Nagging Feeling

Today the girls and I went to see my friend's daughter compete in a Highland Dance Competition. It was the first time I had really seen that style of dancing and it was so cool! Very heavy on technique, timing and discipline and not a lot of room for error. The dancing that my girls do is so very different, it was neat for them to see!

After the competition, my friend and her daughter came over to our house for a playdate. But here is the thing.... I hadn't really expected them; so I hadn't done the "pre-company-coming-over-rush-around-cleaning-like-a-mad-woman" thing. And to make matters worse, Adam had spent the morning in the manly pursuit of home improvement. Meaning he cut stuff up with his saw, tracked sawdust all around the house, then sanded some stuff... covering most surfaces in a fine white dust. So not only was my house messy... it was dirty.

Now I am going to admit something. We aren't a very tidy family. In fact, most of the time, it looks like a family of destructive pigs lives here. Or like a very angry burglar has just ransacked the place after finding nothing of value here. But it is usually clean at least... my penchant for sanitization ensures that. So today when my tidy friend and her daughter came over, I was pretty ashamed of myself and my house. The nice thing about my friend Lisa though? (among other things) is that she is real. I like that she was mildly horrified by that state of my house, but didn't judge me for it. I like that we can mutually feed our offspring McDonald's for lunch without trying to pretend to each other that it is a rare treat. I like that she reprimands my kids unabashedly when they are being naughty or annoying (and not in some passive-aggressive "my-kids-are-better-behaved-than-yours" kind of way). I may not have as many friends as some... but I sure like the ones I've got.

Which brings me to the title of my post. After they left, I got down to business and started cleaning my house. But I just had this nagging feeling deep down that no matter what I did, it wasn't going to be good enough. You see, this coming week, the kids have a playdate with a family who has never been here before, and the mom is coming too. I really like them, but I have this feeling (probably due to conversations I have had in the past with the mom) that she will be horrified by my early 1970's house that still is only halfway renovated. And that she will probably drop that horror into conversations with other parents. So I guess it just got me thinking, I am thankful for all my friends and family who accept us... for the messy pigs that we are. And maybe I need to stop caring so much what other people think of me and my house.

Speaking of messy, here are a couple pics of the kids at the playground today.

Laina is showing off her new gap from a lost tooth:

Evie in some messy MJ

Right at home.

Our sweet and gentle new kitten has finally become comfortable in our home, and has turned from timid into the wildest, friskiest, and at times, naughtiest kitten in the world. So basically, she fits right in with my kids. I enjoy watching her shenanigans but I hope she doesn't start wrecking things. Because that would be annoying.

This evening, Adam had his saw out and was working on some household projects. Once he put it away, the girls convinced him to let them use his sawhorses to make a fort outside. I was outside taking pictures of some pretty flowers, and Evelyn kept peeking out of the fort and yelling, "Doing, mama?" meaning "what are you doing mom?" So I took a picture of her peeking. It really isn't as cute without the sound effects, but it will have to do!

Mylie was grooming her doll while sitting on the fort:

And my pictures tonight aren't edited. Mostly out of sheer laziness, but also because of this next photo. I think it turned out perfectly. You won't often hear me patting myself on the back, but this photo is just what I wanted it to be. So yay! It is an Erythronium.

And finally, another yellow plant that is looking beautiful right now, Ranunculus (cabbage rose). These are almost done blooming and that makes me a bit sad, but knowing that it means spring is getting into full swing makes it all better!

I am not feeling very well today, and since I am laying in bed with the laptop, I made Adam take photos today. So he went outside with the kids and captured Evelyn giving her baby doll a ride on her little ride-on toy. Short but sweet today!

The Story of How We Met

Awhile ago I asked for suggestions on what to blog about when I am stuck for ideas... and Sara asked for the story behind the classic car in my wedding pictures which she has seen on facebook. The story of that car, and the story of how my husband and I met are intertwined, so here we go!

