Weekend Review

We had a pretty busy weekend. My friend Allison and her husband Tim stopped by on Friday to see me and the kiddos. They have never been to my house. We had a really nice visit and I gave them a quilt that I made for their first baby, due in September. The quilt was really fun to work on. I chose colors from their nursery theme and made a curved nine-patch design.




The second picture is of the back of the quilt. The picture did not turn out as well as I had hoped, but you can see the quilting design that I used. I used my new machine to do some free motion quilting, which was very challenging!! I think I need more practice, practice, practice.

Saturday we headed up to Dubuque and visited my Grandma. My aunt Tam and my aunt and uncle from Minnesota were there and we got to see their little girl, Anna. She was one on Valentine's Day and is a real cutie! I forget to take my camera in though, so no pics.

After that we headed to my sister's house and just kinda hung out. We had a great dinner and the kids ran around until they were wiped out.



Sunday was my nephew Matthew's first birthday party. We had fried chicken (yum).



We also had a Sponge Bob (is that one word?) cake, which Matthew demolished.

Overall a very good, but busy weekend.

BTW - I finally figured out how to upload pics. Pretty cool, huh?

What's In a Name?

So, today I'm sitting at the kitchen counter cleaning a pineapple while the kids are playing on the swing set. Quinn comes in the house and sees me busy.
"Mommy, picky up me".
"Sorry buddy, Mommy busy."
"Mommy, picky up me peeeeeeeeeeeease."
"Com'ere buddy, you can sit next to me and have some pineapple."
"OK Mommy"
I love the way he says OK. It's the cutest thing to come out of his mouth. He very carefully pronounces each letter, just to let me know it's really okay. Also, if he has a question he says "Go outside, OK?" You can totally tell if he's agreeing or asking by his tone. Very sweet.

Anyway, Quinn comes and starts eating pineapple. Now, he is not a very neat eater yet. So, he's got sticky hands and pineapple juice running down his chin onto his shirt. Oh well. Also, he's having a hard time really chewing the pineapple, so he decides to just suck out the juice then spit the piece back into the bowl. The community bowl that I'm adding pineapple to as I clean it. Hmm. So, I get him his own plate to masticate his pineapple on.

Next Eva comes in. I get her a plate and some pineapple, too. All right, here's the mean mom part of the day. After 10 minutes of solid pineapple eating....I put it back in the fridge. It's almost time for lunch guys, no more pineapple. Yikes. This was not a popular idea. Especially because Quinn has finished his pineapple, but Eva still has a few pieces left.
Quinn:"More apple pine Mommy!"
Eva: "No Quinn, it's pineapple."
Quinn:"MORE APPLE PINE, MOMMY!"
Eva: "Qwwwwwinnnnnnnnn (add slight yodel), it's PINEapple"
Quinn: "APPLE PINE, EVA"

****SMACK*****

Yep, that's right. Quinn smacked Eva right in the face for arguing with him. I know it's wrong, but I had to turn around and laugh a little to myself. Then I cleaned them up and sent them to watch TV while I made lunch.


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I was just getting ready to post this when Eva came in and said "Mommy, I don't have a life." Isn't that what she's supposed to say to me in 10 years??

Happy Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day. In preparation for this event I took the kids shopping with me for cards. Eva and Quinn got to pick out a card for John and one for my dad. They were both drawn like moths to a flame to one specific card. It was one of those musical cards AND it had the Simpsons on it. That's right folks, my 2-year old knows his daddy's favorite cartoon. But does John know his 2-year old's favorite cartoon??

Anyway. Sunday morning I kept reminding Eva and Quinn to tell John "Happy Father's Day" as soon as he came downstairs. I knew Eva could do it. I said "Quinn, say Happy Father's Day." To which Quinn dutifully replied "Happy Daddy Day." Close enough. So, here's what actually happened.

I gave the cards to the kids to give to John. Kids bust into room yelling and jumping like monkeys. Eva actually does say Happy Father's Day. Then she adds, "Here's your card, Daddy. It's the Simpsons, and it talks. Can I open it?" Quinn doesn't want to be left out of the action. So he adds, "Here card. Happy birthday Mama day" Yep, read it again. Happy birthday Mama day. Apparently those are the events that have stayed with him. All day long he said that.

I hope all you dad's out there had a wonderful day.

Mommy, interupted

I can't imagine a world with no kids. And by no kids, I mean no kids of my own. Isn't that strange? It wasn't so very long ago that I didn't have kids. I spent the first 24 years of my life without children. Of course, I myself was a child for much of that time.

Anyway, I was sitting on my couch this morning thinking of all the things I could accomplish in a day if my kids weren't here. And then I thought "what would my day be like if I didn't have any kids at all". I absolutely could not imagine it. I can imagine going on vacation without them, or having a day without them, but I can't imagine having my life, but not having them.

I like to think I'd spend my days sewing, running errands, sewing, reading, sewing and so forth. Even the tantalizing idea of showering everyday crossed my mind. Ah yes, those were the days. Isn't that sad? My most precious memories of being single involve showering each and every morning. I know that is the single biggest cliche about motherhood - the not being able to shower thing. But it is so true!!!

Anyway. I do, in fact, have my kids with me all day today. The weather is absolutely gorgeous, so they are out playing on the swings. I should be doing some laundry, but I thought I'd sit down at my computer for just a minute.

As you may have guessed from the above paragraph, I haven't been getting much sewing done lately. This is causing me great frustration. I have a bunch of projects going and I'm motivated about all of them. They're all at a stage where I can see them really coming together if I could just sit down and work at them, uninterrupted. Uninterrupted. Hmm... interesting thought. I wonder how you accomplish that?

Ok, ok, enough whining. If I didn't have kids, I'd probably have some other demanding, time-consuming job that didn't allow me to go to the bathroom with the door closed. What? No? You ARE allowed to close the bathroom door at most adult jobs? Hmm...maybe I should reconsider my options.