Dancing revisited

Okay, so I know that I have already shown a Megan dancing video on here, but this is even funnier...and, I am not making you watch it. You have your own will, so if you are tired of pictures and movies of my sweet little girl, then just skip this one.

Here comes Peter Cottontail...

Megan had a very nice Easter. She actually did okay in the nursery at church (she hasn't been liking it too much the past few weeks.) She fell asleep as soon as we got home which is good because I needed to finish lunch preparations and she was in melt down mode. When she woke up, she ate her lunch with a crowd of adoring grandparents, an uncle and 3 great grandparents to watch. Then, she opened an Easter present from G'ma and G'pa (a swimsuit!) and moved on to her Easter basket. I know it's silly to get her an Easter basket, but it was fun for Chad and I to do. She got an Easter book, a lamb puppet and plastic eggs with graham cracker cookies inside.


Her dress was a gift from Aunt Suzy, she had cute little shoes on earlier, but the day got a little crazy and I didn't get the picturesque shots I hoped for.



She really liked the eggs (and graham crackers). She thinks the lamb puppet is pretty great, even though I was picked on without mercy because, "Real lambs don't sound like that."

Drums revisited

Just thought this needed to be added...
Last night, Chad added a "high-hat" and "cymbal" to Megan's drumming arsenal. They had a good old time.

Our House Part 5-The Parlor

Since moving in, we have not done anything to the main floor (other than say, cooking, eating and washing dishes). It consists of a large foyer, kitchen, dining room and a room I like to refer to as, "the parlor." To date, the parlor has been mainly storage of items I was saving for a garage sale, a depository for my china which was in nice piles on the floor (I decided it was time to find a new home with Megan on the move), and a home for mismatched hand-me down furniture. Yesterday, I took the bull by the horns and cleaned it out and made it almost look like a room...

This is the view looking into the room from the foyer. Pay special attention to the lovely blue and green combo...Wow, terrible...


A year ago, my aunt gave me a set of tea dishes that belonged to my Grandma Warner. I got it out the other day b/c I was considering using it for a tea party at church and decided I might as well display it.


Here is a token picture of Megan as I know she is the main reason most people read the blog:


This is a view from the parlor looking into the dining room, two sides of the room have french doors (which I love).


Here is the view facing the front of the house.


The ceiling has this cool gold wallpaper (one of the only things I like that the previous owners did) but some of it needs to be re-pasted. The ceiling fan will most likely be leaving when we remodel.


Remember the hand-me down furniture? Here is a piece I really like that my parents gave us...except it's missing a key element. I was able to donate a couch that was given to me to our church nursery project. It just wasn't what I had in mind for the room.


This is the view going into the foyer from the parlor.


I know all of you wanted a closer look at this lovely mural...more handiwork of the previous owners.


So my current project is to decide what and how to make this space look inviting and complete without spending a fortune. I think a vast improvement could be made by simply painting, I'm just not sure what colors I want to go with. I love the woodwork throughout this floor, so I want to pick colors that highlight/compliment the wood. I'm thinking yellows, greens and accents of red, but I'm not sure. I went color sampling at Lowe's yesterday and checked out some design books from the library today...Hopefully, I'll make up my mind before too long. Of course, then we have to find time to do it.

This is a modified scraplift. I simplified it quite a bit, the original used patterned paper and more embellishments. I haven't used a plain white background in ages, but I think I like the overall look.

Who needs toys?

Since Megan began crawling, I no longer trust her in the dining room when I'm in the kitchen. As many times as I have said, "No cords," I don't think she quite gets it...So, the other day I gave her a spoon and a cookie sheet and good times were had...

Here she is drumming:

And here is some singing:

TV is evil...

