Life in Cleveland

Cleveland Aquarium Visit

2012-01-23T23:52:00.000-05:00

So we took our family to the brand-spanking new Cleveland Aquarium:

It's located in the old Powerhouse in the flats. We actually had our wedding reception at Windows so I have a bit of an affection for this place:

And lived at the Bingham in the background. Funtimes.

The powerhouse is a really interesting building and I was excited to see it used in this way. It's been a million and a half things since they redid it as an entertainment complex but I think this is by far the coolest:

The exhibits were really well done. My kid especially liked the "Kitty Fish" (any fish with whiskers) in the Ohio Lakes and Rivers exhibit. And we watched the stingrays for a long, long, long, long time.

One of the neatest things about the aquarium is how they use the building.

Tanks are tucked in underneath brick arches:

Exhibits are arranged around long, vaulted passageways:

And they give you peeks at the iconic smokestacks:

Lobsters? In the smokestack? I don't quite get it but it looks cool so I'll run with it.

The interactive tank was impressive but also super crowded. I'm going to guess that will get better with time:

My kid: I touched alot of things. A spiny thing. And a bug thing. And... I didn't pet a shark.

But all of it was leading up to the grand finale. The shark tank:

It was HUGE. The sharks were HUGE. And had TEETH:

The shark tank (and all of the tanks, actually) was really, really cloudy. I'm told that it will get clearer with time but I'm glad we got to experience it while it was still murkey. Made the whole thing seem unreal and extra spooky:

My kid before bed that night: "I liked the sharks but I was a little afraid that they were going to eat my brother."

The last thing before exiting through the giftshop is the underwater tunnel:

It goes on for-ev-er. In a good way. And while everything was still murky so we couldn't see much we did have a school of stingrays swim directly over us:

How. Cool. Is. This?!

My biggest complaint* is that it wasn't what I was expecting based on my knowledge of the building. I wanted to see fishtanks set against sweeping views of the river and the flats. Like the logo depicts:

But that never happened. I also expected some ridiculous spaces in terms of vertical volume but that never happened either. Everything was pretty much one story, in the basement. They made the decision to use the old Rock Bottom Brewery as the snack shop and didn't claim any of those spaces for exhibits. I was picturing tanks where the old brew kettles were.

Why are there not giant tanks everywhere in here? It would have been so cool!

But I'll give them a pass considering that I know nothing at all about the requirements for aquariums. When I had an algae bloom in our sad little home setup the first thing they asked me was "is it near a window?" So I'm guessing that on this big of a scale natural light and heat need to be really carefully controlled. Probably not possible in a space with sweeping views of downtown.

Bummer.

Overall though it was a really cool place. We ended up buying a membership (it pays for itself in 2 trip) and I plan on taking the kids again soon.

I liked the fish.

*Not the stroller controversy. Seriously, people. Not everywhere can accommodate strollers. There are narrow hallways and big crowds. It is not an affront to families or anti-children. It is simple math. Although it would have been nice if they had a coat check. Or even the ability to run out to the car if necessary (they have a no-reentry policy). As it stands most of the parents there looked like pack-mules (kids in carriers! Diaper bags! Coats for everyone! We have to carry all of the things!).

Project Runway Recapped by a Toddler

2012-01-20T16:03:00.000-05:00

Ok so. This weeks installment of What My Toddler Thinks about Project Runway is admittedly much less fantastic than last week's amazing. She was out partying too late last night and is a bit cranky today. Plus I made the error of allowing her to see some of the sewing room portion of the show. Which meant she was no longer interested in watching dresses because she wanted to make one of her own.

This mainly involved cutting up pieces of yarn and then holding them up to her stuffed animals saying "What a pretty dress"

The second the show was over she begged me to go upstairs to my studio where she wanted to draw and then sew.

My sewing machine may be a toy but I can out design any of you people. Have you seen my squirrel-y dress?

Anyways! On to her commentary:

..... (She had nothing to say about this dress whatsoever.)

It's kindof a Malificent dress... kindof... I don't like this dress.

It has alot of lines.

Where's the rest of her dress?

That's pretty silly.

I don't like this dress.

Oh wow! Look at her Hat! (and then she went and put on a tutu) It looks like a hat!!!

That dress has some things on it. I like her crown. That's a beautiful crown!

It looks like a touchdown (football jersey). She has some boots on! She needs a coat and a hat on.

That's pretty awesome. It's so shiny! I like this dress.

She looks like big bird!

So the shiny dress was her clear favorite. And I'm just going to go ahead and say that her lackluster commentary was because of the lacluster dresses. Nothing was all that amazing this week. I actually did like Mila's dress as a dress but now that my daughter has called it a football jersey I can't see anything else. The fabric completely looks like football jersey fabric. Crazy that.

Making Friends.

2012-01-19T16:12:00.000-05:00

A blog about blogging! And facebook! What could be more intersting? And when I tweet the link to this I will have created a turducken of social media!

So I"m doing this thing via the Secret to Success is Support Girls called 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. I'm only on day 4 but so far it has inspired a few changes around here. Meaning... drumroll...

I actually, finally have an About Me page!

Crazy that. I also have added some fancy tabs at the top to try to organize my content like a grown up blogger would. They need some work. The blogroll especially needs some help. But it will get there.

Also fun an exciting and all of that....

