Another birthday banner

I've officially decided that I love giving birthday banners as gifts. I signed up for a crafting swap of sorts with some friends earlier this year. One of these friends I have known since junior high, and reconnected with in the past couple of years. I realized that both of her childrens' birthdays were in April, so I decided to make them a birthday banner.

The construction is the same as previous banners: applique'd letters, double-sided banner pieces, and bias tape as the ribbon.

Simple, pretty, and fun.

Happy birthday, Conner kids!

Kid's Nature Bag

Doodle has a friend here who we'll call K. K is the daughter of a couple of science-nerdy parents, and recently had her 5th birthday. What does one give an outdoorsy 5y.o. daughter of a soil scientist and a science writer? Why, a nature bag, of course!

K's birthday card. Doodle drew K, and I drew the bag and scenery as requested.

In standard MamaBee fashion, I didn't just go out and buy a pre-made nature bag, or even any bag at all. Oh no. This sucker was handmade by moi; meaning I agonized over where exactly the pockets should go for optimal bug jar positioning, and how exactly I was going to successfully construct a multi-pocketed, lined bag having *cough* never made one like this before.

I'm pleased with how it turned out. Doodle was eager to model it for me (and will be even more eager to use her matching bag once I finish sewing it).

Doodle picked the fabrics, in K's favorite color.
We stocked it with a magnifying glass and some bug vials. Next time I'm planning to include a little laminated basic bug ID sheet. Unfortunately I didn't have time to throw one together this time around, what with the frantic bag-designing and such.

Pretty cute, I think. Maybe I need a Mama-sized nature bag next.

XXIX

We didn't have 29 candles, so I got my age in roman numerals. See the XXIX?

Also, fudge upside-down cake with marshmallow on top is delicious. Especially for breakfast.

I feel very lucky to be starting another year with such an awesome little family and wonderful dear friends far and near. Lots of love to you all. I'm off to play, plan our birthday/Chinese New Year/just because sushi party we're having tomorrow, and enjoy the day. Peace.

All About Doodle - Four

The idea for this interview was blatantly stolen from our Awesome (former) Neighbors. Just to give credit where credit is due. All answers are Doodle’s; my notes come after the *.


Favorite Subject: Wishes like hugging bears for my birthday.

Favorite Song: Twinkle twinkle little star

Favorite Albums: No! (*by They Might Be Giants)

Favorite Videos: Thomas

Favorite Movie: Signing Time Happy Birthday to You

Favorite Books: Sheep in a Jeep, Sheep on a Hike, Ladybug Girl

Favorite Toy: Emily (* toy train she got today from Ari), parachutes (*old cargo chute from Granddad is hanging in her room as a fort right now)

Favorite Color: Purple

Favorite Person: Ari

Favorite Game: Run around with friends, Molopoly 

Favorite Place: the Dentist

Favorite Place to Go: to the Farmer’s Market, Hawaii
 (*we’re going to Hawaii for Christmas and she’s very excited)
Favorite Activities: get presents, play games, make friends, to color, watch movies in the movie theater, play at my play kitchen.

Things That Really Bug You: mosquitoes.

Your Secret Wish: the secret playground. *restated, emphasizing the Wish part: wishing to get a present that a friend gave me like a pretend candle
Your Best Friends: Ari and Sylvie and Jennifer and Lindsey and Hayley because she’s awesome.

Favorite Food: cupcakes, chicken soup

Favorite Trip: hiking, Hawaii 

Things You Don't Like to Do: sometimes I don’t want to say thank you because I’m sometimes grumpy at them. I don’t probably like to get spiders in my body.

What You Want to Be When You Grow Up: a princess or a queen or a prince. *restated, asking what job she wants to have when she grows up: I want to have a flower job. I want to study flowers.

Doodle's 4th birthday

Four years ago this amazing little person came into the world, into our lives. Before Doodle I never could have imagined I could love someone so very much.

We're busy celebrating her today.

Tonight I hope to read "On the Day You Were Born" with her. At the end we'll whisper into her open, curving ear, "We're so glad you've come."

Happy fourth birthday, my sweet Doodle.

Almost Four and ready to fly

The birthday crown

She's bouncing bouncing everywhere, reminding us at least once an hour that tomorrow she'll be Four!!!

While watching climbing/base-jumping/wing suit flying videos with J this morning, they struck a deal.

Papa, when I'm big like Jake, I want to fly.
Me too, Doodle.
Papa, maybe we can fly together!
When you're big enough.

14 years (+ 1 day) and she'll be old enough to sign her own waiver. And chances are, she and her Papa probably will fly together someday.

I'll be sitting by, watching and marveling at how the time has flown by. Just like I am today.

The decking of the halls

Every year until now we've held off on holiday decorating until after Doodle's Big Day. This year, being nearly four and full of opinions, we consulted her. Given the options of only birthday decorations until December 14th or decorate for Xmas now and add birthday decor on top, she chose the latter. I was slightly surprised, but I know how much she likes the sparkles and novelty of decorating for something special, so we went with it.

