If at first you don't succeed...

This is what I was going for...

This is what I got!

I'm gonna try again tomorrow.

Cuckoo!

Darn that Pottery Barn Kids catalog! I get these ideas stuck in my mind and then I just can't let them go. So I've picked out a bedding set that I absolutely cannot afford and have decided to copy cat as much as I can. The room I like has a whimsical woodsy theme with little trees, owls, and birds. To go along with the theme of the room, they sold (out) a painted cuckoo clock that I thought was so adorable!





I started thinking about this clock and remembered a real cuckoo clock my dad had given to me when Mary Claire was a baby. This clock had stopped working and it was stored away in a closet. It looked very similar to this:




My mind began crafting my own whimsical cuckoo clock. I asked my Dad if I could paint the antique clock he gave me and to my surprise, he agreed! So I dug the clock out of the closet, found my craft paints and set the girls up at the kitchen table with a couple of paint brushes. We let them have at it with the blue paint and I finished it off with pink and yellow. Here's what it looked like after we were finished!





My parents were in town when the magic happened and my Dad mounted the clock to the wall in the girls' new shared room. And he got the clock to work! Now, when you set the pendulum in motion, a little bird pokes his head out at the half hour and hour marks and cuckoo's his little heart out. We are always pleasantly surprised by his announcement and we now feel like we have a new pet in the house.



It's my new favorite thing. Thanks Dad!

Bunk Beds

Besides ear infections and stomach bugs, BUNK BEDS have pretty much been the big news at our house lately. For months now, the girls have been bugging us for bunk beds. And of course, after picking an expensive Pottery Barn bunk bed set out of the catalog, we told them it wasn't in this year's budget!!

But in the spirit of Aunt Christina, Bennett found the exact bunk bed set I picked out on Craigslist literally days later. And after four emails, we were the proud owners of a bunk bed set because we apparently "sounded the most desperate."

Furniture rearranging began right away. Mary Claire's bedroom is now the "play room" and the bonus room is now up for grabs.

So far, though, so good! The girls need a few extra minutes to settle in at night but overall, they feel comforted by each other and seem to need us less at night. Best of all, in the mornings they wake each other up instead of coming in my room and waking me up! I've definitely been taking advantage of sleeping in a bit. They also love having a playroom that is solely their space, and we seem to have less toys all over the house.

Now I'm on to redecorating the girl's pink room without changing the wall color. This has consumed me, of course. Keep checking the blog for posts on their room redo!

Though my first order of business is to teach the girls to make their beds...sigh.

Happiness is...

Catching snowflakes on your tongue...

Eating snow right off your gloves...





Making snow angels...





Walking in a winter wonderland.

True Friends Eat Dirty Chicken

Last year in the Men's Monday night bible study small group, Bennett met a guy that actually lives in our zip code. I know what you are thinking...wow, he lives WAY out there, too? It also turns out that they have more than a zip code in common: this guy has a wife and two daughters ages 3 and 5. So, we got together.

His wife (who for the sake of this blog shall remain nameless for no apparent reason, especially since she seems like the kind of person who couldn't care less that people in this world actually spend time recording mundane daily events in a time consuming way for the whole entire world to read) is pretty nice. And I see her every week at gymnastics on Mondays where at the end we part ways and go home to our empty houses since it is, after all, Monday night. So I invited nameless friend and her girls over for dinner. And they came.

Of course I would like to say that I spent the entire day preparing for their arrival and had a lovely Martha Stewart dish in the fridge just ready to be thrown into the oven, but I did not. After all, we would be arriving home after an evening of gymnastics so I was thinking that her expectations of me would be pretty low. So I was all about living up to them.

Upon arriving, all four girls scrambled up the stairs and contentedly engaged in a dance party while nameless for no reason friend and I talked in the kitchen. The menu: my cheapest and most go to recipe, Cornflake chicken, steamfresh green beans, and blueberries.

We chatted, I prepared the food, and into the oven it went. Timer was set for 30 minutes. After 15 minutes, however, 4 very hungry blonde girls bounced down the stairs and took their places at the table and asked repeatedly when dinner was going to be ready. This started making me a little nervous. I don't know why.

Finally, the wait was over and the lovely chicken came out of the oven. I transferred the pieces onto a serving plate, smiled proudly and began walking toward the children who had been staring wide-eyed for minutes now.

