Jess and Michael's Window

Oh no!! Its been so long since I blogged on my crafty blog that I lost it!   Mike has promised he saved all the media before it got bounced off the internet though so that’s good.  The holidaze brought back a fury of craftiness and got me all hooked again, so I’ll just have to blog about it here  on our home blog!  For E’s birthday I made him a reversible rocket ship and super Evan cape.  And I made  a Santa stocking for Cole.  I also helped E and C make foot and hand print ornaments for the g’rents and Mike for Xmas.  So on to the new year and new projects.  Here’s what I’m up to…read on!

Raw edged raglan tee plus a cute model

I discovered this awesome book called Sewing for Boys and you can read all about it and the authors at their website here.  Then I found this nifty blogger who is hosting a sew along for 2012 with the goal of one project from the book per month (more about the sew along here).  That is right up my alley!! Something to keep me motivated throughout the year and not just during the holidaze.  AND its not too lofty either…certainly I can find time to do one project a month.  I’m having so much fun though, I might sneak away to create more stuff.  Yahoo!!

So here is my first project…finally completed after several snafus.  This was my very first attempt at clothing AND sewing with knit so I was pretty scared!  I think it turned out pretty cute though…helps to have a snappy model too.  So I started out with the knit print featured on the back design but learned the hard way that you need to buy more than required for the pattern.  My purchased section shrank so I didn’t have enough.  I upcycled a t-shirt that I got for my honeymoon but never wear instead.  I think what it says suits my kiddo pretty well!   I wanted to make it long sleeved but didn’t buy enough for them not realizing I had to turn the pattern a certain way to make it work right.  See, I’m learning a TON already.

The neckband was my biggest obstacle since I’m still pretty new at sewing and the directions from the book all turned to gobblety-gook in my brain.  It didn’t help that every time I set to work it was after a long day of chasing little people.  After 9pm, my brain is saying “what the heck, you want me to what? I’m TIRED yo!!”  Despite mush-brain I perservered and now that I’ve gotten through the first project, there’s nothing stopping me…it was so easy once I figured it out and should be super quick from now on.  Can’t wait to make Evan an oceansunfish shirt!! I’ve got one ready to upcycle just for him…he’ll be THE HIPPEST 3 YEAR OLD EVER!!  He’ll be stoked too…he calls them “rocket ship” fish and I told him they really do fly out of the water like rockets and cruise around like space ships!

I wanted to incorporate the cute print I bought so I made it into a “thought bubble” patch for the back showing how Evan’s thinking is that of a typical 3 year old…you know, “go this way! go that way! Stop! No!! NO! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”   I don’t know if anyone will really get it but I like it anyway.

Detail of the thought bubble

Here’s one more picture.  This morning when I asked E to put it on, he said “but I’m wearing this one right now.” Ok I said.  Then to my delight he asked to try it on after school!  So I didn’t even have to bribe him!  Miracle!

I was determined to get to the beach this year and the only time we could go was in October…so this past week we hung out at Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.  Not the best time of year for playing in the ocean, but the weather was Gorgeous, nevertheless.

We stayed at the Landmark Resort for financial reasons (I think it cost us about $17…much love and gratitude to our hookup).  The first four nights were awesome.  It being off-season, it was quiet and we had the beach and grounds mostly to ourselves.  But Friday night, our last night, it turned into the Atlantic Coast’s version of the Redneck Riviera and a party was had in the room next to ours.  Much bud light was consumed.  Other than this one minor detail, the place was fabulous.  We had a separate room to stow away the toddler and managed to stow the baby away in the bathroom (yah I know.) until he protested around 11ish p.m., so we didn’t have to go to bed early this vacation…bonus!  This place was a kid’s dream in the things to do department…if only the weather were warm enough to enjoy all the water features!  It was ok though…we had too much to do to get it all in anyway.

Highlights of the trip:

The Sky Wheel – giant Ferris wheel that goes 200 some odd feet in the air with a breathtaking view.  I got all heeby-jeebied but was able to hide my hyperventilation by pretending to be excited so as not to cause the toddler to freak out.  After one trip around it was just plain fun.  This made up for there not being a wheel at the fair this year.

