snow!

Although there hasn’t been a ton of snow this season, and I generally really like snow. . .I’m ready for this white stuff to be gone!  Come on spring.  But Owen had been really wanting to go out in it one last time.  Since Ellie was feeling really bad today, I promised William would take him out when he got home.  Despite being VERY cold, he had a blast.  They built a small snowman, played on the swing set, and went “sledding.”  And as seen by the video, Ellie was quite disgruntled that she didn’t get to go out in it too.

watching from the window

rest of the day

Well, the rest of our day got a little better.  Ellie took 5 naps and went to bed at 5:30 so she’s definitely not feeling great.  But at least there were no more messes to clean up.

We survived by letting Owen “wash dishes” for as long as his little heart wanted.We also stole Amy’s idea and played with our diggers in a bucket of oatmeal:And when Ellie was awake, Owen tried to be pretty sweet with her.  This is him pushing her around in a laundry basket:Love these two kiddos, even if the days feel long sometimes.

mommyhood

All I have to say is that cleaning up puke, diarrhea, a pee accident, and a coffee spill in the first 3 hours of being awake should just be illegal.   Hoping Ellie is on the mend soon and that Owen remembers that he’s fully potty trained.

/end rant

St. Patrick’s Day preview

Since St. Patrick’s Day is on a Sunday this year, you better believe I’m cooking up something cute and green for my kiddos to wear to church in a couple weeks.  This was Owen’s onesie on his first St. Paddy’s day: This past week, I made this little headband for a friend, but I think I’ll be making another one for Ellie.  It’s also in my Etsy shop if your sweetie needs one. :) I have this cute little clip on there too:

big bro shirt (not for us)

I love being in on secrets.  A few weeks ago, my friend Amy asked me to make her a shirt for their big reveal for baby#2!  I loved her inspiration picture from Etsy and wanted to stay as close to the original as possible.  But for the love of all things, I could not find a long sleeve navy 4T shirt anywhere.  I checked walmart, target, joanns, hobby lobby, old navy, all things kids, and meijer.  Ridiculous.  So I found a few other choices and made Amy choose one.  I didn’t like it as well, but I was going to make it work.

Last Saturday night I shopped for a little more fabric and cut out all the letters.  But instead of just finishing the shirt as planned, I felt like God told me to stop and (wait for it) go have sex with my husband.  Sorry mom, dad, and Jenna.  Not really a thing you hear a lot from God.  And I really would have rather been crafting at that minute.  Which made me really believe it was God.  So whatever, I stopped crafting.

And then Sunday, we ran out of diapers.  So on the way home, we made a stop at a different Wal-Mart than normal.  And what did I find tucked on a random clearance rack?  One long sleeve navy shirt, in the right size.  I love little God stories like that.  So the shirt was perfect.Click HERE to see the adorable big brother modeling it for their announcement.  And congrats Amy, Mike, and Troy!  We are so excited to meet this new little person in October!

beatboxing

My son currently loves the show Yo Gabba Gabba. Weird stuff, but it kind of grows on you. Anyways, there's a short part where Biz teaches a short "beat boxing" sound. With that background, here's Owen for your viewing pleasure:

a peak at our week

Our week in pictures and captions:

this bacon stuff is great!

ignore the unmade bed - one of his new favorite play spots

a little time at the indoor playground

Ellie's first time actually out playing

 

time with Mataya - don't they look thrilled to be playing together?!

the only time a girl will be in your bed buddy - haha

saying hi to the aunties

We got my boxes of K-Nex out from my old classroom.  He has not put them away in 3 days!

Cheese! - they both make this silly face

 

{wedding flashback} dying a crinoline

My brother’s wedding is just a few weeks away, so I wanted to post a couple more of my own wedding flashback moments that made my wedding mine.   A fun little detail that not many people knew is that I dyed the crinoline under my dress PINK!  You couldn’t see it all when my dress was over it, but I loved knowing it was there.

I ordered my dress crinoline from Angel’s Bridal on eBay.  After lots of research, I saw many brides ordering from there at a fraction of the cost of a crinoline from the bridal store.  It was perfect except the elastic was a bit tight around my waist.  I did this with a top loading machine, but there are ways to tweak it for front loaders or your bathtub (see bottom of post).  I wanted a nice, light pink so I only used one box of Rit Dye, but if you’re trying for a darker, more saturated color I would suggest using 2 boxes.

I prepped my area by laying a towel down to catch any drips.  Sophie got in on the action.I followed the directions on the box and mixed the dye with 2 cups hot water.I I filled the machine with hot water and first submerged my crinoline to get it thoroughly and evenly wet.I pulled out the crinoline and added in a couple tablespoons of detergent to the water. Then I poured in the dye. Let your washer mix those things up for a minute and then submerge your crinoline back in.I checked on it about every 3-5 minutes, to untwist it and move it around in the washer to make sure it was getting an even dye job.  You will have to reset the wash cycle because you have to keep it in the dye for at least 30 minutes before you rinse.

I then let it go through the rinse cycle twice, pulled it out, and hung it outside to dry.I love how the slip part stayed fairly white, with the edging and tulle really picking up the color!Happy dyeing!  And here is the bathtub method and the front loader method.

MusiKindergarten

Wow, slacker blogger much?!   I blame Ellie’s lack of sleep.  I’ve been going to bed early instead of staying up to blog.  And I blame winter.  I usually love a good snow, but I feel like we’re just stuck inside, plodding along, and doing the same thing every week.  That makes for some pretty boring blogs.  I’m ready for spring, getting outside, and getting inspired to clean, organize, and tackle some fun new projects.  But don’t worry in the meantime I’ve got a few blog posts to get be back in the habit.  I need to do a few room tours in the house and I’ll be doing a few “wedding flashback” posts to help inspire an old roommate who is planning her wedding!

Alright, here’s something new we’ve had on our plates for a few weeks.  An old college friend got in touch with me asking if we would want to participate in a 5 week Musikgarten class in her home.  Her friend had just completed her training and wanted to do a five week class to practice her teaching.  Since Owen loves his other music class at the Champaign School of Music, we jumped on board.  It’s been fun to see her again and Owen and Ellie love it.  Sam (our daycare kid) also comes with us.  He’s still not sure about the whole thing. :)