Summertime, already? Again?

Our weather has been so crazy around here, I feel I won't really know what to do with myself with so much summer.  We had 85 degree days in April, then it got cold, and now we're back up to the 80s.  And it's not even quite June yet.  And usually our weather is hot until September, sometimes into October, so man, summer is going to be loooong this year!

I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong!  I have been thoroughly enjoying every minute of it.  We got a pool for the back yard, which Ingrid has loved. 

We walk everywhere, which is my dream!  The library and the farmer's market are a hike, but a doable hike.  (And let's face it, my butt could use the walk up and down hills...)  Yesterday we went to the farmer's market and found the cutest prairie bonnet for Ingrid.  I had looked at patterns and sellers on etsy, and I was contemplating buying one from this lady, but we walked by a little old gramma and I couldn't pass by without getting one.  Cute!

After the market Brendan took Ingrid to a local park's pool, which all opened yesterday.  They had fun splashing around, then came home to rest.  But a friend called and asked us over for hot dogs and beer, so we were off again.  Poor Ingrid had about five minutes rest here and there in the car yesterday, she was beat.  But we had fun, the kids played and ate a ridiculous amount of cupcakes, and Ingrid fell asleep the minute we got back in the car to drive home. 

We still have two gorgeous days to fill on this long holiday weekend, too.  Whatever shall we do today??

Sheets Make Shirts

I finally found a great vintage sheet the last time I went to Salvation Army.  I've had so many ideas going through my head about what to make with it, but in the end I've just made one of my ribbon shirts for Ingrid.  This time I used a really thin ribbon, which works well, the ties stay tied better.  I made it super short and it kind of flares at the bottome, I love it! 

Notice the dazed look in her eyes...she has been having so much trouble sleeping lately!  Not going to sleep until 9:30 or 10pm and then still getting up at 6am.  Yuck yuck yuck.  I hope this is a phase and that it ends quickly.

Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Bob

Brendan's parents came to see us for Ingrid's birthday.  It was great seeing them again, it's been since March since Brendan and I have seen them, and since Thanksgiving since Ingrid has!!  We used to live with them, and before then we lived about five minutes from them, so seeing them two or three times a year is kind of strange.  Although Ingrid doesn't see them very often, she adores them.  They sing songs to her and bring her boxes of Daddy's old toys.  They wanted to go to the zoo so we drove to Toledo and checked it out.  We had a nice picnic, and we saw some elephants and penguins.  It's funny, every time we ask Ingrid what animals she wants to see at the zoo she says squirrels. 

There is a great playground and carousel at the zoo, which of course is all that Ingrid wanted to do.  Luckily there was also an ice cream vendor right there, which is all Mama wanted to do.  It has been so stinking hot here, ice cream was just the thing I needed!

Unfortunately we lost Ingrid's shoe somewhere between the zoo and the parking lot, and after a hot day in the sun the last thing I wanted to do was go retrace our steps and try to find it.  Here's hoping someone turned it into the lost and found and we can make another trip to pick it up...

When we came home we cooked out some more, Bob showed Ingrid how to play the cup game (where'd it go?  Which cup is it under?) Ingrid just basically enjoyed having two people stare at her and laugh at her jokes and say how smart she is. 

Now, if only she could sleep.  Two days of go go go, minimal naps, and she still took over an hour to go to sleep (Mama, come back!!  If I have to hear that again I will scream...)  Tonight I thought maybe she just needed to go to bed a little later, but no.  Put her to bed 45 minutes later, still took her over an hour to fall asleep, which just meant she is now getting even less sleep than before.  Sigh...Two is supposed to be a magical number, but so far it's not turning out that way for Ingrid and her sleep issues. 

Charlie and Lola Party!

We had Ingrid's party today.  It has been raining like mad and I was planning on being outside.  Luckily the rain let up and the sun came out, so we all got to enjoy the weather instead of cramming into our tiny living room.

Cupcakes were a huge hit.  The toppers are from this lady on etsy. 

The sandbox Gramma brought was a HUGE hit.

We got an awesome quilt from our friends Marti and Libby.

And we got to listen to the Picnic Pops that was going on across the street!  All day we got to listen to an orchestra playing.  It was a pretty good day.

Yesterday was Also...

Ingrid's birthday!!  When I found out my due date was on Brendan's and my anniversary, I was really bummed.  Everyone else was like "oh, how sweet!  Isn't that amazing?"  But I knew what would happen--her birthday would trump our anniversary.  We would spend all our time focusing on her growing older and bypass the fact that Brendan and I have been together for x amount of years. 