Life in Cleveland now has a facebook page!

Not sure what I'll do with that yet. Probably just post updates there when I update here. In case you like to get your blog feed on that way. Please like me?

Speaking of begging people to like me... The day 3 challange was to find a blogging buddy. I'm a little fuzzy on what that means but I'm guessing it's someone who you can hang out with and watch crappy reality tv. Or you know... help promote each others blogs. One of the two. And then I realized that the latest post up on my blog - the first thing all of these new people who were assessing if they wanted to be friends with me or not would see - was a post about me making a drunken fool out of myself and then getting food poisoning.

Right. I win at social media.

Fortunately 3 bloggers wanted to play along with me. So in the spirit of being a good blog buddy here's a little bit about them:

First is Amanda over at Raising Miss Mommy. She blogs about raising a baby girl. Her latest post about a parenting bucket list really got me thinking.

Next is Billie over at The Unexpected Mother. She has two little boys and considering that she mentions Kaluha in her About Me paragraph I have a feeling we're going to be BFF's.

Finally is Kisha over at Untagged Seeds. This blogger freaked me out because SHE IS ME. No seriously. There are two of us. She was an architect, went on maternity leave, and then never went back, has a fiber-related Etsy site, was a charter member of APX at her school, and lives on a Great Lake in the rust belt. I read her profile outloud to my husband and he thought I was talking about me. Yeah.

So Yay for making new friends! And double Yay because tonight is Project Runway. I can't wait to see what my kid thinks of it!

She wants me to make her Madeline doll a fancy skirt. Seriously.

The last 48 hours.

2012-01-16T22:27:00.001-05:00

So. Wow. Where to begin. The last 48 hours have been insane. How 'bout I start at the beginning.

Sat morning we decided to take advantage of the snow and take our kids on a sledding adventure. I crowdsourced twitter for ideas on where to go and the overall recommendation was the Westlake Recreation Center. Done and Done:

I also found this awesome website for all of your Ohio sledding needs.

Superfuntimes sledding. But as things go we left the hill with both kids completely melting down and hungry. So we made the grave error of stopping at KFC for some quick 'n easy lunch.

Bad Idea. But I"ll get to that.

So we ate our lunch, laughed at how much our daughter went crazy over the popcorn chicken (clearly she is not very familiar with the ways of fast food. I intend to keep it that way), and went on with our day.

Later we dropped the kids off at my parents house for a night of fun with the grandparents. And I got to dust off (literally) my cocktail shaker and make myself one of these:

The Perfect Citron Cosmo.

Matt was feeling a little under the weather but I gave him the SERIOUSLYMANUPWENEVERGETOUTEVERAAAAH. Speech and away we went. Bad Idea #2 but I'll get to that one as well.

So we met up with some of our friends at the Church Bar - which, totally recommend if you're looking for a "mix" bar in Cleveland. Superfuntimes. Couple of thoughts: If you order a Citron Cosmo with the disclaimer "I know this is SO 2005 but..." you will make fast friend with the bartenders. Also watching Tebow get his ass handed to him was extra super fun at a "mix" bar.

Somewhere during the night Matt decided that he REALLY wasn't feeling well (DANGER, WARNING, DANGER) and left me to fend for myself / make lots and lots of new friends. And Oh did I have a ball. I got to find out what a "mix" bar was from the manager ("A bar where everyone feels welcome." "So, like, a bar." "Well more welcoming than that." "So one with alcohol?" I am a bit slow sometimes), challange the bartenders to their cosmo making skills earning myself a free one in the process, and compare iphones with a group of gay men (Grinder. DUDE.). Which resulted in many of these:

I consider it a monument to my self restraint that I only posted one random filmstrip of my new BFF's to facebook.

Eventually I made it home. The second I walked in the door it hit me. I remember at one point thinking 4 martinis in 5 hours does not equal worshiping the porcelain god drunk. It equals thinking you're fantastic drunk. And I am too fantastic to be this sick. Plus why is Matt puking in the other room? There's something wrong with this picutre.

I'll spare you all of the puking in stereo details of the next few hours but suffice it to say both of us ended up in the hospital with a serious case of food poisoning. And my poor parents got to relive what it's like to have a sick and puking toddler. Luckily the little dude was spared the horrors of the situation.

Which means 2 things:

It was the popcorn chicken.

And I will never, ever, EVER eat KFC ever again.

So yeah. That happened. Thankfully we're all on the mend now.

What a crazy weekend.

My 2.5 year old's thoughts on Project Runway

2012-01-13T11:30:00.000-05:00

So since our plans were cancelled I declared today a SNOW DAY. Meaning same rule bending as a sick day - lots of movies! picnics in the living room! All of the craft supplies out at the same time! Mommy in a tutu! It's crazy around here. Anways before I let my kid put in a movie I wanted to watch the last 15 min of Project Runway Allstars that I had fallen asleep for the night before. I figured she'd at least be partially into it since the challange was couture (or as described by one of the contestants "prom dresses turned up a notch") I explained the concept that they would pick their favorite dress and send the worst dress home.

She made me rewind and watch the runway 2 more times.

Don't let the monkey jammies fool you. This kid knows her couture.

I typed up her reactions to the gowns for your amusement:

Looks like a Sleeping Beauty Dress! Why she have a bib on? Is she eating some lunch? I don't like the polka dot bib.

