The Wait is Almost Over

Big week. Hockey has been on the FRONT page of the sports section a few times and that means hockey season is gearing up. The picture is from the News & Observer article today about Cam Ward. I find myself very excited, even after last season's disappointment. I'm a big believer in fresh start, forgive and forget. I'm particularly excited that Matt Cullen is back with the Hurricanes. So we're expecting good things. Hopefully Kevin and I will go to the We Love the Hurricanes Luncheon again. Our friends and I have a theory, and that is that our little group is good luck. 2005 we ate with Frank Kaberle, had his best year. 2006: Ray Whitney, also his best year in points. So I think it's safe to say whoever is at our table this year is one lucky player. Last year I guessed we'd have Ray, and I was correct. So this year I'm going to say.......I'm going to have to think about it. I don't have a "feeling" yet.

Update: I can't shake the Matt Cullen feeling. I could be wrong, but after a few days of pondering it, he's the one name I can't shake.

What's New

No pictures this time, which I hate do to, I just don't have any good ones on hand.
Anyway, thought I'd just do a little wordy-post.

Cole has started saying "that's the Mation Point, Mama!" and what he means is the exclamation point. I refuse to correct him, it is too cute and he's already growing up too fast.

Adison is all over the place and loving it. What she does no love is to be told No. She understands exactly what it means. And afterwards will reach for the same item over and over, stopping herself just before she touches it with a very distressed look on her face as if to say "no! I can't do it!"

Well that's it for now. Time for quiet time.

My New Favorite Thing

As soon as I finished painting the kitchen, I knew there was a spot that would be perfect for hanging pictures. I wanted something that was fluid, that I could change out pictures often with. As luck would have it, Kevin was rooting through some (ok, many) unpacked boxes and bumped into a wire curtain rod system we had purchased years ago. As he opened it up and started putting it together, we soon found that one tiny little part was missing. The bad news: we bought it in switzerland, and after scouring Home Depot we found we couldn't replace it. Well, surely we (meaning Kevin) could build something like this, right? How hard could it be? Isn't this what the internet was made for? A quick search found instructions and a supply list. We changed it up just a little, and used these clips (purchased at the same time as the curtain wire, so glad I saved them. And by the way, you can do a ton of super cool stuff with them.) to hold the picture and some paper clips to hang them.
I think we'll hang a variety of sizes, but for starters I'm just using what I had printed this weekend. This now takes our picture total in the house from one, to nine! Maybe by next week I'll have some up in the family room.

A Day in the Life

Nothing special, just decided to do a little photography journal of our day. I decided to do this later in the day, so it's not the most thorough, next time I do it I'll be more thorough.

5:00am
I get up to go work out. Return at 6:30 with coffee for Kevin and I. It's pretty much my motivation for working out.



9:30am
Wrangle kiddies to Grammy & Grandpa's work (Cole is thrilled, because they have trucks there) so I can get my hair cut.

11:30am
Return to pick up kids feeling absolutely fabulous in my short, chic hairdo. Lunch with Grammy ensues, I inhale as much as possible.

12:30pm
Quiet time and nap time. Except today no one was either quiet or napped.

3:00pm
Play time until Daddy gets home. Cole loves to set up his trains and push them around. Went pretty well, considering the new crawling Adison touched his track numerous times. He was very patient.




6:00pm
Brought pizza to Grammy's and ate with Micah, Carine and all the kids. Cole spent the majority of the time down in the play room, from which we heard loud music and screaming.


7:30pm
Bed time. Stories with Daddy, good night kisses and one last laugh with mama. Meanwhile, Adison changes herself and gets into her jammies.







7:31pm
Night-Night

Music Time

Cole loves music, loves to bang the drums. Adison doesn't seem to far behind him either as she'll bounce along when some music plays. We've started sitting down at the piano together (Cole calls it the "Pay-No"). It will go like this:

Cole: "Let's do the pay-no, mama! Let's do nusic on the pay-no!"

Mama: ok, get up on the bench.

Cole: "we need the blue bible!" [the blue bible is the hymnal]

So out it comes and off we go. Adison also loves the piano, and bangs away. She also loves to turn the pages in the hymnal, like it's the most natural thing in the world, like she's been playing for years.

