Babies, Paper and Song

Sequin Skirt Refashion

The beautiful weather yesterday inspired me to do a little sewing. I had this sequin skirt from a Value Village trip last spring. The tag says $7.99, but I'm pretty sure I got it on 50% off day. There was a little fraying at the edges, but since I knew it was going to be a kids' dress, I just cleaned it up with my pinking shears:

This dress was super simple. I just trimmed about and inch and half down each side and sewed them back up again to make a slightly smaller silhouette. Then I measure Audrey's chest size and cut the elastic an inch or so shorter. I thread it through the waistband of the skirt, then used the scraps to create little straps. This was a quick and dirty sew-- nobody look too close!

I think I put the straps on a little crooked. Oh well!

And it needs a steam...

I don't think Audrey minds. She went back inside and did an impromptu ballet:

"Mama, I feel just like a princess."

Unfortunately, Lily is down with a flu today. I think as long as I can keep her fever down she will alright. Poor pumpkin.

A little Scrapping Fun

I am doing a major purge of my scrap room. I'm getting rid of anything that I don't absolutely love-- because I just get bogged down when it's time to create! Some of it I have put aside for the girls. (Audrey informs me on a daily basis that she is an ARTIST, and she NEEDS to do ART!) However, some I'm going to give away to two of you!

I have two pizza boxes of supplies to give away-- you just need to promise to send me a money transfer for the shipping. (No idea how much it will be until I know where you are!) They are packed with paper, embells, alphas. Some are gently used, some brand new. All major brands. Here's a quick peak:

The first two people to leave me a comment (with their e-mail) that you want it-- done!

Two layouts to share, as well!

Lily-Belle has new glasses! It was quite a shock to discover she needed them, but she is adjusting well. With any luck she won't have to wear them for more than a year or two!

 

And then another one of Lily and I--- my little Mini Me:

Lastly, head over to the Scrapbook and Cards Today Facebook page for a great giveaway!

First Tooth

Audrey didn't get her first tooth until she was 11 months and 2 weeks old:

(First birthday)

Well, after almost three weeks of wiggling, Audrey lost that tooth, and it was pretty much the most exciting thing that has ever happened to her:

It happened at bedtime, and may or may not have been aided by Lily's knee. As Daddy was out, we opted to wait until the next night to put it out for the tooth fairy. (I had made them both a heart-shaped pillow with a little pocket a while back, and that is now the tooth recepticle.) Audrey said that she knew the tooth fairy would bring her a loonie, because her friend at school has an older sister who lost a tooth, and that's what she got. She woke up before 6 AM to check, and sure enough the tooth fairy had come through. The loonie went straight into her piggy bank, which was her idea.

Lily has started checking her teeth. Nothing yet.

Halloween, a few days late

I am late with Halloween photos, I know! We had guests for the weekend, which was such fun, and life continues to roll along at a quick pace.

Anyhoo! Here are the girlies:

Audrey was a witch, with a handmade wand crafted by one of our houseguests, Yoav. She couldn't decide if she was a good or mean witch, so sometimes she cast mean spells:

and sometimes nice spells:

As for Lily... can you guess what she dressed up as?

Tinkerbell, of course! She was not interested in wearing the actual Tinkerbell costume we had, but put this outfit together instead. (She refused to leave the rolling suitcase out of the equation for the photos.)

I like to think that she rejects the Disneyfication of the J.M. Barrie classic, and dressed up as the Tinkerbell she sees in her imagination!

 

Amazing

"When I see your face...there's not a thing that I would change...because you're amazing...just the way you are."

 

A Week in the Life

I love Ali Edwards "Week in the Life" project-- documenting an average week, taking photos of the everyday moments, and writing down the nitty gritty details. I did one two years ago, and I just loved it. (Update: Just looked at it again and it was THREE years ago!) I was looking back on that album recently and thought that I really should do another one. So, this past week I took my camera with me wherever I went. Sometimes I did posed shots, and sometimes just random details. I'll put this together in a album sometime soon, but I thought I'd share my initial impressions here:

Sunday

Baby Clark's baptism. The girls were looking forward all week to "seeing baby Clark at church", and Clark was such a little angel, sleeping through the whole experience. I love the photo of my sister and my Nanny with Clark. She just loves her great-grands!

