Ready, Set, Dance

Maya started dance on Saturday. She finished class by running in her tap shoes and wiping out face first. That's my girl! But other than that she really seemed to enjoy it.

The "I can't stand still long enough to get my picture taken picture."

Demonstrating acrobatics

"Do you want to dance like me?"

"When do I get to do that?"

Back to Preschool

Today was Maya's first day of her second year of preschool. She was unimpressed, I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. Just like last year. Check out Maya's art blog for her first day of school artwork.

Picture Update

Anya - 6 months

Maya 3 1/2

My New Quilt Shop

I finally quit griping to myself that I have no time for quilting (and I never will...blah, blah, blah) and I decided to do something about it. I have opened my own quilt shop on Esty. It's like a ebay for artists. It's so cool and hard to explain, so please just go see for yourself!



Coffee Cup Quilting - my new reason to quit complaining and stop feeling sorry for myself store. or http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5264973 for those of you that would like to bookmark me.



I think this has something to do with the fortune cookie post because I really started thinking about where I was supposed to be going and what I was supposed to be doing with my life. I think/hope this is part of the greater plan.

Back(pack) to School

That's right folks, it's that time of the year again. Back to school. Parents round the world yell Huzzah!

This year Maya wanted a backpack for preschool, so off to Wally World we went. I thought for sure we would end up with a Princess backpack, because what else in our house isn't princess?I've come to terms with the princess phenomenon. They may be helpless and froo-froo, but at least they are helpful and polite.

But no...Bratz it was. Which is kind of weird because we've never watched that cartoon mostly because I don't approve of what they strive to inspire in young girls. But somehow (commercials) Maya already knew who they were. And why did she pick them out? Because they are into fashion. How in the world did I end up with a fashionista for a daughter?

Fashionistas are trend initiators and devote followers of fashion. - “Etymologically, the suffix '-ista' derives from Spanish and is cognate with the English suffix '-ist,' designating a devotee, adherent or practitioner of the noun to which it is affixed. The implication could be of religious devotion, in line with the increasing view of fashion and image (and shopping!) as a new world religion.The word can be interpreted as marking out those involved with the fashion industry as a movement or army, united in their devotion to the cause of fashion.” Eleanor Rand, an O.E.D. editor- New York Times.

I'm sure it's a punishment for something I did in a previous life. Because as anyone who knows me knows my greatest fear all along was having a cheerleader for a daughter. What would we possibly have in common? I can only hope that if we indulge it now, she'll grow out of it later. So rather than argue or beg, we just bought the back pack. Hopefully I can use these photos to make fun of her when she's a teenager dressed all in black and listening to death metal. I can only hope!

The Boys

My brother's step sons came up from North Carolina last week to visit Oma and Opa. We were fortunate enough to get to spend some time with them. They are sweet, kind, smart and funny - all around good kids. ( left to right: Alex, Andrew, Anthony)

I called them "the boys" because it was just too hard to say all the names, all the time and Maya picked right up on it. She never called them by their name, just "the boys". If she needed one individually, she would just call him "Boy", as in "Hey boy, come here."

We're hoping they will be able to come back for Christmas, because we are missing them already.

Sleep, Sweet Sleep

Anya slept all night on her mattress last night, and is currently napping again (drum roll please) ON HER MATTRESS!!!! Okay, I know this is a big deal to no one but me.

She's been sleeping in her crib for about two months now, but not laying down. She had reflux and we couldn't lay her down without her throwing up, so naturally we had her sleeping reclined in her bouncy seat.

Well she eventually grew out of the reflux, but not the seat. I finally decided that this was the week, by God, mostly because I'm on vacation this week and I can do without the sleep if need be. But it turned out it needn't be at all. Yeah for my wonderful easy going baby!

Chad and Maya in Springfield

When Chad saw my avatar, he wanted one for his own, which led to Maya wanting one too...

Ooooo looky looky...

I finished a block! I finished a block!



