When we went to my parents for Memorial Weekend, We had my friend, Angi, take some photos of Joseph. She is an amazingly talented photographer and just started her own company, Three Oranges Photography!
Angi was fantastic to work with: very professional, fun and great at making us feel relaxed and comfortable. Exactly how you want to be when being photographed. I HIGHLY recommend her to everyone in the Chicagoland area. Here are some shots she took, let her work speak for itself:
Shawn’s co-worker and friend will be having a little girl any second. I was racing to get this done before she went into labor and was able to give it to her over the weekend. I told her, “Now you are allowed to have that baby!”
I have to admit that this was a difficult one to let go, I really fell in love with the pattern and color palette. I love doing quilts for baby girls that are in feminine, but not “baby,” colors. All of the fabrics are from Joann’s and I found half of them in the clearance bin. Crazy, huh? That floral focal fabric is amazing. I wish that I had more of it, but I was lucky to get the last yard and a half off the bolt.
I hand-tied the quilting again. I thought that it would soften up the look and be a nice contrast with the “adult” print and color palette. I purchased some curved quilting needles and this made the process so much easier. No struggling to get through the fabric or pricked fingers.
Good luck to Suzy and Jake, I hope that little Lucy makes her appearance soon!
I very special little girl will be turning seven next week, so I wanted to make her something for her birthday. I’ve been wanting to try out this pattern from The Purl Bee for a while now and thought this was the perfect occasion. The pattern was fairly simple to follow, however I made a few minor changes to the dress. I hope she likes it.
I had grand plans of putting in a garden this year, but taking care of a newborn squashed that idea flat. I was able to get a couple of containers filled with some grape tomatoes and here’s my first harvest. I think I’ll throw a few in a salad and the rest I’ll just eat like, well, grapes.
It’s a sad day for space travel. Sally Ride, the first American woman to ever travel to space, passed away at the age of 61 after a bout with pancreatic cancer. She’s best known for breaking NASA’s gender barrier by flying on Space Shuttle Challenger on June 18th, 1983, but she spent much more of her time guiding our future in space while here on Earth – she founded NASA’s Office of Exploration and directed its early strategy and later went on to lead the California Space Institute. Her final decade saw her establish Sally Ride Science to encourage students wanting to follow in her footsteps, especially girls.
This super hot, steamy weather is not very conducive to spending a lot of time outside with Joseph, so we’ve been hiding out in the AC lately. Something we like to do ( Joe supervises) is bake. Cookies are always good because they’re easy and fairly quick. These are a go to in our house:
Chocolate Chip Cookies
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 a bag of chocolate chips.
Preheat oven to 375. Combine butter, sugars, and vanilla. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix in chocolate chips. Use teaspoon and scoop onto un-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 11 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet and let cook on baking rack. Enjoy!
TIPS: Here are a few things that I always do that I think make for a superior cookie.
Something that I’ve been meaning to do for the past couple of months, but just got it together. I went through Vanguard and set it up online. Took a total of 15 minutes. Easy Peasy. Now all we have to do is worry about his entrance essay and SAT scores.
Today I signed up for the March of Dimes Night Moves Race!
The event is Friday, September 21st. You can either run a 5K, 5 miles, or walk. I am doing the 5K and my goal is to run the entire time. (Gulp) I’ll be running both in memory of the twins, Mary & Christopher, as well as in celebration of Joseph. If you are interested is supporting an amazing cause, feel free to help me reach my fundraising goal here.
I’ve been doing the Couch to 5K program for the past few weeks now and for as much as I hate running, it is a really great program. I got the app for it on my iPhone, which is wonderful because it will run in the background and will tell me when to switch to running and walking while still allowing me to listen to music. No looking at my watch or anything.
It’s an eight week program, there’s about ten more weeks until the race, so I know that I have enough time to be comfortable running the entire distance.
My sister is doing the training as well. I can’t tell you how much this helps me. We check in with each other and give moral support. I’m hoping she’ll be able to run the race together.
I’ll check in again soon to let you know my progress.
This month I have really started to interact with the world. I love to sit up and see the what’s happening around me, especially while in my Bumbo seat and in my Jumperoo. I am constantly rolling onto my tummy and pushing my self up on my hands. I am getting really good at grabbing everything: toys, bibs, my bottle, fingers, and mommy’s hair. I love to laugh and smile all the time. I sleep through the night all the time now, usually from 8:30 until 6am. I am quite the morning person, just like daddy. I really enjoy swimming in the pool and splashing in my tub. I’m starting to get my two bottom teeth and hope they come in soon, they hurt! I also love to screech and talk in a LOUD voice. Sometimes, I even startle myself when I make a big noise. I can’t hardly wait to see what I’ll be able to do next month!
This month’s box was put together in collaboration with the beauty editors from Glamour magazine.
Widdershins 