Theme Thursdays: Bodies

When I read the Theme for Theme Thursday this morning, because we've spent the last few days in a flurry of action while traveling from Michigan to far Northern California and I hadn't been on the computer enough to plan much of anything, this picture immediately came to mind.  After having two chubby babies long lanky Patrick stands out.  He's my little string bean: 

He's not really sure how he feels about that monkey...

 He's always on the move these days, always busy with his quest to learn how to crawl so that he can escape his energetic big sisters cuddles... and his little body, while tall, seems so tiny after two rolly polly girls:

Which then, of course, got me looking back at pictures of Sadie and Mae when they were six months old and marveling over where the last two to four years have gone!

Mae was working on being on the move at six months too!

She was all eyes!

Here's Sadie, who Patrick definitely looks like!

Six months is such a fun, busy age!

For more Theme Thursdays head over to Clan Donaldson!

Week Ending: Craft Fair Edition (Volume 3)

It's over!  I survived!  I'm back on the blogging bandwagon, playing catchup to get everything organized after a rather disorganized handful of weeks.  Tomorrow I hop on a plane with Nani and Grumpa and the babies for a trip out to California that has been the focus of my long work days.  But first a recap of this weekend with my Week Ending Post.  

I'll start with Friday when we braved the mosquitoes for a short while before the chased us back inside.

Swarms... there are swarms of mosquitoes in our backyard...

And so many dandelions that Sadie could pick flowers all day long:

This is what happens when you have to two big sisters who want you to be the Prince in their fairy tale.

He was enthusiastic about joining in the fun, despite the fact that the only crown they had for him had a princess on it:

He enjoyed Nani snuggles.

At 6am we rolled in to the craft fair... and I began to decorate.  Here's my booth the first day...

And the quilts just waiting to be bought... so snuggly and soft...

Here's my booth amid the sea of hundreds of other booths, before the fair got started the first morning:

I was still incredibly optimistic (naive?) at this point:

Day 2 was more fun.  I had really low expectations.  And I did sell a little... just over enough to cover the booth fee and lunch, or so I thought, until Paul pointed out that I'd forked $14 over to the state of Michigan Treasury worker that came around to collect sales tax... so the burritos from the Chipotle across the street were out of pocket.  Oh well.  It wasn't a total loss.  I now have the inventory for an entire Etsy store, sewed and ready to go:

They are fluffy and cuddly:

Owls and cupcakes:

And dinosaurs of course!

Crayon rolls and bug rolls and jungle animal rolls...

I'm relieved that it's over.  Now to get my garden in the ground today, pack, ship orders, sew orders and get ready to go!  I guess it's not quite time to relax yet!

Head Over to Reinventing Mother for more Week Ending Posts!

The Craft Fair... Day One

Last night I wanted to come home and post, or sew, but instead I watched an episode of Murder She Wrote on Netflix (yup, I'm nerdy and tired of what's on TV these days) and went to bed before the sun went down.   I realized my camera was still wrapped up with the craft fair stuff for tomorrow and so pictures will come later.

Besides... I was a teensy bit depressed.

I got to the craft fair and set up my shop and it was beautiful.  I wrapped tulle around the tent legs and hung quilts from the side, and used the bright colored nursery fabric I had in the house to drape my tables and I was kind of shocked by how professional it ended up looking, since the tables underneath the draping fabrics were kind of pathetically broken looking on their own.  Then I set up my quilts and the blankets and toy rolls.  I dressed my mannequin and hung my Baby Bath Time Aprons and stood there and waited for the sales to come rolling in.

People arrived.  The area was flooded with shoppers.

Now this isn't my first craft fair.  I've been to small town craft fairs my entire life.  And I've had booths too. I thought that if I easily made $500 at these little craft fairs I would at least easily make back the almost three hundred dollar fee at this giant 60,000 person craft fair.

Two hours in I'd had plenty of people tell me that the quilts were beautiful.  I'd had a grouchy old woman act like $50 for a quilt was ridiculous and another say that a terry cloth bath time apron was a horrible idea and I'd continued to smile politely (as someone who has given a ridiculous number of baby baths in the past five years I can say that it is actually incredibly useful... but it reminded me of the scolding elderly woman at the last craft fair who was offended because "only nuns" should be allowed to sell rosaries...  There's one in every crowd, folks!).

But not a single thing had sold.

As I sat and thought I realized that going with baby items in a town where it feels like a school is closing every five minutes, probably wasn't the best route.  The words:  "Oh these are beautiful, but I don't know any babies..." drifted past my ears repeatedly.

