The Zoo with My Guy

Yesterday was beautiful so Otis and I headed to the zoo.  Usually our zoo trips are with friends, lots of kids running pell mell through the zoo, wanting to play at the park and complaining about being tired.  But with just Otis and I, it was so relaxing!  We meandered through the animals, only seeing what we wanted.  We stopped and ate lunch and had a treat afterward.  When it was time to go home, we popped on over to the train and took a ride before leaving.  Just me and my guy.  A perfect fall day.

The Way We do Things Around Here

A bunch of the same busy busy busy around here.  Keeping sane by keeping busy. Mornings are still pretty much without TV.  We do puzzles still.  Lots of coloring.  Today Otis made a ramp for his cars with the ironing board.  Anything to pass the time!

I've been pretty busy crafty wise.  I had a new consignment order for a place right across from State Fair Park, and seeing as State Fair started today, I had to get my stuff there in a timely fashion.  I also have two other consignment orders to work on, and another Maker Market is coming up September 1st.  So, busy mama.  Ingrid and I made this felt doll for a friend's birthday present.  Ingrid was too funny, "Mom, I have to play with it to make sure it works, okay?"  Apparently it was in working order.

 I went through some old photo books and found some gems.  I love that I'm taking pictures of pictures.  Here's Brendan and I the first summer we met ten years ago.  We are little kids, it's crazy!

 Speaking of little kids, there has been a bounty of little kids around our house the past week or so.  We watched a friend's girls one afternoon, here's Eleanor and Otis looking sneaky.  They found this water fountain (or "bubbler" if you want to get Milwaukee on me) and took turns seeing who could actually get to the water.  It was hilarious.  They're both just a tad too small so they were trying SO HARD to climb up!

 We also went to the zoo with our neighbors the other day.  Here they are at the barn with the cows.  I still can't believe my mom had four kids.  How do you do it?  I have it down pat now to look for each of my kids, but four?  Jeez louise.

 And here I am looking like I have long hair.  WHICH I DO.  Which if you've known me in real life you'll understand how freaking amazing this is.  I have had short hair my whole life.  Except for a short stint in middle school/early high school with a perm and some fierce bangs, I've had a pretty short hair style.  Like boy short most of the time, what feminine people call a pixie cut.  I have always just said it was short, you know, like a boy.  But now that I have money to pay someone amazing to cut my hair in a flattering way, what do you know?  I can grow it out.  It still seems so new and crazy that I can pull it back in a ponytail.  Like a normal girl.  Weird.

Spring Weekend

It's so funny how a little sun and warm weather makes everyone so happy.  Especially when you have shitty weather for most of your year, like we do in the midwest.  This weekend was like all smiles and sunshine and fun, because it was nice out.  We got a lot accomplished!

Saturday morning we went to the zoo.  We saw the baby jaguars, they were playing with their mama, it was pretty cute to watch.  We had a picnic and then the kids crashed in the car on the way home. 

Brendan took off the front door so we could paint it.  By "we" I really mean "HE" since he ended up doing all the work.  I chose the color. 

Our door had a funny panel nailed on the front.  Brendan said hey, I think this is really a six panel door, they just covered it for some reason.  So he took off the panel and found that they had filled in the panels and then nailed a piece of cardboard over it, painted the whole thing an ugly navy blue color or black that faded in the sun, and called it a day.  So...hours later he'd managed to yank all the junk out of the panels and today he sanded and primed and painted.  It's still drying, but we will have a nice six panel, classic red front door soon!

We also got new house numbers.  It's amazing how something so small makes such a big difference!  Our neighbors were like wow, we never even noticed our numbers before but yours look so great!  And the best thing is, they were $6 a piece from Home Depot.  Next up is a new light fixture for outside. 

The kids got their fair share of play, too.  Chalk, tricycles, playing catch with the dads, going to the park, and popsicles.  Not bad for a weekend!

The Cowpokes

Not even October 31st and I'm already Halloweened out.  Last night was Ingrid's school Halloween dance.  So...costume time #1.

 This morning we went with our neighbors/best friends to the zoo, where they were having a Halloween event with Trick or Treat stations and carved pumpkins all over the zoo.  It was fun, but COLD.  So we threw on our winter coats and realized you couldn't even tell the kids were dressed up.  Hmmm.  Costume time #2 was a bust.

Thanks to Jennifer from Oliver's Forest for lending us this amazing vintage Health Tex western shirt!!

 We had a few hours between the zoo and our neighborhood trick or treating, so I came up with a plan to keep them warm and show their costumes.  Which involved many layers of shirts and fleece jackets under their cowboy shirts. And remembering I had a cute vintage Wrangler jean jacket for Otis!  I'm glad I saw it hanging up!  Finally, costume time #3 seemed to work right!

I made Ingrid wear the only pair of tights she owns, which are orange.  She cried that she was going to look like a chicken!

