My new domestic diva side

I have been surfing around on the internet looking at all sorts of cute crafty things to do. I don't consider myself a "sew-er" in the least bit, but I can follow simple instructions and occasionally sew a straight line. I found a bunch of baby ideas and have now sewn two pillowcase dresses for Eliza. Last week I came across this totally adorable idea for sewing baby bibs out of bath towels. I was looking for the pattern to make the hand towel bibs, but this is much cuter (and cheaper).



Here are the supplies needed: freezer paper, patterned bath towel, bib you like the shape of, bias tape, Velcro, rotary cutter (or scissors).

Freezer paper - this lets you trace an existing bib that you like the shape of. Then you iron it lightly to the towel and you can rotary cut it out without pins.Peel the pattern off the top and admire the pretty pattern that is going to be on your bib.Now you might need to rescue your baby from under the chair at some point. That's Okay, she shouldn't slow you down too much.

Sew on some coordinating bias tape around the edges.
Then sew on some Velcro and PrEsTo . . . a baby bib.

I love the results. What do you think?

The Happiest Place on Earth

Our yearly passes expired on Friday so we took the opportunity for a Disney-overload this week. Two of those times Jon couldn't go and I had the kids all to myself in the Magic Kingdom. Jeremy and Cassie were so good about going on rides that we could take Eliza on. She loves Disneyland (who doesn't?) with all the colors and noise. I'm not sure when we'll be getting passes again. It might not be for months so we needed our Disney fix.


On Tuesday we went after school and it was EMPTY in the park. Part of the reason it was so empty was because it was cold and had rained heavily in the morning. It seemed like it was just us and the tourists. The kids got to ride on tons of rides and never stood in line for more than about 15 minutes.



We hadn't been on It's a Small World since Christmas and we went to check out the new Disney characters that they put in. I was REALLY not looking forward to seeing the changes, but I have to admit that I wasn't as upset as I thought I would be. The caracters are done in the same look as the other dolls. There is even a USA part in there now complete with barnyards, corn, cowboys and indians.


Do they belong there? What do you think?

As we were leaving the ride I noticed this postcard. Now I'm not saying that I'm always grammatically correct when I'm writing, but this was bad enough for a nine year old to notice.


Opening quotes without closing them.

Multiple exclamation marks in the middle of a phrase.

No ending punctuation.


Somebody needs to spellcheck Disneyland!


Cassie and Jeremy went on the rockets several times in a row. Eliza loved watching them. She'd laugh and squeel each time Cassie would call out to her.

Thursday
They remembered to wear their hats. There is only places that it is appropriate to wear beautiful golden mouse ears and a pirate hat and we like to take the opportunity when we can.I like to call this a random mommy sighting. Just to prove to my kids that I was there.YEAH!!!! Daddy came after work. (aka reinforcements for a tired mom)
There is a lot I can say for the next pictures.

Have you ever seen "A Christmas Story"? She's lucky it wasn't that cold.

I don't want to write this . . . but . . .

it was Eliza's first table top pole dance. She was so cute dancing to the music and so excited by all the attention she got from other families.

We closed the park down on Thursday.

Friday the passes expired. Bummer.
I don't like being without Disneyland passes - even if I konw that it will only be for a couple of months. I love taking the kids in the afternoon for a couple of hours. I feel so lucky to live close enough to have these kind of experiences with them.

We'll see you in a few Mickey!

It followed me home . . .

can we keep it?My mom was out walking her dog on Sunday night and this little doggie started walking with them. He was wearing a leash and a collar, but with no tags. He was tired, dirty, hungry, thirsty and infested with fleas. My mom couldn't leave him with her dog so she brought him to my house. We fed him and made him a cozy little bed in the laundry room. We've found other lost doggies and helped reunite them with their "people" before so I figured he would be the same.

Monday morning I brought him to a local vet and had him scanned to see if he had a microchip. Yeah!!! He did!!! Now all they had to do was call the microchip company and they could give us the owner's phone number.

Unfortunately whoever the owner's were never registered the microchip so we had no way of contacting them.

