Snippets from our Weekend

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit! Woo Hoo! Naturally the Girlies were super excited to see their Grandparents.

Mark had a concert on Sunday (he sings in a local chorus...I can NOT sing in case you're wondering).

Girlies playing one of their all-time favorite games- Cranium Hullabaloo. Anybody recognize that dress? That's the dress I made for Annika last summer...my first attempt at following a pattern (I've only made one quilt before this dress). Annika cried when I made her try it on. I felt pretty bad about my lousy attempt at sewing that I haven't tried again. However, Ava picked out this dress to wear on Sunday and it looked really cute! Perhaps I'll try again...and again...and again (and maybe I'll finally figure out how to decipher patterns!).
Craziness abounds! We got several inches on Saturday night. Nutso. The Girlies made the most of it- they went outside and made a cute snowman. Charcoal eyes, carrot nose and a hat. Naturally it has all melted away...

Sweet photo of the Girlies with Grandma and Grandpa. Thank you so much for coming and visiting us Grandma and Grandpa! Hopefully we'll see you very soon!

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How about some puffy white clouds?

How about some puffy white clouds to go with those blue walls?

Sorry about the photo quality. I was anxious to post photos of the progress I've made and took these photos while it was still very dark outside (no natural light). But...I'm sure you get the idea.

I'm sure you found a bunny...did you see any other shapes in the clouds? We're always looking for shapes in the clouds here so I thought it'd be fun to some shapes (but not overtly so).

I don't think I'm quite done yet. I think I have another layer to do with white paint (they are very thin layers) and maybe I'll do a little bit with blue to add more depth.

So...what do you think? I'll post more photos once the tape comes off.

*shared with A Soft Place to Land's DIY Day.

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Ava's Room Forecast: Blue Skies

After talking about it for sooooo long we finally started redoing Ava's room this past weekend.

Do you remember me telling you I wanted to do her room with blue walls with white clouds? Remember all those blue paint color choices I posted?


First order of business= fresh coat of (off) white paint on the walls. We managed to get two coats on Sunday. (we used SW Alabaster in satin)


Second order of business= taping!

Third order of business= Blue Skies!

Mama found the coolest thing out there- a kit that does exactly what I wanted- blue skies with white clouds! It's The Cloud Wash Kit. It's awesome! Thanks Mama!!!!



This is with the first coat of blue colorwash. I finished these walls at 11pm last night. Needless to say I'm on my fifth cup of coffee this morning. I'm considering brewing more coffee as I type this! The kit suggests two coats of the blue colorwash before painting the clouds.

Here's the plan...I'll do the second coat of the blue colorwash tonight. Tomorrow I'll get started on the white clouds- you're supposed to do them in layers to make them look realistic. I'll post photos of the progress.

Oh...if you're wondering...we have textured walls so I know there will be bleeding through the tape...which is why I'm planning on putting a white chair rail (maybe with wooden pegs in some places) on the border between the blue sky and the white walls.

*Shared with A Soft Place to Land's DIY Day.

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Family Fun Bowling

Last night was Family Fun Bowling!
(through Family Connections)


I honestly can't remember the last time I went bowling. (was it when we still lived in Anchorage? well....it was a long, l-o-n-g time ago).


This was the Girlies first time bowling (other than Wii Bowling- and I'm sure we can all agree Wii Anything isn't the same as the Real Deal).


It was lots of fun- even though we got more than our fair share of gutter balls. We also had to deal with a slightly cranky Annika. On more than one occassion I thought we should just quit and go home. You see, Real Bowling is different than Wii Bowling. Ava was soooo excited! (actually- she's asked several times today when we're going bowling again!)

Oh...I totally forgot to mention this....my first attempt at bowling on this particular occassion I accidentally lobbed the ball in the air and it nearly went down someone else's lane. OOPS! Apparently I needed a refresher. (Hiding in shame now).

Watching the ball go down the lane...please don't let it be another gutter ball!

Ava races back to get her ball to try again.

Watching and waiting for the ball to magically pop out. What a fun device!
Ava dancing a little jig. She even got a strike! (so did I- once and on my last frame!)

Annika waiting for her turn.

Perhaps you can tell what mood Annika was in? I think it'd be fun to try bowling again. Perhaps this time with both girls in a good mood.

ETA- Getting out the Easter decorations. I've seen a lot of blogs with beautiful Easter decorations and home decor. That's not us. No siree. Hey- I've got my Easter tree. I've got some very fake flowers on my front door (we won't see any real flowers for a few more months). Ava is asking if we can color Easter eggs already. Maybe we'll do that this weekend...along with cleaning all the windows AND maybe-just maybe- painting Ava's room. HA!

