my finger....

this is my finger after a first washing. can you guess what i've been doing this morning? it really is cooler today, so i am glad. i really want to get this project finished up! so that's a sneak peak at the colors....i'll leave you in suspense, hopefully, only a little longer.

patience is a virtue...

that the weather is trying to teach me, apparently....

today's high: 99 degrees
sat high: 106
sun high: 105
mon high: 105
tues high: 101

and then after that it's in the lower 90's.

someone remind me not to have any other children in the summer okay??? seriously.


i went outside with the intent to get at least one coat of paint on the chairs and lasted for only ONE chair and one coat of paint! i was sweating after only that! lame. don't worry girls that i am seeing tonight, i'm gonna take another shower:)

(**all temperatures according to weather.com)

update...

we got the table and the other two chairs primed yesterday...whew. now, on to the paint!

thus begins our painting adventure...

ethan LOVES to paint, i mean loves it. doesn't matter what it is, on paper, furniture whatever. so i knew he'd be into it. i stripped them both down to underwear/diaper respectively, and out we went. i gave them a pretty stern talking to beforehand, and although avery did rub paint on her leg, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. we got two of the chairs primed and then avery was very done with the experience. ethan, of course, wanted to do more and when he woke up from his nap, wanted to start in on the table....since today was a two bath day for them already, i thought we'd wait to do more until tomorrow:) ethan was actually a HUGE help and did a really great job! i was very proud of him! he is quite a good helper:) i love those kids! even though i think i said, "avery you have WAY too much paint on your brush, hang on!" and "avery, stay way from the house with your brush!" about a million times! she's two people, it was a good accomplishment overall! and so it begins. i'm giving myself a week to get it done. i'll let you know...

FOUND!!!

okay, so anyone who has ventured around me lately has come away with an earful of my woes about finding a round table for our "breakfast nook" or whatever the space is called that i have right now that is empty between the kitchen and living room. i have gone to SOOOOOOO many thrift stores it's amazing. i usually do a few in one outing, i don't want to string it out. so one day,for example, while ethan was at preschool, avery and i went to the goodwill by our old house, the saver's, a salvation army and the goodwill by our new house. then we went to big lots. all in all, over the past 2-3 weeks i have been in probably 12-13 thrift stores, multiple times, trying, in vain to find a table. and i have been searching craigslist about 19 million times a day. a week or so ago i found two chairs that i really liked at the goodwill by our house. they are barrel shaped and green. {$6.99 each}


obviously a fixer upper project but i really like those kind of projects so i was fine with them. then we spend another couple of weeks trying to find 2 more chairs and the all important table...i wanted a round one for our space we have, i thought it would use the space better than a rectangle one. i was even up for a square near the end...but alas, no. i just wanted it to be structurally good...cosmetically i could deal with whatever you know?

then yesterday the kids and i ventured out again to more thrift stores. this time we went tempe way. we went to a saver's and two goodwills and at the last goodwill we found...a table! i think i just stood there in front of it for a minute or two (it had a bunch of stuff on top of it so i wasn't sure what i was seeing) and marveled. i took all the stuff off of it and made sure the top wasn't damaged and that it was sound...and it was. and how much was it???? $20. amazing. then we also found some chairs at that same store for $7.99 a piece. wow. and just like that, the search for a table is over.


now the search for the right colors of paint begin. i will definitely keep you updated as to the "after" of this project. now on to find a dresser for blake....

and as to my motivation post a few days ago...i decided today to use a nursing cover that i made and really liked for my shop, it's gray with tiny orange and light blue shapes that make circles, and i finished a sling for myself from fabric i already had to go in the shop as well. it's nice to have that stuff on hand so i don't have to run out and find things i like...i already have a locker full of things i like:):) so just the quiet books are left on that list...but as we just saw in this post, this week is all about the table and chairs, baby!

reusable grocery bags....

i want to win this pattern from Puking Pastilles! so cool!

this is september 16th in Arizona...

kendall's lovely mom gave us a little green swimming pool and little blue pool/sandbox yesterday that came from the preschool class at the school she works at and the kids wanted to swim in it right then of course, but we compromised for doing it today. mid september and it's still so warm...we swim:) although this is a first for me, i am watching them do this activity from inside the house, through our sliding glass door...ahhhhhh...that's nice:) don't have to be so hot outside:) gotta love arizona heat....and thank you nana!!! (yes we need to cut the grass....)

motivation...

in an effort to motivate myself i am going to write down the stuff i want/need to sew before baby blake gets here.

**fix bumper pads: CHECK (and i actually didn't swear...but i thought about it:))
**make myself a new sling: CHECK
**make myself a new nursing cover: CHECK
**hem flannel for swaddle blankets: CHECK (4 40"x40" blankets)
**burp cloths for little man: CHECK (set of 8 done)
**make e and a quiet books...i just think these would be fun! if i don't get to them before blake then by Christmas i hope!

it might look like a long list but honestly, the amount of time it takes to do these things is nominal, i just need to motivate myself but right now i need a nap:)

give a boy a camera....

and you end up with lots of blurry shots of the carpet and couch but some are really cute...and he gets a kick out of being able to use the camera and take actual pictures:) thank goodness for digital huh? can you imagine if we still had to use a film camera!






we are getting more and more settled i feel like. i just put up blake's crib (i.e. ethan's crib, which was avery's crib...you get the picture:)) we don't have a matress for it yet but i put the bedding on it just to see what it looked like...didn't take a picture yet though because...i neglected to remember that the bumper side pattern is longer than my crib is and i didn't measure it this time like i did before because the crib wasn't up in the house as it was before...so now i have to alter the long side bumpers...bummer. but then it will be all good:):)

we had avery's birthday party in august and i never posted pictures as far as i can remember because right after that we were packing and moving...so here are some of those:)she had a great time, thanks to all our family that was able to be there for that! i love making the cupcake in the cone for a second birthday party, it's easy and the kids get a kick out of it as well:)





here's me...at around 32 weeks. looking more and more like that planet juno....

{oh how i need a haircut...SIL elise is going to take care of that on thursday i think, thank heavens for that!}


i think the cricket finally moved on from behind our dishwasher, happy day!
and just for kicks here is papa jerry doing his best impression of me:)

not really but he did pretend the swallow the balloon and avery and ethan were getting lots of fun out of that!

Made by Rae Jackpack Backpack GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

these backpacks are so cute! i would love to try making one (or two;)) for our small people.

i hope i win....

Made by Rae Jackpack Backpack GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

arch nemesis...

i have an arch nemesis...and it's name is cricket.

our house on campus had tons of bugs, but not one as annoying as this one. this cricket has taken refuge behind the dishwasher (as far as i can tell) and insists on chirping EVERY night, all night. kendall can ignore it but i, on the other hand, am having a hard time tuning the bug out. i must find a way to get rid of it....hmmmmm.....