laowai = foreigner

PRETENDING

Well, the work on our floor upstairs is done. We are just waiting for the finish to dry and then we can move all the furniture back up there. I can only peek from the stairs, but I think it looks really nice. Just having everything clean and even througout all the rooms is great. Here are a couple photos that I took without being able to walk up there.

Of course the baseboards look terrible now so I'm sure I will be itching to start some painting soon. The house smells like a paint factory with all the polyurethane fumes so we've been trying to stay out of the house as much as we can. I took the girls to the playground and we pretended it was nicer out than it really was. Yesterday it was nearly 50 degrees but today it was back to below freezing. Spring is going to be so very appreciated when it finally gets here!

THINGS ARE HAPPENING!

We found out on Saturday morning that our floor guy could get started on the refinishing and installing of our wood floors on Monday. Today! So our weekend was unexpectadely filled with shifting furniture and removing the last of the carpet from upstairs. By Sunday night I was pooped. We'll be camping out downstairs until the refinishing is done and then the new wood will probably be installed in the living room next week. Everything is jammed into the living room and dining room at the moment and it feels like that chaos that comes with moving - again.

But, I am so excited to have our floors fresh and clean! I think the walls are going to end up seeming dingy so I'm going to want to start painting soon.

Here are some photos of the progress so far:

CLAIRE'S MIDDLE NAME

We were in the car talking about names. I said "Claire do you remember what your middle name is?"

"Illinois" she yelled from the back seat

"No honey,  your middle name is Eleanor. Just like Great Grandma Dice"

 

Here's some of her recent artwork:

QUILTY

I've been feeling like starting another quilt and Bea has been asking for one ever since I made Claire's. So I bought lots of prints in Bea's favorite color (blue) and I finally started the piecing today. I always find it funny that we buy yards of fabric, cut it into pieces and then sew it back togehter - what a silly thing to do. But spending time on that sillieness keeps me sane.

And one more photo (in the same color pallette is seems). I got my new couch today. Yeah! Yes, it's green and I'm very pleased.

THE PARTY

Here are some photos from Bea's Birthday party. We just sent the kids down to the basement and let them jump around and act silly with a ton of balloons. Such a sweet bunch of girls that Bea invited.

Those big balloons were a hit. Brian blew them up with his healthy lungs.

Here's the non-messy craft I came up with - bobble head balloons. I made little bodies and feet out of cardboard, added a little weight with some rice inside the cardboard tubes and found face sickers on Amazon. The girls just put stickers on to make the faces and glued on some arms that I had pre-cut.

Here's the dinning room all decorated.

Another penguin cake and you can just see the blue jello decorated with plastic penguins on a plate beside the cake.

Here's the only game we had - they had to guess how many gumballs in the jar - the closest guess got a prize.

I think Bea had lots of fun, but she's also a bit bummed that it's all over... until next year.

BLUEBERRY PANCAKES

The important thing about these pancakes is that
Grandpa and Grandma C. picked those blueberries last summer.

SAND AND ICE

SEVEN!

Bea turned seven today. She had a really good day at school and was all smiles when she got home. Her classmates made a book - each of them writing and making a drawing of what they would like to give her for her birthday. 99% of the pages were filled with pictures of penguins. A real penguin, a penguin world, a penguin cake... all written in cute first grader spelled words. So she is still in her penguin stage and we wonder if a day will come when she isn't obsessed by all things penguin. This has been a big year for Bea - I think she has tackled lots of scary things. One thing that I will remember about this year has just come about recently - reading. Nothing compares to the swell of pride I've felt listening to her tentative quiet voice saying words I thought she didn't know. It's one of those things that catches you by surprise - just how proud you can feel. Brian and I filled her bed with balloons last night and I made her a penguin cake. It's nice that it still feels easy to please her with simple things and it's fun to watch her excitement. She's having some friends over this weekend for a party.

I don't want to rush things, but I am so curious about who this girl of ours is going to become. We love her dearly.

BUNDLED UP IN MIDLAND

The girls and I spent a long weekend in Michigan. We went to the zoo and rode the carousel and Bea got to do quite a bit of skiing with Grandpa. Lots of smiles.

SELF PORTRAIT

Claire and I take an art class on Wednesdays. We really enjoy it - the focused together time is great and I love the projects we've done. Today the kids made self portraits. Below is the snowman that we created over a couple classes. She has ballet class right after so she is always in her tutu making art.