Catch Us if You Can.

Greetings fromTeam Liddle!!  It has been so blah around here, I really just haven't been up to doing anything.  But now I'm not sick, the weather is going to only get better (RIGHT??) and we're at the end of April.  Things are looking up.

 

We  have been enjoying our crazy weather.  It snowed the other day, but not as bad as in Minneapolis.  Sorry, Alisha, I really do feel for you!! Piles of snow in April is not what we like.  I got a jogging stroller, a Bob Revolution, and I can't believe I had two kids and never had one!  It is amazing, we have enjoyed taking long walks along the lake and even have jogged a bit, which Otis finds hilarious.  Definitely worth the money, that one.

 I finally got the kids all set for the rain, thanks to LL Bean.  Ingrid's dog coat is uh-MAZE-ing!  If Otis will wear pink dogs, he's totally getting a hand me down.

 

Let's see, what else?  I have my first show of the year coming up, at Ingrid's school!  Very excited about this one, I got everything ready right away and have been able to take some time off sewing for a bit.  Which is good, because then a very crafty friend announced a summer Maker Market in the neighborhood, first Sunday of every month during the summer, and I will be doing that!  Which makes four shows this summer!  I can't wait, it feels good to have a lot going on!

 

And then of course, we have a PURPLE UNICORN birthday coming up for a certain almost-five year old.  I never ever thought I'd be scouring the internet for sparkly purple unicorn things, but here I am...She is over the moon I found a unicorn pinata, dear god.

 

Oh, and I thought I'd share this find:  it's a Hoho!  There is a woman on Instagram that makes these and I have fallen head over heels for them!  They are just so cute, and one of a kind, she just makes them out of whatever fabric she has and each one is so charming and adorable!  She has a wait list you can get on, or if you're lucky enough she has flash sales during the week, but they go fast, like in 5 seconds!  I was lucky enough to get another one last week, I just happened to go on IG when she had just posted one.  It has cameras on it, it's so cute.  Otis has to have his Hohos to go to bed now, they are his best buds!

 And one last thing, sadly these banana seat bike pants no longer fit Otis, so they are going up in the shop!  If you know anyone younger than two, they may need these!  They are adorable and I am so sad they only fit him for a short time.  They look decievingly big, as they are high waisted.  I thought for sure they would be huge on him, but they were high waters on him and no longer fit over his skinny butt.  Bummer.  But good news for anyone looking for some cute vintage pants!

 Whew, there you have it, another mishmash, catch up post!  Enjoy!



Valentine's Crafts (and Other Random Pictures)

Ugh, we're in February...This is when I hate the midwest.  I'm sick of the snow, and the cold, and bundling up in a million layers.  This was Otis this morning:

All that just to get in the damn car.  His poor little redhead's skin gets all rosy and chapped in the cold weather so I have to try to cover as much as I can.  He got in the car and it must have been cozy, he passed right out.

So, we dream of Spring.  This is Ingrid's rendition of Spring, an apple tree, a bee, a girl with a spotted dog.  I love it.

 Random shot of Otis is another wonderful vintage find--we got this from Bug and Bear Vintage.  Love.

 Have you heard of mug cakes?  Shit.  There goes any chance of lessening my ass this winter. 

 And now, the Valentine's Craft.  I just love these super simple crafts.  It keeps the kids occupied and I have to admit, I had fun making one or two V-day hearts with them today.  We simply tore up pink and red paper, drew a heart on a piece of copy paper, and then used a glue stick to stick the colored pieces on.  Simple yet effective. 

Our Weekend

It was a birthday party filled weekend here.  Brendan's birthday was yesterday, so we had cake for him.  Then our friend Junie turned two and we went to her party.  And then Brendan's parents came over to celebrate his birthday with another cake.  Sheesh, a little birthday overload!

Fun pictures from this weekend--spaghetti night messy faces:

 Ingrid's amazing vintage dress we got awhile ago.  She is too funny--when I told her she was going to wear a party dress to the birthday bash today, she cried and cried and cried, swearing up and down the dress was too tight and she hated that dress and she wasn't going to wear it.  Then she went up to her room, grabbed the dress I wanted her to wear and said "Please, Mama, can't I wear this one?"  I do not know what goes on in her head but she can be so dramatic sometimes!

After his nap, Otis was also quite dramatic.  I was napping and woke up to hear Otis screaming like crazy.  It was his frustrated-nothing-is-going-right-for-me scream, and it was all because his pasta wouldn't get on his fork right or something like that.  It's tough to be a kid.