 That was the only picture I think I got of Otis wearing his hat.  For someone who runs around screaming "AT ON! AT ON!" and grabbing everyone's hats, he was not impressed with his cowboy hat.  Oh well, with the bandana on he still looked like a cowboy. 

But now we are exhausted from running around all day and eating too much candy.  Tomorrow there are more festivities, but I don't think I can handle a costume time #4.  I'm done.

 

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!

Busy Week, No Pictures.

I realize if I don't have pictures I tend not to post.  We have been doing lots this week!  Ingrid loves her school still, although I am a little tired of having to do the drive every day.  Just one year, then we can go to the neighborhood school and walk every day.  I cannot wait!

Otis is teething.  Again?  Still?  He has two bottom teeth and it looks like he's getting two more bottom teeth.  And the snot.  Oh my god, the snot.  Will it ever end, or is it just going to hang on all fall and winter?  Good thing we use cloth wipes as tissues, otherwise we'd probably be going through a forest worth of trees for kleenex.

I participated in a blog hop baby shower for Lishyloo this week!  Today was actually my day, over on my Applesauce Crafts blog.  It was great to contribute to such a fun thing with such talented women.  I felt a little out of my league, their blogs are so fancy, mine are just basic!  Check out day one here, and you'll find the schedule for the week with links to the other blogs.  Cute stuff!!

I have been trying to get tons of work done for Art Vs. Craft.  I just have no idea how much stock to bring to a craft show, how big it really is, and I feel like it's better to just way overshoot and then sell whatever's left over in the etsy shop.  But between the school run, nap schedules, crabby babies, and I don't know, sleep--it's hard to get anything done.  I got four blankets done yesterday and today, which is awesome.  I just wish I could get a babysitter one or two days to just get shit done. 

Brendan and I are leaving next week for DC!!  I am so excited to fly again, it's been like two years.  And I am way excited to be without kids for a few days.  And nights.  To be with my husband, no football on tv, no computer games being played, no distractions from actually spending time together.  Bliss. 

We went to the zoo today and I got some really cute pictures on my phone.  I can't figure out how to get them anywhere but my phone, so once I figure that out...what is the point of having a camera on your phone if you can't do anything with the pictures??  Sheesh!

The Zoo! Again!

I love having a membership to the zoo.  Actually, memberships to anything are awesome because any time we are bored or thinking of something to do that day, I always have a couple free options.  Or should I say "free."  I thought yesterday would be "free" but we forgot our packed lunches in the fridge and then we just had to have ice cream at the park...

Regardless, we had fun.  We met our friends Katie and Poppy there.  Look at this muffin, she's so stinkin' cute!

First thing Ingrid wanted to do was ride the carousel.  We get two free rides with our zoo pass, so again, this could have been a free day.  Ingrid LOVES the carousel.  I do not.  I will seriously throw up if I go on one, especially after eating a Chicago dog.  Luckily Katie is a good sport and went with her. 

Ingrid's favorite thing to see is the fish.  Of all the amazing things at the zoo, all she cares about is the fish and the goats.  Totally not wild animals at all.

Speaking of goats, we had an extra quarter to buy goat pellets, so Ingrid fed the goats.  I had Otis in one hand, along with the goat pellets, and the camera in the other hand.  I would give Ingrid a few pellets and as I was doing so, greedy little goats would come up and try to steal all the food from my hand!  Otis thought they were pretty neat, he kept trying to grab them when they came near.

Have I mentioned before how much I love goats?  Seriously, look at them!  They are so cute!

After goats it was ice cream, and then home.  Of course I was exhausted and wanting a nap but the kids had other ideas.  They had a quick snooze in the car and then were ready for more action when we got home.  Where do they get all this energy? 

A Trip to the Zoo!

We went to Toledo to make use of our membership to the zoo there.  It was a beautiful day, the perfect jeans and tshirt weather, and Ingrid was excited to see the animals.  There was a baby shower event going on so we snuck into the special mom-to-be super close parking!  I have no shame.  I am a mom-to-be, after all...

We finally stopped to see the baby polar bear, which we hadn't gone to before because of the lines.  But on a nice fall day, no lines and we just cruised in and watched the seals swim by.  And the baby was playing in the water with a ball!  It was super cute and made me realize how similar animals are--kids will be kids and they love to play!

We also checked out a spot that's for kids under 8, Nature's Neighborhood.  It's got a treehouse that leads to a slide, which Ingrid would've spent the whole day at.  Also you can go in this building and they have a really big bird section.  And all around the room is a clear tube where you can watch ants working away.  These things were carrying HUGE pieces of leaf, it was kind of cool to watch.  They had a bee section with costumes and a bee hive to climb.  And a clear plastic thing that showed a real live hive, which totally induced shudders in both Brendan and I.  A bee here and there is one thing, but masses of any bugs are just creepy.

We got lunch, saw the polar bears again, and left just in time for the rain to start.  Ingrid played quietly while Brendan and I napped, and now we're having a cozy afternoon in the rain.  Brownies are baking in the oven and we just had hot chocolate.  It's my favorite time of year, yay fall!

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.