Mr. Rogers Sweater Day

I just read an article on MSN about wearing a sweater on March 20th in honor of what would have been Mr. Rogers 80th birthday. I never watched his show as a child but I've let my kids watch it and really appreciate his take on television for kids. My favorite show was when he showed STOMP behind the scenes which, I think, showed his appreciation for the arts and a lack of stodginess on his part. So, I'm going to mark my calendar and even if I don't wear a sweater (I love Mr. Rogers but if it's 85 outside I don't think I'll wear a sweater) I'll still turn on his show for the little ones. It's a far cry from the gross-out, bodily function driven "humor" that Chloe likes to watch. I know she's growing up but still....

"I went into television because I hated it so, and I thought there was some way of using this fabulous instrument to be of nurture to those who would watch and listen."

Fred Rogers

Stuff to Think About

Not incredibly difficult stuff to think about mind you but mostly fun stuff. I've been meaning to blog for a while about different blogs and things that I'm reading. And while I do enjoy thinking about the deeper things in life, my recent soul searching, reading, and (seeming) constant studying for my FIC class and for my Friday book study with the girls from my Life Group leaves me wishing for times to put my brain in neutral. And since Travis is gone to church to be at the live recording for a worship album and I'm here with sickly little Chloe, I have a few minutes.

I just found the super coolest apron website ever via the Hostess With the Mostess blog. I think I want most of them. The pink and brown polka dots are *super* cute and they have matching kiddie ones. Chloe would be over the moon for that. Of course my crafty friends could probably whip one up pretty easily but even if I do posess the talent for that I seriously doubt that I would do something like that. *But* when it comes to spending that much for an apron I do often think I could make one. The hostess blog also has a recipe for super-easy yet very yummy looking Rolo turtle pretzles- don't be surprised if some of you see these at a get together. It seems like the perfect combo of salty and crunchy and sweet, yum!

And speaking of yummy, you have to check out Bakerella. I'm most interested in her cakesicles and chocolate cupcake lollipops. But you really should check out her whole blog because she really has some interesting ideas. From what I can tell she mostly uses packaged cake mixes so everything is super simple but looks amazing. This at cakejournal.com shows a 40 second tutorial of how to make a fondant rose but I like the look of Bakerella's better.

Hooked on Houses has lots of cute stuff about different houses that she photographs or different house ideas. Cute stuff, strange stuff, stuff-stuff; but it's an entertaining way to put the 'ol thinker in neutral.

One day I'll be able to entertain...sigh.

I Forgot to Dry the Jeans...

Chloe has 3 pair of jeans and I washed them all last night- and forgot until I woke up at 7:55 that I hadn't dried them. I don't remember ever doing that before. Gaaa! What to do? Can I send her in a skirt? At 50 degrees, it's warmer than it has been and with her coat it wouldn't be that bad. Then I imagined her shivering on the playground, squatting down so that her coat would cover her bare legs. Capri pants then? That's just slightly better than a skirt. And I could imagine her pulling her socks all the way up to cover the exposed leg. She'd look like a hillbilly (and I'd look like a bad mom) but it would probably not be too emotionally damaging. Then I heard the cough. The really congested cough and thought it probably wouldn't matter that I didn't dry the jeans. And sure enough she's got a sore throat and a cough. She doesn't really have a fever but with the sickness that's going around it's plenty of reason for me to keep her home- besides the aforementioned lack of clothing to wear.

I should probably catch up on some other things here as well.

Travis and I led worship at Life Group about a week and a half ago. I was pretty nervous when it was time to actually do it. I wasn't nervous at all leading up to it because I just really felt that it was the right thing and that it was the right time. But every body that's ever sung in front of people before knows that it's much more nerve wracking to sing in front of 20 people that you know in an intimate setting (meaning they're standing 10 feet or less from you) than it is to sing in front of 2,000 + strangers, on a platform, with bright lights shining in your eyes so you can't see anybody. But apparently it went well because Marianne asked us to do it again in March and from here on out to do it for the first Life Group of the month. I'm excited and I think I'll get less nervous as time goes on.

Our V-Day plans got messed up a bit but we were able to reschedule and have dinner on Sunday instead of Saturday. Amanda woke up really sick Saturday morning and what we originally thought was a stomach bug was actually the result of a bad dream. It upset her so much that she got really sick. She has a nervous stomach and you never really know what is going to stress her out to set it off but it's never fun. We did have a really nice meal the next day though. OK, if I'm going to be totally honest, I think that Ellendale's didn't have it's A game on when we went but it was still nice. The service was great, I just find that if you go to a restaurant at an off time the food just isn't usually as good. I had a burned crouton in my salad (or maybe two) and my potato mound was closer to a rock in texture, and they gave me about 5 green beans and two pathetic carrot slices. I know I'm not a restaurant critic but the food just wasn't as good as the other two times we've been there. Well, Travis' sweet potatoes were out of this world amazing and the pork chop and steak were very good- I'm just not used to having negative things to say about it. Moving on...

