Sew fun!

Just thought I would post pictures of what we made today. The girls each chose what to make, and which fabrics to use. Ember made a bird and Amelia made a rose and an ice cream cone. They stitched them (mostly) by hand (with a little help from Mommy) and even threaded the needles by themselves (as I held the needle steady). I think all their projects turned out great!

The irony was lost on me until I was telling Ron about it afterwards, but when I asked the girls what music they wanted to listen to while we crafted, Ember asked for Kraftwerk. Awesome!!!

Work in progress

Since I have moved my sewing room upstairs into the spare room, I have been able to do so many new projects as well as finish some old ones. I just wanted to share some of my work.

I've made a teapot "sweater", a plastic bag holder, and a hot water bottle cover - which is made from an upcycled felted wool sweater. I've also made some rain pants for Amelia, and crocheted a pile of dish cloths. I almost forgot- I finally made some curtains for the bathroom window, so no more flashing the neighbours! They are a beautiful, simple, white linen than I did a drawn thread technique on. They are quite lovely, but I might stitch on a ribbon for some color.

I love having my own space on the main floor, it's awesome! I can duck in and work on a project if I only have just a few minutes, since I can leave my projects on the table. The girls sometimes like to come in and visit but today they played happily almost all day with each other and I was able to make a complete project. I'm building myself up to trying some more projects with them, but it is much easier to do when I can work one on one with them.

Earth Day

Good deeds should not go unnoticed, so here was our good deed for Earth day. We went and picked up garbage around our park at the end of the street. There was a surprising (or unsurprising) amount of trash, depending on how cynical you are.

Haircuts!

Some new haircuts for my fabulous little ladies! Of course I forgot to take a picture of the two of them before the actual hair cut, but here are some recent photos showing the length and style.

Before:

After:

I'm a good singer!

Ron has been pestering me to put up this video he took a few weeks ago of Ember singing. It is pretty cute, I just never think of doing blog posts on a regular basis. As soon as I get on the computer the girls get in here and start pushing random buttons and making me crazy.

Here it is, enjoy.

My baby is three!!!

But don't you dare call her a baby anymore!! Grandma Anne got straightened out when she said it, as have I (many times) and anyone else who let's the "b" word slip.

It always amazes me how much she's changed over the past year. It seems more noticeable than Amelia sometimes, I'm not sure why - maybe because Ember is the "baby"?

Miss Ember is getting much taller now (97.5 cm - almost a whole 10 cm since last year!!). Her long legs have lost the last bit of baby pudge, and she doesn't have the baby tummy anymore either.
** single tear rolls down my face***   sigh.

She's talking as well as Amelia, learning to sign her name (E's are her specialty), and has officially entered the terrible threes! Her favourite things to do (for both girls actually) is to dress up in fancy dresses (even if they are already wearing a pretty dress), running around naked/in underwear, playing with each other and alternately fighting with each other.

Ember has been loving a superhero from a TV show called Super Why so I made her a cape and mask for her birthday. I thought it would be a hit but she's not as enamoured as I thought she would be. But she did say she would wear it at Halloween.

The cape has since been adjusted so it fits much better.

Anyway, enough yammering - here are more pictures of my young lady.

the kids woke up at their usual time (6am) but the party wasn't until 10am. Em was getting bored of waiting at this point (9:53am) 

This was on her actual birthday (Thurs) while the party was on a Saturday, hence the different dress and hairstyle.

I just love this picture.

This would have been a really cool shot if anything had been in focus.

Melted dog poo smell - the surest sign of spring

Well it's been a while since I've written anything, so here goes a try to catch up on what we've been up to.

We did a back yard clean up this afternoon, hence the title of this post. We almost never go into our back yard due to the perpetual state of gross dog poo, uneven terrain, big ankle-twisting holes, and general lack of shade on a hot day. I'm hoping to remedy that this year, but we'll see if I can since I am not a great gardener/landscaper and also very lazy.

The sun was shining and it was warm for the first time in what feels like forever, so we dug out the girls' tricycles and went for a ride around the block. Ember has now got the hang of pedalling, and Amelia is getting to be a pro. She can now steer, while pedalling, which is a feat in itself. Ember will probably get there but the end of summer (hopefully).
When you are an adult who knows how to ride a bike already, you take for granted just how many things you have to focus on and coordinate your body to do. I have to constantly remind both the girls to face forward and to steer so they are not in the middle of the road, nor are they crashing into cars or the curb. It's pretty tricky!!

We are also finally getting over our colds. Ember has had a croup-y cough for over 3 weeks, which still shows up at night. Ron has had his for a few days less, and Amelia had a much milder cold and slight cough which is finally clearing up. We also had a flu bug go through the house two weeks ago that Amelia and I caught, but thankfully Ron and Ember were spared. With all the sickness, combined with March break Amelia barely went to preschool this month. We did however make it to pyjama day. Here is a picture with Ms. Pat, her teacher.

She has been enjoying preschool a lot more lately since I've arranged a few play dates with a couple of her school friends. For a while there was some reluctance to go to school each morning, but having a few buddies to look forward to seeing has made a huge difference. She always enjoys going and has a great time at preschool (in fact, she often doesn't want to leave at the end) but just the convincing to get going in the morning was hard. I'm so relieved, as Amelia starts Primary (kindergarden) next fall!! We have registered at the school near our house, so we will be walking there each day (remember in the olden days when kids walked to school?)

I don't have any other pictures to show, since I don't take as many now. I suppose it is nice to just experience and remember the actual moment, instead of trying to always capture every moment. Of course we do have pictures of Miss Ember's birthday, but you will have to read the next post to see those. I will however include some goofy photos that we took with the ipad.