green circle, where it is??

This is quite possibly the longest sentence Ethan has ever said. 

He has said it over and over last night, all day today, and tonight.  The reason??  We have lost the green circle.  I know, most moms don't care about all the pieces of the toys being accounted for... but I do.  I have diligently recovered them all.  The lost 'J' magnet, the pig puzzle piece.  The purple rectangle {cousin of the currently lost circle} the missing train engine, and the missing construction worker {to name just a few}.  The lost pig lingered on for nearly two weeks.  Hopefully, I will find the green circle soon... because Ethan needs to work on other five word sentences.  And I have real housework to do.

I hope that you had a nice Thanksgiving.  Aside from a runny nose, this little guy sure did.  Faustino was on call Wednesday, post-call for Turkey Day and then on call again today... poor guy.

am I really ready for this???

we are having a girl...

exited!  nervous!  how on earth will I be able to fit all this pink stuff in my house???

next step...

Give them away!

Now it tastes like November...

I am sure you think I must be obsessed with this Darby lady... because I am... but I have been itching for a while now to make her apple butter.  Because who doesn't love apple butter.  And if you don't then I love you because there is more for me...

So I picked out my apples... and I am not sure what all I got.  8 of them were galas from tom thumb {on sale, thankyouverymuch grocery game} but the other 7 were from central market.  I had Jenn on the phone with me telling me the recipe {because I didn't plan ahead, and I have no iphone to look up pertinent information like this while on the go} and I really was only paying attention to prices... looking for a variety of apples that weren't imported from God knows where that were a gazillion dollars.  All the while trying to remember the code to punch into the scale!  So here they are in there glory. 

This site does a great job of illustrating the process.  It was so easy!  Go make some apple butter! 
{my favorite part was right after I mixed up all the different apples and then added the sugar and spices...mmmm.... go ahead and dish yourself up a bowl of that goodness.  Warm but still crunchy... so sweet and spicy and tart... mmm.... maybe I should make a second batch!)

And then the really fun part... because I was feeling extra inspired... I wanted to can them.  {not because I had an excess of time or my chores were all done}  So I set out on a search for jars -- which are apparently seasonal for the summer not the fall.  Whatever.  So wal-mart didn't have them, nor did tom thumb, so I had to drive out to the dreaded Kroger because the nice one was out of my way... and sure enough, they had everything I needed.  Next trip I will plan it better so that I can go to the more appealing Kroger...{seriously, I know it sounds bratty, but this grocery store has zero rhyme or reason to it's layout.  Aisle 17 had aluminum foil, ball jars, and depends on it... RANDOM MUCH??  I have never seen anything like it.  Rotel tomatoes are across from vitamins.  Strange??  I do indeed believe so!}

So, back to the canning... I didn't do the {more difficult} pressure cooking method - my sweet mother-in-law will have to school me on that - instead I did the water bath... and it was SO EASY.  Really.  It helped to have the right tools and to read the directions on the web like, 8 times... I was so happy when I heard all 7 of my jars "tink" closed.  Success!

Now I must go clean the kitchen and living room from the canning/chili dinner/husband-watched-the-baby-so-I-could-go-see-New-Moon mess.  {ahh... New Moon... swoon.  That should have a post all of its own!}

wedding anniversary

Three years ago today...  and what a wonderful three years it has been.

weekend review

What we have been up to... hmm... this might be long, so you'd better grab a glass of iced tea... {or cup of coffee if that is your style}

 

Friday I volunteered at Ethan's school... but I missed the memo about EVERYONE in the city wearing purple {literally} And these UCC people, they bleed purple.  So I dashed to Target before my shift to add a purple scarf to my outfit.  I couldn't handle the why-doesn't-she-have-purple-on looks.  I blame the peer pressure.  To further illustrate my point, Ethan's class made posters to take to Gameday.  Crazy.  But aren't they cute?

Then after school, I got to take home the sweetest 4-year old to play with Ethan.  Ethan got a big kick out of trying to be just like him...

