Ballerina Girl

Kathleen started taking gymnastics back in August of 2010. In December of 2011, she moved up from her Tiny Tots class to the Tots class. The class is pretty much the same, except that Mommy isn't assisting anymore. She did really well the first couple of weeks, especially with help from her friend, Kenzie, who is older and had previously been in her Tiny Tots class. But it didn't last. Every week became a huge fight. She wanted me in there with her, but that just wasn't it how it worked. Plus, I had Leighton to look after. Thankfully, a couple of other moms would hold her for me, but my goal was to get Kathleen to participate without my help. She outright refused, and after a couple of months of fighting with her, I pulled her from the class. I was so sad to be leaving Aspire. I loved her coach and thought the program for little ones was great. But, it wasn't worth the $50 I was paying every month, plus the stress of getting both girls up, ready, and out the door every Tuesday.

We took a few weeks off and during that time Kathleen started showing an interst in dance. She would take my shoes out of my closet and pretend to tap dance and she always wanted to watch the Olivia episodes that involved dance. I asked her if she wanted to take dance lessons. Her answer was yes. So, in March I signed her up for a Pre-Ballet/Tap/Tumble class in Infiniti Athletics, where they have cheer, dance and tumbling instruction, as well as competitive teams. She loves it! Yayyyyyy! Her dance teacher, Sarah, is great, and happens to be the mother of one of Joshua's football buddies. At Kathleen's first class, she immediately recognized my girls from basketball.

Infiniti had their spring recital last week. There were over 65 performances (it was really long). There was lots of stress on my part. First, with the pictures, then dress rehearsal and then finally, the actual recital. I had to do hair and make-up for each one. If anyone out there has advice for applying eye make-up to a three-year-old, I'm listening!!! Anyway, two pairs of tights and a gazillion grey hairs later, I have one of the most precious memories ever...my baby girl dancing in her first ballet recital. She is the second youngest and the newest addition to her class, and her inexperience shows, but I don't care. Geoff asked me beforehand if it bothered me that she didn't do everything perfectly (he was being very generous). I told him that I had plenty of time in the years ahead to worry about whether she was good enough or doing everything just right. For now, I enjoy watching her have fun. Besides, no one expects perfection out of a toddler. To me, every mistake was perfectly as it should have been and I wouldn't have had it any other way. Now, for the pictures:

And the video.

My favorite part is when the curtains open. You can hear everyone in the audience say, "awwwww!"

And I swear, these babies got a bigger applause than any other performance that day. I tear up just thinking about it. And, yes, I did cry, which makes it hard to take photos.

Warning: due to the lighting, the quality of the video is less than spectacular. We opted to just take the Flip camera with us instead of the regular video camera. The Flip allows for quicker digital download. The video camera is also digital, but we bought it in 2003 and the software is not compatible with my computer. We also planned to buy the DVD of the entire recital. However, due to some unforeseen drama at Infiniti, that might not happen. Sounds juicy, right? Trust me, you don't wanna know.

She's Crafty, Part 2

The girls started going to Mother's Day Out in January, and soon therafter, the art projects started coming home. Our fridge was covered, a look we don't particularly care for. I don't like clutter; Geoff hates it. I wanted to come up with a way to display the kids' art in our home, so I started looking online. There were lots of different ideas. I decided I wanted to hang empty frames in a group and somehow attach the artwork to the frames. One website suggested replacing the glass in the frame with wood and affixing small clothespins or other clips to it to hold the art. I almost went with that, but two of the frames I was using (they were hanging out unused in our guest room closet) were rather large and capable of holding two pieces at once, so I didn't want to limit my configurations. I decided magnets were the way to go.

I started by painting the frames themselves. I painted those black.

Then, I painted the glass with magnetic paint. I believe I used four coats. I should have used a couple of more coats of paint to make the magnets stick a little better, but I was impatient to see my finished product. Whenever I run my stick vac in the kitchen, I have to take all the artwork off the frames. Otherwise, the wind generated by the vacuum blows the pictures off and the magnets fly all over the place.

That brings me to the magnets. While the above pieces were drying, I assembled my magnets. I bought two packages of high-powered magnets and some acrylic jewels.

Then, I used my glue gun to attach the jewels to the magnets.

Please excuse my need for a nail job in this photo.

