Currently

Reading: a lot lately. Finished Mindy Kaling's book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Funny, easy, took no time at all. Reminded me of Tina Fey's book. Totally makes me want to watch The Office again. I've downloaded a bunch more books, including some old ones I've already read. Enders Game is coming out in theaters and I want to read it again before we see it.

Watching: We've finished Sherlock and are working on Arrested Development. Sherlock was incredible, and I cannot wait to see their third season. I heard wonderful things about Benedict Cumberbatch's performance in this show, and I loved him in the new Star Trek. They did a fantastic job revamping the Sherlock stories to modern day. So, um, you all need to watch it.

Arrested Development is going good. Can you believe that before this month, I had only ever watched the first episode. Yep. We're in the third season now, and its a nice funny comedy to watch before bed. I'm looking forward to seeing how the fourth season is after their 7 year break.

Feeling: Nervous/excited about going away. It will be the longest time I've spent away from the kids. I know I'll miss them terribly too. Nervous because I've never flown on a plane before and I'm afraid of heights. Tony gets the window seat thankfully. Super excited to travel. I bet that once we go, we'll need to go back to Europe and travel again. The travel bug is evil apparently.

Thinking about: whether or not to get my eyelashes tinted and done. Mikaela had hers done for grad and they are gorgeous. Not having to wear mascara would be a real treat.

Eating: Tons and tons of legumes. I've been trying to add more of those and less meat to our diet. Not cutting out meat entirely yet, but I am trying to cut back on it. Last night I made curry with beans and veggies. I love curry.

sprechen sie deutsch?

Tony is being sent to Berlin for a work conference in July. Hes doing a presentation on the computer program he's been working on. This program sequences cancer genomes and such. So since his work is paying for him to go, I could go if I bought my own ticket (and spending money).

I am GOING!

We had some money saved and were given some as a present, so my ticket is paid for and I have spending money. It happened right in the perfect season for us. Mikaela will be the prime babysitter while we're away. She's done school and can take the time off. So we're shipping the kids off to Nana and Papa's house for the week, and then we're taking off.

Even though Tony will be working most of the trip, we are determined to enjoy our time together. I am going to sight see and shop, and he will join me later after work and we are going to hang out. I get to scope out all the good stuff to show him.

I am beyond excited. I've always thought that going across seas would be a thing that happened later in life. So glad I have a valid passport. Very thankful that I get to tag along.

I've got a list of places I want to see in Berlin, but if you have any suggestions, let me know.

Quilts! Now with awesome sauce!

So, last time I talked about quilts, I was working on Sadie's quilt, and having great difficulty doing it. Well, obviously I'm past it, its finished. I learned a lot about what to do and what not to do. Watching youtube tutorials was very helpful after the fact on that one.

I was pretty impatient with myself in that with Lucas' quilt, I ran out of fabric for the backing, so I "improvised" and its pretty hideous. Its ok though. Eventually I'll make him a new blanket. His was the first half square triangle quilt. Its wonky, but I like the overall design.

This is the third quilt. Its a queen. She was a beast. She's a scrappy quilt, and hand tied instead of quilted. Hand tying was more fun to me than the stress that is trying to cram a queen sized quilt through my machine. White sheeting and scraps of all my vintage sheets went into this one.

The fourth one is one for Tony's friend/co worker's new baby. He had a new baby girl and we went over to visit. I had to bring a gift and had an extra quilt batting lying around. Put it to good use and did a really easy stripy quilt for her. I love that pink floral vintage sheet. Its my favourite fabric. I need to find more of it.

It was nice to do a girly easy blanket.

Currently I'm working on a present for my littlest sister Mikaela. Chevron grey and light pink queen sized quilt. Hoping to get it done before her birthday. Not sure if that will happen. My back was pretty sore after rushing through this last one, and after roughhousing last night, I tweaked my neck and it feels like a pinched nerve.
Stupid nerves.
Stupid neck.
Wine did not solve my problems either. So, I gotta take a break and recover before powering through Mikaela's blanket.

What we're up to on sunny days

He runs to the trampoline and yells UPPY!!! Its a combo of Up and Please.

Until recently, he didn't know how to jump on the tramp, so he'd run taking extra big steps when I asked him to jump.

 And who really needs pants anyways?

Blocks outside are so much more awesome than blocks inside.

Found a couple frisbees at walmart. The kids had a blast, and now use ice cream lids inside to frisbee when it rains out.

He really has enjoyed his mega blocks. They both love building castles.  Also, this tent has come in quite handy.

Happy Birthday Sadie! (belated birthday party post)

More like this is the belated blog post, but whatever. This girl turned 3 on May 15th, and we celebrated that Saturday with an Ice Cream party.

She really wanted a pete the cat cake, but the night before when I was making said cake, I chickened out and asked if she wanted a pretty pink flower cake. She was thrilled. Then, since you are all like, Miranda, that's not a flower cake, I will explain. I was ready to ice the darn thing and could not for the life of me find my star tip. So, I tried my un used ruffle tip, and there we go, ruffles! Sadie was over the moon.

Make your own Sundae bar! So easy and delicious.

 Lets face it, they were more about looks than taste. The blue raspberry ones were gross, the others were ok.

Sugar cookies, chocolate strawberries, and ice cream sandwiches. We were quite loaded with Sugar.

My girl going to town on her presents, ripping apart the paper like a pro. Girl obviously remembers Christmas.

Lucas got to help, but he mostly played with the balloons. My kids think balloons are the bomb. Balloons were in our house all week, driving me up the wall.

This girl totes that purse around wherever she goes. We forgot it at home one day, and had already left in the car when she realized it wasn't there. She bawled the entire ride to the store and still was sad when we were shopping.

So that was her party. We hung out, ate ice cream, trampolined, and the kids played with all the presents, and new water sand table. They were good and tired at bed time though.