Thursday, February 26, 2009

Calico Kitty


Naturally, since I have one hundred extremely important errands to cross off my To Do List today, I found myself dragging out my box of scrap fabric and dusting off the sewing machine instead.
 All for Calico Kitty.
Isn't she a sweetie pie?
I got the pattern here.




For additional crafties check this out......Top 100 Tutorials of 2008
My next attempt will focus on fine tuning of the head, more specifically the ears, but for now it is back to real life for me as I am on my way to buy 16 gallons of vanilla ice cream and sundae toppings for 250 people.
The Joy.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

A Peaceful Morning


We have been temper tantrum central around these parts lately. There has been lots of disputing, bickering, taunting, goading, whining and crying. So when a morning like this comes along, all I can do is sit back and enjoy the brief respite....... 



And yes, YES, after all my bragging about how well read my babies are, here is Nuala perusing an X-Men comic book. 

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

To Pierce Or Not To Pierce...


Well, that WAS the question up until yesterday afternoon when Ruari decided that it was in fact time to get her ears pierced. She's been thinking about it for years actually, going back and forth on whether or not she really truly wanted to commit to earrings, and for the most part the decision was fairly easy for her....she wasn't ready. Then over the course of the last 10 months she had a change of heart, but I asked her to wait it out just to make sure it was lasting.

"Let's just wait a few months and see if you still feel the same way," I would tell her during her nightly tuck ins when she would bring it up. Above all else, I really wanted this to be HER decision either way and certainly not one that she rushed into. I had Maija's ears pierced for her when she was 2 years old, she didn't get a meaningful say in the matter and this has occasionally been a lingering regret of mine over the years, although I am not entirely sure why. 

So yesterday afternoon was the BIG event, and Ruari was as bold and brave as ever. Michaele and Coletta came along to offer encouragement and support, while Sidhe and I were the hand squeezers (and let me just tell you that girl has got a strong grip!). There was only one person working the piercing booth, which of course meant that she would have to do one ear at a time, something I didn't think about beforehand. I told Ruari that we could always wait for another day, an additional employee, but she had already picked out her lime green started studs, she had already been looking forward to it for months. She thought it over briefly and then confidently declared,  "Oh let's just GET IT OVER WITH!!!". 
And so we did.





Two earrings and one trip to the candy store later we were all set to head back home and show off her sparkly gems. 




Monday, February 23, 2009

School Days

Seeing as how I just started our family blog a few months ago, there are a number of events that have not gotten the documentation they deserve. This flashback is from September 2008.....The first day of the school year!
Micah started K-5, Ruari began 3rd grade, Maija and Sidhe welcomed 5th grade while Finn officially became a 7th grader and started at a new school. Yikes.








Even Nuala was excited about the big day....




We always have a lot of fun snapping pictures of those first day jitters, each and every year....
~2007~







~2006~







~2005~








~2004~


And there you have it, some school day history in a nutshell! Phew, this has certainly been a day for uploading pictures, and just so you know there are plenty, PLENTY more where these came from. I have all but given up on our coffee table albums of actual paper copy photos, I'd better start catching up with those some day soon. Look at this last picture of Maija and Sidhe, oh how young they were just starting first grade. They have grown so much over the years, grown closer in some ways, grown apart in others but have grown stronger and more beautifully than I could have ever imagined possible.

Best Read Baby On The Block


The twins have a new fixation and it's our bookshelf. I really don't have any issues with this, although it does seem to bother Brendan a bit, he's a little more protective over his books seeing as how he's actually read most of his, which luckily are up higher and still quite out of reach of these 20 curious fingers.

What I find rather fascinating about the whole thing is that they seem to have 2 or 3 favorites that I keep finding pulled from the shelf. Go figure, out of 100 choices they keep pulling down the same 3 books, what is it about these in particular I wonder?


Just a little light reading as usual.....







Nuala is so in love with Indian School Days, she even takes it with her on all of her travels, after all one should always have something interesting to read. 


I think it's safe to say that our babies are well on their way to becoming the best read babies on the block!

How Much For That Baby In The Window

Our house is often times referred to by long time neighbors as the "Dalmatian house" since for many years there were two Dalmatians perched in this very window keeping an eye on the neighborhood. Tigger and Shiloh may be gone, but they have two babies keeping tradition alive and well in this window sill. Nuala and Oscar love sitting in the sunroom peering out the front window keeping tabs on the world around them, telling me all about the bus they just saw or the dogs that just walked past. But nothing and I mean NOTHING is more exciting then when they see Brendan arriving home from work in the afternoon. Oh how they rush to the window then.


And since we're on the subject, did I mention that EVERY TIME I turn around there is a baby climbing on something, anything???








Or even just a baby climbing INTO something? They don't really seem to mind so long as they are still climbing. What is a mother to do? No really, what? Is this just the next portion of toddlerhood? The next phase of growing up?