Showing posts with label Lilly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lilly. Show all posts

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Tomboy

Early in the summer, I spent hours on end painting our treehouse.



The treehouse sits under a walnut tree that drops something that leaves dark stains all over the wood. Instead of fighting the stains, I chose a paint to match them- a very dark chocolate.

(Just after publishing this post, Todd informed me that what the walnut tree is dropping is actually walnuts - who knew??)



I like that it looks like a "cabin".




Of course, I had to paint a sign to hang over the door. (call me if you want one too :)

Jackson and Baker wanted it to say "No Girls Allowed", but, for obvious reasons, Lilly disagreed.

She whined because I wasn't painting it pink, which actually makes me happy. As hard as I try to make her girly,sweet, ladylike, etc., there is no denying the influence the boys have over her.

I find the signs of it everywhere.

Like.....in her silvery, glitzy purse (that matches her ring).




It's Scooby and the gang.




My sweet baby girl is hoarding matchbox cars in her purse.



She played quietly.
At least she didn't host a pretend demolition derby.
And, yes, her foot is dirty in the picture.



Her sweet little blue playhouse has been invaded by the army.
There's one lone, dead, indian on the lawn, and there was a man to man battle on the balcony.
Looks like the guy with the gun beat the soldier with one hand.


Guess who moved into My Little Pony-ville??


Two Ewoks, Mr. Crabs, and Barbie's dog.



Girl Power!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Flowers, critters, and lazy wine drinkers.

I'm a bad, bad, blogger.

Summer has me in a bit of a time warp. We've been so busy, time slips by, and before I know it, I've gone a week without writing anything.

Not that you've missed me.

I've been wanting to try making a fabric flower out of scrap fabrics. I finally tried it while the kids snacked on sugary cereal and watched television.

You do what you gotta do.



I made the flower to match a little polka dot skirt that I had scraps from. It looks like a really huge corsage in this picture. It's more balanced out when you can see all of her head.




I'm not sure what emotion this is.
Spunky?
Inquisitive?
Angry at me for taking her picture without brushing her hair or insisting on shoes?

Earlier in the day...


What are these guys looking at?


This little guy.


My dad is a big gardener.He has trouble with critters sneaking in and eating all his veggies. If they made a deer sized cage, he would have one. Almost every morning the kids want to know if grandaddy had anything in a trap. If he does, we have to go take a look.
While trying to satisfy the midnight munchies - this racoon was lured into one of the traps.



Before you get all excited and call PETA, let me say he takes all critters to the nearby lake, and releases them.
Even possums. (opossums??)
Well, with the exception of skunks - but I won't get into that.



I let each of the kids take a carrot to feed the racoon.

Lilly got greedy.

Next critter...



The new baby calf.

For some reason, the momma cow (or, as my dad ikes to say, heffer), refuses to nurse her baby. My cousin and her grandaughter came to give him a bottle. A BIG bottle.




All of this critter interaction takes place down the street from Nashville International Airport.

I love Nashville.




I snapped this picture of Baker, my shirtless wonder, because I love his curls, and I'm about to get him a haircut. It's cute dry , but when it's wet at the pool, he's sporting a serious mullet. Jackson won't stop saying "business in the front, party in the back", and I'm afraid he's going to catch on to the joke.


And, finally, I spotted this advertisement in my Atlanta market guide.




How lazy do you have to be to wear your wine around your neck?





The phone number is clearly visible, and you can order one if you too hate to use your hands while drinking.




LittlebitsDesigns.com


Monday, June 14, 2010

How to make a quickie hammock

My kids are my top priority- but I have to have time to complete work for clients.

Summer is a tough balance. I love that my kids are all out of school/preschool, but I would be a total liar to say that keeping them entertained is easy. I have a wide age range. I can't tell my 10 year old, "Go play in the sandbox with your sister."

I struggle to find ways to keep all three happily occupied, even if only for a little while.

Out of the blue, the boys decided they really wanted a hammock. Right now.

I called around, and the cheapest thing I could find was $99. I don't think so.

So, I pulled out some heavyweight fabric I had. I measured the distance between the two trees I wanted to hang the hammock from. I cut the fabric this length plus 6 inches.



