Hello!

Last week, Lu got to go to work with me.

She has been very insistent lately that her name is Lu.

I was teasing her, asking if her name was Susie, Mary, Mommy, etc.

She got more and more adamant that her name was Lu.

So I went back and asked if her name was Lucy Grace.

She said, "no! my name is Lucy Jason!"

I promptly texted the last two lines to her Uncle Jason who was delighted to hear that his status as favorite uncle was still secure.

So I took this picture and sent it to him of Lu saying hello to Jason.

And being the good uncle he is, Jason responded quickly with this picture and text saying hello!
I think Lu grinned for ten minutes, wouldn't let me change the phone or leave the picture and wouldn't respond to questions.

Yes, he's still her favorite. (but don't worry, she still loves Sam too!)

Pinwheels again!

I have 9 of the 12 squares now and I love all of them! I love the different colors they chose and the fabrics and I love how well it's working already!!

I have a white on white calico for sashing and two more squares on the way!

The bottom left one is the original one from my tutorial. It's too small, so I need to remake it for the final quilt (yes, there are too many, my sweet friend Amy made two-one will hopefully be incorporated into the backing)

So, should I remake my square in red (we THINK one of the remaining squares to arrive is pink and red, the other is navy and dusty blue) or should I change it up to complete the quilt?

What color is missing?
I have thought of doing mustardy yellows since the yellow one is actually quite light, and people have suggested brown and green. hmmm...

and when i'm done with my stockings and quilt and...

My ironing board cover is dull as paint! Not that it really matters, but my Mom always has cute ironing board covers so I have ironing board envy. sad, but true!

I want to make one of these! So cute! Making the blocks is so much easier than it looks at first glance!

blogger

Had a little fun with the blogger fonts today-I love their new backgrounds and options, by the way-so let me know if it's hard to read or anything!

Greetings from the Jungle!

Asante sana squashed banana

wee wee nuu nuu

mee mee apana!

First off, meet my Rafiki! Her name is Lu!

Lately, she has been running around chanting the same "nonsense" lines over and over!

It sounds something like:

"deenty diny, lotssa synty"

huh?

At first I thought it was the chorus to "I am a Child of God", but lately it's transformed into something like Rafiki's crazy chanting!

Next, we have our Zazu, I mean, Miss M!

Last Saturday, she and I went with my parents to my brother's All-Region Band concert (which was awesome, by the way!) The girl got in trouble for talking too much. Not during the concert, per say, but in the car. She drove us nuts!!!!

Her Dad comes home and asks if I have had her duct taped all day since she can't stop talking!

I'm not sure who that makes me and W. We probably trade off between Scar, Ed, and hopefully the wonderfully nurturing Sarabi! :)

School

School starts for W this week.

I'm anxious about it.

Last semester was a bit rocky. I always felt like if he gave us enough attention, he was neglecting school and work. And if he attended to school enough, work and family suffered a bit.

It was a new job, he'd just gotten back after being gone all summer, and it was a lot all at once! At the end of the semester, everything came all at once and I couldn't wait for school to be over. We decided that he would only take one class this semester and, preferably, an online class.

Then I went to a meeting with our Bishop. W was home with a sick Miss M, and the Bishop counseled me that school was important. Darn him! But I went home determined that I would support the best decision for W's school.

So, here we are again. Two classes. Gone two nights each week. Today I was sick and he still isn't home. It's going to be another long semester.

But I have faith that it will be better. I have faith in W that he will be able to juggle his demands and responsibilities better. I have faith in myself that I can complain less and support him more. I have faith that we will be carried through this, knowing that this education is good for him, good for his career, and good for our family.

What else do you love?

I wuv you mom.

and I wuv Ruby and Hazo.

What else do you love?

I wuv mine Jessie.

I wuv choc-o-lit.

And I wuv gamma. Yeah, I wuv gamma.

Snippets from the iPhone

this is the insane, INSANE, puzzle that we did over Christmas! I finally finished it the night of the BCS bowl.

too many motorcycle wheels,

too many people in the stands,

but it's done!

our next photo belongs in the "Only in Arkansas" category!

But I love it! Do YOU have Razorback man holes?
Here's a treasure! Literally!

M brings home the craziest things from her PreK treasure box! Right before Christmas it was a small "Jesus" figurine. It now lives in the princess and fairy figure box.

And last week.

Well, last week, she brought home this treasure.

It even plays a theme song when you press his tummy!

Yes!!
Finally, on Monday, after cleaning the girls' room, I played with my hair. And I like it!
Have a lovely week!

