Ye Olde Sandwich Shoppe

Playdough?! Pffth. Please. That is SO last month.

2012-02-10T01:06:00.001-05:00

As part of our daily routine together, Joseph always helps me prepare our meals in the kitchen. As long as it doesn't involve sharp, pointy knives, boiling water, or sizzling oil, he's in on the action. If I pull out the step ladder, blender, or mixer, the kid immediately races over to assist with a great deal of enthusiasm.

I'm really pushing the whole "mommy's big helper" bit for when his baby sister arrives. I'm self-serving like that.

Anyways, after using a bunch of egg whites to make his Aunt Kate a birthday cake over the weekend, Joseph and I had to come up with a use for the leftover egg yolks. When I found this recipe for fresh pasta, I remembered that I actually have a pasta maker from my childhood... Hmm... Toddler... Pasta maker... Noodles... DECISION MADE!!

We made the dough together the night before and refrigerated it. Joseph was not happy with me when I put HIS dough in the fridge and so he was very excited when I pulled it out the next morning and handed it to him:

We rolled out the dough together while I made very unladylike straining noises. Rolling is hard work! Besides, toddlers find these noises endlessly funny and are big on imitating them:

And then laughing uproariously after doing so:

Of course, at this point, Joseph looked up and noticed that it was snowing outside. Naturally, he wanted to go out right away. Like yesterday, Mommy! Being flexible, I went and grabbed his clothes and winter gear... Joseph was a tad put out. I obviously didn't comprehend the urgency of the situation. Cars needed to be driven on snowy roads. Crashes needed to take place. Jeez. Mother's just don't understand! Who needs shoes when there's snow on the ground???

He was thrilled right up until his gloves became wet and cold. Then the world was ending.

So, we went back to pasta making...

Do you see the look of wonder?? Priceless.

Just look at the focus in the kid's eyes!!

Dudes... If you have a toddler at home... you need to try this. We spent almost an hour playing with pasta.

And, okay, eating the pasta...

...and turning the crank in the opposite direction to feed the linguine noodles backwards...

...which actually results in this really neat ripple effect...

We even made thin lasagna noodles, but Joseph didn't think they were as cool as the spaghetti and linguine. Picky, picky.

The pasta maker can be clamped to a table, so we did all of this while sitting at Joseph's picnic table in the middle of the kitchen. We do everything there, so thanks Mom!

I think the pictures speak for themselves.

This was a fabulous toddler activity and a very entertaining morning. And we got lunch out of it.

We tossed the boiled noodles with olive oil, lemon juice, basil, salt, pepper, and fresh tomato. It was quite tasty, but Joseph was less interested in eating the cooked noodles. I guess he had already filled up, so he focused on getting me to slurp...

And since he didn't eat much in the way of lunch, we then made Kim Woodward's smoothie...

I'm pretty sure Joseph would live off of that smoothie if he could and it's the only way I can get him to eat spinach... So thanks for sharing, Kim!

Baby sister is also grateful. ;)

I really, really loved this activity. I enjoy cooking and baking with Joseph in general, but this was just extra fun! It made me a little nostalgic too because I remember making spinach linguine with my sisters with the same pasta maker as a kid. We strung all of the pasta up over the cabinet doors because the strands were so long. Good times. I will definitely be doing this again in the future!

Joseph's Mommy's DIY Forward Facing Shelves Tutorial

2012-02-08T22:49:00.003-05:00

And now for the real story of how Joseph's new shelves came to be...

Each morning, when Joseph wakes up, this is the first thing he sees from his little toddler race car bed:

Trust me, it's a work in progress. By no means close to done.

And what's the first thing Joseph does after looking around? He climbs out of bed, runs over to his dresser, grabs his stool, climbs up and grabs a book. Then he runs back to his bed, tucks himself in, and reads said book:

Seriously. He rarely ever cries when he wakes anymore because, Dudes! He can climb out of bed on is own and there are books! So, he just reads to himself for a while, maybe plays with Scout or Mickey for a bit until he gets bored. Then he runs over to his door, knocks on it, and says in the politest of questioning tones, "Mama? Dada? Dada? Mama?" All while knocking for someone to come get him. We know this, because 1) we can hear him from our room, and 2) Stephen set up a webcam above his door. It's kind of hilarious.

Are you at all familiar with the "How Do Dinosaurs...?" series by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague? They are wonderful.

We have several of them and they are some of Joseph's favorite books, so Stephen illustrated & wrote his own version about Joseph's morning routine using the same basic story line. It's pretty cute. You should check it out!

Anyways, back to the point of this post. I kept having visions of Joseph's bookshelf toppling over on him one morning when he decided he needed that *one* book on the third shelf.

They were not nice visions. Nope. I didn't like them one little bit. Squished toddlers just aren't my thing. I had originally put his bookshelf up on his dresser to make more room and because the kid likes to pull EVERYTHING off of bookshelves and then toss EVERYTHING onto the floor (which, BTW, drives me crazy).

So, I started brainstorming solutions for a better bookshelf system for my tiny book-obsessed child and I remembered having pinned super cute forward facing shelves on Pinterest ages ago.

Source: becauseiliketodecorate.blogspot.com via Caroline on Pinterest

Perfect! I love them! Joseph can see the covers of the books without taking them all off the shelves. I can rotate the books from higher to lower shelves and avoid reading the same book 50 million times when I get sick of it. No one is getting squished by bookcases. Everyone is happy.

Now... how to make them without spending any money... Always my #1 goal. You all know how much I love free stuff...

Then I remembered the pack of door molding which I pilfered from my father's garage a while back along with a bunch of other furniture and home improvement items.

Yes sirree, the same free molding I used to spiffy up the fronts of my kitchen pantry shelves:

Forward facing shelves were SO happening and all for the lovely price of $0. Call me El Cheapo.

I decided I wanted the shelves on either side of the window on this wall:

That way, Joseph could sit on his toy chest/bench right under the window and read with plenty of light. I cleared away the baskets of toys and got to work. By the way, I'm currently working on a better storage system for all the toys. I'll let you know how it goes.

I went through our "wood shop" which is actually the back of the Sandwich Shoppe right now and gathered small lengths of scrap wood that were perfect for setting books on.

I measured the tallest book in Joseph's entire collection to determine the distance between the shelves and settled on a whopping 15 inch spacing.

Meanwhile, Joseph played with his dinosaurs and animals. Please note, the tiger on the step ladder. Very helpful.

I installed 5 "shelves" in all. I marked out level lines on the wall with a pencil, drilled holes in my scrap pieces so they wouldn't split, and then screwed them into the wall using studs whenever I could find them (old houses with lathe render stud finders useless... grumble grumble... Stephen usually just ends up passing the stud finder over himself and grinning at me *rolls eyes* grumble grumble).

You can see that my scrap "shelves" aren't all exactly the same length. As I was working with what I had, I found pieces of wood between 26 and 28 inches. Then I cut my free 7 foot molding pieces into thirds.

That way, all of the molding on the fronts of the shelves was even and I didn't have to worry about my scrap shelves.

I held the molding in front of the shelves and used the small nail gun in the center to tack it in place. Then I made sure that the molding was level, adjusted where needed, and added 3-4 other nails along the molding to firmly secure it to the front of the shelf.

As I went along and nailed the molding to the fronts of each of the shelves, I also made sure that they were all level with each other vertically before nailing them into place.

I'm always a little nervous when I level things in my house because, well, my house isn't level. Not even a tiny bit. Marbles will always roll from one side of the room to the other. So, sometimes, even though everything I do is level... it just doesn't look level. Because my house is old and the window & door casings and the floors and ceilings are mostly crooked. Fortunately, this wall seems to be relatively level because the shelves turned out fine.

Next, to make sure that my shelves were even with each other on both sides of the window, I used a laser level. Best ~~toy~~ tool ever.

At this point, it was Joseph's bedtime, so I marked where the shelves would be and called it a night. The next morning, I was determined to finish and forever remove visions of smushed toddlers from my head. So, I got out my tools and Joseph's tools and we we went to town installing shelves. Here he is "screwing" the shelves in place for his Mommy.

Since I was becoming an expert at shelf installation, the second column of shelving came together much faster. I might actually paint them eventually so that they are completely white (shelves, cut edges, and all)... but I'm in no big hurry as I'm pregnant and they look just fine. Huzzah for pre-primed molding!

I had Joseph hand me books and giddily began filling the shelves. Boy, what a huge difference! It's SO much cuter! And all for free! Even most of the books were purchased for 25 cents at the Goodwill Outlet in Richmond. Heck! Even the toy chest/bench was a hand-me-down from my Mother-in-Law. It used to be her kids' toy chest. It's a wall of thriftiness!

I collected MY congratulatory kiss from Joseph and we were off to the park. Yippy!

I am so happy with how these shelves came together. Only about 3/4 of Joseph's books fit on them, but that's okay because I want to keep a stash of books in the living room bookcases downstairs since that's where we spend much of our day.

The only thing I would change if I were to build them again is the width of the upper shelves. I wanted them to be narrow because I needed to be able to open the closet door without mishap, but sometimes one of the books will flop forward a bit. I've fixed this problem by making sure there are enough books on the upper shelves to hold each other upright since they are 1/2-3/4 inch thick. Really, I don't care because I was just working with what I had. It isn't a problem with the bottom two shelves in each column because they were made with scrap 1x2s and are around 1.5 inches wide. So, if I were to do this again, I'd probably use only 1x2s or something a little wider for my shelves.

Overall, though, I consider this project a success. I never left my house once, spent no money, and made it up as I went... So, not too shabby! And they are a big hit with Joseph.

Now, I just have to remember to rotate the books every once and again. :)

If you have any questions regarding the building of the forward facing shelves, just let me know. Really, if I could figure it out, you know it wasn't hard!

*****

A Note from Joseph the Studly Tool-Wielding Builder:

Don't listen to her! She has no idea what she's talking about! I'm the expert builder! I have all the cool tools! Those shelves are all my doing!! She's a fraud! A sham!

*****

Yeah, yeah. No cookies for you mister.

I can't wait until I finish the wall opposite Joseph's forward facing shelves so that I can share it with you. All I have to say is that some free molding may have been involved... ;)

Embrace the Camera - Belly Smooches

2012-02-02T09:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I convinced Joseph that belly smooches are the greatest smooches in the whole wide world. It's really cute too because he's into the awkwardly prolonged "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" kisses. He likes to give them until his victim (usually his Mommy) starts giggling. Fortunately, they are all closed mouth kisses.

He doesn't know he's smooching on his baby sister. He'd probably stop if he did, because, really Mom??? THAT IS SO GROSS!

Here's hoping he doesn't start pulling up other people's shirts and kissing their bellies too... Unless it's his Aunt Sarah's belly. That would be super sweet since then he'd be smooching with his baby girl cousin. I can hear Joseph groaning in the background.

Yesterday, when I asked him, "Joseph, where's the baby?", he started poking my belly with very enthusiastic "eee eee eees!" I don't know if it was a fluke or not... but it was a step up from pointing at himself, right?

Have a nice Thursday everyone!

Joseph's Easy Peasy DIY Toddler-Friendly Bookshelf Tutorial

2012-02-02T00:28:00.002-05:00

Ok big people, listen up! Books are very important to us wee folk, so today I'm going to show you how to build a toddler friendly bookshelf.

First off, you have to get your tool box.You can't build stuff without tools, right?

Just ignore all that electronic junk in the hall behind me. My mom took it out of my closet to make room for all of my goods and she keeps claiming she's going to organize it. Ha. I'll believe it when I see it.

Next, you've got to measure everything. The measuring tape is supposed to work wonders for this, but the dumb thing keeps rolling up. Design flaw, I tell you. Someone should notify the manufacturer.

After you've got all your measurements marked, cut your wood to the right length. I find a nice hand saw works wonders in this situation. Mom's always using the power saw. I think she's just lazy.

Get your screws and level together so that you can hang the shelves straight. I don't think this is necessary, but my Mom insisted. Sheesh. Girls. So demanding.

Screw everything into place. Make sure to utilize the stud. The tool wielding 3 foot stud muffin, that is. *click* How you doin'? *wink*

Hammer on all your shelves as hard as you can to make sure they can't be pulled down by a certain miniature human. No, I am not referring to myself. You should really have your brain checked out. I think it's gone a little haywire.

Then, all you have to do is nail the fronts of the shelves on and there you have it!

Just look at all those books! And I can even see what they are now! Mom can take that other bookcase out of the room and I never have to pull the books completely off the shelves to see what they are again.

Unless... of course... I need to fix something...

What? That shelf was totally crooked. I even checked with the level! Scout's honor!

Lastly, don't forget to collect your congratulatory kiss from Mommy for a job well done.

This is a very important step. Crucial. DO NOT SKIP IT.

And that's how you build shelves for toddlers people. Keep it in mind.

