Verbally Challenged

In our house when something breaks, more likely than not we try tape because after all, doesn’t tape fix everything? And we actually have all kinds of tape depending on the fix so a little thought usually goes into the process- duct tape, scotch tape, painters tape, hockey tape – all kinds of tape.

So the other day Liam was trying to look at his 3D book and getting frustrated because his glasses wouldn’t stay on. He asked me to trim his hair feeling that was the real reason they wouldn’t stay on – nevermind the fact that they’re huge glasses and would fall off of my head. He actually needed a haircut so I gave him one and unfortunately, the glasses still fell off of his head.

Enter this scene that I walked in to:

Dad fixed the glasses and Liam was happy as could be. And yes this photo was post haircut.

And for the record he selected the low-tack painters tape and it worked beautifully.

Yum yum don’t you know I love apples
Yum yum don’t you know I love apples
Red and green and yellow too,
Yum yum don’t you know I love apples.

There is more to the song but I’ll spare you at the moment. For the past month LIam has been singing this song – mainly from school. And there is no denying the fact that the little dude does indeed love apples. Last week (I can’t remember the day) was Johnny Appleseed day and he was one happy guy. It was an apple themed day with the highlight being apple crisp – which they made in the classroom. I was happy because the recipe came home with him giving us the chance to try it out.

So today, we did. We have red and green apple trees in our yard and decided it was time to harvest before the deer ate everything. Liam needed a bit of a lift so daddy stepped in to help and there were LOTS to pick:

Fortunately Nate didn’t get bonked in the head with an apple but I’m sure he was nervous:

We don’t use any chemicals on the tree so they’re perfectly imperfect – and NO wax!!!

Liam was happy to help make the topping and read off the recipe as we went along. After pouring the flour into the mix he plopped the measuring cup on his head saying that he should have worn it apple picking since Johnny Appleseed wore a pot on his head.

With some recipe tweaking it was sooooooooo yummy. I was definitely surprised considering the recipe came from school – how dare I judge (and I am so NOT a food photographer)!

Liam was proud of himself declaring that he had three jobs: picking the apples, preparing the topping, and eating the apple crisp. I loved having my little guy in the kitchen…ok…the big one too!

With all of the house stuff and cleaning I’ve been doing I haven’t had the time (or energy) for creative things. BUT I had the itch and did a page…it felt goooooooood.

The journaling says it all but I’m on a mission this week to capture the little Miss doing all of her talking and silly stuff on video. She’s a non-stop talker and says just about everything. I need to capture that little voice NOW!!!

More later!

That’s what we call Saturday’s and Sunday’s in our house. It’s the family all together usually doing something fun…at least for one of the days. This weekend was the Applejamm at our local nature reserve. We hadn’t planned on going since it was supposed to start raining Friday night – but luckily it held off until this afternoon giving us plenty of time to go and have a little fun. We missed last year due to the rain but went the year before. I remember going very clearly – even what Liam was wearing. Fun times.

So today we got there and Liam got to jump around for a bit in the bouncer and burn off some energy – yes! Then it was time to bob for apples in the air. Liam REALLY wanted that apple:

And started cheating after a bit…silly boy:

After the apple task it was time for a sack race:

And in case you were wondering the lee-man won and Addy cheered him on the entire way.

Next up, a nature walk…you coming?

Lots of good stuff to see – especially this big sand pile:

And then the little Miss got tired and needed a ride from daddy:

But that only lasted a few minutes before she wanted to keep up with big brother who just loves her to bits:

After the walk we made a bird feeder (no photos since I was helping), got a snack and headed out. It turned out to be a beautiful morning and perfect family day.

We got to check out the wee one last week and everything looked great:

Apparently things are comfy inside as that’s a leg up by the head just hanging out in there. Love having pics of the wee babe and we’re getting quite the collection.

The pregnancy seems to be treating me well and I haven’t complained too much (and for the record husbands aren’t allowed to comment on pregnancy related blog posts) – ok maybe I’ve complained about heartburn but really that’s all. Promise.

Nothing else has changed with this pregnancy.

Well maybe there’s my forgetfulness that seems to get worse with each pregnancy – the good news is that I still remember my name. Silver lining people.

Oh, and I do drop everything…I mean everything. I’m not allowed to play with matches right now. No candles for me unless I’m taking a bath.

And I can’t stop drinking rootbeer (and I normally only drink water). Its sugary deliciousness gets me every time. I didn’t have cravings with my other two.

Ok, I’m also a bit addicted to the home improvement stores…for the smell alone. I can’t get enough of the lumber smell – so very odd. At least I don’t have the urge to eat crown molding or sawdust – that a plus right? I’ve read about that freaky stuff before.

But other than those items, I’m completely normal and a delight to live with.

I loved and needed you at one time but now…you make me sick.

In my last post I talked about simplifying – and that’s what I’ve been busy trying to do. Well, mom and I – she deserves a ton of the credit. Before I had Addy, mom came over once a week while the little dude was in school tp help me organize my closets. She kept me on task and offered some great advice. My closets have never looked better. Being pregnant again, I’m determined to declutter and have a home for everything. So mom has offered to come back and help out during naptime while we tackle an area. We made GREAT progress last week. She keeps me focused. We created a lot of “homework” for hubby to do this weekend – he’s the muscle. He came through beautifully.

