Levi and the stroller

Levi likes to pile random things into the toy stroller and push it around. Some of his piles from this week:

- Toy bus, toy bulldozer, toy car, and headband



- My shoes, his shoes, his socks, toy pliers, puzzle pieces, toy cars

Levi language

Bedroom reveal

While Mama was here this past week (she left today), we did a lot of work in Jon's and my bedroom. I am now in love with the room. It's calm, clean, and still colorful--just what I wanted. I took some before pictures, so I'll put those first, and then you can scroll down to see the redo. (My favorite parts of the room? Hard to pick, but the chandelier is wonderful, and I also love the April Mist on the walls. A lot.)

BEFORE:




AFTER:




Here are some side-by-side comparisons:















I'm really proud that the whole redo was funded by my pattern shop! And none of this would have gotten done without my mom... Thank you, Mama. We miss you already. :)

I also put all the before/after pictures into a flickr slideshow here.

OK. One more addition: I made this pillow last night. The pleated/ruffly part is ribbon.

Lucy's birthday

Oh, our Lucy. It's hard to put into words the extreme cuteness and the extreme difficulty of Lucy at 3 years old. The difficulty can wait for another post, but for the birthday post, I'll focus on some of the cute stuff. :) She loves princesses, purple and pink, all things sparkly. Her favorite show on TV right now is Fresh Beat Band (music and dancing), and she was mesmerized the other night when she saw some of Dancing with the Stars for the first time. She is a good sleeper/napper and a great eater.

Dancing at the party:



And some pictures, including new Tinkerbell outfit, party at the park, and purple cake (click to enlarge):

Hooray! Hooray! My mom's coming today! :)

Books

I am at "work" today (a long-scheduled day in the office for a freelance editing job) while Jon is home sick. And Nate is sick too. :( I'm feeling terrible about that but am glad Jennifer was able to come over to watch the kids so Jon can stay in bed.

Meanwhile, to make myself feel better about being absent, I used my lunch break to find a couple of cool books I'm getting Nate for his birthday. I got three of the Nate the Great books. I hope they are good!

2 wheels

We finally took off Nate's training wheels today. He was so proud!

D-land

We had a great time at Disneyland yesterday. I started the day thinking Lucy wouldn't make it past one hour in the park before one of us would have to leave with her, but Casey also pointed out that that has so much more of an impact on a child than missing the event entirely (better to have them see what fun it would be and then have to leave it). Lucy did pretty well, considering what "normal" has been the past week or 10 days. Still, I got plenty of these pictures (prompted by, "Lucy, smile!"):






After the lines to park and the lines to take the tram and the line to buy Nate's ticket, we went through the line to get in the park, and we made our way back to the teacups, which were a hit.




Everyone loved It's a Small World:





Even though it was a crowded day (spring break for some schools already), most of the lines for the children's rides weren't more than 30 minutes. The longest wait we endured was the line to meet the princesses, but it was sweet watching Nate and Lucy go up and meet them together.






We even found a place in the park that had fries Nate could eat. Woo hoo! After we ate dinner at that place, we decided to call it a day; Lucy and Nate were tired (Lucy especially--she's used to a 2-hour+ nap every day) and we had already spent 8 solid hours inside the park. We saved plenty to do for next time!

March 17:



Daddy, decorated by Lucy:



Stuck:



Newish haircut (bangs):

Update

Sorry for the nearly-week-long blogging break! I guess we've just been out enjoying the great weather. OH, and we've been dealing with a way-more-difficult-than-usual daughter. Remember that wonderful week she had a few weeks back? Well, it is long gone, and this past week was full of unnecessary tantrums, constant whining/crying, and lots of discipline. Yuck. I took her to the doctor this morning just in case it's an ear infection or something I would later blame myself for not noticing, but apparently she's in tip-top shape. Just a case of the very bad attitudes.

Despite the above info, we are planning on taking Nate and Lucy to Disneyland for the first time tomorrow. Jon and I got free tickets through the "give a day, get a day" promotion, so we only have to pay for Nate (Lucy is free until she turns 3 next week!). It might end up that one of us has to leave the park with Lucy to drive her back to Janel, who is watching Levi for us all day, if her (Lucy's) behavior is poor. We'll see! Funny story: the kids knew we were planning a "special family trip" for tomorrow, but they didn't know the destination. This morning at breakfast, we told them it was Disneyland. Lucy jumped up and down and announced with glee the things/rides she wanted to see/do (princesses! the splashing water ride!). Nate started crying. "I don't want to go to Disneyland!" he said sadly. When we asked him why, he said, "I don't want to see Mickey!" Nate doesn't like dressed-up characters (like Chuck E. Cheese, or the cow at Chick-fil-a). Poor kid! We told him he won't have to see Mickey and it'll be a SUPER fun day.

Craigslist finds

I found a plain bookshelf through Craigslist for $5, and today (with some Mod Podge-y "help" from Lucy and Nate) I finished putting on all of these papers. I really like how it turned out. The shelf is for toy storage, so it will never again look this pretty. ;)

The black cabinet is also a Craigslist find, and I am so excited about it: it's my sewing cabinet! I finally have a place for my machine, iron, fabric, tools, etc. Up 'til now, they'd been neatly stored (haha---more like piled) in the corner of the dining area.

Both of these pieces are in between the dining area and the kitchen, tucked underneath the bar area of the countertop.

Weekend playing

Great giveaway

There's a giveaway over on this blog this week for a gift certificate to Mikarose, a website with stylish, modest clothes. I like the Cynthia dress. :)

Levi pictures

It seems I've only been taking pictures of Levi this week. :)