I gotta go try and sleep, I have the next 2 days off and plan on spending every second with the family!

Here is a couple pics snapped from the passenger side window thanks to Crystal and her speedy fingers. Taken at 60+ mph, so sorry if they are a bit blurry, but I think they turned out pretty good. As you might notice, none of the tree's have any tops to them. There was a good sized forest fire down there last year (we think it was last year anyway, not sure) that destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of trees and forest floor vegetation. Having the snow on the ground helped make what I'm sure is a bleak landscape look rather peaceful and pretty.