But who can blame us?  It's so much fun to see the excitement on her face.  Yesterday we made pancakes which I tried to make in the shape of a 2.  Then she got to open her presents from us.  She was extremely pleased with her haul:  a new wooden tea set, two Charlie and Lola books, Yo Gabba Gabba inspired finger puppets (the cutest things ever, from this lady on etsy) and a toddler sized Brewers hat. 

It was a good birthday!  Now today we have our 2 year doctor's appointment and tomorrow my mom comes--with a sandbox for the back yard!!  Party this weekend, and then we are done with festivities for another year.  Happy Birthday, Ingrid!

I love my husband.

Picture it:  Milwaukee, 2003.  (Like Sophia from the Golden Girls!)  I'm working at a coffee shop and a cute boy starts coming in every morning.  We start talking, I am totally smitten.  A couple weeks later I haul myself out of bed to get to the coffee shop before 7:30 when he would come in.  My friends all giggled and let me back behind the counter to serve him when he came in.  I tried to keep it relaxed but was shaking so bad, and I said hey, we should hang out sometime, here's my number.  The rest, as they say, is history. 

Four years ago today:

Busy Weekend

We stayed plenty busy this weekend.  The sun finally came back to us, so Brendan took Ingrid out and about to go walk around various parks.  I got tons of etsy stuff done, yay!  I had taken the worst pictures of the new bibs I made and no one had looked at them.  NO ONE.  But a sunny morning on the back porch with a cute toddler who needs a haircut, and viola.  We have better pictures. 

Yesterday afternoon we headed off to our friend Allie's birthday party.  It was a Hollywood theme, check it out!

Ingrid was obsessed with the balloons, cupcakes, and presents.  She kept yelling hooray for the birthday cake, which is funny since the birthday girl could've cared less.  Same with the presents, Ingrid was all up in them, "helping" while Allie zoned out and walked away!

This week we have our own birthday party preparations to deal with.  I guess I don't have a ton to do, though.  Get some balloons filled, make some food, buy some cupcakes.  Gramma will be here Friday to help, which will make it much easier.  Oh!  And she's here to let Brendan and I go out for our anniversary.  We always forget the damn thing now seeing as Ingrid's birthday falls on the same day...She always wins. 

Bunny Hats and Sewing Rooms

Ingrid found her old rabbit hat the other day and decided she needed to wear it.  I came into the kitchen to find she had also decided upon one rain boot to go with it.  She's got style!

I got the sewing room set up and could not be happier!!  It has been so nice to go downstairs and watch Ingrid play while I measure, cut and sew up some creations.  I am extremely pleased with how the hanging sweater holder from our old closet works at holding my fabric.  This way I see what I have, realize that no, I really don't need more, and get inspired to make things.

Here's what I was inspired to make this morning:

I love love love this deer fabric, and had been debating whether I should save it for something for etsy or use it to make something for Ingrid.  Ingrid won.  We have a birthday party to go to tomorrow and won't this look so cute??  I love the ruffle, me, the ultimate non girly girl loves ruffles for my equally non girly girl daughter.  But because I make her clothes or thrift them, I never seem to mind when she gets mud and muck all over them!

I did get some things done for etsy, too.  Six new bibs with a new and improved pattern.  It's SO MUCH EASIER to get things done when cleanup is unplugging the iron and making sure the scissors aren't in reach of a little someone instead of having to put away every last thing I had to lug out to get the job done in the first place.  Hooray for new houses!

Gallup Park, now 20 minutes closer!

I am so enjoying being close to everything now that we've moved!!  There's a great park in Ann Arbor that has trails, two parks, canoe and kayak rentals.  It was always a far drive away from us, but now it's five minutes away.  Ingrid and I headed out there on this sunny, cold day. 

We had some nice one on one time with the ducks.  They were pretty harmless, just quacked at us and ran away.  The Canada Geese, however, those guys are brutal!  They will attack if provoked, and I made sure Ingrid steered clear of them!

I got some coffee and sat in the sun watching Ingrid play.  We had a great time, a nice calm morning.  It feels good to be getting back to normal.  Our living room is painted, the furniture is back where it's supposed to be, and all but two boxes are unpacked!  Slowly we will get back to normal.

I can't wait, because Ingrid has been having some issues dealing with things.  Instead of going to bed she sits up and wails that she needs a drink.  She sips a little from her water bottle, then says good night.  Then a minute later she throws her nuk on the floor and cries that she can't find it.  Then when I finally say enough, no more water, no more getting your nuk, she yells out "I gotta go poopy, Mama!"  That kid!!  She knows I can't say no to that, I have to let her go to the bathroom.  However, after three times of getting her out of her pjs and onto the toilet only to have her say all done about a second later, I banned potty breaks as well.  She sure does know how to stall bedtime...