A small tree was purchased and thoroughly covered in fabric birds, cones gathered on hikes and then smeared with glitter glue, and a bazillion bells.

I love the blend of nature and glitz we have going on. Especially the little fabric bird sitting watch on top, possibly keeping an eye on its nest:

In further Bday-Xmas fusion style, Doodle has suggested that we put her birthday presents beneath the tree until it's time to open them. We'll see...

Counting down

See that purple link with the star? That's a fourth birthday, rapidly approaching. After that there will be some hanging out and merriment and more presents and flying to Hawaii and such. But right now what matters most is that there are only six! days! left!

She's already planning her cake (the standard maple-carrot cake, but with red and yellow frosting) and her birthday dinner (chicken soup). Plus lots of presents and maybe even some cake eating before dinner. I foresee her spending each of the next six days lobbying for cake-before-dinner.

I foresee myself agreeing with her.

(Especially when she's wearing the awesome birthday crown I finished for her last night. Shhhhh! It's a surprise...)

Birthday Roo

Happy first birthday to my sweet Roo.

It's hard to believe that this amazing little fella is already one year old. In this one year of his life we've gotten two degrees and moved across the country. It's been a whirlwind, but he's been such a joy every step of the way. I feel so fortunate to have such a sweet, happy little guy in my life.

Happy first of many birthdays, my baby love.

Getting settled

We're in the house, getting settled. I'd say the past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind, but I feel like I've been saying that for the past two months.

Oh wait, I have.

A couple weeks ago I attended the Pollinator Conference here @ PennState while J was a full-time papa. Met a bunch of bee folks here and made some good contacts. Presented a poster and did some schmoozing. Also hung out with some BeeLabbers, drinking beers and showing them what little I know of State College so far. After the conference J was scrambling to get his presentation for Botany ready, then took off to R.I. for 4 days.

He flew out on the 31st, the day we had to vacate the apartment, so I was scrambling to get all of our gear we'd unpacked repacked and back to the storage unit. The kids & I stayed in a hotel, then got the keys to the house the following morning. My brother flew in that afternoon and helped me haul beds and some essentials to the house. In keeping with tradition (tradition being that I traumatize my sibs by losing something large & important off my vehicle on a busyish highway), we had to reload & retie the mattresses after they slid off the Jeep just as I stopped on the shoulder. Lesson learned, and thank goodness for protective mattress bags.

(My sister got to experience a faulty bike rack dropping my bike onto the trailer yoke, inches from hitting the road, in an I-5 construction zone in Portland. I think my sibs may start requesting that nothing be attached to the vehicle when they ride with me. I wouldn't blame them.)

The next day we loaded up a BIG Uhaul trailer with 2 loads of our stuff and hauled it all to the house. Bro & I alternated between hefting boxes of books (holy hell, how many books do we own?!) and resting our arms while entertaining the kids. I am so very very VERY grateful for all his help, patience and endurance. I owe him big.

After The Day of The Trailer we took it easier, slowly unpacking boxes and scouting thrift stores for furniture. Both Doodle & Roo loved having Uncle T here and were sad to see him go. J flew in 16 hours before T flew out, meaning even more transitions and change for an already transitioned-out Doodle. So she's been a bit crabby with so many changes and all the un-fun house setup stuff going on. Hopefully soon we'll have her Very Own Purple-rific Room(!) set up and she'll start to feel more at home here.

In all the bustle we still managed to celebrate J's 31st birthday yesterday. I picked up a wet bottom shoofly pie at the farmer's market for dessert. Not the most appetizing name, but yum that pie was good. That plus a new-to-us comfy chair, some beer, and a movie on demand courtesy of internet! at home! made for a nice evening to celebrate my very favorite person. Happy birthday my love.

More sewing and beyond...

Yes, more sewing. But it was for a good reason! I'd made a birthday banner similar to the one in the above photo for Doodle's birthday. I used a mishmash of fabric scraps from my stash, and it turned out well. Some friends who came to Doodle's party loved it, and kept talking about how awesome and clever the banner was.

Fast forward to last week, when I learned that one of those friends was throwing a surprise party for his wife. I asked him if I could make a banner for her party and he said "that'd kick ass!" So I quickly whipped up the banner in the above photo, and brought it to her party the following evening. They *love* it, which makes me happy.

Close up:
The letters are applique'd on (ironed then sewn), and the whole thing is sewn to a long strip of bias tape. Some of the fabrics were selected for silliness (bees for the letter B, tie dye because I love it), and some because they're familiar (I made a purse for their daughter A out of the blue H fabric last year, gift bags out of the D fabric, and a skirt for daughter S out of the purple P fabric). I'm very pleased with it.

