I am nearly finished with a Christmas present that I am making for Wesley.  I am excited with how it is turning out!  I am making him a mosquito netting canopy to go over his bed.  Colleen has one for her bed, "Santa" brought it to her for Christmas in 2007, she was 4 years old then and "Santa" gave her a room makeover, complete with Castle bed.  Long time readers may remember that one.  Shawn and I pulled it off between about 1am and 4 am, it was one of our crazier undertakings, but it worked out great.  :D

 

Wesley is 4 years old now himself, but a room makeover would be premature at this point.  He still loves Lightning McQueen and his blue race car bed.  He also loves Colleen's bed canopy.  I looked around a little online to see if there were ones targeted to boys.  I found one that was camoflauge colored, but it didn't fit the theme of his room at all.  I decided to make him one. 

 

I bought a plain and simple white mosquito net canopy from overstock.com.  It was cheap, $19 including shipping.  I also bought a couple of yards of black and white checkered fabric and some Heat n Bond tape (because I can't sew).  I already had a Lightning McQueen window valance in the same fabric has his curtains, I forget what I paid for it, but I know it wasn't much.  I also have an old Christmas ornament that is broken that I plan to use different parts of to embellish the canopy.  I have also used about half a spool each of blue and red ribbon that I already had in my stash.  All told, cost of materials is about $30 to $35.  This is half the cost of Colleen's store bought canopy.  And if I do say so myself, Wesley's is nicer.

 

So far I have cut the checkered fabric into strips, hemmed them and used the Heat n Bond tape to secure them to the two opening edges of the canopy to give them definition.  I have fed the blue and red ribbons through the curtain rod pocket of the valance and safety pinned the valace to the round hoop of the canopy.  Then I pulled the ribbons tight and tied them in a bow, which made the valance gather around the canopy hoop.  Next, I am going to take a needle and thread and tack the valance to the hoop.  I may not be able to sew, but I can do that much.  Last, I am going to attach the ornament pieces to it.  This part I am still iffy on.  I'm not sure where I am going to put them or how I am going to attach them.  The good news is that I still have a few weeks until Christmas to figure it out.

 

I have the canopy hidden up in my room.  I didn't think about writing this post until after it was already packed away, so I don't have pictures to post at this time.  I will take some photos next time I get it out to work on it.

 

Yay!  Christmas is less than a month away!  :D

 

Love, Jen

 

This quote from Mother Teresa inspires me.  I find that it is easy for me to act this way towards children, I need to work on applying it to my interactions with peers and elders.

 

Love, Jen

...for the adorable-ness contained in this post!

 

Today was the Thanksgiving Feast at Wesley's preschool.  The children sang us several cute songs, then we went to the big room and had "Friendship Salad" and Pumpkin Bread.  The 2s and 3s classes made us butter from scratch.  The texture was different and it was very sweet, so of course I loved it!

 

Colleen came with me because her school has half days all week to allow for teacher conferences and because of the Thanksgiving holiday.  We sat with the family of Wesley's best friend and we all had a terrific time!

 

Love, Jen

 

 

Wesley is second from the right, bottom row, blue plaid shirt.  He got a big kick out of his pilgrim hat.  His best friend is the little girl sitting to the right of him, talking to the teacher.

 

 

 

By this point in the day, Coco's "knee" socks had migrated into "shin" socks.  LOL

 

 

 

In this picture Colleen is showing off the space from the tooth she lost on Friday afternoon.  It was her 2nd lost tooth and it is *really* lost, she dropped it in the car and we haven't found it yet!  Wesley's smile in this picture looks EXACTLY like Shawn's mom's smile. 

 

 

 

This just in: Shawn is playing Lodi Dodi on his computer and we are both cracking up remembering how he used to torture me by singing snippets from it.  "Don't cry, dry your eye, here comes your mom with those two little guys".  I don't remember why it drives me crazy, maybe it was because he sang it SO DANG-GONE MUCH, now whenever we hear it I have to make a big production over not wanting to hear it and he makes a big deal out of singing it to me.  And now you all know one of our inside jokes!

I'm not sure what to write, the words aren't coming to me on this one, but it is too important an occasion not to mention it in a forum I use to chronical my life.

 

Mrs. J has known me my whole life, and my dad for most of his.  She lived next door to my dad's parents while he was growing up.  After my grandfather passed away, we moved into the house and she saw my three sisters and I grow up as well.

 

Every Halloween she had a little bag of candy made up for each of us, it always made me feel special to get it.

