At the Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch last night. Can you tell that the boys had a little bit of fun? Why is it always more fun to pick a pumpkin from a pile of hay bales, than it is to pick it out of a bin at the grocery store? Who knows? It just is.

And there's always the added bonus that I might get a photo of my boys hamming it up after I tell them to act like they like each other.


All in all, a fun time was had by everyone.

Nursery Reveal

I know you've all been waiting with baited breath, for the big nursery reveal. Drumroll please...

Ta da!!



I'm so pleased with how everything came together! Ev says it has an awful lot of blue to be a gender neutral nursery, but I think that any little girl would be happy to have a restful, aqua nursery like this. I must say, I could not have done it alone. My independent, long-distance consultants on this project were, my sister and my Mom. My dear, long-suffering Mom who heard about every change of plans, every hiccup and every success. (Thank goodness for unlimited long-distance phone!) I am also so thankful for my calm, steady husband who coached me through a dresser-handle-panic, solved my problems and patiently spent his one hour of free time hanging my curtain rod. Thanks, Baby!!



And now, details, details, details. I struggled with how to add color to my caramel colored room with brown carpet and white furniture, and finally settled on wall decals. I don't normally like them much, but something about these appealed to me. Maybe it is the understated, modern simplicity. I found them here, on Etsy. They were not difficult to put up, and seem to be sticking fine to my heavily textured walls. But it is definitely not a one-person job. Many thanks to my dear friend, Brittney for tackling that project with me! After staring at fabric swatches online for many hours, hoping to sew my own crib accessories, I finally fell in love with the Full Circle line from Land of Nod. No surprise, it's by one of my favorite modern quilt designers, Denyse Schmidt. She designed the baby quilt that I made for my niece last year. From there, all I had to do was pull together the details, including this fantastic Anemone fabric for the drapes and adorable Tweets paper for lining the dresser drawers. As an aside, I did splurge on one little thing that is actually for the baby. See that little lamb on the dresser? I found it (where else?) on Etsy. Loving it!! Did I forget anything? I'm not sure, but I'm so excited to have the nursery completed and ready to go. Now we're really ready for Baby Three to come!

Blast into Fall Knitting

Check out this adorable knitted rocket ship. It turns out that one of my new friends from the swim team, Megan, is a fantastic and inspiring knitter. (It also turns out that when you knit in public you quickly meet fellow knitters.) Her son is about Braden's age and brought a similar rocket ship to practice one day. Braden admired it so much that she very sweetly knitted up this cutie, and he was holding it in his own two hands the next day. Another day, Braden took his stuffed squirrel to practice and a few day later Braden's squirrel had his own roving acorn. (Every time I say that it sounds like an acorn that moves from place to place!) But, no, this clever little thing is an acorn made of wool roving and a real acorn cap. Fantastic! I'm thinking of doing a whole bowl of these little guys for my coffee table!


If you think these are cute, you have to check out her Etsy shop, Sugar Lane, where she sells her own knitting patterns. I just adore the Candy Corn baby hat! She's also doing a giveaway right now over at Yarn On the House. It's for a really cute fall project basket, including a pattern for her Acorn Hat. Just right for some fall knitting!

Soft and Cuddly

Meet my newest finished project. Knitted with love, over a week's worth of swim practices, in a yummy wool/bamboo yarn and stuffed with soft bamboo stuffing, which I found at JoAnn's. In the past I used the bamboo batting and just loved the feel of it, and that it's naturally anti-bacterial, so I was really excited to find this stuffing. So great for babies and children! He doesn't have a name yet, but I'm sure the kids will come up with something really creative, like "Bunny." In the meantime, he's just hanging out in the rocking chair, waiting for a playmate.

From Old to New

When our baby dresser was destroyed in the move out to AZ, I didn't think much about it. After all, we didn't need it right away. And then I started pricing new dressers to match our old crib and found out that I could get a new crib for one third of the price of a new dresser. So that's just what I did. I bought a new crib- this time a white one. We dragged my old, white childhood furniture out of the garage. The desk to act as a changing table and the dresser to act as, well, a dresser. Everything was working out great...until we put them all in the same room, and realized that my old white furniture looked just that. Old. But I was too tired to mess with it. And then my sister came out to visit and brought her designing eye..."maybe you should..." and "what if you just..." Just? It's never "just." But she had put the bee in my bonnet, and now I couldn't get it out. So I waddled out to the paint store and stared at swatches until my eyes crossed. I searched and searched for just the right hardware. I spent three days sanding and painting. And then...I had a beautiful "new" set of furniture that looked like they were made for each other. This is just a peek- you can't see the whole thing until the nursery is complete. I'm so excited to show you, though. Hopefully very soon!

Baby Three

My blog has been quiet recently. Mostly I've been busy preparing for this little guy (or girl). Here is a peek at how well he (or she) is growing. Later this week, I hope to give you some peeks at what I've been up to.