The fabric I had was 54" wide, so I just left the finished selvage edge.

I used the added 6 inches to make a casing on each end. I sewed this seam several times for strength.





I bought this package of 2 lashing straps for $3.19. These are to go around each tree. But before tightening them...



I ran these 2 zip ties through the casings, and underneath the lashing straps before fastening them.





I tightened the straps, and that was it. Instant hammock.

Well, that was it except for having to cover the ugly yellow straps with leftover strips of fabric. I know it's pointless and silly, but I just couldn't look at those bright yellow straps. (they don't come in a nice chocolate brown).

They played for hours, and have used it everyday since.

We actually ended up attatching the hammock to the treehouse on one side - so it would not interfere with their favorite thing in our yard - a rope our columbian tree trimmer once tied way up high for them to swing on.

Spend 2 summers building a treehouse - they play on a $5 rope.




Well, a rope and a hammock.

( On a side note, I eventually replaced the 2 zip ties with 2 more sets of lashing straps. It only took Lilly plummeting to the ground once to make that change :)



LittlebitsDesigns.com

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Friday Fives -- Favorite Photos


Just Me and My Life

5 of my favorite pictures


Baker getting ready to play in the snow. I think he looks like he just stepped out of an episode of "Deadliest Catch".


Lilly at 2. Plastic high heels, a Diego vest, and a pull up.
Oh yeah, and a baby.


Teddy bear? Special blanket? Nope. A football. He loves football.



My sister, myself, and my cousin at my grandparent's. There were plenty of cats to go around.


This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it!




One scared little viking.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

An order here, an order there...



Every season, you have to swap out the clothes in your kids' closets for the new season.
I hate doing this. It's what I did all day today. The kids have been wearing the same 3 outfits over and over waiting for me to do this.

It's a big mess, I have to decide what to keep, consign, give away, etc. Does everyone dread this like I do??

The only pleasure for me is getting a fresh look at all the clothes I bought for Lilly. I love my boys dearly, but, let's be honest, dressing them isn't nearly as much fun.(The euphoria soon wears off when I realize I have to iron most of it.)

(Sometimes I get carried away.)

I know it won't be long until she has an opinion and she'll want to wear glittery leggings and a Jonas Bros. t-shirt. Until then, I will indulge myself in the power to pick her wardrobe.

What I'm getting at is, I didn't 'work' much today. But here's some recent stuff.



Baby plates. Some have dates, some will be added when the baby is born.






Isaiah canvases.







LittlebitsDesigns.com

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Flea Market Friday





Flea market fridays are one of my favorite things.


This time, my friend Amy joined us to shop. Amy has some serious patience. Lilly screamed "I want to go home" throughout our trip, and Amy still agreed to join us for lunch after shopping.


We found several things we couldn't live with out...





I got some panels that I love to paint names/phrases on.


Like this one in you know who's room...



(Yes, that's a flying pig . )


or this one.



My mom got some beautiful plants, and this really cool, old barn for her garden. It was once a mailbox , so the door opens up.




We had to distract Lilly's attention from the barn so my mom could load it into the car. She had stuffed all sorts of stuff inside of it.

Speaking of mailboxes...




Don't you just love this!! It was such a good deal I couldn't resist. I can't wait to put it out front!


Just kidding. I just wanted to frighten my neighbors.

This was one of the many, many interesting items we ran across. I took a picture of Amy with an album titled "The Stanky Brown Band", but accidentally deleted it from my phone.

While Lilly was miserable, Baker had a good time. Of course, he wanted to visit the military surplus tent. All that "guy" stuff just drew him in.




Grenades. Just what I want my 6 year old shopping for.

If you read the post here, about the box of disturbing stuff from my husband's childhood, you may agree he gets it honest.
I bet he was their only shopper sporting silly bands, eating fruit, and sipping a capri-sun (but then again, it is the flea market).




He settled on this metal box...but he couldn't take it home empty.




He found a butterfly.

A BIG butterfly.

He put it in the box...along with the caterpillar he found that rode around on the hood of the stroller for about 2 hours.

Life with Baker is never dull.



LittlebitsDesigns.com