Ooooh I like that one. Looks like the hair movie (Rapunzle). It's very sparkly. But she doesn't have long hair. No. That's my favorite dress.

I don't like a dress. What a pretty neck-a-lace! It's very sparkly. I have a sparkly neck-a-lace but not SO sparkly.

LOOK AT THOSE SHOES! Mommy, LOOK AT THEM. I need some shoes like that. They are very tall. I will be way up a sky!

(this designer kept referring to her dress as a Cinderella dress) That's not a Cinderella dress. It has too many colors for Cinderella. I like the purple and orange. Cinderella does not like purple and orange.

She looks like a birdy.

That dress has sparkly kitty fabric! It's fantastic.

She should go home because that dress looks like my tent.

(unsure of this one) Do you like this dress, Mommy? I like the arm tights.

I'm tired of this dress. (when I asked her to elaborate she explained) It looks like all of the dresses everywhere all the time.

The stepmothers ripped that dress apart! It's not very pretty because they ripped it all up.

It's a Malificent dress!!! They wouldn't send Malificent home. No. She has horns!

Her clear favorites were the Rapunzle dress and the Malificent dress. I can't say I disagree with her. And based on this commentary - and the fact that Miss Piggy is the guest judge next week - I see lots of mother/daughter viewings of Project Runway in our future. I love this kid.

Proof I love my Husband.

2012-01-08T17:46:00.002-05:00

So big Christmas wrapup post coming... along with some fun knitting stuff. But all of that got put on hold because today the Steelers are in the playoffs. Which meant that today the kids are wearing the new gear they got for Christmas. Which means that I had to try to take a picture of them in their adorable matching outfits. As I've mentioned before, my daughter does not usually wear matching outfits.

It went exactly as well as you would think it would:

My kids are crazy.

I"m glad I didn't fight the battle of the hair tie with my daughter. Crazy hair is the least of our problems here:

Although it's certainly not helping anything.

I did catch a couple of cute smiles.

And a few shots where neither of them looks deranged:

Nothing amazing but good enough to print for Matt's desk at work.

I am not in any of the photographs because I do not wear Steelers gear unless they are in the Super Bowl.

Go Browns! (and Steelers too, I guess)

Mall Santa. 2011.

2011-12-22T10:35:00.000-05:00

I'm borrowing my grandma's pictures for this post since I didn't have any hands free to bring my own camera:

So! Time for our annual trip to see the Mall Santa (here's 2009 and 2010). This year my grandma made them adorable matching red corduroy outfits to wear. So when I was telling my daughter what the plan was for the day I said something along the lines of "you'll put on your red dress from Nonni and we'll go to the mall to see her" Specifically not mentioning S-A-N-T-A. Considering her current line on him is "I DON'T WANT HIM IN MY HOUSE" it seemed prudent not to tell her she was going to have to ... gasp.. sit on his lap. Also when you break it down the santa myth is pretty damn terrifying. I haven't been pushing the issue.

(see also: he sees you when you're sleeping = NIGHTMARES)

Anyways!

All morning she was a holy terror. Fits and fights and all of the ugly that a 2.5 year old is capable of. She doesn't usually act that way. I guessed that she got wind of the whole Santa meet and greet and was having a complete freakout via acting out. So I sat her down for a little chat:

Me: What's up sweetie? Why are you acting like this?

Her: lip quivering

Me: It's ok honey you can tell mommy anything and we'll try to fix it.
Her: clearly trying not to cry but eyes filling up
Me: Sweetie it's alright. Whatever it is we can handle it.

Her: bursts into tears

I DON'T WANT TO MATCH MY BROTHER!!

Oh. Ok then. Matching outfits are HIGHLY UPSETTING and filled with much sadness, woe, and bad behavior. Clearly she must be a special little sparkly and fashion forward snowflake at all times. And here I was trying to force her to wear the same thing as someone else. Poor kid.

I let her pick out a dress to wear after that. No point torturing a kid with corduroy.

On to the mall!

She loved the train even if she was a bit unsure at first:

And loved riding the escalator over and over again with Pappa Nonni:

But when we got to Santa? "I DON'T' WANT TO SIT NEXT TO HIM. I DON'T WANT TOO. NO. PLEASE NO." My mom tried to talk her down and reason with her but I saw the look of terror in her eye, knew that there was no way it was going to happen without brute force, and just went for it:

That'll work.

I think she acutally had a really good time, though. Despite the whole S-A-N-T-A part. And the trip was beyond worth it for this:

Before his sister got involved he was actually pretty into it.

because of this:

My first Christmas, My son's first Christmas. You're not seeing double.

Perhaps next year she won't be as terrified... although flipping back through previous years she's never been down with this Santa thing. Or the matching outfits now that I think about it..

My Mom's Memory Card.

2011-12-21T21:56:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry, mom. I had to.

So. My mom does not have what she calls the photo gene. She takes terrible pictures and doesn't ever think to do it since my dad is a straight up photographs in jured shows photographer. Anywyas she accidentally left her camera at my house after visiting santa yesterday and I thought it would be super funny to download her card.

It also could end in disaster.

I figured/hoped that most of them would be of my children. But you really never know.

Here's what I found:

This pic is from November 2010. So we're to assume that she a.) hasn't downloaded her pictures and b.) hasn't taken enough pictures to fill a card in OVER A YEAR.

