Life In Color

Ladies sewing day!

I had such a fabulous Saturday at my friend's house sewing with three of my crew girls. 

 

I worked on a long suffering project:

 

Someday I will finish this quilt.

 

This is Kristen, her house is so awesome.

 

and welcoming:

 

And she has a new craft room built by her husband:

 

A special tall table for a tall lady:

 

There are so many great details in this house. And don't get me started on the awesome huge drafting drawer things that her husband got for free at his work. I begged him to get me some... I hope there are some left!

When I get the okay I'll link up to her new venture—all I can say is I have some awesomely creative friends!

Mini love

I made a great little mini for my god-daughter, who is FOUR! Handmade gifts can be tricky for little kids I think. There are so many toys and things out there for kids. I thought a little book she can fill out for herself would be fun. I made a little "all about me" for my step sister when she was younger and she loved it.

 

The cover uses some cardstock I had Tuesday paint, and my favorite Heidi Swapp letters, the elementary ones. If you have some you don't want send them to me! Sometimes I hate how fast scrapbooking products rotate through. I digress...

 

I cut down some Paper Source envelope things so she can stick things in there.

 

The favorite colors page is my favorite. I want to make one for me!

 

I love the idea of giving her the camera to take some shots!

 

Because she's so sweet :)

 

And the back:

 

So much fun to put this little thing together. That plus some treasure jars (that I stayed up way to late making, and thus, no pictures) and a huge stack of stickers rounded out her gift. I let Tuesday yank some stickers off the rounder at the store so she got a very unique assortment, including some celebrating Jamaica :)

So remember when Tuesday and I painted?

 

I scrapbooked that (surprised?). I spelled emerging with out an "R" so I had to pop off the letters, only they don't pop off without breaking, so it was a bit of a disaster.

 

I love, love, love these pictures of my BFF Ceara. I took a ton while I was there, but was recovering from flying cross country with a toddler and I don't think I ever posted many. Anyway it's all about how we're supposed to live next door to each other and stuff. Just happy to get some of these delicious baby pictures on a page.

Thanks for the front yard love. I need to get myself together to stain things in the back, but paper has been calling my name... Oh plus, did I mention that after Tuesday spent the night at my mom's she was like, "no more diapers for me." So I have to sprint up to her crib when I hear her wake to take her to the potty. Plus she's only napping for like an hour at a time. See, I'm justifying here, but it really doesn't make sense for me to get all crazy messy and dirty.

Wanna see the front?

Ok so I still have to stain things in the back and finish up some bits here in there so I want to save those pictures. But check out the front!

 

Same view last summer:

 

Curb in the same place and it looks so much bigger to me!

 

Bj and my step dad made this super cute little picket fence.

 

I can't wait to see my yard next year; especially this front part. Just image big bunches of lavender in the front with roses spilling over the top. I think I'm going to do tulip bulbs in front of the fence and crocus in front of the lavender for early spring. Try not to look too closely at the dogwood, it is the sickest of all our plants :(

 

I can't say enough awesome things about our designer Tina. I never would have thought we could have a wider driveway, or plants in front of our picture window. Next year you'll see clematis growing up one side of the porch and a climbing rose up the other.

We are eating out on the porch almost every night, just like last year. Tuesday loves to use sidewalk chalk all over the driveway and walkway. She digs in the dirt and picks up the little gravel. She hasn't tried to shred the plants yet, she goes up to them and does a very dramatic show of smelling them. Speaking of plants we could never have gotten all of these in the ground on one of the hottest days of the year without our awesome friends and family! Seriously we were freaking out that they would all die and for the most part they have come through great. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

P.S. I updated all the lists on my sidebar, check it out.

Squeezing in Scraping

A couple weeks ago (or maybe last week—it's all running together!) Sarah and I had an online scrapdate :)

 

Look at me using thickers!

 

This next one is a scraplift (and then switched up a bit) from an old book I forgot how much I loved: Scrapbooking Life's Little Moments.

 

 

I hope it goes without saying that these are straight in real life :)

 

If I ever run out of those vellum stickers I will cry at least a little.

 

This actually started by looking at this inpiration page. I veered... alot. 

 

I love brads!

That last one was from today. Hopefully with the yard mostly done (pictures soon!) I'll have some more crafting soon.

A year in a half of Tuesday

Oh sweet Tuesday, how much do I love this girl? A lot!

 

At 18 months she:

-Says two words "yes" and "dirt" we have been outside in the yard a lot lately, obviously.

-She also has this questioning sound she makes, like a "huh?" but way cuter. I must get this on video, she does it all day long.

-Saw a train and now it's all she "talks" about (by talk I mean use the sign for train combined with help or please, I think that means she wants me to please help her find the train!). She even kissed the train in her picture book. 

-Speaking of signs, she knows a lot: help, please, thank you, more, hat, coat/jacket, milk, love, plane, potty, eat, finished, bedtime, phone, book, train, shoes

-At 19 pounds 5 ounces she is still in the 0% for weight (but the doctor did point out she is less of a zero percent!)

-She is 31 1/2 inches tall, which is average height. 

