Thankful

My mind is a flurry today. In the midst of a whirlwind of events going on in our family (updates to come), I'm thankful that I have a healthy happy little girl and a hard-working loving committed hubby.

Count your blessings with me today!

p.s. Many thanks for all the positive comments on my recent apron project! You're instilling me with the confidence I need to dive into a new project!

Repurposing: the first of many projects

My latest sewing project was my first attempt at "repurposing". My sister has been talking up the idea of repurposing to me lately, but I didn't feel confident in my sewing skills to try it.

So, what is repurposing? It's a means of recycling your old clothes by turning them into something else; giving old clothes a new purpose. As we are way below the poverty line right now during Matt's schooling days, this is becoming an exciting prospect for me to create "new" clothes.

My pal Melinda is celebrating a birthday today - Happy Birthday dear! - and after probing her for gift ideas, I discovered she was in need of an apron. I could have just sewn an apron from scratch, but do you know how expensive material is these days?!? Even our wal-mart's sewing department has downsized and has upped their prices on fabric. Instead, I came across a dress for 50 cents at salvation army made of really nice material, and I thought I'd transform it into an apron for Melinda.

As my sewing skills are elementary at best, I did some internet researching before beginning the apron project. I found some apron patterns and then I hit the jackpot: instructions for converting a full skirt into a half-apron! I wanted to do a full apron for Melinda, but these online directions gave me some very helpful ideas and a starting point.

Check out the photos below to see how the dress was transformed into a new apron! I'm very pleased with the result (and so was Melinda - yay!) and this project has given me a fresh wind of confidence to do more repurposing. I think my next project will be a tiered summer skirt for Chloe. Happy repurposing!





















The original dress after I cut out the buttons and center front seam.






















The first big cuts - this was scary!

















More cutting to give it a scoopy neck and to straighten the sides.

















Cut some length from the bottom and sewed up all the unfinished edges with a zigzag stitch (my new favorite!).

















Adding some fabulous ribbon for the waistband.






















The finished apron!






















Chloe models the apron. She's not hooked on repurposing yet. :)

Some sweet deals

I found some amazingly sweet deals yesterday while shopping with Chloe. I came across this flower cake pan on the Wal-mart clearance aisle and it wasn't packaged or priced anywhere. So, a manager had to be called and he offered a price of $2 for the pan. I immediately snatched it up and declared it mine (trying not to be too enthusiastic in case he sensed that and upped the price on me). Chloe's 2nd bday party is now going to be flower-themed and I'm about to dive into the world of wilton cake decorating!

Another good deal we found as at a local bread thrift store. We have a bread company located in our town and the thrift store adjoins the factory (makes for some yummy smells!). We picked up 2 loaves of 12 grain bread (without HFCS in the ingredient listing - yay!) for $1.50 total. I popped them in the freezer and we'll be set on bread for a few weeks.

Jo-ann's was our last stop and as always, we found some deals. I was looking for ribbon for a project and ended up finding LOTS of sale ribbon. Chloe decided to poop and be extra curious (and I was the dummy who let her out of the cart) so I didn't have time to thoroughly investigate all the sale ribbons. I plan to go back though and see if I can find enough ribbon to make a skirt for Chloe. I'll keep you posted on that budding sewing project!

What deals has the Lord brought across your path lately?

Chloe the gardener

As my favorite flower is the tulip, that's the kind of flower we have planted in our front and side flowerbeds! We have about 40 red tulips in the front and maybe 10 yellow/orange parrot tulips on the side bed. Chloe has taken to helping me water the tulips. Matt has also taken Chloe outside with him to work in the backyard several times. Each time we go out to garden, Chloe gets her hat and her "tools" (watering can, rake, hoe, and shovel).

I snapped these photos this afternoon as the tulips (and Chloe too of course) were looking vibrant and lovely.

I even did a wee video of her watering and have discovered that I am quite a pesky videographer! Chloe was intent on her gardening and I distract her constantly from her task. You'll see what I mean below . . .






















The view of Chloe and tulips from our porch.

