 

She always bought something from our school fundraisers.

 

Her house was always so clean and tidy.

 

She had a special "rec room" in her basement with a sign over it that said the names of her and her husband. 

 

I grew up and moved away and kept in touch by writing letters.  We became pen pals.  I sent her pictures of my kids every time I had them taken, which was usually once a month in the beginning.  She always wrote a nice long letter back to me.  I never had to look up her address, I knew it by heart.  One day she moved away to live with her daughter, I memorized the new address because it felt weird having to looking it up.  Then she and her daughter had a falling out and she moved in with her grandson and his wife.  I didn't memorize that address and for some reason that isn't sitting well with me right now.

 

In one of her letters she told me to call her by her first name and I found that I couldn't, it just didn't seem respectful to me.  Every so often she would remind me to call her by her first name and she always signed her letters back to me with her first name.  Looking back, I wonder if this was her way of honoring our friendship, specifically, the relationship we forged upon my adulthood.  I think of her fondly when the students at my kids' schools call me by my last name. 

 

I haven't seen her since Colleen was an infant.  I haven't had a letter from her since she got sick.  I had advance warning that her time on earth was waning, and yet hearing the news of her passing was still a shock.  Her time of illness was relatively short, and I hope she didn't have to suffer the indignities that cancer often imposes.

 

She lived a long and full life.  It was a life that had it's fair share of both ups and downs, she quickly reported the downs and celebrated the ups at legnth.  I admire that about her.  She was lucky enough to know her great grandson and boy was she proud of him.

 

I am glad to have known her; having her for a neighbor is one of my cherished childhood memories.  My heart hurts knowing that I will never receive another letter from her. 

 

You will be missed, Mrs. J, and you will always be fondly remembered.

 

Love, Jen

 

Mrs J and Colleen, Christmas 2003

This one's for mom, Hi Mom!

 

A few weeks ago I got Colleen a new bed, in part because she was getting too tall for the toddler bed, in part because my sister is coming out soon to visit and I need a decent place for her to sleep.  Since the crib is going in Colleen's room, it made sense.

 

I knew I wanted an eyelet bedskirt but WHEW are they pricey.  I found one on eBay that was listed at 99cents for a full sized bedskirt, two pillow shams and a pillow case.  Shipping was just over $11, when it was all said and done I paid $12-something.  I got it so cheap because it was ecru instead of white and the pictures didn't do it justice.  Actually, when I got it, I was unimpressed.  It looked dingy and old instead of "ecru".  At first I thought "maybe I'll bleach it", but then I decided to dye it.  I got the dye at Michael's yesterday and got myself good and intimidated by reading up on tips for doing a good job.  This afternoon I told myself "now or never" because I figured if I waited too long it would just get put on my mental "to do" list and I'd never quite get around to doing it.  I decided that it wasn't a big deal if it didn't turn out good, the set was cheap and I could always bleach it later.

 

Well, let me tell you that using powdered RIT dye couldn't be easier.  I used a 5 gallon bucket in the kitchen sink and did the pillow cases first, then changed the water and did the bed skirt.  It went fast, the dye didn't stain a thing except the fabric and the color turned out great.

 

And here is Coco's new bed!  The two eyelet pillows along the back of the bed were dyed, along with the pillow in the front of the stack of 3 at the "head" of the bed.

 

The Ballerina quilt was another eBay find, along with a lavedar floral quilt that isn't in the picture.  The daybed is Craigslist, of course.  :D

 

Mom, I hope you like it.  Becky, it is really comfortable!

 

Love, Jen

 

I checked Colleen's homework folder when she got home from school today and found this little gem.  It is going in my "I'm keeping this forever" box.  It requires translation and backstory.  Backstory first: I volunteer in Colleen's classroom on Thursday afternoons while Wes is in preschool.  I know almost all of the kids in her class and pretty much have a terrific time while I am there.  Yesterday was no exception, a great time was had by all.  :D

 

So when it came time for Colleen to write a story today, this is what came to her mind:

 

It says: I am sad at school because mine mom isn't at school.

 

The picture is amazingly accurate, that is just what her classroom looks like, and those are decent liknesses of her teacher and classmates.  The only thing that I am not understanding is the identity of the girl crying.  Presumably, it is Colleen, because she is sad that I wasn't at school today, but typically when Colleen draws herself, she is dressed as a princess, and besides she never draws herself with brown hair.  I think it is her fellow student, Angie, who is crying in the picture, but Colleen didn't want to talk about it this afternoon so I haven't figured it all out yet. 

