Saturday, November 6, 2010

Holiday Wish LIsts

For Lars.....

Playdough toys

Automoblox Car





Pillow pet- turtle











Helicopter thing- I need to find.
???
Game- Red Rover or Hyperdash


 


















How to Train Your Dragon Movie


Ella.....
Pillowpet- bunny rabbit


Lalapoloozie Doll

Squinkies 











Dollhouse furniture- bedroom set
Toy Story 3 movie

Just a list to get me thinking.....
I think these are mostly rec's for family for the kids.  We are thinking of something big this year, like this:




What do you think?

Friday, November 5, 2010

Preparing for the Holidays

Remembering this goody...

















But this year I need to get a move on!  I was fortunate enough to have a great friend volunteer to some over to my house with her fantabulous Canon SLR camera and take pitcures of the kiddos, who were somewhat cooperative in the back yard.  We got some great shots! Now it is time to make the holiday card.

I don't understand why everyone doesn't do it this way.  It is so easy.  So cute.  So much fun.  I love the options.  I love  to play around with the settings! To me this is the modern 21st century Hallmark shopping.  Don't get me wrong, I love going to the card store and browsing like I used to.  One of my first jobs was in a Hallmark store.  That wil  always hold a special spot for me in my heart.  But this is so much fun to do.  And after you receive them, it is so neat to have a personalized card to share with your family!  so now I just need to narrow down my choices....

I have to say on Shutterfly I am very impressed with the variety of choices and low prices!  I think these cards look much more expensive than what they actually are!

 Why I love this one- it's orange!!

 For the traditional- I like the red tone!
 Top ten list- great idea!
 Seriously- I love the message on this one.  It could be a winner.  I only wish it had more than one layout.
 Cute bio layout.  I saw one like this elsewhere. 
 Nice. Traditional but with dots!  Who doesn't love dots!
 If I lived in a big city....
Great colors, and I like the dots...again with the dots.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

What a Week

The week before school begins is usually filled with prepping my classroom and running my last minute errands and trying to entertain the children with the last lazy days of swimming and playing outside. 

This is a summer where that week was not meant to be.  I had a day the week before where my mother in law commented on how big Lars' tonsils were.  I guess I had noticed but did not think of it as they always have been a little on the large side.  I was just at the pediatrician's office and missed my chance at a quick looksie, so I called and made another appointment to see if they were bigger than they should be.  Dr. Hackbarth took one look and promptly referred me to go see the ENT because he thought they likely needed to come out. 

Now, here is the backstory.  Bret, my husband, also had Dr. Hackbarth when he was a kid. He had enlarged tonsils.  But he was told they don't take them out anymore...circa 1975.  He still maintains that he should have had them out and it is all Dr. Hackbarth's fault.  So when I called Bret and told him about the referral he was a little stunned.

Then I called the ENT and we were able to get in Monday afternoon.  We took my happy little guy to go see Dr. Capper, the nicest and most engaging ENT I have met yet.  Lars loves him and really is enchanted with his calm and funny manner!  He told me that they rank tonsils size on a scale of 1-4.  Four typically is the worst and that is when the recommend removal.  Lars was a 4.  He told me that his breathing, voice quality and eating will all be much improved with the surgery.  In his practice he told me that he typically does T & A surgery (My 12 year old brain laughed inside when he called it T & A!) on Tuesdays.

Now, for me this is my last week- I go back to work on Friday.  Kids come at CCA on Wednesday, my kids go to school on Thursday.  So in my head I was trying to figure how many days off my husband and I would have to take.  Then I was trying to figure out how in the world I would ever be able to get myself organized since I have so much on my plate right now- with school beginning.  Oh and in case you don't know I plan on teaching a class at Kirkwood Tuesday and Thursday nights.  So- a surgery later would not be better than sooner.

So I scheduled the surgery for the next day.  This took most of the rest of my afternoon. As I meet with scheduling and then met with the surgical unit up from the ENT office.  Did you know a tonsilectomy can now be outpatient?  I thought we would be going to Mercy, but with the new surgical unit, we were in at 6:30 AM (yes! This is the earliest I have gotten up in a while!)  but we were home before noon.

The surgery went great!  He was a happy little boy skipping off with the anesthethologist before surgery.  I worried that he would never trust me again.  He did well in surgery and the doctor commented that they removed a lot of tissue.  He was amazed that Lars was able to swallow solid foods without complications.  I did remind him that Lars seemed to gag and choke on his food all the time, but we attributed it to him eating too much or too fast. 


The doctor also noted an immediate difference in the quality of his breathing, pre and post operation.    Lars has always been a loud and somewhat restless sleeper.  He does sleep pretty sound though and he always sleeps through the night.  Just in strange positions.  He props himself up, thrashes his arms around etc. all to find a comfortable position.  He also is a mouth breather- mouth wide open.  It is loud and noisy.  I have been joking about his snoring and breathing for a while but I was alerted that some of the breathing patterns resemble apnia and that is not normal for a 4 year old.  It also means that he is not as rested as he could be- which may account for restlessness, inability to listen, and other behaviors I sometimes see.   When we came home, I really could not get over how quiet his sleeping was.  I kept checking on him throughout the night- he was really sleeping soundly.  It is amazing!  His appetite is not huge but he is managing great. Last night the menu was ice cream, popsicles and pudding.  I got him to have some Cream of Wheat this morning too!