What a cute little gardener!
















Here's Chloe watering the dirt and weeds. :)



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A very busy few days

In an effort to get out of the house to give Matt his needed quiet study time (he's only got 2.5 more weeks left of school for the semester and has several papers due), Chloe and I have been living it up! Seems like every day recently we've been going here and there and everywhere.

The craziness started on Thursday (when Chloe wore the red outfit at left - isn't that darling?) when we attended my weekly women's Bible study and then I tutored afterwards. Friday we went to the park with my pal Melinda and her tribe of fun-loving children and then out to lunch. We soaked up the warm 70 degree sunshine and Chloe attempted to go down the slide backwards on her tummy - not such a good idea but no major injuries.

Saturday Chloe and I spent the day walking around my favorite little nearby town - Hudson. It's a very walkable and unique town and we discovered it has the most AMAZING library ever!!!! The building itself is astounding more nearly resembling a state capitol building than a library. While in Hudson we also feasted on a yummy red velvet cupcake (there's a whole shop just devoted to creating neat cupcakes on main street!), did some window shopping, saw a train (that Chloe could NOT stop talking about when we got home), and rummaged through several sale bins at Gymboree (I think this is the first time EVER that I found a 99 cent bin there).

Today was a whirlwind of activity as we hustled to get ready for church in time. How do people do this with more than one child?!? It didn't help matters that I was inspired to cook banana pancakes and bacon for breakfast. I think I need to resort to cereal for Sundays if I can't get up early enough. Any secrets for a less stressful Sunday morning?

We enjoyed a lovely Sunday morning of worship and teaching though my mind wasn't focusing very well. When we're running late I have a difficult time settling down my mind to listen.

Anywho, our day isn't over yet! Later this afternoon Chloe and I will be attending a birthday for a little girlfriend of hers from her weekly library storytime. Kylea is turning two and we'll be there to help celebrate. I'm excited for Chloe but also a little nervous as this is her first real birthday party to attend and I don't know what to expect. It's another sunny gorgeous day here so I'm sure most of the time will be spent with the kids playing outside and the parents gabbing.

That's what we've been up to lately. How have you and your family been enjoying the recent spring weather?





















Chloe's cute little outfit for our Saturday morning out on the town.


















Smoothie, anyone?

Chloe cooks

Yesterday as I was getting supper together, Chloe decided (through no prompting of mine) to prepare some vittles for her beloved panda. She got out a pan, some dishes she deemed appropriate and proceeded to whip up some alphabet soup. We're talking literal alphabet soup here. Panda didn't say much, but he seemed to enjoy the meal.

The bonus cute-thing with this cooking experience was that Chloe was SO into it! She is usually a camera magnet and as soon as she hears the camera's turning-on-noise she runs to my side to see the display on the back. But while she cooked she was completely serious and focused.

Do your kiddos enjoy pretending to cook? Or is this just a copying mommy thing?







Chloe and her pot of soup. Look closely to see the letter magnets she swiped from the fridge to use for her alphabet soup.

















Chloe and getting everything ready for panda. She asked me for a napkin for him too. He must be a messy eater. And he likes to eat out of a coffee filter. Strange bear.


















The place setting complete with cup, fork, napkin and spoon.

New gadgets

I've come across some neat new-to-me internet gadgets this past week. Take a gander below. Hope some of them can be helpful to you!

1. Google homepage gadget: This is a very cool tool from the geniuses at google. I love this one. It's a personalized homepage where you can in one glance see your google reader (to see which blogs you subscribe to have been updated), the weather(a must for me as a stay-at-home mom who likes to take walks), your gmail account, and anything else interesting you'd like to add. On my personalized homepage I also have top news stories, a national geographic photo of the day, and a daily comic from dilbert. It's saved me loads of time already in blogging. Check it out at on the google blog.
   