Well, my work here is done. I'm off to sleep in my race car bed. Peace out, homeys.

*****

A Note From Joseph's Demanding Mother:

Sheesh. Toddlers. Nothing but attitude. Can you believe him?! Taking all the credit. Little punk. Anyways, I will post before/after pictures, a more, er, concise tutorial, and the total cost of this project in the near future. Plus future plans for the big kids room as a whole. And there are about 5 other ongoing projects that I'm working on... but what else is new, right? ;)

Helloooooooooo Third Trimester

2012-01-31T14:27:00.004-05:00

My friend Mary-Carolyn demanded belly photos. De. Man. Ded.

Since I have officially reached the beginning of the third trimester with just three months left to go AND was actually dressed with decent bed hair this morning... here you go:

Those are my normal jeans. A bit snug, but just stretchy enough to button. Don't worry, I popped the button off the other pair that I own. These are the jeans that I have to constantly pull up when not pregnant. Honestly, I prefer pajama pants these days. Spring needs to hurry up and get here so that I can start rocking the sun dresses. Although, it's so warm and sunny out today, don't think I wasn't tempted.

Some stats:

Weight: No idea. Relatively healthy.

Cravings: Not especially. Though I will eat any avocado within sight. But I do that even when I'm not gestating. And I do sometimes get it into my head that I want. to. make. this. pretty. Pinterest. recipe. now.

Movement: Plenty. As in Kung Fu master level movement. You can even see it from the outside. And she's big enough that she makes my belly lopsided when she rolls over.

Annoyances: Occasional reflux and lower back pain. Of course, if I forget that I'm pregnant and leap off the couch (what? it happens?), some lower abdominal pulling. Fortunately, all the morning sickness and excessive exhaustion disappeared after the first trimester. So, really, all's well.

Spryness: Good enough that I can still chase my son through the tunnel maze at the McDonald's playplace. (What? Of course that's allowed. I'm really not that much taller than 4 feet. Besides, he couldn't climb up all by himself, now could he?)

See? Spry. As a leaping llama. That's me.

Belly button: Still in, but starting to look a little flat. Joseph likes to push on it. Amendment: Joseph likes to push on it while making Devil Face. If you are unfamiliar with Devil Face, fear not. One of these days, I'll do a whole blog post about Devil Face.

Belly Circumference: Big enough that I can't see my feet if I look straight down. Only if I hold them out in front of me or bend a little at the waste.

And I can still pick the sweet, darling angel (little monster) up without issue. Though, I have been making him walk his tiny little self everywhere the vast majority of the time.

Story time is a little uncomfortable when he's sitting on my lap and leaning back on my belly, but so far, so good.

This is how one's belly looks if one sets 30 some pounds of toddler on top of it.

Oh, he's not picking his nose in that picture. I just asked him "Joseph, where's the baby?" and he's pointing to himself. Yeah. He wishes. He knows what babies look like and will point to them if they are in the vicinity, but hasn't grasped that there's one in my belly. He just thinks I'm getting fat. Everyday we work on Joseph becoming "mommy's big helper" in the hopes that it will help with the transition. He turns 2 on April 4, potty training is coming up, the little lady is due May 3, and he get's his first actual cousin in June. Joseph surrounded by girls. It's going to be an eventful summer. :)

This one time...

2012-01-30T02:59:00.000-05:00

...my uncle wrapped my grandmother's boobs in saran wrap.

True story.

Project posts coming soon! :)

Embrace the Camera - Milkshake Thievery

2012-01-26T07:24:00.002-05:00

I swear I'm working on various projects to blog about. I'm just not finished with them. However, Joseph is going to visit his great grandmothers this weekend, so I should have plenty to blog about next week. :)

Until then, I thought I'd get back into Embrace the Camera.

Here we have Joseph stealing Mommy's malted milkshake at our local avocado green 50s diner:

Life is hard when you have to share your milkshakes with TWO other humans. Sure, they are miniature humans, but that didn't STOP Joseph from zoifing more than half of the glass. He didn't want to give up the straw to share with his Mommy, so I had to ask the waitress for a second straw. It was the only way I was going to get some much needed ice cream in my system. Little punk.

My friend Nancy took this picture when she was visiting last week. We had just gotten back from our wagon ride walk when we decided we needed ice cream. She said she had to take a picture of us because "this is just disgusting" (as in disgustingly cute).

Miniature Performance Art

2012-01-19T23:37:00.001-05:00

My friend Nancy had a big art showing at our local university on Monday, so she and our friend Peaches stayed at my house from Saturday through Wednesday. Since we were roommates all through college, you'd better believe that we had a roaring good time together...

Yup. Everything was business as usual...

Ice cream was consumed, impromptu dance parties were held, a million photographs were snapped, the traditional costume/photography/knick knack shop visit was taken, and much fun was had by all.

Is this not terrifying? I think I'm scared and scarred for life.

We even took a nice long walk with Joseph before consuming more ice cream. Sure, we said we wanted to take Joseph on a fun wagon ride... But, lets be honest here... We wanted to go on a fun wagon ride (because that's what grown women do!) and we each took turns riding and pulling. Except Joseph. He didn't pull once. Little free loader.

I spent most of Sunday helping Nancy install her piece, "Status Update", at the gallery. It was interesting to be a part of the setup process. Her work usually focuses on photographic and electronic media and it's impact on society, which is what she teaches at MICA (where she's shown other related pieces).

With "Status Update", each of the boxes on the wall represent a server and contain laser cut gears which slowly roll up different people's Facebook status updates to be stored away. All of that personal information available on the web and permanently recorded somewhere.

One of them has every single Facebook status update I've ever posted. It's fun to watch roll up. Caroline is engaged. Caroline is married. Caroline bought a house. Caroline is a mommy. Caroline can't remember what sleep is like. Caroline was thrown up on no less than 7 times today. Caroline's life rocks.

As you can see, Nancy's work is very clean and white. And the whirring noises of the rotating gears just suck you in. You don't even know it, but you are currently being sucked in.

Even Joseph is helping. Nancy's his new best friend. I'm pretty sure he'd do anything for her. He even wished her "nigh nigh" instead of just saying "bye!" at bedtime. True love.

Joseph attended the gallery opening with us to support his new best friend.

It was his first art show EVER.

To commemorate the occasion, we may have dressed Joseph up as a miniature art school student complete with emo hat, faux hawk, skinny jeans, plaid shirt, stained undershirt, and suspenders. There was some discussion of square glasses and eye liner, but I informed my dear friends that, not only would Joseph never cooperate with such a thing, Stephen would have killed us.

We let him run free throughout the gallery and do his toddler-sized art student thing. He made sure to critique everyone's work. This particular piece did nothing for him and he had no qualms sharing his opinion:

This piece, on the other hand, got a big thumbs up and many return visits:

I can't imagine why. The only reason he's not smiling and pointing in this picture is because I just told him he couldn't touch. I'm a mean mommy and don't understand my son's artistic spirit.

He was the ONLY kid there, so he got the attention of all the ladies. Anytime someone said, "Awww!", we told them that he was the performance art of the evening - an art student in miniature.

And he was definitely the cutest piece of miniature performance art EVER:

BABIES EVERYWHERE

2012-01-12T02:32:00.001-05:00

Anyone remember this commercial??? This is kind of how I feel about my friends, family, and the blogosphere right now... ;)

Babies are wonderful and I'm so, so very happy for all of you. And your 500 babies!!

And... I may or may not picture a crazy eyed lady stuffing her shirt with paper EVERY TIME someone announces that they are knocked up. :)

Maybe we should all lay off the NutriGrain Bars?

Baby Booty Bonanza

2012-01-11T20:04:00.002-05:00

My sister-in-law Sarah is having her first little one and has asked for baby booty advice... And, okay, she asked for this advice like a month ago. Possibly two months ago... So, I'm a bit late in sharing it. But I blame Blogger the Terrible Post Draft Eating Monster and the holidays. And my own lameness, but let's not dwell on that...

My number one useful baby item would have to be some kind of sling, wrap and/or carrier. I highly recommend having a sling or wrap for newborns and small infants. I personally had a Moby Wrap and I loved it! Not only was it amazingly comfortable, but I discovered that the wrap was perfect for soothing and nursing infants in public without flashing nip - especially helpful in Mass. Additionally, carrying the baby around in the wrap left my hands free to do dishes, laundry, email, etc. It was fantastic! With the wrap, I didn't have to worry about lugging around a stroller for at least the first 6 months of Joseph's life. I did have to take the time to tie the wrap into place, but I really didn't mind it at all. This product was extremely versatile and I depended heavily on it.

Of course, as little man got bigger and more mobile, the stretchy wrap became less practical. At this point, I made myself a non-stretchy wrap and tried out back carrying. This worked, but overall I found that this took a little more effort and that positioning the baby was a little more nerve-wracking than with front carrying. However, I've heard very good things about the Ergo carrying pack from multiple friends and family and would suggest trying that out (especially for stay at home parents). It's perfectly manly and could potentially suit grouchy fathers... er... I mean Rob.

The next most useful product I had was probably my portable changing pad (which I have since lost and will probably replace before the next baby). This thing fits 4-5 diapers, a small travel case of wipes, butt cream, and a spare onesie. It's a perfect grab and go baby item for short trips away from the house (i.e. grocery store, church, library, park, etc.)

Next, I would recommend some kind of of portable bouncy seat or cradle. Nothing large and clunky, and if it can be folded up or quickly dismantled for easy transport, all the better. I used this with Joseph before he became mobile and it traveled all over the house with me. If I was making dinner, then this would be sitting up on the kitchen counter. If I was folding laundry, then it would be sitting on the coffee table in the living room. Also, in the first few months when Joseph was waking up every few hours for feedings and his room wasn't yet ready, he slept in this on the floor on my side of the bed. It was easy to grab him, feed him, and put him back when I was half conscious. And whenever we traveled away from home for the weekend, I brought this along for Joseph to sleep in since it took up less space than the pack and play. And if the kid falls asleep, you can easily pick up the whole seat and put him in the crib ;).

Since our nursery was upstairs and I spend a large portion of my day downstairs, I had the pack and play set up in our living room for the first six months or so. It provided me with a quick and easy changing station and was a convenient place to lay Joseph down whenever he took a nap or I just needed to free up my hands for a moment. When Joseph became more mobile and started walking around, I used the pack and play whenever we traveled away from home for naps and bedtime. It (usually) breaks down and sets up quite easily and I think I got plenty of good use out of it.

A swing is not essential, but it sure was nice to have around. Joseph fell asleep in that thing quite often. I loved it so much that I lugged it all the way to Myrtle Beach with us. I didn't like that it ran on batteries and couldn't be plugged in and, if given the chance to choose again, I would find the smallest, most compact, travel friendly swing on the market (similar to what Young House Love used for their daughter Clara) since swings take up a lot of space. UPDATE: I have recently been informed that you can purchase a swing with a detachable chair that doubles as a portable bouncy seat. If I were trying to save space in my house and I were you, I'd jump on that!

A car seat is essential, of course. I have a Graco in a gender neutral pattern and haven't had any issues with it. I personally found having two bases wonderful. Sanity saving even. I didn't have to worry about constantly seat belting in the car seat or who took what car or anything like that. It was fantastic. However, Stephen drives our primary travel car and I did most of the daily infant transportation, so we found two bases to be extremely convenient. Two bases may not be necessary for you guys since Rob will be doing most of the infant transporting and also drives your primary traveling car. It will have to be your judgment call.

Strollers are great, but I hardly ever used mine for the first 6 months because I found my wrap so much more expedient. Of course, if you are going to be somewhere where you'll be walking around ALL DAY, then you'd want your stroller, not your wrap. However, you don't need a big clunky one. An umbrella stroller would probably work just fine. I've found that the stroller is more useful with older babies and toddlers because you can go on walks and go to and from the park or library easily. I had the clunky stroller that came as a part of my car seat travel system, and that was really nice, but seemed like overkill every time I had to load it into the back of the car. Though, when choosing, I would make sure that the wheels can handle grass.

As a working mother, you are absolutely going to need a breast pump. From what I've been told and from what I've researched, Medela is one of the best breast pump brands and is used by most hospitals. I had a small, lightweight single Medela breast pump for home and it was great, but you are going to need something much more heavy duty. I had a long conversation with an old family friend who was working full time, commuting to DC, and pumping constantly who swore by Medela's double breast pump back pack for working moms. I would look into renting one to test it out and make sure breastfeeding works for you guys before you drop a ton of money on the thing. Rob is going to need bottles and a bottle warmer (not essential, but convenient), but I've been told some babies can be picky about the bottle nipple, so you may want to wait and see?

A baby bath is nice to have to support a squirmy infant in the tub, but not totally necessary. Really, all you need is a sink. My tub was a hand me down which I used until Joseph learned to sit up and got to big for it, then I just simply placed him in the bath tub. Don't register for or buy a baby tub though, as I'm pretty sure I have two up in the attic and you can have one if you want it.

