little frogs

Sadie especially loves to play pretend. They were frogs the other day. 

It was the Sadie show that day. 

Lucas got in on it too. He's getting the hang of pretend.

Easter 2013 --- heh, a lot late

Oh, and these are our Easter photos from this year. This was right after my card reader died, and I thought it was this card. Turns out, they both work, so pictures were there!

This whisk idea was genius! Saw it on Pinterest, and it made things way easier.

Lucas got into the habit of bashing his whisk in the bowl and he cracked one of his eggs. He didn't care, and in the end, it made the egg pretty to eat too.

They cried when we were finished. Lucas was especially sad. He loved dying eggs. Notice, this was days before his hair cut. I sigh every time I see these pictures with his baby hair.

whats happening

Nope, not wearing pants right now. I felt I had to inform you. Its not crazy hot out, but I splattered tomato sauce on my skirt and so I had to spray it down with oxy clean. That stuff is really a miracle. Any who, the weather has made it pants optional for the last few days. I had over due library books that I refused to take back because the thought of being on a bus filled with other sweaty people made me shudder.

We did get to the library today, paid our late fees, and took out more books. The kids joined the summer reading club, and Sadie was pleased as punch to have a little reading booklet to stuff in her overflowing purse.

Lucas is talking a lot more. Learning lots of words from his sister, words like EW and TREAT. He said EW at me when I gave him a dried apricot. Then he and his sister kept hounding me for TREATS. Sadie is also talking a lot. She's putting words together, and we are working on certain letters.

I'm working on Mikaela's quilt right now. Its slow going, but thats not because of difficulty, more that I get crafters ADD and cant do it for more than an hour before being bored. I had this problem with Lucas' quilt. Maybe its the colour scheme. I like it though, its grey and pink.

We're getting ready for Germany. Getting excited. When I'm stressed about it, I frantically make lists and then lose them that day and make more lists. Writing the lists is very therapeutic for me though, so when I find a million lists floating around, I tell myself its ok, and then start a new one. I know right? She be CRAZY.

I've been reading a lot more lately. This Kobo has been the best present. I just finished another book this afternoon, and I've got a bunch to start already loaded. I still appreaciate books, and still have the habit of thinking I need to turn the page when reading digital stuff, but thats a good thing. Started reading Divergent last night. People have said if I liked the hunger games, I'd like this one, so here goes.

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.

hello blogland!

Hello blogland! Did ya miss me? Its been a while, I know. I could come up with a bunch of excuses, but I won't.

So, its finally warmed up around here. Its like summer weather almost. Just gorgeous. We've been spending a ton of time outside, specifically digging in the dirt. I wasn't too keen on gardening other than my herbs and strawberries, so I gave the kids sand toys and let them go to town in the empty garden beds. They come in for dinner filthy dirty and so happy. I foresee a sandbox in the future, but not now because we will need to move soon, and since we're not sure where, the sandbox might have to wait.

So, big changes on the horizon what with moving and such. I've been going through stuff, organizing and packing and getting rid of things. I need a couple more rubbermaid bins to throw christmas into. I want to be more prepared with moving. I hated moving last time. It was too hard with an infant and toddler.

So, not much has happened. I've been working on a few projects. I'll show you those later. They're still being worked on.

Pictures to follow. I will be taking some soon

Gardening, and loving worms

We were out getting the garden ready the other day. Well, by getting it ready, I mean, I let the kids dig around in it and then the next day we weeded it. Digging in the dirt is like one of their favorite activities. They'll dig anything from gardens, to mole hills. Give them dirt and a shovel and they're happy.

  

He was hysterical when beth did big jumps on the trampoline. 

 I forgot to add that I showed them worms. We talked about worms and that they live in the garden. They got to hold some, and loved them. Lucas loved them too hard and I found pieces of worm in his hands. So gross. I can pick up a whole worm, but not pieces of one. After shrieking, I tried to teach him how to wipe his hands on the grass. That didn't work out, so he wiped them on his clothes. ewwwwww worm guts.

New project: patchwork quilt

So, for the past few months, I've been slowly working on making my first small quilt. I've been collecting vintage sheets and such and cutting and sewing them all together. The big pieces are done, and now I need to sew them together. There's just this one tiny thing....

THE STUPID QUILT KEEPS BUNCHING ON THE BOTTOM LAYER!!!!!!
So utterly frustrated at this sucker. I've pinned, ironed, adjusted the tension, tried new needles, cleaned my dusty machine, and still it bunches. I then threw it in a heap on the floor as punishment and went to watch some stupid tv while I calmed down.

In my last ditch effort, I bought basting spray to spray glue the pieces together temporarily. I'm also going to borrow my Mother-in-laws sewing machine, hers is a more expensive one, and it better do the trick.

The quilt will wait though, as we are headed off to Alberta for another quick trip. My grandma passed away a few days ago, so away we go.

Oh, I also made some cute felt food. Mostly strawberries and cookies for Sadie. I really liked making the berries though.

rainy days

its gloomy and gross out right now. We've been inside a lot lately. We've made many forts, and watched too much Curious George. We've been dancing, and baking, and trying not to go crazy. Some days we get to that crazy point. There's fighting, yelling, crying, cuddles, giggles and screaming.

This guy, hes pretty awesome, eh? Its the after breakfast snack.