Ingrid's Room!

Ingrid's room is the first (and only) room done in the house.  Turns out I didn't even need to make anything for it, her old curtains go well, the paint is a good color, and she's obsessed with her current blankie so why make another one she might not use?  I had grand visions of putting up shelves and other things on the wall but we have that rock hard plaster, so I bent about ten nails trying to hang the banner and decided to nix the shelves.  We put up a simple plastic shelving unit instead, and it works just as well.

I did manage to get some things hung up, including the banner I had wanted to make.  These things are so freakin' cute, I just love how it turned out.  I was inspired by the vintage pillowcase I had, and found some matching fabrics in my stash.  The other day it was pouring down rain and Ingrid played in her playroom and I sewed and it was wonderful!

Here are her Dutch and German things.  The little house was at one time a barometer, and depending on the weather either the lady or the man would pop out of the house!  And of course I have her little wooden shoes there, she's got a little collection going now.

I just love how the light comes in and the trees are right there by the window.  There is something so calming about her room.  It's very simple and there isn't a lot of stuff in it.  I need to take that idea and bring it in the other rooms of the house, as they are all filled with crap right now!  One box at a time, we're getting there. 

Settling In

Well, we are here!  And I finally have internet after being on the phone for almost 2 hours last night and this morning.  It is so exciting to be in a new place!

So last weekend I was home alone with Ingrid while Brendan jetted off to Chicago for a friend's wedding.  I tried to get everything packed up so we would be ready to go Monday morning, and I truly thought I had done a good job.  But it was hard with Ingrid trying to "help" and I got tired by the end of the day Sunday.  I did not want to see one more box or clean one more thing.  So I quit.  I really shouldn't have...

Monday morning we got the truck, started moving the big stuff in, and then I took Ingrid to a friend's.  We packed the truck, packed my car, and the only stuff left to bring over was whatever was in the two front closets and the cats.  No problem!  We took off to the new house, started unloading things, I had to go get Ingrid from her friend's house.  I thought I'd take a break for awhile but no, I couldn't just sit and look at boxes all over the place.  I started to move things around and unpack, and then I realized it was getting late and I still had to go back to the apartment and finish packing and cleaning. 

Like I said, we had way more things in the closets than I thought.  So I packed as much as I could in my car, cleaned everything up, and called Brendan in tears because the cats and their litter boxes would not fit in my car and I did not want to make yet another 20 minute trip back at 5pm.  But we had to hand in our keys and get our stuff out, so it had to be done.  Bless him, Brendan offered to come back and finish up.  Bless him, seriously! 

By the end of the day, we were all moved out of the apartment, and our new house was in shambles with boxes, random tools, and animals floating around.  Ingrid was going on no sleep and was freaked out to be in a new house, we were absolutely exhausted and in pain--it was just the two of us moving so we had done a ton of going up and down stairs and lifting heavy things all day long.  Both Brendan and I said next time we move we are moving into a place we will stay at for more than a year, and someone else is going to move our stuff.  We are SO SICK of doing this every year!! 

Now it's been a few days and we are settling in nicely.  Cody and Ingrid love the back yard, Ingrid loves loves loves her new playroom in the basement, even though we haven't got a rug yet and her little feet get so cold on the concrete floor.  I love all the windows and the light that pours in, and we all love the cute neighborhood we live in.  There's a park three blocks away we've gone to every afternoon, all the houses are adorable and everyone takes such good care of their gardens.  Brendan especially likes the fact he doesn't have a commute anymore.  He rode his bike to work yesterday and even came home for lunch! 

Pictures to come soon.  I have to paint the awful mustard colored living room and find some rugs for the floors.  Right now they are a muddy mess from a dog and an almost 2 year old!  But Ingrid's birthday party is coming up and we will try to get it looking like a home before then.  Then I have to have surgery and I won't care a thing about what my house looks like, so while I care, I should get things done.  I am just so happy we are here and I don't have to think about moving again for another year!

Summer In April

Yesterday was in the 80s!  It was full on summertime.  Ingrid and I met up with friends to go to the Detroit Zoo.  They have a memebership so we had a fun free day!  Since it was so hot out, most of the animals were lounging out of sight, so it wasn't that much fun for the girls.  We did get to see some zebras and giraffes, but all Ingrid really cared about was the playground.  Go figure!

After resting up we headed out again to go meet Brendan for dinner.  We sat outside, enjoyed the balmy weather, drank beer, and ate really great pizza.  It seriously felt so much like summer, it's hard to believe it's only just May!

Brendan just left to catch his bus to Chicago, which leaves Ingrid and I home alone to pack the rest of our belongings and clean the house.  Why is it that when we move I end up doing everything???