I Stand Corrected

Natalie is always so good (plus finds humor) about educating city folk like me.

More Sewing Projects

Kari and Bryce are enjoying a getaway to Glen Ellyn this weekend. Kevin and I are taking advantage of the time by...cleaning. How romantic.

It seems like it has consistently been cold, rainy and windy around here- just perfect to stay inside and work on some sewing projects.

This first project I have self-titled "The Forgiving Blanket". A dear friend of mine from high school, Anne, had a baby a couple months ago and I found what looked to be a really easy pseudo quilting tutorial. It was fun selecting the fabrics and contrasting thread.

I call it forgiving because of the nature of the quilting. Any small mistakes are easily lost in the rest of the blanket.

This was a ton of fun to put together.

I seemed to be on a positive roll with the whole blanket thing, so in preparation for Bryce's transition to his new school with Kari, I made a simple flannel blanket. No frills, just two pieces of flannel and some handmade bias tape. I'm still awful at making 90 degree corners, but it's only a blanket for daycare, so I let it go. He also got a matching pillow with some of the remaining fabric.

And, Bryce couldn't go to school without a bag to tote his blanket and pillow each week.

The bag is huge-Bryce could sit in it- but I didn't want the problem we currently have with Kari's bag- too small. I probably went a bit overboard, but it should be practical even after his daycare days end.

Isn't the fabric awesome? I wanted to give it some visual interest and masculinity beyond the fish and incorporating grommets seemed like a good way to do that. Never working with grommets before, I was quite pleased with how they turned out. I did realize after the first one that, technically, there is a front and back to the pieces, but anyone would be hard-pressed to notice unless up close.

Other things going on around here? Well, Bryce officially loves watermelon. As in rind and all. He had a small tantrum when we pulled the rind out of his mouth.

Going...

Going...

Gone!

Natalie got five baby ducks for their farm. They arrived in the mail. I guess this is not unusual, but for a city kid, it sounds really odd and borderline inhumane. Anyway, she had them at the daycare house in the bathtub and we had a chance to hold and pet the two week old fragile little guys. What a neat springtime/Easter opportunity!

First Days

Well, Bryce survived his first day at the new school with Kari. It was certainly not without tears, though.

After we left, we heard he pretty much cried himself to sleep in the arms of his teachers who then put him on the reading couch.

Doesn't he look like a little old man passed out on the couch from a long day of watching football?

Yesterday at church Kari and the other little kids were invited to sing "This Little Light of Mine" during the children's portion of the service. Clearly, Kari was quite enamored with the band.

Do you see her? She's the only one not facing forward.

Kari practiced her song all week. It was quite humorous to hear her version:

"...This little light of mine
I'm gonna let it shine
Don't let Jesus blow it out
Hide it under a bush..."

And we capped off our Sunday by going to one of Kari's favorite restaurants: Dog'nSuds. Unfortunately it was terribly windy yesterday and made for a challenging picnic.

April Fools and Last Days

Today marked the end of a major chapter in our child-rearing life. Bryce's last day at Natalie's was pretty typical, aside from the celebratory "wear your jammies" to signify a last day or a birthday. It will be a sad day for every parent that has had Natalie care for their child as she permanently closes her daycare doors in May.

Natalie mentioned that Bryce was particularly cuddly today- I'm not sure if he instinctively knew what was going on or not. Monday will be a true test as he'll be going in virtually cold turkey as I have a program and must be at work all day. Natalie's confident he won't even notice; I'm not so sure.

To celebrate April Fool's day at Kari's school, the kids were supposed to dress silly. I wasn't sure what defined silly, so we went with clothes on backwards, mismatched socks, and some crazy hair-do. She seemed to fit in just fine.

And tonight we honored the day by having breakfast for dinner. Strawberry, banana and chocolate chip pancakes were on the menu. It was quite a hit and both devoured probably close to five pancakes each. Kari and I enjoyed making pancake "sandwiches"- one chocolate chip, one banana, smeared with peanut butter in the middle.

One of the things I've looked forward to the most since the day Bryce was born is the point when these two would be able to play together. They've steadily been playing more and more together for the last nine months or so, but this just really struck a chord with me this evening. Kari is such a caring, gentle and protective big sister. Here, she's taking Bryce out with her to fetch the mail, one of her daily chores, but never letting go of his hand knowing they have to get a bit into the street. She took a brief second to point out an airplane overhead.