Today...

... began as a rainy day and ended as a sunny day. 

... we slept in. Sort of. 

... Caroline napped for over two hours in her crib. 

... we sorted through toys and I paid A&W for the ones they agreed to get rid of. 

.... I vacuumed, and the kids cleaned the floor - their idea. 

... I snuck upstairs for 20 minutes of sewing before anyone noticed. 

... we made chocolate chip cookies. 

... I had my phone handy to snap the above picture, which I love. 

... we played Legos and made drawings. 

... I pushed C in the stroller while A&W rode their bikes. 

... A&W switched to rain boots and splashed in the huge puddles in the back yard. 

... lots of wet clothes were generated. 

... we ate pasta and meatballs for dinner, in the living room, while watching Hello Dolly. 

... all three kids loved it. 

... Amy wrote a 3 part story after lights out. 

Today was a pretty good day. 

My Brain Is Full

...And yet there are moments these days when it feels dazzlingly empty. Hmm. There is an awful lot to do in a day, and very little time to fit in thingsI would LIKE to do along with all the things I HAVE to do. But I did carve out a little sewing time a few days ago, and it felt wonderful:

I bought this fabric bundle awhile ago when it was on clearance for 50% off, and naturally it went into my stash to ripen a bit before I decided what to make with it. These little farm-y prints are favorites of the kids and William in particular has been asking me to make him something for awhile, so in a mad frenzy of cutting and sewing while Caroline napped, I have the top of a small quilt mostly pieced. I even took care to search my batting pile first and made the dimensions to match a leftover piece of batting I already had on hand. See, I'm learning how to be thrifty! 

And of course whenever I get started sewing again I never want to stop and the inspiration comes pouring in. My in-laws sent me a gift card for my birthday, which went towards - what else - more fabric! Fun fun fun. Also in the fabric department, I heard someone mention "reusable paper towels" and "etsy" in the same sentence, so I had to investigate. These do in fact look like a fabulous idea. However ones like these (and there are many) made me raise an eyebrow because a) those things seem like they'd be crazy hard to unsnap when you QUICK! needed a paper towel and b) the whole term "reusable paper towel" seems silly... doesn't that just take us back to, uh, "towel"?? Oh my. 

Incidentally, I also found the birdseye fabric by the yard... if only I had a serger, I'd be all over that project. 

Other sewing projects that might be entering the lineup: this for William, my resident packrat, and this for everyone, maybe... or just for Don. He rebuilt his 1989 Black Seas Barracuda by sifting through the 50 pounds of Lego his parents brought down on their last visit. It took so long to build he wouldn't even let the kids play with it. Last week, it took about half a second for it to go sailing off the bookshelf in his office and smashing all over the floor when a naughty kitty was feeling bored. 

And to wrap up what seems to be a clearing house of all the tabs I've had open on my computer lately: 

We got a library book by this artist and now I really really really want some of her prints... maybe when we get to our new house, something new for the walls. And I've been eyeing these as a possible investment for our upcoming season of moving and traveling... and beyond. 

So those are all the frivolous things that have been On My Mind these days, as a happy little break from the busy routine that comes when I'm flying solo for awhile. And on that note, time to stop blogging about sewing and maybe squeeze in a bit of it before it's time for bed. Here's Caroline to wish you a Happy Friday! 

Rainbow

When the weather looks like this 

And feels like this 

And my to-do list looks like this 

Then obviously the best use of my time this morning looked like this 

Ta da! 

I've made my own rainbow, so now what should I do? 

Deep Breath

I really do need to get back to posting more frequently, because this is going to be another post in which I attempt to cover all major themes of the week and do justice to none of them. But I'll give it a go anyway. 

I am happy to report that as of today we have secured a place to live at our new station. I did not expect to wrap up the process so quickly, but I am ever so relieved that we have. We will be renting a slightly older but lovingly updated home belonging to fellow Coasties. The town we are moving too seems to be an interesting one - a depressed economy, aside from the large Coast Guard presence. A mix of very nice and very awful homes. The kind of place where you'd really like to see a house before committing to it, but alas, we are here and it is there, so we've taken this one on faith... and lots of pictures... and questions and emails and a friend who did a drive-by photo shoot. It'll be fine for two years. Look forward to sharing more details, and of course sharing the house itself when we move in! 