Monday 

A morning out in The Beach: walking down the boardwalk with the stroller, both girls with their babydolls. Going to the park, then the bakery for an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, and then the cheese shop for some parmesan and Canadian brie.

Tuesday

Practicing their bike-riding skills on the street, Audrey reading at the island while eating her cereal (this gave me a major flash forward of what the coming years will be like), Lily pushing her little shopping cart in her pjs at 3 in the afternoon. (She likes to get into pjs very early. As a matter of fact, I think this was the second pair. She got yogourt on the first set!)

Wednesday

Peaches still in the grocery stores in September, and it's a good thing because the girls absolutely love them. Company came for dinner and I made two chicken pot pies.

Thursday

Millie is 9 now, and she is starting to act like a senior dog. She wants her place on the couch, no matter what, and gets pretty annoyed when someone else is sitting there! Folding laundry on the counter while the kids played with play-doh, and afternoon cuddles with Lily while Audrey was at school.

Friday

Another walk in the morning: the library, pumpkins at the grocery store, and browsing for books while I bought a gift for a friend. We made Audrey's birthday party invitations, too. The afternoon was rainy and I took some shots of Lily as we walked home from pre-school. Dinner at Campagnolo with my girlfriends.

Saturday 

Breakfast at the island, Audrey still wearing her ponytail from the day before. Matching pj's. Quick walk in the neighbourhood, as I had  (and continue to have) a sore neck. A $15 bouquet from our favourite little florist, freshly made apple fritters with cinnamon sugar, and Audrey's portrait of me in my new autumn hat.

That's it! It felt good to have my camera out more. I was relying too much on my iphone this summer. Don't get me wrong-- I love Instagram!-- but nothing beats a real photo.

A Run-on Sentence

Making Moms Feel Bad

My computer is on the fritz, being nursed back to health by dad, and since I don't have any photos I can post I am going to address a big old myth about me and my blog.

A friend posted on Facebook recently that I write my blog, "to make other moms feel bad". I know she was joking-- she likes reading my blog-- but somehow I thought there was a grain of truth there. Sometimes people read my blog and think, "look at everything she is doing with her kids, look at the homemade bread, and the crafts, and the trips to french bakeries..."

I get it. I can see how it looks. I try to add a heavy dose of reality to my blog, too, but I do like to document the fun things we do for posterity. Those are the things I would like to kids to remember... those are the things that I want to remember, too.

So, just to put the myth to rest-- I am nowhere NEAR a perfect mom. I am flawed in MANY ways, and I strive every day to do better. In about five minutes I put together this list.... this list that I could add to every day for the next year:

Why I am Not a Perfect Mother:

• I often skip brushing my kids' hair. In fact, I often have no idea where the brush is. I think ponytails were invented for moms without brushes. When my mother sees my children she often greets them then pulls the brush out of her purse. I have also yet to trim my kids bangs. My mother does that. She no longer asks if I would like them done.
• Last month, in an effort to reduce laundry, I went into my kids room while they were watching tv downstairs and removed 50% of their clothes from the armoire. They are in a bin on the top level. I left all the dresses hanging where they were.
• I have felt guilty about going back to work. I have also felt not remotely guilty about going back to work. It depends on the day.
• I unceremoniously dump 97% of the kids' drawings into the recycling bin. They churn out more artwork than Etsy. I just can't adore it all.
• I do not believe in messy crafts. They have played with finger paints twice, and the pastels sent by their aunt are brought down from the top shelf by appointment only. I am marginally more generous with the glitter paints, as long as we are outside and Lily refrains from putting the paintbrush in her mouth.
• I make Audrey write cards for any holiday or birthday so that I don't have to buy/make one. I'm not sure about the child labour laws, but I'm willing to risk it.
• I've made it known to the children that I do not read books before I have finished my first cup of coffee in the morning. I often make the last few sips last longer than need be.
• I have been known to "forget" teeth brushing when it is late and I want them in bed ASAP.
• Pancakes, scrambled eggs, and toast with peanut butter have become dinner options when necessary. I just make sure there is either a fruit or vegetable along side.
• I once mixed water into cream to put on their breakfast cereal when I was unknowingly out of milk. (Or was it knowingly? I can't remember...) Audrey thought it was brilliant that I can "make" milk.
• I hate finding matching socks for them as much as I do for myself. I let them pick and unless there is a glaring mismatch I don't step in. (This rule does not apply to shoes, though, much to the chagrin of Miss Lily.)
• I do not own one bottle of hand sanitizer, nor do I have a travel size for my key chain.
• I yell sometimes. I try not to. I hate it when I do.
• I have been known to deny drinks from the water bottle when we are far from a usable bathroom. I also forget to pack snacks if we're only going to be gone a few hours, leaving the children to beg at the knee of whichever mom did remember snacks.
• I lay guilt trips if they don't want to wear the clothes I made them. "Well, if you don't want to wear the dress Mommy made you, I guess that's fine... sniff."
• I have no idea where the ear thermometer is, but I do know where the rectal termometer is. For now, I kiss them on the forehead to determine "fever/no fever" with my "Mommy Lip" thermometer and let it be. If I need to find out exactly how hot they are? Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

