Spring is Finally HERE!

We still have snow on the ground, but it's slowly melting and will hopefully be gone for good in a few days.   Today it's supposed to be 54.  I almost can't believe it, I was figuring we'd be covered in snow until July.  And then I think back to last year's Easter weekend and I am amazed at how late spring is coming.

LAST YEAR:

THIS YEAR:

 Our bulbs are just coming through the ground, and we still need winter coats and hats when we go outside.  BUT!  It's around the corner.  Warm weather is almost here.  ALMOST!

Phones Are Great, Just Not For Blogs.

My mother in law asked why I hadn't updated the blog lately and I realized it's because I am never down in the basement on my computer anymore, I'm always doing things on my phone.  Which is great, but I haven't been able to post anything here from my phone.  SO...here we are.  Brendan is off today and the kids are up coloring Bubble Guppie pictures and I snuck away to the computer.

 

So what has been going on lately?  Last weekend I took the kids to my sister's.  We played with cousins and saw Gramma Pam.  We ate at Russ' which is a kid favorite, we thrifted at Bibles for Mexico which is a mama favorite.  It was fun!  The kids were awesome on the four hour drive and Chicago traffic was smooth sailing both ways.

 Other than that, not much has been going on.  Same old life of school, thrifting, sewing, and playing.

Ooh, wait, no, we got new appliances, thats's fun!  We had ordered a stove from Home Depot and when they delivered it, it was damaged.  Two weeks later we still didn't have a new one, and then it was a hassle to get my money back, it was just such a pain in the ass.  Finally we ended up going to Sears Outlet where they have all the scratch and dent ones, where we found our new stove AND ended up getting a refrigerator because they're such low prices, why not?  So we still ended up with dents in our stove, but we got it for way cheaper.  Ha!

 And...we got a new vacuum.  Life is good.

Art, Sewing, Shiners.

Coloring.  Chalk, markers, crayons, whatever they can get their hands on.

 I got some sewing done, with some help from Otis and baby emma the doll.

 We played cars.

Otis ran smack into the door jamb and got himself quite the bruised face.

 It looks way worse now than when it happened, as it has now turned purple, yellow, and green.  He looks like he's wearing eye shadow.

 He got sick on Friday and has been very clingy when sleeping.  He's been in our bed the past two nights, and his nap yesterday was like this:

 Ingrid decided all their coloring needed to be in an art show, so if you're in the Milwaukee area, be sure not to miss the Ingrid and Otis Art Show now at the Liddle Gallery. 

Oh!  And this morning, Ingrid and I went to see Mary Poppins!  There is a small theater that has matinees on the weekend of classic kid movies.  It was her first time going, she liked the popcorn and thought the seats were funny.  But Mary Poppins is long.  And some of it gets boring.  And it was nearing lunch time.  So we bailed right about the part where there's the bird lady singing about tuppence.  We still had fun! 

 

Broads with Bunnies

When I moved back to Milwaukee a couple years ago, I started a Facebook group for local moms, called Broads with Babies.  It was originally intended to be a way to get together for play dates.  Little by little it grew, and now it's at 700 some moms!  Obviously we don't all get together, but there is a good core group that is always on there, and it's nice to have a place to ask a question and get some good answers.  Don't know about you, but I usually hate online mom's groups.  People get so judgy and bitchy!  Luckily these ladies are pretty rad and no one gets too preachy.  So far it's been a good experience, and I've met a lot of new friends through there!

Anyway, yesterday I had two baskets full of stuffed bunnies I'd finished.  I thought "boy, I sure don't want to have any of these things left like I did last year.  God knows we don't need more stuffed animals in our house."  So I posted a picture on my Broads with Babies group, seeing if anyone wanted one. 

Within a few hours I had sold all of them!  And now I have a list of orders to make more!  And people had gone to my etsy shop and asked to buy bibs, too.  It was completely overwhelming! 

I am so thankful that I can sit here in my basement with lovely fabric and sew things people actually want.  I am so thankful that Otis will sit here with me and let me do this.  I am so thankful I get to buy more fabric when I want, lol!  Today is a good day, despite the 5" of snow that is supposed to fall.

Sickies

This winter is taking FOREVER to end!  We got so spoiled with last year, where it didn't snow and it was spring like weather most of the winter.  And then this year we are hit with tons of snow, and everyone is sick, all the time. 

 

Otis has had a cold for...ever?  I don't even know how long.  It never really goes away, poor kid.

 

 To add to this fun, Otis has given up naps.  It's been four days.  Four long, tired, tear filled afternoons.  He's fine until about 3:30, then he hits a wall and nothing is right, he cries at everything, and I have to make it until 6pm when I can put him to bed.  Why do my kids think naps are optional?  THEY AREN'T!  Everyone needs a nap. 

 

Ingrid got a stomach bug this weekend, so she's been pretty much laying on the couch since Friday.  My poor girl, usually so full of energy, she's just so lethargic. 

 But it's March!  Spring is right around the corner and with it will come more fresh air, and hopefully less germs.  Stupid winter.

 

 

Daily Life in February

We are stuck in winter.  I'm getting SO CRABBY in the afternoons, I feel bad.  I try to control it but even I can hear myself sounding like a complete bitch to Ingrid and can't stop myself.  I want to run outside without a coat on, or go for a long walk to the park or go to the lake.  But it's cold, it snows, it's windy, it's wet.  We try to go for a walk around the block, but after a few  houses I am already sick of hearing Ingrid complain about being cold.  Sigh.