"I should have gone with dog and cat beds," I found myself thinking as strollers with dogs went by.  The booth with paintings of cartoon cats looked like it was doing well.  But no.  I do ultimately make things that I enjoy making, and I'm not really a dog person at all (I know, I know, shocking admission...).

I dropped my prices a bit.  Two quilts and one blanket finally sold.  Patrick and Paul and I sat there, making little shady spots for Patrick as the sun moved, for 12 hours...  I have one more day of the fair today.  I'm hoping for better luck, but I'm not giddy and excited anticipating even a single sale after yesterday.

The prep time in the 10 days before the show was about 120 hours.  Add the twelve hours from yesterday (and none of the work from the two previous months) and I think I made less than 10 cents an hour.  With the two months prep, not counting the booth fee, and we're look at like a penny an hour...

I'm afraid this is my last craft fair...

On the positive side, and I'm really, really searching for a positive side right now, I guess I'm going to have a whole bunch of quilts to post on etsy very, very soon...

7 Quick Takes Friday

--- 1 ---

Here we go!  I'm in the home stretch!  The craft fair is tomorrow.  I've sewed well over 100 hours in the past 9 days.  My parents arrived yesterday and while I knew my mom had been working on blankets and amazing toy rolls (pictures to come once this is over!) I was so much more relaxed after seeing all the work she'd done as well, because my worries about not having enough to fill the booth, even if I finish every one of the 45 quilts I have quilted right now (I was binding all day for the past two days) are completely gone.

I'm still a little nervous, but I'm also excited.  I've never been to a craft fair with crowds estimated at around 60,000.  This is way bigger than any of the fairs I've been to or sold at in the past and I can't wait to see how it's going to go!

And I will definitely be posting pictures once I've survived this weekend!

--- 2 ---

When we arrived here last year I was amazed by the fact that there were no mosquitoes.  "Are there not mosquitoes in Michigan?" I'd find myself asking, amazed that we could eat in the shade in our backyard and not suffer a single bite.

This week the mosquitoes arrived.  Yesterday they were everywhere.  They chased us back inside after I took the girls outside to play while I did some hand sewing.

And now I can answer my own question... There are definitely mosquitoes in Michigan (and I need to buy bug spray before I sit outside for two days in a tent!)... Oh wishful thinking!

--- 3 ---

The other night, shortly after midnight, I heard a clicking sound coming from the kitchen.

On the nights that I work (so basically every night), Patrick goes down to sleep in his play pen in the kitchen and then I take him upstairs when I go to bed.

I went into the kitchen, and peeked into his crib.  I could see his little eyes wide open and the dim outline of his little hands clasping his favorite toy in all the world (move over Giraffe).  This:

 It's the flag pole from one of the girls little doll houses and while I haven't seen that doll house since we left Florida, Sadie found the pole and gave it to Patrick the other day and he thought it was the greatest thing ever.  It, along with Giraffe and a little Duplo car with red wheels make up three of his four favorite toys...

--- 4 ---

Wondering what toy #4 is?  Any bag of wipes that he can hold and crinkle while I'm standing next to his play pen sewing:

--- 5 ---

When I first started binding all of the quilts two days ago I broke out the Simplicity Bias Tape Machine I'd gotten for my birthday and set to work.

I hated it.

I suddenly understood why it got so many bad reviews.

It took ages to thread (like literally almost an hour) and by the time it started working I was starting to worry about how long this whole process was going to take.

After using it for three days I think there is a lot they can do to improve it (it shouldn't be getting stuck every 10 seconds with think cotton fabric so that I constantly have to tug the fabric through)... and after making 180 yards of binding in the past three days it does appear to be beginning to have some problems pulling the fabric through at all (I have to tug it through more and more frequently)... however...

It has made binding the quilts much, much faster than it would have been if I'd done the binding by hand.  And the bindings are absolutely beautiful and uniform.  So the machine has definitely moved up in my estimation and while it was frustrating to get started I would definitely recommend it for anyone making tons of binding/ bias tape.

--- 6 ---

Patrick has mastered the developmental milestone of screaming at the top of his lungs if it looks like one of his sisters is going to even touch a toy that he's playing with.