2. Facebook: Ok, I realize I'm a bit behind the time with this one. Seems like everyone has already discovered the glories of facebook. I admit, I've become addicted to it since I'm a newbie. It's so much easier to connect with folks on facebook than on blogging and it seems to be a much safer system than myspace. How many of you do facebook? My only concern is that I'll have to prioritize my time between blogging and facebook-ing so that I don't waste time on the computer. Any thoughts on how to do so?
3. Gmail: Again, I'm slow here. I realize gmail has been around for awhile and since its inception I've been dragging my feet about switching. And that's largely because I couldn't find a nice easy user name for gmail. But after a few more tries, I came up with a user name that wasn't taken - YAY! Anyways, for what seems like years now I've been wanting to ditch my hotmail account. I abhor the continual advertisements from victoria's secret and singles websites which plaster photos of scantily clad women (why would a women subject herself to so much ogling and debase herself to a mere body?!? that's a topic for another post). I have also noticed lately that I've been getting more junk mail in my junk mail folder through hotmail. Even though I have my hotmail account set to the strictest settings, junk is floating through. My other reservation about switching is that I dread the idea of contacting everyone who emails me and notifying them of my new email address. Sigh. So far, I am very pleased with gmail and highly recommend it!
   

Headwear

I don't have anything thrilling to blog about today, so I thought I'd post some new photos of Chloe. I've been putting my homemade headbands on Chloe a lot lately. She's been great about leaving them in and not messing with them. And she looks so darling! Plus, it's much quicker to slap a headband on her than to deal with barrettes and ponytail holders.

How do you like to fashion your little one's hair?













Chloe's getting all her necessities together for Bible study.


















Green headband. Not too sure about putting the bow in front. (Check out those cheeks!)

















Mom, I just love wearing my new headband!






















Headbands are great for most activities but gardening with daddy requires a hat, shovel, and my green purse.

Be careful with bubbles

Boy, am I thanking the Lord that today is Friday! Honestly, last night I didn't think I could face today. The weather has been so horribly crummy that it's house-bound Chloe and I all week long. We don't have a car to escape the stir-crazy doldrums of our home, so our activities have been limited.

Thankfully, I got a nap in before Matt left for school (thanks, dear!) and Chloe and I even got some much needed fresh air this morning. We bundled up and went out on the porch to play with the football and to blow some bubbles. Chloe became interested in our plastic watering can, so I sifted through the mail and enjoyed the bright sunshine. Fifteen minutes later I start gathering our things up to go inside and as I do so Chloe says (emphatically), "Bubbles, bubbles!" I had set the bubbles on our porch railing because though Chloe is tall, I didn't think she'd be able to reach it there. The next thing I hear (this all happens in seconds, mind you) is SPLASH as the bubble container opens and comes tumbling down on top of Chloe's head. And then the crying and screaming began. Poor little girl had bubble solution drenching her head, face and it had gotten into her eyes! I scooped her up and raced upstairs to the shower. I didn't even strip her clothes (or mine for that matter) as I let the warm water wash away the bubbly mess. After all the suds were rinsed away, I cuddled Chloe in a towel and told her how she needs to be careful with bubbles and to always let mommy get them down for her. She wimpered and said pathetically, "bubbles . . . careful". It was so cute the way she said it that I laughed, cried, and hugged her tighter to my wet self.

The Lord is certainly keeping me hopping with Chloe today! Probably so that I don't dwell in the mire of self-pitying thoughts. We've been through 3 outfits so far, one extremely messy poopy diaper (why do I use cloth diapers again?), and the day isn't over yet. Matt's going to cut short his class tonight so he can be home early and then we're off for a family date night on the town. Yeehaw!

Hope you and yours have a swell weekend and watch out for those dangerous bubbles!

Chloe goes old-school

My grandma picked-up this bunny sweater for Chloe some time last year and I finally pulled it out of the deep recesses of Chloe's closet yesterday. It's a 3T, but a vvvvvvvvvvvery tight 3T. We had quite a time getting it over Chloe's massive head.

It's a cute little sweater on her but it's totally old-school. I kept flashbacking to days of childhood whenever I looked at her! Something about the color and style of it reminds me of the 1980's. Am I mad? What do you think of her sweater?




