-Size 6-12 month tops, 12-18 month bottoms (if they are thin enough), size 19 shoes (4 US). I admit I still put her in a few 0-6 month size things (shorts, and a few tops)

-She eats so many different things including kale chips, big hard pretzels, full fat greek yogurt, any type of fruit, toast with cashew, almond, or sunflower butter, cooked carrots, frozen peas, rice and beans, curry... did I mention fruit?

-She nurses 4-5 times a day, plus she often needs a super quick bit of milky for comfort

-She's in big girl undies all day every day and they are mostly dry. She tells us when she needs to go by signing potty (thankfully not so much of the crotch grabbing any more). Biggest hurdle left here is to get her to realize she needs to poop before she starts :) Also just started undies at sleep time, we'll see how that goes.

-We have no problem using potties when we are out and it's liberating traveling with out a diaper bag (I have a pair of clean undies in my purse). She knows she has to pee before we leave the house. Often Tuesday will squeeze out a little bit of pee at any new place just to see the bathroom.

-Learned to twirl and will spin herself around until she can't walk any more and falls down giggling.

-Likes to be in on the joke and when she hears us laughs starts in with this funny fake laugh of her own. 

-Waves goodbye to everyone and everything (teddy bears, random cars, her pee when we flush, the room she is leaving).

-Likes to give kisses... on the lips.

-Had her first sleep over at grandma's house. It went pretty well. She woke during the night and grandma brought her into the big bed (mama is jealous because she will never sleep in our bed with us). Apparently she woke up at one point, stretched, leaned over and kissed grandma and went back to bed.

-Her 12th tooth is just popping out.

-Favorite "toy" right now is dirt. It's also her favorite snack.

I know I'm forgetting a lot. I love her so much right now. I keep saying I love her more than ever, it doesn't seem possible, but I do! She is so funny, loving and inquisitive. There is nothing about this age I don't like. Well, maybe the occasional poop in the pants, but we're working on it. 

Hello Hazel

On Wednesday morning I got a phone call at 3 am. It was my lovely friend Donna telling me her water had broken and asking to bring William over (Tuesday's playmate who is a few weeks older than her). No problem since I had already been awake for an hour (Thanks Tuesday!). William was a doll, or course, but eventually succumbed to Tuesday's poking and prodding and by 4:30 they were ripping up her bedroom while I sat on the rocker saying, "don't use the books as a step stool." Meanwhile Donna was having a quick delivery and by the time we were eating breakfast her little baby was here!

 

We were so excited to hear the news, "it's a girl!" 

 

I was happy to be able to visit the next day and see how well they were both doing.

 

Holding a one day old baby was quite a shock! Surely my own baby wasn't ever that tiny (even though she was, and tinier!), and never that still or quiet. I just can't believe it. I'm guessing it will be a while before I experience another one of these for myself, as in the middle of the night Bj buried his head in his pillow when I asked him to hold William and said sleepily, "I think it's fine if Tuesday is an only child!" :)

Just have time to say

That we have plants.

 

They are almost all in the ground after a busy work weekend.

 

I am so happy with them.

 

But many of them are not happy with me after days of HOT HOT HOT.

 

My roses especially took a beating (this is the before on those).

My mother in law was kind enough to come down again (she was here a week ago) to help us finish things up. Hopefully we'll have it all done in a few days! The fence starts today!

Until then; here's to dirt under your fingernails.

We are

Dealing with some serious heat.

Not getting enough sleep.

Hoping our plants that were laid our in the yard today survive the weather.

Learning new signs.

Not spending any time on the computer.

Swimming.

Waiting for phone calls.

Staining our teeth with fresh cherries.

Wearing big girl undies everywhere we go.

Eating BBQ leftovers... And regretting it.

Dealing with a strange sink hole.

Tearing down an old fence.

Staining a new deck.

Thankful for friends coming over to help us plant tomorrow!

IRL

I know, I know, I kind of fell off the map there. We have been working so hard on our yard; even recruiting my mother in law to come visit. And by visit we mean put to work! And then it rained, for two days, of course. Busy, busy we have been. In fact now that our yard is coming together more and more (estimated completion date = next weekend for almost everything) I can say I will probably be blogging less in the summer. I want to spend all my time outside, and so does Tuesday! 

But I must blog about an exciting event here in the Garrison household from Friday. A long, long time blog friend of mine, Amber came to visit. This is made even more exciting because her and her family live in Germany (but she grew up in Washington) so I never knew if we would meet. Well her family took a road trip south with her mom and on their way back to Washington they stopped here. I was happy to host them for lunch and finally meet the other Amber :)

 

Just as wonderful as I imagined her to be! And her family even more darling. I mean too cute, right?:

 

I hear that little ones love Georgia and Tuesday was no exception, she could have watched her all day. Even while she was eating! Tuesday also dove right into the arms of Georgia's grandma:

 

She went right over to her and held up her arms to be picked up. I was surprised, even though Tuesday is pretty outgoing, that is unusual. We had a lovely lunch and chit chatty visit. Amber is one of a growing number of online friends I wish lived closer. I would love to hang out and sew with her. Look at this darling shirt she made Tuesday:

 

AHhhhhh! I love it. I Have to get over my fear of knits! It's big for Tuesday, which is prefect because I'm sure I can put it on her for a couple of years, like I like to do :)

 

A great visit, so glad to have met you Amber and family. And in case you were wondering about Sven:

 

Well it was all too much for Dean to take and he got cute toddler holding duty :)