Back in January of 2001, I was working at a gas station/ convenience store. My boss made me and another lady go to a day-long propane dispenser training course (can't you tell already that this is going to be a classy story??) The co-worker in question was not my favourite, so as soon as I got the the class, I looked for a way to distance myself from her (if any CRS'ers are reading this, the fact that I referred to her as a "lady" is a hint). I was into cars and really always had been. My first car was a lowered 1983 Buick Regal (back when G-bodies were cool) that I bought with my hard earned money when I was 16. I was still driving the Regal at the time of this propane training course.

Here she is (and please keep in mind, this is a horribly scanned photo, as the digital photography age had not yet dawned).

So notice on the picture that the Regal has a black rubber antenna? Well, when I got to this course, I parked beside another G-body with a black rubber antenna (these things are not common); it was a white Cutlass Supreme. When we had our break, I noticed that a cute boy was hanging out near the white Cutlass. In an effort to avoid the lady I had come with, I walked over to him and asked if it was his car and struck up a conversation with him about our matching antennas. We chatted on and off throughout the rest of the day, and when I was leaving, I decided to hand him my phone number and tell him to give me a call (I know, I know, how forward of me!).

So he did call, and we went out, and I quickly realized how much I liked him. We shared a love of cars and a quirky sense of humour, and really, he was just the most uncomplicated, easy-going, kind and wonderful guy I had ever met.

Some time later that year, I decided to sell the Regal and move on to bigger and better things. Adam was with me when I bought "the big green baby"; my 1965 Cadillac Coupe DeVille that still is parked in my driveway to this day.

It would certainly not have been Adam's choice... he was into muscle cars, and owned a 1970 Chevelle that he eventually sold to buy us a Honda family car. But he helped me fix it up and we spent weekends driving for hours to find obscure parts, and even helping me part out another Caddy that I bought for parts and then abandoned in my parent's backyard.

Here is the parts car in my parent's backyard, and when it was in the driveway to be parted out, parked beside the green baby.

We drove it to our wedding....

We still own it. But I no longer drive it. It would be nice to use the space it takes up for something else, but I have a hard time letting it go. When you become a wife and a mother, you give up so much of yourself...to your husband, and to your kids... of course I am happy to do that because I love them so much. But the Caddy is the last little piece of who I was... and the minivan-driving momma in me likes to keep it close by.

Halter "Rumper"

I tested another pattern for Little Lizard King and this one is seriously cute (they pretty much all are, but this one was adorable enough that when Evie tried it on, Adam, Laina, Mylie and I all gathered around her and giggled about how cute she looked). It was a quick, easy and fun sew, and I can't wait to make more of them! The pattern is for a halter romper, but no matter how many times I correct them, my kids keep calling it a "rumper". And being a little bit juvenile (like Beavis and Butthead), I keep snickering in my head and thinking "hehe, she said rump".

So here she is. And for future reference, I will remember that backlit shots should not be combined with half pigtails. A messy halo it will make. I am still learning and these mistakes help me get better, right? That is what I keep telling myself anyways!







Doing the "flamingo"

The Chocolate Hangover

Easter Monday.... it is a good thing there was no school today, because my kids were far too hungover from consuming massive quantities of Easter candy and chocolate yesterday. From the moment they got up today, I could see it was going to be a long, long day. Evelyn followed Adam and I around shouting "uppies" with increasing volume and reaching her hands towards the sky until whichever parent she was harrassing would get tired of tripping over her and just pick her up. Mylie (our normally happy and good-natured child) cried over every small detail, and Laina giggled for 15 minutes straight for no apparent reason.

Luckily, my mother-in-law came over to play with the girls for a couple of hours giving Adam and I some much needed respite from the sugar-saturated kiddies. We chose to spend our free time with a trip to the fabric store (okay, definitely not Adam's idea, but as he said "I'll do anything that doesn't involve the kids!") as well as a quiet lunch. Don't get me wrong, we love our children but we definitely crave a little quiet time away together!

Since it was another rainy, yucky day, I was bad and didn't take any pictures. But I do have some left over from one of the egg hunts, so I will share them today instead. Hopefully back with some fresh pictures tomorrow since I have a very cute new pattern that I sewed today for Evelyn!