The Word on My Street: 2011

Do you remember the word on my street last year?

It was

LOVE

While I didn't report on it much here, I think it was highly successful! My bed still needs some TLC, I have fallen off the "make your bed everyday" bandwagon yet again. However, I feel like I made some major headway in other areas:

-I made a real effort to reach out to people who I was "friends" with but didn't really "know". I feel like I have gained a wealth of new friends this year and grown some friendships that I'm pretty sure will be with me for a long time!

-I made an effort to really try and keep perspective. After my summer of single mommyhood, (which I moaned and groaned about during the process, I know!) I was reminded of a lot of important things.

-One, I love my husband!

-Two, I love my family and am so blessed to have them help me during this!

-Three, That family vacation we'd been pining for? We got to go to Atlanta, Branson, and Washington DC in one summer! I'd say we knocked that one out of the park! Not DisneyWorld, granted, but we'll get there!

-Four, I need to remember how to love myself and stand on my own two feet!

-We had a few more dates, family pizza/movie nights, and made our family a bigger priority.

At the beginning of the year, thinking of goals, and pondering what the word on my street is this year, I went to Stake Conference for church. I am so grateful for meetings that are answers to prayer. The first speaker spoke of the need to keep priorities clear and not overwhelmed by all the "stuff" in our lives. The next speaker spoke of three, simple easy things that we always need to be doing. It was simple, it was what we've been working toward, it was perfect.

And so, the word on my street for 2011 is:

DE"STUFF"OCATE

We aren't at the phase where our life is crowded with sports and meetings...yet. But our life is definitely crowded with "stuff"! Literally and figuratively!

Here's the deal. I want my monthly goals to align with my yearly goal, to destuffocate our lives.

-I want to spend less time facebooking, more time playing with my kids

-I want to continue to weed through our literal "stuff" so that we can enjoy our space together better.

-I want to stay on top of things so that I can worry less and smile more.

And I will remember the three simple steps:

1) Pray twice a day, EVERYday. I am notorious for getting up, getting going, and forgetting to start my day with prayer.

2) Read the Book of Mormon, EVERYday. I go in and out of doing well with this.

3) Smile

So, here's to meeting my monthly goals, to continuing the LOVE, and starting to "destuffocate" our lives!!

It's more than 111, I'll tell you that much!

I was determined to do this:

But I am a well trained pack rat married to a well trained pack rat, and so it was hard to get started at first.

First, I attacked the Christmas decorations. There were ornaments that haven't "made the tree" in over two years. So, they were the first to go!

Next, I tackled the girls' room. I haven't even started on their clothes, and I've lost track of counting after 111! So we're well beyond that by now! Good bye, broken barbies and fairies! Good bye, blocks that never get played with! Good bye, skanky hand-me-down nightgown that M loved but that always was a little too close to lingerie for my comfort! And yes, good bye, Tickle me Elmo! You cost a fortune and you scared the girls to death!!!

Next up, my room. Ugh. Wish me luck. This is why I left half of the month for it! I'm gonna need it!

Cleaning

How much should a four, almost almost five, year old be able to help clean her own bedroom?

And how do I convince her that yes, she should be helping, while the two year old runs around, not really helping?

I have a tough time remembering that my four year old isn't as old as she looks. She's eloquent and bright and I forget that she's just a little person. And then I get angry that she isn't doing more.

Luckily, then I remember that she's just a tiny human and can't clean her room all by herself.

so, now I'll go back to cleaning my daughters' room. And focus my frustration on the winter storm that is making my husband work on a Saturday to catch up. And make a gunny sack later.

My Pinwheels!

Have you been following my new project? I promise I'll stop talking about it so much after January is over! ...maybe... But I got two more pictures-can't wait to get some in the mail!-and I love them all! I'm so excited for the beautiful, jumbled, scrappy quilt they are going to make!!!

Ape House

I read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

I loved the plot and learning about the circus. However, due to a few scenes with prostituting circus women with tassels, it falls in my "kind of embarrassed that I finished this book" category.

There you go.

So of course, I was intrigued by her next novel, learning about more animals, but nervous about the content. The apes are definitely the ones getting the most action in this book though, which is easier to handle. The plot definitely wasn't as good, but I did enjoy learning about this species that shares so much DNA with us.

One of My Very Favorite Places on the Earth!

I saw this blog on my friend Christa's FB page.

I love these antiqued photos.

I love to be in the temple.

I love the Spirit I feel in the temple and the strength it fills me with!