I love my high chair. It worked beautifully from the time Joseph was 6 months old until he started sitting at the table and was super easy to clean. It was on easy to maneuver wheels and could be taken anywhere on the first floor. If you want the specific brand name, you'll have to wait until I dig it out of the attic for baby number 2 because I'm completely at a loss.

However, it did take up room in the kitchen and you might prefer to use a chair that either clips onto your dining room table or can be latched onto one of your kitchen chairs. This is a really terrific option and great way to save space.

Baby play grounds, exersaucers, etc. are not really necessary, but they have their uses. I didn't actually register for any for the baby shower, but I was given plenty of hand-me-down play mats and exersaucers and such. They do make for a nice place to set the baby down when you need to free up your hands for something and they do help to entertain the baby for decent periods of time.

baby laptop is optional

I'd say I got the most use out of the exersaucer. Making lunch? Set Joseph in the exersaucer in the middle of the kitchen. Gardening outside? Working on the house? Set Joseph in the exersaucer in the shade so I can watch him and we can hang outside together without him eating grass or crawling into danger.

I didn't have a changing table, just a dresser with a contoured changing pad. This worked very well for me and I got plenty of use out of it.

Many parents swear by certain pacifiers, but I would start off with a test pacifier. You never know if the baby will take to pacifiers. Joseph only used his sparingly for the first few months and then gave them up entirely. This may have been partly due to my influence, but he just never became attached to them. You will also have to research and decide whether you want to use pacifiers while breastfeeding. Some articles suggest that it can lessen you milk production. I didn't have any issues with Joseph's food intake and nutrition with the pacifier, but then, I didn't really rely on it.

I've heard a lot of good things about velcro swaddling blankets (which sound AWESOME!), but I just had regular baby blankets and didn't really feel like I was missing out on anything. Maybe if I find a snazzy velcro swaddling blanket at the thrifts, I'll try it out with the little miss this time around.

We kept an air purifier in nursery and it was great because it provided white noise for nap times and bed times. We didn't have to worry that our incessant hammering, drilling, and cutting would wake up the little man.

You are going to want to baby proof before the small child becomes mobile. Cabinet locks really do the trick to keep your child from swallowing poisonous cleaning supplies, but you may want to consider the rest of your lower cabinets as well...

The moment Joseph started to become mobile, we put up our stair gates. I'd do research to see which gate is considered the safest right now. I chose our gates after checking Consumer Reports for the best rated gate and they've worked terrifically with our staircase. We have Kidco Safeway gates, but I'm pretty sure the gate at the top of the stairs leading into the kitchen is going to be tricky for you guys, so you should really look into finding gates that suit your staircase needs.

I think you have two have enough medical knowledge to take care of acquiring thermometers, bulb syringes, and other basic first aid stuffs. I personally had a temporal thermometer and I really liked it!

Update:

I have a Sony Baby Call monitor in the nursery. The receiver mostly stays in my bedroom these days, but followed me around the house when Joseph was little. It has the potential for multiple channels and a "voice activated" feature so I don't have to constantly listen to static. This is actually my second monitor and seems quite sturdy. My first was a Graco and didn't hold up under my constant dropping. It's range also sucked. I haven't really had to test out the range of my current monitor yet, but I'm sure I'll get the chance when the little miss comes.

Lastly, I had a Boppy which was given to me as a hand me down. I used it some for nursing in the early days when Joseph was itty bitty and could just lie across my lap while nursing. He needed to be propped up and the Boppy did help save my arms from getting crazy tired. However, I'd say that the Boppy was mostly used for propping Joseph up when he was lying on a blanket or first learning to precariously sit up. I don't think it was an essential item, but it was useful. It also makes for a lovely crown:

UPDATE: Most mom's need a diaper bag. The portable changing pad works wonders for short trips, but if you going to be away from home for the day, you're going to need more supplies. I have gone through several different incarnations of a diaper bag. My favorite out of all of them is a very basic open bag layout with side pockets, but NO zippers or latches or hooks. I don't want to have to bother with trying to get something open while juggling a small baby. It does not have to be huge!

When leaving the house for the day, you need to pack diapers, wipes, butt cream, and (depending on how well you kid regurgitates food) one to two changes of clothes. When I was breastfeeding, I didn't pack bottles or snacks, just my wrap for discrete feeding. When Joseph got older, I stopped packing the wrap and started packing snacks, a sippy cup, and one board book. I almost always try to have a few basic first aid things in my bag - baby tylenol and a bulb syringe. When he got older, I started carrying an age-appropriate cough syrup and bandaids/neosporin as well. My bag isn't huge and the open layout works for me. Strangely, having the open layout prevents it from becoming a bottomless pit and it stays organized. I'm always able to find what I'm looking for in a snap.

Anyways, that covers most everything. If I think of anything else, I'll email you!

Any questions?

YAY BABY!!!!

Burgertastic Birthday

2012-01-04T23:50:00.001-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEPHEN!!!!!

My husband turned 26 today! And to think, we became friends when he was only 17. Dude, that was almost 10 years ago! To celebrate, Theresa, Joseph, and I threw a little Burger & Wii party for him last night.

We started off the evening with an extra healthy meal from McDonald's. If given the chance, Stephen would probably eat McDs out of every plain McDouble they have, so it seemed an appropriate choice... Especially since his birthday "cake" was completely inspired by these little beauties from Bakerella:

credit

They are SO EASY! One vanilla cupcake cut in half, one biscuit sized brownie, and some colored icing for lettuce and condiments!

We never got around to making the cookie fries, but that's okay - they were still soooo cute!

Stephen, of course, got a "burger" without any "lettuce" on it. I wouldn't dream of trying to get the man to eat anything green on his birthday. That would just be cruel. ;)

That's Stephen's "Exxx-cellent" face. Think Mr. Burns from The Simpsons.

The "burgers" were a lot of fun to eat...

... but probably could have done with a little less icing. (Joseph might disagree.)

Stephen took one bite, looked at Theresa, and said, "Mmmm! Tastes like color!"

You know the food fight scene in the movie Hook?

....Yeah, the icing was a lot like that.

In addition to the "burgers", I made Stephen a pepperoni pizza monkey bread cake...

Source: jasonandshawnda.com via Caroline on Pinterest

...but was distracted enough by a certain munchkin that I overbaked it by accident. So, no pictures. But it was still tasty! I'll be making it again in the future!

For his birthday present, I was inspired by this T-shirt:

Source: google.com via Caroline on Pinterest

Let's be honest - this is how Stephen sees the food pyramid whenever he looks at it. However, I wasn't completely enamored with the design or the $25 price, so I decided to DIY my own version with a pack of plain XL t-shirts from Walmart and a white fabric paint pen. I still can't believe how well it turned out. And all for the total price of... (don't look, Stephen!)

...about $3.60.

Joseph and I are also making a version of this shirt:

Source: thinkgeek.com via Caroline on Pinterest

We didn't finish because Daddy unexpectedly came home from work early (YIPPY!!!).

It's all right if you don't get it. It's in binary and Stephen understands binary. Since he teaches computers and all. The shirt says "DAD". Only, we changed it to "DADA" (Joseph's favorite word in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD...grr...) and are adding Joseph's footprints. It should be great when it's finished.

In addition to the homemade shirts, Theresa also got Stephen this awesome pair of shirts:

...and some new softball equipment.

Then, we spent the rest of the evening playing Wii bowling.

And Wii bowling with Joseph is hilarious...

Not only does he hold the controller poised behind him as though he's going to bowl with it, he also says "OOOOOOOOOOH!" every time the pins are knocked over.

Happy 26th Birthday, Sweetheart! We love you!

Our Family Christmas

2012-01-03T10:23:00.003-05:00

Since it's still technically the Christmas season (the Twelve Days of Christmas don't end until Epiphany on January 6), I thought I'd share a little bit of our family Christmas with you.

We played hosts this year and had both sides of our family get together for one big celebration. With some help from Amy, Theresa, and my Mom, I put together a Thanksgiving-esque dinner and set up a buffet line in the entry hall.

Those are my three siblings towering behind me as I carve the turkey. I'm the runt in the family.

Since there was no way we could fit all 14 adults and one small child in our dining room, we set up one of our giant folding cafeteria-style tables up in the middle of the living room and were able to comfortably seat everyone. This is the first time we've done this and I'm glad it worked out so well!

Since I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, my sister-in-law Sarah (Five Camels) was nice enough to set up the table decor for me and I can't begin to express how appreciative I was to be able to focus solely on dinner. This is the second year in a row she's done this for me. Last year, I handed her some evergreen branches, silver ball ornaments, and candy canes with a crazy, slightly manic gleam in my eye and told her to do whatever she wanted with them.

This year, thanks to Kim's Dare to DIY party, I had more of a plan... but I still ended up shoving several bags of cranberries, mason jars, and holly branches at Sarah and telling her to do whatever she wanted with them. *sigh* One day I will be totally organized and prepared for everything, right?

Fortunately, Sarah is awesome and did a superb job!

She, Theresa, and my sister Kate even made some adorable wine cork reindeer to grace the table! See? This is why it's nice to have sisters who keep you sane! ;)

Since most everyone didn't arrive until late afternoon on Christmas day, we actually opened gifts after dinner.

Classic Radio Flyer!!! Woot!

There are definite advantages to being the only kid in the family at the moment. Joseph seriously made out like a bandit. Puzzles and books were probably among his favorite presents. Yup. That's my kid.

Joseph didn't really understand that he had to keep opening his presents. For example, when he got a Clifford book and matching stuffed animal, he tossed the stuffed Clifford over his shoulder and expectantly turned around so that his Grandmom would read him his new book. Little did he know, he still had about 30 more presents to open. Poor kid...

Don't get used to it, buddy. Come May and June, you are going to have to start sharing. It's ok, though. As the oldest, you can be the ring leader!

Besides, being forced to open a million presents is terribly exhausting. Good thing he got that blanket!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-27T11:35:00.000-05:00

Since today is the third day of 12 Days of Christmas, I thought I would share this year's Christmas "card" with everyone. Thank you to Theresa for taking the pictures! And thank you to both Theresa and Sarah for trying to get Joseph to smile in the pictures!! We took it Christmas afternoon when Joseph was just about ready for a nap, but I think it turned out all right!

I say "card", because we are big procrastinators and emailed our "card" out this year... Just like last year.

The main difference being that Joseph is a bit bigger this year... and has hair. :)

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas day with their families and friends!

Velveesha: Cheese of the Female Persuasion

2011-12-21T18:46:00.000-05:00

We had our big 20 week-ish ultrasound this morning and, with the exception of the full bladder requirement, it was super exciting! I even brought the boys!

The appointment was at 11:30 this morning. At 11:22am, I received the following text from my sister-in-law Sarah (Five Camels).

Sarah: NEED BABY INFO

Me: Haven't had ultrasound yet. Waiting. Have to peeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Sarah: I'M DYING OF ANTICIPATION AND MY PALMS ARE SWEATY

At this point, I started cracking up in the waiting room... which was bad for my bladder condition. So I put away the phone.

Finally, we got to meet the little kung fu champ:

Isn't she cute??? I think she's rubbing her eye in that profile shot. And, yes, we have mostly definitive proof our little kung fu champ is a she:

Here are her little feet. They look crossed to me.

Apparently Joseph's frequent pointing, Stephen's declaration of, "Joseph! You are going to have a baby sister!", and my "awws" were boring the little miss, because she decided to yawn during the proceedings:

She's currently lying breech, weighs approximately 13 oz, and is due May 3rd. I find this to be hilarious because my sister Amy's birthday is also May 3rd AND she was breech when my Mom had her. Hopefully, my little girl won't decide to stay breech like my sister did. Do you hear that missy??? Breech is not an acceptable option!

Oh, and by the way little miss, you have the sweetest big brother ever:

After the initial ultrasound was over, we waited for the doc to come and observe so we could be dismissed (and I could finally pee). During this time, Joseph (who was SO INCREDIBLY well behaved the whole time) wanted to poke my belly and then snuggle with me. So I let him. Even though he accidentally elbowed me in the tummy and my bladder almost gave in then and there.

When the doc came in and took a look at the ultrasound, the first thing she said was, "WOW! Mommy really has to pee!" I guess my bladder looked uncomfortable even in black and white?? Anyways, the doc decided that all was well in belly land and I immediately scurried to the bathroom upon my release. I made sure to text Sarah back so she wouldn't keel over and die from having to wait an additional hour for the news.

Me: Texting you from the potty (at last!) ... drum roll ... baby girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Email to follow!

Sarah: Eeeee!