Before I forget I have to tell you all that on Tuesday we went shopping (okay..that's NOT the interesting part)...and Ava read the Wal-Mart sign all by herself. She told me all the letters and then sounded it out by herself. (I didn't prompt her to do that by the way).

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We're going to the Zoo, zoo, zoo!

Hurray!


(well, not really hurray since the weekend is over...bummer!)

On Saturday we surprised the girls with a visit to the ZOO! There's just something fun and magical about seeing all those animals. Most of them were out and about on this gorgeous day (okay...a lot of them were snoozing in the sun- but can you blame them?). The polar bear was pacing back and forth across his cage- I'm sure he was trying to decide which person would make a tasty morsel (just kidding!). Anybody remember Binky at the Alaska Zoo?

The zoo also has a fun carousel and children's play area...which were frustratingly closed. Why? I have no idea. It seemed like nearly every family in the Madison area was at the zoo...why close the carousel ride? I can tell you it took a long time to cheer up some very sad girls. It's one of their favorite activities. Oh well. Next time I'm sure it'll be open. It had better be!

Watching the seals doing their underwater dance. Okay...this photo is proof that the automatic setting on even a fancy camera isn't always a good choice. Watching Mr. Rhino strut about. Daddy loves playing "Rhinoceros" with the girls. This entails him moving on hands and knees and butting into things- mostly giggly little girls who either screech with delight or run away. We were hoping to see Mr. Rhino bump into something. Sadly he did not. After our visit to the zoo how could we resist letting the girlies play in the park? Much fun was had!

"Look Ma! No hands!"

Mark and I also realized how Annika has changed- she used to be timid on the play ground but now she's climbing everything, jumping down slides and generally running all over the place.
We spent the rest of the weekend outside ...clearing lots of brush and brambles in our so-called backyard. OUCH! If I never get tangled up in one of those wild rose bushes again it'll be too soon! We had a couple of brush fires going. I also managed to singe some of my hair. Yuck. Burnt hair smells awful, did you know that? Fortunately the damage wasn't too bad. Smelled worse than it was.

I'm also trying to come up with an Easter craft project for the girlies that involves egg cartons. So far I haven't come up with anything. It's been a while since we've done a craft project. Any ideas?

I'm also in dire need of motivation and cheering on. Since January I've been exercising between four to six days a week (minimum 30 minutes). I haven't lost an ounce. I haven't lost an inch. I think I've gained weight! I'm trying to curb my eating habits although the hours between lunch and dinner are so freaking hard (I'm a snack fiend). I finally have a system where I jog three times per week in the morning (about 40 minutes) and do a strength-training + aerobic workout twice per week (55 minutes long). Somebody please tell me the weight will start melting if I keep this up! I'm not sure I'll be motivated to keep this up for too much longer if I don't see some changes. And I'm about to change into a Bunny if I keep eating all these carrots. (hop, hop, hop)

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And now Ava is reading too!

Yesterday Ava and I sat down and she read one of The Short Books to me ("My"). First I read the sentence, then she'd repeat it afterwards and after we were finished I had her read the book by herself. And she did! Not only that but she read it to Mark after we ate dinner (so...many hours later). She did stumble on one page every time but I'm so proud of her!

It started because she was watching Annika get coupons for reading (also for writing & math addition flash cards). When Annika got enough of coupons she could pick out something fun from my grab bag. I think Ava got a little jealous and wanted to get coupons and pick out something too. I'm making it a lot easier on Ava than for Annika...all Ava has to do is read one of The Short Books to me and I give her a coupon. So far she's collected three coupons- two left to go before she can collect a prize!

So now you know that I'm not above bribing my children. :) I'm hoping that by encouraging them they'll find reading fun.

Wish I had a photo of the girls reading. Maybe I'll try and snap one today.

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What I did this weekend...Or...How Not to scrapbook

I am a scrapbooker. I'm not sure I've ever mentioned this...perhaps some day I'll be brave enough to post one of my lay outs for you to see.

I've been a scrapbooker for about 10 years...but what I'm not is a writer. This writing business doesn't come/flow naturally for me.

Sooo....what happened is that I had accumulated several years worth of scrapbooks (baby books and subsequent years) with NO journaling. Not even dates on most of the photos. Thank goodness they were digital photos and I still have copies on the computer (to verify dates). Thank goodness I kept my old calendars where I made a few notations. Otherwise I wouldn't have remembered a thing!

