My First Quilt

Well, it's official, my quilt is done. It feels good that it's done, as I wasn't sure what I was really doing (although it helped talking to my quilting pro mom who has been sewing for more years than I have been alive, and quilting for almost as many years as my sister has been alive). I feel kind of sad that it's over, too, because it was really fun, and I was pretty successful. My piecing turned out much better than I hoped, although I made several mistakes--which are good, because I definitely learned from them (like keeping your seam allowance to certain sides really is important). I did machine quilt it, which I sort of liked, but honestly it wasn't my favorite step. On one hand, it went really fast, but I'm not great with my sewing machine yet, so my lines aren't perfectly straight, and it just made me tired and kind of sore. I loved binding it, though, which I used an invisible applique stitch on the back side, so I am thinking that for my next quilt, I will hand quilt it since I like binding so well. Of course this means it will take longer, but that might just mean that I won't be so sad to be done with it. Anyway, here are some pictures, I know it isn't great, but don't be to hard on me, since it's my first one!

Bad Dogs!

I would like to say that the scene you are about to witness is not an everyday, out of the ordinary event, but to my dismay, we witness this almost daily. It used to be that if they heard me approaching they would jump down and stop what they were doing, but now they do it with a sense of entitlement. Have no fear, however, these are dirty dishes, and they leave the clean ones alone (and if they didn't, I would rewash them!). Uggg! BAD DOGS!!!!!!!!

Drawing with Auntie

Last week my sister Deni was on Spring Break. My mom, Steve, and Denise came down to visit for a day. Unfortunately, most of Colorado Springs was on Spring Break, too, and probably due to the economy, most people stuck around here. We went to Mr. Biggs for entertainment: it has an area perfect for toddlers as well as mini golf, go-carts, and bowling which is fun for the older kids. It was so crowded with other Spring Breakers, that Steve and Deni ended up waiting in lines for most of the time. Jack and Paige had fun, but I was glad I had my mom with me to help keep an eye on both kids amid the mass of other children.

Jack and Paige love love love their auntie! As soon as Paige sees her, her eyes light up with adoration. Jack thinks she is the most fun because she plays with him and does fun activities with him--like drawing.

My New Project

I received a new sewing machine for my birthday from Rich, and I just got it out of the box on Monday. The last time I had sewed was in the 8th grade in Home Ec. class, so needless to say, I didn't even know how to thread the machine, much less create anything with it. Now one of the reasons it has taken me four months to get it out, was that I had every intention of taking a class that would teach me how to use it (of course that would require some planning on my part), but it never happened. Finally, I just decided that I could teach myself how to sew using the user's manual and some other books I had picked up.

The other thing is that I wanted to make a quilt...again, I have never made a quilt in my life (and never wanted to). So, I decided to teach myself two skills at once: quilting and sewing. As I am writing about this, it kind of seems like a recipe for disaster, but to be honest it is going quite well. I got the quilt pieced in under a day--I chose an easy pattern, and I was going to hand quilt it, but my mom convinced me to try machine quilting. So now I am almost done with the quilting part, and will just have to add the binding (which I am very excited about). I can't believe how much I like this new hobby, and am even thinking about my next project.

The hardest part about this is that I do most of the work while the kids are sleeping, which means I am going to bed much later than normal. This was Paige and me taking a quick snooze on the couch together yesterday before lunch.

Girly Girl

Rich didn't realize the happiness Paige would have, not to mention the hours of fun, when he gave her a bunch of Mardi Gras beads. They are a little big for her, but she doesn't mind--the flashier the better. I don't know when she became such a girl, but I have to admit, it's really fun. We'll see how I feel about this when she is 15.

Totally unrelated to the bling, I discovered another tooth in the back of her mouth. That makes 7 now, and also explains her crankiness and sleelessness. I took her binky away from her about 3 weeks ago, but now I see that she may have been working on this tooth the whole time.

The Eastland's Sweat Shop

Rich and Jamie put the kids to work on our front lawn. Rich raked up the dead grass and aerated pellets (could easily be mistaken for dog poop), and the kids put it in buckets, and then dumped them into the big trash can. It actually worked really well, and the kids had fun and got nice and dirty!

A little teamwork

Shirking her duties--Get to work, Paige!

Fellow "blogger" Jamie and I will have competing posts this week.

Paige's 15 Month Checkup

Miss Sassy Pants!

Give me that camera!

Paige had her 15 month check up last week. She now weighs 20 lb 15 oz (15th percentile) and is 29.5 inches tall (2oth percentile). She is still a little peanut, but I think it's because she is so busy that all of her energy goes to getting into trouble, that she just doesn't have time for growing much. She also got a chicken pox vaccine and didn't even shed one tear! I was very proud of her.

Backyard Fun

Rich pointed out that Jack looks mad in this picture. He isn't: he's just showing me his car and talking about it.

Spring is in the air, and the kids are antsy to be outside!

Missing Daddy

After the St. Paddy's Day 5K on Saturday, I took the kids up to visit my mom, Steve, and Deni (and of course forgot the camera...urrgh!). We had a fun trip to the zoo, went to the park, and got a good visit in. Unfortunately, our trip was cut short by a day when my mom had to be quarantined to her room with a horrible stomach bug. On our way home (which takes about an hour and 45 minutes), I heard three very loud exaggerated sighs from the back seat. I asked Jack if he was ok, and he said that he NOT ok because he missed his daddy. After the chicken McNuggets from "Donald's", Jack climbed into Daddy's lap to snuggle and watch Bob the Builder.

31 Minutes and 24 Seconds

This was the picture taken before the race when we dropped the kids off with their Grandma Rosie. The race was tons of fun and a super easy course, and it was made even better by Rich, who vowed to stay by my side the entire time. At first I was hesitant about his decision because I'm still a slow runner, and I was just sure that it would be hard for him to go at my pace (he easily could have finished 5 minutes earlier). After a few minutes when he was still having fun and not frustrated, I just let go of my pride and enjoyed spending that time with him (and 1600 other festive people). Even though we didn't break any records, I am really proud of our time, as it's been years since I have been in a race, and I have been running that same distance at home in about 40 minutes (to prevent injury, of course).

Pooped, but Happy!

My shins are killing me though, and I am living on Ibuprofen! Ahhh, back to spin classes for now.

Anticipating the St. Paddy's Day Race

Rich and I are going to be running in Colorado Springs' St. Paddy's Day 5K tomorrow morning. I'm mostly really excited because I've been working really hard since Christmas to get back to my Pre-Paige shape, and I just really want to be a runner. I'm a little apprehensive at the same time because I had to take almost 8 weeks off from running because of shin splints (that have probably turned into stress fractures due to me being stubborn and running through them). I have been cross training, though, including Spinning, weight training, and the elliptical machine. I've been "running" for the last few weeks, but I'm keeping my speed at such an embarressing slow pace that I don't think I movement I am doing would be considered running (but I really don't want these stupid shin splints anymore!). So we'll see how it goes; it will be fun no matter what.

Self Feeding

Paige is just starting to use a spoon all by herself! I am really excited for her next step in independence, as it means I will be able to eat my own meal at the same time as the rest of the family. Even though she will be messier for a while, it is well worth the extra clean up time so that I can eat my food while it's still hot. She is very proud of herself and I can already for see the "Me-Do" attitude in the near future.

Girls' Great Getaway

After a very stressful week (see previous post), I had the opportunity to escape to friend's house for 24 hours. It was basically like a grown up slumber party, minus the angry father yelling at us girls to keep down (sound familiar, Dad?)

Me, Jenn, Buffye, and Kim

Jamie

Jenn and Sylvia