#24

#24: check!

This is my first post from my new (to me) laptop!  I don't have to bang on it to get it to start up, all the keys are on the keyboard and fitted into the right spot and the corner doesn't open up so that you can inspect the insides or make high school students think you are crazy by making it talk to them :) So the new laptop is a 15 inch MacBook Pro with a 500GB hard drive and I love it!  I have already filled about 200GB between photos and music... but hopefully I will be setting up the cloud to run my music and free up some of the space that way.  It works like a dream and I am soooooo excited.

On to other updates from the list:

#27 sort of happened but it wasn't my planning so I am not going to count it.  My aunt Jane came up to visit and my parents went over to visit her at my cousins house.  My uncle Tiny was there as well his kids and their kids so it was a good sized gathering but one uncle and an aunt were missing so I don't count it for that reason either :)

#29 will be happening shortly now that I have my new laptop.  In the next few weeks (after settling into camp)  I will be reorganizing my photos and getting rid of some duplicates and putting things in order.

#11: still have not had a sip of soda since January.  I am a little bored with iced tea and lemonade so hopefully I will be able to find something to spice it up for the next 6 months but we will see.

#21:  I am so glad I put this one on here because it is taking me FOREVER to get this one accomplished.  I have it all pinned up for quilting, I just need the time to do it... haha right!  hopefully at some point over the summer I can come down to my mother in laws and do it up really quickly and be done with them so that when we move in the fall the boys have them for their beds.

In other news, we move to camp on Friday/Saturday.  I am still not sure what day the boys and I will be heading up.  Josh has to be there for Friday so I think we might just head up there to get up and start getting settled in.  I hate this week since things are crazy at school and things are crazy here at home.  We are trying to pack everything up because we are moving out of the inlaws house and into camp and also trying to find someplace to live when camp is over.  We have a few leads and will hopefully be looking at some places in the next week so that we can finally move into our own place.  It is looking like #15 won't be happening before my 30th birthday but I am trying to keep my hopes up because it could happen shortly after it!  I will say that while we have not saved a lot not paying rent and living here, we have paid a lot of the hospital bills and other miscellaneous bills that needed to be taken care of that will make it a lot easier once we do move out and start paying rent or a mortgage.
I also turned 29 yesterday.  Josh and the boys made adorable gifts and my inlaws gave me a first aid kit for the car (needed since I discovered the other day after Jack fell at the playground that my first aid kit was empty) and an iTunes gift card.  Josh also made me a yummy delicious dessert for my birthday and I went out to the Old Port with my sister and some friends from high school.  We had a great time and I got home way too late!

Otherwise its life as usual which means I need to get some sleep!  Good night!!

List update

Ok so  its been awhile, but I have been working on the list a bit over the past few months, and I am totally gearing up for summer.  The weather has been great (aside from this rainy week we just suffered through) and we have been having a TON of fun!
For list action I have :
29. Uploaded and organized by month all the pictures we have, including the ones my MIL has taken and uploaded to her computer.
11. Not had a single soda since December 31st, and while I am sure my students are trying to taunt me by bringing Dr. Pepper to class, my rational brain reminds me that they are not evil soda taunters, but sweet teenagers and I am the crazy one who has given up the sugary goodness for a year... this is actually tougher than I thought it would be... not because I drink a lot of soda, but every once in a while I like it and get it when we are out at restaurants... there's not a lot of choices for non-carbonated drinks and iced tea can get a little old (and lets be honest... just isn't that great at some places).
7&8. My best friend from middle school just moved back to Maine and I am so excited.  We went out Saturday night and had the time of our lives (even though we are both mommys of two boys) and I plan on trying to make this happen a lot more now that she is home.  We also got to see the boys' godparents at their birthday party, including my college roommate who came up from Connecticut and we got some girl time in, plus we are going to dinner with some friends that we don't get to see a lot this Saturday.  I am really happy that we are getting the chance to do this since we don't get to go out a lot without the boys and its hard to get out with other people with them because its hard to seat a large group, and kidless folks like to eat dinner a little later than the littles do.
25. We bought the boys fishing poles for their birthday so once we get up to camp, we are ready to go!
24. We are working on this one right now... I am waiting for my birthday because I am hoping my parents are going to help me with this and also because by then the new MacBooks will be out and that is definitely what I would like.
3. The boys and I planted some pots with some veggies and flowers and while this was not entirely what I had in mind when I started this list, I am realizing that it will probably have to do because we won't be able to grow a garden in our home while Josh is still working at camp.  We planted cucumbers, beans, tomatos, marigolds and zinnias.  Hopefully they all grow and the boys don't pull the blossoms off like they did last summer!
10. I started a list of books that are out of the norm for me and have one waiting on my Kindle, but I just started a really interesting book on the social history of bread so that one will have to wait until I finish my bread book, plus I should really try to finish Real Boys before the end of the school year since I borrowed that from another teacher friend.
21. I pinned the boys quilts to get them ready for quilting... that took a lot fumes and help from Josh's mom because the two flannel pieces were super slippery so we had to use quilt basting spray... even Jack was turned off by the smell and he was upstairs in bed!