 

So, we huddle inside.  We play with toys.  We paint.  We make play dough.  We play on the iPad far too often.  We get squirrely and I yell. 

 And then I get a drink.  At five o'clock.  OF COURSE. 

Somewhere in there if we're lucky, we take naps.  Otis has started to cuddle with a stuffed animal at his naps, which I love.  It's usually Mickey or a teddy bear.  It's adorable. 

 

 And sometimes I actually get around to doing something.  I painted Ingrid's room last weekend!  No more green stripes!  It's a nice muted gray color, and the stripes still show through but it's not nearly as horrible as the green was.  I will have better pictures when it's "done."

 

I also cleaned the basement and tried moving stuff around so it seemed like a place we'd want to use.  It's okay, but I just don't feel like hanging out in a basement.  An unfinished basement that is COLD right now, even sitting right in front a space heater.  I used Ingrid's broken dresser as a TV cabinet, it turned out okay, I think!

 The only thing getting me through this month is the fact that March means it's almost spring.  Like in a few weeks we can hopefully go outside with smaller jackets on.  But it's supposed to snow 6 inches tonight so I don't know...I'm hanging onto that hope.

 

2 Years 2 Months 2 Days

It's time for an Otis update.  He's *about* 2years, 2months and 2days old, although I may be a couple days late.  What is he up to now, you ask?  WELL!

 

He is now in a big boy bed!  We got a twin bed for Ingrid this past weekend and the toddler bed got moved into Otis' room.  He automatically curled up with a book and a bowling ball and got cozy.  We haven't had any issues with him at all, he just lays down with his teddy bear and goes to sleep.  In the morning he still sits in bed and calls "Oh MAMA, where are you?"  Same as Ingrid, he doesn't understand quite yet that he can get out of bed.  Which is good.

 He is now as much of a chatterbox as Ingrid ever was.  He loves to talk, and sing, and read books.  His favorite books right now are the Gabba on he has in the picture above, and The Doorbell Rang, which was a thrifted find that has become a daily read. 

 Favorite things these days--yogurt.  He wakes up and first thing he wants is a HUGE bowl of yogurt.  Any flavor, doesn't matter.  It amazes me how much he can shove in his mouth...Otis has caught the Gabba bug, much like his sister did at this age.  He loves to watch it and sing along, but his favorite part is the Knock Knock Joke of the Day.  He is a killer knock knock joke teller!  This kid is a comedic genius for being 2!

 He is always busy, but is never too busy for a cuddle.  This kid loves to cuddle, he is so huggy and kissy and adorable.  I will take it while it lasts! 

My Valentines.

This year was a fun Valentine's Day because Ingrid was in school, which meant making cards.  Luckily her teacher sent us an email asking parents not to go overboard, no candy or toys, just simple cards the kids made themselves.  I am totally fine with that!  We cut some printer paper in half, folded them into cards, and Ingrid sat and drew with markers and put heart stickers on them.  It took a few days of her doing this little by little, and in the end we had a nice stack for the class. 

 I also helped out at her school the other day.  We made these heart guy bags for them to put their cards in.  It was so funny to help out a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds!  And they all think you're a teacher because you happen to be an adult, so kids came up to me asking me permission to do things.

Of course some parents went crazy anyway and made some Pinterest inspired cards that obviously were not made by the kids themselves.  I do like the paint chip bookmarks, but I was not about to sit and make 32 of them for my kid.  I love that she wanted to sit and draw and create her own cards! 

 

We got her glasses a couple days ago, so now she is wearing them full time.  She is adorable, there is just no getting around it.  And she looks about ten years older when she wears them...

 If you've noticed my square pictures, you can see I have finally joined the Instagram party.  I'm not so much into the sharing part, but oh my god, I love the square pictures!  I love the borders and filters!  Even pictures that aren't completely in focus look better because they look like they were taken with some 70s camera and developed at one of those Fox places, right??

And now it's the weekend and we are going to shop for a stove and a refrigerator.  Possibly paint Ingrid's dresser.  Definitely bathe the dirty children.  And maybe go buy a cake for my birthday tomorrow?  I love cake.  It's a fun filled weekend, woohoo!

Bowling. And Underwear.

Sunday our friends invited us to go bowling, which we'd been wanting to do with Ingrid for some time.  We got a couple pitchers of beer, the kids ran around while we waited for our lane to open up, and we reminisced about the days of yore when bowling alleys were smoke filled.  (Ahh, the good ol' days.)

 They had shoes in Ingrid's size, it was pretty cute.

She had such a good time trying to roll the ball.  Otis had a harder time but he seemed to like it, too.  He just didn't want any help, and at one point his ball stopped mid-lane and we had to have the guy run down the alley and get it for us.  Ha!

zAnd in underwear news, we got some for Otis today.  He won't wear them, but we have them for when I decide to start.  I know you're supposed to wait for them to want to but I swear to god, Otis knows how to go on the potty, he just doesn't feel like it...So the underwear got played with today.  Many stuffed animals got to wear undies today.

I guess I should just think of in two years when he's totally potty trained and I can't even remember this time of having to work at it.  Right?