And lastly, I caught the kids jumping from coffee table to couch this afternoon, giggling like crazy so I couldn't really be mad.  As soon as I saw it probably wouldn't cause a trip to the ER, I let them at it while I took pictures.  So cute to see them getting along after a day of them being pissy with each other!

 And now it's FINALLY bed time and I can relax and get some more bibs done and watch Downton Abbey on Hulu.  Yay.

Mother's Day Weekend

I totally forgot to post about our amazing weekend!  It was seriously the best.  Saturday was the neighborhood rummage, so we went out to look for some bargains.  It was kinda drizzly so it wasn't that great, but I did score some vintage kid's stuff for Toadstool Vintage.  Then it cleared up and we spent loads of time in the yard.  Ingrid is perfecting her baseball swing, that kid can really hit the ball!  No tee for her, she is hitting pitched balls and will not stop begging someone, anyone, to pitch the ball for her! 

After nap time we headed to the zoo.  As a family!  Usually I bow out of outings like this and let Brendan have kid time by himself so I can have mom time for myself, but I went and it was amazing.  The perfect weather, the kids were in good moods. We saw the goats, our favorite.  Ingrid couldn't stop hugging them.  My girl!

 Ingrid was super excited to go on the carousel, so of course we had to do it.  She was giddy waiting in line and she kept trying to decide which animal she'd ride.  She chose the ostrich.

 And to end the trip we took a relaxing ride on the train.  It was a perfect trip to the zoo!

Sunday was great, too.  I got to do a boat load of gardening in the new yard.  The people before us did not care about gardening.  They planted a few things but not with much planning.  For example, there are about five peony bushes by the garage, just sprouting up amidst the grass.  No flower bed, just tall grass and weeds all over the place.  So my goal is to get the grass pulled up and make a flower bed, add a couple more plants there, and attach it to the little garden on the other side of the garage, which so far has strawberries and asparagus and tons of weeds.  So  many ideas!!  But the grass is not coming up easily and it's been about three days of trying to chop away at it.  I am going to be so proud of the end product, I should go take before pictures so I remember how terrible it looked before!

Something that will help me in this endeavor is the fact I hired a babysitter!  Alex comes two mornings a week for a few hours, it's awesome.  She is a local college kid and she just jumped right in and took over as soon as she came.  I quietly went downstairs and did some work and she just played with the kids, took them to the park, changed poopy diapers.  Heaven!!  At first I felt a little decadent for hiring a babysitter being a stay at home mom, but screw it.  I am running two etsy shops, and I have two more craft shows lined up for this summer.  Instead of fighting every weekend with Brendan to watch the kids so I can get shit done, I'm gonna have someone play with the kids while I do it and thus have my weekend free for family.  It is amazing.

Also, gramma is coming today for Ingrid's birthday!  She'll be here a few days, allowing Brendan and I to go out for our six year anniversary.  God bless grammas.  It's gonna be a great weekend!

Happy

Life is so good around here, I just feel so lucky to be where we are right now.  For years it seems like Brendan and I were in limbo, never knowing what the years ahead would bring us.  Not that we know now, but we have a better idea.  He has a job he loves, we are in Milwaukee for the long haul, we have our two munchkins that make us happy (even when they wake us up at 5am, li'l bastards!) 

We went to the bank yesterday to see about home loans.  It went so well, we have good credit and can most likely get a loan with an affordable down payment.  That was scaring me, we heard all these horror stories of needing 20% down and that is just not feasible for us right now!  But luckily we found out we are sitting pretty and once we get a couple more thousand saved up we'll be golden.  There is a huge possibility we can be in our own home this summer like we wanted!!!  I am so geeked.

Both etsy shops are going well.  At first I thought maybe it would get overwhelming but I think I've found a good balance.  Toadstool Vintage goes pretty easily--we go thrifting and then wash and iron all the clothes.  Take pictures of the items, then edit, then list as I get time.  A couple things here and there, until our laundry basket of vintage goodies is listed and hung up.  Then we go thrifting again!

Applesauce Crafts is also doing well.  I have a sale going on if anyone needs a baby shower gift!  Use code NEWFABRIC20 to get 20% off all items in the shop (including sale items!)  I have a stack of new fabric that is sitting there waiting to get sewn up into fun stuff, I need to empty the shop to make way for new things!  I applied for a craft show in May, it's at the botanical gardens and seems like a pretty fun one.  I'm hoping to get into it so I can get another show under my belt!