Just a helpful tip. You have to place these magnets far far away from each other. Otherwise, they attract each other and when they connect, they will fly across the room.

After the magnetic paint on the glass was dry, I painted over it with acrylic paint.

I used four different colors to match my kitchen.

I needed to do several coats to cover the black of the magnetic paint.

Once those were dry, I assembled the frames, hung them on the wall, and attached the artwork to them. I was very proud of myself.

Now, as new artwork comes home from school, I can rotate the old stuff out.

Kathleen loves helping me change out her masterpieces.

As you can see, I did this project back in March. Hence, the shamrock picture.

This project cost me a little over $30. I had frames already, so those were free. The magnetic paint was $20, the package of acrylic jewels was about $1, the magnets were $3 or $4 per package of four. The bottles of acrylic paint were $1 each, but I think I already had the yellow paint on hand.

She's Crafty! Part 1

Have I ever told you that I love Pinterest? I know I have said before that it's the best thing to ever happen to my kitchen. I was getting so tired of cooking the same (but good) dinners over and over. Now, I'm trying new things almost every night. But enough about that. Today, I'm writing about some of the awesome things I have created for our home. There are several, so I will probably write a few separate entries to cover them all. Now, some of these are directly related to my girls, but others aren't. However, they are still pretty girly, so I'm gonna tell you about them anyway!!!!

The very first thing I made from Pinterest was an organizer for the many hair bows that were floating around my house. Actually, this one of the very first things I ever pinned on Pinterest. First, let me give credit where credit is due. The instructions came from http://mymagicmom.com/hair-bow-holder-instructions/. I will include some instructions here, but the idea for the project itself was not my own. However, I did add a couple of things to improve it for my uses. More on that later.

This is the finished product. I didn't really think about blogging about this until it was complete, so I don't have pictures to go with step-by-step instructions. I guess it works out since I didn't really want to plagiarize My Magic Mom's work. So, visit her site for detailed instructions.

This was so easy and took me less than two hours to complete. First, I took a 16x20 canvas and painted it pink...two coats. Then I laid out my ribbon to figure out my spacing. Next, I used my trusty glue gun to attach the ribbon to the back of the canvas.

This is where I came up with a couple of my own ideas:

First, I used ribbon that was sentimental in some way. The wide butterfly ribbon and the green ribbon with pink polka dots were purchased specifically for this project. The mauve ribbon on the far left was wrapped around a baby shower gift for Kathleen. The pale green ribbon just to the right of the purple ribbon was wrapped around a wedding gift Geoff and I received before our marriage. The narrow white ribbon to the left of the orange ribbon was purchased to make bows and to hold crosses for the girls' baptism. The orange ribbon, the narrow yellow ribbon and Carolina blue ribbon were actually ribbons I used to wear in my hair as a girl. The blue and yellow were for cheerleading (my high school colors) and the orange one was purchased when I thought I was going to college at the University of Tennessee (I ended up at Georgia...that was a close one). The narrow grey ribbon is from a spool I used to make Kathleen's birth announcements. Finally the brown ribbon with the polka dots on the far right was wrapped around a gift from my dad and stepmom to Leighton for her first birthday. The other yellow ribbon and the purple ribbons were from spools I bought to make hair bows to match Joshua's baseball uniform. Now, isn't that special?

The second thing I did differently was this: four of the ribbons are attached to the back by velcro on top. I glued velcro to the back of the canvas where the ribbon would have attached and also to the end of the ribbons. That way, I can disattach the ribbon at the top to hang elastic headbands and ponytail holders from them. Genius, huh? 

Lastly, to hang the canvas, I used a piece of tulle that had been used as a ribbon on one of Kathleen's baby shower gifts. I stapled that sucker to the back about ten times and reinforced with lots of hot glue. This baby gets pretty heavy once you put all the bows on it. Here it is with bows attached:

I'm gonna be bragging about this one for years.

The Party's at GoodHome!!!

This is the first week of summer and for some reason, it just hasn’t been a great week for me. I have little motivation to do much of anything. The kids are driving me crazy, I don’t feel like exercising despite the fact that our beach vacation is just 5 weeks away, trying to work has been unproductive, Facebook is slow, and Pinterest only reminds me of all the things I could or should be doing besides looking at the internet. Honestly, I would love to pull the covers over my head and sleep for the rest of the afternoon. So, I decided I needed to update this here blog. It doesn’t take an enormous amount of effort and I will be getting something done, right?