Broadway at the Beach – total tourist trap heaven.  We went twice.  One night we ate at a Japanese steak house, since Evan enjoyed the one in Chattanooga.  Besides boatloads of restaurants and ice cream places, they had kiddie rides and obese carp begging for food…who could ask for more?  The first night we saw a speed boat roaring around and doing 360s out on the water and thought “doesn’t that look like fun?!”  The second night…Evan and I decided to go for a ride ourselves!  We were the only ones on the boat and the captain got a kick out of Evan.  He said he’d never heard a two year old cackle like he did…so we got an extra trip around on the water just for being cute.  Nice.  I was laughing so hard at Evan’s reaction to this experience…awesome.

Brookgreen Gardens – We debated and debated about what to do with our break-from-the-beach day and went here on a friend’s recommendation (thanks Drena!).  Wow! I loved this place!! We could’ve spent a whole ‘nother day here since we didn’t get to do everything we wanted to.  I think its the best garden-y, nature-y, artsy type place like this I’ve been too.  Too bad E was in such a poopy Napoleon Dynamite (I DO WHAT I WANT…GAH!) mood that day.  I know it doesn’t look like it from the pictures.  Since this place was heaven for us with our new lens, we took about a jillion pictures and so still got a few smiley ones of Evan.  I don’t think I have ever seen so many butterflies in one place…not even at Price Park.  The only downside is that we were so tired from our trip to the garden that on the last day we skipped out on going to Huntington Beach State Park…which we really wanted to see but will have to save for next time.

Kite Flying and Mellow Un-Do-Nothing Day – Since we decided to stick close in on our last day we went to the resort’s water park after Cole’s morning nap (partial fail since kiddie water feature was too cold) and played in the warm swimming pool for a while, went to Mickie D’s for lunch and then set out to find a pier so Evan could see what its like out past the waves.  It was a blustery day so there were surfers to see on big waves.  There were also loads of fisher people and birds to shriek at and chase.  We got out our kite after the pier excursion and that was when Evan ended up in nothing but his spongebob undies running around like a gremlin.  Much fun was had.

As previously mentioned, Mike saved up to buy a new lens for our big camera and we took it along to break it in…wow, did we take a lot of pictures! I think I put up almost 70 on facebook!  But, that was narrowing it down from hundreds!  Love digital photography for getting those artsy shots just right.  I tried to only include my absolute favorites on this post, so as not to overwhelm you!   Thanks for reading!

Mike and I joined the YMCA a couple months ago and have been trying to get back in shape.  I used to be notoriously bad for not keeping up with any sort of exercise routine in the past.  However, attach a nursery, and/or a me-time factor to working out and I’m in it for the long haul.  I love my kids but what a good excuse to “socialize” them with other caregivers.   As a result, I’m doing better with my exercising than ever before. I have also noticed that I feel stronger and better able to keep up with whatever the boys can dish out than ever before.  Yay!

Mike and I decided it would be fun to participate in a race as motivation to continue our getting in shape plans and we chose Atlanta’s First Annual Firefly 5K as our first.  We thought it would be fun for Evan, since it was in the evening and involved lots of light spectacles including a lighted dance troupe after the race.  It was (fun) for the most part…on the way home he said “do it again!”  However, next time we will be sure to strap him into the stroller though b/c he spent a great deal of time trying to escape during the race and protesting the fact that he wasn’t racing himself!  Should be fun when he’s old enough to participate in a fun run himself.

Before the race, we went to Aunt CC’s house and enjoyed some pre-race snacks and delicious vegetarian chili!

Aunt CC and our skeleton children enjoying prerace festivities

Here’s us just before our first race as a family.  It’s also my 2nd 5K ever and 1st in over ten years!  I’m slower these days.

This is how we roll

happily bundled skeleton children

We got a group shot before the race…our fam, Aunt CC and her athletic friends.

Our group before the race

Firefly racers!

We really enjoyed dancing to the loud music and seeing all the racers dressed up in costumes, glow sticks and flashing lights while we waited for the race to start.  Evan busted some new moves.