My sister in law is expecting their new little girl sometime in the next month and I've promised to do a painting and to make this cute little thing- only in pink. I haven't found the fabric yet and the needle is broken on my sewing machine although I could probably hand stitch it without too much difficulty. I've never shopped for a sewing machine needle before. For the painting the inspiration is this set from Pottery Barn Kids. Angie is doing the pinks and greens from the set and my only hesitation is that I can't *really* tell what the colors are from that. The pinks look more peachy on my computer screen. I know it doesn't have to be exact and I may just do a cream backdrop with butterflies and some flowers. I really should get started. It would be really nice to drop off in person though. Travis still has never seen their last baby and he's almost two. *Sigh* If they'd only move here... ;)

Too Cool For School

Valentine's Day is nearly here which means several things, the least of which is that Chloe needs some things for the party at school. In the past there has been a ban on any type of homemade goodies but they sent home a note saying that the ban had been lifted so I could either bake something or buy something. My immediate thought was to make rolled sugar cookies but then I thought about the fact that it's a bit of a chore and I was feeling like I didn't want to do that for her class. Last year I had to do a craft for her kindergarten class and so I made hand painted cards for them to decorate. It was a simple little thing but kindergarteners do not appreciate hand painted things. *Then* I thought about Chloe and how she *lives* for holidays and special occasions and decided we'd make rolled sugar cookies. I didn't realize that her teacher was going to tell me what to make so thankfully she asked for sugar cookies- heart shaped or round. Heart shaped? Of course that was in my master plan. I don't actually own one (do I? Nope, I checked. How can I have 30 cookie cutters and not 1 heart shape?) so I figured I'd pick one up when I stopped at Target. Well, I figured wrong. The only heart shaped cookie cutter they had was tied to a bag of sugar cookie mix which completely defeats the purpose of making homemade sugar cookies. I might have purchased the bag but it was $7 and that's way too much to spend on a cookie cutter that comes with something else that I'll probably throw away. Besides I'd seen a super-cool heart shaped cookie cutter at Kroger a few days before. Why, oh, why did I decide I'd get it later? Anyway, it was gone and all they had out of my two options was the circle. It seems kind of ridiculous to buy a *circle* cookie cutter since any old (washed) tin can would do but, remember, this is a special occasion and *must* include a purchase of some sort to make is "super-special".


So the plan for the night was to fill out all her Valentine cards, decorate her box to receive Valentines, and make sugar cookies. We got most of that done. The Valentines were a breeze because once I showed Chloe how to do it, she filled them out. It's really nice that she can read and write. Then came the cookies. Then the box. Then the cookies again but that's another story.


I thought that instead of doing a box that was just covered by a few sheets of construction paper that was all the same color, we should do a collage. It took more time but Chloe loved it. I mean, what good is it to have a bunch of acid free, lignin free scrap booking papers around if you can't rip them up and decorate a box with them (since I'm not scrapbooking these days)? OK, I only used the papers from Michaels (and one Creative Memories scrap paper) because the CM ones are too expensive to rip up. She got a bit bored at the end with all of the ripping and gluing and was super-antsy to put the stickers on. So here it is all finished. We sent her cards and box to school with one whole day to spare. That.never.happens.here. But I'm going to be out tonight and tomorrow night and am a bit concerned about getting the cookies baked. I could do them myself during the daytime but that leaves Chloe out of it and she got a really pouty face when I suggested that. Maybe after school tomorrow. I'll figure it out. Happy Valentines' Day to all of you. I hope you have a great time. I get to go here with Trav- I'm sooo excited.

We're a Week Into February...

and I haven't posted anything yet. It's not that I think you're all waiting with baited breath at the awesomeness that comes from my keyboard, I just start feeling that "gaaa, I need to blog about something". And as per usual I have stuff to blog about I just haven't felt like writing. It's kind of like working out, as long as I'm doing it regularly I'm fine and keep doing it. But if for some reason I get derailed it's hard to get started again. It's the whole "object in motion" thing. So here goes:

This past weekend was really nice. We went to downtown Franklin with a group from church to take pictures and the Kelsos and Fadelys were there too. So there were 14 of us and 8 of those were little ones so the atmosphere wasn't that conducive to picture taking. So we headed back to the Fadely's house and all had dinner like old times. It was really nice for us to all be together again because it had been an entire year since we were all in the same place at the same time. Actually, all of us except Travis had gotten together a couple of times but it's not the same without one of us.

Sunday was the Super Bowl at the Fadely's. Fun!

On Monday, after I took Chloe to school, I had to get all dressed and makeup-ed to go pick up something so I figured I'd take advantage of being all ready and took Halle to the mall. We looked at puppies, had lunch, smelled candles (which is one of her favorite things just like Chloe and Mommy), went to the Disney store, and played in the play area. It was so nice to just be Halle and me. I don't know if any of you ever go someplace with just one of your kids but it is so worth it. I highly recommend it. It reminded me of days with Amanda when she was younger and Chloe too since there is such an age gap between them. It's just time to really focus on one kid and I think (although they haven't told me, but I can tell by their excitement level) that it makes them feel really special. I'm going to take Chloe out to get a milkshake and to a home improvement warehouse soon. Have I mentioned that she *loves* Lowe's and Home Depot? Because she seriously does. Oh, and the carpet samples at Costco. She says she's going to be a designer when she grows up.

Tuesday was tornadoes and the whole day feels pretty much taken up with that. Wednesday was class and Thursday was mentor day, so that brings me to today.

I am sooo glad it's Friday. I'm tired and don't feel like getting up at the crack(ish) of dawn to take Chloe to school. And since we've been out all weekend for Trav's last two weekends off, we're not planning on doing anything but house stuff. It doesn't mean that we'll paint (although we might) but we need to clean the patio up and patch some holes in the driveway and just really, really clean. And rest. Last weekend we were out all of Friday night (grocery shopping), then almost all of Saturday and Sunday. When we finally collapsed into bed Sunday night we both very much wanted to do nothing (except the aforementioned things) this weekend.