Chloe styles her retro sweater and sports a hip untucked-onesie look.

God's creative provision

God has lavished His goodness on us lately! He's been so creative about it too. It makes me smile. :) Here are some of the ways He's provided for our needs and wants . . .

• A new-to-us queen sized bed!! Complete with mattress, frame, headboard and boxspring. We've been praying and planning to buy a new queen sized bed since our full size has been giving us sleeping fits. God provided this bed through some friends free of charge!
• Medical insurance coverage through the state of Ohio. Our case worker finally got her act together and realized that we do indeed qualify for state health coverage. We'll be scheduling lots of doctor and dentist appointments this spring!
• A lovely supply of Easter chocolates and goodies in a spring care package from family members. What an unexpected blessing!

Chloe loves markers

Chloe has been asking to color with markers a lot lately. I think it's because she discovered she can color on things other than paper . . . .



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Easter Sunday celebrations

Yup, you guessed it. I tried ragging Chloe's hair again for church. And THIS time I wisely aired a portion of the Curious George movie to keep her still while I worked slowly and carefully on her head.

The result was Shirley-Templesque! Chloe's curls mind you weren't the beautifully perfect springy spirals of little Shirley, but in my opinion she looked cuter in her slightly-wild curly hair. Add a well-placed pink bow, her homemade dress from abuela and Chloe was a vision of Easter cuteness!

I tried REALLY hard to get a cute photo of Chloe at church, but it was a wild morning. We served in the nursery for the 2nd and 3rd services plus it was our turn to bring snacks for the workers and we also packed a lunch since we knew we'd be at church for so long. As you can imagine, I was one busy whirlwind of preparation this morning.

All that to say I took lots of photos, but none truly captured Chloe's adorableness. After her brief nap this afternoon, I took more shots at home and the curls looked better a bit combed out.

Our Easter service was a celebration of Jesus! It was immensely encouraging and Christ-focused. The music was a special treat to my heart. The Gettys led/organized the music and it was stirring and chocked full of truth. If you have time, I highly recommend you to listen online.

After lots of Masters viewing (bummer about Tiger but we were very impressed with Z. Johnson) we had a family Easter dinner of all the traditional staples - ham, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, rolls, salad and peach cobbler for dessert. Everything turned out yummily!

Hope you greatly enjoyed your Easter Sunday festivities. Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son!






















I couldn't bear to put Chloe in her dress to eat breakfast so I just slapped her tights on with a sweater. I had to include this photo to show my sister that Chloe is not the chub-tart she thinks she is. :) Love you, Shauna.


















Chloe pretending she's a crawling baby.























I know this shot cuts off Chloe's face, but it shows the lovely dress that abuela Horn made. Thank you, abuela!























This was the ONLY photo I took of Chloe at church. Here we're eating our lunch. Our church has such great facilities!

















Chloe's beautiful golden curls.

















Chloe: half girl/half squirrel

















Chloe tried SO HARD to get milk to come out of her baby bottle.

















Daddy and Chloe share a laugh.

Chloe's wins her first major award

[A photo at left of the champion with her loot.] Yesterday we received a phone call declaring that Chloe had won a prize in our local drug store's easter coloring contest. By exhibiting superior coloring for a 19 month old (soon to be 20 month old), Chloe reined in this immense chocolatey bunny award thereby crushing her competitors in the 0-3 age group category.

Nevermind that there were only 2 other competitors in her age group (1 that was disqualified for cheating - seriously!). And nevermind that I think favoritism by the judges might have been a contributing factor to Chloe's win. Chloe is the coloring queen!

Little does Chloe know, her parents plan on making the bunny disappear tonight so that other children may benefit from the bunny's chocolatey goodness. :) Call us meanie-heads, but we're not about to embark on the mess and sugar high that this innocent bunny represents.






















Chloe tried her hardest to release the chocolate bunny from its plastic cage while pleading, "Open, open?"

















A close-up of the prize winning picture. Notice how well she colored that bottom left chick's feet! I know, I'm a dorky proud mama. :)

















This was the best shot we could get of Chloe, her picture and the bunny.






