I think thats it for now... I am plugging away on the list and at life and having a great time with it.  I will update more on the boys' birthday party and our trip to Boston at a later date but for now I should probably head to bed since I have to work tomorrow!  Hopefully some party pictures and Boston pictures too!

Progress

Things have been busy around here... Josh has been working a lot for camp starting to get things going for this summer,  so I have been home a lot with the boys.  This past week was school vacation for us and the boys so we went to Manchester to try and get some family photos done, using a Groupon I bought earlier this year.  I made the appointment for Monday, not thinking that it was a holiday.  It was SOOO busy, it was a little rushed and the boys just weren't ready to warm up to a new person taking their photos that quickly.. so it didn't work out... so family photos another time!!
Then Josh had to go and work at winter camp so it was just me and the boys.  We decided to check out the Children's Museum of New Hampshire... we had a fantastic time and when Daddy came home the next day, he took the boys back again!

On a more 30 before 30 focus (aside from the family photos) I ordered 3 pairs of pants in a smaller size!  Getting there on my goal of getting back into the college size.  I have been watching portions, staying away from snacks, and still haven't had a drop of soda since the beginning of January!
I have also been working on the boys' quilts.  I started to work on the border and hated it... here's a couple pictures to show you what it looked like:

I didn't like the colors around the border... I was just feeling like it took away from the center squares and couldn't get them to line up correctly.... so I took a little run to Marden's to pick up something I thought would work better.  And it did.  Here's the new border: 

I love it!  So this past week, in any minute I could find that Josh was home with the boys, I worked on finishing up the backing and the middle flannel piece.  All I have left to do is quilt it and bind it... that may take me a while since I have never done that before, but I think I'm ready for it!  

In other news, we are gearing up for the boys' birthday party which will be happening in just one short month and a half.  They have decided they want a Thomas party now and so I have been scouring the internet trying to find all things Thomas and birthday!   Look for more details once we get closer! 

Already a Failure

I am already dropping out of one my 30 before 30 goals... I need a haircut... its driving me crazy, and I can't imagine what it will be like a year from now... so I am getting it cut...


I do have to say, my husband has been super supportive about the whole thing and tried to talk me back into it, you really wanted this, stick it out, etc.



But I can't!! I will change it to something cool, once I come up with it!
Now I need to go find a good photo of what I want this new haircut to be!

Time to start cracking!

So I have officially started a few of my 30 before 30 goals, I cut my hair to get the layers out and need to get another trim to get the last of them out in the next couple of weeks, I have not had soda ALL YEAR.... ok so we're only 9 days in... no biggie... do you know how hard it is in a restaurant to only drink iced tea or beer? ok... the beers not so difficult, but if number 12 is going to happen... then I need to not drink beer at every meal! :)
But the big one that I have been working on is the boys' quilts.  This all started when we were redecorating to recreate a "big boy room"... in our old house... before we moved in with the in laws, but the same theme will apply when they get a new room... in our new house... where only we live :).
I searched and searched for the perfect bedding that would match their current curtains that I love, plus go with the prints that we had ordered for them earlier this year ( see them here).  I couldn't find anything I really loved, that wasn't ridiculously expensive (remember... two kiddos=two beds) or ridiculously cheap (I don't mind paying for quality, because I hate replacing things every year or two because they wear out or look yucky).
So finally I caved and asked MIL to help me find a simple pattern that I could do... considering the last nine patch ended up with some 7.5 patches and all sorts of crazy not squares in it... so I wanted to simplify.  I ended up choosing the turning twenty pattern, which consists of large squares made from 3 different fabrics.  The idea is that you use 20 fat quarters and make them into your squares... since I was doing two, and I wanted some of the same fabrics in each, I am not sure how many fat quarters I used.... but I went and bought the fabric.  Then I let it sit over the summer (never a good idea for me... I still have a mirror and fabric in the attic that I bought AT LEAST 4 years ago... maybe more).
When we moved in with the in laws and I realized I would have a bit more time to sew since MIL has a sewing room all set up for herself so I wouldn't be constantly having to set up and take down my machine I started cutting:

This is the point where my friend, Krista, pointed out to me that women like us.... just aren't cut out for sewing... this is half of the pieces that I would need.... and I was dreading doing the rest... but I made my way through it and started sewing... I was so excited I again sent Krista a photo, the first square sewn: 

Yay!!