Being pregnant together is fun. I can barely wait for her ultrasound! ;)

Since Rosetta Stone was nearby, we decided to surprise Aunt Theresa at work after our appointment. I asked the receptionist to tell Theresa that her nephew Joseph had come to see her. Then, I gave Joseph this note all folded up and told him he had to give it to Theresa:

He ran to Theresa all excited to see her and handed the note over while simultaneously trying to get her to pick him up. It was ridiculously adorable:

Since everyone was so excited and we were at Rosetta Stone, not some staid bank, Aunt Theresa pulled out her giant ball and tossed it back and forth with Joseph in her office!

So much fun. He couldn't stop belly laughing. It was great!

Especially when his aunt sent it flying at him and it bounced him back a few steps... Joseph thought that was the most hilarious game ever.

Then we left the safety of the office... Giant ball + long hallways = toddler heaven.

Theresa now feels that Joseph needs a giant exercise ball for Christmas. I don't think Joseph would argue with that...

While rolling the ball through accounting, Joseph had to stop and say hi to this nice lady:

He said a whole bunch to her in toddler speak. Here's my interpretation: "Umm... Excuse me, ma'am? Are you aware that you are sitting on the greatest toy ever? Maybe you should share because you obviously don't even know what to do with it. Jeez."

He was finally distracted from the giant ball when we rolled it into the kitchen and he spied some free apple juice. So, we took a juice break:

After our juice, we said "Bye byes!" to "An Teesa" and headed out.

So, baby Cobalt is a sweet little girl. I'm excited! Pigtails and dresses are in my future! :)

Once I got home, Stephen and I had the following gchat:

Stephen: so, thought of any girl names yet?

me: no

you?

Stephen: Velveesha

me: no

Stephen: oh... come on

joseph likes cheese

me: ha

you are terrible

Don't worry little girl. I won't let your Daddy pick out any crazy or cheese related names for you. Scouts honor! Though, I really can't promise that either Daddy or your big brother will ever let you date...

Bye everyone! Have a great holiday!

Gingerbread Wars - A Tradition of Awesomeness

2011-12-19T20:30:00.005-05:00

Please allow me to introduce you to our annual holiday tradition:

Let me explain.

It all started when Stephen and I were home from college for the summer of 2006. We were between our sophomore and junior years and since we went to different colleges, we pretty much spent every waking moment of the summer together.

Anyways, it was the middle of July and we were bored... Therefore, crazy and interesting things were bound to happen, right?

Stephen & Caroline, circa Summer 2006

Right.

Wishing it were Christmas and snowing as usual, Stephen decided that we should build a gingerbread house together. Immediately.

I, being a sane, normal person, argued that it was the middle of summer and 95 degrees outside and that only crazy people build gingerbread houses in July. He reminded me that he is crazy. I concurred. Thus, Stephen and I built our very first gingerbread house together:

Uh... Did I say house? I'm sorry, what I meant to say was CATHEDRAL.

Yes, that's right. We built a cathedral. Complete with dome, flying buttresses, and stained glass rose windows (made with melted jolly ranchers). Have I mentioned that we have a tendency to go overboard?

Seriously. Awesome.

See? Crazy and interesting things always happen when we get bored.You should see our James Bond movie. Then again, no one should have to watch that movie... I was M and I'm a terrible actress. Oh, and there was never a script. Just trust me. It's not worth the agony and awkwardness.

Forget I said anything. Let's get back to the gingerbread.

Our next foray into gingerbread house making occurred in December 2009. Despite the huge snow storm that was about to hit, we headed to Blacksburg to visit our sister Theresa for some holiday festivities.

She's a pretty great lady to have around when trapped in a neighborhood by 20 inches of snow. We built a snow man, made snow angels, baked pepperoni bread, watched Christmas movies and had a terrific time together. Theresa even punched her brother for me every time he pushed his little wife over into the snow.

I may have married the abominable snowman...

And if you are going to be trapped in a neighborhood until the snow plows come, then can you think of a better way to spend your time than by building a gingerbread house from scratch?

The only correct answer to that question is "No." Don't argue with the rolling pin wielding pregnant lady. Ok?

Since we were trapped in the neighborhood and didn't have much in the way of supplies, we made colored sugar to decorate. It's no cathedral, but the activity was more about having fun with family and friends then about fanciness.

Aww... That was Joseph's first gingerbread house as a fetus! What a strange thought...

Making gingerbread houses officially became a holiday tradition for Stephen and myself last year when we held a Gingerbread House Extravaganza with Theresa and a few of our friends.

Somehow, our little gingerbread party transformed into a fierce competition between the men and the women. The men dubbed themselves "Team Bone Shrapnel" (baby Joseph was an honorary member) and all of the sudden it became a race to see who could build the best house.

The men repeatedly accused the women of spying on them every time we flitted over to their table for some candy supplies. The whole thing was a lot of fun and very silly!

And, since they really make the house, we brought back the "stained glass" windows.

After all the fun we had last year, you'd better believe that the Gingerbread War was on like Donkey Kong this holiday season. Stephen even created a logo for our email party invitation:

Ridiculous. I love that man. Even if he dubbed us "The Women Folk" and made our house smaller than his tank. Punk.

So, it was The Women Folk:

Versus Team Bone Shrapnel:

Joseph was supposed to be on Team Bone Shrapnel, but he kept defecting to whoever had control of the vanilla wafers. Smart kid.

I kept taking pictures of their progress and got the, "Hey! NO SPYING!" look as they used ravioli cans and juice boxes to prop up their walls while the royal icing dried. Silly men.

Check out the Christmas tree in their stained glass window! How cool is that?

Stephen & Mark completely revolutionized our life saver stained glass window method this year.

Instead of putting everything in the oven, Stephen raided the tool closet and broke out the heat gun:

I found this to be quite hilarious, but it actually does a terrific job!

And the boys used tin foil molds to create actual pictures in their windows.Once it was mostly melted, they removed the molds while the candy was still melty.

Unfortunately, when I made the gingerbread pieces this year, I followed the Joy of Cooking instructions to the letter and rolled the pieces out to a 1/4 inch. Last year, mostly by accident, our pieces were much thicker - about a 1/2 inch thick. I also think that we baked them longer last year.

Anyways, the boys ended up some defective gingerbread pieces and before their house even had a chance to dry...

Going...

(The flag-like window was supposed to be a snowman.)

Gone.

So sad. I really think that with their awesome windows, they were well on their way to victory. There were a few outcries of sabotage, but ultimately I declared that it was the baker's error and that next year I would return to the thicker pieces and bake them longer. We'll have a fair rematch next Christmas. No one likes to win by default.

For now, the The Women Folk's house is hanging out on the mantel:

Baby Jesus has taken up residence with Mr. and Mrs. Gingersnap until Christmas day.

And we all decided that once the Christmas season is over, we are going to hold an after party in which we place the house on the ground and let Joseph stomp it like Godzilla. While filming from the level of the floor of course. I can't wait!

And that's our official holiday tradition!

We're a bit crazy, but we enjoy and embrace our crazy!

What I love about the gingerbread holiday tradition is how it evolves each year. Peaches, one of my college buddies, has her own gingerbread party every year, but with milk cartons and graham crackers. She requires all participants to wear a crazy Christmas sweater from Goodwill and I've been thinking that next year it would be fun to include that requirement at our party! **evilly chortles to self**

But most of all, I can't wait until our kids are older and can have their very own team in the Gingerbread Wars!

Hop on over to Newlywoodwards to read about other people's holiday traditions!

I Think I'll Use the Door as a Door

2011-12-15T10:43:00.001-05:00

Back in July, we replaced the two back doors of the Sandwich Shoppe with windows.

At the time, I talked about how I wanted to somehow reuse the narrow, five paneled door somewhere in the house. Probably by doing a combination of these two pictures:

As much as I still liked that idea, last night I came up with a completely different (and very traditional) use for the old paneled Sandwich Shoppe door...

You see, when we first bought the house, half of the downstairs doors and trims were white and the other half were stained wood in an orangey shade. It drove me nuts. So I took down all of the orange doors and painted all of the trim white.

I really liked the open doorways, but when it came to keeping the living room warm, it just wasn't practical. Last winter, in an effort to contain the heat to the front part of the house, Stephen put the door between the front hallway and the kitchen back up and over the summer I found the time to paint it white.

However, that still left an open doorway between the living room and the downstairs bath/dining room (the tiny narrow doorway in the back right corner).

Unfortunately, I had already decided that the old orange door that used to be in that doorway would become the door to the walk in tool closet (open doorway with tripod) so that no one in the dining room could see in there. Because it's ugly. And full of tools. And who the heck builds a closet but never conceals its contents with a door?? The previous owners of this house. That's who.

But what to do about the living room doorway?? I could buy or build a door... but my ultimate goal in life is to spend as little money as possible at all times, so I didn't really like that idea. Wait... isn't the old sandwich shoppe door about the right size??

HOLY COW. It's bloody perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Right width. Right height. Has character, history, and really cool old doorknob.

Completely suits the style of the living room and my future, future plans for board and batten and coffered ceiling... Dudes. I'm in love.

It just needs a little, tiny bit of work...

I'm going to clean it up and hang it for winter heating purposes anyways. I can replace the panels and repaint it white when I'm no longer preggers. And I'm pretty sure those panels are destined for some chalkboard paint. Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Now, I'm off to open the rest of the windows in the house. Yes, I'm aware that it's the middle of December. It's also 53 degrees in my house and 56 degrees outside and it should get up above 60 by noon. We are so playing outside today. Even better, Stephen's getting a raise AND a Christmas bonus this year so we just might be able to fill up the heating oil tank next week! WOOT!

Mrs. Claus Came To Town!!!!

2011-12-14T08:25:00.002-05:00

I'm a library kind of girl. From a young age, I was convinced that I'd either end up as a teacher or a librarian. In middle school and high school (and college), I practically lived in the school library. I even hung out with and assisted our middle school librarian. (Yeah. I was really, really, really cool.) On the other hand, I also used to play teacher with my sisters and give them homework assignments. Which, for some crazy reason, the never did. Punks.

Really, it was a toss up.

So, from the moment Joseph started showing an interest in books, I desperately wanted to take him to the library to participate in their Preschool Story Time. Desperately. Unfortunately, story time was smack dab in the middle of morning nap time. I was SO sad, but we would still spend some time in the children's section of the library a few times a week. They have heat ;). Recently, though, the little man has gone down to one midday nap... which means that, in place of our morning nap, we went to Preschool Story Time for the first time today! EEE!

And who should appear at our very first Preschool Story Time ever?

Well, aside from about 25 other preschoolers, which was cause for crazy excitement all on its own, we got to meet MRS. CLAUS!! Woot woot!

She read books about Christmas and we sang songs and there were crafts. It was heavenly!

Ok, I was probably more excited than Joseph... This was his first Preschool Story Time after all. He decided to play it cool and act the part of the casual, aloof observer.

He alternated between sitting in my lap and hugging me really tightly during story time. While all the other kids listened to Mrs. Claus, Joseph watched all the other kids. When all the other kids stood up together to sing and dance, Joseph stood up and watched the other kids. He'd look at me like, "Mom? What on earth are they all doing??"

I think the sudden influx of what essentially amounted to a classroom full of children was a lot for him to take in all at once. He was excited to see other kids, but unsure what to do. I give it a few more weeks of story time sessions and he'll be participating away.

Of course, when the little girl in front of us lay down on the carpet, Joseph was all over that:

Yup. He decides what activities he will participate in. And that rug was the perfect place to chill.

After story time, it was time for arts and crafts. I showed Joseph how to cut the paper with kids scissors and then held the scissors out to him to see what he would do. He looked from the scissors to the paper and then picked up the paper and ripped it in half using the cut I'd already made. I guess that's one way to cut out a stocking. Same result, different tool. Oh toddlers.

Joseph was very fond of the glue. He even (surprise, surprise) tried to eat it. I convinced him to "pat, pat!" the cotton balls instead. I'm no fun.

Next came stickers and markers. Joseph is far more interested in removing and replacing marker caps than he is with actually coloring. We'll get there.

Stocking complete, Joseph and I went to meet Mrs. Claus in person. Joseph was all, "Hey lady, nice to meet you, now hand over the candy canes!" However, when I asked Joseph to tell Mrs. Claus what Santa says, he shyly told her, "Ho ho ho!" Winning.

On the way out of the room, Joseph spotted a giant sun on the carpet. He was extremely excited about this. There was a great deal of pointing and clapping. We had to do The Itsy Bitsy Spider a few times before leaving the room.

I think Joseph's favorite part of the whole excursion was hanging out with all the other little kids in the children's section of the library before going home for lunch.

All of the libraries in our county are well stocked with educational toys. They participate in a Virginia wide program in which they continually exchange bins of toys. Every time there are new toys at the library, I get all excited. Have I mentioned that I'm a huge fan of the library?

The county library has preschool story hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week and our town library has preschool story hour once a month. I plan to attend with Joseph at least once a week, if not twice.

