The life and stories of a cancer ninja
Okay, so I’m really excited about tomorrow. I have been writing a post about Carrie’s summer …
This is Carrie, by the way … in case you forgot….
[Not sure who that gigantic blur is next to her …]
Anyway, I’m really excited to share with you what I’ve been learning about in regards to Care’s summer. Because she’s cool …
And she puts up with a lot from my kids …
Oh yeah, and she’s cool. Did I say that already?
Hope to see you tomorrow!
As promised, I updated our Memorial Day pictures this weekend. Hey! In my defense … I remembered yesterday that we didn’t have pictures from last year because we were in the middle of a cross-country marathon drive. I’ll have to tell that story another time … I’ll also have to figure out my excuses for the other three years not having pictures at a later date as well.
We started out our morning with a parade…
And, the “A++ Father Award for Standing in The Hot Sun On a Parade Route” goes to … my husband! I say this because I was over here for about 98.5% of the morning …
…sitting on the step of a dentist’s office in the shade of the building right behind Bob the whole time. PS: I wish I could tell you why Aidan makes that face at the camera, but I can’t, because I don’t know why. I think my two year old is officially “too cool for school” … or the camera … whichever the case may be.
A funny thing about my family …
We love to cheer on a parade. Side note: look at my prim and proper mother with her backwards hat! I have no idea why it’s like that in this picture, but I’m sure she’ll die just a tiny bit when she sees it.
Anyway, we love to cheer a parade! Please notice my dad’s wide open mouth … he spends a large amount of any parade we attend calling out to the participants. There’s one parade we attend every year where we’ve started noticing that the same people sit by us year after year. I think it’s because my father is almost as entertaining as the parade. When we were younger, he’d call out and cheer to all the church and school kids we knew in the marching bands, etc. Now, he calls out to people he knows from the city … everyone from the mayor to the marching veteran whose coffee he pours at Starbuck’s and recognizes by name. We laugh and it’s entertaining, but my dad has a great gift for making people feel special, even those he doesn’t know … as evidenced in this picture: he’s calling out to the flute players and telling them what a great job they’re doing. True story. He often calls out to the parents marching alongside the groups and bands with “Way to go, PARENTS! You guys make it happen!!” I love my dad.
We finally got out of the heat for an awesome lunch that included an addictive spinach salad (a recipe I WILL be posting in the future) and then a little of this …
I’ll just let this picture speak for itself. Powerful in it’s total lack of action, right?
After a little siesta, we let the kids hang out in the sprinkler. I should just preface this by saying … I LOVE these pictures! I love them so much that I drool over them a little every time I look at them. Okay, I’m done.
Side note: THIS is why you cloth diaper. Green, Schmeen … do it for the awesome pictures of your babies’ little bums in adorable colors, that’s why.
If this picture had sound, you’d hear Darcy and Aidan laughing while Chase shrieks at the top of his lungs while clapping his hands.
Try as they might, the kids could no longer be patient after a while and so it was time for dessert … and by “kids“, I may mean “adults“, and by “dessert” I definitely mean “s’mores” … oh, yes. However, the kids (the real kids) aren’t big on s’mores yet (yes, I know, something is genetically wrong) so they got ice cream cones. Which probably made for better pictures anyway …
Not one to do things by half, my youngest ignored the “licking” concept and moved into the more intense ice cream consumption phase of trying to put the whole cone into his mouth.
Which didn’t really pay off as he ended up with more ON him then in him …
Please note the totally hair-tastic look of this child. Gracious, he’s going to hate this picture some day! However, for his mother, it will always be a work of art.
Hope you all made the most of your day and enjoyed it!
Have a funny Memorial day story or pic? Feel free to post it below!
It is done! My MDW (Memorial Day Weekend) project is completed!
In other good news, I got back behind the wheel of the sewing machine (wheel? hey, don’t kill the cliche, okay?) for the first time since I helped my mom make matching PJs for me and my American Girl doll when I was 9. This was BIG. I don’t sew.
Side note: This is where my mom and I are complete opposites. She says that all four of her children’s labors were more easy than setting up her first e-mail account but the woman can whip up vintage Vogue shift dresses over a 48 hr period with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back. Think I’m kidding? It’s an impressive sight to behold! The pattern practically bows down to her. Anyway, back to me … I’m more with the computer than the sewing machine myself, so, this was epic.
As much as I’d love to “blog announce” that the blanket is perfect and I’m a natural, my finished product is probably closer to a grade school sewing class feel than a start-your-own-etsy-site feel. But, I feel that I, for one, am stronger for it (cleansing breath of deep and profound maturity).
Haha! Now for the technical stuff…
First, always read the manual (which I did) … even the trouble-shooting section (which I didn’t), and here’s why …
Because I ignored [cough], I mean, overlooked this paragraph, I experienced a couple, shall we say “thread malfunctions” that may or may not have involved a seam ripper and a prayers for patience. It also meant that the regular, non-embroidery thread I was using for my decorative finishing stitch went through cycles of doing this:
Overall, the finished impression isn’t totally hideous. Nobody is running in terror. But, the “decorative stitch” I picked just looks more like my favorite inside-out sweatshirt stitching from high school than I’d like it to.
Second, the original pattern blog didn’t mention this, but I struggled with the different strengths/characteristics/whatever of sewing flannel to cotton. The flannel was more stretchy than the cotton and I felt like I was fighting it more than I would have liked. But that’s okay, I’m over it. And I’m already dreaming about trying another one of these guys in all flannel for my little Fall baby. 🙂
Last, Big Plus! Look at the SIZE! Have you ever seen such an awesome swaddling blanket? I’m thinking that this will be great for covering the carrier and tummy time as well!