This was my honest attempt at trying to get the boys to calm down {Ethan needed a nap!}
so they watched {the ever annoying} Super Why.  I couldn't resist the picture.
{Ethan is tired... you can tell by the hair twirling}

Friday evening we went over to our friends house for some pizza and then we went the the JWC Informal Party that was themed "homecoming."  I squeezed my pregnant self into a cheerleader uniform and secured the skirt with a safety pin, thankful that this uniform was from the '90s and not from today... since uniforms these days are not so modest...especially for a pregnant gal.  I thought about taking some pictures, but decided that the group photo would suffice... such funny '80s and '90s outfits...would you believe that many of these are currently in stores available for purchase.  Scary.

Saturday morning Ethan and I attended a very fun birthday party at the zoo... and we love the zoo...  The highlight:  seeing the penguin up close at the party and seeing the lion roar.  Mostly, it was seeing the delight on Ethan's face during those two events.  The only zoo picture I took was of Oscar, the friendly 18 year old penguin.

Saturday evening we went out {again! crazy!} this time with Faustino's fellow residents.  The highlight of my night was seeing 3 friends from Junior League that I hadn't seen in a while... the rest of the evening, well, I should keep this blog positive... but suffice it to say that as a group, I highly doubt that we are welcome to come back to that establishment.

Then, after working on it on Sunday and Monday night, I finished the apron!  And it wasn't even that hard!

Again, like with the first one, please don't look that closely... but I really like how it turned out.  Now Darby was able to take a cute picture of herself in the apron, showing it off in all of its cuteness.  But I am pregnant.  These type of things do not hang well on a baby bump.  So, dear readers {I think I have 2} you will just get the photo of the apron on the back of the sofa.  Sorry.

Now, just please cross you fingers that someone will bid on this at auction.  If not, I will be sad.  It will be craft rejection.  {and FYI, if you do decide to make an apron - and you should - Darby is correct, mind the seam allowances or your pleat doesn't come out.  I minded... but could have done even better.}

That's it!  Long post!! 

Perhaps...

Perhaps having a little girl this time around would be pretty fun.  I am thinking this way because I just finished this: {not because I found a great storage solution that will make girl things + boy things possible in my 900 sq. foot rental house}

{pretty please, do not look too closely.  I know the things that need to be improved and I am not getting out the seam ripper to fix them.  Really, do me a favor and don't click on these and blow them up to examine my mistakes.  Thanks...}

Anyway, this was actually fun... I am sad to give it away!  I will definitely be making another one of these... and maybe this time it will just be quick and easy instead of taking days...

And soon my next project will begin... a matching Mama apron {to complete the mother/daughter apron duo} and with any luck it will go quickly.  Darby, please don't let me down... i hope it is as easy as the tutorial claims!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Additionally, I have to squeeze my pregnant self into a cheerleader uniform tonight for a costume party.  Heaven help me.  This could be very bad...

free fun... no membership required

Do you want to know my new money saving tip?  Don't go to museums and pay to see the exhibits... just play on their lawn.  Way more fun for a toddler, and you don't even have to be quiet!  After our outing on Monday that was more fun outside than inside, I decided that we would enjoy the pretty weather and find some outdoor fun.  So I drove down the street {literally, down the street.  how lucky am I that these places are so close??} to the Modern and the Kimbell.  The sculpture at the Modern that we were playing in was a blast for Ethan.  It was 10 feet wide and 67 feet tall and echoed everything... we sang songs, stomped our feet, hit the wall...  very fun.  And then we played across the street at the Kimball... so pretty and so much fun!  With all of our activity I was disappointed in the length of his nap!  It is harder and harder to wear him out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sewing a gather...

So after E went to bed last night I set up shop in the dining room {does what we have count as a dining room? probably not...} at the table and set up the ironing board.  In my mind, I thought I could whip up the apron in an hour or two.  And maybe if I wasn't painful inexperienced and slow I could have been done quickly... I mean, it did take me a while to cut out the very easy pattern... i should have taken that as a sign... Maybe I even should have just bought aprons from Nicole.

Let me explain the project... I have a fundraiser gift basket to create.  I need to practice my sewing skills... aprons are supposed to be easy... so I thought, a mother and daughter matching apron and baking basket... PERFECT!