Then we have exactly seven pictures from my brother's wedding (Dec 31, 2010). All terrible and all for some reason cake related:

Then inexplicably several images of the gargoyles in her backyard.

Maybe she was trying to be arty?

Then some of my daughter doing a craft at her house. Including this awesome:

I will paint ALL OF THE THINGS.

Then two pictures that I can't believe I"m even posting:

Taken on March 18. Oh so pregnant and my daughter's leg was oh so broken. But we're at the zoo! Having fun! On the phone with a doctor's office! Sigh.

I don't... i can't... wow.

Then a few from her trip with my grandma. I posted the group to flickr b/c I know my mom will never share them (or even download them, I guess):

And then, finally, a few really fantastic shots of their new dog:

After that it was me using the camera so I won't include them in this. Nothing nearly as fun as the last time I downloaded a mystery memory card. But still pretty amusing.

Tomorrow? Actual Christmas related content! Yay!

Just a Pillowcase Dress... Except.

2011-12-07T21:05:00.001-05:00

So this is just a basic Pillowcase Dress:

There's a million billion tutorials for these online and at this point I don't even know which one I used. It's made out of corduroy so that's fancy, I guess. But overall just a pillowcase dress.

Except.

My almost-3 year old made it.

No, really. She picked out the fabric (Squirrel-ys!), was adamant that the straps be Black Leow (black like a kitty), and sat on my lap while we sewed every seam. She was careful not to get her hands too close to the needle as we fed the fabric in and was completely in awe when I showed her the finished product.

It's just a simple, basic, pillowcase dress. But I couldn't be prouder.

Hanging out with my cousin on Thanksgiving.

Three Stories - Wordful Wed

2011-11-30T15:37:00.001-05:00

So a couple of weeks ago I did a Wordless Wednesday (and looking at those pictures still makes me smile)... today I thought I'd try the opposite and do a Wordful Wednesday. A post with no pictures - very odd for me. And kindof hard for a visual person like myself to do... It's fun to experiment, and makes me think about the blog in a new way which is always good...Anyways! I give you:

Three parenting stories that were too long to fit into a tweet:

So Matt was home sick yesterday with the death cold that has our entire household at a standstill. With the prospect of bedtime looming I punted for dinner and made a Chipotle run. Of course my daughter wanted to come with me. I didn't want to bring her but couldn't explain why so threw her in the car anyways. This was the car ride home:

"I want my tia (tortilla)." "do you have my tia mommy?" "can I please have my tia?" "where's my tia." "Is my tia in the front seat?" "Can you give it to me?" "But I want to eat it NOW."

Oh. That's why.

But the Chipotle love isn't limited to the 2 year old. Her little brother? Whined between bites because we couldn't get the black beans into his facehole fast enough.

Honestly sometimes I think my kids are just my Id running free. I totally wanted to tear into my burrito in the car and eat it as fast as humanly possible.

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This conversation happened the other day:

"Take this book, Mommy, because it's for Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving is over. We past it."

"yup. Past it. It's Christmas time now."

"Not yet. Not Christmastime yet. Almost. I have to clean my room then we can put the Christmas tree. And I haveta ask Santa for the Frog Moonie Moonie, and a Beauty and the Beast Book, and some New Crayons, and I haveta say Please."

So she has that all figured out.

I ordered all of the items on her list that night.

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A guy cut me off and stole my parking space at the store the other day. I was IRATE. He waved. To which I showed great restraint considering I have two kids in the car and responded:

"Wave? Really?!!! Wave!!! Yeah I have a finger to wave at you, buddy."

"What finger, Mommy?"

Uh huh...

Cake Mix Hack - Pumpkin Cupcakes

2011-11-22T16:40:00.001-05:00

So. I suck at baking. Something about the precise measuring and mixing just doesn't work for me. Basically I'm TERRIBLE at following directions w/o trying to get all creative and change things up. Which doesn't really work when you're trying to make something as precise as... cookies. However I now have a kid who loves to bake. Enter the Cake Mix Hack:

Cake Mix Hack - screwing with and/or adding stuff too a box of cake mix to make it even more delicious. Also works with canned frosting.

And in honor of Thanksgiving this week I thought I'd share with you my latest hack.

Crazy Easy Pumpkin Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

1 box of yellow cake mix and things it calls for (usually 3 eggs and some oil)
1 - 15 oz can pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 jar cream cheese frosting

Make the box cake mix just like it says in the directions except repace the water with the can of pumpkin. Add in the spices. Bake according to package directions.

Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Decorate with sprinkles (or have your kid do it for you):

Done! Easy, delicious, and perfect for Thanksgiving.

Wordless Wednesday - Leaves!

2011-11-16T15:18:00.001-05:00

Bleachable Moment.

2011-11-09T15:51:00.000-05:00

So when I read this writing prompt from Chlorox:

Spending time with friends and family can lead to fun and memorable moments, but also some very messy ones. Tell us about the messiest moments that you’ll always remember!

I immediately thought of all of the many pictures I have of my kid covered in paint:

Pics range from April 2010 - last month.

And all of the many times that I have let my love of art and my excitement that my daughter is so into drawing and painting get in the way of common sense. Like that time she drew on the dog:

Proof that it's a bad plan to leave a 19 month old alone with a box of markers. Or that we have the most tolerant dog ever.