From there I sewed the squares into strips... to do this I had to set out all the squares on my bed and make sure I liked the arrangement... I don't have any pictures of this, because it was the most frustrating part and I had to walk away from it a few times before I got both of them just right... it took MIL and I moving around and shifting quite a few squares before I was happy... so once I got the strips sewn... I realized this was going to make a MASSIVE quilt... and they were going on twin sized beds... so I laid them out again... and with my faithful assistant Chloe, I decided which squares had to go... I only took photos of the finished product but here they are (with comfy kitty showing just how great they are going to be when finished) 

You can see the sticky notes I put on each first square so I could remember the order!  From there I stitched the strips together, and again with my faithful assistant Chloe (this time she's under the blankets!), I laid them out to check out my handy work

All thats left is to add the border, back it and quilt it.  I plan on "stitching in the ditch" to quilt, which means I will sew around the squares on the seams.  Here is what the backing looks like:

I will share more once I get more done, and will definitely share the finished products!

December re-cap

This past December was really fun.  I don't usually say that about December on a whole because I am definitely not a snow person and love the summer and sun.  It may be due in part to the fact that we haven't had much snow up here this winter so far, or that we had a few days that hit 50, but what I really think it was, was all the fun stuff we got to do with the boys this month.

We started the first weekend of December with a drive that took forever to get us to Santa's Village.  I was a little apprehensive about this trip, because it was so far, it would cut right into the middle of nap time and my husband's family was going with us, mother in law, father in law, brother in law and his new girlfriend.  Plus I had never been, so I had no idea if there was going to even be anything that the boys could do.  I was planning on spending less time there than it had taken us to get there!

Little did I know that we would have so much fun!
The first thing the boys wanted to do was go on the sleigh ride that takes up over the park on a little tour of the park.  I was totally unprepared for them to want to do this, but totally prepared for a meltdown once they realized what we were actually going to do.  This is how it went down:

And continued on like this:

And ended with a visit to Santa after waiting in a line that lasted forever and the kids had more patience for than I did:

We then headed home and stopped for a yummy dinner at the Muddy Moose in North Conway.  I love it there and they have an excellent kids menu.

The boys lived off the excitement of that for the next week until it came time to start planning how the boys were going to celebrate their Uncle Kirk's birthday.  The boys decided they wanted to make crowns for the birthday boy:

And cake:

They were very determined the entire time that they were doing the decorating all by themselves and did not need help from either me or my mother in law.  I think they did a pretty good job! 

So the next day we got everyone together and headed out to Newfields to find the perfect Christmas tree.  This is a bit of a challenge... as my mother in law is very particular about what kind of tree we get and it has to fit the perfect parameters that she sets... we usually see every tree in the whole farm before she finally decides it was one of the ones we saw when we first walked in... here are a few shots of what it looks like while the family picks up the trees and Nana makes her decision: 

Until FINALLY the tree is found, cut and wrapped: 

And we headed back to the house to give Uncle Kirk his birthday presents, crown and cake.  The boys had to escort their individual cakes over to Kiki all by themselves so we helped them carry their cakes over so they could present them to Kiki.

Now that I am looking at this post... I think that will be all for now and I will do a separate Christmas recap a little later.  I will be writing about splitting holidays with families and how to survive Christmas with two two year olds!

Its time to start planning!

The boys turn 3 in just 4 short months... its time to start planning the party!  For their first birthday they had a sock monkey theme that I absolutely loved and since we had a big party, I was able to work it in in a lot of ways.  Last year we were away on their birthday and had a much smaller party with a simpler theme of construction.
Lately they have been obsessed with the Cars movie characters, so I am thinking I might do a Cars theme for their party.  It will again be a small party since they are still at an age where there won't be a lot of kids at the party and its silly to have a big party for a bunch of adults, plus its totally overwhelming for them and for us to try and host a huge party.  I have a ton of ideas, but some of them seem a little like overkill for a small party for family and close friends, but we will see where it goes.

One thing that is definitely on the calendar for us is to attend The Big Apple Circus on their birthday.  We went last year and had a really great time.  This year's line-up seems even better and since it will be Grandma's last year as a performer we can't miss it!  We will go on the boys' actual birthday since we are on school vacation and make a day of it out in Boston.  Hopefully this year the weather will hold out better for us than it did last year.  Whatever the weather, it is bound to be a good day!

But back to the party, I am thinking of using tickets like these:

from Etsy seller iCelebration. 

I love reading other mom's blogs about their Cars birthday party and love getting ideas from them... but again some of them are just so detailed and over the top it seems silly to do for just a few people.  I will definitely be using our gigantic cupcake pan and will make cupcakes for everyone else which will have a theme... but having themed foods and names for everything is not my style... so I will probably just get the invites and add some Cars decorations to the food table.  Unless the boys make some quick friends and want to invite them to their party, in which case the details will change and I will add some of the themed food names and get Cars themed favors. 

More details once we get closer!