This entire weekend I did my best to get caught up - what a bugger that was! Definitely NOT the way to scrapbook! HUGE Thank You to Mark for helping me do this. It was a struggle coming up with things to write since I remember diddly squat about the girls until Ava turned two- call it Mommy Fog. (or something)

I managed to get quite a bit done...and I also realized that I hadn't done scrapbooked some important photos. I guess it's a good thing I went through my albums. I might not have caught that otherwise!

On a separate note: I was heading to the shower when I heard crying from Ava's room. Poor thing had vomitted all over herself. Now I feel sick. Let's just hope it's a one-time deal.

I'm also participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. I'm not sure what I'm in for...the walk is scheduled to take place OVERNIGHT?! Is that common?

I suppose I ought to update my blog title drawing. Christmas was ages ago.

The red wing blackbirds are back!

AND... drum roll please....Annika just read "Green Eggs and Ham" all the way through!

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Mommy's Surprise

Annika's school just had their Spring Break- which was all of Friday and Monday. (isn't that unusual? I thought Spring Break was supposed to be a week-long break) Since the girlies were sad about their Cousins being gone I surprised them with a fun trip.


I didn't tell the Girlies where we were going...just that it was going to be a long trip. We were most of the way to Madison before Annika realized that was where we were heading.


Where did I take them?


The Children's Museum in Madison!



It's a cute little museum very close to the Capitol Building in "downtown" Madison. We've been to Madison many, many times but we'd never managed to check out this particular place.



Here's the funny thing....the first exhibit we visited was the One the Girlies enjoyed the most. I made them go through the entire museum (okay...that didn't take very long since it is very small). The Shadow Room nearly made them cry. Oops. It was really dark in there and I couldn't see our shadows after the bright light flashed. They were the happiest when we went back to the first room. I just sat and watched them play. They loved the pulley system with clothes line - and moving pieces of fabric back and forth between the balconies. Nice!




A perpetual-ish sort of machine. The crank was hard for me to turn so it didn't capture the girls' interest. I thought it looked more like artwork than anything...

Water is fun! (but I think we already knew that). This is in the first exhibit.

Mock-up of Madison. The kids are supposed to put in roads & buildings (which were different colors based on what purpose they served- education, housing, etc). Trees to create parks. BUT the kids just mostly drove the trucks around ...like little kids will do! (I think it was supposed to teach about city planning).

Crane- you could move it up or down or side-to-side.

Annika catching magnetic fish from the Dream Machine in the background.As requested by Oma- I took the Girlies out to lunch....lunch of their choice. They chose SUSHI- yes they did! I suggested a sandwich shop closer to the museum. Sooooo....sushi it was! Thank you Oma!

Yummy Sushi!
Even Ava ate a few pieces of sushi! She's always had a difficult time eating the nori (seaweed) on the sushi rolls but she tried today. She also loved the tamago (it's kind of like scrambled eggs) and her favorite? The pickled ginger!

We were on our way back home after a pit stop at Whole Foods to pick up yummy treats...and something for Daddy too! We were sad he couldn't come on this fun outing. It was a long day but it was lots of fun. (by the way...if you're curious...Madison is a two hour drive, one-way)

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cousins::best friends

I can't believe an entire week has gone by!

First we had Ava's birthday. Then the Cousins came for a fun visit!

Four cousins watching "Nim's Island".

Stack-o-Cousins. Came tumbling down moments after this photo was taken!

Lily and Ava helping Mark make waffles.

Asked Lily to smile for the camera...this is what I got! What a funny girl!

Meet young Henry. Wearing Annika's boots. Apparently he loves putting on boots- he put them on all by himself. He's also holding a tractor (which he could say very well). Oh boy! Is he talking up a storm! The sad thing is that I couldn't understand him most of the time. He really LOVED playing with Ava's tricycle (the one Santa brought her). Isn't he cute?

Giggly Gregory. Gregory turns five...tomorrow actually! We had a small celebration since we won't be able to join the birthday festivities Beth has planned for him. Lily helped me make these cupcakes (fun!). We decorated the cupcakes with stars and moons sprinkles. Gregory LOOVES Star Wars.

Did I mention that Gregory loves Star Wars? We got him a light saber cover for a wii remote for his birthday. Fun!

It really was a lot of fun to see the Cousins play together (very well for the most part...there were a few grouchy moments). I really appreciated the Dads letting Beth and I disappear for an all day scrapbooking session. Thank you Mark and Ray!

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