If you are at home with youngsters, I strongly recommend that you check out what your local library system has to offer in the way of a children's section and children's programs. Participating in such programs is an excellent way to encourage a love of reading at a young age, to socialize your child with other children in his/her age group, and to get your child ready for school. Plus, you could meet some new mommies in the process! Just think of the playdate possibilities!!! :)

Judge Not the Nativity Set

2011-12-13T09:22:00.004-05:00

This morning, I decided to finally set up my nativity set. I put this task off because Stephen and Theresa made fun of my itty bitty little nativity set, but no more! This morning, with an air of defiance and a "harumph", I plopped all seven pieces down in the fireplace.

Yes, it's really small. Don't judge. It's the set I grew up with and I, personally, really like it. Since we lived in Germany when I was a little girl, we had lots of traditional wooden German Christmas decorations, including this nativity set. It may be small, there may not be any shepherds, but it's a simple wooden German set that we've been putting out at Christmas since I was a little girl (or would that be ein kleines mädchen?).

Since it is so small, I decided to use the embroidery hoop wreath to help enclose the scene and I, personally, like it. Even better? It's KID FRIENDLY. As Joseph gets older, he can move around the pieces and learn all about Christmas just like I did. Maybe one day I'll come across a larger Stephen/Theresa-approved set that I like. That has yet to happen, so until that day, I'm sticking with my little set. So THERE.

Don't worry Dad. I just remembered to remove Jesus from the scene since it isn't Christmas yet. He's going to wait in the gingerbread house until the 25th.

Cranberry Garlands & Snowflakes

2011-12-12T23:06:00.007-05:00

It's week 5/6 (Deck the Halls!) of the Dare to DIY Party over at Newlywoodwards.

This week Kim is challenging everyone to create some homemade Christmas decor. So, while Joseph and I were playing out in the back yard this afternoon, I clipped some greenery to make a little embroidery hoop wreath inspired by Under the Sycamore.

I used twisty ties instead of hot glue, but the effect was much the same. After about 15 minutes it was finished, so I set it by the fireplace and Joseph and I started stringing cranberries left over from the table setting challenge.

When I was a little girl, we would make cranberry garlands for the tree and it's something I'd like to continue to do with my kids.

Joseph helped by picking out the individual cranberries and sort of pushing them onto the needle and pulling them down the thread.

Yeah. Check out that spectacular pair of hairstyles! We both have bed head from naptime. And for some reason, I look angry in that picture. I swear I'm not. I'm just concentrating on not stabbing my kid with the needle.

I think this kept his attention for at least 10 or 11 cranberries. At least.

Anyways, the fireplace/mantel isn't done yet, so I just threw together some really, really quick decor that will be dismantled (ha!) later this week when we try to finish up the mantel. I'll write a blog post on the overall fireplace progress later this week, but it's coming together nicely.

You can just see the embroidery hoop wreath sitting in the fireplace. It needs a little more work. Update: See latest blog post to see how I decided to use this wreath.

However, the cranberry garland makes me really happy!

In fact, we need more cranberry garlands! Stat!

Hear that Joseph? You'd better get back to work!

Too bad he's asleep. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow.

I've also been randomly cutting out six pointed parchment paper snowflakes throughout the day. Just a snowflake here and a snowflake there. You can find easy instructions all over the interwebs. Just google it!

I used parchment paper because it's thin and because I could iron the snowflakes flat when I finished them. I also may have snuck in a few star wars snowflakes. Shh. Don't tell.

Thanks for the templates, Mary Carolyn!! Darth still needs his eyes. I should get on that before I wind up in an invisible choke hold.

Anyways, I used simple wire ornament hangers to hang the snowflakes in the front hallway.

I started making these snowflakes last year and plastered them all over our windows. I think I'll probably make snowflakes every year. I just have so much fun cutting them out!

It's also kind of a personal joke since most of our house is about 51 degrees right now. Every now and then I glance at the ceiling and wonder why it isn't snowing. Then Joseph and I go closet ourselves in a room with a space heater and read books together.

Don't worry family. We promise that the house will be warm for Christmas! :) Stephen ran the furnace over the weekend to make sure everything is working. It ran smoothly for a whole 30 minutes before we switched it off. The house got up to a blistering 53 degrees. Felt like summertime.

Then, Joseph and I went back into the little room with the space heater. I love that room.

I'm On A Crazy Pinterest Crusade

2011-12-07T14:23:00.000-05:00

Since it's rainy and gross outside today, Joseph and I worked on adding to Joseph's Christmas present, the "Busy Bin Of Fantastic Toddler Actvities". So far, we've managed to complete the following pins from my "kids board":

color matching clothespins:

Source: therigneys.wordpress.com via Caroline on Pinterest

pom pom stuffer:

Source: engagingtoddleractivities.wordpress.com via Caroline on Pinterest

Source: cometogetherkids.com via Caroline on Pinterest

bubble wrap hopscotch:

Source: mydeliciousambiguity.com via Caroline on Pinterest

pipe cleaner/collander activity:

Source: no1hasmorefun.blogspot.com via Caroline on Pinterest

Salt dough:

Source: busybeekidscrafts.com via Shelia on Pinterest

Reviving dried playdough:

Source: wikihow.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

stringing pony beads onto pipe cleaners:

felt shapes and button snake:

Yup. On a serious roll. All it took was one short visit to the Dollar Tree with my sister-in-law Theresa last night and a rainy morning. And the best part? Each pin took anywhere from maybe 5 to 20 minutes to put together. Maybe.

Have you looked at your Pinterest lately? How much of it is easily completed in under 15 minutes?? Just think how much you can accomplish if you picked out one pin a day to complete!!

Christmas Snuggles

2011-12-06T20:41:00.001-05:00

I have lots of things to blog about. Thrifting, crafting, fireplace progress, Christmas decor, my obsessive need to rearrange the entire upstairs... You know, the usual...

But nothing seems quite as important as my two favorite boys falling asleep together in front of the Christmas tree:

DIY Christmas presents for toddlers that every mom will love!

2011-12-05T21:38:00.004-05:00

Last year for Christmas, I DIYed a dress using a vintage 1950s Vogue dress pattern for my sister-in-law Sarah. This year, I told my sister Amy that I would make her a Renaissance gown for the Renaissance festival that we merrily skip through together each year. Because we are kinda dorks. Kinda.

So, when I realized that this week's Dare to DIY challenge over at Newlywoodwards is to give homemade Christmas gifts, I thought, DUDE! I'm all over this!

Are you excited??

Good, because I didn't make the dress yet... In fact, I still have to find a pattern. Sorry! I have a feeling that my sister might get the gown for her birthday on May 3rd. Which also happens to be my due date. So, we'll see... Who knows, maybe I can drum up some crazy marathon sewing enthusiasm before Christmas?

Anyways, onto the homemade gifts that I did manage to throw together this morning thanks to a little Kick in the Butt Kimspiration. :)

If you follow me at all on Pinterest, you've probably noticed that I pin quite a lot of children's activities. While Joseph and I have done several of these activities, we haven't come anywhere near to putting a dent in my "Kid Stuff" Board.

Since we are expecting a baby in May, I'd kind of like to have a lots of Toddlerific Activities ready-made by then. Activities that will keep Joseph plenty busy throughout the days when I am Zombie Mommy. So, I went through my "Kid Stuff" Board on Pinterest and marked a bunch of DIY kid's activities/toys that I want to create for the little guy for Christmas. It's a two-for-one kind of thing. He gets lots and lots of crazy awesome homemade Christmas presents and I get a huge supply of fun activities to do with Joseph.

So, I started my morning off with this pin:

Source: shareandremember.blogspot.com via Alison on Pinterest

Rainbow rice!! It's like sand, only way cooler! This project was super easy and only took about 20 minutes to complete. I grabbed 5 sandwich baggies and measured 2 cups of rice into each one. Then I poured in 1 tablespoon of food coloring (essentially, the entire food coloring squirt bottle) and 1.5 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol into each bag. I used all of my neon food coloring and most of a bottle of yellow food coloring from the my regular food coloring box.

Then I handed the bags to Joseph to SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE! To encourage shaking, I put on the song "I like to move it, move it!" and Joseph and I danced around shaking our bags. I don't really know why, but every little kid I've ever met loves to dance to that song.

Greatest kid dancing song ever. Trust me. I used to work in a day care center.

After our dance-athon, Joseph and I had 5 bags of very colorful rice.

And, yes, I realize that I just had Joseph help me create his own Christmas present, but, dudes, he's like one and a half. He doesn't really understand that he's getting Christmas presents yet. Besides, call me crazy, but I like to reserve nap time for such trivial household pursuits as laundry and dishes and vacuuming.

I dumped the rice out onto cookie sheets covered in tin foil.

Then, I spread the rice out with a butter knife so that it could dry.

Then, I showed Joseph the rice and he started giggling and pointing to the trays. I told him what color each tray of rice was and he mostly ignored me. Just a normal Monday morning.

Since my kitchen started to smell like rubbing alcohol at this point, I moved the pans of rainbow rice outside to dry in the sunshine.

The rice turned out really, really well. It's completely dried and it retained all of its color. It looks a lot darker than the rainbow rice I found on Pinterest, but I think that's because that rice was made with liquid water colors instead of food coloring.

After the successful completion of the rice project, I was all pumped up, so I browsed through my "Kid Stuff" board on Pinterest again and picked out this easy peasy little activity:

Source: lilmoptop.blogspot.com via Caroline on Pinterest

I went and grabbed an old pair of jeans that will never fit me ever again... unless my pelvis has any plans to shrink in size after the second kid... which I seriously doubt...

I cut the jean legs off and then cut them along one seam.

Then I cut the pants legs apart into road pieces.

Then I used some yellow acrylic paint to give the roads a dividing line.

Super easy 30 minutes well spent. All I have left to do is put tacky glue along the edges to keep them from fraying and attach velcro to each end of the road pieces. Then I can roll them all up and place them in a ziploc bag with a few hot wheels cars. Voila! Instant portable roadway that's great for traveling with little boys. Winning.

And, since I had the top pieces of the jeans left over, I decided to tackle this pin:

Source: frauliebe.typepad.com via Caroline on Pinterest

This is a terrific (Montessori-esque) activity for toddlers. It helps them practice their fine motor skills while simultaneously teaching them how to fasten their own clothing. This could potentially lead to naked children running around your house, but, hey, they have to learn sometime.

I went through my closet and Joseph's dresser and gathered old clothes. I even found some old belts and a broken old suitcase with tons of clasps.

I focused on finding clothes with big buttons, little buttons, snaps, overall clasps, velcro, zippers, buckles, latches, and hooks.

I've started to cut the clothing up, but I have to figure out whether or not I'm going to put them on frames or somehow incorporate them into a busy book. Either way, I promise not to cut up my younger brother's old belt. Do you hear that, mom?? It's for belt loops only!

I still want to find some plastic buckles (such as the kind attached to shopping carts) and an article of clothing that requires lacing. Other than those two, I think I have a decent collection of clothing clasps for Joseph to practice on. That's about as far as I got before Joseph and I had to leave the house for a play date with friends.

However, thanks to Kim, I'm super motivated to complete even more of my kids activities for Joseph. My plan is to work on creating one pin a day until Christmas. Tomorrow, I'm going to pick up a pack of felt and some beads so that I can start creating a quiet book such as this:

Source: etsy.com via Caroline on Pinterest

And a whole bunch of toddler "busy bags" like those found at this blog:

A busy bag is just a plastic baggie filled with a single activity meant to entertain/teach a toddler. I hope to have a whole bin of busy bags for Joseph by the time I have this baby.

I might also have to venture out into the wood shop and start DIYing some fantastic wooden presents. For example, these would be super easy to make:

Source: etsy.com via Caroline on Pinterest

And, though a little more involved, I've been wanting to make one of these for the longest time now:

Source: lilla-a-design.blogspot.com via Caroline on Pinterest

It might not happen before Christmas, but it is so going to happen.

Thank you, Kim. You've awoken the crazy woman in me. ;)

"A blue furry Charles Dickens who hangs out with a rat?"

2011-11-29T23:20:00.002-05:00

This evening, Stephen, Joseph, Joseph's awesome Aunt Theresa, and I watched The Muppet Christmas Carol and decorated our 9 foot tall Christmas tree together.

I love The Muppet Christmas Carol. It's my all time favorite adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol and one of my very favorite Christmas movies. You know... because I'm 5. And, yes, of course I want to see the new Muppet movie. Who doesn't? ;)

credit

Besides, how can you not like a movie with lines like this:

Rizzo the Rat: I fell down the chimney and landed on a flaming hot goose!

Gonzo: You have all the fun!

