A peek into the sweet, simple and ordinary moments of our days through Instgram.

Boy stuff.  I don't get it.  But oh, he does.

Just on an adventure with Gandalf.  NBD.

Stay like this forever please.

After dinner daylight savings walks are our fave.

Seven more days.  YESSSS.

Remember when gas was cheap?
Me neither.

Tiny and strong Lucy has found what she was born to do.

He's so addicted.  Pacifier + blanket + me = all is right in his world.

Our friends have chickens.
I love their chickens.
Especially the not having to take care of chickens, but still getting fresh eggs part.


DUDE.
So good.  I found them at Target.
SO GOOD.
SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD.

So, sometimes I don't want to crop a picture into a square for Instagram, so by accident I found a little trick.

Using the PicFrame app,  choose either the triple or double frame option.
Then stick your picture in the middle frame.
Push over the empty frames to make the middle frame bigger.
Move and enlarge as needed. Add rounded corners if you like.
Then save.  The empty frames will default to the border color.
So fancy right?


life rearranged


I mustache you a question....

Alternately titled, care to help me with my rich people problems?

A.  I just ditched the Disqus commenting system.  Totally thought that I loved it, but then I totally turned on it.  I was leaving replies, feeling all super organized and communicative, but... the replies that I left apparently go straight into space.  LAME.
Plus it doesn't even work on certain browsers.  DOUBLE LAME.
So here is the deal, there are now threaded replies in the Blogger comment form.  Yay.  Sort of.  If you ask a question, that is where I will leave a unicorny reply.  Thing is, I guess The MAN Google considers it spam to send the reply back to the email address it came from.  That means, that you will never know if I answered, or was just lame and lazy, unless you come back and check.  That is a hardcore rich person problem that I cannot fix.

B.  We are looking into a new washing machine.  Got one you love?  Hate?  Front loader?  I need real people details.  Not the dude at the store.  A mom who has gobs of kids who wear gobs of clothes.  Help a mama out.  Ours is 14 years old and it had a very, very, very good life.  BUT IT NEEDS TO GO.

C.  The previous owner of our house had dogs.  Big dogs.  They had freedoms.  Big indoor freedoms.  You can imagine what our carpet looks like.  I clean it, the marks they left reappear.  Clean, reappear, clean, reappear.  Over and over and over and I am OVER it.  So...  we are researching new carpet too.   I need advice from someone with gobs of kids who throws gobs of parties.  Not the dude that didn't even exist at the Lowe's flooring department, while I waited for 37 minutes yesterday.

D.  Can you tell that we just got our tax refund?

Thank you in advance for your info...


If you have a rotary cutter, mat and ruler and can sew a straight line, you can make a quilt. 
I PROMISE.
(All caps because I mean it.)

I am easily bored, far from precise, and if I can make one without setting fire to my sewing machine, anyone can.
 The thing is, you have to pick a pattern with big blocks that don't have to line up.
I learned that that the hard way with my second quilt.
Which I still love, but it is CRAZYYYY!
1/4 inch off here and there is apparently a really, really, really big deal.

So when I came across the Road Trip Quilt from Cluck Cluck Sew, I knew that it would be just perfect to redeem my quilting drought.
You see I started Janey's forever and ever ago, and now it is collecting dust.  Taunting me with it's tricky unfinishedness.
When and if I ever finish it, the craziness will be the talk of the longarm quilting shop.  Believe you me.

Just to prove my point, I made this happy mix of awesome in two sittings.  With a tiny newborn.
For reals.
It's that easy.
One night to cut.
One night to piece, sew, and iron.

Then I box it up, along with a yard of fabric for the binding, send it off to The Back Porch Quilters, stalk my mailman for a week or two, get it back, rip it open, race to the laundry room, wash and dry it, then freak out at the crinkly radness.

 EEEEEKKKK!!!!

For the back, I randomly patched together the extra pieces and some big scraps.  Sort of like a two-fer.  Why, oh, why would anyone want a quilt that reversed to a solid on the back.  ZZZZZZZzzzzzz.

