the great room

Okay friends, there has been a lot of work going on around here, and now I am ready to give you a peak into our great room!

Ta da! (And there is Ruby streaking across the room.)
Andy's mom came to visit. She set up a sweat shop in our kitchen where she sewed some gorgeous drapes for our great room and dining room. She is so talented! Our great room is open to the dining room, kitchen, foyer, the hallway upstairs, and the fancy dining room (which is pretty much empty at this point.)
I recovered our toss pillows with designer fabric samples that I got for cheap at a fabric warehouse sale. I used coordinating, but not matching fabrics. I love how all the pillows turned out. I would make a million more... but Andy thought we had enough.
Here is a view from the upstairs hallway...
We got our coffee table at an auction. The club chair too... and the little side table. And the small rocking chair. All that for about $40! The footstool came from Goodwill. I covered it with some new fabric and it was good-as-new (only much cheaper).

We saved on all of that stuff so we could get the couches from Macy's. I just love them!

Another look at the pillow collection.

The fireplace turns on with a switch! We actually use it!
We bought our entertainment center in Chicago because we needed more storage. It was filled with all sorts of things including the TV, diapers, food, flashlights, games... and in Chicago we kept the miter saw on top of it. Classy. The entertainment center took up our whole living room in Chicago. Now it looks so much smaller! And best of all, the saw is in the basement!!! Woo hoo!!!! And Andy is using to saw to make a built-in bookcase in his office.
There is still work to be done... refinish the coffee table, artwork needs to be put up on the walls, maybe just one more pillow... but I am delighted with our great room!

elbow grease

Ruby has a very loose elbow.  It becomes dislocated easily... and often.  On Sunday it happened while trying to get Ruby to put her coat on.  It doesn't take much.  It hurts a little when it pops out, but she doesn't cry about it anymore.  The arm just hangs limp.  This has happened more than a dozen times... I have lost count.
We have learned how to pop her elbow back in.  Pretty easy.  And now that Ruby is getting older, I want her to know how to do it herself.  So yesterday Ruby and Alli and June were going to my sister's house to play, and before they went I reviewed with Ruby what to do if her arm got hurt.
"Take your good arm and turn your thumb out and bend your arm up.  Okay?"
And Ruby said, "Okay.  Now let's try it for real."  And she was serious.
She held out her arm to me and said:
"Now pull REAL HARD!"

I did not pull her arm out.  I was laughing too hard.

snowpeople

If you are in the mood for a festive little treat, try this: three little scoops of vanilla ice cream, a teeny tiny carrot slice, a few skinny pretzels, chocolate chips, etc...

Put it all together for a snowman treat!

I love taking pictures of Ruby.  Her smile is pure magic.


And for an outdoor treat... we made this group of snow people.  There is a daddy, mommy, baby, pirate, girl and "the weird one."  Hmm.

Currently the snowpeople have melted out of the yard and we have collected all of their little things out of the grass.  Maybe next week we can make some more.  If not, there is always ice cream!

getting old

Alli turned six this week.  She got glasses.
Suddenly she looks older and wiser.



She had a rough birthday.  There was a substitute teacher at school.  And a substitute driver on the bus... and he missed our stop.  I saw the bus go by, but the day before I had called the bus office because the bus was ten minutes late.  I didn't want to be the paranoid mom... but after a few minutes I called the bus office.  The kindergarten bus drops off the morning kindergarteners and picks up the afternoon kids in one route.  So Alli had an hour-long bus ride.  I met the bus at the school.  Alli's eyes were all red and puffy.  The driver felt so bad... especially when she told him it was her birthday.  She was relieved to see me.

Alli had a fantastic space-themed birthday party.  We made paper airplanes and decorated them like spaceships and launched them from the balcony to see who could land on the target (a big earth flag).  Grandma Utah painted faces.  We caught shooting stars (tissue paper stars launched from the Elefun game).  This was our biggest birthday party ever... about 15 kids... and we survived.
The computer did not.
On the day of the party, I went into our office and there was a strong electrical smell.  It turns out the motherboard of our main computer bit the dust.  (This happened just before the party, it was not caused by the little party-goers.)

I have pictures to share, but I can't find the cord that goes from the camera to the laptop, so please be patient.

We also got couches this week!  It is good to have a place to sit.  Andy and his dad started building a wall unit in Andy's office.
Life is good here.

Don't get between a woman and her cake

We celebrated June's birthday last night with cupcakes. June got her very own heart-shaped cake. The first taste was a dainty finger dipped in frosting. And then this...


If only she made Cookie Monster noises. Num num num!

When the dust settled, there were only a few crumbs left. Not a lick of frosting remained. She went straight to the kitchen sink for a bath.

Cake + bath = happy birthday for June!

Happy Birthday June!

One year ago today we welcomed little June into our family. It is amazing how quickly time flies by! I can hardly believe June is a year old, but she is doing lots of one-year-old things now.
June can take several steps. She chats nonstop... she even has a few words: Dada, Mama, Alli, uh-oh, thank you, bubble, hello, yeah. I think she has been our most talkative baby. June loves to eat whatever we are eating. For being so tiny, she has a tremendous appetite. Sometimes I think she eats more than Alli and Ruby! June has a very calm personality... unless you cross her. She always lets me know when Alli and Ruby are bothering her too much. June loves to hold objects in her hand (spoon, marker, pen, etc), and if you try to take the object away, she objects quite vocally. Sometimes if you take the object while she is sleeping she still gets upset while asleep.
June can make funny faces. She loves to laugh and be laughed at.
We love our little Junie.

Happy Birthday June Bug!

poor Andy

I found this sign on the bathroom door.

we are connected!

The internet is here! 
Life without the internet was inconvenient.  We had to borrow a phone book from a neighbor.  So primitive.

And now that we are connected, there is so much I want to catch up on!  But it is late tonight, so I will just give you this tidbit for now...

Alli took her first school bus ride this morning!  She gets on the bus early... it was very dark.  There are two boys her age who get on at our stop.  After introducing ourselves to the kids and moms, one little boy put his arm around Alli and said he would help her get to school. 

More to come...