Side note: I'm notorious for crying during movies. Seriously, it's really bad. However, tonight I cried when the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come showed that Tiny Tim had died. Even though I know he won't actually die. Really?! (-.-) For once, I'm going to blame it on the pregnancy hormones. I've been watching that movie for almost 20 years now and never once have I cried during it. Following that line of thought, hormones must be responsible for my crying during The Tigger Movie yesterday? Right? And hormones have to explain why I cried when the government exiled the Autobots from Earth in Transformers 3, right? Yeah. Definitely blaming pregnancy hormones for that one... Optimus Prime just isn't that cute.

Enough about my super-pathetic tear ducts. On with the tree decorating! Just look at how excited Joseph is at the prospect of handling all of those mostly unbreakable ornaments!

This is going to be Joseph's second Christmas, but it's the first time he's ever really been involved in the decorating process. One and a half is plenty old enough to help decorate the tree.

We started with candy canes. They seemed to be the easiest thing for him to hang on the branches.

And so what if he hung all 15 of the candy canes in the same area. Candy canes should always be within reach, right?

At least he didn't try to eat the candy canes like last year...

After we ran out of candy canes, we started giving Joseph other ornaments to hang. He did okay with some of the hooks and loops...

And with some... well, he laid them on top of the branches. Seems perfectly logical to me.

He also hung his "Baby's First Christmas" ornament... about five or six times.

Usually on the same branch with 2 or 3 other ornaments that he was responsible for hanging. (I may have done some ornament rearranging after he went to bed...)

And to think... The last time he held that ornament, he didn't have any hair...

Last year, he just tummy crawled around on the floor and played with sleigh bells while we did all the work.

*sniffle*

This year, after seeing that Daddy was wearing a Santa hat, Joseph decided to wear his Santa hat too. Daddy was sooo proud.

Of course, he snatched it off his head when I tried to put it on him earlier. Little punk.

They are ridiculous together.

But very cute. Silly boys.

Finally, we put up the star. The star doesn't touch the ceiling this year since the tree is on the other side of the room where, it would seem, the ceiling is higher. Bonus! Joseph got to check out the star first hand. Next year, we'll actually let him help put it up there.

Look closely at the wall behind Stephen and you can see that fireplace drywall mudding is going on. More on that later.

At the end of the night, we turned off all the other lights in the room and let Joseph check out his handiwork.

Then it was time for a bath and bed. Guess who didn't like that idea?

He went limp as a wet noodle and tried to play dead. I guess he had too much fun decorating the tree with his aunt!

I'm with him. Who wants to go to bed when you can just sit and relax in a room solely lit by a giant Christmas tree?

We should have our outdoor lights up sometime soon. Can't wait! I'm so excited for Christmas!

Homemade Samoas a la Joseph

2011-11-28T22:38:00.000-05:00

I've been lustfully eyeing (and pinning) homemade Samoa Girl Scout cookie recipes on Pinterest for ages now. Ages.

Fortunately for my cookie lusting self, this week's Dare to DIY party challenge is to hop on the holiday cookie bandwagon. Especially since, according to the very, very wise Kim, cookies don't have calories around Christmas. My cookie lusting self is inclined to agree.

So, this morning, after Mickey Mouse Clubhouse but before Joseph decided to unfold all my clean laundry, the little man and I set out to make my favorite Girl Scout cookies.

Joseph really likes to help me in the kitchen. Especially when the mixer, blender, or Cuisinart are involved. They make loud noises and spinney motions. What's not to like. I let him add the ingredients to the cookie dough and then watch as said ingredients were beaten to a pulp. Then the fun began.

First you pat the dough...

(Action shot... Pat! Pat! Pat!)

Then you roll the dough...

Umm, Joseph that doesn't look like rolling to me...

That looks like cookie dough thievery!!!

Lucky for him, this recipe didn't call for any eggs. I could responsibly allow my child to steal and consume the cookie dough. There is something very wrong with that statement... Anywho, as part of the final hurrah, I let Joseph slice the dough into pieces with a pizza slicer. Because it was fun.

Needless to say, the dough was very well handled. Don't worry. The cookies turned out just fine.Once they cooled, we made the caramel/coconut topping and drizzled everything with chocolate. Ladies and gentlemen, I present, happiness in the form of a cookie.

And, quite possibly, love handles. No, wait, it's Advent! These must be calorie free!

We used this recipe from Cinnamon & Chai. The creation process for this cookie is a very messy, sticky process. Not for the feint of heart. However, if you can handle rice krispie treats, you can probably handle the coconut/caramel mess. I have to say, overall they were quite tasty. Not exact replicas of the Girl Scouts Samoas/Carmel Delights, but pretty darn close.

Of course, I think I'd be happy just eating the toasted coconut & caramel topping mixture like a rice krispie treat. Note to self, next time, skip all other steps and go straight for the coconutty awesomeness. In large sheets.

Dare to Entertain - Thanksgiving & Christmas!

2011-11-21T13:39:00.002-05:00

It's week 2 of Newlywoodwards Dare to DIY party!

Since Thanksgiving is this week, Kim is challenging everyone to bust out the china and spruce up the dining room table.

I actually have two different table settings to share with you today. (Why? because I'm queen of ridiculously long posts. Second only to Pioneer Woman.)

I didn't spend a single dime on either table. I simply went shopping throughout my house. And since my dining room table is currently covered in computer equipment (what else is new?), I used my kitchen table instead.

The first table setting is from our Friendsgiving & Game Night this past Saturday.

And the second is a practice round for when I host Christmas:

Let's start with the Friendsgiving table. We have 4 different family Thanksgivings to attend this year and we aren't hosting any of them. So, when we planned to have our semi-monthly game night with friends this past weekend, Stephen and I decided to turn it into a Friendsgiving Extravaganza.

In other words, we ate on real dishes and had a Thanksgiving smorgasbord (as opposed to our usual Game Night fare of hot dogs and chips on paper plates).

Tabletops Gallery - Venezia - Hand Painted

I really love these plates. They are so colorful and fun! They were in my Dad's kitchen when I raided his house earlier in the year. Score!

With Joseph's "help", I reset the table this morning so it would be a little less crowded.

Who doesn't want salt on their plate?? It saves time later when you already have your food. Less salting. More eating.

I wasn't really aiming for a traditional Thanksgiving table. Just something pretty that I could enjoy.

The runner is an antique linen that my Mom gave me a while ago. The porcelain coffee set was made in Poland and is also a gift from my Mom. Why is it on the this table? Because I like it and it makes me happy. So there.

The blue candle holders were also swiped from my Dad's house. From the back patio, I believe. I flipped the middle one over and used it to prop up my bowl of "flowers":

Aren't they pretty? It's a combination of Dusty Miller and fall leaf roses.

That's right. Those pretty flowers in the middle are actually rolled up leaves from the front of the house. I can't take credit for these. It was all Theresa (my sister) and Aaron's work.

You know... Aaron, the guy who helped my husband rip down the living room wall. He's a cop. He has lots of guns. And a motorcycle. He's very macho. And he's rolling leaves into roses for me. I was so amused by this that I had to take a picture.

In his defense, I bribed him with really tasty food all weekend.

And I think they turned out beautifully...

I kept seeing fall leaf rose bouquets like these on Pinterest, Craftzine, or Bower Power. So I decided that they would be just thing thing to lend an element of Fall and Thanksgiving to the table.

So, that's this year's Friendsgiving table. Complete with chalkboard message:

I really liked it. But my practice Christmas table? I lurve it. And I don't feel bad about putting it together before Thanksgiving Thursday because 1) I've already had two Thanksgiving feasts and 2) Stephen and I put up the Christmas tree last night:

Fear not. It won't get decorated until after the official Thanksgiving Thursday. I have my limits. Anyways, on with the table!

Yup. It's the greatest thing ever.

The "table cloth" is just a piece of fabric from my sewing bin. I adore this fabric, but I have yet to find a definitive place to use it. I was thinking curtains, but I don't know which room. So, for now, it's night lighting as a "table cloth". On top of that, I placed my newly DIYed doily runner (more on that next week).

The centerpieces are just Mason Ball jars that I filled with water, dumped fresh cranberries in, and then stuffed with Dusty Miller from my front garden.

Easiest. Thing. Ever. And so cute!!

As for the candle sticks, I just wrapped a little ribbon around them to spruce them up.

What? It wouldn't be my table if there wasn't a tea pot of some sort...

My cranberry centerpiece inspiration came from a combination of these two Pinterest pictures:

Source: google.com via Caroline on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Caroline on Pinterest

To give credit where credit is due, Joseph "helped" me put this table together too.

After all, he picked the fuzzy Lambs Ears leaves from the garden. I placed them on top of some red velvet ribbon on our everyday white plates. I love how simple and pretty it is. (Pretend that the ribbon isn't trying to escape. I didn't notice that until just now.)

The old frames are actually photo props that I usually keep in the living room. They came off of some old portraits that Stephen's Grandmom gave me.

And did anyone notice the little lamp? These are from my wedding. You light a candle under the glass shade and the whole thing glitters like a chandelier. I don't know what they are officially called though. Anyone know?

And to complete the whole table... Some chalkboard well wishes:

And do you know what this experience taught me?

I don't own a single cloth napkin or white linen table cloth. Seriously. Not one.

I'll have to look into that.

Porch Railings For A Song

2011-11-17T10:15:00.004-05:00

"6 pieces of old wooden porch railing. 36" tall and 71 to 81 inches long. Was painted white, but most of the paint has come off. Could be cleaned up and re-painted. If you can use it, it's yours."

Don't you just love Craigslist? I may have had to drive with my boobs wedged against the steering wheel in order to fit them in the back of the Blazer, but you can't beat free!

Now, what do I have in store for these lovelies?

This is what the front of our house looks like today.

Okay, okay, this is what the front of our house looked like back in June.

When we first bought our house, we found evidence that the front porch and the porch roof had once had a railing.

I was told by the Realtor that the previous landlord took the railings down because they were so old that they had become a hazard. He was concerned that the next person to lean against them would take a tumble and get badly hurt.

Um. Anyone else notice that the top of the existing railing post is the same style as my newel post? Eee!

However, it's easy to see exactly where the railings used to be attached on both the porch and the roof.

Especially since the post supports on the roof are still going strong.

The roof needs some sanding and a paint job... but that's a thought for another day. Or year.

Although I knew that there used to be a railing, I had no notion of what style of railing had been there. That's why I was insanely excited the first time I got a look at an old picture of our house. (Ha! You thought I was done with house history for the week! What a silly notion!)

As I lovingly clutched my new find to my chest, I turned to Stephen and said, "We are recreating the "Coffee Shop" sign!!! And the railing! Look at the railing! We are SO doing that!" I thought the plain, simple style of the railings perfectly suited the front of the house.

As I gathered more information about the house, I obtained a xeroxed picture of the house in the 1980s or 90s. The quality may be bad, but it was the first time I'd ever seen the side of the house in an older picture. And the railing!! The railing!! It continues down the side of the Sandwich Shoppe. Must. Replicate.

In the 40s picture, there are 4 sections of railings across the front of the porch roof. In this xeroxed picture, there are 5 segments of railings. So, we know that the railing was probably replaced at some point between the 1940s and the 1980s/90s.

I even have a bad quality color picture of the house with the railing (probably in the 80s or 90s).

Altogether, we need 13 or 14 segments of railings for the porch and porch roof (depends on whether we go for 4 or 5 segments on the front of the roof porch).

Right now, we have 6 sections.

They need a little love from a pressure washer and some new paint, but the wood is sturdy and solid. Judging by the marks left from the old porch railings, these ones are a little taller than the originals, but that's ok. The style is perfect!

I leaned two of the sections against the porch columns to get an idea of how they will look:

I like it! We should be able to install the porch sections easily enough. The porch roof railing is going to have to wait a while because we'll need to buy supplies and build the other 7 or 8 sections. It will happen eventually because our home owners insurance felt that the lack of a roof railing coupled with the door leading out onto the roof was a hazard. I'm inclined to agree, but for now, we keep that door locked.

I'm looking forward to seeing these "new" railings installed.

And I really like that they came off of another old house.

And that they were free. We all know how I feel about free stuff... :)

Nov. 1945 - L.S. Corbins Residing Here

2011-11-16T10:06:00.004-05:00

EEE!! I found another newspaper article relevant to the Coffee Shop & Travelers Inn!!

See, I like to take Joseph to our town library because they have a great kid's area with puzzles and big foam blocks for building towers. Sometimes, when Joseph is feeling cooperative, I have time to browse the Shenandoah Heritage Room and go through the many, many scrapbooks filled with newspaper clippings about our town. The scrapbooks don't give me a headache the way microfiche does and I absolutely love skimming through the World War II articles. It makes me happy.

Of course, I'm always on the lookout for advertisements, pictures, or articles about my house... and what do you know?? I ACTUALLY FOUND ONE!!! It was like Christmas! I started jumping up and down excitedly in the middle of the library. Fortunately, they know me there... so it was all good.

Remember the town calendar picture of our house?