This is no hang on the wall quilt either.
It is a beach quilt.  A backyard picnic quilt.  A cozy couch quilt.  A something I want to steal from my baby quilt.

But that would be mean.
So I will share it.

Since The Road Trip quilt is more of a baby size, and I wanted this one to be more of a twin size, I had to adjust the block sizes.  I should have taken better notes, since I have no idea how many of each piece to cut.
Follow the Cluck Cluck sew directions.  They are a million times better than mine.

What I do know is you will need about 8 yards of fabric.
I used a mix of fifteen half yard cuts.
All of the blocks are six inches wide.
The measurements and placements for each of the blocks are above.

It becomes a little jigsaw puzzle figuring out where each print goes, as to not touch a matching print above or below.  I am sure there is some sort of system to this, but I just lay them out on the ground and hope for the best.

Because I always want to know what and where to get fabrics here you go:
Some were from my stash, some from Etsy, Hawthorne Threads, and Fabric.com.

A.  Monaluna Circa 60 Beach Mod by Birch Fabrics
B.  Going Coastal by Michael Miller
C.  Random stripe from Joanns
D.  Random stripes from Etsy
E.  Chocolate Zebra by Jennifer Paganelli
F.  Remix by Ann Kelle
G.  Aviary 2 by Joel Dewberry

So are you going to make a quilt or what?
Next up on my sewing table is a Star Wars one.   Which my husband will steal from my baby.  The nerve.


Halley.
I miss her.
School days are long.
Really long.
Add in activities and homework, and I feel like I am missing out on real time with her.
I worry that when she is home, there is too much busyness and biggest sister responsibility, placed on her.
I want her to be a kid.  Little and carefree.  
Even if she is tall and scary smart.
So when the little ones were sleeping, we went on a little adventure.
Wind and storm clouds were not going to stop us.
We picked daisies.
Talked about spring.
Took off our shoes.

 Pretended that we didn't live in the suburbs.
Shivered a bit in the wind.
 Played he loves me/ he loves me not.
It always lands on he loves me.
Always.
 Spun and danced.
Froze time for just a minute.

Funny thing about my biggest girl...
she is obsessed with maxi dresses and skirts.
OBSESSED.
Seems all of my anti-mini skirt brainwashing has worked.
Times a million.

Problem is, they are not so easy to come by in her size.
Trust me I have searched.
She has searched.
Tea length will not suffice.

So what is a mama to do?
Ask (beg, plead, demand) her favorite pattern making friend to come up with a maxi dress pattern, of course.
One that is everything my maxi dress loving girl could dream of.
Especially since she got to be the fit model.

Just perfect.

So now my girl has a dress named after her.
Together we are going to pick fabric and sew.

I can't wait.


My favorite.



I just got back from a very late showing of The Hunger Games (LOVED IT).
My first night away from Shane since he was born.
A very, very, big deal. 
It wouldn't be an event movie without a fight to the death gift exchange, right?
Brilliantly planned by Erin.
I came home with this crafty number from Angry Julie.
So fun.

Irish eyes.
Sigh...

Irish Clone Trooper.
Who didn't get the memo that Clone Troopers don't wield light sabers.
Or wear tutu t-shirts.
Or rainbow leggings.

 Catnapping contortionist.

 Hipster Belle.

Long, leisurely (ha.) lunch with the lovely Wendy and Kristen, and the smallest members of our families.

Kicked out of the church nursery.
Again.
Drama without mama.
Again.
The kid can work the system.

Putting Shauna under his very powerful spell.

Our weekly adventures at the ice rink.
Freezing.
Hanging out in the penalty box.

Watching this girl grow in skill and bravery.

Until the cold air lulls him to catnap land
.
I mustache you a question.
How cute are these straws?
Off to celebrate a very special baby tomorrow.

For the record, I love the boy with the bread.

life rearranged