Time.

Days, weeks, and months fly by. A year. Two years. Five.

Five years ago today, we walked into a vacant house. It was not yet ours.

Entry way - 12/23/2006

Today.

Our home is a fixer upper for sure. We basically bought it without seeing it first. I told John that if it had walls and a roof, we'd make it work. I feel like we have made amazing progress in five years.

Dining room - 12/23/2006

Today.

Most of our family members saw the house before we moved in. John's Dad and Step-Mom owned it. John's Mom and Step-Dad live right down the street. My Mom came that year for Christmas, and I brought her over to show her our next home. I think they all thought we'd lost our minds.

Master bedroom or as Mary said today "what's that?"

I said "it's our bedroom, Mary."

This one caught John off guard. Ellie's room - 12/23/2006

Ellie's room today.

The thing that gets me in that comparison is that in the before there is not a vent in the wall, but there is in the after. We had central heat and air put in before we moved.

Hallway bathroom. John said the broken curtain rod really made the room.

Improved!

The floor near the tub was rotten. We had a new subfloor put in before we moved in. John replaced the vinyl which is why the floor is mismatched. I'm going to miss the blue cabinet when we remodel some day. It was one of the first things I painted in this house.

Living room - 12/23/2006

Lovely subfloor, huh? The carpet was worse. We wouldn't even let Mary out of our arms as we walked through the house. We had everything primed with a sealing primer and have never had an issue with smells.

Living room - 12/23/2011

I'm keeping it real, people! What can I say? We live here.

And of course the main reason we moved here:

Mary (almost 11 months old) - 12/23/2006

It's hard to believe that it was before Mary's first Christmas or her first birthday. She was scared of all of her grandparents. It broke our hearts.

Mary (almost 6!!! years old) and Ellie (3.25 years old)

We moved here to be closer to our families. We moved here so Mary would know her grandparents. We moved here to live in the country with a big yard. We moved here so that Mary could go to an awesome school. Heck, we moved here so that someone could stay with Mary so I could go to the hospital to have the next baby.

It seems like it was just the other day that John's sister told us that his Dad had agreed to buy this house from the previous owner. It feels like we've blinked and five years just magically flew by.

back to school

Today was the first day of kindergarten. They start off with two half days, so Mary's already home. The upper classes get to stay all day. Mary wanted to stay even though the rest of her class was going home too. Sounds like a good first day to me!

Poor Ellie, she wanted to stay this morning when I dropped Mary off. She's so tall, she nearly blends in with the pre-k kids. I was busy getting Mary all set in the classroom, and I looked over at Ellie who was chatting away and playing play-doh with some other girls. She and I came home and had a great morning together.

Now I'm going to try to actually get some housework done while they play. Oh, and babysit Bitty Baby.

one thing off the list

Woot! I made this!

I don't think I even cried once.

I even got brave and pieced the back.

On Mary's bed. She's sleeping under it right now.

Mary loves it. I think that she can actually appreciate the time and effort I put into it. One thing off the very, very long list I am currently trying to tackle.

The bedroom windows are painted. The bathroom window too. Mary's door is touched up, as are the hallway bathroom doors. This morning I got paint for the bathroom and the bedroom. I worked all day on making roman shades for the three bedroom windows. I ran out of little ring things that go on the back though, and I don't have enough cord either. If only JoAnn's were open at 11pm on a Sunday! John's going to hang the first one tomorrow night. I want to make sure I like it before I sew the little rings (40 per shade) on the back of the other two.

This week my main focus (in addition to taking Mary to/from camp every day, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc) will be clearing out as much junk as possible from the master bedroom. John has a four day weekend, so we are going to try to get as much done as possible on the bedroom. I cannot wait to paint it! I've had this paint color picked out for almost a year.

Who are these kids? Where did by babies go?

After seeing a kid potty at my Dad's, Ellie asked for one. I thought it was worth a shot as no other potty training attempts had worked. I got her one on Monday, and she loves it. By loves it, I mean she uses it! I think the last time she had a diaper on (in the day time) was Tuesday. I believe my diapering days are OVER. No more washing, drying, folding (sometimes) or putting them away (rarely). No more packing half a suitcase full of cloth diapers for every weekend trip. We still have the night time thing to work on, but it's still a huge step for Ellie. It was like magic! And she can go all by herself. She can get her pants down and back up. That took forever with Mary. I was expecting a fight with Ellie. I had made a couple previous attempts, but she just wasn't ready. This week it just clicked.

Off to bed before midnight.

Sewing room

I'd love to have a sewing room. Maybe some day when the girls move out. I usually sew at the end of the dining room table which works out well. But for Mary's quilt, I needed a different set up.