During the race, Cole slept, Mike pushed the stroller, Evan flashed his light up toys, talked to the other racers and protested having to stay in the stroller.  I just jogged alongside the boys…taking over only once for a short time in stroller pushing for hardcore Mike who beat me in a sprint to the finish even though he was pushing a heavy heavy load!  Here we are, celebrating the finish line!

After the finish line!

We had a nice surprise during the race results.  We already knew Aunt CC is faaaaassssstttttttttt, but we didn’t know how fast!  She won first place for her age class with a time of about 22 minutes!  Yahooooo!  What a fun night!  We are going to try and make it a yearly tradition as long as the kids are game.  Until next year!

Aunt CC collecting her trophy!

Ironwoman CC!

Cynthia's friends basking in the orange traffic cone trophy glow! Congrats!!

So I just realized it has been over three months since I last posted.  I came to the blog and found a draft of a post from July with a single incomplete sentence in it.  Here’s the sentence just for fun, “This has been a fun month with the Fourth of July Holiday and then this past weekend the Chattahoochee Nature Center” …  I told Mike all this and he said, “yep, that’s what having another baby does to ya!”  Sheesh!  Poor Cole, he is already 5 months old and all we have written down for him is his birth story.

Evan has been back in school for a month now and I’m just beginning to catch my breath from the whirlwind of summer.  There has been so much going on!  So tonight, I will get some stuff down on cyber paper while sipping my lovely hubby-made mojito.  I think I’ll look back at the calendar and outline some highlights.

July – super awesome month.  We spent fourth of July huddled under a playground platform in downtown Kennesaw during a torrential downpour with a bunch of our friends.  I was nursing Cole and both he and Evan were under my nursing cover with me.  Evan was surprisingly brave considering the thunder and the odd circumstances.  We kept telling all the kids, “what an adventure!!” so they wouldn’t be scared.  I found it quite amusing….especially the fact that you could see either end of the isolated thunderstorm and it just went right over us.  And yes, we were praying to Zeus to fire his thunderbolts at the large trees around the area and not at our measly shelter.  The only other option was to risk being trampled in the pedestrian tunnel crammed with hundreds of holiday goers trying to escape the wrath.  I’m more of a stay out in the open and risk sudden death by electrocution kind of girl.  Luckily it cleared up just in time for fireworks.  Evan hasn’t stopped talking about it since!  Baby loves him some fireworks!

Also in the month of July was the Chattahoochee Nature Center butterfly festival.  This was a colossally good time and will likely become a yearly tradition for us.  For me, it was the end of Evan as a toddler and the beginning of him as a big kid.  For the first time, he sat and listened to an entire puppet show, did some festival crafts, got his face painted and other big kid-like activities that made me realize how grown up he is these days…it was really neat to see him having such a great time.  He even held out his hand for a volunteer to place a butterfly on his finger AND he didn’t freak out OR close his hand and crush the butterfly.  Both me and Mike were wincing and whispering to ourselves “oh gawd, please don’t crush the butterfly in front of all these people…please please please.”  I can’t believe he didn’t.  Go Evan!

Then there was Evan’s first trip as a big boy to Chattanooga.  So many things about that weekend and it makes me sad that I didn’t blog about it.  I did write it down in Evan’s journal though so that’s good.  And finally, a visit from Nana and Papaw and the cousins.  Yah, July was crazy fun!

August was a little slower but lots of fun things nevertheless.  One of my favorite things about this summer was hanging out with friends from my old ‘hood and seeing my old playgroup a couple times.  We rarely get down to Mableton during the school year b/c people’s school days don’t match up, so we took advantage of school being out to hang out a lot this summer and it was great.  I miss those gals and their kiddos a bunch!

Evan got to spend a lot of quality time with his Aunt CC this summer too…spending whole days with her whenever the timing worked out.  They went to the Piedmont park pool mostly, and she took him for his first bike rides in a carrier on the back of her bike.  The most amazing thing about these Aunt/nephew dates was that Evan would willingly sack out on her living room floor for a nap in the afternoon!  Auntie wore the kiddo out!