The caption at the bottom of the picture reads, "Traveler's Inn & Coffee Shop - L.S. Corbin owned and operated the Traveler's Inn & Coffee Shop from 1946 to 1953."

This was the first picture I ever added to my house history file and it was crucial to my research because it gave me the owner's name, official business name, and the dates of operation. In other words, I finally had some very helpful search parameters. So while skimming one of the scrapbooks, "L.S. Corbins" just JUMPED OUT AT ME. Here's the article:

SO. GOSH. DARN. FANTASTIC.

Oh, small towns... How I love your need to announce the presence of new neighbors to everyone!

This article is full of interesting information:

The Corbin's were originally from this area, but lived in D.C. for 10 years.
Mr. Corbin was a plumber. I already knew that, but still neat to read about setting up his business.
Mrs. L.S. Corbin's maiden name is Ruby White. Those scrapbooks are filled with wedding announcements. Maybe I can find hers?
My house was once referred to as the "Beasley House" and was later owned by a Mr. Bushong. Who are they? Must find out.
Mr. Corbin remodeled the first floor and is probably responsible for the updated wood floors and 40s era pink bathroom addition and red vinyl kitchen.
The second floor was a separate apartment. I'm thinking that Lemuel and Ruby used the downstairs bedroom (now our dining room) for themselves and that the 5 upstairs rooms were used for boarding guests at the Traveler's Inn.
If Mr. Corbin had to install a furnace, is he responsible for the radiators in the house? I was thinking they were older, but maybe not.

So, the Corbins moved into the house in November of 1945. Less than a year later, Ruby announced the grand opening of the Coffee Shop and Travelers Inn in the newspaper.

From what I've collected, I gather that Mr. Corbin ran a plumbing business while Mrs. Corbin was mostly responsible for the running of the Coffee Shoppe and Travelers Inn. Here's a picture of Ruby Corbin.

She's making biscuits. Go here for the corresponding article and recipe. And here's the menu that Ruby served up in the Coffee Shop (sometimes called the Tea Room by town residents).

Ruby's Traveler's Inn and Coffee Shop even made it onto a postcard thanks to a local photographer. I like to picture Ruby driving around in the snazzy car by the tree in fabulous Sunday 50s getup. I don't actually know that it belonged to the Corbins, but it's possible.

Apparently the research gods were looking out for me the day I found that newspaper article because I decided to walk through the cemetery on my way home and look what I found...

I think I started laughing like a crazy person at this point...

My thoughts at the time:

Aww! They are buried next to each other. *sigh*
Wow! Ruby outlived Lemuel by 47 years.
Darn it! I missed interviewing Ruby by a little less than 2 years.

And that concludes my house history obsessing for the day. Have a lovely Wednesday!

Thankful Toddler Turkey Banner

2011-11-14T13:46:00.006-05:00

Kim over at Newlywoodwards is hosting a DIY blog party challenge for the next few weeks and I thought I'd join in since she's pretty darn swell.

This week, in anticipation of Thanksgiving, the theme is:

Dare to be... THANKFUL!

So, after browsing Pinterest for ideas, I was thrilled when Mary-Carolyn Longbrake pinned this charming little banner:

Source: lovelylovelythings.wordpress.com via Caroline on Pinterest

Awesome. Decision made. I'm stealing Mary-Carolyn's pin like a thief in the night. Now... Time to make this activity toddlerific!

Step 1: Convince toddler that it's fun to trace hands onto paper.

Step 2: Pin toddler's hand to paper and trace to the best of your abilities as he squirms all over the place and tries to escape because he doesn't think it's fun at all. Perhaps he thinks if I capture the shape of his hand on paper, I will be able to steal his soul?

Or maybe my kid just has alien shaped hands. You'll never know...

Step 3: Find some cute scrapbooking paper to trace your modified hand template onto. Or, maybe just steal some of your kid's fingerpaintings off of the fridge.

Yeah. Much better idea. This is Joseph's banner after all.

Step 4: Cut out as many turkey hands as needed. Keep scissors away from toddler. No matter how sad he pretends to be.

Step 5: Alphabet sticker time. I let Joseph do the honors.

It took some fierce concentration and some straightening assistance from Mommy, but we managed to spell out "Happy Thanksgiving".

Step 6: Add beaks, eyes, and legs to your turkeys and then sew them together to create a banner.

I actually really love how it turned out. It's not quite as cute and neat as the Pinterest inspiration, but it's mostly Joseph's work and that's what I like about it. Well, it's Joseph's work if you discount the cutting portion. It's not his fault his mother is unreasonable and won't even let him use safety scissors. Harumph.

In the spirit of Daring to Give Thanks, I wrote something we were thankful for on the back of each turkey. For example, Joseph is thankful for getting to play outside and having a toy lawn mower. I know this, because he went and grabbed his lawn mower when I asked him what he was thankful for. See? I speak Toddlerese. I also wrote down many things which I am grateful for... such as my husband, fantastic sisters, our home, getting to be an aunt, etc. It's all there on the turkeys.

We don't host Thanksgiving, but we do attend several different family Thanksgivings. So, I think we are going to take the banner along with us for the festivities. I think Gran and Grandmom will like it ;).

And, since I'm keeping things real... here's the banner with the view of my kitchen. The sewing machine is sitting on the kitchen counter because that's where I put the banner together, there are dishes and suitcases everywhere, and Joseph is methodically removing all of the ABC magnets from the front of the fridge. Because he's helpful like that.

Thank you Kim for hosting a party and thank you Mary Carolyn for your pinning awesomeness. Now, since I'm feeling the Thanksgiving spirit, I'm off to write some long overdue thank you notes.

Endless Fun in a Bowl of Flour

2011-11-09T08:56:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, I give Joseph a bowl of flour when we go outside together.

This may seem like a strange thing to do, but he's endlessly entertained by it.

I suppose Joseph likes it so much because he can taste it, put his hands in it, sift it, throw it, drop it down the slide, leave floury hand prints, sprinkle it, and dump it all without Mommy ever saying "No!" That, like, never happens!

He likes to make it snow off the top of his playground. And if Mommy happens to be sitting underneath the snow... All the better. :)

Of course, clean up is important. You don't want your neighbors getting any strange ideas about your habits...

The Curious Case of the Suspended Chimney

2011-11-07T08:02:00.000-05:00

We always knew there was probably a chimney hiding behind our walled off living room corner.

I don't know if it was the crumbling mess of a chimney in the attic or the protruding corner in our master bedroom that gave it away...

But we didn't really have any doubts. That wall was hiding a chimney. Possibly the snazziest Victorian fireplace of all time. You never know...

See those two holes in the wall? Back in January, we did some exploratory surgery to see what secrets the wall held...

What do you know?? A chimney!!

No skeletons though. Half of me expected to discover some tragic Victorian woman who was rumored to have run off with that terribly inappropriate Mr. Thornbury, but who was actually murdered by her controlling husband.

...

These are the kinds of thoughts I have about my house.

Anyways, a few weekends ago, Stephen and Aaron decided to set the poor, trapped chimney free. I suppose they heard it crying out in anguish and their compassionate souls just couldn't stand the injustice of it all. Or something.

They uncovered the chimney, a bunch of intact Victorian wallpaper, and some original baseboards. With the exception of a little plaster wall debris, all was well in Chimney Land.

Hmm. It's kind of strange that it goes all the way down to the floor. No fireplace. It was probably connected to a wood stove.

It also looks like the brick chimney was covered with a plaster wall. Why don't we do a little exploratory surgery on the plaster wall. See what we're dealing with?

So they pried away some of the lathe and took a little looksie...

Umm... Where are the bricks??

Notice anything strange about the chimney now?? Look carefully.

It only extends 3 feet down from the ceiling. It's completely propped up by timbers. Seriously.

It was nothing but plaster walls for the first 6 feet. The brick chimney is suspended 6 feet in the air. It travels all the way through the second floor and up into the attic, but it doesn't go through the roof. I think the top of the chimney was dismantled the last time a roof was put on the house. All those bricks held up by some timbers. I can't tell you how comforting that is to me... You can see the lowest row of bricks right above the board Stephen is screwing in.

It's so, so weird. Just more of the weirdness that we are accustomed to in this house. I've been referring to it as "The Case of the Curiously Suspended Chimney" in my head.

We are fairly certain that it was used for a wood stove. The white circle on the chimney is where the stove pipe would have been attached.

Obviously, the chimney isn't even remotely safe to use. I've seen the top of it in the attic and it's a crumbling mess. And there's the whole it doesn't go through the roof part. So, we'll have a fireplace, we just won't be lighting any logs on fire in the fireplace. There's been discussion of ventless gas logs, but we'll see... Probably not.

We were completely flummoxed by the strangeness of the chimney. Stephen was only able to find one other example of an external suspended chimney on the internet. I'd post the picture here, but it won't let me.

A benefit to all the suspended chimney weirdness?

The hollow area beneath the suspended chimney will probably be turned into an Xbox storage area with a cabinet front. It can connect to the TV without ever. being. seen. (along with the TV cords) :) :) :)

Porcupine Fruit & Some Cheerios

2011-11-04T12:09:00.000-04:00

I've decided to start blogging about activities that successfully keep Joseph occupied. So, I'll start with one of my favorites. Porcupine fruit and cheerios. This is an excellent way to get your toddler to practice his or her fine motor skills.

Simply stab some toothpicks into a piece of fruit (or a potato or a bit of playdough or anything else you have on hand) and give your kid some cheerios (or fruit loops or... you get the idea). Show your kid how to slide their cheerios onto the toothpicks.

They'll catch on quickly. Joseph loves this activity. I've done a few variations with noodles to mix things up.

I love the look of fierce concentration that Joseph gets as he carefully slides his cheerio home.

He can be so very serious when he's puzzling things out.

Of course, this activity can also double as snack time...

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T12:19:00.000-04:00

I did it. I finally did it. I copied something from Young House Love:

Clara and Joseph are around the same age, so YHL's toddler pumpkin painting project was a perfect way to kick off Halloween 2011 with the little man. Time to begin wielding the painter's tape.

Last year, we carved a J into Baby Bear Joseph's first ever pumpkin.

Oh my gosh, I forgot how ridiculously cute he was last year...

So this year I decided to change things up and instead used an "M" for his last initial.

Gran helped Joseph slather fingerpaint all over his pumpkin.

All over. Then we removed the tape and voila! Instant Joseph masterpiece. And it only took about 2 minutes to create.

Next, we decided to see if Joseph would be interested in pumpkin lobotomy. Not so much... but he did try to feed some pumpkin slime to his Uncle Marshall (who quickly dodged).

So, Gran took over brain removal while Joseph.... began piling fingerpaint bottles into the brain bucket.

Helpful. ;)

I took the fingerpaint out and showed Joseph the seeds and goop to see if he'd like to squish his hands in it or something.

Not so much... but he did try to make off with the brain bucket.

Very helpful.

Then Gran showed Joseph that he could stir the goop with a spoon. Just like food on the stove.

And since Joseph really, really likes to help in the kitchen...

He was all about that!

But out of everything in the whole pumpkin experience, Joseph was most enthusiastic about removing and replacing the pumpkin cap.

Everything else held his attention for maybe a minute. Joseph focused on the pumpkin cap for more than 15. I'm pretty sure he thought it was a puzzle. My kid loves puzzles.

Essentially, it was a puzzle since it could only be put back one way. Every time Joseph turned it just right, he would expertly pat the cap to make sure it was secure and then start all over.

I eventually took him back inside out of the cold despite his loud protests. Crazy kid. Then Mom and I tried to get Joseph to say, "Trick or Treat" by bribing him with Smarties. It didn't work and we were strangely without any Smarties after 10 minutes.

We got home from our pumpkin extravaganza just in time to start receiving trick or treaters.

Last year, we had 113 trick or treaters. We kept a tally. This year, we had 64. Not nearly as awesome, but still pretty darn fantastic since it was really, really cold and there's snow on the ground.

Lastly, we took Joseph the Lion out on his first ever trick or treating excursion. We hit two whole houses! (Well, 4 if you count visiting Gran's and Glenda's earlier in the day).

Huzzah for next door neighbors! ;) Joseph filled up a WHOLE sandwich sized ziploc baggie with treats. He even got his favorite crackers from Ms. Glenda. What a lucky kid.

We even brought Aunt Theresa and our friends Mark and Erin with us to celebrate the monumental occasion.

The Most Adorable Lion Costume of All Time was purchased last year at Goodwill Outlet for a grand total of about $1. Score! It kept him super warm and cozy.

I really had to work hard to get those whiskers on him. I think his young male ego was crying out in protest because I was using an eye liner pencil. See Rob? There's hope for him yet. ;)

After being outside for a few minutes, Joseph finally realized that his lion mane would keep his head warm and he stopped trying to remove it. He really, really doesn't like to wear anything on his head.