I've moved the table over to the wall. I only have one side up, so there's plenty of room for the girls to play.

Ellie has found every pillow in the house. She has a pile of blankets and toys there too. And stickers. She never has enough stickers.

Mary's been coloring or making a "nest" of her own in the other corner. Then they pretend to nap! Haha.

I get to sew in 2-3 minute intervals and then get a snack, change doll clothes, get more craft supplies, change Ellie's diaper, spell something for Mary to write down, etc, etc. After an hour, I give up and go cook lunch. There's definitely more playing than sewing going on, which is fine. It is fun to all play and work together. I'll be able to work more on it at night. I worked last night until I couldn't see straight.

And the quilt? I haven't cried or thrown it in the trash. I have become an EXPERT at ripping out seams. I think I did a good job pinning to together (I used about 250-300 pins). I started quilting it in the middle, running a diagonal row from one corner to the other. It was nearly impossible to shove half the quilt all bunched/folded up through the middle of the machine. So impossible that the back of the quilt puckered up in several places. By the third time I'd done that row, it looked pretty good. I think I have six rows quilted now. I'm doing them three inches apart. It's getting easier now that I am not in the middle of the quilt. The girls and I are going out of town tomorrow, so I won't be able to work on it for a few days. When I get back and recover from our trip, I hope to finish the quilting in about 2 days. Then I'll have to do the binding. I have no idea what color to use. I went and looked at fabric on Sunday but nothing caught my eye. I don't think I want to do pink, red, or green. I want something that pops. Maybe a print? Maybe a plain turquoise blue? One of the fabrics has stripes, and it has some blue in it. Gah! I don't it to be wrong.

Rest time (Ellie has given up naps yet again and probably for good) is over. Going outside to play ball and swing.

Thank goodness for crafy friends!

Last fall, my good friend Karen decided it was time to clean out her fabric stash. She sent me some stuff she thought I could use. I saw one huge piece (original price tag still on it), and it screamed "blanket" to me.

I have no idea why I didn't get right to work on it (or why I didn't iron it for this picture). Maybe I was busy. Maybe I remembered the half done, falling apart, not even close to square baby blanket I tried to make 2 years ago.

But my craft closet was overflowing, so I decided to start on it. Seemed easy enough. It's just three pieces of fabric on the front, and 4 on the back (more on that later). It has quilt batting inside. I laid it out on the dining room floor and pinned it together with 200 quilting safety pins. Then I noticed the backing was just too darn small. I took all the pins out. I added another piece of fabric to the back. I pinned again.

Next up, drawing out the grid for the yarn ties. Left to right was easy since they are on the stripes. I'd get a line or two marked and realize I was going sort of diagonally instead of straight. I was crawling around on top if it, cursing. Tried again. I'd try to square it up to the previous lines. I'd get half way down a row at 4 inch intervals, and then the next square spot would be 3.5 inches. Ugh. I was almost ready to throw in the towel.

Then, magic. Magic in the name of Grandma Mary. She came over last week, and we were talking. She was telling me about every blanket she's ever made. There's a quilt in her guest bedroom that I love. She was telling me she was just going to lightly quilt it, but then looked down and realized she was on the wrong row. Instead of taking it out, she just did more work to hide her mistake. I think she said she was going to quilt ever other seam, but got off a row. So she ended up doing twice as much work. And then she said, "once your blanket is laying on the bed, you'll forget in a week that some of your ties are a quarter inch off. And no one else will even notice in the first place."

I got back to work. Marking it. Stitching and knotting the yarn. Making bias tape. Machine sewing the bias tape to the front, and then hand stitching it to the back. It isn't perfect, but I was happy. I washed it. Half the knots didn't hold up so well. Last night I was crawling around on the floor yet again to fix those. Then I tossed it in the dryer and went to bed (which explains the wrinkles).

It's for Ellie. Fabric from my dear friend Karen. Made by me on my Mamaw Judy's sewing machine. She was there with me in spirit. Sage advice from Grandma Mary gave me the push I needed to finish it. I hope Ellie sleeps well under it for many nights to come.

my morning.

"Mommy, can I play chalk?"

"Yes, Ellie."

"Can I play chalk?"

"yes"

"MOM!!!!! Can I play CHALK!?!?!?"

"Yes you may?"

"Can I PLAY CHALK??"

"Ellie, are you wanting me to specifically say 'Yes, you may play CHALK.'"

"Yes, Mom."

"Okay, Ellie, yes, you may play chalk."

"Can I play it?"

"Yes."

"Can I play it RIGHT NOW?"

"No, Ellie, you may not."

"Okay, Mom. Can we play blocks?"

And repeat.

