Soccer!

Here are a few pictures from Mia's most recent soccer game. She's the one with the stylish headband. Craig is coaching her team and really enjoying the time he gets to spend with Mia (notice the matching headband). They are having fun, even though Mia keeps telling us she wants to take something else. Haha.

Life is going on...

This is the thing about blogging. Sometimes there's just nothing really that great to report so it becomes somewhat tedious to have to type out a post about nothing that exciting. But, I shall try! :)

Jack is finishing up his session of ice skating and Mia is almost done another round of soccer. Both have enjoyed this recreational time, I think, despite all the protestations when they have to get their shoes/equipment on. I think we will sign both up for hockey and soccer again next session, and perhaps some swimming in there just to keep them practiced. Burton is talking more everyday and is still into everything. He tries my last nerve on a daily basis but he's super cute so I forgive him.

We are gearing up for Halloween, Mia's next 3 week track out from school and most importantly, our trip to Disney in November. So exciting. No of us can wait!

I took a "wine and design" painting class last week and painted a Klimt-inspired tree. It was fun, but cemented my opinion that artists are talented in ways I could never comprehend, or even fake. Painting was fun, but stressful! I so wanted to make my piece look better but was hard to focus with Lady Gaga blaring in the background and a dozen tipsy women twittering around me. I need silence, people! Haha.

Mia lost her 6th tooth on Wednesday. She now has a hilariously large gap at the front of her mouth. I was SO glad to see that sucker come out. It was all kinds of wonky before I finally convinced her to pull it out. It could rotate 360 degrees in its place so sometimes it was sideways, backwards and every other direction in her mouth. Finally, on Wednesday night it was

hanging by a thread and I talked her into popping it out. Pretty cute stuff!

Gourd Farm!

Monday was a wet day but in the brief interlude between showers we visited the Green Level Gourd Farm. It's only about 20 minutes away from our house, but seems very "country". For 4 dollars a piece the boys enjoyed a donkey ride (well, Jack did), chickens, gourds a'plenty, a corn maze,

mini golf, swings and slides and a tractor pulled hay ride, featuring spooky sights to look at. These were things like bats hanging from trees, spiders that drop down over the wagon and witches and pumpkins arranged in spooky ways. Jack loved that part! We had a great morning on the gourd farm and it got me in the mood for Fall. I even pulled out the box of Halloween decorations. It's not too early to dream of Oct 31st, is it?

A Sunday Off...

Thanks to Craig, I got to take this afternoon off and head on down to Ornamentea for a cool earring-making class. The class was 3 hours long and in those three hours we used various techniques to make seven pairs of earrings. Some I like and some aren't really my style but getting an intro to wire-wrapping and earring construction was cool. You never know, I might get good enough to gift some of these earrings someday!

I recommend this class, and this cool and funky shop, to anyone in the Raleigh area. Such fun!

Parent/teacher interview

We had our first teacher conference of the Grade one year this morning and Mia is doing wonderfully! She is at the very top of the class in writing; in fact, she is in a very small, specialized group that is advancing their skills. She reads at a high Grade two level and is above average in math. Of the 173 words she needs to remember and recognize by sight in Grade TWO, she knows 158 already. The teacher says she is bright, engaging and funny. We are super proud of her! Good job Mia! :D

Happy Birthday, Craig!

Yesterday was Craig's 39th birthday (hang on to those 30's, sweetheart!) and we celebrated by making him a pie, lemon-strawberry meringue, and going out for Mexican dinner. The kids got him a new video game and some headphones he can use when he play guitar at night. Mia made him a very cute drawing at school. See below:

Hope Craig had a great day! And thanks to all of you that called and wished him well. I know Craig was feeling the love! :)

Art time!

Yesterday, while the remnants of TS Lee rained down on us, I picked up some big drawing pads, pulled out the ol' pastels and let the kids have at it. Jack has never drawn a picture before, only colored them in. He was so excited, so liberated, with his drawing. He's hooked now. In fact, he announced that this morning he would "watch the Smurfs and then make a St. Patrick's Day picture." For some reason, holidays are a constant theme around here.