Well... I didn't realize how long gathers take.  Am I just exceptionally slow?  Pulling that thread isn't easy... am I crazy??? All this for a kids apron?  Geez Louise.  Have mercy on my soul.  This apron is going to take hours to finish... let's not even think about the bag I want to make...

I will get better/faster?  RIGHT???

Here is a picture... of my one unattached ruffle.  One of three.  oh boy...

Museum Outing

So yesterday, after Ethan's nap, I decided we should get out and do something...I drove by the park and was a bit turned off by the mommy's all sitting in the grass in a circle, it was too late for the zoo {4:00} and I didn't really feel like trying out a different park.  So, then I remembered that the Cowgirl Museum was going to put a small kids area in the former temporary gift shop... so that is what we did.

Well... let's just say I am glad the new museum is opening this month.  Whatever it was they were going for was just a little off the mark... 

This is what we had in September:

This is what we had yesterday:

This is ultimately what Ethan enjoyed the most:

the week flew by!

Well... I fully intended for this blog to inspire me to TAKE MORE PHOTOS and do DO MORE EXCITING THINGS...we-ell... I am not quite living up to my expectations right now {in many areas, actually} and MUST DO MUCH BETTER this next week.

What did we do this week?

Monday, I trekked out to Hurst to look at Hancock Fabrics... and won't be doing that again... {so sad and disappointing!} and Ethan and I went to the zoo... where I should have taken photos... but didn't... I also ran errands to get supplies to make the Rhetoric birthday gifts... and then after Ethan went down for bed, i stayed up all night long working on these:

but multiply it by 50... plus handmade birthday cards... So.... that pretty much wiped me out. On the plus side, even though my house was not, and did not even look clean, it smelled like I had been on a cleaning spree thanks to the orange oil in the bath salts. Looking on the bright side, right??

Tuesday... finished my project, napped and tried to recover from my all-nighter, and took Ethan to get his flu shot... which really ticked off the poor guy. Actually, he was fighting mad angry... So, that was fun...

Wednesday, Ethan had school, and while he was there I went to the fabric store and found this:

but no coordinating fabric. And not quite what I wanted for my Birdie Sling bag. But when I got home, and started looking on the internet... I found that this Chocolate Lollipop collection by Anna Maria Horner was exactly what I was looking for... just in some of the other fabrics in the collection. So I decided on:

The floral for the main fabric... the dots for the trim... and the plaid for the bright and cheery lining.

Then I found out that I had hit another little road block. The fabric had been discontinued. As in, this was a spring of 2007 line and since it was so stinking cute, most people didn't have much of it hanging around.

So i spent all of my free time looking to see what little fabric shop might have a bolt of this left. And hallelujah I found all three. It feels like I got the last piece of the dots in existence.

So then, I decided to further obsess over the Anna Maria girl. She has a blog that is delightful and I am sad that I am just now getting with the program and learning about her. I do remember seeing her once on Martha Stewart though... but I think that was back in the dark ages, when we had no computer/internet and I didn't have a way to look her up...

So then on her website I found the most lovely octagonal quilt that I am now dying to make. Have I EVER quilted before? No. But this quilt made me want to learn. So maybe if I can stock up on enough of those chocolate lollipop fabrics via etsy and ebay I could start sometime in January...

And today, we went to estate sales. My sister in law found a table that I really, really, really wished that I had been getting... antique... needs a little work, but only $250... came with 4 chairs... has 2 leaves that double the size of the table... I wished I had my camera so that I could have posted it! I keep telling myself: my time will come and eventually I will upgrade my {out-grown} table!

Oh, one more thing... these are my "Halloween" pictures of Mr. Ethan...

scary halloween midnight visitor

So, I just admitted to being a Halloween slacker a couple of hours ago. Then I set out in my online fabric search. I was wrapping it up, about to call it a night, when I heard a scratching sound on my Capri Sun wrapper. And I looked down and this thing scared the daylights out of me. HOW DID IT GET IN HERE? HOW DO I GET IT OUT?? {I scooped it into a plastic cup with some newsprint and set the cup outside... way too big to kill...} So, in the Halloween spirit, it was creepy, and now I feel "crawly" if you know what I mean...