I know I say it all the time, but it is so amazing how far we've come in the past year!!  Otis was so tiny and we were moving to another state, into a duplex we'd only seen four pictures of online.  Brendan was starting a new job.  And now here we are, Otis is walking and we're house hunting and thinking about schools and where we'll be in ten years, and actually kind of knowing we'll still be here.  Sigh...I'm so happy!

Big Stuff Happening!

First of all, look at this guy:

Standing like a pro!  He refuses to move his legs, but he's got the whole balance thing down pretty well.  I remember how strange it was with Ingrid to see her upright with no one holding her, and it's the same with Otis.  He doesn't seem big enough for this, but he's 13 months today, so I guess he is.  Some kids are honest to god walking at this age, so...I'm in for it.

Speaking of in for it, I got out of the shower the other day to find the roll of toilet paper shredded, a box of tampons strewn about, and a babbling baby doing this:

First the cat box, now this.  He is going to HATE me for these pictures later in life!

The other big thing around here is my new Etsy shop!  For awhile now I've been buying things when I find them and sending them to my pal Heather at 3Ring Circus.  But, she also finds a ton of stuff, and I'm not always the best at sending them out to her.  So, Toadstool Vintage was born!  I now have a vintage kid's clothes shop on Etsy, and I love it!  I've had it open two days and already sold three things, it's so fun.  There are so many supportive vintage sellers, I love it.  Instead of thinking of another shop as competition, all these lovely ladies have completely welcomed me into the fold.  I love it!

Lumberjack Brunch and Other Weekend Goings On.

There's this awesome place my friend's husband works at--Hubbard Park Lodge.  It has the best all you can eat brunch on Sundays, so we decided to go this weekend.  We went last year right about this time of year, too.  It's just so pretty.  You park your car, walk through this tunnel:

And when you come out the other side of the tunnel you're here:

River birds making river bird noises, lots of trees and pretty fall foliage, so peaceful, and right in the city.  Plus, they have homemade donuts.  Yum.

Also this weekend, Otis fits into these adorable pants we bought a long time ago from little reader vintage.  Love them!  Little guy with wooden shoes on them, ric rac trim.  Oh man, cuteness. 

 And...the kitten.  She's a kitten.  She gets into everything.  Do not leave water glasses hanging out anywhere, you do not know whose head will be shoved into the glass to get a lick...



Growing up: Crawling and School Pictures

Yep, Otis is crawling now.  Like full on, hands and knees, makes it across the room in 0.3 seconds crawling!  It's so strange to think that he was so tiny and I worried so much about him and now he's just like any other little nine month old, crawling and teething and drooling and being cute.

Today Ingrid has her school pictures so she didn't have to wear her uniform.  I, of course, had to use this opportunity to bust out her new vintage dress we just got from Fuzzymama Vintage.  When I saw this dress on her facebook page, I had to snatch it up pronto.  So glad I did!!  It is adorable and fits her like a glove.  When I went to take pictures of Ingrid, she couldn't just smile normally, could she?  Oh no, she had to jump and give me coy little looks and dramatic faces...

Why Am I So Boring?

I want to have something interesting to say, but I feel like there isn't much going on lately.  Ingrid was sick and now Otis is, too.  Sleep has been hard to come by, and I have felt completely unmotivated.  Blah.

But I have an awesome family!

This dress is from Fuzzymama Vintage.  Is it not the cutest thing you've ever seen?  I love it!!

Sunday we went to the birthday party of a little girl I used to nanny for.  It was great to see the family again, it's been a few years.  I whipped up a fall fairy crown for the birthday girl and I love how it turned out.  I'm amazed Ingrid gave it up so quickly, she really liked it!

Okay, that's it.  Not much else.  I'll be back next time anything moderately interesting happens. 

Ah, Life

Life is good.  Otis is loving his room.  He seriously is just the most relaxed baby, he could care less where he sleeps, as long as he has room to stretch and a blanket to chew on.  A couple weeks ago I found this vintage mobile and was going to send it to Heather at 3RingCircus, but then Brendan said he wanted to keep it.  I'm glad we did, Otis loves it!

We have done a buncha hangin' out lately.  The weather got hot and sticky again and it just drains us of all motivation...

Ooh, another vintage thing we got:  these playing cards with a circus theme!  (They are from this etsy shop.)  I got some cheap frames from Joann Fabrics and put two to a frame.  I hung them up along the wall by Otis' crib, they look so cute! 

And one last random thing.  Today I was doing something in another room and came into the living room to find this:

Big sister wanted to put her baby brother in jail.  He actually didn't seem to mind too much!