Or that time we dyed Easter eggs in September:

Now she wants to dye them anytime we make hardboiled eggs. Kid likes color as much as her mom does.

You know. Cute stories. Not gross stores. But sill "messy" stories.

But then? My kid got sick. Real sick. Flu sick. The kind where you wash every set of sheets you own twice with in 24 hours sick.

And then I remembered what a true bleachable moment is.

Half asleep on a splashzone of towels. Spoiler Alert: the towels only kindof worked.

A bleachable moment is when you are in a fit of rage storming through your house clorox wiping everything in your path.

Because even though I had washed all the gross laundry, cleaned the toilet and the rest of the bathroom, scrubbed the rug & couch, washed the floor and aired out the house something STILL smelled like puke. I believe my tweet about sums it up:

i've scrubbed everything that i can - couch, floor, carpet, etc. but the living room still smells vaguely like puke. #burnitdown

She's feeling better now but the puking continues. No fever. No dehydration scares. Just random projectile vomit. The doctor's advice? Just wait it out. Awesome.

I did eventually find the source of the puke smell, though:

I don't even want to know why the dog smells like puke. No good can come of that investigation.

And yes, I totally used wipes to clean the dog.

I received information about Clorox’s Bleach It Away campaign and am sharing my messy moment for the chance to win prizes from The SITS Girls. To learn more about the messy moment program, check out www.BleachItAway.com. Sharing your story on the Clorox fan page gets you entered for the chance to win $25,000 and daily prizes, and you can grab a coupon for Clorox® Regular Bleach.

Baby's First Haircut

2011-11-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer: Some of these photos are a bit overedited and uneven. I recently discovered the CoffeeShop Blog's free actions for Photoshop Elements and I"m still getting the hang of them. They are a great add to my usual Pioneer Woman Actions, though!

So on Saturday our little man had his first haircut.

I could get all sentimental or be all sad but really? It was beyond time:

He passed the cute crazy baby hair sometime around Fourth of July when my brother commented that he looked like a hockey player. Since then his mullet has become as long and free as one you would see at Walmart. In 1990. Also he had this weird stick-y up part in the back that kindof made him look like a rooster:

I debated just chopping off the back myself but babies flail alot. So we took him to our local barber shop (the one at Kamms Corners. I can't find a website... or even a name but Matt's been going there for years) and let the professionals fix him up.

I don't usually go for the black and white but with the stripes and the barbershop thing I'm kindof digging it.

The end result? ADORABLE.

He looks so much older. Like a little boy and not just a baby. Although perhaps some of that is contextual:

I may only be 6 months old but I'm better at this football thing than half of the Browns.

Yay for haircuts!

Peter Pan & Tinker Belle Halloween.

2011-11-01T13:43:00.000-05:00

First of all to get this out of the way... did I try to make the Prudent Baby Tinkerbelle costume that everyone has been Pinning?

Yes.

Did my toddler completely and totally refuse to wear it? Of course. But at least I realized that it wasn't going to happen and bailed before I spent too much time finishing it.

Did she also refuse to wear the tutu without some tweaks? Obviously.

IT'S TOO FOOFY. TINKER BELLE DOESN'T HAVE WHITE. PLEASE TAKE THE WHITE OFFA THERE. PLEASE.

My toddler is the most picky client ever. But the end result?

Flipping adorable.

And honestly noone would be able to see the costume under her coat anyways.

Peter pan came out pretty adorable, too:

I used the tutorial from Make It and Love It with a few tweaks. I didn't have a feather or a buckle so I made those from felt. And the sword is a bit different than she describes. Hilarious, though. Totally made the costume especially since he brandished it so well:

Heh.

Trick or Treating was superfun times this year.

She was so, SO excited about the candy:

And I got a family pic with the kids in their costumes and our pumpkins:

And even a few with both kids together (holy logistics, batman!):

Although I think next year I will be alot more tempted to just buy a damn costume.

Oh and in case you were wondering what Matt and I were for our friend's Halloween this year....

People who were awesome in 1991.

Yes those are Hard Rock pins and fanny packs, Yes that is a hypercolor sweatshirt, and Yes that is Crystal Pepsi. Or a vodka tonic in a Pepsi bottle I relabeled. One of the two.

Happy Halloween!!!

A bag of Tulle and Wine.

2011-10-29T13:28:00.000-05:00

So I've seen the new sew tutu tutorials all over the interwebs before and I figured that it would be the perfect quick 'n dirty Tinker Belle costume.

And after the Maleficent debacle I needed quick 'n dirty.

So I showed up at my friend's house for Knit Night (a group of my girlfriends gets together once a month and "knits" aka drinks wine and eats pizza.) carrying a couple packages of elastic, my tulle stash, and a giant bottle of wine with no other plan then I NEED TO BE DONE WITH THIS OMFG PASSTHEWINE.

The result?

Jennifer got a new hat.

I think I need to roll with tulle and wine everywhere I go from now on.

Without turning this into too much of a tutorial - because seriously there are SO MANY of these out there. Google "new sew tutu" and you will be INNUNDATED. Here's what I did:

I cut the 1/2" elastic into a 21 inch length. I figured my daughter has about a 20" waist and I wanted some overlap. Then I safety pinned it into a circle. Probably sewing it would be better but whatevs.