(Only Morgan will care about this post)

Happiness is...

...the smell of laundry drying in the sun.

...knowing that I am doing something to conserve resources by line drying.

...hoping that I am in a small way reducing my children's impact on the environment by starting them out in cloth diapers.

...knowing that Maya only had two diaper rashes in her whole life (both caused by disposable diapers). Anya has yet to get one.

...saving a ton of money that can be better spent on stuff that won't molder in the ground for eternity.

...the pure old fashioned joy of hanging up clean laundry on a hot sunny day.

Big Butler Fair

Here are some pictures from our annual trip to the Big Butler Fair. Although I don't know if it's technically a trip since it's less than a mile away from our house...



Maya's first Roller Coaster? The Wiggly Worm



Maya's favorite ride this year? The Haunted Mansion

Number of times Chad had to sit through the Haunted Mansion? At least 6

Maya's strangest pose? On the rocket ships.

The highest ride? The Fire Engine (Which Maya insisted was a red school bus)

The waviest ride? The slides
Fair food of choice this year? Pizza

Number of animals petted? 5




Anya's response to all the noise? Fairly calm





Number of arty pictures? I limited myself to one because the batteries were dying.




Why do we pay to much money to go walk around in the heat and dirt every year? Because it makes the girls smile.

Anya's First Haircut

Poor Anya had to suffer with her shaggy dog look while we contemplated what to do with her hair. Do we cut it, or do we grow it out? Bangs or no? Since she wouldn't keep the barrettes in, we finally had to do the chop. Unfortunately it ended up looking like I cut her hair (which I did) but still better than before.

It's harder than it seems to make a 5 month old sit still while you are wielding a sharp and potentially dangerous object around their ears while they just want to grab it and stuff it in their mouth. Oh you parents of bald headed babies, you have no idea how lucky you are!

If I lived in Springfield

It's fun, it's zany...it's what I would look like if I lived in Springfield. Go make your own!

Little Maya Mommy

Maya's new pass time is pretending to be the Mommy and making me be Maya. It's a little strange sometimes to catch one of her dolls out of the corner of my eye in Anya's swing or exersaucer and experience that moment of panic where I try to figure out how Anya got into the swing when I know left her in her crib upstairs.

I have to admit I have an un-natural fear of dolls. Mine always scared me when I was little, especially the ones with eyes that opened and shut. I was afraid that if I didn't treat them well, they would come alive at night and kill me. (Yes, I know I have psychological problems.)

The upside is that Maya will now change her doll's diaper instead of trying to change Anya's. The down side is that she pretends she doesn't have to listen to me because she's the mommy.

The other bad thing is that I now live in fear of the basement after dark. I just know one of these nights I'll be watching T.V. alone, late at night and I'll hear small rustlings behind the door. And then the rustlings will become little scratches, and then after a pause a small evil voice will call out, "Mommy, I want to play with you..."

Yeah...now I won't be able to sleep tonight thinking about those stupid dolls and their empty stares. Sometimes I really hate my imagination.

Morgan's Quilt

Sorry I haven't made good on the promise to blog at least once a week. Life just seems to keep happening.

I told Morgan I would finish the quilt she had started piecing together years ago, and that had been keeping me busy for a while, but I finally found the time to finish it.

Unfortunately when I downloaded my pictures, I found that several of them I know I took were not there. It's still a mystery to me as to what happened to them. Here are the only two that seemed to have survived.


I love Morgan's color placement, it's the epitome of a true "scrappy" quilt.


I chose to stipple quilt using a multicolored thread in a random swirling pattern because I thought it best captured the playful mood of the quilt.

Now that I have rediscovered my love of quilting I am trying to set aside a place and time for it. The place being the hardest part. I will post pictures of the other four baby quilts Morgan has requested as they reach completion.