I don't know if I should laugh or cry.

Afternoons

I wondered what Ellie and I would do on these winter afternoons while Mary is at school. I had thought Ellie would be napping, but she quit napping about 6 weeks ago.

My awesome sewing machine I inherited from Mamaw Judy.

Turns out she plays by herself! Huh. All I have to do is supply the voice of her animals and friends. She says "what's wrong, cow/puppy/baby?" and I reply that they are hungry/sick/tired/need a kiss. She feeds them M&Ms. I wonder if she is my child as I never want to share my candy!

Blurry Ellie and her friends.

And then I get stuff done. Yesterday we played puppy while I worked in the kitchen. Puppy needed a doghouse and a nest and food and a drink. And blankets of course! Today I sewed.




I made these quilted coasters for Mom using left over fabric from her table runner. I'm pretending that I've gotten a jump start on my Christmas 2011 sewing. But I plan on giving these to her this month and will probably give her something else for Christmas.

I've put the log cabin blanket away. I'm sick of it once again. I plan on doing some more sewing, and I'm also knitting some fingerless mittens for my SIL whose birthday is in a couple weeks.

I'm getting ready to transform Mary's desk too. Just as soon as I put all the Christmas stuff away. John got it all carried downstairs for me, but I need to get it back on the storage shelves.

This week is flying by. It's almost time to go get Mary from school.

And just like that.....

Ellie can say "Mary."

Ellie loves Mary. The first word she consistently said was "me" which meant Mary. It was clear she was not talking about herself. Once she could call herself something, she called herself "my." I loved it. I think that a lot of toddlers call themselves me. Mary did. But Ellie already needed the word "me" for Mary.

I've noticed lately she's started saying "I" instead of "my" when talking about herself. It made me sort of sad. The end of her baby talk in some ways. Now she says it almost all of the time. Good-bye "my." You made for some great sentences.

Then late last week, Ellie and I were playing. She found a pair of dolls. One is the mom and the other is a toddler. She asked me what their names were.

"Who this name?"
"Mommy."
"Oh, who this?"
"Mary."
"Why this Mary?'
"You little stinker, you can say Mary!"
"Why this Mary?"
"Ellie, what's your sister's name?"
"Me Wizabeth"
"And what's this doll's name?"
"Mary"
"And aren't those the same name?"

blank stare from Ellie.

I asked her later, and she told me that her sister was indeed Mary.

Today, she said Mary probably 9 times out of 10. It freaked Mary out. She kept thinking I was talking to her. It freaked me out too!

Overall, Ellie's still pretty hard to understand. But two of my favorite words of hers are gone.

My baby is growing up.

Tomorrow her mattress and box springs will arrive, and she will sleep in her own room for the first time in her life.

Deep breaths. She's still my baby.

Slow, slow going.

My log cabin blanket is roughly 29 inches by 31 inches. Each strip now takes about 2 hours to pick up the stitches, knit 18 rows and bind off. I am a slow knitter. I'm hoping to get 2 more strips of each color done before I run out of yarn.

Ellie's hat is done and already being worn:). Some people tell me she doesn't look like a baby anymore. Hmmm. She's still MY baby. A very, very independent one.


Mary loves her hat. I think that I'll make them new ones every year until they don't want them from me anymore. I need to find Mary's from last year and save it for her. (Poor Ellie didn't get one last year. Sorry, Ellie!)

I started....2?.....3? more projects and now realize I need to start my Christmas knitting/sewing too. I wish I could shut my brain off sometimes.

Knits

Who needs sleep?

Mary's 2010 hat, in progress. Started Tuesday night and will finish it tonight.

Longies for Ellie! She'll probably potty train next week as there is no way they will fit without a diaper under them. That would be my luck. Look at those LONG legs! She's in a 3T in pants now just so they are long enough. (Current stats 27 pounds, 36.5 inches tall!!!! Two years, one month old)


Another pair I made in late September. Just now got them lanolized and blocked.

Next, Ellie's hat. Then, back to the blanket. Then?? More longies? Maybe. I hate to make them if she really is going to potty train soon. Mary woke up and was basically potty trained in a day when she was 27.5 months old. I assume I won't get off that easy this time around.

Entry way floor is drying. The dry time on the poly was 24 hours at 77 degrees. It's been between 67 and 70 degrees in here all week, so it is drying slowly. I'm hoping it will be dry Friday. John's almost done working on the doors for me. Then I need to paint them.

Back to work!

Adjusting to the new school year

Mary started pre-k on Monday! I am so excited for her. She's going daily from 8:30 to 12:30. It has been a crazy week here. I was looking forward to not breaking up fights for 4 hours a day. Now I just have to listen to "where's Mary?" all morning. Hmm. Yesterday Ellie picked up the toy phone and said "Hello, Mary Elizabeth? You come home now, Mary Elizabeth?" I thought she'd like having more time with me, but I was wrong.