I love this temple in particular. It got me through my last year of college...seriously!

photo courtesy mandyjanedesigns

And I would love a picture of one in my home! Visit her blog and admire her art and enter her giveaway!

Mine Heart

So in the same school day, M brought home a teacher report card that said "she has many friends"- and M reported in an almost tearful voice that two friends had "broken mine heart into a million pieces". So, which do I believe? Probably both, I guess.

Turns out, it was two friends who were playing and wouldn't let her play with them. I hear a lot of this. There's one girl in particular who, if she is playing with someone, no one else can. I kept hearing this over and over so many times that I finally talked with M's teacher about it. Only to find out that she wasn't the only one this girl was doing this to.

I have discovered that it is my karmic payback to have a mini-me who feels just as rejected as I did when friends didn't want to play with her. Except that all I see is a beautiful, sweet girl who I can't imagine anyone not wanting to play with.

I tried to talk with her about just finding someone else to play with and that sometimes it's okay if they have enough people for their game. Then my drama queen explained that everyone always has enough people for their game.

I know she's a drama queen. I know she exaggerates. She's a mini-me, remember? I just am not that good at helping her reconcile her rejection yet.

Snow Day!

I honestly don't remember snow like this in Arkansas before! It was delightfully powdery and fluffy, perfect for snowballs but hard to make snowmen with!

We all stayed home, Dad worked from home on the phone all day, but we snagged him for an hour of outdoor fun. M dove right into the snow and never looked back! She was awesome-crawling, diving, digging, throwing, snow-angeling, very un-princesslike snow behavior! Lu was more hesitant. Could it be my Minnesotan girl and Arkansan girls' natures coming out???

The house was de-Christmassed, hot cocoa was drunk, movies were watched, naps were taken, and we finished it off with the BCS Bowl at Grandma's. It was a good day.

Stay warm!

"Christmas" snow

I told M to look out the window this afternoon.

It was snowing! It has been all afternoon! This is big here!

M:See, Mom? I told you it's still Christmas!!

pics to come tomorrow!

my baby

Today my baby told me I was her "bestie friend forever". She cocked her head and scrunched up her eyes and smiled her wide mouth grin in her oh-so-Lulu way. It made my year. I may have kissed and hugged her to death shortly thereafter. I love my babies.

12 Squared

I have always wanted a Pinwheel quilt. I love them. I love how simple and complex they are. I love how you can create a sense of the fabric moving and changing.

I have joined a Virtual Quilting Bee. And I am so stinkin' excited about it! Each month, one person picks a quilt block design and each other member creates a block for them. So at the end of my month, I will have the sample block I made and 11 people will send me their blocks. Then I can have fun with sashing, borders, etc. and make a beautiful quilt!

I volunteered for January since this is the perfect opportunity to create my lovely pinwheel quilt! I figured it would also be something more simple as we dive in!

Here is my Spinning Pinwheel! Becca raised the question of whether we should make the blocks actually 12.5" square so that it will 12" square finished in our quilts. I did the math and after screwing up myself (this lovely beauty below is actually 11.5" square-I get to make another one tomorrow! :) I did my math again and you would have to cut 3.75" x 6.75" blocks and that seems cruel if you're not familiar with a rotary cutter. So, if it's okay with everyone, I rounded up and they should be 12.5" square when you're done. ....I think. :)

Start with four different fabric scraps. I chose two deeper reds and two rosier colors for the contrast.

Cut eight blocks 4"x7", two of each fabric.
Sew your "matching" fabrics together to create squares.
Press your seams flat.

Cut each square diagonally to create 8 triangles.
Lay our your triangles and match contrasting colors .
Sew triangles together to create four squares and press seams again.
Sew your squares together to create a lovely pinwheel!
I can't wait to see what you all come up with for my lovely rainbow of pinwheels!!!

Fabric Inspiration

I haven't had time to blog about a new project I'm part of this year! I'm so excited about it too! I promise I'll get to it soon!

In the meantime, I have been asked about colors and fabrics that inspire me. So here goes...

Three years ago, I bought this pillow at Ikea. I looooooove it. I want to marry it. I love the rich red and blue and how bright yet calming it is to me. Someday my house will look like this pillow.

Next, I love pretty much this whole line by Camille Roskelley. I love the reds and blues. Are we seeing a trend yet?
Quite frankly, I have never seen this new line by Michael Miller before but when I was searching for pictures of the others, I saw this one and, well, yum!
And last, but definitely not least, I will always be a die hard Sandi Henderson fan! I love love love the Farmer's Market. I love anything she does.
I love rich, bright colors and I love yummy fabrics!