So here's a taste of some of their creations. I love kids; they are so imaginative, so funny and so weird. The world, through their eyes, must be a helluva place. ;)

Newest Creation

So my new sewing machine arrived last week and I was pretty excited. It's not the best machine in the world, and it's been refurbished, but it's machine a'plenty for a complete beginner like me. The last time I sewed anything was in Grade 7 or 8 home economics class. And somehow, during that class, I managed to sew my finger in the machine. :(

But! I am older and wiser now (right?) and I figured I better invest in a starter machine so I can feed these creative urges properly. I have spent the past week second guessing myself after reading a few sewing blogs and discovering that it is actually kind hard to sew. You have to be precise, for one, and I am rarely patient enough to achieve that. And you have to be sort of good at sewing before you can really make anything cool.

Or so I thought. Today, I manned up and pulled out the machine, threaded it up and went searching for a starter project, something to build my confidence and perhaps get this sewing snowball rollin'. I found a great tutorial for a simple skirt on Made and decided I would give it a bash. Behold! The first thing I have sewn in 20 years! A skirt for Mia.

I am really pleased with how it turned out, I learned quite a few things and got a better feel for my machine so I think I'll try a second one. There's a lot not quite right with it, but what could be better than seeing how excited Mia was when she saw the skirt that I had made just for her. Awesome!

I am still somewhat self-doubting about my sewing skill but I am determined to try and learn a little bit anyway. Craig says I can make curtains for the new downstairs. Yay!

Come on, Irene!

We've been keeping a close eye on Hurricane Irene all week. Most of the prediction models had her making landfall east of Raleigh, on the Outer Banks, but every now and again a model would show her rolling right over central NC and I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed not to see more of her. Not that I want a Category 3 hurricane tippy-tapping on my window, but there was (in the back of my mind) a tinge of excitement at the prospect of witnessing something so scary and different. Especially after experiencing my first earthquake on Tuesday. What a week!

As of now, Irene is roughly 250 miles from here, off the coast of NC, but we are seeing some bands of rain starting already. The sky is grey and black and looks ominous. We should be in for a soggy tomorrow, but hopefully a safe one. :)

Hurricane Irene

All eyes are on the gigantic storm just over the Bahamas today and the latest forecast models have it headed for NC and making landfall as a Category 3 hurricane. Now, whether we see it this far inland is another thing altogether. Still, there's a buzz in the air around here. Maybe I should really think about getting that hurricane preparedness kit together after all. :/

Burton is growing up too fast...

I have been reluctant to do it but last night I finally gave in to Craig's insistence that I cut Burton's hair. There was just something so cute about that mop of crazy, super-soft hair, I just knew that if I cut it, the door would be wide open for some of the baby to leave and the boy to enter.

<------At the beginning of summer.

And I was right. Look at this big fella. ------>

So cute! But so big! :(

Back to blogging...

Ok, ok, I know. I have been down this road before. What can I say? I'm a fickle, fickle girl. Nevertheless, I have decided to try and commit more time to writing and have convinced myself that I can keep up this blog, at least until the next latest and greatest thing comes about. Mostly, I don't want to simply fire up a schwack of pictures on Facebook anymore. Those that care need the story too. :)

So. What is new? We are in the midst of a complete construction/disaster zone after the great flood of two weeks ago. Since then, we have new floors in the bathroom and laundry room, new walls all over, new paint, new doors and soon we will have the carpeting in. There is light at the end of the tunnel! I have been fairly grumpy about all the clutter, dust and random workers in our house but I am excited at the prospect of a new basement. It really needed a lot of work. The kids have taken it all in stride, but we have been fairly cooped up these past two weeks. That has resulted in a lot of fighting, time-outs and grouchy time for all of us. :)

I have been working on a new blanket for Mia (see above). I found a lovely "flower" granny square pattern that is very easy and pretty. I'm only a quarter of the way through and hoping that I don't lose interest soon. You know I love to project jump. :)

In other news, Craig and Mia have started a new season of soccer, with Craig head coaching for the first time. I think they are both enjoying it, despite the crazy hot weather. Jack has really taken off with swimming. He now swims a distance on his own, jumps off the diving board and the poolside and his confidence is really high. He was so resistant before, but it was like a switch went off and he decided he actually could swim. He starts lessons in September. Burton is BUSY, talking and running and getting into everything. He keeps me hoppin'.

Ok, on that note, I better get back to parenting. I promise to TRY and keep this up. Don't forget to check in here every now and again. :)