Little Miss 4

Little Evany is four and has a new, sassy haircut to match. She suddenly looks so tall and, well, like a young lady instead of my little baby/toddler girl. She has her own opinions and despite her calm, compliant disposition, underneath she's made of iron. She is eager to please, though, and is a big help to me during the day, willing to do things without question; a refreshing contrast to her older, more truculent sibling. She is quick to smile and give lovings. She still loves anything Hello Kitty, pink or purple, and Barbie movies. She has begun to leave Bun-Bun in the car on some outings or at home altogether- a sure sign of increasing maturity. She is quite able to play quietly alone for some time and that, also, is a refreshing reality. She is certainly the sweetness in our family pie.



So eager to help with the sprinkles!


Cherry Chip cakeballs


The green streak would be a snap pea, courtesy of silly uncle Jeremy.








Happy birthday my sweet little girl!

Distressed Chair á la Français

I spied this chair at Goodwill two or three years ago and, because I saw potential, I bought it for $10. And thus it has sat in our home, not exactly homely, but not exactly pretty either. It has been used quite a lot, mostly as my sewing chair, but also as a step stool and a computer chair for a time. The chair, however, became notorious amongst us for inflicting pain and subconscious fears of tetanus. Sterling refused to go near it after gouging his knee rather badly on the protruding screw that poked through the cushion if you leaned on it in precisely the right (or perhaps, the wrong) way. I almost invariably sit with my feet folded up under me lotus fashion or with one knee up and no matter how many times I poked my foot and got freaked out that I was going to get tetanus (from not updating my booster, fyi), I still managed to do it yet again, next time. There may be scars...
So, one reason for a complete re-do on this chair was to remove the offending "pokie" as Sterling calls it. Here it is in it's primordial glory.


After a thorough sanding


Here I began to freak out a little because, well, I was using turquoise spray paint this time and not black. It was really, really bright! The pictures I took don't do it any justice, it just looks blue, but I assure you it is quite a vivid color. Lagoon blue, it is called.


Fully painted


Now, for the seat cushion, I decided to use burlap. It's a total trend and I'll probably have to re-do it in a couple of years, but c'est la vie! This is how it looks after being washed (for softening). All wrinkly. I had to wet it down again and iron it on max heat for quite a while.


Seriously, the biggest ball of fluff I have ever seen come out of the lint trap after only one dry cycle! I think I'm lucky the dryer didn't catch fire...!


I wanted french ticking down the middle, so I taped off with painter's tape like you would a wall and watered down some screen printing ink (to make it more grey) and went to town!


I was in a hurry and took the tape off too soon and it bled a little, then, but maybe the imperfection is okay. I freehand painted the line down the center.


Next, I designed my graphics to apply over the ticking, then reversed the image for the iron-on transfer paper.




After I set the ink with the iron, then applied the transfer paper with the iron (after meticulously cutting out the letters, I might add!), I stapled the burlap to the seat.


Voila!


I sanded my perfectly painted chair (it was rather hard on me emotionally, by the way, after all the prepping) to reveal the wood tones underneath and then reattached the seat (with shorter screws, eliminating the pokies, of course).



Now I have piece of furniture that looks totally out of place in my formal and subdued home, but I'm hoping that soon it won't look so out of place.

The Ants and the Grasshoppers

The sun came out, finally, and I think I got a burst of energy. I'm beginning to think that, despite my obsessive love of Oregon rain, I may get a bit of the SAD during the long and dreary winter. A couple of months ago I was sleeping 8-9 hours at night and STILL needing a nap at midday just to function! Lately, I've been tearing through the house fixing and sewing and project after project. After such a long and rainy winter/spring, I think Doug and I feel a sense of urgency to work as fast as possible to get as many things done on the house before the rainy season sets in again. We are the ants in a grasshopper world! (Grasshoppers being the children, of course.) There are just so many things to be done! Sometimes we feel completely beat down by it, but we have to remind ourselves that we've only been here 9 months... We bought a fixer-upper and we knew we couldn't expect fun and play time for the first year or 5! But it does get tough sometimes!

I finally converted the crib to a bed (the first time we've had enough space between babies to do so in the 6 years we've had the thing) and hung pictures on Evie's wall and some butterfly decals.


I've been sewing, and sewing, and sewing. It seems like birthdays and baby showers are rampant during the summer months! And that, in addition to sewing for the kids, has kept me quite busy!
A reversible princess cloak for a birthday gift (an idea stolen from my sister)


A crib blanket for one of my cute friends.


A dress for Evie made from an old t-shirt, via Michelle, via Make it and Love it


A Forever 21 tube-top dress, converted into a skirt, pour moi!



Pajama bottoms for the kids (idea, again, from my sister)


I took the door from the kitchen to the garage off finally, sanded it and began to paint it. It is currently rehung, but unpainted with no door handle. Doug loves that part. (Dripping sarcasm.)




Doug made me an herb/strawberry planter. I LOVE IT!






This range hood installation kicked Doug's trash, so he left it alone for a while. I was pretty sure I'd have to twist his arm to start it up again and, you know, someday I think I'd like a finished kitchen. So my Grandpa (the engineer and geometry wizard) came to my rescue on Friday. Our problem was trying to figure out how to place the exhaust vent through the roof slope and still get the bottom of the vent in the right place. It's tricky.

Here we finally cut a hole (precariously placed between our gas pipe and 3 electrical wires).

Cutting an 8" hole in the roof is more daunting than you think! I have to be honest, making the initial cut scared me a little...


Anyway, the range hood still isn't up all the way yet, but that made some serious headway!
Later that evening, when Doug got home, we moved on to work the backyard.


Tilling and tilling to get the clay-packed soil all nice and fluffy and ready for grading.


My cute little, solitary artichoke.


Pea blossoms.


My little Hylti, blatantly disregarding our poor lettuce, in his attempt to "clean" the garden.


Doug has been trimming the back hedge and yesterday, the neighbors took down the old, nasty, dilapidated fence in preparation for a new fence to go in. It will look SO much better!


One of Doug's and my very favorite desserts- Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Trifle


Chocolate chip macaroons.


Of course, there's the day-to-day business to keep us busy too. Such as, oh I don't know, a whole box of sticky raisins on my carpet to clean up! That little dude is lucky he happens to be adorable!


Then there's the daily swimming and the semi-weekly karate classes.



Meanwhile, the little grasshoppers have been enjoying themselves right royally!