aaaand...another new house project down

This wasn't so much of a "new house" project as a "new baby" project. I found a great slipcovered chair for the new baby's room and I tried making a pillow to fit it. I've never tried piping before, and while this is shoddy workmanship, the act of making the piping wasn't so difficult.



10 weeks until Baby #3 is due!

toilet paper baby

I knew at some point this was bound to happen...I just didn't know what form it would take.

Meg came out of the bathroom today with a big wad of toilet paper with a pregnant belly just like mine -her "baby"- stuffed in her tutu.


(A sweet little friend gave Meg her tutu a few days ago, and Meg is obsessed with it.)

pluots and leeks

I've mentioned before that we get a big produce box every couple of weeks, and I love it for a lot of reasons and one of them is that it encourages me to try new fruits and vegetables. If it's in the box, I eat it. Or at least I try.

Last night was a double-whammy for new experiences - we had pluots and leeks. The pluots were a hit with everyone. They are part plum, part apricot.



I don't know why I've avoided leeks all my life - maybe because they were just foreign to me. I made this potato and leek soup. It can be made much healthier by substituting 1% milk for the heavy cream and using half the bacon.

learn something new every day

Katie spend a lot of time this morning on the kitchen floor trying to catch this sunbeam in her hands. I don't think she noticed that sunbeam until today. She was concentrating so hard!

july 4th

We got to spend the weekend in Jacksonville with some family and it was just the relaxing holiday we needed after a really busy June...lots of good conversation, good food, and trips to the pool.

The girls made our table decoration by weaving crepe streamers and taping it down.


Meg and cousin Anna are turning into little buddies. They spent hours building block castles together.


Every time I see my nieces, more teeth are missing.


Katie was in baby-attention heaven.



Root beer floats and sparklers on the back porch.




When we moved on to fireworks that were a little more loud and scary than the sparklers, 4 of the 6 girls needed to move inside and watch from the window!

one new house project down

...about 20 more to go! We have a "new" (used) sofa that sits close to our old green one so I tried to find a fabric for pillows that would kind of go with both. This was my first try at making a pillow cover. It was pretty easy, and after I finished them yesterday I thought the blue on the back was a little boring so I added some buttons.