I really thought this would be enough for our fmaily to deal with this week.  I called Brenda and she volunteered to take Ella for a couple of days, so I can focus on Lars' getting better.  When the docs brought Lars out of recovery, the informed me that he had lice.  I was so happy he made it okay but this news was just so NOT what I wanted to hear.  Sure enough I saw several little nits on his head.  I sighed and decided to focus on his recovery and deal with this mess later. I guess after some thinking, I am glad we caught this now rather than him gettign sent home on the first day of school!  I only found a dozen or so nits in his hair.  I think the docs found a bug though.  It took me more than an hour to go through mine and lets just say, I am looking forward to a haircut soon!  I spent the entire day cleaning and washing all our linens and bagging up toys that need to be in quarantine for a while.  Not exactly how I wanted to spend my day or week!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Skye Photography

I found this photographer and all I can think is how wonderful her pictures are.  The pictures are the kids faces- simple and beautifully done.  I love the depth and how each of the kids personality is captured so well.  I wonder where/ who I could go to in my area to get pictures like hers.  Any recommendations? I have not done pictures with the kids since last year and family pictures have been a good 2 years.  I need to do this, possibly for the holidays.  I love fall, so I would like to find some one to do fall pictures for our family.  I have a personal family photographer- Jess.  She has a super fancy camera and we may try a summer photo shoot at Kent Park before school starts.  If it works perhaps we will do a fall session as well!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Living Room Inspirations....

Dusty Grey from Benjamin Moore
I may have a paint color chosen.  So now I just need to paint.
Then the trickle down effect, new curtains.  How are these from Ikea?

I think the white is needed to help lighten up the darker paint color.  I am still not sure if they will keep out enough sunlight.  We will see.

Probably a new rug too. 

Flor tiles from CB2- add a little color into the place
Orange....what can I say.  I like it with the greys.
Cheap, Ikea, soft-covers my stained living room carpet.
Not sure what this color really is in real life.  Ikea- color!


Always looking out for new pillows too.

I love these poofs from CB2!
Orange bird pillow.  A winner in may ways.
They call this the carrot pillow.  Pretty sure I could make this.
Perhaps I can make these.

Perhaps some "art" for the walls.  I see abacuses (abaci ?) are making a comeback.  regardless I know I could make this.  Hmmmm.  It is from CB2.  Pretty large- 3 or 4 feet long.

 










Seriously, orange and grey was everywhere to be seen.  This could be a real update for us!  We might be in style!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Cute Backpacks

Had to post pictures of this cuteness before I loose the website.  I love Room Seven for the beautiful fabrics they use and adorable girl clothing combos they put together year to year.  I have never owned any R7 though.  I saw they make backpacks and they are CUTE too!  Now if only I can find one at a garage sale....

Greta Visits the DMV

Perhaps you saw my recent garage sale finds.  Well this was the recipient, Greta.  This girl can accessorize like no one I know.  Right down to the horse.  Why, of course!

Japanese Sewing Love

I love Japanese patterns.  Simple. Beautiful. Fun. Playful. Timeless.

Enjoy.

What Did You Do on Your Maternity Leave?



I have to share this wonderfully creative and inspiring blog of a mother on maternity leave.  It is called Mila's Daydream.  She posed her baby (sleeping) quickly with items from around the house into these imaginative "dream" sequences.  I think this sounds like such fun, but I remember thinking that this was my nap time too!  Check it out!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Back to School Supplies

This bag was free!  I am not kidding!  Staples is running a free backpack rebate.  Buy a bag this week, send away for a Staples card in the amount you pay for the backpack.  I got this one for Ella for $25.  Oh- if you need paper, stock up on these packs for one cent.  Yes 1 cent!

This may complete my back to school shopping.  I do think most everything I purchased was on sale and I did it in two or three trips over a few weeks.  Watch the sales circulars or check them online and always be on the lookout for in store specials.  Target really rocked the specials this year.

I also happen to LOVE LOVE LOVE back to school shopping.  Perhaps a bit too much.  So having a list and sticking to it is of vital necessity for me.  Otherwise I end up taking tons of stuff to my classroom and giving it away to the kids.  I do not need to do this and I am showing good constraint this summer! (so far....)

Out With the Old in with the New


Recently Brenda, my MIL, took the kids for a day and I cleaned and reorganized their rooms.  It was wonderful watching their faces when they came home as they ohhed and ahhed in regards to the clean rooms and how they wer changed around.  Lars seems to love his and Ella thinks it is just great, but wonders why I did not change it around more.  Well, because you stress out with too much change baby girl.  I know you.  But apparently she wanted more.  Too funny!

I was thinking it was time and they will take good care of it all.  This morning though I heard a bunch of shuffling around int heir room and when I asked what was going on, they decided to trade rooms.  Apparently they wanted more of a change.  So they were busy relocating all their stuffed animals and prized loveys.  I think this was a game designed to drive me crazy.  Needless to say, after a discussion on taking care of our belongings and not driving mommy crazy, they slowly spent parts of the rest of the day moving belongings back to their original home.  Gotta love the movers! I think they were just caught up in the fun.

Summer Love Sewing

I love old sheets.  I love this wrap dress pattern that I made.  I love bias tape on little girls clothes.  I love the big sister dresses.  What is not to love here.  Well, did I mention how much I love the girls that these dresses were for?

I was not sure if I would get these done in time for the send off for Hazel, Greta & Alice.  But a few late nights and I was able to send them off.  They are my favorite family friends who recently moved to Pennsylvania.  Alice and Ella were in kindergarten together and best friends.  Greta and Lars were born one month apart and really were buddies.  It was sad to see them hug each other good bye.   They were each other's first friend.  They always were paired together and they really did not complain.  Greta called him "Larsie Boy" as we all did, but it most certainly was sweeter from her.  Lars called her "My Greta" as if she was his only friend in the world.  We miss her stories and creative mind.  She never fails to make people laugh and be entertained.  She really has a flair for the melodrama- something Lars does as well.  It has been amazing to see these two develop and to see how different they are but yet how similar.

So my post on sewing is dedicated to dear sweet Greta! Funny how that happened. Miss you much!