The monster bunny says, "You will not eat me! I will eat you! Bwua-ha-ha!"

Good Friday thoughts

In preparation for Easter, I've been reading the different gospel accounts of the holy week. (When you read them side by side, it's so interesting to see the difference emphases and perspectives of the writers!)

I was struck last night by two thoughts: 1) the power of Jesus and 2) Jesus' complete trust in God the Father's plan.

John records that when the accusers came to arrest Jesus, He answered, "I am he" and they drew back and fell down at the power of His words. Wow!!! You'd think the accusers would know something was different about Jesus when they reacted that way to His simple declaration of identity.

Jesus also showed His power in restraint. When I read how the mob spat on Him and mocked Him in the book of Mark, I felt my blood boiling. If I were in Jesus' shoes, I would have used all my power to embarrass them or to come down from the cross to show them who was boss. But Jesus showed restraint and allowed Himself to be subject to God the Father's will and ways. His willingness to trust God completely is shown in His subjection to the cross.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. [1 Peter 2:24]

A silly video and headbands

We have COLD SNOWY weather here in northeast Ohio today. Yuck!

Check out this cute (and brief) video of Chloe trying to sing . . .


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The sewing bug has bitten me again! This morning I sewed up the ends of some wide ribbons I'd bought to make cheap headbands for Chloe. I found each ribbon on sale at Jo-Ann's for 25 or 50 cents a yard. As ribbons are known for their unravelling tendencies, I sewed up the ends on a slant with a quick zig-zag stitch. I'm very pleased the outcome. Now I just need the secret to get Chloe to sit still long enough to tie these headbands on her wiggly head! I'm thinking I should put on a body-numbing movie to get her to sit still and then covertly sneak the headband on.

A hodgepodge

Thanks to all who commented on our Chloe Spring Fashion Show! Official results were . . .
White embroidered shirt/Jeans: 5 votes
Denim dress: 2 votes
Green polka dot skirt/Polo shirt: 2 votes
Mint green pants/White sleeveless top: 1 vote

My favorite is (drumroll please) . . . . the green polka dot skirt get-up. It's simply adorable on Chloe! And I'm a total sucker for polka-dots.

We are enjoying a beautiful day here in northeast Ohio. I can hardly believe that our porch thermometer reads above the 60 degree marking and is headed towards 70!!! This calls for a long walk after supper. Speaking of weather, has anyone else heard that our beloved midwest is scheduled for some snow on Easter weekend?!? Our forecast says snow and 30's for Easter Sunday - yucky! Oh well, it will certainly be an Easter to remember! Hiding eggs in the snow will be a new experience. I just hope our tulips will survive the last blast of winter.

What are your plans for Resurrection Sunday? Do you have any special family traditions for Easter? Do you do special dresses/outfits for your little ones? Who do you celebrate with?

After serving in the nursery at church on Easter morning, we'll be celebrating with our pals down the street - the Mack family. We have no family in Ohio, and the Macks have kindly invited us to join their festive tribe (they have 6 fun kiddos) again this year for Easter dinner. Chloe absolutely LOVES going to visit them and playing with all the Mack progeny. She's getting pretty stinkin' good at saying all the kids' names too! Though she often forgets Brittany. Sorry, dear Brittany!

I'm still not sure what Chloe will wear for Easter Sunday. No homemade dresses this year. Her closet is bulging at the seams with cute dresses so there was no need to labor over a sewing machine this year. I'll be sure to post photos of our cutie pie in whatever she ends up wearing!

Here are a few recent photos of our crazy girl . . .


















Chloe and her chocolate pudding beard.

















Yo, my name is Chloe and I'm here to say, toddlers have fun in a majah way! Word to my homies! (Sorry, had to borrow the rap lyrics from the old Flintstone's pebbles commercial - my knowledge of rap is majorly lacking.)























Chloe models her pretty dress made by abuela Horn before church this morning. She looked so lovely and like such a big girl!



















Here's my best kissy-face for the camera, mom!