But something happened. I dropped the plate. Seriously, I dropped the plate. Onto the floor. And it broke into 5 different pieces. And 7 cornflake chicken thighs slid greasily across my I haven't mopped since waaaaayyy before Christmas kitchen floor.

What do I do? I thought. I have NOTHING else. No leftovers. No bread. Kids crying...hungry...needing food. I just looked at nameless friend helplessly. Wanna know what she did? She hopped up from the table, started picking up the chicken, and then she called the 5 second rule (even though by this time it had been well over 5 seconds).

And we ate the chicken. We fed the chicken to the kids. True friends eat dirty chicken.

Nameless friend is a keeper.

Presser foot 101

Have I ever told you how much I love track out? Pretty much since Christmas activities have been pretty much all about Kit and Ruthie, MC and L's dolls. They are having so much fun with them and their new clothes, thanks to Grandmama and Grandma! Last week I had some fleece out to make a blanket for a gift and somehow the girls and I ended up making hats and scarves for Kit and Ruthie. The girls both learned about the presser foot on the sewing machine and each did their own "presser footing" for their girl's hat. Mary Claire even did most of the navigating the fabric on hers, too! It was really fun teaching them what to do. If it wasn't for a little Newt, I wouldn't have even thought they would have the desire to learn, actually.

Anyway, we are super inspired around here and who knows what sorts of things Kit and Ruthie will have by the time my inspiration runs out!

It's short!

Today the girls went in for a haircut, and Mary Claire came out with SHORT hair! Well, short for her. She hasn't had her hair this short since she was two years old. I was so nervous. But she looks adorable and she can't wait to see how it "feels when she sleeps."

Goodbye Alexis, Hello Kit!

Christmas 2007 (last year) brought a new addition to the family: Alexis. Alexis is a sweet brown haired, brown eyed little girl doll I brought home from Target to give to two year old little Ellie for Christmas. Immediately, Ellie was in love. Alexis became one of the girls, and has been Ellie's favorite playmate and plaything ever since. One year later, Alexis has been well loved and shows it--her hair is officially an unbrushable fro and she has several bandaids, no doubt battle scars from having the most ungentle 3 year old that ever was. Alexis has been with Ellie through thick and thin. Good times and bad. She has attended every family vacation, road trip, movie night, sister sleep over, and important function since she came home. Heck, Aunt April even sewed her a monogrammed nightgown. Nothing could ever separate Alexis from the love of little Elle Belle, right?

Wrong! Move over Alexis, there's a new girl in town!

Grandmama gave Ellie her first "real" American girl doll this Christmas: none other than Kit Kitteredge herself. Poor Alexis! Every since that day, our brown eyed friend has been crying her heart out face down in the corner of Ellie's room somewhere. And if you ask little Ellie, "Don't you want to play with Alexis anymore?" she says simply, "No."

December

December was, of course, very busy. We started the season with a new tradition, decorating Gingerbread houses! Each girl received their own house to decorate. It was so fun and the girls got so into it. I highly recommend this activity for your kids!

Christmas Day was spent with Bennett's family. Here is a picture of Ellie and Charity. They are VERY good friends.

Aunt April sewed matching embroidered nightgowns for the girls' dolls to match the girls' dresses. They were SO cute.

A couple of days later we went to my parent's house to celebrate Christmas with my brothers and their families. Here is my sister in law with my twin nieces.

My beautiful niece Sarah.

We had a "pretend" Christmas morning at our house not on Christmas so the girls can have memories of Christmas in our house. This horse was the best money I spent this Christmas! They love it!

Zach, my nephew, the oldest grandchild, then seven granddaughters all in a row. My are we blessed!

November

November was a fun but busy month for us. Here are some highlights:



Ms. Liza reading a Thanksgiving story. Aren't these kids cute? And they are SO good!

A group shot. I made the hats for everyone so I forced the picture!

My sweet pilgrim girl.

Beth and I running in the Turkey trot. It was raining but it was fun!

We hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for Bennett's family. Here are all the cousins around the "kids table."

The "Wise girls" near the cookies. That's where you will usually find us.

Thanksgiving dinner around the dining room table. The next weekend we went to my family's house for Thanksgiving, but I don't have any pictures. When I am with them, I go into lazy daughter mode and just sit around and eat junk food.

A visit with Ms. Frizzle!