I don't remember either of the girls being all the interested in toys when they were this age... but Patrick is and heaven help anyone that tries to show him how a toy works.  Because he's pretty sure he doesn't need help:

--- 7 ---

I remember Sadie desperately trying to grab food and shove it into her teeny tiny mouth when she was three and a half months old.  She's starving I thought (I think it was really the pain of undiagnosed reflux now... since I didn't know that all babies didn't spit up every single time they ate and her doctor acted like it was totally normal too...).  So we started her on rice cereal, per his advice at four months.

With Mae I made it to a week shy of six months, when, after a month of her trying to swipe food off of the table, I broke down and made rice cereal.

Patrick is a bird of a different feather.  I made him mashed sweet potatoes.  He tasted them and clamped his little jaw shut.  Cheerios?  No way.  Tiny soft pieces of sweet potatoes?  He wouldn't even glance at them.  He has no interest in anything I put on his tray.  He is so different from his big sisters.  

He seems perfectly happy holding off on food a bit longer and I'm perfectly happy to let him.  On the other hand, if I'd had a Patrick first, I probably never would have understood why everyone doesn't wait until (fill in the blank with a varying number of months) to start solids.  

Over the years I heard plenty of "well I exclusively breast fed until twelve months" and I would feel like a failure, because I couldn't even imagine that being possible when our girls were ravenous eaters desperate for food at 6 months (when they both weighed around 20 lbs).  Was it they were so big?  I would find myself wondering.  

These days I find myself increasingly more laid back.  Would I give any of my babies rice cereal at 4 months?  Nope.  I'd be trying to figure out why there little tummy was so upset and searching for answers after what happened with Sadie.  

But I also wouldn't beat myself up about giving them food a week before their six month birthday, because that was the date I put on the calendar.  Instincts win out over random advice these days.

In other nursing news I realized that I just hit the 48 months mark in combined nursing time.  21 months with each of the girls and six months now with Patrick.  Four years of nursing tops!  How the time has flown by!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Just Keep Sewing, Just Keep Sewing... still...

I'm exhausted this morning (I know, you're ready for a post that doesn't say that, right?)!  But I feel like I accomplished something yesterday.  8-10 was sewing machine fixing time.  10 am until just before 11pm (when I started falling asleep while sitting up) was sewing while stopping occasionally to nurse and feed the children time.  Movies were watched.  There was much talk of Olivia the pig since we found two Olivia DVDs for under $4 a piece at Meijer the other day.  This puts me at somewhere around 63 hours of sewing in six days.  I am going to be so relieved when this craft fair is here and everything is done.  And I'm going to start preparing for the December craft fair right away instead of mostly waiting until two months before to see if I'm accepted or not.

Paul had his first day of classes.  He's officially started his 3L year.  I wish summer had been a bit longer (what was that?  5 days?).  He's informed me they're going to involve "a lot" of reading (is that "a lot" for law school?  Or just "a lot" in general?).

And I finished quilting the last quilts, bumping my quilted quilts total up to 45.  I really wanted to have 50 finished but I think I might have to be happy with 45.

Yesterday morning the two hours of sewing machine repair nearly had me sick over the idea that I might now be able to handle the problem on my own.  I ran to the store since I couldn't find my sewing machine oil anywhere and then got to work.  I bought a oil spray that coated all the sewing machine parts and it worked really well (it had been squeaking even once it was clean... which screamed "I need oil" to me).  I've been asked for sewing machine tips, but I'm afraid I'm not much help in explaining how I actually fix my machines.  I can tell you what I do, however.  I'm not sure I'd recommend it as a strategy for anyone else, because I'm never quite sure if it will work, or if my machine is about to be killed by my attempts.

I have a feeling I won't be finishing one of these in time...

When things start going wrong with my machine I take it apart and clean it.  Unfortunately, most of the time, cleaning isn't the problem (I cleaned my machine three times yesterday because the fluffy fabric I was sewing sheds along cut edges until they're sewn).  So I then take the machine apart and put it back together.  A screwdriver removes the plates and the case on my machine and that's how I start.  I remove the bobbin casing and the needle and check them both.  I used to read the manual but it never actually helped at all with anything.  Then I put it back together and try sewing a test piece of fabric.  I might do this over and over again, for 2-4 hours before the problem is fixed (it happens about every 12 months).  Sometimes it takes 2-4 hours over 2-4 days.  Sometimes I think I know enough that it's getting easier, and then I have a day like yesterday and I wonder if I should just take the thing in (except that wasn't really an option because I can't give up another day of sewing at this point).