I know you are saying, "what does tv have to do with snow babes?" Well, I sat all night and pushed paper around. Chad and Megan went to bed early (see note), so I had the whole evening to myself. I first straightened the enormous mess I had made during the past two days and then started while watching "The Bridges of Madison County" for background interest...Yeah, right. So, I'd push paper, browse a magazine for ideas, watch the movie, push paper, decide that paper wasn't speaking to me and start with new pics, go to the internet to browse for ideas for new pics, push paper, watch movie, push paper, but really just watching movie, push paper, rewind dvr because missed part of movie, movie ends, flip channels, start watching "Paula's Party," push paper, finally decide I should go to bed b/c "good eats" came on and I don't feel like finding something else for "background" noise while I push paper. Wasted evening right? (see second note) I go downstairs to brush my teeth and get in bed and I start thinking about the pics and paper again...I come back upstairs and finished a page in half an hour, sans tv.

Note: They went to bed at 7:30. For Megan, that's normal. For Chad, not so normal, but we had gone to a Casting Crowns concert last night, got home at 12:30 and he went into work at 3:30 am and worked until 4:30 pm...there, some sympathy should go out to Chad.

Note 2: I'm not sure if I was this way before Megan, but I feel like I should constantly be doing at least 2 things...this is especially when it comes to tv, I feel as though I should be doing something productive while I watch. Thus, I'm almost always on the computer (I don't know why this counts in my mind, because it is also a time killer) or folding clothes or pushing paper...I would perhaps watch less, if I just sat down, relaxed, watched 1 show, turned it off and then accomplished something...

Munchin' Munchkin

Here is a layout I did today...I was going off the pattern on her bib. I'm not all that pleased with how it turned out. I don't like the arrangement of the photos on the page...They need something, but I don't want to go with a traditional mat...Any advice?

Kissin' Bacon

Okay, two stories for you today...

So, every baby guide tells you that from birth on, a mirror is a good developmental toy for babies. Being the dutiful mother that I am, I purchased a mirror toy around 5 months of age, it was an early Christmas present. As she had no idea what or when Christmas is, I figured she could start reaping the developmental benefits early. Reliable guides said baby would be enthralled with her own image...Megan was not the least bit interested in the baby looking back at her. She was fascinated, however, by the spinny ball on the other side, the rattle hanging off the top, the beaded handle and the soft squishy bug attached, so I figured my money was not spent in vain.

Last Friday, she finally found her reflection of interest and apparently has a vanity problem, because she kept trying to kiss and or suck on her reflection...

Second story. When Megan was probably oh, 4 months old, Chad was carrying her around the house and showing her things. He took her into the guest room and was showing her her reflection in the mirror when I happened to walk by and overhear this conversation:

Chad: "Look at the little girl, she's got your same outfit on! That's your twin sister. Her name is Bacon."

Katy: (I could not help interjecting at this point) "Did you just say her twin's name was Bacon?"

Chad: "Yeah, it's the only thing I could come up with that rhymes with Megan."

Katy: "Bacon does not rhyme with Megan"

Chad: "Well, (long pause), it would in a song."

At this point, I made a few comments about how we occasionally eat bacon and doesn't that seem weird and then, I left the room shaking my head...

Anything shiny and/or breakable...

Megan has begun doing a lot of exploratory crawling (as opposed to the crawling required to get a toy in a 2 foot radius). When asked to demonstrate this skill, she generally just sits there, but we have found that she will perform if the proper bait is used. In the following example, the camera served as the said bait.

Viewer warning, the end of the video is not appropriate for those with a tendency toward motion sickeness...

California dreaming on such a winter's day...

I don't even need California, I'd be happy to have sunshine and maybe 40 degree days? I think I'm getting a little too anxious for spring. Yesterday, it seemed nice (from inside my 68 degree house) so I put Megan in a spring jacket and we ran some errands...Well, it was still cold and a few (a very few) flakes fell by the end of our outing. The second time we went out we donned the ever-faithful pink snowsuit. Today, the sun was out so I checked the weather and it was only 32 degrees. I decided we'd walk anyway and so Megan got extra bundled and we went.




I think Megan likes to go for walks. I say I think because she remains mostly still and expressionless the whole time. No excitement, but no fussing either...I'm not sure what that means. I think she finds the whole experience mellowing. She even fell asleep on our walk today and remained asleep while I unbundled her and got her to bed.



Oh, did I mention that after I threatened to remove the snow shower curtain from our bathroom that it snowed 10 plus inches in the next 48 hours?