Please note she's looking at her reflection in the deck door. She's also growing her bangs out....again. I hope it sticks this time. The last time they got into her eyes, and she refused to pull them out of the way. I cut them because it drove me crazy.

I'm working on my August to do list. I have the last little bit of wall decoration/art almost done for the dining room. I've touched up the paint. John is going to put the doorknob back on for me this weekend. I've painted the living room and hallway bathroom windows. I have NOT lost 10 pounds. Ugh. I've worked on Mom's mirror, and can finish it up with a coat of wipe on poly this weekend.

I'm thinking about knitting something. It has been many, many months since I actually knit. Longies season is just around the corner too. I was hoping Ellie would be nearly potty trained by now, but she isn't. And her legs must have grown 3 inches this summer because the last pairs of longies I made late last winter are now capris on her.

Maybe I'll go to bed early tonight to avoid picking up the toys.

I actually got something done!

I've had this small project in mind forever. We had a row of black and white photos of Mary in our hallway. There were 5 of them. I took them the month we moved in.

Mary Elizabeth 17 months old

Mary Elizabeth 4.5 years old

I took the two physical photos and held them up as I was taking the old one out of the frame. I couldn''t even believe that the two are the same person. We thought Mary was so big when I took that old picture. And of course now I think she was just a baby back then and is so big now. I can't imagine what she (and Ellie) will look like in two more years when I get around to replacing them again.

Eleanor Ruth 23 months old

I love this picture of Ellie even though her face is obscured. I didn't hang it in the hallway though. I used this one instead.


What sweeties.

There's a crazy storm outside.

I hope our new turkeys are okay! There were 3 mothers and 7 babies this morning. Then this evening there were at least 6 adults. I couldn't even count them all.


"That raccoon, Mommy?" Um. No. But good guess. We saw a lot of raccoons out that window this summer when the mulberry tree had berries. I told Ellie they were turkeys, mommies and babies. Then all day I heard "Where baby turkey, Mommy?" We scared them up tonight when we were feeding Ariel and checking the garden. Turkeys are some HUGE birds to see flying. Ellie was scared of them and clutched to me.

I'm still plugging away at the dining room. I'm hoping to get the door hung this weekend and then get a final coat of paint on it.


I'd been hoarding, er, SAVING these white plates for months. I kept adding to them when I went to thrift stores, yard sales, etc. The huge platter is a family heirloom. I felt a little funny about hanging it on the wall (I worry it will fall and break), but I wasn't getting any joy from keeping it in a box wrapped in bubble wrap. Besides my $4 ironstone platter (rectangular one on the upper left), I don't think I paid more than a dollar for any of them. I know that 4 of them cost 12.5 cents each (taped together, 2 for 50 cents at Goodwill, then marked down 50%). I love my wall of plates! I might add to it or I might not.

I'm still working on the hutch. I want to fill it with all white stuff. The stuff that is in there is all stuff I had around the house. I'm going to try to hit a couple thrift stores this weekend to see what I can find for it.

Hmmm, the DVR has been searching for a signal for 20 minutes. This isn't looking good for TV time tonight. Maybe I should just go to bed.

Yearly trip to see our friends!

We were in Evansville last week. John had to go down there for work, so the girls and I tagged along to see old friends. We had so much fun! Thank you Karen, Kevin, Amelia and Miles for hosting us. I'm already looking forward to next year.

We played outside every day.

They jumped off the trampoline into the pool. Karen and I were amazed that no one broke an arm.

Ellie loved it!!

Mary looks hungry and worn out, but we weren't done yet!

I wonder if Ellie ate this or just put it back in the bowl.

We (well, Karen) let them paint the side of their shed. It's washable paint, but now I'm wondering when it will rain down there.

Ellie decided to paint herself instead.

Best friends! I was so happy to see Mary and Amelia play together so well.

I came home ready to get stuff done. I didn't take any crafting stuff with me at all last week. In fact, I hadn't crafted for about a week before the trip either. Karen's a crafty person too. Her house is full of stuff she's made. I love seeing it all. I got right to work on this quilted table runner.

It isn't quite done. I am so happy with it! Not perfect by any means, but I did my best. It was my first quilting project.

The dining room is still all torn up. I guess I jumped the gun a bit in tearing the paneling. Oh well. We don't use the dining room very often anyway. The good news is that they should be starting soon. The windows are scheduled to be delivered tomorrow! I'm waiting to hear from the contractor as to when he'll be able to start. Yippie!