I fiddled with the screw on the bobbin casing until it felt right when I pulled the thread.  I readjusted the thread tension a few times because it felt too tight.  And I recleaned and oiled everything.  Finally my sewing machine started acting like a sewing machine again.

I've had this machine for over a year now, and I am impressed with how it's held up to sewing.  It probably averages 30 hours a week, sometimes much more, sometimes less and so far it's still chugging along.  I have a commercial machine here (a Bernina from the 1930s that was my great grandmothers, that's just beautiful!) and I want to get it's power cord repaired this summer, because I think it might better stand up to the wear and tear and I would love to sew on it.

Hopefully I'll have time for a few car rolls though!

Now I have four days to do bindings, finish the other bath time terry cloth aprons I have, and hopefully make a few more dresses since my store description said there would be little girl dresses and so far I've only finished two.

I am amazed at what a workout sewing can be.  I feel like I'm spending hours working out at the gym.  My pedal foot is exhausted, simply from being in the pressing-on-the-pedal position.  And the sewing and not snacking has meant I've actually lost weight from all this prep.  2 more lbs to my wedding weight.  With this much work to be done I might make it by the weekend!

Today I brave using the bias tape maker that I got for my birthday.  I have a lot of binding to do now, and fast.

My parents get here on Thursday.  I'm hoping I can have everything almost done by the time they arrive.  So now, off to sew!

Week Ending: Volume 2

This was our single long weekend before Paul's classes started today and he was back into the swing of law school (his last final was last Tuesday).  The weather went from the girls complaining it was hot, to an occasional snow flake and an incredibly cold (for May) wind.  Here they are at the start of our long weekend about to get into a fight over that umbrella...  Don't they look peaceful?

Then Mae realizes it's her umbrella... and because it has Dora on it, she wants it:

Shortly after this picture  Mama declares that no one gets the umbrella if it's going to be "that big of a deal."

It's okay though.  Because there are better things.  Like wearing Mama's nightshirt with a princess crown:

And enjoying our time with Daddy while he was home a bit more:

And slowing down long enough for Mommy to get one good non-blurry picture!

Patrick pretending to be a baby seal.

He's our least chubby baby.

Have you ever wondered how many diapers you could fit on your head?

No?

Mae has.  And she knows the answer...

We walked to Mass on Sunday (and boy was the wind we were walking into much colder than I expected):

But mostly I sewed and sewed and sewed.  I'd estimate over 50 hours in Paul's five days off.  Then, at 11pm last night the sewing machine stopped sewing (and I had been cleaning it).  I took it completely apart this morning:

I cleaned.  I oiled.  I fiddled.  I tightened some things.  I loosened others and retightened them.  I took it apart and put it back together a couple dozen times.  I worked and worked and worked some more.  And then... finally... after two hours of fiddling... we were back in business:

I now have 42 quilts quilted.  I should have 45 done barring any disasters.  Although my sewing machines middle name seems to be "disaster" so we'll see.

I'm linking up with Re-inventing Mother for her Week Ending link up party!  And you should go over and check out her pictures because I'm pretty sure she was sewing a Rapunzel dress for a princess this weekend!

What I Wore Sunday: Everything That Happened on Mother's Day Edition

Things are a bit chaotic at the moment around here.  In the past days I've spent over 50 hours sewing.  And then last night it became clear that my sewing machine desperately needed oil, during it's second cleaning of the week, and after ransacking the house there was no sewing machine oil to be found.  So I'm not impatiently awaiting the opening of the sewing store to go get a small bottle of oil and I'm praying that that stops the squeaking/ripping the bobbin case out of place problem that's been going on (I suspect it will fix it).  It did mean an "early" night last night at 11, cutting my sewing short by at least an hour.

Yesterday morning Sadie proudly brought me the Mother's Day gift that she'd picked out all by herself. I'll admit I was a little nervous about it because in the previous days her lack of self control in keeping her exciting I-picked-out-a-present-for-Momma secret had resulted in her telling me she'd gotten me "a black shirt" and then assuring me that I shouldn't worry because she'd made sure there were "slashes" for Patrick to nurse out of.  Since they bought it from a store without a nursing section I wasn't quite sure what "slashes" meant.

So she excitedly told me she couldn't wait for me to wear my new shirt to Mass and then handed over a incredibly sheer bathing suit cover up that was cut down to below my rib cage for nursing ease, and arm holes that were apparently designed to show off ones bathing suit from all angles.  Oh and then she requested I just wear it by itself, I guess so that it could shine in all it's super awesomeness.

