Quilt Show

I am participating in my first quilt show this weekend. I belong to two quilt guilds, this is the show for the Heartland Quilters. This guild is in Manchester and is much, much smaller than the Cedar Rapids guild I belong to. The show will be small, around 215 quilts, I think. We'll also have demos, a bed turning, vendors, a tea room, a country store, and a consignment area.

If you're in the area, please come and see!!!! The show is Sat 9-5 and Sun 10-4. It's held at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Manchester.

I am showing four quilts. The one I made for Eva, one for Dexter, one for Quinn, and one for my mom. Eva's and Dexter's have been done for awhile, and I've posted pics of them in the past. I just finished Quinn's about a week ago - and I have to say it is so cute! I'm still working on my mom's. And by working I mean sewing every waking second and under crazy amounts of stress because I'm worried it might not get done in time. It's all together, but the quilting part is taking much, much longer than I had planned.

Notice how none of these quilts are mine? That's right. The very first quilt I made (a bright patchwork, which I tied) is the only quilt I've made for myself. In four and a half years of quilting, I've made 16 quilts that I've given as gifts (or to my kids). I think after the holidays, I'll be making something for myself. Back to that later.

Anyway, come to the quilt show if you can. It should be great. If you can't come, check back next week for pictures. For those of you who check our secularpickle site, I know I haven't been doing a very good job of updating lately. Like I said, I've been sewing, sewing, sewing. I'll be updating soon.

Also, Dex's first birthday is this weekend!!!! I can't believe he's one already. So, I should have some fun birthday party pictures next week, too.

Bedtime

We follow a pretty standard bedtime routine at our house. The kids have a bath, then run around naked shrieking "I'm a naked baby", then we get into our jammies, and read stories. Then in a perfect world they would go to sleep.

In most cases, after stories, they each drink 2 cups of water in 1/2 ounce increments. "Another drink." "I need another drink." "Mom, I'm thirsty." Then Eva needs a new sweet receipt. "This one isn't sweet enough. I need a NEW one. One from your purse." (If you don't know - a glossy store receipt is what Eva uses as a security blanket. She must have a new "sweet" one every night).

Then we sing two songs, usually Lullaby and Rock-a-bye Baby. Then it's time to leave. At this point, Eva usually goes to sleep. She is 4 and she has the bedtime routine down. Quinn is another story altogether.

He usually gets out of bed between two and two hundred times. Usually John stays upstairs and works at his computer and just repeatedly puts him back in bed. Sometimes we put the door lock on, so he can't get out of the room. That's what I've done tonight. Here's what's happening.

"Mommy?
Are you there?
It's me.
Mr. Quinn.
Are you out there?
Please come get me.
I need a drink."

I love that he told me who he was. Hey, it could have been any number of crazies in his room begging me to open the door and bring them some water.

So, I took him some water. Now I can hear him banging on the door. I'll bet any amount of money that he's lying on the floor kicking it. But, I can tell he's winding down because he's telling himself a little story. If I wait 10 minutes, I'll probably find him sleeping on the floor.

If he falls asleep soon, I may actually get some work done tonight! Only two more weeks until quilt show - I'll keep you posted :)

Boys Are Just Different

Boys are just different. I've said it over and over again. I didn't think that parenting a boy would be any different than parenting a girl. Well, I knew that eventually it would be different. I just didn't think it would be apparent at two years old.

I bought the kids some new shoes for fall. Eva was really excited and had to try them on right away. Then she had to go upstairs and put on a fancy outfit, so she looked all dressed up in her new shoes. She came downstairs and said "Look at me, Daddy ! Don't I look pretty? Mom bought me new shoes." Quinn didn't seem all that interested in looking at his new shoes.

So, the next day it was time to put the new shoes to go to the store. Here's how it went with Quinn:

"THESE AIN'T MINE SHOES!"
"Buddy, these are your new shoes!"
"THESE AIN'T MINE SHOES"
"Look, Mommy bought you new shoes."
"THESE AIN'T MINE SHOES"
"Quinn, your old shoes don't fit. They hurt your toes."
"THESE AIN'T MINE SHOES"

And so it went, on and on, with each round growing a little more hysterical. Screaming, kicking, crying and general fits. How dare I buy him new shoes. Maybe he wants to revive the custom of binding feet. Who knows. Like I said, boys are just different.

For Sale

One sister for sale!
One sister for sale!
One crying and spying young sister for sale!
I'm really not kidding,
So who'll start the bidding?
Do I hear a dollar?
A nickel?
A penny?
Oh, isn't there, isn't there, isn't there any
One kid who will buy this old sister for sale,
This crying and spying young sister for sale?


Does anyone remember this poem by Shel Silverstein? It was in Where The Sidewalk Ends. That was my favorite book by him. Are you wondering why I'm posting chidren's poetry on my blog? I'm so frustrated with Quinn this morning I was thinking about listing him on Ebay. Certainly someone would bid on him, he's very, very cute. And I wouldn't post any audio. Then I realized it's probably illegal to post children on ebay, although I would be sympathetic with any parent tempted to do so.

As I was amusing myself thinking about the potential listing this poem popped into my head. It just seemed appropriate. Also, it added a bit a humor to my very stressful morning. So, now that I'm had a little laugh I'm feeling a little better. I guess I won't sell him after all.