However, the microchip company did have the date of birth for the doggie (April of 2003) and the name of the pet shop that he was sold at.

Unfortunately the pet store is no longer in business . . . another dead end.

However, at least we had the microchip number and I could call around and find his vet and they could contact his owner.

Unfortunately there is a bazillion vets around here and not one of them has treated this dog.

I didn't exactly want a flea infested dog in my house so my friend Kathy (who has dogs) offered to help me give him a flea bath.

He was so good for his bath and then we gave him a dose of Advantage to keep the fleas from coming back.

We made bright orange "Found Dog" signs and put them up around the neighborhoods around us. I've taken him around to the local groomers to see if someone recognizes him. I've taken him on walks in the area and asked EVERY person we meet if they know him. I've put an add in Long Beach Report.org. I've gone to the pound to see if someone reported a lost Pekingese and put him in the book as found. If I didn't know better I'd say that he dropped out of heaven and landed here. I even paid to have him professionally bathed at a groomer so he can hang out in the house with us.


He is the sweetest dog.

BUT HE'S NOT MINE!!!!!


yet

Baby it's NOT cold outside

Greetings from our front yard where it is currently over 85 degrees.

There seems to always be one week in January when the temperature rises and catches us all off guard. You would think that we'd expect it since it happens every year, but no . . . it's a wonderful surprise every time. It is so much fun to watch the news and see the footage of the rest of the country all shoveling snow and then step outside into this.


We've spent this weekend playing outside and enjoying the weather. Bare feet, shorts and sunshine. What a change from the last blog entry. I thought it would be a good time to take new pictures of the kids, but Eliza was having too much fun pulling hair and glasses. I also don't think she liked the feeling of the grass on her legs.



Speaking of legs . . .

Eliza needs your honest opinion . . .

Do these shorts make her legs look fat?

"Snow" much for 2008

These kids love to up and play in the snow. When they see the tops of the local mountains all white with snow I start hearing about going to go see it.Lucky for them the have a fun Grammy who also likes the snowand a mom that likes to take them on adventures.
We take the trusty red sled to slide down the hills (sorry no pictures, but I was having too much fun sledding). In this next picture I think Jeremy is mentally debating the pros and cons of another hike up the sledding hill. It probably went something like this . . .

Pro vs. Con

I can sled down again vs. My sister might make me give her a turn

I won't be stuck here at the bottom all alone vs. My sister will take the sled and slide down - thus leaving me alone at the top

People will stop yelling "come on Jeremy" vs. that's a very big hill to climb in these very pink boots.

Snowball fighting at close range is never a good idea - however - it is easier to hit your target that way.

The safest place to be during the snowball fight for Eliza was in her Grammy's arms.Cassie found a snow reclining couch to sit in.One of the best things about our snow trips is the HOT chocolate. Grammy makes it really hot and so the kids get to put (clean) snow into it to cool it down.

This was a great way to spend the last day of 2008. That night we went to my parents' house and played games to ring in the new year. I was suprised that both Cassie and Eliza stayed up until midnight to watch the (time delayed) ball drop with us.

Another quote to remember from Jeremy

I still need to write about Christmas and what we did, but I need to write down something Jeremy said before I forget.

He came running into my bedroom full of excitement (3 1/2 hours after I went to bed mind you) because Santa had come and eaten the cookies and filled his stocking. Jon and I got up with him to watch him empty his stocking. At some point he saw all the presents under the tree from Santa with his name on them and he literally shrieked with joy and exclaimed, "I didn't know I was THAT GOOD!!!"

I love you Jeremy! You bring so much joy into my life!

Random Car Conversation With Jeremy

While driving home from doing some holiday shopping today . . .

Jeremy: Is Phillip a boy name or a girl name?

Me: It's a boy's name.

Jeremy: How do you know?

Me: Well, I've known a few Phillips and they are all boys . . . just like Prince Phillip in Sleeping Beauty.

Jeremy: Hmmmm. Did you know Phillip is a compound word? You know, like Santa is going to fill my stocking and then go up the chimney.

I love these little conversations.