I gave her a huge laughing hug and said yes I'd wear it to Mass, and no, not by itself and set to work making it... appropriate.  First I paired it with my white and black polka dotted dress (made by me).  With my still very much recovering baby/I've-had-3-c-section muscles I felt like it made me look kind of pregnant (which I'm not) so I kept on layering and added my turquoise sweater (Sadie protested).  And then, because it the sort of day where snow flakes/ice fall from the sky periodically because apparently no one told Michigan that it's May and that some people are planting flowers (although not me yet because I've been too busy sewing, thank goodness!) I threw on my favorite look-it's-spring! jacket.  Here's the final outfit:

And then I added a baby in just in case I wasn't disheveled enough on my own... but at least the baby wasn't wearing a diaper on her head (which is apparently the new look in our little house in toddler fashion):

Admission:  We left Mass after communion yesterday.  We were 75 minutes into Mass, which meant I was 90 minutes, plus walk to Church into carrying a squirming 36 lb Mae, who was wondering why we'd been at Church for an hour and a half and I was about to die.  And Patrick was ready to nurse and be changed.  And our kids apparently have an hour and a half in Mass time limit and the clock had run out.

Right now I'm also trying really hard not to write a post about a certain homily I heard which included the words "Jesus was not a good guy" (that would be a direct quote) but at least the conversation that followed on the way home kept my mind off the fact that I was carrying a cuddling Mae Bae through Artic winds.  But still... what?!?!?!

A while later Paul treated us to lunch where an interesting scene unfolded.  At the table next to ours a large, loud woman began berating the waiter.  She couldn't believe how rude he'd been.  He'd said "Hi, welcome to Chili's!" and then stood in shock as she jumped down his throat for not wishing her a Happy Mother's Day and began to yell at him and demand to see his manager.  The waiter continued to be amazingly polite in the face of the temper tantrum that I can't imagine allowing Mae Bae to have in public, and went and got his manager, who apologized profusely.  "I can't believe this!"  She continued.  "It's Mother's Day and here I am with my family and he doesn't even wish me a Happy Mother's Day."

It was so over the top that I wondered momentarily if we were on that "What Would You Do?" show.

The manager ended up giving them free stuff, and suddenly she was smiling and sweet and the stench of a scam began to drift over.  I was just amazed (and the woman then tried to engage us in conversation, because apparently my I-can't-believe-you-just-did-that face was showing as I instructed our girls on always being polite and kind to waiters and she now wanted to prove to us that she really was sweet and nice or something like that.). I will say that I was especially amazed at how politely the waiter handled the family for the entire hour following her outburst.

In other Mother's Day news, Patrick can now push himself up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth in an attempt to propel himself into a crawl.  His knees had kept slipping backwards after he'd get up (as they were in the picture below) but yesterday he actually stayed up and moved his little back leg forward before toppling over.

This is him a few days ago... he's actually closer to crawling now...
Which I'm totally not ready for because he's supposed to be "little!"

He's so determined to crawl that he wants to be down all the time and hardly tolerates being held when he's not eating.  He has places to try to go and people to try to get away from (like a particular sister who may or may not think he resembles a small pony).

For more WIWS head over to FLAP for the link up!

Sadie's Saturday Morning Nun Talk: Part 4

Sadie and I were working out in the garden earlier this week.  I found that she's an awesome weed puller.  I just have to point her in the direction of weeds and she'll gleefully yank them up by their roots while chatting up a storm.  And I could hardly be surprised by the direction in which she quickly led the conversation.

Sadie:  "Mommy, will you miss me very much?"
Me:  "When Sweetie?"
Sadie:  "Will you miss me very much when I go away to live in Carmel and am a nun and I can't help you work in the garden anymore."
Me:  "Of course I'll miss you!  And who will help me in the garden?"
Sadie:  "Maggie of course!"
Me:  "What if Maggie decides to go with you to become a nun?"  (because Sadie loves pretending that she and Mae are going away to become nuns and she is a Carmelite and Mae is a Dominican)
Sadie:  (after a pause)  "Well, I'm sure you're going to have other babies."

Then she launched into a monologue about how she was going to pray very hard and how she was praying very hard and did I think that if she prayed very hard and loved God with all her heart that God would let her enter Carmel, and I responded that if God wanted her there and she wanted to be there nothing would stand in her way.

