Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Idaho & Sewing

The two don't really have anything to do with each other.... except for the fact that we just got back from Idaho and I've been doing some sewing.

The kids and I took off on the 2nd and headed to Idaho for a quick visit.
My parents (along with a business partner) bought a hotel and are converting to student housing.  I had to go to draw up the plans.  We weren't originally going to go, but the more my Dad got into things there the more apparent it became that in order to draw it well I needed to be there and see it.  
So we packed up and took off.
We had a lovely visit.  I always enjoy going back to Rexburg.   It was great seeing TJ, Steph and the kids again, although I didn't get to visit with them as much as I would have liked.  I was on a deadline and drawing with the kids around was a little difficult... so I was a little stressed, but things got done.  It was fun staying in the "hotel", although of all the rooms only 10 had water, and of those 10 only 3 had beds, and two had air conditioners.  They bought the hotel at auction and the previous owners didn't seem to respect property much.
The evenings were very nice.  We would roll a few chairs out onto the "porch" prop our feet up on the handrail and watch the cars as they passed by.  The temperatures had cooled down from the heat of the day, and there were NO mosquito's eating us alive.

Since we got back I've made Maria a dress and a couple pairs of pants.
Here is the dress and Maria striking a pose where you can actually see the dress.

I think she just went thru a growth spurt, her pants are all getting too small and her toes are making holes in her jammies.  I made her a pair of leggings (because I just happened to have the fabric) and a pair of khakis.....

BUT, she's got a big bit of a bum and I didn't give the pants enough rise in the rear, so when she plays it's not exactly a pretty sight..... so we'll send these off to a cousin who will hopefully fit these a little better.

Maria's 3rd Birthday.

I wrote this post quite a while ago.... but something happened and most of it was erased.
I was too frustrated to start over again at the time.... but it has been over a week and I really should record this.

Yesterday was Maria's 3rd Birthday.  She is a "big grrr".  
We started off the day with a special "breakfast" of  strawberries and whipped cream.
Of course there were candles in the whipped cream, we sang and she blew out the candles
She was so excited.  She LOVES singing happy birthday and blowing out candles.  She kept saying that this was so great.
We ran some errands in the morning.  We had to pick out some birthday cupcakes (Maria got to pick both her's and Coopers.)  We also went to the store and got 3 fish for my big 3 year old.
She loves her fish and she named them.... but i can't remember the names now... oh wait.   Eedee, Eybee, and Nemo.
We also picked up some ballerina clothes.  She likes Angelina Ballerina and anytime there is dancing in any television program she will start dancing.
Here she is doing a cross between a couple of moves that Miss Karen taught her.
For lunch we had Mac & Cheese with candles & Happy Birthday one more time.  She was so excited.
Then Cooper went down for a nap and Maria got a manicure and pedicure (thanks Mom for all the supplies!)
Here she is showing off her beautiful painted nails.
We picked some vegetables from the garden and hung the laundry on the line to dry.
Then Cooper woke up and we played outside some more.

Roasted veggies for dinner with more candles and singing of Happy Birthday for the 3rd time.
Part of me wanted to stop singing Happy Birthday after the 3rd time it being her 3rd Birthday and all, but we still had cupcakes to go. So we made it an even 4.



We didn't want cooper to feel left out so he got to blow out candles once.
Then the kids dug in.  Maria ate hers like an ice cream cone.
.... but she didn't get very far... didn't even make it down to the cake part.
neither did Cooper.

Maria is a super special "big grrr".  
A few things about my 3 year old girl.
She doesn't have a favorite color.... she still doesn't know her colors...
BUT she can count to 10 in both English and Spanish (on good days)
She loves to sing and dance.
She loves chocolate.
She loves cereal.
She wants her bread without the peels (aka. crusts)
She is potty trained and does pretty good going by herself.
She loves feeding the chickens and gathering the eggs.  
She likes my old barbies and all their wonderful clothes from the 80's.
She loves it when I sew her clothes (which makes me happy).
She loves going to the library and parks.
She misses her Daddy and knows that he is in Honduras.
She loves going for rides in cars and on the tractor and the lawn mower.
She is no longer afraid of dogs.
She doesn't really play well with others... she is a toy hog.  She plays SO well alone. 
She loves to sleep with me and cuddle until she has fallen asleep.
She loves to help and can vacuum out her car seat very well.
A couple of her favorite songs are "Say Hey (I Love You)" and "Sweet Caroline".  She loves to have those songs turned up really loud in the car so she can sing loud.  She asks for them to be repeated over and over and over.