Sorry about the shadow-y quality. This is what happens when you take pictures on your phone’s camera at 10:30 at night. Learn from me. Take normal pictures at normal times with normal light, okay? Thank you. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the animal print is green, teal, orange, brown and yellow on a cream background and the flannel stripe is in the same colors plus a dark navy (which I chose to accentuate with the aforementioned disaster of a decorative stitch).
That pretty much concludes my thoughts on this project. It was fun, easy, cute (especially if you follow all your sewing machine instructions) and I would definitely keep the pattern/idea on my list to reuse for baby shower gifts, etc.
Did I mention that I was taking pictures of this at 10:30 PM? I’m not old. It’s the pregnancy, really. Anyhow, I need to sign off before my kids wake back up at half past the crack of dawn.
More on our extended weekend later …
Have a great Memorial Day!
PS: want the blanket pattern? You’ll find it at Passionate Homemaking – click here.
Isn’t this beautiful? I can almost see a little one snuggled into it. Of course, that could be just me … I seem to have babies on my mind recently. Not sure why …
I read about this beautiful blanket over at Passionate Homemaking and haven’t been able to get it out of my mind since. It looks amazingly simple … the perfect project for somebody like me: the “I-think-I-learned-how-to-sew-a-long-time-ago” seamstress. Of course, mine won’t be in these rich feminine colors, a moment of silence, please. …okay, moving on… Mine will also take significantly longer to complete than the couple hours truly needed. (see also: something about interruptions and small children)
This will most likely be my Saturday. What’s on your list today?
Remember when I was going to do a “Friday Five” post every Friday? Yeah, me too. Let’s not talk about it … I’ll face my procrastination sometime after the weekend.
Hey! But, because it’s actually Friday today, and because the royal wedding really wasn’t that long ago, and the history of the British monarchy is so cool (nerd alert!), and because our president and his wife made news over there this week, I give you … the “You May Adress Me As …” edition of “Friday Five”!!
Epic Sidenote: I chose these five out of England’s finest because of personality similarities or likely accomplishments … just want to make it clear that I’m not equating my baby boy with a head-chopping, divorce-crazed guy, okay? Are ya with me?
Robert: William I, aka: “William the Conqueror”. To put it in perspective, this guy lived shortly after history went into four digits (think, 1028 or so). He became the first Norman king of England persuasively through a large scale invasion (ever heard of the Battle of Hastings?). England took to this fairly well … hey, during his coronation they only “boo’d” loudly and set fire to the houses around the church while abandoning the ceremony to loot … classy, huh? His reign saw the introduction of Norman-French culture, widespread reform, and also the first nation-wide survey to determine England’s productivity. Get this! He died from serious abdominal injuries (look out for those horse pommels if you’re ever unseated while riding!) sustained in battle. Oh, but it doesn’t stop there … his burial is even more interesting! Due to length of time and heat, his body bloated and the priests had to literally shove him into the sarcophagus. Again with the classiness. (this is why I love history)
Ellie: Elizabeth I, aka: “Good Queen Bess”. She was the last of the House of Tudor, only daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. (I bet she won the “Interesting Parents” contest every time) Despite parliament whining at her for most of her life, she refused to marry. The “Elizabethan Era” was characterized by military victories (Sir Francis Drake), drama (ever heard of a guy named Will Shakespeare?) and the forging of a national identity (over her 44 years on the throne!). She has been charaterized as short-tempered and charismatic (explaining the lack of marriage?), and supported the spread and strengthening of the English Protestant church. Sidenote: just to be clear, I picked her because of her charisma and accomplishments … NOT her rumored short temper. Just to be clear …
Darcy: Queen Victoria, aka: A National Icon. She gets the award for longest reigning monarch (63 years!) and was also the first Empress of India (see also: “crazy international expansion). The last monarch of the House of Hanover, her reign is marked by significant change and progress. With all 9 of her children and 26 of her 42 grandchildren marrying into royal/noble households, she is often referred to as the “Grandmother of Europe”. How do you like them apples?
Aidan: Edward VII, aka: The Guy They Named the “Edwardian Era” After. Queen Victoria’s oldest son, he was the first and last monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (renamed the House of Windsor by his son due to anti-German sentiment … also, the British might have found it too much to pronounce … oh wait, that part was just me). His reign, falling just inside the new 20th century, is charaterized by great strides in technology and society. Edward is also celebrated for all he did to foster good relations with Europe (particularly France … who still had their feather ruffled over all the times England had tried to take them over … oops!) He was also a pretty good judge of character: he didn’t get on well with his nephew Wilhelm and was known to have thought that Wilhelm was likely to start a war. World War I started four years after Edward’s death and effectively ended the “Edwardian Era”.
Chase: Henry VIII, aka: The Guy With the Bad Temper, aka: I just couldn’t help myself. Of the House of Tudor, Henry was attractive and charismatic and was actually quite accomplished (an author and composer! … gee, I wonder when he found time to do the kinging?) His reign was one of absolute power and he is (of course) best known for 1) Divorcing himself from the Catholic church, and 2) Divorcing himself from half the women in England. Well, maybe not half, but still 6 wives isn’t something to sneeze at! He is generally depicted as a smart, but all around crabby man.
If this whetted an appetite for more on the British monarchy, go grab yourself a 500 page volume of British history for your Memorial Day weekend! Or, if you’re not a total dork like me, at least watch “The King’s Speech” because it’s an awesome monarchy story (about a guy I didn’t even feature today) and is not to be missed.
Have a great weekend, everybody!