I also caught her having this conversation with Patrick:

Sadie:  "Patrick, do you want to be a priest when you grow up?  Do you Patrick?
Patrick:

Sadie: "Do you want to be a priest, Patrick?"
Patrick:

Sadie:  "Patrick, do you want to be a priest someday?  Do you?  When you grow up?"
Patrick:

I could go on and on.  She'll basically ask him the question repeatedly while he smile adoringly up at his big sister and says things like "ga" or "da" and squeals because he's pretty sure she's the most awesome person on the planet (along with Mae Bae who had him in hysterics yesterday when she hopped across the room like a bunny).

Although lately the priest questions are giving way to requests that be become a "friar" or "monk" after watching a movie about Saint John of the Cross.

In other news, we are in the midst of a crisis at the moment.  Sadie's nun habit is missing.  I can only find the cape/cloak part of it.  She's asked me for it every day for two weeks and I just can't find it.  And I have no idea where it is since I've completely folded the clothes on the laundry table, which is where I thought it was hiding.  Hopefully it turns up soon...  although with the length it is now that she's grown I guess I need to start sewing a replacement for the annual "new nun habit" portion of her birthday present that she asks for each year (she's already requested that this year it also be a Carmelite habit).

7 Quick Takes Friday

--- 1 ---

I'm currently watching a certain, pink dress wearing two year old, in mismatched shoes, walk around the room wearing three... oh make that four... pink pull up diapers on her head (as I write the number is up to five).  Apparently diapers can also double as hat/scarves in awesome toddler fashion world.  Who knew?

--- 2 ---

Patrick is now pushing himself up onto his hands and knees and rocking back and forth.

I have to say that I think having to big sisters and wanting to keep up with them/get away from them is a key motivator in his non-step quest to be mobile.

And have I mentioned that I'm not ready to have a crawler yet?  Because I'm not.  With Sadie I was totally excited for every little step forward in mobility.  Now that we're on three I find myself thinking "Hey buddy, if you want to be tiny and stationary and stay where I put you for a little bit longer I'm totally cool with that."

Sadie took her first steps at 12 months.  Mae took hers at 10 (although she wasn't walking well until 12).  I have a feeling Patrick is going to be motivated to be a pretty early walker too.

--- 3 ---

Last night there was drama at our house at 2 am.  And then again at 4 am.  Sadie explained it to me while we were waiting for the doctor like this:

Sadie:  "Last night Mae Bae pinched me."
Me:  "Were you in your bed?"
Sadie:  "No.  We were sitting there looking at each other.  And then she kicked me.  And then she pinched me."
Me:  "I bet if you stayed in your bed she wouldn't kick you or pinch you." (Mae really, really appreciates having her own space when she's sleeping... and a twin bed with a cuddling sister doesn't do it for her).
Sadie:  "I was sleeping in Maggie's bed!  I went over there because I got scared."
Me:  "You got in bed with a Mae Monster because you got scared?"
Sadie:  Giggling: "And she pinched me!"

--- 4 ---

I realized yesterday what bothers me about bugs in my house. It's the "in my house" part.

I took a break from sewing yesterday afternoon to work in the garden.  In all my years of gardening I've never seen so many grubs, worms, centipedes.  Every handful of dirt seems to have some creature in it.  And I couldn't help but thinking about how freaked out I'd been by the centipede speeding across my living room floor yesterday.  It made me feel seriously panicked with that is-a-bug-crawling-on-me feeling for the rest of the night.  In the garden, they don't make me feel creepy at all.  They belong there.  Just not in my house.

A centipede in my house will find a shoe thrown in it's direction with such force that it will disintegrate on contact.  But it's totally welcome in my garden.

My first garden.  Oh and look, it's our first home in the background!

--- 5 ---

Paul filed his paper work for graduation yesterday.  Apparently they put it in really early since 3Ls get to register first.  And even though graduation is still a long ways off, it's pretty exciting.  Five years of grad school down, one to go.  And with the way law school has gone by (each month feels like it's about five minutes long since we're been so busy), I know this year is going to fly by too!

--- 6 ---

I've been loading my old pictures onto Google so that I have them in at least two different places.  And I'm having so much fun looking at the pictures from just a few years ago.  I can't believe how much they've grown:

I can't believe how much they've grown!  And how quickly!

And that has me thinking.  I think Patrick looks like someone else I know.

That's Sadie at six months and Patrick at six months!

--- 7 ---

Fourteen.  That would be the number of diapers I just removed from Mae's head.  She's certainly keeping busy while I'm taking a break typing up a quick post.  And it looks like she's restarting her... um... hat making, again.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!