Then here's the weird thing: academic interest in my banner. One of our friends' friends is an Extension faculty member in sewing and design stuff. She teaches classes on sewing, classes on designing dresses... you get the idea. So she saw my banner and approached me about making a How To sheet which would then be published in a peer-reviewed manner. A peer-reviewed sewing publication?! I barely feel like I know how to sew!!! So I'll be talking with her sometime in the next couple weeks, and may get a publication out of the deal. Totally crazy!

Bday#28

I had a great birthday last week.

We went to our favorite hot springs the weekend prior, and finally got to bring Little in the water. He LOVED it. So we're 2 for 2 on babies who love hot springs, which is awesome.

I didn't get to sleep in on my bday, but that's okay. Doodle started to stir at 6ish, and rather than let her go back to sleep, J turned to her and said "Guess what day it is... Mama's birthday!" With that, Doodle was up and out of bed and ready to bring me presents to open, pronto. It was so cute I forgave him for the early morning.

I opened presents (including a Learning To Knit kit from my knitty mother-in-law - Thanks!), ate the delicious breakfast J made for me, then enjoyed a mellow morning of hanging out with my favorite people at home. J went to school for a few hours, then came home early to make me a yummy dinner.

I thought that'd be the extent of the festivities. I was wrong. I went to bellydance early for some costume fitting. While I was waiting for practice to start, my sneaky fellow dancers brought in a cake, fully ablaze, and sang to me. Totally unexpected. It was quite sneaky, and I loved it.

Thanks everyone!

He's here!

Tyler Jesse was born on Thursday, 8 Oct. at 6:25am. He's 7lbs and 20 inches long. Labor was less than 3 hours long. Our midwife, Melissa, was here for 8 minutes before Tyler was born into his Papa's hands. We're all doing great.

I'll post the full birth story plus cute photos of my little harvest baby soon.

Happy 30th!

Guess who's 30 today?

Yep, that's the birthday boy!

A cute kid who has become an amazing and wonderful man.

Silly and nerdy, which I love.

Outdoorsy and adventurous (and hot).

A wonderful Papa who knows how to be a kid still.

And the best partner I could possibly ask for.
Thanks for letting me be a part of your adventures, J.

Happy birthday!
We love you!

27

As of today I am 27 years old.

No big, contemplative posts for you... I'm busy enjoying Doodle and the sunshine, and pondering what this year will bring.

Photo from Flickr.

birthday girl

She's saying how old she is here.

Yummy carrot birthday cake, plus wings? The perfect birthday combination.

BDay celebrations

We had a great, fun-filled Doodle's Second Birthday today.

We awoke to snow, and lots of it. We are chicken-sitting for J's advisor up at The Cabin north of town and kinda in the boonies. It's peaceful, quiet, and gorgeous. Oh, and it gets a lot more snow than down further in the valley. So we played inside this morning, enjoying Doodle's new tea set and play food. Then we packed up and rolled into town where we did some mad-dash cleaning and decorating before The Party. Streamers and balloons were deployed, and the house was looking downright birthdayish (it's important with a December birthday to make sure this special day doesn't get lost in the pre-Xmas stuff. Daktari, the holder of the SoIL December Birthdays Suck party taught me this.).

Friends big and small arrived bearing gifts of music, books and eggnog (homemade!). I have a new-found appreciation for eggnog. Mmmm, fatty goodness! We ate burgers and cake, played with balloons and tea sets, and chatted. We ate too much, drank too much eggnog, and partied until the toddlers were exhausted. It was great.

Post-party we piled up the dishes, grabbed fresh clothes, and hit the road back out to The Cabin. The storm was letting up but we wanted to hit the snowy roads in daylight in case we needed to chain up to get to The Cabin. Main Street was icy and very slow, and Doodle was asleep before we even made it out of town - guess we really wore her out with The Party. Some sliding at a couple of stoplights plus a slower-than-usual drive, but we made it out to the cabin just fine. The snow was deep on the driveway but Elmo the Jeep just plugged along and made it up with no problems. Later one of the Advisor's neighbors came by to plow the driveway with his tractor. Very nice.

Now Doodle is playing with her new Playdoh, cookie cutters and rolling pin on the floor while J and I relax. We'll probably read a bunch of books, play tea party and go to bed early. Definitely a great way to celebrate the two year anniversary of Doodle's birth.

Tomorrow: sledding on the hill behind The Cabin, the first use of skis and snowshoes this season, and maybe an epic snowman. We shall see.

Two years ago...

...I was immensely pregnant. I had taken my only final exam the day before. My mom and brother were coming to town in anticipation of The Birth. We figured they would be here for a while, killing time and watching me for any indication of an emerging baby.

Two years ago today J and I went to SLC to pick up my mom and brother, then ran a bunch of errands while in the big city. We returned to Logan around 6pm, made dinner, played with our snake, I made my birth necklace and we went to bed around 11:30pm.

A couple hours later I was in labor.

Tomorrow Miss Doodle turns two years old. Man, what a ride it has been.