Then I cut the tulle into 4" strips. Since cutting tulle makes the baby Jesus cry I cheated and rolled the tulle into tubes first. Then I cut those tubes into 4" pieces. It doesn't come out perfect but it is SO quick and easy. (hey there's a video for this already online! Check itout.)

Then I put my elastic around a stand-in toddler waist:

What. you use what you've got.

And looped the strips of tulle over the elastic in a slip knot (the same video shows this)

I kept going until the pizza got there and the result was pretty darn awesome:

I even had enough tulle leftover to make my friend's daughter her very own tutu:

Now I kindof want to make one in ever color of the rainbow. And one (or 7) for myself.

I'm not totally convinced it's going to work for Tinker belle, though... I have something else in mind for that. Yes.

My mommy is insane.

Maleficent for Halloween.

2011-10-27T15:02:00.000-05:00

I wrote this post last Friday but never finished it. I'm posting it now b/c it sets up the next few posts nicely.

So a few months ago Sleeping Beauty was on in the background while my toddler and I were looking at her photo album. This picture from last Halloween came up:

And so I asked her "what do you want to be for Halloween this year?"

She responded without missing a beat: MALIFICENT.

And so it began. From then on any time I asked her about Halloween she said definitively: MALIFICENT HALLWEEN. Later it expanded b/c when I asked her what her brother should be she told me BLACK BIRDIE. Because, of course. Maleficent sidekick is her black bird just like my daughter's sidekick is her brother.

Riding around the living room in a laundry basket is WAY more fun with a sibling.

I jumped on this costume idea like a fat kid on a doughnut.

Of course I decided to make these costumes because they don't exactly make Malificent in a 2T. Also I'm insane like that. So we went to the fabric store (still one of her favorite places to go) and she vetoed the fleece I picked out "NOT VERY SHINY." in favor of this:

Shiny fabric, over a month to make the costumes, and an idea that was both hilarious and awesome? Totally on top of this Halloween thing.

AND THEN.

I made this wonderful, lined, spectacular, shiny Maleficent coat:

And she refused to wear it. What the what? I didn't think too much about it and continued to make this awesome hat for her brother:

And we had so much fun putting it on him and getting him to crow like a bird.

Hilarity all around.

But she still wouldn't wear the coat. Finally I resorted to bribery and got her to put it on thinking once she was in it we'd be good to go:

I DON'T WANT TURN INTO A DRAGON!!! GET THIS OFFAA ME!!!

And then that night she had nightmares.

I AFRAID MALIFICENT DRAGON.

Awesome. I win at parenting.

Also: FUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKK

And just to rub some salt in the would my son grew out of the birdie hat less than a week after I made it for him.

Now she's saying that she wants to be Peter Pan because HE A NEEAH (Neeah is how she says her name and what she calls all redheads.)

I never noticed Peter Pan had red hair before.

The baby she wants to be Tinker belle. Right. I think I convinced her to switch - her as tink and baby as pan but still...

I'm less than a week away from our first costume event, I have out of town guests coming this weekend and therefore no time to work on this, and I refuse to just go buy a costume because I'm way to far down this path to turn back.

I'm going over to my friend's house tonight with a bag of tulle and wine. Hopefully this will result in a Tinker belle costume and not just a hangover.

Sob.

Baby Feeding Funtimes

2011-10-19T22:55:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Plum Organics for sponsoring my post about tips for baby feeding magic. What if you let baby choose what's for dinner? Check out their cute "Quest for Yum!" video and see what happens!

We are deep into the baby food these days. Which, honestly, was something I was dreading this time around. It's gross and messy and fraught with lots of decisions. So I thought I'd share some tips for making the whole thing alot more relaxed and fun:

1.) Trust your instinct / let them lead the way. This is one of my fav. parenting tips in general but it is especially true for food. They will let you know when it's time for the next step. For example the recommendations on when certain kids can have certain foods? Yeah I kindof ignore those. My kid isn't even close to crawling and yet:

TEETHING BISCUIT CONTRABAND!!!!!

2.) PUFFS!!!! I've talked before about how much I love the puffs. They are the perfect starter food. They dissolve so you don't have to worry about your kid choking (within reason. I mean don't shove a whole fistfull of them in there or something) and they are great practice for the fine motor skills required to feed themselves.

Even if they don't get it right the first time.

Or 100th time.

And can I just tell you how much I love the SuperPuffs? They come in literally a rainbow of flavors. For someone as color obsessed for me is So. Much. Fun. Plus it's a great way for me to explain eating a variety of fruits and veggies to my toddler. Rainbows = YUM.

My mom kindof has a thing for colors...

3.) I don't feed my kids something that I wouldn't eat myself. I remember a distinct moment when feeding my daughter when I opened package of somesortof processed meat stick thing for babies. I took one look at it and threw it in the garbage opting instead to give her tiny bites of the turkey from my sandwich. Since then I've been pretty strict about this one. I don't eat piles of processed stuff so it just won't exist in our household.

4.) Mix stuff you know they like with the new things they might not. My son LOVES the pears. Any of the veggies (especially carrots)? Not so much. But if I mix them together...

Everything is better mixed with pears is the baby equivalent of everything tastes better covered in cheese.

In this case he's eating and loving the Plum Organic Blueberry, Pear, & Purple Carrot mix.