The kids rooms are done, completely. Addy’s room:

Done. I used to only have five photos hanging on the wall but that wasn’t good enough for me. They felt out of scale and I’m a “go big” kind of gal when it comes to artwork. So a few months ago (really pathetic) I ordered five more prints. I even bought the frames and had them ready to hang. Just last week we hung them. I got the prints from this gal and they seem like they were designed for the space. It was more than easy finding five more prints that I had to have!!!

We also re-hung the mobile in the corner of the room since it’s no longer needed above the crib. I still love it!!! The room is completely cleaned and organized (drawers and closets included) – it’s SO happy!

Now on to the L-man. I’ve wanted to move all of his art stuff into HIS room for the longest time. We’ve have tubs of crayons, markers…you get the idea…all over the house. I wanted it all together where he could see it AND use it. I wanted portability too. So…

We cleaned out his closet and organized all of his stuff into the bin unit you see there – we LOVE it!

Now he can go into this little corner of his room and do what he needs to do:

He’s all cleaned and organized.

This week is the loft and finishing up the studio area that we started last week. Both are quite scary but we’re making progress…and that feels good.

More later!

I think that I could title every other blog post catching up because I feel like I’m in a constant state of catching up. Will that ever change? And I’m even one of those people who are good at letting things go. My house doesn’t need to be perfect or spotless (yeah that’sa good thing since it far from it). But I always seem to have projects buzzing around in my head – things that I want to do, create, re-organize, decorate – you get the idea.

Right now I have a few things going on. I’m have dress patterns that I want to sew for Addy (hence the fabric piles I have sitting around). I have scrapbooking deadlines that I need to meet (hence the piles of product sitting around). I have a major re-organization project going on in Liam’s room – creating an art center where ALL art supplies are in one place. LOVE the idea…not so good at finding the time to get there (hence the 12 boxes of art supplies needing sorted and purged). I have stuff that I just don’t want or need anymore that I’ve been listing on craigslist – hence the piles of stuff sitting in various corners inside and out – waiting for a new home.

I need to simplify. I need to get rid of some of the clutter so that I can focus. I need to catch up.

I also need to catch up on the computer front – now that we’re on speaking terms again. I have cottage photos to share that I mentioned weeks ago. These are the projects that I did over a couple of days. All of the slip stitching almost killed me…or my fingers. I’m SO using thimbles next time!

So some photos:

This is the only chair that we purchased…I made the pillow and did the artwork on the walls:

This is the couch that we inherited – I covered ALL of the pillows:

The pillows:

We did these fabric pieces in our bathroom when we first moved into our house six years ago and they were easy so we did them again:

I made this little curtain for the kitchen:

And then I’m catching up on some photos that I’ve taken over the past few weeks. These two were from the beach. I did the whole vintage processing texture thing to these – just playing around – capturing a moment between sweet girl and her daddy:

And then a perfectly imperfect photo of my boys – racing with buckets of water to see who could fill the hole faster. It’s also a great way to tucker out a five year old (a thirty something year old too)!

And that’s all for now. I think it’s time to catch up on some rest! More later!

Turns out I’m able to access my blog whenever I want…all that I have to do is reset my password each time and we’re good. Perfectly normal right? Ugh. I’ve been throwing myself major pity parties lately over my computer woes. They’re interfering with my design/creative time and when deadlines are involved – it’s annoying! Things should just work – right?

But let’s talk about what I’m really excited to tell you about. My friend Danielle has started making digital kits. First off, she’s super talented and used to rock the paper. Now she’s using her artistic talents in so many other inspiring ways you need to check out her blog for yourself. She even has an etsy shop with the most darling necklaces that are entirely made by hand…completely adorable.

So she started a new shop called Kitschy Digital (cute eh?) selling digital kits inspired by Japanese paper dolls – amazingly cute concept. And the potential usage for these kits are incredible since you’re allowed to print out the designs and use them as needed (assuming you purchase the hybrid package). That’s how I was allowed to do the hybrid page that I’m sharing below. But honestly, take a look at her shop and check out the gallery – serious talent and inspiration going on there!!!

I’m still hoping to complete more pages with her kits now that my computer is cooperating a bit more!

Enjoy!

That’s me. Locked out of my own blog for the past week. In fact, I’m still locked out when I try signing on from all but Nate’s sorry old run down laptop. Hence the blogging hiatus. I really do have lots to say…through not necessarily interesting.

I’ve had a lot of computer issues lately. Early this week I got a new one that is lovely and fast and heavenly. But we’re still working out the kinks. Things like my printer not working unless I was splotchy glowing images. And settings that I need to re-discover. Now I know how my parents feel sometimes when they want to keep their computer from 1982 because it still runs “just fine.”

So while I work out the kinks and try to figure out how to log into my blog again from my main lines, here is a short video that Nate made of the kids at the beach two weeks ago. You’ll see my nerdy preggo self off to the side at the end snapping endless photos.

More later!

A Day at the Beach: Conneaut Lake, Pa from nathan kress on Vimeo.