First of all, watch your ears because this video is a little loud. Cole shouted "Sing along!" and decided to play and sing the ABC song.

On the Move

Well, big day today as Miss Independent (as I like to call her) crawled for the first time. Just about 2 weeks ago she started really moving around by just getting on her tummy and turning in circles. But today proved to be the day she decided (as it is pretty much always SHE who decides....) that it was time to move.

Gate up the steps.

Move the infinite number of Cole's cars with multiple choking hazards.

Brace yourselves. We have a mover.



I also know I promised footage of Cole months ago, and don't worry, I haven't forgotten, he is still a part of our family. It's just that after 30 minutes of bumps in the road trying to upload this video, and countless verbal attacks on my laptop, this one video is all I can muster. But I promise! More this week. Cole and Adison at the piano....so cute....

Special Friends

Last friday Kevin had business to do in charlotte, so the kids and I spent the day with our special friends Becky, Cate and new baby Drew! Becky is a dear friend that moved to charlotte this year. Along with another friend, we used to do a weekly swap with our kids so Cate and Cole got to see a lot of each other. They are so funny when they are together, because it's like instant mischief. Becky and I had a great chance to just talk and catch up and listen to their giggles down the hall. Kevin and Jacob were able to join us for dinner and we had such a great time. They were so sweet to host us for the day, and we loved getting to meet sweet little Drew!!

Orange you glad I painted my kitchen?

Last night, when I was 2 hours into breathing paint fumes that title was HILARIOUS. As I did touch up tonight, I still found it funny enough to make me smile.

Well, orange it is. Honestly I worried about it being too "out there." But when people saw the swatches, everyone mentioned the orange, and I loved it too. It's official name is "October Bronze", but I don't think that name does it justice as my kitchen now looks "straight out of Dwell Magazine." (quote by Kevin) Honestly the camera isn't doing it justice, but I could never get the lighting right all day today to capture it's true hue. Those of you near by will just have to come visit. :)

Pictures will begin to be put up in the kitchen next, this color just energizes me and puts me in a good mood.

Paint the Kitchen

I think we've decided....but here are the choices we're mulling over. I've painted them 2 or 3 places in the kitchen, so it looks like some kind of patchwork quilt.

House Pictures

Have I posted any before? I honestly can't remember and don't have the desire to surf through my own blog and check. I took some the other day of our downstairs rooms which are slowly coming closer and closer to being done.

Here is our family room with my favorite thing, the chaise lounge and Kevin's favorite thing the it's-so-big-you-think-you're-actually-there TV. :) Ok, I love it too. Our chalkboard door next to the TV has been great too. Kevin put down all the dark floors, which we just love.

The Living room is obviously still under construction. Actually we haven't even started. We'll put the same dark floors down, I think in august. But now it's working quite well for toy overflow and it's a great place to lay around with the kids on the carpet and enjoy the sun from the big window.

Our entryway is the latest project. Kevin put up a new light and we ordered wall tiles that we found online. They are made out of paper and you can paint them, which we did, and they stick onto the wall. It's a little funky, and perhaps weird to some, but we love the way it turned out and used a real icey blue in the background wall of the entryway.

I didn't take pictures of the kitchen because 1)it wasn't clean and 2)we are still deciding on what to do in there. I threw some paint samples on the wall...

Some Days...

...you just need Chocolate Cereal for lunch. And this is exactly what we did last tuesday. I'll spare you the details, but on a hot hot day I tried everything I could to get our energy out in cooled places. Basically it was one disaster after another, so after the grocery store Cole spots the Cocoa Puffs (that I bought him at the store to attempt to salvage our disaster day) and announces "I would like chocolate cereal for lunch." Let's see, I have a fussy 9 month old, a crabby 3 year old....YES. In fact, let's all have chocolate cereal for lunch.

Nothing Short of Miraculous

Adison has finally showed minimal interest in solids. She's still not crazy about baby food, but she's started eating those little puffy stars and the Biter biscuits for babies. Here she is enjoying the biscuit. She will be a much messier eater than Cole was as a baby. It's like a volcanic eruption when she's all through.