 

Thanks again to Shawn for having the foresight to buy a printer with a scanner built in.  It's coming in handy, dearheart, and I am sorry I was bratty when you brought it home.  :D

I am in a terrific mood this morning.  Seems like so many things are going right today!

 

First, getting ready for school this morning was easy, both kids woke up quickly and in good moods, there were no fights about clothes (even though it is PE day, wonders!), a warm breakfast was had by all and we got to school with plenty of time for socialising before the bell rang.  It was wonderful. 

 

I also got the Santa picture booked for the kids.  I am really looking forward to it.  This is a place that has their own Santa come in and the kids will have 15 minutes with him.  Plus, it's a professional studio with great equipment, so the picture will be of better quality as well.  No waiting at the mall for hours and hoping the one picture taken is good enough.  No dozens and dozens of kids (and their germs and flu cooties) to contaminate my kids right before Christmas.  I am thrilled that we got a good appointment time.  We missed Santa pictures last year because of the threat of snow (I can't remember if I blogged about it or not, I was quite dissappointed), but I'm not letting anything stop me this time!!!  Yay for Santa pictures!

 

The absolute topper, the thing that promted me to write this post, was that I managed a very difficult printing task on a small strip of paper in only one try.  Perfection!  It had the potential to be very frustrating and just end up in failure, and yet, it came out just right, smooth sailing.  I accept partial credit for my awesome printer skills, and I give some credit to Shawn for buying a good printer and setting it up for me the other night.  Thank you, hon.  I'm printing up a part of the packaging for my tap shoe ties / pony tail holders.  I am going to sell them at the Holiday Bazaar Coco's school is putting on.  The packaging is turing out cute and highlights the product well, I think.  I'll have to post pictures one of these days.

 

OK, my sunny smile and I are going to sign off and get lunch taken care of before Wes heads off to preschool and I head off to volunteer in Coco's class.  Hurray for Thursdays!  :D

 

Love, Jen

The Christmas Toy catalogs are pouring in from retailers far and wide and Wesley's excitement is reaching epic proportions.  Just now he came across the Target book, grabbed a red marker, and set about circling every toy meant for boys.  Towards the end of the book (after the coupon insert) he abandonned circling each thing individually in favor of the more-effecient circling of the entire page.  This is the first year he has really been into it, I guess 4 years is the magical "fun" age.  Either that, or having live TV (and being bombarded by commercials) is having the advertiser's desired effect.

 

I just hope he will be happy with what he does get.  Unfortunately he has a mind like a steel trap and I can see him mentally checking things off his list as he opens his gifts on Christmas morning and I hope his delight with what he does receive outweighs the disappointment he may feel when he does not get "My Talkin' Tonka Truck" or that giant stomping and roaring dinosaur. 

 

I am willing to bet money or housechores that the toy executives responsible for those migraine-inducing gems don't have children of their own.  :D

It's that time of year again, when the Christmas presents I buy for my kids online start trickling in via the UPS and FedEx men...  and yet they STILL haven't caught on.  For instance, I just received my 4th package today (no worries, I didn't buy a ton of stuff, the retailer just decided to ship in lots of little boxes instead of one big one), and get this - Wesley totally believes that it is another super secret Christmas present for Grandma.

 

Hee hee hee hee!

 

I'll have to write about the kids presents sometime.  I am aiming to spend less than $100 a kid and still give them multiple things to open. things they will be happy to get and actually use.  I think I just might accomplish it, guys.  :D

OK guys, since we've been in Washington we've endured hard times together as a family, just the four of us, against hardships that have brought us closer together.

 

First, there was The Great Snow In, where the streets here never were plowed and we sat in our house for nearly 3 weeks, assuming that everyone else was in the same boat.  That right there should have been a clue that we were living in "unicorporated county" instead of "city limits".  Anyways, we made it through just fine, had enough food, got lots of pretty snowy pictures, power never went out, etc.  Cabin fever did start to set in towards the end, but we made it.

 

Next, there was The Awful Heat Wave, where there was not a fan to be found and we sufferred through triple-digit temperatures inside the house and a cold shower could not be had.  Plus side?  Our water heater got a well deserved break that week and no one broke into our house while all the windows were wide open.  Probably all the criminals were too hot to bother.  At any rate, we all slept down in the lowest level of the house and when the seasonal markdowns hit, I bought up enough fans to keep us comfortable next year.