Earlier this spring, we bought the kids a playset for the backyard. Back in the fall, we requested that our family members contribute towards the set for the girls’ birthday and Christmas presents rather than buying toys. I really did not need more stuff to pick up off the floor, and this is a toy they will use for years and remember forever. Plus, at their age, they did not notice fewer gifts under the tree. Mom and Jack, Dana and Jacob, Pam and Kevin, and Charlie all sent a check instead of a package (how’s that for saving on postage?) Their contributions paid for about half of the total cost. Yay!!! And thank you, everyone!!!! We waited until the weather got warm to buy, and decided to purchase a set built by local Mennonites. They delivered and assembled it. I wish now that I had taken some pictures of it being put together. We are so pleased with it. It has an 8-foot slide, monkey bars, a sandbox and room for up to three swings or a trapeze bar/rings. It is solidly constructed and looks good in the yard. Oh, and the kids LOVE it. Before it was even finished, there were two neighbor kids hanging out waiting for its completion. Looks like the party is at our house this summer! Within a week, both Leighton and Brandeis had figured out how to climb the ladder without assistance. 

That Leighton is going to be trouble. She had only started walking two weeks before. Now, she’s climbing 6-foot ladders by herself! I was outside with the girls one afternoon, doing some yard work while they played. I went inside our storage shed to retrieve my trowel and when I came out, I discovered Leighton up in the fort. Just a few seconds before, she had been playing quietly in the sandbox. 

She is a stealthy one and has no fear....of anything.

Even Kathleen's dolls are having a blast swinging!

We also bought a steering wheel for the fort and a baby swing for Leighton. 

I think I'd like to add a climbing wall to the backside, underneath the monkey bars.

Why didn't they have these things when I was a kid?

Oh, and I just have to add this picture of Brandeis patiently waiting for his turn to climb the ladder.

What a good boy!!!!

And up he goes!

Leighton's Firsts

I have a few “firsts” to report:

Last month, Leighton experienced her first snow. Of course, it snowed last winter too, but she was only a couple of months old, so I kept her inside. Last year we had about 20 inches fall in one day. It was amazing!!!  I didn’t really get to enjoy it or watch Kathleen experience it because I was stuck inside with a newborn who never napped. This year’s snow was very little, but with the mild winter we’ve had, I’m just thankful that we got any at all. Kathleen had been begging me to make it snow and asking when she could play in the snow. And I bought Leighton a little snow suit for Christmas. I’m glad we were able to use it, even if it was only once. When I took her outside, she was a little confused at first, but then she started to have some fun.

Last week, Leighton got her first boo-boo…right on the nose. Joshua was walking her down the street in her Little Tykes car. He saw a hawk and was paying attention to that and not the fact that the car door had come loose. She fell right out. Also, Leighton’s hair is finally long enough to pull up into pigtails. ADORABLE!!!!! Here is a picture I took which shows her boo-boo and her very first pigtails.

And here's one of Kathleen also looking super-cute in her pigtails:

Also, Leighton has apparently taken her first steps. She did this at Mother’s Day Out last week, so I didn't see it. I keep trying to get her to do it at home, but she won’t. I even spy on her when she stands alone in hopes that she’ll take a step or two….nope.

Birthdays!!!!!

I have a lot of catching up to do. It’s March and this blog entry is about the girls’ birthday parties, which were in November and January. Then I guess I should write about Christmas and the snow and a couple of girly projects I’ve done.

Look Whoo’s Turning One!

In November we celebrated Leighton’s first birthday. Grandpa Charlie came down from Wisconsin to celebrate her actual birthday, November 17, with us. I picked up a small cake from WalMart and we went to Mellow Mushroom for pizza, cake and present opening.