This is Amy, the hostess of the fun annual Easter Egg Hunt. She reads the kids a story in the garage while all the dads run around hiding the eggs for the kids to find. Here she is just done reading the story and has finished telling the kids how it is going to work. I am pretty sure from the look on her face, that someone just either said something inappropriate (probably one of my kids... they are famous for that) or asked a very assinine question (equally likely that this was one of my kids... they are noted for that too, but then what kid isn't?).

Mylie in her Missie Moosie outfit searching for eggs...

Evelyn in a little Janie and Jack "Fresh Daisies" dress and trench. After the picture above, you with think I would have realized the pictures might have looked better from the front??

And I like this picture even though it is far off and a bit blurry for two reasons. #1. Laina is running with her tongue out for some reason and #2. because the girl behind her is so into the spirit of the hunt, that she is hopping like a bunny.

Okay, I got with the program and got in front of them:

One more from later on in the day of Laina snuggling with our still unnamed new little kitty.

Easter Cuties

Here are just a few of my Easter cuties. I have lots of pictures that I took over the last couple of days but I am on my laptop and can't edit on here, so here are just a few.

Little Lizard King Part 2: Evelyn

The title sounds like a science fiction movie, no? Anyways, it has been a tough day here for myself and those I care about. I lost both my Grandad and my uncle today within 5 hours of each other. It is tough to digest right now, and I hope they both rest in peace.

I did get the pictures of Evelyn from last night edited where she is modelling her "Fancy Pants" ruffled diaper cover. Now, I love a good sunflare and haze in photos, but it went a bit far with these pictures. So please excuse the huge sunflare. I am still just learning, and the mistakes are more helpful than the ones I get right!

They started off with a picnic (I love that Emma is eating a plastic slice of pizza)


And then once the picnic was over, Evelyn carried a pink plastic fork and knife around for the rest of the shoot. So you will need to ignore those too!

No fancy pants in this picture, but this is her "blank" look. She gives this to me whenever I tell her not to do something.















Thanks for looking! Now go hug your family tight for me, okay?

Little Lizard King

I had the pleasure of testing out a pattern for Little Lizard King on etsy who I have purchased patterns from in the past. I really enjoy her patterns, they are cute, versatile, and easy to use. This one was for a ruffled diaper cover, and I made it in two sizes, 12-18 months for Emma to wear, and 18-24 months for Evelyn to wear. We went to the park this evening so the little girlies could model them. I have only had a chance to edit the ones of Emma, so I will post the ones of Evelyn tomorrow night.

Here she is!

New Kitty!

Thank you to Lisa and Sara who gave me some ideas for future blog posts... but tonight I actually have something to say! We got a new kitty tonight! I have been looking for a new kitty for awhile now and it has been tough, seems like everytime we found a kitten, it was already sold before we could even see it. I went to several animal rescue places to see about adopting one that way, but struck out there too. I had a hunch that today was my day, and I went back to one of the rescue shelters today, and they had a new baby kitty named Mercy, who was everything we were looking for!

She is 5 months old and very sweet and affectionate. She hasn't met our older cat Pearl yet, but the kids are beside themselves with excitement, and they have her sleeping in their room tonight. I have no idea if any of them will get sleep at all tonight!

Here she is:

Ask me a question

Since I have been having such a block lately about what to take photos of and what to blog about, maybe you can help me out. Ask me a question, if you have ever had one about me, or something that I do :) Or a suggestion for things to take photos of. I would appreciate it!

So tonight a friend mentioned that she was sure that I didn't have anything ugly in my craft or sewing supplies. And oh boy do I ever. Immediately I thought of this gem: (and I am not sure how this will work... photobucket is down and I took this with my Iphone)

I bought this. Seriously. I don't know what the heck I was thinking, but I bought it.

I don't even know what to say about this picture... I am in it for one thing... this isn't our yard, I have no idea what the big girls are doing and there is no conceivable reason why Evelyn is wearing her helmet in the stroller. She just kept yelling "Hemet, hemet" when she saw the big girls donning theirs, so we gave in and let her wear hers. This photo just amused me very much. This is pretty much a metephor for my daily life. Chaos, confusion, and a bit of craziness :)

Laziness

It is out of laziness that I am posting a picture I took a couple of days ago when I was trying to find something to take a picture of at night.