5.) Keep their hands busy with something dishwasher safe. I've found it to be much easier to feed him if he's not grabbing at the spoon. When he gets a little bigger and less flail-y I'll just give him his own spoon to play with but for now he rocks the plastic keys.

And when he's done eating? They go straight in the dishwasher. Super simple.

6.) It doesn't have to be made specifically for babies to be used to feed them. Seriously, you guys. It took me so long to figure this one out. You can put baby food in regular people bowls. CRAZY THAT!

7.) Use the bumbo as a high chair. It takes up so much less space than the GIANT PLASTIC high chair we had for our daughter. I can clean the whole thing in the sink and make the whole thing disappear when not in use. Simple.

8.) I feed him when we eat. Not only is it more convenient b/c we're in the kitchen anyways but it's getting us into the good habit of family dinners from day one. Plus his sister keeps him happy:

9.) Balanced over a week. This one came straight from my pediatrician and has become my mantra. As long as your kid eats a balanced diet over a week you don't have to worry about if they are eating one balanced meal (or eating it at all). So much less stressful this way!

10.) Keep it fun. Heart shaped grilled cheese sandwich:

Enough said.

So yeah - the baby food phase has been ALOT more fun this time around. And really is there anything cuter than a messy baby?

For more adorable check out this video by Plum Organics:

I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. To learn more about Plum Organics, visit their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/PlumOrganics.

6 months.

2011-10-13T21:40:00.000-05:00

So today is the little dude's six month birthday.

And once again I'm having trouble finding the words. Watching him go from being so tiny and sleepy to this:

Well. It's been pretty amazing. He’s turned into this fun little person with his own personality.

He's super curious and wants to interact with and grab at anything and everything.

He's a chatty boy who vocalizes all the time. His main sound is squawking like a little bird but other sounds are starting to come, too. He tells whole stories and has long conversations with anyone who will talk back to him:

He has quite the temper. Gets immediately red-faced angry when he drops a toy or when something happens that he didn't expect. He gets done with things just as quickly as he's interested in them. And once he's done with a toy he is DONE.

He has a clear sense of humor - certain things just crack him up. Peek-a-boo? Slays him every time. Even if it's played by his sister running into and out of his view. And if you tickle his tummy or blow on his face you will be rewarded with lots of giggles.

He likes to play rough - already being thrown around for rough house with daddy.

And sometimes his doggie:

And when his sister pushes him around in the walker or bounces his bouncer he shriek giggles. So does she.

His likes and dislikes are also abundantly clear. Likes: grabbing at things, water, bathtime, bouncing, standing, bananas, rocking, wind, and his robots blanket. Dislikes: any food other than bananas and sometimes peaches, being frustrated, tummy time, and having to stay up past bedtime.

His favorite thing in the whole world, though, is water. He LOVES the water. Bathtime, being hosed off after a meal, the beach:

LOVE.

Yes. We put his bumbo seat in the waves. He was the happiest kid in the entire world that day.

And did I mention he hates tummy time? Well now that he's figured out this rolling thing he just refuses it. You put him on his belly and this happens:

Which makes him very pleased with himself.

And not to compare to his sister too much but he is such a different kid. Especially where bedtime is concerned. Most nights he goes down with out any fuss of problems. Unlike someone else who we were already deep into cry it out and all of that by now. However the problem comes when he has to stay up late. Dude DOES NOT LIKE being up late. He freaks out and the only solution is laying him down - preferably in his crib:

He likes his crib.

So yeah. Life has been pretty overwhelming these last 6 months. But pretty amazing, too.

Seven

2011-10-09T10:15:00.000-05:00

Today is our Seventh Wedding anniversary.

We've been married for a crazy amount of time. Long enough that when we look at our wedding photos I think "We look so young!" So when we went to the Sidewalk Chalk Festival at the Cleveland Museum of Art a few weeks ago I couldn't resist taking some then/now pictures.

2004:

2011:
Both were taken in the same exact spot.

2004:

2011:

2004:

2011:

Last night we went out to the Greenhouse Tavern to celebrate. Just a warning on that one: if you order the BBQ Pig's Head you get an actual Pig's head. Smiling at you. With jawbones and teeth. Delicious face but still... face.

And then went to a comedy show at Pickwick and Frolic. And then since it was the first night out together w/o the kids since the dude was born we tied one on at the Velvet Tango Room.

Moscow Mule. Best drink in Cleveland.

I love that my husband is up for ridiculous adventures as much as I am. Even if they are currently more in the "lets order something weird and stay out way to late" vein then the "lets go hike up a mountain in another country" craziness that they used to be. He's still my favorite person to adventure with. I'd say it's been a pretty wonderful 7 years.

3 Things Disney related

2011-10-04T22:25:00.000-05:00

Thing 1: Disney on Ice. So thanks to KaKaKaKaty Matt and I took our little girl to Disney on Ice.

It was pretty amazing. Disney certainly doesn't do anything half-assed and this was no exception. Ridiculous from the perspective of a 2.5 year old and pretty enjoyable as an adult, too. Especially from the seats we had:

Although seeing something like this as an adult brought up so, SO many questions. Like how do you get into the Ice Show's game? What career path led them here? And how often does this cast have to travel? And learn new choreography? Or do they recycle past shows? And who did this guy piss off:

Yes. That would be a costume that requires the skater to skate on all fours. Amazing and awful all at the same time.

