Hearts and flowers

Well. (It's a deep subject.)  February is flying by.  

The girls have been begging to go swimming at an indoor pool, so the Saturday after Cecily was feeling better we went.  Miriel took a bit to warm up to the idea, but once she got used to the noise and the splashing she loved it.  

 It was warm enough for sidewalk chalk and no coats Sunday afternoon. 

 "Uncle Jakey Stuck In Mud" has another adoring fan.

 This penny is named "Leprosy" because it has white spots.... :P 

 Aaaannd then it snowed on their beautiful chalk art. 

 Back to snow gear and sleds...

 Yay winter.

 These tiny little throwbacks to college days arrived in the mail for Bob.  Strong Bad and The Cheat- such a blast from the past.

In an effort to be less anti-social I invited some people over for lunch on a Friday.  Anita and Jamie and Jordan came, and Jenni and Summer, and Mindy.  It was really fun- I really should do it more often.  It would be good for the girls too, to learn to share their toys with little people who aren't siblings.  
We printed some photo booth props to make our Valentine's this year.  They mostly got the idea.   

Except for the one who wants to eat all the props and the one who won't sit still.  :)  

There were a lot of funny/blurry pictures...

But this may have to become a tradition.  Hehe.  

Engineers are weird. (Chemists are weird too, but more in a the-chemicals-are-affecting-our-brain kind of way.)  So Bob writes and tests software all day at work. They have it set up so that if you do something wrong and the code doesn't work, the computer plays a snippet of a song with the error message. One error gets you the Mario is out of lives music, a different error plays "The system is down" from Strong Bad Emails Techno.... yeah.... and apparently there are also figurines to go with the songs that get passed around to the unlucky people who 'break the build.'  (Or something.  I don't always follow programming lingo.)  Anyway, Bob wanted me to make him a tiny Strong Bad Techno diorama to take to work.    Ha.  I'm half rolling my eyes, and half think this is awesome.  

Winter is for finishing projects!  I started this quilt before Miriel was born.  I saw the pattern while aimlessly scrolling pinterest and fell in love... of course the fabric was a few years old, but I tracked enough down on Etsy to make it!  It's called "Wee Wander" and the main panel has kids catching fireflies, and the other fabrics are firefly/outside related.  

This was my first attempt at free motion quilting with my sewing machine, and oh boy, are there issues.  I struggled with tension and stitch length, not to mention that I apparently still can't sew a neat binding.  *sigh*  

Oh well.  It's done, and overall I'm pleased with it.  A good washing gave it that cozy crinkly look which hides a multitude of construction ills. :)  The backing is a cute fireflies in jars pattern.  

We spent one afternoon making valentines.  

She's not really interested in crawling or scooting, but she'll bend almost in half to reach things that I thought were safe... 

I took the younger two to get Miriel's 9 month pictures taken and then picked up Emmy from School.  Clearly, I have not been allowed to sleep all night for a few weeks because we were home before I realized I was wearing ankle socks with Sperrys.  I was intending to wear tennis shoes... you know, more of a sporty look, rather than frazzled frumpy mom... I'm just. so. tired.  And I miss the days when she slept for 8+ hours at a time.     

We were all really hoping that we would get a snow day out of this round of white stuff.  No luck.

Bob sent me this beautiful arrangement for Valentine's day.  I love flowers.... especially in February.  They're such a lovely contrast to the whites and greys and browns outside.

Valentine's Day itself was busy and fun.  Bob had the day off so I got to go quilting for a little bit in the morning before the big girls got home.  They had a half day at school, so we spent the afternoon delivering Valentines's to a few special older friends.  It was so cold!  For supper I was planning on making spaghetti because it's red... but Bob requested haystacks.  So the girls got spaghetti and we ate cobbled together mostly haystacks.  :)   But there was real fresh homemade pink lemonade!  Woot!
Susan was in town for the weekend and stopped by for a bit on Saturday.  The girls insisted that she play in the snow with them.  It was cold.  Much colder than Alabama.  Poor Susan is a good sport.  We fed her cocoa and cookies to make up for it.
Our piano books and hymn books have been overflowing the piano bench and piano and we don't have a good spot close to the piano to store them. And then I remembered that we still had the book rack thingies from the old church pew in our basement (They were under the seat and we took the racks off so we could fit toy storage boxes underneath the bench).  This is why I never throw anything away!  It's not hoarding if you use it!  Haha.  Anyway, there were two of them so I built a frame so we could hang them on the wall.  It turned out... ok... it's definitely an amateur job and would not win any woodworking awards, but it'll do.  Maybe some day I'll develop enough patience to do the job right and not try and cut corners... also someday I won't have a cute little helper who demands lots and lots of attention and gives me very little time for such projects.  :)     

Here it is in situ.  It's in the shadows so you can't see all the flaws. 