Evan is really loving school this year…he goes two days a week for preschool type learning time and then one day is “fun Friday.”  I was worried that it would be too much for him going two days in a row, but he hasn’t complained about it at all and seems eager to go.  I am so thankful for this time b/c over the summer Evan would go wild ape man if we stayed home for more than two days in a row.  He could really be a goblin to handle with me trying to juggle newborn Cole at the same time.  Towards the end of the summer he started being able to play by himself a lot more but he still got stuck in front of the TV for times I had to take care of Cole and I hated that.  Now he can get some fun structured play/art/music time with his teachers and Cole can get some quality Mommy time.  I love how much he talks right now…a conversation with an almost three year old is downright awesome.  Seems like he’s loving his little bro too (mostly) and always wants him around.  I’ve taught him how to scream into a pillow and/or punch a pillow (rather than clobber his brother) for those times when he gets “frusterated.”  Its hard to be told to be careful around the baby about 50 billion times a day.

Cole is a little charmer.  Getting some pinchable chub in the thighs and wearing a gummy smile whenever someone looks his way.  He finally rolled over once yesterday from belly to back and tries really hard to go the other way but hasn’t yet.  He’s almost able to sit on his own too.  A funny difference between him and Evan is that by now, Evan was our little “pterodactyl,” squawking and jibber-jabbering away constantly.  Cole is the quiet observer.  He has his moments of shrieking with joy, but he definitely spends more time being quiet than Evan ever did.  It will be so fun to see if this turns out to be a personality trait difference too since Evan is definitely the busy body social butterfly.  I wonder if Cole will be the mellow background fellow.  Cole already worships the ground Evan walks on and I can tell that when he gets to toddler age we are going to be in big trouble.  I’m soooo sure he and Evan will be all kinds of trouble in tandem.

Right now we are spending a lot of time being awake at night…maybe more so than when Cole was a newborn.  He is a lot more aware of himself these days and realizes it is much nicer to sleep in someone’s arms than in his crib all by his lonesome.  We quit the swaddle cold turkey and even when I went back to it, desperate for sleep, I found that Cole was definitely done with it.  When we get back from our beach trip in October I’m afraid it will be time for some sleep training.  Regardless, we are still in TONS better shape than we were with poor little refluxy Evan who rarely slept through the night his whole first year!

Price Park – Besides being a stay-at-home-mom of two boys I have another baby on the side.  I can’t remember if I’ve posted about it on here or not but I know a lot of my Facebook friends have seen my Price Park posts.  So what is it?  Basically, our county has a 126 acre property around the corner from our house.  It has been designated a passive park but they have zero money to develop it.  At the public meetings introducing the master plan they mentioned needing someone to start a “friends” group to raise money…so I ended up being the person to do it.  I had a few months before Cole was born to put my heart and soul into it and hopefully pass the reins on to someone else.  I still got roped into being the secretary but by then it really was another baby of mine and I had to see it grow up first hand.  So now I have this AWESOME group of people working on it and it has been so fun watching it grow.  We already have non-profit status and had our first event last weekend.  I hope it succeeds.  Price Park is so amazing and I love having this little piece of wild land to protect around the corner from our house.  Our boys will grow up catching bugs and butterflies in the meadow and splashing in the creek there.  I can tell them I helped make Price Park whatever it becomes for them (and for me).  It has really been a sanity saver to have this project to work on outside of being mommy that I can really identify with too.  Hopefully, it will connect me with a career when I go back to work as well.  We shall see.

So that’s catching up a bit…a long post I know.  Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far.  Until next time!

Here are some pics I didn’t post on Facebook as a reward for reading

What 98% of our brother shots look like...

The esteemed doctor and the worshipping patient

Evan was crushed when he found out we weren't going to let him push Cole around the house.

There aren't enough pictures to remember this side of the equation... How do you like his fish pjs?

Evan and his cousins Olivia and Reece...yay for the dress up box!

Evan and his bestie Maya. I already posted this on FB but it is my FAVE pic of the summer. I love that he asks to see her all the time...and we LOVE her too (and her whole fam for that matter!)

Finally getting these up and doing it quick since someone is being fussy in my lap!  Kind of messy but oh well! See my previous post if you’re bothered by our clutter!