4 Month check-up

We went yesterday for Anya's 4 month check-up. She is doing great! She weighed in at 14lbs. 4 oz. and measured 25 5/8 inches long. She is in the 50 percentile for everything: head circumference, weight and length. The nurse called her "a perfect baby" (yeah, we already knew that).

Poor thing did not do well with the shots though. She's been running a fever and sleeping a lot and generally just wants to be held. Hopefully tomorrow she'll be back to her happy old self.

Quote of the Day

Maya informed Chad last night, "Cats eat animals you know. Except they don't eat penguins because they're too big and icy."

Check Out Maya's New Blog

Maya is doing so many new cool and arty things that I thought I would dedicate a blog just to her art. You can click on the link to the right - Maya's Artwork, or click here to see her latest stuff.

Yes I'm screwing around with the blog again. They have made it so easy to change things that I wanted to try it. But now I can't figured how to put my tickers and clock and stuff back in. Erg!

Adam and Eve?

My mom got Maya these really cool felt boards for Christmas. There are different sets including a zoo, an outdoor cafe', a park, a pet shop and the ocean. They are her new all time favorite toys and she will spend hours (yes, literally hours) playing and creating stories. She gives the characters personalitites and she'll use all these silly pretend voices. But my favorite part is that she'll use real dolls and toys to interact with her newly formed 2D world.

This is one that I found laying on the couch in her play room today. I think she was copying a picture of Adam and Eve in the garden from my Albrecht Durer woodcuts book. She loves to flip through our art books and look at all the pictures. She was especially interested in this one because the snake had a human head.

You would think that I would stop being amazed at her retention, but she constantly finds new ways to surprise me. We looked at this book over a month ago and haven't talked about it since.

My child the elephant.

General Update

This past month has been beyond hectic. I had my Fine Arts Night Chorus Concert at school, our HOPS annual piano picnic, Maya's ending program at preschool, her last day of school picnic, our Memorial Day picnic, the last day of school at Holy Redeemer and our neighbors 4th birthday party today. I'm a little tired and a little worn out.

Speaking of worn out... Maya was too excited about the prospect of the birthday party today to take a nap. By the time we headed home she was already starting to break down. After a complete melt down after her bath, she mopped around saying "nobody loves me anymore," (wah, wah, wah) and whining non stop. We hear this phrase a lot so it has lost its effectiveness. Then she came up with a new one. "Mommy's going to throw me in the trash." (Say What?) Of course I had to ask why she thought that and she replied, "You're going to throw me in the trash because you don't want a big sister anymore." I laughed for at least a minute before I could even pretend to seriously answer her. The things this kid makes up!

I was looking forward to having a break now that preschool, gymnastics and my school is done. But it seems that that is not to be. We had so many parents interested in a daytime slot for piano lessons for the summer that I am now teaching Tuesdays from 9 am to 12:30 pm and Thursdays from 9 am to 11 am. And of course I'm still teaching in the evenings too. Fall may actually seem like a break this year! The nice thing is that I'm not teaching any later than 7 pm so I'll have a few hours of daylight, and I won't have to rush Maya off to bed as soon as I get home. We can spend some quality lightning bug catching time this summer.

Anya is going for her 4 month check-up this Friday. I can't believe it's been four months already. She is such a sweetie pie. I couldn't have ordered a more perfect baby if I tried. She laughs all the time now and loves to stand is someone is holding her. She has this cry that sounds like a sheep bleating when she wants me, "Maaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!" I'm waiting for "mama" any day. (Not really but it makes me feel good to say it).

The best news for last (for anyone that read this far), Holy Redeemer renewed my contract for next year so I get to continue teaching. YEAH!!!! I really loved it this year and I'm looking forward to next year because my lesson plans are done and I won't be pregnant. Should be considerably less stressful since I'll know what to expect.

I'd like to claim that I'll be updating more frequently but I can barely get the laundry done any more. Spending time on the computer seems frivolous and selfish when I know that the sheets on the beds need to be changed. Hopefully I can post at least one a week for anyone who checks in.