 

On Saturday the 19^th, we went to Little Rock for Joshua’s football tournament. After we finished on Sunday, we headed straight home to Atlanta for the Thanksgiving holiday. What a busy week that was! We had Leighton’s birthday party the day after Thanksgiving. Most of our family was there and my good friend, Alycia, and her new baby, Dane, came too. I had planned to make a cake, but our week was so jam-packed and I was so tired, I decided to order one instead. It worked out because Publix was able to decorate a cake with an owl on it (the theme) and they threw in a smash cake for free. I have little artistic talent, so I had just planned to use a “1” cake pan I bought from Hobby Lobby. The owl was much better. I did feel guilty, though, for not making the cake myself. After all, she only turns one once. I spent hours on Kathleen’s cake for her first birthday, and then I turned around and spent a lot of time making the cake for Kathleen’s 3^rd birthday too, so I felt like Leighton got shafted (again). It seems the second baby gets the second-best of everything. In any case, we had a lot of fun with our family, and I’m thankful that we were able to celebrate with (almost) everyone!

Let’s Monkey Around!

Kathleen is obsessed with Monkeys. She’ll even tell you that she is a monkey. I received a party catalogue in the mail that Kathleen quickly confiscated from me. She carried at all over the house with her. When she saw the monkey party supplies, she went bananas (pun intended) and it was quickly decided that she was having a monkey birthday party. We decided to have the party at Aspire Gymnastics Academy. It was nice to not have to clean house beforehand. However, because our local Boys and Girls Club is notoriously slow to get basketball schedules out, we had to wait some time to actually schedule the party because we didn’t want it to conflict with Joshua’s basketball game. By the time we got the schedule, Aspire was pretty much booked. So, we had the party on a Saturday night and the turnout wasn’t great. I was disappointed, but Kathleen didn’t even notice. I planned to make a monkey cake. Now, this is a situation where I wished I could order a cake. But the WalMart bakery is not as talented as Publix and they can only make the cakes they have in the book. There was one monkey cake, but the colors were all wrong and I didn’t like it. Fortunately, I found a template online that was the exact “mod monkey” design that was on the party supplies….YES!!!! BUT, the template was for a 6-inch cake. Two problems: that’s a very small cake and I only had an 8-inch pan. However, I had ordered a mylar balloon that had the monkey on it. And it just so happened that the design on the balloon was 8 inches….PERFECT!!! I traced the design onto a piece of parchment paper to use as my template.

Here is the link to the instructions and template I found for this cake. I want to be sure to give credit where credit is due. http://www.toppartyideas.com/mod-monkey-cake/

Then, at about 6pm on Friday night, I saw some piggy cake pops on pinterest. That’s when I remembered that mom had given me cake pop pans for Christmas. I immediately thought, “Monkey cake pops!” and started searching the internet for ideas.  I found a couple of examples at:
http://blogalacart.com/2011/05/monkey-cake-balls/ 

and
http://sewellphotography.typepad.com/weblog/2011/03/domestic-diva.html

I used ideas from both blogs and added my own touches since these were for a girl's party. Obviously, I used pink chocolate for mine. I did make a couple of brown ones because we had invited a couple of boys to the party. I also used cashews for ears because I couldn't find circle pretzels. I found some springtime sprinkles in the shape of flowers and used those to adorn the head. For the mouth, I used pull-apart twizzlers. Fast forward 13 hours and I’m finally going to bed at 7am after spending all night making a monkey cake and monkey cake pops. Now do   
you see why I feel guilty about Leighton’s store-bought cake?

 

I should also add that we celebrated Kathleen’s actual birthday at Cracker Barrel. We always eat there when we travel. It’s quick; it’s cheap; it’s fairly consistent; and it’s not fast food. There’s one located in Tupelo, Mississippi, the halfway point between Bentonville and Atlanta, so we always stop there and our way to and fro. Geoff has a Cracker Barrel app on his phone, so we can find other locations easily when we’re traveling for baseball, etc. A few days before her birthday, Kathleen was playing games on Geoff’s phone and she saw the app. She kept talking about it. Later in the day, I asked her where she wanted to eat on her birthday and her answer was “Cwackle Baywul!” So, that’s where we went. She opened some presents and we all shared a couple of slices of Coca-Cola cake….YUM!!!

Azul: The Original Princess

Seven years ago today, we adopted our sweet Azul. So, to honor her, she is the subject of today’s post. After all, she was the original princess in our family. 