Would anyone like to rent a two year old boy? Terms are negotiable.

Minus One

Today is Eva's first day of preschool. Kind of. Last year she went to preschool at Rockwell for 2 1/2 hours, two days a week. This year she goes from 8:00 - 3:30. Doesn't that sound like a long day for a four year old? She is still only going two days a week, but this year she is riding on the school bus. It felt very weird to put her on the bus and watch her drive away without me.



Normally we'll walk her up to the elementary school to get on the bus. It's nice because the school is just around the corner from our house. Of course, this morning it was pouring down rain. So, we drove up instead.




She, of course, was super excited. She didn't really seem nervous, but she was a little quiet this morning when we were getting ready. Quinn, on the other hand, is ticked. He screamed, cried, and generally had a giant fit when he realized that he wasn't going on the bus with Eva. I'm not sure if he's that attached to his big sister, or if he just wanted to ride on a bus. Probably a combination of both.

The house seems quiet this morning, though. It's not that Eva is that noisy or anything. It just feels different when any of my kids are not here. I hope she has a great day, though!! I'm really excited to pick her up this afternoon and hear all about it.


It other news, I finally painted my kitchen. John and I estimate that this house hasn't been painted in about 15 years. We are basing that on when the previous owners did a lot of restoration and such. The walls are dirty and gross. We have been slowly painting one room at a time.

I made some news curtains. I think they turned out pretty cute. They are pretty country looking, which is not normally my aesthetic. But, this house is kinda old-fashioned and country looking, so overall it looks nice. It's just a relief to get rid of the horrid lace valences that were hanging in there. Lace is definitely not my thing. (I do still have lace curtains in my living room :( Hopefully they'll be coming down soon. The previous owners must have had a real affinity for very old-fashioned lace curtains. They were in the kitchen , dining room, living room, hallway, bathroom, and the extra bedroom. Yikes!!!




Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the kitchen so far. I'm going to buy or make some new rugs and hang a pretty shelf that I can hang my aprons on. It's coming along. One room at a time :)

Texas review

So, we've been home from Texas for over a week and I still haven't written a thing about it. I keep meaning to sit down and write a nice, long description of all the things we did and how much fun we had. But I just haven't had the time (or the inclination).

So, I'll do this briefly. We saw lots of family and friends that we haven't seen in a long, long time. We had one spectacular night out with friends at The Melting Pot. We had a fun party for Micah's graduation (Congrats Micah!!) and John's 30th birthday (a little early). And mostly we just hung out and relaxed- which is really my favorite part of vacation.

I had the opportunity to do lots and lots of sewing, because John's family is awesome. They spent our whole vacation taking care of and entertaining my kids and I sewed and relaxed and slept in (at least a few days:). I made a quilt top for John's grandma and I've brought it home to quilt it for her. I also got about half way on a quilting project I brought from home.

That's our vacation in a nutshell. The kids were awesome in the car and we had a really wonderful time. I have lots of good pictures, so check out my website to see them.

To save myself some time, I'll just include one of all of us. Our family, John's mom, his brothers Ben and Micah, and his sister Randa. It's a pretty good picture of all of us :)

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July, everyone! I hope you all have a great, relaxing weekend full of wonderful weather.

Last night we met my sister and her family in Dyersville to see some fireworks. It wasn't until we got there that we realized they were charging admission and there were no carry-ins into the seating area. Umm, seriously? Here we come tromping with our coolers and 50 bags of snack food. So I'm thinking, this is total crap. It's like $3 for a hot dog. I thought fireworks were free!!!

So, we all sat at a picnic table outside the seating area and ate our prepacked dinner (Jimmy John's for John & I; PB&J for the kids). Then we sneakily (and apparently, illegally), stuffed some juiceboxes and cokes into the basket of Dex's stroller with a couple ice packs and covered it with a blanket. Then John took the cooler back to the car. Luckily, I had all my snacks in the diaper bag. I figured once it got nice and busy no one would be patrolling for a contraband juicebox.

We claimed our space with blankets and chairs and our red wagon and then went to play. The reason we like to go to Dyersville is they set up a big field with kids' stuff. They had lots of bounce houses and inflatable slides and a rock climbing wall and all sorts of cool stuff. I think it really helps to have something fun to do while you wait for it to get dark. I can't imagine trying to keep 6 kids entertained on a blanket for like 4 hours.







We had such a great time! The kids loved all the toys. There were some long lines, but the older kids were pretty patient. Quinn however, does not get the concept of a line. He kept running to the front and diving in, whether it was his turn or not. Several times John had to run after him and grab him by the ankle and pull him out! It was pretty funny. He was obviously having a very good time.




After all the rides we went back to our blanket and waited. We fed the kids snacks to keep them reasonable quiet. They had some music playing and it was nice to just sit and relax.




The fireworks were really good this year. They were set to music (my favorite part. They even had a few new types that I've never seen before. Eva laid in my lap and sucked her thumb quietly, just watching. Quinn laid across my chest and kept shouting "another" after every single one. It was hilarious. I think of all the kids he enjoyed them the most. Dex sat in John's lap and just stared at the sky. I was so surprised that we didn't cry because we were really close and things were pretty loud.

Needless to say, we are all a little tired today after such a busy evening.