Theresa is going to help me do a happy lion photoshoot in the daylight sometime. Because she's awesome like that. It was dark before I got even one picture of Joseph the Lion and I was very, very sad.

I decided that between the hood and the tail... he was the. cutest. thing. ever. Not that I'm biased or anything.

With the hood on, Mark and I decided that Joseph could finally be Simba. Pre-hood, I may have referred to him as the Cowardly Lion. ;)

Of course, the very second we got back inside...

Then we settled down to watch Hocus Pocus together. And ate Smarties. With one tired little lion.

Vintage Halloween Hop

2011-10-31T21:09:00.003-04:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I was totally charmed by the Vintage Halloween Hop link party when I came across it on NewlyWoodward's blog this morning. So, when Joseph and I went to my mother's for some happy pumpkin painting fun, I brought my scanner and took a little stroll down Memory Lane.

Memory Lane started with a 3 month old bunny named Caroline. I still have that long new baby stare, but my Mom is really cute!

Since my Dad was in the Army, we promptly moved to Germany before my next Halloween. Living off base in Germany for 3 years means that you don't really celebrate Halloween. Thus, no costumes or Trick or Treating.

The next time we hit the states I was 4 and I finally got to remove pumpkin brains with my Great Aunt Meg. I think we had fun:

But, still no Trick or Treating until the following year. I was 5 and my sister Amy was 3. I got to be a fairy princess. Amy got to be a one handed pirate.

I was clearly in love with my fairy self. Amy was less than thrilled. She didn't have pink wings or a sparkly wand. So. Not. Fair. Also, having lived all of her life in Germany and having a naturally skeptical mind, Amy didn't trust this whole "Trick or Treat" thing. At the first house, Amy turned to my Mom and said something like this: "You expect me to believe that I just walk up to that door, ring the bell, and they will hand over the candy?! Yeah right! Good one, Mom."

At the age of 6, I vehemently told my Mom that I wanted to be a rose for Halloween. Not just any rose, mind you. Beauty and the Beast had just come out and I wanted to be THAT rose. The sparkly one under the glass dome that controlled the Beast's fate with the fall of its petals.

Really. Every other girl in the world wanted to be Belle that year. Me? I wanted to be The Magical Rose... because I'm weird like that. My Mom, supportive as ever, set about creating a rose costume for me. She's awesome like that. All I was missing was a glass dome to float around in. My Mom searched and searched for one of those clear, narrow dome umbrellas, but couldn't find one. That's ok. I was still a very, very happy domeless rose. Amy finally got to be a princess and she gave me her patented, "My sister is such a WIERDO!" look.

Along came our sister Kate. She got to revisit my fairy princess costume and proceeded to cast spells all over us. Since we always made her play the evil witch in our very dramatic Rapunzel plays, those probably weren't nice spells, but you never know with Kate.

At the age of 9, I decided to be a bat. That's right. A bat. As in, the creature. Me. The woman who hates bats. Maybe it was an omen of things to come?? Most kids would decide to be a vampire for Halloween. Me? I go with bat. Wierd. My leggings have glittery, orange bats on them and there's even a stuffed bat hanging upside down from my shirt. I just don't understand it now, but I thought I was SO cool. After all, I made that costume.

This is a before school picture, so Marshall isn't dressed up, but he went trick or treating as an Indian brave.

When I was 10, I went candy begging as my beloved stuffed bear Muffy who, sadly, had been lost during one of our many moves. Yup. I chose to be one of my former stuffed animals. Who does that??? Wierd. I even made that costume myself out of an old brown towel and a nightgown. Kate went as Queen of the World. Possibly Empress of the Universe. Marshall switched sides and went cowboy. Amy was a witch again. All black was going to become a Halloween pattern for her.

Due to moving around and getting older, I may have skipped a few Halloweens here and there, including whatever year The Matrix came out. That year, Amy decided to be the oh so cool Trinity from The Matrix. Kate wouldn't be left out of that action. Thus, the Year of the Two Trinities:

Amy was ticked, but at least she got to continue wearing black. I'm pretty sure she was Trinity again the following year. More black. She may have had something of a black fingernail polish goth phase.

Sometime after Pocahontas came out, I made yet another strange choice in costume. I decided I would be Meeko. You remember Meeko? He was Pocahontas' raccoon sidekick. I loved the biscuit thieving critter and made myself a raccoon costume. Yup. Most girls would want to be Pocahontas. Me? I wanted to be her pet raccoon. Wierd. Marshall actually ended up wearing my raccoon costume for Halloween 2000.

Amy, continuing to embrace black, was a ghoul. Kate was a Brownie. As in the miniature forest race in the movie Willow. The one's who prance around screaming, "I stole ze Baby!!" I was... a fairy queen? I was working part time at a community theater and had access to fluffy dresses in their costume department. What 14 year old girl turns down fluffy dresses? Never mind that I'm too old to be trick or treating. I was small for my age and young at heart.

Obviously... since I went trick or treating with my friends again when I was 15. We were the three blind mice. Walking canes, sunglasses, inside out school gym clothes, paper mouse ears attached to headbands, and no tails. I'm the short one.

In college, I always dressed up, but I aimed for more clothes than lingerie. Eighties chick, Princess Leia on Planet Hoth, and other dorky things. But the best year was when my roommates and I went as The Golden Girls. You know. To protest all of the lingerie. We were really, reeeally hot.

Goodwill is so helpful when one is trying to dress like these lovely ladies...

All of this reminiscing reminds me of the Halloween Dance Party in 2008. Which half of me is embarrassed to share... but the other half reasons that you already know about The Rose.

I miss my roomies. Nancy went as Sarah Palin with a shotgun. Peaches was a doctor. I forget what Laura went as... but I think it had to do with the 70s. Did you enjoy the bad eighties prom dress and big hair? I did.

Lastly, I'd like to leave you with, what is possibly my favorite Halloween picture of all time... My parents:

My Dad is a standard male Monty Python member dressed as a female. He does the voice so well! My mother is a Monty Python gumby. The picture of my Dad dressed as Saddam Hussein came in close second to this one.

Of course, if you don't get the Monty Python Flying Circus references (and I comfort myself with the knowledge that at least my father-in-law gets it)... Then you can always just laugh at my brother in this next picture:

He hasn't changed a bit.

Fear not... Adorable Joseph the Lion Halloween pictures are in your future.

My Kid the Photo Bomber

2011-10-30T10:36:00.000-04:00

Stephen, Joseph, and I recently met up with the Longbrake family for a friendly family picnic and photoshoot.

We had lots of fun eating peanut butter crackers and carrot sticks together. Mr. Colton is such a cutie. Don't you just want to smooch on him?

I do!

Joseph came along so that he could practice his barking skills with Mr. Colton. He was all about following Colton everywhere he went. Colton was all, "Dude? What's with this kid on my tail?" And Joseph was all, "MOM! He's MY size!! (almost :P) We're going to be best friends!! I want to do everything he does!!"

All that following ultimately led to this:

This picture cracks me up. Here I am in the middle of a Longbrake family photo shoot and I have... Mary Carolyn Longbrake, Colton Longbrake, and Joseph Not A Longbrake. My kid the photo bomber. Gotta have fun during a photoshoot, right?

Mary-Carolyn - I worked diligently on separating your photos into "everyone looking at the camera and smiling" and "Colton is so, so not cooperating" yesterday. I'll begin the editing process today. Hopefully I'll have a nice sneak peek blog post for you on my photography website this week! I had lots of fun spending time with you as usual! We definitely need to plan out a thrifting weekend sometime soon. Do you hear that Sarah? DO YOU????

The Living Room - Before & At Present

2011-10-29T15:21:00.001-04:00

Since I wasn't even aware that my living room would be losing a wall so soon, I was unable to supervise the taking of living room before pictures. Thus, I have NONE. Harumph. SO, I have reconstructed the "before" living room using random photos of miscellaneous family events.

This is our living room shortly after we moved into the house. I had just painted it when I took this picture.

This is the wall and archway that divided the living room into two separate spaces. You know, the one the boys demolished...

Each side of the room had a matching rug. For the most part, the couches were typically arranged in the front half of the room. We have a long couch, a medium length couch, a loveseat/ottoman, and a recliner that Stephen can't live without.

The couches were usually located around the TV which Stephen mounted to the wall in the corner of the front room. The cords hanging from the TV drove me crazy, so I usually placed a piece of furniture underneath it to hide them. In the summer, the long couch sits in front of the radiator under the front window to the right of the TV.

In the winter, we move the long couch to the back wall of the back half of the living room so that the radiator won't catch it on fire. You can just see it if you look past Sarah driving a car over baby Joseph's face. What a mean aunt! ;)

For lack of a better place to put it, Stephen's recliner always sat under the archway pushed to one side. It was the only spot it had room to recline.

The back half of the living room usually contained a desk with computer, bookshelves, and lots of open space for Joseph to play with his toys. Sometimes we had coffee tables, sometimes we didn't. The furniture usually moved around once every few months (it's migratory), but that was the basic setup.

Then, a few weekends ago, Aaron and Stephen took out the central wall and arch whilst I was out of town. Sneaky devils.

Farewell, wall! It's been a fun 2 years, but it's time for us to move on.

See all the furniture behind Aaron in the above picture? I wasn't there to supervise the removal or covering of said furniture during the destruction phase (because I didn't know about any of it), so it was all pleasantly covered with dust. I'm still cleaning up demolition dust around the house. Stephen did buy plastic drop cloths to contain the dust, but he forgot about them in the excitement of destroying something. I'll probably kill him later.

One of the reasons Stephen and I had discussed possibly taking out the central living room wall at some point in the distant future was because we knew that there was a chimney inside the wall and we were interested in having an actual fireplace. It's just strange to live in a 130+ year old home and not have a fireplace. I mean, really!

Once they were finished ripping down the wall and had begun the beginnings of the new fireplace, the boys got started on cleanup... Which they took very, very seriously...

Careful Aaron! Don't let the shop vac get you!!

Please note that the carpets are still on the living room floor in these pictures. Yes. Seriously. They were there the whole time the wall was being taken down. No one rolled them up and took them to another part of the house. *rolls eyes* Boys.

Also, remember when I said that they didn't move or cover any of the furniture? That included the couches...

BOYS.

Dust. Everywhere. Even upstairs.

Do you see why supervision is necessary??? Do you see??? I will probably never be able to bring myself to leave my husband home alone again.

Fortunately, they had vacuumed the dust off the couches and taken the rugs outside to beat the dust out of them before I got home. I might have cried otherwise.

To give credit where credit is due, they did a really, really nice job. I'm definitely enjoying having such a huge, open space for a living room. I'm especially looking forward to having a mantel and fireplace to decorate for Christmas. Now we just have to finish the fireplace/mantel/chimney and patch/paint the walls and ceiling. Before Christmas. Right? Right?

Anyways, here is the living room as it is right now:

After a great deal of cleaning, cleaning, and rearranging, I think I've finally found an arrangement that works and leaves plenty of dance space.

Dance space if very important when you have little kids. That's why I've taken a disliking to coffee tables. I like having space to wrestle. Er... I mean... Dance.

Our couches are difficult to arrange because they are 3 feet deep and extra wide and fluffy. They are the most comfortable couches in the world, but their size makes them frustrating. On the other hand, they were a matching set and free hand-me-downs, so who am I to complain?

I probably tried 20 different arrangements before settling on this one. All the others made me feel claustrophobic or blocked easy passage through the room.

Of course, now the ceiling fan is completely off center in the room. We need another overhead light fixture in the center on the other side of the room to help balance it out.

The room is also down to one rug. I tried arranging things with both rugs, but it was just odd looking. So, I'm moving the second rug into the dining room.

The desk and computer are necessary in the living room since the computer is connected to the TV. We don't have cable, just internet, and everything we watch runs through the computer. I'll just have to find a way to prettify the corner and the desk.

Actually, I have lots of plans for this room. They involve lots and lots of paint. However, since I'm preggers, those plans will have to wait awhile. In the meantime, I need to hang pictures. The walls are a bit bare.

You may have noticed that the loveseat/ottoman are missing. I dumped them out in the Sandwich Shoppe for the time being. There was just no way to have all 4 pieces of furniture in the room and not feel crowded.

By the way, this is what the couches originally looked like. Hotness. My parents bought them 20 years ago. Nothing like turquoise and pink paisley!

Oh and apparently a local stray cat has taken up residence in the Sandwich Shoppe. I came running out from under the beds while I was taking these pictures. He scared a yelp out of me and then bolted under the stairs where there's a hole leading into the cellar. See his tail?

Sorry it's blurred. My camera was set to take pictures of stationary furniture, not feline interlopers. To be fair, it's snowing outside. In October!!

I'd have snuck in too. We've already got 3 inches and we might get a little more. They were calling for 6 to 10 inches this morning, but it seems to have slowed down.

That's ok. It's the perfect kind of weather to be thinking happy fireplace thoughts in.