The girls had Presidents day off of school, which was lovely.  In the afternoon, they invited Grace and Eden over to watch Frozen 2 with them.  
Just once in my life I'd like to live in a house with brand new plumbing.  Haha.  The faucet sprayer is leaking, which we discovered when I stepped in the puddle of water forming on the kitchen floor.  I have very helpful plumbing assistants though.  Or something.  "Can we make a silly face?"  

Tonight was the second grade "Rain Forrest Program," followed by the school open house.  Cadence is such a handful sometimes... ok, all the time.  It was quite the evening.  They were pretty good for the program, but then we went to Emmy's classroom and Cadence wanted to play with all the toys.  Next we went to Cecily's room and Emmy needed to go to the bathroom... I took her, came back, she neeeeded to go again.  Seriously!?  So we went back to the bathroom, then back to Cecily's room where Cadence was rearranging all of the stools.  They wanted to show us the music room, which was fun, but crowded and impossible to get Cadence away from the instruments.  Last, we went to see the art show in the gym and Cadence disappeared. Bob found her running thru the hallways looking for us.  *sigh*  All while juggling Miriel, the carseat, the coats, and the papers we got in the girls' classrooms. We are a circus and I am tired. 
Blessings.   

january

Ugh.  Re-entry has been haaaarrrd.  

There hasn't been much on the calendar, which is nice, but we haven't been bored.

Emmy can be little miss helpful sometimes.  This is my latest clock case project.  Haha.  I have too many hobbies.

 So, referencing an old family inside joke I sent Bob this picture- "Obviously, we need to move the thermostat..."  He was not impressed.  (Once, long ago, we rolled into my Aunt's house pretty late at night and they were busy fishing wires to move their thermostat so that they could hang a different picture over the piano....)   I'm out of walls upstairs, and I'm not actually going to move the thermostat, so my cool new 'Architecture of American Houses' print I got for Christmas is living in the basement.  Matt told me I'm not allowed to cross off the styles that I don't like.  Ha.

 The big girls went back to school.  The early mornings were/are hard.  Miriel hasn't been sleeping well, so it's been unpleasant all around.  She also has an uncanny knack for waking up 10, 20 minutes before my alarm. 
Cecily got sick at school the first week back.  woot.  It lasted less than a day, but she stayed home from school the following day and was bored. The last time I was in Hobby Lobby I brought home some 'cut and sew' doll clothes kits because they looked like fun, so we spent the afternoon sewing.  The cutting and the straight seams were pretty doable for the girls, but finishing tiny arm and neck holes were not.  I'm not sure that it was any easier or faster than using a traditional pattern, but they are cute!

The fabric itself is printed with different colors and patterns, button plackets, collars, etc. so the dresses look more detailed than they actually are.  Not that you can tell from this picture. :P  

They are all rather fond of the classic 'crumby noodles' and this was their reaction when Bob put AALLL of them on his plate.  "You can't do that!" "Don't we get ANY?!"  The horror. hehe.  

Teeny tiny cupcakes in the easy-bake-oven.

Our sweet neighbor lady brought us an amaryllis bulb for Christmas and we enjoyed watching it grow and blossom.  

When they steal your phone because they need to take some pictures...  

You can't soar with the eagles in the morning if you hoot with the owls at night... how many times did I hear that growing up?  This is what happens when you are wide awake until 1 AM, you fall asleep by your toys in the morning.  

When you teach them how to use the phone-
"Mom, I need to talk to Grandma Kathy!"
(distracted and busy with Miriel) "Not right now."
"Emmy, I need to talk to Grandma Kathy!"
... 
"Wait! What!? Who are you talking to!?"
*sigh*  At least I don't think they mind toooo much. :)

So pretty in the middle of grey winter.