So, there you go. Not so perfect, right? Not perfect at all. Just trying, and writing it down as I go. You should write it down, too. It doesn't have to be on a blog, just open an e-mail and write to your kids about your day. I think my kids will be happy to know the Mommy I was when they were little, flaws and all. I bet yours will, too.

Third Blogiversary

So, today is my third blogiversary! I was reading back over my early posts, noticing how the smallest details are so interesting and precious to me now. It reminds me of why I started blogging in the first place: as a journaling tool. Sometimes it has become more about scrapbooking or sewing or cooking-- but my favourite posts looking back are the "Today we..." posts, or the "Yesterday" posts. The posts that I threw up and thought, "Well, this is boring". Now I know that they are not boring at all. They are the posts that the kids and I will love to look back on in years to come.

I also marvelled at how the kids have changed. When I started, Audrey was 22 months old. She was still a baby, still with very little hair, just on the edge of being a little girl:

Now she is 4 3/4, chats from morning to night, always planning a game/craft/show, with lots of hair and growing like a weed:

Lily was just a few weeks old when I started this blog. She was my placid angel baby, wanting nothing more than to nurse, sleep and cuddle:

Now she is three years old, and I am struggling to stop calling her "the baby". She is funny and chatty, she loves her babies and her shopping cart, and she still loves nothing more than to eat, sleep and cuddle:

How quickly it all passes by. I think I always knew that and that's why I scrap/blog/constantly update my Facebook status. I know it is fleeting, and I never want to forget.

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday:

• I had only one show in the evening, so my day was free to spend with the kids. Unlike other weeks, I resolved to stay close to home so I wouldn't expend too much energy running around the city.
• We started by going outside to ride around on their bikes. Lily got a trike for her birthday from us, and Audrey just received a hand me down two wheeler from a friend. Audrey took to it quickly and had a blast. Lily thought it was better to rest her feet on the peddles and let Mama push:

• Mid-morning Audrey started setting up for her "party". She had wanted to have a little party the day before, but we just didn't have time. I suggested she set up outside and she busied herself for quite a while. I didn't know exactly what she was doing out there, but she was quiet, and I make a point never to disturb a quiet child. When we came out she had set full place settings with folded tea towels as napkins, written place cards, cups and straws for everyone. We all at out there together, with Millie diving for the scraps.

Speaking of Millie, she turns 9 tomorrow! My little, wee puppy is nine...

Today:

• I had two shows, which meant I left for work around 10:45, and didn't get back until about 9:30 at night. I made my dinner as the kids were having their snack, as well as kale chips. The girls loved them so much, I left them behind. If my kids are wolfing down kale, I will find myself another snack!
• Before I left I read two stories. Fancy Nancy "Delectable Cupcakes" and "The Very Cranky Bear". That's a different sort of vocal warm up than I'm used to, but it was a good start!
• Two shows: a few crazy things happened, like props in the wrong place and rather over-zealous audience members, but that's the best thing about live theatre-- the unexpected.
• Came home to a glass of prosecco and a package of peanut butter cups. My husband is the best!