But for now I am going to try to put the whole subject on the back burner. This last month of waiting for orders, getting orders, and instantly diving into the house-hunting and move-planning process has literally given me hives. Today after putting paperwork in the mail and transferring money William and I walked to the park on a gloriously sunny but rather cold morning, and as I pushed Caroline in the stroller I had that "weight off my shoulders" feeling, and felt as though I was taking my first deep breaths in weeks. I do NOT want to be that stressed and preoccupied for the next three months, so I am going to make an exercise of living in the moment, and focusing on the here and now, not there there and then. 

Speaking of three months... Caroline turned three months on Tuesday. 

She looks like Amy (Don) these days and is such a good girl. She's very patient (third babies have to be, right?) and quick to smile, and generally doing all the things she is supposed to do. I'm just crazy about her, and treasure any little bit of time I get to focus on just her. Amy and William are pretty crazy about her, too (as is Daddy, of course). But soon we're going to have to have a talk about Legos (see bottom right corner of the above picture). The way this girl is moving, she'll be getting into everyone's itty-bitty toys in no time. 

Three months - three months ago we were in our first days with this little girl. Three months from now we will be in our final days in this house. Time is a funny thing, and I can't quite tell you whether either of those seems far away or around the corner. All the more reason to just enjoy right now.  

Oh, and one other little thing I wanted to mention, but hope to address is a more dedicated post. We will be homeschoolers next year and I am SO excited. As you readers know I have been on the fence about homeschooling for awhile now, but this upcoming move made the decision easy for us. We're going to take school on a year-by-year basis, and will likely return to public school in another location, but where we're going, homeschooling is the clear choice. Amy is thrilled with the idea, and frankly I better get my ducks in a row so she's not completely running the show. I've ordered a few A Beka workbooks (shown in first picture - Amy wanted to get started) to guide us through some math, spelling, and handwriting (in cursive!), and otherwise I plan go with a rough unit-study format. Amy is such a good reader that I don't even really need to teach that. We'll make sure the basics are getting covered in a fairly traditional fashion, and otherwise follow our interests. I will also be looking forward to the chance to add extracurriculars into our weeks - swimming, I hope (a pool is just a few blocks away), piano, and maybe horseback riding??  In the very least, we'll have the time to travel around and explore our new area a bit, and I am very excited about that. 

Now then. The computer and I have spent WAY too much time together this week, so I shall say goodnight and good weekend, and with any luck have something crafty or otherwise relaxing to talk about next week. 

Catching Up

Oh boy. I'm very behind, and yet this week has been so full of nice moments, so here we go, quick-hits style, starting with the great pic of the big kids that Don took last weekend. 

On Monday I made a rather fabulous zucchini-quinoa cake. I made up the recipe, and was a little skeptical when it came out of the oven. Nothing a little cream cheese frosting didn't fix. 

Amy... Oh my, so bright, so eager. Upon getting home from school on Monday asked me to write her a lesson on the dry-erase boards. Her "work" is on the bottom. Mustache reference was to Dr. Seuss week at school. 

Knitting, yay! I'll say no more, only that it is coming along nicely. 

Miserable weather this week, cold and rainy. Nevertheless William really wanted to take a walk, and push the pink doll stroller! With his assorted cars and such in for the ride, of course. Here's what Caroline looked like on that walk: 

Brrr!

Last night was late night grown-up Lego time.. With a cat. 

This label was on the package of aquarium plants that arrived today. Made  me giggle. Don't know yet what we'll do about moving our goldfish...

Finishing up Dr. Seuss week was Whoville Hair Day, showing here. And I love this green coat, wish it came in my size. 

And lastly a smiley, laughing baby to round out the week. Now I'm caught up!