movie night

Until this point children's videos or television shows in our house have always been daytime activities, typically while Andrew naps. Lately Morgan looks most forward to the Word World episodes that I record from PBS. And while entertaining for her, I use the short window for checking email, prepping dinner or closing my eyes!

Needless to say, Morgan has not watched any show longer than, oh, 60 minutes. So when we proposed a real movie night, she was thrilled. We decided to skip dessert after dinner and make chocolate shakes for the evening occasion. But after an hour and fifteen minutes of the Disney movie, Cars, she was waning. In fact, I think Scott and I enjoyed the movie more than she did (after Scott re-opened his heavy eyes, that is).

Not sure when we'll try this again, but as a perk of being four years old, I think another Movie Night will be on the horizon soon. With something less lengthy.

Meanwhile, Morgan is currently wired. As I type this, she is in singing loudly from her bed the intro to Word World.  Over. And over. And still repeating. Could be the movie stimulation. Or the 1.5 hour nap I prepped her with this afternoon. Nonetheless, she is happy. And so are we.

hosanna

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen

Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart for what breaks yours
Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause

As I walk from earth into eternity

bitten

The sewing bug has been to our house!

Our MOPS group had a Mom Swap recently. As I browsed the free goods that day, I came across two sets of blue and white country curtains still in the original packaging. Not my taste at all, but they sure made some great cloth napkins! Twenty-four, in fact. I have yet to buy the paper variety and we ran out last week. Hoping to make another round of cloth napkins in the near future and keep paper napkins off my grocery list for good.

The pinafore for Morgan is nearly complete - I'm struggling with the last two side seams on this reversible top, but here's a peek anyways.

Up next is this little cozy for my Nano and earbuds. I'm hoping to find a scrap of elastic this weekend in my mom's sewing stash to keep my cost-free project just that. Free. I'll be using the leftovers from Morgan's pinafore along with other materials I already have on hand.

Also on the horizon, some fun projects I've bookmarked:

• Reversible shoulder bag, either THIS ONE or THIS ONE. I need another bag like I need a hole in the head, but I still want to try it.
• THESE little catch-alls look fun. And practical. Perfect for my dresser. Or maybe a larger, manly version to hold all Scott's pocket contents?
• I also want to make the kids some BELTS. The military buckles look more manageable for little hands than the typical D-Ring styles I've seen. If they turn out well, maybe I'd do one for me.

april showers

A tumble in the muddy grass, a dip into the sandbox.
Hello, Spring!

birthday creations

My month of March was busy with birthday projects and now that we're on the other side, I thought it would be fun to post a little bit of what I've been up to.

In preparation for Morgan's special day, I made some reusable decorations out of felt. First up was a simple circle garland. I used the three-inch diameter of one of our drinking glasses as a template and traced ten circles in six colors to give me 15 feet of fun.

A basic straight stitch linked each circle together.

For the awkward covered window opposite the one above, I made a Happy Birthday banner with the same felt. I created a triangle template in Word and ordered some die-cut letters from a gal on Etsy that I hot-glued to each triangle.

The finished triangles were strung together with grosgrain ribbon that I ironed in half and ran through the sewing machine.

Now we have special birthday decorations that will make an appearance every March and August. Maybe over the years I can add a few other festive items to our new Birthday Box.

In addition to Morgan's preschool birthday treat, we made a delicious chocolate cake for her family party. After seeing the Barefoot Contessa make a "wedding cake" for an anniversary episode, Morgan declared that cake to be exactly what she would like for her own birthday. With sprinkles.

More sewing projects are in my future, including this pinafore pattern I recently won online! Hope to get started on that in the next couple weeks.

savvy shoppers

Sunday evenings are usually spent prepping for Monday's grocery trip. Clipping coupons from that day's paper is part of the routine. Last night Morgan asked to cut with me - she loves using scissors. Scott captured this picture as we worked together.