Days Off

Ingrid has had some days off lately, mostly because I'm lazy, ha!  Last Friday she wanted to play with the babysitter, whom she hadn't seen in a month or so, so I let her stay home.  She had Monday off for MLK day, then Tuesday we had a HELLISHLY cold day, I can't believe we even had school!  It was -5.  Wind chill of -22.  For you Celsius peeps, that's -20 and -30!  Super freakin' cold, it was not fun.  I did not feel like bundling up two kids, driving and doing drop off, then getting Otis home, debundling him only to rebundle him a couple hours later.  So...we stayed in.

We did puzzles, we made a tent and the kids pretended to go camping in the living room.  We colored, we played with stuffed animals, we napped.  We watched Yo Gabba Gabba, which has seen a rise in popularity in our house over the past week.  

 Luckily the cold only lasted a bit, the next day we were back to normal frigid weather, which is about 7 degrees (-14C)  

Today I took Otis to the thrift store while Ingrid was in school, and on the way home we passed the Krispy Kreme.  Oh god, I used to love those things!  I haven't been there in years, so I had to stop.  Of course, right?  I can't fit in any of my pants and am constantly saying I need to get a gym membership again, but let's go eat 1000calories worth of donuts.  Jeez.  They were good.  Otis promptly fell asleep on the way home, leaving a drooly sticky mess all over himself.

 Oh, I forgot!  Yesterday we got the loveliest little care package from my friend Brooke in Ireland.  It even came in a cute box!  It had some little thrifted things for the kids, their favorite being a baby book in German about a bear that goes traveling in different things.  You can stick the bear in each mode of transportation.  They thought it was the coolest!  Thanks, Brooke and Pearl!

 Tomorrow is another day off, which means another day of...what?  I don't know how much more coloring and Gabba I can do, to be honest...

Hot Hot Hot, or Thank God for A/C

It's been in the 90s here for days.  Last year we made a little getaway in our room with a window air conditioner, but this year--we have it in the whole house.  The whole house.  It's amazing. Granted, the upstairs is still a bit stuffy even with a/c on, but it's not 90 degrees. 

We have done a bit of going outside to break up the day.  Our poor neighbors must hate us, we are outside at 6am watering the garden, running around in our pjs and making a ruckus at the crack of dawn.  Sorry guys!

 Our garden is exploding.  None of the carrot seeds took, but everything else is growing like mad.  We saw a peek of a couple flowers on our zucchini, and the tomatoes are all getting bigger and bigger.  I saved one lavender plant on the side of the house and it is gorgeous.  I'm so glad to have a garden!

  Other than that, not much going on here.  Cleaning and doing laundry.  Hanging said laundry up to dry on the clothesline.  Another thing I absolutely LOVE about this house--a simple rope to hang clothes on.  It makes me so happy to hang my laundry up, how silly?  I've been trying to instill a sense of teamwork in Ingrid by making her help with little chores.  Today she washed the big window in the living room.  Doesn't she look ten feet tall?  She is growing as well as our tomatoes...

Summer is here.  Bring it!

Home Sweet Home

Brendan got a job!

It's in Milwaukee!

It starts in three weeks!

So...we have lots to do!  But all things I want to do, because it means moving back home.  I am SO relieved to have things figured out, and even more relieved that we're going back to Milwaukee.  It's funny because at one time in my life, being in one place for too long made me itch to move, go somewhere new, see new things.  Now I'm all about staying in one place for a long time.  I like that I know Milwaukee, I know neighborhoods, good places to eat, parks to go to, people to see.  Yes, finding new things is fun, too, but I'm an old fogey now that just wants to know where she's going, how to get around a place, and I like having a million people I can call if I'm bored. 

Also, thrifting is so much better in Milwaukee!  I know that seems silly, but considering I buy a large portion of clothes and house stuff at thrift stores, it's a real bonus that I can go to seven different really good thrift stores as opposed to the one here. 

We found a house for rent in a great neighborhood, a friend is checking it out for us today.  Hopefully it will be good and not a dump, it would be really nice to have a place lined up for us.  And a whole house!  With restaurants and bars and things in walking distance!  Brendan and I have been just giddy talking about all the things we're excited for.  Yay us!  It's finally coming together.

Lazy Days

Wednesday we had a playdate to go to.  Ingrid was pretty excited, but unusually crabby and whining at everything.  We got to our friend's house, and Ingrid wanted to play outside.  Once outside she wanted inside.  She had food and when the dog came up to sniff she uncharacteristically started to cry.  Another girl came up to see what she was eating, and again, she started to wail.  What's up?

We did manage to have some fun though, before melting down.  Heather put lots of balls in an old swimming pool--instant ball pit! 

And of course my little piggy spied the donuts right away!

But something was off, and that night Ingrid woke up an hour after falling asleep and cried and cried for an hour.  I felt so bad, I just sat there trying to be supportive even though I couldn't do anything, but then she'd yell "Mama, go 'way!"  Then cry out "I want my mama!"  Oh, heartbreaking when you can't calm your child!  The next day we woke up to lots of snot and the first cold of the season.  We vegged on the couch all day long, watching a cool Imax Under the Sea video and some Sound of Music.  I have to admit, it was the perfect day to be sick.  We had a thunderstorm and it was dark and dreary anyway, so it was relaxing to lay around all day.

Today is the same, although Ingrid is feeling just better enough she wants to do stuff but still feeling crappy enough she's whiny.  My favorite stage...We went on a walk and picked up some pretty red leaves that have started to pop up here and there on the trees.  We tried to press them between wax paper but somehow I don't think my iron is hot enough?  Or something, it just wouldn't work as easily as I remember it going when I was a kid.  Now we're drinking hot cocoa and wearing our cozy pants and starting our weekend early.  I don't like when she's sick, but it's actually kind of a nice slow change of pace!

Busy Winter Days

Yesterday we stuck around home and kept ourselves busy.  I had a pile of Ingrid's drawings I didn't know what to do with so we cut them into strips and made a paper chain!  When we take it down after the holidays I'll put it up in Ingrid's room.

We also played with the punching balloons we'd gotten for party favors for our party last week.  Ingrid LOVES these things, so entertaining!

And she helped me wrap her presents.  I like this age where I don't have to hide what we got her.  She thought it was great fun laying on the wrapping paper saying "night night" and drooling everywhere...

I got a lot of sewing done yesterday, I just realized how much.  Not only did I finish the apple quilt, but I finished and listed a few more coffee cup holders on etsy, and I made two little aprons.  They are my next endeavor for my etsy shop, aren't they cute?  I have to take some pics of Ingrid wearing one, she looks adorable.  Of course.