 

Now for this past weekend.  Easily THE SINCLE WORST TIME SINCE WE'VE MOVED HERE.  The worst time of all time (I hope).  Wesley got sick THursday late afternoon.  We had a loaner car because ours was at the beauty salon, getting a mani/pedi and a shiney new Mass Air Flow Sensor.  We stop at Safeway to fill up SHawn's water cooler jugs and head down to pick him up.  Poor barfing Wes barfs off and on the whole drive down.  Shawn lost track of time and didn't come out of work for 2 hours.  By this time we have missed dinner and Coco's homework time, and the car smells BAD.  At least Wes was a trooper and kept the barf in the bucket.  Shawn finally comes out and we get home.  Shawn pulls Wes out of the loaner car and his pants are wet... and it wasn't urine.  The poor kid threw up a few more times that night, but by then it had mostly tapered off to water-poo.  So that was our Thursday.  It was Not. Fun.  Then Friday was kind of a blur.  I know I got our car back (and by some miracle Wes did not get a drop of bodily fluid in the loaner).  I can't remember much about Friday except that Colleen woke up in the middle of the night throwing up.  Her aim is not so good and she threw up everywhere.  All over her bedding, all over the fresh bedding, all over the last set of clean bedding, all over her floor.  I just shuddered at the memory.  She finally stopped throwing up I'd say around sunrise?  I'm not sure, looking at the clock wasn't a big priority for me at that point.  Needless to say, she didn't go to ballet on Saturday.  At about noon on Saturday it hit me.  I am a bigger wimp than either kid and my aim is better than Colleen's, but not as good as Wesley's.  Wesley was such a tough little man about it all, so stoic and uncomplaining.  I am very impressed with how well he handled it.  It took me longer to get through the "violently ill" part and it is taking me longer to bounce back.  Every muscle is sore and I am exhausted.

 

We all got through it somehow, we pulled together as a family and toughed it out.  Shawn isn't feeling great, but so far (knock on wood) he hasn't gotten the stomach flu that the rest of us had.

 

Colleen went to school this morning, she was fine when I dropped her off.  A few minutes after I got home the school called saying that Colleen told them she threw up last night and this morning and that she didn't know why I brought her to school.  WHAT?!?!?!  Her temperature was a slightly below normal 97.3 and I assurred the school that she hadn't thrown up since Saturday morning.  Be that as it may, they still wanted me to come get her.  I have no idea why she said that, and she is acting fine, except she is refusing to eat.  I guess one more day home won't hurt her.  I am going to take Wes to preschool though, I think he is fine now. 

 

Wes had an appointment with his club foot doctor this morning, I'll write a post about that soon.  Long story short, his foot is doing great and he doesn't have to wear his sleeping boots any more.  The doc also said we are now on yearly check ups instead of every 6 months.  Good job, Wes!

 

 

I want to write a blog about hoodies, turns out I have something to say on the subject.  (Who knew?)

 

I can't right now because Wes is a very sick little boy and I need to try to get him stable enough so that we can drive Shawn to work and hopefull Wes will not throw up or poo in the rental car.  Come to think of it, I am going to go line the back of the car with a big blanket.  That should help mitigate the carnage.

 

The rental car is a whole 'nother story.  Our faithful old "Choo Choo Thomas" has some mechanical difficulty (after 6 years and 130K miles) and is in the shop.   I'm  happy the dealer gave us the loaner while ours in the shop.

 

Wesley's fish appears to have pulled through his rough spot.  I am pretty sure the fin rot was caused by the pink eye bacteria.  I can't remember if I wrote about this already or not.  Wes and I had pink eye last week and on Halloween Wes was playing in his fish tank.  I think he rubbed his eye and then stuck his hand in the water, infecting the fish.  At any rate, quick treatment appears to have saved the life of Pony The Fish, and the fins that rotted off should grow back in time.  I hope.

 

Love, Jen

My blog these days seems to be one post after the other about cute things the kids said or cute pictures I took of the kids.  I will endeavor to write something with more substance soon.  But for now... cute Halloween pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coco slept through dinner tonight and she just woke up hungry.  She decided on a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich.  She was joking that she was so hungry she could eat two sandwiches, or three, or... and I interrupted and said "One Meeeelllion Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwhiches", like how Dr. Evil would in the Austin Powers movies.  Without missing a beat, Coco deadpanned, "One THOUsand Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwhiches."

 

God, I love that kid.  :D