Boston

Kevin and I went to Boston last weekend to see one of our favorite artists, Diana Krall. We took the 6am flight up Saturday morning and spent the day sightseeing and walking all over the place. We visited this wonderful museum, had great food, and ended the day with some fantastic jazz with a close-up view. It was really a treat. We did more sight seeing and eating on sunday and got back into town sunday evening. Mom and Dad wrangled the kiddies for the weekend, which we were so grateful for. Here are some of our pictures. A view of an open market with food and shops, my artsy shot of Kevin in the subway (he was THRILLED I was snapping my camera down there looking like a total tourist), the Spirit of Boston which was docked near our hotel, and a shot of the view along the walkway down by the water.

Shiny Happy People

These two little kiddos are fun multiplied when they play together, and they interact more each day. I got a clip of them laughing together on video that I will attempt to upload in the next few days. I took these pictures as a fathers day present for Kevin (which I have yet to have framed....) and they just giggled together and Cole was so great with Adison; helping her keep her chubby hands off of his clothes and hair and leg. She's a grabber. (which, I can tell you now, will be a rude awakening for COle when she becomes mobile. All his little lined up cars.....)

Cole thinks it is hilarious to hide these days, so that is what he's doing, behind the tree, coming out with a little smirk, proud of himself and his hiding spot.

Adison was clapping, and then she just held her little hands open and stared at them like they had a mind of their own. On the clapping note, she now realizes that clapping will get her oodles of praise and attention. And when I'm cooking or cleaning all of the sudden I'll hear this light "pat, pat, pat. Pat, pat, pat" and I look over to find her looking straight at me, beaming, as if to say "yes! i've done it again and I am ADORABLE!!"

Clapping

I was playing on the floor with Adison today, and as usual she was very active, arms flailing, legs kicking when all of the sudden she puts those two chubby little hands together and started clapping. pretty cute stuff. Kevin and I got her to do it again at the dinner table tonight.

Don't worry, I'll get some footage of Cole tomorrow. He was a little crabby tonight.

Video Post

I'm trying to add some video to my blog, and with a friend's help, here is my first try.

Adison has really taken to talking all the time, here is some footage of her babbling. She's almost 8 months old.

As Promised

In the new dress. I think she quite likes it. :)

Baby Hands and Feet

Aren't they so cute?

The Latest

I just love my little work room. I've started cutting and preparing several projects at once and then sitting down to sew them another night and it's been lots of fun as I get to finish a couple things right in a row on sewing nights.

Here's the latest:
-Two new bibs for Adison, with appliques on them. One is with the design of the accent fabric simply cut out and attached to the bib. The other is of an "a" (for you know who). I like the way they turned out. I just think the "a" fades a bit in the fabric, but it was still fun to do. I'm practicing my appliques and since she needs bibs (not for eating, mind you, she's still not "into it". Just for the drooling.)

-The second is a dress I've been dying to put together. My mom came over and helped me piece it together, and so I hit the machine right after she left, and I'm pretty pleased with my first attempt at buttons and button holes. My model went to bed early, so pictures of her wearing it will follow soon.

I don't mean to get all deep or mushy, but this little pink and white room of mine is such a gift. It's a quiet haven (or a loud one, if I want to listen to MY music) where I can just work away, singing along outloud. It's also a chance to use the mind a little. Not that sewing is some genius-level activity, but in these days of raising little ones it is a nice opportunity to practice a craft, learning new things each month and tap into a creative side that is usually reserved for how to get one young boy to put his underware on or get a little lady to open her mouth and eat something. Anything. :)

Museum of Science

We are starting to attempt to do more planned family activities. Cole is at an age where he is old enough to enjoy lots of things and so last sunday we visited the Museum of Science in Durham, as we'd heard so many great things about it. It was so much fun, and VERY hands on, and Cole really enjoyed himself. We could go back and spend another few hours there because we focused on 4 or 5 specific areas to spend time in. Highlights inclded the machine that makes clouds, the Apollo training module (this was particularly thrilling for Kevin as he's addicted to all things plane/space) and last but not least the super cool outside play area. Cole followed the sounds to this drum hut and banged away. I'm surprised he's not deaf. Seriously. He laid into those and had the time of his life. It was a fun afternoon.