more from daycare

our daycare provider sent these photos this afternoon:

sammy and his friend, juliet, out for a drive.

sammy and the new dog, ginny, having a visit on the kitchen floor.

i know that sam has a good time at daycare, but it's nice to have photographic evidence.

fun finds

i know a few grown-ups who would have a lot of fun with a few rolls of this tape (yes, that includes me). i bet there are a few nephews that would too.

thought this was also cute, but i'm not sure it would be put to it's proper use that much.

(found via)

this message brought to you by elmo

sometimes we watch sid the science kid, or curious george, but elmo is clearly our favorite. thanks to elmo (and his sesame street friends, and elmo dvds from the library) we can have clean dishes, clean and ironed and folded clothes, freelance work done, posts on the blog, dinner made, a showered mom, AND best of all, a happy boy. we. love. elmo.

i have reason to be proud

here's a snippet from the email i got from sam's daycare yesterday:

"We so love Sam's company - he is one of the brightest, happiest, most engaging and most engaged little boys ever to grace our domain, and good golly but he's so darn cute with that blond hair and summer tan!! Ye Gods, girl....hope you make some more of those! :)"

mike says that no one would tell me even if sam wasn't wonderful, but i believe it's all true.

more cookies

made some traditional chocolate chip cookies yesterday, sorta. i substituted 2 cups of white melting chocolates (chopped) for the chips, and for some reason had to add extra flour. or maybe i added extra flour…sam was rather distracting at the time, and there's a good chance that i mis-counted how many half cups i had put in. the world may never know, but in any case, mike and sam both said they were good.

after delivering a good-size box last night to the in-laws' new house, i've still got quite a few left and am thinking they may end up going to church with us tomorrow, as the boys are unlikely to eat them all on their own (though sam is sure to volunteer!)

i am wondering though, what would happen if you substituted a tsp of raspberry flavoring instead of the vanilla? would you even taste it? i may have to find out.

because i like projects

i convinced mike that we should by this chair from craigslist for $10 in the hopes that i could rehab it into fabulousness.

at first, being the natural wood kind of girl that i am, i originally thought i would just refinish it and maybe have the seat re-caned (or whatever), but now i'm thinking white paint and a bold, graphic-print fabric seat (see inspiration here, here, and here). i mean, it's not what i would typically do, but sometimes something different can be fun and liberating and whatnot, right?

what would you do?

what to wear: summer truck-spotting expeditions

sam in his vintage outfit (with color-coordinated, vehicular accessory, no less). i'm not quite sure how old this outfit is, but i think sam rocks it.

the problem with quilting

i've been wanting to try my hand at quilting for a long time, and since we're planning on putting sam into his own bed sometime soon, i thought now might be the time to dive in and give it a try. i've gotten a few fat quarters to work with that will color coordinate with what's already in his room, but i'm having a hard time deciding on what i'd like to pattern to look like. even with relatively simple shapes (squares and triangles only, please), there are so many possibilities…

i'm hoping to jump in soon (it would be nice to have the handwork ready for driving to minnesota), but for motivation and inspiration, i've been looking at some quilting books i borrowed from mom, as well as this and this.

status updates are sure to follow. also, advice is much appreciated.

fantastic fourth

my wash is in the machine, my boy is napping, and we are slowly recovering from our busy fourth of july weekend festivities.

we take this holiday very seriously, and try to pack in as much fun as can possibly fit, which means we were visiting and driving, playing and laughing, running and swimming, celebrating and eating until we were worn down to the nubs. sam actually conked out during the fireworks twice (once on saturday at the farm, and once on the fourth during the city fireworks)! maybe he couldn't get to sleep last night because there was no booming serenade...?

the highlight of the weekend? probably watching sam chase after his cousins—the laughing, screaming trio were a sight to see. i wish i had taken some photos or video of them, but i guess i'll have to be content with the memory.

of course, sam might say that the tractor rides were pretty high up on the fun scale. at one point i asked him if he would like to live with the tractor, and the answer was a definite yes.

now back to our regular chaos…until next weekend, that is!