Matt and I had a ball speculating about these things. And I think I showed great restraint in that I made it to the second act before making a toe pick joke.

The ice was way to fascinating to look away from even for a picture.

Thing 2: Brave. On Friday we had our daughter's 6 month follow up for her broken leg. She had to have another x-ray and go through another doctor's appointment. Which she is rightfully pretty terrified of. But she once again was BRAVE and handled the whole thing so well. No tears, no fits, just stiffened her lip and got through it. And we got the best news we could get:

Her leg is perfect. We never have to worry about this ever again.

We celebrated with an impromptu trip to the zoo. Totally unplanned, totally unprepared. On the way home from the doctor I said to her, "we should go somewhere fun to celebrate. Maybe the zoo?" She responded in the same tone and inflection that I use when someone asks me if I want a jack and coke:

YES.

I did a u-turn and we went immediately.

I had no idea we would end up at the zoo today! This is crazy! And my leg is all better! BEST DAY EVER!!!!

Ok that one wasn't all that Disney related except that it once again shows that their next movie is about my child.

Thing 3: Maleficent for Halloween. My daughter decided waaaaaay back when that she wanted to be Maleficent for Halloween. They don't make Malificent costumes in a 2T and my sewing skills aren't that impressive.

Ok. Now picture her with crazy curly red hair. And as toddler.

Stay tuned!

Edited to Add: Thing 4. THIS:

Fairy Wings:

2011-09-23T10:29:00.000-05:00

Recently my child has discovered dress up:

Today I came into the living room to find my daughter watching the "Abby's Flying Fairy School" segment of Sesame Street wearing her fairy wings.

Totally adorable. And cute that she made that connection, went and got her wings out, and put them on all on her own.

But then this conversation happened:

"My wings don't work."
Me: What do you mean your wings don't work?
"I can't fly a me wings."

I wonder what process of elimination she went through to discover that her fairy wings are just for decoration?

How've ya been?

2011-09-21T14:55:00.000-05:00

Taptaptaptaptap... is this thing on? Oh hey check it out! I have a blog? Crazy that.

So. How've ya been? We've been... well... yeah. Pretty much just spent the end of summer traveling, working, and enjoying the crazy life of having two little ones.

How about some random:

Yes. That would be a series of pictures of Matt jumping over our kid. Funtimes. Hopefully a post with more content-y content soon! Until then how about some pigtails:

a baby smile:

and some dining room camping:

Hope all is well with everyone!

Moments

2011-08-03T09:44:00.000-05:00

So my life right now is all about constant motion taking care of the 2 (3 if you count the dog) dependants. Someone always needs something and I rarely get a second to breathe. But. There are moments when everything is perfect. They don't last long and usually the time it takes to take a quick cell phone picture is all I get. But they are AWESOME moments...

Sewing:

Kid is into fashion. No denying that. And this day she played with her little sewing machine, and the baby slept long enough for me to get some serious work done in my studio. Times like that - when both kids are happy and I'm working - make me feel like I can do it all.

Pool!

This one was great. Sitting in the zero depth part with my baby who LOVES the water in my lap while the toddler played in the water feature. Goodtimes. I need to look at this picture next time I don't feel like going though the crazy amounts of prep-work getting everyone to the pool happy requires.

Peeking out:

Days when we have to stay home all day can be rough days. Not going to lie. Bored, stir crazy kids are not happy kids. But the day the fence went up both the toddler and the dog spent most of their time watching what was going on. Super cute.

Knitting outside:

Getting a sunburn while knitting with sunburn? Awesome. It lasted for one half of one round but that half-round was possibly the most pleasant I've ever knit.

Lazy Rainy Day:

All three of them on the couch together? Crazysauce. Then the baby pooped and the dog and toddler started chasing each other around in a whirlwind of fur and red hair. But how cute are they when they are all sitting still?

I Baptize you...

2011-07-27T20:14:00.000-05:00

So it's Wed and I"m still recovering from this weekend. What a great Big Party Day! I'm still floored when I think about all of the people who came and where they all came from. Our son is one lucky little dude to have so much love in his life. Some of the highlights:

Us with the Godparents:

Just the Godparents:

Our little family. It's an equally terrible picture of all of us but whatever. We're all there and dressed up so we'll go with it:

My favorite Ladies. Many, many miles were traveled to get this photo. I appreciate every one. Best friends ever:

Immediate family. By this point the toddler had sat through both a mass and a baptism so everything was starting to come unraveled:

My grandparents. Have I mentioned how lucky my kids are?

The ceremony went well. There were 3 other kids baptized that day so it was kindof hectic...

The priest commented on how cool his hair was several times. Even called him "little dude" which is our nickname for him. Awesome.

The party went well, too. We were so worried about the heat that we had my dad bring over the industrial fans from his shop. It worked great and noone ended up too melty.

Our little dude got pretty melty in his suit though:

It was originally worn by my father. But a little too hot to keep on all day. So he changed into something a little cooler:

My uncle said he looks like a bookie. Heh.

I think that any party that ends with a pile of kids and dogs running crazy is funtimes.

There's even more pictures over on Flickr but I think that's enough for the blog. One more for the road:

Overall it was a really great day!