Bob and I went to potluck one cold snowy evening and the girls got to play at the farm.  Janelle made soup and grilled cheese and it was so good.  If I didn't have a melted cheese hater we would probably be eating it at least every week.
Michelle and Nathan were in IL over MLK weekend to close on their old house; we went to the farm for supper that night. The "kids" played with trains.

Shelly and Emmy made skillet cookies.

Some guys came over to play games. 

Lena and Troy entertained kids in the basement.

Good times.  
Teeny-tiny half scale chairs! (1:24, regular dollhouse scale is 1:12)

We were eating supper and the amaryllis fell off of the windowsill.  It must have gotten too top heavy with all of those beautiful blooms.  It was a sad day; alas poor amaryllis, I knew him, Horatio.

Oh, you know, just boiling embroidery hoops on the stove... as one does.  My sister says I have too much time on my hands.  Perhaps.  I also have no social life, no job, and no friends, so there's plenty of time for random hobbies.  :) 

We got a new book in the mail.  And then I cried a little inside that such a thing is necessary.  

Dear, domestic, little Emmy came upstairs with a yard of fabric and some scraps from my stash- "Can I make a table cloth like Grandma's?"  So she worked on pinking the edges of a table runner while I hemmed a little table cloth. 

So cute, if slightly clashing.  

Such a fancy table called for water in teacups with their afternoon snack.  :P  Overall, not a bad way to spend a cold afternoon.  

We were honored to get invited to play games with Dale and Meg's family last Sunday.  The girls were bouncing off the walls excited.  

Monday morning Cecily woke up with a fever.  woot.  So she spent the day in quarantine on the couch. And fretted about being sick and not wanting to throw up (she never did) and just general weepiness about everything.  Her emotional state is almost a more accurate predictor of temperature than the thermometer.
Poor bored Emmy wanted to make her last lip balm, then she cried that it was all done.  "Jake and Rachel gave it to me.  I miss it so much!"  I shouldn't laugh...  but it's hard when she's so sweetly pathetic. :)

I like oreos!  

Another random picture I found on my phone... somebody took a bunch of pictures of this moon lamp/nightlight- it was an impulse buy while I should have been Christmas shopping and the girls think it's the coolest thing ever.    I maybe do too.  :)

 Cookie monster.  haha.  I know, I know, she should be eating healthy, organic, fruits and vegetables, but cookies are just the perfect texture for her right now...  also, fourth kid.  

 Poor Cecily missed school Monday, Tuesday, was still feverish Wednesday, and they need a note from a doctor if they miss 3 or more days.  Gah.  So frustrating.  She had one symptom. And it wasn't even a high fever.   But I dutifully dragged her in to the Doctor where she could expose more people and be exposed to worse germs, all for a paper that says she was sick.  Poor kid, it ended up being kind of a traumatic visit.  They were running way behind so we sat for quite a while, then the resident came in and was checking her over.  She was not happy.  And she wouldn't stick her tongue out enough for him to see her throat so he had to use a tongue depressor... on the child who is terrified of gagging, it was a fate worse than death.  So she was sobbing and he had to give up.  Then we waited for the doctor who was not her regular doctor (incidentally, I remember him from Grade school->high school.  slightly weird) and had to go through the whole rigmarole again.  He got a little better look at her throat and saw some spots and wanted to swab for strep.  Oh. My. Stars.  It was bad.  More tears.  And after all that it ended up being negative for strep.  *sigh*  So two hours later we were home with that precious note that says she can go back to school when she's better.  Which would have happened anyway. 

If I ran the world there would be a nurse at the office that met you at the door and swabbed throats and looked in ears and if they saw something you saw the doctor and if they didn't you could go home.  And they could hand out notes to the people who are probably going to be better in a day or two with or without making small talk with three different people and sitting around for hours staring at the posters on the wall.

And of course, she started to perk up a little bit and was acting more like herself that evening, but her temp was still over 100 so I had to keep her home again.  But she was fever free Thursday morning!  Woot woot!  There was great rejoicing!         

So.  Miri-miri is 9 months old today! She's getting so big.  And fun. Now if she can just remember how to sleep for really long stretches at night...
Blessings.