September 2, 2004 was a terrible day for me. The day before, I lost my job. We had just bought a new house, but had not yet moved. Geoff was in Atlanta on business and Joshua and I were planning to leave the following day to join him there for the Labor Day weekend. My dog, Doobie, had been suffering with skin cancer for over a year. He was in pain, and I was in pain watching him. When I woke up that Thursday morning, I decided that it would be the day that I would finally put Doobie out of his misery. It was something we had discussed with the vet for several months and since everything already sucked, I figured it would be easier on me if I dealt with these two major losses all at once. I called the vet and made an appointment and then I called Geoff to tell him of my decision. He protested and said that he felt like he needed to be there, but I thought it was best to do it on my own. Although he had become our family dog, in reality Doobie was my boy. I adopted him when I was a senior in high school. He went to college with me, traveled across the country with me, went to law school with me, endured countless boyfriends with me (he hated all of them). He escorted me into adulthood, from being a high school kid to being a young professional. He lived in five states and had been to a total of about 20. He went everywhere with me. It didn’t feel right to have anyone else there when he took his final breath. I felt like it would almost be like a slap in the face to have Geoff there. He only needed (and only wanted) me. That morning I took him on a long walk, fixed him a good meal and gave him lots of treats and hugs. Then I took him to do what I hated to do but knew I had to. 

We returned from Atlanta the following week. Our apartment was different without him. There was definitely a huge void. But we would soon be moving to our new home in Carrollton. I thought the change in scenery would help. For the first several weeks after he died, we did a lot of painting and other home improvements before we actually moved. We were busy, which was a good way to keep all of our minds off of Doobie. We talked about getting another dog, but we weren’t ready…or so we thought. On Sunday, September 19^th, we were painting Joshua’s room. Geoff was doing some caulking around the house, but ran out of paper towels, so he went to WalMart to buy some more. He called me from WalMart and said, “they have dogs for adoption over here and one looks just like Doobie.” I asked if I needed to drive over. Geoff said no, that we weren’t ready for another dog. Hesitantly, I agreed. Geoff came home, but realized that he had forgotten the one thing he needed to buy: paper towels. He suggested that I go back over there since I was at a stopping place and then I could see that dog. So I did. Carroll County Animal Support was outside of WalMart. I walked over and there she was. Her name was Casey. She did look like Doobie, just more feminine. A little boy walked up, pointed to her and said, “what an ugly dog! Who would ever want that dog?” I asked the woman what the adoption fee was. Money was tight and we couldn’t really afford a $150 fee, which is what no kill shelters usually charge. “$35.00,” replied the woman. “I’ll take her,” I said. I filled out the application, wrote a check, went inside to buy the paper towels (as well as some new doggy supplies), came back out to claim her, and drove her home.

You have never seen a more excited 5 year old. Joshua was over the moon! I decided to name her Azul (Spanish for Blue – her color), and she knew her name before the day was over because Joshua said it so many times. He could not get enough of her! She filled the void that Doobie's death had created. Plus, I finally had another girl in the house! I had been far outnumbered before. She was my baby girl. As the new center of our universe, she was our family's princess. And she knew it. Like Doobie, she went everywhere with us. She slept in our bed. We lived “out in the county,” so she was able to roam our small subdivision and the surrounding woods (what we called her kingdom). And when she was inside, she would look out a window or the storm door to observe everything going on in her kingdom. 

Azul enjoyed her “princess” status for several years. In March 2007, we adopted Brandeis. She did not like him at all and really didn’t like sharing the spotlight. It took over 4 years, but she finally loves him and will now play with him. Then we left her rural Kentucky kingdom for suburban Chicago. No more roaming. Then Kathleen came along...and then Leighton. That was the big blow. People always told us that when you have kids, your dogs become second-class citizens. I thought that would never be the case at our house, but I was wrong. Don’t get me wrong, we love our dogs, but they don’t get nearly the amount of attention that they used to enjoy. Azul is not crazy about the girls. I don’t know if that’s because they have stolen the spotlight or because they annoy her. She walks away when they try to pet her. Brandeis, on the other hand, lets them pull his tail and tug on his ears. I noticed that we don’t call Azul “Princess” quite as often now that we have two others. But we still love her dearly, and all three kids adore her (and she does still out-rank Brandeis – yes, it’s ok to love one dog more than the other). And I know that as Kathleen and Leighton get older and become better playmates, Azul will grow to love them the way that Brandeis does.

HAPPY 7TH ANNIVERSARY, AZUL!!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!